by Adam Blade
Lia lifted her pearl spear and Max raised his harpoon gun.
“Why isn’t it attacking?” he hissed.
With a click and a whir, a panel on the harness slid open. A red orb, like the one Max had seen on Cephalox’s tentacle, swiveled around and jerked closer. It blinked like an eye.
“Hello, Max,” said a voice, deep and distorted by electronics. “Welcome to the lair of Silda.”
“Who are you?” shouted Max, loud enough to disguise his fear.
“You can call me … the Professor.”
Max felt his stomach jolt at the sound of his enemy’s voice. He could see there was no place for the Professor to hide on the eel’s body. He must be controlling it remotely, thought Max.
“How does the Professor know your name?” whispered Lia.
“I don’t —”
“Your father told me you were clever,” continued the voice, “but now I’m beginning to doubt that. You walked right into my trap.”
Trap?
Max glanced at Lia, then at the metal walls. There was only one way out, and they’d have to get past Silda to reach it.
“Where is my father?” asked Max.
“Safe,” said the Professor. “For now. Which is more than I can say for you two. There’s no escape from here. Silda’s lair will be your grave.”
Max raised the harpoon gun. “We’ll see about that.”
“Ah, my old weapon,” said the voice. “That brings back memories.”
Of course! thought Max. “The crashed sub belonged to you!” No wonder there were no bodies in the sub.
Rivet surged forward on speeding propellers and clamped his jaws over Silda’s tail. A crackle of blue lightning shot along the Robobeast’s coils and over the dogbot. Rivet’s metal body spasmed, his legs quivering, then he drifted away.
Max wanted to go to the dogbot, but he couldn’t leave Lia. “Silda’s an electric eel!” he said. “Don’t get close.”
Rivet was making strange noises — buzzes and pings. Just like back in Aquora when I’d only just built him and I put his circuit board in the wrong way, thought Max.
Now he understood the metal walls. If Silda touched them, they would become electrified. There was no way out, and fighting the Professor’s creature was going to be even more difficult than Max had thought.
Silda uncoiled slowly and nosed through the water after the stunned dogbot. The Robobeast opened its mouth.
“No!” shouted Max, swimming between the gaping jaws and his dogbot. He aimed the gun and fired, launching the harpoon. Silda slunk to one side as the missile cut through the water, a wire snaking out behind it. The barbed point punctured the eel’s side, and a blue pulse shot back up the wire and into Max’s arm. It felt like something had grabbed his spine and snatched him through the water. His hand clamped on to the gun as the current zapped through him.
Max couldn’t feel a thing. He saw his limbs sprawled in the water, but when he tried to move them, he couldn’t. Slowly, his skin began to tingle all over with pins and needles. The harpoon gun drifted through the water, out of reach. Great. Now I haven’t even got a weapon, he thought.
“Are you all right?” asked Lia, arriving at his side.
Max managed to nod. Lia tugged him away from the eel’s mouth.
“I thought you were dead!” she said.
“So did I,” said Max.
Thankfully, Rivet seemed to have recovered. He was barking angrily in front of the eel’s head, retreating just out of reach.
Max struggled upright in the water. “We have to get that harness off,” he said. “That’s how the Professor is controlling the Robobeast.”
But as he pointed at the harness, he saw more blue splinters of light crackling across it. There’s no way I’m touching that, he thought.
“How are we supposed to deactivate the harness if we can’t even touch it?” asked Lia.
The red camera eye rotated to face them.
“Uh-oh,” said Max.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the eel’s slab of a tail arcing through the water. Barely stopping to think, he pushed Lia backward. She gave a squeak of surprise as she tumbled clear, and the tail smacked into him. Electricity surged through his limbs. It felt like his skeleton was being ripped out of him as he spun through the water toward the outer wall. Then he slammed into the metal and another shock vibrated across his skin.
Max drifted in the water, every nerve on fire, unable to move.
I was lucky with the first Robobeast, he thought, but this one’s going to be the end of me….
Silda’s huge head rose through the water to face him. The eel’s mouth parted in what looked like a horrible smile.
“Met your match this time, haven’t you?” said the Professor. “I bet you wish you’d stayed in Aquora now.”
LEAVE HIM ALONE!” SHOUTED LIA. MAX MANAGED to turn his head and saw his Merryn friend on top of Spike. She clutched the pearl spear.
“I don’t take orders from fish,” said the Professor.
Silda’s jaws opened wide and Max stared past the needle teeth and into the black throat. He hoped death would be quick.
Then the eel’s head jerked sideways.
“What —?” gasped the Professor. “How did —?”
Still too weak to move, Max saw the pearl spear jutting from Silda’s flank. The red eye darted this way and that, trying to see what was happening. Of course! thought Max. Lia’s spear’s not made of metal, so it can’t conduct electricity. The eel’s body writhed and wriggled. At last the beady black eyes spotted the spear. Silda’s jaws snatched it, yanked it free, and tossed it across the cave.
The Robobeast’s head flashed around to face Lia and her swordfish. She tried to swim away, but Silda moved quickly, blocking her route with a huge coil. Max watched, willing his body to move, as the Beast slowly surrounded Lia with its long, muscular body. She darted back and forth, unable to escape and unable to touch the electric eel’s deadly flesh.
But why isn’t Silda closing in for the kill? Max thought foggily. It could shock her at any time.
Sensation was returning to Max’s body, but he knew he couldn’t swim anywhere yet. His arms and legs felt like jelly.
The harness on Silda’s neck swished open again, and another robotic arm extended in Lia’s direction. Attached to the end of it was a chain saw with jagged metal teeth.
“I haven’t gutted a fish for quite some time,” said the Professor. “This should be fun.”
The saw began to spin, until its whizzing blades became a blur. Lia screamed.
Max shook himself. He had to move. He couldn’t let his friend die. She’d saved his life. What had he done for her, apart from lead her into this deadly trap? The metal arm extended over Silda’s head and whirled straight toward Lia.
Move, legs! Max willed.
His left foot twitched, a warm feeling flooding in. Then his right foot.
Move, arms!
He managed to cup his hands and pull himself through the water.
Silda’s coils shifted to let the chain saw pass and Lia screamed louder.
Max swam closer, feeling stronger by the second. He saw a gap had opened up in the moving coils. Lia hadn’t spotted it — her eyes were fixed on the buzzing saw.
Max reached the gap. The eel’s slimy skin crackled with power. He saw Lia’s foot on the other side and reached through. The saw buzzed beside her head and she cowered back, closing her eyes.
Max seized her ankle and yanked, kicking with his legs at the same time. Lia shot through the gap with Spike in tow, just as the saw descended. It bit into the metal wall, showering blue sparks and filling Max’s ears with a horrible grinding squeal.
Lia opened her eyes and saw him. “How did you —?”
“That’s not important,” he interrupted. “Where’s your spear?”
Lia spun around, then pointed to the cavern floor. “There!”
Max saw it, too. “Rivet!” he yelled. “Fetch!”
The dogbot darted down into the depths. As he carried the spear up to Max, Silda was pulling the saw teeth free of the cavern wall. They’d chewed an ugly gash in the metal.
“The spear’s the only thing that can touch Silda,” said Max.
“But it barely gave it a pinprick last time.”
Max took the spear from Rivet’s mouth. It was as light as driftwood. “I’m not going to stab the Beast with it. I’ve got a better idea.”
The electric eel’s head snapped toward them. “Split up,” shouted Lia.
As the Robobeast shot toward them, chain saw buzzing angrily, they each swam in opposite directions. Silda went for the nearest target — Rivet. The saw came close to his snout. With a yelp, Rivet darted out of reach, past the writhing coils.
The Beast tried to follow, getting in a tangle among its own snaking tail.
Max swam up to Silda’s neck and rammed the spear into the harness’s latches. He planted his rubber boots on the eel’s slippery hide, trying to get a grip and working the spear back and forth. But each time he got the spear point into position, Silda’s wild bucking shook it free. The Robobeast pursued Rivet through the water, and the chain saw whizzed ever closer to the dogbot’s wagging tail. Max had to duck as a coil reared up toward him. Water rushed past, buffeting his body, but still he focused on his task.
“Look out!” called Lia.
Max looked up and saw the cavern wall approaching. If he didn’t jump off, he’d be crushed against it and fried to a crisp. But if I don’t get rid of this harness, Rivet’s going to be cut in two!
He lodged the spear under the harness’s catch and swung his legs up against the wall. His rubber soles thumped into the metal. Max strained, locking his legs, but Silda was pushing him. His knees buckled as he tried to keep his body from touching the wall. He gripped the spear and worked it harder into the harness’s fastenings. His thighs burned. He could see now that the Professor had forgotten about Rivet. All his energy was focused on finishing off Max, crushing him or electrocuting him. Or both.
The strength in his legs was fading and still the harness didn’t budge.
I’m going to die down here, just like Mom. And so will Dad.
Max had nothing left. He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and waited for the terrible shock to come.
CLICK.
The pressure eased and Max opened his eyes.
He still gripped the spear, but the metal catches were open and the harness had fallen away from Silda’s body, fizzing with sparks.
“No!” screeched the Professor’s voice. “No, no, no! It can’t be…. Attack them! Kill …” The cries died to an electronic whine, then nothing.
The giant eel turned its head to watch the robotic equipment drift to the bottom of the metal cavern.
I did it! Max thought, pushing off from the wall.
Silda nosed through the water until its head was close to Max. He held the spear loosely, just in case, but something told him the electric eel wasn’t a threat any longer. Its black eyes looked shining and alive now, full of intelligence and kindness. “You’re not that fierce at all, are you?” he said, lowering the spear.
After two slow blinks, the eel’s body twitched and darted away through the water, free of the Professor’s control. Max felt the tug of its wake as the powerful coils shot past. Without looking back, Silda entered the tunnel and disappeared into the maze.
Rivet’s playful barking drew Max’s attention back to the cavern. The dogbot was sniffing at the discarded harness, tugging at something with his teeth.
“The next piece of the Skull of Thallos!” said Lia, scooting past on Spike. Max took her outstretched arm and felt himself being pulled through the water.
They slowed to a halt beside Rivet, and Max helped the dogbot pry the fragment of bone from the harness. It was the top part of the skull — an oval-shaped eye socket, wide enough to put his hand through, above a heavy ridge of bone. He held it in his hands, feeling the strange power pulsing from its surface. Lia punched him lightly on the arm.
“So Merryn weapons are completely useless, are they?” she said.
“Only if you don’t know how to use them,” said Max, grinning.
Lia punched him again. A bit harder this time, he thought.
He stowed the piece of the skull in Rivet’s body compartment, and together they swam back up toward the tunnel.
“We should rest awhile,” said Lia. “We’ve had a few shocks.”
“You could say that,” Max replied.
But curiosity gnawed at him. “I want to check out the Professor’s sub wreck first,” he said. “There might be some clues to where he’s keeping my dad.”
The Merryn girl nodded. “Good thinking. Let’s take a look.”
The clouds of yellow ink from the sunshine flowers still hung in the water to guide them. Max held on to Rivet’s tail as the four friends raced through the twisting tunnels. At last they emerged into the cavern with the crippled craft resting on the seabed. When they reached it, Max could see the snapperfish still darting madly around inside. From the debris drifting around in the sub’s hull, it looked like they’d chewed up most of what was left.
He smacked his hand against the porthole. “No! If there were any clues, they’ve been torn apart now.”
Lia put a hand on his shoulder. “Maybe not. There might be something left.”
A snapperfish drifted past the porthole, watching them.
“Even if there is,” said Max, “we can’t get inside. Those fish are madder than ever!”
Lia tapped her foot-fins on the side of the sub. “Maybe we can’t all go inside, but Rivet can. He’s metal.”
The dogbot backed away with a whine. “Not inside, Max!” he barked. His tail curled between his leg propellers.
Max beckoned Rivet toward him. “On your back, boy.”
Rivet rolled over slowly. Max unfastened the dog’s belly hatch, exposing several wires and waterproof circuit boards. “I know how we can keep those snappers at bay.”
He swapped over a few fiber-optic wires and deactivated one of the circuits, then snapped the hatch closed. “Now,” he said as Rivet turned upright, “I need you to get the sub’s CPU.”
Rivet nodded and gave a short bark.
“What have you done to him?” asked Lia.
“You’ll see,” said Max, opening the wet hatch.
“And what’s a CPU?” said Lia.
“Just watch,” said Max.
Rivet kicked his way in. Max sealed the hatch and Rivet pressed the inner AIRLOCK DOOR ENTRY button with his paw. It opened and Rivet swam into the main chamber of the vessel. The snapperfish darted at him, jaws wide. But as the first one hit, blue sparks shot off Rivet’s body and along the fish’s scales. The snapperfish squirmed away. More blue crackles sent the other two fleeing as well.
“You electrified him!” said Lia.
Max grinned. “That’s right. Just like Silda. I reversed a couple circuits and switched off the insulators. Just don’t pet him until I’ve switched him back.”
Lia giggled, and through the porthole they watched Rivet pass across the central control console. The dogbot grabbed hold of a metal slab attached to the wall, and tore it off with his teeth.
“All ships have a CPU,” said Max. “It stands for ‘Central Processing Unit.’ It’s the sub’s main computer, and it contains all the most important information.”
“Not bad, for Breathers,” said Lia. “Let’s hope it can tell us what the Professor’s up to.”
And where my dad is, thought Max.
The snapperfish didn’t try to follow Rivet back into the airlock. They’d learned their lesson and were staying way back on the far side of the sub. When Rivet emerged, he rolled over to let Max change back the wires. Max patted him on the head. “Good work, boy.”
Rivet dropped the CPU into his hands. Max powered it up, and a red bar flashed on its side.
“Power’s down,” said Max. “Those snapperfish must have
damaged it. Or it’s just very old.” Feeling unsure, he switched it on.
A green screen lit up on the front of the box, showing a crackling image that drifted in and out of focus.
“Water damage?” Lia asked.
Max shook his head. “Snapperfish. One of them must have bashed into it.” He began scrolling through the data. It was mostly about engineering and navigation. “Boring … boring …” he muttered. “Hang on. What’s this?”
He had found a few lines of code, hidden in a file about water-pressure monitoring. He opened it, and an image blinked up, showing what looked like a map of roads. It rotated in three dimensions, and Max realized they weren’t roads at all, but a network of passageways and larger open areas. The lettering at the bottom of the screen read THE BLACK CAVES.
“I’ve never heard of them,” said Lia, leaning over his shoulder.
Max pressed a pad on the CPU, to skip to the next image. The projection faded to black. He pressed the pad again, but nothing happened. He switched it off, then on again. Nothing.
“It died!” he said. He shook it, but it didn’t do any good.
“Maybe those caves are where the Professor is keeping your father,” said Lia hopefully.
Max let the CPU drop among the broken fragments of coral.
“Maybe,” he said. “Either way, it’s the only clue we’ve got.”
RIVET NUZZLED AT MAX’S ARM.
“You have to be strong, Max,” said Lia. “If we follow the Professor, we’ll find your father.” She reached into her knapsack. “Here, this’ll make you feel better.”
She pulled out a piece of seaweed cake and offered it to him.
Max smiled. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but thanks.”