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INVENTK  8' An inventor's daughter uses his inventions

Michaela was sitting at her desk in her classroom listening to
her teacher talk when everyone heard the loud sound of a
helicopter. Everyone in the classroom looked out the window when
the teacher stopped talking and looked out the window. The big
black helicopter was coming right toward the school! Everyone in
the class stood up and hurried over to the windows when the
helicopter landed on the front lawn of the school. As soon as
the helicopter touched down, five men in green uniforms carrying
guns jumped off and ran toward the front door of the school.

But Michaela had seen this before. So, she packed up her things
in her backpack saying, "Mrs Beckman, may I please be excused?"

"Yes, of course!" replied the teacher, "Your country needs you!"

Michaela met the army men in the hallway asking, "Why didn't you
just call me? I'm wearing my earrings."

The captain replied, "For this mission, I need to give you
this."

He snapped his fingers and held out his hand in the direction of
one of his men. The soldier gave a tool belt to the captain who
gave it to Michaela.

"Why do I need tools?" asked Michaela.

The captain replied, "A man who has stolen plans from us before
has stolen the plans for a brand new missle system. We know how
he works and we know that he will hide the plans in a place
where you will need tools to get them back. Our men tracked him
to a train station and saw him get on a train. So, we're pretty
sure he'll be hiding the plans somewhere on the train."

"Why would he hide the plans?" asked Michaela as she strapped
the tool belt around her waist.

The captain replied, "The man who stole the plans from us is not
an enemy agent, but he intends to sell the plans to an enemy
agent who just got onto the train. But he's afraid the enemy
agent will steal the plans from him before he pays him for them.
So, to keep them safe until after he collects his money, he'll
hide the plans before he meets with the enemy agent. As soon as
the enemy agent gives the money to the thief, he'll show the
agent where he hid the plans. You'll need to find the plans
before the enemy agent does, or the enemy will be able to use
the missle to blow up our bridges and buildings."

Just then, Michaela heard her dad's voice in her earrings,
"Michaela, sweety, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear, Daddy." replied Michaela.

"We don't have much time, so I'll tell you what to do as we go.
Can you see the red "X" in your left eye lens?"

"I see it. It's an airplane view." replied Michaela.

"Go!" exclaimed her dad.

"Take me there!" commanded Michaela.

Immediately, Michaela disappeared from the hallway at the school
and reappeared in the middle of a bridge.

"I'm on the bridge, daddy." said Michaela, "I see the train
tracks down below. But there's no train."

"The train will be there in thirteen seconds. When I get down to
six seconds, you need to activate your helicopter shoes so you
can get moving exactly as fast as the train. Nine seconds, 8, 7,
6..."

As her dad continued counting down to zero, Michaela commanded,
"Take me up."

As soon as her feet left the ground, she saw the train coming
around the bend. So, she leaned her body away from the train in
order to go in the same direction as the train. Then she
commanded, "Faster."

By the time her dad counted down to zero, she was flying exactly
as fast as the train.

"I'm over the train, Daddy." she reported.

"Find the third car from the front of the train." said her dad.

"I'm over the third car now." reported Michaela as she stepped
gently down on the roof of the train that was moving at
seventy-five miles per hour. Then, looking down at the roof of
the train car, she commanded, "See through that."

"You're looking for a man wearing a green jacket and a green and
blue baseball hat." said her dad.

"I see him. He's going into the restroom." reported Michaela,
"Is it naughty to keep watching?"

"He's not going in there to go potty." replied her dad, "He's
going in there to hide the plans."

Michaela reported, "He's kneeling on the floor and unscrewing
the lock on the door under the sink."

"Okay," replied dad, "He's removing the lock in order to open
the door. He's probably going to hide the plans inside that
cabinet."

"The lock fell off and the doors are open, but he's not putting
the plans in there. He took out another tool." Michaela
reported, "It looks like he's loosening one of the pipes under
the sink inside of the cabinet. Now he's taking the plans and
rolling them up like paper towels. Now he's sliding them into
the pipe."

Her dad replied, "Watch carefully to see how he puts the pipe
back together, so you can take it apart quickly after he
leaves."

A few seconds later, the pipe was back together and the lock was
back on the cabinet.

Michaela reported, "The man in the green jacket, left the
restroom and went toward the last car in the train. Shall I
follow him?"

"No." replied her dad, "We don't have much time. You need to get
into that restroom and use your tools to get the plans out of
that pipe."

Michaela aimed the red "X" in her left eye at the floor of the
restroom and commanded, "Take me there."

Immediately, she disappeared from the roof of the train car and
reappeared inside the restroom. She locked the door so noone
would disturb her, then she knelt in front of the sink and
looked at the cabinet lock.

She reported, "The lock is held in place with two screws that
have plus signs on top."

(can you tell what tool to use to unscrew a screw with this (+)
shape on top?)

Fortunately, Michaela had been watching her dad work with tools
for a long time.

"That's a Phillips head screw." reported Michaela.

She pulled a Phillips screw driver from the tool belt and
removed the two screws and the lock fell out and the doors fell
open. Inside there was a large drain pipe.

She reported, "The drain pipe is held in place with a big
hexagon or octagon, you know, like a stop sign shape."

(do you know what tool to use to unscrew a large bolt with that
shape?)

Michaela reported, "Oh dear! I need a big wrench. But I don't
see a wrench in my belt."

Just then, someone tried to turn the door knob. Then someone
knocked on the door.

"Is someone in there? I need to get in there." a man's voice
shouted.

Michaela aimed the red "X" in her left eye lens at the door and
commanded, "Look through that."

She reported, "Daddy, it's the man with the green jacket and
he's with another man."

"No time to waste!" replied her dad, "Hurry!"

Michaela turned back to the pipe, then she remembered that there
was a tool that could be used instead of a wrench.

She reported, "I'm using the adjustable wrench to unscrew the
pipe."

Again, there was a knock on the door. "Hurry up! I need to get
in there." a man's voice shouted.

Michaela slid the roll of paper plans out of the pipe, then
commanded, "Take me home."

Two seconds later, the man in the green jacket kicked in the
restroom door. But all he saw was the wide-open cabinet doors.
When he crouched in front of the cabinet and looked in, he saw
that the pipe cover had been removed.

"Rats!" he exclaimed as he reached his finger into the pipe to
feel for the plans, "Somebody took the plans!"

Michaela reappeared in the hallway at school and gave the plans
to the captain. As a result of Michaela's bravery, the people
were safe from another enemy attack.

©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
You may reproduce and distribute this story freely,
but all copies must contain this copyright statement.
http://www.bobsnook.org/kid  email: bob@bobsnook.org

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