5 Help from the hub

Chapter 5 Help from the hub Hannah ran down the street, just behind Jackson. She nearly crashed into him when he suddenly stopped. "What's up?" she said. He sniffed the air. "Smoke." "Not again!" said Hannah.

Jackson shook his head. "Not burning food," he said. "Not that sort of smoke." Hannah sniffed too. "Hmm. It smells like..." "A Time Crunch!" said Jackson. He pointed to a wooden box on a nearby wall. It was roughly the size and shape of a letterbox. "See that? It's got wisps of smoke hanging around it." "So, DeLay was here," said Hannah. "But why? Let's see what's so interesting about that box."

They peered at it. A black object stuck out from the front. It looked like something you might speak into. On the side was a hook with another black object hanging on it. That one was connected to the box by a wire. "I think it's an early sort of phone," Hannah said. "You hold the bit on the side to your ear and speak into the front bit." Jackson rubbed some dust away. "It's got the word 'Bell' on the front," he said, "but I can't see one. Why was DeLay so interested in it?" "Let's try it," said Hannah. She picked up the side piece and put it to her ear. "Do I just speak?" she asked. "Or should I press something?"

The earpiece suddenly crackled, and a voice said, "Hello, losers." It was DeLay! Jackson took one look at Hannah's face and leaned in closer to listen. "I do so enjoy our chats. It would have taken those buffoonish workers all day to install that phone, but thanks to my Time Crunch they did it in a blink. You two must think you're so smart," DeLay taunted them, "but you're never as smart as me. And I just wanted to tell you that you won't ever get those plans back!" He snorted with laughter, and, with a click, he was gone.

Jackson's eyes lit up. "Hannah, there were hardly any phones in this time. But if DeLay can speak to us, he must be somewhere where they have another one. If we can find it, we'll find DeLay—and the plans. But where could it be?" "We'll call the History Hub," Hannah decided, "and ask the other Timekeepers if they can find out." She glanced around. No one was near, so she and Jackson flipped open their watches. A gallery of friendly faces appeared on the screens. "How can we help?" asked Min-Jun. Hannah quickly explained what had happened, while Jackson held up his watch to show them the telephone. "If we want to find DeLay and the plans, we need to do it quickly," Hannah

told them. "But there isn't time to search every building for another phone." "We're on it," said Sarah. "That box telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell over ten years before your World's Fair. In 1889, not many people had ever seen one." "Oh, that's why it has 'Bell' written on it," said Jackson. Yasmin spoke up. "I'm sending a map of the fair to everyone's screens."