by Felice Arena
Then he started to fall, but this time it wasn’t like jumping from the tree in his backyard. The thrill was intense – it was ten times faster and he wasn’t scared. The buildings seemed to rush past him until he landed firmly but softly on his feet – just as smooth and slick as a panther.
He tried his jumping skills a few more times, each time gaining more control and each time going higher and higher. On his last jump, Andy soared all the way up to the fifth floor, about thirty metres high!
As his adrenaline rush kicked into overdrive, Andy heard a scream from one of the fourth-floor offices. Someone had spotted him. Dropping past a window, he saw a cleaning lady toppling backwards over her mop and bucket and reaching for her phone.
Oh, man! thought Andy, landing in a crouch. She’s probably calling the police! I gotta split!
Andy bolted down the laneway and vanished out of sight. But he didn’t want to go home. He decided to hide out for a while. He took a running leap into a tree and in one hop he was in the branches.
While he looked out over the rooftops of his neighbourhood, he heard a voice – his father’s voice.
‘Andy? Andy! It’s me, Dad!’
‘What the?’ Andy said. ‘How can you be here? Where are you?’
‘Tap the blue light on your left hand, twice.’
‘My hand?’
‘Yes, and once you’ve done that a thin red line will appear. Slide your finger across it.’
Andy did as he was told and there, glowing beneath the skin of his palm, was a miniature screen – and looking out at him was his dad!
‘Get out! I can get video calls in the palm of my hand? Whoa!’ Andy gasped, totally impressed.
‘Tug at your left pinkie finger three times,’ his dad added.
Andy did and a hologram of his father appeared, hovering above the screen. He was about the size of an action figure.
‘Now that’s just awesome!’ Andy said. But then he started to wonder how his father knew to contact him. ‘Are you spying on me, Dad?’
His dad shrugged, looking a bit guilty. ‘It’s not really spying,’ he said. ‘It’s just a simple tracking device. I get an alert if you switch yourself on – so you’ve obviously found out how to do that. Andy, I’m sorry I yelled at you. I know this must be incredibly overwhelming and frustrating, and if you come home now I’ll take you through a few of the things you can do. But you must promise your mother and me that you’ll try not to use your powers … Wait a minute. Are they sirens?’
Andy thought about the huge reactions he’d got from the postman and the cleaning lady.
He could hear the sound of police sirens in the distance, coming closer, and he knew that on some level his parents were right – using his newfound powers would definitely draw a lot of unwanted attention. It would make them an easy target for Dr Baffi and the Triple S.
‘You do understand that I’m frightened for us, don’t you, son?’
Andy reluctantly nodded back at his dad.
‘Good. So switch yourself off and we’ll see you soon,’ he said.
Andy dropped to the ground, and slapped the back of his neck. He felt another surge shoot down his spine. His father’s hologram had already zapped off and he could feel his new ‘self’ shutting down.
He missed it already.
When Andy returned to school, he was Mr Popular. Everyone wanted to check out his scars and find out all the gory details of his accident. And while Andy loved the attention, he stuck to his promise to his parents and did not switch himself on or tell anyone about their secret.
He was still faster and stronger than he had been before, but day by day he was getting better at controlling it. He stayed away from playing any sports or games at lunchtime, though, in case he gave himself away. Besides, he wasn’t sure if he could resist winning every game.
He missed the feeling of being switched on, but he’d returned to school just before the mid-year holidays, so he figured he’d have plenty of time to find out what he could do over the next few weeks.
‘Hey, Andy!’
Andy almost dropped his books when he saw Molly walking down the hall. He’d been avoiding her since he’d got back. I might be an awesome breakthrough in biorobotic science, he thought, but I still have no idea how to talk to Molly Robinson.
‘Hey!’ Andy gulped.
‘I haven’t had a chance to welcome you back,’ Molly said, smiling, making Andy’s heart race. ‘You’re like a celebrity around here. I went to the bakery while you were in hospital, but your folks weren’t there.’
After the accident Andy’s parents had shut down their robotics laboratory and sold the shop. Since Dr Baffi and the Triple S were actively looking for them in the area, it was probably best to lay low for a while. But Andy knew he couldn’t tell Molly that.
‘Um, Mum and Dad wanted a career change … too many early mornings,’ Andy fibbed.
‘Oh, okay. Well, my mum’s going to miss their donuts, that’s for sure. So are you going on the zoo excursion tomorrow? Some of my friends aren’t, since it’s the last day of term they’re going to start holidays early. But I’m going – I love the zoo!’
Andy tried his best to look cool. He leaned up against his locker, but misjudged the distance, lost his balance, and almost fell over.
‘Look out! Are you okay?’ said Molly, stopping his fall.
‘Yeah, um, yeah, I’m good,’ Andy stuttered, totally embarrassed. ‘Um, so, you were saying you like the zoo. I like the zoo, too. Love the zoo. Can’t get enough of the zoo.’
Molly laughed. ‘Okay, I’ll see you there, then. It’ll be super-dooper,’ she said with a smile, before turning and heading off to class.
Andy sighed and banged his head against the locker. He almost dented the metal.
‘Man, I’m a loser!’
‘So what’s with the grin?’ asked Andy’s dad, later that day. ‘You haven’t stopped smiling since you got back from school today.’
‘Nothing!’ Andy shrugged.
There was no way he was going to tell his parents anything else about Molly. His mum had embarrassed him enough at the shop. But he couldn’t wait for the following day. He had decided that he would ask Molly to go out with him in the holidays.
‘Don’t worry about it, Dad,’ he added. ‘So … I’ve kept to my part of the promise, when are you gonna keep yours?’
‘What promise?’
‘You know what I’m talking about,’ said Andy. ‘You were going to let me in on the other cool apps I have. Come on, Dad, stop stalling – it’s been weeks now! I won’t stop asking until you teach me.’
‘Okay, okay!’ said his dad. ‘To tell you the truth I’ve been wanting to see if some of the features I’ve installed actually work, but your mother’s nervous about it. Promise me you won’t tell her that we did this … and remember I still don’t want you switching yourself on in public, okay?’
Andy nodded and grinned even more. He was happy to see his dad back to his old self.
‘Right,’ said his dad, straightening his glasses. ‘Flip the switch!’
Andy happily whacked the back of his neck. His palms lit up brightly again and then dimmed to a gentle blue glow.
‘I’m on! Now what?’ he said.
‘Okay. If you open the mini-touch screen on your left palm, tap on a menu icon that looks like a speaker …’
Andy followed his dad’s instructions.
‘Right. The system has a voice-command application, so name a thing or animal or even a song you’d like to hear.’
Andy was confused. Where was he going with this?
‘Um, a Ducati 1199,’ Andy commanded.
‘Now quickly open your mouth, as if you’re yawning,’ said his dad.
The buzz and roar of a super motorcycle engine blasted out of Andy’s mouth. It was incredibly loud, like putting your head in a concert speaker. Andy’s head vibrated. His dad grinned wildly, his hands cupped over his ears.
‘AWESOME!’ cried Andy. He
quickly tapped the logo again and called out the name of his favourite song.
Andy opened his mouth wide and out came the hit song, filling the room with its catchy beat.
‘THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE!’ Andy exclaimed. ‘Who needs an iPod when you’ve got one built in? Seriously, this is epic!’
‘Yeah, it is, if I say so myself,’ said his dad. ‘We implanted your very own sound system, linked to your memories. If you’ve heard the sound before, you can replicate it instantly.’
‘What else? What else can I do?’ asked Andy, now unable to contain his excitement.
‘I think that’s it for now. Mum will be home soon and I don’t want to –’
‘Come on, Dad!’ urged Andy. ‘Just one more and then I’ll switch off.’
It didn’t take much for Andy to twist his dad’s arm. It had been a long time since the two of them had this much fun together, and it was so much better than building model motorbikes. Andy was starting to think that maybe being Andy Roid would turn out to be the best thing that had ever happened to him.
‘Okay,’ said his dad, ‘this next application is more dangerous, so you have to be careful. I think we should go outside for this one.’
Andy followed his dad out to the backyard.
‘Point your left-hand forefinger at that ceramic pot plant over there,’ he instructed. ‘Now, place your right thumb in the centre of your left palm. Press the screen once.’
A tiny skin-colored panel at the tip of Andy’s forefinger slid open to reveal a pinhole barrel.
‘Now press again,’ added his father, sounding a bit nervous.
Andy did as his father told him, and what happened next totally blew him away. A red laser beam shot out of his forefinger and pierced a hole right through the pot plant.
‘NO WAY!’ Andy gasped. ‘I have a built-in laser gun in my finger? Holy crap!’
‘Andy, language, please!’ said his father, his voice becoming suddenly serious. ‘Just never forget that this laser can zap through most materials – metal, rock and, of course, flesh. This is not a toy, son.’
But Andy was only half listening. Knowing he had a laser gun in his finger was making it way too hard for him to concentrate. He looked around the backyard for something else to shoot at.
‘Andy, no!’ yelled his father, but Andy could tell he was trying not to laugh. ‘Not your mother’s favourite garden gnome!’
It was too late. Andy was happily zapping away. He’d never seen his mother garden anyway.
‘Andy? Richard?’ echoed Andy’s mum’s voice from inside the house. ‘Where are you boys?’
‘Quick! Andy … switch off! Your mother’s home!’
Later that night at dinner, as Andy and his father were finishing off their dessert, his mum stomped in to the dining room holding up her favourite gnome.
‘You two have got some explaining to do. Why is there a hole right between the eyes of my beloved Paddy?’
‘Okay, everyone! We’re done with the meerkats,’ Andy’s teacher called out. ‘Next stop is the butterfly house. Make sure to keep together. We don’t want to lose any of you before the holidays. Follow me!’
As Andy’s classmates made their way down the path, Molly grabbed hold of Andy’s hand, and tugged him back to the end of the line.
‘What are we doing?’ he asked.
‘Just wait … Let them go ahead,’ she whispered.
‘But we’ll get in trouble. And we’ll miss seeing the rare but beautiful Scarlet Coral butterfly,’ Andy said, realising only after he’d already said it how totally lame that sounded.
‘It’s only for a couple of minutes. Besides, you survived a truck accident – I think you can handle a bit of trouble,’ Molly said, making Andy legs feel like jelly. ‘Come on, I want to show you something … this way!’
Molly dragged Andy down a path away from his class. This could be the last time I’ll see her before the holidays, he thought. There’s not going to be a better time to ask her out. He was just getting the courage to speak when she stopped suddenly and he ran into her back.
‘Sorry,’ said Andy, wishing his parents had installed some cool app that made it easier to ask a girl on a date. ‘I was just going to ask you something and I wasn’t looking where I was going. Sorry.’ But Molly was looking at the enclosure ahead.
Andy looked up and saw a baby elephant standing next to its mother. ‘Wow,’ he said.
‘That’s what I wanted to show you. Her name’s Zububa,’ Molly said, as they pushed their way to the front of the viewing crowd. ‘She was born just a month ago. Awesome, huh?’
‘Yeah, she’s amazing,’ Andy said. ‘Um, Molly, so this is the thing I wanted to ask you … um. Okay, here goes. Um, I was wondering …’
But before Andy had a chance to say anything more, a spine-chilling scream cut through the air. A few seconds later howling sirens sounded across the zoo.
The crowd around Andy and Molly was starting to panic.
‘What’s going on?’ cried Molly.
‘I don’t know!’ Andy shouted over the noise.
‘GORILLA! GORILLA!’ someone screamed. ‘A GORILLA’S OUT OF ITS CAGE! IT’S HEADING THIS WAY!’
Within seconds everyone was running frantically in every direction. In the confusion, Andy lost sight of Molly.
‘Molly! Molly!’ Andy called out, but he couldn’t see her anywhere. Then he heard her scream.
‘HELP!’
He raced towards the sound of her voice.
Andy pushed his way through an opening in the crowd and caught sight of Molly lying on the ground. Only a few metres to the right of her stood a massive, panting silverback gorilla.
‘Hurry! Hurry! Get the tranquiliser!’ yelled a zookeeper. ‘How could you have left the gate open? Stay back, everyone! The gorilla is terrified and that makes him lethal!’
Andy knew he had to do something super fast. The only girl he’d ever really liked was in danger. But he couldn’t risk having his face recorded on millions of mobile phones. His mum and dad would kill him, even before the Triple S found him. He had to disguise himself.
Looking around he spotted a plastic lion mask on the ground – one of those half masks that cover the top part of your face. A little kid must have dropped it. That will have to do, he thought.
‘WHAT’S THAT BOY DOING?’ Andy heard someone cry out as he ran towards Molly and the gorilla. ‘HE’S GOING TO GET HIMSELF KILLED!’
The gorilla snarled as he saw Andy approaching. Molly was still motionless on the ground.
Andy wasn’t sure what to do, but before he had a chance to figure out his next move, the gorilla charged for him.
‘Oh, boy …’ Andy gulped, quickly slapping the back of his neck. ‘Come and get me, King Kong!’
Andy’s hands glowed blue, just as the gorilla lunged forward to grab at him. Andy swiftly soared upward and over the beast, causing the gorilla to lose its balance and tumble onto the ground. Spread out on his stomach, the gorilla looked around, dazed and confused.
Andy rushed back to Molly. He brushed her wavy red hair from her face and checked that she was breathing – she seemed okay, but she was out cold.
‘DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT MASKED BOY JUST JUMPED OVER THE GORILLA!’ cried a voice from the crowd.
‘LOOK! THE GORILLA’S UP AGAIN!’ Andy heard someone yell.
The gorilla was back on his feet and facing Andy again. He was angry now, banging ferociously on his chest and roaring so loudly that for a moment Andy thought he had peed a little in his pants.
The gorilla sprang into full attack mode, his bloodshot eyes firmly fixed on Andy. It took all of Andy’s courage to stand up and position himself in front of Molly. He didn’t know what to do next. If he jumped over the gorilla this time, the gorilla would run straight for Molly.
‘Okay. Enough monkey business,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘It’s time to rumble!’
The gorilla stormed towards Andy.
‘You asked for it!’ Andy yelled as
he jumped forward. Somehow, he pulled off an amazing windmill kick as he flew through the air. He thrust his foot deep into the chest of the gorilla – thumping the beast completely off his feet.
The silverback soared backwards and crashed to the ground with a heavy thud.
Everyone gasped.
‘HOLY COW!’
‘WHO IS THIS FREAK?’
The gorilla wobbled back to its feet, stunned and now wary of Andy. He snorted and swayed. Then he turned on the crowd. They screamed and backed away.
‘GET AWAY FROM THEM!’ Andy yelled at the beast.
The gorilla snarled at Andy as if to say, if I can’t take you down, I’ll have them instead.
Andy had to come up with another tactic. And fast!
My laser gun finger, he thought, and he raised his hand to take aim. But then he froze, remembering how easily it had sliced through the garden gnome. Andy didn’t want to injure or kill the gorilla. He knew he had to think of something else. Then it came to him – his built-in sound system!
He quickly tapped on his palm screen and activated the application.
‘Silverback gorilla!’ he commanded and opened his mouth wide.
He sounded just like a really angry silverback!
The gorilla jumped back, totally startled.
Andy roared again:
This time the gorilla responded with an equally deafening roar.
Andy began to march towards him, holding him arms up in the air as if he was about to attack, his mouth still wide open:
The gorilla puffed and spun around on his knuckles, completely confused, ignoring Molly and the terrified crowd. I’ve totally freaked him out, thought Andy. I can’t believe my plan is working!
Finally a couple of zookeepers appeared with their tranquiliser guns.
The tranquiliser dart shot through the air and firmly lodged itself in the gorilla’s hindquarters.
The silverback spun around and staggered. For a moment he looked surprised, then he fell to the ground in a sleepy slump.
Andy ran to Molly’s side. She was starting to wake up.