sassafras tea with honey in it to calm you down.â
She made him a cup of sassafras tea, double strength, and put a large gob of sourwood honey in it. The doctor gulped it, and it did calm him a lot, though his nose still twitched.
âAccidents happen in the very best of families,â Mrs. Bailey said. âItâs only fair that Sprockets and Rivets be allowed to speak for themselves. If youâll turn them onââ
âYou turn them on,â snapped the doctor. âI absolutely refuse to touch them!â
CLICK! CLICK !
Sprockets and Rivets got up and stood stiffly at attention, their eye lights blinking worriedly. Their circuits were cool now, but their heads ached from the awful knowledge of what they had done.
âYou poor little dears,â Mrs. Bailey said kindly. âYouâve had a terrible experience. How do you feel?â
âHorrid, maâam,â said Sprockets, speaking for them both, as he usually did. âPerfectly ghastly. Words cannot begin to express our shame. But we are everlastingly grateful to you for saving our wits. And we earnestly hope we may be allowed to repair the damage we caused.â
âR-repair the damage!â the doctor sputtered. âHa! What madness is this?â
âI betcha they could, Daddy,â said Jim. âHow long would it take you, Sprockets?â
âSeven days,â Sprockets answered. âIf we may be allowedââ
âSeven days to rebuild a machine that took me seven years to create?â the doctor waved a trembling hand at the tangled wreckage of the Space Probe. âAny robot who would make such a statement has lost his wits! Now Iâm convinced you are mad, addled, aberrated, and entirely deranged!â
âB-b-but, thir,â little Rivets burst out, not realizing his screw was loose again. âMy brudderâs not abbled! Heâth tho thmart he can fix eny fing!â
Sprockets gave a tock of dismay. âOh, sir, please!â he begged quickly. âOur circuits have had a most jellifying jolt, and weâve hardly had time to recover. If I may be permitted to explainââ
âYou may not!â the doctor snapped. âIâve had enough of you both. One of you is so abbledâI mean addledâhe canât even talk. And the other is downright deranged. I never want to see you in this laboratory again. Go to your roomâand stay there till the robot factory sends for you!â
With heads down, Sprockets and Rivets trudged dejectedly upstairs to their room next to Jimâs.
âIâm tho thorry,â Rivets said, when they were alone.
âItâs too late to be thorryâI mean sorry,â Sprockets told him. âYou shouldnât have spoken when your screw was loothâI mean looseâand I warned you about the marbles.â
âI gueth Iâm not quite wight bwight.â
âNeither of us is quite right bright right now. Oh, my poor aching circuits! Iâve got to think as Iâve never thought beforeâand I canât think when my circuits ache. Let me fix your loothâlooseâscrew.â
He had just tightened the screw, and oiled Rivetsâ tongue and his own, when Mrs. Bailey and Jim came into the room. Jim had some fresh ice packs in his hand, and Mrs. Bailey carried a large box of learning tapes.
She wiped a tear from her eye, and said, âThe robot factory canât send for you until tomorrow, and that may give us time if we work fast.â
âTime for what, maâam?â Sprockets blinked at the learning tapes. The very sight of them made his circuits squirm.
âTime to be superly-superly educated,â said Mrs. Bailey. âWhen the doctor sees you againâand Iâll make sure that he doesâI want you both to be wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, and simply popping with knowledge. Then heâll have to change his mind and decide to keep youâthat is, if you
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