1 Inside the Underplane The cliffs of Nihoa Island stood tall as we soared above the calm blue water Nihoa means toothed in Hawaiian but the jagged mass of gray-green rock jutting up out of the Pacific Ocean looked like the rotten molar of a sea monster We were flying low in a small six-seater airplane and I really really didn’t want to crash into that tooth For about the fifteenth time I checked my seat belt Our pilot the bazillionaire computer scientist Ashley Hawking was rambling about the annoying birds that nested on the island But I didn’t care about finches or swallows An eagle could have chest-bumped my window and it would not have shifted my focus If we continued on our current course we were going to smash into the jagged wall like an egg launched from a slingshot The plane’s engine roared My stomach spun 1
Next to me my brother was staring straight ahead eyes bulging with his thin black notebook computer open on his lap I grabbed his shoulder His muscles were as solid as rocks and his face was a greenish shade of white Matt I asked Is she pulling up His mouth barely opened I hope so he mumbled Our sister Ava was sitting in the row behind us watching watching the flashing red and green numbers on the electronic control panel A vein on the side of her head pulsed She didn’t notice me staring back at her Meanwhile Ashley Hawking was grinning so wide I could see the edges of her smile from my seat directly behind her Our mentor the geek-famous inventor Henry Witherspoon or Hank glanced back at me from the co-pilot’s seat his awkward smile flashing too many teeth Was he trying to make us feel better If so he was failing Hank leaned over to Ashley He held his hand out flat and swooped it up toward the roof of the cockpit Should we you know ascend What Hawking asked No Of course not Ascend I thought you knew Knew what Hawking let go of the controls and waved her hands in a sweeping motion She sighed with disappointment This is one of yours 2 Bill Nye and Gregory Mone
One of my what Hank asked One of your designs Hank spun in his seat scanning the interior His mouth was all bunched to one side He was squinting And he was completely stumped Only Hank Witherspoon would struggle to recognize one of his own inventions His mind was so productive that he dropped out new ideas with about as much thought as a chicken laying eggs Matt reached forward with one of his long arms and pointed Ummm cliff What was that Hawking yelled back We couldn’t have been more than a few football fields away from the rock wall I think he’s wondering if we’re planning to avoid that cliff I said Below us out the left side of the plane and far from the island a large dock with two boats tied to the sides floated in the middle of the ocean The water was neon blue and smooth as glass We probably could’ve landed on it but I hadn’t noticed any pontoons when we climbed into the aircraft aircraft that morning The thing clearly wasn’t a seaplane So the only safe choices were up right or left And if Ashley Hawking didn’t pick one of those soon we’d keep heading straight Into the cliffs We’d be smashed to bits and all the headlines would read Four Geniuses Die as Plane Crashes into Tooth 3 JACK and the GENIUSES
