Adam and the Arkonauts

by Dominic Barker

  ‘Where can they be, Adam?’

  Adam was caught a little unawares. To be truthful, he had not been thinking about the whereabouts of his mother. Instead, he had become distracted by his handkerchief, which felt coarse on his forehead and didn’t seem to be doing a particularly good job of absorbing the sweat on his brow.

  He pulled it from his face and looked at it. No wonder it hadn’t worked. Instead of a handkerchief, he’d pulled a piece of paper from his pocket – the scrumpled-up register from the Hotel Dormir. It seemed so long ago they had taken it, even though in reality it was just a few days.

  And little good it had done them: a list of names of total strangers like . . . Adam glanced down. Well, one of them wasn’t a stranger: the man with the coffee on his trousers . . . Adam saw his name on the register.

  Señor Xavier Le Blacas.

  And next to him his abbreviated signature: X. Le Blacas.

  Something went click in his mind. The letters seemed to swim in front of him and reform themselves as . . .

  ‘Scabellax. Doctor! I’ve got it!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘I’ve found the double helix.’

  ‘What are you talking about, Adam?’

  ‘Scabellax is X. Le Blacas! It’s an anagram.’

  The Doctor couldn’t believe it. ‘But Professor Scabellax is clean-shaven and Le Blacas has a beard.’

  ‘A false beard,’ said Calico Jack, shocked to realise he had been fooled by the disguise of someone else for once.

  ‘I always told you the answer would be simple,’ said the Doctor. ‘Just like the double helix.’

  ‘The only problem with simple answers,’ said Calico Jack. ‘is they don’t half leave you feeling stupid.’

  Everything had happened so fast since the Doctor’s release that it was only now that he realised that he didn’t know who Calico Jack was.

  ‘I don’t believe I’ve had the pleasure of meeting you,’ he said to the older man. ‘Although something about you feels familiar.’

  ‘Doctor,’ said Adam excitedly, ‘don’t you remember? This is –’

  ‘Why should he remember?’ interrupted Calico Jack brusquely. ‘We’ve never met before. My name is Calico Jack and Adam here asked me for help, and after I heard his story I was more than happy to oblige.’

  ‘But –’ began Adam.

  ‘But nothing,’ Calico Jack said, cutting him off again. ‘There’ll be plenty of time for proper introductions when we’ve saved your mother.’

  Adam got the idea. If the Doctor were to find out that Calico Jack was really his father, it would slow everything down.

  He glanced back at the torn piece of hotel register, wondering how he could have missed something so simple as an anagram and a false beard. Then he noticed the name above Scabellax’s.

  Flores Tily.

  Where there was one anagram, there could easily be another. The letters swam before his mind’s eye and rearranged themselves as . . .

  Lily Forest. His mother.

  If she and Scabellax were anywhere, it would be there.

  ‘To the Hotel Dormir!’

  .

  CHAPTER 33

  Bus Pilot Torres screeched round another hairpin bend.

  ‘Faster,’ shouted Adam. ‘Can’t you go any faster?’

  Every moment was precious. By now, Scabellax would know his plan had been foiled.

  The next hairpin bend was upon them. Torres had to slow down.

  ‘Come on,’ urged Calico Jack. ‘You can drive faster than this.’

  Torres angrily slammed his foot to the floor and turned the bus at the same time. The road disappeared. The bus flew through the air, bypassing the bend completely.

  ‘That wasn’t quite what I had in mind,’ admitted Calico Jack.

  As it landed with a sickening shudder on the next stretch of straight road, Torres laughed gleefully and accelerated again. The bus flew once more.

  Crash. And smashed into the next level of road.

  ‘You’re destroying the bus!’ cried Adam.

  ‘Who cares?’ bellowed Torres ecstatically. ‘I’m flying.’

  They were going down the mountain faster than the bus had ever done the journey before. But would they – and the bus – be in one piece when they got there? The Arkonauts hung on and waited to find out.

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ began Bus Pilot Torres, ‘we are now beginning our final descent into Buenos Sueños. Please switch off all electrical devices.’

  The bus went off the road for the final time. And this time there was much more of a drop. The road rushed up to greet them.

  Craaaaaassshhhhh!

  ‘Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Buenos Sueños. We trust you had a pleasant journey and we look forward to you travelling with Aerobus again.’

  ‘Not likely,’ muttered Calico Jack.

  But Adam was already out of his seat and at the driver’s side. ‘Can you take us to the Hotel Dormir?’ he asked.

  Bus Pilot Torres nodded before accelerating into the narrow streets of Buenos Sueños, with bits of bus falling off on all sides as he did so.

  ‘Faster,’ urged Adam.

  No bus had ever navigated the narrow streets of Buenos Sueños before. They were only millimetres wider than the vehicle itself, but Bus Pilot Torres knew no fear. The bus squeaked through entrances, crashed through washing lines, spun at right angles and never hit a thing. Torres brought it to a screeching halt outside the Hotel Dormir.

  ‘Thank you,’ said the Doctor. ‘You may need a new bus.’

  ‘Maybe next time,’ said Torres, ‘my bus will have wings!’

  The Doctor turned to the rescue team and barked in fluent dog: ‘Please can all the dogs, apart from Sniffage, surround the hotel to cut off any of Scabellax’s escape routes. Bark twice if you see him.’

  The dogs all rushed off to form a cordon round the hotel – all, that is, except Sausage.

  ‘Grrr!’ he growled to himself. ‘Think I’m not going inside? They’ve got another think coming.’

  Adam, Anna, the Doctor, Calico Jack and the Arkonauts charged off the bus and up the steps to the Hotel Dormir. Sausage followed them as fast as his little legs would allow.

  Miguel, the concierge, was standing by the door.

  ‘Stop, please,’ he said, seeing Sniffage and Sausage. ‘The Hotel Dormir does not welcome dogs.’

  His eye fell on Malibu.

  ‘Or cats.’

  He saw Simia.

  ‘Or monkeys.’

  Gogo and Pozzo swooped past his ears.

  ‘Or parrots.’

  Vlad fluttered down on to Miguel’s shoulder, his sharp fangs poised to bite.

  ‘Or . . .’ The concierge fainted. He had never liked horror films.

  The Arkonauts charged into the lobby. Arantcha shot to her feet behind the reception desk.

  ‘What is the meaning of this?’ she demanded. ‘Do you have a reservation?’

  ‘No,’ said the Doctor. ‘We’ve come to visit one of your guests, a certain Professor Scabellax.’

  Arantcha was confused. ‘We have nobody of that name staying in the hotel.’

  ‘You may know him as Señor Le Blacas.’

  Arantcha nodded. ‘We have a Señor Le Blacas. But what of this Professor Scabellax?’

  ‘He’ll be in the room with him,’ Adam assured her.

  Arantcha’s expression was stern. ‘Having guests in the room is strictly against hotel policy. I shall go up to room 101 and tell him personally. After you take your pets out of my lobby.’

  ‘Pets?’ said Adam, looking at the Arkonauts. ‘I don’t see any pets.’

  ‘Those creatures.’

  Sniffage, Malibu,
Simia, Gogo, Pozzo and Vlad all looked back at her.

  ‘Aren’t they pets?’ she asked weakly.

  ‘No,’ said Adam. ‘They’re Arkonauts. And they’ve got a job to do.’

  He led the Doctor, Anna, Calico Jack and the Arkonauts up the stairs, two at a time.

  ‘If any of your Arkonauts make a mess on the carpet,’ shouted Arantcha after them, ‘there’ll be a surcharge.’

  .

  CHAPTER 34

  The door to room 101 was locked.

  ‘Private Mandible can . . .’ Adam began. Then he remembered that Private Mandible had rejoined the Special Ant Service and was not currently available to pick locks.

  ‘Anything he can do, young ’un,’ said Calico Jack, ‘I think I can do better.’

  He pulled a tool from his pocket and inserted it in the lock.

  ‘What did you say your name was again?’ said the Doctor.

  ‘Calico Jack.’

  ‘Are you sure we haven’t met before?’

  ‘Do you want to save your wife or don’t you?’

  Calico Jack didn’t wait for an answer. Instead he curtailed any further questions by swiftly picking the lock and opening the door.

  Room 101 was empty.

  At least it seemed empty to the humans. But to Sniffage it was full of smells. He jammed his nose to the floor and started sniffing. Moments later, he was following Scabellax’s scent to the window.

  ‘Yeah! Yeah! He went this way!’

  A fire escape led up to the roof.

  ‘Are you sure, Sniffage?’ Adam said.

  ‘I never forget a smell,’ barked the spaniel.

  Anna was first to leap into action. She ran to the window and clambered out on to the fire escape. The other Arkonauts ran after her. Up the steps they went, as fast as they could, and climbed on to the roof, only to see at the far end . . .

  A large yellow hot-air balloon. It was filled with helium and tethered to the ground by a single length of rope. Discarded next to the balloon was Scabellax’s jetpack. He could no longer use it because he was taking a passenger.

  But not a willing one.

  Scabellax was dragging a woman towards the basket. Her arms and legs were tied up. She could only be one person . . .

  ‘Mum!’ Adam shouted across the rooftops.

  The woman looked round.

  ‘Adam!’

  There was joy in her voice but also fear. And the fear was there for good reason. Professor Scabellax turned round too. His face was contorted with rage. He looked ready to kill.

  ‘Stay where you are!’ he cried. ‘Come any closer and I throw your mother off the building.’

  The Arkonauts stopped in their tracks. Scabellax was standing near the edge of the hotel roof, and he wasn’t bluffing.

  ‘Give up, Scabellax,’ said the Doctor sternly. ‘Let my wife go.’

  ‘Give up?’ said the Professor mockingly. ‘That, Doctor, is the last thing I’m going to do. You may have postponed my conquering of the world but you have not stopped it. I have the knowledge, and you know, as a scientist, Doctor, that once the knowledge exists, then sooner or later it must be used. The unstoppable wheels of progress demand it.’

  ‘Destroying free will . . .’ replied the Doctor. ‘Controlling people’s minds . . . That isn’t progress. That is the very opposite of progress.’

  ‘There we will have to agree to differ,’ said Scabellax. ‘Governments and politicians have been trying to control people’s minds and destroy their free will since time began. But they have all failed. Only I have found the secret to success.’

  ‘You could stop this now,’ said the Doctor. ‘Reject the dark side of science.’

  For a moment Scabellax hesitated. Did he remember the young idealist he once was? Was he tempted to try to be that man again? But then his brow blackened.

  ‘I will tell you something, Doctor,’ he said. ‘Darkness is more powerful than light. In the end we will all be swallowed by it.’ And he hoisted Adam’s mum into the basket of the balloon.

  As though hearing the Professor’s words, the burning Buenos Sueños sun tipped below the horizon. Darkness was coming.

  ‘No,’ shouted Adam.

  ‘Adam!’ his mother cried again.

  He couldn’t bear to hear her anguish.

  ‘At least let the woman go,’ demanded Calico Jack, pointing at Adam. ‘Think of this boy without a mother.’

  ‘I will think of it,’ answered Scabellax. ‘And I will laugh every time that I do. Goodbye.’

  He untied the rope and jumped into the basket. The balloon began to rise.

  ‘No!’

  ‘He’s getting away!’

  The length of rope was uncoiling fast as the balloon climbed steadily into the air.

  ‘Grab the rope!’

  But there wasn’t enough of it. Already the end of it was being dragged towards the edge of the roof. No human could have got across in time to grab it.

  But perhaps a dog could.

  With his brown ears flapping wildly, Sniffage charged across the roof, the other Arkonauts sprinting behind him. The balloon got higher and higher, and the trailing rope left the ground. Sniffage jumped and grasped it with his teeth.

  Sniffage’s weight held the balloon for a crucial few seconds while Anna, Adam, the Doctor and Calico Jack caught up. As soon as they had a grip on it, Sniffage dropped to the ground, exhausted.

  ‘Yeah! Yeah!’ he shouted. ‘That was as good as chasing a stick.’

  Slowly, and with great effort, they began to haul Scabellax’s balloon down.

  ‘We’ve got him, young ’un,’ said Calico Jack. ‘We’ve got him.’

  But he spoke too soon. A sack fell from above and crashed on to the roof, narrowly missing the Arkonauts. Suddenly the balloon started to tug upwards again.

  ‘He’s shedding ballast,’ shouted the Doctor.

  Another sack crashed to the ground. Now, even lighter, the balloon was too powerful to be pulled down. It was all Adam, Anna, the Doctor and Calico Jack could do to hold it in position. But their strength was not going to last for long. Already their muscles were beginning to weaken.

  Professor Scabellax leant over the edge of the basket and leered at them.

  ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow,’ he crooned. ‘That is, sweet for me and sorrow for you.’

  ‘I can’t hold it much longer,’ said Adam.

  ‘Tch! Tch!’ chattered Simia. ‘This is when you really need a monkey.’

  ‘And some parrots,’ cheeped Gogo and Pozzo.

  ‘And a vampire bat,’ squeaked Vlad.

  Malibu sighed.

  ‘And, I suppose, a cat,’ he yowled. ‘Even though I must warn you, I’m very tired.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ said Adam.

  ‘You humans stick to the simple stuff, like holding a rope,’ said Simia. ‘Leave the rescue to us.’

  ‘But how . . . ?’

  Simia climbed up the Doctor’s back and leapt on to the rope.

  ‘Normally I require a stunt cat for all action sequences,’ said Malibu, ‘but I suppose I’ll have to make an exception.’

  The cat followed the monkey, climbing up the Doctor’s back and leaping on to the rope, which he gripped with his claws. Then he and Simia scrambled up towards the basket. Meanwhile, Gogo and Pozzo flew to one side of the balloon and Vlad to the other. Simia was right – all the humans could do was hold the rope with all their might and watch. Sniffage barked his encouragement.

  ‘You don’t think Simia’s right about us going down the wrong evolutionary path, do you?’ Adam said to the Doctor.

  The Doctor grunted.

  ‘What’s going on?’ shouted Scabellax, seeing the monkey and ca
t climbing closer. ‘Shoo! Get away from my balloon! Shoo! Woooahhh!’

  Scabellax never knew what hit him. Two green blurs flew into his face.

  Straight afterwards, a pair of sharp South American fangs sank into his neck.

  ‘Arrrrghhh!’

  And before he could recover, a monkey was on top of him, pummelling him hard, and a cat’s claws were scratching down his face.

  ‘HELP!’

  The Professor’s voice rang out over the streets of Buenos Sueños. But there was no help to be had. He was forced to throw himself down into the basket, face first, to try to minimise the effect of the scratches and the pummelling.

  Down below on the hotel roof the rope holders were weakening. Were it not for Sniffage grabbing on with his teeth again to help Adam, Anna, the Doctor and Calico Jack, they would already have been forced to let go. Even so, their muscles cried out for relief. They couldn’t bring the balloon any lower and they wouldn’t be able to keep it from flying off for much longer.

  ‘Hurry up!’ shouted Adam.

  The Arkonauts in the basket of the balloon understood the urgency. So while Simia, Malibu and Vlad kept Scabellax occupied with a painful combination of fists, claws and fangs, Gogo and Pozzo used their sharp beaks to bite through the ropes that bound Adam’s mum’s hands and feet.

  ‘Why did the road cross the chicken?’ Gogo asked her in between bites.

  Lily had never encountered parrot comedians.

  ‘Shouldn’t it be the chicken crossing the road?’ she said.

  The parrots gnawed through the first rope and her legs were free.

  ‘We can’t hold it much longer,’ cried Adam.

  The parrots set to work on the rope that tied her hands.

  ‘All right, then,’ said Pozzo through a mouthful of rope. ‘There were these two parrots who flew into a bar.’

  ‘Really?’ said Lily.

  ‘They should have looked where they were going,’ said Gogo.

  Adam’s mum groaned – it had been a long time since she’d heard jokes this bad. But her groan swiftly turned to a sigh of relief. The parrots had chewed through her second rope. She was free.