by William Wood
Calvin looked down, and he strained to see.
“Can you see anything?” Jax asked.
“No, there is too much in the way.” All he could do was listen and imagine what was happening. There was a loud hiss from a door opening, a loud bang as the door slammed on the floor, and then the sound of people rushing out of the spaceship. Calvin could hear their boots pounding on the metal floor. A metallic voice shouted in a language Calvin couldn’t understand. A laser gun was fired. The voice yelled again. What followed was pure chaos. All of a sudden there was a lot of yelling and shooting. There were several small explosions; the air was filled with black smoke and small metal fragments. The yelling turned to screams. As quickly as it all started, everything went silent. Calvin looked down, but he still couldn’t see anything. He was shaking, terrified at what he had just heard.
“Let’s get out of here,” Jax said, pulling on Calvin’s arm.
“Did the robot kill all those people?” Calvin asked.
“Those weren’t people,” Jax said. “Those were robots too. Couldn’t you tell?”
“Their voices did sound funny. This doesn’t make any sense, robots killing robots? What’s going on here?”
“I don’t know, but if we don’t move the robots will be after us.”
“How do you know they aren’t?”
Calvin felt weak, but forced himself to keep going. He had been hoping to find whomever was in charge of this ship and ask to be taken home or at least send a message to New Arlandia. He knew now that wasn’t going to happen. Calvin and Jax were going to have to stay hidden and try to get a message home in secret. Now he knew how they treated newcomers. If they were caught, the same thing would happen to them.
After thirty minutes of walking, Calvin stopped for a second.
“This duct could go on forever,” he said. “Maybe we should try one of those hatches.” He pointed up.
“You might be right,” Jax said. “Thanks for stopping. I’m getting tired. All this exercise without food, it’s not good. It’s just like that time at the academy when you,” Jax stopped talking, and Calvin saw why. Farther away in the air duct, he could see a small red light.
“How long has that been there?” Calvin asked. “Did it just turn on, or has it been there the whole time?”
Calvin slowly moved down the corridor, toward the red light, trying to make as little noise as possible. He was strangely drawn to it.
“What could it be?” he whispered.
“Calvin, what are you doing?” Jax asked. “Stop!”
Then Calvin realized what the red light was. It could only be one thing: the robot. Terror gripped him, squeezing his stomach like a vice. The light still looked like it was very far away, but it wasn’t moving.
“We need to get out of here,” Jax whispered, too loudly. “Let’s try one of these hatches.” Calvin looked up at the hatch right above them.
The red light changed. The beam narrowed to a small dot. Calvin thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye and looked down. There was a small red dot in the middle of his chest. As he stared at it, the dot got bigger. Then suddenly it disappeared. He looked back up. The red light was still there, but it was moving up and down. Calvin strained his eyes and his ears. There was a soft metallic thump echoing down the air duct.
“It’s coming,” Calvin said.
Jax jumped up, but he didn’t touch the hatch. A loud pounding shook the duct.
“It’s running!” Calvin shouted. The red light was very bright, and it centered on Calvin. The robot ran faster. The pounding hurt Calvin’s head and felt like nails being hammered into his head.
“I can’t get it!” Jax said. “It’s too high!”
Calvin and Jax ran the other way as fast as they could. The robot got closer, and the pounding got louder. Calvin frantically looked for another vent. After a few seconds he found one! He was filled with adrenaline as he jumped as high as he could, throwing himself toward the vent. Miraculously he hit the small door. Calvin jumped and banged his fist against the vent cover. There was a loud clang as the cover swung open. The sound of the robot was close now. Fighting the urge to turn and look at the robot, Calvin grabbed a hold of the edge and pulled himself up. Jax grabbed Calvin’s foot and helped push him up. When he was up, Calvin reached down and grabbed onto Jax, pulling him up through the hatch just before the robot reached them. Calvin quickly closed the hatch, which slammed shut way too loudly. They sat in total darkness gasping for air and tried to be quiet.
Jax turned on his flashlight. In the gloom, Calvin saw him point down.
“It’s still there,” Calvin whispered. He fought hard not to breathe too loudly, but he found it very difficult because he was out of breath.
“I’m not sure,” Jax whispered. “But I think the robot hit my leg on my way up.”
Calvin took the flashlight out of his back pocket and turned it on, relieved he hadn’t lost it.
Looking up, he saw that they were standing in a narrow, round tube, under a ladder that ascended into darkness. Calvin stood up and climbed. He was careful to not make any noise.
“You know,” Jax said after they had climbed for ten minutes. “I’m beginning to think we should have stayed in the ship. We were safer in there.”
“Of course, we would’ve died from dehydration, or starvation, or the robot would have gone inside the ship and taken care of us.”
“It might have been better than dying out here. Now the robot is hunting us.”
“But we have a chance to get home,” Calvin insisted.
“Not a very good one,” Jax said.
“But it’s a chance. Try to stay positive. At least we’re alive. I was thinking, even if we find a communications room, there’s probably a good chance we won’t be able to use it. We might be able to find a shuttle bay, and take a small ship.”
“And if we can’t use their communications gear how do you think we’ll be able to use one of their ships? We won’t be able to read their language, and I highly doubt the controls will be the same as ours. That’s assuming the shuttle bay won’t be guarded.”
“Right,” Calvin said. “We have a problem.” He didn’t want to talk about it anymore, but his biggest fear now was that the robot was circling around and would be waiting for them at the top of the ladder. But there was no choice; they had to climb up. Calvin hoped he was wrong.
Again, the ascent went slowly because they had to use one hand to hold their flashlights and the other to climb. Calvin never caught his breath, and he gasped for air. The sound of it reverberated throughout the narrow passageway. They climbed for a long time before Calvin stuck his flashlight in his back pocket, with it still on. It was a relief to climb without holding it. They had to stop several times for a break, but in the end, it took an hour to reach the top. Calvin’s arms and legs ached, and he was exhausted.
At the top was a closed hatch, with long, thin slits. Calvin tried to shine his light through the slits.
“Do you see anything?” Jax asked, holding onto the ladder just below Calvin.
“No,” Calvin said. “It’s too dark. I can’t tell if the robot is up there or not.”
They both listened intently for several minutes but couldn’t hear anything. Calvin looked at the handle on the hatch for a long time, debating whether to open it or not. He was terrified that the robot was waiting for them on the other side. Would they be able to run away? He doubted that they could after an hour of climbing. The robot was very fast and didn’t get tired. Finally he worked up his courage. He turned the handle and pushed. It was heavier than he thought it would be. Calvin had to push with all of his strength. It flew open. He tried to stop it but was unable to. The hatch fell to the floor with a loud thud. The noise made him jump out of his skin. His first thought was that the robot had found him and was about to grab him. Calvin shined the flashlight around wildly. The robot wasn’t there. However, if the robot was anywhere nearby it probably heard the noise, and Calvin had just
told the robot where they were. Once they were both out, they closed the hatch. It took both of them, because it was so heavy.
They stood in the dark and shined their flashlights around to see they were in a long, high-ceilinged hallway. The walls along both sides were lined with doors. All of them were closed.
Calvin was still scared, but he was starting to feel a little better.
“Oh thank you,” Jax said. “I thought for sure the robot was going to be up here waiting for us. Maybe we lost it.”
“I hope so,” Calvin said. “But it hasn’t been that kind of trip so far. This is the robot’s ship. We’re lost, and it’s not. I just hope it doesn’t have too many friends.”
“Now who’s being negative?” Jax said.
“Sorry.”
“So which way?”
“That way,” Calvin said. “I want to see what’s behind these doors.” As soon as he moved away from the hatch the lights turned on. Calvin almost jumped through the roof. He forced himself to relax.
“There must be motion sensors,” Calvin whispered.
“Or maybe the crew just found us.” They both froze in place and looked around. After a moment it was clear they were alone; nobody jumped out to capture them, and there was no sign of the robot.
“I think we’re good,” Calvin said. He walked to the closest door, which opened automatically.
It was a small room with a bed, closet, and dresser. The bed was bare, no linen or blankets. The dresser was empty, but the room was perfectly clean—no dust on any surface.
“This is interesting,” Calvin said. “Look at the bed. It’s normal size. That means the aliens who live here are about our size, and they need sleep just like we do. They’re not all robots.”
“Right, robots don’t need beds. Then what are the robots for, security?”
“I don’t know, but the bigger question is, where is the crew?”
They looked through four more rooms. They were all the same.
Calvin was anxious to see more and continued down the corridor. He passed a dozen more rooms on each side. There was a door at the end of the hallway, which opened for them. The lights turned on automatically. Calvin cautiously entered first, making sure the robot wasn’t in the next room. He didn’t see it. They found themselves in a large room full of long tables and padded chairs. There were small computer terminals evenly spaced along the walls, with small openings next to each one.
“Is this where they eat?” Jax asked. All of the chairs were lined up perfectly. Not a single chair was out of place. They made their way through the middle of the room, toward a set of double doors on the other side.
“This must be a big ship, with a big crew,” Calvin said. “They can feed a lot of people at one time.”
“Yes, but where are they?” Jax asked. “This is starting to feel like a ghost ship.”
Jax followed Calvin through the doors and into another long hallway. The lights came on as they entered. The lights behind turned off when they left.
“This feels very strange,” Jax commented. “And a little spooky.”
“The ship knows we’re here,” Calvin said. “I’m not complaining, but why doesn’t the robot attack?”
They checked rooms as they moved down the next corridor. They found eighteen more bedrooms. “How big is this ship?” Jax wondered.
Calvin was tired, and he trudged along beside Jax. Their pace was slowing, and because they hadn’t seen any people or robots, they were both feeling more comfortable.
“Maybe we should try to find the command deck,” Jax suggested. “Obviously the robot is going to shoot first, but if we can get to the people in charge, we can try to talk to them. Maybe they can be reasoned with.”
“I don’t know,” Calvin said doubtfully. “You want to just give up and hope they have mercy on us?”
“No, not really. But I don’t want to wander around in this ship forever, either.”
“I have a feeling that won’t happen,” Calvin said. “Let’s save that for a last resort.”
On the other side of the next door they found a surprise: a huge open room with a ceiling five hundred feet high. It was layered with balconies all the way up and a central staircase that went to the top. Calvin and Jax stopped and stared at it. The walls were mostly white, except for a few dark gray squares.
“OK, where is the elevator?” Jax said. A brief search turned up nothing—no elevator.
“Sorry, there doesn’t seem to be an elevator. We’re going to have to do this the hard way.”
“Then it’s going to take a while.”
Climbing the stairs was a painful and eerie experience. The whole way up, their footsteps bounced around in a cruel way. Several times Calvin started to panic inside because it sounded like someone was running down the stairs toward them. He thought for sure they were caught, but it was just the way the sounds were traveling. At every level there were hallways that branched off in different directions, but they kept going up the stairs. After a long, exhausting climb, they reached the top. They were very tired, and Calvin leaned against the railing to catch his breath. While resting, he looked down. It was a very long way down. The ceiling, made of lighted glass, was close now. They went through another set of doors at the top and stepped out onto a grand balcony, completely unprepared for what was waiting for them.
“No way,” Jax gasped. Calvin’s jaw dropped open, and his eyes got big in total shock. They were on the edge of a huge forest that stretched out in front of them. The balcony was just above the tree line.
“Trees,” Jax said. “I don’t believe it.”
It was an incredible sight. A wide elevated walkway led out over the forest. There were staircases to the right and left that descended down into the trees. They were in a dome, with a single massive light in the middle that was too bright to look at. The light was giving off a lot of heat. If he didn’t know better, Calvin would have sworn they were on a planet. The air was fresh, and the artificial light on the dome gave the impression there was a sun in the sky.
Calvin and Jax followed the walkway. After just a few minutes of walking in the sunlight, with the fresh breeze on their faces and the birds chirping in the trees, the fear that had gripped them slowly faded away, and they forget about their problems.
They both lost track of time, lost in the pleasure of the environment. They could have been walking for several hours; they didn’t care. Calvin loved every minute of it. There was another balcony on the other end of the walkway. Calvin and Jax took one last look at the trees, one last deep breath of fresh air before leaving it behind.
In the next room, another staircase greeted them. This one seemed bigger than the last. Calvin felt his stomach rumble.
“How long has it been since we ate?” Calvin asked.
“Dinner, last night,” Jax answered. “And I’m hungry.”
“Me too,” Calvin said. “And thirsty. I think that’s why I’m so tired.” He looked up at the stairs and sighed.
“Better keep moving,” Jax said. For Calvin, climbing was a nightmare. His legs hurt, he was tired, and he was starting to feel sick. Each step was harder and took more effort. Every time they stopped for a rest he could feel his legs shaking.
It seemed like an eternity, but they finally reached the top. Both of them sat on the top stair. Calvin felt dizzy, and he was losing hope that they were going to get home. He looked at Jax, and he looked bad. He was pale and looked exhausted.
“I was thinking,” Calvin said. “Maybe your idea isn’t so bad.”
“Which idea is that?”
“Finding the bridge. It’s just that, if we did find a
communications terminal, there’s no way we’re going to be able to use it, or even know what one looks like. If for some reason we were actually able to contact Space Command, what would we tell them? Where would we say we are? We have no idea. What we really need right now is to find some water, food, and a place to rest. The mess hall and bedrooms are far away. Why
don’t we explore ahead just a little more and then head back down to where I know we can find sleep, maybe find food.”
Jax nodded, too tired to answer.
Calvin didn’t want to stand up again. However, fear that the robot would find them was all the motivation he needed. He groaned as he stood up. His whole body was hurting now. Jax tried to stand but was having trouble, so Calvin helped him up.
“What’s this?” Calvin asked. He felt a surge of hope as they entered a section that looked like it could be a weapons training area. Off to the right was a long row of windows that looked down into a practice range. There were small, round targets at the far end. On the closest end were stations where a shooter would fire from. Calvin found a set of stairs that led down into the firing range. Jax sat again and leaned his head against a wall. Calvin left him there and searched the room, looking under every table, but sadly there were no weapons. Sad and disappointed, he walked back up the way he had come. Calvin helped Jax to stand again, and they plodded down the hallway, holding each other up. The pain was unbearable; they were hungry, thirsty, and weak. At the end of the hallway, he stepped out onto another balcony. Just when he thought he had seen everything, he was shocked again with the view in front of them.
The balcony was enclosed in glass and was outside of the ship. A long glass tube led from one part of the ship to another. Even the floor was made out of glass. Calvin was reluctant, but he wanted to see what was on the other side so he pressed forward. He had to tug on Jax to get him moving again. They didn’t run, mostly because they were too weak and tired, but also for fear of breaking the glass. Calvin knew it was probably very strong, but it felt strange walking on a glass floor, in a completely glass tube, out in space.
Halfway across, Calvin panicked, losing his sense of direction. Jax hyperventilated.
“Relax,” Calvin said. “Close your eyes and think about the trees. We’re not floating in space. The ground is firm under our feet.” Calvin fought the urge to hold his breath. He kept his eyes focused on the door at the end of the glass tunnel. That helped him to stay calm.
