Rocket & Liftoff – The Bedlam Bugs

by Jon Ireland

  ‘Don’t touch anything!’ shrieked the Doctor, waving frantically. ‘One wrong move and you could blow us all up.’

  She shoved Rocket out the way and typed in a series of key combinations and flicked several switches.

  ‘You can switch off the self-destruct, can’t you?’ said Liftoff, biting his nails.

  ‘Oh for goodness sake. Grow a brain cell! I told you I can only switch if off once Shelly types in his password down in the computer warehouse – and by the looks of it he hasn’t done it yet!’

  ‘Give them a bit more time,’ said Rocket, trying his best to not look worried. ‘I’m sure they’ve got it under control.’

  ‘Oh no!’ choked the Doctor, her lime green face turning two shades paler. ‘The key – the security key to stop the self-destruct. It’s – it’s –’

  ‘Missing,’ said Klump finishing off her sentence. The boxy robot rolled into view, his eyes glowing red, deep in the trance of the computer virus. ‘You are too late to stop the self-destruct. The security key is not here.’

  ‘WHERE IS IT?’ screamed the Doctor. ‘TELL ME WHERE IT IS, YOU HALF-BRAINED MICROCHIP!’

  Klump shuddered a little at the ferocity of her voice. ‘One of the robots has it down in the computer warehouse,’ he answered quickly.

  ‘THAT’S SIX HUNDRED FLOORS DOWN!’ cried the Doctor in a panic. ‘WE’RE DOOMED!’

  She flung herself over the keyboard and bashed her hands on the desk. ‘I told you we should have surrendered.’

  Liftoff plucked Klump up by the leg and held him upside down in the air.

  ‘What do you mean, security key? No one said anything about a key.’

  ‘The self-destruct can only be deactivated with the correct password and the security key,’ explained Klump, dangling upside-down. ‘I was ordered by the Code Maker to remove the key as far from here as possible. There’s no time to get it and bring it back.’

  ‘Rocket! You can get us the key, right?’ said Liftoff, turning hopefully to his best friend. ‘No one is faster than you!’

  ‘About ninety seconds left,’ Rocket said, looking up to the clock and then calculating in his head. ‘Six hundred floors. About fifty steps per floor...’

  ‘That’s thirty thousand steps to get down!’ said the Doctor despairingly, her hands in her face. ‘Then double that to get back here. It’s impossible!’

  ‘I’ve got to try,’ said Rocket and he reached into his leather pouch and pulled out what remained of the blueberries.

  Just four of them left ...

  And one was half-squashed.

  GULP!

  ‘You can do it, can’t you?’ said Liftoff earnestly.

  ‘Nothing’s faster than a Rocket!’ said Rocket. He grinned but his eyes weren’t smiling. Deep down he wasn’t sure at all. His legs were glowing but he could feel he wasn’t up to his maximum strength.

  ‘Who’s got the security key?’ asked Rocket sternly.

  Liftoff, still holding Klump upside-down, shook him forcefully for an answer.

  ‘Z - Z - Z - Zoom - has - it... but - you - will - nev - er - make - it - in -’

  SWOOSH!

  Rocket was gone.

  ‘Time,’ said the Doctor, finishing his sentence. ‘You’ll never make it in time.’

  ‘One minute to self-destruct!’

  Chapter 26 – Into the final minute

  Hoppy was drawing the first Arm-E guard away from Shelly, but it was tiring work dodging the robot’s vicious arm swings in the extreme heat of the computer warehouse. Losing concentration, the Arm-E almost struck her but she backflipped away from its grasp with only a whisker to spare.

  ‘That was too close,’ grimaced Hoppy.

  Over on the other side, Tinysaur was running for her life from the second Arm-E. The little dinosaur slid around a corner and narrowly missed a flying pincer that punched into a rock wall, smashing away several chunks on to the floor.

  CRUNCH!

  ‘Shelly!’ cried Hoppy. ‘We can’t stop all three guards. You must fight the last one!’

  ‘Fight?’ said Shelly in a panic. ‘I can’t fight. Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear ...’

  He looked at the third giant Arm-E guard standing between him and the computer terminal. The little robot, Zoom, stood next to him and watched on, his eyes red and glazed, still under the influence of the computer virus.

  Knees shaking, Shelly slowly approached the menacing Arm-E guard, trying to get closer to one of the main computers and the keyboard where he would be able to type in his password.

  ‘Excuse m - m - me,’ said Shelly stuttering the words, ‘w - w - w would you mind stepping out the w - w - way?’

  The Arm-E growled, raising all its four giant tentacle arms into the air, it towered over the small orange tortoise that stood before it.

  Zoom gave an unfriendly growly beep, and the Arm-E swung its right tentacle claw towards Shelly’s head.

  Shelly dodged the robot’s arm by hiding his head down inside his protective shell.

  SWISH!

  The tentacle swung past, scratching Shelly’s shiny orange helmet and accidentally smashing into the helpless Zoom who had been standing too close to the action.

  CRASH!

  Zoom went sliding across the tiled floor and slammed into a rock wall.

  DOING!

  The force of the impact on the little robot made Zoom’s storage cover pop open and out flew a shiny key that soared high up into the air.

  With lightening speed a hand grabbed the falling key before it could touch the ground.

  ‘I’ll have that, thank you very much,’ said Rocket, sliding to a halt with his right hand firmly clenched around the security key.

  Shelly peeked his head out of his shell to see what had happened.

  ‘Watch out, Shelly!’ warned Rocket.

  Too late! The Arm-E had lashed out another arm at Shelly but this time he didn’t miss, sending Shelly and his orange shell into a violent spin. The Arm-E was just about to thump Shelly with a second deadly blow when –

  KERPOW!

  Hoppy leapt on to the back of the third Arm-E, karate chopped his head and then wrestled him around the neck.

  ‘Shelly! Enter your password!’ she cried out, ‘I can’t hold it back much longer.’

  Shelly’s orange shell stopped spinning and he fell to the floor like a toppled coin. His head popped out of his shell and his arms and legs flopped to the ground.

  ‘I feel dizzy,’ he said, his eyes wobbling in circles.

  Hoppy caught sight of Rocket and the security key.

  ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

  ‘No time to explain. I’ve got to get back to the top of the mountain.’

  And suddenly the racing cat disappeared.

  Hoppy blinked. Before she could say another word, she was back grappling at the Arm-E, who had flicked a tentacle over its head that very nearly knocked her off.

  Shelly was rubbing the top of his forehead. ‘Where am I?’ he said, trying to find his bearings.

  ‘THE PASSWORD!’ screamed Hoppy, as she clung desperately to the head of the Arm-E, which was now throwing her up and down like a bucking donkey. Behind her, she could see the other two guards had given up chasing Tinysaur and were storming angrily towards them.

  ‘Ah yes, now I remember,’ said Shelly, seeing the keyboard in front of him. He stood up and gingerly wobbled over to the computer terminal. Moving his hands at great speed, he touched several keys and the screen in front of him flickered and changed through several menus and pages until the screen read:

  TO ACCESS TOP LEVEL SECURITY TYPE PASSWORD HERE ...

  ‘Oh dear, my eye’s have gone a bit wonky. Everything is looks blurry.’

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding me!’ said Hoppy, as she ducked another punch from the robot.

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ll be alright it in a minute.’

  ‘30 seconds to self-destruct!’

  Hoppy screamed: ‘WE DON’T HAVE A MINUTE! CO
ME ON, SHELLY, JUST TRY!’

  Chapter 27 – Only thirty seconds left

  Even for someone as dazzling fast as Rocket, there was a noticeable difference between running downstairs and running upstairs. For Rocket’s sprint down the thousands and thousands of steps to the bottom of the mountain he had felt exhilarated and excited. It had almost been like flying.

  But this... running upstairs ... this was much, much, much harder than anything he’d done before. Rocket felt weak, his fruit energy was almost gone. It was hard. Very hard!

  And then he saw a sign for the two hundredth and fifty-fourth floor.

  That was not good. He wasn’t even half way up!

  How long to go now? Twenty-five seconds, perhaps?

  Now there was a new feeling. Something he’d never felt before when sprinting.

  His legs felt like heavy weights. He was tired. He wanted to stop. His legs were telling him to stop ...

  ‘Can’t .... stop ... must ... go .... on ....’

  Another sign. This time it was for floor one hundred and ten.

  Getting closer ...

  Keep going he told himself. Keep going. Keep going.

  ‘Twenty seconds to self-destruct!’

  * * *

  Shelly was rubbing his eyes, desperate to see the letters on the keyboard.

  ‘Come on, Shelly!’ cried Hoppy, still clinging on to the back of one of the Arm-E robots.

  ‘What am I thinking? I don’t need to see! I can type this without looking – I know where every letter is on the keyboard by memory.’

  ‘You better crack that password before these robots crack us!’ shrieked Hoppy. ‘I’m at breaking point here!’

  ‘Now all I need is to rest my fingers in the right place,’ said Shelly, feeling his way on the keyboard with his eyes shut, ‘and just imagine where the letters are...’

  He carefully typed in the following letters...

  U - N - B - R - E - A - K - I - U - M

  The computer screen flashed – then another box appeared with a little spinning circle.

  PASSWORD ACCEPTED.

  COMPUTER RESTART INITIATED.

  Hoppy leapt off the back of the first Arm-E, somersaulted over the second and kicked herself off the third, landing next to Shelly with a graceful bend of the knees.

  ‘What’s happening? Has it worked?’ gasped Hoppy, staring at the screen and catching her breath.

  ‘We may have to wait a few more seconds,’ said Shelly.

  ‘A few more seconds!’ panted Hoppy, glancing either side. ‘I can’t hold them off any longer. I’m exhausted!’

  ‘When the computers restart the robots will return to normal and will stop fighting us,’ said Shelly. ‘And Doctor Mischief will be able to use her security key to stop the self-destruct. As long as she has the key we’ll be perfectly safe now.’

  ‘Rocket!’ exclaimed Hoppy. ‘I saw him down here a second ago holding a key. He must have raced down here to get it!’

  ‘Oh dear. That’s not good. It’s an awful long way to get the key to the top of the mountain. Let’s hope he makes it in time.’

  ‘He better! Or it’s the end for everyone.’

  While Hoppy and Shelly had been talking, the Arm-E guards had encircled them, leaving no room to escape. Tinysaur raced to Hoppy’s side and yapped.

  They were trapped …

  * * *

  Nearly there, thought Rocket. Just a few more steps to go ...

  He’d just passed the third floor. He was going to make it...

  And then...

  BAD NEWS.

  His super fast legs wobbled with exhaustion and finally gave up. The fire in his belly had died away. The fruit energy was gone. He was back to normal. Less than normal.

  He was exhausted!

  Must ... go ... on ...

  Step by step, he slowly clambered upwards with one hand on the security key and one hand on the stair rail.

  It’s there. I see it. The final door!

  Across the big double doors at the top of the stairs were the letters;

  FIRST FLOOR

  COMMAND CENTRE

  When suddenly out from the shadows stepped the robots Basher and Hover.

  Oh no! I don’t have the strength to get past them ...

  The robots’ eyes were reddened, still in the trance, they held up the sleeping gas canisters and pointed them at Rocket.

  Surely this was the end?

  CRASH!

  The double doors swung violently open, thumping into the backs of Basher and Hover and tumbling them down the stairs.

  Rocket leaned to the side as the robots rolled past him with a loud clanging.

  ‘Come on slow coach,’ said Liftoff smiling. He stood on the other side of the double doors. ‘We’re waiting for you!’ Holding out a giant paw to Rocket, he lifted him up the last few steps and through into the command centre.

  ‘5 seconds to self-destruct!’

  ‘Give me the security key!’ shrieked Doctor Mischief.

  With the last remaining ounce of his strength, Rocket threw the key over to the Doctor. He had nothing left to give.

  Fumbling the key in her hands, the Doctor hastily shoved it into the security key hole and turned it clockwise. Then she punched a red button and suddenly all the lights went out.

  The room was pitch black.

  ‘Have we died?’ said Liftoff.

  Rocket felt the soft furry arms of his best friend holding on to him.

  ‘No,’ said Rocket, sighing. ‘I think we’re alive. But only just...’

  Chapter 28 – The Shadow’s warning

  ‘So then it all went black,’ recounted Shelly to Rocket and Liftoff. ‘It was a bit scary but then a minute later all the lights came on and it was then we knew we were safe.’

  The whole gang was now back together – Rocket, Liftoff, Shelly, Hoppy and Tinysaur - and they were finally going home. They had found the main entrance doors and were happily leaving the mountain and its foul stench behind them.

  ‘But what about the Arm-E guards?’ asked Liftoff.

  ‘They all turned to statues,’ explained Hoppy. ‘Once the virus was destroyed they stopped working. And Mischief’s robot Zoom woke from the trance and the poor little thing didn’t have a clue where he was.’

  ‘It was the same with Basher and Klump,’ said Rocket. ‘They couldn’t remember anything and didn’t know why they had headaches, dents and bruises – didn’t know anything about falling down the stairs.’

  ‘Mischief was furious with them,’ added Liftoff gleefully. ‘Even though it wasn’t their fault – she still put them all on toilet cleaning duty for the next month!’

  ‘But how did you get the key from the bottom of the mountain to the top in such a short time?’ asked Shelly. ‘Incredible, quite remarkable.’

  ‘It wasn’t that difficult,’ said Rocket wistfully. ‘I mean running at supersonic speeds is what I do best.’ He winked at Liftoff.

  Liftoff frowned and shook his head.

  ‘Glad to see you haven’t lost any of your humility,’ said Hoppy, grinning.

  Liftoff gestured to the mountain behind them and shuddered. ‘That’s the last time I ever go in there.’

  ‘You’ve said that before,’ said Shelly.

  ‘But this time I mean it,’ Liftoff said sternly. ‘I really mean it.’

  ‘And what about the Code Maker?’ asked Hoppy, she felt a cold shiver run down her spine. ‘How did he get control of all the computers in the first place?’

  ‘It turned out the Doctor forgot to update her anti-virus software,’ said Shelly. ‘Once the Code Maker tricked his way in with a scam email, she couldn’t stop him.’

  ‘What if he does it again – or something worse?’ questioned Hoppy.

  ‘We’ll stick together and fight back,’ said Rocket, moving his fists like a boxer.

  ‘Oh really?’ said Hoppy, raising her eyebrows. ‘Well we’ll see about that.’

  ‘And what about D
octor Mischief?’ asked Liftoff. ‘What’s going to happen to her?’

  ‘She’s got a lot of clearing up to do,’ answered Shelly. ‘But I expect that trouble-maker will be up to no good before too long.’

  Rocket could feel all his strength returning as they entered the forest. The smell of the woods, the scattered bark on the floor and the chirruping birds. The suns ray’s streaked through wide gaps in the trees and shone brightly on their path.

  Liftoff was pondering something and scratched his head.

  ‘Why did the Code Maker say we belonged to him?’ he asked. ‘In the prison cells he said we were his property.’

  ‘Poppy cock!’ said Rocket. ‘No one owns me. I’m a wild cat!’ He put his hands into claws and gave a growl.

  ‘Ha!’ laughed Hoppy. ‘Now that is the funniest thing I’ve seen all day!’

  ‘I’m not joking,’ said Rocket. ‘I’m more dangerous than a wild tiger …’

  Hoppy bent over in raucous laughter. ‘Stop, stop! You’re killing me!’

  ‘Rocket’s right about one thing. We certainly don’t belong to the Code Maker,’ said Shelly. ‘Just because he tampered with our genes, it doesn’t mean he owns us.’

  ‘I don’t want to be someone’s property,’ said Liftoff. ‘I like being free.’

  Hoppy was about to say something about being trapped on the island, but then immediately stopped in her tracks when she noticed something strange move in the trees.

  ‘What was that?’

  WHOOSH!

  Something extremely fast whisked by everyone causing Rocket’s fur to ruffle.

  ‘The flying drone!’ said Rocket excitedly. ‘It’s snooping on us again. But this time I’m going to catch it. There’s no way I’m going to let the Code Maker spy on us again.’

  ‘It must be the same drone I saw on the night I stayed with you and Liftoff,’ exclaimed Hoppy. ‘It was like some kind of flying UFO.’

  ‘It’s a sneaky little spy, always hiding,’ said Rocket, his eyes squinting into the woods. ‘But this time I’m ready!’

  The mysterious flying drone suddenly zipped out from behind the trees and floated in front of them.

  ‘It looks like it doesn’t want to hide anymore,’ said Shelly.

  The flying drone switched on an array of dazzling, flashing lights, a variety of colours that twinkled over it’s metallic grey surface.