SUPERMARKET SWEEP by STE BERESFORD RATED FRC

He thought it would be an ordinary trip to the supermarket. But for geniuses like Brains, things are hardly ever ordinary.

Thanks to the Secretary With A Crossbow, Jenn, and Beta Reader Cricket - the other Sandy.

...squeekasqueekasqueeka...

It wasn't that often that Brains felt the need to get away from Tracy Island. Usually, he was quite content to lock himself up in either the workshop or laboratory, immersed in one of the four or five projects he always seemed to have on the go at the same time.

...sqeekasqueekarattlesqueeka...

Which was just as well, because much though he liked the Tracy family there were times when the younger members annoyed the hel- the heck out of him, especially Gordon and Alan when they got into a prank war, as they tended to start after a couple of weeks with no missions. They never did anything actually dangerous, per se - but more often than not he would go from one room to the other to find that it had been raided, things scattered over the floors and work-tops and not put away, tools left uncleaned... Brains liked things neat. And ordered. In places where he could just reach out and grasp them when needed. A slight comment to Jeff during a casual conversation was often enough to have him talk to his children, and get him left alone for a while - at least until they started again... but not this time. The latest prank war had grown, and escalated, and what with Brains having to go from the lab to the workshop constantly, as well as Jeff shooting down his plans for the new Thunderbird Six he wanted, the work on Skyship One being interfered with by so-called 'experts' who didn't know the difference between Hydrogen and Helium, the growing pimple behind his ear where his glasses were rubbing and the itchy-ness of his collar where Grandma had over-starched it as she occasionally was wont to do, the pressure had built and built until he bubbled over and exploded, first bawling Jeff out and then giving the rest of the Tracy clan a piece of his mind. And with Brains's mind, that went on for some considerable time, whilst the family looked more and more sheepish, pressing back into the furniture to try and escape his range, with many pleading glances at John's portrait, everybody pleading for an emergency call so they could get away from the vicinity of the small bomb that had just exploded.

...squeekasquekasqueeka...

Brains had, eventually, run out of steam and needed to get out for a while. Stalking through the kitchen to find some chocolate, he had spied Kyrano's small shopping list. It reminded him that there were a few things he needed to pick up, too... and he could do with putting some flight hours in...

...rattlerattlecrash...

Scribbling a note to let Kyrano know he'd taken the list, Brains took the passenger lift down to Thunderbird Two's hangar and taken the civilian jet, Tracy One, over to the mainland. From there he rented a small van and drove about an hour further inland to reach the shopping centre he was after. It wasn't by any means the closest, or most convenient, but it was one of his favourites for the sheer fact that the nearby electrical outlet had everything he could ever want instore. Well, within reason. It wasn't like they had any portable miniature atomic generators in stock, but being a rocket scientist it wasn't that difficult to build one. First things first, though - he'd told Kyrano that he would take care of the shopping, so he'ld do the shopping. He might even treat himself to a quart of mango ice cream. Sharing it with the rest of the family depended on how apologetic they were.

Fumbling in his pocket for a coin, Brain unlocked a trolley from the long rows stored outside the market and pushed it forwards towards the sliding doors.

And watched it slide to the right.

'...Huh.'

Brains again tried to push it forwards, only to watch it move to the right. And again, and again to the right. Just standing there and letting it go caused it to rattle its merry little way to the right. Turning completely about, it rolled to the left - but starting in between it seemed to have a mind of its own and trundled anywhere it decided to, at a deceptively speedy rate. He reached out to take hold of the push bar and missed... watching it roll away across the parking lot and into a car parked nearby.

'Uh-oh.'

Glancing around, Brains was relieved to note that the car park was empty. Quickly walking to the scene of the accident, he pulled the trolley away, keeping it in place with one foot on the bottom whilst he looked at the pranged car. A close look showed the there was the smallest of scratches to the bumper, but hopefully not noticeable.

Brains slowly straightened and looked about the car park again. Nobody was in sight... and the scratch, whilst obviously new, didn't look out of place amongst the other dings and bangs on the car. Reaching a decision, Brains grabbed the trolley and casually - even to the extreme of badly whistling - strolled over to the hardware store. He still fully intended to do the shopping, but first he needed to... tinker a little...

An hour or so later, the shoppers and staff in the supermarket noticed a sound echoing through the store - a sort of electronic whine, followed by the occasional clunking and mutterings about 'more sensitivity' and 'better control'. Curiosity striking, a small crowd gathered at the end of one aisle to examine the machine making the noise.

...vroommmputtputtputtputt...

It was a trolley. It had to be, there was a wire basket on top. With groceries. That... a robotic arm was picking items from the shelves and placing them inside...

Under the basket, where the lower framework and wheels should normally be found, were instead a pair of tank tracks, made with rubberised tracks to avoid damage to the floor, rather than the more traditional metal treads. A pair of car batteries appeared to provide the power, and the whole thing had wires connected to a laptop duct taped to the push bar and back edge of the basket. Brains trailed along behind it, humming slightly and making notes in a small notebook, occasionally stopping and tapping at the laptop's keyboard.

The arm reached out and a small bar code scanner flickered its star-shaped pattern over the stocked items, then carefully selected a tin of sliced pineapple and twisted back to neatly store it inside the basket. On the laptop, a soft beep indicated that the tin had been selected and the item flicked over to being green.

The tin of pineapple being the last item on the list, the newly altered trolley turned towards the checkouts at the front of the store and started to trundle over to them. Brains followed it, stowing the note pad for the moment and and searching through his pockets for his wallet. The teenage girl cracking her gum at the checkout almost swallowed it when the trolley began to unload itself, and wordlessly handled the transaction as Brains handed over his credit card, then almost dislocated her neck as she watched the machine reload itself and wander out the main door. Brains grabbed a few brown grocery bags and hurried after it, catching up as it drew level with his rented van's boot.

The mecha trolley paused whilst Brains placed his groceries into the paper bags and loaded them onto the back seats, then followed him back towards the Electrical store. The owner was a dear friend of Brains, but was getting on in years, no longer able to bend and work as hard as he used to. He figured that the mecha trolley would be a great help to him - customers could just tell him what they wanted at the front desk, and let it trundle off to shop for them. It wasn't that difficult to put together, and a simple locator system would prevent them from running into each other whilst they squeeked around the aisles. Perhaps a hydraulic system to raise it up for the higher shelves...

H'mmm. Higher shelves... raise up...

High rise...

That gave him an idea.