Chapter 24

24 FRANK PUTS THE TAPE BACK OVER WATSON'S MOUTH. Frank quickly slides the lever up on the Electro-Finger. "Maybe just a bit more power." Frank aims the Electro-Finger down into the whirlpool and pulls the trigger. Klink's webcam eye twirls in circles. "Beeeeeeeeeeep." "Oops. Sorry, Klink." Frank adjusts the

frequency knob and pulls the Electro-Finger trigger again. Klank's antenna blinks off and on. His keyboard starts playing "Old MacDonald Had a Farm." "Sorry, sorry, sorry." The raft spirals deeper into the whirlpool. Frank looks up, analyzing the situation. "Well, so much for that hypothesis." Watson wriggles out of his ropes and rips the tape off his mouth. "Hypothesis? I've got a hypothesis! We are goners!" Franks powers down the Electro-Finger. Klink's eye stops spinning. Klank's antenna stops flashing. "Old MacDonald" grinds to a stop. "That's not really a hypothesis," says Frank. "It's more an observation. Maybe even an opinion." "Aieeeeee!" says Watson. "What if we jump? Maybe we can swim out of this."

The raft spins crazily around the inside of the whirlpool. "OK!" says Frank. "Now that's a hypothesis. But not a very good one. We can't overpower the water." "We have to do something!" says Watson. "Electrical energy didn't work," says Frank, thinking out loud. "Maybe some other form of energy would." "Sound energy!" bleeps Klank. "Badang badang badang." Klank blasts his Robot Boogie. "Badang badang badang." The raft circles faster. The turbine hum vibrates louder. Frank shakes his head. "No." Klink holds up his magnet attachment and corkscrew. "No, and no," mutters Frank. Watson desperately searches his pockets. "My peashooter!"

"Hmmm..." Frank scratches his head. "Yes, Watson. That's it!" The nose of the raft tilts down, headed for the humming, thrashing bottom. Watson loads his peashooter, trusting that Frank Einstein has a genius idea. "Who do I shoot? What? Where?" "No shooting!" Frank yells over the growing roar of the sloshing water and the churning turbine. "But let's use the same principle! Newton's Third Law!" "For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction," Klink quotes calmly. "Yes!" says Frank. "Klank! Set your rockets on FULL THRUST and stick your feet out the back of the raft!" The raft twists and shudders. Watson grabs the front of it to keep from falling over. Klank uses his monkey-wrench hand to turn his rockets to FULL THRUST. "I knew my new

hand would come in handy!" Klank obeys Frank's command and sticks his feet out the back of the raft. "Everyone hang on tight! Klank, fire your rockets!" Klank pushes the green button on his side, and his mini Saturn V F-1 foot rockets ignite with a small ffwump. The raft circles the inside of the whirlpool more quickly. But now it rises, slowly spiraling up the tunnel of water. Frank Einstein yells, "More power!"

Klank increases his foot rockets to OVER THRUST. The raft surges. Frank turns Klank to steer.