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INVENTC  8' An inventor's daughter uses his inventions

Because Michaela was so successful at rescuing people in
trouble, she decided to wear all her dad's inventions whenever
she went out of the house.

A few days later, on her way out the door, her dad held the ends
of a six-foot-long gold chain in his hands and said, I have
something new for you.

Michaela asked, "Is that just a decoration or is it a new
invention?"

Her dad replied, "Hold out your right hand."

Michaela did so.

Her dad said, "Watch!"

With that, he touched the middle of the long chain to her right
wrist, then dropped the ends of the chain on the floor.
Immediately, the chain wound itself around her wrist several
times. When it was almost completely wound around her wrist, she
noticed that one end of the chain was shaped like a snake head,
the other like a snake's tail. When the chain was completely
coiled around her wrist, the head of the snaked swallowed the
tail. Now the chain looked like an ordinary bracelet.

Michaela looked on her other wrist for a snake charm on the
charm bracelet. But there wasn't one.

"Do I get a charm for this snake?" asked Michaela.

"No." replied her dad, "This snake chain is for emergencies, in
case the charm bracelet stops working or is stolen. To activate
the snake, you squeeze the head three times. I'll tell you how
to use it when you get home from school."

But while Michaela was walking to school, a big panel truck
screeched to a stop on the street, the big side door slid open
and two men dressed in black ran out and covered her head with a
black bag and pulled her into the van. As the truck sped away,
the two men held her down while a third person poked her with a
needle. Almost immediately, she fell asleep.

When she woke up, she realized that the needle poking her was a
sleeping potion. When she looked around, she saw that she was in
a small room where all the walls, floor and ceiling were made of
steel. She heard the low rumble of a large engine and felt the
vibration. She figured that the men who kidnapped her had taken
her to a large ship and the ship was now cruising across the
ocean.

When she stood up, she realized that her shoes were missing. So,
she touched her neck to see if the kidnappers had taken the
necklace and earrings too. They had. All the inventions were
gone, except for the new snake bracelet.

Remembering what her dad said about the snake, she decided that
this was the emergency that he was talking about. She squeezed
the head of the snake three times. Immediately, the two eyes of
the snake glowed green and she could see a television picture of
the room in her left eye.

"There must be a camera somewhere in the snake's head. It's a
good thing those men didn't know I was wearing a lens in my
eye!" Michaela whispered to herself.

She played with the head of the snake until she discover that
there was a tiny camera in the nose of the snake. The glowing
eyes would allow the camera to see in the dark.

She pulled the tail out of the snake's mouth and noticed that
there were tiny push-buttons on the tail, resembling the buttons
on her DVD player at home. When she squeezed what she thought
was the ON button, the snake unwound itself from her wrist and
began slithering across the floor. She practiced controlling the
movement of the snake by pressing the arrow keys on the tail.

With every movement of the snake, she could see what the snake
was looking at. As the snake approached the steel door, the
snake could see through the crack under the door.

She guided the snake under the door, then had the snake look
both ways down the hallway outside. Seeing noone in the hallway,
she guided the snake up the outside of the door to the handle.
The head of the snake was small enough to fit into the lock of
the door, so she guided the snake into the lock. When she pushed
the button on the tail that looked like a glove, the snake's
mouth grabbed the locking mechanism and the door lock clicked.

Michaela turned the door knob and the door clicked open. She
carefully gathered up the snake chain in her hands and made her
way up to the top deck of the ship. There she was met by another
locked door. Again, she guided the snake under the door to see
if the way was clear, then she unlocked the steel door and
stepped up on deck.

She sneaked up to the wheel house where the men who kidnapped
her were all gather around the map table. When Michaela guided
the snake under the wheel house door, she could see that the men
were all examining the charm bracelet, the necklace, the
earrings and the shoes. They were cussing and swearing because
they couldn't get any of them to work.

If Michaela was going to have any chance of getting off this
ship, she would have to get those inventions back and put them
on. But she needed a diversion to get the enemy agents away from
the inventions. So, she guided the snake over to an electrical
box, she unlocked it and she turned off the electricity.

One of the kidnappers pointed to the radar scope and shouted,
"Something's wrong with the radar! Check the antenna!"

Michaela hid as the two men came out the door. Then as soon as
the men climbed to the roof of the wheel house and out of sight,
Michaela guided the snake to look over the top of the map table
to see if the third man was watching. He wasn't. He was busy
trying to repair the radar display.

So, Michaela guided the snake to pick up the earrings and carry
them under the door into her hands. She put them on and
whispered, "Daddy, can you hear me?"

"Yes, punkin, I can hear you. But we can't see you on the
tracer. What's going on?"

"Some enemy agents kidnapped me on the way to school. They stole
all the inventions except the lens and the new bracelet. I just
got the earrings back using the bracelet. That's how I'm able to
talk to you."

Her Dad replied, "If you can, you need to get the charm bracelet
and activate it, so the tracer will tell us where you are."

Michaela replied, "Understood."

She knew she could guide the snake up onto the map table and
retrieved the charm bracelet. But she also knew that when she
dragged the bracelet under the door, the man inside the wheel
house would hear the jingling of the charms against the rough
floor. So, she needed another diversion. She guided the snake to
the other electrical boxes along the wall until she found the
box marked "ENGINE".

She unlocked the box and turned off the electrical power to the
engines and the engine noise suddenly quit.

"What now?!" exclaimed the agent. He ran out the door and below
decks to fix the engines.

As soon as he was gone, Michaela sneaked into the room and put
on the remaining inventions. Then she press the "X" charm to
activate the trace.

"Can you see me now, Daddy?" she whispered.

"Yes! Yes, you're on our radar screen, We're on our way. Will
you be alright?" replied her dad.

But Michaela didn't answer. She saw the men on the roof of the
wheel house coming down. So, she ran out of the wheel house.
They saw her and gave chase.

She turned the corner and as soon as she was out of sight, she
squeezed the garage door opener charm and disappeared. The two
men ran by her and down a stairway. Then Michaela let go of the
charm and reappeared. She went back to the wheel house and
restarted the radar and the engines, she turned the ship around
and headed toward shore.

She knew that this would bring the enemy agents back up on deck,
but she had a surprise for them. She guided the snake's mouth to
bite and hold on to a bolt in the wall. Then she stretched the
chain across the aisle about ankle high. When the enemy agents
came running, they tripped over the chain and knocked themselves
out.

Michaela turned on the see-through camera and watch to see the
agent from the engine room come running up the stairs. When he
got to the door, she activated the glove charm and aimed the "X"
at the door. When he pushed open the door, she commanded "Push
that."

The door slammed him in the face and knocked him backward down
the stairs.

By the time the army helicopter came, Michaela had all of the
men on the ship tied up and ready to be taken to jail.

Her dad asked, "So, how do you like the new snake bracelet?"

Michaela smiled and answered, "I thought I already had all the
inventions I needed to beat the bad guys. But I really needed
this!"

So, from then on, Michaela wore the snake bracelet even when she
wasn't wearing the other inventions.

©2008 Bob Snook. Conditions for use:
This story is free. Pay no fees or royalties.
Do not sell this story or rewrite it.
You may reproduce and distribute this story freely,
but all copies must contain this copyright statement.
http://www.fea.net/bobsnook/kid  email: bobsnook@fea.net

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