The farm trip had ended sooner than I thought and we got back to school about fifteen minutes before the bell. We were given that time as free time to do what we wanted. Most people headed for the playground but I used it to text my Dad and ask about seeing Priya and Tim after school.As expected, he was fine with it. I mentioned to him that I may have found out something about Johan and that for now it was probably best to leave him alone. Dad was a little tired of it all I think and seemed to like the idea of ignoring the purple, fluffy creature and his private zoo in our garden.

When the bell went, I expected Tim and Priya to race out to meet me but they seemed to take ages. Eventually they wandered up to the gate, chatting to each other.

“You took your time.” I said.

“We had a few things to discuss.” Tim said.

“Still not sure whether to trust me?” I smirked.

“Kind of.” Priya smiled, “Mostly we were deciding how much to tell you.”

We walked out of the gate and headed for the bus stop. We managed to get three seats together because they had taken so long to reach the gate and everyone else had caught the early buses.

“Okay, the suspense is killing me here.” I said, “Who exactly is your spy and why would letting me know who it is pose such a risk?”

“You’ll find out when you meet him.” Tim said. He looked at a Meccano book sticking out of my bag. “What’s that? Are you into Meccano?”

“Just a bit.” I smiled, “I spend most of my waking hours doing something with or about it.”

“Have you made many models?” he sat up and seemed genuinely excited.

“Loads.” I said getting the book out. “Do you like building Meccano models then?”

“Sort of.” He said, “I build robots and sometimes I use Meccano bits in them.”

“Really?” I was amazed. What were the chances of me meeting up with a fellow builder at my new school. I turned to Priya, “What about you Priya?”

She nodded, “We both like robots but I’m more into the software and programming side. We’ve been best friends since reception when Tim brought his toy robot into class. That’s when the Roboteers was born.”

“The Roboteers?”

“It’s kind of our club. We meet up to talk about robots, build them and that kind of stuff. Sometimes we get involved in other things too.” Tim smiled.

“So how many are in this club then?” I asked. I liked the sound of building robots with Meccano. I’d built a robot arm before but it was operated by pulleys, not electronics.

“Three main members.” Tim said.

“So is this spy the other member?”

“Yes.” Priya said. “Oh look this is our stop.”

We got off the bus. It turned out the stop was only one past my stop. We lived closer to each other than I thought. It was a short walk to Tim’s house and mostly we did it in silence. When we arrived Tim’s mum was in the kitchen boiling something particularly smelly. Tim said she was experimenting with a new jam recipe or something. I was hoping she didn’t offer us any and I think Tim was too. Tim introduced me to his mum as “a new kid at school” and added that I was mad about Meccano. She said that was nice without looking up from her stirring. I got the impression that Tim could have said I was a rabid alien from Saturn and she would acted in exactly the same way.

When we got up to Tim’s room it was pretty much what I was expecting. The books were about electronics and the bits and pieces on the floor were electronic components and not Meccano screws but his room was pretty much like mine – a mess.

Tim’s room was a bit like mine - a mess

“Sorry about the mess.” he said almost reading my mind. “I never seem to have enough room.”

“That’s fine,” I said putting my bag down, “mine is the same. I wanted my dad to build me a work–surface on pulleys but he said the ceiling wouldn’t take it.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” Priya said, “You should get one of those Tim.”

Tim shrugged and nodded for Priya to shut the door.

“So when does your friend get here?” I asked.

“He’s here.” Time said. “Look you have to promise never to tell anyone about this. He’s very special to me and I don’t want anyone to take him away.” He started rummaging at his desk.

“Take him away? What is he an alien too?”

“No, but he used to work for them.” Tim smiled. Then he turned to face me, holding a toy robot. “Martin,” he said with a big grin, “this is Sugar.”

I think I was supposed to be impressed but it’s hard when you are faced with an ancient toy robot. It seemed in good condition but I was a bit confused.

“It says Surge?” I said.

“Yes but his name is Sugar.” Priya said, “It’s been his name since Tim first got him from his Grandad. Tim couldn’t say it properly so he said Sugar instead of Surge.”

“Right.” I said, “Look, I’m sorry but I thought we were meeting your spy. I like old toys but I think we have more important things to discuss.”

“Sugar,” said Tim, ignoring me, “meet Martin. It’s okay you can speak to him.”

Speak? Had he said speak? This old toy had more tricks than I thought. The robot’s eyes lit up and its head turned towards me.

++HELLO MARTIN++ it said.

“Oh that’s good!” I said moving forward, “You fitted a voice circuit.” I turned to Priya, “Did you program the voice activation too?”

++HOW ARE YOU MARTIN?++

The sound was definitely coming from the robot.

“That’s amazing,” I said. “It’s even picking up my voice too!”

++HE DOES NOT UNDERSTAND++ I think the robot chuckled a bit there.

“No, he doesn’t.” Priya smiled, “but then neither did we at first.” then she turned to me, “Martin, Sugar is the third member of the Roboteers and he is our spy.”

“You’re kidding?” I said, “You made the Robot spy on me?”

“We didn’t make him do it.” Tim said, “He volunteered.”

“Volunteered?” I laughed, “You make it sound like it’s alive.”

++I AM++ the robot said.

“This is really good work.” I said, “I mean it really sounds like it’s alive.”

++MARTIN, I AM ALIVE.++

“Alright, you can stop now. I’m impressed, let’s get on with the reason I’m here.”

++ARE YOU HERE BECAUSE OF THE ALIEN IN YOUR GARDEN? DO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT WE HAVE DISCOVERED?++

I was dumbfounded. They couldn’t have had time to program all of this. Maybe it was a puppet or something.

“What’s going on here?” I asked suspiciously. “Do you have someone else in another room?”

“Sugar was given to me by my Grandad when I was four.” Tim said, “He was pretty much broken at the time but I spent years trying to fix him. Last year I did it – but I’m not sure how.”

“Okay, so you fixed him.”

“Yes, except it turned out he was not just a toy robot. He was an alien probe, sent here to discover is this planet was a suitable home for his masters.”

“Who are his masters?”

“The aliens we spoke about before.” Priya said, “We thought they were planning to invade but it turned out they were just refugees.”

++THEY MISTOOK MY ACTIONS AS A CALL TO INVADE THE EARTH. SO THEY TRIED TO STOP ME++ the robot said

“Woah!” I said, “that thing is starting to freak me out.”

++WHAT DOES FREAK OUT MEAN?++ it asked.

“Stop it.” I said backing away, “You’ve had your fun but that’s enough.”

“Sugar,” Tim said, “let us speak for now.” and then to me he said, “Martin, Sugar really is alive. We don’t understand why or how but he is. He used to be a probe for the aliens but once they landed we convinced them to let him live with me. He is our proof. I’m good at electronics and Priya is good and programming but there is no way we could produce something as sophisticated as Sugar.”

I was shaking. I thought finding a troll living under my back garden was bad enough but here was apparently a living, talking robot. A robot called Sugar!

“Okay, so if it’s real, how does that help me?” I said. “I’m hoping you’re not suggesting Sugar here takes on the troll. Unless you have an army of toy robots of course?”

++I AM ONE OF A KIND++

“You have to admit,” Tim said, “having a living robot as your friend is pretty cool.”

“Yeah I suppose. It’s just a little hard to take in.”

++AT LEAST I DO NOT SPEAK IN RIDDLES AND RHYME++

“I thought you two said he hadn’t heard the troll?” I said looking at Tim and Priya.

“He didn’t,” Priya said, “but he knows what our friends told us about it.”

++TROLLS USE RIDDLES AND RHYMES TO CONFUSE THE LISTENER AND MAKE THEM PAY MORE ATTENTION. TROLLS LOVE ATTENTION. THAT IS WHY YOU MUST NOT FEED THEM++

The robot was joining into the conversation like a human. This was a little unsettling.

“Because feeding him requires giving him attention?” I asked.

“No,” said Tim, “because giving him attention is what feeds him. You must not give trolls attention, you must not feed their selfishness.”

“Do not feed the troll.” I said, almost to myself.

“What, like people say online?” Priya asked.

“Yes, but this time it was written on a sign on the trapdoor we found Johan under.”

“Johan?” Tim asked, “It has a name?”

“It says it does.” I said, “The sign on the trapdoor said ‘Do not feed the troll’. We thought it meant don’t give it anything to eat but really it meant don’t pay it any attention – just like online.”

++INDEED. BY LISTENING TO IT OR ARGUING WITH IT OR GIVING IT FOOD YOU WILL CAUSE IT TO GROW.++ Sugar said.

“So that’s why it kept getting bigger then. Why was it under our garden though?”

“Our friends say that trolls often hide and then give clues to their presence in order to draw attention to themselves.” Priya said.

“I wonder how long it was there?” I mused.

“It may have worked out you were moving in and gone there deliberately.” Tim said.

“I don’t get it though.” I said, “I mean why do this in my garden? If you wanted to draw attention to yourself, why not just walk into a public place like a football ground?”

++BECAUSE TOO MUCH ATTENTION IN ONE GO WOULD KILL HIM UNTIL HE WAS BIGGER. HE MUST GROW GRADUALLY, BUILDING UP ATTENTION AS HE GOES.++

It was the weirdest thing to hear these words come from a toy robot which had no moving mouth.

“How did you spy on me?” I wondered out loud.

++I FLEW OVER YOUR HOUSE++ the robot replied.

“You can fly?!”

++I HAVE A FLIGHT PACK WHICH TIM BUILT FOR ME++

“It’s a toy hang–glider with a small motor on the top housed in a yoghurt tub.” Tim said sheepishly, “It’s hardly a flight pack.”

I smiled, Tim and Priya were quickly turning into people I liked.

“Okay,” I said, “I believe you. You do have aliens living in your shed or something and it seems I have one living in my garden. It seems that could be quite a dangerous thing.”

“Yes it is,” Tim said, “we haven’t got to that part yet.”

Something about the way he said that worried me even more. Tim continued:

“These aliens grow with attention, we’ve said that but as they grow, they get bolder and meaner. Before you realise it they can grow too big to hide and then you are in trouble.”

“Then I’m in trouble?” I spluttered

“Yep. Most creatures have a point at which they stop growing. Trolls don’t. If you let it, the troll will grow to the fill the area it lives in.”

“You mean it will fill my garden?”

++HE MEANS IT WILL FILL THE PLANET++ Sugar corrected.

“The planet?”

++GIVEN ENOUGH ATTENTION, YES.++

“Okay,” I puffed out my cheeks, “that is pretty dangerous. So I guess the question is: how do we get rid of it without paying attention to it?”

++WE HAVE AN IDEA++ Sugar said.

“What’s that?” I asked and then listened, dumbfounded as Tim, Priya and Sugar explained their plan. It was tricky but it might work. The real problem was that I had to explain it to Dad and Angie and I didn’t know how I was going to do that without mentioning anything about aliens and a living toy robot.

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