Benjamin Franklinstein Meets the Fright Brothers (13 page)

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Authors: Matthew McElligott

BOOK: Benjamin Franklinstein Meets the Fright Brothers
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MOMS, DADS,
BROTHERS
AND SISTERS!
Please help us with our
plan to control
litter in Fairmount Park!
Everyone in Philadelphia
is invited to help us clean it up
this Wednesday
, from morning until
night, using
whatever tools you have at hand.
Rain clouds
or sunny skies, we'll be there.
 
Be sure to
stop
by
the
registration tent at Lemon Hill Mansion to sign in. And don't forget your glove and
bat
. Afterward, we'll celebrate with a softball game and a recycled paper
airplane
contest.
Thanks for your help.
Philadelphia needs you!
Victor removed the letter from the hot bulb and handed it to Franklin.
“This is terrible,” Franklin said, frowning. He read the secret message aloud.
“Brothers plan to control everyone in Philadelphia this Wednesday night, using rain clouds. Stop the bat airplane. Philadelphia needs you!”
 
INVISIBLE INK INSTRUCTIONS
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A Daring Plan
“Rain clouds?”
Scott said. “How are they going to use rain clouds to control everyone?”
“How indeed?” Franklin mused. “The brothers have already demonstrated that they can control people, but only on an individual basis. This must be the next step in their plan.”
“We need to know more about that bat airplane,” Victor said. “If we can find its weakness, we might be able to—”
“Aaaa-choo!”
Scott sneezed into the crook of his arm. “Excuse me.” He sniffled. “Dust.”
“One of these days, I shall have to give this laboratory a thorough cleaning.” Franklin searched his jacket. “I'm afraid I haven't a handkerchief for you.”
“That's okay,” Scott said. He reached into his pocket, found a piece of paper, and brought it up to his nose.
“Hold it!” Victor shouted. “That piece of paper—”
“It's okay,” Scott said. “I only used it once. The other side's clean.”
“No, that's not it. Please, just lay it out on the table.”
Scott sniffled and unfolded the paper. The page was covered in words, numbers, and diagrams.
“Blueprints from the warehouse!” Victor said.
“Sure. You gave it to me when I had to sneeze. Hey, it's a drawing of that bat airplane thing.”
“A stroke of luck,” Franklin said, adjusting his bifocals.
A diagram of the large bat airplane filled most of the page. Written above it was the word
Megabat
. At the bottom, the diagram depicted a large tank suspended beneath the Megabat with a dozen spray nozzles sticking out of it. The words
Harmonic Fluid
were written to the side of the tank.
“Jaime said that the Wright brothers would use clouds to control everyone,” Franklin said. “They must mean to use harmonic fluid to poison the rain! It pains me to think that Promethean inventors could be capable of such evil.”
“But remember, the Wright brothers aren't really responsible,” Victor said. “It's the Emperor. They're just under his control.”
“Who
is
this Emperor anyway?” Scott asked.
“We don't know,” Franklin said. “But now that he knows who
we
are, that makes him even more dangerous.”
 
MEGABAT BLUEPRINT
“So how do we stop him?” Victor said. “The Wright brothers are going to strike in just a few days. It's too risky to return to the bicycle factory.”
“
It is risky to go most anywhere,” Franklin said. “The Emperor is sure to be watching. We must plan our next steps carefully.”
He stood and paced the laboratory floor.
“If we can't reach the airplane while it's inside the warehouse,” reasoned Franklin, “then we will have to wait until it is out in the open, on the evening of their plan.”
“Won't that be cutting it kind of close?” Scott asked.
“I think Ben's right,” said Victor. “It's our only option. But even once it's out in the open, how will we stop it?”
“We could use a net,” Scott suggested. “That's how my dad catches bats in our attic. If we had a giant butterfly net, we could grab them when they fly by.”
“Scott,
please,
” said Victor. “We're trying to think.”
“Now, now, Victor. Scott might be on to something.” Franklin leaned in. “What if we
could
build a net? Could we make it strong enough to bring down the Megabat?”
“It's ridiculous,” said Victor. “We can't make a net that big. And even if we could, there's no way we could make it strong enough. The Megabat would fly right through it.”
“But you're forgetting,” Franklin said, “their airplane will be carrying a massive tank of harmonic fluid. That means it may be susceptible to an overdose of electricity, just like me. What if we were to invent an
electric
net?”
“Yeah, that's what I meant!” Scott said. “An electric net!”
Victor shook his head. “For one thing, to bring down the Megabat we'd need a phenomenal amount of electricity. Where would that come from? And besides, how would we get the net in the air? It's crazy.”
“If I didn't know better,” said Franklin, with a wink, “I'd say you were telling us to go fly a kite.”
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S KITE EXPERIMENT
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
The Man in the Silver Suit
An hour later,
Ben, Victor, and Scott were studying a crude diagram on the chalkboard. It was a combination of Franklin's inventiveness and Victor's knowledge of modern-day technology. For his part, Scott had contributed several cartoon drawings of vampire bats floating in the sky above.
“Okay,” said Victor, “suppose we do manage to build this electrified net of kites. The weather forecast calls for rain showers but not thunderstorms. Without lightning, we can't electrify the net.”
“Then we shall have to create it ourselves,” Franklin said.
“Create lightning?” Victor said. “How?”
“My dad is a meteorologist,” said Scott. “He knows tons about lightning.”
Victor sighed. “Don't take this the wrong way, Scott, but this is a little out of his league. We'd need a real meteorologist.”
“My dad
is
a meteorologist.”
“Scott—”
“You don't know him, Victor. He's the best there is. He just does that funny stuff to make the weather more fun to watch.”
Franklin chuckled in agreement. “Your father certainly is fun to watch.”
“This isn't about having fun,” said Victor. He turned back to the diagram on the board. “Now, do you think your father could put us in touch with the guy who does the morning forecast? What's his name . . . Jason something?”
“Look, Victor.” Scott stood up, his face reddening. “I always do what you say. You're the smart one. But this time you're wrong. Just because my dad puts on a show doesn't make him a bad weatherman.”
“He mispronounced
Arkansas
in his forecast last week.”
“Everybody makes mistakes,” said Scott. “Even you. Remember your volcano?”
Victor winced at the memory of his science project run amok. “This is hardly the same thing. We can't trust this operation to a man who dresses like a giant bicycle seat.”
“You think he likes doing that?” Scott shot back. “If the stupid station wasn't making him pay for the camera—”
“That
he
broke, riding that scooter instead of delivering the forecast like a normal weatherman—”

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