The Trade
Page 7
6 Which of Rex’s machines does Van Kleiss demonstrate first after the trade of nanites?
a. Smackhands
b. Boogie Pack
c. Punk Busters
7 Where does Bobo suggest Rex is taken to recover from the trade?
a. Purgatory
b. Paradise
c. The Petting Zoo
8 What kind of Evo animal has its nanites absorbed by Rex first?
a. rabbit
b. dog
c. chimp
Answers: 1. c, 2. b, 3. c, 4. a, 5. b, 6. c, 7. c, 8. a.
Read an exclusive sneak preview of
GENERATOR REX: MIRROR MIRROR
‘COME ON, REX, it’ll be awesome!’
Rex shrugged and jabbed his thumbs against the video game controller in his hands. On screen, a zombie’s head exploded. ‘This is already awesome,’ he said. ‘It couldn’t be any … awesomer.’
‘That’s not even a word,’ Noah said. ‘And, seriously, sitting around playing video games all night? That’s your idea of fun?’
‘Yes,’ Rex nodded. He stuffed some popcorn into his mouth. ‘Yes, it is.’
Noah leaned forward in his chair and tried to make his friend see sense. ‘I’m going to spell it out to you, Rex. It’s a fun … fair.’
‘That’s not spelling it out, that’s just saying it slowly,’ Rex mumbled, through a mouthful of popcorn kernels.
‘That’s not the point! The point is, it’s got fun right there in the title. Fun fair. Does “video game” have the word “fun” in the title?’ Noah asked.
‘Not the last time I checked,’ Rex replied. He shot a zombie through the knees and watched it fall, face-first, onto the ground.
‘Nice shot,’ Noah admitted, grudgingly.
‘Thanks. I’m all about the knee-shots.’
An idea struck Noah. ‘There’ll be zombie-shooting at the fair,’ he said.
Rex raised an eyebrow. ‘Really?’
Noah sighed. ‘No, not really. I made that up. But there’ll be other stuff. Better than zombie-killing.’
‘Nothing’s better than zombie-killing,’ Rex told him.
‘Oh yeah? What about roller-coasters? And chair-o-planes? And bungee drops? They’ve got something called the Wheel of Terror.’ Noah said it again for emphasis. ‘The Wheel of Terror, Rex! I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t think I can live another day without finding out.’
The action on screen froze as Rex hit the pause button on the control pad. ‘You know I can turn whole parts of my body into machines, right?’
Noah nodded. ‘Of course I know!’
‘I’ve got the Boogie Pack that lets me fly, the Rex Ride that lets me go faster than a racing car …’
‘Yeah, so?’
‘Then there’s the others, too. Punk Busters, Smackhands, a giant sword, a crazy-cool cannon that can shoot pretty much anything …’
‘I know all this!’ Noah said. ‘What’s your point?’
‘My point is, how is a roller-coaster supposed to compete with all that? Why would I bother going up and down and around on a metal track when I can do all that in mid-air, like, a thousand times faster, and without having to pay for it?’
Noah looked annoyed. ‘Uh, well, maybe because some of us can’t do any of that stuff? You might get to zip around the place going all high-tech all the time, but what about me?’
Rex saw the hurt on his friend’s face. ‘Hey, Noah, I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I guess I didn’t think of it like that.’
‘Yeah, well, don’t worry about it,’ Noah said. He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. ‘Just forget it.’
Rex looked at the motionless zombies on screen, then back to his friend. ‘You know, maybe the fair would be better than being stuck in here?’
Noah’s face brightened. ‘So, what, you’ll come?’
‘We can try,’ Rex said. ‘Me and Bobo have been sneaking out a lot lately, so Six has got the place locked down pretty tight. It won’t be easy to get out. Bobo!’
There was a grunt from Rex’s bed. Bobo, the talking Evo chimp, opened one eye. ‘What is it, kid? I’m trying to catch up on my beauty sleep here.’
‘Get your hat,’ Rex told him. ‘We’re stepping out for some fresh air.’
Even as the hand clamped down on Rex’s shoulder, he knew it belonged to Agent Six.
‘And where do you think you’re going?’ Six asked.
Rex stood up from the air duct he had been about to crawl inside. There were few windows in Providence base, and the doors were heavily guarded. Even the ventilation system was alarmed and magnetically sealed. This should have stopped anyone breaking in or out, but Rex wasn’t just anyone. His nanites had taken care of the security systems in a matter of seconds. Noah and Bobo had already clambered into the air duct. Rex could hear them thudding their way along the narrow passageway.
‘Hey, Six,’ Rex said, raising his voice to try to drown out the din his friends were making. He thought fast. ‘We, uh, I mean I was just… checking the air conditioning.’
‘And why were you doing that?’ asked Six.
‘Because,’ began Rex, ‘I’m thinking of becoming a… heating engineer.’ He replayed the excuse in his head. ‘Yeah, that works,’ he said.
Six sighed. ‘Bobo. Noah. Get back here.’
The thudding stopped. There was silence for a moment, and then Noah’s voice echoed out from within the duct. ‘Um, I don’t think I can turn round.’
‘Hey, get your butt out of my face, kid!’ Bobo said.
‘They’re checking the system for blockages,’ Rex explained, weakly.
‘You can cut the excuses,’ Six said. ‘You were trying to sneak out. Again.’
Rex hung his head. ‘Yeah,’ he confessed. ‘There’s a fair in town and Noah thought it’d be cool if we went. But I know, too dangerous, I shouldn’t go wandering off, yadda, yadda, yadda.’
He turned and spoke into the air duct. ‘Come on, guys,’ he said. ‘Six isn’t going to let us go.’
‘You can go.’
‘You don’t have to apologise, Six, I know it’s … Wait. Did you say I could go?’
Six nodded. ‘I know being stuck in here isn’t much fun, Rex, and at least this way I’ll know where you are.’
Rex grinned. ‘I always did like you, Six,’ he said.
‘But you keep your wits about you at all times,’ Six instructed. ‘And you’re back here for curfew.’
‘What time’s curfew?’ Rex asked.
‘When I call you and tell you it is,’ Agent Six said.
With a shrug, Rex clambered through the window. ‘We’d better get moving, then. Thanks, Six.’ Rex knelt down by the open vent.
‘You know you’re free to use the door now, right?’ Six asked.
‘Yeah, but where’s the fun in that?’
Six gave him a curt nod. ‘Fair enough,’ he said. ‘Oh, but Rex?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Try not to get into trouble.’
‘Hey,’ Rex replied, with a wink. ‘I’ll see what I can do!’