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Okay, math fans, in case you're just joining us.
This season, Molly and I have been promoted within the Problem Solvers.
We've also changed schools but, most importantly, we're trying to stop a new group of bad guys called the Power Hungry Pogs, who are even more devious than the Troublemaking Trolls.
So far we've discovered.
The pogs use moles to infiltrate different groups, so they can take over from the inside.
And while we haven't been able to uncover any moles just yet, we've got a growing list of suspects.
Hopefully it's just a matter of time until we figure out who the moles are and what the pogs are up to.
On Mysteries About True Histories.
Hmm, that's odd.
Okay, Max, that's enough playing around.
It's time to go home now.
I'm trying, but there's something up with the time radio.
Something's up?
What do you mean by up?
I mean, it's not working.
Listen.
Whee!
Was anybody messing with it?
Not me.
Not me.
Charlene?
What?
What do you mean, what?
Were you messing with the time radio?
I wasn't messing with it.
But I did see you standing near it.
Yeah, I saw you standing near it too.
What did you do?
Nothing.
Why would I want to mess with the time machine?
You think I want to stay stuck in 230 BCE working as the janitorial staff for one of the seven wonders of the world.
I've got things to do back home.
So do I. Me too.
Okay, okay.
No one wants to stay here.
Everyone just calm down.
Calm down?
I am calm.
They're the ones trying to blame me for breaking the time radio.
What's wrong with it anyway?
I don't know.
It's stuck.
Stuck?
Don't look at me.
I didn't stick it.
All right, let's troubleshoot.
It appears to be set to the right location, Oshkosh, and the year seems right.
Give it another shot.
Whee!
Maybe it was our quote-unquote boss who did it.
Maybe he liked how we polished the Colossus so much, he doesn't want us to leave.
How would he know this is a time machine and that we're from the future?
Don't forget, we're also being followed.
Probably by bad guys.
Look, the coordinates day and time keep blinking.
Any idea what that means?
How should I know?
It didn't come with an instruction manual.
I say let's just get out of here.
Anywhere in the present time is better than here.
Here goes.
What in the heck?
Where are we?
A swimming pool?
Seriously?
Good thing we all swim.
Speak for yourself.
I can't swim in my clothes.
Grab onto me.
I'll help you.
Gotcha.
Charlene's right.
We're much heavier in our clothes and sneakers.
If we take our weight minus the buoyant force of displaced water, as in density and volume, then we can calculate our apparent weight in water.
Oh, huh?
Like how much it feels like we weigh now?
Because officially, we weigh the same as always, but we feel differently in the water.
I don't need you to explain it more.
I meant, why are we discussing this while treading water?
Actually, I'm the one treading water, and I'm a little curious how much we weigh.
I know, right, Max?
It's kind of exciting.
It's like when astronauts splash down after returning from space.
Wow, I didn't know you were into space travel.
I wouldn't say into it, but I've seen some cool videos on YouTube.
You guys are so weird.
Any idea where we are?
Um, I'm pretty sure we're in the swimming pool at my school.
Look, there's our scoreboard clock.
Obviously, we missed the mark.
You think?
Hey, you were messing with the time radio.
I told you I wasn't messing with it.
Hey, don't splash me.
Hey, you just splashed me.
Can everyone please calm down?
Calm down?
Calm down?
Hey, what are you kids doing in the pool?
Can you get the tension at someone else's school?
I never thought I'd be excited to be back at our school.
Tell me about it.
I just hope Katrina doesn't get detention.
It was Charlene's fault we wound up in her school swimming pool.
Even weirder is, we wound up traveling back a week earlier than we left.
I'm just glad we're back in the present.
Even if it is a week sooner.
Same.
I just hope we don't run into ourselves.
That would be super weird.
Yeah.
Listen, Max, I don't know if Charlene is a pog or a mole or who knows what.
Whatever she is, she was definitely playing around with our time radio.
I don't know.
I kind of believe her when she said she wasn't trying to mess with it.
But either way, we need to time travel ahead to next week.
There's no way I'm sitting through all the same classes again and I do not want to retake my trigonometry exam.
Didn't you get a C on that exam?
Maybe a do-over would help you.
How?
I didn't study extra.
I don't remember the answers.
Trust me, nobody wants more math exams or an extra week of school.
Okay, okay.
I just thought... Never mind.
I know.
Let's call Aunt Em.
I already tried.
She's on some kind of problem solver mission in South America.
We're on our own... again.
You have no idea how glad I am to see you too, Rufus.
Even if it is a week early.
Enter!
Hey.
It sure feels good to change out of these wet clothes.
Have you heard from Katrina?
Yep.
She got detention and grounded.
Oof.
I'm glad we landed in her school's pool and not ours.
Otherwise, that might have been us.
Yeah, either way, we need to fix the time radio.
Fast.
Then we can jump forward to next week.
I can skip repeating all those boring classes in my trig exam.
Plus, Katrina will be out of the doghouse.
No, she's not in your doghouse.
It's just an expression.
Okay, that just leaves one other thing.
Which is?
Charlene.
Where did she go after Splashdown?
Oh, uh, didn't she come back to school with us?
Um, actually, I don't remember.
Should we text her?
No!
I mean sure I'd love to know where she is and what she's up to, but she was definitely playing with the time radio.
I can't prove she was deliberately messing with it, but I also can't prove she wasn't.
Really?
You still think she's a double agent?
Well, she did pass our trust test, and she's helped us shut down three of the four servers so far.
So those are all pros.
But we know she's money motivated and is only helping out because she thinks you're getting her a car.
Which means I still think she's corruptible.
Maybe someone got to her.
All good points as usual, Mal.
So, let's not involve Charlene for the next one.
And Katrina's out too.
Looks like it's just the dynamic duo of Max and Molly solving this one.
You mean Molly and Max.
Let's see if we can get this time radio working again, get back to next week, and then re-chant Em.
On it.
Wow, Max, you were just diving right in there.
Are you sure you should be using a screwdriver on that thing?
You're not especially mechanically inclined.
Hey, I got the chain back on my bike.
Uh-huh.
You also forgot to reattach the brake line to your back wheel.
True, but that was just an oversight.
You know, if you take the knobs off, at least let's label them as we go, so they all make it back to the right spot.
Got any masking tape and a marker?
Here you go.
Okay, A to A, B to B.
Remember, on one of our visits to Greece, the stones inside the temple were labeled this way carved right into the stone.
Delta to delta, sigma to sigma.
So when they moved the stones from the quarry to the building site, they knew exactly how to reassemble them.
Like instructions for a Lego set.
Hmm.
This lever is stuck-stuck.
Look.
You see it?
The lever beside it has a tiny spring.
This lever, no spring.
Are you thinking what I'm thinking?
I don't know.
What are you thinking?
Does the word sabotage mean anything to you?
Maybe.
Or maybe just maybe all the rough landings we make on our problem-solving missions jostled it loose and we just lost it.
That's a reasonable explanation.
So what do we do?
Do we call the problem solver customer service for a replacement part?
Is there a time radio repair person we could call to come fix it?
Beats me.
But I do happen to have an extra spring I can borrow from one of my old radio-controlled cars.
That should work, right?
Maybe.
You can't always replace a spring with any other spring.
There are lots of parameters required to get the desired effect.
Spring rate, maximum load, maximum stress, solid height, coil pitch, coil angle, wire length, resonant frequency, shear modulus and spring mass.
Whoa.
Hey, I'm just telling you what I think.
Uh-huh.
Hey, look.
The spring fits.
Hold on.
Before we try to time travel with a jury-rigged spring, let's at least consider Hooke's Law.
Hooke's Law?
Is that named after Captain Hook from Peter Pan?
No.
Hooke's Law states when a force compresses or stretches a spring, it will bounce back to its rest position with an equal and opposite force.
The restoring force is known as the spring's constant, represented by the letter K Sounds a lot like Newton's third law of motion.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
See?
That's why we're friends, Max.
Yes, it's totally based on that.
The formula is expressed as the letter F, which stands for the force applied to the spring, is equal to negative k, the restoring force, or constant times x the distance the spring is stretched or compressed away from its resting position.
We could dive into that calculation, or we could just try the little spring that could here, and if that doesn't work we'll go back to the drawing or calculating board.
Okay, Max.
What could really go wrong if we just try, right?
If it doesn't work, we can always recalibrate and try again.
And that's why we're friends, Molly.
That's the spirit.
Okay.
Matching A to A, B to B, C to C, and D to D. There.
It's reassembled.
Seems sturdy enough.
Let's take it for a test drive.
Maybe treat ourselves to somewhere nice before we time jump back into another school day.
Hmm.
Hawaii?
Ooh, now you're talking.
Hawaii it is.
How about 1858?
There is evidence that those were the early days of surfing.
That'd be fun to see.
Why not?
I just want to stick my feet in the water.
Great.
Here we go.
Aloha.
Uh-oh.
Is that the spring?
I think so.
Ah, well, looks like we landed okay.
I was worried there for a minute.
Me too.
But, um, I don't think this is Hawaii.
What is that?
Is that an earthquake?
It sure sounds like it.
Phew, at least it was short.
Plus, there's nothing to fall on us at the beach.
Are you sure we're not in Hawaii?
I mean, this appears to be a warm tropical island.
What does the time radio say?
The display keeps blinking.
I don't know that hitting it is the answer.
Works for vending machines.
Um, Max?
The clouds are turning red.
Huh?
Uh-oh.
Uh-oh what?
Max?
The good news is the display is no longer blinking.
I think it recalibrated.
Great.
Now what's the uh-oh?
It says we're on the island of Rockita, August 27th, 1883.
Okay.
We were supposed to be in 1858.
Instead, it's 1883.
Which means we missed our year by 25 years.
That's not so bad.
It is when the island you're on is about to be destroyed by a volcanic eruption.
Excuse me?
The volcano Krakatoa.
Ever heard of it?
Yes, I have heard of it.
That's where we are?
Yeah.
This island is located between Sumatra and Java on the Indonesian archipelago, just north of Australia and Krakatoa has been erupting here since May.
You had me at Volcano.
We gotta get out of here.
I'm turning the dials, but the spring popped out.
The lever won't hold in place.
I mean, at this point, anywhere is better than here.
The sky is literally on fire.
Trust me, I know.
The eruption produced the loudest sound in recorded history.
Pressure waves from the explosion circled the Earth multiple times in minutes.
What do you think about Hook's Law now?
Give me the time radio, Max.
Maybe I can hold the lever in place while you work the dials.
How much time do we have?
I don't know, but it can't be long.
Then we better go now.
Punch it!
O-M-G.
We're back in the pool.
Molly, you did it.
You must have had an iron grip on that lever.
You're amazing.
I'm used to gripping my drumsticks pretty hard.
Glad it came in handy.
But wait, this isn't the pool at Katrina's school.
No, this is the pool at our school.
And look, the date on the scoreboard clock.
We landed back at the right time.
Or the current time.
You know, the week we left for Rhodes.
No more class repeats.
No math tests due over.
Life is good again.
Out of the pool now.
You've both got detention.
Great.
This episode of Mysteries About True Histories was written by Libby Ward and voiced by Dexter Danger, Mayo Molly Smith, Caitlin Gard Rain Morris and Adam Tex Davis.
Original music by Brian Suarez.
Our associate producer is Max Kamaski.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Hahn.
Mysteries About True Histories was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Kolber, and is an Atomic Audio production.
