Free Polar Meltdown by J. Burchett

CHAPTER
ONE
    â€œFinished before you!” declared Zoe, hitting enter on the keyboard in front of her. Her result flashed up on the screen: “Animal print identification quiz – 49 out of 50. Congratulations, Wild Operative Zoe Woodward!”
    â€œI’ve got them all right,” boasted Ben, her twin brother, as he finished seconds after her. He looked at Zoe’s results. “Fancy not knowing the shape of the moose hoof!”
    â€œWell, it’s hard,” protested Zoe. “All the deer prints are so alike. I had to guess.”
    Ben grinned. “So did I,” he admitted. He pushed his chair back and looked round at the state-of-the-art education centre, with its row of computer terminals and huge resource area full of books and manuals, maps and charts. “This place is so cool,” he said. “In fact, everything we’ve done here at Wild HQ has been awesome. The climbing wall was the best.”
    â€œThe water sports were my favourite,” said Zoe. “Especially the canoeing.”
    Ben and Zoe were very unusual eleven-year-olds. They were the youngest operatives in Wild, a top-secret organisation dedicated to saving endangered animals. The head of the organisation, their godfather Dr Stephen Fisher, had invited them to spend the Easter holidays at his headquarters hidden deep underground on a remote island. They’d been undertaking a series of exercises to sharpen up their physical and mental skills for future Wild missions – endurance challenges, advanced satellite tracking and finally a series of brain boggling tests.
    â€œI’ll be sorry to go back home,” said Zoe.
    â€œWe’ve had a great time,” agreed Ben. “I wish we could stay longer.”
    The door slid open and the lanky figure of Uncle Stephen appeared. He was wearing a white lab coat, a straw hat and bright stripy shorts. Zoe tried not to giggle.
    â€œWell done, Ben and Zoe,” he said. “You’ve passed all your challenges with flying colours. Just one last little identification test.”
    He tossed them a glass eye. Ben snatched it out of the air before Zoe could get her hands on it. They looked at each other in excitement. They knew what the eye meant. They weren’t going home after all. Uncle Stephen must have a new rescue mission for them!
    They peered at the eyeball. This was their uncle’s little clue to get them to guess the animal in danger.
    â€œIt’s dark,” said Ben, “and the pupil’s huge.”
    â€œLooks like my old teddy bear’s eye,” joked Zoe.
    â€œYou’re getting close,” said Dr Fisher.
    â€œThe most endangered bear I can think of is the polar bear,” said Ben.
    â€œQuite right!” Their godfather beamed. “And I’ve got a bear or two in the Arctic that need your help. Come with me to the Control Room.”

    Ben and Zoe followed him eagerly along the corridor to the Control Room and placed their fingertips on the ID pad.
    â€œPrint identification complete,” came the electronic voice.
    The door swung open to reveal the centre of Wild’s Headquarters – a brightly-lit room full of operatives at flashing control panels and busy computer screens.
    Uncle Stephen went over to a touch screen and brought up an Internet blog. “This was posted today,” he told them. “It’s from a vet in an Inupiat community in Fairwood, Alaska. I often read Theo Airut’s entries because he sounds a decent bloke who cares for the animals in the area. And it keeps me up to date with events out there. Erika has set the computer to flag up any problems and this certainly got the alarm bells ringing – well, we don’t have actual alarm bells of course, far too noisy.”
    Zoe read the blog aloud. “‘A local man brought the body of a polar bear into the village today.’” She sighed. “How sad!”
    Ben scrolled down the entry.