The Curiosity Machine Read Free Page B

was seeing: not twenty metres away, two strangers were closing fast and one of them was wielding a very long, and probably very sharp, samurai sword.

Chapter 2
    Gerald and Ruby scrambled to their feet, their boots slipping in the churned-up ice. The strangers were advancing fast. The one carrying the samurai sword wound it through a broad arc above his head. The blade seemed to sing as it sliced the air.
    Gerald had no time to wonder who they were or what they wanted, and the sight of the razor-thin blade scything the air left him few options. He grabbed Ruby’s arm and they hustled over the rise, only to be slammed in the head with two hard-packed snowballs.
    â€˜Stop it!’ Gerald yelled, waving his arms at Sam and Felicity as he and Ruby raced towards them. ‘Get to the chopper!’
    Sam was about to unleash another missile whenRuby took him by the jacket. ‘Run,’ she said. ‘There’s someone with a sword.’
    Felicity led the sprint, but they only made it a short way before she pulled up. ‘What are you doing?’ Gerald asked, breathless in the thin alpine air. ‘Don’t stop.’ But then he saw. The strangers in the white snowsuits had split up—the one without the sword had sped across the ice to be between them and the distant chopper. Gerald glanced over his shoulder; the swordsman was right behind them. Both strangers were clad head to foot in white, complete with white ski masks covering their heads. The only things that were not white were the sunglasses that masked their eyes.
    The rotors were turning on the chopper, but there was no sign of Mr Fry. Gerald, Sam, Ruby and Felicity clustered together, as if a larger foe might scare off the attackers. The two figures in white did not seem put off at all.
    Sam’s eyes narrowed. Then he took a determined pace forward and threw his last snowball hard at the samurai’s head. In a blink, the blade cut the air, slicing the snowball neatly down the middle. The two halves shaved either side of the man’s head and landed harmlessly on the ground behind him.
    â€˜Crud,’ Sam muttered. Then he took off. ‘Run!’ he cried, not looking back.
    Gerald, Ruby and Felicity set off after him as he scarpered like a startled rabbit across the ice towards the glacier’s edge. Gerald pumped his arms, sucking frozenair into his lungs. He caught up with Sam and chanced a look back over his shoulder. Felicity and Ruby were at their heels; the two figures in white just metres behind.
    â€˜What’s the plan?’ Gerald asked, running apace alongside Sam.
    â€˜Start heading up this way,’ Sam said, nodding to their left. ‘Circle back to the chopper.’
    Their pursuers were running either side of them, like a pair of sheepdogs, boxing them in. ‘They’ll cut us off before we get there,’ Gerald puffed. He stumbled and almost tripped. His boots sank to his ankles as the ice turned to slush near the glacier edge. ‘It’s melting,’ he panted. ‘The ice is melting.’
    Without another word exchanged, the four of them stopped. They knew that there was not going to be any Hollywood escape. Gerald rested his hands on his knees, puffing out plumes of steam. Despite the exertion, he suddenly felt very cold. The two strangers slowed to a walk. Gerald looked in the direction of the helicopter but it had disappeared from sight behind a low rise. Even if Gerald yelled for help, Mr Fry wouldn’t hear over the sound of the rotors. They were sunk.
    The figure with the sword stopped and pointed the tip of the blade at Sam. He raised his other hand and beckoned for him to come closer.
    Sam looked at the swordsman, confused, then at Gerald. ‘You want me?’ Sam asked. ‘Are you sure you’ve got the right person?’
    Ruby’s eyes rounded with fury. ‘Sam!’
    Sam held up his hands. ‘I’m just saying that I’m not usually the one