The Nerdy Dozen #2 Read Online Free Page A

gaggle of determined people in orange, blue, and white jumpsuits scurried around the facility. A few furiously tapped on computers and handheld tablets, while others lugged hoses and electrical cords from one side of the building to the next. Their shoes were covered with white booties that kept subtly slipping on the slick floor. A gigantic American flag was hung on the wall opposite the only doors leading out, with smaller flags from other countries just below.
    Neil scanned the hangar, but he didn’t see a ship. He assumed it was just invisible, cloaked under its active camouflage. His eyes squinted to find the outline of a Chameleon, but he only saw a set of double doors leading out from the airy space.
    â€œSo what have you got for us? Recon? Going behind enemy lines?” It being Friday night, Neil figured he had the weekend to save some sort of botched mission before the end of Janey’s karate tournament. “It would rule if we could make it back by Sunday at sevenish. It’s pizza night.”
    Neil and his friends already proved video gamers could handle anything, so he assumed their second mission should be a piece of cake.

    â€œBut more important, I can’t wait to get back in a Chameleon,” Neil said, miming the controls of a phantom jet, “and to fly with you again, obviously.”
    â€œWell, about that . . . ,” Jones replied, the two walking in stride under the fluorescent glow of the hangar’s interior. They were nearly to the building’s center as the huge exterior door finally clanked shut. “How’d you fare on that game I sent you?”
    â€œOh, Shuttle Fury?” Neil said, remembering his copy of the game, and the juice box that was still on top of it. “Um, well, you know, pretty good. I didn’t get a chance to totally ‘finish it,’ so to speak, but—”
    â€œI know what you mean,” Jones interrupted. “Figured I’d send it to you all on the off chance anybody could beat the blasted thing.”
    â€œNobody ever has?” Neil asked, anxious to move the subject of conversation away from his Shuttle Fury score, or lack thereof. “I mean . . . right! No way anybody has beaten that thing.”
    â€œIt’s impossible. Now just more of a hazing ritual. Something the Force gives to all new test pilots on their first day,” Jones said, his voice echoing off the ceiling’s rippled sheet metal.
    â€œSo you’ve played it?” Neil asked.

    â€œSome. Not well, though. When I play it’s more like Shuttle Furious,” Jones answered, producing a chuckle from Neil. They’d reached the center of the hangar, and busy technicians buzzed around them as Jones stood still. “But I figured I’d send it. Call it a hunch.”
    Neil’s forehead crinkled.
    â€œA hunch?” Neil asked, unsure what he meant.
    Jones pointed up. Above Neil hung a banner with a blue circle and futuristic lettering.
    â€œWelcome to NASA, Neil Andertol,” Jones said. “Or should I say: potential Astronaut Andertol.”
    Neil’s eyebrows arched up.
    Astronaut Andertol.
    The title sounded surreal, especially for someone who had been called Boogercheeks earlier in the day.
    â€œNow let’s get moving; we’ve got work to do.”
    Neil felt his stomach drop, and he was still a long way from outer space.

NEIL GATHERED HIS THOUGHTS, OR AT LEAST SOME OF THEM, and followed Jones through a twisting hallway. It branched out from the huge open space of the hangar, and Jones cut through it in quick strides. Neil was reminded of the mysterious military base he had woken up in months ago. The walls and floor were so similar, Neil almost wondered if it was the same place—or the same interior designer, at least.
    Jones abruptly turned another corner, and the hallway came to a dead end. He pushed open a heavy door, revealing a long glossy table full of friendly faces.

    â€œJones!