Biker Mice from Mars
Hard Luck, Dently & Sunni
The Dim-Wit-Inning
Pt 2.
"OK, Got It!" Sunni cried out, once again shattering the Lobby's Stillness as she rushed through the stairway door, pulling it open as wide as she could while leaning back against the wall! A loud rumbling noise came from the open doorway, an erratically bouncing light playing across the interior stairway accompanying it!
BAM, SLAM, WHAM! Dently rolled down the stairs sounding like a bunch of steel barrels with anvils in them! He barely cleared the doors with his handlebars retracted as much as they could be, so he didn't rip the door from its hinges! They, unfortunately, didn't figure this out until after the 3rd floor doors.
Dently applied his brakes but still slipped and skidded across the thick lobby carpet, his heavy studded tires once again not doing the deep shag any favors. If anything, it just accented the damage caused by their first entry into the lobby. His thudding into the coffee table and sending the large pile of magazines flying all over the place didn't help matters any.
Sunni took in the minor disaster and pulled a notepad and pen from a pocket. "Ok, I'll just add this to the list too." She began jotting down on the page, that already had a header of Things to Repair & Clean Before Leaving. 3rd Floor Door and stairwell were already written down. She was already getting a pretty strong hunch that the list would be getting longer.
Dently separated himself from the table, extended mechanical appendages, and hastily and sloppily reassembled the spilled articles back onto the top. He questioningly rattled off a look at Sunni. She smiled at him. "It's a start so you get points for that!" Tail fender wagging happily, he accepted a small bit of rare positive acknowledgment.
"Now, to begin our investigation!" She declared and moved towards the front desk. Dently swiveled his headlight, keeping her in the light. She looked through the registry again, but other than their own, she didn't recognize any of the names. Granted she was only about 4 years old when the last ones were entered into it.
Looking behind the desk didn't help either. There was nothing back there you wouldn't expect to find in any office. Just basic office-type supplies. Spare pens, and pencils. A couple of extremely out-of-date phonebooks, maps, and tourist pamphlets of the local area, and the grounds around the motel itself. She grabbed one of those, she loved that kind of touristy type stuff, and it Might just contain some clue as to why the Motel closed all those years ago. Never overlook a possible hint!
"Vroom, vroom, vroom!" Dently rumbled excitedly from the other side of the desk. "What, did you spot something?" she asked looking around excitedly, trying to figure out what he was indicating. He rattled some more, but she just shrugged, not following him.
Letting out a frustrated metallic harumph, he swung his headlight around, irised the lens until it turned into a small spotlight, and aimed it behind her. "Oh, good Idea, yeah, we should really look in there! Good Job Dently!" She smiled again looking at the Office Door now being illuminated that had been all but invisible in the deep shadows behind her.
She stepped over and grasped the doorknob. It twisted stiffly and with a shove, the door popped open with a crack. "Whew, I was afraid it was locked for a second. I thought we'd have to go all the way back upstairs to get Hard Luck to come here and pick the lock for us!"
Dently did a miraculous job of restraining himself from rattling off a heavily sarcastic response. He was just as capable of doing it himself. (Better if you ask him directly) Granted Hard Luck was the one that taught him how to do it, but he didn't feel like giving the Grumpy Blue Spoilsport upstairs any credit right now.
She looked at the open office door. Even with Dently's headlight aimed directly at it, it remained a solid rectangle of darkness. She shivered. "Totally spooky! Looks like you won't fit back here, I should have a flashlight in my backpack, can you get it for me, Please & Thank You!" She pleasantly requested as he retrieved it and tossed it to her.
Dently revved concernedly as she stood by the eerie doorway. He didn't like the thought of her going somewhere without him. She couldn't help smiling at his easily discernable concern. "Oh, that's so sweet, but it's ok, there isn't anything to worry about. Hard Luck's right, this place is just a motel. There isn't anything Mysterious really, this is all just a game to pass the time, Have some fun!" She held the flashlight up under her chin, making silly faces at him in its light.
She disappeared into the office. "Wow, it is Really Dark in Here!" She gasped, her little flashlight barely having any effect in the murkiness. Dently propped himself up as high as he could and clicked his headlight to high beams, trying to help as much as he could, but even that didn't seem to work any better than Sunni's little flashlight.
He could barely hear her carefully rummaging around, even with his sensory equipment pushed up to its max settings, which again, was Very Confusing. He should literally be able to see, hear, and practically feel everything happening in the small office! Maybe Hard Luck was right about the cold and wet affecting his systems. He should run a self-diagnostic on himself, and calculate the probabilities of his friend being actually right about more than one thing at a time!
Thump! Dently's Camera Eye spun around at the unexpected noise behind him! His pile of magazines and newspapers had fallen off the coffee table and onto the floor. Scanning the small area, he couldn't identify what had caused that to happen! He hadn't bumped into it, despite the Blizzard outside, there was no draft, and certainly no tectonic activity!
Backing up as far as he could without lessening the light going into the office, he once again piled the paraphernalia back onto the table, this time in a slightly more structurally sound pile. Satisfied He turned his attention back to Sunni still rummaging around in the dark room.
"Pretty much the same in here as it is out there, not spotting anything but it does look like the manager did leave right in the middle of doing their job." She called out to the sound of her pulling the desk draws open and searching through them. "Everything is dated to the same as the last day as the date in the Motel's registry too!"
Dently filed this new information into his computers to begin processing it as best as possible. THUMP! Camrea Eye spinning around again. The magazines and papers were all on the floor again!? There wasn't anyone or anything there!? His Logic Circuits Nearly Fused! Deciding to do the only sensible thing, he panicked!
"HONK, Honk, honk, honk, HOOONK!"" He blurted out with headlight and turn-signals all flashing erratically! He nearly crashed through the front desk when he jumped up, bringing his front tire down heavily on top of it with a loud THUD!
Sunni dashed out of the office! "What, what is it, what!?" She gasped looking around excitedly for whatever was exciting the Motorcycle! "Brap, rattle, vroom rumble!" He agitatedly clanked while indicating at the table behind him!
"Yes, I already told you, you did a Very Nice Job of cleaning up the mess, but I'll congratulate you again. Good Job Dently!" She smiled and gave him a couple of hearty pats on his front tire. He stared at her bewilderedly for a couple of seconds before looking back at the table himself. His Camera Literally did a Double-Take when he spotted that all the fallen things were once again Back on the Coffee Table and in their Original Place from when they first entered the Motel!
"Bah Rumble FHRAP?!" He rasped nearly toppling over! Sunni seemingly not noticing the exasperated machine's exasperated befuddlement, she politely pulled the office door back into its closed position as she found it.
"I didn't find anything about the Motel closing in there, but I did find this!" She held up a big key attached to a large fob with the Motel Logo on it. "It's a Passkey, it'll open every door in the entire Motel!" To help point out the significance, she gave the key a little jangle!
Dently's Camera Eye was all but swirling as it shot back and forth from the coffee table to Sunni, he was rattling like he was about to explode via a frustration build-up! Sometimes He found not being able to openly communicate with regular flesh beings to be extremely inconvenient, not to mention highly irritating! Granted if Hard Luck can learn to do it, Sunni should be more than capable of it as well.
"Oh, let's go see if we can get into those parts of the Motel that Guests aren't supposed to be in!" Sunni giggled. "That just seems so naughty, but fun at the same time!" Dently just let out a gasping sigh of defeat, pushed him off the desk, and prepared to follow her, but gave the lobby one more suspicious once over before departing.
If they'd stayed in the lobby just a few seconds after the darkness once again reclaimed it, they might have heard the sound of shuffling papers and things moving around. That and a gravelly voice. "Consarn It, that shoulda worked, ohh that blasted contraption, rashafrashing, I'll scare em outta here yet, by golly, I swears I will!" The Voice grumbled. "They won't find it before me!" The Voice growled seeming to drift away letting the silence grip the lobby once more!
"Oh, ouch, I Hate it when this happens." Hard Luck moaned stumbling back into the Honeymoon suite through the balcony door while shoving a couple of paws of snow down the back of his singed pants. "At least those two didn't see that happen."
"How did that happen?" He wondered while checking to make sure the seat of his pants hadn't gotten burnt off. (That was a lesson learned the hard way) Kneeling by the fireplace, looking to see if it was a gas feed kind, it wasn't.
Even the ashes and coals in the grate were cold, and it hadn't been that long. Heck, even his butt impression in the snow on the balcony hadn't filled in yet. Leaning back against the mantle, making sure not to do so in front of the actual fireplace, He yanked his cyborg ankle up and checked to see if it's jet and gas lines were leaking, to see if it was the cause of it. Nope, that wasn't it either.
"Well, cheese I give up." He sighed, quickly moving away from the fireplace. "Why does this stupid stuff always happen to me?" He whined, rubbing his sore seat. "Do I really wanna know the answer to that?" Shaking his head with a tender grimace he decided no, probably not.
He looked around the room and noticed how big it was. Also noticed how cold and empty it was. How Lonely it felt. "Cheese, why didn't I go with those two?" He sighed and slowly sat on a red heart-shaped ottoman. Eeehh!" He winced quickly standing back up, paws holding his scorched tail section gingerly.
"Oh, ow." Stumbling slightly, he looked at the fluffy red romanced motif-filled room again and frowned. "Stupid room, stupid motel, stupid storm, it was stupid to stop here, shoulda just kept going." He grumbled childishly while gripping his green bandana attached to a ring on his leather aviator cap.
Looking around the suite threatened to dig up long-buried memories. "Uh, where are those two goofballs?" He stomped back over to the fireplace. "I, I ought to go check up on them, probably getting into all kinds of trouble in this Stupid Dump!" He snarled and pulled his cyborg leg back and gave the hearth a swift kick!
CRUNCH! The Stone Edifice shook under the impact. A small slightly mean immature grin on his face at delivering a little bit of payback, but it vanished when a low rumbling and rattling started high up in the chimney quickly getting louder!
"Uh Oh?" Hard Luck gulped as the rumbling grew louder and closer! Rattle, Clank, Clatter, CRASH!" He ducked down half expecting the top half of the chimney to come bursting out of the wall on top of him! Crouched down in front of the fireplace, Hard Luck slowly opened one eye, then the other. "Whew, I thought that was gonna be a lot worse!"
BAH-WHOOSH! A Massive Cloud of Dark Black Soot, Ash, and Grit erupted out of the hearth, right into Hard Luck's face, and enveloping almost half the room in a Giant Grimy Cloud! A couple of seconds of unsettling quiet settled over the suite.
"HACK, COUGH, CHOKE, COUGH, AAGGHH!" Hard Luck burst from the cloud, no longer a vivid blue but now a dark grayish black, his front side covered in a thick coating of dark soot! Blinded and caught in the grip of a Coughing Fit, He rushed to get to any clear breathable air that he could, his feet colliding right into the red and white heart-shaped ottoman!
"WAAUGH, COUGH, HACK, AAH!?" His Flustered, arms spun as he tripped over the small piece of furniture! WHUMP! "OUCH!" He hit the floor hard, his momentum carrying him rolling forward, chaotically crashing, and smashing over and through everything in his path!
Chairs, small tables, and lamps all sent flying everywhere, some tangling up around him and joining his rolling! BAM! Slamming into the wall next to the fireplace, his back against the wall sitting in a pile of broken furniture and other debris.
"Ugh, uh, cough, oh, fromage me, spit, puh-tooey, at least that's over." Moaning, shaking his head, blinking rapidly vainly trying to clear the grime from his eyes, while trying to push himself up into a sitting position.
CRASH! "OUCH!" He cried out as a decorative plate rolled off the fireplace mantle, falling, and shattering on top of his head. Other similar and just as fragile items followed it. BASH! "YEOW!' SMASH! "OOH!" CRACK! "Ahh!"
"Gruh!?" Eyes slowly opened to see if the barrage was over. His head feeling like an egg that had been cracked open he thudded back against the wall. Woosh, Thump, RIP! "AUGH!?" A large gilded framed painting of a large red heart with dancing diaper-clad cherubs around it, falling directly onto his head, which punched through in the middle of it.
"What's that? Why No. I don't think the Moon Cheese tastes funny at all, uhm guh, fug Muwhaa?!" He sputtered, eyes spinning, head tilting to one side, it now appearing as if the cherubs were pointing and laughing at the sore-headed and soot-covered Martian.
"Wow, it sounded like a Wrecking Ball just slammed into something upstairs!" Sunni gasped, eyes open in concern and wonder looking up at the Motel Ceiling. "Do you think we should go check on Hard Luck?" Dently, also looking up, just did his best to give her a machine shrug, camera eye shaking a negative to her. Sadly, He had a pretty good idea that the "Wrecking Ball" was a Blue one. He'd learned through rough experiences sometimes it was safer to leave such things alone.
Standing at the end of the first-floor hallway in front of a couple of double doors marked Staff Only, Sunni looked at the Passkey in her hand. "Gee, I don't know Dently, I'm starting to have 2nd thoughts about this for some reason."
Dently gave her one of those tilted-head looks, and a questioning engine rumble. "I don't know why, it's just that it's a feeling that suddenly came over me." She mirrored the look that Dently gave her. "It's as if someone or something doesn't want us to go any further. Like there's something It doesn't want to be found out. You don't feel it?"
Dently looked at her, down at his front wheel, then slowly around the dark hallway, then back up at her, and vigorously shook his camera eye in an empathic NO. "You're right, we shouldn't let anything stop us from checking into this, there is a Mystery here to solve, oh this is just too much fun to stop Now!" A look of Determination crossed her face before being replaced by a more typical smiling enthusiasm!
Completely unable to resist her enthusiastic demeanor, his tail fender wagging and camera eye all but falling off nodding up and down! It was a Really Nice Change from the type of misadventures he and Hard Luck tended to get into. A change of pace was nice occasionally!
Headlight illuminating the area in stark contrast to the hallway with the motel rooms, this was far more Spartan to say the least. No carpet or decorations of any kind hung on the wall. Just bare cold gray concrete. Cheap dead fluorescent lights hung from the ceiling, and only work notices and employee post boards were on the walls.
"Oh, brr it's really chilly in here!" Sunni shivered, wrapping her arms around herself, her breath forming puffy clouds in the air as the temperature dropped dramatically from just the other hallway. Notching Dently again revved his engine, attempting to produce what heat he could to drive away the cold.
"Thanks!" She smiled appreciating the attempt, rewarding it with another pat on the camera eye. Huddling together, they moved down the dark hallway. Their footsteps, rolling tires, and rumbling engine echoing off the hard walls gave the gloomy place an even more eerie sensation.
They squeezed closer together, Dently starting to rattle. "You're not scared, are you?" Sunni asked him. He looked up at her and did his best to assure her that no, of course, he wasn't, his rattling frame not helping convey that though. "Good, 'cause it's starting to give me the willies!" Sunni smiled again but gulped nervously.
Moving down the corridor, they passed a couple of old laundry carts coated with towels and bedsheets. Doors marked Supplies and Laundry. She stopped and unlocked them but revealed nothing too surprising in them. "Maybe these will have some answers in them!' She said as they walked up to the door marked Staff Quarters-Private.
"Brumble?" Dently chugged. "What, oh, it's where the people who worked here stayed since this is such a remote place. It's too far for them to drive home every night. They used to do this all the time back in the old days." She explained to the questioning machine, who cranked out a replying clatter.
She unlocked the door and pushed it open. A thin dark passage stretched out and curved around a sharp corner. "I don't think you'll fit down that Dently, you'll have to stay here this time." Dently looked around the cold hallway. "Rumble!?"
"Oh, it will be fine, what could possibly happen, you're letting your imagination get away with you." She said doing her best to reassure the nervous machine. Dently seemed to consider this, then popped his weapons out of their compartments and bumped against the doorframe! "Vroom, rattle, clank!"
"NO!" She gasped waving her hands in front of him, trying to calm him down. "I mean, no, no you may not BLAST your way in. I'm pretty sure the Motel owners would not appreciate that. "With a grumpy harumph, he reluctantly retracted his blasters.
"Whew, uh I mean I still have my flashlight see." She held up the light under her chin again and smiled at him. "If Anything Does happen, I'll call out and THEN you can blast your way in, How does that sound?" He looked around but seemed to accept the offer.
"Look, while I'm looking in here, why don't you go check in that room over there, the doors look wide enough for you, and it looks like something you'd know more about than me." She said pointing to the doors across the hall marked "MECHANICAL ROOM" He guessed that made sense.
She started walking down the dark hall before suddenly popping back out. "Oh, but if you DO hear me start screaming, then by All Means Feel Free to Blast Your way IN!" He gave her a rumbling Affirmative!
He turned himself around and moved towards the door, as Sunni disappeared back into the Staff Area. He inspected the door, choosing the proper tool attachments to open it with. An Icey draft whipped down the hallway, frosting over his camera lens!
"Bah-rumble!?" He rasped suddenly blinded! Kicking defrosters into high, he looked for the source of this chill! The breeze was getting stronger, and colder! His metal frame started to ice up, and he had to brace himself with his kickstand to keep from getting blown over!
The Wind intensity quickly jumped to near Gale Force Levels! Ice coated the walls, ice sickles formed on the pipes and lights on the ceiling, and the sheets, blankets, and towels in the carts fluttered and flapped making loud snapping sounds!
Dently turned into the wind, but struggled with trying to figure out what was happening exactly! The Doors at the end of the corridor were still closed, same with the vents in the walls! This shouldn't be possible was the only thing that his logic circuits could shamble together! That and how do you Fight WIND!?
With a sudden groan, the freezing squall literally died! Dently almost fell over from the sudden drop of resistance! The temperature rose almost as quickly! The Frost and Ice all but vanished before his photoreceptors! The strewn-about linen fluttered to the floor in drifting piles!
SUNNI! He charged at the Staff Door, his frame slamming into the wooden frame! "BEEP, HONK BEEP, HONK!" He all but exploded with checking on her! A few silent seconds passed, and he was on the verge of tearing his way into the tight passage when… "I haven't found anything yet, just some old food cartons, dirty laundry, and some kinky old 70s magazines. What about you, find anything out there?"
"Brrrraaappp!" He nearly popped his sparkplugs with relief. "I've only got the Manager's room to look in, so I guess keep looking out there, Be out in a couple minutes!" Rattling a reply, he backed into the hallway and nearly shorted out again! All the thrown-around linen and moisture residue was GONE! The Corridor was BONE DRY, and the Linen was all neatly folded and stacked in the carts exactly like when they came in!?
His camera eye nearly spun off its connector! Engine growling like a caged beast, he turned to the Mechanical Room Doors again! Weapons popping from their compartments, all notions of picking the lock ignored, front wheel raised, he Rammed the Doors Open like an Earth Bull!
"RROOOAAARRRRR…rumble!?" He scanned the dark room, weapons out ready for anything or anyone, except that once again it was just another dark, dusty, and empty room. Well, not exactly empty.
The Mechanical/Utility Room was exactly as advertised. A Couple of worktables, with toolboxes. Some old-fashioned large electrical fuse boxes on a wall, and a large rusty, cold, and silent Boiler take up a large chunk of the dark area. His Headlight playing across the room, just to confirm that it was empty, but the dancing shadows could have fooled anyone into thinking otherwise.
He rolled a little further in. The thick undisturbed layers of dust confirmed that no one (living) had been in here for a decade at least. The fuse boxes, filled with the old glass fuses almost twinkled like stars in the night sky in his headlight, while the Massive Old Boiler, once used to heat both Motel's water and the Motel itself sat in its corner like a huge, neglected statue made of some forgotten beast of eldritch lore.
Dently trundled over in front of the old colossus. He marveled at its antiquated artistry. It reminded him of some alien creatures he'd encountered in the remote and darker corners of the galaxy. An involuntary shiver rattled his metallic frame.
Its old fogged-up dials and mouth-like coal grate were rusted over and cold. Its myriad of varied sizes and tentacle-like pipes and tubes twisted off in all directions in a seemingly chaotic pattern that only the Beast itself could understand but would never explain to a mere mortal.
He was almost mesmerized looking at it. In an odd apparatus. In a way, he kind of felt sorry for it. If there is anything a machine hates are to become Obsolete. No Longer Needed, no longer useful. Just shoved away into a corner. Forgotten about and useless.
Endanger of getting lost in his mechanized melancholy he didn't notice things starting to move in the gloom behind him. Almost inaudible little clicks and ticks came from the corners of the gloomy room. The row of fuse boxes spasmed. The big power handles shuddered, then with a jerk, they all snapped up into the On Positions!
"Rumph!?" He blurted spinning eye cam around at the loud snapping cracks behind him! Above the ancient lights fizzed and clicked as they sparked and hissed suddenly coming on, casting a shaking light, sporadically chasing the darkness away!
The Toolboxes and instruments on the workbenches shook, rattled, and clanked on their own, He thought they would come flying at him, wanting to dismantle him on the spot! Spigots and Nozzles squeaked and groaned twisting as the behemoth clunked, and thudded, shuddering back to life, Flames shot from the mouth-like grille, causing the entire utility room to groan like a leviathan rolling over, awakening from a long slumber in the cold depths!
Dently wheeled around, looking at the dancing flames as steam hissed from loose joints and shacking pipes of the boiler, pumping thru the pipes along with the electricity flowing back into the old building! He got the sinking feeling that the Motel could collapse in on itself, burying him and his friends under the debris, Never to Seen or Heard from Again at Any Moment!
"Wow, you got everything working again, that's really Cool!" Sunni enthusiastically exclaimed, seemingly appearing out of nowhere right next to him. "HONK!" Dently Shrieked Startled, only stopped from falling over by Sunni quickly grasping him by a handlebar!
"Oops, sorry, didn't mean to scare you!" She giggled, holding on till the motorcycle stabilized and stayed upright. Unable to stop, he began a machine gun response of rattles, clanks, rumbles, and honks, desperately trying to describe all the things that had happened since they'd parted back in the outer hallway. Nodding her head, she listened patiently until he stopped, and physically calmed himself down. "I have no idea what you just said, but yeah. Good Job Dently, I mean it, really!" and patted his cameral. It took all his mechanical willpower to not explode.
"Well, I didn't find any clues back there, but I did find some paperwork and newspapers, and none of the dates went past one day which happened to be June 13th, 1980, which was a Friday that year, kinda spooky!" She couldn't stop herself from shivering and laughing.
Not understanding the significance of what a solar rotational period as defined by temporal numeral categorizing had on their current circumstances, he just nodded and shivered like she did. "I guess we can go look around the rest of the Motel now, but it should be a lot easier with the power back on, so I guess I won't need this anymore!" She said and put her flashlight into her backpack still attached to his seat.
They left the room, Dently giving it one last suspicious scan before rolling after Sunni. Empty again, the Boiler chugged away by itself, apparently the only thing moving. The grille on the heating vent up on the wall popped open with a cranky squeak!
"Oooohhh, Ooooohhhh, Get Out! Get Out Now Before It's Too LATE! OOOOHHHH!" A Wailing Voice Moaned and Groaned! A few seconds of silence passed. "Did You hear me, I Said Get Out Now! Is there anybody here, Hello!?" The only reply was again silence. "Gol-Darn-it, can't those two sits still for one minute!?" The Voice grumbled and the grille snapped shut!
…To Be Continued!