The Amazon Experiment (2 page)

‘Get off me!' Max's voice gurgled from the confusion of legs, fur and dirt.

Ben and Linden finally managed to drag Ralph
off as Eleanor helped a dishevelled and dirt-streaked Max to her feet.

‘Boy, he's really going to miss you.' A clean, unrumpled Linden smiled at Max.

Ralph whimpered quietly, agreeing with Linden but knowing he'd probably overdone it.

Max glared at them both before looking down at the sorry mess her clothes were in. She'd been rolled in dirt, leaves, burrs and, she noticed with a sigh, a giant cow pat. Her palm computer then vibrated with a message. ‘Great!' she moaned. ‘Steinberger is standing by for our arrival and I look like I've been run over by a truck!'

‘You can borrow my jacket.' Ben held out his checked flannelette farm shirt, full of patched holes and stains from last night's dinner.

‘Thanks, but I think we'll just go,' Max said, before spitting out a feather. She gave Ralph one last look and sighed. She knew he meant well, but she also knew that her promise to Linden to control her temper was shaping up to be the hardest promise she'd ever made. But she
had
promised, so this time when she took Linden's hand, she knew it was different, that watching him die had somehow changed her forever.

‘Ready?' she beamed, a stick of hay poking out of her hair.

‘Ready,' Linden replied.

‘Transport.'

As Ben sniffed and sadly blew his nose, a green flash of light ballooned around them, followed by a quiet ‘fffttt' and a small haze of dust.

The Vehicular All-Response Tower at Spyforce, or VART for short, was swarming with movement. Maintenance crews ferreted under choppers, crawled over submarines and recharged small golf-buggy type vehicles, while agents returning from newly completed missions stepped out of various kinds of transporters and a group of people in suits were ferried around as if they were on some kind of tour.

Somewhere in the middle of all this there was a brief flash of fluorescent light and tiny sparks of colour fell to the ground like fireworks as Max and Linden gently descended.

Max had never seen the VART so busy, which made it no surprise that fate had chosen now for her to arrive in all her farm-smeared splendour.

‘Wow! Look at this place.' Linden gaped at the frenzy around him while Max did her best to unmangle and de-dust her clothes.

‘This place is packed!' Linden was oblivious to Max's frantic attempt at grooming. ‘There are people everywhere. It's like landing in the middle of a royal show.'

Max moved behind Linden and swiped a handkerchief at the clump of cow poo that had plastered itself to her behind.

‘It's like the whole of Spyforce has come out just to —'

‘Witness the last few seconds of your life?' Max clipped.

Linden finally got it. ‘No.'

Steinberger's long legs came striding along the metal boardwalk that led into the VART. He was holding out his stopwatch and wearing a proud grin as he came to a standstill before them.

‘Well done. Thirteen and a half seconds. Even faster than before. Must have had the wind behind you, eh?' He laughed at his joke. ‘It's so very good to see you both again. Today is going to be exciting.' He craned his head around Linden to get a better view of Max. ‘That's a unique outfit, Max. It's so hard to keep up with what the youth are wearing these days.'

Linden tried to give him a look to stop him but he kept going.

‘It suits you. Kind of crushed chic, is it?'

Linden's eyes were darting all over, warning him not to say any more, but Max gave him a big toothy smile and said, ‘Thanks, Steinberger.'

She took another deep breath and offered Linden a look that said, ‘See, I can do it.' Linden smiled back. He knew Max and her temper came as
a boxed set and it wasn't going to be easy for her to let it go.

Steinberger rubbed his hands vigorously. ‘Time to test those new vehicles, eh?'

He turned and led the way towards the exit, chatting endlessly to Linden. Max lagged behind with her new splatter look, but as she followed, she began to smile. Spyforce still made her feel like she was somewhere special. It made her want to whisper, like she was walking through a cathedral. Like she was …

‘Ooooph!'

Max's awe was ended by a well-pressed and over-cologned suit.

‘Would it be too much trouble to look where you're going?' Max knew she'd run into him, but after a morning where she couldn't do anything right, she had to yell at someone.

The suited man stood among a group of silent people, who were all now staring at Max.

‘I'm so sorry. Are you okay?' Mr Cologne answered in a super-concerned voice.

This burned Max even more. He had every right to be upset with her and instead he was standing in front of her being all sugar-coated.

‘Fine,' she mumbled, realising she could do
without the audience. She hurried after Linden and Steinberger.

‘Who are they?' Linden asked Steinberger when Max had caught up with them.

‘New recruits.' They looked back at the well-dressed group being shown through the VART. ‘Specially taught for months in training centres all over the world before even being allowed to enter Spyforce Headquarters.'

‘But we …' Linden began.

‘I know. You and Max were inducted much sooner, but you had also tackled Blue and won. There aren't many spies who can say that.'

‘You hear that?' Linden nudged Max. ‘We're special.'

Max simmered in a rush of warmth. She loved being a spy and Linden was the perfect spy partner. Together they'd been dangled over huge vats of jelly, survived the evil workings of the Nightmare Vortex and even managed to cheat death.

‘These recruits have been handpicked by Harrison as the best of the current training program and I have no doubt each one will be a top-notch agent,' Steinberger announced. ‘Now, on to the testing area. The place where our brilliant Quimby tests her new inventions. This is going to be fun!'

Before she left, Max took one last look at the VART and caught sight of the cologne guy standing apart from the others, staring at her, like he was studying her every move. When he saw her looking, he immediately turned away and joined the others in questioning their instructor.

Why was he looking at her and what did he want? Maybe he was planning something evil? Harrison had warned her to be careful judging other people before she knew all the facts, but she couldn't ignore the strange feeling that crept over her when she saw him staring at her.

She shook it off and quickly turned away to join Steinberger and Linden, unaware that the new recruit had turned back and was watching her again.

‘Just stare directly at the wall and stand as still as you can.'

‘Steinberger, are you sure we have to do this?' Max sighed.

‘Oh yes, most definitely.'

‘But won't we end up in the Plantorium?'

‘This part of the Wall will take us directly to Quimby.'

The Wall of Goodness. The only object in Spyforce Max had a personality clash with.

Max, Linden and Steinberger stared at the solid stone wall, waiting for the atoms to start reconfiguring in its jelly-like identification process.

‘Come and get me, Wall.' With Linden, of course, there was no clash. He and the Wall might as well have been old soccer buddies.

‘You will notice the Wall start to move —' Steinberger began.

‘We know, like jelly. Can you hurry it up?' If Max had to do this she wanted it to be fast.

After a few more seconds, the Wall wavered in front of them before reaching out and slowly enveloping them. Linden and Steinberger were sucked through in a quiet, no-fuss slurp, while Max's dirt-smeared body was jiggled, massaged and wrestled like a football during a grand final.

Then it stopped.

‘Hey, Wall, maybe you could choose some other time to flake out. I've got work to do.'

Nothing.

Max stood glued in her Wall-surrounded state. Maybe this time she really wouldn't get through. What was the Wall doing? Why wasn't it moving? How come …

‘Aaaaah!'

The Wall finally chose to spit her out the other side and she was sent sprawling across the highly polished lab floor, stopping in front of a small, nondescript red door and several pairs of feet.

‘Max! How lovely to see you again. Now we can get started.' Quimby stared down at her with her hands in her lab coat and a bright purple scarf on her head attempting to hold in her long unruly hair. Max dragged her ego-dinted body from the ground and followed the inventor as she unlocked the door and opened it onto the testing area.

‘What do you think?' Steinberger asked in his chuffed kind of way.

Max stared. It wasn't quite the VART-like hangar full of gadgets and vehicles that she'd imagined.

‘It's a lake.' She gazed at the vast and seemingly
endless blue expanse of water before her, fringed with grass and trees.

‘It is. Kind of.' Quimby smiled as a fish splashed through the surface and somersaulted before falling back into the water.

‘But we're in the middle of London!' Linden needed to make sure the Wall of Goodness hadn't spat them into a different place.

Quimby's face exploded in a smile of excitement. ‘Yes, we are, but with a clever mix of physics and nature, we've created the naturescape you see before you. You see, what we did …'

Quimby explained her work to the others but Max heard none of it as she strode along the bank of the lake.

‘Is there an end to this?' Max walked on, but before Quimby could say anything to stop her, her head rebounded off something hard.

‘Ow!'

‘Looks like there is,' Linden said.

Quimby tried to conceal a smile. ‘It does look like it's never-ending, but that's because its borders are carefully concealed.'

‘Isn't that amazing?' Steinberger gasped.

‘Yeah. Amazing.' Max rubbed her head.

‘The machines we test in this area have
built-in sensors so they automatically stop when they approach solid objects. Perfect for manoeuvring through darkened places or coming up against invisible objects.'

‘Have you got any of those sensors for Max?' Linden asked with a grin that was trying to break into a laugh.

‘It can be arranged.' Quimby wasn't so successful and let loose a small chuckling gasp.

‘Hello, everyone.'

At the sound of that voice Max felt like her whole body had been bungy jumped. Her pulse quickened, her mind scrambled and her mouth, as usual in these situations, stopped working.

‘Hi, Alex,' chorused everyone except Max.

‘Excellent to see you, Alex.' A piece of long dark hair fell into Quimby's eyes and she tried to tuck it into her scarf, with very little success. ‘Ready for the demonstration?'

‘Absolutely.' Alex Crane was the best agent in the Force and had the ability to look professional and casual at the same time. ‘Hello, Max. Nice to see you again.'

Alex was intelligent, good-looking and always in control. Max, on the other hand, had trouble just trying to stand up. ‘I … ah … it's …' She and
Alex had last been together on a mission to save the Annual Spy Awards Night from a volcano Mr Blue had made active. They did it, but not before Max almost got them both killed.
³

Everyone was looking at her, including Alex, waiting for her to say something. Say anything, she ordered her brain. ‘Ah … um … nice shoes.'

Alex looked down at her Spyforce-issue trainers. ‘Thanks.'

‘Let me show you what we're really here to see.' Quimby turned to continue the demonstration but she was overcome by a yawn. ‘Excuse me. I'm terribly sorry. There've been a few late nights trying to get the vehicles ready for your visit. Follow me.'

‘It's Alex,' Max whispered to Linden.

‘I noticed,' Linden replied easily.

‘She said it was nice to see me.' Max's admiration for Alex had the ability to make her disappear into a cloud of very non-Max behaviour.

‘Max,' Linden protested, ‘I always think it's nice to see you.'

‘Did you hear her say it?' Max was beaming.

‘Yeah.' Linden gave up for now.

Quimby took a small red rubber cube from her
lab coat. ‘This is going to revolutionise travel for Spyforce agents everywhere. We've been working on it for years and now it's finally ready. Agents, I give you the Felani.'

Linden stared. ‘It's a little small, isn't it?'

‘Watch.' Quimby held out the rubber cube as if it were a rare diamond. She gave her hand a shake and threw the cube into the air. It unfolded balloon-like into a sleek sportscar beside them.

‘Isn't she beautiful?'

Linden breathed a quiet sigh. ‘I'm going to be so hard to impress for the rest of the day.'

‘You might want to close your mouth before the wind changes,' Max cautioned him. ‘I'm not having a spy partner who could double as a fly catcher.'

Linden closed his mouth and smiled.‘Good joke.'

‘Thanks,' Max shrugged proudly.

Quimby continued. ‘The Felani is part of a new range of Inflatable Foldaway Vehicles we've invented and is for your more stylish encounters. Capable of ultra-high speeds, its wheels contain countless brush-like projections, much like the toes of a gecko, that create friction, enabling super grip on all kinds of surfaces,' and here Quimby flashed a wicked grin, ‘as well as the ability to navigate non-horizontal surfaces.'

Linden's mouth dropped open again. ‘So … it can scale …' His mind filled with the possibilities. ‘Walls, buildings, bridges?'

‘For starters.' Quimby's mischievous smile got even cheekier. ‘But that's not all.'

The agents followed Quimby as she walked over to a line of other vehicles parked at the edge of the lake.

‘The vehicles are tough, resilient and able to withstand a wide range of temperatures, air pressures and forces. They are also equipped with Irene's invisibility formula, but unlike the Invisible Jet, it is stored in a secret compartment in the engine of the vehicle. All you need to do is press this button here.' Quimby leant into one of the vehicles and pressed a small button on the dashboard, releasing a soft hissing sound. ‘It sends a parachute-shaped spray of serum over the vehicle and makes it invisible within seconds. This is a great addition to our vehicles for when you need to make a quick, unseen exit.'

The vehicle disappeared completely, as if swallowed by an invisible wave.

‘I have got to get one of those,' Linden sighed.

‘What, for all those baddies about to invade Mindawarra?' Max teased.

‘It may look like a sleepy town,' Linden's eyes darted from side to side, ‘but who knows what danger lurks behind those cow sheds?'

Max raised a crooked eyebrow at Linden as Quimby went on.

‘The Inflatable Foldaway Vehicles also come in other types: the Aqua Buggy for expert manoeuvring on land and water; the Mountain Climber for those hard-to-get-to places up or down the sides of cliffs; and the Heliocraft, perfect for making quick getaways by air and also for flying in or out of confined spaces. Your Personal Flying Device can already carry you small distances, but for more challenging leaps, you'll need one of these.' Quimby proudly turned to her small audience.

‘Ah,' she said to someone behind them, ‘just in time for the rest of the explanation.'

They all turned to see a sharply-dressed man with perfect hair and teeth so white Max almost needed sunglasses to cut out the glare.

It was the cologne guy! What was he doing here?

‘Sorry I'm late. I had to help Sleek with the Invisible Jet.'

‘This is Agent Suave,' Steinberger said, like he was introducing his long-lost son. ‘One of our
newest agents to the Force. After months of highly rigorous training and some of the toughest of tests, I'm proud to say he came out as one of the best recruits we've ever admitted. Besides Alex, of course.'

Steinberger gave Alex a warm look as Suave pushed a perfect wave of hair from his forehead.

‘And from what I saw while Alex was training me, that's the biggest compliment I could have hoped for.' Suave offered Alex a boyishly good-looking smile that could have melted glaciers.

‘This guy has no idea,' whispered Max to Linden. ‘Alex hates all that charm stuff.'

‘I can't wait until we have the chance to work together,' Suave added, gazing into Alex's eyes like he was in a trance.

‘This guy really doesn't get it,' Max scoffed quietly.

But then Alex did something Max had never seen before. She blushed.

‘Me too,' Alex replied quietly.

Steinberger continued. ‘Suave is an expert in extreme response action and in the short time he's been training with Sleek to learn the ins and outs of the vehicles in the VART, he's displayed quite some skill.'

‘Just trying to do my best.' Suave looked down modestly.

‘And these two fine agents,' Steinberger said, ‘are Max Remy and Linden Franklin.'

‘Max and Linden!' Suave seemed to inflate with enthusiasm. ‘You two are famous. I've heard such great things about you both.'

Max stared at the new agent. He was perfect. He dressed well, had great manners and always seemed to say the right thing.

‘Agent Smarm, was it?' she asked innocently.

‘Agent Suave, actually,' he said, completely missing her insult. ‘And Linden. It is such a pleasure to meet you. I hear you're a natural at everything you do. Let me shake your hand.' Linden offered his hand and the two shook like they were best friends.

‘Suave has been training in the Inflatables all week.' Quimby smiled proudly. ‘And has a talent that is astounding.'

Of course he has, Max thought as she looked at his confident yet humble smile.

‘So if you need any tips on operating the vehicles, Alex and Suave are the ones to ask. Max, would you like to try one out?' Quimby asked.

Max's head jerked towards Quimby.

That was the last thing she wanted. Max knew
it would just be another chance to show Alex and this new guy how clumsy she was, but she also didn't want to appear afraid. ‘Sure.'

‘Brilliant! Let's try this one.'

Quimby led Max to a blue-green beetle-type car with its thick front wheels parked on the edge of the lake. She pulled a miniature remote control from her coat, pressed a small button and watched as the doors opened upwards. They both stepped into the vehicle and buckled themselves in. The doors closed quietly over them.

‘Nice, eh?' Quimby started the engine. The smooth dashboard of the car came to life in a red glowing collection of dials, readings and buttons. She put it into first gear.

‘Shouldn't we be in reverse?' Max pressed her back against her seat, uneasy about being so close to the water's edge.

Quimby smiled the way she did when she had something great to unveil, and before Max could say anything else, she drove off the boardwalk straight into the water.

‘Aaah!' Max screamed and shut her eyes tight, waiting for the water to swirl around her as she envisioned her life ending at the bottom of a slimy fish-filled lake.

Quimby held onto the steering wheel, her smile as wide as the windscreen, which was filled with all sorts of fish and other non-roadworthy creatures.

‘Max, you've got to see this,' she cried.

Realising she was still dry and not gasping for breath, Max squinted open her eyes just in time to see a giant catfish swim by.

‘What do you think of the Aqua Buggy?' Quimby enthused.

Max stared quietly, relieved she wasn't going to become a muddied fossil in the bottom of the lake.

‘It's the first of its kind. I'm very proud of it.'

They navigated their way around rocks, passing schools of fish and swaying reeds. After the thump of Max's heart had calmed down, it was actually quite peaceful.

‘It's really good,' she finally managed.

‘It's watertight, temperature-controlled, and runs on a super-concentrate plant fuel that will last for up to ten days underwater. On land, its super-grip wheels and powerful engine enable it to handle all terrains. Sand, mud, gravel. Anything. Hold on.'

Quimby turned sharply and manoeuvred the
Aqua Buggy up a muddy bank and back to the others.

‘How was it?' Linden asked. Max was about to answer when she saw Alex laughing at something smarm-boy had said.

‘I think we did okay,' Quimby answered for the young agent.

‘Excellent!' Steinberger said before he was interrupted by a light on his palm computer. ‘Excuse me.' He stepped away to take the message.