5 Going Out for the Team

CHAPTER FIVE GOING OUT FOR THE TEAM Franny went outside and gathered up some scrap steel from her backyard. Igor watched as Franny began sketching out plans for some sort of new machines. "They'll need to be durable, Igor. Mom can really keep the pressure on, so these need to be extra, extra strong." Igor, who had no idea what she was talking about, nodded like he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"And they need to be smart. I have to make sure the brains are set up to follow instructions carefully." Igor gathered up a selection of brains from the brain cabinet and brought them to Franny. "Thanks, Igor, but I think I'm going to go with electronic brains on this project.

"These machines need to look good, but they don't have to be perfect. Mom keeps me moving so quickly that she doesn't always notice details. I remember one time she took me to soccer while I was still under the effect of that Mermaid Formula I developed. I played for two hours and she never noticed that I didn't even have legs.

"It won't be hard to make them good enough to fool Mom." Franny quickly made a few calculations and diagrammed some of the special features she would need to engineer them.

She whisked the plans off her drawing board and tacked them up on the wall. She turned to Igor and grinned her mad scientist grin. Outside, lightning cracked and Franny laughed. She loved it when lightning cracked just before she revealed a plan. "Igor," she said. "Behold, the Franbots!"