Hot & Cold (5 page)

‘Welcome aboard
Shining Light,
EJ12,' said the captain, a strong looking woman with steely blue eyes. ‘I'm Captain C2C. We'll be able to get you pretty deep into the polar cap on this icebreaker, but once we hit heavy pack ice, we won't be able to go on. Luckily it's early summer here in Antarctica—the ice has been breaking up, allowing us to go further in. It's a beautiful time of year, but these seas are rough all year round. I hope you have your sea legs, EJ12! Your mission briefing will commence in your cabin in five minutes.'

EJ went down to her cabin to prepare for the on-board briefing. It was a small room with only a bed attached to the wall, a porthole looking out to sea and a flat screen on the wall with a small socket to one side. EJ knew what to do. She attached her phone to the socket, keyed in her pin and watched as the screen switched on.

‘Welcome aboard, Agent EJ12. Briefing is delayed while new data is being processed. Briefing transmission will commence in ten minutes. You are advised to activate the BEST system in your phone.'

While some secret agents worked alone,
SHINE
believed their agents worked better with back-up and so they had developed the BEST agent assistance system.

B.E.S.T.=Brains, Expertise, Support, Tips.

Every agent had a network of people who could help her. The BESTies, as they were known,
were screened by
SHINE HQ
and cleared to help the agent on missions. Sometimes they helped with tricky codes, sometimes they were useful to get background information and sometimes they were just a friendly voice at the end of the phone when things got tough on a mission. There were two conditions though: the BESTies could ask no questions and an agent could never discuss her work with them when a mission was over. That was okay with the BESTies—who wouldn't want to be part of a top-secret mission, even if they couldn't tell anyone about it?

EJ opened the BEST app on her phone, flicked through her contacts and thought hard. A BESTie had to be someone you could trust completely, someone who would never let you down. Elle's profile came up. Elle was reliable. She was always the same, in a good way. Elle didn't change—and neither did her friend, Hannah. Both her friends' names were the same backwards as they were forwards—H-A-N-N-A-H and E-L-L-E—just like her family. No wonder they were so reliable!

Elle had also done a project on Antarctica for geography class last term and she could have useful information. In fact, Elle had useful information about lots of things but particularly the environment. She had just been voted leader of the school Eco Club for that term and was always putting up posters about what people could do to help. Elle was definitely a good choice for a BESTie. But, thought EJ, would Elle still want to help after she had been so hopeless about the party?

It was her phone—and it was Elle! That was weird. ‘Hi Elle, I can't talk now,' EJ said.

‘Oh right.' Elle sounded disappointed, again.

‘No, no,' said EJ quickly. ‘I mean, I'm OM.' That was spy-speak for ‘on mission', just in case anyone else was listening.

‘Oh right,' said Elle, sounding a bit more cheery. ‘Anyway, I was just calling quickly to say how dumb of me it was to say that you shouldn't go to Nema's party. I'm really sorry.'

EJ took a deep breath. ‘No, it's me that should be sorry and you're right, I don't even like make-up and hairstyles and all that stuff.'

Suddenly EJ's phone beeped again.

‘Sorry Elle, but I've got to go, she said. ‘I've chosen you as my BESTie, I hope that's okay?'

‘Of course it is Em, always. See ya!'

EJ smiled. She was lucky to have such a good friend and she wished she could be a better friend back. She would still have to...

‘Stand by,
SHINE
mission briefing transmission about to commence.'

EJ quickly clicked on Elle's profile to upload her as the BESTie, and turned to face the screen. There was A1.

‘Welcome aboard
Shining Light,
EJ12. As you know, you are heading towards Antarctica, the world's coldest, windiest and most uninhabited region. Uninhabited by people, that is—the area is simply teeming with animals.' And as A1 spoke, images burst onto the screen—whales, fish, birds, leopard seals and, of course, Emperor penguins.

‘Look closely at this group of penguins EJ12, because these are the birds that will let you know when you are approaching Emperor Penguin Point. You may come across other penguins but you need to make sure you find the Emperor penguins. Once you see them, you will know that you're close to the target.

‘As you know,
Shining Light
will take you as far it can but, once the pack ice becomes too thick, you will have to travel alone on
Shinemobile 3.
Be careful EJ, the ice may
look
like a smooth sheet but that's not always the case. The ice sheets are constantly moving and cracking, creating huge crevasses—make sure you don't fall in one! But if you do, remember your boots. They are there to help.

‘You now have just a few hours to get to Emperor Penguin Point and make the payment to Dr Hill. You will make the payment via your phone,' A1 finished.

‘But then won't she know it's me?'

‘Not with Invisi-Pay, she won't,' A1 explained. ‘All Dr Hill will see is the deposit and once that hits her account, you should be given an invitation to the party.

‘EJ12, you also need to know that since you left
SHINE HQ,
we have detected unexpected shipping movements in the outlying areas of the region. You may have some company out there—and I don't mean the penguins. For now, the radar shows that
Shining Light
is way ahead but you must work quickly, EJ12.
SHADOW
will not want any
SHINE
agents gate-crashing their party.'

Gate-crashing—what a modern word for A1! But then again, nothing that woman said or did surprised EJ anymore.

‘Oh yes EJ, I know what you're thinking. Well, this old woman's gate-crashed a few parties in her time, too.'

How does she do that?
thought EJ with a grin.

‘I just do!' laughed A1. ‘Good luck, EJ12.
SHINE
out.'

All that talk about parties and invitations took EJ's thoughts back to school—and Nema. She would just have to tell Nema that she couldn't go to her party. She would do something else with her
real
friends—friends that weren't mean to her or to other people. She could stand up to Nema. Couldn't she?

As EJ thought about Nema again, she began to feel sick in her stomach. But now, unlike this morning before school, it was for real. Then EJ realised that it wasn't just the thought of Nema that was tying her stomach in knots. It was the way the ship was rocking as it knocked against the waves. The waves were getting bigger and bigger, the sea was getting rougher and rougher, and EJ12 was feeling worse and worse.
Oh no, I must be sea-sick!

EJ was right. Each time the ship lurched from one side to another, her stomach went with it. For such a
huge boat, it felt like it was being tossed around like a tiny little ball in the ocean. EJ's face started turning green and she wondered how much longer it would be before she and her breakfast parted company.

Just when she thought she had better look for a toilet or a bucket or anything, Captain C2C knocked on her cabin door and entered. She took one look at EJ and laughed, but in a kindly sort of way.

‘Still looking for those sea legs I see, EJ12! You better come up on deck, you'll feel better up there. Oh, and you have activated your boat charm, haven't you? That will help too. I have mine on all the time when we're at sea.'

EJ looked at Captain C2C's wrist and saw that she had a bracelet similar to hers and a boat charm. Did all agents carry the charms?

‘We all carry the charms, EJ, and we all need a little help sometimes,' said Captain C2C, smiling. ‘Activate your boat charm and come up on deck with me.'

Gee whizz, lemonfizz!
thought EJ.
Am I the only one around here who can't read minds?

EJ found the little boat charm on her bracelet. It was locked into the wristband so the charm was almost pushing against the inside of her wrist. As she twisted it, the charm began to slowly pulsate. EJ looked up at Captain C2C.

‘It works like acupuncture,' the captain said. ‘The charm sends a current through your pulse—that's why it needs to be so close to your wrist. It's an old Chinese method and works a treat with sea-sickness. It might take a little while, but soon you'll be feeling better. Which is just as well, because we're rapidly approaching your drop point.'