The Trade by Barry Hutchison

slobber off his cheek with his sleeve. ‘Tell me the effects of those animal nanites are going to wear off soon,’ he said.
    â€˜Uh, yeah,’ Dr Holiday said, unable to resist the urge to laugh. ‘They will. I
hope
!’

TOTAL RECALL
    Test your memory of ‘The Trade’ with these eight tricky questions. Remember: no checking back!
    1 Rex fights the slug-Evo in which city?
    a. San Jose
    b. Santa Barbara
    c. San Francisco
    2 What kind of Evo floors Rex in Fremont?
    a. Slug
    b. Scorpion
    c. Spider
    3 Who helps Dr Holiday discover the reason for Rex’s malfunctions?
    a. Agent Six
    b. Bobo Haha
    c. Noah
    4 What is the highest voltage of electric shock Rex receives in the lab?
    a. 900 volts
    b. 800 volts
    c. 700 volts
    5 Who attempts to carry Rex to Castle Van Kleiss?
    a. Skalamander
    b. Biowulf
    c. Breach
    6 Which of Rex’s machines does Van Kleiss demonstrate first after the trade of nanites?
    a. Smackhands
    b. Boogie Pack
    c. Punk Busters
    7 Where does Bobo suggest Rex is taken to recover from the trade?
    a. Purgatory
    b. Paradise
    c. The Petting Zoo
    8 What kind of Evo animal has its nanites absorbed by Rex first?
    a. rabbit
    b. dog
    c. chimp
    Â 
    Answers: 1. c, 2. b, 3. c, 4. a, 5. b, 6. c, 7. c, 8. a.

Read an exclusive sneak preview of
GENERATOR REX: MIRROR MIRROR
    â€˜C OME ON , R EX , it’ll be awesome!’
    Rex shrugged and jabbed his thumbs against the video game controller in his hands. On screen, a zombie’s head exploded. ‘
This
is already awesome,’ he said. ‘It couldn’t be any … awesomer.’
    â€˜That’s not even a word,’ Noah said. ‘And, seriously, sitting around playing video games all night? That’s your idea of fun?’
    â€˜Yes,’ Rex nodded. He stuffed some popcorn into his mouth. ‘Yes, it is.’
    Noah leaned forward in his chair and tried to make his friend see sense. ‘I’m going to spell it out to you, Rex. It’s a
fun … fair
.’
    â€˜That’s not spelling it out, that’s just saying it slowly,’ Rex mumbled, through a mouthful of popcorn kernels.
    â€˜That’s not the point! The point is, it’s got fun right there in the title.
Fun
fair. Does “video game” have the word “fun” in the title?’ Noah asked.
    â€˜Not the last time I checked,’ Rex replied. He shot a zombie through the knees and watched it fall, face-first, onto the ground.
    â€˜Nice shot,’ Noah admitted, grudgingly.
    â€˜Thanks. I’m all about the knee-shots.’
    An idea struck Noah. ‘There’ll be zombie-shooting at the fair,’ he said.
    Rex raised an eyebrow. ‘Really?’
    Noah sighed. ‘No, not really. I made that up. But there’ll be other stuff.
Better
than zombie-killing.’
    â€˜Nothing’s better than zombie-killing,’ Rex told him.
    â€˜Oh yeah? What about roller-coasters? And chair-o-planes? And bungee drops? They’ve got something called the Wheel of Terror.’ Noah said it again for emphasis. ‘
The Wheel of Terror
, Rex! I don’t even know what that is, but I don’t think I can live another day without finding out.’
    The action on screen froze as Rex hit the pause button on the control pad. ‘You know I can turn whole parts of my body into machines, right?’
    Noah nodded. ‘Of course I know!’
    â€˜I’ve got the Boogie Pack that lets me fly, the RexRide that lets me go faster than a racing car …’
    â€˜Yeah, so?’
    â€˜Then there’s the others, too. Punk Busters, Smackhands, a giant sword, a crazy-cool cannon that can shoot pretty much anything …’
    â€˜I know all this!’ Noah said. ‘What’s your point?’
    â€˜My point is, how is a roller-coaster supposed to compete with all that? Why would I bother going up and down and around on a metal track when I can do all that in mid-air, like, a thousand times