Scoot

Scoot walked nonchalantly along the dimly lit tunnel, but underneath his
flight suit a cold sweat trickled steadily down the sides of his chest. He
took a long, deep breath of the lean atmosphere as the checkpoint came
into view – stealing a spacecraft was a most serious offence, though not
quite as reckless as flying into the time-spiral.

The two guards stiffened to attention as Scoot approached them. They

both smiled and saluted when they recognised him. Jed began to open
the air-lock; he didn‟t ask Scoot why the professor wasn‟t with him.
Scoot felt for the small, cold aerosol in his pocket.

„There you are, Captain Somers, sir,‟ said Jed, as he opened the door
with a flourish.
Scoot frowned. „Sorry about this, lads,‟ he mumbled to himself.
„Begging your pardon, sir?‟ Jed moved closer and cocked a friendly
ear.

Pssst! Pssst! – two squirts of knockout-spray, and the guards slowly

crumpled onto the dusty stone floor. Scoot dropped the aerosol next to
them. In a couple of hours the guards would wake up with thumping
headaches, but at least they‟d keep their jobs. He quickly sealed the air-
lock and ran into the hangar, where the Saucy Sue stood glimmering in
the pale blue light. Once aboard the ship, he squeezed into the navigation
pod and fired up the console. A corkscrew-shaped star chart came up on
the screen and Scoot selected the emergency escape facility.

A scorching yellow heat filled the launch bay as the dome above the
Saucy Sue slid back. Scoot pursed his lips, hit the button, and the saucer
glowed blue before whooshing out from the underground world and into
the harsh purple sky. As the ship broke through the thin layer of ozone
and onward into outer space, he looked down on the hostile Earth. Its
shrinking desert continents were surrounded by gloomy brown oceans. A
sorry looking mud-ball indeed. Scoot set the coordinates and slipped into
stasis as the pulsating saucer scythed its way through the twisting fabric
of time and space. He was going back to Rook Wood.

*******

Professor Plank awoke to a loud hissing noise, accompanied by someone

playing the bongo drums inside his head.
„Blurghhh!‟ he moaned, as the room danced and swirled before him.
„Scoot!‟ he called. „Scoot!‟
 As his eyes began to focus, he looked down at the table, where he saw
a glass of water, two fizzy painkiller tablets, and a folded note, which
read “To Professor Plank from your good friend Scoot”. He unfolded the
synthetic paper and felt for his reading glasses ...

My dearest friend, I‟ve learned so much from you during our

expeditions into the history of Earth. The thing is, each time we return to
the present, to live in our stuffy grey tunnels, I get this longing to change
the past, even though it would almost certainly alter the present time for
you and me. Maybe I‟d turn into a girl, or even a fat old lady – and
you‟d become a dull accountant with halitosis – but at least we wouldn‟t
be living like scorpions, hiding beneath the sun-baked rocks. And then
there‟s the wildlife to think of ...
I‟ve had an idea, you see. Perhaps more than that. I think I understand
why our ancestors ignored the symptoms for so long. I have written a
book, well, not exactly a book; more a survival manual for kids, I
suppose – because the future really belongs to them.
I‟m off to find the girl we saw in Rook Wood. She seems to care
about nature.
Kind regards, Scoot.
PS. Sorry about gassing you.

Professor Plank reached for the glass and plinked the two tablets into the
water as he read the note again. He tried to imagine Scoot in a big
flowery dress with matching purple hair, and considered how boring it
would be to have to do sums for a living – he could always use a strong
mouthwash for the halitosis, he mused. A small price to pay for living on
the surface among all of those wonderful plants and animals. Oh well,
not the end of the world, he decided with a wry smile. Maybe even the
dawn of a new beginning if Scoot‟s daring caper went to plan.

*******

A wide moat encircled the spinney of tall poplar trees, and Amber had
been more than a little spooked the first time she stumbled across the
slippery log that breached the stagnant water. The groaning of the heavy
boughs, and the wind whistling through the slender branches were
punctuated with the eerie kaak!-kaak! of the rooks as they circled the
giant castle of trees.
She was nearly ten now – old enough to know better – but strange
things were afoot of late: the rooks had nested in January, then laid a
second clutch of eggs in March, and now they swarmed like bees in the
sultry May sunshine. Then there was that blue circle of light hovering
above the trees, only to zip off into the horizon before she could get a
photo. The skylarks had deserted the surrounding meadows as well.
Amber leaned her new bicycle against the barbed-wire fence, then
hopped across the log into Rook Wood. She huffed on the lenses of her
binoculars and buffed them all in turn with a lint cloth. She raised them
to her eyes to check they were clean and looked into the clearing. A
small, skinny man – sporting a snazzy pair of sunglasses – waved to her.
Amber‟s jaw dropped faster than her binoculars. She rubbed her eyes
before taking another look. The funny little fellow was still there waving
– and beckoning her to come and join him.
The silver saucer in the background bore the words „Saucy Sue‟ in
cobalt blue lettering. Amber waved back to the spaceman. She should
have felt more scared. Sure enough, the hairs prickled on the back of her
neck, and her knees took on a wobble, but nonetheless she made her way
through the tangle of shrubs and ferns, and into the clearing to greet the
visitor from outer space.

„Lovely morning, isn‟t it?‟ said the spaceman. „The name‟s Scoot.‟ He
held out a pale, spidery hand. „Scoot Somers.‟
Amber expected to wake up at any moment and stood staring at the
smiling apparition. He was an inch or two smaller than her, and had a
slim body, topped-off with a large bald head.

„Okay, I‟ll try again,‟ said Scoot. „Greetings, Earthling! We come in

peace – take me to your leader.‟ Scoot grinned. „That any better?‟
Amber heard herself giggling.
„Ah!‟ said Scoot. „I see you‟ve a sense of humour. Do you have a
name to go with it?‟
„Yes ... it‟s Amber,‟ she croaked, offering her hand in return.
„Pleased to meet you, Yes-it‟s-amber,‟ said Scoot, delivering his
warmest handshake. He turned and swept his arm towards the spacecraft.
„Care to take a spin in the Saucy Sue?‟
„It‟s just Amber ... my name, that is,‟ she replied uncertainly.
Scoot laughed. „I know, it was a joke – an old one, at that. Fancy a
ride then, Amber? I promise you‟ll be back in time for tea.‟
Amber faltered for a moment, then found her voice. „Where to?‟
„Now that‟s a good question,‟ said Scoot, as the portal of the Saucy
Sue slowly opened, rolling out a ramp of translucent blue energy. „Into
the future, my girl – that‟s where.‟

A soft blue light illuminated the inside of the spacecraft. Scoot took off
his sunglasses to reveal a pair of lively, coal-black eyes.
„First thing you should know,‟ he said, „is that flying saucers come
from the future, not from Mars or whatever.‟ He saw the glaze of
confusion in Amber‟s eyes. „What I mean to say is, that in two thousand
years or so, scientists decide to fly back in time to find out what caused
the great climate catastrophe ... understand?‟
„So you‟re a human then,‟ said Amber, still a little puzzled. „What do
you mean by climate catastrophe?‟
„It hasn‟t happened yet,‟ said Scoot, „but you‟ll see ...‟

Scoot set the coordinates and made sure Amber was snugly seated in the
pod before engaging the plasma-drive. He explained how time and space
ran like the grooves in a gramophone record, and that by sliding the
needle across the grooves, you could arrive at any point in time. „Kind
of a short cut, if you head in the right direction,‟ said Scoot.
The Saucy Sue gave out a gut-wrenching shudder.
 „Ready?‟ asked Scoot.
Amber nodded, and soon they were zooming up and away from Rook
Wood and into the time-spiral.
„The first stop,‟ said Scoot, „is the Bay of Bengal in ninety years
time.‟

The Saucy Sue carved her way through space and time, and the stars
flashed by as if part of an immense cosmic screensaver. The
conversation turned to the curious things that had been happening in
Rook Wood.
„Why do you go there?‟ asked Amber.
Scoot explained that he and the professor were watching the rooks
because they suspected the shifting climate had caused them to breed
twice in one year.
„Yes, I noticed that,‟ said Amber. „Do you know where the skylarks
went to?‟
Scoot nodded. „All the babies were gobbled up by the rooks. That‟s
what happens when the balance of nature is upset. You get some winners
and some losers – at first.‟ His eyes narrowed momentarily. „But even
the winners become losers after a while.‟

The saucer slowed down when the Earth loomed large before them. They
sliced through the sparse clouds and skimmed low over the Bay of
Bengal. The deep-blue waves coalesced into an iridescent turquoise as
the bay met the delta sands of Bangladesh. In the distance, Amber could
see flecks of colour in the surrounding hills. As they got closer, the
flecks turned into people. Hundreds and thousands of people.

„Refugees,‟ said Scoot. There was a sadness in his voice. „Fifteen

million souls with nowhere to go.‟
„What happened?‟
„A few things happened,‟ said Scoot. „A combination of natural
causes and man-made folly resulted in the sea level rising enough to
flood almost half of the country.‟
Amber looked down at the wisps of smoke rising up from outside of
the makeshift shelters. The smaller children clung to their mothers for
comfort. A wire-haired boy, eyes closed, played a bamboo flute to
soothe them.
„Can‟t we help at all?‟ said Amber. „I mean, can‟t you beam them up
and take them somewhere safe?‟
Scoot sighed. „I‟m afraid not ... well, maybe ...‟ He cleared his throat.
„I‟m hoping that you can do something ...‟
„Tell me what I can do,‟ said Amber, fiercely. „We can‟t just leave
them–‟
„Later,‟ said Scoot. „But now we‟re off to visit Big Ben – in two
hundred years time.‟

As the Saucy Sue cut deeper into the future, Scoot wriggled into a
hoodie and put on a pair of brown gloves.
 „I‟ll be needing a cunning disguise for this part of the tour,‟ he said
with a wink, and slipped his snazzy sunglasses on. The spaceship came
to a halt and hovered silently above the lapping waves of the River
Thames. Scoot set the cloaking device, then dragged a large bag into the
middle of the saucer-deck and pulled the red toggle that hung out of it –
a bright orange dinghy popped smartly into shape. Its bold yellow
lettering spelled out “Sassy Lassie”.
„Yay!‟ said Amber. „We‟re going on a boat ride.‟
„All aboard that‟s coming aboard!‟ cried Scoot, as he jumped behind
the wheel. Amber followed suit, the portal opened, and the blue ramp of
energy unfurled, stretching down to the river below.
„Hold tight!‟ yelled Scoot, and with that the Sassy Lassie glowed blue
beneath, and careered down the ramp at breakneck speed. They emerged
from the foam dripping and whooping as the Sassy Lassie skittered over
wave after wave – until it came to a halt before the London Eye.
„Haha!‟ said Scoot. „I‟ve always wanted to do that.‟
But Amber didn‟t hear him. Her eyes were fixed on where the bottom
of the huge Ferris wheel should be. An ice-cream barge bobbed in the
water above the sunken part of the attraction. Amber pointed to it in
disbelief.
„What?‟ said Scoot. „Oh I see ... yes, a jolly good idea, is an ice-cream
– but how can we pay for them?‟
He stroked his chin, and looked over the tourist barges and houseboats
that peppered the flooded city with their dull and gaudy colours. He
spotted a slinky little speedboat and steered the Sassy Lassie towards it.
„Nice looking tub,‟ said Scoot, as he pulled smoothly alongside. „Does
it go, though, I wonder?‟ he asked with a cheeky grin.
The cool-looking couple said yes, it certainly did go, and snorted
when Scoot offered them a race around the Houses of Parliament and
back – loser buys the ice-creams ...

Amber and Scoot sat back in the Sassy Lassie, licking on their winnings
while recounting the thrill of the race.
„They were fast, right enough,‟ Scoot conceded, „but did you see the
look on their faces as we powered by?‟
Amber laughed, but something inside her was still on the hills of
Bangladesh, and the laugh felt hollow. She could see that the people of
England had a far greater chance of survival. They had somewhere to
run, at least.

Scoot looked over at Big Ben. The lofty clock-tower stood up to its
knees in the murky floodwater. „Crikey! is that the time? I‟m afraid we
have to return to Rook Wood, but we‟ll be stopping at Gartree Prison on
the way.‟
„Are we busting someone out?‟ asked Amber.
„Not exactly,‟ said Scoot, „more like switching someone on.‟

On the way back, Scoot showed Amber a slideshow of life on Earth,

deep in the future. Mankind had retreated into the ground, to shelter from
the violent climate that ravaged the surface above. They had adapted and
survived by learning to improvise and synthesise, but many plants and
animals became victims early on – most were unable to cope with the
changes, and so the eco-system collapsed into chaos.

„What can I do?‟ said Amber. „To help the planet, I mean.‟
„Lots of things – little things, really.‟ Scoot paused for a moment. „Do
you leave the tap running when you clean your teeth, Amber?‟
„Erm ... yes I do, usually,‟ she admitted.
„Thing is,‟ said Scoot, „it takes a lot of energy to purify water and
pump it around – and using energy produces CO2, which adds to global
warming. There‟s loads of ways to save water. Spending less time in the
shower, or not filling the bath so deep, saves water and energy – and also
keeps your fuel bills down.‟
„I‟m sure my mum would like the sound of that.‟
Scoot nodded. „And while we‟re on the subject, let me tell you that
your current fashion of drinking bottled water is not just a waste of
money, its impact on the environment and energy reserves is shameful,
considering it‟s no different to tap water.‟
„Really?‟ said Amber – she took a bottle to school every day.
„Bottled water takes 2,000 times more energy to produce than tap
water,‟ said Scoot, „and we‟re talking about billions of bottles every year
in the UK alone. More than half of the empty bottles end up on rubbish
dumps.‟
Scoot took the controls as the Saucy Sue glided over the North Sea, and
stopped above Great Yarmouth. He pointed to the cluster of thirty wind
turbines that stood in the sea.
„Renewable energy,‟ he explained, „such as harvesting the wind or
Sun, is a common-sense way to reduce your carbon footprint. These
windmills here provide 30,000 homes with electricity.‟
Amber was impressed. „Why don‟t we have them everywhere?‟ she
asked.
„You‟ll see why when we get to Gartree Prison,‟ said Scoot.

They soon arrived at Gartree. Scoot flew past the prison and hovered
over the adjoining fields. He explained that some of the community
wanted to get together and build three wind turbines there, but many of
the surrounding villagers had formed groups to object – they even had
their own websites. Their villages were plastered with posters, which
read: „STOP GARTREE WIND FARM‟.

„The trouble with grown-ups,‟ said Scoot, „is that many of them can‟t
see further than their children.‟ His eyes glittered in the soft blue light.
„It‟s up to you kids to get together – and also teach the younger ones –
there‟s plenty of planet-friendly groups you can join online. You can
even form your own groups.‟

They watched the thirsty cars as they set out on the school-run to collect
the children from the local town. Some parents even drove the few
hundred metres to the village schools. On the way back, the cars
followed an almost empty bus as it made its steady way around the
villages.
„Outrageous!‟ cried Scoot. „They clog up the roads outside schools,
honking at each other and making it unsafe for everyone to cross the
street – not to mention the huge waste of energy.‟
Amber knew this already. „I‟m not allowed ride my bike to school
because of them.‟
Scoot shook his head. „You guys need to get to work on these grown-
ups and remind them that they‟re spoiling your future. Make sure they
use low-energy bulbs and switch off lights, phone-chargers, televisions,
and the like, when not in use. Keep an eye on what they throw away.
Ask yourself, can they recycle it or give it away on Freecycle?‟
„What‟s Freecycle?‟ Amber had heard of it, but wasn‟t sure how it
worked.
„I‟ll tell you more on the way to Rook Wood,‟ said Scoot, as the
Saucy Sue gathered speed again.

Scoot liked Freecycle because the members of this happy group gave
their unwanted things to each other. This meant less rubbish was
dumped and the energy needed to make new products was saved. He told
Amber that children should “vote with their pocket-money” by refusing
to buy stuff with excessive packaging or from companies that polluted
and exploited the Earth.

The rooks scattered as the Saucy Sue descended into the clearing in the
spinney. Amber helped Scoot across the log that spanned the moat. She
knew it was time for them to part, and felt quite sad.
„Nice!‟ said Scoot, as he admired Amber‟s new bicycle.
„Thanks, it‟s new ... I‟m giving my old one away on Freecycle.‟
„That‟s the way,‟ said Scoot. He fumbled in his pocket and produced a
battered-looking collection of pages. The top one was entitled „Kid-
Power by Scoot Somers‟. „This is for you, Amber. There‟s heaps of
useful tips in here – you can show it around, maybe even make it into a
website.‟
„Thanks, Scoot,‟ said Amber, „I‟ll spread the word, for sure.‟

Scoot held back his tears as he handed the manual to Amber. All of a
sudden, his jet-black eyes turned to emerald-green. He started to fade
and flicker, but as he did so, his body grew bigger, stronger, and his skin
lost its pale grey hue – changing to a healthy pinky-brown.
Amber was aghast. „What‟s happening, Scoot?‟ she whispered.
„We‟ve done it, lass!‟ cried Scoot. „I‟m headed for a better world!‟ He
waved goodbye as he slowly disappeared into the spiral of time.

Amber rode home – head brimming with exciting ideas to get Scoot‟s
message across. Her uncle Pete could build websites, and would
probably help with printing the „Kid-Power‟ manual. She pictured the
boy with the bamboo flute, and didn‟t feel sad any more.

Amber was going to help Scoot change the future for everyone.