GALACTIC ACADEMY OF SCIENCE actually two cooking contests on board One is for adults and the other for kids your age You two should sign up When they came out of the bathroom Mae’s mom gave them some brochures and shooed them away Why don’t you go find a table while I finish up here I’ll be there in a minute Mae and Clinton made their way to the Calypso Buffet and found a quiet corner where they could look out to sea Mae flipped open the brochure for the kids cooking contest and started reading the contest rules aloud Clinton let his mind drift I like to eat Clinton said I’ll be too busy eating to cook I heard you can eat anytime you want on the cruise ship Mae let the brochure drop You’re probably right The only thing I know about cooking is from watching a couple of cooking shows I never cook at home and Mom’s always in too much of a hurry to make anything fancy We’d never win Wait a minute said Clinton I never said we couldn’t win Just then a whooshing sound filled the air and there in front of them in the seat they’d been saving for Mae’s mom sat their friend from the future Selectra Volt Selectra was dressed in her usual skin-tight green outfit covered with pink puffballs Her green and pink hair stuck out in its usual cheerful way but she was frowning Whoa Selectra Clinton said How’d you find us here We try to keep track of our G A S recruits Selectra said You are Clinton Chang Asian-American been on four missions Come on you know that Clinton said Can’t we do without this official stuff 4
THE CONTAMINATED CASE OF THE COOKING CONTEST Selectra Mae interrupted How can you just pop in like this in the middle of a crowded room Selectra turned her head to Mae looking unconcerned It’s easy to escape notice in a crowd And you are Mae Jemison Harris African-American and want to be an astronaut like Mae Jemison You already know that Mae said Really Selectra you can be so annoying Do we have a mission Clinton asked Yes No Soon Selectra said She blinked That is maybe Somebody is groobing things up What do you mean Clinton demanded Selectra took a big breath that made her spiky hair sway and said We may need you to investigate a case aboard the cruise ship Someone here may get sick and could even die and it’s a person who mmm well we can’t afford to lose that person The person is known in my time as a very important person Who is it Mae asked I can’t tell you that Selectra said You know the rules for the Galactic Academy of Science First I have to verify your identities Second I cannot go with you into the past where you may need to travel to solve this mission Third and top I cannot tell you anything about the future Clinton jumped up from his chair and raised his hands in the air He said It’s me isn’t it He was only half joking Something about all these missions for the G A S was beginning to convince him he really was going to be somebody I’m important to the future so we have to save me I can’t tell you who the person is Selectra said She seemed more serious than usual You need to investigate the 5
GALACTIC ACADEMY OF SCIENCE mystery on the ship Keep your eyes open Learn what you can about cooking and food safety Take every opportunity That’s all I can say Is Dr G messing up this ship Mae asked Dr G was the villain Selectra had told them about on their last mission She had explained that Dr G led a group called S A G that was committed to spreading false scientific information and computer hacking to interfere with scientific progress Selectra said We don’t know if Dr G is behind this We don’t even know if this is bad luck or an evil plot All we know is you need to solve it She rubbed her hand through her spiky hair and pulled an object that looked like a smart phone from her belt Here’s your X-PA She laid the X-PA on the table and Clinton picked it up It still amazed him that a tool so small and light could be so powerful On four occasions already it had allowed Mae and him to travel through time and space to meet famous scientists and engineers Its only weakness was that it ran out of power quickly at any one time and location so they had to keep focused and work quickly Selectra talked in a rush giving the standard instructions Your X-PA is set with the candidates to interview various people for you to visit Be sure to watch the Site Energy Bar so you have enough power to leave each place You don’t want to get stuck in the past Visit the candidates and check back with the ship to see how things are going Clinton began to scroll through the list of Candidates for Interview He heard Selectra say Be careful It would be totally unzwiffy for the two of you to get sick Be careful of what you eat By the time Clinton looked up Selectra was gone 6
THE CONTAMINATED CASE OF THE COOKING CONTEST Oh man said Mae wrinkling her brow I thought this was going to be a vacation What are you talking about Clinton asked What could be more awesome Another mission Someone’s going to get really sick Mae said That’s going to be bad for my mom Look here she comes Mae’s mother crossed the dining room and took the seat Selectra had just left What are you two looking so serious about The cooking contest Clinton said We’re thinking about the competition I bet some of these other kids have prac ticed and everything Wait Mae said I thought you didn’t want to bother with the cooking contest That was before Clinton said Now I want to learn all I can about cooking and food We’re going to dominate the contest But first we’re going to dominate lunch 7
