Clockwork Mechanicals - the Complete Trilogy

by Peter R Stone

  “Spidey’s showing us the way!” I say. We hurry down two flights of stairs and finally reach our goal – the drill floor.

  This is where Davis took me earlier to meet the supervisor. If the Mechanical is going to put a bomb down the well shaft, this is where it has to do it.

  “Okay, Spidey, lead the way!” I say.

  But he just drops the dead spider and waits for me to throw it again. I give it a solid kick, and as he rushes off after it, we move quickly across the drill floor.

  We weave our way through a forest of thick steel girders, past man-high storage bins and rows of bottles labelled ‘Liquid Nitrogen.’

  I see a bundle of steel pipes lying loose on the ground, and grab one that’s about four-feet long.

  “You guys better get one too,” I say to Megan and Robby. “The way to defeat the Mechanical is to stick something in its gears to make it seize up. I used a spanner last time, but I reckon these longer pipes will do a better job.”

  Megan and Robby both grab a metal pipe, and we continue across the drill floor. I can’t see Spidey but I can hear him and Roach clattering about on the steel decking behind us.

  Chapter Ten

  We come out into the open area directly beneath the towering drilling derrick.

  This is the heart of the drill floor. At the centre is the wellhead, a black hole that leads down into the belly of the earth.

  I was expecting to find the Mechanical trying to lower the bomb into the shaft, but the Mechanical is not here.

  There is someone here, though – the boss. He’s still wearing his black gloves, facemask, and mirrored shades. And he’s using a yellow remote control to direct a crane to move a long cylindrical object towards the drill head that looks like a torpedo.

  The torpedo must be the nuclear bomb, and I can tell it wasn’t made on earth. It reminds me of the force field generator back on the space station. The casing is the colour of bronze and it’s long, sleek and looks dangerous.

  “You were r-r-r-right, the boss is w-w-w-working for the...Mechanical,” Robby whispers.

  “But where’s the Mechanical?” Megan asks. I notice that the butterflies are fluttering about nervously.

  “I’ve got no idea,” I reply quietly as Spidey rushes past me and drops his dead spider. But he doesn’t drop it in front of me. He just drops it where he is and stands there, watching the boss.

  “So wh-wh-wh-what do we...do?” Robby asks.

  “I’m going to talk to him. Maybe I can get him to see sense?”

  I put down the steel pipe and take several steps forward. Meanwhile, Spidey and Roach move cautiously toward the boss, like cats stalking a bird.

  “Ah, excuse me, sir?” I shout.

  The boss glances at me and my companions, and then looks up. He clicks his fingers three times, and then turns back to bringing the bomb closer to the wellhead.

  I’m about to take another step forward when Megan squeals. I turn around and just about jump out of my skin when I see a dozen of those evil little clockwork spiders dropping down on invisible threads.

  Guessing that some must be hanging over my head, I jump aside – and just in time too. A spider lands on the steel decking beside me and scuttles straight for me. I stomp on it several times and don’t stop until it’s smashed to bits. Its legs are broken, its spring has uncoiled, and tiny little gears have spilled out all over the deck.

  My friends aren’t so lucky, though.

  One spider has landed on Megan’s shoulder and another on top of her head. The butterflies are trying to help, but can’t get close enough because Megan is frantically swatting at the spiders.

  Robby cries out when a spider lands on his arm. Even worse, more of the evil things have landed all around us. This isn’t good!

  I stand there, wondering what to do. Should I go for the boss and try to stop him, or should I help my friends?

  I suddenly remember Megan telling me that I was always chosen to be a team captain during gym class. So hopefully that means I’m good at sport because I’ve got an idea.

  I jump over a spider scampering towards me and scoop up the metal pipe I dropped earlier.

  “Megan, put your arms down and DON’T MOVE!” I shout.

  Megan manages to pluck the spider from her arm and throws it clear of the drill floor, but when she realises what I’m going to do to the one on her head, she closes her eyes and puts her arms by her side.

  I swing the metal pipe like a baseball bat and the spider goes flying as it explodes into tiny pieces that rain down around us.

  Megan snatches her pipe from the deck and grips it tightly. “I’m going to play whack-a-spider,” she says brightly.

  “Awesome idea.”

  So while Megan bangs her steel pipe on the metal deck like a farmer threshing the hay, I run over to help Robby, but when I get there I realise I’m too late. A spider has already clamped its horrible little legs into his arm.

  Remembering how Roach saved me from the spider burrowing into my neck, I quickly look for him. He is cornered by three spiders trying to trap him.

  I rush over, stomp one spider flat and whack the other two for a loop. Then I pick up Roach with my left hand, hurry back to Robby, and pop him onto his arm. Roach immediately goes to work, and in no time flat has pulled the spider apart. That done, he darts down to the deck. He headbutts my leg, gives it a playful nibble, and then rubs against it like a cat.

  “Good job, Roach! You two go play whack-a-spider with Megan. I’ve got to stop the boss.”

  So while Robby and Roach go to save Spidey, who is surrounded by four more spiders, I rush back to the boss. He’s got the bomb right over the wellhead now.

  “Stop right there!” I shout.

  He ignores me completely.

  “Why are you helping the Mechanicals, sir? If you lower that bomb down the shaft, you’ll trigger the Ring of Fire volcanoes and cause massive tidal waves and earthquakes. You’ll be killing your own people!”

  He still ignores me, so I swing my pipe at the crane’s remote control, trying to knock it from his hands.

  The boss lifts an arm to block my strike so that I hit his arm instead of the remote. But rather than hearing the dull thud of steel striking flesh, there is a loud CLANG of steel striking metal.

  The boss doesn’t work for the Mechanical. The boss is the Mechanical. I stagger back in shock.

  Behind me, Megan and Robby stop trying to whack the bronze spiders and look up. They are just as surprised by this revelation as I am.

  Chapter Eleven

  The boss – the Mechanical – turns to face me and puts the remote control on the edge of the drill head. He slowly removes his gloves, revealing mechanical hands made of iron and steel. Then he takes off the reflective shades, exposing a pair of glowing red camera lenses that serve as his eyes. Finally, he pulls off the blue plastic mask, causing me to shudder in revulsion. The only part of his head that looks human are his teeth. The rest, including the skull and the whirring cogs and gears inside, are made of metal.

  “You’re the Mechanical!” I exclaim.

  “Indeed I am. And that is why you will fail to stop me,” the Mechanical says in a voice that sounds more inhuman now that it has removed its mask.

  “That’s where you’re wrong!” I shout as I jump forward and swing my pipe at his head. But the Mechanical simply bats the pipe aside, places a hand on my chest, and gives me a mighty shove.

  Suddenly I’m flying through the air. I smash into one of the man-high storage bins, badly bruising my back, left shoulder and elbow. I collapse to the drill floor, panting for breath.

  I clamber painfully back to my feet. “Come on, let’s attack it at the same time,” I say to my friends.

  Megan is there in a heartbeat, hefting her pipe menacingly. The butterflies are close by, backing her up. Robby, on the other hand, shakes his head and keeps his distance. I wonder where Spidey and Roach are, and spot them over near the Liquid Nitrogen bottles. Spidey has pinned two bronz
e spiders on the deck and Roach is dismantling them.

  “How are we su-su-su-supposed to beat it?” Robby asks. “We can’t stick our p-p-p-pipes in its gears if it’s – if it’s – if it’s wearing clothes.”

  “Just do your best!” I shout as I rush in.

  I go for the crane’s remote control again, but just like before, the Mechanical knocks my pipe aside with its arm, and shoves me so that I sprawl onto my back on the deck.

  Megan rushes in to attack the Mechanical with the butterflies helping by swarming around his face. She hits his arm and head, but he gives her such a powerful shove that she lands in a heap beside me.

  The Mechanical then catches two of the butterflies and squashes them in his hands.

  “Noooo! Don’t hurt my butterflies!” Megan screams. She jumps to her feet and rushes towards the butterflies, beckoning them to come back to her. Flapping their little wings furiously, the survivors dart out away from the Mechanical’s thrashing arms and fly back to her.

  Robby finds the courage to attack the Mechanical, but when it turns about and stares at him with its glowing red eyes, he backs off.

  The Mechanical picks up the crane’s remote control and lowers the bomb so that its nose is touching the wellhead. Then he opens a small hatch on the side of the bomb that reveals a panel with a glowing digital readout, knobs and switches. It adjusts the bomb’s settings, hits a button, and the readout starts counting down:

  10:00

  09:59

  09:58

  09:57

  The Mechanical has armed the bomb! In less than ten minutes, it’s going to go off.

  “Do those th-th-th-things have any other w-w-w-weaknesses apart from shoving a sp-sp-sp-sp-spanner in their works?” Robby asks urgently.

  “None that I know of,” I reply as I clamber back to my feet and cast my memory back to what happened on the space station. I recall how the Mechanical maintained the space station’s air supply and kept it moderately warm.

  “The Mechanicals need air and they don’t like the cold,” I tell Robby.

  “They don’t l-l-l-like the cold? Why didn’t y-y-you tell me that...before! Quick, co-co-co-come with me!” Robby says as he runs over to one of the liquid nitrogen bottles.

  While the Mechanical retrieves the crane’s remote control, Robby and I grab one of the four-foot-tall bottles of liquid nitrogen and drag it toward the Mechanical.

  “Oil r-r-rigs use liquid nitrogen to dis-dis-dis-dislodge fluids in the wells and clean the w-w-w-wells and pipelines, and to f-f-f-fight fires,” Robby explains as we go.

  “And to freeze Mechanicals,” I add.

  “Hopefully,” he agrees.

  We get to the Mechanical and begin spinning the small wheel that will open the nozzle.

  “Do-do-don’t get any on y-y-y-your hands,” Robby says.

  The Mechanical suddenly turns and spies us opening the bottle of liquid nitrogen. He jumps in to attack. Just in time we manage to spin the wheel all the way, and then we move back as liquid nitrogen comes squirting out like water from a hose.

  The Mechanical reaches out his hands to stem the flow, but his hands, arms, and body are soon coated with the liquid.

  Frozen solid, the Mechanical topples over onto its back, as the bottle continues to spew its contents all over him.

  “Good going, Robby, I told you that we couldn’t have done this without you, didn’t I?” I say, giving him a hearty slap on the back.

  “Th-th-thanks,” he says, smiling from ear to ear.

  Suddenly I remember that the danger isn’t over. The Mechanical had armed the bomb! It isn’t going to explode in the depths of the earth and set off the volcanoes in the Ring of Fire, but it is still going to explode. And right on top of us!

  “The bomb! It’s still armed – we have to get out of here!” I say.

  “The wo-wo-workmen took the e-e-e-emergency freefall lifeboat! There’s no-no-no-no other way off,” Robby says.

  “So we have to turn it off then,” says Megan, who comes over to look at the frozen Mechanical.

  I pick up the crane’s remote control, lift the bomb up from the wellhead, and then gently lower it to the floor beside us.

  “How do we turn it off?” I ask.

  “No idea,” Robby replies.

  Spidey runs forward and makes like he’s trying to climb onto the bomb, so I pick him up and drop him on top of it. He darts to the control panel and uses his mandibles to turn a switch. There’s a loud CLICK and the bomb’s smooth bronze surface splits in half, right down its length.

  “Quickly, help me get the cover off!” I say.

  Robby joins me and together we lift off the bomb casing’s top half. It’s heavy, but it would have been a lot heavier if it were made of iron or steel.

  I whistle when I look inside the bomb. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen: there’s a long, sleek black cylinder that fills most of the bomb’s interior, and there is a large black ball at one end. The two objects are connected by a thick bundle of wires.

  “Now what do we do?” I ask.

  “B-b-beats me,” Robby says.

  Megan doesn’t say anything. She’s squatting besides the frozen Mechanical and is poking at it with her pipe. I wish she wouldn’t do that. It’s best to let frozen Mechanicals lie.

  The timer is down to 4:23. I have another look at the control panel, but I still have no idea what to do.

  Roach comes to the rescue. He climbs nimbly up the bomb’s outer casing, slips inside it, runs over to the bundle of wires and starts sorting through them.

  The timer continues counting down, from 3:47 to 2:05.

  “Ah, Roach? We’re almost out of time,” I say when the timer gets to 1:25.

  And then finally, when the timer says 0:45, Roach pulls one wire away from the others and cuts it in half.

  The timer stops at 0:41.

  “Yay, we’ve done it!” I shout for joy.

  My joy is short lived, though, for at that same moment a tremendously big explosion rocks the oil rig and great clouds of thick, black smoke come billowing towards us.

  “This whole p-p-p-place is going to go – going to go – going to go sky-high any mo-mo-mo-moment,” Robby says, his eyes wide with fear.

  “Call the Orb!” Megan says.

  “Orb!” I shout, “We’ve done what you asked, so come on, get us out of here!”

  Nothing happens.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Orb!” I scream.

  Still nothing.

  “You know, I-I-I don’t th-th-think our job’s f-f-f-finished – look at Spidey and...Roach,” Robby says.

  Robby’s right. Roach is running frantically up and down the bomb and Spidey is tapping the crane’s remote control with one of his little legs.

  “What are they trying to tell us?” I ask.

  “The f-f-f-fire!” Robby exclaims.

  “What about it?”

  “Oil rig fires get ve-ve-ve-very hot. If we leave the – leave the – leave the bomb ly-ly-ly-lying here on the...deck, it could cook off th-th-th-the bomb’s detonator and s-s-s-set the b-b-b-bomb off!” Robby explains.

  “So what do we do with it then?” I ask.

  “Why don’t we drop it in the ocean?” Megan suggests.

  “Will that work, Robby?” I ask.

  “Yeah, I re-re-re-reckon it will – good th-th-th-thinking, Megan,” he replies.

  “Right, leave it to me!” I say. I rush over to Spidey and pick up the crane’s remote control. Roach sees me coming and leaps off the bomb, which luckily, is still harnessed to the crane. I lift it off the floor and raise it high into the air.

  There’s another explosion – closer this time. More smoke swirls toward us, making my eyes smart and my throat gag so I can’t stop coughing.

  “Quick, Brad, the fire’s spreading!” Megan shouts.

  I wait until I’ve lifted the bomb high enough to clear the accommodation block and helipad. Then I lower it out over the sea and hit the release button.
The crane’s clamps let go and the bomb plunges into the ocean and out of sight.

  “Orb! Orb!” I shout between great hacking coughs.

  A large round hole filled with crackling blue energy instantly appears beside us.

  The butterflies land on Megan’s sweater and cling to it for dear life.

  I grab Spidey off the floor and tuck him under my left arm. Roach climbs me like a ladder and perches on my shoulder.

  I turn to my companions, but another explosion knocks us clean off our feet.

  “Come on, we have to go!” I shout.

  Megan crawls to the portal and beckons for us to join her.

  Robby looks at me but he doesn’t move. I think he’s scared out of his wits.

  “Hey, we made a good team, didn’t we? You, Megan and me,” I say as I lay a hand on his shoulder.

  “You th-th-think so?” he asks.

  “I do. And we couldn’t have done it without you.”

  “That’s true, we couldn’t have,” Megan agrees.

  Robby smiles. “You know what, Brad? Megan’s r-r-r-right – you have ch-ch-changed.”

  “Thanks, Robby. Hearing you say that means a lot to me. Now, quickly – into the portal.”

  “But where do-do-does it lead?”

  “Off the oil rig, and that’s enough for me.”

  “But –”

  “Come on Robby, there’s nothing to it,” Megan says, reaching for him.

  Robby nods and crawls over to her. She grabs his hand and they reach out and touch the portal together. They are instantly sucked through and disappear from sight.

  I follow them and touch the portal with my fingertips. With a WHUMP I’m pulled into the hole and pass through a weird, thick gloop that feels like a mix between yoghurt and air, and then I’m dumped onto a hard metal floor.

  A hard metal floor that’s a lot like the oil rig’s drill floor.

  “Oh no,” I say to Robby and Megan as I climb to my feet. “I’ve got a really bad feeling about this.”