Tomb of Doom

by H. I. Larry

  TOMB OF DOOM

  BY H. I. LARRY

  ILLUSTRATIONS BY

  ASH OSWALD & ANDY HOOK

  Tomb of Doom

  published in 2006 by

  Hardie Grant Egmont

  85 High Street

  Prahran, Victoria 3181, Australia

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

  A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

  Text copyright © 2006 H. I. Larry

  Illustration and design copyright © 2006 Hardie Grant Egmont

  The moral rights of the author have been asserted

  Illustration by Ash Oswald & Andy Hook

  Design by Ash Oswald

  Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER

  ONE

  Sometimes, thought Zac Power, being a spy isn’t as cool as it sounds.

  Right now he was on a camel in the middle of the desert. Zac knew that this might sound good to another kid. But it really wasn’t.

  For one thing Zac’s camel kept spitting gross stuff onto his sneakers. Then there was the heat. The sand was so hot that if you were dumb enough to walk on it without shoes your feet would melt up to your ankles – just like butter on hot toast.

  The heat was terrible for Zac’s hair, too. He had already used half a tube of Super-Strength Hair Gel.

  The other reason this trip wasn’t cool was that his entire family was here too. Everyone in the Power family was a spy, even Zac’s geeky brother Leon.

  They all worked for the Government Investigation Bureau, or GIB for short. Zac had been on some awesome missions, but this family holiday wasn’t one of them.

  Zac tried to pass the time by playing the latest game on his SpyPad.

  SpyPads look like game consoles. But they are actually mini-computers, with a mobile satellite phone, a laser and a codebreaker too.

  Zac was usually excellent at electronic games, but this one had him stumped.

  It was called Pyramid Panic. Whenever he reached the treasure room in the middle of the pyramid he was ejected out through a hole in the roof. Zac’s highest score so far was 2000. One player called A.T.S. had the top score of 200,000! Dumb game, thought Zac, as he deleted it from his SpyPad.

  The tour guide on the front camel was droning on.

  ‘We are now entering the desert region of the Amber Sands. The famous Vanishing Pyramid which is the tomb of the Golden Sun King is said to be located here,’ he said. ‘It’s the only pyramid never to be looted by tomb raiders.’

  ‘That’s because it’s guarded by GIB,’ Leon whispered to Zac. ‘Apparently it’s stuffed full of treasure.’

  ‘According to legend,’ continued the guide, ‘if the Vanishing Pyramid is ever broken into terrible earthquakes will shake the Amber Sands. The locals call the pyramid the Tomb of Doom ...’

  As he spoke something really strange happened. The earth began to tremble.

  RRRRRRUMMMMBLE!

  The tour guide went pale.

  ‘Let’s all stop here,’ he said nervously. But Zac’s camel wouldn’t stop. With a snort it turned and galloped away from the group.

  ‘Bye, sweetie!’ called his mum. ‘Don’t forget to wear your hat!’

  The camel galloped faster and faster. And faster. And faster! It went so fast that smoke started streaming out of its nose.

  Smoke? thought Zac. That can’t be right…

  Then he noticed a metal plate attached to the camel’s neck, hidden by fur.

  CAMELTRONIC 9000.

  Zac had heard about the this from Leon. It was a state-of-the-art robot with ten gears and airbags. Zac wished he’d realised this earlier – the CAMELTRONIC had a drinks dispenser in its hump!

  Had GIB arranged for this camel to take him to his next mission? There was nothing Zac could do but wait and see ...

  On and on the camel ran until finally they reached an oasis. The camel groaned and collapsed in a heap beneath a palm tree. Zac quickly jumped off and looked around. There was nothing there except a pond and the palm tree.

  Zac had been hoping that he was about to be sent on some cool mission. But that was clearly a false alarm. Disappointed, Zac kicked the palm tree.

  ‘Stop that,’ said the tree, crossly.

  Zac looked closer and saw that the tree was actually GIB Agent Peterson in disguise. Agent Peterson shook one of his leaves and a date fell onto the sand.

  ‘Eat that,’ he commanded.

  Zac bit carefully into the soft flesh. He suspected that this wasn’t a normal date. Sure enough, his teeth hit something hard. Zac spat out a metal disk.

  All right! His next mission!

  Zac loaded the disk into his SpyPad.

  ...loading...

  CLASSIFIED

  Mission Received 2.00P

  Top GIB spy, Agent Track Star, is MIA

  while guarding the Vanishing Pyramid.

  Tremors have rocked the Amber Sands

  region, which means the pyramid has

  been entered. Raiders may have broken

  into the tomb, and GIB now fears

  Agent Track Star is trapped inside.

  YOUR MISSION

  • Locate and enter the Vanishing Pyramid.

  • Find and/or rescue Agent Track Star.

  • Repair any damage done to the pyramid.

  Special Note

  If anyone remains inside the Vanishing

  Pyramid 24 hours after the tremors first start,

  the pyramid will collapse.

  Anyone inside will be trapped forever!

  End

  Just then, the ground shook again.

  Zac turned to Agent Peterson.

  ‘When did these tremors start?’ he asked urgently.

  ‘About two hours ago,’ replied Agent Peterson. ‘Just after Agent Track Star went missing.’

  Right. Zac knew he had to click into action. He looked at his watch.

  If Agent Track Star had already been inside the pyramid for two hours, that meant he had until midday tomorrow …

  Zac was already behind time!

  CHAPTER

  TWO

  Zac wanted to set off straight away. But there was one small problem.The CAMEL-TRONIC 9000 was in no state to go anywhere. Luckily Agent Peterson seemed to know what Zac was thinking. He shook his leaves again and a set of keys fell into Zac’s hands.

  At first Zac didn’t know what the keys were for. Then he spotted a cool looking car behind Agent Peterson. It was painted a sandy colour so it blended in with the desert. It had a roll bar instead of a roof and on the back was a big solar panel.

  Awesome! A solar-powered dune buggy!

  Zac jumped in and started it up.

  ‘There’s a Pyramid-Pack in the back that Agent Tech Head put together for you,’ said Agent Peterson. ‘It’s full of useful gadgets for a mission like this.’

  ‘Great,’ said Zac. ‘Now, which way do I go?’

  ‘North, I think,’ replied Agent Peterson. ‘Or maybe east.’ He didn’t sound very sure.

  I’ll head north-east, decided Zac as he revved the engine and set off. It was strange not having proper directions but Zac wasn’t worried. Surely it couldn’t hurt to go for a short joy-ride first!

  The
dune buggy was excellent. It zipped around palm trees and screeched around boulders. Zac even drove it on two wheels. Then he flew over the sand dunes, making huge sand clouds behind him as he bounced back down on the big fat tyres.

  After a while, Zac started getting hungry. Was there any food in the buggy? Zac couldn’t find any. But then he noticed a button on the dashboard with a picture of a hamburger on it. Curiously, Zac pushed it. With a whirr the buggy’s bonnet folded up. Underneath was a barbecue grill.

  As Zac watched, the left windscreen wiper slapped a meat patty onto the sizzling grill while the right wiper chopped up lettuce and tomatoes. Ten minutes later Zac was eating a delicious burger. There were even some chips on the side.

  The dune buggy’s clock beeped.

  He’d been on this mission for two hours and didn’t even know where he was heading yet. Time to talk to Agent Tech Head.

  ‘Hi, Leon,’ said Zac when his brother’s face appeared in the SpyPad’s satellite phone screen. ‘Any idea where to find this Tomb of Doom?’

  ‘I haven’t been able to find the exact location,’ Leon admitted, ‘but I’ll send you what I know. There are some sunglasses in the Pyramid-Pack. Put them on.’

  The sunglasses were much less stylish than the ones Zac was already wearing. But when he put on them on he understood why Leon wanted him to wear them.

  Head Up Display sunglasses!

  Any information Leon sent was beamed directly onto the inside of each lens.

  Leon sent through a message straight away.

  The Vanishing Pyramid is located somewhere around 27.66o latitude and 28.25o longitude.

  Zac entered the coordinates into the SpyPad’s GPS. Then Leon sent another message.

  What did that mean?

  But there was no time to wonder.

  Zac had to keep going. He found his favourite driving music on his iPod: Jet’s Get Born. Then he slipped the buggy into cruise control and settled back. He still had a long way to drive.

  The sun was setting when Zac finally spotted a building on the horizon.That had to be the Vanishing Pyramid! Zac jammed his foot on the accelerator. But instead of speeding up, the dune buggy slowed down and then stopped altogether.

  Zac looked at the battery meter and groaned. He was out of solar power! He was going to have to make the rest of the journey on foot.

  Even though it was evening the sand was still burning hot. When Zac tested it with the tip of his sneaker it instantly started turning into goo. There was no way Zac could walk across here!

  Quickly he checked the Pyramid-Pack. In it he found a pair of daggy sandals and some white knee-high socks. Zac put the socks back straight away. There was no way he was wearing socks and sandals. That was something Leon would do!

  But Zac took a closer look at the sandals. They were Track Changers. A dial on the side of each shoe allowed him to choose what kind of animal prints he wanted them to make. He didn’t need to disguise his footprints but Zac slipped the shoes on anyway. He remembered from spy training that Track Changers were heat-proof!

  Zac chose ‘Camel’ and headed towards the Vanishing Pyramid.

  CHAPTER

  THREE

  Zac trudged through the moonlight for what felt like hours until the pyramid was just up ahead. And then the Vanishing Pyramid … vanished!

  ‘Whoah!’ said Zac. ‘Where did it go?’ He spun around and there it was behind him. Zac ran towards it. But when he got close the pyramid disappeared again. It reappeared a few moments later in a new spot. Then Zac remembered Leon’s final message: Don’t believe everything you see.

  Could there be some kind of mirage generator protecting the pyramid? Zac knew that mirages often looked so real that people imagined they could see water when there was nothing but hot air. Perhaps that was what was happening now.

  Zac needed a way of telling the difference between the real and the imaginary. Then he remembered the latest plug-in that he had downloaded for his SpyPad: the Mirage Filter.

  He switched the SpyPad into Mirage Filtering mode. When he held it up to the pyramid that kept disappearing, all he could see was an outline. This meant that the pyramid was a mirage.

  Then Zac scanned around the desert and a pyramid appeared clearly on the screen in area where there was nothing to see at all. Zac smiled. That had to be the real Vanishing Pyramid!

  Zac checked his watch.

  He’d wasted a lot of time chasing mirages. Better get moving.

  Zac raced towards the true location of the Vanishing Pyramid. At first he couldn’t see anything. But as he got closer the Vanishing Pyramid began to appear, like it was coming out of a fog. The closer Zac got the more solid it became.

  Finally the pyramid was right in front of him. Zac reached out his hand. It was a big relief to feel the solid rock beneath his fingers.

  But now Zac faced a new problem.

  How do I get in there?

  He walked around the outside looking for clues. Halfway around he saw some hieroglyphics and his spy senses started tingling. Maybe this would tell him how to get in.

  Zac had a pretty good idea what the symbols might mean. But just to be sure he switched his SpyPad into Code-Breaking mode and scanned it along the rock.

  Seconds later, the SpyPad flashed the decoded message up on screen.

  Knock before entering.

  Could it be that simple to get into the pyramid? It didn’t seem possible.

  Well, it can’t hurt to try, thought Zac. He rapped sharply on the rock.

  Instantly it slid away to reveal a dark cavern. Zac stepped inside. With a thud the rock slid back into place and Zac found himself in total darkness. Time to switch the SpyPad into Glow mode.

  Once he had some light Zac looked around. What he saw took his breath away. The walls around him were covered in paintings. One painting showed a room full of glittering jewels. Another painting was of enormous snakes. There was also a painting of people being chased by huge scorpions.

  In front of Zac were three golden door-ways, each decorated with precious stones. Behind them were three tunnels leading off into the darkness. He was at the start of a maze!

  Agent Track Star must have gone down one of these, thought Zac. But which one?

  Zac knew that lots of pyramids were filled with booby traps and false passages. Were the paintings a warning of what lay ahead? Zac didn’t like the look of the snakes or the scorpions.

  Which way should he go?

  CHAPTER

  FOUR

  Better speak to Leon again, decided Zac. But the thick walls of the pyramid made it hard to get a clear signal. Leon’s face appeared fuzzy on the screen of his SpyPad and his voice kept dropping out.

  ‘Play the game,’ was all that Zac could hear. It wasn’t like Leon to talk about games during a mission.

  ‘Pyramid Panic,’ Leon finally yelled before the signal dropped out.

  Pyramid Panic? That stupid game that Zac had deleted from his SpyPad? Why was Leon telling him to play that when he wanted help through this maze?

  Hang on, thought Zac. The maze in Pyramid Panic must be the same as the one inside the Vanishing Pyramid!

  The more he thought about it the more sense it made. GIB probably made the game as a way of disguising what they knew about the inside of the Vanishing Pyramid. That way if a SpyPad ever fell into enemy hands they wouldn’t even realise what the game really was.

  It was a clever idea. But there was one slight problem. Zac didn’t have the game any more. He was going to have to rely on what he could remember.

  Zac looked at the three entrances and thought about the last time he’d played Pyramid Panic. The left-hand passage led to a dead end. And he was pretty sure the right-hand one ended up in a deep hole. He knew that because he’d fallen into it a couple of times.

  Easy! That only left the middle passage.

  As he headed off into the dark tunnel Zac noticed something scratched into the ground.

  Zac smiled – he didn’t need his S
pyPad to solve this clue.

  His school project on Egypt had taught him enough to work out the letters ...

  GIB.

  My hunch was right, he thought. Agent Track Star must have gone this way!

  Just then the ground rumbled and the walls shook. Zac set off again at a brisk pace. There was no way he was getting stuck in here!

  After walking for hours Zac stopped to check the time.

  This didn’t feel like the right way any more. I’ll keep going for a bit longer, Zac thought, taking a step forward. And then the ground disappeared!

  Zac plunged into a deep hole. As he landed his head whacked against the side of the hole.

  Instantly, Zac was knocked out.

  He wasn’t sure how much time had passed when he finally came round. But losing any time at all was bad. Great, Zac thought, annoyed. How do I get out?

  It was very dark in the hole. He felt around for his SpyPad to get some light. But it wasn’t there! He must have dropped it in the passage above when he fell.

  This was just like playing Pyramid Panic, but worse. At least with the game he could turn it off and start all over again when things went bad.

  Zac felt the walls around him. They were very slippery and steep. If only he had some sort of light! It was impossible to do anything in this darkness.

  Zac looked down and saw a bluish light moving around the floor. He blinked a few times but the light was still there. A moment later it was joined by other blue lights. Soon there were enough lights for Zac to see what was going on.

  The crawling lights were beetles with big horns. Each one was the size of Zac’s palm and had wings that glowed with a purple light. They looked familiar to Zac, but where from?

  Oh yeah! Ultraviolet Glowing Scarab Beetles – Zac had seen them on Leon’s favourite nature show – Creepy Creatures.