by Brian Bakos
metal claws snapping.
We turn our bikes around, and instantly we begin moving at incredible speed. I feel robot claws yanking on my T-shirt, then they pull away. Before I have any idea what’s happening, we were zooming up the arch of the dynamo.
I state my opinion about this amazing turn of events:
“Ahhh!”
I’m on a nightmare roller coaster going up and up through the darkness. I pump the pedals for all I’m worth, but that hardly seems necessary as the dynamo’s power is pushing me along like a leaf in the wind.
As we near the top, the whole universe seems to be sprawling ahead of me in a black void. I am about to be sucked into it.
“Yow,” Quentin yells, “hang on everybody!”
We go over the top of the arch – upside down. I feel myself lifting off the bike, my sweaty hands can barely hold on to the handlebar grips. Any second I’m go into free fall!
Then we are right side up again, swooshing back down the curve.
“Geronimo!” Quentin shouts.
“I can do that too,” I hear Melissa say as I zip past her.
She jumps on her English racer and takes off after us. Eddie and the Kintz run along behind. I wish that I was on foot, I wish that I was anyplace but where I am.
Oh please, I think desperately, somebody else take my bike!
I’m going way too fast to get off, though. We are heading up the arch again and another gut-wrenching, upside down flip.
“I don’t know if this is gonna work,” Tommy says, “but it sure is fun!”
Fun? I have never been so scared in my life. And that’s saying a lot, considering the type of day I’m having.
Is the dynamo beginning to slow down a little, or is that just my frantic brain acting up? By some miracle, I make it over the top again. As we hurtle down at terrifying speed, Melissa pulls up alongside Quentin.
“Is that as fast as you can go?” she says.
“Just watch me!” Quentin shoots back.
Then we are going up again. I fear my heart is going to explode from the effort, and I pray that I’ll be able to hang on – just one more time!
23. Race against Death
The Rung! Rung! of Old Reliable’s front tire grows faster. Melissa battles alongside Quentin, neck and neck. She looks like some warrior queen, her hair flowing wild. You’d never guess that she’d been passed out only a short time ago.
Three robots are hovering directly in front of us now, blocking the way like huge bowling pins. Melissa drops back alongside me.
“Maybe this isn’t such a hot idea,” she says.
“Outta the way, metal man!” Quentin shouts.
He heads for the middle robot.
“Watch out!” I cry.
But Quentin just barrels straight at the robot in a demonic game of chicken. I want to look away, but can’t.
“Ohhh!” I feel my whole world ending.
Then, at the last possible instant, the robot shoots upwards out of the way.
“Ya-Hoo!” Quentin howls. “Score one for the good guys!”
The robot must not be programmed for self-destruction, if it can avoid it. Another one is blocking my way now.
Well, if Quentin can do it, so can I.
“Move over!” I plead.
The thing just hovers there, not budging an inch.
Here goes nothing ...
I lower my head like a charging buffalo.
The robot draws closer and closer, like some horrible, bloated vacuum cleaner tank. I shut my eyes tight, then –
I am past it!
I fly over the top of the arch, and my stomach drops out, but I don’t care. On the downward slope, Quentin is well ahead of Melissa.
“Oh, no you don’t!” Melissa cries.
She really pours on the energy and catches up. Quentin is pedaling so hard that I think he’ll burst a blood vessel. Even in the dim light, his face looks beet red.
The spinning beneath our wheels is definitely slowing down, the dynamo isn’t pushing us along with nearly as much force. The thing was apparently never designed for bikes to ride on it.
At our next pass over the arch, I almost do fall off, as the centrifugal force holding us up is not as strong as before. Then –
KABROING!
Old Reliable suddenly breaks in two. The front part flies off in one direction, and the rest of the bike another. Quentin bounces down someplace in the middle. Melissa shoots on ahead, and I manage to steer clear, but Tommy is heading straight into the disaster.
“Look out Tommy!” I shout.
He swerves too hard, and the violent maneuver throws him off his bike. He must have skidded thirty feet before stopping.
Eddie runs up. “My turn!”
Before Tommy can protest, Eddie seizes the Hornet and jumps on. Soon he is leading the way, which is fine with me, as I’m much too tired to keep up.
Melissa pulls alongside me.
“Hang in there, Amanda,” she says. “We’re gonna win yet!”
Thank heaven, Tommy and Quentin seem uninjured. They join the Kintz, running for all they’re worth. The robots try to harass them, but can’t keep up very well.
“Yippee!” Eddie shouts. “I’m King of the World!”
He jerks an arm around, like a rodeo guy riding a bull. He does a solo pass over the arch, howling all the way like a fire truck siren. Then, just as Melissa and I are heading for another upside down revolution, a powerful lurch shakes the floor.
“Bombs away!” Eddie cries.
We all fall off our bikes. Somehow I manage to tumble free from my crashing Hornet without getting hurt. Melissa’s English racer misses me by inches. I sprawl on the lighted band gasping like a fish out of water, unable to move.
24. Robot Hazard
“We did it!” Eddie yells.
He’s leaping around like a demented jack in the box, flinging his arms in the air.
How nice that he has so much energy left over. Myself, I can scarcely move, let alone do a victory dance.
But, sure enough, the dynamo has reversed direction. I can see that, but my insides still feel as if I’m moving a hundred miles an hour the other way.
“Get off the dynamo, everybody!” Quentin yells. “Cover up!”
I manage to crawl off onto the stationary floor, and my spinning world finally begins to slow down a little. A robot zooms up and shoves its glowing eyes into my face.
“Ahhh!”
I roll myself into a tight ball, like a porcupine.
“Just go away,” I plead, “leave me alone!”
The robot jabs me with its clawed hands. It doesn’t use much force, but I can tell that the thing is very strong – he could poke right through me if it wanted to. I manage to stay rolled up.
Is this how it will end – skewered like a shish kabob?
But the thing must have decided that I am no longer a threat because it is moving away. I peak open one eye.
The robot has picked up my bike and is taking it off the dynamo. Other robots are clearing our debris off the glow band or hovering around checking things out. One of them has a grip on Tommy and is hauling him away.
“Put me down!”
Tommy struggles fiercely, but cannot break free.
“Quit fighting,” Quentin yells. “Go limp!”
Tommy goes limp.
The robot stops moving upwards. It flies around on the same level for a while, like some weird helicopter, then it releases Tommy.
Thump!
Tommy lands right beside me.
“Uhhh,” he groans.
“Are you all right?” I ask.
“Sure,” Tommy says, “just thought I’d drop by.”
He looks over at Quentin.
“I could have used that ‘light fall jacket’ of yours just now,” he says.
Quentin gives him a thumbs up in reply.
Four of our robot friends are buzzing along the dynamo, examining every inch of the glow band for damage. They w
ork in pairs going opposite directions. Two others herd us together like we are a bunch of sheep. They hover nearby with a ‘you’d better stay put’ glower in their red eyes.
We stay put.
“I don’t think they like us very much,” Tommy says.
“The feeling is definitely mutual,” Melissa says.
Then, as quickly as they appeared, the robots hurtle back up into the higher regions.
Four: Battle for Freedom
25. Premature Celebration
Everyone rushes me.
“Way to go, Amanda!” Quentin cries.
He picks me up as if I weigh nothing, spins around 360 degrees, and puts me back down on my feet.
“You’re the brains of our outfit,” Quentin says. “What would we do without you?”
“No more of that, please,” I say. “My head still isn’t on straight.”
Eddie and Tommy cheer, the alien girls clap their hands.
“Congratulations, Lady Amanda!” Kintz A shouts into the translator. “You are a personage of rare abilities!”
Kintz One kisses both of my cheeks. His lips feel cool and tingly on my skin, a little spark jumps out each time he pulls away. Melissa just stands off to the side with her arms crossed and a huge frown on her face, staring daggers at me.
“Don’t worry, Melissa,” I say, “he’s really not my type. Too electrical.”
Old Reliable’s back end is lying nearby where the robots dropped it. Quentin unbuckles the leather bag attached to the seat.
“What do you know?” He pulls out his red camera. “It’s still in one piece.”
“That’s some camera,” Tommy says. “Too bad your bike didn’t hold up as well.”
Quentin rummages his slingshot out of the bag, along with a packet of steel pellets.
“Just in case,” he says.
“Wouldn’t it be cool to take a picture?” Melissa says.
“Yeah, let’s do it,” Tommy says.
“I don’t think so,” Quentin says. “I don’t have the flash, and we’d have to take a long time exposure in this light. There’s