Jump Start (8 page)

EJ looked around the satellite site and wondered. Buildbot
Master Control? Quick,
thought EJ.
Where is it?
Her spy training clicked in as she scanned from left to right, taking in everything, and then back again right to left. She saw the crates, the satellite dish and Nuts, who was siting on a small pole. A small pole with a sign at the top.

‘Okay, another spy point to you, Nuts,' said EJ. ‘That was too easy.' She rewarded her little furry friend with another nut. As Nuts chewed away, EJ found a small cabinet at the bottom of the pole. Locked. She pulled up her charm bracelet and tried the lock with the key.

‘I love
SHINE,'
laughed EJ. The key turned the lock without a problem. The door opened revealing a tiny panel of buttons—Buildbot Master Control. EJ pushed a few random buttons but nothing happened. Then a message flashed up on the screen.

What code?
The second message had said ‘enter for code'.
But what did that mean? Think EJ, think.
EJ scanned the panel, her mind racing. It was like a tiny keyboard—were some of the letters or numbers the code? Her eyes moved from left to right, working
her way across the panel, past the enter key.
The enter key! Could it really be that simple? Only one way to find out,
thought EJ. She hit the enter button and hoped she was right.

Another message flashed up on the screen.

EJ always feared the final code as it was usually the most difficult, so she was a bit surprised to see that it was so short.

Hmmm, short code but not an easy code. There are some pretty big numbers there, except for the 9. And some are odd and some are even.

EJ kept looking at the numbers, willing a pattern to appear. She knew those numbers would have to have something in common, but what?

Is it 9? EJ wondered, let's see

4x9 is 36 and 5x9 is 45 and 7x9 is 63.

So far so good. But hold on, 9 doesn't go into 42 or 33.

EJ had reached a dead end. Or had she?

But hang on, they can all be divided into 3, can't they?

The first code went in 1s, the second in 2s. Was the third code in 3s?

EJ flicked to her calculator app and punched in the numbers.

Yes! EJ knew she had it now

11x3 is 33!

That has to be it.
EJ opened up her code app and flicked through to find the code table.
There it is.

‘Arrggh,' groaned EJ. ‘I should have guessed that one without even cracking the code!'

But she wasn't about to complain. All three codes had now been cracked. She had got to them before
SHADOW
and it looked like her perfect mission record was still intact.

She keyed it in and waited. A little green flashing light on the control panel told EJ what
SHADOW
already knew. There was a buildbot malfunction. She pressed enter again and another message appeared on the screen.

EJ thought for a minute and smiled. Re-program, what a great idea! She typed furiously into the control panel. Everything was going to be okay.

Within seconds, the buildbots stopped moving in crazy circles. But instead of going back to building the satellite dish, they began to take it apart. Quickly. Pretty soon, Project Green Eye was just a heap of scrap metal on the ground.

‘Love your work, bots!' said EJ, pressing another few buttons. This time the buildbots headed towards the packing crates.

EJ grinned. Her plan was working perfectly. The buildbots positioned themselves next to the crates and then stopped. There was a series of beeps and with one swift movement, each buildbot unbolted a crate and pulled the door open.

Suddenly there were animals everywhere! Baby spider monkeys, parrots, jaguars, vampire bats, squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys—all crying out for their mothers.

EJ hit the pause button and shut the buildbots down. As soon as the clanking and beeping from the robots stopped, the most amazing thing happened. Out of the rainforest beyond the huge bare clearing, a vast mass of animals came squeaking, squawking, growling, hissing and whistling into view. The parents were coming to collect their babies and take them back into the safety of the forest.

Soon there was only one baby animal left. Nuts.

‘Where's
your
mum?' said EJ.

Nuts whistled and leapt on to EJ's head. Maybe Nuts really was all alone.

Once the site was cleared of the animals, EJ re-hit the pause button and the buildbots started up again. But this time they put themselves into the packing crates and closed the doors behind them.

‘No more building for you, bots!' EJ shouted. She keyed in one more set of instructions, grabbed Nuts and ran for cover. They hit the ground a short distance away and she covered Nuts' ears.

The buildbots had self-destructed inside the wooden crates and the explosion had destroyed what was left of the satellite dish. Nothing remained of Project Green Eye.

EJ sat up, feeling rather pleased with herself. Nuts slid her hand into EJ's pocket. She felt rather pleased about getting another nut. EJ took out her phone. It was time to go home. She pressed 4-6-6-3 into the keypad and a woman's voice answered immediately.

‘
SHINE
Home Delivery Service—straight to your door any time, anywhere.'

‘Agent EJ12 requesting home delivery,' replied EJ. Looking at Nuts, she added, ‘for two.'

‘No problem, EJ12. We have locked in your coordinates with transport on stand-by in the area. It won't be long.'

She wasn't kidding. A few minutes later, EJ heard the chop-chop-chop of helicopter blades.

‘Hold on tight, Nuts,' said EJ. ‘It's going to get pretty blowy. In fact, you better stay in here.' She put the little monkey inside her backpack.

The helicopter hovered over the clearing and lowered a rope ladder.

A familiar voice boomed out over the noise of the blades. ‘EJ12, this is LP30. Jump on the ladder and we'll winch you up.'

More rope,
thought EJ.
At least this one leads somewhere. Up we go!

As EJ climbed, the chopper winched and she was soon inside the cockpit with LP30.

‘Welcome back, EJ12. Great job! And just in time too—look out the side window and check what's coming towards us.'

EJ turned to see another helicopter far off in the distance, but coming closer all the time. A few seconds later, she could make out the letters on the
side with her binoculars—S, H, A...

‘
SHADOW?'
said EJ, holding her breath.

‘You bet,' replied LP30.

‘But they're too late,' smiled EJ. ‘I found the last message before they could destroy it, so Project Green Eye is no more! Do you think they'll follow us?'

‘Let's not hang around to find out,' said LP30. ‘And besides, I have something to show you.'

The chopper turned sharply down towards the river and followed the path of the water.

‘I hope they're still there,' said LP30. ‘Let's go lower and see.'

They were skimming along the surface of the river. EJ thought that if she dangled her feet outside the helicopter, she could probably feel the water rushing through her toes. And then she saw them—dolphins.
Pink
dolphins! A whole school of them leaping and diving along the river as if they were escorting EJ home.

‘Wow!' exclaimed EJ.

‘Aren't they beautiful?' cried LP30 over the noise of chopper. ‘They're botos—river dolphins—and they only live in this part of the world.'

‘They're amazing,' EJ shouted. ‘And so pink!'

They finally left the river and headed home. EJ settled into the seat, took Nuts out of her backpack and smiled as the little monkey nestled into her lap.

‘EJ12, it's A1 on the air video phone,' said LP30. ‘Time to report in.'

‘Hello A1,' said EJ, feeling relaxed. ‘Mission complete. Project Green Eye dismantled. Buildbots destroyed. And all baby animals safely returned to the rainforest. Well, all except one...'

‘EJ12?'

‘I seem to have found a friend,' EJ explained as she held Nuts up to the screen. ‘She's lost her mother and looks much too young to fend for herself.'

‘You made the right decision, EJ12. We'll send her to a native animal sanctuary where you can be sure she will be well cared for. You will also be pleased to know that
SHINE
is preparing to
re-plant the cleared area in the rainforest. The trees will grow quickly and soon no one will ever know that
SHADOW
was there.'

‘That's fantastic,' said EJ.

‘Yes but not only that,' continued A1, ‘it will take
SHADOW
a long time to make a new batch of buildbots as well as find another satellite-base location. Good work, EJ12. We've really got the jump on them now!'

Enough of the jumping thing,
thought EJ12.
I've got the message.

‘Oh and EJ, good luck in the gym competition this weekend,' said A1. ‘You will be great, I know you will. That's all, EJ12.
SHINE
out.' The phone disconnected.

The gym competition. EJ had forgotten about that but now she was thinking about it again, she realised she no longer felt nervous. With all the leaping about she'd done lately, she finally realised what everyone else—Lauren, Hannah, A1—had
seemed to know already. She could jump high, as high as anyone else, maybe even higher—she just had to believe in herself.

I can do it,
thought EJ.
I did do it. Can I do it again? Yes I can, I know I can.

EJ was proud of herself yet also tired. As she was settling down for an in-flight snooze, she noticed the little heart with wings on her charm bracelet.

Hey, I didn't use that one,
she thought.
I wonder what it does.

EJ twisted the little charm and as she did, a small inscription appeared.

EJ thought back over the mission and as she read the inscription again, she smiled to herself as she realised that she had done just that. She had jumped. She had trusted herself and she had found her wings.

With the smile still on her face, EJ fell asleep.