‘Or,’ said Alfie, peeking over her shoulder, ‘maybe it’s something to do with that.’
He pointed to the article at the bottom of the page. An astronaut’s survival kit, it said, consists of a para chute, inflatable boat, two days’ drinking water, signal mirror . . .
Janey’s head spun. Alfie was right. ‘That’s it,’ she said solemnly. ‘Copernicus had that rocket, didn’t he?’ He’d been trying to escape Antarctica in it last time they had been pitted against each other. ‘But where would he be keeping a rocket? Not under the ocean . . .’
Then suddenly it came to her, and dread filled Janey’s stomach. In her mind’s eye she travelled back to the day she had been flicking through her mum’s brochures for Florida tourist attractions. And at once it all made perfect, horrible sense.
The Everglades, the ocean, the hippos, the killer whales – they weren’t as important as what was built on a small island just off the Florida coast . . .
‘I know where he is,’ she said to Alfie. ‘I know where his lab is and where he’s got Mum.’
Alfie spun the swamp buggy around without a second’s hesitation, and in seconds they were back at the picnic site, ready to Satispy.
‘Where are we headed?’ Alfie waited to tap in the coordinates for their safe landing.
Janey consulted her Ultra-gogs once more. It had to be right. ‘The Space Center,’ she said. ‘Cape Canaveral.’
‘Oh my life,’ groaned Alfie as he threw her the remote and disintegrated into a steady stream of cells, flowing skywards.
Copernicus wanted to reach the stars, thought Janey. But she was going to stop him.
cape capers
To Janey’s horror, she materialized directly in front of a large crowd of awestruck schoolchildren. ‘Alfie,’ she hissed, frantically looking around.
‘And . . . er . . . don’t miss the show later,’ she heard him say. ‘Holograph spectacular, 1 p.m.’
Alfie was standing just behind her. Janey took the hint and waved at the children, half of whom already looked bored – or just plain tired – and were wandering off to the next exhibit.
Alfie picked up a visitor’s guide that one of the children had dropped. The child was now propped in a nearby seat, enjoying a morning nap.
‘What is wrong with everyone?’ said Janey, staring at the child and then at the map. ‘So we’re in the Visitor Complex of the Space Center. Where would The Big C be hiding?’
Alfie had retreated into a bush and was busy SPIVing his mum, so Janey studied the leaflet. There was a garden to the left of them, with a collection of grounded rockets, and behind that a curious dome that looked like a possible Spylab location. To the right there was a black spherical structure that appeared to be floating on its own little lake. Copernicus had a passion for black, so Janey decided to check this out first.
Mrs Halliday and Leaf Satispied discreetly behind some trees at the back of the Rocket Garden and ran over, Alfie in tow. ‘Where would he have put your mother, Janey?’ said Mrs Halliday, laying a hand on Janey’s shoulder.
Janey felt a rush of warmth for the matter-of-fact SPI:KE. No matter how dangerous the plans of the mad Copernicus might be, Agent Halo knew that nothing was more important to Janey than finding her mum. ‘I was wondering about this black ball thing.’
‘I am thinking he would like the dome,’ said Leaf, pointing to the left.
‘Well, let’s split up.’ Janey pointed over to the black sphere. ‘We’ll go that way,’ she said, nodding to Alfie, ‘and Halo and Leaf can check out the dome.’
‘Why don’t you come with me?’ asked Leaf, but Janey and Alfie were already picking their way through the crowds.
Janey reached the sphere several paces before Alfie. She turned and waited for him to catch up, and he staggered to her side. ‘Don’t know what’s the matter with me,’ he said, panting. ‘This weather’s just too much.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ said Janey. ‘This can’t be it anyway.’
They both looked at the black sphere. There were small children hanging off the orb, trying to push it around its little lake. Their teacher had given up and barely responded when one of the children prodded him in the thigh.
‘It’s too busy,’ said Janey. ‘He wouldn’t risk being this open, particularly in his current freaky state.’
Suddenly her SPIV bounced against her chest, and she peered at it to see Leaf’s thin, upside-down face. ‘Blonde,’ he whispered, ‘we’ve found a Spylab entry tube. This must be it.’
There was a bit of confusion on the tiny screen and then Mrs Halliday’s face appeared. ‘I’m not so sure, Leaf. It just looks like a kids’ slide to me.’
‘But I think Blonde should come and check it out . . .’
‘No,’ said Janey quietly. Remembering what form Copernicus was in, she took another look at the map. ‘I’ve worked it out, I think. Come over to Space Shuttle Plaza.’
She showed Alfie the map as she started to jog over to the Plaza. ‘Look, there’s a space shuttle there that you can actually go on, and a lake next to it.’
Alfie nodded. ‘Could be it. Look, you . . . ow, I’ve got a stitch . . . you run on ahead. I’ll catch up with you.’
‘Come on, Alfie,’ she said, linking her arm through his so she could half drag him along as she ran. It wasn’t too difficult to make progress, despite the crowds and the extra weight of Alfie. Most visitors seemed to be flaking out on the grassy verges, taking forty winks or walking along sluggishly. In a matter of minutes they were at Space Shuttle Plaza. ‘Look, Alfie,’ she said, staring in awe at the shuttle. A real rocket, and anyone could go inside.
Alfie’s head lolled back. ‘Awesome,’ he yawned.
‘This is it; I can just feel it. And . . . yes!’ Janey let Alfie slide to the ground and ran around the shuttle. There, beside the water, was a tar-like slick – revolting squid ink, secreted by Copernicus as he hauled himself out of the water and into his lab.
She moved closer to the pool. It made sense for the lab to be closer to the lake, as most people would be more interested in the shuttle itself. Although that wasn’t the case today, thought Janey. Few people seemed to have the strength to climb the steps to the shuttle door. In fact there was hardly anyone around apart from Alfie, who was leaning against a bin with his head in his hands. Leaf and Mrs Halliday were coming up behind him, both moving slowly, Leaf propping up Agent Halo in the same way Janey had had to support Alfie.
And then she saw it, winking next to the pool. A tiny disc. Excited, Janey pressed it, but nothing happened. She pressed again, waving to the others to join her, but still nothing happened.
‘Mi-mirror,’ panted Alfie, his hands on his knees and his hair dark with sweat.
‘Of course!’ Janey fished out the signal mirror from the Everglades and held it at different angles until a shaft of light shot from the signal mirror and connected with the silver disc on the ground. Like ripples on a pond, the light flooded outwards, and Janey found herself staring straight down a wide tube leading directly, she was sure, into one of Copernicus’s Spylabs.
‘I’ll go first,’ she said, then stopped short.
It appeared she wasn’t just going to go first. She was going alone. Mrs Halliday had joined Alfie next to the bin and was fast asleep. She was surprised to see that Leaf had curled up on the grass and was also close to sleep.
Janey looked around. Every single person was asleep – all the Space Center staff, all the tourists and now all the SPIs. All apart from, Janey realized, a woman in a yellow sundress, who was chucking water from a bottle over her boyfriend, trying to stir him into action.
There was no waking Alfie or Mrs Halliday, but Leaf came to when Janey poked at him with her foot. ‘Come on. I’ve got to rescue my mum. And then we’ll see what’s wrong with everyone.’
‘Yes, yes,’ he said, brushing grass off his SPIsuit, so that Janey just caught a glimpse of gold beneath the green of his cuff. ‘I am coming now, Blonde.’
One
after the other they jumped down the entry tube into the lab. It looked exactly as Janey had expected: shimmering, black, lit only by a few holes in the ceiling. The only things that weren’t black were their two SPIsuits, and a glint of white in a chair. A blouse. A once-neat but now dishevelled white blouse.
‘Mum!’
Janey ran over in an instant. Her mum was bound to the chair with some kind of cable, and her head jerked forward at the sound of Janey’s voice. ‘Darling! Oh, you shouldn’t have come here.’
‘I’ve come to rescue you.’ Janey flicked out her titanium blade and sawed through the cable.
‘But the Squid Man . . .’ whispered her mother. ‘He’ll be back any minute, and he’s been talking about you, saying all these ridiculous things about you being a . . . a Spylet? Whatever that is. Apparently you keep spoiling his plans and now he’s going to spoil your plans. Don’t let him find you here!’
‘I won’t, Mum. Can you stand up?’ She helped her mother to her feet.
Jean Brown swayed alarmingly. ‘I’m so sleepy. His light . . . it makes me so sleepy. And that noise . . .’
‘What noise?’
Janey leaned into the silence and suddenly heard a very strange sound, a kind of hysterical chattering. She draped her mum’s arm over her shoulder. ‘Come on. I’ll get you out of here. There’s all sorts of strange stuff I need to tell you, but I promise I’ll explain everything to you just as soon as I can.’
‘OK,’ said Mrs Brown meekly. The strain of her kidnapping seemed to have taken all the fight out of her. Or maybe it was the heat, which seemed to have extracted the fizz from just about everybody.
Janey looked around for a Satispy remote control. It would be the quickest and easiest way to get her mum to safety.
Leaf had already spotted one over on a shelf at the far side of the Spylab. ‘Great,’ said Janey. ‘I’ll send my mum first, maybe to Dad at Solfari Lands. Then, if you help me get the Halos downstairs, I’ll send them, and then you, and I’ll go last.’
But Leaf wasn’t responding. Instead he was staring over Janey’s shoulder, an anxious expression on his face, and Janey could just feel what – who – must be standing behind her.
The tall figure of Copernicus loomed between her and the remote control. By his side was someone Janey had almost forgotten about – the little boy from the beach, who had been watching them so seriously and had written his name in the sand: Twelve.
‘Right,’ said Janey. ‘No wonder he doesn’t have a name if he’s just one of your Spylets. He’s a bit young, though, isn’t he?’
Copernicus exhaled – a long, slow expulsion of air that seemed to fill the lab with evil – and the strange chattering, laughing sound from beyond the lab grew louder. ‘Blonde, Blonde, Blonde . . . you have managed to cause me enough trouble despite your tender years. How young is too young?’ He laughed bitterly. ‘Actually he’s even younger than you think.’
Janey flicked her eyes towards Leaf. If they could get hold of the remote somehow, the Satispy could at least zap her mother out of here. But Leaf appeared to be transfixed, entranced by Copernicus. She was on her own. ‘Well, if you’ll just excuse me,’ she said, trying for an almighty bluff, ‘I’ve just got to get my mum home. By the way, your son’s up there.’ And she nodded at the tube, hoping to distract her enemy.
But Copernicus rounded on her like a viper. ‘Your mother goes nowhere. At least, not with you. She can come with me when I take off very, very shortly. Didn’t I tell you? Stay away. Or Mummy stays away . . .’
‘Forever,’ finished Leaf. He looked helplessly at Janey.
So that was it. They were trapped. Alfie and Mrs Halliday had been sedated or something. Leaf had been frozen into inactivity by the close presence of evil incarnate. Janey herself was hampered by her mother’s weight as Jean Brown tried, and failed, to regain the use of her legs. The only person who seemed alert was the little boy – Twelve – whose head tilted longingly in the direction of the jabbering laughter.
And Janey suddenly realized something. Twelve was distracted. Maybe he wasn’t a tiny Spylet at all – he was far too interested in what was going on beyond the laboratory walls. Just like a normal little boy would be.
Which meant that, if her instincts were right, he wouldn’t try to stop her if she made a lunge for the remote control.
And with a quiet, ‘Sorry, Mum,’ in her mother’s ear, she thrust Jean across the lab towards Copernicus. To Janey’s immense relief, she discovered she had made the right assumption about Copernicus. He was simply a Retro-spectre – a holographic image made up from memories of what he used to be like before Jane Blonde had given him tentacles.
Jean Brown fell to the floor, sliding straight through the wispy body of Copernicus. In seconds Janey flew across, grabbed the remote from the shelf and Satispied her bewildered mother into space, hopefully back to the safety of Solfari Lands.
Then she pocketed the control, grabbed Leaf by the arm and made a break for the outside. For sunshine. For safety.
countdown
Janey and Leaf bounced out of the entry tube and landed just in front of Alfie and Mrs Halliday. They had barely moved and were slumped against each other, ignoring the flies that were crawling across their faces.
‘Alfie! Halo. Al Halo.’ Janey hissed at them, but they merely blinked. ‘Oh, this is hopeless!’
Leaf, at least, seemed to have pulled himself together. ‘So what now?’
‘Copernicus is stealing a rocket. This place isn’t just for tourists – rockets really do take off from here, and he’s going to steal one. Let’s get over to the Control Center. I think he’s planning to launch soon.’
A quick glance at the information leaflet informed her that the Launch Control Center was over to their right. In normal circumstances it would have required a long walk. But these were not normal circumstances. ‘Everyone’s so dozy they won’t notice us Fleet-footing,’ said Janey decisively. ‘Come on.’
Leaf hesitated for only a second, irritation flashing briefly across his face. Like Alfie, thought Janey. He doesn’t like being upstaged by a girl. ‘OK. I come too,’ said the green-suited Spylet, and he sprinted off across the grass in the direction of the Launch Center.
Only the woman in the yellow dress, who had given up trying to revive her boyfriend and was now eating her way through their picnic bag, had the energy to say, ‘What the . . . ?’ as they sped by, and moments later they were approaching the Launch Center. The pale concrete building glowed ominously in the brilliant sunshine.
Leaf jolted to a halt at Janey’s side.
‘Copernicus has probably gone in from underneath,’ she said. ‘We’ll have to be careful.’
Splitting up, they ran around the exterior of the building, but found no evidence and met up again in front of the main door. More out of curiosity than anything else, Janey gave it a gentle shove. Despite the obvious entry-card system, the door swung open.
They exchanged glances and stepped through. Directly ahead was a large desk that should have been bustling with security guards. Instead there was one weary woman with her chin on the desk.
‘This is the Launch Control Center, isn’t it?’ Janey looked around uncertainly, and then peeked over the desk. Two security guards were stretched out on the floor next to the woman’s chair, snoring roundly.
‘Last time I looked,’ said the woman with a yawn. ‘But in this heat, who the heck cares?’
‘But . . .’
Leaf grabbed Janey’s arm. ‘Thank you. Then we will just . . .’ and he pointed down the corridor.
‘Sure.’ The woman nuzzled her head down on to her arms. ‘Wake me up on your way back.’
Janey frowned at her, then ran quickly after Leaf. Every door swung open at their touch, and every security person, scientist and engineer they passed was either sound asleep or so relaxed that they simply waved to them, rubbing their foreheads and trying to clamp their jaws around yet another yawn.
‘This is really weird,�
� said Janey. Then she gasped.
They had reached a corridor with a huge bank of windows on either side. On the left she could see a large rocket in the distance. On the right the two Spylets looked down on a room peopled by dozing engineers and labelled with distinctive signs: MAIN PROPULSION SYSTEMS; LIQUID OXYGEN; REACTION CONTROL SYSTEM.
‘The Launch Control Center,’ said Leaf with a glint in his eye.
It was hugely impressive, and Janey wished that Alfie could see it too – the ultimate in boys’ toys. But there was no time to lose, because drifting around the centre of the room, holographic eyes fixed on a screen showing the same huge rocket they could see through the windows, was a sinister Retro-spectre of Copernicus as he had once been.
‘We have to be quick! He’s brain-wiped everyone or something. They’re under his control.’
Janey chewed quickly on a tiny piece of SPInamite, stuck it on to one of the window frames and covered her head and Leaf’s. There was a small explosion and a rain of glass that caused some of the engineers below to sluggishly lift their heads from the desks and computer keyboards. Now Janey was standing next to a neat hole in the window. As fast as she could, she unwound her SuSPInder and abseiled down into the Launch Control Center. Leaf quickly followed.
Janey ran across to the nearest engineer and shook him by his shoulder. ‘That man’s stealing a rocket.’
The man blinked blearily at her. ‘He can have it.’
‘Have it? It’s a rocket!’
Janey couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She looked around. All the engineers looked equally relaxed about the fact that a strange man was making off with one of their most prized possessions. ‘It’s a matter of national security,’ she yelled. ‘International. Global even!’
‘Well . . . whatever,’ said the man with a shrug, and he propped his forehead against his computer monitor and drifted off to sleep.
The Retro-spectre of Copernicus had barely taken his eyes off the screen. A countdown, in important-looking red numbers, was flashing in the top right-hand corner.
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