Mummy Madness Read Free Page A

He chose the longest and strongest length of wood and slid it
     under the lid of the coffin. The young man heaved. The stone moved just a little and
     the skeleton guard seemed to grin even more. He wished his father could be there to
     help, but he somehow summoned the strength of two men and the lid of the tomb
gradually slid to one side. He fell to
     his knees, his chest heaving, sweat pouring. He grabbed the candle and, bathed in
     golden light, he rose to his feet. He lowered the candle into the coffin and peered
     inside.
    ‘Found you!’ he gasped, his
     eyes focusing on the bandaged body of Qua’a. Time had blackened the bandages.
     His arms swept through the coffin, his eyes searching for the Nile Ruby.
Nothing!
He scrambled into the crypt and carefully lifted the mummified
     body out.
Still nothing.
‘It’s an empty tomb!’
    He looked at his father’s body
     lying on the floor. ‘The legend was wrong!’ he yelled, tears streaming
     down his face. ‘The pharaoh was buried
without
his most precious
     jewel.’

4. ‘Titchology’
    Ben knew his little brother was
     desperate to get his hands on the HAPI crystals so he took the packet and zipped it
     into his coat pocket out of the way.
    ‘And that’s not all,’
     grinned the professor. ‘I have invented a,
ahem
, hand-held mobile
     phone,’ he announced.
    Lara raised a surprised doggie eyebrow
     and Sophie coughed, to stifle a laugh. ‘Hand-held mobiles, Professor? I think
     you’ll find they’ve been around for ages.’
    Professor Cortex gave a disapproving
     glance and carried on. ‘Not like this one, young lady,’ he said, giving
     her his hardest stare. The professor held his right hand up and spread his fingers.
     ‘You see the mobile is
in
the hand.’
    Cool idea
, thought Lara, her
     mind racing ahead.
    Ollie looked at
     Ben. Ben looked at Ollie. They shrugged.
    ‘This could be even worse than the
     daytime torch!’ sighed Sophie, rolling her eyes.
    The scientist pressed on, undaunted by
     the children’s lack of enthusiasm. ‘It’s smaller than
     pico-technology, you see.’
    ‘Pico?’ repeated Ollie.
     ‘Cool word.’
    ‘Cool word indeed, young Oliver.
     Let me explain,’ nodded the scientist, delighted to have an opportunity to
     share his knowledge. ‘When I was growing up, and GM451 was just a pup, we had
     good old-fashioned “technology”.’
    Steady on, old boy
, thought
     Lara.
I’m not that old!
    ‘And then things got smaller so we
     invented
micro
technology. And now most scientists are working on
nano
technology … which is smaller than micro.’
    Ollie stifled a yawn.
    ‘But they’re light years
     behind. There is a Russian scientist who’s working on
pico
-technology, which is so tiny that the human eye can’t even see
     it.’
    ‘Smaller than a flea?’ asked
     Ollie, imagining the smallest thing he could.
    Why’s
     everyone looking at me?
thought Lara, resisting the urge to scratch behind
     her ear.
    ‘Smaller than a flea’s brain
     cell,’ nodded the professor. ‘But, as usual, kiddiewinks, I’m
     ahead of the game. Fleas’ brain cells are, quite frankly, far too big. We can
     do better. I’m working on technology so small that the human brain can’t
     even
imagine
it. I’ve had to invent a new word for it. Forget
     “technology”. I’m working on
     “
titch
ology”.’ The professor peered over the top of his
     spectacles to see what reaction there was to his new word. The children’s
     faces were vacant. ‘Titch,’ he repeated, ‘as in
     “titchy”, which means “tiny”. Can you see that I’ve
     replaced the “tech” bit with …’
    ‘Nice one, Prof,’ cut in
     Ben. ‘We get it. To be honest, I’m more interested in seeing
titchology
in action. Have you got any gadgets?’
    ‘Have I got any gadgets?’
     fussed the professor, flapping at the pockets in his white coat. ‘Have I got
     any gadgets …’ he repeated, looking a little flustered. ‘The
     problem with