Cloneward Bound (22 page)

Fisher felt a leaden coldness spread through his body. The sensation made him want to sink even lower, to lie flat on the floor and then keep on going. He wished he could just close his eyes and sleep for a hundred years, and wake up when everyone who knew him was gone. He had failed Two. His selfishness and lack of foresight had led them to this point. As hard as he’d tried to turn things around, it hadn’t been enough.

But a little point of heat blinked to life underneath the cold, just as Fisher was about to collapse and let everything go. Fisher had failed Two, that was certain. But Fisher wasn’t the one who killed him. He hadn’t created a massive, deadly arena to get his petty vengeance on personal enemies. And the man who
had
done those things was about to take more innocent lives, and go on to do who knows what else.

“That’s enough,” Fisher said quietly, staring down at Two’s body. He felt as though he had gone plummeting into the pool as well. His whole body was numb. He wasn’t afraid anymore. He stood up. “That’s enough.” He stared at Dr. X as dozens of robots began to emerge from the jungle at the base of the pyramid, machines closing in for the kill. “
That’s enough!
” he shouted one more time over the din of the approaching robots. He looked straight at Dr. X and yelled, “Kevin!”

“Huh?” Keels replied, still shaking.

“That song, the gift wrap one?”

“What about it?” he asked, his voice squeaky.

“Sing it.” Fisher turned to see the massive Tyranno-bot begin to lumber up the steps of the stone building. He knew it was only the first of the many mechanical monstrosities that would be on top of them in moments.

“What?” Keels spluttered. “What are you talking about? What’s that going to—”

“
Sing it
,” Fisher said. “As loud as you can.
Now!
”

Kevin Keels, pop sensation, moments from being murdered by robots, looked at GG McGee incredulously. She nodded her head.

“Do it,” she said.

Keels shrugged, cleared his throat a couple of times, tilted his head back, and opened his mouth wide.

“SILVER RIBBON IN A TIDY BOWWWWWWWW …”

If Fisher had known as much about language as he did about physics and biochemistry, he might have been able to select a word that could properly describe what Kevin Keels was doing.
Singing
was definitely not it. He felt like his brain was being struck with a jittery piano hammer.

For a brief moment, he thought of Veronica and felt a pang. She would probably know the proper word. He wished Veronica could hear Kevin now.

He might never see Veronica again.

“UNTIE IT, BABY, BUT UNTIE IT SLOWW …”

Fisher threw his hands over his ears. Everyone else did, too. The sonic assault was hitting everyone like a fire hose. Dr. X was on his knees, screaming “Stop! Stop! Make it stop!” Even Three, undoubtedly the toughest of all of them, had his hands clamped on his ears and was doubled over.

“DIDN’T NEED SCOTCH TAPE TO FOLD IT MYSELF …”

But the brutal caterwauling wasn’t just affecting the humans. Everywhere, the robots were grinding to a halt. As Fisher had hoped, the upper frequencies of Keels’s horrible, screeching voice were interfering with their electronics.

“HOPE YOU HAVE A SOFT SPOT SET UP ON THE SHELF …”

Alarm bells sounded. Small machines ground themselves into bits and pieces or threw themselves, kamikaze-style, against the pyramid, exploding in a shower of sparks. Fisher knew they only had a moment to act. He looked at Amanda.

“We have to move now,” Fisher called over the continued
noise of Kevin’s wailing. He pulled out his stretch-tie and eyed the Tyranno-bot. “I’m going to hitch a ride. You do what you do best.”

Amanda nodded grimly, hands still covering her ears, and they sprang into action.

CHAPTER 21

As Amanda clapped a hand over Kevin’s mouth and at last the horrifying wailings stopped, Fisher was already sprinting for the Tyranno-bot. He didn’t know how long Kevin Keels’s highly destructive voice would paralyze the robots, but he couldn’t assume the effects would last more than a few seconds.

After watching Two die, a part of him wanted to curl up on the floor and wait for his own untimely end. He forced himself to shove down the emotions—anger, terror, guilt—that threatened to overwhelm him. He had no time to grieve. He had to stop Dr. X before anyone else suffered or died at his hands.

His mind started firing on all cylinders, looping a single thought back to him:
Fight
.

He wrapped his trusty necktie around his palms to protect them from the heat, and sprang for one massive leg of the Tyranno-bot. Using the climbing skills he’d
first honed scaling the Wompalog air ducts, he clambered up the Tyranno-bot’s body and straddled its broad iron neck.

Amanda found a section of hydraulic piping that had been exposed when the trap door had opened. Gritting her teeth, she wrenched it out of the ground, then ran to the feet of Fisher’s metal dinosaur.

“Can you control that thing?” she shouted.

Fisher looked over at Dr. X, who, doubled over, was being guided back into the booth by Three. In moments, they had reached the door and shut themselves inside. Fisher would have to deal with them later; right now, the army of metal monsters was closing in on them.

“Working on it,” Fisher yelled, finding the motor circuitry panel on the back of the robot’s head and prying it open. Just as the machine came online again, he yanked out the connection between the main processor and the motor control center. The Tyranno-bot stopped as still as a museum exhibit.

It was a good start. Now Fisher just had to figure out how to make it move again—under his control.

“The machines are at the stairs, Fisher!” Amanda sounded almost excited.

No, Fisher realized. Not excited—angry. Amanda hefted the makeshift weapon in her hands, looking eager to test it out on the first thing that came too close. Fisher
risked another glance beneath him. GG and Devilish were still staggering around dizzily, shaking their heads, presumably to clear them of the piercing echoes of Keels’s voice. Kevin had collapsed into a ball and had his arms wrapped around his knees.

“Come on, you guys!” Amanda shouted. “Get over here and help me!”

Still moaning, GG and Dr. Devilish staggered over next to Amanda as, once again, the machines began to move.

Dr. X’s mechanical servants, electric eyes glowing hot, began mounting the steps of the pyramid. Leading the charge were small spidery robots; behind them were wheeled motorcycle-like robots, and a wide variety of human-shaped robots armed with built-in clubs, spiked chains, swords, chain saws, sharpened propellers, and whips.

And standing against the monstrous army, at the top of the stone staircase, were a TV show host with impeccable hair and teeth, a Hollywood agent who was without sunglasses for the first time in as long as she could remember, a seventh-grade wrestling champion, another seventh grader perched on top of a robotic dinosaur, and a teen pop sensation curled up in the fetal position and crying for his mother.

Fisher squashed a feeling of hopelessness.

“Now, Amanda!” he cried.

Amanda hefted the steel pole like a baseball bat and with one mighty swing sent the head of a spindly droid bouncing back down the stairs to the feet of its companions.

“Nice shot,” Fisher said as he got back to work. Beads of sweat popped up all over his face.

“We are all going to die,” said Dr. Devilish matter-of-factly as the machines continued their clanking advance.

“We’re working on an alternate plan,” Amanda said, looking out across the mechanical crowd. “All we have to do is keep them back until Fisher can figure out how to operate that thing.”

“What if he doesn’t?” said McGee, padding her hands over her suit, probably looking for anything resembling a weapon.

“He will,” Amanda said solemnly. If Fisher weren’t so busy rewiring a giant metal dinosaur, he would have thanked Amanda for the vote of confidence.

Amanda’s head twitched suddenly and she looked around. “Where’s FP?”

“Oh, no!” Fisher felt a jolt of panic. But then he saw his backpack, untouched, lying near the Producer’s booth, and breathed a sigh of relief. “He’s in the backpack. Let’s hope he’s safe as long as he stays there.” He fought back
the urge to dismount and grab his pet. But if Fisher abandoned his work now, they were all done for. He put his head down and worked as fast as his tired hands could move.

“Here they come!” Amanda screamed.

The palm-sized insect-bots skittered forward, racing ahead of the remaining force with incredible speed. The first one reached the top of the stairs and leapt straight at Amanda’s head. She swatted it out of the sky with her makeshift club, letting out a triumphant yell.

Another one ran up to McGee just as she pulled a large object out of her purse. She crouched down and crushed it with one blow.

“Good work!” Amanda shouted over the now almost-deafening sound of marching machines. And then, swiveling around. “What
is
that?”

“Kevin’s latest contract!” McGee replied, hefting the rolled-up sheaf of papers like a billy club.

Fisher glanced down as Amanda crushed two more of the little spider-bots with ease. A third jumped at Dr. Devilish, aiming its eight sharpened legs at his chest. He reached to the back pocket of his suit pants, moving with instinctive quickness, and swept his arm through the air. The thin, shiny object cut the tiny robot in half.

“Titanium comb,” Dr. Devilish said, cracking a small
smile. “It takes a lot of work to keep this fine coif in place.”

The little robots continued to swarm, and Amanda, GG McGee, and Dr. Devilish swung left and right, shifting from side to side and fighting as hard as they could to keep the insect machines at bay. Amanda missed one and it slashed her across the shoulder, leaving a long, shallow cut. She yelped in anger, then grabbed the robot barehanded and flung it back down the stairs, where it collided with and demolished two of its comrades.

“Come on, come on, come on,” Fisher muttered under his breath. He hastily reconnected a pair of wires, and the ensuing short circuit sent sparks showering in his face. Beneath him, the sounds of battle increased in pitch.

“There’s a big one coming!” McGee shouted, pointing at a humanoid-bot. Its long, flexible limbs were tipped with powerful clamping hands.

“This one’s mine,” Amanda shouted. “Just keep the little ones off me!”

Dr. Devilish and GG McGee backed up to protect Amanda, who dropped her staff as the new opponent reached the top of the stairs. The bot was a foot or so taller than Amanda, with an oval-shaped body propped up on wide-footed legs. Its single, purple-lens eye scanned her up and down, and it extended its snaky, multi-jointed plastic arms to seize her.