Astrosaurs 16

by Steve Cole

  Iggy shuddered. “What a lav-verly way to go that would’ve been!” He raised his wrist-communicator to tell Teggs what had happened – and groaned. The toilet had trashed it!

  “Ig?” Wimvis was awake now, his overalls half-soaked and a puzzled look on his face. “Did you just save me from a killer toilet?”

  “I guess I did,” Iggy agreed. “It went haywire. And this time your screwdriver was nowhere in sight.”

  “I never touched that drinks machine, Ig.” Wimvis looked at him. “I’m sorry I tried to run away. I was scared that none of you believed me and that Rennia would put me in jail. What would Dad do then, without me to look after him?”

  “I’m sorry I doubted you, Wim,” said Iggy quietly. “I don’t think you’re a robot raider, OK?”

  Wimvis blinked. “You don’t?”

  Iggy shook his head. “I think the real raiders tried to put me to sleep while they got you out of the way – for good.”

  “You think they’re here on Mekta now and Rennia doesn’t know?” Wimvis looked worried. “Metal-Master didn’t mention raiders when he suggested I come here.”

  “Perhaps he wanted you to get into trouble,” said Iggy. “How much do you know about him?”

  Wimvis thought for a few moments. “I hardly know a thing.” He sighed. “You know me, Ig. Sometimes I charge in without thinking.”

  “Well, whoever sent that toilet to get you has thought very, very carefully,” said Iggy. “And I think they’re going to try and get you again.”

  The two of them stood for a while in worried silence. And as they did so, Iggy heard the mysterious clanging and clanking once more from somewhere under their feet. What could it be?

  Then suddenly, the door to the basement cell whooshed open all by itself. A louder noise carried to them from the corridor outside. The noise of something approaching . . .

  Wimvis gulped. “You said whoever wanted to get me would try again.” He started pacing about the cell, his footsteps booming out on the metal floor. “What are we going to do?”

  “Shhhh!” Iggy hissed. He tried to close the doors, but they no longer worked. And the sounds outside were growing even louder . . .

  “Come on, Gipsy,” said Teggs, striding from the battered little ship. “We must tell Rennia and Arx about what we’ve found here. I’ll call them on the communicator.”

  “Right,” Gipsy agreed, following him outside into the dark, dusty wilderness. “Because while Wimvis is locked up, no one is looking for the real robot raiders!”

  But before Teggs could even raise his wrist, a row of shadowy shapes with long necks and glowing red eyes loomed up ahead of him.

  “Security-bots,” Gipsy realized. “What are they doing here?”

  “You will not use your communicator,” said the nearest security-bot in a gruff mechanical voice.

  “Won’t I?” Teggs frowned. “Why not?”

  “You know too much,” the robot went on, its eyes glowing brighter. “Metal-Master has ordered your destruction.”

  “What?” gasped Teggs. “But I thought Metal-Master was trying to help Wimvis. And we’ve just found evidence that clears his name!”

  “You know too much,” the robot repeated. Suddenly, it lashed out with its long neck, trying to catch Teggs in a headlock. Teggs blocked the blow with his tail, and Gipsy smashed the security-bot’s mechanical eyes with a pair of well-placed hoof jabs. The robot reeled away – but the other security-bots began to advance towards them.

  “So Metal-Master was tricking Wimvis from the start,” Gipsy realized, as she and Teggs backed away. “But why? And how has he got control of Rennia’s robots?”

  “We can worry about that later.” Teggs ducked to avoid another long-necked attack. “Right now, let’s settle for getting out of here alive!”

  They turned towards Wimvis’s shuttle – only to find that the “stolen” construction robots had come hovering outside to block their way. The boxy metal minions raised their saws and drills in a menacing manner.

  “So that’s why there were no tracks outside,” Teggs realized. “Anti-gravity motors! Those work-bots weren’t dragged here – they flew in by themselves. Metal-Master must be controlling them too.”

  “And that means . . .” Gipsy gulped as the work-bots switched on their power tools and the security-bots lashed out with their scary steel necks. “We’re trapped!”

  Chapter Seven

  BLOWING A FUSE

  The biggest work-bot swept towards Teggs, wielding a giant drill. But in a blur of motion, Teggs rolled underneath it and jumped onto its back! Unable to carry his extra weight, the mechanical worker veered out of control – and smashed into a security-bot. Its drill jammed into one of the other robot’s control panels, and fierce white sparks shot out from within.

  “Drill malfunction!” the work-bot warbled as its accidental victim struggled to shake it free. “Cannot deactivate.”

  “A bad work-bot always blames his tools,” joked Teggs. As all the other robots bundled in to try and separate the two sparking machines he flung himself clear. “Thanks for the ride!”

  Gipsy quickly helped him up. “Nice work, Captain.”

  “I don’t think that will slow them down for long,” said Teggs, pulling her up the slope and away from the robotic ruckus. “We must get back to Arx and Iggy in Mekta – fast!”

  In Rennia’s office in the Central Skyscraper, Arx was still working away on the Main Computer. He could barely be seen for an enormous tangle of cables, but Rennia was watching his every move with growing excitement. “I can’t wait to find out if this will work,” she said.

  “Nor can I.” Arx poked a hand out through the wires. “Can you pass me a plink-driver please? I need to connect the five mega-fuses in the computer’s power-core.”

  Rennia handed him the tool. “Of course.”

  As Arx got on with his work, his communicator started to beep. “That must be Captain Teggs,” he said. “I’d better answer.”

  Rennia shook her head. “You can’t stop now. You’ve nearly done it!”

  “But Teggs and Gipsy might be in trouble,” Arx argued. Suddenly, a crackle of green energy sparked out from the nearest control panel and struck his communicator. “Yeowtch!” he cried, and jumped backwards – taking the tangle of cables with him. They pulled free with a spitting of sparks, and the computer’s lights went out.

  “Oh, no!” Rennia groaned. “What happened?”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it,” Arx admitted, sitting in a dazed heap. “Holding an active communicator so close to the power-core must have caused an energy surge.” He pressed buttons on the band on his wrist but nothing happened. “And now my communicator won’t work!”

  “Never mind that,” said Rennia angrily. “What about the Main Computer? Its lights have gone out!”

  “That’s just the fuses,” said Arx, getting up and hurrying to the lift. “Just replace them and plug in those cables – it’ll soon be ready for action.”

  “And where are you going?” Rennia demanded.

  “To see Iggy,” Arx explained. “Teggs couldn’t get through to me so he’s bound to have called Ig instead. I’ll be back soon!”

  Rennia watched him go. Then she turned to the computer with a smile. The final repairs wouldn’t take too long. Soon, she would show everyone in space exactly what Mekta City could do . . .

  Arx raced down to the basement. He looked everywhere, but there was no sign of Iggy – and no sign of Wimvis either. All he found was a broken toilet and several robots standing rigid and silent. It was as though the machines had frozen stiff in the middle of searching for someone.

  “Of course,” Arx muttered, with a twinge of guilt. “When I tugged out those wires, I disconnected the Main Computer – which cut the robots’ power.” He knew it wouldn’t take Rennia long to fix the damage, but until she did, all robots were useless. The whole city was dead. “Perhaps Wimvis ran away again when the robots shut down, and Iggy had to chase after
him . . .”

  Hunting for his friends – and any possible enemies – Arx ran from the basement.

  At the same time, half a mile away, Teggs and Gipsy were nearing the outskirts of Mekta City.

  “I hope nothing’s happened to Arx and Iggy,” said Gipsy. “It’s just not like them to ignore their communicators. Do you think Metal-Master has sent robots after them too?”

  “We’ll soon find out,”Teggs said grimly. “At least we haven’t met any more of those mechanical menaces . . .”

  But as they reached the top of a hill, he realized he had spoken too soon. About thirty robots were lined up at the edge of the city looking their way! Security-bots. Servant-bots. Robo-waiters. High-tech heaters. They stood together in silence like menacing metal statues.

  “What’s happened to them?” Gipsy whispered as they hurried down the hillside.

  “Some kind of power cut?” Teggs frowned. “Whatever’s happened, it’s a good thing for us. We could never hope to fight our way through this bunch.”

  “Captain! Gipsy!” Arx’s familiar voice broke the silence as he squeezed through to the front of the robots’ ranks. “I’m so glad I’ve found you.”

  “I’m even gladder that these robots didn’t,” said Teggs, with a crooked smile. “Are you OK? We’ve been trying to call you and Iggy.”

  “My communicator got zapped when I was fiddling with Rennia’s computers,” Arx explained. “And I’ve been looking for Iggy myself. He’s disappeared – and so has Wimvis!”

  “Uh-oh,” said Teggs.

  “That’s what we’ve been wanting to tell you all,” Gipsy explained. “We know that Wimvis is innocent! It seems that Metal-Master wants the iguanodon builders to take the blame for the problems here. He’s even got control of some of the robots!”

  “What?” Arx was amazed. “Then I’m glad I accidentally pulled the plug on them. But how did Metal-Master take control? Just who is he – and where is he?”

  “I wonder . . .” Teggs looked at Arx. “Who do we know that has control over all the robots around here – as well as Mekta City’s security systems? And who owns that secret supply of the robotic paper Metal-Master used to write to Wimvis?”

  Arx was so shocked his horns waggled. “You think Rennia is the Metal-Master?”

  Teggs nodded. “And I think we should ask her what’s happened to Ig and Wimvis.”

  “But why would Rennia invent problems in her own city?” asked Gipsy.

  “Perhaps so she could lure me here to help with her main computer,” Arx realized. “She wants to make it powerful enough to control everything in Mekta City all at once . . . and I’ve just shown her how to do it!”

  “But why not simply ask you to help?” Gipsy wondered. “Why go to such trouble?”

  As she spoke, the arms of the nearest guide-bot began to quiver. The head of a robo-waiter turned a fraction.

  “Uh-oh,” said Gipsy, as a security-bot’s head began to jerk down towards them on the end of its long metal neck. “The robots are waking up!”

  Arx frowned. “Which means Rennia’s repairs must be almost complete.”

  “Quick! We must get back to the Central Skyscraper and find out what Rennia is up to.” Teggs galloped away through the twitching mechanical crowd, his friends close behind him. “Because if these robots wake up before we get there, they’ll squish us for sure!”

  Chapter Eight

  METAL-MASTER UNMASKED!

  The robots were returning to life in the basement of the Central Skyscraper too. Slowly, unsteadily, they clunked out of the now empty cell where Wimvis had been imprisoned.

  Like Arx, they hadn’t noticed the heavy, slightly crumpled floor tile lying crookedly in the corner of the room . . .

  And they hadn’t realized that Iggy and Wimvis had been hiding in a shallow tunnel beneath the floor all the time!

  “I thought those robots were never going to leave,” whispered Wimvis in the darkness. “I’m glad they’ve finally gone.”

  “I’m glad you paced about so much in your cell,” Iggy admitted. “Otherwise I would never have noticed the floor sounded hollow and thought to look under it for a way out.” He sighed. “You know, I’m sure that was Arx we heard walking about above us a while ago. I’d know his footsteps anywhere.”

  “We couldn’t take the chance of calling out to him,” said Wimvis firmly. “If one of those robots was with him . . .”

  “I know,” said Iggy sadly. “But, sooner or later, those robots are bound to look for us down here.”

  “Wherever ‘here’ is,” said Wimvis. “I thought this must be a service tunnel at first, but there are no wires or systems to fix. It’s just bare rock.”

  “Let’s explore,” Iggy suggested.

  The tunnel sloped downwards and opened out into a large cave. Distantly, through the thick darkness, the curious clanking noise Iggy had heard before started up again. “Sounds louder down here,” he muttered.

  “I wonder where it’s coming from . . .”

  “Let’s see.” Wimvis started groping about – and almost tripped over something. “Hey! What was that?”

  Iggy’s keen eyes picked out a bundle of cables stretching over the rocky floor. He followed them a little way, and found the ground sloping sharply downwards. “Looks like this is the service tunnel,” Iggy murmured. “These cables must be feeding power from this skyscraper to somewhere underneath its basement.”

  “But there’s nothing underneath a building’s basement,” Wimvis argued.

  “Only the foundations that support everything.”

  “Well, something needs power, and lots of it too,” Iggy declared. “If we follow the cables, I bet we’ll find out what – along with a whole heap of trouble, most likely!” He grinned. “Shall we go?”

  “Me first, Ig,” said Wimvis. “You may be an astrosaur but you’re still my little brother.”

  The two iguanodons crept forward into the dark, mysterious tunnel. The deeper underground they went, the louder the clunking sounds became – drawing closer and closer with every step.

  Then a strange, eerie glow began to brighten the gloomy passageway. Holding his breath, Wimvis led the way into a gigantic, smoky cavern filled from floor to ceiling with huge cones of metal . . .

  And with lots and lots of robots!

  All different types were toiling side by side. Work-bots hammered at the metal cones, smoothing out dents. Servant-bots twisted massive screws into holes in the cones to hold them together. Security-bots, helped by a drinks machine and a high-tech toaster, were placing huge strips of metal tape over the concrete ceiling.

  “These machines aren’t doing any real building work down here,” Wimvis whispered. “Rennia should sack the lot of them.”

  “Maybe she doesn’t know they’re down here,” Iggy hissed back. “Maybe this is where all her missing robots have ended up – underground!”

  Wimvis nodded. “But what are they doing here beneath the city? Why in space would anyone want them to tape up Mekta’s foundations and build big metal cones underneath?” He sniffed the air. “Hey, I can smell dung too.”

  “I’m not surprised,” said Iggy. “Until Rennia bought this moon, loads of planets dumped their spare dung here, remember? There must be trillions of tons of it lying around. Enough to run a million spaceships . . .” Suddenly, he gasped. “Oh, no. It isn’t possible. It’s too crazy for words . . .”

  “What is?” asked Wimvis.

  Iggy looked at his brother in alarm. “I think I know what these robots are doing down here. And we’ve got to stop them – before they destroy the whole city!”

  High above them on the surface, Teggs, Arx and Gipsy were racing headlong through the steel streets of Mekta City. The robots had started working again. They watched the astrosaurs with cold, glowing eyes but did not try to stop them.

  “I’m glad they’re not attacking us,” puffed Gipsy. “But why aren’t they?”

  Teggs watched a security-bot step out of their
way as they neared the golden cone of the Central Skyscraper. “I don’t know.” The doors slid wide open to let them through. Only this time, no robots appeared with refreshments so Teggs quickly munched on a pot plant. The only ’bot now in sight was a washing machine, glaring at them through one square eye.

  “Shall we try to find Iggy and Wimvis?” asked Gipsy.

  “I think we should go straight to Rennia’s office,” said Arx, “and find out if she knows where they are.”

  “Good thinking,” Teggs agreed.

  The three astrosaurs took the lift back up to the two hundredth floor and burst into Rennia’s office.

  The Main Computer was working again, lights bright and flashing, humming with incredible power. Rennia sat in a chair with her back to them, staring out of the window over the city as the dawn began to break.

  “OK, Rennia,” said Teggs. “You’ve got some explaining to do. Where are Iggy and Wimvis?”

  Gipsy nodded. “Are you the Metal-Master?”

  “And did you make up that story about missing robots just to bring me here?” Arx added.

  But Rennia did not reply.

  “Hey!” Teggs tapped her shoulder with the tip of his tail. “We’re talking to you . . .”

  He gasped as Rennia rolled off her chair and collapsed to the floor.

  Gipsy quickly checked her over. “Look at this bump on her head,” she said. “Someone’s knocked her out!”

  Arx picked up a small grey slab of concrete from the floor. “Where did this come from?”

  Suddenly an automatic toaster rolled up to Teggs – and fired an identical slab of concrete at his head! With a groan, he fell to the floor on top of Rennia.

  “Captain!” Gipsy tried to kick the machine away but it fired two more pieces of concrete toast! She ducked one, but the second caught her on the head-crest and she crumpled to the ground in a daze.

  Arx stamped his foot down on top of the toaster and squashed it into scrap. “Nasty little gadget,” he muttered, stooping to check his friends were OK. “I wonder why it didn’t attack me?”

  “FOR THE SAME REASON MY ROBOTS DID NOT ATTACK YOU OUTSIDE.” The grating, robotic voice seemed to echo all around. “I NEED YOU, ARX ORANO . . .”