“We must be getting near to the northern tip of the island by now”, commented Toby.
They started walking again. The terrain grew rougher, the mossy carpet of rotting vegetation giving way to stony ground. The trail became steeper and by midday they were ready for a meal and a rest. They made camp by a stream that bubbled down from the higher ground ahead. Caitlin refilled their water bottles while Toby prepared a couple of trail-packs.
“Here you go”, said Toby, passing Caitlin a foil tray.
“Thanks”, said Caitlin. She spooned some of the lumpy gruel into her mouth and pulled a face.
“Chilli con carne apparently”, said Toby.
“Oh.”
They silently ate their trail-packs, both of them thinking about Marty.
“Seems kind of funny without him”, said Toby finally.
Caitlin nodded morosely. “Yeah, I sort of miss him as well. Even though he did what he did.”
Toby thoughtfully munched his food. “Do you think he had all this planned from the beginning?”
“How d’you mean?”
“Well from the word go he seemed hell-bent on creating some sort of spectacle for his show. Secretly activating the robots, lying to us to get us to the training camps, lying to De Coza so he’d follow us. I just can’t help wondering…”
He tailed off and Caitlin looked at him impatiently. “What?”
“Do you think it was maybe him who sabotaged Eve?”
Caitlin slowly shook her head. “Why would he want to derail his own show? It doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes a lot of sense if you look at it from his perspective. He gets a big budget spectacular with all the human drama of a reality TV show. Death, destruction, jeopardy, it’s a sure-fire ratings winner.”
“I guess”, said Caitlin doubtfully.
“It’s as good a motive as any”, persisted Toby.
Caitlin finished her meal and stood up. “Come on, we’d better get moving.” Toby spooned down the last of his trail-pack then followed Caitlin along the jungle trail.
They walked in silence for a few minutes then Caitlin abruptly froze.
“What is it?” asked Toby.
“You hear that sound?”
“What sound?”
“Listen.”
Toby cocked his head, frowning in concentration. Through the jungle chorus of insects he could just about make out a distant thumping sound.
“You hear it?” Caitlin whispered.
Toby nodded. “It’s coming from ahead of us.”
They cautiously walked along the trail towards the source of the noise. The sound got louder, a repetitive banging like someone methodically hammering in a nail. They rounded a corner and saw that the trail suddenly ended. And there, dementedly pounding a tree with its baseball bat was the Boston Wrangler.
“I knew it”, said Caitlin triumphantly, “that’s what made the trail we’ve been following.”
Toby looked at Eve curiously. “So why was following the Boston Wrangler so important?”
Lloyd’s voice echoed down from the top of the tree. “Guys, is there any chance you can turn that damn thing off?”
Toby and Caitlin looked up and saw Dale and Lloyd peering down at them through the thick canopy of branches. Toby pointed at the Boston Wrangler and Eve swiftly appraised the robot, calculating how to do maximum damage with minimum effort. She slashed her blade deep into the Wrangler’s damaged control panel and the robot fell silent.
“Thank God for that!” said Dale and they both scrambled down to the lower branches. They were a sorry looking pair, clothes ripped and dirty, mud and leaves in their hair.
“So what happened to you two?” asked Caitlin, trying not to laugh.
“Jeez, what didn’t happen to us!” exclaimed Lloyd.
Dale pointed accusingly at the Boston Wrangler. “That thing went totally ape, chased us out of the fortress—”
Lloyd nodded indignantly. “Chased us through the jungle—”
“Chased us clean through this sorta skating-rink place—”
“Where all these freaky ice-hockey dudes thought it looked like fun and started chasing us as well—”
“Yeah, then chased us through this spooky old film-set—”
“Through the damned jungle again—”
“And then up this tree—”
“Anyone got any water?” finished Lloyd breathlessly.
Toby passed Lloyd up a bottle and he drank greedily. Dale snatched it off him and gulped it back. They belched in unison and Dale tossed the empty bottle back to Toby. “So what’s the story, you part of the rescue team or what?” he asked.
“Not exactly”, said Toby.
Lloyd frowned. “We saw the ship and thought—”
Caitlin interrupted him excitedly. “Ship? What ship?”
“You can just see the mast from the top of the tree”, said Dale. “It’s moored on the other side of those mountains.”
Caitlin rounded on Toby accusingly. “Marty was telling us the truth!”
Toby flushed and looked to the ground. “There’s nothing we can do about it now.”
“So what’s the plan, are we heading for this ship or what?” asked Lloyd.
Toby looked at the forbidding mountain range doubtfully. “I guess. But we’d have to find a way through those mountains.”
“Why don’t we send her to scout ahead”, said Caitlin, pointing at Eve. “See if she can find a way through?”
Eve swung round towards Caitlin, her green eyes flaring.
“I’m not sure if that’s a good idea”, said Toby, noting the robot’s reaction. “We’d be losing our main source of protection.”
“Toby, she’s twice as fast as us, twice as strong. We could die of thirst before we found a way through those mountains!”
Lloyd and Dale nodded in agreement and Toby reluctantly turned to his robot. “I guess they’re right.”
Eve didn’t move. “Greater probability of survival—”
“—is if you do as you’re told and find a route through those mountains to the ship”, interrupted Caitlin.
Eve glowered at Caitlin.
“Find a safe passage through then report back”, said Toby placatingly. “We won’t be far behind you.”
Eve shot Caitlin a final angry look then haughtily turned away. She broke into to run, disappearing into the jungle.
Lloyd and Dale jumped down from the tree and the group prepared to set off. Suddenly the sound of distant voices drifted through the trees from behind them. “Death to the Toymaker! Destroy all robots! Death to the Toymaker! Destroy all robots!”
Lloyd and Dale exchanged uneasy glances. “They don’t sound friendly”, Lloyd muttered.
“They’re not”, said Toby grimly. “Let’s get out of here.”
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
INTO THE MOUNTAINS
Toby started to run, leading the group through the jungle. They stumbled upon another trail and started to follow it, heading in the direction of the mountains. The trail twisted and turned, affording occasional glimpses of the mountain range, a little nearer each time they saw it. The chanting voices kept pace with them, following them through the jungle. The vegetation gradually became more sparse, trees and shrubs replaced by rocks and boulders, until they finally broke free of the jungle canopy altogether. The craggy mountain range rose up majestically before them, the orange-brown peaks dotted with green foliage.
“Look”, said Caitlin excitedly. Toby followed Caitlin’s gaze and saw the glittering sea just visible between two of the lower peaks on the western edge of the mountain range. “Do you think we could climb it?” she asked.
Toby looked at the towering mountains uncertainly. He scanned the terrain ahead for Eve but there was no sign of the robot. “It’s worth taking a look, I guess.”
They started walking again, trekking through a brown dusty plain strewn with rocks and boulders. The late afternoon sun blazed down on them, the direct sunshine harsh a
fter the gloom of the jungle. They approached a ring of gigantic granite boulders thrusting out of the ground at the base of the mountain range and Toby started to slow, seeing something on the ground ahead of him glinting in the sunlight.
“What is it?” Caitlin asked uneasily.
Toby walked nearer, shading his eyes with his hand and saw two parallel bands of steel running along the ground, disappearing into a series of caves carved into the base of the mountains. “It looks like some sort of track”, he said.
“As in train?” said Dale incredulously.
Toby nodded.
“What’s a railway doing in the middle of the jungle?” asked Caitlin.
Toby shrugged. “Maybe it’s part of their robot-assembly plant.”
He started following the track towards the caves and Caitlin ran after him. “Hey, I know you’re desperate to meet this Toymaker and everything but shouldn’t we be concentrating on getting to the ship?”
“If this leads to the assembly plant, it’ll take us to the ship”, Toby answered. He glanced at Lloyd and Dale for their opinion and they both looked apprehensively at the sheer rock face of the mountain.
“Anything that doesn’t involve hauling our asses up a mountain gets my vote”, said Lloyd.
Toby nodded and led the group along the track towards the base of the mountain. As they approached the caves, they saw more of the rail network; concentric circles of track weaving through caves and around boulders in a giant circuit. Caitlin looked uneasily at the looping track. “You know what this reminds me of?”
“What’s that?” asked Toby, disappearing into the nearest cave.
“A giant train set”, said Caitlin.
Lloyd and Dale traded uneasy glances. “They do look a bit like tunnels, don’t they?” muttered Dale, eyeing the row of cave mouths.
Scotty sniffed the gloomy entrance of the tunnel and gave a small whine. He scampered back to Caitlin and hid behind her legs. “Toby”, Caitlin called, “maybe this isn’t such a good idea.”
Toby’s excited voice floated from the darkness. “I think I can see daylight!”
Caitlin cautiously entered the dark tunnel, Lloyd, Dale and Scotty following. The tunnel curved and Caitlin saw Toby further along the track, just about visible in the gloom. He waited for them to catch up with him then pointed to the tunnel. “It’s getting brighter, I’m sure of it”, he said excitedly.
Caitlin peered uncertainly into the gloom. “Maybe it’s just our eyes getting used to the darkness?”
“That’s what I thought at first”, said Toby, taking her arm. “But look…” He took her further down the tunnel and Caitlin saw that the inky blackness had turned into a dark grey. Toby was now clearly framed against the tunnel mouth. “See?” he said triumphantly, “it is brighter.”
A thin crescent of light suddenly appeared over Toby’s shoulder, growing broader and brighter by the second. “That’s not daylight”, Caitlin said with dawning horror. “That’s a…”
Something hurtled around the corner, lights blazing.
“TRAIN!” Caitlin screamed.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
TRAILBLAZER
Toby froze, dazzled by the twin headlamps shooting towards him. Caitlin roughly pulled him towards the tunnel entrance and they collided with Lloyd and Dale who were coming up behind them. They both saw the train, screamed, then started to run. The train thundered after them, the roar of its engines amplified by the tunnel acoustics. The group sprinted down the track towards the tunnel entrance and emerged into blinding daylight. They dived off the railway track, tumbling and rolling in the dust. The train burst out of the tunnel like a bullet from a gun and they saw it wasn’t a train at all but some sort of robot. It was roughly humanoid in appearance with gleaming steel tubes instead of arms and spinning wheels instead of legs. The Toymaker’s emblem was stencilled down the side of the robot’s chassis above the legend: TOYMAKER RAIL-BLAZER ROBOT (TRAILBLAZER).
The Trailblazer’s arm-like appendages swivelled around towards them and Toby saw they were linked via rubber hoses to metal cylinders mounted on the robot’s back. “Get away from the track!” he yelled.
The Trailblazer screamed towards them and everyone scrambled away from it. Twin jets of flame blasted at them from the robot’s projectiles, incinerating the scrubby vegetation growing at the side of the track. The Trailblazer circled around the track, preparing to make another pass at the group.
“It’s coming back!” Caitlin shouted.
“Run yelled Lloyd.
They turned to retrace their steps and saw Dumpmaster, Hogzilla and Blast Furnace emerge from the jungle. The three robots fanned out, cutting off their retreat.
“Now what?” yelled Dale.
Toby pointed at the trail running down the side of the mountain range. “We’ll have to go this way.” He leaped over the track and started to run, heading east towards the heart of the mountain range. The others saw that the Trailblazer had almost completed its circuit and hastily followed. The stony ground sloped down dramatically and Toby saw that the rail network was more extensive than he had first thought. The base of the mountain was honeycombed with caves, each one containing a different section of track.
At the back of the group, Lloyd glanced over his shoulder and saw that the Trailblazer was keeping pace with them, patrolling the outer ring of track. “That thing’s still with us”, he yelled.
“I think we’re safe as long as we stay on the inside”, Toby said. He skirted around a rocky outcrop that was too difficult to climb and the trail suddenly fell away, sloping steeply down a hillside. He paused, taking in the breathtaking view before him. The rail network was built inside a vast natural basin, giving it the feel of an amphitheatre. High above them on the lip of the basin the silhouettes of Hogzilla, Blast Furnace and Dumpmaster could be seen keeping pace with them. Concentric loops of track spiralled around them leading towards a small glass dome in the centre of the basin.
“What the hell is that?” said Dale, pointing at the dome.
“I don’t know”, Lloyd replied uneasily. “But there’s something moving around inside it…”
Inside the dome, a tall spindly Controller robot was hunched over a large console that displayed an electronic representation of the rail network. Two rake-like hands hovered over the complicated control panel, poised in readiness like a concert pianist about to begin a recital. The robot intently studied the display, watching the progress of five blinking red lights moving steadily towards the centre of the screen. Its tapered digits splayed out then rapidly played across a series of buttons…
Outside in the rail network, Toby saw movement on the outer ring of track. He turned and saw a section of track near the patrolling Trailblazer move sideways, giving the robot access to the ring of track running inside it.
“This doesn’t look good…” muttered Dale.
The Trailblazer circled towards them, forcing them towards the centre of the track. Two more Trailblazers emerged from the caves, to replace the first on the outer ring of track. The track shifted again and the robots spiralled nearer and nearer…
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
REBELLION
On the lip of the basin, Blast Furnace slowly rumbled after Dumpmaster and Hogzilla, its caterpillar tracks churning up clouds of orange dust. McBride walked beside his robot, constantly checking the prisoners tied to the robot to make sure it wasn’t going too fast. Marty had recently joined the chain gang’s swelling ranks after De Coza discovered him wandering around in the jungle and, not knowing what else to do with him, had decided to keep him captive.
Kennedy sidled up to McBride and handed him a water bottle. McBride nodded his thanks and took a long swallow. “How they doing back there?” he asked.
“Marty’s spitting blood, demanding to be released”, said Kennedy. “And Bubba and Billy-Bob?” He shook his head bleakly. “They’re stumbling around like a couple of zombies. If we’re gonna make a move, we’re gonna have to do it soon.”
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McBride nodded slowly, having come to the same conclusion himself. They’d been waiting for the perfect moment to overpower De Coza all morning. But in the meantime Bubba and Billy-Bob had steadily been getting weaker and weaker, suffering from heat stroke, fatigue and the injuries inflicted on them by the Scannell twins. The time for making a stand was now.
Further ahead on the trail, Hogzilla drew to a halt next to Dumpmaster and the three biker girls dismounted, joining De Coza and the Scannell twins on the lip of the basin. From this vantage point they had a clear view of the entire rail network and the Trailblazers spiralling towards Toby and the others.
Roadkill glanced at De Coza who was watching Toby’s imminent demise with satisfaction. “Hadn’t we better do something?” she asked.
De Coza didn’t answer, hypnotised by the Trailblazers blasting flamethrowers.
“Hey De Coza, they’re gonna get burnt to a frazzle!” Roadkill yelled.
De Coza snapped out of his trance. “Bring them here”, he muttered.
Roadkill, Uzi-Rider and Typhoid Mary piled onto the back of Hogzilla and the robot-chopper revved its engines excitedly. “Let’s reel ’em in!” Roadkill whooped, unsnapping a fresh beer. With an earsplitting roar, Hogzilla accelerated away.
Blast Furnace pulled up beside Dumpmaster and McBride joined De Coza and the twins on the hillside. His eyes followed De Coza’s gaze and saw that Toby and the others were hemmed in from all sides by circling Trailblazers. “Enjoying the show?” he asked De Coza sarcastically.
“I sent them to deal with them”, De Coza replied, pointing to Hogzilla who was now weaving around the circumference of the basin with the three biker girls whooping and screaming on the back.
“That drunken rabble?” said McBride. “I doubt if they’ll even get down there in one piece!” He turned to Marty who was slumped on the ground between Bubba and Billy-Bob, in Blast Furnace’s shadow. “You know if there’s any water down by those caves?” he asked.
“Sure, there’s subterranean pools all over.” Marty looked up at McBride hopefully. “You want me to show you?”
McBride nodded and walked over to Blast Furnace. De Coza watched incredulously as the fire chief flipped open the robot’s console. “What do you think you’re doing?” he demanded.
“I’m gonna need those hoses.”