by Adam Frost
“You sure you got the right Mia Danger?” asked Mia.
Danny looked again at the Time Tablet.
“Whoops,” he said. “Wrong one. She looks about ninety.”
“Guess you should put her back then,” said Mia.
“I could put her back somewhere else,” suggested Danny. “You know, somewhere nice. Give her a holiday.”
“Like where?”
“I don’t know,” said Danny. “Disneyworld?”
“She’s ninety,” said Mia. “She’s not going to like Disneyworld.”
“All right, Frinton, then,” said Danny. “The dinner ladies at school are always going on about Frinton.”
Suddenly there was a loud clunk that echoed around the bunker. There was an even louder whirring noise and a deafening metallic squeal.
Danny and Mia twisted round. The lift had started to move.
“Roxie must have got it working,” said Mia.
“OK, let’s give her a surprise,” said Danny. “When she gets back down, it will just be me in here.”
Mia gave a half-smile and nodded.
Danny quickly pasted the wrong Mia Danger back where she was and found the right Mia Danger.
“Ready?” he asked.
“Think so,” said Mia, trying to look braver than she felt. “Actually, I’ve changed my mind.”
“OK,” said Danny, looking up from the Tablet.
“No, no,” said Mia. “It’s fine. Do it. Do it.”
Danny clicked Cut and Mia was gone. It was odd, but Danny felt more troubled by his sister vanishing than when Eric had disappeared. His fingers started to quiver and, for a moment, he couldn’t move his hands. He felt hugely relieved when he clicked Paste and saw Mia’s file appear next to Eric’s. He opened his sister’s file and read:
Mia appeared in Eric’s room next to Eric. She ran over to the window and threw up on to the grass below.
She pulled her head back in and exclaimed: “That was unbelievable! Danny, you’ve got to try this!”
Back in the bunker, the lift hummed and clanked.
At that moment, a strange thought crossed Danny’s mind: what if it wasn’t Roxie in the lift?
As quickly as he could, he found Roxie’s file in the Time Tablet and scrolled to the last few paragraphs:
Roxie was standing in the middle of the lift with a thug on either side of her. Her hands were tied behind her back so she couldn’t reach the catapult that sat in her front pocket.
“Are we going to break her legs, Steve?” said the first thug.
“Maybe one leg,” the second thug replied. “She is a lady.”
There was no time to lose. He had to cut and paste Roxie out of there. Roxie wouldn’t understand what was happening, but she was in EUREKA!, she’d assume it was Jasper, or Uncle Charlie, or a new gadget.
Danny was about to paste Roxie into the same folder as Eric and Mia, but then he remembered what she’d said about the magical amulet. She’d wanted to find it before the Space Twister. She’d wanted to start her search in Hamburg, the inventor’s home town. So Danny found Hamburg on the map, clicked on the Town Hall folder and pasted Roxie there.
Then he clicked on the first thug, selected Cut, clicked on the Sahara desert and pasted him next to a sand dune. He pasted the second thug on to a tiny island in the middle of the Caspian Sea.
The lift was slowing down.
Danny whispered: “It’s my turn. Time to cut and paste myself.”
He found his own folder and clicked on it. There were the options: Cut, Paste, Edit, Delete.
He was about to select Cut, when his chest tightened.
Where do I go when I click Cut? he thought. Does the Time Tablet come with me? Surely it can’t. So how do I click Paste? I won’t be able to, I’ll be cut forever.
A split second later, the empty lift appeared in front of him with a loud ping.
Danny stepped into the lift. It was large and modern with a floor-to-ceiling mirror on the back wall and a handrail that ran along all three sides.
There were only two buttons: Bunker and Ground. Danny pressed Ground. The lift started to whirr and move upwards.
Danny would have to find another way out of Grapeshot Hall. He could cut and paste other people, but he didn’t see how he could cut and paste himself. Or, at least, he could cut himself, but then there’d be nobody left to paste him.
He’d just have to leave in the normal way, through the front door.
But, Danny thought, it will be fine. He held his Time Tablet in front of him. He had found the Grapeshot Hall folder. If anyone got in his way, he would click Cut and Paste and dump them in the Amazon jungle.
As the lift doors opened, he looked down at the Time Tablet’s screen. There were five people in the house: DANIEL DANGER, BARRY MCINTYRE, STEVE JARROW, RONNIE COLLINS and DUDLEY RIX.
Danny looked at the images on top of the folder icons. The other four men looked like the Space Twister’s thugs.
He stepped out of the lift and almost stepped back in again. He had never seen so many beautiful objects in his life. The room was only four metres wide and six metres long. But everywhere Danny looked, there were Greek vases and Roman plates, Viking tankards and Egyptian dishes. There were chairs and tables stacked up to the ceiling; wardrobes on top of wardrobes and rugs heaped up on cabinets. On every surface, jewellery glittered. There were bracelets and necklaces and rings and brooches and tiaras and anklets and crowns.
Danny was about to cross the room when he heard a scuffling noise in the corner. He turned round but couldn’t see anyone or anything. Slowly, a shape emerged from behind a chest of drawers. It was an old man wearing a long black cloak. He was staring at a necklace in his right hand, unaware of Danny’s presence.
Danny glanced down at his Time Tablet. He looked at the four names in the Grapeshot Hall folder beside his own. He wondered who this was.
The old man shuffled towards Danny and then looked up in surprise.
“Good heavens,” he said. “What are you doing in here?”
Danny almost dropped his Time Tablet. His face was contorted with fear.
The old man was the Space Twister. At least seventy now, his hair was white, his cheeks were sunken and his scar blended in with the other deep wrinkles and lines on his face. Only the jewels in his teeth were unchanged.
“Of course,” said the Space Twister. “I’d put you down in the bunker, hadn’t I? And now you’ve broken out.”
Danny suddenly remembered his earlier encounter with the Space Twister. He hadn’t been able to see him in the Time Tablet. The Space Twister’s file hadn’t been there.
His file still wasn’t there. Which meant that Danny couldn’t cut or paste the Space Twister. His Time Tablet was no use to him.
The Space Twister, however, still had the remote. He had pulled it out of a pocket in his cloak.
“Now, should I rewind you back to the bunker or should I let you watch my transformation?” said the Space Twister, tapping the remote on his cheek.
“I think you should watch,” he decided, “because this is what I offered to share with you.”
He put the amulet around his neck. “This is the object I’ve spent fifteen years searching for,” the Space Twister announced. “‘Its face is gold, its case is gold,’ goes the riddle. Perhaps you’re familiar with it?”
Danny tried not to react.
“Anyway, this is twenty-four carat,” continued the Space Twister. “The purest gold there is. Now watch me become young again.”
He threw his head back and closed his eyes. Danny watched, still frightened, wondering whether he should run away while the Space Twister wasn’t looking at him. But he stayed where he was: he had to see what the Space Twister’s amulet would do.
A few seconds passed. The Space Twister remained standing, his head thrown back, his arms flung out. Danny looked at his face: it was still lined and wrinkled.
The Space Twister stood with his eyes closed for a few more seconds,
then started to pat his face. “I don’t believe it!” he exclaimed. “It’s the wrong amulet! It’s the wrong amulet AGAIN!”
Danny couldn’t help smiling. He felt suddenly confident and stared at the remote in the Space Twister’s hand. He was about to pounce, when the Space Twister’s eyes met his.
“Oh no, you don’t,” said the Space Twister. “Looks like I’ll be needing your gadget for a little while longer. Back to the bunker with you. Barry! Steven!”
Danny took a step backwards, still staring at the remote. If he could just take it back here and now, then everything would return to normal.
He heard the door to the room being flung open and remembered his Time Tablet. Part of him thought he should keep it hidden, stop the Space Twister from seeing it. But another part of him wanted to fight back. Now he could cut and paste and edit, his Time Tablet was surely more than a match for the cosmic remote.
Four thugs were standing behind the Space Twister.
“Take him down to the bunker,” said the Space Twister, pointing at Danny, “and this time, make sure he doesn’t escape. Ever.”
Danny dived underneath a pile of chairs and wriggled into a cabinet. He left the door open so he could still see the room in front of him. As one of the thugs waddled towards the pile of chairs, Danny glanced down at his Time Tablet. He found the first thug’s file, clicked Cut and the thug vanished.
The other three thugs turned round and looked at the space where the missing thug used to be.
“Dudley’s run away again,” said one.
Danny pasted the thug on top of the Empire State Building in New York.
The Space Twister shrieked, “Get him! He’s just a child, for heaven’s sake!”
Danny decided to try editing again. He chose the thug that was closest to him, found his file and clicked on it. He chose Edit and a cursor appeared at the end of the last sentence in the thug’s file. Danny quickly typed:
The thug was chased by a bear.
The text on the screen immediately changed to:
The thug turned round. He thought he heard a bear, but he was mistaken.
OK, Danny thought to himself, it has to be something that could happen. Or the Time Tablet rejects it.
He typed:
The thug jumped out of the window.
Danny craned his neck and watched the thug run across the room and jump out of the nearest window. There was a loud shattering noise as glass flew everywhere.
The other two thugs ran over to the empty window frame and peered out.
“He’s this way, Barry,” one of them shouted.
A distant voice groaned: “Not – sure – why – I – did – that.”
Danny clicked on another thug’s file. He chose Edit and typed:
The thug climbed up the chimney.
The thug that had shouted out of the window turned round, strode across the room, pushed aside a table and pulled himself through the mantelpiece.
The thug who was left behind peered up the chimney and said: “Is this one of your clever plans, Steve? Are we luring him on to the roof?”
“How are you doing this, young man?” the Space Twister drawled, staring at Danny through the stack of chairs.
Danny ignored him and clicked on the last thug’s file and typed:
He lay down on the floor and fell asleep.
The remaining thug yawned, stretched and collapsed in a heap on the floor.
The Space Twister looked round at the thug and then back at Danny. “OK, time to press Pause and stop this nonsense.”
Danny’s mind was racing. He needed to get the remote out of the Space Twister’s hand, but the Space Twister’s file was still not in the Time Tablet. He glanced quickly round the room and saw that the Space Twister was standing directly under a large crystal chandelier.
The Space Twister was pointing the remote at Danny. Danny opened his own file and typed:
The chandelier fell on to the floor and knocked the Space Twister out.
There was an almighty crash as the chandelier shattered on the floor. But, at the last second, the Space Twister leapt out of the way. Danny typed:
A wardrobe started to totter and fell on top of the Space Twister.
The wardrobe next to the door gave way and began to fall forward. The Space Twister glanced over his shoulder and jumped sideways. The wardrobe hit the floor with a thunk.
“How is this happening?” exclaimed the Space Twister. “Is this some new EUREKA! gadget?”
Danny couldn’t believe the Space Twister was still standing up. Without being able to type into the Space Twister’s file, Danny seemed to have less control over what happened to him.
Then Danny noticed the thug that was asleep on the floor. An idea flashed into his head and he clicked into the thug’s file. He selected Edit and started to type:
The thug woke up and picked up an old book from a large pile on the floor. He walked across to where the Space Twister was standing and whacked him on the head with the book. Then he handed the cosmic remote to Danny.
The Space Twister was about to press Pause, when Danny said, “Look who’s just woken up.”
The Space Twister watched as the thug stood up and picked up a dictionary from a pile of books on the floor.
Danny continued to type:
After handing Danny the remote, the thug biffed himself in the chops and knocked himself out.
The Space Twister stood up and faced the thug. “Barry, put the book down, you can’t even read.”
The thug lumbered across the room.
“Barry, whatever he’s doing to you, you can fight it.”
The thug stared at the Space Twister with confusion in his eyes.
“Barry, he’s doing this with some silly gadget,” said the Space Twister. “You work for me, remember. You follow my orders.”
“Sorry, boss,” mumbled the thug and whacked the Space Twister with the book. The Space Twister dropped to his knees.
The thug took the remote and walked across to the pile of chairs. He shoved them out of the way and gave the remote to Danny. Then he heaved a deep sigh and knocked himself out. Danny looked at the remote. He couldn’t believe his eyes. It was over. He felt lightheaded with relief and delight.
He clambered out of the cabinet and stood in the middle of the room. He saw that the Space Twister and the knocked-out thug were starting to stir, so he pressed Pause. Everything froze. Now Danny felt even safer, even happier.
OK, he thought to himself. What next? Roxie was in Hamburg, Eric and Mia were in Eric’s house, Uncle Charlie and Jasper were in mid-air. He needed to tell everyone that he had the remote and the crisis was over. Perhaps the easiest thing to do was just rewind the whole day and start again. Only this time, the Space Twister wouldn’t get anywhere near his remote.
He jammed his finger down on rewind and watched the thug that was knocked out walk backwards across the room. Another thug tumbled out of the chimney and another leapt into the window backwards.
The Space Twister didn’t move. He stayed where he was. Then, very slowly, he stood up.
Danny let go of Rewind and stared at the Space Twister in terror. He pressed Pause.
The thugs all froze but the Space Twister kept walking towards him.
“I’m not a bad person,” said the Space Twister, rubbing the back of his head.
Danny leant against a table, barely able to stand.
“I could have killed off your friends, but I didn’t,” said the Space Twister. “I didn’t have to tell you about the magical amulet, but I did. And this is how you respond to my kindness.”
Danny was backing away, moving towards the lift doors. He looked down at the remote. He had pressed Pause, the time was saying:
“This is impossible,” said Danny.
“Of course it’s possible,” said the Space Twister. “When are you going to realise: The. Remote. Doesn’t. Work. On. Me.”
The Space Twister was centimetres away from Danny. “It doesn’t ma
tter how many times you take it,” he said. “I’ll always take it back.”
The Space Twister snatched the remote out of Danny’s hand.
Danny felt wretched, terrified, powerless. “H-how are you doing this?” he stammered. “Are you l-like Grace Bingley?”
“Oh, no, no, no,” said the Space Twister. “It was when I visited Grace Bingley that I realised space-twisting wasn’t for me. I saw that twisting space removes you from time, but not from the ageing process. Do you know how old Grace is? Sixty-eight. At least, sixty-eight of our years. Over a hundred for her.”
Danny murmured in confusion.
“Shame I didn’t realise that before my own experiments with time,” said the Space Twister, touching his scar. “They cost me my good looks. But anyway. The moment I left Grace’s house, I started to pin all of my hopes on your remote. Your useless. Pathetic. Remote.”
“So-so,” said Danny, “how are you im-imune from it?”
The Space Twister shook his head. “Time’s up, Danny. I’ve got an amulet to find.” He grinned and the crystals in his mouth glistened. He yanked off the amulet that hung round his neck, tossing it on to the floor.
Danny stared at the Space Twister, at his white, haggard face and the sparkling crystals in his teeth. Then something clicked in Danny’s mind. He looked again at the jewels in the Space Twister’s front teeth. He quickly looked away, trying to process what he had seen.
The Space Twister pressed Play. He leaned across Danny and touched the “Call Lift” button on the wall. Behind the Space Twister, the thugs were looking around with dazed expressions.
The lift was already on the ground floor and the doors pinged open. The Space Twister shoved Danny backwards. Danny staggered into the lift and leaned against the mirror on the back wall.
The Space Twister leaned in and pressed the “B” button. “This time, you’ll never get out of the bunker, Danny,” he said. “You’ll stay there forever. And while you’re down there, I’ll be sending Barry and Steven around the world. They’ll be rounding up your friends and family and killing them all. You’ve committed the worst possible crime against me. You’ve wasted my time. My precious time.”