The Amazon Experiment by Deborah Abela

it.’
    â€˜Excellent,’ Steinberger said. ‘Hopefully there will be enough residue to complete a test. We don’t have any time to lose. We must get it down to … to …’ His eyes smouldered like two kerosene lamps and a quiet gasp passed his trembling lips. ‘Frond … for analysis.’
    Steinberger’s hopeless crush on Frond, the head of the Plantorium, again sent his brain into a wordless wilderness.
    â€˜I’ll get it straight away.’
    Irene’s voice jolted Steinberger back to reality. ‘Yes. Yes.’ He tapped on his palm computer. ‘I’ll get someone onto Susoka and Sons. Maybe they can give us some clues as to where this mysterious sample came from.’
    Max and Linden watched as his fingers sped across the keys of his palm computer.
    â€˜Steinberger?’ Max asked the question that was in both their minds. ‘Spyforce is going to be okay, isn’t it?’
    The Administration Manager stopped typing and turned to the two young agents. ‘Of course it is. Spyforce has thwarted many threats and dangers in the past and so we will this one.’
    Even though his words were delivered with a calm confidence, Max couldn’t help noticing Steinberger’s eyes, which were marked by a deep glow of apprehension.

‘Oh, great.’
    For the second time that day Max found herself standing in front of the Wall of Goodness. She looked across at Irene, who was holding the canvas bag that had held the new sample, and knew it was the only way to the Plantorium from the kitchen.
    Here goes another wasted clump of my life, she thought, as she stood in front of the Wall and waited for it to be difficult.
    The goo process began and Max, Linden, Steinberger and Irene became quickly enveloped by a sensation not unlike being dipped in lumpy custard.
    And soon after, as Max expected, the Wall started being difficult.
    â€˜Oh no,’ Irene gasped. ‘I’ve made the Wall have doubts about letting us through, haven’t I?’
    â€˜No,’ Linden jiggled. ‘It’s Max. She and the Wall have this special relationship they’ve developed over time.’
    Max tried to frown at Linden but the wall gurgled around the edges of her face, mushing it into all sorts of squished shapes.
    Then, in a mass exit, all four of them were enveloped into the Wall’s structure and spat out the other side into the Plantorium. They all quicklyfound their balance, but Linden noticed something strange about Max.
    â€˜Is it just me or do you seem shorter all of a sudden?’
    Max looked down and saw she’d landed in a shallow swamp, completely soaking her recently mopped shoes. Everyone else, of course, had landed comfortably dry.
    â€˜You’re going to get it, Wall,’ she warned, lifting her feet out of the squelching muck.
    Max was about to say more when she saw Steinberger becoming increasingly nervous. Each step he took became an exercise in finding the ground without stumbling or tripping over. He began talking to himself, softly, repeating something over and over. Max, Linden and Irene realised he was practising saying hello. He brushed invisible lint from his suit and smoothed his eyebrows with his fingertips.
    â€˜I feel terrible about what’s happened.’ Irene wound her fingers into the knit of her jumper. ‘Look what I’ve done to Steinberger.’
    They watched as Steinberger spiked himself on a blackberry bush. The prickly branches caught on his jacket and the more he tried to unravel himself, the more tangled he became.
    â€˜It’s because he’s about to meet Frond,’ Linden explained as he went to Steinberger’s aid.
    â€˜Do you think so?’ Irene’s memory skipped back to the time in the canteen when Steinberger had tipped a whole pot of beetroot soup over himself after Frond had walked up to him and said hello. ‘I guess it could be that, but I still feel bad.