The Hollywood Mission (4 page)

Max Remy and Alex Crane stood on the command deck of the starship
Intrepid
Voyager and carefully scrutinised the scanner. A small green dot bleeped innocently on the darkened screen before them, but what it indicated was anything but innocent. It was an asteroid, travelling at the speed of light and it was headed straight for them.

‘What do you think?' Max leant over the shoulder of the ship's navigator.

‘I've studied all the available data and I estimate we have a 97 per cent chance of a direct collision course.'

‘And the size of the asteroid?' Agent Crane asked.

The navigator gasped as if he wasn't getting enough air. ‘About the size of Mars.'

Max saw the edge of Alex's face flicker. She'd never once seen Alex afraid but that flicker gave away a moment Max would never forget.

‘How long have we got?'

The navigator wiped his brow with an already soggy hanky. ‘About twelve minutes.'

Alex turned to Max. ‘How are the repairs on the Astro-Thruster going?'

The Astro-Thruster was a device that used high-frequency signals to destroy objects in the
starship's path. It had been damaged in battle with a rebel ship two days ago.

‘Slow. The technicians are working by remote and the solar activity outside the ship is interfering with the speed at which they can work.'

The Astro-Thruster was the only device capable of obliterating an asteroid of this size. There was no alternative. ‘We'll do it manually.'

Within sixty seconds the two agents were standing in the sealed exit chamber in preparation for their entry into space. Their suits had been checked and the oxygen cable fastened. If all went well, they should be able to reach the Astro-Thruster, repair the damage and be back on the command deck in time to see one of the most spectacular explosions of their careers. Alex looked across at Max and gave her a wink before turning to the Chamber Master and giving the nod.

The doors of the chamber opened and they were flung into space. Max loved this part. It was like floating in a giant ocean of stars and even though they faced possible death, it somehow made her feel calm.

Alex reached the Thruster first and immediately began repairing the damage. She worked fast and without fear. She'd almost finished
when, with only ninety seconds left before impact, a violent force slammed her into the side of the ship. Max avoided the same treatment by grabbing hold of the Astro-Thruster. She radioed her friend who hung limply in her suit.

‘Alex? Can you hear me?'

No response. Max took the tools from Alex's hands and began working, unsure when another blast of solar wind would come her way. She had to work fast and then get her friend inside. She had to save the
Intrepid Voyager
from being pulverised into a million pieces of space junk. From

‘Aaaaah!' A blast of wind slammed into Max's face. She looked up from her bench on the verandah and saw the spinning blades of an upright fan whirring like a swarm of angry wasps.

‘Thought you might like a little breeze.' Ben failed to notice Max's pale expression as he sat next to her. ‘Yeah, that's better.' He smiled as Max tried to calm her heart rate.

At Ben and Eleanor's house, the verandah was Max's special place to sit and write or to talk about things. She didn't know if it was the hectares of
land stretching off towards the faraway horizon or the birds flitting in and out of the trees, or the smell of paddocks and Ben and Eleanor's cooking that made it so perfect. No matter how crazy the world was, sitting on the verandah made everything seem calm and tranquil.

Most of the time.

‘Larry's been at some clay making today,' Ben announced.

When conversations started with Larry the pig, Max usually regretted asking questions. She loved her aunt and uncle, but predicting the weather from the behaviour of their pig was too close to crazy. Don't ask anything, Max's brain warned her mouth.

‘Clay making?' Max winced. Why didn't she listen to her brain?

‘Yeah. On really hot days he digs up clay and nudges small models out of them. The sun bakes them rock hard. Gotta be a hot day, though.'

This was too much. ‘Models?'

‘Yeah. Once he made a model that was the spitting image of the prime minister.'

They sat in silence for a few minutes before he stood up. ‘Think I might go and see what's for supper.'

Max smiled as she watched him leave. She picked up her book but before she could start writing again, Eleanor stuck her head around the door. ‘Knock, knock. Can I join you?'

‘Sure.' Max closed her book. She'd finish her Alex Crane adventure later.

‘Thanks for visiting.' Eleanor brushed Max's hair from her eyes. ‘It's lovely to have you back. Always feels like you belong here.'

Max's skin rippled with goose bumps. Her aunt could do that with just a few words. Max tried to think of something to say in return, to tell her she felt the same. She scrabbled through her brain but came up with nothing. After a few moments, she asked, ‘Eleanor, did you enjoy your time as a spy?'

Her aunt's eyes glinted. ‘I hadn't felt truly alive until I joined Spyforce. I'd always dreamed of a life full of spies and adventures, but I never thought it could happen. Then, a few months later, things got even better.' She grinned cheekily. ‘I met Ben. The smartest, sweetest, best-looking man I'd ever known.'

‘Were you scared when you went on missions?'

‘A little. At first, but Ben and I made a good team and it just … felt right.' Eleanor looked at her niece. ‘Like you and Linden.'

Max could feel her cheeks redden.

‘When you find a great partner, always remember that you have something special. Something not everyone knows.'

Max thought about the missions she and Linden had been on. They did make a good team and even though he joked way too much, she'd trust him with her life.

‘How's your mum?' asked Eleanor.

As sisters, Eleanor and Max's mum rarely spoke and had never been close. Max knew little about her family and was five years old before she even knew she had an aunt.

‘She's good. She's getting married.' Max had done such a good job of blocking it out, she'd almost forgotten. Then she remembered the worst part.

‘And Dad invited me to visit him in America but Mum wants me to stay here and help with the wedding.' Max slowly twisted the pen in her hand. Even though she'd travelled through time, she'd give it all back if she could visit her dad. She'd even give up being in Spyforce.

‘When were you supposed to go?'

‘He said I could come over straight away.'

Eleanor looked thoughtful. ‘You know what? I think it's time I called your mother.' She kissed
Max on the head and went inside the house.

What did she mean? What was she going to say? What if they had a fight and never spoke again? What if Max was never allowed back to Mindawarra? She had to stop Eleanor. She ran inside just as her aunt spoke into the receiver, ‘Hello there.'

Max dropped into a chair in the kitchen. She tried to listen in but Eleanor faced away and her words were all muffled. Besides, from the little Eleanor did say, her mother was doing most of the talking.

‘Please, please, please,' Max recited. ‘Don't let it end badly.'

The phone call seemed to last forever, until suddenly, Eleanor hung up. Max froze, not wanting the next moments of her life to happen. She looked into the hall and the light in Eleanor's study went on. It must have been bad, Max thought. She can't even face me.

Max sat back on the chair as she heard Eleanor make another phone call. She didn't bother trying to listen. There wasn't going to be anything good about hearing Eleanor plead with her mum, but after a few moments she hung up and phoned someone else.

Who was she talking to?

Max didn't have to wait long to find out.

‘That was the longest chat I've had with your mum in years,' said Eleanor. ‘Funny old thing. You know …'

Max couldn't stand it any longer. ‘Eleanor, what happened?'

‘Oh, sorry, dear. Your mother said yes. Now, do you think you might have room for some pumpkin pie?'

Pie? Eleanor had possibly told Max one of the most important sentences in the history of the world, and all she could talk about was pie?

‘Did someone say pie?' Linden appeared out of nowhere, which he did on a regular basis, especially at the mention of food.

‘Max and I were going to have some. Are you in?'

Eleanor bustled into cupboards collecting plates and forks.

‘But how did you do it?' persisted Max.

‘Ben and I have been invited to speak at a conference in LA in a few weeks and I convinced your mother to let you travel with us. I've checked the flight and there are plenty of seats left.'

‘But the wedding?' Max had to make sure she'd heard right.

‘It's not for months. I told her you'd be back in plenty of time for that. Oh, and you have to get ahead with your school work before you can go.'

Max hoped this was all true and not some cruel nightmare she was in the middle of. ‘That's great!'

‘What's great?' Ben walked into the kitchen, followed by Francis.

‘Max is coming to America with us and we're having pie. Want some?'

‘Only if you made it,' Francis said as Ben grabbed some plates and Eleanor scooped out the pieces of pie. Max could hear them chatting about how Eleanor had made it but she understood none of it. She felt as if she was in one of those films where something good happens and corny music starts to play, flowers fall from the sky and the world becomes full of light. She didn't care for girlie sparkles and she'd never be caught dead in a situation like that, but for now she didn't care. She was going to be with her dad.

‘Oh,' Eleanor added almost as an afterthought. ‘We thought Linden could keep you company, if that's okay with you both. I've called your dad, Linden, and it's okay with him if you'd like to go.'

‘Sure.' Linden scooped out another spoonful of pie.

‘Max? Is that okay by you?'

It was more than okay. Max would love Linden to meet her dad and couldn't think of one other person she'd rather be on holiday with. Of course she wasn't going to let Linden know that. ‘Yeah. Okay.'

‘It'll be nice to see your dad again. We always got along so well.'

Max smiled at her aunt. Even hard things got sorted out in this house as if they were no big deal.

‘Oh, Max.' Ben wiped his napkin across his lips. ‘I forgot to give you this.'

He pulled a small, brown parcel out of his pocket.

Max tore off the paper. After undoing the strings that held closed a leather pouch, her face brightened. It was as if she was looking at a favourite toy from when she was a kid.

‘We wanted you to have it,' Eleanor said in a voice like a warm blanket. ‘We put it back together and upgraded it from the original. It's quieter now when you use it.'

‘After all,' Ben added, ‘you helped make it possible and now that you're a Spyforce agent it might come in handy.'

Max looked at the original Time and Space
Machine cradled in her hands. All the memories of their first mission to London filled her head like an overflowing bath. There was an engraving on the back which read:

Happy travelling Max

Love, B & E

‘Thanks.' Her voice cracked and her lips flew shut.

‘You're welcome.' Ben sighed happily and turned to the others. ‘Larry's been making models again today.'

As talk turned to models he'd made in the past, Larry grunted from the end of the yard as if he knew he was being spoken about.

Max held the Matter Transporter carefully in her hands. After all that had happened in the last few days, today had been a good day. Max sat back in her chair, surrounded by her favourite people in the world, and as she thought about visiting her dad, Larry snorted in the dark and pushed clay into strange shapes.