Mike McQuay - Suspicion

“There’s no time for that,” Derec said. “I must get underground and report this information to the central core.”

“The rain is also dangerous for me, Friend Derec,” Wohler said. “I must take shelter soon.”

“Okay,” Derec said. “Stay with me as long as you can. Just let me think for a minute.”

“Derec… ” Katherine began.

“Shhh,” Derec said. “Not now.”

“Think about your arm,” she said. “Think about where you cut it, and how.”

“My arm, I… ” He held his arm up, looking at the blood-soaked bandage and feeling the throb. “I cut it on the dead piece of city-robot,” he said.

“Because… ”

“Because it was the only piece of the city that would allow me to cut myself on it!” He put his hands to his head. “That’s it! Wohler! Stand back. We’re coming through.”

With that, he raised his right hand, pushing his pointer finger through the small, burned-out hole. As soon as his finger grazed the jagged edge of the hole, it expanded to allow free passage. Next came his balled-up fist; the hole expanded wide to keep from cutting him. Then his arm went through, followed by head and shoulders. Seconds later, he was standing on the disc, its edges curling up to protect him. Katherine followed him through, and both of them stared into the teeth of a bitter cold wind and a savage vision of blue-purple clouds crackling with lightning.

“We must go now!” Wohler said, his shiny gold body reflecting lightning flashes.

Suddenly, Katherine broke from the group, hurrying to the stairs.

“What are you doing?” Derec called to her, but she ignored him, charging as quickly as she could down the stairs.

“Perhaps she’s hurrying to safety,” Wohler said, as Rec made it through the hole in the wall.

“Perhaps,” Derec said, but as he ran the rest of the disc and began to take the stairs, Katherine had already run to the tram that was still dutifully waiting. She barked some orders to the utility driver, and the unit sped off into the darkening night.

“What is happening?” Wohler called as he followed Derec down the stairs.

“I’m afraid something crazy,” the boy answered, remembering a conversation they had had while waiting to be rescued.

They moved to the emergency van that Wohler had brought. “We must get you back to your apartment before the rain comes,” the robot said.

“No!” Derec said. “Get me underground. I’ll wait out the storm there. Then you’ve got to go after Katherine. I’m afraid of what she’s doing.”

A long streak of lightning struck the top of the pedestal right beside them, the metal clanging loudly and smoking.

“But where could she have gone, Friend Derec?” Wohler asked as they all climbed aboard the large, white van.

“The Compass Tower,” Derec said, voice heavy with dread. “I’m afraid she’s climbing the Compass Tower.”

The Quadrant #4 Extruder Station was less than ten minutes from the sealed room, with Wohler moving the emergency van along at the top speed possible that still allowed a safety margin for his passengers.

Derec watched the city speed past, its full-blown dance of thoughtless progress still continuing despite the gathering darkness, despite the fact that its course was suicidal. He feared for the city; he feared for Katherine, or whatever her name was. She was going for the Key, he was certain of that, trying to take herself out of the situation in the only way she knew how. He didn’t expect that the Key would do her much good, but he could hardly blame her for trying. What frightened him was the danger she was exposing herself to by trying for the Key in the rain. He would have gone after her alone, but, having experienced the destructive power of Robot City’s weather, he knew he’d be no help at all in a storm. Only a robot would have a chance.

Wohler jerked them to a stop before the Extruder Station entrance, a series of low, wide buildings constructing themselves from ground level. There was no robotic activity here now, no unloading of trucks. All had taken shelter from the impending storm.

“You think she’s gone to the Compass Tower?” Wohler asked.

“I’m sure of it.”

“She may have time before the storm to get inside to safety.”

Derec looked at him, then reached out and put a hand on his shiny gold arm. “She’s not going inside,” he said. “She’ll be trying to climb the pyramid.”

“But why?”

“We hid something there, something she’s trying to retrieve.”

“I must go,” Wohler said without hesitation. “She’ll be killed.”

“What will the rain do to you?” Derec asked as he climbed out of the van.

“Rain in ordinary amounts won’t do anything,” the robot replied. “City rain could force its way through my plating in a thousand different places and make its way into my electrical system. The limits of the damage at that point are a matter of imaginative speculation.”

“I don’t know what to tell you,” Derec said. “If you don’t go… ”

“Katherine will die,” the robot finished. “You can tell me nothing. My duty is self-evident. Good-bye, Derec.”

Wohler looked back once to make sure the witnesses were off the van, then hurried off at a pace that didn’t include the safety margin he had preserved with Derec in the cab.

“Come with me,” Derec told the witnesses, and moved toward the now-closed entrance to the underground. Despite his fears for Katherine’s safety, he had things to do. With his explanation of the murder and its connection to the city defenses, backed up totally by Rec’s witness testimony, there was no doubt that he’d at least be able to get into the core and stop the replication. That wouldn’t stop tonight’s rain, however, or even future rains for a time; but it was a start.

He opened the outside door, then hurried inside, going down the stairs to the now-deserted holding area and its bank of elevators. This wasn’t the same Extruder Station he’d been in previously, but it was set up exactly the same.

He walked quickly to the same elevator he had taken with Avernus when he’d gone underground. He got inside with the witnesses and pushed the down arrow. The lift began its long journey to the caverns below.

The elevator opened into the bustling cavern where the work of building Robot City continued unabated. There wasn’t a supervisor in sight, however. There seemed to be activity at one of the darkened, unused mine tunnels at the west end of the cavern.

He began to move into the flow, then stopped, steeling himself. Deliberation, Avernus had said. As he stood on the edge of the activity, a long tram sped past him at a hundred kilometers an hour, passing within a few centimeters, his hair being pulled by its suction.

Deliberation. It was the only way.

“Stay with me,” he told the witnesses. Then he set his body in line with his goal and shut his eyes, taking a blind step right into the fray.

He walked quickly, without hesitation, trying to direct his mind away from the feel of unrushing robots and vehicles that barely brushed him as they hurried past. Occasionally, he would open his eyes a touch, just to make sure he was still heading in the right direction. Then he’d squeeze them closed again, and keep walking.

He kept this up for nearly ten minutes as he crossed the great chamber without mishap. As he reached the safety of the mine entrance, he released a huge sigh that made him feel as if he’d been holding his breath the whole time.

A utility robot was stationed near the mine entrance, using an overhead pulley system to remove the spent batteries from a fleet of mine trams and replacing them with charged batteries. The trams were parked three deep all around him.