The Superpower Project (17 page)

Megan was frowning. “There are five sigils, though,” she said. “That's right, isn't it John?”

“Yep. Five sigils. Five guardians. And we've only got three of each.”

“So how come we only have one place left to look?”

“We could do with more guardians as well,” said Cam. “That way we could maybe take on one robot each.”

“Yeah. There should be a water person like Hannah and an invisible person like Tam.”

“Great, it should be really easy to find someone invisible,” said Cam.

A sudden beeping made them all jump.

“Morse code again,” said TJ, tapping his chest.

“Any change to the message?” asked Megan hopefully.

“No,” said TJ. “Still incomplete.”

“I really wish we knew who that was,” said Cam. “Maybe they have the other sigil. Do you remember yet who might be contacting you?”

TJ suddenly began banging his head with both of his metal hands. “What. What. What.”

“TJ! Calm down!” said Megan.

“What. What. What?” There was a small pop and a few sparks, then TJ was silent.

“He's gone funny again,” said Cam. “I thought your upgrade was supposed to stop him malfunctioning every time he got a Morse-code message.”

“I thought so too,” said Megan. “Maybe he got damaged by Phoenix. Hang on.” She took a screwdriver from John's shelf and carefully unscrewed the plate at the back of the robot's head.

“Cool,” said Cam, “he looks much more interesting on the inside.”

“I was a bit worried that the solar panel might not be a good idea with our weather,” said Megan. “Perhaps he needs a back-up power source. Are you ok, TJ?”

“What. Yes. I… I… I…”

“We're sorting it TJ,” said Megan.

Cam was peering inside the back of the robot's head, looking slightly worried. “Meg, what's that?” He pointed to a large microchip connected to a little bulb that was flashing red and green.

“Dunno,” said Megan. “That microchip is one of the older pieces. Every time I tried to disconnect it, he completely switched off. It was wired to the Morse-code machine originally.”

“Right,” said Cam, “but you fixed that?”

“Well, there's still a connection, but the Goozberri Five is the main control now.”

“Ok,” said Cam, “it's just that Chronos and Phoenix have the exact same bit inside them.”

“What? Seriously? TJ, do you know what this chip is?” asked Megan, tapping it.

Sensing her hand inside his head, TJ moved it slowly from side to side as if trying to crack his neck.

“Yes,” said TJ, “communications from Finn.”

“Finn?!” said Megan. “What do you mean? You speak with Mr Finn?”

“There are five,” said TJ.

There had never been a more awkward silence, and considering how rude and tactless Cam could be, that was really saying something.

“Finn! Mr Finn?!” shouted Cam angrily. “From Waterworx?! The bad guys!”

John looked horrified. “What does this mean? Have you been spying on us?”

Megan stepped in front of the bewildered robot, firing a warning glance at John and Cam. “No. He wouldn't do that to us.”

TJ clicked and whirred in confusion. “Megan, I do not understand.”

“It's not your fault, TJ. It's not your fault,” said Megan.

“Yes it is his fault, Meg,” said Cam. “
He's
why the sculptures keep turning up wherever we go!”

John was holding his head in his hands. “TJ, how long have you been in contact with Mr Finn?”

“Professor Finn reactivated me in 1953. It was forgot-ten. Until now.”

John was shaking, and patterns of fur were rippling in waves just under his skin. Cam could see he was struggling hard not to become a wild animal, to lash out. “I can't believe this Jimmy. The day of the submarine attack… That's how they knew we were coming… You were our friend…”

“He
is
your friend,” said Megan. “He couldn't help it.”

“Mr Watt built me to protect,” said TJ. “I protect.”

“Well, you didn't protect Hannah and Tam!” roared John.

Cam quietly stepped beside John, just in case he had to move quickly to stop him.

“You just do what you are programmed to, you can't help it,” said Megan.

“I do not want to,” said TJ, still shaking his head. “It was forgotten.”

TJ stood, clicking and whirring as he tried to find a way for it not to be true.

“Professor Finn must have known you were a guardian and reprogrammed you to find the others and act as a double agent,” said Megan.

“I did not know!” whirred TJ. “I would not harm.”

John had slumped into his chair. “Some guardians,” he said. “We were leading the bad guys to the sigils all along.”

“Not quite. You did it right, especially when Gran hid them herself,” said Megan. “You kept the sigils safe from Professor Finn. We just have to get all the sigils before his son finishes the job.”

***

Megan spent the next hour fiddling with the wires behind TJ's tin skin, while John and Cam sat wordlessly in the shabby makeshift living room.

“It looks like Professor Finn's rewiring made TJ send a regular signal displaying his GPS location.”

“So that's how they always know where we are?” asked Cam.

“Yes,” said TJ, obviously once again dismayed at having put his friends in danger. “I am sorry. I did not know.”

“Remember there was beeping as soon as we switched TJ on? You thought he was a bomb.”

“Well, he did blow up my shed,” said Cam, “so I'd say I was half right.”

“There is a second function,” said TJ. “The Morse-code link allows two-way communication. I am programmed to respond.”

“And have you?” said Megan.

“I have sent no functional messages since 23 May 1965.”

“The day of the submarine attack,” growled John.

“I think you have been fighting it, TJ,” said Megan, “even if you don't remember.”

“Is that why he goes all haywire whenever he receives the message?” asked Cam.

Megan suddenly got so excited she started hovering. “This is brilliant!”

TJ, Cam and John all looked at her, clearly not seeing how brilliant it was at all.

“Mr Finn can track TJ, right? And that means we've been leading them to the sigils this whole time.

“That explains why they haven't tried harder to actually kill you…” John grumbled.

“Yes, and if we've been leading them
to
the sigils…”

“We can lead them the wrong way too,” said Cam. “We can send TJ somewhere else while we go and find the fourth sigil!”

John smiled for the first time in hours. “You're both even smarter than my lot were, and there are only two of you. Sarah would have been so proud.”

“But it gets better,” said Megan. “We know Mr Finn can contact TJ, but he doesn't know we know. Y'know? So we should pretend we don't know.”

“Ok, I'm lost now,” said Cam. “And actually I think I've been doing pretty well.”

“Mr Finn keeps sending TJ the Morse-code signal but TJ hasn't responded,” said Megan. “If he does respond, maybe Mr Finn will send him specific orders…”

“And we'll know what he's up to!” said John.

“I do not want to help them,” said the robot, sounding as near to annoyed as it was possible for him to be.

“You won't be,” said Megan. “They will just think you are. You can be a decoy. A double agent!”

“Will that help to fix things?” asked TJ.

“My gran used to say that if it's not broken, don't fix it.” Megan smiled and hugged the robot. “Though to be fair, she actually did break quite a lot of stuff.”

“But what if Mr Finn finds out… what if it goes wrong again?” said TJ.

“You're forgetting something else TJ,” said Megan, opening TJ's chest plate to access the Goozberri Five now installed inside. “We've been reprogramming.”

John smiled. “Ok then, sounds like we have the advantage. Let's finish this. Better late than never.”

It was an unusually glorious winter day at the Sugar Sheds. Mr Finn took a moment to survey the sunshine, and smiled. He couldn't care less about the sun of course, but the good weather meant that more people than expected had turned up to see the fifth and final sculpture unveiled. There were lots of parents and teachers accompanying hordes of uninterested children. The local press were out in force too – the unveiling was now big news, thanks to the high-profile damage to the other sculptures.

“Probably hoping some monkeys and bears turn up to push it over,” thought Mr Finn, not totally sure himself that they wouldn't.

The statue was draped in a gigantic blue flag with the wavy Waterworx logo printed across it. Mr Finn didn't like blue, but the board wouldn't let him change the Waterworx colours to black and red. “Too sinister,” they said, entirely missing his point.

These were the exact same people who had refused his suggestions for electric fences and desk-mounted flamethrowers to ensure office security. If they had just let him dig that big pit full of spikes or fit the Autostomper into the ceiling, maybe the office wouldn't have been burgled. Or if it
had
been burgled, it would be full of crispy, squashed burglars.

Mr Finn tried not to think about the waste of all his hard work finding the sigils, and did his best to smile.

He looked like a skeleton with stomach cramps.

Kevin, who had won the school design competition, was waiting to pull the cord and unveil his creation. And of course get his grubby little paws on a free Playstation.

All Mr Finn hoped was that this sculpture would be terrifying enough to deter superpowered vandals and burglars. And if some babies and old ladies in the crowd got a fright and started crying too, that would be a bonus. He stepped up to the microphone and showed his teeth.

“Thank you very much for coming along to support us today,” he said. “I know we've been unlucky with our lovely sculptures in the last few months, but I'm certain this one could hold its own in a fight.”

There was some nervous laughter in the crowd, but not much. Clearly none of these idiots had a sense of humour. Mr Finn pushed on.

“And a special thank you to Kevin here, who designed this wonderful creation. Kevin, would you like to do the honours?” He pointed at the cord.

Kevin pulled, dragging the Waterworx flag away to reveal a majestic sea serpent coiled around a fountain. Each metal-plated scale shone in the sun.

“Ladies and gentlemen, meet Destiny!”

The sculpture's teeth and claws sparkled most of all.

There was some genuine applause this time, which caught Mr Finn a little offguard, so he pushed Kevin forward to the microphone. “Tell them where you got the idea from,” he hissed.

“The sculpture is based on a monster from one of Sarah Stone's books,” said Kevin. “A friendly river serpent who lived in the Firth of Clyde.”

“Yes,” said Mr Finn, snatching the microphone back from Kevin. “We were all saddened by the death of local author Sarah Stone last year. This is our way of paying tribute. Although, this is obviously a much less friendly serpent; it would likely have your hand off.”

Mr Finn glared at the crowd severely, just in case any more wannabe superheroes happened to be hiding in there, considering causing trouble or stealing things from his offices.

“So, thank you one and all for coming along today,” said Mr Finn. “A small selection of reasonably priced refreshments are available from the snack van across the street. Enjoy.”

People stared dutifully at the statue for a few seconds more, making all the sorts of sounds and noises you are supposed to make, while Mr Finn waited. He was not going to leave his beautiful new sculpture alone until everyone had gone. To encourage them along, he decided to make another announcement: “Please do not let children sit on the statue as it is razor sharp. It would be awful if anyone ended up horribly injured.”

That seemed to do the trick.

***

Mr Finn had not been in the best of moods since the Waterworx office break-in. Even firing all his employees hadn't cheered him up. Neither had inventing gelignite marshmallows. It helped a bit to unveil the huge killer robot today, but he was still feeling glum. So his plan for the night was to go back to the office, do a little more tedious investigating of Watt's old documents, then go home to his lab. He wanted to trial some of Destiny's remote-control systems, possibly smash some stuff up too. With any luck, that would help him figure out what was going wrong with his attempts to control the Tin Jimmy.

Every time he sent his father's master control signal, he received a burst of complete gibberish back. For a while he'd thought it was coded messages, but he couldn't decipher a thing.