The Superpower Project

by Paul Bristow

  She met Cam at the corner of his road and they set off for Crowfell Hospital, number three on Gran’s map. Crowfell was almost two hundred years old, and had previously been a poorhouse, an asylum and a prisoner-of-war camp – so ‘abandoned hospital’ was actually one of its nicer uses.

  As it was out in the middle of a valley, away from the main roads, they wouldn’t have to worry about getting caught trespassing. Of course, that also meant that if they were attacked by a killer sculpture, no one would hear them screaming. Well, maybe not – Cam could scream pretty loud, although he insisted on calling it a roar. A really high-pitched roar.

  As they approached the fence, Cam looked like he might roar at any second. “So, what treats do you think we’ll find in the creepy old abandoned hospital?” he asked.

  “Germs. Or zombies,” suggested Megan.

  “Really? I was hoping for either nothing or a big box of money.”

  “Are you scared of the hospital, Cam?” asked TJ.

  “I’m scared of all hospitals… my mum’s a nurse.”

  Rusted, razor-tipped wire fencing looped all the way around the hospital’s grounds. The hospital itself stood dark and empty a little further down the hill and into the valley.

  “Looks really jaggy,” said Megan, touching the wire.

  “I can cut it,” said TJ, producing a little blowtorch from the tip of one of his fingers and slicing a hole big enough for them to crouch through.

  “Hah!” said Cam. “That’s actually the coolest thing I’ve seen you do so far. You got any other apps?”

  TJ’s eyes beamed brightly, startling Megan and Cam. He turned and they illuminated the muddy slope that was the only way down towards the hospital. “Full beam,” he said.

  “I did bring a torch,” said Cam.

  “Does it have full beam?” asked TJ.

  “Well, the batteries are running a bit low…”

  “Hmm. Mine is full beam.”

  The three of them sludged slowly down to the crumbling turrets and boarded-up windows of Crowfell. Its huge wooden front door had been barred with steel beams.

  “That will certainly keep most people out,” said Megan.

  “Or keep things in,” suggested Cam.

  “TJ, will you be able to move these?” asked Megan.

  The robot stepped forward and hauled out the metal bars. The old door creaked open, and TJ’s lights revealed a dusty entrance hall and ornate staircase.

  “Do you think the lights will still be working?” asked Cam.

  “I think we’ll be lucky if the floors are still working,” said Megan.

  “After you, Cameron,” said TJ, bowing in a slightly sarcastic way.

  “No actually, it’s ladies before gentlemen,” smiled Megan, even though she didn’t really mean it. It just seemed like the easiest way to avoid another argument. She stepped in first and held her breath.

  Unlike the tunnels or the warehouse, the silence here seemed still – as if time had broken and stopped. An empty desk blocked their way forward, a dusty old leather chair behind it. TJ and Cam shuffled in behind Megan and they all stood at the desk as if someone was going to sign them in.

  “Where should we go first?” asked Cam with unconvincing enthusiasm.

  Megan sighed. “I thought it might be obvious when we got here.”

  TJ had been staring all around the cavernous building, his eye-lights shining into every corner. “I know this place,” he said. “I have been here before. Upstairs first.”

  “Why? What’s upstairs?” asked Megan.

  “Answers perhaps.” TJ stepped onto the stairs, which instantly gave way, leaving both his feet wedged inside the staircase.

  Cameron sniggered. “You must be too heavy TJ. Time to switch to unleaded.”

  Megan flew over gently, stretching her hand out to help TJ up. “Careful TJ, these stairs must be a bit rotten.”

  The robot stepped out of the hole onto the next step, which he also promptly fell through.

  Megan shot Cam a look, but he was already doubled over laughing.

  “Tell you what,” said Megan, hovering beside TJ, “you grab the banister while I take your arm.”

  Once Megan and TJ reached the top, Cam began carefully climbing up the banister instead of the stairs.

  When he was halfway up, TJ’s internal machinery suddenly clicked nervously. Looking all around him, his eyes eventually settled on a stained-glass window at the far end of the corridor. “Did you hear that?” he asked.

  “Not funny, TJ,” said Cam.

  “Shhh!” said TJ. “I am listening.”

  While TJ and Megan stood still in the dark silence, Cam struggled not to slip off the wonky old banister.

  “There. Did you hear it?” asked TJ, this time staring back down the stairs.

  “Not a thing,” said Megan. “What are we missing?”

  Cam scrambled up the banister to where they were standing, trying not to look as if he was in too much of a hurry.

  “Whispering children,” said TJ. “Can’t you hear?”

  Megan took Cam’s arm. “No TJ, we can’t. Are there other people here?”

  TJ paused, again staring around the room. “Not any more.”

  “Ow!” shouted Cam, his arm crushed by Megan’s grip.

  “I remember…” said TJ, pointing further along the corridor. “That is the room they didn’t like.”

  “Well, let’s not go there then,” said Cam.

  “No, we must go the other way.” TJ pointed again and stomped off to his right. He began tearing at the wall, ripping through plaster and wallpaper.

  “TJ? Are you ok?” Megan asked quietly.

  TJ continued to scrape at the wall. And he exposed a secret door.

  Megan and Cam’s mouths fell open.

  Chapter 17.

  Names and Faces

  TJ pushed at the hidden door. “It is locked.”

  Then, at the same time, Megan and Cam noticed a gap between the door and the floor.

  “Could you?” smiled Megan.

  Cam shuddered, and then started shrinking. Within seconds, he had disappeared entirely. A hamster scurried under the door gap.

  “See,” said Megan, “hamster is useful after all.”

  “Yes,” said TJ, “next time I will bring Cameron some peanuts.”

  There was a rattling on the other side of the door as Cam, now human again, unlocked it from the inside. “It’s really stiff,” he said. “It must have been locked for ages.”

  The door creaked open, rust falling from the hinges. The room beyond had no windows, but TJ’s lights illuminated it, and they saw that every available space on all four walls had been covered with photos or newspaper clippings. A map of the river was dotted with red pins, and there were many photos of small groups of children standing grimly outside the doors of Crowfell.

  “What is this?” asked Cam uneasily. “I’m not liking it here at all.”

  Megan was peering at all the photos, some of them X-rays.

  “There,” said TJ, walking towards a rusted filing cabinet in the corner. The bottom drawer squealed as he opened it and reached in, pulling out a green cardboard folder which he handed to Megan.

  Slightly confused, Megan opened the folder. It was full of typed-up pages, scribbled notes and right at the back, a list of names, which she read carefully. “My gran’s name is on this list,” she said quietly. “Why is my gran’s name on this list?”

  Cam stepped over some broken glass and gently took the list from her. “Do you know any of the other names? John Bone, Tam Ash, Hannah Glass?”

  “Don’t think so. TJ, do these names mean anything to you?”

  TJ looked at the list and blinked. “There are five.”

  “No TJ, there are only four names here,” said Cam, as if he were talking to a troublesome Primary One during a wet playtime.

  “Do you know them?” said Megan. “Are they some of the ones who can contact you?”

  “John Bone. Here�
�� and in the bomb shelter.”

  “What did you have to do with this place?” asked Megan, mildly frustrated by TJ’s habit of remembering things at a snail’s pace.

  “Protect.”

  “What? The children? My gran?” Megan was trying hard not to confuse TJ but the questions just kept coming.

  “A secret,” said TJ. “Watt’s fears.”

  “Well, you can tell us now,” explained Cam, sensing that Megan was about to go off like a firecracker if he didn’t start making sense.

  “Testing!” said TJ, as if remembering something new. He looked around the room at the photos and X-rays. “All the children here. Were being tested.”

  “Like in maths and English?” asked Cam hopefully, having finally found a situation in which a maths test was the best option. “Tested for what?”

  “Abnormal abilities,” said TJ.

  Megan and Cam stared at him, shocked into silence.

  “My gran and the others,” said Megan. “Did they all have superpowers like us?”

  TJ nodded. “There are five.”

  “Ok, that’s good TJ,” said Megan, “I think. What else do you remember about being here?”

  TJ was silent once again, staring around the room. Megan slumped slightly, realising that was probably all they were going to get from him for now.

  “I wonder if this John Bone is still around?” said Cam, trying to rally them both. “Maybe the names were what your gran wanted us to find here?”

  “I don’t think so,” said Megan. “There were actual objects in the last two places.”

  “Let’s have a proper look around then,” said Cam. “Seeing some more stuff might jog TJ’s memory.”

  Megan and Cam rifled through dusty drawers and cupboards in the hidden room while TJ stood looking at the faded pictures of children at school, occasionally glancing at the list of names.

  “Eh… I think we have a winner,” said Cam, crawling out from under a desk, coughing. “This was taped underneath, with scratch marks either side of it.”

  It was another coin.

  “Cam! That’s fantastic,” said Megan. “Is it the same as the other one?”

  “The weird markings on it are different,” said Cam, handing it over, “but it’s the same size and everything.”

  “It’s coins!” said Megan. “We’re supposed to be finding these coins! D’you think we missed one when we found TJ? Or was TJ the only thing we were supposed to fi—”

  There was a clatter downstairs

  “What was that?” said Cam.

  There was another crash, the sound of the stairs giving way again as something tried to get up. Something heavy.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” said Cam.

  Together they ran back onto the landing and turned towards the stairs to see another of Waterworx’s sculptures – this time the clock-faced statue, Chronos. It was clambering up towards them, ticking and tocking, arms flailing out to grab them.

  Without thinking, Megan immediately flew up towards the ceiling, out of reach. “Cam, move!” she shouted, but Cam had already turned into his gorilla form, charging straight towards the robot along with TJ. “No, wait!” said Megan, but it was too late; the combined weight of all three of them completely destroyed what was left of the stairs.

  Cam, TJ and Chronos smashed into the floor below in a shower of splinters. Megan swooped down, peering through the thick clouds of dust.

  She saw TJ’s hand, outstretched, waiting for her. “Megan, quick!” he said. “We have landed on top of the robot.”

  There was a low growl, which Megan assumed meant that Cam was at least alive. Taking TJ’s arm, she hauled him up, one handed, towards the top of the broken stairway.

  The dust was beginning to settle, and now Megan could more clearly see a gorilla sitting on the giant legs of Chronos. The robot was struggling, its arms trapped beneath the stairway’s broken banister. Its clock hands were whirring angrily around its face.

  “Cam, you need to jump up!” shouted Megan. “Hurry, before it gets free. TJ and I will help you.”

  Cam leaped up towards the broken top edge of the stairs, and gripped it hard, but it crumbled under his weight. Megan knew she would struggle to lift a gorilla, plus she was still holding the coin tightly in her other hand.

  Chronos was beginning to get up, scrambling around the banister which had been holding it down. It swiped and grabbed at Cam’s dangling feet.

  There was only one thing Megan could do. She threw her hands out for gorilla-Cam, but in doing so she dropped the coin. She and TJ each grabbed one of Cam’s massive gorilla arms and pulled, dragging him back up to the top floor just as Chronos finally managed to snap the banister in two.

  Chronos stopped for a moment, picked up the fallen coin, then continued lumbering up towards them.

  “The coin!” said Megan, somehow hoping they’d be able to snatch it back. But Cam was too exhausted to move, panting as he turned back into his human form.

  TJ turned to them. “There is no time. Hold on.” He lifted them both and ran straight for the stained-glass window. The rotten wood around the old glass gave way easily as TJ smashed through it.

  Megan and Cam both screamed as the three of them fell towards the ground.

  TJ landed heavily on his feet, aged springs creaking. He let go of Megan and Cam and shouted, “Run!”

  The three of them stumbled up the slippery hill back towards the torn hole in the fence. Megan turned only once, to see Chronos staring at them through the broken window, its clock face glowing eerily in the dark.

  Chapter 18.

  Old and New

  Mr Finn’s favourite way to relax was to tinker in his lab: unscrew things, hit stuff with hammers, set things on fire… once he even created a death ray while trying to calm down. It fired a relaxing green laser up to two hundred metres.

  But there was nothing he could have invented that would calm him down today. He hadn’t imagined that the children and the Tin Jimmy would be able to damage his sculptures so badly. He was starting to take it personally, even though the attack had technically been a success.

  “Young people today have no respect! And terrible haircuts. They should be locked up! And then fired into space!”

  Apart from his collection of discarded robot heads, no one was listening, but Mr Finn was shouting all the same.

  “Months we’ve been stuck here,” he continued. “Months of searching old offices and abandoned buildings for sigils and any crumpled old bits of paper that might mention Tin Jimmy, the guardians or the river. And it’s been raining the entire time!”

  Mr Finn picked up a robot head and looked it straight in the electronic eye.

  “I am getting bored of ransacking old buildings, demolishing them and building shiny new offices in their place to cover our tracks. How can I get to the power under the water when I only have one sigil?”

  ***

  Years previously, using a few of James Watt’s old maps, Mr Finn’s dad, Professor Finn, had pinpointed the exact area of the river where the power was supposed to be. At the start of this year, Mr Finn had sent a few of his Waterworx team down there with one of his own inventions, the Seismodulatron, to start exploring the riverbed.

  Mr Finn turned the robot head around and pointed to a big box full of cables and bent metal in the corner of the room.

  “The Seismodulatron! Nobody else has ever invented anything that can cause miniature earthquakes in small spaces.” Mr Finn allowed himself a humble chuckle, then shook the robot head. “But it didn’t unlock the power! The idiots managed to hit an actual fault line under the river and create a proper earthquake!”

  It hadn’t been a big earthquake, but it was big enough for Mr Finn to put the Seismodulatron back in the big box of unused inventions along with the Quantumbler and the Octopants.

  “It was after the earthquake that I decided to follow Sarah Stone. She seemed to be the only person still around who was involved last time.” Mr Finn nodded t
he robot head to acknowledge the cleverness of this plan. “I followed her for weeks, hoping I would see something, anything, that suggested she knew about Tin Jimmy or the sigils. But she just did lots of old-lady things like going to the shops on the bus or walking round the dam with her granddaughter. And then she just wandered off on holiday. Useless. I may have lost my temper with her… while holding a hydroboom.”

  Mr Finn was still sure Sarah Stone had been hiding vital information. He had even forced himself to read all her rubbish books and comics, just in case there were any clues there: The Moon Pupil, Santa’s Little Werewolves, The Boy Who Wasn’t There, Candybones. There were lots of monsters and weird things, but nothing useful like a map or something written in code, which was what he’d been hoping for.

  “We need more information,” said Mr Finn, putting the robot head neatly on a shelf beside the Defabulator. “The very friendly Mr Garvock from the local museum was telling me about a massive store of James Watt’s old pictures and documents that the museum currently doesn’t have room to display. Some of the documents were gifted by the noted collector Professor Finn – or ‘Dad’, as I used to call him.”

  Mr Finn looked at the shelved robot head once again. “I know what you’re thinking… why not ask to borrow it? And I did consider that. But I might need it for a while, so that’s why Evolve and I are going to break into the museum and steal it instead. It’ll be easier that way. And more fun.”

  ***

  The museum was 150 years old, a friendly looking structure fringed with stone castle battlements.

  “Just beautiful,” said Mr Finn, gazing up at the expertly crafted turrets and windows, “an excellent site for a new supermarket.”

  Mr Finn had dressed in his best black tracksuit and balaclava, and brought a sports bag full of gadgets and inventions he thought would be useful during a burglary.

  Evolve, standing nearby, was mostly silver, but also a giant round robot, so it was harder for it to blend in.

  “Let’s be quick,” said Mr Finn, “in case someone sees you. Is there a back door I wonder?”