Numbed! by David Lubar Read Free Book Online

2,104.
    I looked at my answer: 91,203,082,104. I’d solved the problem with six seconds left. I was about to hit Enter when Benedict grabbed my arm.
    â€œWait!” he shouted.
    â€œAre you out of your mind?” I tried to yank my hand free.
    â€œYou forgot the two zeroes at the end. It’s like 100 pennies. Remember?” He let go of my hand.
    â€œWow. You’re right.” I quickly tapped 0 twice, then hit Enter.
    364,812,328,416 × 25 = 9,120,308,210,400
    The lock clicked open.
    â€œWow,” I said again. “Good going. You saved us.”
    â€œHey, when it comes to counting money, I don’t make mistakes,” he said. “Unless I’m numbed.”
    We staggered out. Dr. Thagoras was waiting for us. I wasn’t happy to see that Cypher had joined him. I guess the new wheels allowed him to go where he wanted.
    â€œWell done,” Dr. Thagoras said. “I was confident you boys would succeed.”
    â€œI still know more than you do,” Cypher said.
    â€œYeah, but you’ll never be alive,” Benedict said. “You’ll never laugh at a joke. You’ll never even feel anything. I feel all kinds of things. Watch this, you hunk of metal.”
    Benedict pinched the back of his own hand really hard. “Ouch! That was a mistake.” He shook his hand and jammed it under his other arm.
    I could swear I heard Cypher chuckle. But I didn’t care. Getting multiplication and division skills crammed back into my head was exhausting. All I really wanted to do was go home and totally empty my mind for a while.
    â€œYou don’t know everything,” Cypher called after us as we headed out.
    â€œNow, Cypher,” Dr. Thagoras said, “nobody knows everything. Even you should know that.”
    â€œI know one thing,” Benedict said. “We are totally acing that test tomorrow.”
    At that moment, I didn’t see any way he could possibly be wrong.

CHAPTER
1 + 2 + 3 + 5
    I felt great that evening. After dinner, I helped Kaylee with her math homework. It was cute watching her draw a circle around the bigger number in each pair. Her homework involved a lot more coloring than mine.
    The next day, when it was time for math, Ms. Fractalli wrote 85 on the board. “This is the lowest average I will accept,” she told us. “I’d be much happier if it comes out closer to this.” She wrote 100. “But if the average score is at least 85, you will get ice cream sundaes.”
    I looked over my shoulder at Benedict, pointed at my chest, and mouthed the words one hundred .
    Benedict tapped his chest and mouthed 110 .
    I gave him a puzzled look. “Extra credit,” he whispered.
    I didn’t know whether there’d be any extra credit problems, but I knew I was ready to blast through whatever our teacher threw at us. I was a flawless math machine, a fearsome number cruncher, and a tireless human calculator. Nothing could stand in my way.
    I was so eager to start that I almost snatched the test right out of Ms. Fractalli’s hand when she reached my desk. I already had my pencil clutched and ready.
    Zip! I blew through the addition problems.
    Zap! I knocked off all the subtraction.
    Zim! I destroyed the multiplication.
    Zoom! I shattered the division.
    Huh? I stared at the next section.
    After the regular arithmetic problems, I found myself facing this:
    Tyler has seven pets. Some are chickens, and some are hamsters. If Tyler’s pets have a total of eighteen legs, how many chickens does he have?
    Uh … What … ?
    I looked at the clock. My math skills and the shortcuts I’d figured out had let me knock off the first part of the test in record time, even after I’d double-checked each answer. But I had absolutely no idea how to solve this problem. I couldn’t even start to think about it. I was pretty sure, before I’d been numbed, I would have been able to figure it out. But something was