it does sound kind of stupid.”
“You’ll do fine, John. Trust me on this, will you?”
“OK, Zepp. I guess I’m just nervous.”
“You and every other finalist in the history of Robot Warriors,” Zepp said. “Go on. Show them what an Earth boy can do.”
John picked up Super-Rover and slowly walked to the door. The globe was silently waiting. He took a deep breath.
“Here goes,” he said, and stepped in.
The globe began to spin around him, gathering speed, throwing bright plumes of fire in all directions, bathing the corridor in light. The next second, it took off down the corridor with blinding speed. Hall lights volleyed past like rounds of laser cannon fire.
John clung to the globe’s side with one hand and clutched Super-Rover with the other. He felt giddy and thrilled down to his bones as the corridors and hallways of Hyperspace High became a rollercoaster ride.
John struggled to stay upright as the globe rocketed around corners and past empty classrooms. He almost lost his grip on Super-Rover when they shot round the right-angle turn by the Computer Science rooms. Wouldn’t that be something, turning up to the finals without a robot? John smiled, in spite of himself.
He tried to relax and enjoy the ride, and just about managed it. It was faster and cooler than any fairground ride he’d ever been on. Excitement began to take over – then, to his horror, he saw that the TravelTube doors up ahead were opening.
And there was no lift there, only a shaft! As he fell, John braced himself for the inevitable smash far, far below.
Chapter 11
The globe shot through the TravelTube doors, but it didn’t fall. Instead it flew up , rushing past floor after floor like a TravelTube carriage gone berserk. Open doors were waiting high above, and the globe flung itself out through them.
They shot over a balcony, and suddenly there was no floor below, no walls to the side, no ceiling above. John was floating in the air, clutching his robot, too amazed to move.
This was the Centre. It had to be. But the bottom half was pitch dark, and the upper half was starlit space. John couldn’t see anything below, not the trees, not the canteen tables, not even the sparkling lake. Some sort of glowing platform hung in the middle of the huge arena. What was going on?
John tried to make out what he was seeing. He could hear the crowds roaring below. But above, where the roof usually was, he saw an immense circular opening out onto space. Thousands of brilliant stars shone above him, taking his breath away.
The roof’s open! How have they DONE that? The atmosphere should be rushing out of the ship, taking everyone with it! It must be some sort of force field or artificial gravity!
As he drew nearer, he got a better look at the platform. It was the size of a skating rink, but with no barriers or walls – no sides at all, in fact. Almost invisible, it hung in the air below the open roof, with no physical struts or girders supporting it. It glowed faintly, pulsing with blue, and violet luminescence – like it was made simply of light and nothing else, like a digital platform in a computer game.
John noticed a beam of foggy reddish light thrumming up from below, the platform seeming to balance on it like a plate on a juggler’s stick. I get it! That must be a manipulator beam, like a giant version of the ones the Examiners use!
Two more coloured flaming globes were approaching the platform, glowing bright against the darkness. The roar of the crowd grew louder and louder.
There, in a green globe wreathed in emerald and turquoise flames, was Kaal. He was clutching Laserdon, whose wings gleamed with new silver fittings.
Mordant was in the other globe, which was a deep blue. Violet and indigo flames hissed and raged over it, like the eye of some mythical space dragon. They lit Mordant’s face from below, making it look skull-like and sinister.
The closer the three globes came to one another, the more fiercely their
“You’ll do fine, John. Trust me on this, will you?”
“OK, Zepp. I guess I’m just nervous.”
“You and every other finalist in the history of Robot Warriors,” Zepp said. “Go on. Show them what an Earth boy can do.”
John picked up Super-Rover and slowly walked to the door. The globe was silently waiting. He took a deep breath.
“Here goes,” he said, and stepped in.
The globe began to spin around him, gathering speed, throwing bright plumes of fire in all directions, bathing the corridor in light. The next second, it took off down the corridor with blinding speed. Hall lights volleyed past like rounds of laser cannon fire.
John clung to the globe’s side with one hand and clutched Super-Rover with the other. He felt giddy and thrilled down to his bones as the corridors and hallways of Hyperspace High became a rollercoaster ride.
John struggled to stay upright as the globe rocketed around corners and past empty classrooms. He almost lost his grip on Super-Rover when they shot round the right-angle turn by the Computer Science rooms. Wouldn’t that be something, turning up to the finals without a robot? John smiled, in spite of himself.
He tried to relax and enjoy the ride, and just about managed it. It was faster and cooler than any fairground ride he’d ever been on. Excitement began to take over – then, to his horror, he saw that the TravelTube doors up ahead were opening.
And there was no lift there, only a shaft! As he fell, John braced himself for the inevitable smash far, far below.
Chapter 11
The globe shot through the TravelTube doors, but it didn’t fall. Instead it flew up , rushing past floor after floor like a TravelTube carriage gone berserk. Open doors were waiting high above, and the globe flung itself out through them.
They shot over a balcony, and suddenly there was no floor below, no walls to the side, no ceiling above. John was floating in the air, clutching his robot, too amazed to move.
This was the Centre. It had to be. But the bottom half was pitch dark, and the upper half was starlit space. John couldn’t see anything below, not the trees, not the canteen tables, not even the sparkling lake. Some sort of glowing platform hung in the middle of the huge arena. What was going on?
John tried to make out what he was seeing. He could hear the crowds roaring below. But above, where the roof usually was, he saw an immense circular opening out onto space. Thousands of brilliant stars shone above him, taking his breath away.
The roof’s open! How have they DONE that? The atmosphere should be rushing out of the ship, taking everyone with it! It must be some sort of force field or artificial gravity!
As he drew nearer, he got a better look at the platform. It was the size of a skating rink, but with no barriers or walls – no sides at all, in fact. Almost invisible, it hung in the air below the open roof, with no physical struts or girders supporting it. It glowed faintly, pulsing with blue, and violet luminescence – like it was made simply of light and nothing else, like a digital platform in a computer game.
John noticed a beam of foggy reddish light thrumming up from below, the platform seeming to balance on it like a plate on a juggler’s stick. I get it! That must be a manipulator beam, like a giant version of the ones the Examiners use!
Two more coloured flaming globes were approaching the platform, glowing bright against the darkness. The roar of the crowd grew louder and louder.
There, in a green globe wreathed in emerald and turquoise flames, was Kaal. He was clutching Laserdon, whose wings gleamed with new silver fittings.
Mordant was in the other globe, which was a deep blue. Violet and indigo flames hissed and raged over it, like the eye of some mythical space dragon. They lit Mordant’s face from below, making it look skull-like and sinister.
The closer the three globes came to one another, the more fiercely their
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