Polar Attraction

“Whoa.”

I gasp in awe at the grandeur of the manor that looms before me, enveloped in its enormous shadow. I’d heard rumors of the luxurious Strauss Estate but figured they were exaggerations. The three-story lime-washed brick mansion is old but well-kept. It’s so large that the small, single-floor rancher I call home could fit inside it at least a dozen times. Everything from the immaculate landscaping to the hand-carved mahogany front door, screams wealthy elite. That’s not to mention the six-car garage for the limos. One of which brought me here today. 

“You should see what the inside looks like.” A gardener chuckles as he snips at a hedge of rose bushes that hug the exterior of the mansion. He must’ve seen me gawking at the place.

Embarrassed at being seen, I nod then head up the front steps, still in awe of this alien world I find myself in. Afraid of damaging such elegant woodwork, I knock on the door with a hesitant rap. While waiting for the door to open, my mind drifts back to what led me to this place. 

It all started yesterday in science class when Mrs. Hanson paired me up with Alexandra Strauss for our science project. Science projects are stressful enough. But once I heard the name Alexandra Strauss, my stress level went from a seven to an eleven out of ten. It’s not that I don’t like her or anything like that. It’s just that the moment we got paired up I knew my life would be filled with trouble.

To start, she’s the most popular girl in school. She’s wealthy, fashionable, intelligent, and athletic. Every high school boy’s dream girlfriend. She’s earned the nickname “Alexandra the Great” although I’ve never heard anyone call her that to her face. It’s more of a moniker people use to refer to her in all her divine glory. I can still see the scowls I got from the rest of the class that day. To make matters worse, after class Alexandra came right up to me and invited me to her house this weekend to work on our project together. Her magnetic smile made it impossible for me to say no. Pleased with my answer she went on her way completely unaware of the danger she left me in. Girls clustered in cliques to gossip. Their hushed tones only interrupted to throw hateful leers my way. Brawny jocks in varsity jackets greeted me with cracking knuckles. By the end of the day, my locker was stuffed with threatening letters from jealous guys warning me to stay away from “Alexandra the Great.” And that’s with them just seeing me with her. Thankfully, no one heard the invitation. But if it gets out that we spent a day together at her house, I’m dead meat.

I’m lost in these thoughts when the door is suddenly opened by a man who looks to be a butler. He’s more than a foot taller than me so his eyes look down at me. Although judging by his countenance, I think he’d look down on me regardless of his height. He wears a velvety black suit with a gray vest and a crisp white shirt underneath. A thin black tie runs down the center of his chest and ducks behind the gray vest. On his hands are gloves, white and clean. 

“Ah, yes. Master Rannigan is it? Please, come on in. Lady Alexandra has been awaiting your arrival. Follow me and I’ll lead you to her.”

 Before I can respond, he turns around and starts walking. He leads me through the mansions winding hallways, down a flight of steps, and then through another labyrinth of corridors. He walks with such a quick stride that I have no time to take in my surroundings. What little I do see involves a bowling alley, an Olympic-sized indoor pool, a bakery, a 3-D movie theater, and a few grand pianos. Maids and butlers rush by in a blur. We eventually stop in front of a steel door. There’s no doorknob, but there is a keypad on the wall. The butler begins punching keys when he speaks to me for the first time since he invited me in.

“I have to say, it’s nice to see Lady Alexandra have a friend over. Even if it’s for schoolwork. She doesn’t really have any to speak of.”

“Really? That’s strange considering she’s the most popular girl in school.”

“Popularity means people like you. That doesn’t always mean those people are your friends, Master Rannigan.” He sighs. 

“You can just call me Zach.”

“Yes, Master Zach.”

He says “Master” in a way that tells me there’s no use in arguing further. 

The keypad gives two happy beeps as the door slides open.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name?”

“The name’s Lucas. I’m the chief butler serving the Strauss family. Now here, put this on. You’ll need it for the lab.” Lucas reaches into his cardigan’s pocket and hands me a belt made of a strange fabric I’ve never seen before. It’s smooth and hard yet it’s flexible like a rubber band. The band is charcoal colored while the buckle is silver. The buckle latches much like a seatbelt does with one end having a tongue and the other end having a slot. A tiny button protrudes on the side of the buckle facing the floor. 

“What is it?” I ask while buckling it around my waist. Although it’s a few inches too long, it quickly closes the distance and hugs my hips snugly. 

“It is an invention Lady Alexandra’s father, Master Strauss, made for you and her to use today. It’s a magnetic tool belt. Master Strauss made it so that you can keep your tools handy without encumbering yourself with a heavy tool belt. The little button on the buckle is for unlatching it. He said that you can keep it and to think of it as a gift to you for coming over.”

“Thank you, sir.” 

“Ah, one more thing before we part ways.” An expression somehow more serious than the one he had before came over his face. “I’ve been a caretaker of Lady Alexandra since her infancy. As such, I have grown very fond of her as if she were my own daughter. She’s never had anyone over before, much less a boy.” He paused for a moment then started again, his countenance darkening. “I am aware that Lady Alexandra is a fair young woman and so I caution you to keep to yourself.”

“What?”

“I mean it, Master Zach. I will not tolerate you spoiling her innocence.” Lucas’ eyes burn with a raging fire of killing intent.

“And with that,” he says, returning to his previous tone, “I take my leave.” 

Lucas then turns around and leaves the way we came.

After I recover from my shock, I move beyond the door ahead and into the next room. The soft lighting of the manor gives way to dazzling white light. As my eyes adjust to the room’s lighting I find myself inside a laboratory worthy of a government facility. Large machines with various blinking lights, gauges, and knobs line the entirety of the vast room. In the center of the room, sit two aluminum counters side by side. I see gadgets and gizmos that I recognize from my monthly edition of Robotics Monthly as being on the cutting edge of robotic engineering. The countertops are also each equipped with a robotic arm, standing tall like redwood trees.

In the middle of it all stands Alexandra, wearing a blue dress that has a yellow floral print under a white lab coat that obscures her shapely figure. Her face is half-covered by safety goggles, but I can recognize her by the glossy hair that flows down over her shoulders like a shimmering black waterfall on snowy ridges. Other girls at school often express their envy of her hair, among a litany of other physical features she possesses. Not that she seems to care. No one’s ever seen Alexandra the Great angry or heard her say an ill word to anyone. She’s perfect, or so they say.

She’s fiddling with a robot the size of a toaster oven when she is tapped on the shoulder by one of the robotic arms and made aware of my presence.

“Oh, hey! You came!” she exclaims as she pulls off her goggles and flashes that entrancing smile of hers. She could get any man to do anything she wanted to with that smile. “Thanks for showing up.”

“Uh, yeah. Thank you for inviting me, I guess.” My ears feel hot and my mind goes blank. I’m not used to talking outside of school with any of my classmates. But to talk to a girl– any girl, much less the Alexandra Strauss, is uncharted territory for me.

Alexandra giggles and winks as she says, “Well, partner, would you like to see our project?”

“ …Um, okay sure. Whatcha got?” I must sound like an idiot, but she doesn’t seem to notice.

Alexandra leads me over to the robot she was working with when I arrived and plucks a screwdriver from her toolbelt. She finishes the adjustments she was working on earlier, then closes the lid. I get a closer look, and I can see that it’s built to fly like a drone. Its outer shell is neon yellow on top and black on the underside. Two fiery red arms hang from underneath, each one having hands shaped like flexible wrenches. She picks up a tablet from off the counter and turns it on. After pressing some keys on the touchscreen, the robot comes to life and ascends. Its claws clap in anticipation of what will come next. Alexandra presses a few more keys before switching her grasp on the tablet to hold it like a video game controller. Soon, the robot is zipping around the room, a trill hum emanating from its engine. 

“Wow, that’s incredible.” I stare in wonder. “I’ve made robots before in class but all they can do is roll around and move some small objects. Nothing I’ve ever done can move like this.”

“Aw, thanks.” Alexandra’s eyes shine with pride. “I came up with the idea after watching our personal electrician, Jerry, change out all the bulbs in our chandeliers. I figured this could make his life easier.”

Alexandra guides the robot to the far side of the room where a stand is holding a lightbulb. She stands right next to me and points at the touchscreen. A camera feed shows us the lightbulb standing up along with a semi-transparent interface that displays a pair of joysticks along with an assortment of buttons and symbols that seem to indicate various actions the robot can take.

“There’s a camera embedded in the face of the robot that feeds into this pad. Here I can see where Moe goes and what I’m doing.”

“Moe?” I ask, confused.

“Yeah, that’s its name.”

“Does it stand for something?”

“Nope. I just think it’s a cute name.”

I shrug, then watch as she maneuvers the robot closer to the hanging lightbulb. She inputs a command, then touches the lightbulb on the screen. The robot extends a claw and latches onto the bulb when— POP! The bulb shatters, sending fragments in every direction. 

“What happened? Why did you break it?”

“It’s not like I meant to. For some reason, I can’t get the grip strength right. It’s what I was kind of hoping you would help me with.” She looks down at the ground, then looks back up at me sheepishly. 

Not sure of what I could do to help, considering she’s the superior mechanic, I agree to see what I can do. We split Moe in half and go at the grip problem from two angles. I take the arms while she checks the hydraulics inside the top half. We work back-to-back, each at our own counter. There’s only one set of tools but surprisingly that doesn’t slow us down as we work well together. We hand each other tools as needed and tinker with Moe for about an hour.

All is going well up until the moment I need the Phillips head screwdriver, and she needs the ½” socket wrench. We both turn around to trade the needed items when disaster strikes. We bump into each other, creating an awkward moment where we’re so close that our noses almost touch. That wouldn’t have been so bad except—

click

A faint click is heard coming from between us. When we try to step back to see the source of the sound we find that we can’t move. Our belts are fixed to each other leaving us stuck face-to-face like dance partners.

“What the heck?!” a startled Alexandra cries, desperately trying to pull away.

“Sorry! I’m trying to step away, but I can’t.”

I throw myself backward, trying to break the magnetic grip of the belts, but it’s no use. Instead, I pull Alexandra with me and crash into the counter behind me. The sudden jerk causes her head to whip forward into mine and her forehead bashes my lower lip.

“Ow!” I howl in pain. I can already feel my lip swelling.

“So sorry.” Alexandra winces and checks over my face. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. It doesn’t hurt.” I lie through clenched teeth.

“Our belts must be stuck together.”

“I see. Then, how do we break free from this magnetic attraction?”

“We need to push that little button on the bottom of the buckle. That should do the trick.”

“Okay.”

We both reach down to push the button when our heads bump into each other again.

“Ouch!” We both cry in unison.

“Hang on,” I say rubbing my temple, “Let me get mine.” I go to reach down again when suddenly I become acutely aware of just how close we are to each other. I can feel her form pressing up against me. I’m afraid I might accidentally touch her in ways I shouldn’t. Recalling Lucas’ stern warnings, I rethink my actions. My whole body feels hot, but I’m frozen in place. 

“What’s wrong?” Alexandra asks, annoyed at my hesitation.

“I can’t reach it.”

“What do you mean you can’t reach it? Here, let me get it.”

“No!” I protest and grab her wrists. I don’t want to be stuck to her but I also don’t want to be disappeared by that crazed butler either. In our struggle, our legs get tangled and we begin to tumble to the floor. I close my eyes, bracing for impact. We hit the ground with a thump. A flowery aroma enters my nostrils and washes over my entire being. I’m dazed for a moment then, remembering where I am, I hold myself up off the floor. Staring me straight in the eye is Alexandra. Her eyes glisten like sky-blue diamonds and her pale, flawless face is blushed red. I realize that the aroma I smell is her scent. The cold hard tile under my hands is contradicted by the soft warmth of her body. Her eyes draw me in like black holes. She swallows hard, and I can see that her lips are soft and plush like pillows. She truly is Alexandra the Great. We stare into each other’s eyes for what feels like a millennium until she breaks her gaze and looks away. 

“Um …can you get up, please?” 

“Y-yeah, sorry.” I spit out the words and, using the counter and her assistance, pull myself up. 

Before anything else can be said, Alexandra snatches one of Moe’s arms and uses it to push the button on her buckle with the speed of a rattlesnake’s strike. Both of us immediately take a step back. I notice that she and I both are short of breath and unable to look each other directly in the face. Finally, Alexandra clears her throat and says,

“So, here’s that Phillips head you needed.” She extends her arm and hands me the screwdriver, still refusing to look me in the eye.

“Thank you.” I gingerly take the screwdriver from her hand and return to my work. 

No sooner than we separate, the door opens and Lucas walks in. 

“Lady Alexandra, I’ve come to take Master Zach home. I take it all went well today?”

A flush of heat washes over both our faces. Lucas inspects us with the keen eye of a detective looking to solve a mystery. I can see the suspicion growing within him and I start to panic. I’m so dead. Then Alexandra speaks.

“We had a great time! Zach is a lot of fun to work with.” 

I look over to see that beautiful, beaming smile again. All traces of embarrassment are gone and she’s back to her old self once more. 

“Very good.” He says, satisfied with her happiness. He turns to me and says, “Master Zach, if you would, please follow me. Your limo awaits to take you home.”

I say thank you and goodbye to Alexandra and follow Lucas out. I climb into the back of the limo and let out an exasperated sigh. I bet she hates me after today. A tap on my window startles me from my musings and to my surprise I see Alexandra. She’s bent over and out of breath from running. 

“Hey, Zach! Would you like to come over tomorrow and finish working on Moe? You can stay for dinner too if you’d like.”

Is Alexandra inviting me to come over again? And for dinner too? I know this means certain death if this gets out at school, but I don’t care anymore. 

“Sure, Alexandra. I’d be honored to.”

“Please, just call me Alex.” 

“Alright then, Alex.”