Free Desert Disaster by Axel Lewis Page A

with ice cream around her mouth. “That really hit the spot. I feel happier than a possum in a pouch.”
    “That was great.” Chip agreed. “But I’d feel even happier if y’all knew where we were going.”
    Suddenly Cabbie’s controls beeped and whistled in a way that told Jimmy he was having an idea. “Of course! Jimmy, switch to cruise control. I need you to press the flashing button on the dashboard.”
    “Um, OK,” said Jimmy. He reached out and touched the button. It was one he hadn’t seen before, a flashing purple ‘P’.
    “Up periscope!” shouted Cabbie as a long, telescopic pole shot out of the top of the roof and stretched up into the air for ten metres. On the end was a camera lens which pointed out at a right angle. It was a fully working periscope, just like in a submarine! A viewing pod dropped from Cabbie’s roof and Jimmy pressed his eye to it. He immediately got a bird’s-eye view of the desert below, and if he turned his head, the camera lens moved too, giving him a 360-degrees view.
    “Your grandpa installed it before the race started. He took out the windscreen zoom feature and replaced it with this. I guess he thought that a zoom is no use if you’re facing a wall of sand all day. Press the button on the handle.”
    Jimmy did as he was told, and the image in the viewing pod zoomed in. This meant that he could see all across the desert, and pick out details on the horizon.
    “This is brilliant!” Jimmy put his hand out of the window and waved, hoping the camerabots would show it on TV so Grandpa would see. “Thanks, Grandpa!”
    “Ahem,” coughed Cabbie.
    “Oh yeah, and thanks, Cabbie!”
    Cabbie continued to keep up with Chip and Missy while Jimmy searched the desert with his periscope. It was so much easier to see where they were going. He could see the old town they had left, the outcrop of rock that Chip had mentioned on the map, and...
    “Trees!” he shouted. “I can see trees!” He zoomed in closer and he could definitely make out a bunch of trees in the east, miles and miles away. He tapped the Cabcom and told the others.
    “Amazing!” said Chip. “But what are they doing in the desert?”
    “Don’t be a drongo!” said Missy excitedly. “If there are trees there must be water! It’s the oasis Lord Leadpipe told us about. Jimmy, you found the finish line!”
    The racers whooped and hollered in delight. They had missed the checkpoint completely, but it didn’t matter. The rules said that they had to get from the start line to the finish line using their own navigation, and this meant that they were all still in with a chance. Jimmy retracted the periscope and took control of Cabbie once more, turning the taxi towards the trees in the far distance.
    “We can do this, Cabbie!” said Jimmy confidently. “We could finish the race with our head held high!”
    “That’s the spirit!” cried Cabbie. “Yee-haa! Team Jimmy, on the road again!”
    The three robots climbed to the top of a sand dune and Jimmy could see in the distance the unmistakable plume of dust and sand coming from Lightning, and the silhouette of a hovercraft – it was Maximus.
    “Sammy must have found a map,” Jimmy yelled into the Cabcom, feeling happy that his friend was still in the race. “And, look! He’s heading towards the finish— Oh, no. Is that Zoom ahead of him?” Jimmy’s heart sank. He could hear a crunching sound coming from somewhere, and could have sworn that it was Missy grinding her teeth.
    The three of them raced across the sand towards the oasis. Jimmy knew they’d all be going flat out for the win from here on in. Horace, Kako and Sammy were dead ahead of them, kicking up clouds of dust.
    Through the periscope, Jimmy could see the crowds gathered around the finish line. The trees looked tall and green, set around a natural watering hole. Just behind the lake were marquees and Bedouin tents, with giant screens hung between cacti and palm trees, for the crowd to watch