Battle of the Bots by Eric Luper

Author:Eric Luper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2018-01-15T00:00:00+00:00

“That was amazing,” Cleo panted. “You might be better than Coach Sheedy.”

“I wish Coach Sheedy was here now.”

“Why do you say that?”

Evan pointed up. “Maybe he could tell us how to get through that.”

Cleo looked up. “Whoa” was all she could say.

The inside of the Usmanov Building had been hollowed out, and the four walls rose into darkness. Drones flew back and forth across the emptiness, busy with one task or another, and colorful lights blinked everywhere.

“It’s like we’re inside a giant Christmas tree,” Cleo said.

“Then we’ve got to figure out how to get to the top of this Christmas tree.” Evan glanced around. A large monitor with a sign that read MAINTENANCE lined a nearby wall. Underneath it, a row of computer ports blinked, which gave him an idea. Evan dug through the backpack, pulled out a nest of wires, and unrolled the rubber keyboard. He plugged it in.

“What are you doing?” Cleo hissed.

“Hopefully, not alerting the drones.”

The monitor went dark and then flickered on again. Words appeared across the screen: CALIBRATING FOR HUMAN INTERFACE.

“What does that mean?” Cleo asked.

“Computers might be super smart, but people still have to fix them. There must be a way up there.”

“What’s up there?”

Evan shrugged as he tapped the keyboard. “More than what’s down here.”

The monitor blinked: PREPARING FOR ROUTINE MAINTENANCE.

The lights inside the Usmanov Building went dark.

Cleo grabbed Evan’s arm. “Great, you broke the building.”

“No, I didn’t. Watch.”

The lights began pulsing in rhythm. First all white, then all blue, and then all green. They went through a bunch of other colors and then began again.

“Some lights are missing,” Cleo said.

“What do you mean?”

Cleo pointed up. “When it blinks blue, some lights don’t go on over there.” She pointed to another wall. “And when it blinks yellow, those lights don’t go on.”

The monitor blinked again: PLEASE PUT ON YOUR WORK GEAR.

A panel slid open to reveal suits with heavy, metal boots, gloves, and helmets. Thick cables connected each set—two boots, two gloves, and a helmet.

Before Evan had a chance to say anything, Cleo was stuffing her feet into the boots and her hands into the gloves. When she put on the helmet, the gear seemed to come to life. She floated a few inches into the air.

“Whoa, I feel really strong,” she said.

Soon Evan was floating beside her. It was wobbly at first, and he had to flail his hands around to stay balanced. When he finally straightened out, he read a display that popped up in the visor of his helmet:

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