Tomb of Doom
TOMB OF DOOM
BY
H. I. LARRY
ILLUSTRATIONS BY
ASH OSWALD & ANDY HOOK
Tomb of Doom
published in 2006 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
85 High Street
Prahran, Victoria 3181, Australia
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
Text copyright © 2006 H. I. Larry
Illustration and design copyright © 2006 Hardie Grant Egmont
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
Illustration by Ash Oswald & Andy Hook
Design by Ash Oswald
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
CONTENTS
Sometimes,
thought Zac Power,
being a spy isn't as cool as it sounds
.
Right now he was on a camel in the middle of the desert. Zac knew that this might sound good to another kid. But it really wasn't.
For one thing Zac's camel kept spitting gross stuff onto his sneakers. Then there was the heat. The sand was so hot that if you were dumb enough to walk on it without shoes your feet would melt up to your ankles â just like butter on hot toast.
The heat was terrible for Zac's hair, too. He had already used half a tube of Super-Strength Hair Gel.
The other reason this trip wasn't cool was that his entire family was here too. Everyone in the Power family was a spy, even Zac's geeky brother Leon.
They all worked for the Government Investigation Bureau, or GIB for short. Zac had been on some awesome missions, but this family holiday wasn't one of them.
Zac tried to pass the time by playing the latest game on his SpyPad.
SpyPads look like game consoles. But they are actually mini-computers, with a mobile satellite phone, a laser and a codebreaker too.
Zac was usually excellent at electronic games, but this one had him stumped.
It was called
Pyramid Panic
. Whenever he reached the treasure room in the middle of the pyramid he was ejected out through a hole in the roof. Zac's highest score so far was 2000. One player called A.T.S. had the top score of 200,000!
Dumb game,
thought Zac, as he deleted it from his SpyPad.
The tour guide on the front camel was droning on.
âWe are now entering the desert region of the Amber Sands. The famous Vanishing Pyramid which is the tomb of the Golden Sun King is said to be located here,' he said. âIt's the only pyramid never to be looted by tomb raiders.'
âThat's because it's guarded by GIB,' Leon whispered to Zac. âApparently it's stuffed full of treasure.'
âAccording to legend,' continued the guide, âif the Vanishing Pyramid is ever broken into terrible earthquakes will shake the Amber Sands. The locals call the pyramid the Tomb of Doom ...'
As he spoke something really strange happened. The earth began to tremble.
RRRRRRUMMMMBLE!
The tour guide went pale.
âLet's all stop here,' he said nervously. But Zac's camel wouldn't stop. With a snort it turned and galloped away from the group.
âBye, sweetie!' called his mum. âDon't forget to wear your hat!'
The camel galloped faster and faster. And faster. And
faster!
It went so fast that smoke started streaming out of its nose.
Smoke?
thought Zac.
That can't be rightâ¦
Then he noticed a metal plate attached to the camel's neck, hidden by fur.
CAMELTRONIC 9000.
Zac had heard about the this from Leon. It was a state-of-the-art robot with ten gears and airbags. Zac wished he'd realised this earlier â the CAMELTRONIC had a drinks dispenser in its hump!
Had GIB arranged for this camel to take him to his next mission? There was nothing Zac could do but wait and see ...
On and on the camel ran until finally they reached an oasis. The camel groaned and collapsed in a heap beneath a palm tree. Zac quickly jumped off and looked around. There was nothing there except a pond and the palm tree.
Zac had been hoping that he was about to be sent on some cool mission. But that was clearly a false alarm. Disappointed, Zac kicked the palm tree.
âStop that,' said the tree, crossly.
Zac looked closer and saw that the tree was actually GIB Agent Peterson in disguise. Agent Peterson shook one of his leaves and a date fell onto the sand.
âEat that,' he commanded.
Zac bit carefully into the soft flesh. He suspected that this wasn't a normal date. Sure enough, his teeth hit something hard. Zac spat out a metal disk.
All right! His next mission!
Zac loaded the disk into his SpyPad.
...loading...
CLASSIFIED
Mission Received 2.00P
Top GIB spy, Agent Track Star, is MIA
while guarding the Vanishing Pyramid.
Tremors have rocked the Amber Sands
region, which means the pyramid has
been entered. Raiders may have broken
into the tomb, and GIB now fears
Agent Track Star is trapped inside.
YOUR MISSION
⢠Locate and enter the Vanishing Pyramid.
    ⢠Find and/or rescue Agent Track Star.
⢠Repair any damage done to the pyramid.
Special Note
If anyone remains inside the Vanishing
Pyramid 24 hours after the tremors first start,
the pyramid will collapse.
Anyone inside will be trapped forever!
End
Just then, the ground shook again.
Zac turned to Agent Peterson.
âWhen did these tremors start?' he asked urgently.
âAbout two hours ago,' replied Agent Peterson. âJust after Agent Track Star went missing.'
Right. Zac knew he had to click into action. He looked at his watch.
