The door leads them up a set of stairs. They shout again when they get to the top, but there is no reply. The first room they come to is the lounge. There are cans lying on the floor and food trays on the table. The kitchen is untidy too, as is the bathroom. They go up another flight of stairs and find two bedrooms. One is unoccupied and only has a bed in it. The other one was Randy’s. Surprisingly it is tidier than the downstairs rooms. The clothes are in the robe and in the drawers. Even the bed is made tidily. They check around, but all they can see are clothes for one man. It is clear that Randy lived alone.
‘All we need to do is get some food and beer and then we are ready to lay up for a couple of days, until the heat dies down a bit. We’ll leave his car at the shop. We can always get another if we need it.’
‘Maybe we should bring it back here. If they find the bodies at the shop, then we won’t be able to go back.’
‘If they find the bodies at the shop, then they’ll come round here to check his pad.’
‘We need to dump them then.’
‘I’ll do that’ Buzz offers ‘and you can go and get us some provisions. There’s a mart just along the road. I’ll use one of the other vehicles there. I’ll dump it down by the river.’
‘What will you do if you get stopped?’
‘I won’t go that way.’
TZ wonders which way that he will go, if he doesn’t know the island, and he doesn’t know where they might have put some blocks. She isn’t that bothered and is glad Buzz has offered to do it.
Mario and Maria have been to other side of the new reservation. There is no doubt, in Mario’s eyes, that they have a nice place to live here. Things are certainly not as she relayed them to him, when she talked about her past and her tribe. It looks to him like things have gone exceedingly well for the tribe in her absence. It is not something he is going to voice out loud to her though. From what he has heard about her from the family, it is unwise to do anything to Maria. She is too volatile and unpredictable, for you to just say what you think to her. You have to think about it and word it carefully. He keeps his thoughts to himself.
Maria’s father leads them back down in to the middle of the reservation. He walks past the hall and towards the cabin sitting next to it. He opens the door and walks in. Maria walks in behind him. Mario stands on the doorstep for a minute, looking back at the sight in front of him. They don’t come back to look for him and he isn’t bothered about that. He just stands there, gazing around him. He is thinking that this is a good place to live. It is certainly a better place to live than he has ever had. Why would they want to risk losing all this, to join in the uprising? He stops his thoughts, as something is bothering him. He knows what it is. Why is he thinking like this? He hasn’t thought like this before, well not for a very long time. Recently he has just existed. Something has been in control of his thoughts and actions. That is what he thinks, but now he is thinking for himself.
His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of voices coming from inside. At first they are not loud, but they build up as he listens to them. To be fair it is only one of the voices that is building up. There is little surprise that that voice belongs to Maria. He can’t hear exactly what they are saying. Then he realizes why he can’t hear what they are saying. They are talking in their own tongue. He isn’t going to go in there now. It won’t help the situation, whatever it is. He can pretty much guess though what Maria might be going on about. It is probably about her being the rightful chief of the tribe. They have been waiting for her to come back. They think they are happy with what they have, but they don’t know that. They could have so much more than that, if they join her and stand up for their rights. Maris will be saying all that and a load more no doubt. For virtually all of her life since she left, she has been waiting for the moment to come, when she can return and lead her tribe, to take back what is rightfully theirs, in her eyes. Then she comes back to see all this. It would appear that her brother is a different kind of person and she doesn’t like it. What had they said to her when she contacted them; that led her to believe the time is right for her to return and lead the tribe? Maybe they always knew that it was only a matter of time, before she made contact with them. So when she did, they had decided that they might as well face the problem head on and sort it out once and for all. The only problem they had in doing that is that they didn’t know exactly when she was going to return. Hence her father going to wait for her while her brother carries on with his work.
Well, she is here now. Mario walks over to the car and opens the door. He sits in the car, but leaves the door open. He can still hear Maria shouting from there. About fifteen minutes later, a truck draws up and a man gets out. Mario can see straight away the resemblance he has, to both the man and Maria. Now the fireworks will begin. He doesn’t look over at Mario, but walks straight into the cabin. The shouting stops straight away. Mario debates whether he should go over, but quickly decides that this is best left to Maria to sort out for herself.
Over an hour later, there is still no movement from the cabin. There have been moments when he can hear Maria shouting, but not for that long. It is another twenty minutes later that the door opens. The three of them emerge and stand looking around. Maria spots him sitting in the car. She walks over to him and gets in on the passenger side. She has a key dangling on her finger. Mario chooses not to be the first one to talk. Maria sees this and leans across and gives him a kiss on the cheek.
‘Thank you for letting me talk to them alone. It was better that way. They are going to bring everyone together later, for a meeting in the hall. I think they will side with my brother, but I have to try to convince them that they could have so much more. My brother is a calming influence though. It even works on me at times. But I have been waiting for so long to come back here. We have a cabin at the edge of the park. We can have a wash and maybe rest for a couple of hours, before we go to meet them. I want you to come with me. They will see that we are together and are strong. They will see that the path they should follow is that of their new chief, Maria.’
Chapter 30 Spirit
Spirit knows which robot he has to take a shot at first. That is the one by the door. The only problem with that; is that he hasn’t moved off the robot he has just landed on. The weapon he needs is a good four feet away from him. The question is; has he got time to dive behind the control desk, before the robot by the door shoots at him? The answer is simple; try it and see. If he doesn’t, then he is an easy target. Time seems to stand almost still, as he takes in the view in front of him. There is the robot by the door, raising its arm to shoot. There is the other robot standing in one of the corners, not seemingly starting to do anything and then there is the robot underneath him that he took by surprise. That one can be just as big a potential problem as the one by the door. That is not taking into account that they might be calling for help electronically. Then there will be many more to deal with.
Even as he is seeing all this, he is moving off the robot and out of sight of the armed robot. He only just makes it behind the control desk, when the corner of it disintegrates. His hand reaches for the weapon on the floor. He doesn’t stop his momentum though. He grabs for the weapon, as he keeps going along. He doesn’t know what they will expect him to do, but he hopes they won’t be expecting this. He changes positon from diving to be more in control on his feet. He doesn’t stop to do this, but manages to curl, roll and turn; ending up crouched, but on his feet, as he reaches the end of the control desk and appears out at the other end.
The one by the door is not looking or aiming at that end. Spirit is however, aiming at where he knows that robot was when he last saw it. He fires as soon as the robot comes into his sights. His first volley takes the weapon and the arm away, both being rendered useless. He doesn’t stop there. It is quite possible, probable even, that these robots, or androids, may have multiple weaponry systems. He isn’t going to wait to find out. He aims for the head and then the chest. It is unlikely that
the systems will be in the legs. Five seconds sees that robot totally destroyed. But in that time, the other two have recovered their composure. They must be slightly less sophisticated versions. Anyway, even if they are, they are now set in attack mode. The one that had been on the floor with Spirit has now managed to get up from the floor. It may have lost the weapon it was holding, but in the time Spirit has been dealing with the one by the door, it has managed to bring another weapon into play. It is aiming behind the control desk at Spirit. There isn’t time enough for Spirit to turn, even though he knows that one will be ready to fire upon him. He knows where the other one was too. He moves out from where he has been shooting from, to a point level with the end of the control desk. This takes him out of sight of the one robot just in time. The shot hits the wall beyond the control desk. The problem for Spirit will be if the other robot has moved. He can either dive out into the open, hoping that it is in the same place, or play a more cautious role. The problem with that will be that if they haven’t already, they will certainly call for assistance.
Spirit turns round and puts his weapon quickly round the corner of the control desk. He fires for maybe a second. He hits something, but not a robot. There isn’t time for this! He stands up, hoping that his reactions are going to be faster than theirs. It is a risk, but he has no choice. The one in the corner is still there, but the other one is not in sight. Maybe he did hit that one, with his last shots. He doesn’t think about that though, he just fires at the one in the corner. He makes it before it does. It crumples on the floor, with several of its parts, disjointed and the head and body obliterated. Now where is the third one?
Before he can search for that one, the door opens. The robot that had stayed outside, fires in through the open door. It misses him by the closest margins. Somehow it must have been able to see him, from where it was outside the doors. He fires in that direction, but the robot has already moved out of sight.
He hears a sound over from him and knows it can only be one thing, the other robot in the control room. He needs that one put out of action, so that he can concentrate on the one by the door; the new one by the door. He leaps onto the control desk and stands up quickly. He sees a leg sticking out and fires at it. He jumps quickly down and fires another shot towards the door, hoping that will be enough, to keep that one from coming into the game for a few seconds more.
The leg he shot at has moved out of sight. The part he hit lies on the floor in dust. It isn’t connected to the robot any more. He leaps down again and darts behind the control desk. The robot is front of him, but looking the other way for some reason. Spirit makes a noise and the robot turns towards him. It raises its weapon ready to shoot, even though it knows it will not have enough time to get the job done. Spirit is not in the mood to make a game of this. He disposes of the robot in little over two seconds.
The door to the control room closes again. That is not a good thing. Spirit can’t see what is going on out in the corridor beyond. He can guess that there will be other robots joining that one. He is assuming of course, that there won’t be other doors they can use to gain access. What he does have to do and do quickly, is to shoot out any cameras there might be, that will show where he is in the control room. Keeping most of his attention on the doorway, he surveys the control room. There are a couple of obvious things, on the walls, high up. They are most likely to be cameras, so he takes them out. He looks at the control desk, to see if there are any there. If there are, they are not so obvious and anyway, he doesn’t want to destroy the control desk. There are things he might need.
The door of the control room opens again and this time there are two robots there. They dart through the door, firing as they do so. They are firing wildly in all directions, so it is obvious that they now can’t see into the room. Spirit takes one of them out straight away. The other dives out of the way of his aim. The surviving robot makes for the far side of the control room. Spirit thinks that could be for one of two reasons. Firstly it might be to distract him, in that he will have to try to look in opposite directions at the same time, or maybe it is because there is another doorway over there. Maybe it needs to be opened from within the control room. Spirit dives over to the control panel and slams his hand on the button that opens and closes the door. The door closes instantly. The robot is still making for the corner. It has slowed and is looking for something. That gives Spirit time to look more closely at the control panel. He sees how he can lock the control room door. He presses that button. Now he can concentrate on what the robot is doing.
It finds what it is looking for. A narrow door opens and the robot disappears through the doorway. That is most strange. Spirit does not know what to make of that move. Is he expected to follow that robot? If so, then they are going to be disappointed, as he isn’t going to do so. He moves over to that place carefully. He gathers some things and piles them up in front of where the doorway is. If it does come back through, it will have to get over the pile of things first. He goes back to the control desk. He unlocks the main door and moves towards it. It opens as he nears, it but there is nothing waiting for him there. Tentatively he moves through into the corridor. There is no one in sight.
He is expecting them to jump out at any second. That doesn’t happen. He comes to the first doorway. He wastes no time in opening the door. It takes him only a few seconds to establish that the room is empty. He moves onto the next one. He gets the same result there. That process is repeated several more times, always with the same result. The rooms are all empty. There are a variety of uses the rooms are designed for, but none of them are in use at all at the moment. Only as he nears the end of the search, does he find any of the robots and androids. This area is a workshop of some sorts. There are robots and androids in various states of being built, or is it being repaired. There are two robots busy working on them. He takes them out, without even a thought, even though they weren’t acting in a dangerous manner. He also systematically destroys all of the part built robots.
He spends the next half hour searching the rest of the building, or at least the parts of the building he has access to. He knows when he has finished, that there must be areas which he hasn’t found. For example, there is no vehicle bay and he knows they had vehicles they brought with them from Luvus. It looks like, unless he can find a doorway that he may have missed, that he will have to go back through to the door in the control room and see what lies that way.
He is making his way back to the control room, checking off the doors he has searched behind on the way, when something makes him look up at the ceiling. Then the thought strikes him. They are in the side of a hill. There might well be room for something to have been made on a different level. He mentally marks the spot and then retraces his steps back to the robot workshop. This is probably; if he has got his directional sense right, the deepest part of the building into the hill. He walks along, staring up at the ceiling, but keeping one eye on the corridor ahead. It is as his eyes are looking down for a second, that he notices the marks on the floor. Something is coming in contact with this piece of floor on a regular basis. It is regular enough for it to make a mark. He feels around the walls, expecting there to be something to be found; and there is. He presses the button he finds behind the flap. Something clicks quietly and the ceiling slides back. That is followed by a staircase being lowered to the floor.
Chapter 31 The Grandmaster
It may well be virgin land that The Grand Master is trekking across, but it is difficult to tell that he has crossed it too. He keeps on looking back, to see if there is anyone following him; so far there isn’t. At least he can’t see that there is. The craft is well out of sight now and he has more cover. That will keep his presence from searching eyes. That doesn’t mean he is out of the woods yet by any means. He is susceptible to being spotted from the air; that is for sure. If they were to fly over, they would certainly spot him easily.
But then he thinks about it more seriously, as he continues to walk over the barr
en land. How would they get into the air, to search for him in the first place? They are under guard by the androids. They are just a couple of Guiding Masters, who have never done anything for as long as he can remember. Oh yes and then there is the Keeper. Well he has been a waste of space in all this. Look how easily he was captured and taken away from his android, The Watcher. No, he is not under any threat of them searching for him by air; at least that won’t happen before he gets there.
Now his thoughts turn to where he is making for. He hasn’t been here in a very long time. This is the place where he first constructed a hideaway for him. It was somewhere that he could escape to, away from the mundanely boring life of being a Guiding Master. It is all well and good being immortal, but when you live forever, time seems to drag. There is no driving force with the need to get things done, as you have an infinite amount of time to achieve things. With all the time in the world to do things, then time becomes an enemy in a kind of a way. There will always be more of it. There is always more of it. Well there has been for him, up until now. Now he knows he has become mortal again and his body is letting him know all about it. Not only is he mortal, but he has reverted to the age he was when he became a Guiding Master.
His thoughts are interrupted by the screaming tiredness he is feeling in his legs. He has another good look around him, before he stops and sits down on a rock. This is not ideal. He needs to keep going, for lots of reasons. The main one is that he is out in the open, without any protection from the elements. It may be nice out while there is still light, but the temperature will drop when it gets dark. It doesn’t go that cold, but he will feel it in the clothes he is dressed in at the moment. He wasn’t exactly planning this sort of adventure when he dressed for the day. Another reason is that he feels vulnerable out here in the open. He is feeling vulnerable, because he has lost his status as a Guiding Master, and vulnerable because he doesn’t have anyone, or anything else, for support out here. He has no robot or android with him and he has no means of transport, other than his legs at present. That may not change very much when he gets to his hideaway. He can’t exactly remember what he has there. It has been a very long time since he set foot in the place.
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