Extreme Machine Challenge Read online

  You can hold back no longer. Fuelled by the foul flavour of the drink, you explode with vomit. It gushes from your mouth and nose, drenching the girl who handed you the sample.

  Her eyes bulge as she projectile pukes in response. You manage to duck, her blown chunks splattering the queue behind you. Within seconds, all the people in line are holding hands over their mouths, barf dribbling between their fingers, chunder churning up from their stomachs.

  Passers-by stop to see what all the commotion is, then involuntarily join in the upchucking.

  The spewing spreads, like ripples in a putrid pond, as more and more people hurl in response to the vile smell.

  Soon, the entire Expo is a mass of regurgitations and the exhibition centre is drowning in a sea of vomit.

  Congratulations – you have achieved BARF-A-RAMA!

  You decide to retrieve Mr Pacer. After all, it might be fun.

  You see a mechanic jogging up the track towards you, but you start the car and take off towards the exit at the back.

  The exhibition centre and racetracks are at the edge of the city, with a cross-country highway passing behind them. You look up to see where Mr Pacer is heading, blown westward by the wind, and head onto the highway.

  A few minutes later, still pursuing the descending parachute, you pull off onto a dirt road. There’s a large transport truck parked behind some trees. It’s jet-black and you notice that it doesn’t have license plates. Mr Pacer is heading straight for it.

  You watch as the truck roars into life and begins to move, just as Mr Pacer touches down on top of it. He unhooks the parachute and waves you over, but the truck lurches forward and increases its speed.

  You follow, then drive up beside the truck, honking your horn and waving to the driver, trying to get her attention.

  Wearing mirrored shades, she looks straight ahead, ignoring you.

  How are you going to get Mr Pacer off the truck?

  The sensible thing to do would be to overtake the truck and cut it off so that it stops.

  Go here.

  Or you could try something more daring – getting Mr Pacer to jump from the moving vehicle into your car. Go here.

  You’re not sticking around to see what horrible things the aliens have in store for you.

  You randomly stab at the controls until the hovercraft hums into life and speeds off the end of the spaceship.

  But it’s a hovercraft, not an aeroplane.

  You drop like a stone.

  Down! Down! Down!

  You close your eyes.

  The hovercraft crashes through the roof of the exhibition centre. As it smashes to the ground, its revolutionary nuclear fusion power source overloads and detonates.

  KABOOM!

  The explosion takes out you, the exhibition centre and the entire city.

  On the bright side, the resulting flare and mushroom cloud are really quite spectacular.

  You leap from the wreckage and RUN!

  The owner of the Edwardian roadster, the hovercraft driver and the model aeroplane attendant give chase, the roadster owner’s cape fluttering behind with a splash of red lining. You push your way through the crowd, dodging displays. Up ahead is an exhibit of Segways – those odd little two-wheeled platforms with handlebars that seem to be all the rage. They’re not exactly extreme machines, are they? Certainly, no one seems to be interested in them. The guy looking after the Segway exhibit is sprawled out under a display table, asleep. This might be a good place to hide.

  To conceal yourself behind the Segways, go here.

  To run on, go here.

  You race across to the other stand, vault over the display tables, snatch the glass of water from the woman’s hands and gulp it down.

  You smile as the horrid taste of the all-natural extreme-energy superfood snack bar is washed away. You breathe a sigh of relief and look at the astonished faces of the man and woman.

  The man in the lab coat is short and plump, with wiry grey hair and wire-rimmed spectacles. The woman in the black trench coat is tall and slim, with a wide-brimmed black hat on her head. Oddly, she is wearing dark sunglasses indoors.

  ‘You drank the solution,’ says the man, looking at you with pity.

  ‘Your life is in danger until you have urinated it out,’ says the woman. ‘Come with me if you want to live.’ She heads off into the crowd.

  Are these people mad? Are you really in danger? What was wrong with the water you drank?

  If you want to follow the strange woman, go here.

  If you think it would be better to run in the opposite direction, go here.

  You saw this in a movie once, and you’re pretty sure you can do it! You slow the car down and bring it level with where Mr Pacer is clinging to the roof of the speeding truck, and retract the glass top. Your eyes flick from the truck to the road and back again. Keeping the car in place is tricky business.

  Wind whistling though your hair, you motion for Mr Pacer to jump into the car.

  He claws his way to the edge of the truck, climbs down the side then stops. He’s paralysed with fear, whimpering and clinging to the vehicle.

  How are you going to get him to leap?

  If you want to bump into the truck, jolting Mr Pacer into the car, go here.

  But that might be dangerous. Perhaps it would be better to check out the complex car controls. There must be something on the dashboard that could help.

  Go here.

  You wave at the slimy tentacle. It ignores you and continues to slither. Suddenly it’s propelled out of the hatch and over the edge.

  Then a head pops out. Two eyes, two ears, a nose and mouth. It’s an alien. Hairless and grey.

  ‘Darn space slugs,’ it says. ‘Hi there. My name’s Blarp-Blarp-Vlat-Pa-Ting. My fellow thrill-seekers and I have been watching you.’

  You’ve been under alien observation?

  ‘Oh, it’s nothing sinister,’ Blarp assures you. ‘We’re not planning on taking over Earth or dissecting you or anything like that. We used to visit planets to invade, open and probe, but that got boring – and messy – real quick. We’ve been searching for something more exciting for a while.’ Blarp makes a strange movement with his mouth and thin lips. You assume it’s a smile. ‘And we’ve found the ultimate thrill – speed! There is nothing in the universe as exciting and awe-inspiring as going really, really fast. So we came here for the Extreme Machine Expo. Of course, we couldn’t just beam down and cause a panic, so we cloaked our ship and watched from up here.’

  This is so weird!

  Blarp jumps out of the hatch, waving his arms about. He’s thin and spindly and wearing bright yellow shorts and an Extreme Machine Expo T-shirt. ‘And then we saw you speeding around in the hover-thingy and we knew that we had found a kindred spirit. We just had to meet you –’ he pauses for effect ‘– so we could make you an offer. How would you like to have a drive of our spaceship? It’s the fastest in the known universe.’

  You are stunned beyond belief. How will you answer?

  If you want to have a drive of the alien spaceship, go here.

  But it might be dangerous. If you’ d prefer to play it safe and refuse, go here.

  You duck down behind the Segways and wait. You peek out and watch as the owner of the Edwardian roadster, the hovercraft driver and the model aeroplane attendant run past.

  You’re about to leave when you notice Expo security guards roaming around. Are they looking for you?

  Perhaps you should stay hidden for a while longer? Go here.

  Or you could borrow a Segway and use it to escape? Go here.

  You stay hidden for the time being.

  A minute later, a woman dressed in a black trench coat and wide-brimmed hat arrives. She is wearing dark sunglasses and carrying a glass of water with great care. Weird!

  She picks out a red Segway. It’s larger than the rest, with room enough for two.

  You see security guards approach, so you jump onto the back of the Segway just as the
woman zooms off. Wow! This contraption is faster than you expected. Looks like it’s an extreme machine, after all!

  The woman seems as if she’s about to elbow you off, when two men lunge at the Segway. They are dressed identically to the woman, except in white. One of them has a nasty scar running down the side of his face.

  With an extra burst of speed, the woman drives the Segway through the Expo, people jumping out of the way ahead of the vehicle. All the while, the woman holds on to her glass of water, careful to never spill a drop. It’s really quite amazing how she manages to weave the Segway through the crowd, clinging on to the glass of water at the same time. Behind you, the men in white are in pursuit. The woman glares at you over her shoulder. You can tell she wants to shove you off, but doesn’t have a spare hand.

  The woman drives the Segway out of the exhibition centre and up to a black sports car. It’s sleek and streamlined and stunningly beautiful. The windows are tinted so that they’re almost as dark as the body.

  The men in white are nearly upon you.

  ‘Here,’ says the woman, handing you the glass of water. ‘Mind this.’

  As you hold the glass, she attacks the men in white with a series of impressive karate chops and acrobatic kicks that seem as if they should be in slow motion like in those action films.

  You look at the glass in your hand and suddenly realise how thirsty you are.

  To drink the water, go here.

  To stay thirsty, go here.

  The woman leads you to an exhibit of Segways – those odd little two-wheeled platforms with handlebars that seem to be all the rage. They’re not exactly extreme machines, are they? Certainly, no one seems to be interested in them. The guy looking after the Segway exhibit is sprawled out under a display table, asleep.

  The woman picks out a red, sporty Segway and mounts it. It’s larger than the others, with just enough room for a second person.

  ‘Hop on,’ she says, ‘if you want to live.’

  As if to punctuate her point, an arrow thuds into the table beside you, a dagger clatters against one of the Segways and a hatchet lands at your feet.

  Hanging around this woman seems to be dangerous!

  Perhaps it’s time to run off on your own?

  Go here.

  Then again, maybe you’ d be better off sticking with her. Go here.

  You run away from the strange woman and lose yourself in the crowd. Suddenly there are two guys in white trench coats, with white hats and sunglasses – on either side of you. What’s with people wearing sunglasses indoors?

  They each grab an arm and manhandle you through the crowd and out an emergency fire exit. One of the men has a nasty scar running across his face. He grunts at you. The other guy mumbles into his wristwatch, and a white helicopter descends from the sky to land a few metres ahead.

  You are shoved on board. Inside is a woman in a white trench coat, hat and sunglasses. Do all these people shop in the same place?

  The two guys turn and run back towards the exhibition centre, where the woman in black has just emerged. They start fighting.

  The helicopter begins to take off. The back section that you’re in has an opening without a door. Now’s your chance – you could jump off before it gets too high.

  To leap off the helicopter, go here.

  If you’re too scared and want to stay where you are, go here.

  It’s now or never. You jump.

  But your foot snags on the rope ladder heaped next to the opening. You fall out onto the ground, your leg tangled in the rope. As the helicopter rises, you are lifted off the ground.

  Then it dawns on you – you are precariously hanging upside down from a helicopter as it flies over the city. You close your eyes and scream as you swoop between the skyscrapers. A few minutes later you tentatively open your eyes and scream again.

  But now you keep your eyes open. You decide that you can’t just hang around like this. You need to do something. So you reach up to your leg and try to untangle it from the rope ladder. It takes a lot of effort, but finally you release your foot, grasping the rope ladder with your hands and turning yourself the right way up. Now, should you climb into the helicopter?

  As you look down, you see that you are flying towards the docks. If you time this right, you could drop into the water.

  The helicopter is about to pass over the dock. You need to make your decision.

  To let go of the rope ladder, go here.

  To climb into the helicopter, go here.

  You decide to run on, weaving through the crowd. You glance over your shoulder as you go. Seems like you’ve lost your pursuers.

  But, as you’re looking back, you collide with a tall woman wearing a black trench coat and hat carrying a glass of water. She screams as the water spills.

  ‘You idiot!’ she yells. ‘You’ve potentially destroyed years of research!’

  Seriously? It’s just a glass of water. Talk about overreaction.

  She takes a sponge out of her pocket and gets down on her hands and knees, still yelling at you. All her ranting and raving attracts the attention of the Expo security guards. As they come running, you make to dash off.

  ‘Oh, no, you don’t!’ the trench-coat woman shouts.

  She pulls a gadget from her pocket and zaps you with it. The electricity courses through your body, making your muscles spasm. Your legs give out and you fall to the ground, into the puddle of water. The water conducts the electricity and it passes into the woman, who is kneeling in the puddle.

  Spasming uncontrollably, she is unable to release the gadget. More and more electricity zaps through the two of you until you are both well-done and super crispy.

  You examine the controls on the dashboard of the race car. Hardly any of them are labelled. You randomly press a button.

  The car leaps forward and launches into the air. As the car is level with Mr Pacer, he falls in. The car then thumps back onto the road.

  You decelerate then stop, watching the truck go down the road.

  You have saved Mr Pacer. He is too dazed to drive, so you get to have a little more time at the wheel, speeding back towards the racetrack.

  You return to the exhibition centre, expecting to be treated like a hero.

  Instead, there are police waiting to arrest you! While you were away, the signature on your permission form was compared to the signature on the Expo registration form your dad had signed and identified as fake. You are carted off to the police station and thrown into a cell.

  You are allowed one phone call.

  You ring your parents and try to explain to them why you have been arrested for forgery.

  You swerve the car into the side of the truck. There is a screech of metal on metal, which pretty much wrecks the paintwork on that side of the race car. Mr Pacer, jolted by the impact, loses his grip and falls into the passenger seat, squealing wildly.

  But it’s not over yet. In retaliation, the truck swerves and knocks into the car. There is more damaged paintwork, and a pretty impressive dent to boot. You are thrown across the dashboard controls, randomly hitting numerous buttons. A compartment in the side of the car ejects a load of spikes onto the road under the truck. Why does this vehicle even have this function? Is it for cheating?

  There is BANG after BANG as four of the truck’s tyres are punctured and shredded. The truck swerves along the road as the driver loses control. You manage to manoeuvre the car out of the way as the truck veers off into the ditch.

  BLAM!

  The truck crashes, and a cloud of dust is kicked into the air. The truck’s bonnet crumples and steam hisses from beneath, while at the other end the doors spring open and motorcycles fall out.

  You pull over to look at the truck. All this damage is your fault.

  Then out of the cabin door emerges the truck driver.

  She is massive – over six feet tall, broad and muscled. Her face is angular and impassive, and the mirrored shades hide her eyes. Her hair is short, jet-black and spiked
. She is decked out in black leather. Scary!

  If you think you should approach the truck driver, go here.

  Or you could just drive off. Go here.

  Drive a spaceship? How could you answer anything other than YES?

  ‘Ace!’ Blarp punches the air, then jumps back through the hatch.

  Seconds later a larger hatch opens beneath the hovercraft, swallowing you into the darkness.

  The lights flicker on. A gigantic screen illuminates one wall, showing the sky and landscape outside. Blarp is standing beside a silver chair in front of the screen.

  ‘Hop into the pilot’s seat,’ he says.

  As you sit you feel a tingling all over. An awareness washes over you. You can sense the spaceship.

  ‘Telepathic controls,’ explains Blarp. ‘All you’ve gotta do is think about where you want to go … and the spaceship will take you there.’

  Really?

  You think about moving up.

  The ship zooms up through the atmosphere.

  This is incredible!

  You think about travelling through the solar system … and you’re off. The screen is a blur of motion. The moon streaks by. Planets and meteors and asteroids zip past. Is that Saturn you just saw?

  You want more. Faster, you think.

  Suns and solar systems pass in a flash.

  ‘Cowabunga!’ shouts Blarp. ‘You’ve exceeded the speed of light!’