Star League 3 (4 page)

We pass through the secret door and come out into a square chamber. As soon as we're inside, the door slides shut behind us, locking us in. Sam tries to disable the locking mechanism, and when that doesn't work Connor tries to knock the door down, but it seems like our only path of escape is blocked. We all jump as a voice echoes through the room.

‘What's the matter, Star League, feeling a bit trapped?'

‘That's Nefertina!' I gasp, recognising the voice instantly. ‘Where are you?' I look around and spot a speaker near the door.

She cackles. ‘I think you'd do better to ask where you are. You see, this room may prove a
rather crushing defeat for the six of you!'

Uh-oh, I don't like the sound of that!

‘I thought my Anubite statues would stop you, but they failed miserably. Still, I don't see you getting out of this contraption alive. I hope you all enjoy getting a lot closer to each other!'

As she says that the walls of the chamber start to move inward like a giant garbage compactor. My heart pounds – if we don't get out of this room soon we'll be crushed. I don't think even my collapsible parts could survive something like that!

‘Anyway, I have important business to attend to, so I hope you don't mind if I leave you to it,' gloats Nefertina. ‘I'll see you all later … on second thoughts, I probably won't!' She erupts into laughter and the speaker falls silent.

We stare at each other. We can fight our way out of most things, no problem, but this? How are we supposed to fight a wall? That's when I notice Jay's look of concentration. There's no fear in his
eyes, just determination. He's staring at something high above our heads. I look up and notice what he's staring at.

‘There's a viewing platform up there,' he says. ‘It's hard to see because it's dark, but that must be where Nefertina was watching us from. And if that's where she was watching us, then that's where the controls are!'

‘So we've got to get up there, somehow. It's pretty high,' says Connor. ‘Asuka, do you think you could climb up there?'

She leaps up and tries to grab onto part of the wall, but slides back down again.

‘There aren't any handholds,' she says with a shake of her head. She takes out a climbing spike and tries to drive it into the wall, but it bounces right off. ‘I think these walls are made of titanium or something.'

Speaking of walls, it's getting kind of cosy in here. The sides of the room are getting closer and
closer, and I'd rather not spend my last moments with my nose wedged into a werewolf's armpit.

Leigh tries to send Chu up the walls, but it's too slippery even for his monkey paws.

‘What about you, Sam? Can you shut off the controls from here?' asks Jay. His voice is still calm, a lot calmer than I'm feeling!

‘Negative. I need to connect with the circuitry to do that.'

Jay looks thoughtful for a moment, then straightens up. ‘I've got an idea!' He turns to me. ‘Roger, you'll need to give me a hand with this one.'

Huh? Jay holds out his hand and it takes me a moment to realise he wants my hand – literally!

I pop my last piece of Braynes Gum in my mouth, then when I'm all loosened up I pull my hand off my wrist and give it to Jay, hoping that he's not going to use it to jam up the gears of the wall mechanism. He gives it to Connor.

‘Connor, you're the strongest one here. Do you think you can throw Roger's hand high enough to get it onto that platform?'

Connor measures the distance and nods, taking my hand with a grossed-out expression on his face. I resist the urge to honk his nose and freak him out, because this is definitely no time for jokes.

Connor draws his arm back as far as he can, which isn't that far because it's getting pretty cramped in here. Then he throws my hand with all his might. We all hold our breath as my hand flies up into the air and starts to fall back down to earth again. Then it lands with a thud … right on the platform!

‘Nice going, Connor,' I say. ‘I'd shake your hand, but, well …' I wave to my stump.

‘Okay, Roger, we need you to find those controls,' says Jay.

‘How am I supposed to do that? I can't see with my hand!'

‘We need you to try or we're going to end up as pancakes. Come on, Roger, I know you can do it.' Jay grins, and I try to swallow my doubt.

I close my eyes and try not to focus on the walls that are getting closer with every second. I feel my hand twitching up on the platform, then I make it rise up on its fingers and start exploring.
It's a strange feeling, making my parts move by themselves. It feels like they're still attached to my body, but very far away at the same time, as though there's an invisible cord holding all my limbs together.

My fingers scramble across the floor and bump up against the base of some kind of desk. I grip the leg of the desk and make my hand climb up.

When it gets to the top I brush the surface, trying to find something that might be the controls. I've never done this without sight before, and it's much harder. I feel a button and press it, but all that happens is the loudspeaker by the door crackles.

‘Wrong button,' I mutter.

By this point the walls are pressing firmly against my chest and back. The others are all lined up on either side of me in a row. I can hear Connor grunting, trying to push the walls back, but it's too much even for his strength.

‘Maybe you could hurry it up a bit!' says Connor.

‘Don't rush me, I've got to concentrate!'

But I know he's right. My heart is pounding. What if I can't find the controls in time? We'll be crushed and it'll be my fault! The walls get closer and closer until it's hard to breathe, and I start to give up. After all the bad guys we've fought, I can't believe it's all going to end because of a stupid wall!

I get so mad that I clench my fist up on the platform and slam it down on the surface top. And that's when I feel something click beneath my fist. Slowly the walls groan to a stop, then reverse their direction.

I've done it! I found the controls!

‘Great job, Roger!' Jay slaps me on the back once the walls have moved back enough to give us room.

‘Yeah, for a while there I thought we were going to get turned into paste,' says Asuka.

I concentrate on guiding my disembodied hand over the edge of the platform. As it falls I catch it with my other hand and twist it back onto my wrist.

‘Hey! Is that what I think it is?' asks Leigh. She points to a panel in the wall that has slid open to reveal an exit.

‘You must have released the panel mechanism when you deactivated the compactor,' says Sam.

‘Yeah, either that or it's a trap,' mutters Connor.

‘Well, then, maybe you should go first!' I say brightly. He frowns at me, then quickly exits through the panel.

‘Connor, wait!' says Jay, ‘You shouldn't rush into …' but Jay is cut off by a loud gasp from Connor. We rush through the panel after him, but he's fine, though he's turned very pale.

‘What's the matter, Connor?' asks Asuka. He doesn't say anything but points down in front of him. We follow his gaze and gasp.

Set into the floor ahead of us is a deep pit. But it's what is in the pit that makes me worried. Scorpions! Hundreds … thousands … of deadly scorpions! Yuck! I'd rather face an army of mummies than this many bugs. The thought of it makes my skin crawl.

‘Uh, maybe I don't need that recipe book as much as I think I do,' I shrug. As I do, the little finger on my left hand falls off. I quickly reach down and put it in my pocket, hoping the others
didn't see, but I'm not fooling anyone.

‘Roger, if you don't get that recipe book back soon you're going to be missing more pieces than a second-hand jigsaw puzzle,' says Jay. ‘And besides, we need to find out what Nefertina's grand plan is and put a stop to it.'

He turns back to the pit, which looks like a sea of very sharp stingers. ‘Maybe we could build some kind of bridge across …'

‘Negative, we have no materials,' says Sam.

‘Well then, we'll have to go through it.' Jay turns to Leigh. ‘Can you talk to insects as well as animals?'

She nods. ‘But I've never tried to talk to scorpions before. They're pretty aggressive, I just hope they'll listen to me.' She walks up to the edge of the pit and starts talking to the scorpions. At the sound of her voice the scorpions stop moving and all turn towards her.

‘They say they'll let us pass without stinging us.'

‘Are they telling the truth?' asks Connor.

Leigh shrugs. ‘It's hard to tell. But I guess there's one way to find out!'

She lowers herself over the edge of the pit of scorpions like she's getting into a pool and starts to wade through the mass of insect bodies. Then Jay follows with Connor, Asuka and Sam close behind him. I look around and realise I'm the only one left on dry land.

‘Come on, Roger,' says Jay. ‘They seem to be behaving themselves.'

I wonder if I can somehow take my body apart and throw myself across, piece by piece. But there are two problems with my plan: one, I'll still have to guide my hand through the pit since there will be nothing left to throw it. And two, I'm all out of Braynes Gum. Without the Loosifying Juice it contains, the next time I take myself apart I might just stay that way for good!

I guess there's no other way. I take a deep breath and slide over the edge of the pit.