CHAPTER 1 - INVENTION
"I don't think it should be smoking like that, Arwin," Zack said as he looked at the strange device in front of him. He leaned in to inspect the damaged machine his inventor friend was working on. He attempted to touch the hole where the smoke was pouring out, but his hand was slapped away by Arwin. Arwin stood to his full height and shook his head, frustrated at Zack's carelessness.
"Of course it's not supposed to do that," he snorted. "It's broken." Arwin walked away from the smoking machine and rummaged through his tools. He would pick up a tool, inspect it, and throw it back down while muttering to himself. Zack watched his friend go through this ritual with amusement. Arwin was an inventor and the engineer at the Boston Tipton Hotel. He was in his mid thirties and could fix any problem within the confines of the building. Zack and his twin brother Cody were usually responsible for broken items that Arwin had to fix. He never seemed to mind. Zack and Cody paid their penance to him by watching him work on new inventions.
Zack's eyes drifted around the room. He became distracted by numerous patent blueprints on the wall above Arwin's work bench. He walked over to the bench, and he began inspecting tools similarly to Arwin. Zack wasn't very handy, and didn't know what most of the tools in front of him were for. He picked up a hammer and pretended to swing it around. Villains were dispatched in his imagination by the might of the hammer he swung. Zack was startled when he saw Arwin watching him, one hand on his hip. Zack quickly threw the hammer back onto the work bench.
"Nice," Arwin said. He'd managed to find the tool he was looking for and went back to work on his machine. He removed a panel from the side and began working inside of it. "I'll have this thing up and running in no time, kiddo." Arwin called, neck deep in his invention. Zack raised his eyebrow as his attention was drawn back to the smoking device. The device was smooth, and metallic. When Zack first laid eyes on it, he thought Arwin was building a model flying saucer. Arwin had been offended by the comparison.
"You still haven't told me what 'this thing' is," Zack said, leaping onto the work bench. "If it's not a UFO, then what is it?"
Arwin removed his head from the device. The same exasperated look was on his face. He gave the device a few pats. "This baby," he began. "Is gonna change the world. It's going to make me the greatest inventor that ever lived. It will make people remember the name Arwin Hochauser!" he exclaimed, raising his fist into the air.
"What does that mean, though?" Zack asked. Arwin sighed and walked over to his young friend. He placed a hand on his shoulder. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully. Zack rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, I wouldn't understand?" Arwin shrugged, but said nothing. It was all the response Zack needed. At that moment, the smoke from the device begun to darken. "Is it supposed to do that?" Zack pointed at the smoking machine. Arwin's eyes widened as he rushed towards his invention.
"Oh boy! This is bad! This is very bad!" Arwin once again stuck his head in the machine. Zack leapt off the workbench and rejoined the unfortunate inventor. Zack could hear him muttering inside the machine, not finding the answer to his problems quickly. "Zack! I need your help!" Zack's eyes lit up. He loved helping Arwin work on inventions. He never got to do it when Cody was around, because Cody understood what was going on and it was easier to defer to him for assistance.
"I can help, Arwin!" Zack said excitedly. He tried to look into the panel, where Arwin's head remained. "Are you stuck," he asked, unable to stifle laughter. Arwin removed his head and raised an eyebrow. "Oh," Zack feigned disappointment.
"You've got an important job! The most important!" Arwin placed his hands on Zack's shoulders. "I have a seperate toolbox, that I use for tough fixes. I seem to have left it on the roof deck. You have kid energy, and can get them for me very quickly. Can I count on you?"
Zack sighed. It wasn't the important helper job he was hoping for, but he nodded anyway. Arwin patted his shoulder in thanks. "I appreciate that, buddy!" he said, beaming at Zack. Zack nodded and opened up the door to leave. "Oh, Zack? If you see your mom on the way up...tell her I said hello!" Arwin gave two thumbs up and placed his head back into the still smoldering device.
Zack made his way up from the basement of the Tipton Hotel into its pristine foyer. Zack's eyes scanned the hotel lobby. It was quiet this morning. Preparations for a rush of foot traffic were being performed by the hotel's employees. The bellhop, Esteban was straightening his uniform, ready for his duties at the front doors. The hotel's manager Mr. Moseby was talking with the a blonde haired girl at the candy counter. Maddie Fitzpatrick had an annoyed expression on her face. Clearly, Moseby was giving her a hard time. He ran a tight ship, and he would get on Maddie for anything being out of place. Zack chuckled to himself. Everything was right as it should be in the lobby of the Tipton Hotel.
He made his way across the lobby to the staircase. He wanted to stop at his room, and see his mom before continuing to the roof deck. Arwin had asked after all. Mr. Moseby noticed Zack walking across the lobby. He immediately stiffened up seeing the boy unsupervised. He briskly made his way to Zack and stopped in front of him.
"Good morning Mr. Martin? May I ask what you were doing in the basement?" The interrogation had begun
"Nothing bad," Zack shrugged.
"I have difficulty believing that," Moseby squinted at Zack. "You and your doppelganger are always causing trouble, and it usually rises from that basement. I've learned to worry whenever the two of you are down there."
"I was just visiting Arwin. I'm going up to my room now. Pinkie swear," Zack held out his pinkie. Moseby eyed it, and did not stick his own hand out. He just grunted and made his way over to Esteban.
"Mr. Ramirez, are those feathers on your uniform?"
Zack didn't want to wait for Moseby to come back and continue grilling him for information. He took the stairs two at a time and walked at a much faster pace than he would have normally. Moseby didn't look it, but he was physically adept, and could easily catch Zack in a sprint. In no time Zack was at his room. Golden numbers reading 2330 were embossed on the door. He entered and saw his mother fussing in the kitchen.
"Arwin says hello, Mom," Zack said. She turned away from the plate she was cleaning. Like her sons, her hair was platinum blonde, but she wore it short and spiked. She worked in the hotel lounge as a singer. Her job was why she lived with her two sons in the Tipton hotel. She seemed frustrated.
"Do you know what this is?" she asked holding the soapy plate out at him.
"Uh. A plate?" he smirked.
"I found this plate. In your room. I don't want you guys eating in there!"
"Must have been Cody," Zack shrugged.
"Cody doesn't eat pizza rolls," his mom returned a smirk of her own. "Also you left it on your bed."
"I'll be sure to talk to Cody about this, and make sure he never does it again," Zack said, walking past his mother. He swung open the door to his bedroom. Lying on one of the matching beds, with a book in his hands, was Zack's brother Cody. Zack and Cody were identical twins, but couldn't have been more different in their interests, and personalities. Zack enjoyed living life as it came, whereas Cody was more rigid and afraid to take risks. He looked up from his book.
"Hey," he said casually. After the courtesy he went back to his reading.
"What are you up to?" Zack asked leaping onto his brother's bed. Cody looked slightly annoyed at this.
"Reading my book. It's about constellations, and star maps. Ancient travellers used to use the stars to find their way around the planet before maps, and GPS." his eyes lit up as he spoke about the subject. Zack could feel his own eyes glazing over. He didn't understand how Cody could be interested in that stuff. Cody seemed to be aware of Zack's dissipating interest. "I like it," he said, returning to its pages.
"Well, I need your help. Arwin is inventing a device that's going to change the world and we need to get his tools from the roof deck." Zack said. He began bouncing on the bed, further disrupting Cody.
"Change the world, how?" he asked a very good question. Zack could only shrug. "And you can't get them yourself because�" Once again, Zack only shrugged. Cody sighed, and placed a bookmark to mark his place, and put the book on his end table. "Let's go," he said.
The twins left the bedroom and their mother had moved from the kitchen to the living room, where she was watching television. "Where you two off to?" she asked from her spot on the couch.
"Helping Arwin," Cody said. "With what? I don't know," he said with a shrug. He turned to his brother. "Shall we?" Zack nodded and the two left their hotel room. They walked silently to their floor's elevator and waited for its arrival. Zack impatiently paced while Cody rolled on his heels with his hands in his pockets. With a slight ding, the gold doors slid open and the two entered. Zack hit the button for the roof deck, and the methodical ride began. The two were silent as the elevator slowly climbed to the top of the Tipton tower. Zack looked at his brother. Cody still had his hands in his pockets, but he didn't seem annoyed.
"So, what do you think Arwin's invention is?" Zack asked breaking the silence. A mischievous smile crossed Cody's face.
"Not a clue," he said with a laugh. "Whatever it is though, it probably won't work."
"Got a point there," Zack laughed with his brother. "It was smoking when I left. That's why I'm getting tools for him." The two continued to laugh at the engineer's expense. They were so focused on laughing, they were surprised when the elevator reached its destination. The two were on the roof lounge of the Tipton Hotel. There were chairs spread out along the roof, and a bar was at the back. Glass ceilings protected it from the elements. The hotel sometimes held events under the stars. Zack and Cody weren't usually allowed up here so they took advantage of the rare occasion.
"Where would Arwin be working on something here?" Zack asked. He began looking under the various chairs. "He said he left a toolbox up here." He began making his way to the back of the room.
"Zack?" Cody called to him. Zack turned to face his brother. He was standing next a door that said, 'Employees Only' in bright red lettering. "Maybe an employee might do work in here." Cody made an exaggerated hand motion at the door like he was Vanna White turning a letter. Zack could feel his face turning red with embarrassment.
"I knew that," he mumbled. The twins entered the room and were looking at the HVAC system for the roof lounge. The two looked up and down in the small room for any sign of the toolbox.
"There it is," Cody said excitedly. Zack tried to follow Cody's line of sight, but couldn't see it.
"Where?" Zack held his arms out in frustration. Cody sighed and stood behind his brother. He grabbed his head and turned it to face the toolbox. Sure enough, atop one of the ducts, was Arwin's navy blue toolbox. "I found it," Zack exclaimed. Cody gave him a playful smack on the back of the head for this comment. "How do we get it?" Zack asked rubbing the spot where he had been hit.
"Gotta get up there somehow," Cody said staring at his target. Zack could see the gears working in his brother's head. Cody was an excellent problem solver. He was coming up with the best solution to get the toolbox with minimal injury to the two of them. Normally, Zack would have been content to let Cody come up with the solution, but he wanted to give it a shot today.
"I've got it," Zack shouted, extending his finger to the sky. Cody seemed surprised by this.
"You've got it?" he asked.
"Watch me," Zack said, giddy with excitement. He left the HVAC room and made his way to the back of the lounge. Cody watched with his arms crossed as Zack grabbed one of the bar stools. Cody's jaw dropped as Zack lugged the heavy chair over his head back to where he was standing.
"Are you nuts?" Cody asked, jaw still hanging open.
"Of course not! This is a good idea," Zack frowned. He'd expected his brother to praise his brilliant plan. "I stand on this, grab the tool box, and we're good."
"It's not tall enough, though. It's also nowhere near stable enough," Cody said. "You could easily boost me to it, where I could get it down. I can use the ducts to steady myself, and I know you're strong enough to lift me."
Zack just frowned and brought the char into the HVAC room. He placed it against the duct. Zack placed his sneaker on the bottom rung of the stool. In a quick motion he got his other foot onto the round seat. The seat immediately began to spin. Zack took a few deep breaths
"You'll fall, Zack. Don't do this," Cody's face was now etched with worry. Zack felt himself get angry that his brother didn't trust in his idea. He quickly got his second foot onto the seat. He kept himself low and steadied himself against the initial, more violent spins of the barstool. Cody held his hands out to steady Zack, but Zack shooed him away.
"I'm good," he said. Cody reluctantly backed away, but not too far off in case he needed to step in. Zack slowly rose to his full height, keeping his arms out to steady himself. He took deep breaths as he reached for the toolbox. He placed one hand on the duct, to further steady himself, but he was just too short to reach the toolbox. He gritted his teeth and attempted to stand on the tips of his toes. He felt the stool start to swivel underneath him. Zack had a split second to decide what to do. Throwing caution to the wind, he leapt for the toolbox. He clasped his fingers around the handle. It came down with him as he landed on the stool.
Cody watched in horror as Zack jumped from the stool. He knew this was going to end badly, and tried to get to where Zack might possibly land. How could he be so stupid? Zack's momentum coming down mixed with the spin of the barstool seat, caused the stool to rocket away from Zack. He was falling backward and nothing was left to stop his fall. If Cody didn't sacrifice his own body, Zack would pay the full price for his leap. Cody extended his arms and managed to catch Zack. Lacking the strength to keep him upright, both twins fell to the ground hard.
"Oh my god! Zack, are you okay?" Cody worriedly asked his brother. Zack began laughing as he sat up. He held out the tool box.
"Not one tool spilled either," Zack said with a big grin on his face. Cody reared back and punched Zack as hard as he could on the shoulder. "Ow! Jeez, Cody! What was that for?" Cody let out a frustrated grunt, and got off the floor. He dusted himself off and left the room. Zack quickly caught up. "Woah, Cody? What's going on?"
"Are you serious?" Cody angrily got in Zack's face. Zack hadn't been expecting his brother to be so upset. His mouth hung open as Cody berated him. "That was the dumbest thing you could have possibly done. You could have landed in so many horrible ways. You could have gotten a sprain, a broken bone, possibly worse! Do you ever think?" Zack closed his mouth and looked ashamed. Cody let out a sigh, knowing that his outburst didn't help the situation. "Look, let's just get the tools to Arwin. At least we're both okay."
The twins silently rode the elevator down to the basement where Arwin's office was. Zack occasionally looked in his brother's direction. He had been relaxed on the way up retrieve the tools. Now it was clear he was trying to stop himself from shaking, but was failing. Zack felt awful. He made a stupid decision, as he normally did. He wanted to impress Cody, but in doing so worried him. Hopefully Arwin's invention would take his mind off of the incident.
The duo entered the inventor's office and he was right where Zack had left him, neck deep in his machine.
"Hey, Arwin," Cody said, not allowing the incident on the roof to infect his speaking voice.
"Do I hear Cody," Arwin called from his machine. He peered out from it. "I did! And Zack's back too with my tools! Well done, kids!" He eagerly took the toolbox from Zack. "You kids are gonna witness history." The engineer pulled strange looking tools out of his toolbox and made adjustments to the inner workings of his device. Zack and Cody shared nervous looks.
"Zack wasn't able to explain what your new invention does," Cody probed the excitable inventor for more information. He simply smiled at them.
"I can't really explain it," he said rubbing the top of the device. "All i know, is that it's going to be incredible."
"At least it's not smoking as much, right?" Zack pointing out the mishap from earlier in the morning annoyed Arwin, but he shook it off quickly.
"It was SMOKING?" Cody asked nervously. "If Moseby found out you nearly had a fire, he'd blow a gasket."
"He did," Arwin said curtly. "Smelled it from upstairs and sprayed it with a fire extinguisher. Took me the entire time you were getting my tools to get all the foam cleaned up."
"I'd have loved to see that!" Zack said to Cody. Cody simply nodded. He was still clearly upset with his twin. Zack made made a mental note to find a way to make it up to him later. Maybe feigning interest in his star book would cheer him up.
Arwin went to his work bench and pulled a power cord from one of the drawers. He unraveled it and plugged it into the wall outlet. The opposite end of the cord was plugged into his device. Small lights around the edge of the device powered on, illuminating the side of the machine in an ethereal blue glow. A maniacal smile crossed the inventor's lips. He rubbed his hands together.
"It's supposed to do this, right," Zack asked nervously.
"This time, yes," Arwin said gleefully. "Once I press this button, the magic will officially happen, boys!"
Zack stepped closer to the machine, but Cody kept his distance. Arwin nodded as he placed his finger on a small button on the top of the machine. His index finger was shaking. He looked at the twins. A curious smile crossed Zack's face as he nodded. He felt himself being drawn in to the device. Arwin pressed the button. The blue light intensity increased as it scanned the room. Zack followed it as it went up and down the entire room. The scan finally stopped. There was a slight humming coming from the device. Zack could hear his heart beating in his chest as he stared at the machine.
"Did it work?" Cody asked meekly.
Zack reached out to touch the machine. He didn't expect it to explode. The force of the explosion sent Zack rocketing back. His body made contact with the wall and he blacked out.
