day fifty-seven and flying into a mountain

Benny and Ron ran out of the pantry and out of the door of the Soup Shack onto the ledge. They could hear the whine of the autogyro's engine and just see it in the distance. 

“She’s getting away!” said Ron.

“Come on!" said Benny. “Get in the rotor-sledge!”

Benny's rotor-sledge was parked next to the Soup Shack. They pulled off the tarpaulin and shooed off two goats who had been sleeping under it.

Ignoring the smell, Benny and Ron pulled the rotor-sledge out onto the ledge, and  jumped in. Benny started the ignition and a minute later they were high up in the morning sky, chasing after the Spy in the autogyro. 

“We've got to try and stop her before she passes on the beetroot soup recipe to S.M.I.R.K.!” shouted Benny above the noise of the rotor-sledge's engine.

Little-by-little the rotor-sledge, expertly handled by Benny and with a more powerful engine, gained on the autogyro, which was light and nippy, but was difficult to handle and not built for cruising. Before too long, Ron and Benny were just twenty metres behind the autogyro, which was approaching the side of a big mountain.

“She's going to crash!” shouted Ron.

“She'll take evasive action at the last minute I expect!” shouted Benny. “She's a spy after all!”

Benny left it until the last second but then he had to pull hard on the joystick and bring the rotor-sledge up and away from the icy mountain-side. They looked down, expecting to see the Spy smash into the mountain, but a section of the ice suddenly slid upwards and she flew into a letter-box shaped slit. 

Benny turned the rotor-sledge around, and got back in line with the slit, but as they got near, they saw it start to close up again. Now it was too late to manoeuvre, but the slit was getting narrower and narrower.....

© David Severn 2012