by Axel Lewis
* * *
As they came towards the last few hundred metres of the Arctic Roll, the gaps between the racers tightened once more. They were jammed together nose to tail as they powered through the half-pipe.
“Breathe in, Cabbie, we’re getting squeezed,” said Jimmy as the steep walls came dangerously close to taking off Cabbie’s wing mirrors.
Behind them, Dug and Maximus were both sending up a flurry of snow as they sped along.
“Hey!” cried Chip over the Cabcom. “This track is ruining my paintwork!”
Up in front, Cabbie could see Monster’s huge chassis scraping the frozen walls as well. Jimmy could hear Missy over the radio, shouting encouragement at her racer. “Come on, you lazy lump of dingo dung, it’s just a bit of frozen water, just power on through.”
“Good point,” said Cabbie. “I like her style.”
“We’ve made it to the crossroads. Here we go!” shouted Jimmy as all six racers hurtled out of the half-pipe and onto the open section of the course.
In the distance Jimmy could see snow-covered peaks rising up from the ice to the left, a grey sea speckled with ice floes to the right, and, at its edges, ice cliffs like sharp jagged teeth. Straight ahead, a narrow ice track stretched to the horizon.
“Still want the snow track, Jimmy?” asked Cabbie. “The snow on those mountains looks pretty deep.”
“And those clouds look like they’re just about ready to dump a whole load more snow,” Jimmy agreed.
He paused for a second ... then came to a decision.
“Hold onto your hat, Cabbie. We’re taking the ice!”
Chapter 6 - Dancing on Ice
“Did you hear that, Grandpa?” Jimmy said, punching a button on the Cabcom.
“I can hear you, my boy. You do whatever your gut says is right,” said Grandpa.
“Thanks, Grandpa. Anyway, the ice can’t be that thin, can it?”
“Have you got your scarf on?” asked Grandpa.
“Yes,” Jimmy sighed. “And my thermal vest.”
“Good,” said Grandpa. “Now when you get onto the ice, keep it steady. If you go too fast, you’ll lose control. And you need to keep an eye out for—”
“Hold on a sec, Grandpa,” Jimmy interrupted as he spotted something ahead. “What’s that?” He punched a button on the dashboard and one section of the windscreen zoomed in on the route, as if he was peering through binoculars. The track opened up into an expanse of ice as the wind had picked up and whipped dangerously at each of the racers.
“Markers up ahead,” said Cabbie, detecting them on his screen. “Left for the snow route, straight on for the ice route, and right for the sea route.”
Sure enough, there lay the faint outlines of a track, and off to the left side there was a sign, which read:
BEWARE
Racers failing to stay within the track markings risk straying onto thin ice. Any robot requiring the assistance of Leadpipe safetybots will be disqualified from the race.
“If we get into trouble we’ll be rescued,” Jimmy said grimly, “but we’ll be out of the race!” He squinted into the distance. Snow was beginning to fall now, but he could see sweeping lines across the ice like the impressions left by ice skaters on a rink – but much wider and deeper. They must be the track markings, he thought.
“Hold onto your bobble hats,” Jimmy yelled. “Can you get a reading on the ice route, Cabbie? Will it take our weight?”
“Computing,” replied Cabbie with a whir of his hard drive. “Looks good,” he concluded. “The route marked out is easily thick enough, no dangerous cracks detected. We should be fine.”
Jimmy hunched lower over the wheel and peered through the whizzing windscreen wipers at the ice track ahead.
Suddenly Lightning surged up through the pack, using first Dug, then Maximus, then Monster to shelter from the wind. Then the robobike streaked ahead of them all before swinging out to the right and making for the dangers of the Arctic Ocean.
Behind Cabbie, Horace and Zoom were neck and neck with Sammy and Maximus. Horace swung left, straight into Maximus, trying to barge the hoverbot out of the way, but instead his sleek black robot, shaped like a sports car, slapped straight into Maximus’s air cushions and was sent spinning away. By the time Horace had regained control he was a long way back.
“Ha,” said Jimmy triumphantly. “Serves him right.”
Jimmy looked into his rear-view mirror and caught a flash of yellow and gold as Chip sent Dug roaring off to the left and up towards the snow-covered peaks. Just ahead of them were Missy and Monster.
“Just as I thought, Cabbie. Those two racers are the best-equipped to deal with the tough snow terrain.”
“And it looks like they are making short work of things already!” replied Cabbie as Dug and Monster quickly climbed through the deep snowdrifts, scattering an avalanche of white powder behind them.
“Wow, look at Princess Kako go,” Jimmy said, turning his attention to the right side of the crossroads where Lightning was sprinting towards the ocean. “I hope she knows what she’s doing.”
With a final burst of acceleration, Lightning rocketed off the edge, diving through the air towards the sea track, which was marked by bobbing Leadpipe buoys. As he flew, Lightning’s wheels folded in and a propeller emerged from somewhere beneath his robobike chassis. By the time he hit the water, Lightning had transformed into a jet ski with Kako perched comfortably on top. The girl in silver simply hunched lower over her racer and skimmed out to sea in a storm of spray. She zipped between the floating rocks of ice, getting further and further into the distance until she disappeared from sight.
Jimmy knew that the viewers watching at home would love that manoeuvre. He hoped one of the camerabots had caught it.
Sammy and Maximus followed Kako and Lightning onto the water, his hoverbot air cushions gliding smoothly off the edge of the ice and onto the water without a bump, his huge turbo-propellers leaving a mist of sea spray behind them.
“Come on, Jimmy. It’s time to show these heaps of junk what we’ve got,” Cabbie said, and Jimmy turned his attention back to the ice ahead.
“Get ready, Cabbie. Things are about to get slippy,” Jimmy warned. And with that, they raced through an opening between the ice cliffs and onto the ice track.
“Woo-hoo!” cried Cabbie.
“Remember, Cabbie,” said Jimmy. “Dug and Monster have gone up onto the snow track. It’s a much shorter route and those two robot racers can shift that snow like a lawnmower shifts grass.”
“We’ll be faster,” said Cabbie confidently, adjusting his suspension balance. “You watch me. Lightning and Maximus might be fast on the water too, but they’re no match for us on this ice.”
“And it’s just us on the ice track,” added Jimmy.
“Even better,” said Cabbie with satisfaction. “No one to put us off our game.”
“No competition,” smiled Jimmy. “We’re going to—”
Jimmy stopped talking and listened. There was a low rumble coming from somewhere behind them. It was getting louder. Jimmy glanced in his rear-view mirror. Through the falling snow, he could just make out a black shape coming up behind them. As it drew nearer, it got louder and clearer.
“Oh no,” groaned Jimmy.
“Horace Pelly and Zoom are right behind us,” announced Cabbie. “And they’re coming up fast.”
Chapter 7 - Off Ice
“Zoom’s gaining on us,” said Cabbie grimly.
“What can we do?” asked Jimmy as he steered into a wide, arcing bend in the ice track.
“My sensors reckon I’m at top speed on this ice,” said Cabbie. “I’m just about hanging onto it. If we go any faster, I’m not sure I can stay in control. Anything could happen,” he warned. “But we could fire the rocket-boosters, I suppose.”
“No,” replied Jimmy firmly. “This ice is too fragile for that. We’d burn a hole straight through to the ocean. We’re going to have to come up with something else.”
> There was a moment’s silence while Jimmy sat and thought. He looked in Cabbie’s rear-view mirror again. Zoom filled it. He was right behind them and Jimmy could see the outline of Horace hunched over his steering wheel, his perfect white teeth gritted in concentration. Suddenly Zoom swung away, out of sight. Jimmy switched his attention to the wing mirror.
“They’re pulling out to the right,” said Cabbie. “They’re going for an overtake.”
“Are you sure we can’t go any faster?” asked Jimmy.
“Not if you want to keep going in a straight line and stay alive,” said Cabbie.
“That gives me an idea!” said Jimmy. He jerked the steering wheel to the right. Cabbie veered in front of Zoom, blocking the move.
“Recalculating traction!” screamed Cabbie as they careered across the ice, all four of his wheels spinning and sliding sideways.
“Straight line!” Jimmy grinned. “Good idea, Cabbie. If they can’t get past us they can’t get ahead!”
Horace didn’t dare drive off the track onto the thinner part of the ice sheet. Zoom pulled back to the left and began to accelerate.
“They’re going for it again,” said Cabbie.
Jimmy jerked the wheel back to the left. Cabbie hurtled back towards the centre of the ice track, blocking Zoom again.
“That’s frightened them away!” said Cabbie triumphantly. “They’re backing off!”
Jimmy snatched another look in Cabbie’s rear-view mirror. Cabbie was right. Zoom had dropped right back.
Cabcom crackled into life and there was Horace Pelly’s face filling the screen. “Having trouble steering that old bucket of yours?” sneered Horace.
“Having trouble overtaking us in that tin can of yours?” replied Jimmy smartly.
“Oh, I’ll win this race, Jimmy,” said Horace. “Don’t you worry about that. That super-awesome-Leadpipe-upgrade will be mine. Not that I need it, of course. Whatever the upgrade is, I’ll probably have one already – so it’ll probably be a downgrade for me. But I’d still like to win it – just to stop you from having it.”
Jimmy rolled his eyes and sighed. “Have you nearly finished talking?” he asked.
“Yes ... just one last thing,” said Horace, grinning slyly. “Remember this face.” He pushed his nose into the screen. “Take a good look – because this is the face you’ll see at the top of the winners’ podium.”
“Don’t look at his face, Jimmy. It’ll make you feel sick,” Cabbie laughed.
“How hilarious,” said Horace flatly. “We’ll see who’s laughing at the finish line, shall we, Scabbie?”
Cabcom went blank.
“He can’t get past us,” said Jimmy, nodding confidently. “The track’s too narrow here.”
“But look ahead,” replied Cabbie. “It’s opening out again in just a few hundred metres! This section of ice must be much stronger.”
Cabbie was right. Soon they were crossing a huge expanse of open ice with the grey sea lapping at its edge.
Zoom soon appeared on Cabbie’s right-hand side again. Jimmy glanced over to see Horace Pelly grinning through his window at him, and waving. Then Horace reached down and pressed a button on the dashboard.
“Oh no!” said Jimmy. “I hope he hasn’t just—”
With a rush of flame and a huge boom, Horace’s rocket-boosters fired and he shot past Jimmy and Cabbie, into the lead.
“We’re losing grip, Jimmy,” said Cabbie as they skidded left, then right. “Those rockets are turning the ice to water and we’re sloshing around with no control at all – our snow chains can’t get a hold of the ice.”
“I knew using boosters was dangerous,” muttered Jimmy. “I’m going to slow down a bit, Cabbie. We need to go carefully until we get past him.”
Just at that moment, Cabcom crackled back into life.
“Not you again!” sighed Jimmy.
“Don’t be so rude, Jimmy,” said Grandpa.
“Oh, sorry, Grandpa,” said Jimmy. “I thought you were Horace.”
“Been bothering you, has he?” Grandpa grunted. “You need to get back up there and show him, Jimmy lad. Fire the rocket-boosters and you’ll storm ahead!”
“No,” said Jimmy, “we can’t do that. Horace’s boosters have just melted the ice. If we fire Cabbie’s rocket-boosters too, we could end up breaking the ice and falling into the sea! We’re going to have to come up with something else.”
“OK, my boy. It’s your call,” said Grandpa. “I know you’ll think of something. You always do.”
Cabcom crackled and the screen went blank again.
Jimmy peered ahead at Zoom disappearing into the distance. From underneath Zoom’s black chassis there came a strange orange glow. It wasn’t his rocket-boosters – they’d done their job and burned out long ago.
“Cabbie, what’s going on up ahead?” asked Jimmy urgently as Cabbie fought for grip. The steering wheel was jolting wildly in Jimmy’s hands. “Activate zoom screen,” said Jimmy, his voice starting to shake as they swerved from side to side.
The zoom screen popped up above the dashboard. It showed Zoom racing ahead, roaring along on a cushion of flame.
“He’s using his flame-throwers. And he’s pointing them down at the ice!” cried Jimmy. “No wonder we’re sliding all over the place.”
“It’s worse than that,” said Cabbie urgently. “My sensors reckon the ice is barely taking our weight. He’s not just melting the ice – he’s burning through it!”
As Cabbie spoke, an almighty creaking and groaning ripped through the air, making Jimmy’s ears ring and his heart stop. A thin black crack opened up in the ice ahead of them – a thin black crack that shot towards them like a fork of lightning, just as violent, just as fast. The crack widened. And then another one opened up. And another.
“The ice is breaking up!” cried Jimmy. We’re going to—”
SPLOSH!
Cabbie and Jimmy were tipped into the freezing Arctic sea!
Chapter 8 - That Sinking Feeling
Jimmy was thrown forwards onto the steering wheel as the world disappeared and the grey ocean rose up and swallowed Cabbie. They dropped like a stone straight down towards the sea bed.
“What do we do? What do we do?” gasped Jimmy.
The faint light through the ice above them was disappearing fast and they were plummeting backwards into blackness. Through the gloom Jimmy could just make out three blinking lights which had suddenly appeared on the surface. Safetybots, he thought with a groan.
“Cabbie!” he cried as the engine cut out. “Do something! If we don’t get back to the surface fast, we’ll be fished out and disqualified.” Already the temperature in Cabbie’s cockpit was dropping rapidly as the heaters clogged up with water.
“Oh no. This doesn’t look good at all,” wailed Cabbie.
“We need to d-d-d-d-do something. But w-w-w-what?” Even in his Hotfoot™ socks and thermal underwear, Jimmy was starting to shiver violently.
The dim light was fading as they sank further into the blackness of the deep ocean. Dark moving shapes loomed through Cabbie’s windows and Jimmy couldn’t stop himself wondering whether they might be killer whales or giant squid.
“I can’t see a thing,” said Jimmy. “Have we got emergency lighting? I need to see the dashboard controls.”
“My circuits are f-f-freezing up,” stammered Cabbie, his voice rising and falling randomly. “And I’m losing my contact light engine in the boo-boo-boo-booster.”
“What?” said Jimmy. “What are you talking about?”
“I d-d-d-d-don’t know,” stuttered Cabbie. “My communication processor I zip-flippedy hydraulic malfunction skippidy-doodily-dah thermostat is not responding.”
“Gotta think. Gotta think,” said Jimmy. He felt like his brain was starting to go numb, like when he ate ice cream too quickly...
“Processing sqqquuaaarkkk unstable,” said Cabbie, still talking nonsense. “Shut down. Shut down.”
Jimmy flicked on the Cab
com. “Grandpa?” he called. “Grandpa, come in.” He stared into the blank screen. It was dead. “There must be something we can use to get us back up to the surface,” said Jimmy, thinking aloud. “What have we got?” he went on, thinking through all the gadgets that could save them. “Parachute? No. We want to go up not down. Roll cage? No. We’re not turning over, we’re sinking. EFD? Emergency Flotation Device! That’s it!” he shrieked. “We need to float. And this is an emergency for certain. Cabbie, activate the EFD!”
“Act-act-act—” stammered Cabbie.
Nothing happened. Now Jimmy really was on his own. Cabbie’s central processor was all over the place and there was no one else to help him. But which button was it? If he got it wrong and released the parachute it would drag them right to the bottom of the sea, far from the reach of any safetybots.
Jimmy gulped. His finger hovered between the many buttons lit up in front of him: red, green, orange, yellow, blue—
“Think, Jimmy, think,” he said to himself as red lasers pierced the darkness all around him. The safetybots were scanning, preparing to make an extraction. The parachute button was light green ... no, no – it was dark green. And the roto-blade was light green. The pummeller was that orange lever ... But what colour was the EFD? Jimmy thought back to the last time he’d used it, to skim over the quicksand in the jungle. But he’d just yelled at Cabbie to inflate it. Jimmy shook his head. He had to do something! He thumped the nearest button and prayed he hadn’t made a huge mistake.
Hsssssssss!
With a rush of air, the dingy popped out around Cabbie’s sides. Cabbie began to rise through the water in a whirlwind of bubbles. Faster and faster they shot through the water. Jimmy’s stomach climbed into his throat and his ears popped like corks as they rocketed to the surface and burst back out into the world in an explosion of water.
When the chaos had calmed, Jimmy peered out of the windscreen. They were bobbing on the sea, like they were floating on a lilo. Above his head, the safetybots hummed like angry bees, three large orbs the size of cannon balls spinning in the air. Then after a moment the red flashing lights on the robots blinked green and with a whirrrrrr they zoomed away.
