Craig Heck, a science fiction and fantasy writer. His fantasy novel, The Indigo Knight can be found here on Amazon. In “How Brad Learned Math,” Mr. Heck presents us with a story for the juvenile market about an encounter with a robot, unsurprisingly, in the woods. Robot in the Woods Publishing has asked that Mr. Heck develop an outline for a longer treatment of the story. In the meantime, please enjoy this delightful tale of a boy who hates math.

Brad was restless and opened his bedroom window to the cool, night air. He put his elbows on the windowsill to gaze at the stars. He wasn’t too happy. School had started last week and so did homework. And he really hated math… or did math hate him? Either way, his mom wouldn’t let him out of his room until he had finished preparing for his math quiz.

He missed his summer nights with his books and his stars. At the window, he listened for the sounds of crickets and creatures in the dark woods behind his house. Suddenly, a light flashed and a thunderous crash shook the house. That was no lightning bolt, he thought to himself. It was more like a meteor. And if it were a meteor, that meant there could be more! Though it was nighttime, he needed a break from his study. So he quietly slipped out the the window and ran into the woods to investigate.

Brad was excited to be free of his dreaded numbers. He could see the stars through the leaves overhead. Though it was autumn, they hadn’t turned colors nor fallen yet. After strolling for awhile, the woods became thick. Brad moved on hoping to find a meteor for his rock collection. The moonlight didn’t reveal much through the trees, but Brad could find his way. He was very familiar with these woods.

He began to smell smoke and as he moved toward the smoke, he could embers of a glowing light as he came upon a crater the size of a car. And up from the crater rose a robot, hovering in mid-air.

Brad did the only thing he could think of beside fainting. That is, to run home screaming! Branches tore at his skin and when he tripped over a stump, he looked back in relief that the robot was not chasing him. He laughed at himself for being so scared and slowly made his way home. That is, he walked slowly until he heard a faint rustle coming from the direction of the crater. After he jumped in his window, he shut it, locked it, turned out the lights and hid under his bed. All he could hear was his heavy breathing. All he could think was that his mom was going to ground him for a month for not finishing his math homework.

But, there was no getting in bed tonight. Not with a robot from outer space on the loose!

He eventually fell asleep under the bed until a faint whirring noise woke him up. Brad peeked at the window. A dim light was there! Brad knew he wasn’t dreaming. He could hear the patter of rain in the backyard through his window. Brad moved to the side of the bed away from the window. A red beam lit up the entire room from the outside. Click! The latch slid open. The whirring sound and the rain grew lounder as the window opened. The robot awkwardly maneuvered itself inside, bumping the windowsill several times before successfully hovering itself inside the room. A puddle formed underneath as the rain dripped off.

The whirring sound grew louder and then the window closed. The beam turned about to different parts of the room, and then it turned off. Dim lights grew brighter as Brad’s eyes re-adjusted to the darkness.. Panting heavily, he peeked around his bed. The robot’s arms were tipped with long sharp pinchers which flailed like bullwhips as the bobot scanned the room. Brad imagined he would be dead if one of them were

to grab him. He peeked again. The robot was still hovering in the air, then suddenly stopped—no more flashing lights, no movement at all. All was dark. All was silent.

It really was a space alien robot! What was he to do? If he waited, he would be attacked. If he ran, he would be followed. He could pretend the robot didn’t know he was there, but his own breathing was the only thing that could be heard, and no space alien robot would miss that!

He knew he would have to fight. He remembered his baseball bat and he formulated a plan: SMASH the ROBOT. The aluminum bat was in the corner near the door. Taking in a deep breath, Brad formulated a plan and made a break for it. It was dark, but he knew the room. He reached out, found the light switch, flipped it, grabbed the bat and swung hard. The bat swished through the air and missed.

Brad felt his body go limp and a bright green light filled his head. He couldn’t move and realized that he was no longer even on the ground. He turn to look at the robot and stared directly into two black oval slabs where eyeballs should be. As he stared those slabs, he saw his entire life play like a movie. He heard a voice in his head and he had a 1,000 conversations a second with it until he heard the sound of approaching footsteps. He snapped back to reality and wondered how was he going to explain this one to his mother? The door swung open and his mother froze, bathed in another beam of green light. Then everything went dark. The last thing he remembered was that voice saying “By the way, I taught you math.”

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Brad woke the next morning with a headache and sat up in terror wondering about the robot. He was relieved to hear the sound of his mother’s voice. “Brad, its time to get up.” He scanned the room for evidence that he had not been dreaming, but found nothing. He sauntered down to breakfast and his mother asked “Are you ready for your quiz?” Not the best way to begin the morning, but he was relieved that she did not ask about the giant wet robot in his room last night. It must have been a dream afterall.

“Yes, Mom!” If it were only true. That voice popped back in his head and he heard what it had said, “By the way, I taught you math.” The voice was so vivid. For the first time in his life, he wanted a math quiz, simply to prove he was not going crazy.

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