Amber found herself plummeting towards the desert alongside Spynosaur and a hundred black spheres, as the now pilot-less helicopter spiralled out of control above them.
“This is not ‘a plan’! This is just falling!” she screamed. She remembered her dad once telling her that the best thing to do when you only have seconds to live is to find a way not to die. That, or hug a loved one. With the ground rushing up to meet them, she decided to do both. She tucked in her arms and dived like an arrow towards the limp, spiralling body of her father. She darted past sphere after sphere, edging steadily closer until she was near enough to touch him. Then, in the split-second between being smacked by a flailing tail or a claw, she managed to grab her dad’s back and cling on for dear life.
“Dad!” Amber howled. “Find a way not to die!”
“Wuurrhh?” grunted Spynosaur, his eyes opening a crack and looking around. Then, with the last of his strength, Spynosaur pointed a claw towards one of the black spheres. “I … spy … that one…”
“That one? Why that one?” cried Amber as her dad passed out. Amber grunted in frustration. She gripped his shoulders and aimed them towards the sphere. By now the pyramids loomed large beneath them – the ground was fast approaching. Amber held her breath, guiding them expertly through the air. She stretched out a hand and grabbed the sphere. “Got it! Hang on, Dad!”
Amber twisted the sphere, which opened with a POP! Nestled inside was a small syringe of red liquid. Without thinking, she pulled it out and jabbed it hard into her dad’s scaly neck.
“Dad, I did it!” she said. “What now?”
Amber glanced over his shoulder. All she could see was the ground – they were moments from impact.
“Huh,” she muttered. “I guess we don’t get to save the world, after all.”
Amber hugged her dad close. Then she closed her eyes and waited for the end.
Then she waited a bit longer.
And a bit longer.
Then she opened her eyes.
“Whuh?” she exclaimed. She and her father were hovering, suspended, a few inches from the ground. Amber turned, looked up and saw the familiar shimmer of the almost-invisible Dino-soarer. It had them firmly caught in its gravity beam.
She turned and saw her dad pointing weakly at his Super Secret Spy Watch™.
“Told you … I had … a plan,” he muttered.
As the gravity beam deposited them gently on to the Egyptian sand, Spynosaur yawned as if waking up from a restorative nap.
“That antidote’s working a treat – nicely done, poppet,” he said, stretching out his arms and tail. “Between your quick-thinking and my activating the Dino-soarer’s autopilot with my Super Secret Spy Watch™, thus saving us from certain splat, I’d say we’re back on track.”
“What just happened?” said a flabbergasted Amber, looking around at the dozens of black spheres which were strewn across the desert. “There were a hundred fake McGuffins falling through the air – how could you have known which one contained the antidote?”
“It’s really very simple,” Spynosaur began. “You see, I— Wait.”
Something had caught Spynosaur’s eye. Amber followed her father’s gaze across the desert. Towering over the landscape lay the Great Sphinx, a statue of a vast stone lion with a woman’s head. It was bigger than any house Amber had ever seen. “Ego’s ‘anonymous’ tip-off said we had to solve the riddle of Ergo Ego’s secret weapon. In legend, the Great Sphinx posed a riddle to those who wished to enter the tomb.”
“It’s a clue!” declared Amber. “That’s where the real McGuffin is!”
“You see?” said Spynosaur with a smirk, “Sometimes the answer is staring you in the face … and sometimes it’s just lion there.”
Amber was about to groan, but her dad was already racing towards the Sphinx. Amber hurried after him. They darted between the Sphinx’s vast feet to a thick stone door beneath the statue’s huge chin. Spynosaur sized up the door, before heaving it open with his dino strength.
A luminous-green fog poured out from inside – it was thick and ice-cold and smelled oddly minty.
“What … what is it?” asked Amber, trying in vain to waft the fog away.
“Let’s find out, shall we?”
