Steve and the Jade Crown
Ying Wa Primary School, WWv Leung, Fiction: Group 2
A
n alarm went off, and broke the silence of the chilly morning in the Gobi desert.
Stretching his hand out from his sleeping bag, Steve hushed the alarm
clock with a “click!” Although he was sleepy, the allure of fantastic discoveries
energized him enough to clamber out of bed. He went to his mirror to comb his
sandy-colored hair, then changed his clothes and opened the entrance of his small tent. It was
another beautiful morning in the Gobi desert. The vast desert had only sand, sand and more sand,
without a sign of life anywhere. Steve was an archeologist who came to the Gobi desert in search
of dinosaur egg fossils, but he had no such luck, even after exploring for months! Steve collected
his tools and set off for his worksite.
Steve dug at all the possible places fossils might be, but still nothing surfaced! At noon, after
he quickly gobbled down his sandwich, he picked up his pickaxe again to dig around a rock under
the sand. Suddenly, he was startled by footsteps from behind. Steve whirled around to see a man
with a golf club raised above his head. Just as Steve began to say, “What—” He saw the man swing
the golf club at his head and then everything went black.
Steve slowly woke up to find himself in a dark chamber, with a splitting headache.
He murmured, “Uh, where...am I?”
A voice hissed from behind Steve, “Welcome to the Viper’s Pit!”
Steve turned his head to see a sinister lean man with reptilian looking eyes behind him.
Steve tried to back off, but he realized his hands were tied behind the chair he was sitting on.
Steve said, “Who are you and what do you want from me?” The man laughed and said, “Oh! I am
professor Viper, and as for what I want…”
Professor Viper snapped his fingers’ and a guard held a hologram projector in front of Steve.
The hologram hummed to life, and Steve saw a hologram of a green crown. It was dark green,
with carvings. Professor Viper said, “Amazing isn’t it? The Jade Crown! It belonged to a queen
of tang dynasty. She hid it around a cave in Inner Mongolia. It’s so well kept! Probably worth 24
million.” Steve gaped at the amazing price. Suddenly, Professor Viper grabbed Steve’s shirt by the
collar and bellowed, “Where is it? Tell me!” Poor Steve stammered, “I… I don’t know! I… I swear!”
The professor sighed and said, “Very well then! Guard, execution!”
After speaking, Professor Viper left the dark room. The guard lifted his handgun and aimed
it at Steve. Steve suddenly stood up with his chair tied to his hands! He whirled around and used
the back of his chair and knocked the gun out of the guard’s hand. Then, the guard brandished his
knife and slashed it at Steve. Steve turned around to let the blade cut through the rope tying his
hands together. With his hands free Steve lifted the chair and smashed it on the guard. The force
was so strong that the guard immediately got knocked out! Steve tossed away the chair, grabbed
the gun and bolted for the nearest exit.
After running through tunnels and underground passageways, Steve finally left the Viper’s
Pit. He didn’t look back until he was at least a mile away from the Viper’s Pit. When he looked
closely he realized Professor Viper’s hideout lived up to its name. It was a shallow, wide hole that
did look like a Central Asian Pit Viper’s nest. Steve turned and started searching for his camp…
aimlessly. He only knew he was heading west. He walked and walked, hoping to see something
