~ QUILLAN ~
(Continued)
"We've gotta stop them!" shouted Courtney.
"And how are we going to do that?" said Press. Courtney hung her head in defeat.
"We can't possibly hope to save the underground malls. All we can do is get out of here," Press said darkly. "Once those dados get to work, things will get really ugly."
"Okay, let's go," said Mark. "We'll exit through that hole in the wall and get away as fast as we can. Fourteen, do you think you can keep up?"
"Yes," said Fourteen. "But you do not have to save me. I am just a dado…an obsolete dado."
"We know we don't have to save you," said Courtney, smiling at the robot. "We want to save you."
"If I hinder you in any way," said Fourteen, "do not hesitate to leave me behind. I am not worth it."
"We'll decide whether it's worth it," said Courtney. "All right…now!"
They all jumped back out of the window, to see that the security dados were placing each barrel outside of a steel shutter. They were going to blast open a path to the stores so the destruction could begin.
"Stay away from the shutters!" bellowed Press.
At that moment, the barrels started to explode. Each one erupted with a fiery blast that shook the entire mall. The air throbbed with heat.
"How do we get out?" screamed Courtney, as several flamethrower-toting dados rushed past.
"I can direct you to the closest exit," said Fourteen.
"I knew bringing you with us was the right idea," said Courtney. "Lead on!"
Blue-white flames leapt from a deserted food court. The dados roasted tables and chairs, and blasted counters to smithereens.
Fourteen jogged purposefully through the chaos, Mark, Courtney, and Press hot on his heels. Three more barrels exploded, opening up jagged fissures in the ground. They had to find the exit soon, or they would be history. Methodically destroyed history.
"The exit is this way," Fourteen called out. "It leads to the abandoned subway system."
Through the billowing smoke, the three of them could see the outline of Fourteen turning left and heading for the wall. They followed, and soon emerged into another dark passage.
"I must warn you," cautioned the dado, "it is very dark in here."
"Not to worry," said Courtney, whipping out her flashlight and illuminating the passage ahead.
"You are very resourceful," said Fourteen. "Very well, we shall continue on."
Mark looked back the way they had come, and saw only flames and falling rock. A lump rose in his throat. The forgotten mall complex had been the only remaining place on Quillan to reveal anything about life before Blok…the only remaining place that the revivers could be safe. And it was all falling to pieces. He knew that the security dados would be carrying out identical assaults on every mall underneath Rune. When Mr. Pop had been obliterated, people all throughout Quillan had appreciated what they had lost. But nobody would ever know about the destruction of this last repository of forgotten greatness.
A few minutes later, they arrived at a set of stairs, which led to a set of double doors. When they swung the doors open, they found themselves in a pitch-black, abandoned subway station. Mark and Courtney vividly remembered the flume gate on Second Earth which was built into the subway tunnel. Only here, the entire train system was shut down. But they had no more time to reflect on the state of Quillan…they had to make their escape.
"My time in the underground has taught me a great deal about Rune's past," said Fourteen. "This was a stop for the Red Line. It traveled in a big loop, passing through much of downtown and some areas in the east that used to be suburban neighborhoods. We can travel on foot from station to station and surface when we are far away from the main city."
"Sounds like a plan," said Press gratefully. "All right, let's…"
But at that moment, there came a crash. A shadow moved across the dead escalator on the adjacent wall, and suddenly a security dado leapt out at them.
"They followed us!" cried Mark.
Press rushed forward as the dado raised its gun, and knocked the weapon out of its hand. He then gave it a kick in the chest, sending it sprawling. Fourteen was on it in a flash.
"I know how we dados work," he said, as he and Press wrestled the robot to the floor. "There is an easy way to deactivate it. Turn it on its back."
Press obliged, and Fourteen ran his finger along the other dado's spine. A compartment opened up in the small of its back, revealing a tangle of moving parts and wires. Fourteen made one swift movement, and the dado suddenly stopped moving.
"How did you do that?" Courtney demanded.
Fourteen stepped back and pointed to a thin blue wire which had been severed.
"It is a critical weak point in the entire line of security dados," explained Fourteen. "Of course, you have to be able to overpower it and flip it onto its back."
Press, Mark, and Courtney sat down on the edge of the filthy platform, the flashlight casting light over the rusted train tracks below. "Well, we may be safe for now," said Mark. "But what do we do next?"
"We've got to go to the wreckage of Mr. Pop," said Press at once. "That's where the last journal from First Edge awaits us."
"Yes, but we don't know where that is!" said Courtney. "The revivers kept it a secret."
"It does not matter," said Fourteen. "Finding it will be easy."
"What do you mean?" said Mark, spinning around to look at the dado.
Fourteen pointed at the deactivated robot on the floor. "This dado has been in service a long time," he said. "I can tell from the product sequence inside the chest cavity. It was online back when Pendragon won the Grand X."
"So?" said Mark.
"So it should have a record of the loop that drew the dados to the warehouse," said Fourteen. "Assuming that loop was not destroyed, and is still lying in the ruins, I can load its data into my banks and track it."
"Seriously?" said Courtney excitedly. "You can do that?"
"Yes," said Fourteen. "I can. But there is one problem."
"What is that?" said Mark nervously.
"Anyone who hijacks information from a fallen dado is guilty of corporate espionage," said Fourteen. "It is the most severely punished crime on Quillan. In the trustees' eyes it is worse than assault, murder, or terrorism. There are security mechanisms installed in dados which will alert the police the moment their secrets are compromised. If I do this, the authorities will not rest until you have been hunted down and destroyed."
"That's not a problem," said Press at once. "Once we collect this journal, we're leaving. And I guarantee the trustees won't find us where we're going."
Fourteen paused, and then said, "If you are sure, I will do it."
All three of them nodded.
Fourteen bent down and stuck his hand into the other dado's compartment. He waited a few seconds, and then said, "I am finished."
At once, a red light inside the other dado glowed red, and a harsh buzzer sounded.
"What's that?" said Mark.
"The security alarm," said Fourteen. "The authorities already know what we have done. We should go."
"Did it work?" said Courtney. "Can you lead us to Mr. Pop?"
"Yes," said Fourteen, pointing down the right tunnel of the subway. "I am acquiring a faint signal from that direction."
They all jumped down off the platform and scurried into the tunnel. After a few minutes of walking, they arrived at another identical station.
"Do we surface now?" said Mark.
"No," said Fourteen. "We must continue. We are still a long way from our destination."
They kept walking for ages, passing more stations. Five…six…seven…soon they lost count. They didn't ask Fourteen how much longer they had to go. They merely followed the little dado as he strode through the darkness.
At last, Fourteen came to a stop. Mark nearly walked into him. "The signal is very strong now," said Fourteen. "We should surface here."
They climbed the stationary escalator and wrenched their way through a boarded-up entrance to find themselves in completely unfamiliar surroundings. At one time, this had probably been a wealthy suburban street lined with pretty houses and well-manicured lawns, but those days were long gone.
The streets were covered in a spiderweb of cracks. A few of the bigger potholes were overgrown with weeds. Most of the driveways led to empty lots; a few houses remained, but they looked ready to fall down, their sides pitted and scarred, paint scratched away by generations of neglect. Trees which had once been dutifully pruned now formed a sprawling green canopy; grass stood in uneven tangles; hedges blocked the rotting doorways and obscured the broken windows.
"Perhaps what's left of the revival can hide out here," said Courtney hopefully.
"I'd be astonished if there was anything left," said Press somberly.
"We are close," said Fourteen. "I would say it is a couple of streets away."
And then, all at once, they saw it.
They were staring at a neighborhood block that was consisted entirely of splintered, charred wreckage. Clearly a large building had stood here.
"Mr. Pop?" said Courtney faintly.
Fourteen nodded.
Courtney dashed across the street to the rubble and began sifting through it. Mark joined her. They both desperately pulled aside chunks of wood and metal, hoping to see anything that might have survived. But they found nothing. All that remained were shards of glass, blackened scraps of paper, and pieces of plastic melted into unrecognizable blobs. They knew that this wasn't why they were there—knew that it had been hopeless all along—but they couldn't help the burning tears that trickled down their cheeks. This place had been Quillan's best hope of salvation, and there was nothing left of it.
Press strode over to them and put his hands on their shoulders. "I know," he said softly. "It's painful for me too. But perhaps this will cheer you up a little."
He pointed at something lying on a pile of shattered chunks of marble. Mark and Courtney looked up…to see a familiar-looking jumble of scrolls.
They didn't have time to register their relief, however, before the drone of helicopter blades distracted them. They looked up to see three armored choppers bearing down on them, each displaying the Blok logo.
"They have found us," said Fourteen.