We Built This City Read online

  PRAISE FOR THE 8TH CONTINENT SERIES:

  “Fast-paced action, cool inventions and remarkable robots.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Good fun in the tradition of M. T. Anderson’s Pals in Peril series.”

  —Booklist

  “Zippy pace and original premise.”

  —School Library Journal

  “London’s smart and humorous series launch hurtles along at a . . . knuckle-whitening pace. Kids will especially enjoy George’s outlandish robotic and vehicular inventions—including 2-Tor, the siblings’ giant mechanical crow teacher—in this fun yet thought-provoking story.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “This is a delightful start to the adventures of the Lane family, with their flying tree and their mechanical bird tutor. Evie and Rick and their brilliant if eccentric parents are wonderfully vivid, and the villains who try to impede them in their quest to save the Earth, equally memorable. It’s all in the great tradition of adventure fiction for young readers, running back through Akiko and Freddy the Pig all the way to Tom Sawyer.”

  —Kim Stanley Robinson, author of Red Mars

  An Imprint of Penguin Random House

  Penguin.com

  Copyright © 2016 Penguin Random House LLC

  Penguin Random House supports copyright. Copyright fuels creativity, encourages diverse voices, promotes free speech, and creates a vibrant culture. Thank you for buying an authorized edition of this book and for complying with copyright laws by not reproducing, scanning, or distributing any part of it in any form without permission. You are supporting writers and allowing Penguin Random House to continue to publish books for every reader.

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-698-40578-3

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Version_2

  For my family

  Contents

  Reviews

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  DARKNESS SURROUNDED VESUVIA PIFFLE LIKE A SEWER TANK OF ICE WATER.

  It was not the first time she had been cruelly and wrongfully imprisoned, but after her mother betrayed and abandoned her, what else should she have expected? She was completely and utterly alone.

  The door opened. That scrape of metal on metal, an agonized scream, stung her ears. Rusted hinges whined. A blade of light widened across her face, piercing her eyes. When she covered her eyes in pain, the spots remained, white and sparkling.

  “Get off the floor, you little rat. Time Out is over.” That voice. Colder than the metal floor, darker than the room around her, that voice she knew so well. Mister Dark.

  She cowered in the corner, hiding from him.

  “I trust you’ve learned your lesson. Now it’s time to come upstairs and be a good little employee for Mastercorp.”

  With a growl like a caged animal, she rose from her corner and stomped toward him, her anger fueling a sudden burst of strength. “I’m no one’s employee! I am the CEO of Condo Corp!”

  Mister Dark grimaced like a wolf who didn’t like the taste of his latest meal. He took a step back, away from the pale blond-haired girl. “The Condo Corporation has been absorbed by Mastercorp. Hostile takeover. You are the Chief Executive Officer of a company that no longer exists.”

  “No!” she shrieked, spinning angrily and stomping on the hard floor. “You must be stupider than you look if you think I’m going to let a department store mannequin like you take away my company. I won’t let you!”

  “Condo Corp is gone, and outbursts like this are why you got locked up down here in the first place, Vesuvia.” Mister Dark tugged at his collar, revealing bulging silver veins on his muscular neck. The silver veins pulsed with a strange power. Mister Dark winced in pain as his hand accidentally brushed against a vein.

  “What’s wrong with you? That looks disgusting.” Vesuvia felt like she was going to yack.

  Mister Dark produced a clear plastic vial filled with silver liquid from his coat pocket. “I have been ingesting regular doses of a serum of my own design. The primary ingredient is Anti-Eden Compound.”

  “So you’re using that chemical cocktail that turns organic matter into trash to transform your insides into metal. Seems smart.” And by smart she meant super dumb. Vesuvia stuck out her tongue.

  “It is very smart. Coated in metal, my bones are unbreakable, my muscles indefatigable. By drinking a small dose every day, I am immunizing myself to the raw Anti-Eden Compound. Watch.” He tilted back his head and swallowed the contents of the vial. The silver streaks of his neck veins grew swollen. His muscular arms and legs bulged. Mister Dark made a fist, then, without even a glance, punched the wall beside him. The clang was so loud Vesuvia clutched her head. The single punch created a foot-wide crater in the wall. Mister Dark removed his hand from the dent and examined the meteor attached to his wrist. “You see?”

  “Looks painful,” Vesuvia muttered.

  Mister Dark smiled in a way that fit his name. “Come. Your mother is waiting.”

  The Mastercorp dreadnought was eight hundred meters in length, a portable headquarters for the military- industrial corporation. Shaped like a massive black shark, the flying submarine was stuffed teeth to tail with weapons, soldiers, and scientific testing facilities. In her time as a Mastercorp employee, working for her mother, Mastercorp’s Vice President of Research & Development and the Director of Eighth Continent Activities, Vesuvia often explored the twisting halls of the vessel, seeking a quiet place to be alone. But if she was really being honest with herself, what she had been looking for was an escape hatch. That was one thing she never found.

  On their way through the ship, Vesuvia and Mister Dark passed pairs of worker-bots doing maintenance on the dreadnought’s propulsion and energy systems. Vesuvia had forgotten how much she had missed fiddling with her hot-pink robo-bird guardian, Didi, and other Mastercorp machines. Squads of Mastercorp soldiers strutted down the halls in their angular uniforms. Even if they weren’t pink, the black uniforms looked snappy. Thanks to her extended Time Out in the dreadnought holding cell, Vesuvia couldn’t remember the last time she had gone shopping. Ugh, life was so unfair!

  Mister Dark guided her to the docking bay, where boats, submarines, and hoverships were stored between excursions. Mrs. Piffle stood at a black metal podium addressing a trio of children who looked about
Vesuvia’s age, but something about them was not exactly human. Bulky metal protrusions grew off them at weird angles, giving them a vague resemblance to different animals. There was a girl whose prosthetic legs looked like the hind limbs of a cheetah, a buzzard with wings that enveloped his slender, sickly body, and a small boy in glasses who was protected by a cybernetic shell like a hermit crab. It was like a gang of fifth graders had teamed up to dress as Vesuvia’s beloved Piffle Pink Patrol, her squadron of robotic animals, for Halloween.

  If Vesuvia’s mother noticed her daughter, she did not show it. She spoke to the other children in a commanding voice. “You represent the culmination of more than a decade of research on behalf of Mastercorp. Why, I became involved in this program before some of you were born. And now, here we are. You are Aniarmament—Mastercorp’s most ferocious soldiers, our pack of cyborg attack animals. Now, sound off!”

  The sickly boy stepped forward and flexed. The thousand knives of his metal wings spread like fan blades. “’Sup, lady? Name’s Buzz. I’m the boss of Aniarmament and I provide air transport for the team with my boss wings.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight, Buzz,” Viola sneered. “The only boss around here is me. You are my field commander. Don’t flatter yourself with a promotion I never granted.”

  “Sheesh, sure, lady, whatever.” Buzz stepped back into line.

  The girl did a standing front flip, landing in a crouch. She scraped her claws on the floor, creating a piercing sound that made Vesuvia’s eyes water. The last time she heard a sound like that was at a True North boy band concert.

  “I’m Kitty, ma’am,” the girl with the cheetah legs said. “Speed and tactics are my specialties.”

  Last, the boy with the huge shell on his back lumbered forward. He sighed. “I’m Gregory. I’m a hermit crab. I’m the geek. And the muscle.”

  “Very good, Aniarmament. Now, your work begins.” Viola pushed a button on the podium, illuminating a holographic projector. A 3-D image of a robot boy appeared before them. His jagged metal face framed crimson eyes that smoldered with hatred. His appearance was so hideous that Vesuvia gasped, but the children of Aniarmament appeared unfazed.

  “Traitors of Mastercorp,” the robot boy’s mouth chomped like the jaw of a nutcracker. “Remember me? It is I, Benjamin Nagg, your former spy. You left me to die in your latest attack on the eighth continent, but you were only . . . mostly successful. Though the Anti-Eden Compound you so liberally sprinkled on the continent has changed my shape, I am still me. And I still have this!”

  The hologram of Benjamin raised his metal gauntlet, revealing a single page of cyberpaper that read: The Ultimate Continent Ownership Form. By every island and isthmus, by every archipelago, whosoever holds this document shall possess full ownership of THE 8TH CONTINENT.

  “Do you see, Mastercorp? Do you see, Viola, you severe crone? All your billions of dollars, all those underpaid employees who work so hard, it’s all for nothing. This document says that I rule the eighth continent, and soon, everyone will know it. If you want the Ultimate Continent Ownership Form, come and get it! I’ll be waiting.”

  The hologram of robot Benjamin vanished, leaving those in the cavernous docking bay in empty silence, as if a celebrity had just left a party and now the party was total lame sauce.

  Viola cleared her throat. “Aniarmament, your job is to find this traitor and bring him back to our side for rehabilitation. At all costs you must retrieve the Ultimate Continent Ownership Form. The eighth continent must be ours. Our company sparked the creation of the Eden Compound that made this continent, and made you, as well. Demonstrate your gratitude with your obedience. Now go!”

  The cyborg animal kids let loose bloody roars and raced to the end of the docking bay. The shark jaws at the front of the dreadnought opened. Kitty leaped onto the back of Gregory’s shell. Buzz took to the air, grabbed Gregory’s hands, and pulled his companions skyward. He soared between the dreadnought’s teeth and disappeared into the sky below.

  At last, Viola turned to face her daughter. “Come with me, Vesuvia.”

  She followed her mother to the bridge of the dreadnought, where Viola and Mister Dark could command all of Mastercorp’s forces on the eighth continent. Vesuvia’s head hurt, and the blinking lights on the dozen consoles circling the room didn’t help. But her headache faded as she saw the front viewport. Sunlight. It felt so good on her face. She stepped closer, making sure to avoid a discolored patch of floor. Vesuvia could see where Mastercorp had repaired the gaping hole she had made with Anti-Eden Compound many months ago. She stared at the sky.

  “Tell me, Vesuvia, have we seen the end of your tantrums? Your last outburst nearly destroyed the dreadnought and allowed our prisoner Evie Lane to escape.”

  “I am calm,” Vesuvia answered, saying the words her mother wanted to hear, though the lies tasted sour in her mouth. “I know now that I made a terrible mistake, but it won’t happen again. I hate Evie Lane. I hate her peppy energy and I hate her lies. I hate Rick Lane. I hate his know-it-all snobbery, and I hate his bossiness. I hate that whole family. Everything bad that has happened to me is their fault.”

  Her mother nodded approvingly. “And how do you feel about me?”

  Vesuvia tasted bile in her mouth. “You are my wise mother. When I trust you and do as you say, things go well.”

  “Spoken like a true Mastercorp executive,” her mother said. “I’m glad you have decided to rejoin us. I hope you understand that your long Time Out in that cell was for your own good. Now you will be of great help to the corporation. We have entered the final act, Vesuvia. Soon, an entire continent will be ours to do with as we please. The Mastercorp board of directors has been very clear in its instructions. We are to remove every trace of Winterpole from this continent and destroy that obnoxious Lane family. Once we have dealt with them, we can seize control of that eyesore of a city they rule.”

  Vesuvia turned to face her mother. “What do you mean, city?”

  HIGH UP IN A TREESCRAPER, EVIE LANE STEPPED OUT ONTO A BRANCH AND LOOKED DOWN AT THE continent hundreds of feet below. The sight of the stone huts and tall tree-shaped buildings made her heart swell. The rows of houses, restaurants, research facilities, and recreation hubs went on and on. The buildings merged with the natural landscape of the continent. They didn’t have to cut anything down. In the lobbies of many buildings, trees grew up through the floor.

  Evie couldn’t believe that all their hard work had paid off at last. Finally, her family could share its new civilization—a society for fun, for creativity and science—with the world. The Lanes had won. Their city, officially named Scifun, was flourishing.

  Six months ago this very spot had been the modest settlement of Evie’s family, home only to a few worker robots and some enthusiastic scientists. Now, Scifun’s population was approaching 100,000 people.

  The wind whipped Evie’s yellow T-shirt as she watched her domain. Children raced through the streets with their tutors, laughing and learning. Lab technicians on a lunch break crowded a field where they played a live-action version of a popular real-time strategy computer game. One of Evie’s best friends, the vegetarian cowboy Sprout Sanchez, led a group of newcomers on a guided tour through the city. One of Evie’s big plans for the continent was to ensure that every new citizen received a warm welcome and a tour. She remembered how awkward it felt to start at a new school or move to a new place. She didn’t want anyone to feel that way in Scifun.

  From the high branch of the treescraper, Evie couldn’t hear what Sprout was saying to the newcomers, but she was sure it was something about lassoing legumes or the corn corral he was building uptown at the foot of Mount Luck. Sprout’s love of vegetables always made Evie giggle. She had never realized she could feel so much. The people of Scifun were a big family. She would do anything to protect them and this land they had created.

  Khzzzt!—a hiss and crackle came over
her pocket tablet. “Evie, could you come down here please?”

  The voice on Evie’s communicator belonged to her older brother, Rick. Now, Rick and Evie were an unstoppable team, but things hadn’t always been so good between them. After a particularly nasty fight, she had even been convinced to attack the Lane settlement by none other than Vesuvia Piffle of Condo Corp. Or was it Mastercorp? She couldn’t keep track.

  Eventually, Evie realized she was wrong and came home to help her family rebuild. She was grateful that even after she had done such a terrible thing, Rick and the rest of her family had welcomed her home. Rick and Evie finally understood that the secret to success was compromise. Rick wanted to do scientific research. Evie wanted to have fun. They did both, and it worked—the progress their settlement had made was proof of that.

  But sometimes, Evie woke up late at night shaking, fearful that she was still the Evie who had done the bad thing, who could never redeem her past mistakes. She knew she had much more to do to set things right.

  Khzzzt! “Evie?”

  “Coming, bro!” She leaped off the end of the tree branch and plummeted past a dozen windows. She fell, laughing giddily, as the wind blew her messy hair from her face.

  The bungee cord started to stretch. Boing! Evie bobbed up and down, hanging by her feet from the sturdy tree branch. She peered into the open window of the treescraper beside her, which looked into Rick and their father’s lab. “Hi!” Evie called out cheerfully.

  Rick glanced up from his microscope and adjusted his glasses. When he saw her, he let out a sigh and shook his head, which made his poofy red hair wiggle. “Nice of you to drop in, Evie.”

  “I get it!” She said with a grin, swaying a bit as she dangled in the breeze. “That was like a pun or something. Very witty, Rick.”

  “Yes, thank you. I’m a riot.” He walked to the window and picked up the big wooden shepherd’s crook leaning against the wall. He used the end to hook Evie and pull her through the open window.