Episode 7: Showdown on Mars When we last saw Ben and Ruby, they discovered that Eureka and Arno were the two time
travelers who were working for the evil Zaza-and that they were also on Mars.
Well, you could've knocked me over with a Nerf ball. There they were: Eureka Dalrymple and
Arno Sevaris in spacesuits, coming down the side of a Martian crater. Their gray pouches were
brimming with rocks and soil. (To be perfectly honest with you, it's just as bad seeing them
coming down the hallway of Marshall Middle School. But I'm guessing you know that already.)
Only now they weren't just our annoying classmates vying for academic glory. They were our
opponents in an information war-and the first battle was about to be fought on Mars!
Subn
"Well, we figured we'd run into you trvo sooner or later," Eureka said snidely as she and Arno
approached. "But why are you ALWAYS two steps behind us?"
Her voice was projected by an amplifier in her space helmet, which made her sound even more
irritating than usual.
"I guess it's so we can clean up after you," I answered, in amplified super-snark mode myself. "I
mean, really, kids-leaving Snickers wrappers and water bottles in prehistory? Not very classy,
is it, oink oink?"
"You know what's not very classy, Ruby?" Arno snarked back. "Doing a science project about
Halszkaraptor escuilliei and looking like a national fool. But that's more than unclassy. That's
just plain old dumb."