CHAPTER FIVE — THE AGREEMENT
Ethan called the school robotics coach, Ms. Rios, and explained that the Saturday demonstration was on hold.
She arrived forty minutes later with a notebook, a measuring tape, and a face like a thunderstorm.
“Where is Oliver?” she demanded.
“Upstairs,” Ethan said.
“Good. We can talk before he starts answering for everyone.”
Nell arrived with her mother and three other students.
Priya carried a folder of sketches.
Mateo held a controller with one missing joystick.
A younger boy named Sam brought a shoebox containing the remains of a small blue robot.
They gathered around the workbench while Carol stayed near the door.
Nell would not look at her grandmother.
“Before anyone talks about ownership,” Ms. Rios said, “I need to know what actually happened Thursday night.
”
Nell exhaled.
“I borrowed a test battery from the workshop.”
“Without permission?” Ethan asked.
“Yes.”
“That was wrong.”
“I know.”
“Keep going.”
Nell explained that she had wanted to test a modified steering system before the official trials.
Carol had driven her to Ethan’s house and waited on the patio.
Nell used the open side gate to enter.
She put the orange prototype into the shallow end and operated it with a borrowed controller.
For the first few minutes, the machine moved normally.
Then the controller stopped responding.
“It turned toward the deep end,” Nell said.
“I pushed reverse, but it just kept going.”
“Did the battery fail?” Mateo asked.
“The power light stayed on.”
“Was it in autonomous mode?” Priya asked.
“I didn’t switch it.”
“Maybe someone else did,
” Ms. Rios said.
Nell nodded.
“When it hit the drain grate, the guard broke.”
“What did Oliver do?” Ethan asked.
“He came out of the house and took the controller.”
“Was he angry?”
“He asked what I’d seen.”
“What did you say?”
“I said the robot steered itself.”
“And then?”
“He told me I had accessed a private demonstration.”
Nell stared at her shoes.
“He said if I told anyone, Blue Current might notify my school that I had interfered with expensive equipment.”
Her mother stood up so abruptly that the stool scraped the floor.
“He threatened a child?”
“He didn’t say it like a threat,” Nell replied.
“He said he wanted to protect my future.”
Ms. Rios closed her notebook.
“That is still a threat.”
Priya unfolded a sketch.
It showed a three-pronged propeller guard with a handwritten date from the previous spring.
“I designed this for the first regional contest,” she said.
“It’s not exactly the one under the grate.”
“What’s different?” Ethan asked.
“His version has an extra mounting notch.”
She pointed to a small drawing.
“The original was mine and Mateo’s.”
Mateo opened his controller case and displayed an early prototype guard.
His was blue, not orange, and made from a different plastic.
The same unusual three-pronged shape was unmistakable.
“We made that shape to keep the motor clear of floating lane rope,” Mateo explained.
“It worked better than a round cage.”
Ms. Rios turned a page in her notebook.
“Do you have dated design files?”
“Yes,” Priya said.
“But this isn’t just about files.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oliver asked every team to submit their best modifications in advance.”
Sam opened his shoebox.
Inside were three damaged parts and a hand-drawn control circuit.
“He said the best designs would go into a surprise challenge,” Sam said.
“We thought he was helping us.”
Ethan studied the pieces.
He had been proud to watch those children work together.
Now he wondered whether he had invited someone to take advantage of their trust.
“What if his machine really is better?” Ethan asked.
Priya looked offended.
“Then he should enter a contest for adults.”
For the first time that afternoon, Carol smiled.
Nell finally looked at her grandmother.
“Why did you put garbage in the pool?”
Carol hesitated.
“Because I thought I could force Ethan to stop the demonstration.”
“You could have told him.”
“I tried and failed.”
Nell shook her head.
“You made everyone think I was involved in wrecking his pool.”
Carol’s smile disappeared.
“I’m sorry.”
Before she could add anything, Ethan’s garage camera notified him that a crate was moving.
The feed showed Oliver carrying a black equipment case toward the driveway.
“He’s leaving,” Ethan said.
Ms. Rios grabbed her keys.
“Then we had better meet him outside.”
