Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports

102

Mom-Marian Janssen-greeted the Chinese scientists warmly, so I figured they were offering her a big chunk of change to buy us as weapons.

"Are you finding out the information you need?" she asked. Ter Borcht snorted loudly over at his desk, and she cast him a glance.

"Are they cooperating?" Marian asked the room in general.

"What do you think?" I asked, just as Guy in a White Lab Coat said, "No."

Marian took out a PDA. "I told you I had much of this information, but I understood that you wanted to interview them yourselves. Now, what do you need to know?"

"How fast can they fly?" asked one.

Marian clicked her PDA. "Max, here," she said, gesturing to me, "has exceeded two hundred miles an hour, straight on, and upward of two hundred sixty miles an hour in a steep dive."

The scientists looked impressed. I started to feel an icy chill creep down my back.

"How high can they fly?" another one asked.

"Max has been documented at altitudes of approximately thirty-one thousand feet for short periods of time. Her oxygen consumption increased appropriately but created no hardship. Her normal cruising altitude is usually between fifteen thousand and twenty-two thousand feet."

Again the scientists looked impressed and made notes. One entered things into a calculator, then whispered results to the others.

I felt Nudge's and Angel's eyes on me, but I had a sinking feeling inside and didn't want to look at them. I was betting that Spy Mom had gotten all this information from my chip, the one I'd had Dr. Martinez take out.

The head guy looked at me speculatively. "How much weight can they carry?"

"We believe they can carry up to four-fifths of their own body weight for periods of up to an hour," said Marian. "And one-half of their body weight almost indefinitely."

Like our backpacks, for example.

"How much body fat do they have?" asked one of them. "Do they swim well?"

I decided to keep my mouth shut about Angel's ability to breathe under water.

"We believe they have normal swimming abilities but with greatly increased endurance," said Marian, cool as a polar bear's nose. "Their body fat is extremely low. Max is five-eight but weighs barely a hundred pounds. Of that weight, extremely little is fat or bone. Mostly she's made of muscle."

She's made of muscle. Like I was a kit that had been put together.

Okay, I get it. Shut up.

"But they can swim? They don't sink?" asked one.

Marian shook her head. "Their bones are extremely light and porous, filled with tiny air pockets. In addition to their lungs, they have peripheral air sacs along each side. They don't sink."

"Okay, this is stupid," I said in a bored tone. "There's no point in discussing this-except that it shows how clearly you need to get a life-because there's no way we're going to be weapons for anyone."

"That's right," said Nudge. "I'm not carrying bombs or assassinating anyone!"

That's right. We have standards, missy!

"You'll do what we tell you," said Marian chillingly. "I'm sure we can find some way to motivate you."

Instantly I thought that if they were hurting one of the others, I would do just about anything to stop it.

Again, information better kept to myself.

"I have to tell you, we don't work cheap," I told the Chinese scientists. "We'll need serious bling, big-screen TVs, vacations in Hawaii, and the best cheeseburgers that money can buy. For starters."

They nodded eagerly, thrilled at my giving in, which, frankly, was pathetic. I mean, don't they have cynics in China? Clearly these guys were not the brightest crayons in the box.