by H. Badger
‘You can’t!’ said Kip, horrified.
‘I can,’ said Pappy. ‘It’s a reversal of the Digitisation process. I simply press the Download button.’
For the first time, Kip noticed a silver remote control in Pappy’s pincer. The control had a big red button on it.
Desperately, Kip tried to rip his hands out of the shackles. But it was no use. He couldn’t move.
With a soft click, Pappy pressed the red button. There was a hum from Pappy’s chair.
Pappy wriggled in his chair with excitement.
‘A real body again,’ he babbled. ‘Pity it is a child’s, but I’ll get used to tha–’
Suddenly, Pappy fell silent.
The globe on top of Pappy’s metal cap was flashing on and off. The way it flashed reminded Kip of something being saved onto a memory stick.
The machine’s sucking Pappy’s mind out of his head and storing it in the globe, Kip thought.
Strangely, Kip’s own mind felt totally normal. The machine must download Pappy’s mind before it uploads on mine!
If Kip was right, it meant Pappy would be just a body without a mind for a least a few seconds. Pappy must have been too excited to think things through properly.
If I can get out of these shackles, I’ve got a chance to save myself and Finbar, Kip told himself.
He looked again at the shackles. They were bright pink, buzzing bands of electricity across his wrist.
These are electric, thought Kip. Maybe I can short-circuit them!
A plan popped into his head. He’d recently installed a Handshake Buzzer program on his SpaceCuff. When it was switched on, the buzzer gave a mild electric shock to anyone he shook hands with.
Space Scouts were forbidden to have prank software. But sometimes it pays to bend the rules, Kip laughed to himself.
With an awkward twist of his wrist, he switched on his SpaceCuff and engaged Handshake Buzzer mode.
The electric current was mild, but it was enough to cause a power surge in the shackles.
With a shower of sparks, the shackles switched off. Kip was free! Leaping up from the chair, he ripped off his metal cap.
Pappy didn’t move. He couldn’t. His mind was stored in the globe!
Kip raced for the stairs. He was about to escape when he remembered something Pappy said.
James will take over Finbar’s body…
Pappy was planning to download James’s mind into Finbar! And that meant Finbar had to be nearby.
CHAPTER 9
Got to search the lab, Kip said to himself.
But something worried him. James could be on his way here to take Finbar’s body. It would be dangerous to leave Pappy’s mind stored in the metal cap.
Safer to download Pappy into something I can then hide, Kip decided.
Kip scanned Pappy’s lab for ideas. Behind Pappy’s chair was a desk with a model robot on it. It looked like Pappy and the other robots on Arboria, except mini. Its screen displayed an emoticon instead of a proper face.
A prototype from when Pappy invented Digitisation? Perfect!
Kip grabbed the small, flimsy robot. He put it on his chair. Then he balanced the metal cap on the robot’s head. It was much too big. Kip crossed his fingers that the technology would work anyway.
He raced over to Pappy. His screen head was blank, like a sleeping computer. Kip prised the remote control out of Pappy’s hand. Kip knew Pappy couldn’t suddenly come to life. All the same, he held his breath.
If I press the button again, Pappy’s mind should end up in the toy robot, Kip figured.
He screwed his eyes shut and pressed the button. He heard the same low hum as before. He opened his eyes.
The mini-robot was waving its tiny hands in the air. The emoticon on its screen was not a smiley face.
‘I will not stand for this!’ the little robot chirped.
Grinning, Kip scooped the mini-robot up. The robot kicked its legs and waved its arms even more.
‘You’re strong for something so small,’ Kip said. ‘I better put you away before you hurt someone.’
Pappy squeaked. He sounded like a furious rubber duck!
There was a door at one end of the lab. Kip flung it open, thinking it was a storage cupboard.
But instead, the door led to a small room full of cages. And in the nearest one, Kip spotted Finbar.
‘I thought you were dead!’ Kip said, relief flooding through him.
‘You’ll both be dead if I’ve got anything to do with it!’ squealed Pappy.
‘What did you do to him?’ said Finbar, stifling a wolfish chuckle.
‘I’ll explain later,’ said Kip, unlatching Finbar’s cage.
In a second, Finbar was free. His tail wagged back and forth like crazy.
Kip shoved Pappy into the cage and slammed the door shut.
‘Don’t you dare leave me here!’ came Pappy’s shrill voice.
Kip and Finbar sped up the stairs and out of the basement.
‘Gotta run!’ Kip yelled over his shoulder. Speeding outside, he flicked on his SpaceCuff and called MoNa. Would the robot guards let MoNa leave the docking station? And what if MoNa hadn’t cleared the tape from her Scrambler Beam Generator?
‘Can you get airborne, MoNa? We need two Scrambler Beams…urgently!’
When MoNa responded, she sounded seriously annoyed. ‘I’ve only been ready for hours,’ she said.
Twenty seconds later, two beams of hot white light shot down from the sky. Kip and Finbar each stepped into a Scrambler.
No robot guard would dare mess with MoNa when she’s angry, Kip grinned, stepping into the beam.
Finbar whimpered softly. He hated the Scrambler Beam. Kip didn’t like it much either – it always felt like his heart, lungs and stomach were being shuffled around like a pack of cards.
Still, I’d do anything to get out of this place, Kip thought, closing his eyes.
When he opened them again, Kip found himself sprawled on the floor of MoNa’s landing bay. Finbar lay quivering beside him. Kip stood up, ripped off his helmet and brushed down his spacesuit.
‘So, the evil robots didn’t get you after all?’ said MoNa gruffly.
Kip laughed. He was back safe with his mind still inside his body. Nothing MoNa said could upset him.
‘Don’t forget you’ve got a report to file,’ added MoNa.
Almost nothing, Kip groaned silently.
CHAPTER 10
From the landing bay, it was a quick walk back to the bridge where Kip would file his report. On the way there, Kip and Finbar passed the Sensory Cinema again.
Outside the Sensory Cinema was a poster made of a paper-thin plasma screen. Every day, it advertised a different, brand-new movie. Today’s was called Volcano Quest.
Kip nodded his head at the poster. He wanted to watch it, but he didn’t want MoNa to know.
‘What about your report?’ Finbar mouthed.
Kip shrugged. MoNa could find them if she really wanted to.
Kip and Finbar slipped silently into the Sensory Cinema. They felt their way through the darkness until they each found a Sensomatic Seat.
The cinema sensed Kip and Finbar were sitting down. The movie started playing automatically.
Volcano Quest starred a guy called Bear Robinson, Kip’s favourite adventure hero.
When the movie began, Bear was rafting down molten lava.
The further Bear got into the volcano, the more Kip and Finbar’s seats smoked. The smell of lava and smoke wafted from the screen. Special sensor pads under the carpet made the floor of the cinema feel like it was liquid.
‘Exactly like being there,’ Kip whispered to Finbar.
‘I’m glad we’re not, after what we’ve been through,’ said Finbar.
Bear Robinson made it to the middle of the volcano. He grabbed a packet of marshmallows and toasted them over the molten lava.
At that exact moment, Kip and Finbar’s arm rests popped open. Inside, were hot toasted marshmallows for t
hem to eat. It was the best part of the whole movie.
When the credits started, Kip stood up. ‘That was awesome,’ he said to Finbar.‘And next time we go on a Space Scout mission, there’ll be a totally different movie.’
‘Not like Arboria,’ said Finbar.
For a moment, Kip imagined what it would be like if his whole world stayed exactly as it was right at that second.
He’d never turn 13. He’d be in the ParticleBall junior league forever. He’d still travel to other galaxies on Space Scout missions. But he’d never get stronger, taller, smarter or braver.
‘I like my life now,’ said Kip, as they left the Sensory Cinema. ‘But I don’t want things to be exactly the same tomorrow.’
‘If you don’t file your report soon, your life won’t be the same tomorrow!’ said MoNa snappily. ‘I’ll tell WorldCorp and you’ll lose your job as Space Scout.’
‘Don’t get your circuits in a twist, MoNa,’ grinned Kip. ‘I’ll do it right now.’
He and Finbar hurried through MoNa’s glowing blue corridors until they reached the bridge.
Kip settled into the padded captain’s chair in the middle of the room. He touched the air above the chair. Instantly, the blue cylinder with his holographic consol formed around him.
He touched a button labelled Captain’s Log, projected into the air.
A floating holographic keyboard appeared and Kip started typing.
CLASSIFIED
CAPTAIN’S LOG
Arboria
Climate: Polluted. Regular, burning hot acid rain showers. For complete protection, I recommend a lead umbrella.
Population: Human-like beings trans-formed into robots through Digitisation. Robots can’t grow up, change or have new ideas. They are more bored than I was when Mum took me to a space ballet concert.
National pastimes: Watching old movies and game shows, telling bad jokes.
Summary: Arboria has plenty of water, but it’s toxic. Earth’s people should NOT move to Arboria and Digitise. Unless they enjoy watching The Billion Dollar Question 51,672 times!
KIP KIRBY, SPACE SCOUT #50
Once Kip had filed his report, he clicked on the Planetary Points Leader Board. Kip didn’t say anything to Finbar, but he was a bit nervous waiting for it to load.
What if one of the other Space Scouts discovered the perfect planet while I was defending myself against body-snatching robots?
The Leader Board results popped up. For Kip’s mission to Arboria, he’d earned one point. In the last 24 hours, Space Scout #34 had earned two points for finding soil a bit like Earth’s. But whether any food would grow in it was unknown.
It seemed no-one had found the perfect planet yet. Kip was ranked somewhere in the middle of the board.
Not bad, he thought. But I’d prefer to be on top.
Kip had helped the Central City Cyborgs get to the top of the ParticleBall ladder.
The Leader Board would take more time. But Kip knew he’d get there – someday soon.
THE END
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