Hiro looked around as Tadashi drove through the gates of the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, often called SFIT for short. "What are we doing at your nerd school?" Hiro asked. "Bot fight's that way."

 

"Pit stop," Tadashi replied as he pulled up to a gleaming steel-and-glass building.

 

Hiro impatiently followed Tadashi into SFIT's robotics lab. "Is this gonna take long? Megabot wants to fight!"

 

"Relax, you big baby. We'll be in and out," Tadashi said as he led Hiro into the enormous lab.

 

"Oh, great. I get to see your lab," Hiro said sarcastically¹. Out of the corner of his eye, Tadashi saw Hiro's attitude change. His lab was high-tech² heaven. Tadashi smiled.

 

"Heads up!" said a girl with purple-streaked hair as she whizzed by on a bike. She stopped short and tossed the bike onto a rack. Tadashi walked over to her and smiled.

 

Hiro couldn't help himself. He had to touch the bike. "Whoa ... electro-mag suspension," he said. "Who are you?"

 

Hiro turned around to look at the girl. "Um, I'm ... Tadashi's brother."

 

"Go Go, this is Hiro."

 

Go Go Tomago chewed her gum and nodded. Hiro looked back at her bike. "Never seen electro-mag suspension on a bike before."

 

Go Go spun³ the bike's back wheel. In place of an axle, the wheel was suspended between two magnetic forks. The wheel seemed to float like magic between the magnetic frames.

 

"Zero resistance," Go Go told him. "Faster bike. But not fast enough." Then she took the wheel off and threw it in the trash. "Yet."

 

Hiro stared as she fired up a 3-D printer on the spot and began to create a new wheel. Then he heard a high-pitched hum coming from the other side of the lab. He saw a large, muscular guy with dreadlocks experimenting with lasers there. His work space was immaculately organized. Hiro headed for the machine.

 

"Whoa. Do not move. Behind the line, please."

 

Hiro stopped and looked down. He took one step back behind a white line that was taped on the floor.

 

"Hey, Wasabi," Tadashi said to him. "This is my brother, Hiro."

 

Wasabi, a physics student, nodded. "Hello, Hiro. Prepare to be amazed. Catch."

 

Wasabi tossed an apple up into the air, but when Hiro reached for it, the apple fell down in hundreds of wafer-thin pieces.

 

"Wow," Hiro said.

 

Wasabi grabbed a bottle and sprayed its contents into the air. Hundreds of green lasers were immediately visible. "There has never been an optic system so precise."

 

Hiro nodded, noticing that Wasabi carefully placed his spray bottle back into a particular circle on the table.

 

"I have a system. A place for everything; everything in its place," Wasabi said.

 

Just then, Go Go grabbed something from Wasabi's table. "Need this," she said as she whizzed past him.

 

"Hey, what are you ... " Wasabi shouted, and went after her. "You're messing up my whole system!" The boys were watching Wasabi chase Go Go when a sweet voice said, "Coming through."

 

Hiro and Tadashi turned to see Honey Lemon, a blond chemistry genius, rolling a large ball of metal across the floor. They stepped aside. Tadashi smiled. "Honey, this is my little brother, Hiro."

 

Honey was thrilled. "Omigosh! Hi," she gushed⁴. "Perfect timing⁵! You're going to love this!" She pushed the ball onto a hydraulic⁶ lift. Then she dashed over to a large machine that held many chemical elements and used the touchscreen to select several of them.

 

"That's a whole lot of tungsten carbide... " Hiro said.

 

"Four hundred pounds of it," Honey responded. They watched as the machine combined the elements. Honey smiled and said, "Super-heat to eight hundred degrees, and voilà!"

 

The boys saw a stream of chemicals shoot out of the machine and spray the metal ball. Instantly, the entire orb⁷ was encased in a bright pink glow.

 

"Pretty great, huh?" Honey asked, and used her cell phone camera to snap a selfie of the boys and herself standing⁸ in front of the ball.

 

Hiro didn't know what to make of it. "So... pink," he said.

 

Honey nodded enthusiastically. Pink was her favorite color. "And here's the best part," she said. With one touch, the metal ball disintegrated¹⁰ into dust.

 

"Wow!" Hiro said, stunned¹¹.

 

"I know, right?" Honey said. "I call it chemicalmetal embrittlement."

 

"Not bad, Honey," Tadashi said with a smile. Hiro thought Tadashi's friends were nice, but he was a little confused about their names.

 

"Honey, Go Go, Wasabi ... ?"

 

"I spill wasabi on my shirt one time, people— one time!" Wasabi said.

 

"Hey," Tadashi laughed, holding up his hands.

 

"Talk to Fred. He gives out the nicknames."

 

"Who's Fred?" Hiro asked.

 

"This guy!" someone said behind Hiro. Turning, Hiro came face to face with a giant Japanesestyle Kaiju monster—and screamed!

 

The monster took his big head off, and the smiling, friendly-looking kid underneath¹² said, "Do not be alarmed. Name's Fred. School mascot¹³ by day." He spun the SFIT sign he was holding. "But by night, also school mascot."

 

Hiro nodded. "Hey. So what's your major?"

 

Fred plopped down on a couch strewn with comic books. "Oh, I'm not a student here," he said, grinning. "But I am a major science enthusiast⁹! I've been trying to get Honey to develop a formula that can turn me into a fire-breathing lizard¹⁴ at will." Fred sighed. "But she says that's not science."

 

Honey nodded. "It's really not."

 

Fred called out to Wasabi, "Right. Then I guess the shrink ray I asked Wasabi for isn't science either, is it?"

 

Wasabi shook his head.

 

"Laser eyes? Tingly fingers?" Fred asked, following him.

 

Tadashi smiled and led Hiro to another part of the lab. "What have you been working on?" Hiro asked his brother.

 

"I'll show you."

 

泰迪骑车穿过旧金山理工大学(简称SFIT)的大门时，小宏向四周看了看。“我们到你们这书呆子学校来干什么?”小宏问道,“机器人格斗赛在那个方向。”

 

“停车加油!”泰迪一边回答，一边把车停在一座闪着微光的由钢筋和玻璃筑成的大楼前。

 

小宏很不耐烦地跟着泰迪走进旧金山理工大学的机器人实验室。“在这儿待多久?超能机器人想要去格斗了!”

 

“放松点，小屁孩。马上就好了。”泰迪一边说一边领小宏走进了一间巨大的实验室。

 

“哦，好棒。我能看到你的实验室了。”小宏讽刺地说道。泰迪用余光看到，小宏的态度转变了。他的实验室是高科技的天堂。泰迪笑了。

 

“小心!”一个挑染紫色头发的女孩骑着自行车呼啸而过。她突地停住，把自行车抛上一个架子。泰迪笑着走向她。

 

小宏忍不住摸了摸那辆自行车。“哇哦……电磁悬浮”，他说道。“你是谁?”

 

小宏转过头看着那个女孩回答道：“呃，我是……泰迪的弟弟。”

 

“神行御姐，这是小宏。”

 

神行御姐嚼着口香糖点了点头。小宏回头看着她的自行车。“以前从没见过电磁悬浮用在自行车上。”

 

神行御姐旋转着自行车的后轮。没有车轴，轮子悬浮在两个磁力叉子之间。轮子像魔法一样悬浮在电磁框架之间。

 

“零阻力。”神行御姐告诉他，“自行车会更快，但还没达到足够快的地步，”随后她把轮子取下扔进了垃圾桶,“目前为止。”

 

小宏目不转睛地看着她开启了实验室里的一台3D打印机并开始造另一个新轮子。随后他听到高分贝的嗡嗡声从实验室的另一侧传了过来。他看见一个高个子长发绺的肌肉男在那做激光实验。他的工作区整洁有序。小宏朝那台机器走去。

 

“哇!别动，请站到线后面去。”

 

小宏停住脚，向下看去。只见地上贴了一条白线，他向后退了一步。

 

“嗨，芥末无疆，”泰迪对他说道，“这是我弟弟，小宏。”

 

芥末无疆点点头，他是一个物理系学生。“你好，小宏。准备好大开眼界吧。接着。”

 

芥末无疆向空中抛了一个苹果，可当小宏去接时，苹果已经被切割成数以百计的极薄的薄片了。

 

小宏说道:“哇哦”。

 

芥末无疆抓起一只瓶子，向空中喷洒了一些瓶子里的溶剂。数以百计的绿色激光束马上显现出来了。“还没有什么视觉系统可以如此精确。”

 

小宏点点头，注意到芥末无疆小心翼翼地将喷洒溶剂的瓶子放回到桌子上特定的圈里。

 

“我有自己的一个体系。每件物品都有自己的位置，一切都是有序的。”芥末无疆说道。

 

就在这时神行御姐从芥末无疆的桌子上拿走了什么东西。“借我这个，”她一边说一边就像刚才一样从他身边呼啸而过。

 

“嘿，你干吗……”芥末无疆喊着，追着她走了。“你搞乱了我整个体系!”男孩们正在看着芥末无疆追赶神行御姐时，一个甜美的声音响起：“借过。”

 

小宏和泰迪转过身看到了哈妮柠檬。这位金发化学天才正推着一个金属球滚过地板。他们向旁边让出一步。泰迪笑道：“哈妮柠檬，这是我的弟弟小宏。”

 

哈妮柠檬很激动。“哦，我的天!嗨!”她滔滔不绝地说道，“来得正好!你会喜欢这个的!”她把那个球推上液压起重机，然后冲到一台放有很多化学试剂的巨大机器前。她通过触摸屏挑选了一些试剂。

 

“全都是碳化钨……”小宏说道。

 

“足足有四百磅。”哈妮柠檬回应道。他们看着机器混合了那些试剂。哈妮柠檬笑着说：“加热至800开尔文，瞧!”

 

男孩们看见一股化学试剂从机器喷里喷出，洒在金属球上。整个球瞬间被亮粉色的光芒包裹住。

 

“超棒，对吧?”哈妮柠檬问道，并用她手机的相机咔嗒一声拍了张自拍照，把站在球前面的男孩们和她自己拍了下来。

 

小宏不知道如何是好。“很……粉，”他说道。

 

哈妮柠檬热情饱满地点了点头。粉红色是她最喜欢的颜色。她说道：“到最精彩的部分了”。她轻轻一碰，金属球变成了粉沫。

 

“哇哦!”小宏惊呆了。

 

“很赞是吧?”哈妮柠檬说道，“我叫它化学金属脆化。”

 

“不错，哈妮柠檬，”泰迪笑着说。小宏觉得泰迪的朋友们都很好，可对于他们的名字感到有点困惑。

 

“哈妮柠檬，神行御姐，芥末无疆……?”

 

“我就把芥末撒在衬衫上过一次，大伙——就只有一次!”芥末无疆说道。

 

“嘿，”泰迪笑过后，举起自己的双手。

 

“问问弗雷德，这些绰号都是他取的。”

 

“谁是弗雷德?”小宏问道。

 

“这家伙!”有人在小宏后面说道。小宏转过身，和一个巨大的日式风格的怪兽来了个面对面，小宏吓得大声尖叫!

 

怪兽脱掉大大的头套，里面是一个微笑着看起来很友善的孩子。他说道：“别害怕，我是弗雷德。白天是学校的吉祥物。”他旋转着手里拿着的旧金山理工大学的标识。“可是到了晚上，我还是学校的吉祥物。”

 

小宏点点头：“嘿，那你是什么专业的?”

 

弗雷德扑通一下躺倒在撒满漫画书的沙发上。“哦，我不是这里的学生，”他咧嘴笑道，“但我是狂热的科学爱好者!我想让哈妮柠檬给我研制个分子式，把我变成一个喷火的大蜥蜴。想变就变。”弗雷德叹息道：“可是她说那不科学。”

 

哈妮柠檬点点头：“真的不科学。”

 

弗雷德大声向芥末无疆说道：“是啊，那我猜我让芥末无疆帮我研究的缩小射线也是不科学咯?”

 

芥末无疆摇了摇头。

 

“那激光眼呢?痛感手指呢?”弗雷德紧跟着他问道。

 

泰迪笑着把小宏领进了另一间实验室。“你在研究什么?”小宏问他的哥哥。

 

“我马上就给你看。”

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