Forces of Nature (6 page)

Directionless

“T
hat fire you built freaked us out,” Zack said.

“Oh dear,” Amp said. “I wasn't sure how big to make it.”

“There's a difference between a campfire and a forest fire,” Olivia said.

“I said I was sorry!” Amp cried, throwing up his hands in surrender. “I headed out on your dog this morning after I made the fire to see if I could communicate with the bears.”

“Bears? You could have gotten Smokey eaten!” Zack cried, scratching Smokey behind the ears. He plucked up Amp and held him in the palm of his hand. Smokey seemed to shake off Amp's mind control then and started sniffing around.

Zack and Olivia told Amp all about their shock at the big fire, the washed-out bridge, Zack's
mom's plunge into the creek, the bears entering the car through the open car doors, and their poorly planned escape.

Zack slapped at a mosquito that had landed on his cheek. “See, this is why I didn't want you to come, Amp,” Zack said. “You're way out of your element.”

“Oh, this is pretty tame compared to other planets I've been on,” Amp said casually, looking around at the forest. “I was on a planet once where the trees spit big gobs of sap on you as you walked by them.”

“That is so gross,” Olivia said, placing a hand on her stomach.

“And that sap was toxic; it had acid in it! Melted right through my helmet.”

Zack often forgot that Amp had been to places he couldn't even imagine, which made it all the harder to believe he could make such a mess of things on a simple camping trip.

“That's fascinating, Amp,” Zack sighed. “But let's focus on the fact that we need to get back, and we're totally lost.”

“When it gets dark, we'll be totally blind out here,” Olivia said.

“Yes,” Amp said, looking from Zack's face to Olivia's. “If only I had my spaceship.”

“If only I had a helicopter!” Zack said. “Or a trail of bread crumbs that led me back to our campsite.”

“If only I had a turkey sandwich,” Olivia said dreamily.

Zack's stomach growled.

Amp stroked his chin and made his thinking face. “If only we had a map.”

They all nodded in silence.

“Wait a second!” Olivia shouted. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper. She unfolded it and held it up for Amp and Zack to see. “This has a map on it!”

“It's the paper Ranger Davis gave us!” Zack cried. “Why'd it take you so long to remember it?”

“I forgot I had it,” Olivia said simply, “until Amp said that about a map.”

Zack put Amp down so he could examine the map closely. “This is a very simple, crude map. All the park rules and this drawing of a bear eating
from a cookie jar take up most of the space. Not sure it will help us.”

The three of them studied that small map. Zack saw the number 13 that Ranger Davis had written on it. He found the matching campsite 13 on the little map. “We were way down here, at this campsite, number thirteen. We started back up the road this way, but this little line must be the creek, and the bridge was gone.”

“So we ran this way, away from the bears,” Olivia said, tracing her finger along the line of the creek. “And ended up somewhere in this area, where it says Crooked Tree Grove.”

“Oh, you saw the trees!” Amp exclaimed, shaking his head in disappointment. “I wanted to see those.”

“You would have really liked it,” Olivia said, giving him a pained grin.

Zack continued. “Then we walked in this direction, which I thought would bring us the back way to campsite number thirteen, but I must have misjudged it. Or just didn't go in a straight line. We could be anywhere.” He looked at Olivia. “Sorry, Olivia.”

Olivia shrugged. “Hey, I didn't notice either, so . . .”

“Well, this is good news,” Amp said.

“It is?” Zack and Olivia said at the same time.

“Jinx,” Olivia said. She quickly punched Zack on the arm, in the exact same spot she had punched him earlier.

The impact caused Zack to jerk back and Amp nearly fell off Zack's upturned palm. He now clung
to Zack's pinky finger, his body swinging underneath. “Could you two be a bit more careful?”

It was one of Olivia's unwritten rules of life: if two people said the same thing at the same time, one of you got to punch the other one for free, and the punched party was not allowed to retaliate.

“Sorry,” Olivia said, and she grabbed Amp and put him back on Zack's palm.

Zack rotated his arm stiffly and shook his head at Olivia. “Why is all that good news, Amp?” Zack said. “We have a map, yes, but we don't know where we are on that map.”

“Yeah,” Olivia said. “Too bad it doesn't have one of those red dots that says ‘You are here.'”

“It's simple,” Amp said, studying the map with great interest. “Zack, because of your poor sense of direction, you obviously led Olivia out into this empty space on the map. Now look at this small compass rose here.”

“What's a compass rose?” Zack asked.

Amp pointed to a triangle with an N on top of it. “It's a small graphic, icon, or symbol that tells you which way is north,” Amp explained. “Most
maps have them.”

“Cool,” Zack said, nodding his head, impressed. “So if we just go north, we'll run right into campsite thirteen.”

“Exactly,” Amp said, lifting his chin in the air.

“Knuckle bump,” Zack said, holding up a fist. “Who's my alien?”

Amp made a small fist, and bumped his tiny knuckles off Zack's. They both opened their hands afterward and made the sound of something blowing up.

“Uh, fellas,” Olivia said, “how are we supposed to know which way is north?”

Zack stared at Amp. Amp stared at Zack. Silence filled the air.

Amp's look of triumph faded away and his puffed-up chest seemed to deflate. “Oh, I didn't think of that. Olivia is right. Without a compass, we're no better off.”

Just then, the same far-off animal noise filled the air.

They all looked in the direction the sound had come from.

“Well,” Zack sighed, “we better think of
something fast before we get eaten.”

“They'll probably start with you, Amp,” Olivia said, nudging Amp with her index finger. “You're like an appetizer.”

Don't Drink That!

“O
kay, on three you guys point in the direction you think is north,” Zack said. “One, two, three!”

Each of them pointed in a completely different direction.

“Oh my,” Amp said.

Zack and Olivia were sitting on the ground, legs crossed, facing each other. Olivia had put the sheet of paper with the map on the ground between them. Amp now paced around on top of it. Zack petted a sleeping and exhausted Smokey. Olivia sipped from her water bottle.

“I know the sun sets in the west,” Olivia said, “but with all these trees and those heavy clouds, who knows which way that is.”

“I once heard that moss will grow on only
one side of a tree,” Zack said, “but I forgot which side, and none of these trees have moss on them.”

“I'm not used to not having any of my tools,” Amp said, nervously wringing his tiny hands. “I shouldn't have come. You were right, Zack. I've made a mess of everything.”

“Don't worry, I'm used to it,” Zack said, slapping a mosquito into the back of his neck.

“Think! Think! Think!” Amp said, pounding a little fist on his forehead.

“Can I have a sip?” Zack asked Olivia. “My tongue feels like a dead weasel.”

“Don't let it touch your lips,” Olivia said, reluctantly handing over the bottle. “Just sort of waterfall it.”

“Afraid of my cooties?” Zack asked.

“No, your gross diseases,” Olivia said, throwing a pine needle at him like a dart.

Zack held the bottle up and studied the remaining water.

“What? Are you checking for backwash?” Olivia said, offended.

“No,” Zack said, “but you can never be too
careful.” He tipped his head back, holding the bottle a few inches over his open mouth.

“My grandpa has a compass,” Olivia said. “I should have brought it with me.”

“WAIT!” Amp shouted. “DON'T DRINK THAT, ZACK!”

Zack froze. The water was just an inch from the opening of the bottle. His mouth hung open. “Why?” he grunted.

“We need that water to make a compass,” Amp said.

“How can you make a compass out of a water bottle?” Olivia asked.

“Can I just have a teeny sip?” Zack said, licking his lips.

“After we use it to make a compass,” Amp said. “I promise.”

“I still don't get it,” Olivia said. “How does a bottle of water tell you which way is north?”

Amp walked in circles on his paper stage. “Zack, do you remember I once told you the Earth is like a giant magnet?”

Olivia's hand shot into the air like she was in class. “Oh!”

“Yes, Olivia,” Amp said, impressed at Olivia's enthusiasm.

“I remember this: The earth has lots of melted iron inside,” Olivia said. “And iron is magnetic. All that iron makes the Earth one big magnet.” She smiled at Zack.

“Show-off,” Zack said. “But it's molten iron, not melted.”

“Same difference,” she said snootily.

“You are both right,” Amp said, nodding. “The Earth is like a giant magnet hanging out there in space. And just like every magnet, it has two opposite poles.

“A north pole and the south pole,” Olivia said.

Zack groaned. “I remember all this. One pole has a positive charge and one pole has a negative charge.”

“Exactly,” Amp said, snapping his fingers. “The north has the positive charge. Now all we need to do is suspend a magnetized needle in water and it will point to the way we need to go.”

“Sounds great,” Olivia said, “but we don't have a needle.”

“Well, then it's time to get creative,” Amp
said, rubbing his hands together.

“Attention Erdian Council . . .”

Amp was speaking into his tiny wrist recorder.

“Not again!” Zack growled. “I'm getting eaten alive by mosquitos and will soon get eaten by bears or werewolves! Can you please do that later?”

Amp cleared his throat and turned his back to Zack.

“Humans have a general understanding of magnets and the Earth's own magnetosphere, but are completely untrained in using the resources around them to help themselves.”

“You know we can hear you, right?” Olivia said.

Amp looked back at Olivia and continued.

“I must teach the children how to think for themselves, be creative, and apply their general scientific
knowledge in a practical way. Will report on the results later.”

Amp turned back to the children, raised his little chin, and smiled.

“You won't report anything if we all get eaten first,” Olivia said.