Alexander Brand, Nathan Hale Elementary's janitor, limped down the school hallway using his mop wheelie bucket as a makeshift cane. His bad leg was bothering him. Ever since the accident, it ached when a storm was coming. If he could just get off it for an hour or so, it would be as good as new, but he couldn't take a break. His boss wanted to speak with him.
He turned a corner and saw the school's librarian, Ms. Holiday, waiting for him by the supply closet door. She was blonde, with the kind of glasses that made her look both smart and feline. When he saw her, he couldn't help but smile, but he forced it from his face. It wasn't professional. But it was difficult to stay professional when she smiled back.
"If he wants to see us, it must be serious," she said.
Brand nodded. "It's always serious."
He took a set of keys from his coveralls and unlocked the closet door. Once inside, Ms. Holiday turned her attention to a shelf stacked with jugs of bleach and rolls of paper towels. Moving them aside, she placed her hand on the brick wall behind them, and suddenly a pinpoint of green light traced the outline of her fingers.
"Identity scanned and approved. Good morning, Agent Holiday," an electronic voice said.
"Good morning," she replied as Brand unzipped the front of his gray uniform, revealing a surprising sight-an elegant black tuxedo, complete with crisp white shirt and a shiny black tie. He checked his silver cuff links, brushed some lint off his shoulder, and snatched a white cane from the corner.
"How do I look, Ms. Holiday?" he said.
"Dreamy. You know, you can call me Lisa when we're alone, Alexander. After all, we've been dating for almost a month-"
"And we agreed that we were going to keep that a secret. I am your boss."
She put her finger to his lips. "Our secret is safe with me, Agent Brand."
Brand tried to put weight on his cane and stumbled backward. He scowled. He could disarm a nuclear bomb with one arm tied behind his back, but when Holiday was around he became a bumbling idiot.
"Good morning, Director Brand," the electronic voice said.
Brand righted himself. "We're going to the Playground."
"At once," the voice replied. "Delivering in three, two, one."
The floor beneath Brand and Holiday suddenly sank, and the two were sent plummeting deep into the earth aboard a tiny platform. They passed plumbing systems, electric cables, even the remains of an ancient graveyard long lost to history. Soon their platform zoomed into the bowels of a massive cave. Shadows tiptoed along the walls. Water dripped down from above and the air felt cold and thin.
"I can't wait for my secret entrance in the library to be finished. I hate taking this route," Ms. Holiday said as she slipped her hand into Brand's. "It's creepy."
Brand, however, was not frightened. On the contrary, he was fascinated! The cave reminded him of the abandoned mine he and his brother, Tom, had explored as children growing up in Colorado. Their grandfather, who raised them, had warned Tom and Alexander to steer clear of its tunnels, but the boys couldn't help themselves. By the time Tom left home to join the air force, the two brothers knew every twist and turn. Tom would have loved this cave.
"Alexander?"
Brand pulled himself out of his memory. "Yes, Ms.…Lisa."
"We're here."
Brand glanced around. He hadn't noticed that the platform had sunk into a room so wide and cavernous it could have doubled as a football field. Columns held up the arched ceiling, each pillar decorated in tiled mosaics celebrating the different areas of science-geology, chemistry, astronomy, and more. Machines filled the vast room, along with hundreds of worktables littered with computer parts, test tubes, circuits, and tools. Scientists in white lab coats bustled about, their hands filled with bizarre instruments and inventions. In the center of the room, a round platform stood a few feet off the ground. On it were five leather chairs surrounding a strange desk. The desk had a small hole cut into it and circuitry embedded beneath its glass surface.
As Brand and Holiday approached the platform, a glowing sphere shot out of the hole in the desk and zipped toward them, stopping within inches of their faces. The sphere was no bigger than a softball and covered in blue blinking lights.
"Welcome to the new and improved Playground, Mr. Brand, Ms. Holiday." The voice came from the blinking sphere.
"Nice to see you again, Benjamin," Ms. Holiday replied.
Unlike the voice in the broom closet, the ball's voice was dignified, proper, and even a little old-fashioned. Benjamin's personality was patterned after one of America's most famous spies, Benjamin Franklin. "What do you think of it?"
"Looks just like the old Playground," Brand said.
"At first glance, yes, but when you take a closer look you will see everything is beyond state-of-the-art-a hundred workstations, a biofueled power grid, and every square inch of wall space can now be adapted for an unlimited number of uses."
The tiles on the walls flipped over and converted into thousands of television monitors broadcasting everything from cartoons to the feed from cameras mounted on ATMs. They could observe every corner of the world from this room.
"Fancy," Ms. Holiday said.
"Indeed," Benjamin said proudly. "It wasn't easy after Heathcliff and Upgrade destroyed the school, but I believe the place will feel like home in no time."
"We have a meeting with General Savage. Could you activate the satellite link?" Ms. Holiday asked.
"Of course," Benjamin said, then emitted a series of clicks. The tiles on the walls flipped over to reveal a giant, bullet-shaped head. Its owner was one General Savage, a battle-hardened soldier who had seen his fair share of wars-a few he had fought all by himself. It was rumored the man could bench-press four hundred pounds and that his earlobes could deadlift twenty pounds apiece. His personality was just as tough.
"Good morning, sir," Brand said.
Savage nodded. "We've got an emergency. Have you got your facility up and running, Director?"
"All the important systems are operational. A little nail pounding won't get in our way," Brand said. "Is there trouble, sir?"
Savage's brows furrowed so deep they nearly covered his eyes. "As you know, NASA satellites monitor the globe. They've found an unusual electrical phenomenon near Akron, Ohio."
"What kind of electrical phenomenon?" Ms. Holiday asked.
"Imagine every flicker of electrical energy being sapped out of every device within a three-block area-no lights, no computers, no instant bank machines. Nothing."
"Are you suspecting sabotage, sir? It could just be a blackout," Brand said.
"Not according to this report." Savage lifted a huge stack of papers, then set them back on his desk with a loud thump! "I can't make heads or tails of any of it, so we brought in a scientist. In a nutshell, someone has built some kind of machine that is literally sucking electricity out of the power lines-even pulling it out of batteries. It's happened in seven different locations in Akron, Ohio."
"What kind of a machine needs all that power?" the librarian asked.
"That's your job to find out," the General said. "We don't know who built it or why they are using it, but if they mean to cause chaos for the United States of America, we need to stop them. This device could shut down communication, defense systems, hospitals, the police, banks, grocery stores, everything. Assemble your team, agents."
"They're on a mission, sir," Ms. Holiday said. "But they'll be back soon."
"Well, I hope they're close by. You're going to need all of your resources on this one."
