Jericho leapt from the top of the stack, and pulled Gabrielle with him, just fractions of a second before the stack was grabbed and pulled upward by the great machine. Gabrielle landed squarely on Jericho in the aisle.
“Ow!” He yelled, as he curled into a fetal position. His control stick clanged on the floor and rolled away. She rolled to the side, and was quickly on her feet.
“Come on!” She yelled, grabbed his hand, and pulled him away from where the stack had been. Instinctively they hid behind the next stack, and tried to catch their breath. A few moments passed as they began to calm down. Then suddenly, a bright metallic multi-jointed arm slammed down between them, just inches from their faces. It quickly gripped the stack, and shot upward. Both of them nearly fell down as they frantically tried to get away from it, well after it had gone. They regained their balance and began to run. Jericho glanced back and saw his control stick as it still lay on the ground. They quickly ran several rows over, and hid behind another stack. “Is that thing after us?” She asked, as she breathed laboriously. He peered around the corner, and watched as methodically the contraption continued to pick up stack after stack, and moved them to another location in the room, and then placed them back down.
“No. I don’t think so.” He turned his back to her. “It looks like it’s just rearranging the stacks.”
“Then why did it almost kill us?” She asked, exasperated.
“I think it’s moving those stacks closer to where that platform was.” He said. “Like it’s getting them ready to load.” They moved back around the stack, and stepped into the aisle to get a better look. He pointed as stacks were moved closer, in neat narrowly spaced rows near where the platform had sat. The aisle where they had fallen was completely cleared now, and Jericho walked over and picked up the control stick.
“I’ve got an idea.” Gabrielle said. “What if we rearrange some of the boxes at the top. You know. Make room where we can hide in the stack.”
“What? And get picked up by that thing? Are you crazy?” He asked in disbelief.
“No. But how else are we going to get on that platform thing.” She said. “That’s the only way I see us being able to go through that tunnel.” She said as she pointed towards the opening.
“Gabby, I don’t like it.” He said, as he shook his head. “We don’t know where that goes.” He said worriedly.
“Well we’re not going back the way we came. And we’re not staying here forever. So where else are we going?” She asked, as she threw her hands out in a questioning gesture.
“Yeah, but-” He began.
“But nothing. You said that’s where we were going. So that’s where we are going.” She turned and began to walk away from him. She turned back and realized that he hadn’t budged. “So…let’s go!” Hesitantly, he began to follow her. The mechanical device busily moved stacks around the room as they approached the stacks that had been recently moved near the loading area. Gabrielle approached one of the back stacks and began to climb up. Jericho began to climb beside her.
“No.” She said. “Find your own stack.” She said as she continued to climb.
“We should stay together.” He said.
“Not enough room, Jericho.” She pointed. “That one. Right in front of this one.” Reluctantly he stepped back down, and walked to the next stack.
“I sure hope you’re right about this.” He said, as he began to awkwardly climb up the carefully arranged boxes. She had made it to the top of her’s, and tossed two boxes from the middle out into the aisle. They crashed down, and one spilled its contents. Small semicircular pieces of brown things where scattered on the floor. She wiggled around in the hole she had made.
“This is perfect!” She yelled over to him. He tossed the boxes from the center out of his way, and carefully lay his control stick down inside the hole. Cautiously, he wriggled down into place.
“I can’t see anything!” He said.
“That means you can’t be seen either!” She yelled back. She lifted her head up out of the hole, and saw him as he stared back at her from his own hole. She saw past him, as the front edge of the skid appeared from the tunnel and slid into the room. She quickly made motions with her arms, and waved for him to get down. They both dropped into their holes and disappeared.
The skid came to a stop and Amelia, once again had to fight to maintain her balance. Charles stood immobile for a few seconds, and then jumped down onto the floor. He reached into his tunic and checked his comm unit. It indicated that the dispatched Guardians were in the elevator shaft at this moment. He quickly began to walk in that direction. The great machine overhead swung into action the second the skid had stopped. It grabbed the first stack from the floor, swung it overhead, and quickly dropped down towards the skid. Amelia, a little dazed from the brief journey, jumped from the skid, just moments before the first stack slammed down, exactly where she had stood. The sound startled her, as she spun around to see how close she had come to having been hurt. She took several steps backward, defensively, and slammed into a stack behind her. She jumped, and wide eyed headed quickly after Charles. As the stacks were loaded on the skid, she walked past row after row of stacks, and briefly looked down each row. Near the last rows, far down the aisle, she thought she saw several boxes that lay in the aisle, as if they had been knocked over.
“Amelia.” Charles called from ahead. She quickened her pace, and approached him in front of the large elevator. The doors slid apart and three rows of Guardians, four deep, began to exit in unison. They marched in lockstep, and each held its own control stick. The center one in the front took one extra step, and came nearly toe to toe with Charles. It towered over him by at least a foot.
“Chancellor.” Its metallic voice said.
“You have your orders?” Charles asked, as Amelia did her best to stay behind Charles. She nervously looked at the Guardian, as she had never seen one face to face before. Her duties as the Chancellor’s Assistant included many things, and though she had seen Guardians before in surveillance videos of the farm, it had in no way prepared her to see one close up. Their sheer size struck horror inside her, as she stood there, silent. Her eyes were wide open with fear and amazement.
“Affirmative.” Answered the lead Guardian, and with no further word, turned and marched towards the skid. The next five followed behind. The remaining six began to spread out through the huge cavern, as one remained near the elevator. Charles stepped inside, and left Amelia alone as she stared up at the Guardian next to the elevator.
“Well?” Charles asked. Amelia quickly ran past the Guardian and into the elevator. The doors slid shut.
The Guardians near the skid began to station themselves around it, with their backs to the skid even as it was loaded from overhead. They stood perfectly immobile as they waited. Their electronic eyes scanned the cavern for movement of any kind.
The huge machine plunged from above and slammed into the stack where Jericho hid. His heart thumped in his chest as the stack was instantly lifted upward, and began its arc towards the skid. He felt his stomach roll from the motion, as suddenly he plunged downward, and then with a hard thump, came to a stop. The machine soared back up without hesitation. He gathered himself, and moved on to his knees, and slowly peeked up over the boxes that surrounded him. He saw the machine pick up the stack where Gabrielle had hidden, and swing it towards the skid. He also saw the Guardian. And with a quick glance around, he saw several of them. The skid was surrounded, and he saw others as they walked through the stacks on the floor. Where had they come from, he thought to himself. The machine lowered a stack next to him, and then shot back up.
“Gabby!” He whispered as loud as he dared. “Hey! Gabby!” Her head popped up with a big smile on her face.
“See!” She said excitedly.
“Shh!” He said, fear in his eyes. She ducked instinctively, with just her eyes still visible over the top of the boxes. He pointed down, and she raise
d a few inches to look down, and saw what had him concerned. Her eyes went wide as she realized they were surrounded by Guardians. Then the sudden realization that she had lost her control stick in the elevator hit her. She was defenseless.
The last stack was loaded and the machine shot upward. Simultaneously, the Guardians that surrounded the skid each grabbed a small bar at the edge of the perimeter of the skid, and took a single step up onto the platforms lower rim. The platform began to move into the tunnel, slowly at first, and then it gained speed. Both Jericho and Gabrielle ducked into their hiding spots as the last of the light flashed into darkness.
Chapter 26
Immortal Page 25