It extended out from the base, stretching further and further over the ice until it neared the freshly bored hole. Then it seemed to speed up, as if it were excited. It wriggled down into the hole, making a churning, grinding noise. The fat tentacle began to squirm and flex as it dug down to the oil.
‘We’ve got to stop that thing, fast,’ yelled Axel. ‘BEAST, shift into LAZBOLT form and follow me!’
BEAST whizzed along behind Axel as he sprinted out of the Command Deck. Running all the way round and around the spiral tube to the ground floor would take too long, so he headed for the open-sided elevator that would take them straight down to the ground.
As he ran, he saw that more of the tentacles were rearing up. It was feeding time.
BEAST headed onto the elevator platform. Axel shoved the lever down to the ‘ground floor’ setting and quickly climbed inside BEAST.
As the elevator began to sink, Axel carefully aimed LAZBOLT’s cannon at the main tentacle.
‘Mealtime’s over,’ he growled, and fired.
LAZBOLT’s beam sliced clean through the tentacle before the oil had even begun to flow. The severed stump thrashed around. The grinding machinery sounded like screams.
The whole base went crazy. Sirens blared and emergency lights flashed. The robots dashed around in a panic, some trying to reach the exits, others trying to reach Axel. They collided with one another in their confusion. A few unlucky ones were knocked off the edge of the walkway and fell howling into the darkness.
Axel forced himself to concentrate. He loosed shot after shot, each one neatly slicing through a rampaging tentacle. The elevator continued its all-too-slow descent towards the ground floor.
A group of robots crowded at the end of a walkway, ready to swarm onto the elevator the moment it reached them. Axel quickly used LAZBOLT to cut away the supports. With a groaning noise of overloaded metal, the walkway bent under the robots’ weight. Bleeping and jostling, the robots tried to fight their way off again, but the walkway bent in half and the crowd went tumbling off the edge.
His heart hammering, Axel severed tentacle after tentacle until only one was left.
The snaking metal thing hesitated and turned to face him.
‘IT SMELLS MY OIL,’ BEAST said. His voice quavered. ‘HELP. AXEL. HELP.’
Axel tried to fire. The control wouldn’t respond.
The tentacle reared up above the platform.
Axel saw LAZBOLT wasn’t locked onto it like it should be. He tried to fire, but the LAZBOLT control just clicked without doing anything. He tried to move BEAST’s arms. They wouldn’t budge. ‘BEAST, snap out of it!’ Axel shouted. ‘Fire!’
Nothing happened.
The tentacle opened its mouth wide, revealing all the grinding circular teeth within.
He’s scared, Axel thought. Oil must be like blood to robots. Fear is locking him up completely, like a rabbit in the headlights. He’s too scared to move!
As calmly as he could, Axel said, ‘BEAST, you can kick this thing’s butt. Just remember how awesome you are.’
‘BEAST IS FRIGHTENED!’
‘I know. It’s okay. You can do this. Believe in yourself!’
The tentacle rushed at them.
BEAST fired the LAZBOLT cannon right into the cavernous mouth. The bolt ripped along the tentacle’s length and exploded out of its side. It fell back, belching smoke, whipping from side to side. BEAST fired again and again until only mangled, glowing metal showed through the smoke.
As the ravaged tentacle finally stopped thrashing, the elevator came to a stop beside the pit. The main base doors were dead ahead.
‘You okay?’ Axel asked gently.
‘BEAST IS FINE.’
‘Good.’
‘BEAST KICKED ITS BUTT!’
Axel smiled. ‘Yes, you did. Good going, BEAST. Now it’s time to take care of the Devastator.’
He hit the throttle, and they zoooomed out onto the ice.
Gus Grabbem Junior had been hard at work. He clearly didn’t know the tentacles had all been knocked out, because six or seven freshly bored holes were now smoking in the ice sheet. He caught sight of BEAST and came stomping over to meet them, carried on the Devastator’s long stalking legs.
‘Hey!’ Gus’s amplified voice boomed out. ‘You there. Why aren’t the other tentacles coming out?’
‘He hasn’t recognised us,’ Axel whispered. ‘We just need one good zap, and that Devastator is toast. Aim for the legs.’
LAZBOLT took aim.
But Gus hadn’t spent all those hours playing video games without learning a thing or two. Some instinct inside his brutal mind warned him there was danger ahead. He wrenched the Devastator sideways, sending it staggering across the ice just as LAZBOLT’s beam zipped through the air.
‘You!’ Gus hissed. ‘The kid who stole my robot – and tricked me into thinking I’d blown it up!’
‘Keep talking,’ said Axel, thinking: And I’ll keep aiming.
‘I should have known you were still out there. Fine. I’ll just have to finish you off myself.’
Axel tried to lock on again, but Gus was wise to him. The Devastator was nimble for such a huge vehicle, and the spindly legs moved as quickly as a spider’s. Gus weaved left and right, dodging LAZBOLT’s beams, and in seconds he was squatting directly above them.
‘Move!’ Axel yelled. He tried to drive BEAST out of the way, but LAZBOLT’s trundling platform wasn’t built for speed.
Light shone in through the cockpit canopy as the Devastator’s beam warmed up …
‘BEAST, change form! Go into SNOWDOG!’
The light from the Devastator grew blinding as BEAST shifted his shape. The second that SNOWDOG was ready, Axel hit the throttle as hard as it would go.
SNOWDOG roared out from under the Devastator. The intense beam blazed down right where they’d just been, turning it into a molten pit.
‘Get back here, you chicken!’ yelled Gus. He gave chase.
Axel and BEAST went roaring over the snow. The Devastator was striding after them, and it was catching up fast. ‘We need to shift into SKYHAWK and fly the heck out of here,’ Axel said. ‘But if we shift out of SNOWDOG, we’ll stop moving and we’ll be sitting ducks!’
He put on speed, but the Devastator was still gaining on them. Any moment now it would be towering right above them again, ready to loose another blast. They couldn’t outrun it forever. Right on cue, the Devastator’s middle leg stomped down directly in their path.
Axel looked up and saw a terrifying sight: the Devastator’s blaster, fully charged, shimmering with heat, about to burn him to a crisp. He let out a yell and swung SNOWDOG round in a curve so tight that one set of treads lifted clean off the ground. As the deadly beam lashed down, SNOWDOG’s treads churned the snow and they scooted away from the Devastator again.
‘I can do this all day,’ shouted Gus Grabbem. ‘I ain’t tired yet!’
All Axel could think to do was keep on driving. He skidded in wild S-bends and drove between craggy ice formations, hoping the Devastator wouldn’t be able to follow. But the fearsome machine was well-designed. The Devastator went clambering up rocky hills and skittering across valleys, all without losing any speed at all.
‘We need a plan, BEAST,’ Axel panted, as they dodged yet another scorching blast from above. ‘How can we lose him?’
‘I DO NOT KNOW. HE IS FASTER AND HIS WEAPON IS MORE POWERFUL.’
‘What about the crevasse? We could jump it again.’
‘THE DEVASTATOR CAN SIMPLY STEP OVER IT.’
‘Oh, geez. I didn’t even think of that … whoa!’
Axel swerved to avoid a pit in the ice ahead of them. It dawned on him that the Devastator had made that pit only moments before. They must have played this cat-and-mouse game for so long that they’d doubled back on themselves! They were on the flat ice plain again, only it was more dangerous than ever now that Gus had shot holes in it.
‘He doesn’t have a plan either,’ Axel muttered.
‘He’s just blasting away with that cannon of his! Totally reckless …’
He reminds me of someone, Axel thought. Me. He’s thinking in the moment instead of planning ahead. That’s the same mistake I made before. ‘I wonder,’ he mused. ‘BEAST, I’ve got an idea.’
From his seat high up in the Devastator, Gus saw SNOWDOG suddenly change course. Instead of weaving wildly around trying to dodge him, the robot went zooming out towards the shore.
‘Making a break for it, eh?’ Gus grinned. ‘Idiot. Where are you going to go?’
Axel glanced back. Gus was sprinting after them, just like he was supposed to. Now for the dangerous part.
SNOWDOG charged down the slope towards the level shelf of ice that lay on the water. It stretched out to sea almost half a kilometre. Axel blasted the horn to warn any real penguins or seals to get out of the way.
They ploughed through the snow and out onto the marine ice. Just before they reached the very limit, Axel hit the brakes. SNOWDOG skidded to a stop at the ice’s edge. They were surrounded by the Antarctic sea on three sides. Loose floes bobbed about in the water beyond, rocking gently.
Gus guffawed. ‘Hah! Now you’re trapped!’
The Devastator strode out onto the ice shelf where SNOWDOG sat motionless. It quickly closed the distance. Axel watched BEAST’s rear-view screen as the three towering metal legs came down around him. The ice below them groaned, but didn’t give.
‘Feel the burn,’ snarled Gus.
Almost, thought Axel as the Devastator’s underside began to glow. Almost … NOW!
He slammed SNOWDOG into full reverse.
SNOWDOG shot backwards just as the Devastator’s beam lashed down.
Steam rose. Ice melted to vapour instantly. A widening crater opened up – and then, with a thunderous crash, the ice shelf shattered.
Axel had been counting on that. In his eagerness to blast them to ashes, Gus had forgotten that the marine ice was only a few metres thick. Underneath it was the cold, deep Antarctic sea.
The Devastator was suddenly standing on a group of floating ice floes, and it couldn’t balance. It wobbled like a flamingo on rollerskates, tilted sideways and fell.
Water flew up in a giant wave as the huge saucer-body plunged into the sea.
‘No!’ Gus screamed through the transparent bubble. ‘This stupid thing can’t swim. Get back here, you … arrrr!’
Gradually, the Devastator sank below the surface, taking Gus Grabbem Junior with it. Axel watched the glowing shape disappear. Above the spot where the Devastator had vanished, fragments of ice drifted lazily about.
‘He’ll be okay, won’t he?’ Axel asked BEAST.
BEAST made calculating noises. ‘HE WILL SURVIVE FOR AT LEAST TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.’
‘Good. Plenty of time for someone to rescue him.’
‘WE COULD RESCUE HIM OURSELVES,’ BEAST said.
‘I’ve got a better idea. Remember that trawler we saw earlier? Let’s send them a message …’
Many hours later, Axel sat at the table in his own house, opposite BEAST. A huge plate of food lay in front of him, and the electric heater was turned up to full. Nedra and Rosie sat with him, but nobody was eating yet. They were all watching the little TV in the corner of the room.
On the TV, a news team was reporting the astonishing rescue of Gus Grabbem Junior, heir to the multi-bulti-billion-dollar Grabbem fortune, from a mysterious wreck in the Antarctic. The footage showed happy Chinese fishermen hoisting a soaking wet Gus aboard their boat while he scowled at the camera.
Heroes of the sea, read the caption. Teenager’s rescue ‘a miracle’, claims mother.
‘Grabbem Industries had repeatedly denied rumours that they had a presence in the Antarctic,’ said the newsreader. ‘However, they have now admitted setting up a “research base”, which they also claim has been destroyed in a freak accident. Grabbem’s share prices have dropped sharply at the news, and questions will surely be raised at the next United Nations summit.’
‘I didn’t need rescuing!’ Gus shouted at the camera. ‘I had it all under control. Turn those cameras off!’
Back in the studio, the newsreader straightened her papers. ‘This program approached Gus Grabbem Senior, head of the corporation, for comment. He has no, er, comment to make at this time.’
The newsreader’s smile suddenly disappeared. She lowered her glasses and looked right at the camera. ‘And on a personal note, I would just like to add that there was no call for him to use such disgusting language, especially when addressing a well-respected broadcaster. Money cannot buy everything, and in Mr Grabbem’s case, it clearly cannot buy good manners. Shame on you, sir.’
Axel’s mouth fell open.
The newsreader’s bright smile reappeared. ‘This has been Maisie Penderby, Channel 99 News. Here’s Jim with the weather.’
Bit by bit, we’re chipping away at Grabbem, Axel thought. One day, the whole world will know how bad they really are.
Nedra switched the TV off. ‘Looks like you two did a good job out there,’ she said distantly.
‘I guess.’ Axel fidgeted. ‘Mum … I’m sorry.’
‘Sorry!’ she burst out. ‘I should think you’re sorry, after what you did! Don’t ever run out of this house like that again, do you hear me?’
‘I won’t,’ said Axel, meaning it. ‘I promise.’
To his surprise, she softened. ‘I know. Now listen.’ She moved her chair closer to his. ‘After you went shooting off, Agent Omega came back online and we had a little chat. He wanted to say sorry, too.’
Axel blinked. ‘What for?’
‘Because he felt responsible for what you did. He’s enough of a man to take his share of the blame. And he’s right to.’ She took a breath. ‘You and BEAST, you need to get out. You need to train together. If he hadn’t demanded you both stay shut up in here, maybe you wouldn’t have been so crazy desperate to rush off!’
‘So does that mean we can go out and practise?’
Nedra nodded to Rosie, who said, ‘Your mum and I decided you can use my scrapyard for battle training. Plenty of junk to use for target practice, and Grabbem won’t show their faces there after what happened last time. Omega’s fine with it, too. Sound good to you?’
‘Sounds awesome.’ Axel grinned.
‘AWESOME,’ agreed BEAST.
‘Right,’ Nedra declared. ‘Enough talk. Time for food.’
‘Smells good,’ said Rosie. ‘What is it?’
‘Fish.’
Axel laughed. ‘You just made a leopard seal very happy.’
‘What?’
‘Never mind. Let’s eat!’
ADRIAN C. BOTT is a gamer, writer and professional adventure-creator. He lives in Sussex, England with his family and is allowed to play video games whenever he wants.
ANDY ISAAC lives in Melbourne, Australia. He discovered his love of illustration through comic books when he was eight years old, and has been creating his own characters ever since.
Axel and BEAST: Antarctic Attack
first published in 2016 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia.
eISBN 9781743584323
Text copyright © 2016 Adrian C. Bott
Illustrations copyright © 2016 Andy Isaac
Series design copyright © 2016 Hardie Grant Egmont
Series design & illustration by Andy Isaac
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