This story is about a boy who gets sucked into his computer game. It is by Joe Eason, 10, of Loudwater, High Wycombe.

TOM Paterson was sitting at his computer playing his latest PC game called Labyrinth. A figure popped up on the screen: "Welcome to the game!" Tom sat back and waited for it to finish loading.

Tom was a sturdy 10-year-old with blond hair that hung over his forehead and light blue eyes like crystals. He sat back up, the PC had finished loading. He pressed start.

The screen flashed and Tom felt a sudden rush of air like a giant vacuum and suddenly he was pulled into the computer screen!

He landed on soft ground and got a mouthful of sand. He looked up and found he was on a beach and not too far away he could see the city of Athens. He could hear music and singing. He raced up a slope to the city gates. Inside a big parade was going on. The king was riding through the city in a golden chariot. Then he stopped and pointed towards Tom. All the music stopped.

"My son has returned!" Tom was hoisted up into the chariot and taken away to the palace. It was evening and Tom was staring out of his richly decorated room's window which looked out over the city of Athens. And beyond the city walls was the Mediterranean twinkling in the fading sunlight.

He had figured out what was going on. He was in the game and he was playing ... or ... it was playing him! Tom knew the myth. He just had to play it through. He'd had a big argument with King Ageus, who, in the myth, was supposed to be his father and he was supposed to be Theseus, the Prince of Athens.

The argument had happened because in the myth Theseus has to go to Crete to fight the fearsome Minotaur and King Ageus doesn't want him to go. But in the end King Ageus has to give in. So Tom was setting off on the death ship tomorrow for Crete.

Tom was on board the death ship looking out to sea. There was hardly a breath of wind that night and the sky was cloudless. Tom was thinking about home and his mum and dad when he heard a creak above him. He looked up - the sail was billowing out from the mast, he could hardly hold on to it. The waves were getting rougher, it began to cloud over.

"Storm!" cried Tom. "Storm?" said a bewildered sailor, "I don't understand the weather, what happened?"

"I don't care what happened right now, but I do care about you getting up the mast and saving the sail!" - It was the captain.

Suddenly an enormous whirlpool appeared and out of it came a giant carrying a trident. Poseidon!

"Sorry about that. Did I frighten you?" said Poseidon to the soaked shivering sailors.

"I just want to say good luck to young Theseus. I don't like Minos so you can have the blessing of Poseidon. Bye now." And with a sucking noise he was gone.

The next day they arrived in Crete. They were welcomed with an enormous feast. At the table the princess who had noticed Tom sat next to him. Then at night she came to him and gave him a sword and a ball of string.

"Take this ball of string and ..."

"I know," said Tom, "thanks."

Next day the guards shoved Tom into the maze and immediately he panicked. When he'd calmed down he tied the end of the ball of string to the door and started off down the dark passage and turned and turned and zigzagged along. When he had been in there for about half an hour he came to a pool with three stepping stones. He stepped across them and as he did so they sank.

"No way back now," he thought.

Later the air began to stink, he must be getting close. Suddenly he came into a chamber and there it was - the Minotaur! He couldn't move. It leaped, and as it did so Tom fell against something on the wall, a type of switch.

Everything began to fade and Tom found himself back home sitting in front of his computer. Phew!