by H. I. Larry
The seal seemed to be going from bad to worse. Now there was smoke pouring from its ears.
Hmm, thought Zac. I’m no expert, but that doesn’t look normal.
Zac reached out and touched the seal. Instead of being warm and soft, the seal felt hard and cold as metal. Then Zac realised – the seal wasn’t real. It was robotic!
How could Zac have missed all the clues before? The robotic seal had a suction cap for a nose and a strange kind of drill attached to its head. It felt like metal because it was metal!
By now, the robotic seal had completely stopped working. Zac flipped it onto its back. There was a row of press-studs down the seal’s furry tummy. Zac tore them open. Underneath, he found the seal’s mechanics.
Where the seal’s heart should have been, red and blue wires ran into a homing device. There was even an in-built clock.
Time was slipping away fast!
If Zac could rewire the seal, maybe it would quickly lead him to the suspicious activity he was looking for! A robotic seal seemed like a sure sign that something funny really was going on.
Zac unzipped a pocket on the arm of his snowsuit. He’d stashed a miniature tool kit there, just in case. It was almost impos-sible to use such tiny tools with his thick gloves on.
But he couldn’t take his gloves off! Fox said he’d risk frostbite if he did. A frost-bitten hand would turn black and eventually drop off, dead.
That was about the grossest thing Zac could think of. He kept his gloves on as he tinkered away.
There, thought Zac, attaching one last blue wire to a red one. He flicked the seal on. Instantly, it clapped its flippers and meowed like a cat.
Zac switched off the seal.
That can’t be right!
Zac fiddled with a few more wires.
How about that?
He turned the seal back on. This time it moved its flippers perfectly. Only trouble was, the seal kept doing big, loud burps.
One last time, Zac fiddled with the wires. He tried the seal again. That was it! The seal was working, all right.
In fact, it was taking off at top speed across the ice!
CHAPTER
FIVE
WHOOSH! WHIRR!
The robotic seal sped away. Zac raced after it across the ice. But running was impossible! Zac slipped. He slid about. He fell flat on his bum a hundred times over.
Where is the seal heading? Towards the seal research station, it looked like.
Does that mean the researchers are up to no good, after all? wondered Zac.
By this time, he was panting hard. The GIB training manual said that a spy must be in peak physical condition at all times. And Zac was. But still, he was no match for a machine. He was exhausted.
They neared the research station. Out-side was a row of gleaming new skidoos. There was no-one around. The first skidoo even had keys dangling from the ignition. Obviously the seal researchers weren’t expecting company.
I’ll have it back before they even know I’ve taken it, thought Zac. And just to make sure…
A storage chest of firewood stood beside the skidoos. With all his might, Zac dragged the heavy chest in front of the research station door. The researchers would be locked in, at least for a while.
Zac didn’t know whether they were good or evil yet. But he wasn’t taking any chances.
Zac jumped onto the skidoo.
Twisting back the handlebars, he revved the engine. Then he took off. He sped to-wards a huge pile of snow and jumped it.
He flew through the air. Awesome!
By now, the robotic seal had left the research station way behind. It seemed to be heading even deeper into the icy wilderness. The homing device inside the seal was obviously very powerful. The seal was heading, straight as an arrow, for some-where in particular.
But where?
Zac accelerated. He practically flew across the ice towards the seal. He was going to find out!
Then Zac saw a shape looming up out of the gloom. Ahead there were some huge, round storage tanks. Beside those were some long sheds.
It must be some kind of top-secret storage facility, thought Zac.
Zac felt sure he was getting closer to cracking the mission. Good thing too. It was already 5.53am.
The GIB team would be there to collect him in eight hours.
Zac parked close to one of the storage tanks, where the skidoo would be in shadow. He cut the skidoo’s engine. The sun would be up soon, and Zac couldn’t be sure who was watching.
With ice crunching loudly under his snow boots, Zac followed the robotic seal on foot. Silently, the seal slithered over to one of the storage tanks.
Zac watched carefully. The storage tank was fitted with a valve, right down at ground level. Using the suction cap on its nose, the robotic seal anchored itself to the tank. Then, a hose popped up from underneath a hatch in the seal’s back. The hose connected to the valve perfectly.
Instantly, the air was filled with a very strong smell. It was a smell Zac recognised. But what is it? Zac sniffed again.
It’s petrol!
Zac raced over to the storage tank. A metal ladder was fixed to the side. Zac climbed up. On the roof of the storage tank, Zac found a glass viewing-window. He flicked on his torch and shined it through the glass.
The tank was brim-full of petrol!
Pieces of the puzzle began to come together in Zac’s mind. The petrol shortage his dad had mentioned. Those petrol tankers mysteriously sinking. Suspicious activity at the Great Icy Pole. And, even more dodgy, robotic seals with drills and suction caps!
Zac’s sharp spying brain turned the pieces around and around until he had a theory that made sense.
Robotic seals were drilling into petrol tankers out at sea and stealing petrol. That explained the global petrol shortage.
If you have tankers with tiny seal holes drilled in the side, this would explain why the tankers kept sinking.
The suspicious activity at the Great Icy Pole must somehow be linked to the weird petrol storage facility.
But even as Zac thought this through, more questions occurred to him. Who is stealing the petrol? And, more to the point, why?
Zac wished he could use his SpyPad. Then he could discuss his suspicions with GIB. Mission Control would have some ideas. But being out of satellite range meant he would just have to figure it out on his own!
Just then, Zac wished even harder that he could call Mission Control for help. For, hooning towards him at top speed, were a bunch of thugs on skidoos!
CHAPTER
SIX
His heart pounding, Zac raced to find somewhere to hide. The thugs on skidoos were shouting and waving angrily. They didn’t look too happy to discover they weren’t alone in the Great Icy Pole.
Were they from the seal research station? They had to be!
The skidoos roared towards Zac.
Closer. Closer!
Luckily, Zac spotted the perfect hiding place. A big wooden crate stamped with the words, ‘spare seal flippers’. Just in the nick of time, Zac ducked down behind it, out of sight.
‘Whoever locked us in has got to be around here somewhere,’ an angry voice growled.
‘Yeah, I reckon it’s probably GIB,’ replied a woman. ‘I hate those GIB goody-goodies.’
Goody-goodies? Maybe Leon, but not me! thought Zac.
‘Hey!’ said the woman. ‘Footsteps!’
Oh no!
‘I’ll just follow them until I find where… ah ha!’ said the woman.
With an iron grip, a gloved hand grabbed Zac’s shoulders.
‘Look who we have here. A GIB spy. Zac Power, if I’m not mistaken,’ said the woman.
How does she know my name? Zac wondered. This gang must really know their stuff!
Zac’s eyes slid across to the woman’s expensive-looking wrist watch.
He just didn’t have time to get captured right now!
Suddenly, Zac twisted free of the wo-man’s grip. As fast as he could, he ran
towards the skidoo he’d hidden in the shadows. He could hear heavy footsteps behind him.
‘Leaving so soon?’ asked the man, sounding angry. In a second, he’d caught up to Zac.
‘You should lie down,’ the man said.
Lie down? Why? Zac wondered.
Then…
CRRRRRRR-UNCH!
The man punched Zac in the nose!
‘You shouldn’t run around when you’ve got a broken nose, Zac,’ he went on, smugly.
Pain. Zac’s whole face pulsed with it. Grey spots floated before his eyes.
Zac bent double. His nose was seriously hurting. Blood trickled from his nose and splashed on the snow.
Snow…
That was it!
Still bent over and groaning with pain for effect, Zac was sure the thugs didn’t know what he was doing.
Standing up, he chucked the snowballs he’d made right in their faces.
All right! Three direct hits.
Without looking back, Zac ran for the skidoo. But blood was still streaming from his nose. If he didn’t stop it, the splashes of red on the snow were going to show the gang exactly which way he’d gone.
Zac fished around in his backpack for a tissue. His mum had given him some.
Zac held the tissue up to his aching nose.
Woah…what a weird feeling, thought Zac.
The sky went blurry. The snow seemed to swim. He was so sleepy all of a sudden…
Too late, Zac realised what he had done.
He’d used one of his mum’s Total Knock-out Tissues, the ones that put you to sleep as soon as you hold them near your nose.
They were supposed to be for enemies!
I’m really in trouble…I’ve got to… thought Zac, his eyelids drooping.
Before he could finish that thought, Zac was fast asleep!
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Zac opened his eyes sleepily. He yawned loudly and scratched his head all over.
Just another day with nothing much to do, Zac thought. Might have a bowl of Chocmallow Puffs for breaky, play a bit of guitar…
Zac looked around. He didn’t seem to be in his bed.
That’s strange…And…oh no! Where are my PJs?
Instead of being safe at home in his bedroom, Zac was in some kind of laboratory. Somehow, he seemed to be hovering in mid-air. And he was wearing nothing but a pair of metal underpants!
Then Zac remembered what had happened. He’d accidentally knocked himself out with his mum’s Total Knock-out Tissues. The evil researchers must have brought him back to the seal research station and locked him up.
He checked his watch.
It was already 12.09pm
He’d been out cold so long, there was only two hours left to crack the mission in time to make his lift home.
But, just then, Zac had other problems to solve. Such as, how on earth was he hovering in mid-air? And what was going on with these metal underpants?
Zac looked up. On the ceiling, directly above him, Zac saw a giant magnet. He looked down. Sure enough, underneath him was another giant magnet. Zac wriggled one way then the other. But he couldn’t move!
It was strange. There wasn’t anything visible holding him in place. And yet Zac couldn’t move an inch!
A vague memory floated through Zac’s mind. He was sitting at the dinner table at home. Leon was blabbing on and on about magnets. If two magnets were placed on top of each other, Leon had said, a powerful magnetic field would be created in between.
A magnetic field! These stupid metal under-pants are keeping me prisoner in a magnetic field, thought Zac.
Then Zac remembered something else. Hadn’t Leon also mentioned something about top scientists using giant electro-magnets to power their super computers?
That sounded right… Zac knew that an electromagnet was a kind of temporary magnet. It was only magnetic when an electrical current was running through it.
I’m in a research station where there are plenty of computers, so it makes sense that this is an electromagnet I’m trapped in, reasoned Zac to himself. So if I can turn off the power supply, the magnets will de-magnetise and I’ll be free!
But turning off the power supply to a sophisticated electromagnet wasn’t going to be easy, not when Zac was trapped in mid-air wearing nothing but a pair of metal undies!
Desperately, Zac looked around. If only he could spot exactly where the electro-magnet was plugged in.
Over in the corner of the room, Zac spotted a power board with seven or eight things plugged into it. The electromagnet was plugged in there too – it had to be!
An idea popped into Zac’s head. It was a little gross. But what was that phrase Zac’s granny sometimes used?
Or something like that.
Zac concentrated hard. He thought of pizza – his favourite Mexicana, with spicy beef, sour cream and corn chips on top.
Immediately, spit jetted into his mouth and pooled in his cheeks.
His plan was working!
Next, Zac thought of chocolate ice-cream sundaes with honeycomb pieces and hot chocolate sauce. Even more spit rushed into his mouth.
I’m ready, thought Zac.
He gathered all his spit into one, huge mouthful. Then, with all the power he had in his cheeks, he hoicked the world’s biggest ever spit glob in the direction of the power board.
SSSSSSPLAT!
With a loud, wet noise, the spit glob landed on the power board.
FIZZ! SPLUTTER!
There was a shower of blue sparks. The computers stopped humming. The room went dark. Zac had short-circuited the power.
And suddenly, Zac was falling. He hit the ground with a loud clang of metal underpants. But it didn’t matter.
He was free!
CHAPTER
EIGHT
With the power off, it was pitch black in the research station.
Lucky for me! thought Zac. He still had no clothes on except for the metal underpants. He would have died if anyone had seen him like that!
Moving fast, Zac headed for the door. To crack this mission, he still had to find out why the evil researchers were stealing the petrol. And he had to find out quickly!
Just over an hour until his flight home.
Zac peered through the glass panel set into the door. Outside, he saw a long corridor. Directly across the hall was a big laboratory packed with fancy equipment.
Could it be the command centre of the entire evil operation?
Scientists and researchers streamed out of the lab. Zac recognised some of them as the thugs on skidoos he’d encountered at the storage facility. But there were plenty of others too. This was no small operation!
‘Power must be restored! We’re so close now! We can’t afford to lose a minute!’ one of the researchers was yelling. People scattered all over the building, trying to find out where the short circuit had happened. Pretty soon, the main lab was totally empty.
Clanking awkwardly, Zac made his way into the corridor and into the main lab. And there, on the very first bench, was a pile of clothes. They were his! Checking first that he was alone, Zac whipped off the metal undies and put his own clothes back on. Relief!
Coolness restored, Zac felt ready to search the lab from top to bottom. Then, overhead, there was a flickering. The lights came back on. That must mean the computers were working again. The researchers would be back any minute!
Zac didn’t have much time.
He rushed over a computer in the very middle of the room. It was labelled, ‘server’.
It looked like the main computer – hopefully the one that would store all the information Zac needed to find out what these people were up to.
Zac tapped a few keys. But all that happened was the computer’s screen saver changed from flowers to a photo of a kitten. This was no good! How was he supposed to get into the actual files?
This was where Zac needed Leon’s help. But instead he’d have to call on his inner geek and work it out for himself!
Then Zac remembered something. Hadn’t that researcher yelled out that they were close now?
Maybe the last document opened on the computer would hold the key.
Grabbing the mouse, Zac went to the File menu and selected Recent Documents. The most recent document on the list was called Operation WorldEye.doc.
WorldEye! thought Zac, surprised. GIB’s incredibly high-tech satellite system? What would that have to do with the stolen petrol?
Zac opened the document.
MEMO
TO ALL SKY INDUSTRIES STAFF
OPERATION WORLDEYE - DAILY UPDATE
Petrol storage tanks are
at 98.97% storage capacity.
This is almost enough fuel
to fire our ballistic missile.
We anticipate total destruction of the
WorldEye satellite system within hours.
Great work, team!
P.S. DON’T FORGET, we’re collecting money
to buy milk and tea bags for the staff room.
Have you contributed yet?
He scanned what was written there.
It all seemed horribly clear, except for two things. Who were Sky Industries and why would they want to blow up World-Eye?
The walls of the lab were lined with photographs of important Sky Industries staff shaking hands with dignitaries.
Zac recognised the Prime Minister of Japan, some American senators and… wasn’t that… yes it was! The Commander-in-Chief of GIB!
The Commander-in-Chief was standing with a group of men and women dressed in Sky Industries lab coats. Behind them was a large piece of equipment. Zac could just make out some words painted on the side – WorldEye.
WorldEye! So, Sky Industries manufactured WorldEye? Why on earth would they want to blow it up if they made it?
Unless… .
Zac thought about the all-staff email.
Sky Industries were collecting money from staff to buy cheap things like milk and tea bags!