UNDERCOVER on the TITANIC (book 1)

Part 45 - Only a Prototype

Licia was about to say something but Denny charged into the office. 

'It wasn't my fault! It was your blooming algorithm bug. I was just Googling Harland and Wolff and the Olympic class steam ships and the world turned upside down. This is not supposed to happen. You said . . .' 

'Ah-um, Denny,' Dr Zhang interrupted quickly, 'perhaps we could hold the enquiry later, eh? How is the electric bookcase?'

'Fried,' Denny said tersely. 'I did warn you the power supply was over heating. Fortunately, I took the precaution of ordering a bigger one. We'll be back in business by Monday.'

'And another blooming thing,' Denny blustered. 'That sleazy technician from WongTime, Eric Bragg, got into the school with another guy just before it happened. The kids told me his name, Cusack.'

'Kozak,' I corrected. 'He works for a nasty character called Murga.'

'This Onderdonk, the man who called me, mentioned Kozak,' Dr Zhang mused. 'Do you know him?'

'Er, yes,' I admitted. 'Mr Onderdonk is a sort of policeman and he is trying to track down Murga. Dunc says Kozak is working for Murga.' 

'Dunc?    Ah-um, who is this Dunc person?'

Licia laughed. 'He's not a person . . . He's Ziff's uncle.'

I glared at her. Dr Zhang looked puzzled so I told him about our encounters with Dunc, Triple Oh and Murga. He listened thoughtfully but seemed amused as he summarized sceptically. 

'Ah-um. So, this Onderdonk character, who claims to be a Time Agent with an undercover goose, is trying to prevent Murga from kidnapping Ziff . . . Ah-um, forgive me for pointing it out, but this sounds like the plot from some kid's book. How do you know this is not a scam?'

'His name is Olaf Oscar Onderdonk,' I said stiffly. 'And Murga did grab me in the Galactic Deli and he has kidnapped my father.' I almost choked up as I remembered Dad falling down, drugged. 'And Onderdonk did rescue me, twice, and . . . I know it sounds totally crazy, but it really did happen.' 

'The story does seem a little implausible,' Dr Zhang agreed. 'Are you sure you didn't imagining this?'

'You talked to Triple Oh, Onderdonk, on the phone,' I spluttered. 

'Ah-um, that doesn't mean that he is not trying to steal my inventions.'

Denny noticed my face was turning purple.   'Lee,' he urged, 'I think you should check the damage right away.' 

'Ah-um, I think we can expect a few minor setbacks, Denny,' Dr Zhang said airily. 'It is only a prototype, after all.'

Denny glared at him. 'Are you insinuating that my engineering design work is not up to scratch? How about your spacial algorithms?'

'Ah-um, could we continue this discussion on Monday?' Dr Zhang asked us. 'We have to find out what went wrong. Then, I can answer your questions . . . but, in the meantime, I would like you to say nothing about this little . . . ah-um, incident, to anyone else.'

Licia and Miguel looked as tired as I felt but we were all surprisingly clean and unmarked by our experience. I spoke for the three of us. 'Okay.'

We stumbled sleepily down the corridor to the class room where we swept up most of the leaves and the torn paper bags and dropped them into the garbage container outside the loading dock. I half expected Kozak to pop out. 

'I can't wait to get home,' Miguel yawned sleepily. 'I'm going to eat a couple of chocolate chip cookies and then I'm gonna sleep until Monday.'

Licia chuckled. 'We have just survived a seriously . . . er . . . weird experience and all you can think of are cookies?'

'The correct expression is a random experience,' Miguel retorted. 

'I think we should talk more about this,' I said. 'But I think I need sleep first. How about we get together tomorrow, eh?'

'Okay, why don't you guys come over to my place tomorrow evening,' Licia suggested. 'Mom doesn't like me going out alone after dark.'

Back at 69 Sumac, I managed to stay awake long enough to brush my teeth but I didn't bother cleaning Pacman's teeth. He was asleep as soon as he curled up on the couch.

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This is the end of Book 1 but the story continues in Book 2 which I plan to complete publishing in 2021 September.