Atlantis United

by Gerard Siggins

  After about ten seconds, Ross resumed speaking.

  ‘We will interview each of you separately, in turn, to ensure we learn as much as we can about this episode. Kim and Ajit, go to your rooms. Craig, go to the canteen, and Jess wait in the common room. Joe, please stay where you are.’

  Joe remained in his seat while his classmates left, and as soon as the four had left Luce turned to him.

  ‘Joe, we believe it was you who brought the transmitting beacon onto the island. This has put our whole project at risk, and may have put Victor’s life’s work and enormous investment in jeopardy. It may even have put our lives at risk. What do you have to say?’

  Joe’s face creased in anguish. He fought to keep back tears, but was also angry, and confused.

  ‘I don’t know what to say. I don’t know anything about it,’ he insisted.

  ‘Well it was found in your kit bag, stapled into the lining under the bottom,’ said Ross. ‘It was impossible to find until we tracked it down using a scanning device.’

  ‘I’ve never seen it anything like that,’ insisted Joe. ‘I’ve had that bag since my birthday – my gran bought it for me.’

  Luce walked towards Joe, and sat in the seat next to him.

  ‘Joe, you have to tell me everything you know about this bag. Where did your grandmother get it? Where do you keep it at home?’

  Joe answered her questions and tried to think of anything else that may have helped.

  ‘Who has been in contact with the holdall since you were invited to come to the Academy?’ asked the captain.

  Joe paused, and tried to recall the short period of time between meeting the football scout, Fry, and leaving for Clew Bay. Only he and his parents had touched the bag, he was sure of that.

  ‘Mum packed it, and Dad lifted it into the boot of the taxi. That was it…’

  Then he remembered something odd.

  ‘But I fell asleep in the taxi. And I only woke up when he stopped to buy petrol and he slammed the boot. But why did he need to open the boot to buy petrol?’

  Luce looked at Ross.

  ‘… And why did he even stop at the petrol station? The taxi drivers were all given a full tank of petrol and told not to stop on the way.’

  Chapter 31

  Joe was relieved to be off the hook – he had been really worried at one stage that they were going to expel him from the academy and throw him off the island to find his own way home. Ross, Luce and the captain asked him more questions about the bag, and the trip to Clew Bay, but they were now on the warpath for the taxi driver, not Joe.

  When they were finished they buzzed the other four to return to the lecture hall.

  ‘We are now satisfied that none of you is responsible, although one of you was the unwitting bearer of the beacon. We have studied the device and now know a little more about our pursuers.

  ‘But first, we now need to leave Carriacou – Mokie has the device, which he is going to bring back to Barbados by boat this evening, and from there he will be able to hide it on-board an oil tanker which is en route to West Africa. Hopefully by the time they discover what we have done we will be far from here.’

  Kim looked quizzically at Joe. Nobody else had even been interviewed, so he must be who they were talking about, she thought.

  ‘Where are we going?’ she asked.

  Luce looked at the captain, who nodded.

  ‘We have still to pick up Deryck St Vincent,’ she reminded them. ‘So we have asked him to fly to the nearest airport to here, which is in Grenada. He will get a dinghy out to meet us.’

  The captain smiled. ‘We have to be there before dark, which means we have to take the most direct route, which means we will be sailing over an active volcano. You will be quite safe, as the waters are well charted, but do take care and hold on tight when you hear a rumble, which happens every few minutes. The locals have a great name for it too – the volcano is called “Kick ‘Em Jenny”.’

  Luce permitted the classmates to visit the viewing room to watch the volcano as they passed. The opening at the top of the underwater mountain – the vent – was two-hundred metres below the surface so they were able to stay clear of it. They could see bubbles escape and float past the porthole, and just as they sailed past there was a rumble and the whole ocean shook for a second.

  ‘Wow!’ gasped Jess. ‘That was so cool.’

  ‘Does it ever erupt?’ asked Kim.

  ‘Every few years, I think,’ replied Luce. ‘It’s so far underwater that it won’t do much real damage – unless you’re a nearby boat – but there could be a tsunami which would be dangerous for people on the nearest islands.

  ‘And turtles,’ pointed out Jess.

  Atlantis continued its journey underwater until the captain announced it would shortly be surfacing. The classmates followed Luce down the staircase to the doorway where they waited for the new coach to arrive.

  ‘This guy is really famous,’ said Ajit. ‘My dad used to talk about him all the time. He won the World Cup with the West Indies I think. He used to bowl really fast.’

  ‘I suppose he must be really tall to bowl quickly,’ said Craig.

  Luce smiled. ‘OK, we’ve fully surfaced, so you can go outside for some fresh air while I welcome Mr St Vincent aboard.’

  Outside, night was only minutes away and Joe marvelled at the gorgeous sunset that lit up the horizon. Down at the shoreline Luce helped a man out of a dinghy while the boat’s owner’s eyes bulged as he took in the amazing sight of this island that had just sprung up out of the ocean.

  Ajit rushed down towards the new arrival, offering to help carry his suitcases, but pulled up sharply as the coach stood up straight for the first time.

  ‘His height… that’s amazing….,’ whispered Craig to Joe.

  Jess walked down towards the group and went to shake the coach’s hand.

  ‘Welcome, Mr St Vincent, it’s a pleasure to meet you,’ she smiled, bending forward and looking him straight in the eye.

  ‘I’m delighted to be here, little humming bird, but call me Deryck,’ he grinned. ‘Are you one of my cricket stars?’

  ‘No…’ replied Jess, ‘I’m more of an athlete, but I’ll try anything.’

  ‘Well, that’s good to know,’ Deryck replied, ‘now let’s get inside before that sun drops away under the sea.’

  Chapter 32

  Over the next few days the new coach, a jolly little man, became a great favourite with the five. Only Ajit and Joe knew how to play cricket so he had to explain it to all the rest, but he made their classes fun and they learned quickly. He could be serious when he wanted to, and Ajit made great strides at the game.

  They continued their classes in maths, English and the other subjects, as well as football, rugby, tennis and athletics, the ‘focus sports’, as Luce called them. Joe noticed huge improvements in not just his own efforts at football, but also with the rest of the group.

  ‘I think I might become a footballer,’ said Jess over breakfast one morning. ‘It’s such a great feeling to score a goal.’

  ‘Well, not everyone gets a chance to score a goal every game,’ smiled Joe. ‘My job back home is in defence so I have to stop people scoring. They’d never let me even go into the other team’s half of the field!’

  ‘That must be really boring,’ replied Jess. ‘Scoring goals is the only thing I want to do when I’m playing football.’

  Joe chuckled. ‘That’s not a bad attitude I suppose, as the most valuable players are usually those who can score the most. But I’d prefer to be a midfielder, directing the team and playing a part in attack and defence. The Professor says he wants to see me playing there.’

  ‘We’re doing a lot more football than anything else at the moment,’ sighed Kim. ‘I do like it, but I wonder when we’re going to get a chance to play rugby.’

  Luce had been queueing for her food behind them, but when she was ready she sat down beside Kim and addressed the group.

  ‘Well… apologi
es for listening in, but I was going to talk to you about this later,’ she started. ‘We’re actually going to pretty much concentrate on football for the next four weeks.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Kim. ‘I thought we were focusing on a number of sports this term?’

  ‘You’re right,’ Luce replied, ‘but we have been in touch with Victor and he has given us new instructions. You know Victor is an extremely wealthy man whose vision for a sports academy in an underwater island is what has brought us all together.

  ‘Well, when Victor set off on the path to building Atlantis he wasn’t alone. His twin brother, Aston, had come to work for him and he was put in charge of managing the Academy in the early years.

  ‘Aston was lazy, however, and wanted results quickly. Instead of working long-term on nutrition and conditioning to develop young physiques as we do here, he looked for short-cuts, and that proved disastrous.

  ‘Some of our students found themselves with stress injuries that should never have been allowed to develop, others lost too much weight too quickly, which can be very dangerous. But his greatest sin was to seek out chemical ways of making the children run faster or find extra strength and power. Illegal ways. As soon as Victor found out, he was sacked on the spot and banished from Atlantis.

  ‘Unfortunately, before he left he managed to steal the blueprint – Victor’s whole plan for the island and the academy. Since then he has teamed up with a man called Kratos, who owns one of the world’s biggest sports equipment companies and the pair have built their own sports academy.

  ‘Victor and Aston made contact again last year and began to patch up their relationship – they are brothers after all and both are getting old. Aston told him about his sports academy and boasted about all the successes he has had.

  ‘Victor grew angry at this and challenged him to a contest to see whose methods are best. Aston laughed at him and said he would only agree if Victor would put up Atlantis as a stake against his island, which he calls Hy-Brasil.

  ‘So… what does that mean for us?’ asked Joe.

  ‘It means that we will spend the next four weeks turning you into the best footballers we can make you. Because if you aren’t, and you don’t win your next match, we will lose a lot more than just a trophy.

  ‘What will we lose?’ asked Ajit.

  ‘The Academy … everything …’ frowned Luce. ‘Victor has decided to bet Atlantis on your next game of football.’

  Chapter 33

  Joe looked at Kim, Jess looked at Ajit, and Craig looked at the floor.

  ‘You’re not serious?’ asked Kim.

  ‘Most of us are beginners at football, and only Joe has ever played seriously before,’ said Ajit.

  ‘And I’m rubbish. That’s why you picked me,’ said Joe.

  ‘Two old guys hammered us in the only match we’ve ever played,’ said Jess.

  Luce put up her hands to silence them.

  ‘I know, I know, and I understand your concern. No one will blame you if you lose, and we lose Atlantis. But no one has given up on you – in fact Professor Kossuth has been chuckling about the challenge and reckons he can turn you into world beaters in the four weeks we have.’

  ‘World beaters?’ laughed Craig. ‘That’s nonsense. When are we stopping next?’ he asked, ‘because I just want to go home.’

  Luce stared at Craig. From the way she speared a chunk of melon, it was clear she wasn’t happy.

  ‘You won’t be going home, not for four long years,’ she started. ‘That is in the contract your parents signed on your behalf. In return you are provided with a top-class education and top-class coaching and free food and accommodation for four years.

  ‘After you leave here you will all be able to benefit from our graduate programme, which will look after all your educational needs as well as fitness and medical assistance if needed.

  ‘So, let us be clear – don’t for a moment think we will just let our huge investment in your future just walk out the door. You are staying – all of you,’ she finished, staring them each in the eye in turn.

  And with that she stood up, took her tray, and left the room.

  The five were stunned, and nothing was said for almost a minute.

  ‘Does that mean we’re, like, prisoners here?’ asked Jess to no one in particular.

  ‘More like slaves,’ snarled Craig.

  Joe and Kim exchanged a glance.

  ‘That’s not really what this is like, Craig,’ started Joe. ‘This is a great opportunity for us – I for one have no plans to go back to playing left-back with Woodstock Wanderers and training in the rain before going home to do my homework and watch dancing talent shows on telly.’

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Kim. ‘This place is boring at times, and they work us very hard, but you have to realise it is an amazing chance for us all.’

  Ajit smiled weakly. ‘What have we got to lose anyway. We can’t just give up on Victor, and Luce, and Kalvin. We have to go out and play for them, and for Angela, and Fry, and Ross, everyone else who works here.’

  Craig shrugged his shoulders. ‘I suppose so. But it’s messed up. There’s no way we should be the ones with all this pressure on our heads. Just because Victor got into a stupid bet.’

  Kim nodded. ‘You’re right, Craig, but now we will have to step up and learn as much as we can. If there’s anyone here who can teach us what we need to learn, and come up with a plan, it’s Professor Kossuth.’

  There was a real spring in the Professor’s step when he entered the classroom. He had a wide smile on his face and was carrying a net bag full of footballs.

  ‘Good morning, everybody, and I must say I am relishing this opportunity now our minds have been focused on this big game in the near future.’

  He smiled and took a bundle of papers out of his briefcase.

  ‘I have been studying your numbers and performance statistics and have found much of interest which may explain why you were first selected for Atlantis Academy. For example, Ajit, what is your birthday?

  ‘January the 5th,’ he replied.

  ‘Joe?’

  ‘January 8th.’

  ‘Kim?

  ‘January 19th.’

  Jess revealed that her birthday was February 10th, while Craig was born on March 7th.

  ‘Why do you think all your birthdays occur in the first ten weeks of the year you were all born?’ asked the Professor.

  The children all looked puzzled.

  Professor Kossuth explained. ‘Because almost all youth sport is organised on the basis of age, kids born in January and those born in December are all thrown in together. But the January child is almost a year older, which means they are generally bigger, faster, and have greater motor skills.

  ‘Some studies in Norway have shown that fifty per cent of sport stars are born between January and March, and another thirty per cent between April and June. So, kids born in the first half of the year are four times more likely to succeed at sport than the late summer and autumn-born children.

  ‘But why is this? I suppose if you are bigger and faster than your team-mates you will stand out, and therefore get more chances to shine, and be given chances to play at a higher level or be picked out for extra training. Which of course, just makes things worse for the smaller kids, I’m afraid.

  ‘I’m sure Luce and her team took note of your birthdays when they were identifying who to bring on this great adventure.’

  The Professor pushed a button and five springy ropes dropped down from the ceiling, each attached to a ball-sized net bag.

  ‘Drop your football into the bag,’ he directed them. ‘Now, this may look like some sort of punch bag, but in fact it is what I call a “header bag”. I will now demonstrate the correct technique for heading a football, and you will copy me. I don’t want you to repeat this too often as I don’t think that would be good for you – I will give you a sponge ball for practice – but heading is an important skill and you must learn how to do it effectively and safely.


  ‘Firstly, the only part of the head you must use is the forehead, secondly, you must close your mouth, and thirdly, keep your eyes open at all times. These are simple instructions, but you would be surprised how many adult, professional players fail to execute all three at once. You should also brace your neck as it is important that you guard against the impact.’

  The Professor spent half an hour letting the five practice with sponge balls, and then with light plastic balls, before adjusting the header bags so they were level with each player’s head. Ajit proved to have surprisingly strong neck muscles and was also most accurate with hitting with his forehead. The Professor then adjusted the height so each had to jump a little to head the ball.

  The exercise was a lot less boring than Joe expected, and he enjoyed placing the ball with his head. He confessed to the group that in the seven games he had played that season he had only headed the ball once, because he was so wary of hurting himself.

  After a short time the Professor called them to stop heading the ball, and played them a video of some of the great players scoring and defending with their head.

  ‘Look at Cristiano Ronaldo, a very talented player on the ground but I don’t think I have ever seen a better attacking header of the ball,’ Kossuth gushed. ‘Watch how he leaps, and almost hangs in the air, before he spears the ball with his forehead towards the goal.’

  The five admired the action, and chatted some more about great players they had seen.

  ‘Ronaldo once said something very wise, that you all should bear in mind,’ smiled the Professor. ‘He was asked what it took to be a great footballer and replied, “Talent is important – but it is not the key point.”

  ‘He went on to explain how players needed to learn the game, to understand it, to work at their talent. The other side of that, as I see it, is that players not blessed with great talent can still rise in the sport by working hard and learning from the masters. And I, you lucky children, am a master.’