“Dear Minister of Finance,

Hope this finds you well. I wish to follow up with you on the matter of the land value tax, which I proposed last week in light of recent property tax hikes levied on Islanders.

I know that this is my seventh email in three weeks, but I can only attach so many files to my messages just to circumvent the web link firewall your office’s repository keeps erecting whenever it gets URL-ridden messages. With that said, I have attached a recent study published by the Government of Pennsylvania on their recent land value taxation successes.

Take your time getting back to me with your take on my proposal.

Sincerely,

Ezra Gamester

P.S. Can you look into restoring grants to tech-focused startups? My sister is flirting with private credit, and I don’t trust government bond yields to stay low in the short term.”

Steepling his fingers and leaning back in his chair, Ezra scanned the contents of his message to Prince Edward Island’s Minister of Finance. Grammar? Check. Email attachment that rivaled Moby-Dick in putting readers to sleep? Double check. Two dozen government email addresses in the CC field that showed perseverance and no desperation at all? 24 times check!

Ezra furrowed his brows at a duplicate CC recipient address. He highlighted it with a mouse click and hit Backspace to delete it. Leaving it be would’ve for sure signaled desperation.

“And remember,” said Miss Keller while standing beside the classroom chalkboard, “Tech Breakthrough Week is in four weeks’ time. If you’ve yet to come up with an idea of what you want to build and showcase, now would be a good time to start brainstorming.”

Looking up from his laptop screen, Ezra swung his head left and right to glance at his classmates. Some nodded at Miss Keller. Others jotted down ideas and even drew them in their notebooks, with nothing but scribbling filling the silence in the room. Latter group belonged in the “Shoot, I shouldn’t have waited till she said it to storm my dormant gray matter” camp.

“Psst!” A voice prodded Ezra from behind. “Ezra.”

Ezra looked over his shoulder.

Good old Pepper waved at him with a smile. Shallow as Ezra’s pool of friends proved to be, the very few he had made up for it with their warmth. “Still doing your part as a citizen?”

“Uh,” said Ezra, “what makes you say that?”

Pepper giggled as she tucked a lock of her curly brown hair behind her ear. “Just by how girthy that draft email looks from here.”

Ezra jabbed his thumb at his laptop. “Do you think I sound a bit desperate on there?”

Pepper adjusted her round glasses and squinted at Ezra’s computer screen. “Maybe you could leave out the part about having to make do with files just because of the firewall. Also, what’s up with the postscript?”

“Private credit’s mighty tempting when you’ve no other avenue for funding. Of course, that requires pretending that interest rates aren’t a thing. Especially rising ones.”

Pepper sighed. “True.” She patted Ezra’s shoulder. “Whatcha thinking for Tech Week?”

Ezra bit his lower lip. All this time spent reaching out to his representatives over the past few weeks left little room in his noggin for other things. Well, barring eating well, getting a good night’s sleep, and keeping his sister from making lousy money moves. “Got me there,” he said.

“Hmm.” Pepper pressed a forefinger against her freckled cheek while eyeing the ceiling. “Did you think about making something out of your—”

Riiiiing! The school bell echoed down the hallway by the classroom—prompting Ezra, Pepper, and their classmates to stand erect in their seats and face the front of the classroom.

Miss Keller clapped her hands. “Class dismissed!” she said as every pupil stood up and packed their books and pencil cases in their backpacks. “Please tread with care on your way out.”

Pepper pointed back and forth at herself and Ezra. “Wanna meet up at the burger joint?”

Ezra glanced at his wristwatch. “Not gonna lie, I’m a bit pressed for time to—”

“Ezra Gamester!” said Miss Keller. “Do you mind sticking around for a while longer?”

A chill ran down Ezra’s spine at the mention of his name. Whoever came up with the saying “Saved by the Bell” likely never met Miss Keller.

“What did you do?” Pepper said while putting on her backpack.

Ezra shrugged.

“You’ll be fine.” Pepper kissed Ezra on the cheek. “Catch you later.”

Sighing, Ezra waved at Pepper as she trotted out of the classroom.

Miss Keller crossed her arms and moseyed over to Ezra, her ponytail swinging left and right with every step she took. With sunlight streaming past the windows lining the classroom wall, Miss Keller cast a long shadow that stood between Ezra and the room’s entryway.

“Does this concern my chatting with Pepper?” said Ezra. “I’ll try to restrain myself some more if that’s the case.”

A headshake from Miss Keller. “Take a seat,” she said.

Gulping, Ezra sat down. All his binge-watching courtroom dramas did little to no justice to what it was like to stand trial for real. Only thing missing was a jury that rendered judgment.

“How are you feeling?”

“Uh,” Ezra said, “how are you feeling?”

Miss Keller sighed. “I feel like we need to have a... heart-to-heart.” She eyed the classroom door. “You may come in now.”

No sooner had she spoken than a sharp-suited figure marched into the room and in Ezra’s direction. The hands behind his back, the pursed lips... He came in carrying a bagful of concerns about Ezra’s doings, all right.

And the worst part? That figure was the Minister of Finance in the flesh. Yikes!

“Apologies for keeping you waiting, Minister Findley,” said Miss Keller. “I’m aware your time’s precious given how short your current legislative session is.”

“No worries,” Minister Findley said. “To be frank, this is my chance to get back at last to a certain someone.” He looked Ezra in the eye. “Ezra Gamester, if I’m not mistaken?”

Ezra shot a glance at the draft email on his PC and folded his laptop shut.

“I’ll take that as a ‘yes.’”

“I think you know where we’re going with this,” said Miss Keller.

“Uh,” Ezra said, “something tells me I should’ve stopped at email number three.”

Minister Findley shook his head. “You’re not the only one whose emails I keep getting in my office’s inbox.” He leaned forward and placed both hands-on Ezra’s desktop. “Though I’d be lying if I said I waltzed out of Province House just to meet face to face with every eager beaver.”

“What he’s trying to say is that he was... curious as to what spurred a high schooler like you to reach out to him sundry times with well-penned emails,” said Miss Keller.

Ezra widened his eyes at how Miss Keller described his emails. Well-penned. Had he managed not to put Minister Findley to sleep with the file cabinet’s worth of reports attached to Ezra’s messages? “I take it you gave my writings a look-see,” Ezra said.

“Yes,” said Miss Keller and Minister Findley.

Ezra breathed a sigh of relief at Findley’s confirmation of receipt before gulping at the fact that Miss Keller also read his messages. Oh God, what if she asked Ezra if he devoted any time at all to brainstorming ideas ahead of Tech Breakthrough Week?

Minister Findley grabbed a chair behind him and placed it in front of him before taking a seat. “Let me make one thing clear. You are not in trouble.”

With both of his brows raised, Ezra said, “Oh?”

Miss Keller dragged a chair of her own toward Ezra before sitting down. “Ezra,” she said, “I know how sensitive you and your sister are to fiscal changes. If I were in your shoes, I also would’ve been tempted to do something about it.”

Ezra hung his head. Things wouldn’t have been as hairy had Mom and Dad stuck around following the Atlantic provinces’ decision to secede from Canada.

Didn’t matter that Ottawa kept heaping more business regulations upon Prince Edward Island prior to the referendum. Didn’t matter that business in the country of Atlantica boomed while Canada’s economy remained in a state of managed decline. To Mom and Dad, Confederation was forever and more important than their own flesh and blood.

‘Twas a miracle that Ezra and his sister Olivia stayed afloat for so long without inheriting any wealth from their folks. But luck was proving to be a fickle creature.

“Seeing your loved ones uproot themselves instead of trying to adapt to a new world is anything but easy,” Minister Findley said, “and I know that even the most supportive of governments can’t be a viable substitute for family.”

Ezra returned Minister Findley’s gaze and said, “With respect, Minister Findley, your government was very supportive. But the cuts to tech grants do sting a bit.”

“No one in this room thinks otherwise,” Miss Keller said while stroking Ezra’s hand.

“So it got me thinking.” Ezra tapped his finger on his laptop. “What if there was another way to dull the pain? What if I did my research and gave you policy ideas to help folks like me?”

Minister Findley and Miss Keller nodded in unison.

“While I wish you hadn’t gone ahead with those cuts, I understand that your government could maybe tackle the other thing gnawing away at people’s wallets.”

“Property taxes,” said Minister Findley.

“I guess what I’m trying to ask is, what do you make of everything I sent you?”

Minister Findley took a deep breath. “I think”—he crossed his arms—“your land value tax idea is sound.”

Ezra perked up at Minister Findley’s comment. At last, the reply he had sought for so long!

“The data backs up your ideas, and it could serve as a good counterweight to the property taxes every municipality seems to rely upon for generating most of its revenue.”

Ezra’s smile, however, vanished as he appraised the looks on the two adults’ faces. They struck him as pensive, almost as if something were holding back their shared support for his diagnosis of Islanders’ foremost economic woe.

“We know what you’re thinking,” said Miss Keller. “What took him so long to get back to you?”

“Truth is,” Minister Findley said, “I share your exact concerns, and not in a ‘campaigning mode’ kind of way. It’s just that...”

Knots formed in Ezra’s stomach at those last three words Minister Findley uttered.

“Well, you must understand that there are many people who are happy with things as they are. People capable of shooting down any suggestions for reform.”

“Municipal boards,” Miss Keller said. “Even the most credible of studies struggles to sway them. Speaking from firsthand experience with trying to prevent cuts to education programs.”

“Have you considered reaching out to them?” said Minister Findley.

Ezra nodded. “Believe me, I tried. No replies at best. Caustic responses at worst.”

Minister Findley patted Ezra’s shoulder. “You’re doing your best.”

Ezra clicked his tongue. “I doubt it.”

“Ezra,” Miss Keller said, “don’t be so hard on yourself.”

Ezra rose from his seat and snapped up his laptop to put it in his backpack. “You never know till you try.”

“Try what?” said Minister Findley.

“Try to show through action and hard results that my proposals can work here.”

“That’s enough, Ezra!” said Miss Keller as she stood up.

“It’s okay,” Minister Findley said while raising his hand at Miss Keller. “Tell you what, kiddo. I’ll bring up your ideas with my colleagues and see if we can get the municipalities to see our side.”

Ezra rolled his eyes. One didn’t have to be a policy wonk to grasp the fact that even those at the top of the governmental food chain couldn’t overstep their authority by overriding municipal legislation via brute force, however questionable said legislation was.

“Just... try to take a break from emailing Province House,” said Miss Keller. “In any case, focus on Tech Breakthrough Week for now.”

*****

If one were to walk into Ezra’s bedroom a few hours after his heart-to-heart with Miss Keller and Minister Findley, they’d be forgiven for concluding that he was venting in writing.

From the note-ridden sheets of paper that dotted his bed to the pens and pencils that littered the carpeted floor around him, Ezra’s personal slice of his humble Charlottetown abode had seen better—and tidier—after-school nights. The things brainstorming for Tech Breakthrough Week could do to a young soul...

Lying supine in bed and with the ceiling fan spinning at a leisurely pace, Ezra covered his face with both hands and groaned. How was he to study when he couldn’t grasp the fact that he had hit a wall with his lobbying efforts?

Knock-knock. Someone rapped their knuckles on the bedroom door. “Ezra?” a voice said.

Ezra uncovered his face and eyed the door. “Come in,” he said.

A twist of the doorknob later, the door creaked open—the figure before Ezra being none other than Olivia. “Busy writing letters?” she said as she scanned the paper sheets on Ezra’s bed.

Ezra shook his finger at Olivia while running his other hand through his tousled hair. “Taking a mandated break from those.”

Olivia closed the door behind her and rolled up her sweater sleeves as she ambled toward Ezra. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Thought Miss Keller had already told you everything.”

“I mean...” Olivia sat on a chair next to Ezra’s bed. “What’s on your mind right now?”

Ezra sat upright and turned to face Olivia. “Paralysis,” he said as he lifted a finger. “Deadlock.” And another finger. “Stagnation.” And another. “Impasse.” Etc.

“Aren’t those all synonyms for the same thing?”

Ezra lowered his fingers and pursed his lips. Being single-minded by focusing on policymaking these past few weeks was one thing. Rendering oneself single-feeling, though? Yeah, that constituted grounds for familial intervention. “How are you holding up on your end?”

Olivia steepled her fingers and lowered her head. “Our finances remain... fine,” she said.

“Fine enough to keep yourself from seeking private credit in the short term?”

“Ezra.”

“Sorry. I... I just don’t want you to shoulder all that burden.”

Olivia patted Ezra’s back. “I know.”

“Do you think if I took up a few gigs on the side, I could—”

“I think you’re better off focusing on Tech Breakthrough Week for now. Can’t afford to have you repeat Grade 12.”

Ezra sighed. Not being able to go to college due to academic neglect now and deeper money troubles later would make him the laughingstock of town, if not the whole of PEI. “Fair.”

“Besides,” Olivia said as she brushed a bang of her hair to the side, “why have just one Gamester shoulder the burden of showcasing their tech savviness?”

Ezra giggled. “Come on, you’re in a league of your own.”

“Don’t sell yourself short. I’m sure you can come up with a good idea for a device.”

Ezra waved at the sheets of paper on his bed. “Working on it.”

Olivia picked up one of the sheets. “Hmm,” she said while perusing Ezra’s notes. “Not saying they’re bad, though I wonder where the ‘breakthrough’ part is.”

“It’s a struggle.”

“You know, it’s not just about how inventive something is.” Olivia tossed the sheet back onto the bed. “Think about how helpful it is to its users.”

Ezra stroked his chin. “That’s the thing. I don’t know who my thingamabob’s users are.”

“You never know till you try. To think it over, that is.”

After a couple of nods, Ezra widened his eyes at what had dawned upon him. You never know till you try. Same thing he said in class. He snapped his fingers and said, “Sis.”

“Yeah?”

“I think I do have something in mind. Hear me out.”

Olivia smiled. “Shoot!”

Ezra beckoned his sister over and leaned toward her to whisper in her ear. As soon as he had said his piece, he pulled away from Olivia and flashed a wide grin at her. “Well?” he said.

Olivia jabbed a finger at Ezra. “I don’t know if I should beat some sense into you or make you repeat what you just told me.”

“’You never know till you try.’”

Standing up, Olivia said, “If you want to do this for real, then you better be ready to take the heat from you-know-who and have more than our four hands on deck.”

“Let’s save the worrying about NIMBYs for later.” Ezra shoved his hand in his pants pocket and pulled out a cellphone. He speed dialed a number and held his phone to his ear while the dial tone looped.

“Ezra!” a voice said on the phone. “How did it go with Miss Keller?”

“Pepper,” Ezra said. “Remember that land value tax idea I told you about? Well, I know what I’ll base my tech thing on, and I could use another pair of hands.”

*****

Sparks flitted left and right around the Gamester garage as Olivia soldered CPU pins onto an exposed motherboard, with Ezra and Pepper standing behind her while holding a toolbox between them. The scent of heated metal filled the air as Olivia put the finishing touch on a cylindrical chassis’s gut.

“How’s it looking over there?” said Pepper.

Olivia paused her soldering to look over her shoulder. “With some luck,” she said behind her welding helmet, “not as hard as the work I’ll have to do on the OS.” She aimed her fine-tip iron at a worktable to her right. “Feel free to put the toolbox on there.”

“Noted,” Ezra said before nodding at Pepper and trotting with her toward the table.

“Thanks again for thinking of me,” said Pepper as she and Ezra placed the box on the table. “Don’t get me started on how much time I spent brainstorming ideas.”

“Same.” Ezra wiped his hands. “You sure you want to do this with Liv and me?”

“Wouldn’t be here otherwise.”

“I mean, isn’t your old man the same councilor who gets others to shoot down any newfangled policy proposals coming their way?”

Pepper turned to face Olivia as she wiped the lenses on the chassis with a grimy cloth. “Except we’re building a machine for schoolwork. Nothing newfangled about studying.”

Ezra licked his thumb and rubbed it on his polo shirt sleeve where a spot of oil lay. “Still got to figure out where we want to get that thing tested. Know anyone who’s willing to have their property scanned by our bot?”

“Got me there.” Pepper took her phone out of her skort’s pocket and pulled up the map on the screen. “Asked some friends in town if their folks would let us size up their lots. No dice.”

“Swell. And beyond town, most of the land is for farming. Last year’s inheritance tax debacle has every rural proprietor spooked about any kind of new tax assessment.”

Pepper stroked Ezra’s shoulder. “We’ll come up with something in due time.”

Ezra leaned against the worktable. “Yeah, best to focus on getting that thing”—he pointed at the chassis Olivia was painting black with a broad brush—“to work first. Can’t fret about other things or folks right n—”

Bang-bang-bang! The garage door shook with every dull slam. “Gamester? Got a moment?” a voice behind the door said.

Olivia dropped the broad brush onto the floor and stood upright. “Heavens,” she said as she spun on her heel and marched toward the garage door button. “What now?”

“Shoot!” Pepper said. “Don’t tell me...”

Ezra cocked his head at Pepper. “Tell you what?”

Upon slamming her fist onto the button, Olivia stepped back and lifted her welding helmet as the garage door rose—letting in a shaft of light that stretched across the garage floor and had a lone shadow stand in the middle of it.

“Whoever you are,” Olivia said, “you better make it swift. I’ve work to do.”

With the door raised, a bulky male figure stood before Olivia—his fists pressed against his hips. “Don’t worry,” he said while scratching his sideburn. “I’ll get straight to the point.”

Olivia recoiled from the figure. “C... Councilor Higginsworth?”

“Dad?” Pepper said.

Ezra’s heart skipped a beat at the fact that his project was about to have the kibosh put on it courtesy of the very soul NIMBYs in his community rallied behind. How did he find out?

“Pepper,” Higginsworth said. “You mind telling me what you’re doing with this bunch?”

“How about you first tell us”—Olivia jabbed a thumb at herself—“why you came here?”

“I think you and I know the answer to that already.” Higginsworth jutted his ruddy chin at the device behind Olivia.

Ezra glanced at Pepper. “Please don’t tell me you were being followed.”

“Oh, I didn’t have to,” said Higginsworth as he ambled past Olivia and toward the device. “Between all the emails you sent to every PEI official and Pepper’s buddying up with you for that tech week thing, I had a hunch you’d be up to something.”

Olivia stepped in front of Higginsworth before he could reach the chassis. “Let me remind you that it’d be a bad look for you if you tell us to go back to the drawing board.”

Ezra joined Olivia at her side. “If you’re going to pick a fight with someone, then you better do so with me. Liv here isn’t the one who brainstormed any of this.”

Higginsworth glared at Ezra. “Except I’m not the squirt who decided to pick a fight with someone. With yours truly, to be precise.”

“Dad.” Pepper scooted toward Higginsworth. “Please don’t. It’s just a school project.”

Higginsworth grabbed Pepper’s hand. “You’re coming with me, whether you like it or—”

Ezra slapped Higginsworth’s hand before he could pull Pepper toward him. “Paws off!”

“Ow!” Higginsworth winced as he retracted and shook his hand. “Why, you holy terror!”

“That’s enough.” Olivia stretched her arms out while standing between Higginsworth and the two high schoolers. “I’ve enough work to do in here as is, so let’s stick to civil words here.”

Higginsworth groaned. “Fine,” he said. “Let me put it in very civil terms. Would you be so kind as to put a stop to that land-grabbing project of yours?”

“Pepper,” Ezra said. “Y’alright?”

Pepper nodded as she massaged her hand. “You didn’t have to.”

“I won’t let the hand you gave us get taken away in a flash.”

“So,” Higginsworth said while pointing at Olivia, “what’s it going to be? Cooperation or cease and desist?”

“Like I said,” said Olivia as she returned Higginsworth’s glare, “not a good look.”

“It won’t be a good look for all of you”—Higginsworth waved his arm at Olivia and the high schoolers—“if you try to get that doohickey of yours tested on private property without leave. I doubt you’re able to afford any lawsuits when your startup is already bleeding money.”

“Fine,” said Ezra. “Got nothing to hide? Then how about we scan your property?”

“What?” everyone but Ezra in the room said.

Ezra crossed his arms. “You heard me right.”

“Boy,” said Higginsworth, “you better start keeping watch on that mouth of yours.”

“Okay.” Ezra clapped his hands. “How about this? I’ll put a stop to that land value tax crusade of mine if our bot doesn’t do its thing as advertised. But if it works as intended, then you promise to back off and keep letting me do my part as an honest-to-goodness citizen.”

The room fell silent as all eyes gawked at Ezra. Boy already had the guts to reach out to all levels of government—municipal, provincial, and federal—and tell officials they should take a chance on new ideas. So mouthing off to an authority figure in their face was just the next step.

That said, it wasn’t like Ezra did this for contrarianism’s sake. The Gamester household struggled to make ends meet due to lousy fiscal policies and the lack of a family wealth cushion.

Besides, no number of emails could stem the tide of debt or drown out the siren calls of taking on hard to repay loans and private credit with strings attached. For once, Ezra had to walk the talk and lead by example instead of waiting for someone else to do so.

Ezra extended his hand to Higginsworth. “Want to shake on it?”

Higginsworth glanced back and forth at Ezra’s face and hand before guffawing. In his defense, it wasn’t every day he got handed a challenge from someone who had yet to come of voting age.

“Ezra,” Pepper said as her dad snorted. “I know you want to prove him wrong, but thi—”

“Deal!” said Higginsworth as he gripped Ezra’s hand and shook it. “If you’re so hellbent on going the distance, then I won’t stop you from tripping along the way.”

Ezra returned Higginsworth’s grin as the latter squeezed the boy’s hand harder, triggering every pain receptor in it. “Pleasure’s mutual,” said Ezra as he winced at the pressure the councilor applied to his soon-to-be-legally-drinking hand.

“Dad,” Pepper said.

Higginsworth nodded and let go of Ezra’s hand. “Alright,” he said while buttoning up his tartan shirt’s collar. “You have my full permission to scan my property with your pet project. I look forward to seeing what will come out of this pipedream.”

“Are we done here?” Olivia pointed over her shoulder at the device. “That thing won’t build itself, you know.”

Higginsworth held up his hands. “Oh, I’ve said all there is to hear. Don’t let me detain you or anything.” He dropped his hands to his sides and looked Pepper in the eye. “Pepper.”

“Yes?” said Pepper.

“Treat this Gamester endeavor as a learning experience, even if it’s all for naught.” Higginsworth turned his back on the garage trio. “As you were!” he said as he trotted along the driveway with his hands clasped behind his back.

Olivia sighed as she punched the garage door button and pulled down her welding helmet. “Ezra,” she said as the door behind her closed, “I hope this gamble of yours won’t put me deeper into debt.”

“It’s a school project,” said Ezra.

“Not that it matters to Higginsworth.” Olivia picked up the broad brush on the floor and went back to painting the chassis. “If anything happens to his property, he’ll press charges.”

“We’ll be careful.”

Pepper adjusted her glasses. “Not to bad-mouth Dad, but what Liv meant is that if something else happened mid-scan that isn’t our fault in the first place, he’ll... do his thing.”

“Sue us?”

“With the kind of lawyers only an elected official has access to.”

A sinking feeling flooded Ezra, but he shrugged it off with a shake of his head. “Okay.”

“You still want to do this?”

“Only if I have your and Liv’s consent.”

“I know I said that Higginsworth won’t pull any punches,” said Olivia, “but I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t have any other irons in the startup fire.”

Ezra gave Olivia a thumbs-up and turned to Pepper. “What about you?”

Pepper pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. It wasn’t lost on Ezra that she and her dad bore differences over her relationship with the maverick Gamesters, but he could see how Pepper tried to put herself in Councilor Higginsworth’s shoes. That is, the shoes of someone who saw himself as a policy gatekeeper who put communal stability above change, good or bad.

“You can say no,” Ezra said. “I don’t want to force you to—”

Pepper opened her eyes and let go of her nose. “I’m staying.”

“Are you sure?”

Pepper held Ezra’s hand. “I’m not saying that I’m not worried about Dad,” she said. “That said, if he’s so eager to want this whole thing to fail, then that means we may be onto something.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Olivia placed her brush in an empty coffee cup next to her and went back to soldering the bot’s motherboard with her fine tip iron.

Ezra nodded. “Glad to hear it.” He pulled his phone out of his sweatpants pocket and opened the map app. “Let’s see,” he said while swiping his thumb around the touchscreen to get a bird’s-eye view of the Higginsworth lot. “At first glance, your old man’s turf looks quite big and crop-ridden. I hope he won’t mind us sticking around for too long.”

“Speaking of sticking around,” said Olivia, “could one of you please fetch me some RAM sticks over at PCEI? Hope they haven’t all flown off store shelves in light of supply shortages.”

*****

Hillsborough River sparkled under the sunlight that broke through the clouds hanging over the Higginsworth estate as Miss Keller and Olivia set up some chairs and a table on a hill overlooking rows of apple orchards. Weeks of tinkering and troubleshooting led up to the moment of truth that was Tech Breakthrough Week.

“Thought your dad would join us today,” Ezra said as he and Pepper hauled a metallic box up the hill. “I mean, he seemed quite eager to see how things would pan out.”

“Council work,” said Pepper as she brushed a bang off her glasses. “Besides, at least you still have a Higginsworth to let you know if you’re going too far with all this.”

“Fair.” Ezra pointed at a grassless spot in front of the table and chairs that Olivia and Miss Keller had set up. “Let’s put it there.”

“Need some help?” Olivia said as she wiped her hands.

“We’re good!” said Pepper as she and Ezra placed the box onto the grassless spot. “At least with the carrying.”

“Yeah,” Ezra said, “we still need you for on-the-fly troubleshooting. Not that I expect this beaut to go belly up on our watch.” He slapped his palm onto the box’s lid.

“It will if you keep hitting it like that,” said Olivia.

Ezra cringed before retracting his hand from the delicate package containing the goods.

Olivia turned to Miss Keller. “Are you fine with having me around here? Don’t want to give you the impression that his project was my doing for the most part.”

“No worries!” Miss Keller said. “You’re right that I’d rather have my students do the heavy lifting, but Ezra’s... circumstances may warrant an exception in this case.”

Ezra stifled a laugh by biting his lower lip. Circumstances. Yes, filling every official’s inbox with pleas for economic reform and getting a visit from PEI’s purse strings did make for unique reasons to marshal all the help he could get to make one of his proposals a reality.

“Anyhow...” Miss Keller sat on a chair and lowered her sunglasses before steepling her fingers. “I think it’s time to see the fruits of your labor in action.”

“Right,” Ezra said before eyeing Pepper. “Ready?”

Pepper nodded and placed her hands on one end of the box’s lid. “When you are.”

Ezra grasped the other end of the box’s lid. “On three. One, two, three!”

On cue, Pepper and Ezra lifted the lid and tossed it aside before unfolding the box by pulling down its sides.

Miss Keller picked up a clipboard and a pen from the table next to her. “Now what do we have here?”

Between Ezra and Pepper stood a jet-black cylindrical bot with leg wheels, sensors wrapped around its waist, and porthole-like lenses on the upper part of its chassis. A kind of flap sat over the lenses, wrapping around the chassis’s “head.” For something pitched as a technological breakthrough, the bot’s design screamed retro.

“Take it away, you two!” Olivia said.

“Behold”—Ezra took a step back and stretched his arms toward the bot—“the LARK!”

Miss Keller raised a brow. “LARK?”

“Land Assessment Robotic Kit,” said Pepper with a raised finger. “In other words, a fun way to get the lay of the proverbial land tax wise.”

Looking down at her clipboard, Miss Keller jotted down a few notes with a smile on her face. “I wonder who could’ve come up with such an idea for a bot.”

Ezra cleared his throat. “I don’t suppose we could give you an overview of what it does.”

“Please do.”

“Right.” Ezra pointed at the LARK’s sensors. “Long story short, the LARK uses these sensors to scan patches of land and tabulate their worth in land value tax. Things accounted for when calculating something’s LVT include”—he lifted a finger—“demand for the land”—and another finger—“infrastructure built within and around it”—and another—“and zoning laws.”

“Sounds like something your LARK needed lots of memory for,” said Miss Keller.

Olivia sighed. “Don’t ask,” she said. She had yet to get over the thinning of her wallet.

“As for the choice of venue to test the LARK in,” said Pepper, “we figured we’d start someplace not too complicated and close to home. Well, my home, to be specific.”

“Liv,” Ezra said, “you got the controller with you?”

“Right here.” Olivia leaned to the side to pick up a case next to her chair. She put it on the table and zipped it open, pulling out what looked to be a tablet with buttons and analog sticks on its side. A large screen hogged the center of the tablet.

“I take it you’ll be the one doing the honors of steering the bot.” Miss Keller pointed at the LARK.

“Yes, ma’am,” Olivia said.

“Alright.” Miss Keller glanced at her wristwatch. “Whenever you’re ready, everyone.”

Ezra and Pepper stepped away from the LARK as Olivia powered it up with a button press on the tablet she held, with the bot’s flap giving way to blades that sprang out of the chassis.

“You sure wind conditions are fine for now?” said Olivia.

“Triple-checked those before coming here,” Ezra said.

Olivia gave Ezra a thumbs-up before training her eyes on the tablet screen. “Time to give it a whirl, then.” She squeezed one of the tablet’s rear analog triggers.

The LARK’s blades began to move at a leisurely pace before picking up more speed and spinning like a helicopter’s rotor, blowing away leaves scattered about the ground and rustling grass blades around it.

Ezra held his hands in front of his face and looked away from the LARK while squinting. Goosebumps formed on his forearms from the chilly blast of wind the blades produced.

“And... takeoff!” Olivia said.

As if on cue, the LARK rose from the collapsed box it was housed in and hovered several feet above the hill without a hitch. Could Ezra and co. pull this off for real?

Pepper beamed at the airborne LARK and rubbed her hands. “Beautiful!” she said.

“That it is!” said Ezra. “Now let’s see if we can get some good numbers out of it.”

“Deem it done.” Olivia pushed the tablet’s left analog stick forward.

The LARK swung its body in the Higginsworth estate’s direction before hovering away from the hill and toward the orchard rows to the thumping of its rotors.

Ezra ambled toward the table to snag a pair of binoculars and sat on the ground next to the collapsed box. “Pepper,” he said while tapping his finger on the binoculars, “wanna look?”

Pepper doffed her glasses and slipped them onto her shirt collar before sitting down next to Ezra. She took the binoculars from him and looked at the estate through them. “How long do you think it’ll take for you to cover the whole estate?”

“20 to 30 minutes tops,” Ezra said as he wrapped his arms around his legs. “With some luck, we should have concrete numbers to show your dad by the time he comes back.”

“Yeah...”

“Y’okay?”

“Hmm?” Pepper lowered the binoculars and glanced at Ezra. “Yeah, yeah! I just... I just can’t believe we’re doing this.”

“Tallying the number of land tax dollars to siphon from your family’s estate?”

A chortle from Pepper. “We’ll manage just fine. In my opinion, at least.”

Ezra nodded. Seemed like Councilor Higginsworth would only come around to all this once he sized up the proof in the proverbial pudding.

“Say, why a land value tax?”

“S... Sorry?”

“I mean...” Pepper handed the binoculars back to Ezra. “You shared many proposals with officials left and right. Could’ve based our project on any of them.”

Ezra sniffed and brought the binoculars to his eyes to gaze at the LARK as it hovered over the orchards. “Okay,” he said, “so you know that right now, we have property taxes to pay.”

“Yup.”

“Long story short, if you try to build or renovate anything, you get slapped with property taxes.” Ezra jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Olivia. “And Liv over there needs to expand her workspace if she wants to go the distance with her startup.”

“What he said,” Olivia said. “Tax numbers being crunched as we speak, by the way.”

“And with recent property tax hikes,” said Ezra, “Liv’s work got harder and pricier.”

Pepper sighed. “Kept telling Dad to think twice about it. Guess how that worked out.”

“As for a land value tax”—Ezra lowered the binoculars and looked Pepper in the eye—“way it works is that it punishes folks for holding onto undeveloped lots and can offset property rates by taxing the land more than what sits on it. Also concentrates tax revenue in urban spots.”

“Because real estate is more valuable there.”

“You got it!”

“Which would benefit you and Olivia because you’re further away from downtown.”

“Don’t tell the councilors that!” said Olivia. “Numbers slowly stabilizing over here.”

“Good work so far,” Miss Keller said as she took notes on her clipboard. “Keep at it.”

“Thanks!” said Pepper while looking over her shoulder.

“Ergo,” Ezra said, “a land value tax means a lot to us Gamesters, hence the LARK.”

“And it shows,” Pepper said as she returned Ezra’s smile. “Doubt the LARK would be as sturdy and reliable as it is if you didn’t care as mu—”

“Whoa!” said Olivia. “The heck is happening over here?”

Ezra’s heart skipped a beat as his sister’s words reached his ears. He and Pepper got on their feet and spun around to face Olivia. “What’s going on?”

“The numbers.” Olivia showed the two high schoolers her tablet’s touchscreen, which flashed all manner of digits as if they belonged to a volatile stock market ticker. “They keep jumping up and down for some reason.”

Miss Keller placed her clipboard on the table and rose from her seat. “And the LARK?”

Ezra turned around and trained his binoculars on the bot.

Aside from some light swaying by dint of the wind, the LARK glided about the estate without breaking a sweat. No getting stuck in foliage, no colliding with airborne birds, and no dodging projectiles from drone-skeptic bystanders. Something was amiss, however. But what?

“LARK looks fine,” Ezra said as he handed the binoculars over to Pepper. “No issues came up while we took it out for a test flight the other day.”

“Weird,” said Pepper while looking through the binoculars. “What about the sensors?”

Olivia clicked her tongue. “Checking,” she said as she swiped her fingers around the tablet’s touchscreen. “Nope. Sensors are hunky-dory.”

“Okay,” Ezra said as he broke out in a cold sweat. Man alive, this couldn’t be happening! Was fate telling him that weeks of building and testing were all for naught? If the municipal council caught wind of all this, they’d have a field day ragging on Ezra’s “flights of fancy.”

“I don’t doubt that you gave it your all with the LARK,” said Miss Keller, “but you all understand that I must grade every project as is. Besides, I don’t think the weather is to—”

“Wait!” Ezra flashed a hand at Miss Keller. “Let’s not rush to conclusions.”

Miss Keller crossed her arms. “And what are you suggesting otherwise?”

“Uh...” said Ezra. “Can you give me a moment to—”

“The soil,” Pepper said.

“What?” said Miss Keller.

“Maybe there’s something in the soil that’s causing the LARK to give such odd readings.” Pepper pointed at the orchards in the distance. “Permission to give it a look-see.”

Ezra turned toward Miss Keller, who closed her eyes as she weighed her options.

“Granted,” said Miss Keller. “But make it swift. You’re not the only ones whose work I have to review today.”

A wave of relief flooded Ezra. “Thank you!” he said.

“I’ll do some troubleshooting on my end in the meantime,” said Olivia. “Just try not to do anything to the soil that’ll send lawsuits my way, if you’d be so kind.”

*****

Swerving left and right to get around the trees and shrubbery on the Higginsworth estate, Ezra and Pepper scanned the ground for signs of anything that caused the LARK above them to register wacky readings on the tablet. So far, their efforts haven’t been as fruitful as the orchards.

“Thanks for backing me up earlier,” Ezra said. “I hope you’re right about the culprit.”

“Can’t see why else the LARK’s acting up,” said Pepper as she looked up and down at the soil and tree leaves. “But I’m pretty sure everything was fine last time I tended to the estate.”

“Maybe...” Ezra panted and wiped beads of sweat off his forehead. “Maybe there’s some faulty infrastructure around here that the LARK’s sensitive to while crunching numbers.”

“Doubt it,” Pepper said. “Dad would’ve caught wind of it in a flash and had things patched up by now.”

“I’ll stop asking questions.”

“It’s all good.” Pepper adjusted her glasses while studying the soil in front of her. “Well, it’d be all good if we weren’t doing this in the first place.”

“How’s it looking on your end?” Olivia’s voice blasted out of the walkie-talkie strapped to the side of Ezra’s pants. Darn thing weighed on them, but Miss Keller’s no-phone policy during Tech Breakthrough Week for fear of cheating meant he had no alternative.

Ezra grabbed the walkie-talkie and held it to his mouth. “Nothing out of the ordinary here,” he said. “But for once, that worries me.”

“Keep looking,” Olivia said. “Don’t make me call the cops if you’re gone for too long.”

“Uh, r... roger that.” Ezra put away his walkie-talkie. “Okay, gotta pick up the pace—”

“Ahh!” Pepper tripped over something and tumbled onto the ground, sending her glasses flying in front of her.

“Yowza!” Ezra scampered toward Pepper and grabbed her hand to pull her up. “Y’okay?”

Pepper groaned and wiped some dirt off her sleeves. “Yeah,” she said as she stood upright. “First time something other than my hands and feet touched the ground around here.”

Ezra turned around to see what Pepper had tripped over.

‘Twas hard at first to spot under the shade the trees cast over the soil, but something that looked like a black antenna stuck out of the ground. A red light flashed on the antenna’s tip, sort of like the faulty modem Olivia kept whacking with her palm whenever it was acting up at home.

“Now what do we have here?” Ezra bent down to poke at the antenna. “Pepper?”

“What is it?” Pepper said, picking up her glasses and putting them back on.

“Do you and your dad grow anything other than apple trees and the like around here?”

“Not that I know of.” Pepper ambled toward Ezra.

“Then we have some uprooting to do.” Ezra began digging, tossing patches of soil aside until more of what the antenna was tethered to came into view.

“What are you doing?”

“Uprooting a work hazard,” said Ezra as he pulled out of the ground what looked to be a black box as big as two decks of cards. “Ever seen this before?” He showed Pepper the box.

Pepper shook her head.

Ezra stood upright and pressed his ear against the box. Buzzing came out of holes dotting the mysterious item’s rim. “Hmm...”

“What is it?”

Nodding, Ezra reached for his walkie-talkie and held it to his mouth. “Liv! You there?”

“That I am,” Olivia said on the walkie-talkie.

“Think you should hear this.” Ezra held the walkie-talkie and the box next to one another.

“Is that... radio static?”

“Coming out of an antenna-sporting black box Pepper ‘discovered.’”

Olivia’s voice shuddered. “Please tell me how much voltage that box emits.”

Ezra flipped the box over and read the label on its bottom end. “I’m seeing... 433 MHz.”

“Tear off the antenna. Now!”

“What?”

As if on cue, Pepper took the box from Ezra and ripped off the antenna—causing the device’s buzzing to die down. She dropped it onto the ground like garbage into a trash can.

“Hang on!” said Ezra. “What are you saying—”

“That thing you found is what’s scrambling the LARK’s readings,” Olivia said. “It’s generating a giant electromagnetic field!”

“Dear God.”

“Olivia!” Pepper said, standing next to Ezra. “I disabled the device. All is well now?”

Olivia sighed and said, “Not quite.”

“What?” said Ezra and Pepper in unison.

“Whatever you came across,” Olivia said, “it’s just one piece of a larger puzzle. LARK’s still sending me bad numbers.”

Ezra rubbed his forehead and returned Pepper’s wide-eyed stare. Had the two stumbled upon a plot that aimed to keep the LARK from doing its thing? “Where’s Miss Keller?” he said.

“Hold on,” said Olivia. Muffled chatter came out of the walkie-talkie. “Hello?” another voice—Miss Keller’s—said on the other end of the line.

“Miss Keller,” said Ezra. “We now know why we’re having technical woes.”

“Yes, Olivia filled me in on everything. But why didn’t Pepper check before you started testing the LARK?”

“That’s the thing,” Pepper said, leaning close to Ezra to speak into the walkie-talkie. “I don’t recall there being any black boxes when I did my round on the estate the other day.”

“I see. Do you need help? We can come down if you want.”

“No need to,” Ezra said. “We’ll handle it while you and Olivia gather data from afar. Can you grant us more time?”

Miss Keller sighed. “I hate to keep your classmates waiting, but it’s clear that a monkey wrench got chucked your way. Alright, do your best dealing with the signal jammer.”

“Thanks again,” said Pepper, pressing her hands together. “We’ll do our quickest, too.”

“Noted.”

Ezra put away the walkie-talkie and kicked the disabled black box away. “Well, Pepper, it looks like we’ll have to get our hands dirty.”

*****

If one were to observe Ezra and Pepper from afar, they’d reach the conclusion that they were committing first-degree agricultural vandalism. Provided said observer deemed signal-scrambling black boxes to be some kind of edible crop.

“Jesus,” Ezra said as he dug out a black box. “How many of those things are there?”

“I’m just thankful that the antenna has to poke out of the ground for these things to work,” said Pepper as she tore off another black box’s antenna.

Ezra looked over his shoulder and whistled at the rows of trees he and Pepper had combed for devices. Despite the estate being small enough for the LARK to do its job in a few dozen minutes—under optimal conditions, of course—the two high schoolers had their work cut out for them. If only Ezra had also come up with a digging bot for Tech Breakthrough Week...

“Hold up,” Pepper said.

“Huh?” Ezra froze mid-digging.

“Something’s off.” Pepper pointed at an antenna on the ground next to her. “Notice how the soil feels fresh when you start digging.”

Ezra walked up to Pepper’s side and bent down to rub his hand against the patch of soil she pointed at. Moist rather than dry. “Yeah,” he said while slapping his palm on his pants leg to wipe chunks of soil off his hand. “It’s as if...”

“As if those black boxes were set up only a moment ago.”

“Wait,” said Ezra, “are you saying that—”

Leaves rustled within a row of bushes that stood a stone’s throw from Ezra and Pepper, with the two recoiling from the shrubbery that had broken the silence in the orchards.

“Ezra.” Olivia’s voice blasted out of Ezra’s walkie-talkie. “Any updates on your—”

“Not now, Liv,” Ezra muttered to himself as he turned off the walkie-talkie. He looked back at the shrubbery that had startled him and Pepper. “Please tell me that was the LARK.”

Pepper pulled her head back and shook it before jabbing her thumb at the LARK overhead. Great, as if the erstwhile enigma that was the black box wasn’t enough already.

“Okay.” Ezra gulped as the hair on the back of his neck rose. “Just a wild critter, then?”

Clicking her tongue, Pepper poked Ezra’s shoulder and pointed at adult-sized footprints ringing the row of bushes in front of them.

“Farming contractors?”

“Ezra.”

“I’ll stop asking questions. For real, this time.”

“No.”

“Sorry?”

“Not contractors.”

Sighing, Ezra pinched the bridge of his nose and screwed his eyes shut.

On the one hand, he and Pepper could leg it back to the safety of the hill to tell Miss Keller and Olivia about the footprints. But the one behind them could very well be the perpetrator, and what if it was none other than Councilor Higginsworth? That’d put to rest a mystery that gnawed away at Ezra’s peace of mind and absolve him of a thorn in his side.

On the other hand, shadowing the one behind the footprints came with risks. If it were Higginsworth, it’d strain the bond between him and Pepper—an experience all too familiar to Ezra, seeing as his folks put their loyalty to Canada above staying in Atlantica for their kids’ sake.

But if it wasn’t Higginsworth, then who was it? Decisions, decisions...

“Ezra?” Pepper said.

Letting go of his nose and reopening his eyes, Ezra said, “Go warn the others.”

“Wait, what?”

“Between the black boxes and footprints, this is too much for us to handle ourselves.” Ezra jutted his chin at the shrubbery ahead. “But I want to know who’s the one behind all this.”

“Ezra,” said Pepper, “this is too risky. This is supposed to be a mere project showcase.”

“And yet to others, it’s such a big threat to them that they resort to sabotage.”

“Do we even know if those footprints belong to the culprit?”

“Only one way to find out.”

Pepper groaned. “What am I going to tell your sis and Miss Keller?”

“Tell them about what we did and unearthed down here. Besides, we’ve been gone for some time now. Seeing at least one of us in the flesh should put their minds at ease.”

“Hearing your voice as well would also help.”

Ezra patted his walkie-talkie. “I’d love to, but what if they hear me and give me the slip?”

“Fair point. Just be careful in the meantime.” Pepper sprinted past Ezra and along the row of holes she and Ezra left in their wake.

Ezra took a deep breath before walking toward the bushes in front of him. There was no telling what he was about to wade into, and sending Pepper away meant that he alone would have to come face-to-face with whoever loitered about the estate.

Still, he couldn’t give away his presence by using his walkie-talkie, nor could he leave Miss Keller and Olivia hanging. And if it were Higginsworth who was behind all this, then at least Ezra’s call spared Pepper from an awkward and heated heart-to-heart with her old man.

Circling the bushes, Ezra spotted a trail of footprints that stretched from the shrubbery to the other end of the estate. Whoever left them was in a hurry for sure, for anyone who had slowed their roll and used their gray matter would’ve endeavored to cover their tracks. Reckon the one behind the footprints overheard Ezra and Pepper, prompting them to vamoose.

No time to waste, then. Ezra paced along the trail, a light breeze brushing against his hair and pricking his face as he emerged from the orchards that delineated the estate’s borders and overlooked a grassy slope that led to a riverbank.

Ezra rolled his eyes at how much ground he’d have to cover just to get to the bottom of all this. Nevertheless, he trotted down the slope while shielding his eyes from the sunlight.

A few footsteps later, Ezra reached a dirt trail and ran along it. Good thing that one bore footprints as well. Same size as those on the estate to boot. Still, this better not be a wild goose—

“Unbelievable!” A voice echoed further down the dirt trail and around some oaks overlooking the Hillsborough River.

Ezra’s heart skipped a beat as he froze midstride. Oh God, had he blown his cover?

“I did my best, you know!” Another voice echoed down the dirt trail.

“Oh dear,” Ezra muttered to himself. Two voices? This was fast getting out of hand for him, even with his cover maintained.

Change of plan, then. Eavesdrop and then bail.

Ezra tiptoed toward the oaks and hid behind one of them before poking his head out.

A few yards ahead stood two jacket-wearing figures, their backs turned to Ezra as they kneeled on the ground and tinkered with a couple of the same black boxes he and Pepper had dug up and discarded back at the estate. In other words, this made for good and bad news.

The good news was that Ezra found the culprits. The bad news was that in a two-to-one matchup, he didn’t stand a chance. Ergo, he couldn’t afford to lose the element of surprise.

“Why on Earth did you wait till today to plant them?” the figure to Ezra’s left said.

“Do you know how much time I spent looking for a tech wiz who could get me to build those things?” said the figure to Ezra’s right. “And it’s not like I could rush them or anything.”

No sooner had the mysterious figures finished speaking than Ezra linked some of the dots. The one to his right was Higginsworth, for sure. His build and cadence were unmistakable. Yet there was something about the figure to his left that also struck Ezra as familiar.

“Look,” Higginsworth said, “I know you and I don’t always see eye to eye. Let me remind you, though, that we both got voted into office by the same folks who don’t want harebrained schemes like that Gamester boy’s wrecking their hard-earned dough!”

“Your point?” said the figure next to Higginsworth.

“My point being that we should spend less time arguing and more time figuring out why the signal from those boxes seems to be dying down. Please, Findley, let’s not get distracted.”

A sinking feeling flooded Ezra. Ladies and gents, prepare for some incoming turbulence.

The figure whom Higginsworth addressed as Findley turned his head, revealing the very face of the finance minister with whom Ezra had spoken several weeks ago. “Were they already atop the hill when you started setting things up on your estate?”

“Why do you think I rushed myself with these?” Higginsworth poked the black box he held in his hand.

“In other words, you didn’t bother to dig a deep enough hole for each one of them.”

“Wasn’t just time that was the issue. Antennas had to be out, or else they wouldn’t work.”

Findley stood upright and looked down at Higginsworth with crossed arms. “And yet you’re surprised things aren’t working as planned.”

Higginsworth leaped to his feet. “C... Come again?”

“What if they got the idea to check the estate and started digging out your devices?”

“Uh...”

Ezra retreated into his hiding spot and covered his face with both hands. Great. Not only did Findley turn out to be someone in hock with NIMBYs, but he also went out of his way to disrupt the LARK’s readings with a fellow stick-in-the-mud’s backing. As if the stakes weren’t already stacked so high against the Gamesters...

But no matter the stakes, Ezra had come too far now to throw in the towel. A deep breath later, he peeked around the tree’s corner to eye the underminers’ next moves.

“Thought so.” Findley bent down to unzip a duffel bag next to his feet. “Good thing you have me to remind you of the need for a backup plan.”

“Backup plan?”

Ezra raised a brow. Backup plan?

Findley pulled a tablet out of the bag. “Sometimes in politics, you’ve got to take on your naysayers head-on instead of resorting to underhanded tactics.”

“Meaning?” said Higginsworth, scratching his head.

“Meaning”—Findley yanked something round and metallic out of the bag with a sharp tug—“we’ll have to send that land-grabbing bot of theirs a clearer message.”

Ezra shaded his eyes with one hand and squinted to get a better look at Findley’s idea of a backup plan. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be any less of a menace than the black boxes.

“Jesus,” Higginsworth said. “How did you get your hands on that?”

“If you spend enough time doing public service,” said Findley, “you’ll end up having enough connections for pretty much any job that needs doing. Not that I didn’t have to pull a few strings to get some military chums to lend me this thing.”

Shaking his head and shuddering at the mention of “military,” Ezra stepped away from the oak he hid behind and turned back toward the dirt trail. He had to tell everyone about this.

“Wait,” said Higginsworth. “Don’t you think we’re going too far with all this?”

Ezra froze before he could take his first step back to the hill. What was Higginsworth on about?

“Wouldn’t be doing this had you done a better job back there,” Findley said.

“Do I need to tell you that you risk turning my estate into a drone battlefield? What if one of those things crashes and sets my orchards ablaze?”

“You don’t know that.”

“And you don’t know how deep in debt I’ll end up being if the worst comes to pass. How will I be able to feed and take good care of Pepper?”

Ezra tiptoed back toward the oak and peeked around the corner. There was a nugget of truth to one’s true character coming to the fore under pressure, but Higginsworth’s about-face was still something.

“Shouldn’t have let her tag along with the Gamesters,” said Findley while turning on the tablet he held and tapping its touchscreen. “But that’s your problem. Now please let me—”

Higginsworth wrested the tablet from Findley’s grasp with a swipe of his hand.

“I’ll have to ask you to hand it back,” Findley said as he shot daggers at Higginsworth.

“No.”

“Says the one who wished to spend less time arguing.”

“Oh, I’m done arguing with you. Meaning I’m now pulling the plug on your scheme.”

Findley jabbed his thumb at himself. “I’m the Minister of Finance!”

“And I’m Pepper’s only parent! I dare you to go ahead with all this—”

Findley took a swing at Higginsworth, slamming his fist into the councilor’s cheek and sending him tumbling onto the ground.

“Stop it!” Ezra said, stepping out of cover. “It’s me you should fret about.”

“What?” Findley turned to face Ezra and returned the high schooler’s scowl.

“Wait till everyone hears about this.” Ezra turned around and darted away from the scene.

“Should’ve stopped at email number three!” Findley’s words echoed behind Ezra as he dashed along the dirt path and back to the hill, where everyone better be once he got back.

*****

If there ever was a day that reminded Ezra of how crucial cardio could be in life, it had to be the one when he had planned to observe the LARK from afar while sitting down with Pepper.

As he emerged from the side of the estate closest to the hill while panting and sweating, Ezra looked over his shoulder. No sign of Findley giving him chase. Either he was too busy taking care of Higginsworth, or he hightailed out of there.

Still, all the more reason to warn the others—however nuts it may sound to them.

Sprinting up the hill, Ezra held a hand to his mouth and said, “I’m here, everyone!”

As his voice echoed about his surroundings, Miss Keller, Olivia, and Pepper paced into view from atop the hill. Thank God they hadn’t vacated the premises.

“Pepper,” Ezra said as he reached the hilltop. “Please tell me you did your part.”

“She told us everything,” Olivia said before glancing back at the tablet she held. “Still getting some funky numbers here and there, but things are stabilizing otherwise.”

“Never mind that!” Miss Keller wagged her finger at Ezra. “What we’d like to know is what you’ve been up to while you were away. Olivia here even called the police earlier.”

“It’s, uh, it’s a long story,” Ezra said.

“Let’s hear it, then.”

“Hey,” said Pepper while pointing at something in the distance, “what’s that?”

Everyone on the hill stared at the estate. While the LARK was still hovering over the property, a rotor-sporting round object emerged from a grove of oaks that stood between the orchards and the Hillsborough River.

Jesus, was Findley going ahead with his backup plan for real?

“Shoot!” Pepper swung her head left and right. “Where did I leave those binocs?”

“No need for those,” said Ezra. “That looks like trouble, all right.”

“Come again?” Miss Keller said.

Ezra ran toward Olivia and extended his hand to her. “Can I borrow your tablet, please?”

Olivia furrowed her brow. “Sure.” She handed the tablet over to Ezra. “What are you—”

“I’ll tell you everything later.” Ezra turned to face the estate as Findley’s drone darted toward the LARK like a swarm of wasps. “Right now, we have a bot to literally keep afloat.” He tapped a few buttons on the tablet’s touchscreen. “Okay, manual navigation override enabled.”

“At least tell us if you found out who left those footprints you saw,” said Miss Keller.

“Over here!” A voice from far away reached everyone's ears on the hill.

Pepper took a few steps forward and eyed a jacketed figure running towards her. “Dad!”

“Dad?” Olivia said before scowling and clenching her fists. “Oh, it all makes sense now.”

“Wait!” said Ezra while moving the tablet’s analog sticks around to get the LARK out of harm’s way. “He’s not the one behind that drone.” He glanced at the touchscreen, which flashed numbers that no longer jumped around in terms of digits. “Hang on, why are they stable now?”

Miss Keller shook her head and sat down in her chair before sighing. Didn’t sound like a passing grade to Ezra.

“Don’t!” Higginsworth said, shielding his face with both arms as Olivia snatched Miss Keller’s clipboard and was about to hurl it at him. “He’s right. I’m not the one behind the drone.”

“Ezra?” said Olivia while eyeing her brother.

“Kinda busy here.” Ezra kept moving the analog sticks, with the LARK dodging Findley’s drone before the latter could ram into the former. “I’ll let him explain everything.”

Pepper hugged her dad as he reached the hilltop. She pulled her head back to glance at his nose, which was bleeding. “Dad,” she said, “you’re—”

“I know.” Higginsworth wiped the blood off his face with a finger. “Would’ve been worse had your friend not interrupted Findley.”

“Findley?” Miss Keller jumped out of her seat. “What does he have to do with all this?”

“Long story short, he hates that thing over there”—Higginsworth pointed at the LARK in the distance as it dodged yet another ramming attempt by Findley’s drone—“more than I do. Even went as far as to get his hands on some military hardware.”

Miss Keller covered her face and said, “Ezra.”

“Almost done gathering numbers,” Ezra said. “No offense, Councilor.”

“None taken,” said Higginsworth. “Why else would I deactivate the boxes remotely?”

“So it was you!” Olivia said as she aimed the clipboard at Higginsworth.

“Olivia,” said Pepper, flashing a hand at Ezra’s sister. “I think he learned his lesson.”

“Harsh!” Higginsworth said.

The LARK began losing altitude as the “Low Battery” warning popped up on the tablet’s touchscreen. As for Findley’s drone, it did a swift 180 in the air to face the LARK once again.

“Almost there.” Ezra held his breath as the finalized numbers flashed onscreen. Just four seconds left, and he’d be home free. Three...

Findley’s drone honed-in on the LARK.

Two...

The drone dashed toward the LARK.

One...

The numbers stopped changing onscreen and turned bright green to signal completion.

“Done!” Ezra said.

Both bots collided with one another, sending them spiraling down and crashing onto a patch of flowers abutting the estate.

“No!” Pepper said, gripping her head with both hands.

“I mean,” said Olivia, “it has been airborne for longer than we planned for. Short battery life, to boot.”

Ezra let out a sigh of relief as his heart rate slowed its roll. “Miss Keller.”

Miss Keller groaned. “Yes?”

Walking up to her, Ezra showed Miss Keller his tablet’s screen. “Will these do?”

Upon scanning the numbers that the LARK extracted from its scan of the estate, Miss Keller nodded. “Yes, I think that warrants a passing grade. Are you happy now?”

“Actually,” said Ezra, “there’s someone else I must convince of my land value tax idea.”

“Ha!” A voice pierced the silence in the distance. “Serves you right.”

Everyone on the hilltop spun around and spotted a figure down the grassy slope. Even if one didn’t follow PEI politics every day, any Islander could put a name to the grinning face down the hill.

“I was hoping you’d do more to talk him out of that project of his, Miss Keller,” said Findley as he trudged up the hill. “Then again, I didn’t expect Higginsworth to turn on me.”

“Says the one who socked me in the mug!” Higginsworth pointed at his bloodied nose.

Ezra rolled his eyes and darted in front of Higginsworth to stand between him and Findley. “That’s enough roughhousing for today. In any case, I’ve something to tell the minister.”

Higginsworth sighed and stepped back. “Fine. Just be lucky my daughter’s here now.”

“Dad!” said Pepper.

Ezra turned to Findley. “Got some nerve showing your face with the cat out of the bag.”

“And you have some nerve endangering my constituents’ livelihoods with your land-grabbing tax idea,” Findley said. “Do you have any clue how many of them would be forced to sell their homes or be kicked out of them if that bot I took out sized up their properties?”

“My emails already provide counterarguments and the data backing those up,” said Ezra. “And as I said back in class, you never know till you try. Speaking of trying...” Ezra showed Findley the numbers on the tablet screen.

A slack-jawed Findley stared at the final tally of the worth of Higginsworth’s estate in land value tax revenue. “H... How?”

“Not bad, eh? Now, picture everyone’s tax bill being lower across the board while allowing for more business and infrastructural growth that’ll generate the revenue you need.”

“In other words,” said Olivia, “I can scale up my startup without seeking private credit.”

“And I can stop worrying about education cuts in light of budgetary shortfalls,” Miss Keller said.

Findley shook his head. “You don’t get it! Even if I could turn your idea into legislation, there are hundreds of folks who’d resist having their tax status tampered with. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and all that jazz.”

“That’s no longer your concern,” said a gruff voice.

Ezra spun around to see who chimed in on the convo.

A police officer stood between Miss Keller and Higginsworth, spinning a pair of handcuffs in his forefinger.

“You... You can’t be serious,” Findley said.

“I could say the same of you, bot downer.” The police officer marched toward Findley. “And no point in running unless you want your sentence to be harsher.”

Ezra stepped aside to make way for the cop. “Thanks, Liv,” he said, eyeing his sister.

“Don’t mention it,” said Olivia as the officer cuffed Findley and read him his rights.

“Hey,” Higginsworth whispered to Ezra. “What about me?”

“Hmm?” Ezra said. “Oh! Nah, I think our uniformed friend there has his hands full with our ministerial chum there.”

“Still, if there’s anything I can do to make up for things...”

Ezra stroked his chin while gazing at the sky. “I guess there’s something you could do.”

*****

“Bill’s here!” said Pepper, stepping inside the Gamester garage with Ezra in tow.

Olivia folded her laptop shut and rose from her worktable stool. “Right,” she said as she rubbed her hands. “Moment of truth.”

Ezra opened the envelope and pulled out the bill. Months had elapsed since the LARK’s maiden flight and Findley’s arrest, causing quite the uproar in PEI and prompting governments at all levels to clean house and investigate any collusion between public officials and special vested interests. Of course, none of it would matter if policies remained the same.

Taking a deep breath, Olivia took the bill from Ezra and unfolded it. As she scanned the document, her squinted eyes and pursed lips turned into wide-open peepers and a wide smile.

“How’s it looking?” said Ezra.

Olivia handed the bill back to Ezra. “Well,” she said, “it looks like I won’t have to take on risky loans to expand the biz.” She waved her arm at the garage walls, which bore corkboards full of printed orders and emails pointing to a healthy work backlog and revenue stream.

Ezra and Pepper pumped their fists and high-fived one another. Getting Councilor Higginsworth to table and pass land value tax legislation with his cohorts was already a big deal, but it wouldn’t be until Olivia laid her eyes on lower taxes that true victory would be achieved.

“In other good news,” said Olivia, “I heard on the radio that tech grants are going to be restored.” She gandered at the bots and devices that littered the garage. “I mean, this place could use a few more helping and well-paid hands.”

“Let us know how to write the job listings online,” Pepper said.

“General applications will do for now. Just be sure to make cover letters mandatory to filter out lesser submissions.”

“Will do!” Pepper patted Ezra on the shoulder. “Catch you tomorrow?”

Ezra nodded at Pepper. “Catch me tomorrow,” he said. “Shoot me a message if you need help with the website layout.”

“Yup!” Pepper waved goodbye to Ezra and Olivia before leaving the garage.

Olivia walked up to Ezra and bent down to hug him. “Thanks for the help.”

Beaming, Ezra hugged Olivia back. “Just doing my part to keep us afloat.”

“Yeah. Who knew one of your ideas would be what my business needed?”

Ezra giggled. “Are we going to be fine? Money-wise.”

“Yeah, we will.” Olivia let go of Ezra. “How’s your college search going otherwise?”

“Pepper and I are still looking. I mean, we could’ve gone there right after graduation, but given all the positive press coverage and work you got following Tech Breakthrough Week...”

“You two wanted to lend me a hand, I know.”

Ezra looked around the garage. “Funny, isn’t it? Started off as a bunch of emails I sent to folks. And now any useful policy proposal that crosses our minds gets turned into a device.”

Olivia ambled back to her worktable and reopened her laptop. “Doing good and making money? Sounds like a winning formula to me.”

Ezra’s phone buzzed in his pants pocket, prompting him to pull it out. He spotted a notification on the email app and opened his inbox to read a message from the PEI government.

“Dear Mr. Gamester,

Thank you for reaching out to us regarding your land value tax proposal. In light of its successful implementation at the municipal level in Charlottetown, the Ministry of Finance is considering tabling legislation to make this taxation model a provincial measure.

In the meantime, expect some more emails from the Government of Prince Edward Island regarding the ordering of LARKs for public use. We look forward to collaborating with you on future endeavors meant to leave Islanders better off and more fairly taxed.

Yours Truly,

Office of the PEI Ministry of Finance”

Smiling, Ezra replied to the email with a thumbs-up emoji.