Further Into The Future!

Chapter 26

"Jesus," Jack said, jolting in surprise when I ran into the room behind him and Susan. They were standing in front of the door, facing the machine.

"You left like thirty seconds ago," he said.

"Well, I came back at the exact moment I left," I said. "You won't believe what I saw – "

"Save it for later, Professor. We still have to find the robots."

After we left the room Jack closed the door with one hand and opened the final door in the hallway with the other at the same time.

He stuck his head in and turned it side to side. Then he turned on the light, showing a room just like the last one except instead of the time machine chained to the floor it was a Viking longboat.

"We'll have to remember to tell Alfred and Eric about that," Jack whispered.

"Tell us about what?" Alfred's deep, humorless voice bellowed from behind us.

"About this," Jack said as he pointed to the boat.

Alfred stepped forward slowly, somberly, and dropped to his knees in front of the boat. He raised his arms into the air.

"Praise to Oden, our ship has returned," he said.

"Have the rest of you found anything?" Jack asked.

Alfred turned his head to look over his blue shoulder at Jack impatiently, as if Jack were interrupting him.

"Yes. We found your robots. They're in a room down the hallway on the right side of the second floor," he said curtly.

"Thanks a million," Jack said sarcastically, but it seemed to bounce off the back of Alfred's muscular neck, because he had already turned back to continue worshipping the machine. He bowed to the ground again and again, muttering something under his breath in a guttural language.

We left him there and cautiously walked up the stairs to the second floor. There was a row of long-ignored dead plants with brown wilting leaves along the wall of the stairway and the hall above.

We came to the room Alfred mentioned. The No-Good Greasers, the Quitters and Lori, the Proud Mother were already there. The Greasers were examining a jukebox the Corrupt Cops had stolen from them. The Proud Mother was going through a box of papers presumably having to do with the success of her children. The Quitters were sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall, resting.

Our twenty robots were in a jail cell at the far end of the room. They were standing in an eerily perfect square, staring straight ahead at us. Tiberius stood in front of them like a sergeant in front of his troops. He was grasping one of the bars with his functional hand and gazing out the cell longingly, or as longingly as a robot can.

"Jack! Susan! Dan! The Professor!" he yelled emotionlessly, as if reading the names off a list.

We walked to him. He stuck his arm out of the bars and Jack shook it absently, lifting the lock with his other hand to examine it. It was the size of an alarm clock, the metal loop on top as thick as my index finger.

"Damn it," he said before slamming the lock against the door. "Does anyone have something that could cut through this lock?"

The Proud Mother and the Quitters shook their heads.

"Sorry Jack, can't help you," Tony said before turning back to the jukebox.

Jack cursed under his breath. Then his face lit up and he took a step toward Tiberius, stroking his mustache anxiously.

"Tiberius, can you or any other robot cut off this lock?"

"I can't Sir," he said, "but maybe one of the other robots can."