Project XII

Chapter Three

The first thought that came to their minds when they saw the metallic menace was to turn back. They spun around only to notice the elevator doors shutting close. They hurried over to stop it, but they weren't able to match the speed of the shutting elevator doors. Johnny quickly hit the call button. 'Access denied'. "This can't be happening." he said. He hit the button a few more times for confirmation, but all they kept hearing was 'Access denied'. They turned to face the human-looking robot. It was walking towards them at a quick pace. They ran through the corridor which was on the left side of the elevator. They were heading for the gate from which the robot walked through. The robot busted right through a part of the left-hand side corridor wall. By now the trio had reached the gate. They tried to open the gate using the lever which was on the wall. But it wouldn't budge. "It seemed as though we had reached the heart of the mystery. Everything on this strange island including the robots and this factory was so technologically advanced. The elevator door didn't open when we pressed the button earlier and now this lever won't budge. So we knew one thing for sure, there had to be a control room somewhere ahead and the person in charge had to be watching us from there. No cameras were visible to the naked eye, so there had to be hidden cameras around." Johnny thought to himself.

While Johnny and Katie were tying to pull the lever downwards, Shawn could see the robot bending down and picking up a huge rock from the ruble. He pushed Johnny and Katie out of the way anticipating what the robot was about to do, and dove to the opposite side, barely missing the huge rock. The rock hit the gate, making a large sound and breaking through it. The hole was big enough to fit through. Johnny, Shawn and Katie climbed through the hole and began running through the narrow passage. It was brightly lit. There was a fork in the passage. Katie went one way and Johnny and Shawn went the other way. But both ways led to an elevator. There were two other doors excluding the ones they entered from. Katie opened the first one.

"Well, what can you see?" Johnny asked. 

"Um, nothing." she replied. 

"What do you mean nothing?" he inquired. 

"Take a look for yourself." she replied.  

"Whoa, it's..."

There was nothing beyond the door. Falling wasn't a good idea as the bottom door wasn't visible. They shut the door and tried the other one. There was a wall in front of the door. They searched for any buttons they could use to operate the lift with. And then they noticed it, there were two loose tiles just in front of the two doors that they had opened earlier. 

"Perhaps if we stood on them simultaneously, they would activate something. Like a switch to go down." Johnny said.  

"Or like a trap." Shawn said in a mysterious voice. He grinned. "Just kidding. It's only an elevator right?"  

Johnny was right. Something did get activated. The elevator had begun to descend. About ten seconds later, the elevator door opened, and the trio stepped out.

They could see what looked to them like a security checkpoint. Walking forward stealthily, they could see two guards sitting behind desks opposite each other. One was reading a newspaper, so there wouldn't be a problem getting passed him. But the other one was watching television which was set up on a wall in the same direction as the trio. So there was no way of getting past him without being seen. They looked around for a way to get passed them. And then they saw air vents.

Johnny knew that they were fans in the air vents that were used to clean the vents and prevent any blockages. Therefore, they had to switch off the electricity in order to use the vents, else they would end up being sucked into the fans and ditto seriously injured. They noticed an electric circuit board fixed on a wall near the security guard who was reading the newspaper. Johnny suddenly had an idea while pondering the thought of how they were to switch off the electricity. He commanded them to distract the guards after he had crept towards and safely hid behind the lockers. He explained that if the guards were to hear a suspicious noise, they would be alarmed and forced to check it out. Katie suggested that after Johnny had hid behind the lockers, she would throw a soda can from the nearby waste bin onto the floor and then climb into the vents with Shawn while the guards came to search for the source of the noise. Johnny nodded and crept towards the lockers. When he was sure that he wasn't illuminated by the light bulb that hung from the ceiling, he signaled to Katie to throw the can. She picked up a soda can from the waste bin whilst Shawn unscrewed the hatch of the vents with the help of his pocket-knife. He placed the screws into his pocket, pushed aside the hatch, and clambered into the vents. Katie had decided to throw the can onto the ground from the vents as it was less precarious. She put the can in her pocket and hoisted herself up into the vent. She threw the can next to the bin and Shawn replaced the hatch.