Fuzzy (7 page)

His/her SCIENCE score of 62.7 percent is BELOW the passing ACE_FYP score of 65 percent.

(See attachment for additional scores and data.)

The category SCIENCE is designated as MANDATORY for completion of GRADE SEVEN.

Combining these UpGrade results with other recent changes in his/her scores:

DISCIPLINE (–15.3)

TARDINESS (–.4)

SCHOOL CITIZENSHIP (–8.3)

Produces an Overall #CUG score of 48.341.

His/her status has been changed to: AT RISK.

A Federal School Board representative will contact you within two workdays to discuss the options available to MAXINE.

This time Max's parents
really
erupted.

“But I know I passed that science test!” Maxine protested.

“You obviously don't know as much as you think you do, young lady,” said her mother, still waving a printed copy of the report.

“You don't understand! I know for a fact I only missed one question on the whole test!”

“Honey,” her father said, “how could you possibly know that?”

“Fuzzy checked my answers.”

“So you think Fuzzy knows more about the test than the testing software does?”

“Oh no,” said her mom. “Not that robot again. I admit it was fun talking to it, but it's obviously a huge distraction to you. It shouldn't have been here at all on a test night.”

“I'm not talking about last night, I'm talking about today at school!”

“Watch your tone, young lady,” said her mom. “That tone isn't going to help you at all.”

“Nor is arguing with us about it,” said her dad. “This Federal School Board person is the one we're going to have to worry about. I'm willing to ask them to have your test regraded, but even if they find a mistake, that's just one test.”

“And it's more than just the tests!” fumed her mother. “Look at the discipline score!”

The entire weekend passed like this . . . . one big looping argument, interrupted only by study sessions.

5.3
HALLWAY B

The first face she saw when Max dragged herself to school on Monday was about the last one she wanted to see.

“Well, Ms. Know-It-All,” Biggs said as they made their way down the hall to their respective classes, “I suppose you aced the science test last week.”

For once, she didn't feel like getting in an argument with him.

“As a matter of fact,” she said, low voiced, “I flunked it.”

“You
flunked
it?” Biggs seemed genuinely surprised. “I thought I was the only one. It seemed like an easy test, what with Ms. French going over all the material fifty times like she did.”

Max came to a dead stop, causing several other students to pile up behind her. “You didn't pass, either?”

“Must have been some trick questions,” Biggs said. Before he could say more, an all-too-familiar grating voice came from the wall next to them.

“Discipline tags noted for J. Biggs and M. Zelaster,” Vice Principal Barbara said, her avatar frowning in disapproval. “Discussion of test results is not permitted.”

“But there's no rule against . . .” Max stopped herself before she got another tag. Obviously there must be such a rule, even if she had never heard of it. She glanced over at Biggs, and for once the two of them seemed in total sympathy with each other. Biggs shook his head angrily, then peeled off to talk to Simeon.

ZARRRK!!
It seemed like Vice Principal Barbara just made up these stupid rules as she went along.

Max couldn't wait to talk to Fuzzy, but deliberately avoided doing so in the halls or at lunch. Vice Principal Barbara's “ears” were everywhere. Max managed to wait until school ended for the day, and asked Jones if Fuzzy could walk around the school track with her.

“Fuzzy,” she began when they got there, “you said you scanned my test paper and I got a ninety-nine on it . . .”

“Ninety-eight-point-six-six,” Fuzzy said.

“Could you have been wrong?”

Fuzzy hesitated, as though puzzled by such a question. “Of course not,” he said.

“Then how do you explain that it came back with a sixty-two-point-seven on it?”

“That is impossible, Max. You had ninety-eight-point-six-six percent correct.”

“No, Fuzzy, I couldn't have. And you got Biggs's results wrong, too. He told me this morning that he also failed.”

“There must be something wrong with the grading program,” Fuzzy said. “I am sure they will find their error and correct it.”

Max stamped her foot. “They aren't looking for any error! They've sent the results home. Some kind of school board ‘representative' is going to be visiting my folks to decide whether I can even stay in school!” She impatiently wiped away tears of frustration.

“Are you sure?” she asked Fuzzy again. “You only saw my answers from a distance while I was scrolling. Can you really see something for a second and be sure?”

“Yes,” said Fuzzy, “I can. I was designed to be able to do so.”

“Well, then, how do
you
explain it?” Max tried to keep her voice down but with little success.

Fuzzy did not answer. He was thinking. Trying to answer her question.

It was complicated. Even for him.

So he increased the priority of HelpMax() and thought some more.

5.4
MAX
'
S HOUSE

“And this must be Maxine,” enthused a gushing female voice. “You arrived here at just the right moment, my dear.”

Max raised her downcast eyes and saw a large red-haired woman seated on a living room chair, facing Max's parents, who sat together on the couch. The woman, Maxine thought, was built like a tank. She looked like she could qualify for the football team, despite a sweet smile, which Max instantly classified as phony.

“Max, this is Ms. Brockmeyer,” said Carmen Zelaster.

“She's from the Federal School Board,” her father
added. “She's here to talk about your poor performance at school this year.”

“Oh, let's not say ‘poor performance,' Mr. Zelaster,” Ms. Brockmeyer said. “Let us just say that Maxine's see-you-gee score isn't what it should be.”

It took them all a moment to realize that Brockmeyer was talking about Constant UpGrade, #CUG, when she said “see-you-gee.”

“Maxine needs a bit of work on improving her academics
and
her attitude. With your help and support, I'm certain the child can accomplish both goals.”

“Max has always been a good student,” said her father. “I'm sure this test failure was just a lapse. We'll see that she studies more for the next one . . .”

“And I'm certain there's something wrong with the test grading,” said Max. “I'd like to have my test rechecked or even take a retest.”

“Well, of course, a retest is out of the question, since that would be unfair to students who performed well the first time. However, I will be happy to have the test regraded. Errors do happen.
Very rarely
, but they do happen.”

Well
, thought Max,
at least they'll look at it
.

But Brockmeyer was far from finished.

“Unfortunately, it isn't simply a question of the test scores,” she said, turning to Carmen Zelaster. “We have to look at the overall see-you-gee. Maxine has accumulated so many discipline tags. And then these citizenship scores . . . tut-tut.”

Maxine couldn't believe the woman had actually said “tut-tut.” It felt like her whole life was on the line here and this woman was saying “tut-tut”!

“Now, I can tell already that Maxine is a fine young lady. I have reviewed the recordings of her discipline violations, and I think she just needs a little attitude adjustment.”

Max's mother looked at her with an
I told you so
look.

“Hopefully,” said Brockmeyer, “that adjustment can happen at Vanguard . . . and quickly. If not, the EC school specializes in precisely the kind of attitude adjustment that seems necessary here.”

Now both her parents looked at Max with
I told you so
looks.

“Vanguard is a school that is laser-focused on academic achievement,” said Brockmeyer. “It's a wonderful school. Just look at these charts of overall see-you-gee
performance. But it might not be right for every student. Some students need to try focusing on discipline first. That's where the EC schools come in.”

“Ms. Brockmeyer, I really have tried,” Max said, finally able to speak. “I don't know where all those discipline tags came from. I usually don't even know I've broken a rule until I hear Vice Principal Barbara say it.”

“Well, yes, my dear, of course. But that's just it, don't you see? The EC school would teach you to recognize school rules
and
understand their importance, so you won't keep running afoul of them. That would help your citizenship scores, too!”

“Is there any way we can appeal your decision?” Don Zelaster asked.

“Well, right now it's not a decision. It's a suggestion. In fact, it's not even a suggestion. It's an option. However, if Maxine continues to fail tests or accumulate discipline tags, then it will become a mandatory option.”

“So I can stay in Vanguard Middle School?” Max almost shouted. She was surprised to find out she wanted to stay so badly. She guessed it was a combination of the dread of the EC school and not wanting to lose her friends: Krysti, despite all her teasing, and . . . Fuzzy!

Ms. Brockmeyer spent a full minute scrolling her qScreen and looking at data.

“Yes, you can stay at Vanguard for now. But I have to warn you that at the rate you've been going lately, you won't last long. You'll really need to make some changes . . .” Ms. Brockmeyer's speech began to fade into a “blah blah blah” recital in Max's ears.

Then Ms. Brockmeyer got to the bad part.

“There is one thing. Since your test scores are part of the problem, you will have to give up any extra school activities or sports. Vice Principal Barbara has made a note here that you've been working with the Robot Integration Program team.”

“Yes, it's been fascinating for all of—” began her father.

“I'm afraid that's exactly the sort of extra activity that can distract a student from their #CUG scores,” interrupted Brockmeyer. “Max will have to give that up.”

6.1
HALLWAY B

Fuzzy froze up.

He didn't fall over this time. He just sort of slouched against a wall.

“Uh, Fuzzy, what's going on?” said Simeon, who had enthusiastically volunteered to replace Max in escorting Fuzzy to classes. But they hadn't even made it to the first class.

“Nice job, Simeon, you already broke it,” said Biggs as he walked up. “You're as bad as Max!”

“C'mon, Fuzzy,” Simeon pleaded. He tried pinging Fuzzy in the side. No reaction.

Then he saw Max down the hall.

“Max! Can you help me out here?”

Max, of course, was already upset about being replaced, and she certainly didn't want to get in more trouble by getting caught helping Fuzzy. But she walked over to make sure he was OK.

“I'm surprised the technicians aren't here already,” she said. “Why don't you text Dr. Jones?”

“Uh, I forgot the number,” muttered Simeon.

“All right, I'll do it,” said Max, keeping her distance from both of them in case Barbara was watching.

She clicked the message into her qFlex bracelet.

“Unauthorized use of text-messaging device,” chanted Barbara from the closest screen. “One discipline tag to Maxine Zelaster.”

Max was furious.

(She would have been even angrier if she had known that Barbara had blocked the message. She got the discipline tag without even getting to alert Dr. Jones about Fuzzy's problems.)

A chime sounded. Great, now she only had one minute to get to class or she'd get another tag.

“I'm sorry, Fuzzy,” whined Simeon, “I've got to go to class. You think Dr. Jones is coming?”

Fuzzy didn't answer.

“Sorry, Fuzz. Good luck, Simeon,” said Max, and she hurried off as fast as she could without triggering Barbara's “no running” detector.

“Listen, Fuzzy,” said Simeon. “They should be here any minute . . . and I've got to get to class myself. So . . .”

And Simeon took off, too.

He and a few other stragglers slipped into their classrooms just before another chime sounded.

The halls were empty now, except for Fuzzy, still leaning there.

He was still on, still thinking, but he was stuck in a subloop: HelpMax(TestScore()).

At first the loop was running in the background, but it soon took over all of his processing power. The loop was very complicated and had all sorts of bits of data and complicated algorithms in it. But if it was translated into English, it would go sort of like this:

>>Max answered 74 of 75 questions correctly.

>>Barbara grades test.

>>Barbara reports Max has failed test.

>>Analyze maxtest.jpg. Compare to correct answers.

>>Max answered 74 of 75 questions correctly.

>Barbara grades test.

A normal robot could get stuck in a loop like that forever and need a reboot. But Fuzzy had been programmed to use what was called fuzzy logic. He was learning to break out of loops. When he realized he was stuck, he began inserting new variables into the loop, trying to think more like a person. More like Max.

He tried this:

>>My knowledge of science is faulty.

To test this, he began searching online science libraries. He double-checked every answer from the UpGrade test. No, he had been correct right down the line.