Escape From Paradise
A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic
Chapter Seven – Interruptions, Interruptions
The skies above the capital glowed an enthusiastic crimson on this first morning of Festival, and the crisp breeze seemed to give a storybook quality to the long flowing banners hanging from the facade of the Royal Metropolitan Hotel. The entry way was decorated with patriotic red-and-green bunting, and hundreds of colorful flags lined the stainless-steel archways. An excited mob of robot tourists ran, rolled, and hovered out the grand front doors, eager to get their celebrations underway. Most of the robots checked the lenses on their holo-cameras, or chased after their over-excited children with bottles of anti-corrosive. But off to the side of the circular plaza, Jenny and Drew were discussing their own strategies for the day. After a long night of reading up on Cluster Prime, they were brainstorming plans for finding their kidnapped classmates, and safely escaping back to Earth. Jenny had deployed a scanning screen from her elbow, and she was fine-tuning its settings while Drew peered over her shoulder.
"… and Connie, and Miguel. There, I've entered all the kids' DNA patterns into my scanner. Now I can search for their bio-signatures, once I'm within range – assuming this thing will even work in the middle of all these skyscrapers." She folded her arms with a tired groan, trying not to focus on how impossible the task at hand seemed to be. "I've got a copy of the city map loaded into my memory banks, and I have a few ideas on where to start looking. You have any luck finding us a way home?"
"Not really," sighed Drew. "There's a commercial spaceport, but it's not like you can walk up to the counter and buy thirty tickets for Earth. And even if you could, we don't have Cluster passports … and a lot of the spacelines won't even allow humans on board. Strict policy – No Pets Allowed. I wonder how far we could get if we rented a hover-bus …"
"Hey, wait a minute," she said, suddenly distracted. She eyed him suspiciously, sensing something different about him … "Did you do something to your hair?"
"Wha?" Drew feigned ignorance, and gave her a annoyed growl. "Jenny, we're trying to find our friends and escape an evil robot planet. And you're asking me if I changed my hair?"
"Well, did you?" she pressed, smiling mischievously.
Jenny was discovering that Drew was a lot of fun when he was on the defensive, and she giggled as he ran a hand through his tussled silver bangs. It was no coincidence that her android friend had taken a sudden interest in his appearance, and while the urge to tease was overwhelming, she decided to give him a break. "Oh, take it easy, Drew, I'm just giving you a hard time. I know you had fun with Allison yesterday. So did I – I really enjoyed spending time with her and Dot over at the mall. I've never had a chance to hang out with other robot girls like that before … it meant a lot to me."
Her confession made him feel a bit more at ease; it was nice to know he wasn't the only one struggling with an uncomfortable mix of happiness, fear, and guilt. "Don't worry, Jenny, I know we need to concentrate on getting back home. It's just that yesterday … Jen, it was a nice change to spend a couple of hours with a girl like that, y'know? I …" – he lapsed into dreamworld – "… I really enjoyed it."
The hotel plaza buzzed with pedestrian activity as hundreds of robot tourists clanked towards the monorail stops a block to the south. Taxis and hover-buses glided through the air, slipping in and out of the morning traffic. Jenny saw several hovercars jostling for one of the few street-level parking spots … including, to her pleasant surprise, a familiar red SkyProwler GT convertible, carrying a familiar group of robotic teenagers! Tank, Ro-bekka, Allison, and Dot had come back to the hotel to surprise them! She clasped her hands to her mouth in joy, managed to suppress a squeal, and quickly waved come-on-over – all while Drew kept staring off in the other direction with a faraway gaze, oblivious to everything around him. Jenny had a deliciously evil idea, and turned back to Drew with an expression of pure innocence on her face. "Sooooo … you really liked Allison, didn't you?"
He shrugged. "Well … sure, she was smart, and funny, and easy to talk to …"
"Easy to talk to. Uh-huh," she grinned. "I liked her hair-foil. It was the prettiest shade of blue."
"It wasn't blue, it was purple." Then his eyes grew hazy again. "Actually, it was more of a violet … sigh … a deep, rich, royal violet, like the evening sky just as the last embers of twilight fade away, and the stars come out to sprinkle across the heavens like a million glistening diamonds …"
"Wow," giggled a female voice. "I was thinking of getting a repaint, but now I've changed my mind!"
In a state of complete and utter horror, Drew whirled around to see Allison and Dot standing directly behind him, fighting back tidal waves of laughter. While his face exploded into twenty different shades of green, the girls exchanged squeals and hugs with Jenny, who bounced with delighted surprise at seeing her new friends again. She clasped Allison's hands in hers, beaming with ecstasy. "This is so awesome – I didn't think I was ever going to see you guys again! What are you doing here? Aren't you guys heading off to Vexus' palace for the opening ceremonies, like everyone else?"
"Oh, Tank is super eager to get there for the military parade," said Allison. "We're just going along for the ride. Anyway, Dot and I were talking on the video-phone last night …"
"We were deciding what to do today," interrupted Dot. "And we realized you guys were alone, and new in town, and we were wondering, well, maybe you'd like to come along with us!"
A pang of guilt stabbed Jenny through the chest like an iron spear. Here she and Drew were total strangers on Cluster Prime, and they had just met Allison, Dot, and Tank yesterday; and yet they had gone out of their way to come back to the hotel, and invite them to join their holiday celebration. She knew she had to turn them down. Not only did she have to focus on finding her human classmates, but she and Drew were still fugitives on Cluster Prime, and it didn't seem like a good idea to go watch a parade filled with Vexus' soldiers, in the very shadow of her fortress. Jenny rubbed the back of her neck, and smiled regretfully. "Wow, Allison, Dot … that is so awesome of you guys to invite us, but …"
Suddenly a shrill beep-beep-beep rang out, and Jenny instinctively looked to her belly-bolt, before realizing that the beeping was actually coming from Allison's left arm. Allison's rounded shoulders sunk, and a look of disgust and defeat came over her face. With a heavy sigh, she tapped a flashing light on her forearm, and a panel unfolded, rapidly rotating into a circular viewscreen. A stern metallic face materialized, his eyes and mouth-grill forming the very picture of an emotionless automaton. "LSN-1482, this is LSN-1199," droned his voice, in a drab monotone. "LSN-1482, acknowledge."
"Oh, for …" Allison slapped her forehead in anger and frustration. "Dad … okay, we talked about this last night, remember? Could you try calling me 'Allison'? Huh? Just once? Try it and see how it rolls off the old voice processor? 'Allison'?"
"During duty hours, all LSN droids are to refer to each other by their assigned serial numbers," droned Allison's father, with an authoritative tone to his voice. "Standby to receive your next LinkSysNet assignment, LSN-1482."
"What?!?" Allison shouted in disbelief. "Wait! Hang on! 'Pause' button! This is my day off! I worked extra nights this week so I could have the first day of Festival off with my friends! Dad, this isn't fair!"
"Duty always comes first to an LSN droid," he responded, condescendingly. "Now, there is a problem with a data processing node at Skylane Traffic Control, Station Fourteen. All available traffic units are busy clearing airspace for the Royal Air Show. Head over to STC Station Fourteen and resolve the problem, immediately! That is an order, LSN-1482." And without giving her a chance to reply, he signed off, and the screen faded to black.
"Auuughhh!" she groaned, balling her slim hands into a pair of fists. She looked at Jenny with a pained sadness in her eyes. "My dad," she said weakly. "He's really only like that when he's on duty. And he's right … sigh … duty comes first when you're an LSN droid. I have to bail, guys."
"Aww, that really strips my gears!" fumed Dot. "Can't you just ditch, and come with us anyway?"
Jenny smiled and shook her head. "She can't, Dot. She has to look after her responsibilities – even if they are kind of lame, sometimes." The whole episode filled Jenny with a sense of déjà vu; it was the first time, however, that she'd ever seen it happen to someone else. "Don't worry about it, Allison – if I had a nickel for every time my mom's done that to me, I could buy Queen Vexus' palace. I know just how you feel right now." And she truly did; Allison had the same why-me look on her face that was only too familiar to the teenage superhero.
A city map with a flashing light displayed on her screen, before it collapsed and stored itself back in her forearm. "Well, I guess I'll just catch a hover-taxi, since this is official Cluster business, and all. You guys go on and have fun – maybe I'll catch you later." She clanked a few steps towards the street, dragging her feet as if she were headed off to the recycling yards …
When Drew raised his voice. "Allison … wait! Uh … hold up. Umm … look, I really wasn't interested in watching a boring old parade. If it's not too much trouble … would you mind if I came with you to see what a Traffic Control Station looks like? It sounds like it … might be interesting."
Jenny was nearly knocked back on her heels with surprise, and she gave her silver-green friend a bemused smirk. Neither one of them could quite believe he'd actually had the nerve to speak up. "Suddenly developed an interest in traffic control, Drew?" she smirked.
"Hey, she's going to some Cluster computer center that controls air traffic, right?" he whispered. "So I might learn more about what kind of ships fly back and forth into the city. It's actually not a bad place for me to start looking for a way to get us home."
"Sure, good thinking," she smiled, almost believing his rationale. "If you find anything, give me a call, or meet me back to the hotel. And Drew … be careful." She meant that in more ways than one.
And with a nod and nervous gulp, Drew jogged off to catch up with Allison, whose mood had brightened considerably in the past ten seconds. Jenny and Dot shook their heads, watching the two robots exchange awkward greetings and clumsy hand gestures, before finally making their way towards the curb to flag down a hover-taxi. As Drew tried to figure out how to open the taxi's door for Allison, Jenny fought back a giggle; she couldn't decide whether they looked incredibly cute or incredibly pathetic.
"Well, we're not going to see them for a while," snorted Dot, rolling her eyes. The girls walked towards Tank's red hovercar, idling patiently a short distance away. Dot asked Jenny what her plans were for the first day of Festival, and Jenny managed to explain that she wasn't going to the opening ceremonies –military parades weren't really her thing. To her relief, and pleasant surprise, Dot voiced similar feelings; she was only interested in hanging out with friends, and didn't much care for the crowds and noise that were sure to be at the palace. They decided to strike off on their own for the rest of the day. Jenny was thrilled to have her for company; it would be easier navigating the city with someone who knew her way around. And besides, she thought that Dot was hilarious.
"Ready for the big show, ladies?" grinned Tank, as he polished the front fender of his SkyProwler. Ro-bekka seemed less than thrilled, as she checked herself in the mirror.
"Actually, Tank, if it's all right with you, Dot and I are going to take a rain check on the parade. We're heading over to the Royal Zoo." From her readings last night, Jenny had found nothing about human slavery on Cluster Prime, and surprisingly little information about humans at all. One place she was sure to find some humans was the Primate Preserve at the Royal Zoo; one of the most popular displays was the human exhibit. It was a horrible thought, but it certainly was possible that some of the kids from Tremorton High had been sent there as zoo animals.
"Suit yourself," he said, "it's going to be awesome. The new Stealth Hornet fighter is doing a flyby, and the Golden Beetles are going to put on their precision flying routine. Oh, and the Elite Pilot Corps from Queen Vexus' private guard will be there, too – the Black Mantis robots! They're fantastic!"
"Black Mantis, huh? Wouldn't think you wanted to cheer them on, after what they did to your hovercar yesterday." Jenny glanced at the huge scrape that still blemished the paint on the SkyProwler's fender. Tank had nearly blown his fuses when he saw how his "baby" had been defaced; he'd been so mad that she'd thought he was going to chase down Vexus' personal thugs himself.
"Uh … what are you talking about, Jenny?" asked Tank. "That happened in the Galleria parking lot."
Jenny blinked her eyes in amazement. "Tank … Drew and I were in your car yesterday afternoon, flying by Queen Vexus' palace, when a pair of black hovercars nearly plowed right into us! We spiraled out of control and dropped a thousand feet – it's not the sort of thing you forget! Those Black Mantis guys nearly killed us! Tank, I was there!"
"Doesn't sound like something the Black Mantis would do," he said, arching a quizzical eyebrow. "After all, Jenny … they're the good guys." Then he waved goodbye, and his red hover-convertible wafted into the sky on its anti-grav engines, turning into the heavy Skylane traffic for the palace complex.
Jenny clanked her hands on her hips as she watched Tank's car disappear from view. She was having the same twilight-zone feeling that she had yesterday. Either Tank had just blatantly lied to her – or he actually didn't remember. Cluster Prime just gets weirder and weirder, she thought.
The underground laboratory echoed with the whine of electric generators, as Stanley brought the equipment up to maximum power. His six hands danced over a dizzying array of gauges, knobs, and switches, while he monitored his experiment's status on a bank of large computer screens. Rivers of bizarre computer symbols flowed in front of him, a flood of data that represented the night's work by the supercomputers. Then he rubbed his hands together with glee, and grasped a pair of remote control joysticks. With a flick of the wrist, he brought a robotic arm down from the ceiling, and positioned it above the thermos filled with the gurgling nanobot sample. A large syringe extended from the end of the arm, plugged into the thermos, and filled itself with shiny, silvery goo. Then the triple-jointed robot arm maneuvered towards a tall transparent tank … and the panicking, pimpled guinea pig trapped inside.
Sheldon pounded frantically on the walls of the narrow cylinder, but the thick glass wouldn't budge. Sweat poured down his cheeks as his hubcap-sized eyes nervously watched the robot arm come to a stop directly over his tank. He swallowed hard, forcing a huge lump down his throat. "S-s-so what are you going to do with that thing?" he asked, pointing to the syringe over his head.
"Well, I'm not giving you a flu shot," Stanley chuckled. He called up a complex program on one of his monitors, and frantically typed away on four keyboards at once. "I'm going to inject these reprogrammed nanobots into your mooshy human flesh, and if everything goes according to plan, they'll start nibbling on your insides, atom by atom, and they'll make trillions of copies of themselves!"
Sheldon tugged at his moist T-shirt. "A-a-and then I'll really be turned into a robot?"
A circular section at the top of the cylinder hissed open. The robot arm dropped inside, and pointed the syringe directly at Sheldon. "According to my calculations, there's definitely a one in 280,000 chance that you'll stabilize into a nanobot-android like your squishy silver friend."
"One in two hundred and eighty thousand!?!?" screamed Sheldon, as the syringe slid closer.
Stanley shrugged all six of his shoulders. "Hey, not great odds, I know, and most likely you'll be reduced to a quivering blob of slimy gelatin … but that's a risk I'm willing to take!" He grasped his remote controls again, and re-positioned the needle filled with silver death, preparing to plunge it into his test animal. Sheldon lurched and twisted out of the way, like a rodent evading a deadly cobra …
Brad gritted his teeth and braced himself against the back of his cage, then kicked at the door with all his might – but no amount of adrenaline was going to bust his cage open. Frustrated and tired from lack of sleep, he shook the door as hard as he could. "Knock it off, you sicko! This is seriously uncool! You … you can't just turn him into a metallic mudpie like this!"
The genius-bot paused for a second … and then slapped his massive forehead. "You know something? You're absolutely right!" He took a green holographic crystal from his desk drawer, and plugged in into a socket on his console. "I forgot to turn on the silly data recorder first. Ha, ha … where was my head?!? Nice catch, monkey boy! Okay, now I can turn him into a metallic mudpie."
The syringe-arm lunged at Sheldon again, but he dropped to the floor just in time to avoid the needle. He curled up in a fetal position, scared out of his wits, while the robot arm backed off and deployed a set of laser crosshairs. A glowing red "X" illuminated on Sheldon's quivering bottom. The needle took aim, and the syrupy nano-goo swirled with anticipation, ready to consume the organic tissue …
When the laboratory door abruptly swooshed open, revealing two roach-drones silhouetted against the lighted hallway. They clanked in, with foul expressions on their faces, and impatience in their mechanical swagger. Stanley threw his hands up in a huff, and wheeled away from his control station to deal with the intrusion into his scientific sanctuary. "What's the meaning of this? Look, I'm trying to make with the important research in here. Come back later!"
But the red roach-drone struck an intimidating pose, and glared down at the diminutive genius with a nasty sneer. "Silence, scientist. We have been sent here from the throne room by Queen Vexus herself!"
"She grows very impatient for news of XJ-9's assimilation," added the green drone. "She expects her to be prepared for today's Festival ceremonies!"
Stanley's mouth-grill nearly fell off of his egg-shaped body. "The throne room!?! Queen Vexus!?! Well, why didn't you say so?" His arms flailed about fretfully; his dome-lights flashed in frantic patterns as he tried to figure out how to talk his way out of this one. If the queen found out that XJ-9 had escaped, he was robotic toast. "Uh … heh-heh … come in, come in, gentlemen, make yourselves comfortable!"
"Negative, we must report back to the queen immediately," said the red drone.
The green drone scanned the lab, then gave Stanley a suspicious look. "Where is XJ-9?!? We were told to observe her current status. However, I don't see any robot girl in here at all!"
Stanley was really starting to panic now. "Wha … of course she's here! She's just … ah … getting a nice, fresh coat of primer right now! In a side room. That's locked. That you can't look at." His antennae twitched nervously, as the roach-drones exchanged a skeptical look …
"Hey, roach-face!" shouted Brad. "Egghead there is lying through his fuse box. I know where she is!"
The red drone spun his head around, and saw Brad's face grinning out at him from his tiny cage. The six-foot cockroach peered inside, growling with menace at the puny mammal crouching within. He gave the human his best threatening stare – but Brad simply smiled back, with his hands behind his back. "Pathetic meat creature!" roared the drone. "Tell me where the XJ-9 robot is located."
"Let me out of this stupid cage," smiled Brad, "and I'll show you."
The roach-drone ripped the door open, and grabbed Brad roughly by his shirt collar. Ignoring Stanley's protests, the drone hauled Brad out of the cage and held him up to his face, glaring into the human's moist, jelly-filled eyeballs. "Now, primate, show me where the robot girl is, right now!"
"Sheesh, all right, all right, relax," grinned Brad. "Dude, I think you need to cool off."
None of the robots had noticed the water bottle that Brad was hiding behind his back; he'd pried it off of his cage door while they were arguing. With a quick motion, he twisted off the top, and dumped the liquid contents over the drone's head. The water splashed into the stunned robot's eyes and mouth, and suddenly his metallic body was racked with convulsions. Short-circuits sizzled with bright yellow flashes, crackling like a string of firecrackers. Brad wormed his way out of the roach's grasp and dropped to the floor, rolling clear just as the drone toppled over onto its back, twitching its legs and arms in mechanical spasms.
"Oh, great, my test human is loose!" shouted Stanley. "Quick, grab him, you idiot!"
Brad was rather pleased with himself at the moment, but that was as far as his master plan went. The second drone advanced on him, flexing its four sinister clawed hands, and Brad had to think fast. He dove behind the steel workbench, hoping to buy a few seconds to think; his nervous eyes darted left and right, desperately scanning the lab for something to use as a weapon. The roach-drone dropped to the floor, an awkward position for its top-heavy build, and grumbled with irritation as it groped under the workbench for the escaped lab animal. Its dark metal claws snapped ever closer …
"Yikes!" Just as a claw caught the fringe of his pant leg, Brad jumped onto the top of the workbench, frantically climbing onto the steel table next to Stanley's workstation. But the table's surface was smooth and slippery, and to Brad's surprise, his legs shot out from under him. He fell backwards into a large tabletop scanner … clumsily swinging his arms into the nanobot thermos.
The scanner tipped over and fell on top of the green drone's head with a deafening crash. The nanobot thermos spiraled into the air … and Stanley gasped in horror. He frantically wheeled under the thermos like a center fielder tracking down a fly ball, and caught it inches before it hit the floor. "You stupid, clumsy monkey!" he shouted. "You nearly turned us all into nano-slime!"
The red drone, now recovered from his short circuits, helped his green partner back to his feet. They seethed with fury at the teenage boy who was quickly becoming more trouble than he was worth. The red drone's antennas glowed with a crimson light, and unleashed a sizzling laser blast towards Stanley's workbench. Brad scrambled out of the way just in time, feeling the heat from the laser bolt as it ricocheted past his arm – and he fell on top of Stanley's master control panel.
"Aiiighhh! My controls!" gasped Stanley. "Get your fleshy fingers off of those controls, you stupid air-breather! That panel operates a lot of dangerous lab equipment!"
"Does it now?" Brad grinned, cracked his knuckles, and started pushing buttons like crazy.
A dozen robotic arms dropped from the ceiling, bristling with all sorts of nasty equipment, instantly turning the laboratory into a nightmarish danger room. The roach-drones jumped back as a pair of whirling drill-bits narrowly missed them, and plunged into the floor. A surgical saw screamed up to speed, and whirled over Brad's head, close enough to snip off a piece of hair. A long, sharp probe swung through the air like a dagger, and slammed into a metal barrel, nearly impaling Stanley. Now Brad was starting to freak out a little bit. "Ahhh … no problem, folks … ehh … maybe this little red lever shuts everything off?" He reached up and tossed a large red knife-switch …
Stanley dodged another rotary saw, holding his nanobot thermos safely above his head – and saw what Brad was doing. "Not that switch, you poop-flinging idiot! That's the …"
Another large arm pivoted down from the ceiling, this one tipped with a five-foot laser drill. The tip of the laser grew a brilliant ruby red – and then chaos broke loose in the lab. A thin beam of pure crimson burst forth with a high-pitched shriek, burning a hole into the floor as if it were made of butter. The beam shot right between the startled roach-drones – making them even angrier. The drones charged at Brad, and the teenager scrambled on top of the control panel, desperately trying to escape. Then he noticed that the laser apparatus was hanging just a few feet over his head. He jumped as high as he could, wrapped his arms around the smooth laser barrel … and slid off.
That sent the laser drill spinning in wild circles, carving a swath of destruction through the lab. Brad fell to the floor with a heavy thud, and clutched his hands over his head. Stanley dodged the deadly beam once, twice, trying to wheel his way back towards his control panel. Computer screens exploded as the laser tore through them. The workbench was sliced neatly in two, like a block of cheese. The beam swirled around like the grim reaper's scythe – and sliced the heads off of the stunned Cluster drones. Their bodies collapsed, their severed heads rolled onto the floor, and the laser spun onwards, heading towards the glass tank. Sheldon dropped to his knees, and the beam screeched inches over his head, cutting the cylindrical prison in half. Glass and metal crashed all around the lab as the powerful laser ran amok …
And then finally fell silent. Stanley had managed to get back to his control panel, and shut the laser off. He glared down at Brad, still lying dazed on the floor, and his eyes glowed with murderous rage. The rotund little robot reached down and wrapped his fingers around Brad's throat …
Then he heard a fizzling, gurgling sound … and felt something dribbling down one of his arms.
The nanobot thermos had a hole punched through it, and gooey silver nano-fluid was leaking out of the container. Then the thermos broke in half … spilling a thick, silvery paste all over Stanley's body. The diminutive scientist shrieked in terror – he was covered in his own hideous nanobots.
"No! No, this can't be happening! Quick, monkey boy, do something! Get me a doctor! Get me a mechanic! Anything! Oy … I hate irony!"
Brad pulled free from Stanley's failing grasp, and backed away as he flailed his arms in panic. Creeping tendrils of shiny goo spread across his domed head, and the amorphous blob pulsed with shimmering waves of silver-green. In seconds, the nano-mass had completely consumed him, and he looked like a huge stainless steel egg, balanced on a tiny silver wheel. Sheldon crawled free of his glass tube, and joined Brad to watch Stanley's final moments with morbid fascination. The nano-sludge vibrated with nervous energy, as if it were about to lash out … then it stopped, and began to deteriorate into a lump of raw materials. Moments later, all that remained of the Cluster genius was a pile of fine gray ash.
Sheldon patted his arms and legs, making sure he was still healthy and human, and pumped his fist in the air triumphantly. "Yessss! We did it! Ha, serves you right, you robotic Frankenstein! Who let the dogs out? Woof, woof, woof! We let the dogs out! We're free!"
But Brad just pushed his hair back out of his eyes, moist with sweat as he fought to catch his breath, and shook his head at the dancing nerd's antics. "Sheldon, let's just do a little reality check. We're two humans trapped in a mad scientist's lab, hundreds of feet underneath an evil robot queen's palace, on a planet a zillion miles from home. We've got no idea where Jenny is, or where Drew is, or where the rest of the class is. And another bunch of robot goons could show up at any moment!"
Sheldon gulped. "Well, sure, when you say it like that …"
"We've got to find Jenny and Drew," said Brad, as he surveyed the smoking wreckage of Stanley's lab. "At least we know the Cluster doesn't have them … but we're not going to have much luck either, walking around in a city filled with robots!"
Sheldon knelt down beside the two decapitated roach-drones, and tapped his pimpled chin. "Hmmm … then maybe if we can't beat 'em … we should join 'em. Come on, Brad, give me a hand with this." He rolled up his sleeves, and start pulling out the mechanical insides of the Cluster robots, tossing gears, hoses, and pistons into a makeshift junk pile. An idea was forming in his brilliant, geeky brain.
Continued in Chapter Eight / Six Days to Cluster Dawn