Hot & Cold

by Susannah McFarlane

  ‘Don’t you even think about it!’ yelled EJ, stamping her foot. She was standing on the edge and as her boots hit the ice, she heard a cracking noise and felt the ice give way beneath her. Suddenly she was falling fast.

  As she fell, she felt something hard against her back—her snowboard! EJ reached back, grabbed her board, pulled it down and clicked her boots together. Please let there be jet-pack heels, she thought to herself. Please! She clicked again and the suction soles popped out. Another click—stilts. Aaaaaaaaaaargh! SHINE really needed a better system than this. Still falling, she clicked again and finally a jet pack emerged from each heel. EJ checked her boots were locked to the snowboard and pulled the laces to activate her boots.

  The jet packs kicked in and EJ was now flying down the steep cliff on her snowboard. She could steer her way down the cliff with her body, and then onto the ice plain below, jumping over rocks and crevasses, and all the time trying to follow the path of the pipeline and keeping her eye on the baby penguin and the skua. EJ saw the big crevasse approaching and the chick stranded on its floating ice block nearby. She needed to think fast. Pulling her laces hard, she kicked up a gear to turbo charge. She would have to pull this off with pinpoint accuracy.

  Just as the skua started to sweep down, EJ soared up and knocked the skua out of the way. Then bouncing down on the ice block, she scooped up the chick. Holding the bird tightly between her legs, she soared up again before landing back on the ice shelf. The skua dived again but it was too late, the chick was now hidden inside EJ’s jacket.

  EJ suddenly realised just how smelly one chick could be. ‘You must really like your fish,’ she told the chick, wishing she had a nose clip charm as well.

  EJ pulled her laces again, moving down a gear and into cruise control, following the pipeline. Hovering on top of it, EJ could now see the water pouring into the lower pipeline and it was steaming, still hot from the melting process. Something else would have to happen to it before it was ready for bottling. She would have to keep following the pipeline to find out. As she boarded along she looked up and there again was the skua, high up in the sky never very far behind, following her.

  Scanning with her binoculars as she boarded along, EJ finally saw the end of the pipeline. It disappeared into something that looked a bit like a factory building. EJ switched off her jet-boots and jumped off her board—she would need to move quietly in case anyone was around.

  With the jet-boots quiet she could now hear some rather impatient squawking coming from inside her jacket. Someone was hungry but what did little penguins eat? Then EJ remembered her bracelet again and the little penguin charm. EJ twisted the charm and it extended to reveal a tiny bottle labelled ‘Concentrated Penguin Nutrients, Contains Traces of Fish’ and an eye-dropper. How does SHINE always know these things?

  EJ held the chick’s beak open and squeezed in a few drops. Its big eyes blinked in a slightly surprised way but then it opened its mouth for more—clearly a successful recipe! Okay, that’s enough for now, my fluffy little friend. EJ carefully put the chick back inside her jacket. Now stay there—and stay warm. I’ve got some work to do.

  EJ pressed the Eco-Deco button on the snowboard, which luckily dissolved with just a few quick, reasonably quiet farts. She clicked on her boots to retract the jet packs and clicked her heels again to search for the ice-skates. And then her phone went. It was SHINE HQ.

  ‘EJ,’ said A1. ‘You really need to get your skates on. We have just received a temperature status report from Shining Light and the news is not good. Both the temperature and the water levels are now dangerously high. We must shut this thing down before it causes any more damage. By our scientists’ calculations, you have one hour before the temperature reaches an unstoppable meltdown level. Your alarm has been set on your phone, EJ. You must hurry. We’re counting on you—the whole world is!’

  Well, just as long as there’s no pressure then, thought EJ. I don’t work so well under pressure. She fastened her skates and glided off towards the building ahead. As she got closer, she could see that the pipeline fed directly into one side of the building. Two smaller pipes, one red, one blue, came out the other side.

  EJ walked around the side of the building and found a door with the words SWITCH ROOM on it. EJ pushed on the door but it was locked. Again she took out her trusty key charm, twisted it and pushed it into the lock, jiggled it around and the lock turned. I’m in!

  But she wasn’t exactly sure what she was in. The incoming pipe fed into a large metal tank. On the front of it there was some kind of control box with buttons and levers, flashing lights, dials and switches and beeping noises. Two pipes came out of the other side of the tank. One was red and it fed back into the pipeline and the other was blue and it shot out the other side of the tank. Right in the middle of the control box, there were two levers with screens above them. The first screen flashed words in blue and the second screen flashed words in red. But not really words. Code. More code. Gee whizz, lemonfizz! thought EJ, doesn’t anyone just use normal words anymore?

  And now the alarm app on EJ’s phone was flashing too. Only thirty minutes to meltdown! Time was running out but the letters on the screens meant nothing to EJ. No matter which way she looked at them, the words remained nonsense.

  Don’t panic, she thought. Keep a cool head. She looked around for clues. To the side of each pipe was a tap. She turned the tap on the blue pipe and water gushed out—cool water. She tried the tap on the red pipe—hot steam gushed out. And then EJ got it. This machine was like a giant water cooler and heater in one. It cooled down the polar meltwater so that it could be used as drinking water and it kept volcanic heat moving through the pipeline across the ice shelf. Then it clicked in EJ’s mind: Volpol. Volcanic and Polar. Hot and Cold.

  EJ studied the screens again and now that she had figured out the purpose of the machine, the meaning of the words leapt out at her. They were all back to front, just like what Dr Hill was doing with the ice.

  Or were they? Was she right? What if she was wrong? EJ panicked for just a split second. Then she looked at the screen one more time. She felt suddenly very calm. Yes. She was sure she was right.

  Back to front! thought EJ. If I pull the levers the other way could I reverse the process? Could I send the cold water gushing back down the pipeline to re-freeze the ice? Could it be that simple? With only minutes to spare, EJ decided it had to be. She pulled the lever leading to the red pipe down. There was a loud whirring noise and then a clank and a gush. And then EJ noticed the red pipe was slowly changing colour, moving from red to orange to yellow and blue. It was working; EJ had reversed the melting process.

  She pulled the other lever. Again, she heard the loud whirring noise followed by a clank and a gush, and slowly the blue pipe turned red, sending warm water off towards the tanks and the hotel.

  The hotel, the ice hotel! EJ had completely forgotten about Dr Hill’s party. She may have just stopped the polar ice cap from melting and quite probably prevented an environmental disaster, but she didn’t feel like celebrating. She knew she would still have to stand up to Dr Caterina Hill and she felt all her courage melt away at the very thought.

  As she turned to leave the Switch Room, EJ spied what looked like a fire extinguisher on the wall. It was a sort of cylinder with a pump hose attached. She looked more closely and read the label, ‘Volpol Portachill’. She pulled the nozzle and sprayed. The pressure release almost knocked her over but it was what came out that surprised her most—it was ice. The spray froze whatever it hit, in this case EJ’s foot. It was frozen rock solid. She could barely lift it and could only just walk. She was certainly dressed to chill now!

  EJ packed the Portachill in her backpack. That might come in handy if I find myself in hot water, she thought, and laughed at her own joke. Then she clicked her heels and, even with one boot iced, her skates re-appeared. She turned towards the blue pipe that had now turned fire-engine red. This should lead me all the way to the ice hotel ... it’s party
time!

  The ice hotel was like nothing EJ had ever seen before. If you could imagine a large city hotel with fountains and statues and lights, all completely made out of ice, then that was what EJ was looking at. The problem was that EJ couldn’t figure out how to get in—all the doors were iced shut.

  But EJ didn’t really mind—she already had cold feet about having to face Dr Hill, and it wasn’t just because she had iced one of them with the Portachill. She had a nagging feeling that she wasn’t going to be able to handle Dr Hill—the same kind of hopeless feeling she had when she was trying to deal with Nema back at school. Perhaps she could just forget this part of the mission—that would be a lot easier. After all, I’ve foiled the doctor’s evil plan so do I really need to go to the party? Maybe I’ll just cool my heels out here for a while, EJ thought as she leant against an ice pillar.

  EJ’s phone beeped. It was a text message from Elle.

  EJ smiled. Best Friends Forever. Elle knew how to make her feel good. She was a BESTie whether she was called or not. And Elle was right—she could do this. She would stand up to Caterina, if only she could find a way in. Then, as EJ walked forward a little, she felt the ground under her feet give way and once again, she was falling...

  ...and then landing again. EJ found herself on a lovely soft black rug in the middle of a silvery-white room—a beautiful room in a hard, cold way. The shiny ice-blue walls were draped with ice curtains and ice tables were dotted around, holding ice vases with long, pointy ice flowers. It all looked very fancy but it was not the kind of room you could just flop down and watch some movies in—which was much more EJ’s style. In the middle, there was a large, white, egg-like swivel chair, with its back to EJ. And from inside the chair came a voice—a cold, hard, slightly croaky voice that sounded as if its owner needed to cough.

  ‘Thanks for dropping in, EJ12. I’ve been expecting you.’

  The chair spun around and EJ came face to face with Dr Caterina Hill.

  For one really horrible moment, EJ thought she was looking at Nema—or at least an older version of her. But even Nema would have been much less scary than this seriously weird woman. Dr Caterina Hill was wearing black skinny-leg snow pants topped with a padded gold ski jacket, the hood edged with silver-grey fur. On one finger she had a huge diamond—or was it ice?—ring and her nails were long and painted silver, almost like claws. Perched on a stand next to Caterina was a skua, its eyes as black, as piercing and as mean as its mistress’s. Both sets of eyes were now staring straight at EJ.

  ‘I am so glad you’re here EJ12, although I must say you took your time. I thought you might be late for my little party.’

  ‘I don’t see any party,’ said EJ coolly.

  ‘Oh, you know what they say, two’s a party and three’s a crowd,’ Dr Hill smirked. ‘And after all, it’s a party especially for you. Did you really think I didn’t know you were coming? You walked right into my trap.’

  EJ looked confused.

  ‘Don’t you worry your unpretty head about it. I have eyes everywhere,’ said Dr Hill, stroking the skua. And it was then that EJ recognised the bird—it was the same one that had been following her since she left Shining Light. Now she noticed that it had a small camera tied to its leg. Caterina had seen everything that had happened to her.

  ‘ SHADOW will pay me double for my water and one of SHINE’ s top agents,’ Dr Hill continued.

  ‘Except that you don’t have any water anymore,’ said EJ quietly—so quietly that it was almost impossible to hear her.

  ‘What? Speak up? Cat got your tongue? Or should that be ‘‘Caterina got your tongue’’?’ Dr Hill cackled cruelly.

  EJ took a deep breath. She was suddenly really tired of mean people saying mean things. ‘I said, ‘‘You don’t have any water anymore.’’’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Dr Hill scoffed. ‘My pipeline is pumping millions of litres of pure melted ice water into my tanks as we speak. And soon those tanks will be rolling their way onto SHADOW tankers. SHADOW will control the world’s water market and I will be rolling in millions of dollars!’

  ‘So you’re doing all this just for money? What about the South Pole? What about the Emperor penguins?’ EJ pleaded.

  ‘Bah! Penguin, shmenguin. I couldn’t care less. All those smelly penguin chicks can fall in the sea and drown for all I care. Ha-ha-ha!’

  ‘You’re not going to get away with this, Dr Hill!’ said EJ defiantly.

  ‘Oh really, EJ ‘‘zero’’, and who is going to stop me? Certainly not SHINE—those silly do-gooders back at SHINE HQ couldn’t stop me if they tried. That silly A1 with her silly mottoes—she had her chance but chose not to pay. And now she really will pay.’

  ‘No she won’t. I’m here and I’ll stop you!’

  ‘Don’t make me laugh, EJ ‘‘zero’’, you couldn’t stop anything.’

  That did it for EJ12. She looked straight at Dr Hill and instead of seeing someone scary, she just saw someone with bad nails and a cold heart—someone she could stand up to. She was not going to back down or melt away this time!

  ‘I already have, Dr Hill. I think you’ll find that your pipes have been switched. Cold water is now heading back to re-freeze the polar ice cap and hot water is on its way here. In fact, now that I think about it, your ice flowers are looking a little droopy...’

  Caterina sat up with a start. Sure enough, the hot water now being pumped around the ice hotel was slowly melting the ice tables, the ice vases and the pointy ice flowers inside them.

  ‘How did you do that?’ Dr Hill turned back to EJ with a frosty glare. ‘Well, no matter, I will simply switch them back again—after I have dealt with you, EJ12.’

  ‘Maybe you should just chill out for a while, Caterina...’

  ‘How dare you, you little nobody. I’ll...’

  But that was far as Dr Hill got. EJ pulled the Portachill from her backpack and sprayed it full blast towards the ice-queen. Almost instantly, Dr Caterina Hill was snap-chilled into an ice statue. She was finally as cold as she looked.

  EJ heaved a big sigh of relief. She gave Caterina another quick spray with the Portachill. With a few top-ups, she would remain snap-chilled for quite some time and she would be fine once she thawed out—in prison.

  While Caterina was now frozen, her ice hotel was slowly melting around her. Hot and cold, cold and hot, everything seems to be one thing or the other at the moment, thought EJ. It would be nice to be somewhere in the middle for a while. Then a little squeaking and rustling sound in the lining of her jacket broke into her thoughts—she had nearly forgotten about the little penguin chick!

  Gently she lifted it out. ‘Time for some more food, is it?’ The little chick looked up with its mouth wide open, waiting. ‘I’ll take that as a yes,’ laughed EJ as she took out the charm bottle and dropped some more food into the little penguin’s beak. ‘But now we need to get you back to your family and make sure your mum has been able to get back to the breeding ground.’

  As she was putting the penguin chick back into her jacket, something fell out of her backpack and onto the ground. It was the little silver whistle that came with Caterina’s ‘party’ invitation. She had forgotten all about it but was curious as to what it did. She picked up the whistle and blew. It made a long high-pitched sound.

  EJ blew it again. She had no idea what it could have been for.

  Then EJ heard a noise approaching from a distance. The noise got louder as it got closer. Dogs barking? Here? EJ turned towards to see a sled racing towards the melting ice hotel. It was pulled by six excited husky dogs, barking madly and wagging their tails. A sign on the side of the sled said ‘Ice Hotel Express’.

  ‘Well,’ said EJ to no one in particular. ‘Dr Hill can’t be all bad if she likes dogs, but who’s going to look after them now?’ And then she heard a different kind of bark—a little yap—and to her delight, a little snow-white puppy jumped off the sled and half-scampered and half-tumbled up to EJ.

  ‘Aren’t y
ou beautiful!’ exclaimed EJ, holding out her arms. The little pup jumped all over her, rewarding her with wet puppy licks. Yucky, but kind of nice too.

  ‘Okay, let’s get going then,’ EJ told the dogs. She climbed on to the sled with the puppy next to her, gave the reins a slight pull and the huskies began a slow trot. Using the reins to steer, EJ turned the sled back along the path of the pipeline crevasse, which was now slowly but surely disappearing as the ice re-froze.

  The dogs were strong and fast and together they sprinted across the ice as one. They seemed to know exactly where to go, how to avoid crevasses and bumps, and where to find the smoothest, fastest path. They ran up a ridge and as they came over the top, EJ could see that her pipe plan had worked. The crevasse that had split the nesting ground in two had covered over and there were penguins everywhere. As she zoomed in with her binoculars, she could see that the birds were all waddling around in threes—two adult birds and a chick in each group. The penguin families were back together again and, by the look of those chubby and not so little chicks, they were all well fed.

  She guided the sled down the hill and onto the plain but was careful to keep her distance from the penguins. As the dogs paced along, EJ continued to scan the breeding ground, and then she found what she was looking for—two adult penguins, waddling around as if they too were searching for something. EJ guided the sled as close as she dared and then stopped. She took the little penguin chick out of her jacket and placed it gently on the ice. It began to squeak and squawk loudly and the two older penguins quickly waddled towards it.