Onto the music hall.

Before anything happened, Botley introduced me to Maestro Trombot, the conductor of the robot chorus. "Maestro? Hey, Maestro!"

The robot shushed him. "You misaligned my perfect pitch sensors!" He sang a scale. "There we go." I noticed his Italian accent.

"Oh, sorry, Maestro." Botley apologized. "But Polly's got us frustrated with her plots and now the future of the world and civilization as we know it is at stake."

"Mamma mia!" Maestro exclaimed. "If only she concentrated on her music, she wouldn't have the time or inclination to destroy the world. Music is such a civilizing influence. Although her voice...let's just say it's not music to my ears."

Right on cue, a monitor wound down and Polly appeared on the screen. "I heard that, Maestro. You just don't appreciate my instrument." She sang a few notes very badly, and then proceeded to give us our challenge. She gave us a few bars of music to play for her. "And please, play it right. My delicate ears can't handle even one sour note. You mess up, and you get nothing. Nada, zilch, nix."

With that, the monitor wound up, and Maestro noticed me for the first time. "Who are you?" he asked in suspicion.

"This is Mia." Botley explained for me. "You know how useless I am at academic stuff, but I'm also the only robot who has any chance to stop Polly on my own. I needed a partner who could help with the school-type stuff, and Mia's already proved to be exactly right."

"Oh, stop." I said, playfully slapping his shoulder.

Maestro nodded at me. "A pleasure to meet you, Mia. Do you play any instruments?"

I shook my head shyly. "I like singing, though." I admitted.

"Wonderful!" Maestro exclaimed.

We had to get started on playing Polly's song for her, though. The music was mixed up into four lines, but Maestro played it for me.

"I know that song!" I exclaimed. "It's 'Yankee Doodle', isn't it?" I sorted the mixed up music in a trice. That was fine, but then Maestro played it, and asked me to sing. I didn't even like the song itself, but I'd said I liked singing, so there was no way I could refuse.

I quietly sang the old-as-time rhyme. "Yankee Doodle went to town, riding on a pony,

He stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni!"

"You know, in Italy," Maestro said, "Macaroni was actually a name for a feather people wore in their hats. I bet you never knew that!"

I hadn't, actually, but I was more interested in the mission clue we were given – a lamp. Finally, it was time to go to the kitchen.

"This is worrying." I confessed. "I'm useless at math. What if we can't get in?"

Botley didn't seem so worried. "It's OK, Mia. Just do your best. Even if you do have problems, I probably have enough knowledge to help a bit, and if I remember, Mort's usually in the kitchen, and he's good at math."

"Who's Mort?" I asked as we reached the door. A metal face appeared at the window.

"That's Mort." Botley explained. "He's one of the nicer robots around, but he gets a bit crazy when he's hungry."

"Robots eat?"

"You have no idea."

"Thank goodness you're here!" Mort called through the door in a gravelly gruff voice. "I'm starving and I don't know how to cook."

There were three locks on the door, and I had to answer three equations, but they were OK, really. It was just simple math. The door swung open easily.

Botley grinned at me. "See, you did it! Polly has nothing on you." Then he led me into the kitchen.

"So what were you saying about robots and food?"

"Well, most of us are usually hungry." Botley admitted. "Even me. And don't even ask about our table manners. Around now I'd usually be able to scarf down fifty-seven plates of just about anything, but being programmed to keep Polly under control, and with her mischief-making...well, I've lost my appetite."

A monitor appeared. I groaned. "What does Polly want this time?"

As a matter of fact, all she said was "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen. Of course, if you do leave, you won't be able to find the mission clue I've hidden here."

Botley looked around. I looked at Mort, and then asked "Did Polly give you anything, or hide anything here?"

Mort looked confused. "Maybe...but I can't remember where I put it. But I might remember if I have some food."

I shrugged. "OK. Botley, how do I do this?"

"The feeding machine is in the middle of the room." Botley answered. "I'll make the food and work the machine, but Mort always wants weird things with whatever it is. You'll have to measure them out." He pointed to a shelf which had labeled measuring instruments for solid foods, molecules of other things, and liquids.

Mort ordered spaghetti carbonara. I had to gather everything else he wanted, ie: metal gears, oxygen, strawberries, and oil.

"Well, bon appetit, I guess." Botley said. He looked at me. "Press the on/off switch in front of the machine, and I'll crank this baby into gear."

I pulled the lever. While Botley prepared the main meal, he put the condiments Mort wanted to onto a conveyer belt for me to take and measure out. The strawberries and metal gears were easy, but it took me a couple of tries to add the right amount of oil. Then I got so frustrated with the molecules of oxygen that I stopped the machine.

Botley looked up. "Wait a minute! Are you sure you're done?"

"I'm not done, but I need help!" I exclaimed. "How can I add these molecules when I don't even know how to get the oxygen in?"

Botley sighed. "OK. You add the mushrooms to the carbonara and I'll measure out the oxygen. Then we'll be ready to add everything."

It all went smoothly, and Mort thanked us profusely.

"Way to go!" Botley said, high fiving me. "Now maybe he'll shut up."

Mort didn't seem to hear him. "For providing such a fine feast, here's your tip." He brought out a baby bottle, which I put in the inventory.

"Guess it's time we moved on to the upstairs." I said as we left.

Botley nodded. "Uh-huh. There are some really cool things upstairs. There's two more floors. The first one has the biosphere and the Shrinkamatic, and the other one has the observatory and this robot maze...I'll explain. Oh, and the time machine is at the top, but Polly's locked it in a way so we can't get in until we've got all the mission clues and the adventure points."

We got to the spiral staircase and climbed up. Finally, we got to the top, and Botley said, again, "Stand back now, while I sense the place out." His antennae bleeped again and he said "Bingo! I sense a mission clue in the biosphere." He jerked his head in the direction of a pair of glass doors.

We'll go to the biosphere next! Hope you'll like it.