Chapter 15

15 ON THE SANDY GROUND AT THE TOP OF THE HIGHEST HILL UNDER the oldest oak tree in the Midville Forest Preserve, the last wave of the red-ant army attacks the entrance to the black ants' hill. A line of giantheaded black soldier ants meet and mow down the charge, easily chopping the red ants to pieces with their jagged, oversized mandibles. The invading red-ant army is reduced to a

scattering of heads, abdomens, and thorax parts, bent feelers, and ripped-off legs. The black-ant army is victorious. A speck appears in the blue sky near the horizon. The speck grows larger. The speck takes the shape of a bike flying above the ground, carrying a hunched-over figure. The flying bike zooms into full-size close-up, banks around the oak tree, and drops suddenly and quickly to the ground right next

to the black ants' hill. One large sneaker-covered foot swings over the bike and down, right on top of the band of black soldier ants, smashing two flat and scattering the rest. The kid wearing the sneaker sits down on the slate rock under the oak tree, folds his arms across his chest, and stares out over the whole town of Midville spread below, thinking a thousand thoughts, electrical impulses in his brain jumping from neuron to neuron, oblivious to the ant chaos he has just caused under his rubber-tipped toe. Frank Einstein—because, really, who else drives a flying bike?—thinks.

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The Earth revolves. Time passes. Frank feels flattened. Like he has been stomped by a giant shoe. The ants next to Frank's sneaker begin digging a new tunnel, begin mounding a new anthill. Frank mutters darkly to himself, "'Best invention ever... Single drop of water... The Edison Antimatter Motor...'" Frank forms thoughts of smashing, breaking, throwing everything away. The Earth revolves. Frank mutters more. "Even Watson... Robots lost... Oh no, Grampa Al—" "At your service." Frank looks up to see Grampa Al, who has just stepped out from around the oak. "Huh? How...? What are you doing here?" Grampa Al slings off a small rucksack and sits down on the rock next to Frank.

"I heard about the Science Prize. And I didn't have any luck tracking down Klink and Klank. So I thought I might just hike up here and take in this great view." Frank looks out over Midville. "Nothing great about it today. Everything is wrecked. What a disaster." Grampa Al hands Frank his canteen. "Oh, I don't know. It's pretty much the same world it was yesterday. Sun still shining, oak leaves still working their photosynthesis, these ants right under us still digging and hauling." Frank takes a long swig of water. It does taste good. "But the Science Prize, Klink and Klank, your shop, your place..." "Ahhhh, none of that's a big deal. You've still got that Frank Einstein brain of yours, right?" "Yeah."