200 Minutes of Danger Read online

  The container wasn’t going straight up. It was starting to tip over. The smashed furniture shifted under Zak like a landslide.

  04:55

  ‘What’s happening?’ Kelsey yelled.

  The container was hurtling sideways through the ocean. The cargo ship must not be directly above them anymore. Zak was about to say this when the barbecue started sliding towards the electrified wall.

  ‘Watch out!’ he cried.

  Kelsey slammed her rubber-soled combat boots against the wall. Zak did the same with his sneakers. The electricity didn’t go through their shoes, but now they were stuck holding up the barbecue so it didn’t touch the wall. Zak’s arms burned under the strain, but Kelsey didn’t look like she was struggling.

  ‘I can’t hold on!’ Zak wheezed.

  03:25

  There was a calamitous bang as the container slammed into the hull of the cargo ship. Everything went flying. The dazzling light from the fusion reactor died instantly, and there was a second boom as the remaining hydrogen exploded.

  Zak hurtled through the darkness and hit the electrified wall, touching it with his bare hands . . .

  But nothing happened. The reactor had stopped, so there was no current.

  ‘Kelsey?’ he called. ‘Are you OK?’

  A voice from somewhere to his right: ‘I’m all right.’

  02:05

  As Zak’s eyes adjusted, he saw light coming from the container doors. It looked like the exploding reactor had melted the doors and sheared a hole through the hull of the ship. The magnetism was gone, but the hydrogen and helium were keeping the container afloat, pushing it against the hull—for now.

  They both scrambled across the debris towards the hole. The hot metal scorched Zak’s hands as he clambered through. Kelsey followed.

  Zak found himself back in the cargo hold of the ship, where he’d started. It felt like a lifetime ago.

  01:20

  He turned in time to see the container fall off the side of the hull, like a barnacle scraped loose by the tide. It disappeared beneath the surface of the waves.

  Despite the hole, the ship didn’t seem to be sinking. Zak peered out, and saw the wharf. They were docked. Safe at last.

  ‘Wow,’ he said. ‘Wes isn’t going to believe this.’

  ‘You can’t tell him,’ Kelsey said. ‘Put these on.’

  Zak turned around, and saw she was unfolding a pair of sunglasses. They had some kind of special laser attachment on the top, like they were designed to have information beamed onto the lenses.

  Zak put them on. ‘Cool,’ he said uncertainly. ‘What are these?’

  ‘They’re called wipe-goggles.’ Kelsey was holding a small remote. ‘You saved our lives back there. I’m sorry about this.’

  ‘Sorry about—’

  00:00

  She pushed the button on the remote. The lenses of the sunglasses began to flicker—

  ‘Gah!’ Zak sat up. He was lying on concrete, surrounded by towers of shipping containers. This was the port. How had he gotten here?

  ‘Zak!’ Wes was crouched next to him. ‘Thank God you’re OK.’

  ‘Wes!’ Zak hugged him fiercely. He’d never been so relieved to see his best friend.

  ‘I thought you were a goner!’ Wes said. ‘How did you escape from that shipping container?’

  Zak hesitated. How had he gotten out? He remembered sloshing through the water, looking for a barbecue, and then . . . and then what?

  Something moved in the corner of his eye, distracting him. Zak thought it was a short-haired girl in a grey suit, holding a boomerang.

  But he must have imagined it, because when he turned to look, she wasn’t there.

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  First edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Ltd in 2020.

  This electronic edition published by Scholastic Australia Pty Limited, 2020.

  E-PUB/MOBI eISBN: 978-1-76097-920-1

  Text copyright © Jack Heath, 2020.

  Illustrations and design copyright © Scholastic Australia, 2020.

  Additional illustrations: drowning victim © A Aleksii | Shutterstock.com; gorilla footprint © selisegator | Shutterstock.com; grunge border © Rochakred | Dreamstime.com; hook icon © VectorV | Shutterstock.com; poster lettering © istockphoto.com | DesignSensation; shark silhouettes © DianaFinch | Shutterstock.com; ship wheel © Haali | Shutterstock.com; sinking ship © Vector | Shutterstock. com; submarine © Visual Generation | Shutterstock.com; sunglasses icon © Vladvm | Shutterstock.com; timer © TalibovSignature | Shutterstock.com.

  Jack Heath asserts his moral rights as the author of this work.

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