67 The Snowfields of the North Draw

67 The Snowfields of the North Draw As the party of five slid to the ground, finally reaching the snowfields of the North Draw, it appeared that their daring escape from the Spire had gone totally unnoticed. 'Mr White and the RAZERs must really want to find my pencil,' said Peanut. 'What do you mean?' asked Rockwell as Peanut busily drew a lantern to shed some light on the proceedings. 'How do they know about the pencil?' She spent the next five minutes explaining everything that had happened during her encounter with Mr White and

Alan up on the ninety-ninth floor. 'Wow!' said Rockwell. 'The kaleidoscoppi turned up to help? It just goes to show that if you give a little love, it really does all come back to you.' 'Indeed,' said Mr M. 'You reap what you sow, as Mr White will discover sooner rather than later, hopefully.' The three children turned to face the man that they had been charged with rescuing. 'It's lovely to meet you, finally,' said Peanut. Doodle licked Mr M's face. Likewise. And I can't thank you enough for rescuing me. He smiled. 'Let's head back to HQ, where we can at least sort you out with a cup of tea. That would be a start. Now, I'd say that it would be wise to get out of sight as soon poss—' Before he could finish the sentence, a familiar high- pitched sound filled the night sky. The group turned to look back towards the Spire and saw what looked like a huge, glittering silver cloud on the horizon. But, as it rolled towards them, twinkling in the moonlight, it soon became apparent that it wasn't a cloud at all, rather a huge shoal of Exocetia, the mechanical flying fish. They were travelling low across the ground, directly towards the group, and they were moving fast. Very fast. 'Er, I think it's time to go,' said Rockwell. I concur,' said Mr M.

'RUN!' shouted Little-Bit. But, seconds later, the cloud was upon them. The first few Exocetia flew straight past them like bullets, before stopping fifty metres ahead, turning around and forming a long, curved barrier. Seconds later, Peanut, Rockwell, Little- Bit, Mr M and Doodle found themselves in the middle of the vast shoal. The group stopped running and stood in a tight circle facing out, with their hands over their ears, as thousands of screaming fish, their eyes glowing red, joined the throng. Then, all of a sudden, the wailing stopped. Silence. Peanut felt a light fluttering sensation in the pit of her stomach. Then the vibration moved to her chest as a barely audible hum began to increase in volume. The snow on the ground oscillated as the hum got louder and louder and louder, eventually rising to a thundering roar. Then the wall of fish surrounding them parted to reveal the enormous, monstrous, terrifying vehicle responsible for the noise. The children had never seen anything like it in their lives. It was huge: as tall as a house and as wide as a tennis court. It was supported by two enormous sets of tank tracks that rolled slowly but relentlessly, dragging their huge cargo across the snow. The central part was made up of several rivet-covered boxes, on top of which sat a large cockpit with a narrow, black

windscreen. Just behind that were several floodlights that lit the whole area, and a huge vat, emblazoned with a large white 'X', with five little chimneys sticking out of the top. Each one was billowing a plume of jet-black smoke. But the piece de résistance, the truly terrifying icing on the already-pretty-

scary cake, was the front of the vehicle. It literally had a mouth— a huge opening, ten metres wide, lined, top and bottom, with pointed, razor- sharp metal teeth that moved up and down very, very quickly. And if that wasn't enough, inside the mouth was a rapidly rotating cylinder covered with hundreds more tooth- like blades.

'The Big X,' whispered Rockwell. 'Oh dear!' gasped Little-Bit. 'Er, Peanut,' said Rockwell. 'There's a massive, horrifying, metal eating-machine approaching us. Any ideas?' She studied the Big X as it rolled towards them. When it was about ten metres away from the group, it slowed to a standstill and the engine stopped. A gullwing door opened to the right of the windscreen, and a large block of metal emerged hydraulically. It gradually unfolded to reveal itself as a flight of stairs. When the bottom tread reached the ground, a figure dressed all in dazzling white and topped with a fedora stepped from the cockpit and walked down the steps. He was followed by the muscular figure of Alan. They approached Peanut. Miss Jones,' said the man in the hat. ' Mr White,' said Peanut.