Frozen Fear (5 page)

He checked his watch.

It was already 12.09pm

He'd been out cold so long, there was only two hours left to crack the mission in time to make his lift home.

But, just then, Zac had other problems to solve. Such as, how on earth was he hovering in mid-air? And what was going on with these metal underpants?

Zac looked up. On the ceiling, directly above him, Zac saw a giant magnet. He looked down. Sure enough, underneath him was another giant magnet. Zac wriggled one way then the other. But he couldn't move!

It was strange. There wasn't anything visible holding him in place. And yet Zac couldn't move an inch!

A vague memory floated through Zac's mind. He was sitting at the dinner table at home. Leon was blabbing on and on about magnets. If two magnets were placed on top of each other, Leon had said, a powerful magnetic field would be created in between.

A magnetic field! These stupid metal under-
pants are keeping me prisoner in a magnetic
field,
thought Zac.

Then Zac remembered something else. Hadn't Leon also mentioned something about top scientists using giant electro-magnets to power their super computers?

That sounded right… Zac knew that an electromagnet was a kind of temporary magnet. It was only magnetic when an electrical current was running through it.

I'm in a research station where there are
plenty of computers, so it makes sense that this
is an electromagnet I'm trapped in,
reasoned Zac to himself.
So if I can turn off the power
supply, the magnets will de-magnetise and I'll
be free!

But turning off the power supply to a sophisticated electromagnet wasn't going to be easy, not when Zac was trapped in mid-air wearing nothing but a pair of metal undies!

Desperately, Zac looked around. If only he could spot exactly where the electro-magnet was plugged in.

Over in the corner of the room, Zac spotted a power board with seven or eight things plugged into it.
The electromagnet
was plugged in there too – it had to be!

An idea popped into Zac's head. It was a little gross. But what was that phrase Zac's granny sometimes used?

Or something like that.

Zac concentrated hard. He thought of pizza – his favourite Mexicana, with spicy beef, sour cream and corn chips on top.

Immediately, spit jetted into his mouth and pooled in his cheeks.

His plan was working!

Next, Zac thought of chocolate ice-cream sundaes with honeycomb pieces and hot chocolate sauce. Even more spit rushed into his mouth.

I'm ready,
thought Zac.

He gathered all his spit into one, huge mouthful. Then, with all the power he had in his cheeks, he hoicked the world's biggest ever spit glob in the direction of the power board.

SSSSSSPLAT!

With a loud, wet noise, the spit glob landed on the power board.

FIZZ! SPLUTTER!

There was a shower of blue sparks. The computers stopped humming. The room went dark. Zac had short-circuited the power.

And suddenly, Zac was falling. He hit the ground with a loud clang of metal underpants. But it didn't matter.

He was free!

CHAPTER
EIGHT

With the power off, it was pitch black in the research station.

Lucky for me!
thought Zac. He still had no clothes on except for the metal underpants. He would have died if anyone had seen him like that!

Moving fast, Zac headed for the door. To crack this mission, he still had to find out why the evil researchers were stealing the petrol. And he had to find out quickly!

Just over an hour until his flight home.

Zac peered through the glass panel set into the door. Outside, he saw a long corridor. Directly across the hall was a big laboratory packed with fancy equipment.

Could it be the command centre of the
entire evil operation?

Scientists and researchers streamed out of the lab. Zac recognised some of them as the thugs on skidoos he'd encountered at the storage facility. But there were plenty of others too. This was no small operation!

‘Power must be restored! We're so close now! We can't afford to lose a minute!' one of the researchers was yelling. People scattered all over the building, trying to find out where the short circuit had happened. Pretty soon, the main lab was totally empty.

Clanking awkwardly, Zac made his way into the corridor and into the main lab. And there, on the very first bench, was a pile of clothes. They were his! Checking first that he was alone, Zac whipped off the metal undies and put his own clothes back on. Relief!

Coolness restored, Zac felt ready to search the lab from top to bottom. Then, overhead, there was a flickering. The lights came back on. That must mean the computers were working again. The researchers would be back any minute!

Zac didn't have much time.

He rushed over a computer in the very middle of the room. It was labelled, ‘server'.

It looked like the main computer – hopefully the one that would store all the information Zac needed to find out what these people were up to.

Zac tapped a few keys. But all that happened was the computer's screen saver changed from flowers to a photo of a kitten. This was no good! How was he supposed to get into the actual files?

This was where Zac needed Leon's help. But instead he'd have to call on his inner geek and work it out for himself!

Then Zac remembered something. Hadn't that researcher yelled out that they were close now?

Maybe the last document opened on the
computer would hold the key.

Grabbing the mouse, Zac went to the File menu and selected Recent Documents. The most recent document on the list was called Operation WorldEye.doc.

WorldEye!
thought Zac, surprised.
GIB's
incredibly high-tech satellite system? What would
that have to do with the stolen petrol?

Zac opened the document.

MEMO
TO ALL SKY INDUSTRIES STAFF

OPERATION WORLDEYE - DAILY UPDATE

Petrol storage tanks are
at 98.97% storage capacity.
This is almost enough fuel
to fire our ballistic missile.
We anticipate total destruction of the
WorldEye satellite system within hours.
Great work, team!

P.S. DON'T FORGET, we're collecting money
to buy milk and tea bags for the staff room.
Have you contributed yet?

He scanned what was written there.

It all seemed horribly clear, except for two things. Who were Sky Industries and why would they want to blow up World-Eye?

The walls of the lab were lined with photographs of important Sky Industries staff shaking hands with dignitaries.

Zac recognised the Prime Minister of Japan, some American senators and… wasn't that… yes it was! The Commander-in-Chief of GIB!

The Commander-in-Chief was standing with a group of men and women dressed in Sky Industries lab coats. Behind them was a large piece of equipment. Zac could just make out some words painted on the side – WorldEye.

WorldEye! So, Sky Industries manufactured
WorldEye? Why on earth would they want to
blow it up if they made it?

Unless… .

Zac thought about the all-staff email.

Sky Industries were collecting money from staff to buy cheap things like milk and tea bags!

If the company couldn't even afford those,
the business couldn't be going very well,
thought Zac.

Zac knew that WorldEye was the most expensive satellite ever built.
Might Sky
Industries want to blow it up just so they could
get the contract to build a replacement? That
way, they'd get their business out of financial
trouble. That was it! It had to be.

The petrol storage tanks were almost full.The missile launch couldn't be far away. Zac would have to do something right now to stop it. Otherwise it would be too late!