H.I. Larry - Zac Power The Special Files #3: The Underwater Files

The Underwater Files
published in 2011 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1, 658 Church Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au

EISBN 978 1 742736 14 3

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without
the prior permission of the publishers and copyright owner.

A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia

Deep Waters text copyright 2006 H.I. Larry
Shipwreck text copyright 2009 H. I. Larry
Illustration and design copyright 2011 Hardie Grant Egmont

Cover design by Stephanie Spartels
Cover illustration by Andy Hook and Ash Oswald
Illustrations by Ash Oswald and James Hart

CONTENTS

Zac couldnt help it. He was trying to look interested in what the tour guide at the West Sea Aquarium was saying but could he help it if his eyes kept closing all by themselves?

Zac Power! hissed his teacher, Mrs Tran.I suggest you pay attention. Therell be a test after the excursion, you know.

Zacs eyes snapped open.

Coral might not look exciting the tour guide was saying.

Hes right there, thought Zac, checking his watch yet again. How could it still only be 9.03am?

but did you know coral takes over a million years to form?

A million years!

Surely he wouldnt be stuck at the aquarium that long!

Zac stared out the window. The aquarium was on the edge of the West Sea. Zac saw perfect surfing waves breaking. If only he was out there instead of being stuck in here

Ill pass around some coral, said the tour guide. Can you feel how rough it is?

Zac stood with his arms crossed. Hed had more fun sorting his sock drawer!

Lets move on to our next exhibit, kids, the tour guide went on. The shark tank!

Zac woke right up. Sharks! Maybe therell be giant white pointers with huge, bloody teeth!

Onto the moving walkway, called the tour guide.

The moving walkway was a flat escalator snaking all around the aquarium. The whole class stepped on and moved slowly towards the shark tank.

Its feeding time, said the tour guide, sounding excited.

Zac craned his neck to see. Inside the tank were two divers with hunks of meat in their hands. Four sharks were swimming straight for them. The sharks were massive!

Dont worry, everybody, said the tour guide. The sharks really want that meat. It only looks like theyre attacking the divers!

The sharks circled around the divers. The water churned.

Wait they really are attacking the divers! shrieked the tour guide.

A shark had one of the divers by the leg.

Shark attack! Mrs Tran yelled.

Suddenly, everyone in the aquarium was screaming. People were running right and left. The tour guide hid under a chair.

In all the confusion, Zac felt a tap on his shoulder.

Zac Power? a voice said.

Zac turned around. Beside him stood a giant turtle. Or, to be exact, a woman dressed in a turtle costume.

Come and look at the baby turtle exhibit, said the giant turtle woman.

Baby turtles? What was this woman talking about? There was a shark attack on! Zac wanted to help. Or at the very least, watch.

Ah, no thanks. Ill stay here, Zac said firmly.

No, come with me. Now!

Suddenly, the walkway started moving under Zacs feet. But this time it wasnt going slowly. It was speeding Zac and the giant turtle woman towards the baby turtle exhibit. Next door, Zac could still hear screaming.

Its not a real shark attack, explained the giant turtle. GIB hired stunt divers to create a diversion while we sent you on your next mission.

GIB, or Government Investigation Bureau, was the spying agency Zac worked for. The woman pushed up the bright green sleeves of her turtle costume. Zac saw a miniature walkie-talkie strapped to her wrist. She tapped it once and then spoke into it.

Attention all GIB ground staff. This is Big Turtle. Do you read me?

The walkie-talkie crackled.

Loud and clear, Big Turtle, came the reply. The amphibious submersible is good to go.

The water in the turtle exhibit started bubbling. Then, the coolest thing Zac had ever seen rose up from behind a clump of seaweed. The top was glass. There were wings on the side and rockets on the back. Underneath were two fat tyres.

What is it? said Zac, who couldnt help being impressed.

An amphibious submersible. It goes under water like a submarine and across land too.

Big Turtle handed Zac a set of keys.

Ever piloted one before? she asked.

Zac shook his head.

He didnt know what his next mission was, but he didnt care. Wherever he was going, he was going there in the amphibious submersible.

It sure beat learning about coral!

Right, thought Zac to himself, as he settled back in the amphibious submersibles cockpit, how hard can it really be to pilot this thing?

Zacs brother Leon would have known exactly how to get the amphibious submersible started. The entire Power family were spies, but Leon was the techno-geek of the family. But after Zac almost single-handedly completed their Poison Island mission and saved Leons life, GIB had decided Zac was ready for his first solo mission.

Leon was transferred from Field Agent to Technical Officer. It seemed like the perfect arrangement to both of them.

Zac looked at the panel of dials and flashing lights in front of him. There was no simple on button, or anywhere obvious to put the ignition key.

The briefest doubt flickered through his mind. If he couldnt even figure out how to pilot an amphibious submersible, was he really ready for a solo mission? But when it came to his talents, Zac never wasted much time doubting himself. Of course he was ready to be a solo spy even if he was still only 12 years old.

Zac fished around in the seat pocket for the instruction manual. There it was and it was about as thick as his maths textbook!

There was no way Zac was reading all that boring stuff. He flicked straight to the last page and quickly scanned it. Then he chucked the whole thing over his shoulder and into the bin.

He pressed a green button, and then a flashing yellow one. The amphibious submersibles engine responded with a series of very loud, very satisfying revs.

Then a dial labelled speed control caught Zacs eye. He turned it up as far as it would go. The submersible shot forward!

A thrill raced through Zacs body. This was way better than a school excursion, staring into boring old fish tanks.

Fish tanks?

Suddenly, Zac remembered he was still inside the turtle tank at the aquarium. The amphibious submersible was racing at top speed towards a huge glass wall that stood between him and the West Sea.