The Robot Ransom Read online

  Henry walked to the convention center. He stopped just inside the doors and looked at his phone. It showed where the bag was sitting on the bench. He peered through the large window next to the doors. Henry could see the bench, but the bag was hidden by the back of the bench.

  At the other side of the park, Jessie sat in a corner behind a big planter. Peeking over the planter, she scanned the sky. Was that the drone? No, it was only a seagull. A tiny speck moved high above. That must be an airplane.

  What if Mr. Thompson didn’t come? What if he changed his mind about the ransom? Or what if it was all a trick to keep them out of the contest? They were supposed to compete in one hour!

  A faint humming sound grew louder. Jessie looked straight up. The drone flew over the building, appearing right above her! She pressed back into the corner.

  As the drone kept going toward the bench, Jessie gave a sigh of relief. The camera was pointed slightly forward, not straight down. It must not have seen her.

  The drone hovered over the bench and turned in a circle. Jessie ducked behind the planter when the drone’s camera turned toward her. A few seconds later, she looked out again.

  The drone rose above the bench with the paper bag in its arms. The first part of their plan had worked!

  The drone swung toward Jessie again. She dropped down and pressed tightly against the planter. Of course, maybe it didn’t matter now if Mr. Thompson saw her. He would think she couldn’t chase the drone.

  The flying robot disappeared over the roof. Jessie jumped up and ran across the park to meet Henry. He said, “I called Rico. I told him the drone went in his direction.”

  Jessie and Henry raced around the building. A figure was jogging down the block away from them. “There’s Rico!” said Jessie.

  Henry spoke again into his phone. “Naomi, we’re going west. Join Coach in his car.” Naomi had been waiting in the other direction. She would have trouble catching them on foot.

  Henry and Jessie ran after Rico. A few blocks away, they caught up to him at the edge of a park. The three of them stood, panting. Rico said, “The drone came this far, but then I lost it.”

  Henry checked his phone. The map showed the drone very close. “It’s on the other side of this park.”

  They ran across the park. At the far side, they stopped and looked around. Several children played in the playground while parents waited on the benches nearby. A small parking lot held a dozen cars. Henry said, “The map shows the drone in the parking lot.”

  “I don’t see the drone or Mr. Thompson,” said Jessie. “Wait, that car trunk is open.” She pointed to a gray car not far away. The car was facing them, so with the trunk open, they couldn’t see whether anyone was behind it. They walked toward the car.

  Suddenly the drone flew up from behind the car. It held something large in its arms. A man stepped into view next to the car. Rico yelled, “It’s Mr. Thompson!”

  Mr. Thompson jumped and dropped something he was holding. He stared at the children for several seconds. Then he spun and ran away.

  Rico dashed after Mr. Thompson. Jessie called Coach Kaleka and told him where they were. Henry ran into the parking lot, but he was not chasing Mr. Thompson. He watched the drone because he had seen what it was holding.

  The drone flew up high and then dropped down again. It headed straight toward Henry. He got ready to grab it, but the drone jerked sideways before it reached him. Henry’s fingers gripped empty air.

  Now the drone was heading toward Jessie. But she was talking on the phone and looking the other way. Henry yelled, “Look out!”

  Jessie spun around. Her eyes widened as the drone came straight at her. She ducked just in time.

  The drone disappeared into the branches of a tree. Crash! The trees branches shook, and leaves dropped to the ground. A moment later, something fell out of the tree.

  Henry and Jessie ran to the tree. They stared at the thing on the ground. “Oh no,” Jessie whispered.

  DogBot lay in pieces on the ground.

  A few minutes later the other children joined them. Mr. Thompson and Coach Kaleka came too. They all stared at the mess under the tree.

  Henry dropped to his knees. “Our robot! It’s ruined!”

  Split Decision

  “I’m sorry,” said Mr. Thompson. “I didn’t mean for this to happen.” He looked up into the tree. “My drone must be stuck in the tree. It’s probably broken too. I was trying to return your robot, but when you yelled, you startled me. I dropped the controls, and the drone went wild.”

  Coach Kaleka boosted Henry into the tree. Henry was able to grab the drone and bring it down.

  Mr. Thompson looked at the drone’s twisted arms and let out a long sigh. “Oh well. I guess I deserve this. Anyway, here is your money.” He held out the paper bag.

  Jessie took the bag, which was still taped closed. “Did you open the bag?”

  “No,” said Mr. Thompson. “I was going to leave it at the conference check-in table for you. I decided I didn’t want the money. I only wanted to scare everyone for a little while.”

  “Scaring people is not nice!” said Benny.

  Mr. Thompson’s face went red. “I know it isn’t. I was so mad about getting fired from coaching. I thought I deserved some credit for the work I did.” He looked at Rico and Naomi. “I did help you get to the regional tournament, right?”

  They both nodded. Naomi said, “You helped a lot. But we didn’t fire you.”

  “You’re right,” Mr. Thompson said. “It wasn’t your fault, and I shouldn’t have tried to punish you. I let my anger get the best of me. I will tell the judges how I stole and broke your robot.”

  Naomi smiled at him. “I’m glad we found out the truth. The scary part was not knowing why this was happening.”

  Rico checked the time. “We only have half an hour until we compete. And no DogBot!”

  “Pick up the pieces,” said Coach Kaleka. “We need to go back to the conference center. You will compete with your new robot.”

  Rico sighed. “It’s not as good.”

  Coach Kaleka patted him on the shoulder. “You did your best. That’s what matters.”

  Mr. Thompson said, “You’re right. Doing your best is what matters. I had forgotten that. I guess you are a good coach after all.” He held out his hand, and Coach Kaleka shook it.

  They hurried back to the conference. The Silver City team was just finishing their test. The judge announced their time for the obstacle course. “Seventeen minutes and twelve seconds! That is the best time so far. The Silver City Gearheads also got through every obstacle. Good job.”

  The team members cheered. Logan spotted the Greenfield team watching and pointed at them. “Ha! You’ll never beat us. This year the Gearheads are cooking up a win, and you’re going to vanish in a puff of steam!” He did a little dance.

  “Congratulations on your time,” said Henry. He knew arguing with Logan would not help anyone.

  The Greenfield team began getting ready for their test. Meanwhile, Mr. Thompson and Coach Kaleka talked to the judge. They explained everything that had happened.

  The judge smiled at the Greenfield team. “You’ve had a very exciting morning. Well, let’s see what your new robot can do.”

  Henry placed the robot at the start of the obstacle course. He turned to his teammates. “Let’s do this.” They all bumped fists.

  The judge held up her timer. “Start!” Naomi flicked the switch to turn on the robot.

  NotDogBot moved in a straight line but then turned too soon and clipped a wall. Then around the next curve it turned a little too late.

  “It keeps missing the turns,” said Henry.

  Naomi sighed. “I think the timing is off with the new body.”

  “You worked so hard on that for DogBot,” said Jessie. “We must have tested it a hundred times.” After several tries, NotDogBot made it through a doorway.

  The next section had lots of colored balls. NotDogBot tried to use its mechanical
arms to push balls out of the way. Several times a ball got stuck under the robotic arm. “That’s my fault,” said Rico. “The joints seemed stiff yesterday. But I didn’t have anything to help them slide.”

  Minutes ticked past. Finally the robot got through the room. Everyone let out a sigh of relief.

  Next the robot had to go over a pile of rocks. NotDogBot slowly crawled up the rocks. The pile shifted, and the robot slid backward. One wheel got caught between two rocks. Rico stared at NotDogBot as if he could move the robot with his mind. The robot rocked forward and backward on the rocks.

  “It’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to!” said Jessie. “I remember how hard we worked on the programming for this. It was so much harder than simply getting DogBot to go forward.”

  Finally NotDogBot freed its wheel. It reached the top of the pile and went down the other side.

  Rico wiped sweat from his forehead. They were getting close to the end of the obstacle course.

  NotDogBot reached a ramp. “It’s not aimed right!” said Jessie.

  “It’s all right,” said Henry. “Its sensors saw the problem. Remember, we planned for this kind of thing. It’s backing up and getting lined up.” Everyone whispered encouragement to the robot.

  But at the top of the ramp, one of NotDogBot’s wheels slid off the side. The wheel spun and spun in the air. NotDogBot could not go forward or backward.

  Finally Naomi said, “I think it’s stuck for good.”

  The judge said, “You are out of time.”

  “Yes!” Logan pumped his fist and gave his teammates high fives.

  Jessie said, “We got pretty far.” She turned to Rico and Naomi. “I’m so impressed you built NotDogBot in less than a day!” The Greenfield team members all congratulated one another. Coach Kaleka beamed with pride.

  The judge said, “Good job. We will announce the winners shortly.” She joined some other people, and they talked for a while. Finally the judge got on stage and asked for everyone’s attention. “We have an unusual situation today. We have two winners. We are going to award the prize money to the Silver City Gearheads.” The Silver City team ran to the stage. The judge added, “But the trophy goes to the Greenfield STEAM Team.”

  “What?” Logan exclaimed. “But we won fair and square! We had the best robot and the best time. Greenfield didn’t even finish.”

  The Greenfield team members slowly walked onto the stage. They could hardly believe what they had heard.

  The judge shook them each by the hand. Then she turned to the audience and said, “We hope young people will learn a lot by building robots. We judge the teams based on many things. Completing the course quickly is only part of the test. The point of this contest is to use technology to solve real problems. The Greenfield team did that better than any other team. They faced a problem when their robot was stolen, and they showed great creativity and teamwork in trying to solve that problem.”

  Jessie, Henry, Naomi, and Rico grinned. Violet and Benny waved from the audience.

  The Silver City coach stepped forward. “What about the national competition?” she asked.

  The judge said, “Silver City will advance to the national tournament. They showed excellent robotics skills. They also worked well as a team.” She looked at Logan and added, “Even if they did not always show good sportsmanship to other teams. Keep working on that.”

  The judge handed the trophy to Naomi. “The trophy goes to Greenfield. I hope it will help them remember their hard work and success.”

  The teams left the stage as people cheered. Violet and Benny admired the trophy. The Silver City team caught up to the Greenfield group. Logan said, “Hey, wait a minute. What was that about your robot being stolen? Was that really true?”

  Naomi and Rico took turns explaining what had happened. Soon they were chatting cheerfully with the Gearheads.

  Henry’s phone rang. “It’s Grandfather!” He pulled his siblings aside and answered the call. He put the phone on speaker so they could all hear.

  “The contest is over, right?” Grandfather asked. “How did it go?”

  “Great!” said Henry.

  Jessie laughed. “We didn’t win the money.” She looked at the trophy. Then she looked at her teammates, who were now also her good friends. “But we got something worth more than four hundred dollars.”

  “Oh? It sounds like you have a story,” said Grandfather. “Tell me all about it tonight. I’ll see you soon.” They agreed and said good-bye.

  “Now you have DogBot and NotDogBot,” said Violet. “But I miss our not-bot dog, Watch. I’m glad we’re going home tonight.”

  “Me too,” said Jessie. “But first we should celebrate.”

  “The best way to celebrate is with ice cream!” said Benny. He held up the trophy with a grin. “This thing is nice, but dessert is what I call a prize!”

  Turn the page to read a sneak preview of

  THE DOUGHNUT WHODUNIT

  the next Boxcar Children mystery!

  “Woah! Look at that!” said Benny. He pointed across Main Street, where people were standing in a line that stretched far down the sidewalk.

  “I wonder what they’re waiting for,” said Jessie. She read aloud from the colorful sign. “‘The Donut Dispensary.’ That place wasn’t here the last time we came into town.”

  “Another doughnut shop!” said Benny. “That makes two in Greenfield!”

  The Alden children crossed the street. But when they got to the store, they couldn’t see very much. The crowd of people was too thick to see into the window or doorway.

  “Maybe we should come back later when the line isn’t so long,” said Henry.

  Violet agreed. “Even if people think this place is so great, I can’t believe their doughnuts are better than the ones they make at Delilah’s Doughnut Shop. And there’s never a line like this there.”

  “These doughnuts look crazy!” said Benny, coming out of the crowd. “I ducked down and got close to the window, and I saw one that had bacon and syrup on it!”

  “I don’t know if that sounds great or terrible.” Jessie chuckled. “But I am curious what other kinds they have.”

  “It doesn’t look like there’s any place to sit,” said Henry.

  “That’s weird,” said Violet. “I like to sit down and enjoy my food, like we do at Delilah’s.”

  “I agree,” said Jessie. “Why don’t we go see what’s going on there?”

  “And get some doughnuts!” said Benny. “Do you think they have ones with bacon and syrup?”

  “Oh, Benny,” said Jessie. “You know the real attraction is our friends, Dawn and Steve. I wonder how they feel about the new doughnut shop in town.”

  The children turned to leave, but a tall, thin delivery man in a brown uniform was right behind them. He had a two-wheeled hand truck loaded with boxes and was trying to get through the crowd.

  “Sorry, folks,” he said. “Sorry. I need to get in the door. Thanks for moving aside.”

  As the Aldens stepped to the side, one of the boxes started to fall and Henry caught it.

  “Woah, nice reflexes, young man,” the delivery man said. “Thanks for the help.”

  “No problem,” said Henry, setting the box back onto the stack. “Do you need help getting that inside?”

  The delivery man shook his head. “I should be able to weave my way in. Thanks again.”

  As the man disappeared into the crowd, the Aldens continued on their way. It was only a few blocks to Delilah’s.

  At the shop, it looked like both Steve and Dawn were extra busy, even though the store wasn’t full of customers. The Aldens left their jackets at a table and went up to the counter. On the racks were signs with the names of each kind of doughnut: glazed, powdered sugar dunkers, chocolate dunkers, jelly doughnuts, and Delilah’s Classic Buttermilk Dollie Doughnuts.

  “They all look so good,” said Jessie. “I don’t think I can decide. The chocolate dunkers are kind of gooey in a great way. And the
buttermilk ones are so puffy and tasty. And then there are the glazed ones that practically melt in your mouth. Mmmm.”

  “We could each order a different one and share them,” suggested Violet.

  “You guys can do that,” said Benny. “I want one of each!”

  Henry, Violet, and Jessie laughed. “You can order one, Benny,” said Henry. “We can each pick our own favorite. And let’s get some milk too.”

  All this time, Steve hurried to and fro, carrying trays of doughnuts from the back room. When he saw the Aldens, he smiled and waved at them, and then he hurried away.

  “Poor Steve,” said Dawn, after she took the children’s orders. “Our apprentice baker quit last week, and we don’t have a replacement yet. We have more work than we can keep up with right now.”

  “Why did he quit?” asked Benny. “I think it would be fun to work here.”

  Dawn sighed and looked down. “I wish I knew why he quit. Nathan was such a good worker, even though he and Steve sometimes disagreed. He told us he was leaving only three days before he went. That’s not enough time to find a good replacement.” Dawn looked frustrated and a little sad.

  “We can help, Dawn,” offered Henry. “We’re on spring break now. We can do lots of things for you this week.” The other children nodded.

  “That would be such a big help!” said Dawn. “But are you kids sure you want to be helping out here while you’re on break?”

  “What could be better than being surrounded by doughnuts?” asked Benny.

  “Great!” said Dawn. “But first, have your doughnuts. I’ll come over to your table when things quiet down.”

  While they waited, the children ate their doughnuts and looked around the familiar shop.

  “This shop feels happy,” said Benny as he wiped crumbs from his mouth.

  Henry laughed. “I think you mean that you feel happy being here, Benny,” he said.

  “Delilah’s has lots of happy customers,” said Jessie. “Most of them stay and chat with each other.”

  “I like hanging out here too. The old photos and posters are so interesting,” said Violet. “They seem like old friends I’m visiting.”