Gordon Korman - HarperCollins Children's Books

finals three years in a row, and we did it with science,not by calling our entry Harry or Fred.”A few others spoke up in agreement. To be honest,I was on their side. The robot wasn’t a toy or pet; itwas a machine. I kept my mouth shut, though. PoorDonovan had only been in our class about thirty seconds,and we were already jumping all over him.It didn’t seem to bother the newcomer. “Okay, noname.” He turned back to the robot. “Sorry, TinMan.” Oz on the brain, I guess.He grabbed hold of one of the forks of the liftingassembly and gave it a hearty handshake. With a snap,it came off in his hand.There was nothing lukewarm about the class reactionto that. A babble of outraged accusations filledthe lab. Abigail, our team captain, was on her feetbarking, “You broke it!”Donovan tried to press the broken fork back ontothe chain drive. It clattered to the floor.“All right! Quiet, everybody!” Oz held his arms upfor order. “Donovan didn’t break anything. The componenthadn’t been attached properly.” He turned tohis newest student. “But it’s not a bad lesson for yourfirst day in the lab.”“I won’t mess with any more of your—stuff,”38