Desert Disaster

First published in 2013 by Curious Fox,
an imprint of Capstone Global Library Limited,
7 Pilgrim Street, London, EC4V 6LB
Registered company number: 6695582

www.curious-fox.com

Text © Hothouse Fiction Ltd 2013

Series created by Hothouse Fiction
www.hothousefiction.com

The author’s moral rights are hereby asserted.

Cover illustration by Spooky Pooka

Cover design by Mandy Norman

All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

ISBN 978 1 78202 055 4

1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

A CIP catalogue for this book is available from the British Library.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner.

ebook created by Hothouse Fiction Ltd

With special thanks to David Grant

“On your marks ... get set ...
go
!” shouted Princess Kako.

Jimmy Roberts reached for a packet of crisps from the table and popped it open with one hand. Beside him, Chip Travers did the same.

Opposite them sat Missy McGovern and Sammy Bahur, each with their hands clasped behind their backs and their mouths open wide like two seals at feeding time.

“Incoming!” Jimmy shouted to Missy as he started throwing salty crisps at her mouth as quickly as he could, while Chip did the same to Sammy. The crisps were bouncing off noses, ears and cheeks as Missy and Sammy weaved to and fro, fighting to catch as many in their mouths as they could.

“Come on, Sammy,” yelled Chip. “We can’t afford to lose this game.”

“Iiimm-ooeein-mmiii-eeeessss!” the Egyptian boy replied, which Jimmy decided must translate into,
“I’m doing my best!”

“Time’s up,” said Kako suddenly. “Everybody stop what you are doing. Close your mouths and put down the snacks!”

The room fell silent apart from the dull noise of food being chewed.

“I think we won that one, don’t you, Jimmy?” said Missy, shaking crumbs from her hair.

“Are you kidding me?” said Chip. “We caught more chips than you! Kako, who won?”

“I was too busy laughing!” the Japanese princess replied.

Jimmy smiled and shook his head as the jokey squabble carried on. Missy had come up with the game and it had had the entire group laughing the whole way through their lunch hour.

Jimmy plucked a sandwich from the table and popped it into his mouth. He was reaching for his drink when he noticed that the liquid in the glass was tilting at a funny angle. It was the only sign that he was actually suspended thousands of metres in the air on an enormous airship owned by none other than the famous billionaire Lord Ludwick Leadpipe. The water rolled up the right side of his drinking glass ever so slightly as the giant craft moved through the air.

Jimmy loved being part of the first-ever Robot Races for kids. He loved the danger, the excitement and visiting new places. But the competition had become so popular that all the racers had turned into celebrities overnight. All of a sudden, newspaper reporters wanted to know everything about them, and had started standing on their doorsteps with camera crews day and night to catch a glimpse here and a quick word there. Grandpa had got so fed up with them turning up at his door that he’d rigged the doorbell to squirt water at whoever rang it!

Soon Lord Leadpipe had decided to take action. He converted part of his giant airship into a school, and gathered everyone on board to live there for the duration of the Races.

The luxury airliner had everything – luxury en-suite cabins, a fancy restaurant, cinema, a bowling alley, classrooms, science labs, and a canteen that was bigger than the one at Jimmy’s school. Leadpipe had hired a tutor to teach them all the usual subjects like maths and science, but he’d also arranged for them to be taught a few
special
lessons. They were being taught basic mechanics, advanced driving skills and interview techniques – all things they’d need to be top robot racers.

Looking around the table at the other competitors, Jimmy still couldn’t believe he was now living aboard a giant airship. It was completely different from the run-down house in Smedingham where he had been brought up by his grandpa. The same grandpa who had also turned out to be a genius robot inventor and engineer – when he wasn’t busy being a taxi driver.

Around Jimmy were the other robot racers. They were all kids like him, taking part in the biggest, most exciting tournament the world had ever seen – each with their own robot equipped with the finest gadgets and technology. They were friends now, but on the track they’d be fighting each other for first place.

First there was Princess Kako from Japan. She and her robobike, Lightning, were serious contenders in the Robot Races championship, having already won one stage of the competition. Lightning was light and fast, usually shaped like a motorbike – although he could transform into lots of other vehicles when needed – and was propelled by two turbo jets.

Next came Chip Travers. Chip’s racer was called Dug, and he was a giant diggerbot with a large hydraulic arm that had come in handy a few times in the tournament. They’d been friends since Jimmy had rescued Chip from the Grand Canyon in their first race together.

Opposite Chip sat Samir – or Sammy, as he liked to be called – a skinny boy from Egypt who came from a long line of successful racing drivers. His father, Omar Bahur, had been a champion robot racer in his day, leaving Sammy a lot to live up to. His robot was called Maximus, and was a huge hovercraft able to glide at top speed on a cushion of air.

“I have never seen such arguments over a snack before,” whispered Sammy to Jimmy as Missy and Chip continued their debate. “It is almost as if this game is as important as the Robot Races, no?”

Jimmy laughed. “I think we’re all a bit
competitive
, Sammy.”

Missy turned to the two of them and laughed. “Crikey, Sammy, if you think this is competitive, you should see me and my bro when we have our speed shearing contests – you’ve never seen so many sheep trimmed so quickly.”

Jimmy couldn’t help liking the loud, confident tomboy. She lived in the Australian Outback and was an expert at tackling difficult terrain with her giant robotruck Monster. Jimmy liked Missy’s sense of humour and the mad games she came up with.

“That wasn’t in the rules!” Missy shouted now, a smile on her face.

“You made up the rules two minutes ago!” argued Chip. “Jimmy, whose side are you on?”

“Whoa, keep me out of it!” Jimmy laughed. “You’ll have to fight it out yourselves.”

Just then the door slid open and Horace Pelly walked in, his tray overloaded with food.

“Hey, Horace!” said Chip cheerily.

Horace ignored him, heading for a different table where he sat down with his back to the group.

Horace was the only robot racer Jimmy had known before the competition started, although he wouldn’t exactly have said they were friends. In fact, Jimmy had mixed with the school show-off about as well as cornflakes went with pickled onions ... not very well at all.

Jimmy shook his head as he
thought about life back in the little town of Smedingham. He wondered what his best friend Max was doing now, and if Max missed seeing him at all. Sometimes he wished that Max could be on the airship too. It would be great to show him round the workstations, the swimming pool and the games room on board.

Jimmy popped a slice of tomato in his mouth and looked over at Horace. He sighed. “
Treat others the way you’d want to be treated,”
was what Grandpa always said, and Jimmy knew that sitting on your own was no fun.

“Hey, Horace,” he called over. “There’s a space at our table if you want to eat with us.”

Horace gave a snort of laughter and turned to Jimmy with a sneer on his face.

“With you? No thanks!” he said. “I don’t fraternize with the competition. And keep the noise down, will you? This place sounds like the zoo at feeding time.”

Jimmy’s face turned red.
I should have known he’d throw it back in my face
, he thought. He opened his mouth to talk to Princess Kako, but just at that moment a loud blare came from the other side of the room.

Horace had switched the television on, and the Robo TV theme tune sang out at full volume. Jimmy hadn’t even known there was a TV in the canteen, but when he turned to look he saw that one of the large white walls was actually a giant electron plasma screen. He recognized the presenter immediately – it was Bet Bristle, an elderly but lively interviewer he had first met before the Rainforest Rampage race. Up on the massive TV, her usually dainty little nostrils were the size of dinner plates.

“Welcome to another edition of
Full Throttle
,” she grinned, “the Robo TV show that lifts the bonnet of the Robot Races and takes a good look inside.”

“I hope they don’t look under Cabbie’s bonnet,” joked Jimmy. “Grandpa left his toolkit under there last week!”

“Shhh!” said Horace.

“We’ve got a great show for you this week!” said Bet Bristle. “So stay tuned!”

“It was a gamble for Lord Leadpipe to run a special version of his famous Robot Races Championship with kid competitors, but it seems to be paying off, as viewing figures around the world are growing and growing,” Bet was saying from her TV studio. “The first race saw our drivers take on the Grand Canyon, and Princess Kako rocketed to first place with Lightning. The underdogs of the competition, Jimmy and Cabbie, surprised everyone by coming in second and performing this unexpected move...”

The TV cut to a video of the race and Jimmy recognized the manoeuvre they were about to show. Missy and Monster were out in front with Jimmy and Cabbie in hot pursuit. A rocket launched from Cabbie’s bonnet, transforming into a steep metal ramp which landed on the track ahead. The robot raced up it, sailing high into the sky before landing in front of Monster to complete the daring overtake. Jimmy’s tummy turned over just watching it, just as it had when he was driving.

“Pfft!” said Horace. “What a fluke!”

“And Jimmy continued to impress when he flew into equal first place in the next race, down in the jungle,” said Bet. The image switched to footage of Cabbie and Maximus racing neck and neck to the finish line, and then cut to him and Sammy jumping up and down in celebration. “Samir picked up his first winning place too, in the same race that saw
this
happen...” The screen now showed the lush hot jungle, and the muddy track which passed through what looked like a wide yellow lake – quicksand.

“Oh no,” said Horace.

“Ooooh, yes!” said Missy.

The TV showed Horace racing side by side with Jimmy, both of them trying to edge into the lead. Suddenly, Chip surged forward in Dug and unleashed a smoke bomb, hiding them all in a cloud of fog. Cabbie managed to take the lead, but Horace panicked and spun Zoom off the track, into the thick sludge of the quicksand below.

The rest of the gang knew that the smoke bomb had been payback for the previous stage when Horace and Zoom had tried to sabotage Chip’s race.

“Ugh!” said Horace. “I can’t believe they showed that!”

“And recently we saw an epic race across the frozen Arctic tundra...”

The screen flicked to a montage of the best bits of the race. It showed Zoom skidding across the ice, spinning out of control before regaining traction and powering away. Next, it showed Cabbie firing a grappling hook and pulling himself ashore after he’d become marooned on an ice floe.

“Brrr!” said Jimmy. “It makes me shiver just looking at that!”

They saw clips of Monster racing across the snow and Lightning transforming from a bike to a jet ski. Finally, the TV showed a sight that Jimmy hated to see – Horace crossing the finish line in first place.

“Yes! Get in!” shouted Horace.

Jimmy shook his head – the TV hadn’t shown the part where Horace had put everyone in danger by using his boosters and almost causing an avalanche...

The screen flicked back to the studio, where Bet Bristle was grinning. “Well, that’s our recap over and done with. Now, let’s see who’s in pole position, and whose chances have suffered a puncture!”

She turned to a screen next to her. “Samir Bahur currently sits at the foot of the leaderboard with twelve points.” On the screen a picture of Sammy flashed up.

“A handy second-place finish in the last contest lifted Missy McGovern to fourteen points, while Princess Kako and Horace Pelly share third place with sixteen points.”

Photos of Horace and Missy appeared above Sammy’s on the screen, with their scores next to them.

“Chip Travers has shown plenty of consistency in getting to joint first place on eighteen points along with the surprise package of the championship – Jimmy Roberts. Jimmy’s tally could have been increased further if it hadn’t been for the heroics which led to his puncture at the North Pole.”

“Hear, hear,” shouted Missy over the sound of Bet’s voice. “The rest of us should count ourselves lucky that he saved our backsides from that glacier. But don’t think that means we’re gonna take it easy on ya this time, Jimmy. I’ve never let anyone win in my life, and I ain’t gonna start now.”

“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” Jimmy said, smiling at Missy. He turned back to the TV.

“I’m Bet Bristle, and I’m sure you’ll join me in wishing everyone the best of luck,” the presenter was saying, “and you’ll want to tune in tomorrow when we show live coverage of the next race ... wherever that may be!”

Zzzip.
The screen went blank as the bell rang for the start of lessons.

“Ah, strewth! I’d hoped to get a clue where we’re headed,” Missy grumbled.

Still complaining, the racers tidied away their lunches, picking up the crumbs and shards of crisps lying around their table before walking through the airship to their next lesson.

As they passed through the main workshop Jimmy looked around for Grandpa. The workshop was a giant room built like a hangar in the centre of the ship. It was where all the teams worked on their racers between rounds of the competition.

Jimmy saw Grandpa at the other side of the workroom. He wasn’t hard to miss – he was much older than the other technicians, with white hair and a droopy moustache. He was also dancing around his robot singing “Happy Days Are Here Again” and juggling with three spanners. Cabbie was providing backing vocals. Grandpa was the only one in the workshop who looked like he was having a good time. All the other mechanics and technicians were deadly serious, frowning over plans and blueprints and carefully upgrading their state-of-the-art robots.

Cabbie had been made from a clapped-out old taxi cab and a lot of scrap metal. He might not look as sleek and professional as the other robots, but Grandpa had been a genius when it came to programming the artificial intelligence that made the robot talk and think. Cabbie was one of the most intelligent robots to ever compete in the Races. In fact, it was sometimes a struggle to get Cabbie to be quiet!

Jimmy waved, and Grandpa caught sight of him and dropped his spanners with a clang. He waved back and shouted across the space, making the other crews look up.

“All right, Jimmy? I’m just having a tinker! Wait until you see what I’ve done with Cabbie. Pete and I have made a few adjustments that’ll knock your socks off in the next race!”

Jimmy smiled back and gave Grandpa a thumbs-up. He couldn’t wait to find out what new equipment he’d have for the next round, especially any ideas that Pete Webber had brought to the team. He was the world-class engineer behind Crusher – the robot driven by former Robot Races’ champion and Jimmy’s idol, Big Al. It had been sad to see Pete leave two days earlier, but he’d had to go and help Big Al at a Destruction Derby in Texas.

“Jimmy, Jimmy, when can we go out and race? I’m going to show the others a clean pair of tyres this time,” hollered Cabbie across the cavernous room.

“Soon, Cabbie!,” Jimmy shouted back with a smile.

Just then Horace barged past him, knocking his shoulder. “Ha! I can’t wait to see Scabbie race again either, Jimmy. I haven’t had a good laugh in a while!” he said, snorting with laughter.

Arriving at the classroom, Jimmy took his place at the front of the class. He tried to ignore Horace’s nasty comment and concentrate on the lesson.

Leadpipe’s school was certainly a bit different from Jimmy’s school in Smedingham. The rooms were equipped with the latest technology – a fully computerized whiteboard hung from the wall, and rising up from their desks came individual 3D holo-screens. The familiar Leadpipe Industries logo of a revolving ‘L’ floated in mid-air a few centimetres above Jimmy’s desk.
But one thing was the same,
Jimmy thought as he felt a kick on the back of his chair and looked round to see Horace behind him.
I’m thousands of miles from home, but I still have to put up with Horace Pelly!

“Oops, did I kick you?” Horace asked. Jimmy tried to ignore him and turned back to face the front. “Oops, did I do it again?” Horace said, kicking once more.

Horace stopped as the teacher came in. He was an old man, thin and so frail that it looked like he could be blown over in a strong wind, but he held himself like a soldier, with a straight back and chin held high, even though he walked with a stick.

“Who’s this old loon?” whispered Horace.

“Do sit down,” said the teacher. “My name is Sir Rupert Huxley, and Lord Leadpipe has brought me on board to teach you survival skills.”

“Blimey!” whispered Horace. “He doesn’t look as though he’ll survive the lesson!”

“Thank you, Mr Pelly,” said Sir Rupert. “I may look ancient, but my hearing is tip-top, thank you very much.”

Horace shut his mouth and sat back in his seat sulkily.
I think I’m going to like Sir Rupert!
Jimmy thought with a grin.

“I’m going to teach you how to cope when you find yourself in the most extreme environments on earth. You never know when you might find yourself in a tight spot without a safetybot in sight,” Sir Rupert said with a knowing wink towards the racers.

Jimmy and the others nodded. There had been a close call in the last race when a glacier had almost crushed them all. There hadn’t been anybody within 50 miles to help them, and the robots Lord Leadpipe had created to protect them from danger had malfunctioned in the cold weather.

“We already know all about that.” Horace interrupted. “We’ve all just completed a race in the Arctic, after all.”

Sir Rupert nodded. “True, true. I expect you utilized a lot of techniques that I will remind you of. I myself have trekked to the South Pole three times. I only meant to go twice, but I left my toothbrush behind once and had to go back for it,” he said, a twinkle in his eye. The class laughed. “Negotiating a cold environment is a tricky thing. Snow and ice can be killers, but may also save your life by providing water and shelter. Antarctica is a particularly interesting place to visit, I think – did you know that it is the largest desert on earth?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” Horace interrupted rudely. “Everyone knows that deserts are hot and sandy.”

“Pay attention, Master Pelly, and you might learn something
helpful
,” Sir Rupert perched on his desk and pointed with his cane. “Actually, a desert is anywhere where there isn’t much water. In fact, deserts get less than twenty-five centimetres of rain each year.”

“Oh yeah!” Missy said. “Antarctica is full of ice and snow, but there’s no water because it’s all frozen.”

“Very good. Miss McGovern” said Sir Rupert. “You seem to know a bit about this subject.”

Missy shrugged modestly. “I grew up in the Outback. Out there you have to know the land, or it could kill you.”

Sir Rupert smiled and he seemed to come alive, a light coming on behind his eyes. “So true! If you learn one thing out of this lesson, it is to respect the land and your environment. Never underestimate it!”

“Are we supposed to go around hugging trees? Or kissing the ground we walk on?” Horace sniggered. But no one else seemed to see the funny side.

“Um, I think Sir Rupert means we should be careful,” said Jimmy.

Horace shot him a scowl. “I know what he means,
Roberts
! My father says that land is there to be tamed. There’s no problem that can’t be solved by a chainsaw and a bucket of quick-drying concrete.”

Sir Rupert looked at Horace with a slight smile on his face. He had every reason to be angry – Horace was being quite rude now, his loud voice blocking out anyone else’s questions. But Sir Rupert just leaned back and smiled.

“Enough discussion, I think. Time for a little practical demonstration.”

He picked up his rucksack from under the desk. It looked heavy and worn, and Jimmy could imagine that it had been on every expedition the old man had ever taken part in. Sir Rupert placed it on the desk and opened the top.

“I’ve something in here which I think will interest you greatly,” he said.

“Boring!” said Horace, leaning back in his chair, swinging precariously. “What is it, some old rocks? A branch to chew on when you get lost in your back garden?”

“Master Pelly, perhaps you would care to come up and help me out. The rest of you gather around,” Sir Rupert continued.

Horace leaped up from his seat, keen to take any opportunity to show off. The rest of the racers approached carefully. They stood slightly back from the desk as the teacher rummaged in his bag.

“When I say I want you to respect the land around you, I—”

“Oh, let’s get on with it!” said Horace. He barged forward and picked up the rucksack, turning it out onto the desk. The contents fell out, books and clothes scattering everywhere.

Sir Rupert tried to grab the rucksack, but Horace had it out of reach. Jimmy saw the alarm on the old man’s face as a glass box tumbled out of the bag and onto the floor. It smashed into tiny pieces and Jimmy saw something crawl out of the shards of glass. It had eight black legs and two sharp claws. At the back of its hard body was a tail that curved above it, with a sharp sting at the end. Jimmy quickly realized what Horace had just released into their classroom.

A scorpion!