by Paul Bristow
Evolve rolled around to the rear of the building and stopped, flashing its lights at Mr Finn. There, a newer building had been added on to the main structure. It had no doors, but there was a slightly rusty set of metal shutters.
“Right. We could get in quietly that way I’m sure,” said Mr Finn.
Before he could work out the best way to do that – perhaps something involving the Magnomatic Beam – Evolve simply rolled forward, smashing through the doors and setting off the alarm.
“What? Why did you…” Mr Finn ran inside the building.
Evolve was waiting beside a pile of stuffed animals he had knocked over.
“Stay here,” said Mr Finn, scowling. “Please switch your lights on so we can see, and don’t move until I tell you.”
Evolve beamed its coloured lights from underneath its circular rim, illuminating rows of old paintings, engine parts and model boats.
Mr Finn scuttled towards some rows of crates at the back of the room, and quickly started reading the contents.
“Dinosaur bits. No. Egyptian treasures. No. Pirate files. No. Watt archive! Three crates?! I knew I should have brought Resilience.”
Mr Finn dragged the first crate out. Two smaller ones were stacked behind. “Right. We’ll have to hope for the best here. Evolve!”
The robot rumbled forward, its arms unfolding from its huge spherical body.
“Pick these up and run… I mean roll!” said Mr Finn, grabbing the smallest of the three crates.
With the alarm still ringing through the darkness, and the museum’s hidden treasures left open for all the world to steal, Mr Finn and Evolve disappeared into the night with boxes full of secrets.
Chapter 19.
Dots and Dashes
Cam had a problem. Usually, Megan would have told him that was because he had a chip on his shoulder, but for once, the problem was not really his fault. Together, they were trying to figure out the best way to solve it on the way home from school.
“So, Mr Finn likes your sculpture design the most for the Waterworx competition,” said Megan, “and it turns out there’s a fair chance that whatever you make will be turned into a robot.”
“Well, if our last two encounters with Waterworx sculptures are anything to go by, then yes – an evil robot.”
“Correct,” said Megan. “An evil robot which may end up trying to smash us and our robot.”
“Your robot,” said Cam.
“Whatever,” said Megan. “And worse, it looks like it will probably be a massive scary sea monster from one of my own gran’s stories, designed by you and Kevin.”
“That about covers it, except the part where Mr Finn requested more claws and teeth,” said Cam. “Discuss.”
Megan sighed. She had been feeling quite low since she dropped the coin in the hospital. She did drop it while saving Cam’s life, and Cam had made a big show of appreciation by buying her a Chinese takeaway on the way home. But she knew it wasn’t a good thing that they had lost it.
“Talking of horrible sculptures…” Megan pointed to a lorry that was slowly driving past. Phoenix Egg from the shipyards was securely strapped to its back. A crane truck followed behind, ready to lift it into place in the town square.
“I’m starting to feel a bit outnumbered,” said Cam.
“Can’t you just convince Kevin to change his design?” said Megan.
“Change it to what?”
“I don’t know – something less dangerous,” said Megan. “A kitten or something.”
“Kittens have claws,” said Cam, “and teeth.”
“You’re right,” said Megan, “kittens are terrifying.”
They opened the door to Megan’s house, and there was an excited stomping as Tin Jimmy battered down the stairs like an oversized puppy. Megan was glad her parents weren’t back from work yet.
“Megan! Cameron! The Morse code has worked. I have printed.” TJ was brandishing a tiny strip of thin paper with holes in it.
“Seriously?” said Cam, grabbing it from him.
“What does it say?” asked Megan.
“Well, I don’t know, do I?” said Cam. “I don’t speak Morse. Google it.”
Megan was already on her phone doing just that. “Dot dot dash, dot dash dot, dot dot dot dash… urv?”
“Does that help?” asked TJ, sounding almost eager.
“Nope,” said Cam, “sounds like we only got part of a word, like ‘curve’ … or ‘scurvy’.”
“Or ‘survive’?” said Megan. “Maybe if I hook the Goozberri Five up to the Morse-code machine it’ll help download the missing part of the message.”
“Well, you do that while I go home for tea. Plus, I’ve got to work out how to tell Kevin we need to change our dead-ly sea monster to something cute and fluffy tomorrow.”
“Try and think of a nice way to say it, Cam,” said Megan. “Try really hard.”
“Of course,” said Cam, “I’ll be extra polite.”
Megan hoped that ‘extra polite’ would take Cam up to the level that most normal people would consider ‘basic polite’.
“I’ll meet you at lunchtime,” said Megan, “you can tell me how it goes.”
***
The beeping started again as soon as Megan took TJ back up into her room. “Is it the rest of the message?” she shouted.
“What.” TJ abruptly stood up. “What. What. What.”
“TJ, are you ok?”
TJ walked out of Megan’s bedroom and stepped towards the stairs. “What. Initiate take off,” he said, stepping forwards and not taking off at all. He tumbled noisily down the stairs, landing face-down at the bottom.
Megan ran down after him, relieved again that her parents weren’t in to witness it all.
TJ was on the floor, still attempting to walk, like a wind-up toy that had tumbled over. The fall had dislodged the panel at the back of his head. Megan had been wondering about opening it, but not like this…
“Hang on TJ, let me try and help,” said Megan, carefully opening the panel and peering inside. A circuit board with a large black microchip was welded to the inside of his head. It had a few different wires connecting to bulbs, other dusty-looking circuits and down towards the Morse-code machine in his chest.
“Well, I’m pretty sure James Watt didn’t build this bit,” said Megan, carefully pulling at the microchip, loosening it from the circuit board. TJ stopped moving, and the lights in his eyes disappeared.
“TJ? TJ you still there?”
Nothing. Megan pushed the microchip back in. Still nothing.
“Have I broken you?” said Megan, laughing nervously and pretending not to panic. She was feeling bad enough about losing the coin; she really didn’t want to have busted her gran’s robot as well. “I can’t have broken you!”
She thought back to coding club and her conversations with Miss McTeer about what to do when computers didn’t work properly.
“You switch them off and back on again.” Megan pushed the button on the back of the robot’s neck, and his eyes once again flickered into life.
“Megan. What happened?”
Megan stared into the back of TJ’s head, deep in thought. “I’m not sure TJ, but I think it’s maybe time for some replacement parts. Come on, I’ve got the stuff in my room.”
TJ slowly got to his feet and looked up the stairs. Realising he had fallen, he began checking his arms and legs for breakages. “There have been many replacement parts,” he said sadly.
Chapter 20.
Chips and Sauce
Everyone in the dinner hall was watching. It was a bit embarrassing.
“No!” shouted Kevin, the angriest Cam had ever seen him. His face was going a bit red.
“I just think…” said Cam.
“You’re just jealous because I’ve done all the work and I’m going to win the Playstation.”
“I don’t like Playstations,” said Cam, “I have an Xbox. And that’s not even it.”
“What is it then?” sai
d Kevin. “Another one of you and your girlfriend’s little secrets?”
“Megan’s not my girlfriend,” said Cam, who had this conversation with someone at least once a week.
“Then how come you hang about with her more than anyone else?” said Kevin. “The rest of us might as well not be here at all.”
“Suits me!” shouted Cam.
“Fine!” Kevin stormed off.
“Well,” said Cam, “class this afternoon’s going to be really awkward.”
Megan walked over with her tray and sat down next to Cam. “Looks like you made a mess of that,” she said. “It’s no wonder we’re outnumbered if we’re making enemies wherever we go.”
Cam scowled and stole some of her chips.
“Mind you,” said Megan, “I’ve been wondering about that… maybe we aren’t as outnumbered as you think.”
“How do you mean?” said Cam, taking his secret bottle of tomato sauce out of his schoolbag and squirting it all over Megan’s chips.
“If my gran knew other kids with superpowers, and you and I both have superpowers… should we be looking for others?”
“I think we have enough to be getting on with,” said Cam.
“But Cam, don’t you think other people could maybe help?” said Megan.
“Yeah, only if they’re nice,” said Cam. “Other people are mostly a pain.”
Megan smiled and dipped her chips in the tomato sauce.
“Also, I’ve had an idea,” said Cam. “If I can figure out how to half-transform into things, I could have, like, cheetah legs and totally clean up on sports day this year.”
“I think people might notice the spotty legs,” said Megan.
“You could do it too,” said Cam. “Flying during basketball and long jump?”
“Tempting,” said Megan, “I’ve got double PE next.”
***
The day dragged on in the special way that days with double PE and French do. What made it even worse was how dark it was getting when they finished school, which made the walk home to do homework all the more grim.
On the plus side, it meant that they could sneak around old buildings in the dark without making their parents suspicious. And it meant that it was dark enough for people not to notice unusual things hiding in the shadows. Things like the robot that was hiding in a back street, waiting for Megan and Cam.
TJ couldn’t do subtle. He shouted Megan’s name and waved.
“TJ! You’re supposed to be at home. I left that software installing.”
“It has installed.”
“Well that’s great, but you’re not supposed to move about during the day! Someone might see you. Why are you out?”
“We need to go somewhere,” said TJ. “Now.”
“Why?” said Megan. “Have you blown my house up?”
“No, not yet. My new programming is working. I am remembering,” said TJ. “It is the list from the hospital. The names have reminded me of somewhere. A place.”
“Somewhere from Gran’s map?” asked Megan.
“I bet it’s the graveyard,” said Cam. “Is it the graveyard?”
“A place not on the map,” said TJ. “We must go now. While I remember.”
Megan looked at Cam. He looked as tired as she was, but he nodded. They both instinctively turned to their phones to text their usual excuses:
“Right, let’s go!” said Megan.
“Just let me get a chocolate biscuit first,” said Cam, reaching into his schoolbag. “If I’m going to get attacked by another giant robot, I don’t want to die hungry. And there’s nothing to eat at home anyway.”
Chapter 21.
Trails and Tracks
Glancing quickly around to check no one was watching, Cam clambered over the fence and peered down the dark embankment. The remains of an old railway line, now broken and overgrown, disappeared into woodland.
“It’s like we’re just wandering around looking for the darkest, scariest places in town. And then getting ambushed in them.”
Megan shrugged. “Everyone should have a hobby.”
“Collecting stamps is a hobby. This is more like a death wish.”
Megan and Cam steadied each other as they slipped and skidded down the hill towards the trees. Eventually Megan had to let go of Cam to stop herself from falling over with him.
“Cheers,” said Cam, not even attempting to wipe the mud from his trousers.
“Wait for TJ.”
The robot was still clambering over the broken play-park fence above the embankment, doing a very awkward job of keeping a low profile.
“TJ, be careful on the hill, it’s…”
The robot tripped, skidded and sludged messily down towards the trees. Without a flicker, he stood back up again.
Megan ran over, concerned. “You ok?”
“I am fine. Cameron also fell.”
“Yeah, but not quite all the way.” Cam grinned.
“It looked like you fell quite far to me,” TJ replied.
“Enough!” said Megan. “Is this definitely the place TJ? Can you remember anything yet?”
TJ stared at the old track. Torn cans and old bottles littered the inky darkness. “It is familiar,” he said, which was as good as they were going to get.
Together, the three of them started into the woods.
“What is this place anyway?”
“There used to be playing fields round here somewhere,” said Cam. “My granda said they used to play football, cricket, all sorts up here when he was wee. Had its own stop on the train and everything. But it just got left and ended up all ruined and overgrown.”
“I don’t think I’d be playing up here now,” said Megan, “even during the day. It feels weird. Creepy.”
“Yeah. I remember in primary school Andy McLafferty got dared to run into the middle of the forest. Hardest guy in school. Ran out crying. Brilliant. But I’m starting to think he had a point.”
“Are you going to start crying Cameron?” asked TJ.
Megan stifled a giggle.
“Well maybe he saw the Catman,” said Cam. “You’d be crying then too.”
“Don’t start, Cam.” Megan kicked an old can, which rattled and echoed around the cutting. “Whoops, didn’t mean to do that.”
The three of them stood still and silent, waiting for the noise to have woken some sort of monster, because, to be fair, that’s the sort of thing that had been happening recently. But the forest stayed quiet, nothing fiendish lunged out of the dark.
“Who is the Catman?” asked TJ.
“I’m not sure I want to tell you,” said Cam. “Unless you want to spend the next five minutes being terrified in the dark.”
“I do not feel fear. Are you scared, Cameron?”
“The Catman,” interrupted Megan, “is supposed to be this old tramp who sleeps in abandoned train tunnels and garages, but some folk think he has a cave up the hills, where he stays with dozens of stray cats.”
“That makes him sound nice,” said Cam. “You missed out the bit where he kidnaps and eats children.”
“No one is totally sure that’s true, Cameron,” said Megan, rolling her eyes. “I was sure I saw him once, down by the bins in Gran’s back garden. She said shipyards round here used to employ a ‘cat man’, usually just a nice old guy who kept cats to scare the rats away from the warehouses.”
Cam jumped in. “Then after the shipyards closed, he went feral, and all his cats followed him, looking for food – and Catman would do anything to keep them well fed. Anything.” He frowned darkly.
“But no one has seen him for years, Cam. My dad said he used to see him back in the eighties. He’d be ancient now.”
TJ clicked and whirred. “Prolonged exposure to the elements reduces life expectancy, especially in a town with so much rain.”
“Why is a Catman so hard to believe in?” said Cam. “If I could do cats, I could be Catboy.”
“Yes, but you wouldn’t live in the dark and eat your classmates,
” said Megan.
“Dunno,” said Cam, “I reckon Big Stevie McGhee would keep you going for a while. He’s already sixty per cent hamburger. How far in do you think we are now?”
As they had progressed into the forest, the sky had darkened, there were fewer cans and crisp packets, and the old track had disappeared.
“Keeps his forest tidy at least.” Megan smiled.
Cam was checking his phone. “That’s me lost my signal. So if he gets us now, I won’t be able to call for help.”
It was really dark, even with the torchlight and eyebeams, and Cam and Megan realised they hadn’t been paying attention to where they were walking. “TJ,” said Megan, “I don’t think I want to walk on much further. Have you remembered what you’re looking for yet?”
“We have missed something,” said TJ.
“That’s what I was thinking,” said Megan.
“Really? I was thinking if we leave now I could still be home in time to watch River City,” said Cam.
Tin Jimmy stomped forward, further into the dark. Soon they could hear him in the distance, banging and tapping on a rocky mound covered in foliage.
“It is here,” he said eventually.
“What is?” asked Megan.
“The secret door.”
By the time Megan and Cam had tripped and scuttled out of the trees to where TJ was standing, he had already managed to haul the old door open. It had been disguised with moss and nettles, easy to overlook at a glance, especially in the dark.
Megan peered inside to see light flickering distantly.
“I will go first,” suggested TJ.
“Uhm… yep,” said Megan, “sounds good.”
TJ stepped through into a large cave, with Megan and Cam following a short distance behind. The cave curved around to the left, then sloped downwards. Cam tapped Megan’s shoulder and pointed silently at the top of the cave. There were electrical cables running all the way round and down to the light in the distance.
At the far end of the cave, someone had made a little living room, with an old sofa, a gigantic old wooden-framed television set and a bookcase. A ragged and torn curtain hung at the back of this room. TJ stepped towards it to investigate further.
