Attack of the Spider Bots Read Free

happens in this place after dark.”
    â€œBut how?” asked Ghoulie.
    â€œUh, what’s wrong with the way we came in?” Scilla asked before Beamer and Ghoulie could work themselves into a panic.
    â€œTrouble is,” said Ghoulie, the middle school brain trust. “I don’t think there’s room for both us and the train in the tunnel at the same time. We need to clock the train’s circuit to see if there’s enough time for us to scramble back up into the tunnel and down to our entry point before it comes around again.”
    Ghoulie pulled back his jacket sleeve to activate the stopwatch on his oversized wristwatch, which included a GPS and an LCD display, as well as Internet access. Yep, if there was a gadget out there, Ghoulie had it.
    â€œGood grief,” said Beamer, rolling his eyes. “Take a seat, Scilla. If he’s in NASA mode, we may be waiting here till next Tuesday.”
    â€œBetter safe than sorry, you know,” Ghoulie chortled.
    While Beamer and Scilla sat morosely on a miniature stone wall, waiting for Ghoulie to time the train’s route, their mini-world transformed into night. Shadows grew longer as the soft line of light faded into the horizon. Then the moon rose, not full, just a thin crescent. Beamer wondered if it changed phases like the real moon. A night sky materialized. He could make out the Big Dipper and the constellation Orion. The planets were there too, though not to scale. They were, in fact, much larger than they looked in the real night sky.
    â€œHey, look there!” shouted Beamer. “You can see the dead volcanoes and canals on Mars.” Jupiter had its red spot and Saturn, its rings. A comet, complete with its tail, also moved across the night sky. You could even see one galaxy looking like a whirlpool of light. Somebody had gone all out in the imagination and technology department to create this world.
    Scilla had crossed over to look in the window of a tiny flower shop, when a noise brought her to wide-eyed attention. She looked behind her and fell back into the stream. She screamed as she first swam, then crawled, and then ran away from the noise. With her head turned backward, she didn’t even notice Beamer until she plowed into him.
    Beamer fell splat and yelled, “What’s the matter? Can’t you watch where you’re going?” She was already back on her feet and burning shoe leather. “Hey!” he yelled after her. “A little ‘excuse me’ would be nice.” Then he heard an ear-crushing roar and whipped around. His face suddenly froze.

3
    Escape from Netherworld
    Beamer had forgotten how to breathe, let alone move. The beast’s huge moonlit shadow was already on him. Finally Beamer’s legs began scooting him backward as a gigantic creature covered in scales climbed out of a deep gorge. Somewhere in the back of Beamer’s mind was the thought that the beast was probably just another animated toy, but — even in a diminutive state for this miniature world — Godzilla was pretty colossal.
    Beamer stumbled and then ran, with the monster’s feet thundering behind him. “Forget the timing!” he yelled to Ghoulie. “We’ve gotta take our chances.” Behind him, the beast was squashing cars and buildings and making the world quake. Whether the creature was real or not, they were here without permission, and who knew if somebody hadn’t invented this “dragon” to guard its treasure world.

    â€œI’m with you!” Scilla shouted as she splashed through the stream and scrambled up the ravine to the tunnel.
    Ghoulie didn’t need any convincing either when he saw the towering beast pounding toward him.
    Just as Scilla reached the tunnel, the train whistle blew her eardrums into “mute.” She jumped back just as the train sped out of the tunnel and roared across the bridge. By the time it passed, Beamer and Ghoulie had