“Follow me,” directed George. He led the procession to the right of the elevator shafts. On one side was a blank wall at least 25 feet high. On the other were row upon row of crates. Each box had a mark on it, but none of the Starmen could recognize its meaning. Far down the rows was the opposite wall of the chamber, at least 200 yards away.
George St. George was hurrying, leading the band of fourteen onward. There was no opportunity for conversation, but Mark stepped up close to Zip, who had taken the last position in the march.
“Think what this place is, Zip!” the mystically-oriented Starman breathed, his eyes alight with excitement. “This was made by an intelligent, extra-terrestrial race we’ve never heard of! The Titanians certainly didn’t make it! And whoever made it was shaped just like us! As George said before, the controls, the beds, the chairs—all are designed for people like us! Same size! And imagine what must be in these storage units!”
“I have been thinking about it, Mark,” answered Zip. “I’ll want more time later to sift through my impressions, but there are too many questions here to deal with at the pace we’re going.”
“Of course, but think! Who made this place? How big is the complex? When and why did they abandon it? Where are they now?”
“Yes—and above all, what else will we find in here?”
Just then the screech of tortured metal sounded loudly throughout the chamber. Everyone turned and stared back at the elevators, where the sound was coming from. A spot on the left door of the central elevator began to glow red, then orange, then white. Iridescent metal began to spew forth in chunks. Then a spherical mechanism about the size of a basketball shot through the hole. A few bright green and yellow lights the size of small coins lit up its dull silver surface.
Zip’s blood ran cold. “It’s an airbot!” he cried. Zip had never seen an airbot before, but he knew what it was: an aerial reconobot, an armed robotic flying device which, among other uses, could be programmed to track down fugitives, drawn by their body heat. Zip and Mark lifted their laser pistols and fired simultaneously. Their beams lit up red dots on the surface of the flying ball but scattered harmlessly, as the Starmen assumed they would. The airbot quickly oriented itself to the escapees and began to fly toward them.
9: A Vision in the Night
“RUN! Go! Scatter! Move!” shouted Zip frantically. He ran forward to the closest aisle between the stacks of crates, wheeled right, and sped down the narrow space. He heard the quiet, efficient “zzap” sound of the airbot’s disabling beam, but apparently not directed toward him yet. Desperation powered his legs and they pumped at peak speed. He didn’t know where the others were or what they were doing. Someone else was racing behind him but he didn’t stop to find out who it was.