The Brainiacs (5 page)

Kip was itching to get back up to the stage and check it out. But to get there, he and Finbar would have to scale the padded wall up to the air vent.

Luckily, Kip's latestWorldCorp mission-gear pack included GoRope.

GoRope looked like a simple spray can with a fat nozzle. The nozzle shot out a high-tech polymer strong enough to support the body weight of ten grown-ups.

Kip aimed the GoRope just below the vent and squeezed the nozzle. The polymer jetted out in a thick, flexible string. At first it was sticky enough to cling to the padded wall. A few seconds later, it dried and became a flexible rope.

Kip grabbed the rope and pulled himself up to the vent. Finbar followed close behind.

The vent led out to the lobby. The opening was at floor level, hidden beneath the hovering registration table.

Kip peaked through the vent. If Einstein saw him, he'd make sure Kip was captured. But the lobby looked empty.

It must be almost time for the Grand Final
, Kip guessed.
Everyone's gone inside the
auditorium, including Einstein
.

Kip and Finbar hauled themselves through the vent and commando-rolled into the lobby.With the crowd all watching the stage, they were able to creep into the auditorium unnoticed. Einstein was on stage. The Grand Final was starting!

As Kip got closer, he could see the three finalists. There was Zut from Geekatron. Next to her was a young Clevor alien, the wildcard entry. The third finalist was the lizard alien Kip had seen setting fire to chairs earlier.

‘Welcome, finalists,' Einstein was saying. ‘Especially our wildcard entry, Einstein Jr!'

‘The finalist from Clevor is obviously Einstein's son,' Kip whispered to Finbar.

As Kip and Finbar tried to get closer to the stage, Einstein began the questions. The final was slightly different from the other rounds. There were two different parts and there was no sudden death – contestants got a point for each correct answer, and lost a point for a wrong one. The kid with the most points would win.

The first question was for Zut.‘Which creature is more venomous, a Flying Shark Spider or a Scorpion-tailed Kitten?'

Zut spoke immediately. ‘Both are harmless.'

‘Correct,' said Einstein, scowling. ‘Einstein Jr, which planet is famous for levitating popcorn?'

‘Zonol-B,' Einstein Jr answered correctly.

Then it was the lizard alien's turn, but she answered the question about an alien language containing clicks and beeps incorrectly.

‘That's negative one point, I'm afraid,' said Einstein, not looking very sorry.

The Clevor aliens in the audience waved their tentacles excitedly. Kip and Finbar were almost right at the stage, keeping just out of Einstein's view.

Einstein asked each contestant another two questions. At the end of the first round, Clevor and Geekatron were neck and neck at three points each, but the lizard alien was still on negative one.

‘Folks, it's the moment we've been waiting for,' said Einstein. ‘The Hot One Hundred! I'll ask a hundred questions at top speed, and contestants buzz in to answer. Anyone could win from here!'

Casually, Einstein walked over to Einstein Jr. ‘Anyone at all,' he repeated, patting his son's back.

When Einstein stepped away, Finbar turned to Kip, wide-eyed.

‘Did you see that?' he said. ‘Einstein stuck an electrode to Einstein Jr!'

If Kip squinted, he could just make out a hair-thin wire leading from the young brainy alien to the flashing orb of energy.

‘Einstein Jr's brain is going to be boosted with the stolen brain energy!' Kip guessed.

Clevor's cheating was worse than he thought. If Clevor won the quiz unfairly, Kip knew it'd only make Geekatron madder. But if Geekatron won, Einstein would be furious and keep trying to get revenge.

Geekatron and Clevor were already firing missiles on each other. If something wasn't done soon, the rivalry could end in interplanetary war!

CHAPTER 9

‘There's a way out of this,' Kip said. ‘What if neither planet wins?'

Finbar frowned. ‘But how? The lizard alien is way out of her depth. She won't win in a million light years!'

‘I'll create a distraction,' Kip said. ‘You sneak onto stage and switch the electrode to the lizard alien.'

Finbar looked troubled. ‘But won't that be cheating too?'

Kip hated cheating. But he couldn't see any other option. ‘I guess so, but if cheating stops interplanetary war, it's worth it,' he answered.

Then he unzipped his spacesuit and stuffed it into his backpack.

‘What are you doing?' Finbar whispered.

Underneath his spacesuit, Kip was wearing his favourite undies. These were no ordinary jocks – they were Rocket Undies. They were made of fine metal mesh and had a single-use jetpack stitched into the back.

‘Space streaking!' Kip laughed.

Kip fired up his undies and took off. He sailed about two metres above the ground and over the stage. All at once, the crowd burst out laughing, pointing and taking photos of Kip. It was chaos!

Einstein looked furious. ‘Security!' he shrieked. ‘Catch the streaker!'

While Einstein and the crowd were distracted, Kip saw Finbar make a split-second dash onto the stage, switch the electrode and disappear into the crowd again.

Time to get out of here!
thought Kip, zooming out of the auditorium and into the lobby. He touched down behind a large orange indoor plant and quickly pulled his spacesuit back on. The security guards raced right past him, tentacles flapping.

Crouched in his hiding spot, Kip heard the crowd settle down. The quiz was restarting. Einstein fired off the first high-speed question. The lizard alien buzzed in. The electrode was boosting her brain with energy from the orb.

‘Er, your answer is…correct,' Kip heard Einstein say in disbelief.

The lizard alien answered question after question. Sometimes Zut or Einstein Jr managed to buzz in just before her, but her score leapt ahead of theirs.

At the end of all 100 questions, the lizard alien had won by 84 points. Zut and Einstein Jr were tied for second place.

Out in the lobby, Kip felt a tug on his spacesuit leg. He leapt up in shock. Was it a brainy security guard?

‘This result was not what I calculated,' said a voice. Gorb! Kip had left his cell door open. Gorb must have escaped through the air vent like Kip and Finbar.

‘Your brain's normal again?' Kip said.

Gorb nodded. ‘The other kids haven't recovered yet, so I filmed them on my video watch,' he said. ‘The footage will prove what Einstein has been up to!'

‘Let's find Finbar and rescue the kids together,' Kip said to Gorb. ‘But watch out for Einstein. He'll nab us if he sees us.'

They sneaked back into the auditorium. The audience of brainy aliens was in uproar. Neither Clevor nor Geekatron had won the quiz. That had never happened before in any of the 33 standard galactic years it had been running!

Kip spotted Finbar through the crowd.

‘Einstein's furious!' he panted. ‘He knows it was us.'

‘You ruined my competition, Earthling!' he was ranting. At that moment, Kip saw Einstein plunging through the crowd towards them.

‘Gotta go,' said Kip, racing off.

Einstein's tentacles glooped furiously as he slithered after Kip.

CRACK!

‘What was that?' Kip spun around. Einstein's flashing bowtie was shooting coloured rays in his direction!

Kip saw a ray hit a Clevor alien from the crowd. The alien froze.

Some kind of stun ray,
Kip guessed, running even harder. But he couldn't run forever. He had to
do
something!

Kip ducked as a ray bounced off a shiny pillar in the lobby, narrowly missing him. That gave him an idea.

As he ran, Kip flicked his SpaceCuff to Mirror Mode. At once, the SpaceCuff's screen turned reflective. Einstein fired off another round of stun rays from his bowtie. Kip flung his arm out and caught a ray with his SpaceCuff.

The stun rays bounced off the mirrored screen and shot back at Einstein. The brainy alien dropped to his knees, temporarily stunned.

Yes!
Kip grinned.
My plan worked perf...

The thought trailed off as he looked around.

Kip
had
stopped Einstein. But now a whole crowd of Clevor aliens was coming for him!

CHAPTER 10

Kip took a deep breath. Clevor's aliens had been drawn into a rivalry with Geekatron, but they seemed friendly otherwise. They were obviously intelligent. Surely they couldn't support alien kids having their brains drained?

‘People of Clevor, Einstein is obsessed with beating Geekatron,' Kip yelled. ‘He's been stealing brain energy from alien children!'

The brainy aliens stopped advancing. They looked from Kip to Einstein and back again. Then they started whispering angrily to each other.

Kip switched his SpaceCuff to Translate. He had to find out if the Clevor aliens were angry at Einstein for stealing the energy, or at Kip for stopping him!

Phew
! Kip thought.
The Clevor aliens agree
with me.

A nearby Clevor alien shot out a tentacle and grabbed Einstein.

‘Is this Earthling telling the truth?' he asked Einstein.

Einstein looked furious.‘No-one understands how shameful it was to lose the first quiz!' he shouted. ‘You try being a loser with a name like Einstein!'

‘Is this why you wanted to become the quizmaster?' Kip asked.

‘Of course! I planned for Geekatron to make the finals this year,' Einstein said, grinning evilly. ‘Then my son would beat Zut. And everyone on Clevor would know that our family's the smartest!'

‘You made us fire actual stink flares at Geekatron!' the Clevor alien said indignantly. He turned to Kip. ‘Einstein told us that
Geekatron
were cheating. We nearly started a war because of his lies!'

The Clevor alien seemed deeply troubled. He ordered some nearby security guards to take Einstein away to be dealt with fairly. Then he turned to Kip.