Desert Disaster (5 page)

Jimmy and the other robot racers sat around a camp fire in the middle of the deserted town. It was dark, but they were well lit by the fire and the stars above. Jimmy had never seen anything like it. There were so many stars, and every one looked like a diamond, sparkling bright and white against the jet-black sky. The racers had all had a good meal, and while their teams fussed over the robots (all except Grandpa, who was playing chess with Cabbie), the competitors talked about what they expected from the next day.

“I expect it’ll be pretty simple,” said Chip with a wink. “I’m sure there won’t be any surprises or panics.”

The whole group burst out laughing. They had yet to run a race that went smoothly.

Just then Joshua Johnson came ambling over, the gold ‘L’ on his dark blazer gleaming in the firelight. He looked more like he was on his way to a king’s banquet than preparing to spend the night round a camp fire in the middle of nowhere.

“I have a little surprise for you,” said the robot co-ordinator with a broad smile. And without another word he produced a small tablet TV from his inside pocket and placed it carefully on an empty chair. He swiped his finger across the screen once, and all of a sudden an image flashed up in front of the racers.

“Hello, racers,” Bet Bristle said from the screen. “It’s been an exciting day, hasn’t it? Congratulations to you all for making it this far.”

The children shuffled a little closer so that they could hear what Bet was saying.

“As you are so far from home, Lord Leadpipe asked me to provide you each with a little treat. Something to remind you that your nearest and dearest are thinking of you during these testing times. Enjoy.”

The screen changed suddenly and Jimmy found himself looking at a busy town in a hot country. Shoppers, tourists and stallholders struggled to get into the picture and give a thumbs-up to the camera.

“It’s Cairo,” Sammy gasped.

Then the camera panned left and focused on a small, dumpy-looking woman with a nervous smile on her face.

“Mother!” said Sammy, louder this time.

“I have been amazed by the support that Samir has had from Egypt,” said the woman on the screen. The name
Bahiti Bahur
appeared on the bottom right-hand corner. “I am very proud of him. We all believe he can be the next Robot Races’ champion!”

The scene changed quickly. The TV now showed a place Jimmy knew well. It was his home town of Smedingham in England, but a richer, leafier part of town than he lived in. Bet appeared in a posh-looking front room with floral wallpaper and a lace doily on every surface. The microphone was pointed at an elegantly dressed middle-aged woman with rosy cheeks and a pearl necklace.

“We miss Horace ever so much. I worry about my little kootchy-face!” said the woman.

“Horace, is that your mother?” asked Princess Kako.

Horace didn’t answer, but stared at the screen in horror.

“We love you, Horace!” the lady called. “Mummy sends kisses and cuddles!”

Horace’s head fell forward onto the table in embarrassment. Just when Jimmy thought it couldn’t get any worse for him, Mrs Pelly pulled out a stuffed toy which was dressed in a racing jumpsuit. “You forgot to take your lucky teddy! I’ll give Jenson the Bear to Bet so she can pass him on when she next interviews you.”

Bet smiled sweetly as she took the teddy.

“Aw,
Mum
!” shouted Horace at the screen as the other five tried to hide their smiles.

The image on the screen shifted to show Bet now in Japan. She stood in front of the Imperial Palace, interviewing a young man in a smart suit.

“Satoru!” shouted Kako. “That is my cousin!”

“Her Imperial Highness Princess Kako has truly brought honour to the people of Japan. The nation has been watching and sending messages of support. Everyone is Kako-crazy! Look at the fan mail you are getting!”

Bet held up a handful of mail, and a few things the fans had made. There was a knitted toy of Kako, pictures of Lightning, and even a comic book with a cartoon Kako on the cover.

“People are making comics about you! That’s
so
cool!” said Missy.

The TV changed to a small American town with bunting stretched across the main street and a sign which read: ‘Chip Travers, Number One!’ Below it stood what looked to Jimmy to be the entire town. There was a uniformed marching band, hordes of people, and even a squad of cheerleaders. Bet was stood next to a lady holding a flag with Chip’s face on it.

“That’s my mom!” said Chip.

“We’re all rootin’ for my boy Chip!” Mrs Travers said. “We believe he can win this thing and bring the trophy back to the good ol’ U.S. of A!” Then the cheerleaders burst into song. “Chip and Dug, they’re the best! They are gonna beat the rest!”

Chip laughed aloud as scene on the TV changed to the Outback in Australia. It was a large farm, with abandoned cars and tractors strewn about.

“Ah, home sweet home!” said Missy.

A boy of about nineteen years of age stood in front of a barn, his arms folded across his chest.
That must be Missy’s brother!
thought Jimmy. They looked exactly the same, right down to the way they dressed.

“All right, sis? You’re doing a great job.” He smiled.

“That’s Scott, my brother. I haven’t seen that no-good waste of space for weeks,” said Missy.

“We know you can do it. Now hurry up and win this thing, the sheep miss ya!”

The TV changed again, and this time Jimmy knew it must be for him. But who would it be? He didn’t have any brothers, sisters or cousins. His only family was Grandpa, and he was here with him. He watched anxiously as the camera panned over his school. Suddenly a familiar face came into view.

Max!

Jimmy grinned and leaned forward to hear what his best friend had to say.

Max seemed nervous in front of the cameras. “W-we’re all really proud of Jimmy,” he said, glancing at the camera shyly.

Bet smiled. “Were you and Jimmy always big fans of Robot Races, dear?” she said in her soothing voice.

“Yeah, we used to watch it together on my phone all the time. It wasn’t that long ago that we were in this playground, shouting for Big Al to win,” said Max.

Really? It seems like ages ago for me
, thought Jimmy.

“We can’t wait for you to win it, Jimmy, and bring the championship back to Smedingham!” Max said, holding up a big sign that read: ‘GO, JIMMY!’

Then the TV went blank once again.

There was a long silence as they all thought about the family and friends they had seen on the tablet.

Then Horace got to his feet and dusted off sand from his expensive trousers. “Well, I hope you all have your runner-up speeches ready!” he said with a gloating grin. “Zoom and I will be hot on your heels tomorrow, and I’ll bet my boots that we take first place!”

Jimmy rolled his eyes. But he couldn’t stop thinking about what he had seen between Horace and Mr Pelly earlier.
If Horace is up to his old tricks again, I’m not going to let him get away with it
, he thought to himself determinedly.

“This time tomorrow, I’ll be at the top of that podium and you lot will be eating my dust!” Horace continued.

“Horace, if I thought for a moment that you stood a chance of winning, it’d keep me awake all night,” said Missy. “But I think you’ll find—” She pretended to fall asleep on the spot and fell backwards into the sand, snoring loudly. The other racers laughed, and Horace shot Missy a scowl.

“You’ll be laughing on the other side of your face, McGovern! My father says—”

“Scorpion! Behind you!” cried Sammy. Everyone turned to look where he was pointing, and Horace leaped to his feet like he’d had a firework lit under his bottom.

“What! Where? Kill it! Trap it! Somebody
do
something, quick!” Horace screamed.

Jimmy’s heart jumped, but as he looked around the camp he spotted Sammy putting a hand over his mouth. Jimmy looked closer and saw that his friend was trying to hide a smile. His shoulders shook, his head bobbed and then he burst out laughing, unable to contain himself any more.

“He’s just playing a prank,” shouted Chip, who’d also noticed Sammy’s expression.

“Ah, strewth, Sammy, that was a good one. You really had me goin’ for a second,” Missy giggled.

The others laughed too, and settled themselves back down. All except for Horace. He was still on his feet and his face was bright red in fury and embarrassment.

“Listen here, Bahur!” said Horace, almost spitting the name into the camp fire. “No one makes a fool out of me and gets away with it! You’ll pay for this!”

And with that he stormed off into the darkness in the direction of his tent.

“Well, he sure had his pants in a twist, didn’t he,” Missy commented with a grin.

Soon after, everyone agreed it was time to get some sleep. They said their goodnights and walked away across the camp to their own beds. Sammy and Jimmy headed over to their Bedouin tents, still laughing about the scorpion.

“
It’s ... it’s a ... SCORPION!
” Sammy laughed, then imitated Horace’s high-pitched scream. “That was funny, yes? His face was – how do you say? A picture!”

Jimmy smiled too, but dropped it when Horace walked by, scowling at Sammy.

“Oops,” said Sammy.

“Horace is angry with everyone, all the time. I wouldn’t worry,” said Jimmy, trying to reassure his friend. Secretly he thought that Sammy should be careful. He wouldn’t put it past Horace to look for revenge once they were back out on the race track. And he’d already been acting suspiciously all evening.

I need to find out what he’s up to
, thought Jimmy. He said goodnight to Sammy, but instead of going into his own tent, where he could already hear Grandpa snoring, he crept towards Horace’s tent. Slowly he moved nearer and nearer, until he could almost press his ear to the canvas.

“Receiving? Over,” came a voice from inside. It had an electronic crackle to it.

“Affirmative, I am receiving, over,” said another voice.

Jimmy inched quietly down the canvas and found a tiny hole in the tent wall that he could press his eye up against. Inside, Horace was sitting on his bed with a small glow of light coming from his hand. He raised his arm and spoke into his fist.

“Will this work?” he said.

“Of course it’ll work!” said the electronic voice. It was Mr Pelly – he must be talking to Horace through the comms-device!

“Those stupid engineers won’t think to look in your helmet. They only ever check inside Zoom for gadgets. This is foolproof!”

“It had better work!” said Horace. “I want to make those stupid kids eat their words. Make the directions clear, and we’ll have first place wrapped up by this time tomorrow.”

So that’s what Mr Pelly had handed Horace!
Jimmy realized.
They’re going to use a communicator to keep in contact. Mr Pelly will be able to direct Horace, showing him the fastest way to the finish line!
Jimmy stepped back crossly...

Snap!

A twig under his foot broke in two.

“What was that?” said Horace from inside the tent.

Jimmy didn’t wait to hear if Horace got up or came out – he just turned on his heel and sprinted back to his own tent.

No wonder Horace is more confident
, he thought as he ran across the cool sand.
His dad’s going to help him navigate! What a cheat!

WHOOP! WHOOP!

“YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE! YOUR ATTENTION, PLEASE!”

Jimmy shot out of bed and fell onto the floor in a tangle of bed sheets as a siren continued to blare. He managed to stand up and peer out of the tent flaps at whatever was making the awful noise.

“THIS IS THE ROBOT RACES TEAM. TODAY’S RACE WILL BEGIN IN TEN MINUTES.”

Jimmy blinked and saw where the loud-hailer voice was coming from. It was on an airship floating just 50 metres above them, with the words
RACE MARSHAL
down the side. Jimmy rubbed his head and yawned.

The voice continued: “MISSY MCGOVERN WILL LEAVE IN TEN MINUTES. CHIP, JIMMY AND SAMMY WILL LEAVE IN FIFTEEN MINUTES. PRINCESS KAKO’S START TIME IS FIVE MINUTES AFTER THAT AND HORACE PELLY WILL FOLLOW IN ANOTHER TWENTY MINUTES.”

Missy walked casually past Jimmy’s tent, on her way to the start line. She was already wearing her jumpsuit and helmet, ready to race.

“G’day, Jimmy!” she said. “Nice PJs!”

Jimmy looked down at his embarrassingly tatty Robot Races’ pyjamas, which were covered with cartoon pictures of all the previous winners. He was definitely
not
ready to race. He ducked back inside the tent and kicked the leg of Grandpa’s camp bed. The leg broke, causing the bed to collapse underneath him. Grandpa sat bolt upright with a jolt, looking sleepy and surprised.

“Hmm?
What? Who?
” he said, confused. “What was that for?”

“Twelve minutes,” said Jimmy, tearing his suitcase apart to find his toothbrush.

“Twelve?” repeated Grandpa.

“Twelve! Until the race starts!”

Jimmy could tell that his grandpa was still half asleep. Grandpa scratched his head, white hair sticking out at all angles.

“Twelve?”

“It’s
eleven
minutes now!” shouted Jimmy. “We need to get Cabbie ready!”

“Tea,” Grandpa said, springing to life all of a sudden. “I need tea.” And he dashed out of the tent, leaving Jimmy to climb into his racing gear.

High above them, the race marshal started a new announcement.

“RACERS READY! THE CO-ORDINATES FOR THE FIRST CHECKPOINT TODAY ARE 18, 42...”

Jimmy tried to memorize them as he hopped about the tent. He just had time to raid the fridge, which contained a new selection of disgusting breakfast creations from
That’s Shallot!

“Let’s see,” he muttered. “Will it be sprout croissants? Or cabbage flakes? No. Maybe a celery Danish pastry?”

He chose the carrot juice with a courgette yogurt, as it didn’t require any chewing so he could simply pour it down his throat as he went. He burst out of the tent with his helmet under his arm and ran to Cabbie, just in time to see Missy and Monster surge out of the abandoned town. They disappeared into the sand dunes.

Grandpa was waiting by Cabbie, holding out a flask of tea and a breakfast jam sandwich.

“Come on Jimmy, lad!” he grinned.

But Jimmy had suddenly remembered something –
Horace
.

In the morning rush he’d completely forgotten about the conversation he’d overheard the night before. Jimmy had planned to confront Horace that morning and force him to hand over the communication device, or else Jimmy would go to the race stewards. But now Jimmy was minutes away from missing his start time. He didn’t know what to do.

“Come on, Jimmy, hop in,” Cabbie yelled to him. “We don’t have all day.”

“Something wrong, lad?” Grandpa asked as Jimmy climbed into his seat.

Jimmy shook his head. It was too late now – he’d just have to concentrate on his own race.

Anyway
, he thought.
Horace is starting more than half an hour after Missy. He doesn’t stand a chance of winning.

“Good luck!” Grandpa bellowed. Just as he was shutting Cabbie’s door, Jimmy heard a growl of anger.

“No, no, no! This can’t be happening!” Sammy was rooting around inside the cab of Maximus, throwing out pieces of paper and rubbish.

“What’s up, Sammy?” called Chip from the cab of Dug.

“I’ve lost my map and compass! I had them here yesterday but they are not here now. I cannot find the way without them, yes?”

Sammy ducked back inside the cab while his father shouted at a race official to do something.

This had the mark of a Horace Pelly trick all over it, Jimmy thought. He opened his mouth to tell Sammy what he suspected, but just then there was another
whoop! whoop!
followed by Joshua Johnson’s echoing voice on the loud-hailer.

“Gentlemen, ten-second warning,” he boomed. “Start your engines!”

Dug’s powerful engine roared to life and Jimmy had no choice but to hit the ignition button on Cabbie.

“Even if I’m right, I don’t have any proof that Horace stole that map and compass,” Jimmy muttered to himself.

Then Dug’s lights turned to green and Dug was off in a cloud of sand.

Jimmy put Cabbie into first gear and waited for his own red light to change. His foot hovered over the gas pedal for a second, and then the light changed to green and he slammed his heel to the floor. The caterpillar tracks whirred, Cabbie’s engine roared and with a whoop of excitement, Jimmy sped out of the abandoned town.

Chip and Jimmy both set a terrific pace over the first few miles, and very quickly they’d left the camp far behind. Looking in his rear-view mirror Jimmy hoped to see a puff of sand or a glint of rotor blades that would be a tell-tale sign that Sammy was underway behind them. But he saw nothing.

Soon the desert terrain changed again. It became hillier and Jimmy found it hard to drive. Cabbie seemed to be enjoying the ride, though, tearing up and down sand dunes. They would crawl up to the top and free-wheel down the other side at top speed.

It wasn’t long before Chip and Jimmy caught up with Missy, and the three of them ploughed on together towards the first checkpoint of the day.

“Cabbie, engage cruise control,” said Jimmy. He wanted to look at the map briefly, so Cabbie took control for a few moments. Jimmy had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong. They had been driving for ages but there was still no sign of the checkpoint, and what was more worrying was that no one else seemed to be following them. He put down the map and took control again, but tapped at the Cabcom screen. He linked to Monster and Dug, and Missy and Chip’s faces popped up on the screen.

“I think something’s gone wrong,” Jimmy said. “We should have reached the co-ordinates by now. Do you think we’ve taken a wrong turning?”

Missy nodded, and they all agreed to pull over. They stopped where they were, on the brow of a large sand dune. As they got out of their racers, Jimmy could see the desert stretching out around them.

“Have either of you got a croc’s clue what’s going on?” said Missy. The boys shook their heads. “I don’t know where I could have gone wrong! I haven’t misread a map since I was five years old!” she added.

“According to my calculations, we should be
here
,” said Chip, pointing to his map. Jimmy and Missy nodded. “Which means there should be a small outcrop of rocks over
there
.” He pointed to where he imagined it should be, but there was nothing there except mile upon mile of sand. Jimmy stared out at the barren yellow landscape bathed in the light from the hot, hot sun.

Suddenly he was hit by a sinking feeling in his gut, and he looked down at his compass.

“Oh dear,” he said. “We’ve gone very, very wrong, and I think I know why...”