who preferred study hall to recess. He loved her for that. Evie once started a food fight at the mall with a high school boy whoâd made fun of Rickâs interest in obscure video games. The look on the kidâs face when Evie catapulted a two-gallon barrel of grape pudding at him was something Rick would never forget.
This happy memory faded as Rick, ever the focused perfectionist, brought himself back to the present. What bothered him the most was this trouble with his dad. Lane Industries had been developing cutting-edge technologies since the time of Rickâs grandfather, the companyâs founder. He had encouraged George, a genius scientist in his own right, to focus his research on robotics, engineering, propulsion, construction, climatology, and other cool fields like that. After Rickâs grandfather passed away, Dad continued the Lane family tradition, creating robots and hoverships that were now used all over the world, includingâas theyâd only just discoveredâby Evieâs nemesis, Vesuvia.
Recently, however, Rickâs dad had been spending more time on little pet projects, like saving rare birds and building them new habitats with roller coasters and birdbaths the size of Olympic swimming pools. Rick wanted him to focus on the important stuff, like keeping Lane Industries a viable business and not risking the future of the companyâand their family âby breaking Winterpoleâs never-ending list of rules.
2-Torâs metallic voice blatted out of the splintering loudspeaker hanging over the door. âRichard! Your father would like to show you something important. Please report to the cockpit without delay.â
Tardiness had been known to cause Rick to break out in hives, so he sprinted to the front of the
Roost
. The interior of the cockpit looked like a palatial living room, with fluffy carpets, leather sofas, a holographic display table, and a control console shaped like a pipe organ with ninety- seven various buttons and gauges. A sloped glass window stretched across the front wall.
Rickâs father was sitting behind the flight stick, studying a few blips on the navigation monitor and letting his well-crafted hovership do most of the work. Evie sat in the copilotâs chair, spinning in circles. Sometimes Rick didnât know how he and Evie were the same species, let alone brother and sister. That girl would rather scale the walls of their school with a grappling hook than sit inside and ace spelling bees. She was never happy in the moment, always looking for adventure. Meanwhile, Rickâs own idea of adventure was swinging from vines in
Jungle Joust 2
, an awesome retro arcade game he had downloaded the week before. He was glad that the game gave him the opportunity to, as the advertisement for the game suggested, âlive life on the wild side.â He would never do something like that in real life. He might fall and break his neck.
â2-Tor told me it was urgent?â Rick said when neither his father nor his sister turned around to greet him. Still getting no response, he added, âI did a visual scan of the area. No sign of Winterpole hoverships anywhere. But that doesnât mean that theyâre not out there.â
His father continued studying the display screens, ignoring Rick like he always did when he had one of his crazy ideas.
âDad, I donât see why you insist on being Winterpole enemy number one. Is there some sort of prize? A coupon for fifty percent off birdseed?â
âYeah, uh-huh.â George finally looked up. âI want to show you my new project.â
Rick breathed a sigh of thank-goodness. His father was actually involving him in Lane Industriesâ latest venture. The more Rick knew about the company, the better he would be at running the family business when he eventually took it over.
âWhatâs the project, Dad?â Evie asked.
âGarbage!â
Garbage. That