Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

By Wesley Allison

Girl inventor Astrid Maxxim and her friends are back. This time Astrid is building an observation dome beneath the sea. Will she complete her amazing construction project, or will she be sidetracked by underwater monsters, the evil organization known as the Black Hand, or her snotty cousin Gloria?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wesley Allison
• Release date: May 10, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301397167

Wesley Allison

At the age of nine, Wesley Allison discovered a love of reading in an old box of Tom Swift Jr. books. He graduated to John Carter and Tarzan and retains a fondness the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs to this day. From there, it was Heinlein and Bradbury, C.S. Lewis and C.S. Forester, many, many others, and finally Richard Adam’s Shardik and Watership Down. He started writing his own stories as he worked his way through college. Today Wes is the author of more than thirty science-fiction and fantasy books, including the popular His Robot Girlfriend. He has taught English and American History for the past 29 years in Southern Nevada where he lives with his lovely wife Victoria, and his two grown children Rebecca and John.For more information about the author and upcoming books, visit http://wesleyallison.com.Books by Wesley Allison:Princess of AmatharHis Robot GirlfriendHis Robot WifeHis Robot Wife: Patience is a VirtueHis Robot Girlfriend: CharityHis Robot Wife: A Great Deal of PatienceHis Robot Wife: Patience Under FireEaglethorpe Buxton and the Elven PrincessEaglethorpe Buxton and the SorceressThe Many Adventures of Eaglethorpe BuxtonEaglethorpe Buxton and... Something about Frost GiantsThe Sorceress and the Dragon 0: BrechalonThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 1: The Voyage of the MinotaurThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 2: The Dark and Forbidding LandThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 3: The Drache GirlThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 4: The Young SorceressThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 5: The Two DragonsThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 6: The Sorceress and her LoversThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 7: The Price of MagicThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 8: A Plague of WizardsThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 9: The Dragon's ChoiceThe Sorceress and the Dragon Book 10: For King and CountryKanana: The Jungle GirlTesla’s StepdaughtersWomen of PowerBlood TradeNova DancerThe Destroyer ReturnsAstrid Maxxim and her Amazing HoverbikeAstrid Maxxim and her Undersea DomeAstrid Maxxim and the Antarctic ExpeditionAstrid Maxxim and her Hypersonic Space PlaneAstrid Maxxim and the Electric Racecar ChallengeAstrid Maxxim and the Mystery of Dolphin IslandAstrid Maxxim and her High-Rise Air Purifier

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Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

By Wesley Allison

Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

Copyright © 2011 by Wesley M. Allison

Smashwords Edition

Revision 05-26-19

All Rights Reserved. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. This is a work of fiction. Names, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Cover art by: Shaed Studios, shaedstudios.com

ISBN: 9781301397167

To all those kids who never get noticed.

Astrid Maxxim and her Undersea Dome

By Wesley Allison

Chapter One: Cartagena, Spain

Shark!

Denise Brown tapped frantically on her friend Astrid’s shoulder to get her attention. Astrid Maxxim’s focus, like the focus of her underwater camera, was fixed on the bright orange starfish, which rested on the top of the coral outcropping as if waiting for its picture to be taken. Astrid snapped a photo before turning to see what was agitating her dive partner. Denise pointed at the shark, and then to make sure that she was getting the message across, made a fin with her hand and put it on top of her head. Astrid held up her fingers about an inch apart in the universal symbol for small. Denise shook her head violently and shot up toward the surface.

In exasperation, Astrid blew out bubbles around her regulator, and then kicked her way back up to the surface of the Mediterranean. She spat out her mouthpiece and pulled the dive mask up onto her forehead.

We’ve got fifteen minutes left before we’re done, she said.

Shark! shouted Denise, scrambling up the ladder that hung from the side of the small boat.

Shark? said Toby Bundersmith, who was waiting topside. He threw aside his Batman comic and helped Denise up the ladder. That’s lucky. I was hoping to see a shark when I was in the water, but I didn’t.

Come on, Denise, called Astrid. I still haven’t got a picture of a lobster yet.

There is a shark!

It’s only a little one, said Astrid. It is more afraid of you than you are of it.

That’s not possible, said Denise. And it wasn’t little. It was big—large, hefty, colossal, enormous, gigantic, mammoth, massive, oversized, tremendous, vast.

Astrid tossed the camera up to Toby. It was little—tiny, inconsequential, minuscule, petite, teeny, undersized, microscopic, miniature, did I say miniature already, no? runty, bitty, wee.

Come on, said Toby, holding his hand down for Astrid. I’m getting bored up here anyway. Let’s go in and have lunch.

Hurry up and get in the boat before that shark gets you! said Denise, helping Astrid up.

Honestly, said Astrid. It was the size of a dachshund.

I got bit by a wiener dog once and had to have five stitches, replied Denise. He didn’t have shark’s teeth either, just regular dog teeth.

Toby helped as the girls, one after the other, removed their scuba tanks and stowed them in the aft rack. Then he went forward and took a seat behind the wheel. As Astrid and Denise sat down, the big inboard engine roared to life. Pushing the throttle forward, Toby steered toward the dock in Cartagena as the two girls wrapped up in large, fluffy towels.

Astrid Maxxim was startlingly cute, with shoulder length strawberry blond hair and very large blue eyes. Already a world-famous inventor, she was enjoying the relative anonymity that Cartagena, Spain offered. Denise had long blond hair and green eyes and was a little on the skinny side. At five foot five, the two girls were exactly the same height, and had been best friends since they were in diapers. Toby Bundersmith was tall and muscular, with brown hair that hung down in bangs just above his hazel eyes. He turned and gave Astrid a broad smile.

Twenty minutes later, he pulled the throttle back and maneuvered the small craft through the rows of docked boats, at last drifting gently to a stop in their slip. The girls stood up and put on swimsuit cover-ups. After tying off, they gathered their things together, packing them onto the backs of three small motor scooters, which were awaiting them.

What now? asked Toby, as he fastened on his helmet. Back to the house?

It’s not a house, said Denise. It’s a villa.

Of course it is. Because it’s in Spain, said Toby. Other than that, it’s not all that different from your house.

Anyway, Astrid interrupted what could easily have turned into an argument, you said you were hungry, and I could definitely eat. Let’s stop by that little cafe on Paseo de Alfonso.

Thirty minutes later, they sat on the patio of Café Concepción, as a waiter placed large platters of Fritura Andaluza in front of them. The mixture of fried fish and prawns had become a favorite of the three friends in the past few days.

Gracias, said Toby to the waiter, and then turned to the girls. I don’t know about you two, but this is the best Earth Day I’ve ever had. I’m already sad that we’re going home tomorrow.

Yes, but we have to, said Astrid. I already feel bad about missing two school days.

All you’ve done on this trip is study, said Denise. I thought we could have gone to at least one nightclub while we were here. Why don’t we go to the discotheque tonight?

You’re kidding, right? Tonight is the night that Jean Paul Feuillée is speaking at the Roman Theater. That was the whole point of coming here this weekend. Besides, we would only get kicked out of the discotheque for being too young.

Relax, Astrid, said Toby. Denise is just pulling your leg.

She may not be as able to relax as we might all hope, said Denise.

She pointed over Astrid’s shoulder to a building on the other side of the street. When the girl inventor turned, she saw a large sign, twenty feet tall and forty feet wide. In large letters, it proclaimed that a new Maxxim Hoverbike could be purchased for the fantastic price of €6,285. A twelve-foot-tall, sleek, futuristic, flying scooter was zooming across the poster. The hoverbike was one of Astrid’s greatest inventions. The strawberry blond teen shown straddling the hoverbike, her head tossed back as she laughed, was not Astrid however, though there was a strong family resemblance. It was her cousin Gloria.

That is disconcerting, said Toby.

I really tried to get the price down, said Astrid. Those hoverdisks are expensive to produce. Maybe when we are able to ramp up production…

That’s not what I mean, and you know it, he said. Gloria has never shown two figs of interest in you or anything you’ve ever done and now here she is, on an ad poster three thousand miles from home, acting like she’s the ‘it’ girl.

How come you’re not on that poster? asked Denise.

Nobody ever asked me, replied Astrid. Quite honestly, I never thought about it. I don’t usually pay much attention to the advertising part of the business. I don’t usually pay that much attention to the business part of the business for that matter.

Maybe you should, said Denise.

I’m sure this is all for the best, continued Astrid. I’ll bet Gloria really wanted to be a model, and it’s never really been an interest of mine. Besides, she’s much prettier than I am.

Don’t be ridiculous. You’re ten times prettier than she is. As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Toby’s face flushed red.

They finished their meals and drove their scooters, these unlike the one on the poster, the terrestrially bound variety, to the villa that was owned by Maxxim Industries. It was a medium sized house built on the side of a hill overlooking the lovely city below. There, they were met by Dennis, Denise’s older brother, who had apparently spent most of the day by the pool. Denise and Toby joined him for a while before trundling off to their bedrooms for an afternoon nap. Astrid spent the afternoon finishing a pair of school papers, and then reading The Undersea Eden. It was the last of Jean Paul Feuillée’s sixteen books that she had read.

After a dinner of good old American hamburgers, Dennis drove the four of them to the Roman Theater. Built between 5 BC and 1 BC by the Emperor Augustus in honor of his two grandsons, the theater was damaged by Vandals in AD 425, and then covered over, first by a Byzantine Market in the 6th century and then by a cathedral in the 13th century. Finally, the theater was rediscovered in 1988 and was restored. Since 2003, it had been used for lectures and presentations, as well as an annual Roman Festival.

On this particular evening, the noted oceanographer made a presentation focusing on the vanishing species of ocean life. Astrid had been looking forward to this for weeks, and Dr. Feuillée did not disappoint. The teen inventor hung on the scientist’s every word and even Denise—who was not noted for her love of science—found the accompanying slides and videos entertaining and compelling. Afterwards the four young people waited at the theater exit to meet the ocean expert.

Dr. Feuillée, said Astrid, shaking his hand. I am so pleased to meet you.

It is always a pleasure to see our young people interested in the ocean world.

"I’m more than just interested. I’m building an undersea dome. I wanted to invite you to come see