by H. I. Larry
‘This is a spare arm,’ said Grift with a wink. ‘Our android friend’s going back to GIB in your spaceship. He’ll walk into HQ, tell them he’s the real you and that this arm is all that’s left of the ZacBot.’
‘I already told you,’ said Zac. ‘They want me almost as badly as they want him. Even if they believe his story, they’re still going to put him under arrest.’
Grift shrugged. ‘That doesn’t matter. Either way, I bet you they can’t wait to take this arm inside for analysis. I reckon they’ll want to know what makes this super-robot tick.’
‘So they take the arm into HQ,’ said Zac. ‘So what?’
‘Well,’ Grift grinned, ‘what your buddies at GIB won’t know is that this isn’t an ordinary arm.’
He pulled a remote control out of his shirt pocket and pressed a button. A hidden panel flipped open on the side of the arm, revealing a timer.
36:00:00.00
‘You want to know a secret, Rock Star?’ Grift asked.
Zac shrugged, but he was starting to worry.
‘You know that Tech Blaster your GIB friends are all looking for?’ Grift said. ‘The one that’s going to turn all their fancy toys into rubbish?’
He lowered his voice to a mock whisper and pointed to the arm. ‘This is it!’
Grift pointed his remote at the android arm and pushed a button.The timer on the arm started counting down.
‘It’s genius, if I do say so myself,’ Grift grinned. ‘See, we’re not going to take the Tech Blaster into your HQ at all. GIB are going to take the arm inside for us!’ Then he burst out laughing.
What a total head case, Zac thought, disgusted.
He turned to Agent Blackwood. ‘If this is your plan,’ Zac said, ‘then why are you telling me about it?’
Blackwood gave him a cold smile. ‘Because this is the end of GIB, Rock Star. In 36 hours, your agency is finished. I just wanted to tell you how doomed you really are.’
CHAPTER
NINE
Grift closed the hidden panel on the android arm. ‘The ZacBot should be ready to head off soon,’ he said. ‘I’ll take this down to him.’
‘Good,’ said Agent Blackwood. ‘Just make sure –’
BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!
An alarm blared all around them.
Blackwood grabbed her walkie-talkie. ‘What is it?’ she demanded.
Zac could hear a panicked voice at the other end of the line. ‘He’s out!’
Who do they mean by ‘he’? Zac wondered.
‘What do you mean he’s out?’ Blackwood shrieked. ‘He was in a prison cell under guard!’
‘I know, I’m not sure how –’
Then there was a loud WHUMPand the voice fell silent.
Zac heard shouts from down the hall.
The sound of running footsteps echoed through the building. Suddenly, an old man burst into the room, followed by three more BIG guards.
Zac stared. After seven years, his grandpa was suddenly right there in front of him. It hardly seemed real.
‘Grandpa!’
‘Zac!’ Grandpa smiled. ‘Good to see you, kiddo!’
Grandpa came to a stop next to Zac. The BIG guards formed a circle around them.
They were all armed with a weird kind of gadget that Zac had never seen before. The gadgets were shaped like big metal donuts with nozzles pointing out the front.
‘They’re Wrap Launchers,’ Grandpa whispered, reading Zac’s mind.‘By the way, you need to stop growing up so fast.You’re making me feel old.’
Zac grinned. ‘Sorry.’ He glanced around at the circle of BIG agents, doing a quick head count.
‘This should be good,’ Grandpa grinned at him. ‘Are you ready?’
‘But there’s heaps of them and only two of us!’ Zac whispered back.
‘Don’t worry,’ said Grandpa. ‘I’ll go easy on them.’
And, without warning, Grandpa leapt at the nearest guard, feet first.
He scissor-kicked the Wrap Launcher out of the guard’s hand and knocked him to the ground. In a flash, he had snatched the Launcher and pulled the trigger.
WHUMP!
A sheet of sticky plastic shot out. It covered the guard, wrapping him up like a sandwich in a lunchbox.
Three more guards aimed their Wrap Launchers at High Pants.
WHUMP!
Grandpa shot first, flooring one of them.
The other two guards fired. Grandpa sprung into the air, performing a perfect double back-flip.
WHUMP!
WHUMP!
The two guards fell to the ground, all wrapped up. They’d missed Zac’s grandpa and hit each other instead!
Zac stared open-mouthed at Grandpa. He was incredible! He made everyone else in the room look like a kid on their first day at spy school.
Grandpa reached down and picked up another Wrap Launcher. ‘Here,’ he said, tossing it to Zac.
‘Huh? Oh!’ Snapping out of his daze, Zac caught the Wrap Launcher and joined the fight.
‘Grandpa, behind you!’ he called.
Without even looking, Grandpa fired two shots back over his shoulder.
WHUMP-WHUMP!
Two direct hits.
‘Zac, watch out!’ Grandpa called.
Zac whirled around just in time to see an agent diving towards him.
WHUMP!
Grandpa got her in mid-air, and she fell to the floor.
‘Thanks,’ said Zac.
‘Not over yet,’ said his grandpa, whirling around and firing again.
Three more guards charged at Grandpa, all from different directions. He fired quickly.
WHUMP-WHUMP-WHUMP!
Three more perfect shots!
Zac watched Grandpa race across to where Grift was hiding behind the meeting table, clutching the android arm.
Zac’s grandpa pointed his Launcher at Grift. ‘Hand the robot arm over,’ he ordered.
‘No problem,’ said Grift sheepishly, immediately giving up the arm.
What a coward, thought Zac. He’s worse than Agent Cougar –
WHUMP!
Zac went down, wrapped from behind.
He felt a foot come down hard on his back. Twisting around, Zac saw Caz standing over him, a Wrap Launcher in each hand. Both of them were pointed squarely down at him.
‘Drop the arm, old man,’ she called to Grandpa. ‘You wouldn’t want anything unpleasant to happen to your grandson now, would you?’
CHAPTER
TEN
‘Drop the arm, Agent High Pants,’ Caz repeated.
Zac’s grandpa aimed his own Launcher at Caz.
‘Uh, no!’ Caz warned, aiming one of her Launchers back at Grandpa. ‘I don’t think so.’
‘Let him go,’ said Grandpa calmly.
‘You can breathe pretty well through a coat of this wrap stuff,’ said Caz, ignoring him. ‘Not sure what happens when you get hit twice, though.’
Zac glanced across at the meeting table. Agent Blackwood was still sitting in her chair, calmly watching the situation with interest.
‘Five seconds to drop the arm,’ said Caz coldly, ‘or else I put your grandson in a permanent cocoon.’
‘You don’t want to do this, Caz,’ said Grandpa.
‘You know what, Pops?’ said Caz. ‘I’m pretty sure I do. Five…’
‘Caz, please.’
‘Four…’
‘Caz!’
‘Three, two –’
There was a clatter of metal as Grandpa dropped the android arm and the Wrap Launcher to the floor. He raised his hands up above his head.
‘Thank you,’ said Caz.
One of her Wrap Launchers was still trained on Grandpa.
She pulled the trigger.
WHUMP!
Zac remembered his granny had a saying for when things got tough.
But Zac was pretty sure that his granny had never been in this situation before.
As far as he could see, hopeless was pretty much the perfect word for
it.
Agent Blackwood had called in another troop of BIG guards. They dragged Zac and Grandpa into a dirty prison room.
Still bound up in cling wrap, they were tossed into separate holding cells. Twin force fields sprung to life across the entrances.
Standing in the centre of the room was a prison guard with his back to Zac.
Caz walked over and spoke to him in a low voice. ‘If either of them tries anything, you know what to do.’
The guard nodded.
Caz turned to Zac and grinned. ‘Sleep tight!’ She chuckled and walked out of the room.
This is all your fault! Zac told himself. Grandpa had everything under control, but you had to go and get yourself caught!
Now Zac and his grandpa were trapped.
Zac rolled across the floor, trying to get a glimpse of Grandpa in the next cell. He wanted to apologise to Grandpa, or at least say something.
But at that moment, there was a hissing sound and a panel opened up in the wall, revealing a large TV screen.
A video began to play. It was a live feed of the Pulse Pod, out on the moon’s surface.
The ZacBot came into view, approaching the Pod. Clutched in his hand was the spare android arm – really the disguised Tech Blaster which would destroy GIB.
As Zac watched, the ZacBot climbed aboard the Pulse Pod, strapped himself in, and blasted off towards earth. Then the video cut out.
Zac stared at the empty TV screen, and then slowly looked down at his watch.
In less than 36 hours, GIB was going to be wiped off the face of the earth.
Unless Zac could save the day.
Coming up in ... HIGH STAKES
Things are not looking good
for Zac Power... but help may be
closer than he thinks.
There's just 36 hours to go before
the Tech Blaster detonates.
Can Zac and Grandpa escape from BIG's
moon base and stop the ZacBot
before it's too late?