Jump Start Read online

  ‘I’m here,’ said EJ, swinging her phone around so her friend could see her. ‘And I came from there,’ she continued, swinging the phone around to show the first bridge. ‘And now I need to get over there,’ she finished, swinging the phone back to the last stretch of the bridge and zooming in, ‘on that!’

  ‘Oh,’ said Hannah. ‘That’s not much of a bridge, is it?’

  ‘No. You can see my problem.’

  ‘I can,’ Hannah replied. ‘But how long is that gap at the end?’

  ‘A metre or so, maybe a little bit more.’

  ‘Well, that’s alright then!’ Hannah chuckled.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘That’s no more than the high jump in your gym routine,’ Hannah explained.

  ‘You mean the one I can’t do.’

  ‘No, the one you can do but you psyche yourself out of doing by thinking about the fall, not the jump. You can do this easily. Just concentrate on the jump, a big, long, beautiful jump, as if you have wings.’

  ‘I’m not sure that will work...’

  ‘Hey Em,’ said Hannah. ‘What’s the best that can happen?’

  ‘I can’t tell you that, Han,’ said EJ, and she thought how close she was to completing her mission, shutting down Project Green Eye and rescuing all those animals. ‘But it’s good, really good. Actually it’s completely awesome. Maybe I can do the jump but I just think–’

  ‘So stop thinking and fly. What are you waiting for—don’t be nuts!’

  That reminded her. Where’s Nuts? EJ looked up. She’d been following Nuts the whole way across the bridge. She watched as the little squirrel monkey took a flying leap from the end of the bridge, scrabbled up the cliff face, turned and sat there on the other side of the canyon, waiting.

  Half an hour to go. What am I waiting for?

  And then suddenly, standing on a wobbly rope bridge in the wind and rain, everything became clear to EJ12. She had jumped out of planes and onto riverbanks. She had leapt from trees to vines and vines to trees. She had edged her way across the first stretch of the bridge. She was going to do this jump too. EJ suddenly got it, Hannah believed she could do the jump and now so did she. She really did, she could feel it. EJ’s mouth was no longer dry and she suddenly felt lighter. She smiled to herself. She was ready.

  ‘Watch out, Nuts. I’m coming after you!’ she yelled.

  EJ climbed onto the bridge and walked along a little. When she came to a gap in the base rope she slid her hands along the top ropes and jumped. She did this again and again until she was nearly across. Just one more jump, and it needed to be the biggest jump of all. EJ began to think ... Actually, perhaps I am not ready, perhaps I should think...

  But her friend, still on the end of the phone, knew her well.

  ‘Don’t start thinking, Em. Just do it!’

  Something clicked in EJ’s brain. She could do this jump—she could feel it. She thought of all the animals waiting for rescue on the other side. Then she closed her eyes and imagined the perfect flying jump. She could do it! She could see it! She knew it!

  EJ took two steps, as long as the holes in the base rope allowed, and then she jumped up across the last big gap. It was biggest, highest, longest leap of her life. She flew off the bridge and, with legs fully outstretched, jumped onto the top of the cliff. She stuck the landing on both feet and then, just because she felt like it, she did a perfect double flip.

  ‘Show-off!’ shouted Hannah gleefully.

  EJ stood on the cliff and looked back. Had she really done that?

  ‘That was awesome! Because you were holding the phone, I felt like I did the jump with you,’ said Hannah. ‘Good luck and see you back at school.’

  ‘Thanks Han, I couldn’t have done it without you,’ said EJ.

  ‘Actually, you could have’ replied her friend, laughing, ‘but I am glad I could help. Now go save something!’

  EJ grinned. She was officially awesome! She rocked! She jumped!

  But there was no time for celebrating. There was now less than thirty minutes until the third and final SHADOW message would self-destruct. She needed to find that message and decode it quickly.

  It was a text from HQ

  Make that super-quick, thought EJ. She reviewed her situation. There was a lot to do. There were buildbots to manage, a satellite dish to destroy, and animals to return to the rainforest. But EJ12 was on a roll and nothing was going to stop her now.

  EJ looked around the satellite site and wondered. Buildbot Master Control? Quick, thought EJ. Where is it? Her spy training clicked in as she scanned from left to right, taking in everything, and then back again right to left. She saw the crates, the satellite dish and Nuts, who was siting on a small pole. A small pole with a sign at the top.

  ‘Okay, another spy point to you, Nuts,’ said EJ. ‘That was too easy.’ She rewarded her little furry friend with another nut. As Nuts chewed away, EJ found a small cabinet at the bottom of the pole. Locked. She pulled up her charm bracelet and tried the lock with the key.

  ‘I love SHINE,’ laughed EJ. The key turned the lock without a problem. The door opened revealing a tiny panel of buttons—Buildbot Master Control. EJ pushed a few random buttons but nothing happened. Then a message flashed up on the screen.

  What code? The second message had said ‘enter for code’. But what did that mean? Think EJ, think. EJ scanned the panel, her mind racing. It was like a tiny keyboard—were some of the letters or numbers the code? Her eyes moved from left to right, working her way across the panel, past the enter key. The enter key! Could it really be that simple? Only one way to find out, thought EJ. She hit the enter button and hoped she was right.

  Another message flashed up on the screen.

  EJ always feared the final code as it was usually the most difficult, so she was a bit surprised to see that it was so short.

  Hmmm, short code but not an easy code. There are some pretty big numbers there, except for the 9. And some are odd and some are even.

  EJ kept looking at the numbers, willing a pattern to appear. She knew those numbers would have to have something in common, but what?

  Is it 9? EJ wondered, let’s see

  4x9 is 36 and 5x9 is 45 and 7x9 is 63.

  So far so good. But hold on, 9 doesn’t go into 42 or 33.

  EJ had reached a dead end. Or had she?

  But hang on, they can all be divided into 3, can’t they?

  The first code went in 1s, the second in 2s. Was the third code in 3s?

  EJ flicked to her calculator app and punched in the numbers.

  21x3 is 63

  14x3 is 42

  12x3 is 36

  15x3 is 45

  3x3 is 9

  Yes! EJ knew she had it now

  11x3 is 33!

  That has to be it. EJ opened up her code app and flicked through to find the code table. There it is.

  ‘Arrggh,’ groaned EJ. ‘I should have guessed that one without even cracking the code!’

  But she wasn’t about to complain. All three codes had now been cracked. She had got to them before SHADOW and it looked like her perfect mission record was still intact.

  She keyed it in and waited. A little green flashing light on the control panel told EJ what SHADOW already knew. There was a buildbot malfunction. She pressed enter again and another message appeared on the screen.

  EJ thought for a minute and smiled. Re-program, what a great idea! She typed furiously into the control panel. Everything was going to be okay.

  Within seconds, the buildbots stopped moving in crazy circles. But instead of going back to building the satellite dish, they began to take it apart. Quickly. Pretty soon, Project Green Eye was just a heap of scrap metal on the ground.

  ‘Love your work, bots!’ said EJ, pressing another few buttons. This time the buildbots headed towards the packing crates.

  EJ grinned. Her plan was working perfectly. The buildbots positioned themselves next to the crates and then stopped. There was a series of b
eeps and with one swift movement, each buildbot unbolted a crate and pulled the door open.

  Suddenly there were animals everywhere! Baby spider monkeys, parrots, jaguars, vampire bats, squirrel monkeys and howler monkeys—all crying out for their mothers.

  EJ hit the pause button and shut the buildbots down. As soon as the clanking and beeping from the robots stopped, the most amazing thing happened. Out of the rainforest beyond the huge bare clearing, a vast mass of animals came squeaking, squawking, growling, hissing and whistling into view. The parents were coming to collect their babies and take them back into the safety of the forest.

  Soon there was only one baby animal left. Nuts.

  ‘Where’s your mum?’ said EJ.

  Nuts whistled and leapt on to EJ’s head. Maybe Nuts really was all alone.

  Once the site was cleared of the animals, EJ re-hit the pause button and the buildbots started up again. But this time they put themselves into the packing crates and closed the doors behind them.

  ‘No more building for you, bots!’ EJ shouted. She keyed in one more set of instructions, grabbed Nuts and ran for cover. They hit the ground a short distance away and she covered Nuts’ ears.

  The buildbots had self-destructed inside the wooden crates and the explosion had destroyed what was left of the satellite dish. Nothing remained of Project Green Eye.

  EJ sat up, feeling rather pleased with herself. Nuts slid her hand into EJ’s pocket. She felt rather pleased about getting another nut. EJ took out her phone. It was time to go home. She pressed 4-6-6-3 into the keypad and a woman’s voice answered immediately.

  ‘ SHINE Home Delivery Service—straight to your door any time, anywhere.’

  ‘Agent EJ12 requesting home delivery,’ replied EJ. Looking at Nuts, she added, ‘for two.’

  ‘No problem, EJ12. We have locked in your coordinates with transport on stand-by in the area. It won’t be long.’

  She wasn’t kidding. A few minutes later, EJ heard the chop-chop-chop of helicopter blades.

  ‘Hold on tight, Nuts,’ said EJ. ‘It’s going to get pretty blowy. In fact, you better stay in here.’ She put the little monkey inside her backpack.

  The helicopter hovered over the clearing and lowered a rope ladder.

  A familiar voice boomed out over the noise of the blades. ‘EJ12, this is LP30. Jump on the ladder and we’ll winch you up.’

  More rope, thought EJ. At least this one leads somewhere. Up we go!

  As EJ climbed, the chopper winched and she was soon inside the cockpit with LP30.

  ‘Welcome back, EJ12. Great job! And just in time too—look out the side window and check what’s coming towards us.’

  EJ turned to see another helicopter far off in the distance, but coming closer all the time. A few seconds later, she could make out the letters on the side with her binoculars—S, H, A...

  ‘ SHADOW?’ said EJ, holding her breath.

  ‘You bet,’ replied LP30.

  ‘But they’re too late,’ smiled EJ. ‘I found the last message before they could destroy it, so Project Green Eye is no more! Do you think they’ll follow us?’

  ‘Let’s not hang around to find out,’ said LP30. ‘And besides, I have something to show you.’

  The chopper turned sharply down towards the river and followed the path of the water.

  ‘I hope they’re still there,’ said LP30. ‘Let’s go lower and see.’

  They were skimming along the surface of the river. EJ thought that if she dangled her feet outside the helicopter, she could probably feel the water rushing through her toes. And then she saw them—dolphins. Pink dolphins! A whole school of them leaping and diving along the river as if they were escorting EJ home.

  ‘Wow!’ exclaimed EJ.

  ‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ cried LP30 over the noise of chopper. ‘They’re botos—river dolphins—and they only live in this part of the world.’

  ‘They’re amazing,’ EJ shouted. ‘And so pink!’

  They finally left the river and headed home. EJ settled into the seat, took Nuts out of her backpack and smiled as the little monkey nestled into her lap.

  ‘EJ12, it’s A1 on the air video phone,’ said LP30. ‘Time to report in.’

  ‘Hello A1,’ said EJ, feeling relaxed. ‘Mission complete. Project Green Eye dismantled. Buildbots destroyed. And all baby animals safely returned to the rainforest. Well, all except one...’

  ‘EJ12?’

  ‘I seem to have found a friend,’ EJ explained as she held Nuts up to the screen. ‘She’s lost her mother and looks much too young to fend for herself.’

  ‘You made the right decision, EJ12. We’ll send her to a native animal sanctuary where you can be sure she will be well cared for. You will also be pleased to know that SHINE is preparing to re-plant the cleared area in the rainforest. The trees will grow quickly and soon no one will ever know that SHADOW was there.’

  ‘That’s fantastic,’ said EJ.

  ‘Yes but not only that,’ continued A1, ‘it will take SHADOW a long time to make a new batch of buildbots as well as find another satellite-base location. Good work, EJ12. We’ve really got the jump on them now!’

  Enough of the jumping thing, thought EJ12. I’ve got the message.

  ‘Oh and EJ, good luck in the gym competition this weekend,’ said A1. ‘You will be great, I know you will. That’s all, EJ12. SHINE out.’ The phone disconnected.

  The gym competition. EJ had forgotten about that but now she was thinking about it again, she realised she no longer felt nervous. With all the leaping about she’d done lately, she finally realised what everyone else—Lauren, Hannah, A1—had seemed to know already. She could jump high, as high as anyone else, maybe even higher—she just had to believe in herself.

  I can do it, thought EJ. I did do it. Can I do it again? Yes I can, I know I can.

  EJ was proud of herself yet also tired. As she was settling down for an in-flight snooze, she noticed the little heart with wings on her charm bracelet.

  Hey, I didn’t use that one, she thought. I wonder what it does.

  EJ twisted the little charm and as she did, a small inscription appeared.

  EJ thought back over the mission and as she read the inscription again, she smiled to herself as she realised that she had done just that. She had jumped. She had trusted herself and she had found her wings.

  With the smile still on her face, EJ fell asleep.

  The following Saturday was the big day. Gym comps but not just any gym comp: the gym comp, the State Finals. Emma and the girls in her squad had practised all year for this competition and now here it was.

  The gym stadium was packed to capacity with gymnasts, their coaches and the family and friends who had come to support them. And on a table, on the far side of the stadium, stood the trophies and medals, shining, waiting to be awarded.

  The girls in Emma’s gym squad were going through their warm-up with Lauren. They were wearing their competition leotards and they looked fabulous. It was a lilac colour with a beautiful, glittery starburst shooting across the front and down the top of the long sleeves. Finally, for the finishing touch, all the girls in the squad had done their hair the same way—high pigtails with lilac elastics and a deep lilac ribbon.

  ‘Our leos are the best, don’t you think Em?’ said Hannah. ‘If they were judging on leotards, we would medal for sure.’

  Emma smiled at her friend and they gave each other an excited hug. They were ready.

  First up was the floor routine, then vault and bars. Emma, Hannah, Nema and Isi, the fourth member of the squad, all moved through their routines strongly. Each of them did the best routine they had done all year and Lauren was confident that the girls would score well. They were in with a real chance for a medal. With only one rotation to go, you could feel the excitement in the stadium.

  It was time for Emma’s squad to do their beam routines. Nema went first and did well with only a few wobbles as she did her handstand. Even though she had done a good j
ob, Emma could tell Nema was disappointed.

  ‘Good job Nema,’ said Emma. ‘Don’t worry about the handstand, your dismount was great.’

  ‘ You might not worry about the handstand but I do,’ sniffed Nema.

  ‘Don’t worry about her, Em,’ whispered Hannah. ‘She’s just angry at herself. Look, Isi is about to start her routine.’ Hannah turned back towards the beam and cried, ‘Go Is!’

  Isi did the best routine she had done all term and all the girls cheered. Then it was Hannah’s turn. Hannah almost flew onto the beam and skipped through the routine, smiling all the way. This time she didn’t fall off and straight after a perfect dismount, she bounced over to her squad and high-fived everyone, even a reluctant Nema.

  So far the squad had done well, really well. And now it was Emma’s turn.

  Emma sprang on to the beam and swung into action. She completed the first half of the routine smoothly and strongly. She walked to the end of the beam and spun around, moving into position for the split jumps. The big jumps, the highlight of the routine.

  Emma stopped for a moment, raised her arms and smiled. Then, almost without thinking, and with an enormous smile still on her face, she looked straight ahead, stretched her legs and leapt into the highest, strongest split-jump of the day. She followed up with another jump, just as high. She then almost glided into her handstand, which she held perfectly, before returning to stand at the end of the beam. She then ran to the other end of the beam and flipped off, on to the landing mat. Emma stuck the landing firmly on two feet. Just as she knew she would.

  The audience broke into applause.

  ‘I did it,’ said Emma to herself.

  ‘Way to go!’ cried Hannah giving Emma a big hug. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper, ‘Show-off—again!’