Professor Reese’s shoulders slumped. “No luck, TJ. I guess we’ll just have to wait until the museum opens.”
She sat down on the floor, leaned against the wall, and closed her eyes.
But I wasn’t ready to sit yet. I walked back and forth across the room and thought, Since science got us stuck in here, maybe science can get us out. “It seems like with all these domes and beakers and cranks and pulleys and pipes, there should be something we can do.”
From the other side of the door, Baxter whined.
“What is a battery, anyway?” I asked Professor Reese, because I realized just then that I didn’t really know.
“A battery converts stored chemical energy into electrical energy,” she said.
Baxter whined louder.
“OK, so a battery gives off electricity. That makes sense.” I looked at the shelves. “Can’t we make a battery with all of this equipment? Or the TJ zapper?”
Baxter woofed!
Professor Reese’s eyes flew open. “The Van de Graaff generator! Jordie, I have never been more proud of you than I am at this moment! And never more grateful to have you as my lab assistant. You and TJ both!” She stood up. “We don’t need to make a battery—I think we might be able to generate enough electrical energy to unlock the padlock!” She hurried around the big shelves to the back corner of the room. “Come help me, dear!”
She took hold of one end of the cart, and I took hold of the other.
“What’s going on?” TJ asked.
“I think we’re going to use the TJ zapper to make electricity!” I said as we wheeled it over to the door.
“There’s a zapper in there?” TJ asked.
While I told him about all the stuff on the shelves, Professor Reese untangled a long piece of rubber tubing and a small coil of wire from the bottom shelf. She slid one end of the wire all the way through the tubing until it stuck out the other end. “The wire will carry the charge, and the tubing will work as insulation.”
She fed the rubber-covered wire under the door. “Pull that toward you, TJ. You’ll need about five feet in order to reach up to the lock.” She turned to me. “Wrap the other end of the wire around the big ball, Jordie. Since your end isn’t covered in rubber, it will conduct the charge.”
At first, I was scared to touch the ball. But then I remembered that the zapping didn’t start until you turned the crank. “OK!” I wrapped the wire around and around until the ball looked a little bit like a globe covered in latitude lines.
“Put the tip of the wire into the battery slot, TJ,” Professor Reese said. “I’ll hold the tubing still.” She turned to me. “Jordie, start cranking!”
So I cranked and cranked and then cranked some more.
“It’s working!” TJ cried. “The lights on the padlock are lighting up!”
“Punch in the combination, quick!” I yelled. “My arms are getting tired!”
“9-22-1791!” Professor Reese added.
I cranked and cranked until I thought my arms were about to fall off, with Baxter woofing to cheer me on.
Just when I thought I couldn’t crank anymore, TJ yelled, “It worked!”
The door opened, and Baxter rushed in. I let go of the crank and let him crash into me. “You found us, Baxter! Good boy!” I nodded extra hard.
Baxter nodded back.
Both halves of Baxter wiggled crazy happy to see Professor Reese and crazy happy to see me. Professor Reese patted him, while I gave him a big hug. Sure enough, the microchip had stopped humming. Baxter had gotten where he needed to go.
“Let’s get out of here!” TJ said.
So we closed the door (but this time we were on the other side of it) and put the padlock back on.
“There’s an elevator over here,” Professor Reese said. She walked so slowly that I unwrapped the other granola bar and handed it to her, and we just kept moving forward at half-starved-physicist speed until we were into the elevator. I pushed the button for the ground floor.
The elevator door opened up into the Turbine Hall. Outside, the sun was already up, and joggers were starting to pass by.
I knew we wouldn’t be able to walk all the way home—Professor Reese was too weak. “Do you think you can make it to the streetcar platform?” I asked as we crossed the hall and left through the employee entrance.
Professor Reese nodded and gripped my arm. TJ and Baxter led the way.
We waited at the far end of the streetcar platform, which would be the last car of the streetcar, farthest from the driver. And when the streetcar got there, we just sort of slipped on with the other passengers. Technically, there was a sign that said All Dogs Must Be in Carriers, but untechnically, Baxter was better behaved than some of the people on the streetcar (seriously, I swear) and besides, a carrier big enough to fit Baxter would have had to be the size of a car, practically, and then we just could have driven. Nobody seemed to mind him being there, anyway, and most people even liked it.
So everything was working out fine, and I started thinking how it had turned into a great day. After we got Professor Reese settled back at her house, we’d be able to go back to our house before Mom noticed we’d been gone long enough to get worried.
We crossed the bridge and got out at the transfer station and then transferred from the blue to the green line. When we climbed onto the green line streetcar, I finally leaned back in my seat and felt myself relax, because we were almost home.
But just as the streetcar doors were closing, I looked out the window and saw Detective John Jacobs of the Portland Police Department (who I had totally forgotten about, and who was just climbing into his car with a cup of coffee, probably about to drive
