46 The Threefold Mission

Chapter 46 The Threefold Mission Seconds later, the group arrived at the opening of the chute that Josephine and Rockwell had crawled through earlier. One by one, everybody clambered inside. 'I will meet you in the service lift, at ground-floor level, said 72 as they slowly retracted the ladder back through the hatch in their base. 'You will be able to access it via the Facility Room in the basement. Fortunately, this lift runs directly from the ground floor all the way to the top of the Spire.' The group began to make their way up the narrow chute,

crawling nose-to-bottom like a procession of soldier ants advancing up a drainpipe. It's so strange, isn't it?' said Rockwell to Peanut as they shuffled along. 'What is?' she replied. 'Us crawling along an illustrated chute inside an illustrated tower at the centre of an illustrated city?' 'Well, yes, that is quite strange, I suppose. But I was thinking more about the whole Mr White thing. All this time, we thought that he was this all-powerful, terrifying enemy. 'Well, to be fair, that's exactly what he was, er, is,' she replied. 'Yes, he is. But don't you think it's strange to see him looking so pathetic and, well, harmless now? It makes you wonder why we were ever worried about him in the first place.' 'I know what you mean, but I'm not sure I can feel sorry for him just yet!' Oh no, I'm not about to become bestfriends with him or anything. It's just that, well, I guess seeing him like this makes me realise that he's a human being, just like the rest of us. And that we can all make mistakes. Peanut smiled. Trust Rockwell to be so open-hearted. 'Speaking of best friends,' Peanut said, spotting an opening to get something off her chest. 'There's something I've been

meaning to say. I know I was a bit standoffish when we first met, and reluctant to allow us to become anything more than study buddies. But when you left yesterday, it made me realise just how important our friendship is. I just want you to know that the reason I was so happy to see you this morning wasn't because you'd come to rescue us. It was because I'd really missed my best friend. Rockwell blushed. ' Thanks, Peanut. That means a lot. I've never had a best friend before.' Despite the grim situation they were in at that very moment, Rockwell was sure that he'd never felt happier. Ten minutes later, Dad, who was bringing up the rear, hauled himself up through the chute's opening in the bottom of the pool and into the Facility Room. ' Well, that was fun,' he said to the others, shaking the wet plaster from his shoes. 'So, where's this service lift, then? And after we take it to the top of the Spire, what's the plan?' OK, everyone. Listen very carefully,' said Josephine, who had effortlessly slipped into the role of leader. 'Our mission is threefold. First, we must capture RAZER 67 and Alan. Second, we need to recover Pencil Number One and get it to Gary, Conte's heir. And third, we need to stop the Giant X from filling the lake with plaster.'

'Er, don't forget Nerys,' said Peanut. 'We need to rescue her as well. 'Indeed, let's not forget Nerys,' agreed Josephine. She walked over to a panel on the wall and tapped a keypad next to it. A little door slid open. She reached inside and pulled out a small, brass object with a flip-top lid and handed it to Rockwell. ' Rockwell, use this when you get up to the control room. 'What is it?' he asked. It's a device I built just after we developed the second-generation RAZER model. A contingency, if you will. I knew that giving the robots a degree of autonomy would carry some risk, so I needed something that would enable me to immobilise any RAZER that became problematic. It was something I used to keep with me at all times. But when I realised that I might be imprisoned by White, I decided to hide the device down here. I suppose I was subconsciously anticipating this precise moment.

'So, let me get this straight. Rockwell opened the device's flip-top lid. 'If I press this button, any RAZER in the vicinity will immediately be paralysed?' Exactly,' said Josephine. 'And they will remain so until you press the button again. 'Amazing!' he said. ' Awww, how come Rocky gets all the cool devices?' said a miffed Little-Bit. 'He got to blow up those exocetia in the North Draw that time, too. Not fair!' 'I guess some of us are just better at pressing buttons than others,' said Rockwell with a smile. Actually, Little-Bit,' said Josephine, 'you've just given me an idea. I think I know how we can stop the Giant X.' She walked over to a computer terminal and sat down. 'If you don't mind, I'll stay here and work on that. We need to take it down before the plaster levels get too high. Can you guys handle 67 and Alan without me?' Definitely!' said Peanut, Rockwell, Little-Bit, Leo, Dad and Woodhouse in unison. Doodle barked his affirmation too. ' Er, yes,' said Mum a second or two later, with rather more uncertainty in her voice. 'We can. 'Well, in that case,' said Josephine, 'you'd better get yourselves into that lift.'