You lower your arms.
You’re back in the fun fair’s Maze of Doom.
As you make your way out of the maze, you wonder if any of it was real. Did Xandra even exist?
You guess you’ll never know.
You walk through the open panel. There is complete darkness before you step into a brightly lit room.
‘It seems that you have discovered the secret of the Maze.’
The voice echoes around the empty room.
‘No-one has ever done that before. But the moment has been prepared for. We have been waiting for you.’
You look around for the source of the voice, but find none.
‘We are the Management,’ continues the emotionless voice. ‘We are the Maze. We would like you to join us.’
You open your mouth to speak but don’t know what to say.
‘We have been waiting for the one with enough imagination and creative drive to discover us. Now we would like to offer you the role of Creative Director. The position is a lifetime appointment. You will assume complete control of the Maze. You will create new Maze environments. You will monitor and manage those environments. You will decide who will enter the Maze. You will decide who will live or die.
Payment will include all necessary sustenance, physical enhancement and extended life expectancy. Do you accept these terms?’
You ask about returning home and seeing your family.
‘You will not be able to exit the Maze. You can, however, bring anyone you wish into the Maze.’
You’re not sure you like the idea of staying in the Maze forever. But you’re also scared of what will happen if you refuse.
If you agree to become the Creative Director, go here.
If you turn down the position and ask to go back home, go here.
You turn and run down one metal corridor after another.
Glancing over your shoulder, you see that the robot is not far behind. You put on an extra burst of speed, round a corner and dash down the corridor to …
A dead end!
You stop and look back again.
The robot is still heading towards you. It raises a mechanical arm, and you see that it ends in a metal clamp.
‘You really should come with me,’ says the cheery face on the screen, arm extended, clamp flexing open and closed. ‘Management is getting impatient.’
Without thinking, you step forward and grab the mechanical arm just above the clamp. With all your might, you swing the robot around and smash it into the dead end.
Big mistake!
The robot crashes into the wall. The metal panels buckle and fall away to reveal …
A star-speckled void!
There is a rush of air as the robot is pulled out into space.
Space! You’re in space!
With a whoosh, you are swept out of the corridor and into the void.
You gasp as the air is sucked from your lungs. You feel your blood churning in your veins, and your heart pounding as if it will burst at any second. A red haze washes over your vision.
And everything goes black.
Before the dragon has the chance to snap his jaws, you swing your sword in an arc and bring it down onto his claw, severing it.
The dragon topples backwards, falling from the drawbridge into the piranha-infested water below. His claw, oozing green dragon blood, thuds onto the bridge.
Xandra is free!
‘It’s not over yet,’ shouts the dragon, as he is devoured by ravenous piranhas.
You and Xandra hack at the door with your swords. You are so busy trying to break into the castle that you don’t notice the dragon’s acidic blood dissolving the wooden boards of the drawbridge.
It comes as a complete surprise when the bridge collapses beneath you, plunging you both into the water. You don’t even have time to wonder what to do next, as it only takes the piranhas a few seconds to completely strip the flesh from your bones.
You and Xandra take the staircase leading down.
It descends into a dank and gloomy cellar lit by burning torches in wall sconces. Water drips down the walls, and the place smells of damp and rotting things.
At the end of the cellar is another staircase, this one leading up. Between you and the staircase is a pit filled with bubbling green slime. Only a narrow edge surrounds the sides of the pit. It looks precarious.
To move around the pit to the staircase, go here.
Or perhaps it would be safer to return and try the other staircase in the chamber above. Go here.
You and Xandra edge around the slime pit. It’s slippery and you almost fall in, but Xandra takes hold of your hand and saves you.
You make it past the pit and climb the stairs. It’s a long, steep ascent but you finally reach the top.
You must be in the turret. There is a trapdoor above you. You open it and go in.
Go here.
You refuse the position and demand to be returned home.
‘That will not be possible,’ says the disembodied voice. ‘We require your creativity. Since you refuse the role of Creative Director, you will join the Creative Ensemble. Management will retain control of the Maze.’
Wall panels slide back, revealing a long room of computer equipment and monitor screens. In amongst all the technology are metal tables and on those tables are unconscious people, hooked up to monitors and computers.
Two robots appear, stern expressions on their faces. Their clamp-hands take hold of you and lead you to an empty table.
‘Management thanks you for your cooperation,’ says one of the robots, as you are lifted onto the table and held down.
‘Your mind will join the others to provide the creative energy needed to maintain the Maze,’ says the disembodied voice.
An injection is plunged into your arm by one of the robots.
Your vision begins to blur.
With your last conscious breath, you demand to know why.
‘Entertainment!’ says the voice. ‘The Maze is the most popular visually transmitted show in the galaxy. And you are now part of it.’
Darkness closes in and you begin to dream – of mazes and traps and monsters …
Forever!
You reluctantly accept.
A technology-encrusted chair rises up out of the floor – a sort of techno-throne.
You sit down tentatively and place your arms on the rests. There are grooves where your fingers go, lined with fine wires. A crown of wires and circuitry is lowered onto your head.
A rush of images and information streams into your mind.
You know everything!
The Maze is a computer-controlled entertainment. People from Earth are lured into it for the amusement of alien races across the galaxy.
Everything is recorded and transmitted to these other planets. Dozens of unconscious people are hooked up into the computer to provide the creativity needed for the Maze to operate through their dreams; all automatically controlled by the computer.
But now you are in control.
You have the power to do anything … just by thinking it.
So you shut it down!
Seconds later, you are standing amongst a group of very confused people in the Maze at the fun fair. You lead them out into the bright sunlight.
‘Congratulations!’ says Soldeed, suddenly appearing by your side. ‘You are the ultimate winner.’
You push past him and go straight to the security booth. You tell your story to the guards.
They smile, obviously not believing a word you’ve said.
‘Look,’ says one of them, ‘there’s no Maze of Doom attraction at this fair. Never has been.’
You glance back in the direction of the maze. Nothing’s there.
There’s not much you can do, so you go to meet your parents.
That night, you dream of mazes within mazes and traps and monsters …
You look intently at the mirrored wall. It must be an illusion of some sort. Probably controlled by that c
omputer screen.
You run your fingers along the edge of the panel where the screen had been. It’s set firmly in place and won’t budge.
You’ve got to get behind it somehow. Your only option is to break it, but how?
You take a step back and kick it. No luck.
You kick it again, harder. A tiny crack appears where your shoe strikes the surface.
Encouraged, you kick at it repeatedly, until the surface is crisscrossed with cracks. You pull your hand into your sleeve and pick at a piece of mirror. It falls out and splinters as it hits the ground.
In the gap, you can see the edge of the screen. You reach in and touch it.
The walls shimmer and blur.
You’re standing in a maze of metal corridors again.
Go here.
A panel slides open in the wall.
You watch as a robot glides out. It’s a metal box with mechanical arms hovering a few centimetres above the ground. Atop the box is a screen. On the screen is the image of a young woman’s face.
‘Hello,’ she says in a cheery voice. ‘Management would like a word with you. Please enter.’
The robot moves to one side, indicating the open panel in the wall. There is darkness beyond.
Are you brave enough to enter and face the unknown? Go here.
Or maybe now’s the time to run away? Go here.
Quickly, before you have time to think too much about it, you raise your sword high above your head and bring it down onto zombie Xandra’s neck. With the sickening crunch of metal cutting through bone, you’ve chopped off her head.
Horrified by what you’ve had to do, you drop your sword and stagger back.
Within seconds, dozens of fluffy white bunnies have hopped up to Xandra’s body. You turn to run, as their eyes go red.
You’ve barely taken a step when the first of the zombified creatures lands on your shoulder and sinks its teeth into your neck. Soon they are swarming all over you, sharp teeth ravenously digging into your flesh until your thoughts slip away and darkness descends.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
George Ivanoff is an author and stay-at-home dad residing in Melbourne. He has written over 70 books for kids and teens, including the Gamers trilogy. He has books on both the Victorian and NSW Premier’s Reading Challenge lists, and he has won a couple of awards that no one has heard of. As a kid he loved reading interactive books, where he got to make decisions about the direction of the story. Now he is ridiculously happy, having the opportunity to write that type of book. He has had more fun plotting and writing the You Choose books than pretty much anything else … and he hopes you have just as much fun reading them. George drinks too much coffee, eats too much chocolate and watches too much Doctor Who. If you’d like to find out more about George and his writing, check out his website: georgeivanoff.com.au
BOOKS IN THE YOU CHOOSE SERIES
You Choose 1: The Treasure of Dead Man’s Cove
You Choose 2: Mayhem at Magic School
You Choose 3: Maze of Doom
You Choose 4: The Haunting of Spook House
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including printing, photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Random House Australia. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
You Choose 3: Maze of Doom
9780857985477
Copyright © George Ivanoff 2014
Illustration copyright © James Hart 2014
The moral right of the author and illustrator has been asserted.
A Random House Australia book
Published by Random House Australia Pty Ltd
Level 3, 100 Pacific Highway, North Sydney NSW 2060
www.randomhouse.com.au
Addresses for companies within the Random House Group can be found at http://www.randomhouse.com.au/about/contacts.aspx
First published by Random House Australia in 2014
National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication Entry
Author: Ivanoff, George, 1968–
Title: Maze of doom [electronic resource]
ISBN: 978 0 85798 547 7 (ebook)
Series: You choose; 3
Target Audience: For primary school age
Subjects: Plot-your-own stories
Dewey Number: A823.3
Cover and internal illustrations by James Hart
Cover design by Christabella Designs
Internal design by Midland Typesetters
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