4 A New Scope

Chapter Four A New Scope Over the next few days, Elias's friends tried to cheer him up. They were getting ready to go on a mission to another planet. They were pretty sure this one wouldn't explode. Maybe. But Elias kept thinking about the robot that had caught fire in his bedroom. At breakfast in the Marlowe's great hall, he doodled more versions of it. "Forget about the gerbilbot," said Finn. "Think of it as a controlled burn. You know, like we learned in science class? Like when you're trying to get rid of weeds. Sometimes you burn them on purpose so they can't come back." "Yeah, but the robot wasn't a weed," said Elias. "And the burn was out of control!" "No," said Vale. "The bad ideas are the weeds. And the fire on your carpet is, um, I don't know.

That was just a fire, I guess." "No more fires!" said Finn's mother, the captain of the Marlowe, as she strode into the great hall. She had come to tell them about their next mission. "There won't be any surprises this time," she said. "I promise." She told the explorers they were traveling to a planet with no threats. In fact, there were no aliens at all. There were plenty of plants and what looked like running rivers. But the Marlowe's scientists had scanned the entire surface and not seen a single animal. Captain Caspian left to get her own breakfast. "It sounds kind of boring," said Elias after she'd left. He stirred his cereal with rehydrated milk but didn't actually eat. "What's the point of going to a planet that doesn't have life?" "Because," said Abigail, "it looks a lot like Earth. The adults think it has everything humans need to live: oxygen, water, plant life. It could be perfect." "I'm with Abigail," said Finn. "This could be the type of planet we've been looking for. Besides, it has two suns. That's kind of cool."

"Well, I'm with Elias," said Vale. "Unless he's planning to set more things on fire. Then I am definitely not with Elias." "I want to go with you!" said Finn's little sister, Paige. She popped her head out from under the table, where she'd been hiding the whole time. "It doesn't sound boring to me!" "Paige, you're too young," said Finn. "And too weird. Get out from under the table." Paige crawled out just as Voltronix Zu walked into the hall. "HELLO, YOUNG EXPLORERS. I AM AWESOME," said the robot. The kids all stared up at Voltronix. "Can we help you with something?" said Abigail. "YOU HELP ME? THAT IS HILARIOUS. BUT ALSO YES," said Voltronix. "CAPTAIN CASPIAN HAS GIVEN ME THIS DOOHICKEY AND TOLD ME TO USE IT. WHAT IS IT?" Voltronix held up a thin metal tube about the size of a large baseball bat. "It looks like an old-timey telescope," said Vale. "Or like a pirate's spyglass. You know, that

thing they would hold up to their eyes to see ships sailing in the distance." "THAT'S NOT IT," said Voltronix. "SAY SOMETHING ELSE. BUT MAKE IT RIGHT THIS TIME." "Wow, you're rude," said Finn. "Elias, could you take a look at it? I bet you could figure it out." Finn hoped that Elias would get excited to test out a new technology. But Elias just sighed and took the tube from Voltronix. "It's an investigative scope," said Elias, handing it back to Voltronix. "Wow, Elias," said Finn. "How did you figure that out so fast?" "It says the name right on the side," said Elias. Voltronix started to say something, but Elias stopped him. "And before you ask, I don't know what that means." "It's our other new invention," said Finn's mom. She walked back to their table carrying a tray of food. "It lets you look through the surface of objects so you can see what's inside them. It's like if you took an X-ray and a telescope and mashed them together."

"That's so cool," said Vale. He stood up and took the scope from Voltronix Zu. He raised it to his eye and pointed it at Finn's head. "Just as I suspected. Empty." "Get out of here," said Finn. He grabbed the scope and pointed it at the floor. "Whoa, cool! I can see the library below us. Through the floor!" "Can I see?" asked Paige, dancing around her brother. "Give me a second," said Finn. "One Mississippi," said Page. "My turn." Finn ignored his sister. "A thousand and one Mississippis, come on, Finn, let me see!" Paige climbed her brother, trying to get at the scope.

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