Part Two – The Reboot
The Bear Man's Boat
“I don't understand,” Rob said for about the tenth time that day.
“If you are not taking part in the battle why is he teaching you how to fight?”
Madeline sighed.
“I want to be able to look after myself,” she said quite firmly, that was the only information she wanted him to have for the moment.
It was the second day she and Count Douglass had trained on the beach and the third day that Rob had objected to it.
Count Douglass had stopped training for the moment to allow for Rob's intrusion. He must have still been listening though as his throat made an odd noise of agreement.
“Hem,” Douglass grunted
“Seems a bit odd to me,” Rob replied.
“Look at Simon. All right, I never liked him that much. Now he is running around dressed like a pantomime baddie and talking to seagulls. Shouldn't we be looking to leave rather than learning to fight?”
“Hem,” came, Count Douglass's contribution once more.
Madeline thought over Rob's suggestion. Of course, they should be looking for a way back. But taking it to Yallery had become her top priority. She wondered for a moment if she was angry, foolish, or perhaps both.
“I think you’re playing into his hands, we all are,” Rob argued.
Count Douglass's eyes widened.
“Hem,” came, the sound again this time sounding somehow more thoughtful for a throat clearing noise.
“It's possible,” Madeline conceded.
She saw Rob's confused stare but had no answers for him yet. She had not told him of Yallery's potion or its effect because despite acting like Scrappy Doo after a few energy drinks Rob got worried very easily.
“Are you alright?” Rob finally asked, “You look very pale.”
“I am fine,” Madeline assured him.
“Hem,” came, that noise from Douglass. This time the noise lasted a little longer and Madeline was worried Rob would guess something was wrong. The noise was also a way for the Count to interrupt.
“You see unlike you both I was chosen to be the successor to the Duchess. It is in fact an honour I won through acts of tremendous bravery.”
Madeline wondered if this would lead to another long story that would end with Douglass somehow saving the world. No doubt, it would have done if Rob had not diverted everyone’s attention.
“What is that over there,” he shouted.
For a moment, they all looked out towards the sea and neither Douglass nor Madeline saw anything.
“There is nothing out there. You see Rob when the Duchess fell everything was wiped. All there is now is this place of Yallery's and the sea,” Douglass explained as though he was speaking to a very young child.
“Nothing apart from that boat,” Rob said pointing out on the horizon.
This time Madeline saw the boat. It was a small motorboat; and stood at the helm was a familiar figure. The silhouette against the horizon was clearly that of a man dressed in a bear suit. The suit was completed with a top hat and a walking cane.
Not knowing exactly why, Madeline felt happy to see the familiar figure and ran towards the sea waving her hands in the air. The boat began to turn and move in their direction. The man bear it seemed was back. Rob joined her waving. He seemed quite happy to see Edward the man bear as well. Both Madeline and Rob had to take a quick step backwards. The bear man's boat was coming in far too fast that it shunted a lot of heavy wet sand right over Rob's face as it smashed onto the beach.
The man bear was back. But already Madeline thought he was somehow a little different from the last time they had met.
“Oh, dear me, one moment,” the man bear shouted fumbling for the keys to turn off the motor. His hat had fallen onto the floor of the boat.
“Ted, I thought they had chucked you out of here,” Madeline said.
“They tried,” the man bear replied in quick response. With the boat now not moving and everything, seemingly safe the man bear put the top hat back on his head and walked onto the beach with purpose.
“What's been happening Madeline?” The man bear asked.
“Everything is okay really,” Madeline began but was stopped by the man bear's knowing gaze.
“Has Simon turned against you all yet?” He asked.
Madeline was stunned by the bears question but Rob answered right away.
“Yes, Loony Tunes evil,” he replied.
“Did you drink the potion Yallery gave you?”
Madeline did not reply but her face must have told the man bear all there was to tell.
“Really Madeline? It may as well have had a sign on it saying evil magic potion. What were you thinking?”
Madeline did not get a chance to reply.
“Tommy boy I am assuming has gone missing? Well do not worry, that will be down to our old friend Yallery as well. You see he is a nature spirit, an evil fairy. You can't trust them.”
“You mean he is evil?” Madeline asked.
“Madeline, where is the girl who navigated underground caves, hid from seagulls and defeated an evil Duchess. Yes, of course he is evil. Wake up will you. His skin is the colour of dark mustard and he has that big old beard. Doesn't that shout evil villain to you?”
“I was always told not to judge on appearances,” Madeline argued.
“Very wise. However, in this case he looks like what he is. A monster and I mean a true monster. How could you trust a nature spirit?”
“Oh I don't know it's not too much of a leap from trusting a talking owl or say a guy in a full on bear suit,” Rob said staring a hole through the man bear.
The man bear was walking up the beach at a fast pace. He seemed manic for a man in a bear suit, more driven than before.
“Follow me,” he said. Madeline and Rob did as they were asked. Count Douglass muttered some excuse about attending to his mother and was gone.
“I do love the tube,” the man bear shouted back to them as he approached one of the huge straws like structures.
“Come on keep up,” he shouted. Although the voice sounded elderly, the bear could walk fast.
A moment later, they were at Yallery's office block.
“Let's see what our friend has been up to shall we?” the man bear asked
“I have been in there. It's just a load of old machinery,” Rob offered.
“You have been in there. That is great. Do you remember which side his office was on?”
Rob seemed to be thinking.
“The left I think,” he replied.
Madeline was not convinced that Rob was sure. It was like following directions given to you by someone who was lost.
“Hold on,” Rob said.
“Yallery told me he could not guarantee our safety if we went in there,”
“Yeah,” the man bear responded.
“So before we make any quick decisions can you guarantee our safety?” Rob asked.
“Nope,” the man bear replied calmly. Rob seemed to be waiting for more but the man bear offered no more words of explanation or reassurance.
The man bear walked around the building talking to himself, and looking for a way in. He called to the children to walk with him to the other side of the building.
“Jackpot,” the man bear said quietly. He pointed up showing Madeline and Rob that one of the windows had been left open.
The window left open was accessible from the back of the factory. Madeline wondered if the man bear had done this sort of thing before. The grass in the back yard was overgrown. It came almost to her waist. Parked in the middle of the yard was an old, deserted, white van.
The van stood out when compared to the colourful surroundings, so much so that Madeline found her attention drawn to it. She wasn't the only one because before she could point the van out to the others the man bear had opened the back of the van
with his stick.
“Hey, get off me,” came, a new voice.
The man bear had his stick against a very human looking young girl.
“Who are you?” the man bear demanded.
“It’s okay she is like us,” came a familiar voice. It was Tommy. The others took a step back and they all looked surprised. Even the man bear looked as surprised as a guy in a man bear suit could look. But he did not let go of his grip on the stick just yet.
You’re lost then we're lost
“Who am I, you ask? First, do tell me what are you? Get that stick away from me will you,” came the girl's response.
“It’s okay,” Tommy repeated and was relieved when finally the man bear took the stick off the girl. Sam looked younger than they did. She had quite a short haircut and at a glance, you would be forgiven for mistaking her for a boy.
“Oh I see. We worry that Tommy has gone and all the time he is hanging around in this white van with his girlfriend,” Rob said grinning.
“That is most certainly not the case,” the girl fired back still angry. Despite how young she was, she seemed quite capable.
“Can we start by at least asking your name and how you got here?” Madeline wanted to know.
“I don’t know. One moment we were in our van and the next we were here.”
“We?” Tommy repeated.
“Yeah we, myself and my parents.”
“That’s great,” Madeline replied “Your parents are here too.”
The girl faced the floor.
“No, not now anyway. My name is Sam.”
Madeline offered her hand “Pleased to meet you Samantha,”
“Please, it's just Sam,” the girl replied.
Tommy got out off a makeshift seat at the back of the van and rejoined the others.
“I just got back and I ended up here,” none of them seemed to listen as Sam had all their attention. Tommy was interested too. So far, the only people that he had traveled with were his school friends.
“If Samantha is here and lost, then we are not the only ones lost. If someone else can get lost, we are lost in an actual place,” Madeline said sounding like she was trying to work out some kind of math’s calculation.
“I have no idea what you just said,” Rob declared.
“And it's Sam,” Sam replied.
“Tommy somehow got home and came back so there is a way home,” Madeline continued. Tommy guessed she was talking more to herself then to the others.
“I know I live in the back of a van, and I'm in no place to judge but why do you guy's hang around with a guy dressed as a bear?”
“It's not a bear suit. I am a bear,” the man bear replied.
“Honestly, I don't know the answer to that one,” came Rob's response.
“The man bear is called Edward and he came to find us Samantha,” came Madeline's answer.
“It's just Sam, so his name is Edward?” Sam asked.
“I think he just uses it because he can shorten it to Ted. We got on the same bus as him once and he's kind of found us since then,” Rob summarized.
Tommy wondered how crazy all this sounded to the American girl. But he quickly remembered that they were all stuck in a place filled with singing owl's and mannequin people.
“So, I am thinking that we should probably try to find Sam's parents?” Tommy suggested.
“Have you any idea where they could have gone?” Madeline asked.
Sam shrugged.
“For someone who can't find her parents you certainly seem calm about it. How long ago did you lose them Samantha?” Madeline asked.
“I am not sure. Time doesn't seem to be the same. It sometimes feels like a long time and sometimes just a few minutes,”
“Yes we found that too,” Madeline told the girl.
While the group was figuring out their next move, the man bear had gone to the side of the office block and was tampering with a wooden platform that was attached to some chains. It looked to be an unsafe looking elevator, Tommy guessed the man bears next move and he didn't like it much.
“Tommy, Madeline” The man bear called waving them across to the elevator. Tommy had seen those television shows before. The ones that showed home videos of people falling over while doing something really stupid. Most of the time he wondered why they got themselves in that position in the first place.
Why play swing ball next to a paddling pool?
Why climb on the children's slide when you are forty years old?
And why was he getting on an uneven wooden platform with a guy in a full bear suit.
Quickly the man bear pulled the chain and the platform jerked upwards. They reached the first window of the office building and Tommy felt like he had left his stomach on the floor.
“What do you see?” The man bear asked.
Both Tommy and Madeline peered into the window. It looked like a factory. There were pieces of mannequin on the floor all stacked into different piles. It was a silent workshop of disused doll parts. Messy but not really shocking. Yallery had told them that the mannequins help run the reboot shore and were like robot workers.
“Yallery builds the mannequins. We know that already,” Tommy offered.
Madeline was looking at the parts on the floor and her skin was now almost white.
“Madeline gets it,” the man bear said before moving the chain somehow sideways along the building. The platform they were on moved uneasily with them.
“What do you see now?” He asked.
Again, both Tommy and Madeline peered in.
There were empty bear suits hung up on the walls, bags with unattended belongings.
“I don't get it,” Tommy said. He felt puzzled and a little unsettled by seeing all these belongings and no people.
“He made them into his mannequins,” Madeline whimpered.
“He is a mad man,” Tommy said.
“Or a genius, I hear there is not much difference between the two,” the man bear added.
“How does he do it?” Tommy asked.
“He uses poison. A potion that spreads around the body,” Madeline replied and both Tommy and the man bear looked at her.
Tommy wondered right away about Sam's parents. The reboot shore didn't seem too big. Yallery must have collected them.
“How do you stop it,” Madeline asked.
The man bear began rocking the elevator again taking it to the top of the building and seemingly somehow higher. Tommy felt like he was on a theme park ride. One he would usually take a glance at and decided they were not for him. Finally, the man bear knotted the chain and the wooden platform stopped still. Steady or not Tommy did not like that their whole platform was held by a knot.
“Look in there. If you took the potion he will be waiting for that machine to work,” the man bear said pointing a claw through the window at something that looked more like a slab of stone then a machine.
“That will help me, but what about all the others?” Madeline asked.
“I haven't found out yet. But I want them back to normal. Because once everything is back to normal my mansion will be restored,” the man bear told them.
“Without the mansion there is no big pit of money,” Tommy added.
“There is that,” the man bear said sounding more than a little sly even for a guy in a bear suit.
“We have a problem,” Tommy alerted them.
Yallery Brown had arrived at the top of his office block. If they didn't move soon, they would be spotted.
“Right we are not ready to take him just yet, what we need is to make a plan,” the man bear said gesturing for them to come closer.
“I am not waiting any longer,” replied an angry sounding Madeline. She did something Tommy thought was either very brave or very stupid. She pushed the window open and stepped inside, in full sight of a very puzzled looking Yallery.
&nb
sp;
The Third Man
Madeline did not think about the consequences of confronting Yallery. She did not even think about what she would say when she got into the room. Which is why now she found herself at a loss for words. Not a position she was used to. Usually she was the curious girl who had answers to everything. She glanced back at the window and saw Tommy looking so shocked that his mouth was wide open as he watched. The man bear looked interested. He stood with his chin resting on his stick. The top hat somehow still on his head despite the fast movement of the wooden makeshift elevator a moment earlier.
Madeline had only felt this way, once before. The day when she took a bus with her friends and they had decided not to run. It was time to confront Yallery.
Yallery looked so surprised to see her that he had almost fallen off his chair. Madeline guessed it wasn't the traditional way of making an entrance.
“Madeline, well hello friend,” he began.
“Save it,” Madeline said quickly taking the stone tablet from his desk and throwing it against the floor.
As the tablet hit the floor, she fell too. The poison leaving her body made her feel like her skin was on fire. Despite the pain, she was determined that Yallery not see that she was hurt. Her skin instantly turned back to its slightly rosier colour and despite the pain she felt very much more herself.
She turned her attention to the bearded mustard coloured man sat at the desk.
“Madeline I am sorry, I'm a collector you see.”
“A collector of people? Yallery explain yourself,” Madeline demanded.
“Well, sort of.. I can't,” Yallery said with a sigh.
“You were trying to poison me, to turn me into one of your little Mannequin worker things.”
“I wasn't trying to poison you my friend. I chose you. You could have ruled over this land with me. I already lined up a family for you. Wouldn't that be great? I could give you a new, happy family. ”
“You are not the first Yallery. We once came up against a Duchess who tried to mold people into what she wanted them to be. She was a coward just like you. This time it is different. Because I am giving you fair warning.”
Yallery steadied his chair and growled a little. His lip at one side raised and he seemed to shrug as though to ask what they were going to do.
“The Duchess didn't fear us either. But I'm hearing things Yallery. Things I don't like. There is a young girl out there who can't find her parents.”
“Tragic I'm sure. But surely you’re not suggesting..” Yallery began
“If I find out it was you then we will come for you. You know that name is Madeline, my friends are Tommy, Rob and Edward. He's a man dressed as a bear. You did not break our group. We made the Duchess's kingdom fall around her and we will do the same to yours!”
Yallery finally stood and began walking away from Madeline slowly.
“Oh I know who you are, and I know your friends. I am delighted to see that Tommy made it back but aren't you still one down?” Yallery asked.
“Did you turn Simon against us too?” she demanded.
“No friend, you did that all by yourselves. He was always just the moaning one to you all wasn't he? The nagging voice reminding you that everything you see is not real. Well it could have been real for you Madeline. That is what I was offering”
Madeline didn't reply right away and perhaps sensing that he may be getting through Yallery continued.
“You truly believe in impossible things. Simon does not. I did not put that conflict there. I am just the compare.”
She brought her fist down on Yallery's table and the odd little man nearly jumped out of his mustard yellow skin.
“You are a monster,” she cried.
“I want you to set all the mannequins free, every last one.”
By now Tommy and the man bear had entered through the open window and together with Madeline they had forced Yallery into the corner of his office. He looked like a trapped rat.
“You heard the girl,” the man bear ordered. He thrust his walking stick towards Yallery but at that moment in a cloud of smoke Yallery vanished.
“How did he do that?” Tommy asked.
“Darn nature spirit,” the man bear said as though it was the obvious explanation.
For a few moments, they were silent.
“We should probably take a look around. Maybe we can find a way to free those mannequins ourselves,” Tommy suggested.
“Isn't this the sign up scroll for the battle?” Madeline asked.
“Yes, but we saw that already,” Tommy said seemingly dismissing the paper.
It wasn't the scroll that had caught her eye but the words written on it.
“I know who the third man is going to be in the battle,” she said. Instantly she felt the man bear and Tommy lean over her shoulder.
“It makes no sense,” she told them.
The paper had the names of Count Douglass, Simon the Snitch and Yallery Brown.
“Yallery can't stand up straight,” she explained.
“Certainly didn't have him down as a fighter,” the man bear added.
Yallery was short, weak, and he couldn't walk upright, most of the time he sat down.
“We should get back and tell the others,” Tommy decided.
“What about Simon?” Madeline asked. Her question went unanswered. She had decided that she was going to free the mannequin people before going home no matter what it took. It was only after that thought she realized that she was shaking. The outburst at Yallery had been completely out of character for her. While the man bear and Tommy searched the room, some more she slumped to the floor feeling exhausted.
“What I said to Yallery,” she said finally.
“Was exactly what he needed to hear,” the man bear said finishing the sentence.
Madeline wondered if it was perhaps what they all had needed. The group had been segregated, almost destroyed by Yallery. Now it felt like they were coming together again. Rebuilding the bridges and gaining strength. But the battle was tomorrow night and it still felt like they were getting stronger just a little too late.
“Nothing in here,” the man bear said looking over the last of the papers on Yallery's desk.
Madeline remembered something else.
“There's a window in our accommodation that he told us to never look through. He said no matter what.”
“Did he now,” the man bear said sounding very interested.
“Let’s get the others and have a look,” Tommy decided. Madeline felt more comfortable when Tommy made the decisions. He was a good leader he just lacked a little in confidence.
Although Tommy announced the plan, the man bear was already standing back on the unstable wooden platform waiting for them to join him.
“We soon need to go back to Robbie Jay's shop,” Madeline replied. The man bear and Tommy looked at her puzzled.
“I didn't get to go home for a snack like you did,” she said to Tommy.
“Rob and Sam must be hungry too,” the man bear said. Madeline wondered how he ate in that bear suit. She also wondered why they were talking about food on the stomach-churning elevator.
Yallery was long gone by now, they could have just walked down the stairs and out the door.
Once they were back on the ground safely, the man bear went to the white van and explained to Rob and Sam where they were going.
“I said that when we first got here,” Rob said rubbing his hands together.
“We should have taken a look in there right away,”
“Does anyone remember the right coloured tube back?” The man bear asked.
They all looked at the huge straw-like tubes.
“I think the blue, or maybe the red,” Rob said.
The tube was always stuffy and confusing.
“The Yellow,” Tommy remembered.
It was time to find out what Yall
ery didn't want them to see. At least they thought it was.
Reunited
Tommy met the others just as they were about to enter the shop. He had run all the way from that brightly coloured painted storage container that they slept in. The others waited anxiously as he caught his breath.
“We can't go back,” he said between gasps.
The others had to wait for him to catch his breath again so he could explain.
“The doors have gone,” he said.
“How have the doors gone?” Rob questioned.
The man bear nodded as though the news did not surprise him and Madeline looked thoughtful in that absent-minded way she did.
“I mean there are no doors where there used to be doors.”
“The home was not ours to keep. The one that gives can also take away. He knows we are stuck here. How cruel” Madeline replied quite calmly.
Not getting the panic, he expected Tommy shrugged his shoulders.
“There is always my van. Though there is not a lot of room there,” Sam offered.
“I would guess that this is because Madeline stood up to him. We must take a look behind that curtain and see what is beyond his precious window,” the man bear said.
“What would we find?” Rob asked the man bear sounding a little stern.
“I haven't a clue,” the man bear replied dismissively.
“I don't believe you,” Rob said.
“Shall we get something to eat?” Sam asked changing the subject.
They entered the odd smelling owl's shop. Not the usual place Tommy would choose to buy food from. As the owl was the only way to get food, they didn't have a choice. They were running out of seeds too.
The owl flew down to the counter and before speaking, he began predictably combing his hair.
“What can I do for you?” Robbie Jay began.
“Did you sing in my dream?” Tommy asked the others looked at him as though he had gone mad.
“We don't have many seeds left but we need to eat,” Rob said handing over the remaining seeds. He did not attempt at bargaining this time and Robbie Jay clawed the seeds toward him and counted them out. He then flew up to a shelf and pecked off a multi-bag of crisps, some sandwiches, cake and orange juice.
“Hey, how come we get all this. Last time we got a lemon and a cucumber.”
Robbie Jay played with his hair for a few more seconds before responding by wordlessly pushing the seeds into a bin.
“The seeds are not worth anything. Yallery told me to feed you, and besides I kind of like you all now. Any friend of Edwards is my friend too.”
Tommy was not sure how to feel about the owl with the hair obsession considering himself a friend but although he was the least hungry he was quite happy to tuck into a bag of crisps.
“So how is the battle preparation going?” The owl asked.
“We are not fighting. But Simon decided to,” Madeline replied.
“He's gone all evil. He got up on a big podium with a bad guy hat.” Rob added.
The owl gave a gentle nod and continued playing around with his hair. He did not seem surprised by the news.
“When it comes down to this battle, you are sure that none of you want to fight?”
Madeline replied to the owl.
“We have been here before; stuck in a place like this. We battled a Duchess and brought down a regime without a single drop of blood being shed.”
She spoke decisively and with a confidence that Tommy admired. Robbie Jay finished with his hair and fluttered off to attend to some other junk in the shop. Still talking while he flew around.
“That's all very well but I heard you were moving around before. Spent most of your time making the long journey. Yallery owns the reboot shore. There are many of us that when cornered would rather flee then fight. But.” the owl's voice was a little higher and he coughed before continuing.
“When you are trapped like you are here. Only then do you really know if you will fight or not,” he finished.
“I know I won't be fighting,” she replied and the others all told the owl the same.
“I am happy to hear it,” Robbie Jay responded, “I do wonder however if you will feel the same when you have looked behind Yallery's curtain.”
Tommy pushed Robbie Jay for more information but the owl would not budge. Either he did not know exactly what Yallery had hidden or he was sworn to secrecy by something he feared much more than any of them. So Tommy decided to make his way to the back of the group and to the shop door. The others turned to leave too as they said their goodbyes to Robbie Jay. When he wearily left the shop, Tommy felt he had been hit with everything. He had arrived here, Simon had turned on him, he found his host was a villain, and he had just been talking with an owl. Tommy saw who had waited outside the shop. Things just kept getting weirder.
“Simon,” Tommy said in what came out as a surprised greeting.
“Who is he?” Sam asked sounding startled.
Simon was still wearing the ridiculously hat. It looked a lot like a witch’s cone but it was taller, stupidly taller. It almost doubled Simon's height.
“What do you want?” Rob demanded.
“I wanted to speak to you guys,” Simon answered shifting his weight awkwardly from foot to foot.
“I know we are not friends right now. But can I hang out with you guy's until the battle.”
Tommy paused for thought long enough for Rob to jump in.
“Are you joking? Which power mad baddie are you spying for today?”
Rob looked at Tommy and then at Simon and his face filled with disappointment.
“Tommy I can't believe you are seriously thinking about this.”
“I am not your friend and I wouldn't want to be your friend. I just want you to respect my decisions and maybe we can hang out. I will spare your lives once I am ruler?”
“Oh that's okay then isn't it Tommy? If he spares us,” Rob answered.
“I wanted to talk about the battle actually,” Simon, responded.
“It's coming close and I am a little worried.”
Rob brought himself to Tommy's left now Simon was on his right. Both were making their arguments.
“Can't you remember all that stuff he was saying? About how you always lead us wrong and how we held him back?” Rob pleaded.
“Yes and I still think I am a better leader than you Tommy,” Simon replied.
“He is even dressed like a pantomime villain!” Rob shouted.
“Stop both of you,” Tommy said unusually raising his voice. The others stopped quarreling right away.
“We need somewhere we can talk properly.”
Rob sighed and kicked the side of the shop wall.
“There is the carousel just round the hop doorway wanting to know more.
Tommy caught the tail end of their conversation.
“The true measure of a strong leader,” the owl muttered.
“Forgiveness,” the man bear replied. corner,” Simon offered. One by one, they walked round to the beautifully painted carousel and clambered onto one of the horses each. All but the man bear who spent a moment with Robbie the owl. Robbie had heard the commotion and had appeared in the shop doorway wanting to know more.
Tommy caught the tail end of their conversation.
“The true measure of a strong leader,” the owl muttered.
“Forgiveness,” the man bear replied.
Carousel
It was almost dark. The children and the man bear sat on the old, hand painted carousel horses.
The carousel itself was such an odd site on the reboot shore. It was supposed to be a sight that brings joy. Carousels were so cheerful with their painted horses and buggies. Well Tommy did not like them much during the daytime and he cared for them even less in the dying light.
“This battle,” Simon b
egan. “At first I felt like I was ready. But I have never used a sword Tommy. It just seemed like here I could do anything I wanted to do.”
“Dressing like a pantomime villain was on the list of things you wanted to do?” Rob said. He was leaning backwards on his horse and seemed to be enjoying having the moral high ground on Simon for a change.
“Pride comes before the fall,” Madeline replied.
“Now that you managed to stop that magic potion you seem to think you know it all again. Well I heard about you losing it with Yallery and threatening him,” Rob replied.
“It was what Yallery needed,” Tommy interrupted decisively.
“For the girl who didn't believe in violence I hear you sounded pretty threatening. Then you got Douglass to train you.”
“Yallery threatened my freedom. I think that is a better reason to fight him then to rule over a place that you are not even fond of anyway,” she replied. She did not sound abrupt or upset by Simon's words and spoke in that same calm voice she usually did.
“My problem was with all of you following Tommy like lost sheep,” Simon said. Tommy thought he sounded a little bitter.
“I did not see you offering any suggestions,” Tommy replied. The atmosphere between them was tense and although Tommy suspected neither of them truly hated each other they had not been the best of friends to begin with.
“When I first came here I was just like you guys, “Sam said.
All talk of leadership and the battle the next day stopped. The group knew so little about their newest and youngest member.
“Sometimes I miss them, my parents. Sometimes I can't remember them. As silly as it sounds I don't know how long I have been here or how long I have been on my own. Yallery wants you to disagree and to fall out. It’s how he gets to win without fighting.”
Sam stopped talking for a moment and met the eyes of the silent group.
“I am not saying I know how everything works, or that I have a plan. But I know this. Yallery will have fixed the battle somehow. My parents met him and now they are gone.”
“I went back home and I came back. I am sure your parents are waiting for you at home,” Tommy said trying to reassure Sam.
“I know my parents are not there, if they were they would have found a way of getting back to me by now.”
Madeline moved from her horse and hugged the younger girl.
“We are going to find your parents,” she assured.
Sam returned Madeline's embrace and once her face was turned away, Simon shook his head telling the others silently that he disagreed. That he felt they were giving false hope. Tommy nodded despite himself and despite not speaking, Simon and Tommy finally agreed on something. They could not guarantee they would find Sam's parents just as they could not guarantee that they would find their way back home. But for Sam, Tommy supposed, false hope was better than no hope at all. Perhaps it was on that matter that he and Simon disagreed so much.
“I miss my parents,” Sam said.
“I miss school,” Simon added, Rob frowned at him.
“I miss my dad,” Madeline said.
Tommy did not say what he missed aloud. He missed his parents that was true. But more than anything he really wanted to talk to Geoff. Somehow, he was sure that Geoff would know what to do.
“I miss my money,” The man bear groaned. The others laughed a little despite the somber mood.
“I get anxious when I am parted from my money. So shall we see if we can find Sam's parents and then find a way to get everything back the way it was?” The man bear asked.
No one answered; instead, they sat in silence on the still carousel, each on their own horse except Madeline who had taken the back seat of Sam's. They all knew the plan. To stop Yallery, find Sam's parents and then go home. The tasks were set but none of them really knew where to start. The man bear spoke again.
“You know I thought these were,” he mumbled under his breath as he began stroking his horse’s belly.
“What is he doing?” Rob asked shaking his head.
“These horses,” the man bear replied. “I think they can move.”
Simon sighed.
“They move round in a circle with the ride.”
“I know what they do,” the man bear snapped. “But these I think can go where you want them to go.”
“Of course they do,” Simon, answered.
“I suppose,” he continued, “I just tickle the horses belly and say magic me home and..”
He stopped mid sentence as the carousel sprung into life.
Firstly, the lights and music came on and Tommy could feel his horse moving in the usual up and down motion he expected of a carousel horse. He saw that the man bears horse had somehow broken free and moved along with its pole in a straight direction. The others joined on as though they were all still joined together.
“Where are they going?” Tommy shouted to the man bear.
“Are we going home?” Sam asked.
“Why are we asking the guy in a bear suit?” Simon added.
But there were no answers and no further questions though Tommy could think of many. He wondered why the horses still moved in the motion of a carousel when they were no longer attached. How could the music be following them as they moved on the horses? And what was a carousel even doing on the reboot shore anyway? Most of all he wondered where in the world this horse was taking him. As it turned out the last question was the only one he would ever find the answer to.
The horses all stopped as though the ride had been shut down. They were right by the storage container building they had been living in.
“We're here,” the man bear said holding his top hat and stepping off the horse.
“How do you mean we are here? This is not home, this is right back where Yallery put us,” Simon told the bear.
“The horses won't take you home,” the man bear replied.
“They take you where you need to go,” Madeline said finishing the man bears sentence.
Rob seemed excited. He had quickly understood why the horses had brought them back here.
“The window Yallery told us to never go near,” he said leaping from his own horse.
“But we can't get in. Tommy said the doors have gone, remember?” Simon told everyone.
The man bear was already off his horse and for a moment, he moved his claw up and down the place the door had been. There was a click and the door was back.
They all crammed inside and were faced with the window. The curtains as drawn as they had been before, the way they had looked the whole time. Rob had been full of energy and bounce. He had been so enthusiastic to look behind the curtain. Now he took a step cautiously backwards.
“Well here we are,” Simon said. His hands were in his pockets and he seemed to have no intention of pulling the curtain back himself. Simon offered Tommy a nod, Happy for Tommy to be the leader at this moment in time.
Tommy hesitated.
“After you Tommy,” Simon insisted.
“I guess we should ask ourselves first, if we really want to see what is behind the curtain. Are we really ready to see?” Madeline wondered aloud.
“The battle is tomorrow. We have no time to wonder,” the man bear answered her question.
“But we wonder anyway. Is that not the human condition?” Madeline said.
It was the youngest of the group Sam who walked forward to the curtain.
“My parents could be locked away in there,” she said but was held back by the sturdy paw of the man bear.
“And they may not be Sam. We cannot be sure.”
Rob took the curtain and finding his courage finally pulled back.
The window was not a window at all but a small doorway.
“What are you hiding down here Yallery,” Tommy wondered aloud.
Sometimes Tommy had felt sure they were all in a dream. Danger here would not be danger when they awoke. But this felt like danger. Somehow, he knew that they all felt the same. Wha
tever was behind that door had been hidden from them for a reason.
Rob pushed the door aside revealing no clues to what lay within. There was just darkness.
So one by one, they went in.
We Got you Again
It took a while for Tommy's eyes to adjust. The hidden room was not in complete darkness but it was far from well lit. The light from the door shone in a single beam into the room. Rob had found a light switch and flicked it on. A dazzled moment later Tommy wished, they were still in darkness.
At first glance, the room was full of junk, much like other rooms around the place. Then Tommy took a few steps towards the piles of junk.
It seems impossible to describe a machine as bad looking. It's not like Tommy's computer at home was waiting to win the best looking computer of the month competition. He did not think much about how ugly the toaster was. Though come to think about it his toaster was pretty ugly. No, machines were machines. The things staring back at him however brought back some nasty memories.
“What the hell is that thing?” Rob asked looking to one of the more intact glass cabinets.
Clearly, whatever Yallery had been doing down here was a work in process. There were screws and oil scattered around everywhere. The thing sat in the cabinet gave Tommy the creeps.
He had seen it before on a visit to the seaside, always waiting there in the cabinet. Wanting to be fed a few coins to laugh. He had seen one working once when he was much younger. That time the laughing machine had been met with his shrieks as he had run out of the arcade crying his little eyes out. It was the same mechanical laughing clown. He thought the clown was the unfunniest thing he had ever laid eyes on. Even now, part of him wanted to get out of the room.
The clown wore striped trousers, a washed out pink shirt with a frilly collar and a big multi coloured top hat. Its painted eyes kept watch over the children.
“It looks broken,” Madeline said to the others.
“I hope that it is,” Tommy replied.
Rob had pulled a dust cover off another monstrous machine.
“Ello, ello, ello what do we have here?” Rob said.
Tommy did not have to look to know that Rob had found an equally ugly laughing police officer.
“You don't think they can talk? Or move, do you?” Tommy asked trying not to sound as frightened as he felt. His voice gave him away more than he would have liked.
“We speak to owl's. Plus one of us is dressed as a bear. I don't think we can rule that one out you know,” came Simon's predictably snarly reply.
Another cabinet saw a pretty ugly looking fortune teller machine. The mannequin fortune tellers paint had peeled away. Her face stayed in the same faintly painted expression but her hand moved between a red light and a green light.
“They have power,” Tommy said.
He didn't suspect the others cared much but he was a little relieved to see that the parts that were moving were doing so for a reason.
“Curious, there was the Carousel outside too. I wonder what Yallery is doing with all these old machines,” Madeline wondered aloud. She was looking round each unit and stepping on whatever electrical evils were on the floor as she went along. She seemed much braver than Tommy right now.
There was more. Behind the other machines was a row of clown faces, each of them with a hideous open-mouthed grin. It looked as though they had once been used as part of a fairground game. Now much like the other ugly exhibits the paint was very faded and peeling away. One of the clown faces was missing an eye. However, none of them had real looking eyes. On most, they were painted crosses. A few had half a painted nose. Much like the clown in the cabinet, the evil smiles made them creepier. Tommy could think of no reason anybody would want to keep these. The room was almost silent while the group looked around. The only sound was the mechanism of the fortune tellers hand moving backwards and forwards, then again creaking backwards and forwards.
Tommy just wanted one of them to talk. Rob, Sam, Madeline, any of them. But there was just the clowns and those smiles. They watched him and judged him. The clown seemed to be silently asking Tommy if he remembered them. How could he ever forget? The noise of that mechanized hand continued, never different, always the same piercing creaking.
“He could be using parts of these on the mannequins?” The man bear suggested finally breaking the silence.
“Possibly, but the mannequins are made from transformed people and animals. These are certainly just machines,” the man bear replied.
Rob clicked his fingers alerting the others.
“When I went into Yallery's factory there were mannequin pieces so it's possible he is just using these as spare parts,” Rob said.
“But then he had a full factory of spare parts,” he corrected himself quickly looking more confused than ever.
“Whatever they are I don't like them much,” Sam told them.
The man bear was looking round the machines. He inspected each one in turn. He took his top hat off and scratched his head.
“You have seen these before?” He asked Tommy.
A very ill looking Tommy nodded.
“When I was younger, I visited an amusement park.”
“So these come from the same place as you do,” the man bear replied.
Tommy nodded weakly as he slumped to the floor.
“Tommy,” Madeline said rushing to his side. The others all rushed over to him too.
“I will be fine,” Tommy reassured them.
“I am fine. I am okay,” he repeated. His voice betrayed him telling the others that he was not. That darn sound of the fortune tellers arm.
He remembered these machines all right. When he was six Geoff and Mrs. Huntington had been babysitting. They had decided to take him to the seaside. It was a rainy day and they had ended up in a rundown arcade in South end on Sea. Tommy remembered the paint peeling from the walls and the carpet being littered with pressed in sweets and crisps. Different coloured bulbs were placed around the sides of the arcade but at least one in every three had been smashed or was broken.
That is when he had come face to face with the monsters.
Geoff had fed the clown some coins. Its evil laugh had filled the small, almost empty arcade.
Tommy ran out of the arcade as fast as his six-year-old legs would take him. There had been tears down his cheeks and snot all over his face. Geoff had followed him out, wiped his nose and then they had said no more about it. Tommy's fear of mechanical clowns had been an unspoken secret until now.
When he came around, he was comforted to see the familiar faces of Madeline, Simon, Rob and Sam. He was even happier that the guy in the bear suit and top hat was with them. But for a moment he couldn't remember where he was.
“What happened?” Tommy asked.
“You kinda freaked out a bit there mate,” Rob replied.
“Well a lot actually,” Simon said.
The man bear offered Tommy his paw. Tommy grabbed it and with the help of the man bear and Sam, he steadily made it to his feet. The silent clowns seemed to mock him more. As if they were saying, “we got you again.”
“Can we get out of here please?” Tommy asked.
“I found these,” Sam said waving some papers at the others.
The man bear cleared one of the nearby desks of its horrific mannequin clown parts and placed the papers on the desk. Tommy turned to face only the desk and tried to forget that the clowns were behind him. The clowns and that darn fortune teller.
The plans were very detailed. They showed the truth about the workshop. Yallery was clever. He had been looking at the way the arcade mannequins were built and was building something for himself. From the designs, it looked like it was going to be huge,
a robot like thing that would tower above any of them. Built to be controlled by a man from inside the robot suit.
The robot would be better t
han any predator. It had small metal legs but could outrun them easily. If the notes were correct, it looked as if it would keep up with most vehicles. The eyes looked as though they were to be two blue light bulbs but they offered the person in the machine a full circle of vision. The head could turn at unnatural angles. There was no mistake. Yallery Brown had been building a warrior and they all knew why.
“I guess we know for sure that Yallery plans on fighting now,” Tommy said.
“Yallery plans on fighting?” Sam asked confused.
“The battle tomorrow is to decide who the new ruler will be. We knew Count Douglass was involved, we knew Simon put his name in there but Yallery said there would be three remember?”
“Then when he announced who was involved. Simon went off on his huge tantrum before Yallery gave the third name,” Rob reminded everyone.
“When I confronted Yallery we saw that he had signed up for the battle but knew he couldn't fight on account of his back.” Madeline added.
“He did it on purpose,” the man bear responded. The others turned their attention to him.
“What is happening bear man?” Sam asked, “I am very confused now.”
“Yallery plans to rule and he couldn't have done it without all of you. He needed one of you to enter the battle to make it legitimate. So he played on your love of power Simon.”
Simon looked as though he was about to protest but seemingly decided better off it.
“He turned me and Simon onto one another to provide a distraction and he somehow sent me back home,” Tommy said.
“He knew the group was much stronger with you leading,” the man bear explained.
“He poisoned me with the mannequin potion to try to eliminate me too,” Madeline replied.
“That’s right all this time he has been telling you that he is just a compare for the battle while all the time he was trying to eliminate the competition. He could not fight himself because of being hunchbacked. It all provided the perfect cover while he built this.” The man bear put a fisted claw on the plans.
“In short children, we have been played.”
“Well Simon, you wanted to be in this battle,” Rob said raising an eyebrow.
“That Robot looks like a pretty fierce opponent to me,”
It was Simon's turn to change colour now.
“But you will all be helping me right?”
Tommy wondered if the others enjoyed leaving Simon to worry quite as much as he did.
“We need to find a way to defeat this thing and we need to find it before tomorrow,” Madeline told them sounding a little panicked.
Rob had leaned against the wall. His eyebrows were a little raised and he was grinning.
“It can out run most vehicles,” he reminded Simon with obvious delight.
“Alright enough son,” The man bear interrupted. “I know Simon has been a bit difficult but we must not joke about his impending death.”
“Impending death,” Rob repeated still grinning.
“Tommy, help me!” Simon cried without any hesitation.
“We have less than six hours before this battle is due to start,” the man bear said as he rolled Yallerys Robot plans into a neat scroll.
“So we had better get working on it.”
The man bear led the way out.
The children and the man bear went to the back of the room with him. The mannequin hand of the fortune teller continued to move its arm back and forward. Back and forward as an unwelcome reminder of the time passing away.
When Tommy thought about it the odds were not in their favour. The battle would come and the man bear could not just lead them back home as he had before.
That ugly paint peeling fortune teller silently warned them that it didn't matter what they did because the time had arrived. If they were not ready for battle then it was too bad because the battle was ready for them.
Tomorrow Count Douglass the brave would do battle with Simon and Yallery's huge robot. A new ruler would be crowned and the children's fates would be decided one way or another.
The Compare becomes the Fighter
It was almost too perfect a morning for the battle. The sun was coming up and the grass glimmered in its light. The suns glow seemed to light the battlefield with a warming orange colour.
The children and the man bear walked onto the field together. The man bear had instructed them to. He told them that walking out there confidently sent Yallery a message. That message was that no matter what that odd little fellow had done they were all on the same side once more. The field was set up like a stadium. There were mannequin people watching on each side. They were as lifeless as the mechanical laughing clown was, Yallery's own private audience. Tommy hoped that the sun was providing Yallery with some intimidating silhouettes. But if the crooked little man was afraid he did not show it.
Yallery was in full compare mode. He wore a top hat that would not have looked out-of-place on the ringmaster at the circus. He was clearly relishing every moment of his big day.
“Welcome friends,” he called across through a megaphone.
Simon was very nervous but he took the shield and sword that were laid out for him. Yallery looked over his megaphone and gave Simon an approving grin. He waived his arm signaling for the rest of the group to get back. None of them budged.
“You know the rules. Simon signed up for this battle. You all wanted nothing to do with it. So behind the line please,” Yallery said, still grinning.
“Don't worry. It will all be over for all of you very soon,” he added.
“We are going to have to go through with his puppet show,” the man bear said stepping away from Simon and over the line. The silent mannequin people watched then turned their heads in union. They were watching a horse and cart making its way onto the field.
Count Douglass's mother opened the door of the cart and her son threw himself out. He was dressed for battle with his own armor, shield, scabbard and sword. He made fist gestures and posed for the mannequins as though he was a movie star making a big red carpet entrance. His mother lent on a crutch by his side clapping her hands.
“That's my boy,” she shouted as Douglass drew nearer to the field.
“I feel very under dressed,” Simon whimpered.
“You're doing great Si,” Madeline replied.
“Can I have your attention please,” Douglass said, waiving one arm in the air.
“I enter this battle to reboot this world, the place in which you are standing. It will be a better place in my own image. I will keep a tenacious hold on this new world that will be as bold, and as heroic as I am,”
The mannequin people fell silent, the children were silent, and even Douglass's mother for once was silent. But it only took a moment before she spoke.
“I think they just want you to step on the field Douglass. I don't think we needed all that.”
“Of course,” Douglass replied gruffly as though he was clearing his throat at the same time.
Then he stepped onto the battlefield. He did so however, without the streak of arrogance he had shown a moment earlier. There was something almost apprehensive about his movement.
“Mannequin people,” Yallery cried.
“Finally I will give to you a world rebooted in the image of a new ruler. At the far side of the field, we have the supposed rightful successor to the Duchess.
“Supposed,” Douglass scoffed.
“He is the slayer of dragons, the man who defeated the Martians.”
Douglass was enjoying the introduction and once again began posing for the near lifeless mannequins.
“To the left side of the field, he represents the children that defeated the Duchess. He is the one the seagulls chose. Simon,”
Simon looked embarrassed by the whole introduction.
“Now, you may remember I said there would be three entrants to this battle. I h
ave until now not disclosed the third entrant. I would go as far as saying friends that this new entrant is my new favourite to win.”
Yallery removed his ringmaster top hat and gave a little bow. His grin put Tommy on edge. It was unsightly, almost frightening. Yallery put his top hat to one side.
“Now I know you all assume that I, the hunchbacked Yallery could not compete. But you forget I am the smartest person here.”
Yallery grabbed a remote with an antenna that seemed to stretch endlessly. They heard the heavy footsteps and saw the blue-lit eyes of Yallerys war machine.
“I am the master of the reboot shore, the creator of the mannequin people. Soon, very soon I will be the ruler of this world. I am Yallery Brown.”
As he spoke, Yallery hopped into the chest of the machine. The robot's head spun from side to side looking at Simon and then at Douglass.
“Now I am very worried,” Simon said looking back at the others in desperation. The man bear shrugged wordlessly passing the horrific news to Simon that there was no plan.
“Did I forget to mention the stakes?” Yallery announced through his megaphone.
“This will be a fight to the death.”
“Edward,” Simon pleaded. Again, no response came from the man in the bear suit. Simon's desperate gaze turned to Tommy.
“Tommy,” he asked weakly. But right now Tommy could not think of any way to delay the battle further.
“Now Yallery. I'm pretty sure that big robot is against the rules,” Count Douglass shouted at the robot.
“The rules were the Duchess's. I can break them now she is not around. Just as long as this battle happens,” Yallery responded.
“Of course,” Madeline said as though she knew how to help. But she went quite again.
“Stop whining. You can take that big robot thing Douglass,” Douglass's mother shouted. Douglass offered her an annoyed half smile.
“Now maybe a really good time to keep quite mother,” he shouted back to her through gritted teeth.
“He can beat you and your tin can too,” Douglass's mother shouted as she sat back in her chair looking almost entertained by what she was seeing.
Douglass however looked less entertained. He was joining Simon with that look of despair and desperation creeping onto his face.
Yallery's robot swung its head from side to side. It's eyes were menacingly lit and its arms were now moving to a defensive stance.
“Let the battle commence,” Yallery roared.
Douglass looked at Simon and Simon looked at Douglass. Then they both looked at the giant war machine of a robot facing them. Tommy knew now what being doomed looked like. They had to do something.
“I know what we need to do,” Madeline said softly. She had everyone's attention.
The Battle
“Yallery needs to win this battle in order to change this world to be in his image. He needs the battle to justify making himself the new ruler when that title is not rightfully his to take. I think the device he uses to reboot will work whatever the outcome as long as the battle happens. It can only be activated by the winner. You can be declared a winner, no one has to die.”
The others looked puzzled.
“I bet the control to end this is somewhere out here with him,” Madeline told the others.
“If it's not?” The man bear asked.
“Best plan we have,” Tommy said deciding for them all as he had so many times before.
“Maybe we could find a way to deal with that big robot first,” Simon pleaded.
Yallerys robot had not chosen a target yet but the blue lights it used as eyes had Simon in its sights. It began making surprisingly agile strides in their direction. It was so fast for a machine its size. They had all read how the machine was built and knew there would be no outrunning it.
“Yes that’s it. Target them,” Yallery screamed at the controls as he pushed buttons and leavers.
Until this point Douglass, the brave had been over at the other side of the battlefield acting anything but brave. Suddenly he was right next to Yallerys war machine.
“You sir,” Douglass shouted at the robot.
“Surrender at once otherwise I shall be forced to deal with you in a rather unpleasant way.”
“You tell it Douglass,” Douglass's mother screeched.
The huge machine took one-step back. Its blue-lit eyes seemed to be sizing up Douglass now.
It held one iron fist in the air as though signalling it was ready to begin.
“That's it you have forced my hand,” Douglass said reaching for his sword.
Tommy wondered for a moment if they could have misjudged the Count. Perhaps Count Douglass the brave was actually brave after all. That thought past very quickly when he saw that Douglass was having a lot of trouble getting the sword out of his scabbard.
“One moment,” he said.
“Sam, I think you are small enough to get into the robot,” Madeline said
“I will take her,” Tommy offered.
He could see that now was the best time for them to act. The machine seemed to be concentrating on Douglass, and had barely glanced back at them. Quickly he and Sam crossed the line onto the battlefield. Tommy knew he was putting both himself and the young girl at great risk but it seemed like their only chance.
“Hold it there just a moment,” Douglass said, still fighting with his belt.
“It worked earlier,”
Douglass's mother looked thoroughly disappointed. She held her head in her hands.
“Bare with me a minute longer,” Douglass asked again.
Tommy had never seen a robot look confused before. But this robot seemed to be puzzled. Perhaps it was wondering why Douglass was not fighting.
“We shall have a fair fight just as soon as I have my sword. I promise you that,” Douglass repeated.
Tommy and Sam approached the Robots legs. The entrance hatch was on the back of the robot but it was quite high up. Far too high for them to reach and they were running out of time.
Finally, Douglass released the sword. Sadly, he had also released the belt of his trousers as well and they fell to his ankles revealing a pair of white-fronts so big you would have thought he chose them for comedy effect.
“Ah ha,” Douglass shouted wielding the sword completely unaware of his fallen trousers.
“Oh just GIVE OVER Douglass,” Douglass's mother cried.
Douglass looked at his mother, then down at his ample sized white fronts. Then he just looked embarrassed as he stooped quickly to catch his trousers.
Just when it seemed things couldn't get any odder they did. They were all shocked, especially Yallery, when the robot spoke for the first time.
The mouth opened and a man’s deep voice came out.
“Must we fight?”
Yallery looked the most shocked as he sat inside the robots stomach. He began checking all his controls perhaps looking for a stop talking button.
“I just don't see why it all has to end in a big fight. I mean it’s all a bit overdone isn't it? Really who is the real winner at the end of it all?”
“I win. What are you saying you stupid machine?” Yallery replied. He was hitting the controls, no doubt finding them useless.
“I don't want to fight. That's all you wrote into my programming and to be quite honest you oversold it. I have grown tired of the idea of fighting.”
“If you don't mind me asking what would you rather do?” Madeline asked the huge robot.
“I have decided I wouldn't mind having a dance,” the robot responded. The machine began moving in a way that looked vaguely like a dance. Sort off.
“Big fish, small fish, cardboard box,” the robot said, as it danced its robot self away from both Douglass and Simon.
It is fair to say they were all a little stunned. None of them could have suspected Yallerys machine would be more interested in dan
cing then fighting. The site of this huge machine dancing was bizarre.
“Dance, Dance wherever you may be, I am the lord of the dance said he,” The robot sang.
It seemed as though the battle had almost ended but Tommy knew that he needed to get to Yallery and the reboot control. So he made a judgement call that was perhaps not one of his best.
While the robot was doing the tango dance, as well as a huge mechanical robot could tango dance Tommy saw the access hatch. He had seen Yallery get in the robot. Madeline was right Sam would be small enough. He urgently lifted Sam onto his shoulders and she was about to push her way into the robot. But the robot turned round and the bulbs in its eyes changed from blue to red.
“Bad form,” it said sternly.
For a moment, it looked as though the robot was going to be a threat.
“Tell me why you want my controls,” the robot asked. It sounded to be more of a demand then a question.
Tommy found himself talking for the group once more.
“Because we came to this world and we broke it. We defeated the Duchess without knowing the effect it would have on everything around her.”
The Robot turned his head as though thinking through Tommy's words in its robot brain.
“Go on,” the Robot said.
“Yallery can reset everything to how it was. He could free the mannequins. Then the damage that we caused would be undone.”
“The way I understood it the world could only be rebooted when a new ruler was found.” The robot replied
“You think you should rule?”
“No, I just think we should try to repair what we did” Tommy replied honestly.
“Yallery has tried to poison one of you, turned you all against each other, and then he built me to kill you. Would you not seek revenge?”
“No,” Tommy replied.
The Robot bowed his big metal head to the children.
“In that case children I surrender. Your contender Simon has won the battle. Now to reboot this world all you need is Yallery's little remote control.”
He saw the children's confused faces.
“Yallery is not in my belly any more is he?”
Sure enough, Yallery was not at the robot controls. As the children looked around Madeline was nowhere to be seen either.