In Search of the Time and Space Mach (4 page)

As Max squelched through the grass she thought about today's spy embarking on a new adventure. And here she was covered in mud in some place that probably wasn't even on the map.

Suddenly Linden and Max heard an enormous explosion. Max flung herself on the ground and covered her head.

‘What was that?' she mumbled into the dirt.

Linden stared down at Max as she lay at his feet.

‘That's Ben. Working,' he explained.

‘Working? What's he doing, blowing up cows?' Max asked.

‘Cows?' Linden looked confused.

‘Yeah. That's what farmers do, don't they? Work with cows?' Max asked.

This time Linden couldn't hold back and let out a really good laugh.

‘A farmer? Ben? He wouldn't know the front of a cow from the back unless I pointed it out to him.'

Max clenched her teeth and felt like someone had poured hot lava onto her cheeks. She hated being laughed at and she thought she might look a little ridiculous lying in the dirt so she stood up.

‘If he's not a farmer, what does he do?' she demanded.

‘He's a scientist, of course. So is Eleanor. They
are
your aunt and uncle, aren't they?' asked Linden, frowning.

Max was a bit embarrassed.

‘Our families aren't real close,' she explained. ‘And if they are scientists, why aren't they working in some laboratory somewhere?'

‘They used to, in England. They were part of a team of top scientists working for the British Government, but they left it all behind and came
to Australia. They owned expensive cars, were earning loads of money and winning awards with everything they did, but now Ben works in his shed all times of the day and night. I guess working for the Government wasn't all it was cracked up to be.'

So that could explain the footsteps on the verandah last night, Max thought.

‘What are they working on now?' she asked.

‘Eleanor sends articles to scientific journals and has written heaps of books, and Ben is working on a secret project that could change the face of the world as we know it,' said Linden proudly.

Max had to get this straight. The same Ben who wiped toast through egg goo and the same Eleanor who thought you could tell the weather by the behaviour of a pig were brilliant scientists from England? Things were really turning out to be stranger than she thought they ever could be.

‘What's the secret project?' she asked.

‘He said he couldn't tell us until he was finished, but he reckons that could be any day now.'

‘Can we have a look?' asked Max, still sceptical about what Linden was saying.

‘He doesn't like to be interrupted,' explained Linden.

Max wanted to check out what this top secret project was, so she pushed a little further.

‘Shouldn't we make sure he's okay?' she asked.

‘He'll be fine. Happens all the time,' said Linden.

If Ben really was working on a project that would change the world, Max wasn't going to waste her time falling into swamps. She was going to find out all about it. But first she needed a shower. The flies were beginning to buzz around her in swarms and the drying mud was really starting to pong.

When Max and Linden arrived at the farm there was no one in the kitchen making lunch.

‘Eleanor's probably gone to get Ben,' said Linden. ‘Once he starts working he can forget the world's still turning.'

Linden paused, staring towards the shed like he was gazing at some ancient wonder. Max rolled her eyes. After a few seconds, Linden turned to her and realised he must have looked a little odd.

‘That's what Eleanor says, anyway.'

‘Right,' said Max and walked away. She wasn't interested in anything Farmboy had to say. All she needed now was a hot shower. By now the mud had dried, making it hard for Max to move. She walked down the hall with her legs bowed, like she'd just got off a horse. She stopped in front of Ben and Eleanor's prehistoric bathroom.

‘I bet cavemen had better bathrooms than this one,' she sighed.

She imagined herself back in her own bathroom, turning on the shiny gold taps and running a deep, hot bath with a big squeeze of her mother's smelly and specially imported bath stuff. Then she'd turn on the spa jets and lock the door so she could bubble there for hours without interruption.

‘Max?' It was Linden again. What was it about him that just wasn't understanding that Max wanted to be left alone?

‘Yeah?'

‘Would you like a cup of tea?' Linden asked.

That was another thing about this house. There always seemed to be a pot of tea happening somewhere, like they spent half their time drinking the stuff.

‘All I need right now is a shower, thank you,' said Max, trying to make her voice sound cold so that Linden would go away.

‘Okey dokey,' sang Linden, before he walked away whistling.

The image of the pristine bathroom in Max's head was gone. There was no spa, no smelly bath stuff, just a slab of soap that didn't smell of anything and two ancient taps that screeched like low flying crows as Max struggled to turn them on.

She sighed and would have given her whole CD collection to be instantly transported off this farm and back home.

When she turned off the taps, she could hear Eleanor, Ben and Linden down the corridor sharing a good belly laugh.

Great! Farmboy had told them about the mud.
Now Ben and Eleanor were going to think she was some klutz from the city, who couldn't even walk straight. Maybe she should just go to her room rather than face the humiliation.

But not before she knew what they were saying about her.

Max tiptoed down the hall to put her ear against the door but as she did, she tripped over a fold in the hall rug and fell forward, crashing through the door and landing face first on the kitchen floor.

‘Max, we were waiting for you,' smiled Eleanor.

Eleanor, Linden, Ben and Ralph all beamed down at her.

‘Ben has something important he wants to tell us,' Eleanor added.

Max got up off the floor and sat down at the table. Why did she always find herself on the ground when big things happened?

Ben stood up and made a show of straightening his shirt. Not that it made any difference, it looked old enough for Moses to have worn. He picked up a glass and clanged a teaspoon against it.

‘Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention please,' he said in a very dramatic voice.

Everyone went quiet.

‘And may I have a drumroll too?'

Eleanor and Linden banged their hands on the table drumroll style. Ralph gave a loud howl and, from outside the wire door, Larry chimed in with a few loud snorts.

Max stared at them and wondered why Ben didn't just get to the point.

‘This morning, Professor Benjamin J. Williams in his humble yet sturdy laboratory in Mindawarra, Australia, discovered the key to the secret of matter transportation.'

Eleanor and Linden burst into cheers and applause.

‘It has a few hiccups,' he went on. ‘But I believe with a few simple modifications it will be ready to present to the world.'

Eleanor jumped up and swung her arms around Ben's neck.

Linden jumped up and swung his arms around Max's neck.

‘What the …?' Max pulled away.

‘Sorry, I got excited,' Linden apologised and put his offending hands in his pockets.

Ben and Eleanor meanwhile were in the middle of another long and sloppy kiss. Couldn't they wait until they were alone? It was like sitting
through whole episodes of
The Bold and The Beautiful
. I hope they're not going to be like this all holidays, thought Max. Puke city! She had to stop them and get them back to the important bit.

‘Can we see it?' she interrupted.

Ben let Eleanor go.

‘Sure. Why don't you and Linden make a few sandwiches to take down to the shed and I'll show you how it works?'

Max had never made sandwiches quicker in her whole life. Within ten minutes they were all seated, ready for the demonstration.

The shed was like nothing Max had ever seen before. There were large benches packed so full with stuff that you couldn't see the surfaces. There were wires and panels with dials and switches and lights and tubes and transistors and cords and rolls of wire and jars and boxes of all sorts of bits and pieces. There were tools and manuals and newspapers and torches and tea cups and soldering irons and protective goggles and a miniature replica of Big Ben. The walls were plastered with maps and diagrams and rough sketches of plans, machines and ideas and hats and a few crumpled lab coats and, of course, there were the millions of books that seemed to be in every room of Ben and
Eleanor's house. But tucked away in a corner, only just visible in all the clutter of the shed, Max saw a small shelf with a snow dome of London and a small photo frame with a young-looking Ben and another man he had his arm around, both smiling at the camera.

Max would never have guessed from the outside that this is what she would find in Ben's shed.

Ben stood next to a workbench where a small object was hidden underneath a cloth.

‘And now for the moment we've all been waiting for,' he announced.

Max sat on the edge of her seat, curious to see what was under the cloth.

‘But first,' said Ben, ‘I want to say something.'

Max's shoulders slumped. Why did he have to drag everything out?

‘I want to thank a few people who have been very important in making this happen. First, Linden, who has always been a good friend and whose help around the place has made everything for me and Eleanor so much easier.'

Ben and Eleanor clapped and Linden's face went so red you could use it as a torch to see in the dark.

‘Next, I want to thank Eleanor, who has always believed in me and stood by me every step of the
way.' He gave a small, crooked smile. ‘Even when some of my ideas must have seemed a little kooky.'

Ben leant over and kissed her.

Max groaned. All this mushy emotional stuff was really getting embarrassing.

‘And finally, I would like to officially welcome Max. It's been a long time since we've had a visitor and Eleanor and Linden and I want you to treat this as your home.'

All three of them turned towards Max and clapped. She shifted awkwardly in her chair and was probably redder than Linden was. She wanted someone to say something to take their attention off her.

‘And now for the moment we've been waiting for. Ladies and gentleman, I give you the key to the Matter Transporter.'

Ben flung off the cloth and on the bench was a small, purple, box-like device. At the top end was a small, round, glass knob that looked like a remote sensor and on the front was an LED screen with a grid drawn across it. Below that was a keypanel, like a computer keyboard, but with three extra keys labelled,
scan, activate
and
transport
. On the side, a long, thin, pencil-like stick nestled into a plastic groove and in the top right corner was a green
bleeping light above the word
power
. Ben stood with his chest puffed up with pride and a smile that spread right across to his ears.

‘Introducing the Matter Transporter control panel,' Ben cried. ‘Max, come over here and you can have the honour of trying it out.'

Max walked over and Ben handed her the peculiar device.

‘This light indicates your power supply,' said Ben. ‘When it's green, the control panel is in operation, but when it turns red, you know you are running low on power and need to recharge it. You can either leave it in the sun for a few minutes to fully recharge it, thanks to these ultra-powerful solar cells on the back, or simply plug it into the nearest socket using this fold-out, multi-adaptable plug with retractable cord.'

Ben turned the device over and showed Max the line of grey solar cells and small connector cord that he pulled out and which sprung back when he let it go.

‘This button at the top is for a micro camera that has two main functions. Firstly, it records images of any place you are in. The image appears on the LED screen. After you have captured the image, you use the plastic rod at the side to draw
an outline on the screen around the items you wish to transport, thus defining the limits of the transporter capsule.'

Max was intrigued by the power of such a small machine and was doing her best to take in everything Ben was saying.

‘The second function of the micro camera is as a scanner. You simply point the camera at any map, atlas or street directory, and after pressing the
scan
key, the control panel will, in just a matter of seconds, record all the contents of the map and absorb it into its vast memory. All you need to do then is, using the rod, type the name of the place you would like to transport your goods to. The control panel will work out the coordinates and, just by pressing the
transport
key, do the transporting.'

‘What will we transport?' asked Max, eager to see a demonstration.

Ben looked around him.

‘This sandwich,' he said, picking up a ham and cheese sandwich. ‘Why don't you create the transporter capsule for us?'

Max's eyes lit up. At home she was barely allowed to turn on the TV without asking her mum first and here she was being asked to operate a new, scientific invention that could change the world.
Holding the plastic rod carefully, she drew an outline around the image of the sandwich displayed on the LED screen.

‘Excellent! And now let's bring this baby to life,' said Ben, speaking so fast his words ran into each other.

Max held the rod in one hand and the control panel in the other. She took a deep breath and squinting her eyes, brought the rod slowly onto the
activate
key.

There was a quick
zap
sound and then nothing.

‘And there she is!' Ben beamed.

Eleanor, Linden and Max stared.

Ralph gave a confused yelp.

‘Well, what do you think?' asked Ben excitedly.

The three of them didn't know what to say. They looked at each other, wondering who should speak first. Eleanor made the first move.

‘There's nothing there,' she said softly.

Ben laughed. ‘Oh, it's there all right, you just can't see it.'

He put out his hand to touch the sandwich and there was another zapping sound and a quick flash of light.

‘What was that?' asked Linden, taking the words right out of Max's mouth.

‘It's the transporter capsule,' explained Ben, wanting to get on with the rest of the demonstration. ‘An invisible electro-magnetic field that is created around any item you want to transport.'

Eleanor, Linden and Max stared in astonishment. Ben grinned wildly.

‘Now, let's start with something simple and try to transport the sandwich to another position in this room. How about there?'

He pointed to a wooden box near the door.

Max took the rod and typed in the command. The control panel whirred softly as it processed the coordinates of the box.

Ben's voice quivered as he stood beside her.

‘Now, press the
transport
button,' he said.

Eleanor and Linden threw each other nervous smiles. They'd seen a few of Ben's attempts at creating a matter transporter before and had watched him sag with disappointment each time it had failed. They crossed their fingers, hoping this time it would be a success.

Max started to think about what she was doing. What if Ben was a complete kook? What if they were all about to witness another of his explosions and they and the whole place blew to smithereens? Or they all ended up somewhere cold like Siberia
or the North Pole? Or in hyperspace where no one could ever reach them?

But then Max thought of Alex Crane, Superspy, and knew she'd been in far more dangerous spots and had never let fear stop her embarking on a new adventure.

‘Here goes,' she said quietly.

Max pressed the rod onto the key and couldn't believe what happened next.

The shed shook. Smoke stared to rise around the sandwich. There was a whirring sound that got louder, like a plane speeding up for take-off. Eleanor and Linden held each other's hand. Then there was a huge crash of sound like an explosion and a blinding white light that seemed to last for ages.

Then …

There was quiet.

Smoke rose from where the transporter capsule was supposed to be and when it cleared they couldn't believe what they saw. Or didn't see. The sandwich was gone.

It worked! Ben's Matter Transporter really worked!

With a little hitch.

The sandwich had landed on Linden's head.

Ben took the sandwich and examined it. It looked perfect.

‘This is one of the hiccups I was talking about. Sometimes what I transport doesn't land exactly where I want it to, but that can be ironed out. Apart from that, we've done it!'

Linden and Eleanor cheered.

Max just stared at the control panel in amazement, before slowly lifting her head. She had an idea. This little machine could change the world, but more importantly, it could be the answer to getting her off the farm and back to civilisation.