Atlantis United Read online

‘That brown stuff is very tasty,’ he told the other four.

  ‘Oh yeah, that’s hummus,’ said Kim. ‘They make it out of chick peas, oil and sesame seeds.’

  Craig’s face fell. ‘Chick peas? Yuck!’

  ‘But you loved it a minute ago,’ laughed Ajit.

  ‘Well that was before I knew what was in it,’ snapped Craig.

  ‘Oh well, maybe this next class will let you know what they put inside sausages,’ grinned Jess.

  Chapter 12

  Luce wasn’t in a jokey mood anymore when they assembled in the classroom. She even looked slightly worried, Joe thought.

  ‘Right, as we said earlier, you are all here because our team of coaches and scouts have spent months seeking out the five boys and girls who we believe we can turn into the very best in their chosen sport over the next four years. None of you were the best in the country, in fact most of you were among the worst in your club or school team.

  ‘But we see in you a passion for the game, a willingness to work, and several other qualities that we consider more important than raw talent.

  ‘You are here because we have promised your parents that besides being transformed into sporting superheroes, you will also receive the finest education imaginable. Each of you should be capable of being accepted for university by the age of fifteen, no matter your current level of educational attainment.

  ‘We have reassured your parents that you will be looked after in every way, so if any of you have any concerns or problems please come and discuss them with me at any time. Our years on this island have shown us that happy kids are hard-working kids and we too will work hard to make sure you are happy.

  ‘Atlantis Academy will provide you with everything you require for those four years, but you must commit to working hard and following to the letter the instructions you are given. This is not a prison, and we will listen to your point of view in every instance, but when we make a decision you must follow it.

  ‘There will be one week’s holidays a year, when you will be reunited with your family in a secret location. You will not be able to return to your home for four years however.’

  Kim gasped. ‘Really? But my friends … my puppy … four years …’

  Luce ignored Kim’s plea.

  ‘You will be permitted thirty minutes every month to communicate via a secure video phone line, and you can see your pets then as well as your families. But talking of communications brings me to the first serious problem we have come across.’

  Luce stared down at the five pupils.

  ‘We understand that you were not brought into the initial decision to come here, but now that you are aboard we have a few unbreakable rules that we expect you to follow. The first should have been stressed to you by your taxi driver, and it concerns the use of telephones, tablets, laptops or any devices that can communicate with the world outside Atlantis Academy.’

  Joe nodded and cast a sideways glance at his classmates. They were all unhappy to have given up their mobiles and would take some time to get used to it. He had got his phone for his eleventh birthday and knew he was already addicted to its bright lights and easy action.

  Luce continued.

  ‘You remember the man who brought you here on the ferry? Well Victor is a very, very rich man. Imagine that you had won a million euro on the lottery every single day since you were born – you still wouldn’t be as wealthy as Victor. But he is a very good man, and very generous to people less well off than he is.

  ‘However, he does have rivals and enemies, and he is almost never seen in public for reasons of his personal safety. He is scrupulous about security and goes to great lengths to ensure he cannot be tracked nor Atlantis Academy discovered by those who may wish to harm it or steal its wonderful secrets.

  ‘Which brings me to the fact that one of you has broken that unbreakable rule. One of you has a mobile phone hidden in your room. Please step forward.’

  Joe’s mouth opened in surprise. He looked down the line of his classmates and saw Craig staring at the floor before looking up and taking a step towards Luce. His face was bright red, but he also looked terrified.

  ‘Thank you, Craig, for your honesty, and instant admission. Had you not done so you would be making a lonely journey home tonight. However, we have decided to give you one more chance, a luxury that will not be applied to anyone else. Your phone will be confiscated and returned at the end of your time here.

  ‘The reason we were so concerned is because we believe Craig’s phone has been tracked. His taxi was followed all the way to the quayside in Westport, and we detected some suspicious activity around the waters of Clew Bay this morning. They never came near enough to detect us, but it has forced us to change our plans and to plot a different course to our first destination.

  ‘But that isn’t anything for you to worry about as we won’t arrive there for several weeks. A submarine island doesn’t travel nearly as fast as an ocean liner you know,’ she added, with a smile.

  ‘What are we going to do till we get there?’ asked Kim.

  ‘Do?’ replied Luce. ‘Why, this is where the work will be done to prepare you. We have classrooms, laboratories, gyms, an indoor sports hall, sporting simulators… all under the sea. Come, it’s now time for the guided tour.’

  She led the five out of the room down a corridor lined with portraits of sportswomen and sportsmen.

  ‘That’s your man, the guy that won the Masters!’ gasped Ajit.

  ‘Yes,’ smiled Luce. ‘He was such a nice boy, but couldn’t drive the ball twenty metres when he first came here.’

  ‘And she won the 100-metres at the last Worlds,’ squealed Jess, pointing at the second photo.

  ‘At the start she couldn’t break into a jog without tripping over her feet,’ grinned Luce. ‘She’s really nice too – I asked her to telephone your parents to reassure them about the Academy. I think it was her call that convinced them to let you come!”

  Jess’s eyes widened. ‘Wow – she rang my mum and dad?’

  ‘Did all these people go to Atlantis Academy,’ asked Joe, scanning the faces along the wall and recognising many as sporting superstars.

  ‘Of course, that’s why they are hanging here. This is our hall of fame. We have five empty spaces down here, ready for you.’

  Chapter 13

  Luce led the five into the first room; it was carpeted with artificial grass, but the youngsters were otherwise underwhelmed. All there was to see was one long blank white wall, and a cupboard at the back of the room.

  ‘Not much going on here,’ muttered Ajit. The others sniggered.

  ‘Do you think so?’ smiled Luce. ‘Perhaps, but let’s see what’s on the menu this evening.’

  The manager opened the cupboard, which was full of shelves packed with sporting equipment. There was also a control panel, which she flicked into life.

  ‘Right now, you’re the rugby player, aren’t you?’ she asked Kim, who nodded.

  She tossed Kim a rugby ball and a kicking tee and flicked another switch. Up on the screen came a set of goal posts.

  ‘So, without having to go outdoors in the cold and the wind of the winters back home, you can practise your kicking skills here.’

  Kim set up the ball and duly planted it between the posts.

  ‘Now try it from out on the touchline,’ suggested Luce, adjusting the picture so Kim was now kicking from a tighter angle.

  Again, the student smashed the ball over the bar.

  ‘Hmmm, impressive,’ smiled Luce. ‘Now let’s get a taste of that winter I talked about…’

  She flicked another switch, and suddenly the temperature dropped, and a howling gale blew across the room.

  Kim blew on her hands and leaned into the wind, but despite a strong kick the ball was caught by the wind and carried wide.

  ‘Good effort, Kim. Now you can see just a few of the tricks we can come up with to help you practise for every situation. And not just for rugby.’

  She fl
icked more buttons, and up flashed a football goal complete with a virtual image of a goalkeeper.

  ‘The computer is in control of the keeper and competes against you to try to save the ball.’

  Joe’s eyes widened.

  ‘Now, Craig, you collect the tennis racket from the shelf there and let’s see how you get on against our friend Roger.’

  Craig’s jaw dropped as the screen changed to show a tennis legend standing there grinning back at him, all dressed in white.

  ‘Would you prefer to play him on grass, clay or hard court?’ asked Luce.

  Craig shrugged. ‘Hard, I suppose…’

  The ground beneath the star switched colour and Luce tossed Craig a couple of tennis balls.

  ‘Take your time,’ grinned the onscreen Roger.

  Craig gulped, and smashed the first serve into the virtual net. He paused, hopped the ball a couple of times, and served again.

  The ball cleared the net, and his opponent returned it to Craig’s backhand. The youngster was so surprised he fluffed the return, which he sliced into the net.

  ‘Hard luck,’ called Roger before fading into nothing when the picture disappeared.

  ‘A bit of work to do, but you’ll have the very best people to practise against,’ grinned Luce. ‘Don’t worry, that wasn’t him – he’s programmed to occasionally speak some words to encourage you.’

  The five were by now completely impressed by Luce and her cupboard of tricks.

  ‘There’s a lot to take in here, and I’m going to introduce you to it sparingly, so perhaps we’ll move straight to the laboratory where we have some paperwork to do. In fact, you’ll probably spend the next two days in the labs as we amass as much data as we can about you.

  ‘For example, our computers have worked out that most of the best tennis players – boys and girls – are 1.47 metres tall at the age of ten. We will work out, therefore, if you are unlikely to graduate as a tennis player and might be better switching sports to, say, golf.’

  Craig went white.

  ‘No, Craig, I’m not talking about you, that is just an example. We have ideal weight and height profiles for every age, and every sport. And every position on every sports team. We will also measure each of your major bones, your eyesight, even the length of your toes. We use the very latest medical and scientific knowledge to ensure you have the very best chance to be the very best in your sport.’

  ‘If we’re too small, or too big, do you make us bigger, or smaller?’ asked Jess.

  ‘No. We do not take radical approaches such as surgery, or chemicals,’ answered Luce. ‘But there are other ways to make you grow taller which will be safe and honest.

  ‘You will never, EVER, be offered anything to take which would provide a chemical short-cut to sporting success. Victor is passionately opposed to anything that gets in the way of clean sport and hates how some sportsmen and women have resorted to what they call “doping” for better results.’

  ‘Yeah, doping is for dopes, that’s what our coach always says,’ chipped in Jess.

  Everyone laughed.

  ‘We want you all to be better people when you leave here – healthier, happier, cleverer, and if possible, more successful at your chosen sport. But that is the least important consideration, so you will not have to worry about being asked to take anything that would give you an edge illegally.

  ‘But we will be measuring – and sometimes controlling – your intake of food and drinks, and you will be required to wear a device, like a wristwatch, which will measure your movements, your exercise, and your sleep.

  ‘But most of all, we want this to be a time you look back on with pleasurable memories. So, once we’re finished in the lab, I’ll take you to Atlantis Island’s own private cinema…’

  Chapter 14

  Joe tossed and turned in bed, annoyed with himself. He never had trouble sleeping, and especially after such a long, packed day he was surprised that his eyes refused to close. He knew it wasn’t the fault of the eyes though, more that his brain was racing at two hundred kilometres per hour. He pinched himself once or twice, still struggling to believe that it all wasn’t a crazy, vivid dream.

  ‘OK,’ he said to himself. ‘So, some mad old billionaire decides to set up a sports school, sticks it underneath an island that doubles as a giant submarine, packs it with the latest technology, at enormous cost, to produce the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen in the world, and invites just five kids who are pretty rubbish at sport to become its pupils. One of whom is me.’

  Joe was now overjoyed at the opportunity, delighted to be at a school where football was one of the subjects, and wasn’t fazed at the huge amount of technology and new ideas with which they had been bombarded since they had arrived.

  He wasn’t even worried about missing his friends and family – they had moved around a lot when he was younger and his dad was working for the government, and he was happy that they would meet up for a holiday at some stage. And although he might not see his friends for four years, he thought Jess, Ajit, Kim and Craig were all really sound and he saw them as good pals already.

  But still he could not sleep. It wasn’t the soft hum of whatever giant engines were driving the island around the ocean – he had got used to that very quickly – and there was certainly no side-to-side sensation of being in any sort of ship. No, he knew it was all in his head, his excited brain refusing to lie still until it had seen everything the Academy had to offer.

  He sat up in bed and twisted his legs over the side. The other boys were fast asleep, but he tried to be as silent as he could as he slipped his runners on, opened the door, and slid out into the corridor.

  He took a quick look up and down, working out where he was as he was still getting his bearings on the island. He checked his watch – or rather the fitness device they had fitted on his wrist, which also told the time – and saw it was almost an hour past midnight.

  He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do, but reckoned he’d like to see more of the island without there always being a track-suited guide keeping an eye on him. He opted to turn left, heading back towards the way they had first come in. He came to the heavy, steel door that had closed behind them as the island sank into the waves and looked around. He decided to head down a passageway that was not as well-lit as the other, so he switched on the light on his wrist device.

  It was colder here, and he held tight to the handrail that led him up a staircase to the next level, dozens of steps away. A low, greenish light meant he could find his way without tripping, but he needed the torch on his wrist to check his surroundings. He tried a couple of doors, which were locked, but as he neared a third it slid across automatically.

  Joe peered inside, but all he could see in the tight space was three round windows. He took two steps across and wiped a film of water from the middle one, before bending to look through it.

  He leapt back in shock, before stepping forward again. Through the window all he could see was the ocean, but not the fish-tank type of view he might have expected. He was far, far above the waves, looking down as they crashed against the exterior walls of the island – or what he now recognised as the steep cliffs he and Ajit had explored back in Clew Bay.

  ‘This window must be built into the cliff,’ he thought, ‘but when did we get to the surface?’

  He watched the waves as they thundered against the rock face and marvelled at how stable the island was in such a storm. He scanned the dark horizon, and thought he spotted some specks of light, presumably a far-off island.

  A noise somewhere off in the distance inside Atlantis broke his concentration and reminded him that he ought to be getting back to bed. He retraced his steps back to the room, meeting no-one on the way, and slipped under the covers before falling into a rapid, and deep, sleep.

  Chapter 15

  The next day was bewildering for Joe, and the rest of the Atlantis Academicals. The morning was spent having every single bone, joint and muscle in his body tested and me
asured. Every tooth was probed, almost every inch of his frame scanned and x-rayed as the medical staff built a complete record of the students’ physiques.

  Then they were tested over a range of activities, such as how high or how long they could jump, with a run and from a standing start. They were timed walking and running over 10 metres, 20 metres and 30 metres, and timed running backwards too. They were asked to kick every type and shape of ball that was designed to be kicked, and to hit others with bats, rackets or clubs. Every moment of the tests was filmed from several angles.

  At the end of the day, exhausted and irritable, the last thing they wanted was a lecture from Luce, but that was what they got. Wearing her red tracksuit, she too was in a bad mood.

  ‘All right, I’ll keep this short as I’m sure you’re tired after an arduous day. What we learned today will be at the heart of everything you do in the Academy over the next four years. We have learned your strengths, perhaps some of your weaknesses, and the areas you need to work hardest on. There will be hard decisions to be made based on this information, and we may decide that you should switch sports to one where you have a better chance of success.

  ‘But first, we will work on improving your movement and physical flexibility. Victor has long been convinced that the very best sport that all great players must master first is gymnastics. For that is the sport that forces you to know how your body works, and how it can be best equipped for whatever you want it to do.

  ‘Think of any game and then think how gymnastics can help – a speedy half-back can bounce and shimmy their way past a defender, a tennis player who can leap higher can deliver a more powerful serve, as with a bowler in cricket. There are many ways in which this works.

  ‘So tomorrow you will start an intensive course which will give you a basic knowledge of gymnastics. Your teacher is a former student of this academy – when she came here she was an aspiring hockey star, but became so consumed by gymnastics that she switched over. You may recognise her – she won a gold and bronze medal at the last Olympic Games.’