by A. J. Ponder
It’s so beautiful you watch, entranced, as it lifts up again in a shower of falling glass. It flies toward you.
“What’s that?” Frankie yells, pointing.
You turn. A long hairy leg is poking around the door.
The Bugman claps his excitement. He walks right up to you and Frankie, laughing an artificial mwah ha ha ha laugh, like he’s practiced being a supervillain.
The creature with the hairy leg rounds the corner – it’s a tarantula spider! Its fangs drip poison. Surely you’re going to die. The spider’s fangs rise higher still, much to the amusement of the Bugman, who sprays something at the spider. “Mwah ha ha, now do my bidding and kill these fools.”
The spider rears up.
You and Frankie run.
There’s a harrowing scream behind you. It’s the Bugman. The spider is paralyzing him with venom. His final words are, “Rats, I should have used my Bugman Patented Spider Spray, not the—”
Ants, spiders, bees, praying mantises, cockroaches, and butterflies all swarm out of the room. Some of them start to organize. One of them picks up Frankie’s machine and points it at a terrarium just outside the door.
What? Thinking bugs? What was that spray the Bugman used? You run and keep on running. There’s nothing you can do as police, and even the army rush in to combat the giant insects. But they’re large, they’re organized, and they’re creating more over-sized creepy-crawlies all the time.
That evening you watch the news as it shows planes being flagged down by peacock spiders as they dance a waggly dance, bees taking over city hall, and ants making a giant nest and declaring themselves Supreme Rulers. The news lady reports that the ants are using Morse code to communicate with the creatures they call, the Primitive Mammals. And that she’s been instructed that from now on she must use the words primitive mammals when talking about humans.
A lot of people die at the hands (mandibles, if you prefer) of the new insect rulers before anyone stops to think about why the ants are bright enough to use Morse code. You’re sure it has something to do with the Bugman’s spray. And there’s a rumor that they’ve gathered scientists from all over the world – including Frankie – and locked them into a room with instructions to replicate the Bugman’s spray. You hope they never do. And that one day you’ll be free from this dreadful bug tyranny.
As a slave, you have to look after the ants’ young all the time. And there’s nothing worse than looking after spoilt children, except for looking after spoilt children who will eat you if you don’t feed them fast enough. And then, very sadly, one day before the planned revolution, a hungry worker ant grabs you by the feet and eats you alive.
With your final breath you wonder what would have happened if you’d made different decisions. Maybe you could have become a famous world-class spy. Well, technically you have. Six months after your death Frankie manages to reverse the polarity of the transmogrifier and reduce the insects back to normal size. Her first action as leader of the resistance is to immortalize your efforts to stop the Bugman. You are nominated as a hero of the resistance, and a statue of you is placed inside the courtyard of the new World of Spies headquarters.
Still, being alive might be more fun. You could shrink down to the size of an insect and ride a butterfly, choose the button that will either destroy or save the world, or play with secret codes and spy gizmos. You’ll never know, unless you brave another adventure.
For more adventure, click on a link to:
Go back to the museum.
Or
Go to the Adventure Contents and choose any path.
Put your hands up
“Congratulations,” the Bugman says, grinning at Frankie. “It seems only fitting that I should test this device on you first.”
He points the transmogrification machine at both of you.
“No,” Frankie yells. She moves to jump in front of you, but before you know it, you’ve both been shrunk.
“Brilliant!” the Bugman says. “Better than my wildest dreams. My insects and I shall take over the entire world and turn it into my personal paradise.” Laughing, he picks you up in a hand that has finger nails bigger than you are. “Now, where shall I put you?”
“Turn us back to our proper size, now!” Frankie yells. You yell, too. But that only makes the Bugman laugh harder, his voice thundering in your ears. He goes to a terrarium and releases most of a colony of ants onto the floor. Then, he drops you in.
“Look at this,” he says, cackling as he sprays a can of Bugman Patented Ant-Bee-Good spray over the ants and then points the remote at them.
Immediately, they become huge. It’s hard to tell, because you’re so small, but they must be as large as Rottweilers, because they reach the Bugman’s thighs. They march down the corridor after him. “See how they obey me – first Greenville, and then the world.”
“One minute!” you hear him yell. “Forgot something.” He comes back into the room, randomly waving Frankie’s transmogrifier at terrariums full of clothes moths, monarch butterflies, scorpions, and a praying mantis. “Mwah ha ha ha,” he says and runs out the door screaming with laughter as giant insects break out of their terrariums.
Some of them follow him, others wander around the room.
“Are we going to escape?” Frankie asks. “Or do you think we should wait until we’re rescued?”
“No,” you say. “There’s no time. Someone has to try and save Greenville from those giant bugs.”
“But even if we could reverse the shrinking, we’d still be eaten by some of the giant insects out there. Look how dangerous they are.” She points outside the glass terrarium to a human-sized praying mantis eating the head off a giant cockroach.
“What do we have?” you ask. “We can’t just give up.” You both go through your pockets. You have some coins and a piece of fluff. Not much use. But Frankie’s pockets are stuffed to bursting. She has a mini screwdriver, a boiled sweet, a piece of string, and a sugar packet. She shrugs. “Never know when you’re going to need sugar,” she says. “It’s great for rocket fuel.”
There’s a sound of wind rushing under enormous wings. You look up. It’s a giant butterfly, circling the terrarium. Then you realize, it’s an ordinary-sized butterfly, but you’re very small. So it just looks giant, especially this close. You also remember the plaque on the butterfly cage said butterflies will eat sugar water. Maybe you could entice it with some. Surely it’s big enough to fly you out of here. “Hey Frankie, if we put the sugar in the water bowl, the giant butterfly might come down to feed.”
“Great work, brainbox,” Frankie says.
Before you can do anything, something shiny scuttles toward you. It’s an enormous ant with jaws as big as you are. Well, it’s a normal sized ant, but it’s giant compared to you. It snaps its jaws.
Do you:
Race over to add the sugar to the water bowl?
Or
Attack the ant with Frankie’s mini screwdriver?
Race over to add sugar to the water bowl
There’s not much time – the ant is right behind you. You run and jump up onto the edge of the bowl.
“Quick,” Frankie yells, waving the screwdriver at the ant. “Dump the sugar packet.”
You pull the packet open. It’s about the same size as the palm of your hand.
The sugar tumbles into the water as the ant veers away from Frankie. It’s heading toward you, then it flinches back, feelers waving.
A flurry of wind batters you from above. The butterfly lands, its long proboscis unfurling to suck in the sugar water.
The ant slinks closer.
Together, you and Frankie jump onto the fuzzy brown fur on the butterfly’s back. Frankie is wielding the mini-screwdriver to keep the ant at bay.
The butterfly, finally noticing the danger, flinches away from the ant. It rolls its proboscis back up like a curly straw.
Wings unfurl to either side.
You hold on tight. Frankie does to. She can no longer re
ach the ant as it launches an attack on the butterfly’s flank.
You throw the remains of the sugar bag at it, and the ant ducks away.
There’s a whoosh, a flurry of wings, and you’re in the air. The last you see of the ant is its open jaws. Then you’re flying over the heads of even bigger and more dangerous insects, holding on tighter than ever. It’s like riding a wild bull, or a very rough ocean as you bob up and down with each wingbeat.
You’re just getting used to it when the butterfly takes you through an open door.
“What do we do now?” Frankie asks. “How are we going to get the transmogrifier so we can get back to normal? I don’t want to be this size forever!”
“Forever!”
Somehow, you have to control the butterfly and get the remote back, but all you can do is hold on tight as the butterfly swings around a table.
The Bugman is below. You can tell it’s him, even though he’s so big, because of the huge green mask.
“There he is!” you yell. “He’s racing out that exit with all his giant ants.”
“Quick, help me throw the string around the butterfly,” Frankie yells. “We can make it into reins!”
That sounds a bit mean – the string might hurt the creature.
Do you:
Help Frankie use the string as reins?
Or
Tell Frankie you don’t want to risk hurting the butterfly.
Help Frankie use the string as reins
Frankie ties a boiled sweet to the end of the string to weight it. “Ready to catch,” she yells. “Three, two one!” She throws the boiled sweet so the string swings around the butterfly’s neck. You catch it.
Frankie grins at you. “Quick!” she says. “Pull. We need to fly that way, toward the giant ants.”
You pull on the reins. The butterfly shakes and bucks. It’s clearly upset. But it’s turning to fly in the direction you want.
Do you:
Keep pulling on the butterfly reins.
Or
Tell Frankie to stop pulling on the butterfly reins.
Keep pulling on the butterfly reins
You pull the butterfly back on course.
“Eureka,” Frankie yells. “Let’s get that invention-stealing, monster-ant creating— Aargh!”
The butterfly dives. It twists and turns.
“Get it back on track,” Frankie yells. “Pull!”
“I’m trying,” you yell back, holding onto the reigns for dear life.
The butterfly rolls upside down.
Frankie falls, screaming.
The tension on the string gone – you topple after her, still clinging to the boiled sweet. The ground is coming up fast – a terrarium filled with dirt, plants and a giant bowl of petunias.
Crunch! Your arm explodes in pain.
Bone is sticking out of your shin. There’s blood, a lot of it. Frankie rips a piece of cloth from her sleeve and tries to staunch the bleeding. “I’ll make a splint,” she says. “Just a micro-second. I need to find a bit of wood, or something.”
A round piece of ground flips up, like a very well camouflaged trapdoor. Normally, it’d be about the size of a large coin, but now you’re tiny, it’s bigger than you are.
Two brown hairy legs come out.
With your broken leg, you can’t outrun whatever is emerging from that trapdoor. One by one, more legs appear, until you can see that this monster is a spider with eight long hairy legs, and enormous fangs.
It moves fast. First, it looks like it’s going after Frankie, but as soon as she’s out of sight, it reverses and scuttles toward you.
In a blur of motion, it grabs you with its front legs and sinks it’s fangs into your shoulder.
Pain explodes. You scream, and try to struggle, but you’re paralyzed.
The creature drags you to a dark hole in the ground.
You look out in the hope of seeing Frankie, but all you can see are the words, Oh, no, not again, painted in large friendly letters on the bowl of petunias, before the trapdoor shuts.
There is only endless darkness as you’re slowly eaten alive.
I’m sorry, you’ve been eaten. The world of bugs is very exciting, and very, very dangerous. Next time when you head out on adventure, you could find another concealed trapdoor, fight a giant ladybug, join the bad guys, or even take better care of the butterfly.
As the last synapse in your brain fires, you wonder what would have happened if you’d made different choices. An image of Frankie fills your mind. “Quick,” she says. “We can rewrite history. I need to know, do you want to:
“Go back to the museum?
“Or
“Go back in time and stop using the reins on the butterfly?”
Tell Frankie to stop pulling on the butterfly reins
“But he’s getting away!” Frankie yells, pointing at the Bugman.
“You’re the genius!” you yell back. “Think of something. And before he goes through that door.”
“Oh yeah. Wait a minute. How do people get horses to change direction without reins?”
“They pull their mane, or use their legs? If we pull on the butterfly fur it might work.”
“Okay, pull gently when I call right. Right.”
You pull.
The butterfly turns right.
“Perfect,” Frankie yells. “Let me try now.”
You relax and the butterfly turns left.
Between the two of you, you steer the butterfly through the doorway and over the heads of the giant insects and people below. The feeling is exhilarating, and scary. You have to remind yourself not to get caught up in the feeling of flying or worry too much about falling.
Frankie yells, “Quick, he’s just to the right. We almost have him!”
You pull on the butterfly’s fur. It swings right. You’re almost on top of the Bugman when Frankie yells, “Ease off, now!” but he doesn’t even look, he just keeps striding toward a lot of giant heads, his giant insects in tow.
You check out the giant heads, they look really weird, but kind of familiar. “Oh no, that’s our classes!”
“Hands up,” the Bugman says, waving the remote at Ms. Xavier.
Ms. Xavier stands up. “Stay away from my class, and stop waving that silly machine.”
A beam of light erupts from Frankie’s transmogrifier.
Ms. Xavier is now as small as you. Tiny as she is, she doesn’t back away.
The class screams. Everyone breaks into a run. The butterfly veers away from the commotion.
“Malfunctioning mechanisms!” Frankie yells. Beneath you, giant ants block the doors, jaws snapping.
“Stop!” the Bugman says, waving the transmogrifier. “Or I’ll feed you all to my giant ants. Or something much worse.”
As he rounds up the frightened students, you whisper to Frankie, “Where’s Kennedy?”
“She’s probably sneaking off to the spies meeting,” Frankie says nonchalantly.
“Wait! What?”
“Don’t worry about the World of Spies right now,” Frankie says. “We have to save Ms. Xavier before she’s eaten by that cockroach. See it sniffing her out?”
A brown, shiny-armored monster scuttles toward the tiny Ms. Xavier, woggling its antennae. A cockroach!
You pull the butterfly fur, angling carefully so the butterfly spirals down.
“Ms. Xavier!” you yell. “Watch out for the cockroach.” You drop the end of the string down to her, and steady the butterfly. Ms. Xavier grabs the string and climbs onto the butterfly’s back. By the time she’s reached you, you’re dizzy from all the circling.
“Quick, we have to follow the Bugman,” Ms, Xavier says. “We need to get that dangerous invention of Frankie’s back before it causes any more trouble.”
Together, the three of you fly closer and closer to the Bugman, until you’re just hovering over his head again. Below, you spy Frankie’s transmogrifier sticking out of his trouser pocket. “Let me down,” Ms. Xavier says. “I’m going
to climb down and get that infernal transmogrifier. Hold on tight.”
You and Frankie hold tight to Frankie’s string while Ms. Xavier slides down. She drops onto the Bugman’s head.
It’s time to make a decision. Do you:
Chase after Ms. Xavier to get the remote back?
Or
Stay on the Butterfly’s back and distract the Bugman?
Chase after Ms. Xavier to get the remote back
“Hold on tight,” you yell to Frankie as you clamber hand over hand down the string after Ms. Xavier. Swinging on that string is like waiting to skydive, but you don’t have a parachute and your hands are burning. And falling is not an option.
“Blue is big, pink is petite,” Frankie yells down after you.
“Got it,” you yell back, swinging yourself over the Bugman’s head. Catching onto a strand of his hair, you jump down and swing over to Ms. Xavier.
Above, Frankie and the butterfly are still circling.
“Hey!” the Bugman cries out, swatting at the butterfly. One of his giant ants snaps its jaws.
While they’re distracted, you and Ms. Xavier scramble down to where Frankie’s remote is sticking out of the Bugman’s pocket.
There are three enormous buttons. One is black, one is pink and the other has lost a sticker and is gray, the same as the rest of the remote. Which button do you press, the black or the gray button? (Obviously, not the pink button. You’re small enough already!)
Do you:
Press the black button and jump in front of the transmogrifier?
Or
Press the gray button and jump in front of the transmogrifier?
Press the black button and jump in front of the transmogrifier
Whoosh. Everything changes all at once, your vision spins as the world seems to shrink. Frankie jumps from the butterfly, and dive rolls onto the floor, getting bigger by the moment. The butterfly wings away, evading Frankie’s outstretched arm. A shrinking ant snaps its jaws at both of them, before it shrinks further and runs away.