Asteroid Crisis: Star Challengers Book 3 Read Free Page A

elements in a successful pool game was the law of reflection. A good pool player was able to calculate the angle from which the cue ball needed to be hit to bounce off the table’s walls and hit the next target ball.
    She slid the cue between her fingers. Equally important was knowing and understanding Newton’s Laws.
    Her mind rapidly figured that she needed to hit the cue ball at a 40-degree angle to hit the next striped ball. She knew where to point her cue on the cue ball to get it to spin properly. And she figured the amount of force with which she had to strike to get the right amount of speed. It was all science, a good eye, and a steady hand. Just one more example of the everyday value in understanding science.
    Another perfect hit! The ball sank into the side pocket.
    “Sounds like something JJ would be good at,” Tony said with a smile and a wink.
    JJ grinned. “Oh, speaking of math, how did you do on your last test?”
    “Got an 89, thanks to your tutoring. But I can do better,” Tony said as he took a pool cue from the rack on the wall.
    “We should probably put in some extra hours of studying, just to make sure.”
    “Hey, if there’s math in playing pool, maybe you can figure out a way to get extra credit,” Dyl said.
    Tony groaned. “I’m taking algebra. Billiards would be geometry.”
    “And a bit of physics,” King added.
    “Oh,” Dyl said. “This could be a problem.”
    King waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “Huh-uh. This is easy stuff—stuff you know already. But maybe you don’t know that you know, if you know what I mean.” He grinned.
    Tony approached the table, and mimicked what he’d seen Song-Ye do with the pool cue. However, he didn’t know how perfectly she’d calculated everything prior to her shot. He struck at the cue ball haphazardly. The ball rotated, spinning like a planet in place on the table.
    “Apparently Tony just reminded us there’s a difference between know-know and no-no?” Dyl joked.
    “I thought we were here to play billiards,” Song-Ye said, sounding testy.
    Dyl shrugged. “Oh, we are. But really, you could think of it as another study session. We’ve got to be ready for our next mission! Never know what that will be. Anything we learn might help us to figure out how to stop the Kylarn invasion!”
    “Uh-huh, and I figured my parents’ basement was a pretty private place where we can talk without getting interrupted,” King said. “My parents think it’s kind of cool that we’re bonding because of the Challenger Center.”
    Song-Ye rolled her eyes. “My parents are just happy that I’m learning to be social.”
    King started humming “You’ve Got a Friend in Me.”
    “So what’s the physics in this game, King?” JJ asked.
    “It’s about Newton’s Laws of Motion,” King said. “You know who Newton was?”
    Song-Ye gave a heavy sigh. “Newton … I miss him. I wish I could see him every day, instead of having to keep him in his cage at the Challenger Center.”
    “The little guy is cute,” JJ said, “but he’s from the future, and Mr. Zota wants to be careful that a hamster doesn’t change anything in our time.”
    Song-Ye tucked her straight black hair behind her ears. “I’m not sure what a hamster could change, even if he wanted to.”
    “Not any old hamster—a hamster from the future,” Dyl pointed out.
    “Not helping, Junior,” Song-Ye said.
    King gave a sharp whistle. “I’ve got the next best thing to a hamster.” A moment later, a dog with silky red fur bounded down the stairs into the basement and greeted King with frantic enthusiasm. “This is Copernicus.”
    Song-Ye gasped with delight and went over to introduce herself to the dog, letting him sniff her hand before petting him. The large Irish Setter sniffed all the young people and seemed to approve, demanding to be petted by each one in turn.
    “So, back to Newton—the scientist, not the hamster,” King said. “This month I’ve been learning