Mission In Malta Read Online Free

the Time and Space Machine. ‘Remember, Max? There was your landing in Larry’s feed trough, the garbage compactor outside that London restaurant, the compost bin, the pile of cat poo … boy, did you stink!’
    Max suddenly forgot about the kiss and turned towards Linden’s chuckling face. ‘What part of my irritated expression aren’t you seeing?’
    Linden stopped laughing and focused insteadon finishing his ham and alfalfa roll.
    Ben made a sloppy attempt at stifling a smile. ‘Science never stands still, Max, you know that. And since Eleanor had a big hand in this, she’ll take over from here.’
    A series of loud banging sounds thundered from outside.
    â€˜What’s that?’ Max threw her hands over her head and ducked.
    Linden pulled an apple from his pocket. ‘Larry.’
    Larry was Ben and Eleanor’s pig. The banging continued.
    â€˜What’s he trying to do, break in?’
    â€˜No.’ Linden took a bite. ‘He’d use the door if he wanted to come in.’
    â€˜Is it …’ Max knew she’d regret asking but went ahead anyway, ‘about the weather?’
    Ben, Eleanor and Linden were convinced they could predict the weather from Larry’s behaviour.
    â€˜No, Morse code,’ Ben answered as if that somehow explained everything.
    Max tried to stop her mouth from asking anything more, but it didn’t work. ‘Morse code?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Eleanor filled in. ‘He’s trying to improve himself, so we’ve been teaching him Morse code. He’s a very quick learner.’
    Max squinted in a mental fog, not quite understanding. ‘So instead of acting strangely to predict the weather he can … tell you?’
    â€˜Yes, that and other things. He’s just tapped out “hello”.’ Eleanor smiled proudly. ‘He’s always had such lovely manners.’
    There was a drawn-out silence as Max stared at her uncle and aunt. For brilliant scientists who were part of the world’s most elite intelligence agency and were responsible for the invention of some of science’s most advanced devices, they had the habit, at times, of sounding a bit mad.
    â€˜So.’ Max took a deep breath. ‘Tell me about these improvements.’
    A scratching sound came from the door of the lab, followed by a muffled bark.
    â€˜Can I let Ralph in?’ Linden asked Ben.
    â€˜He’ll only sit out there and whine if you don’t.’
    Linden jumped up and opened the door to let in a great furry mountain of a dog. ‘Now, you be good with Max,’ Linden warned.
    Ralph, whose enthusiastic hellos used to fall just short of almost killing Max, calmly walked over with his smelly dogness and climbed onto the seat beside her. Linden gave him a vigorous rub on the back. ‘You don’t want to miss out, do you, boy?’
    â€˜No, we wouldn’t want that,’ Max snipped. ‘Maybe now we can get on with the demonstration?’
    Ralph barked in agreement and breathed great doggy breaths all over her.
    Eleanor stepped up to a platform in the centre of the lab where the Time and Space Machine sat in a perspex frame beside a leather belt specially made to carry the device. ‘Spyforce asked us to do a little fine-tuning of the machine, and after months of experimenting we’ve successfully installed a mapping and surveillance tool. It operates much like before, but now it can produce images of the world that are so sharp that geographic coordinates can zoom in to reveal what brand of chips someone on a street in Sweden is eating.’
    â€˜From anywhere in the world?’ Max asked.
    â€˜Anywhere.’ Ben reached into his pocket. ‘Jube, anyone?’
    Linden finished the last of his apple. ‘Yeah, thanks.’
    â€˜Me too,’ Eleanor added.
    Max sighed. No matter what important scientific discovery was being unveiled, Ben, Eleanor and Linden could