Molly and the Machine, page 11
“To what?” Arvin interrupted. “Miss out on all the fun?”
Molly’s heart rose in her chest. “You sure?” she said, looking him in the eye.
Arvin met her stare. “Sure I’m sure.”
“Okay then!” Molly said. “I’ve got an idea!”
“Oh great, here we go….”
They took a detour around to the other side of the cabin. There, in a big pile, was a stack of bicycle parts, nearly every make and model.
“Is… this… where bicycles go to die?” Arvin said.
“Or maybe find a new life,” Molly said.
After a little poking around, they found one frame not too badly dented, with both wheels still attached. Half the spokes were either bent or missing, and the joints were a little rusty, but Molly gave the pedal a few cranks, and the gear and chain still appeared intact.
“Just needs handlebars… and a seat,” she said.
“If you say so,” Arvin said, not sounding so sure.
They started digging through the pile. Darryl joined the search, sniffing his way through the junk to a grip that was buried toward the back of the pile. Upon discovery, he let out a bark, and Arvin tromped over and gave it a yank.
“Hey! How ’bout these?” Arvin called, unearthing a pair of giant ape handlebars. “Oh wait…” He snagged a seat with his free hand, which seemed to be working fine ever since Clovis fixed it. “… And this?”
“Good finds! Bring ’em over!”
Wrench already in hand, Molly took the lead on mix-’n’-match assembly while Arvin found a pump for the tires, which were both in sore need of air. The would-be rescuers worked fast, like a pit crew in a race.
When the Frankenstein bike was all put together, Molly reinforced a few spots with duct tape.
“For good measure,” she said.
It wasn’t going to win any beauty contests, but a few minutes later, they had a second working bicycle. Molly was pretty sure Clovis wouldn’t mind.
“Impressive,” Arvin said.
“Thanks,” Molly said, grinning. Maybe he wasn’t so bad to have around.
The rescue party piled onto their vehicles and took off down the hill at top speed. Molly carried Don Carlos and Crank, while Arvin rode solo. His bike rattled loudly, but it held. And Darryl brought up the rear. It was a bumpy ride, but Molly pictured her brother all alone inside that robot and knew there was no time to lose. She was still feeling guilty for banishing him from her invention yesterday. If only she’d let him stay under the cover of the tree…
“Sit tight, Wally!” she shouted into the cool morning air. “We’re coming for you!”
“And we’re coming for you too, robot!” Arvin added.
Darryl gave a deep “WOOOOF” in solidarity as they flew across the field.
Before long, they were back on the trail. And if Molly’s gut was right, which it usually was, they were getting close.
CHAPTER 23 INDIGESTION
“Urrrrrrrp.”
The burps were coming at regular intervals. Wally lay on his back, spread-eagled in the middle of the room. He was experiencing that perfect combination of satisfaction and misery that comes with inhaling a triple-decker hot fudge sundae. He moaned a little, and the burps continued. Maybe he shouldn’t have eaten it quite so fast? But he really couldn’t help himself. He had been so hungry, and it had tasted so good.
Uh-oh, here comes another one, he thought. It rumbled up from deep down in his gut, gaining momentum as it moved up his throat to his mouth. Finally, it arrived.
“Urrrrrrrrp.”
Still, he had to admit, even the burps tasted pretty good. And it felt nice to enjoy himself without having his big sister yell at him for every little thing. He licked a little hot fudge sauce from the corner of his lips, found a single stray candy sprinkle, and crunched it.
“Mmm,” he said. He was starting to think that if this was his new life, being the prisoner of a giant robot who served him hot fudge sundaes, it wasn’t too bad.
“I’m glad you liked it,” said a voice.
Wally looked around. “Who said that?” he asked nervously.
“I did,” said the voice. But Wally couldn’t tell exactly where the voice was coming from. It seemed to be coming from everywhere at once. He sat up and looked around. Ooof, his poor tummy. He groaned again.
“Easy now,” said the voice. “You ate that pretty fast.”
“Well, yeah, I kinda did,” said Wally, his cheeks growing a bit red. “Wait, have you been watching me? Is this your robot? Uh, why did it swallow me?”
A large television screen directly in front of Wally flickered to life, revealing the darkened silhouette of what appeared to be someone’s head and shoulders. Slowly and silently, the head tilted to one side, then the other, as if sizing Wally up.
“Who are you?” Wally asked the television.
“You first,” said the silhouette.
“Me? My name’s Wally.”
“How old are you?”
“Eight and a half.”
The questions went on and on at a rapid-fire pace. Wally did his best to answer them all between burps.
“Where were you born?”
“Right here. In Hocking Hills, Ohio.”
“Favorite baseball team?”
“Um… the Reds?”
“Favorite Saturday morning cartoon?”
“Um… Thundarr the Barbarian.”
“Second favorite?”
“Jabberjaw.”
With every answer, Wally’s confidence grew. He didn’t care much for the tests in school, or being interrogated at home by Molly, but this seemed different. Finding his rhythm, his answers came faster and louder:
“Favorite breakfast cereal?”
“Cookie Crisp!”
“Favorite arcade game?”
“Donkey Kong!”
“What if it’s out of order?”
“Hmm. Frogger.”
“Favorite condiment on a hot dog?”
“Yellow mustard!”
“Least favorite condiment on a hot dog?”
“Brown mustard!”
“Bard, wizard, or ranger?”
“Not a wizard…. Ranger.”
“Legos or Lincoln Logs?”
“Definitely Legos.”
“Best board game?”
“Battleship.”
“He who smelt it…?”
“Dealt it.”
Wally giggled a little at his last answer. He got the sense that whatever this test was, he was passing… maybe even getting an A. He couldn’t know for sure, but the voice behind the shadowy figure on screen seemed pleased with his answers. Another burp worked its way up his throat, and when it came out, it was the loudest one yet.
“UHHHHHRRRRRPPPPP!”
There was a break in the questions. At first, Wally thought he might be in trouble. He whispered an “excuse me” and waited. But nothing happened. In fact, he was pretty sure he could hear muffled laughter. The silhouette bounced up and down a little.
Wally felt a new sensation bubbling up inside him—but this time, it wasn’t indigestion. Was this what hope felt like? All of a sudden, he saw his situation through new eyes. Maybe this was the start of a new friendship. Or maybe even a whole new life. Who knew? Living in a giant, state-of-the-art robot with someone who actually appreciated him felt like a step up from living in an old, broken-down house with people who were always on his case. Would his dad and sister even miss him at all?
The speaker crackled back on, interrupting his reflection.
“Wally, let me ask you one more question. Do you like to play marbles?”
Wally’s face brightened. “Well, yeah, as a matter of fact, I do.”
“Excellent,” said the silhouette.
The screen went blank.
“Hey, where’d ya go?” Wally shouted.
To answer, the floor suddenly disappeared out from under Wally’s feet. In the split second he had to process what was happening, Wally caught sight of a silver chute. A moment later, he was sliding downward, quickly picking up speed.
“Heeeeeeeeeeeelp!” he screamed, falling into the darkness, a final burp escaping his lips as he dropped.
CHAPTER 24 SLEEPING GIANT
The sun sat high in the sky as the rescuers slowly covered more ground.
“We’ve gotta be close,” Molly said.
“We’d better be,” Arvin added.
Darryl was panting, but Molly refused to quit, willing her tired legs to keep pedaling no matter how much they ached. In front of her, Don Carlos leaned forward, his eyes always scanning in two directions at once. Crank slept in the basket. After following the trail of footprints all morning, they crossed over one more hill and finally came to a stop.
There it was. Molly’s heart leapt in her chest.
They all stared. The robot was right in front of them, only it wasn’t standing anymore. Instead, it was lying on the ground, perfectly still. Horizontal, the robot’s arms and legs looked even longer than when it had been standing. Its head was propped up on a boulder that appeared to serve as a pillow. Its once-glowing green eyes were now dark and lifeless, and its giant hinged jaw hung open.
“It looks… asleep,” Arvin said.
Molly had never considered that robots might nap. Maybe they need time to recharge their batteries?
They parked their bikes against a tree. Arvin’s makeshift number had held together for the last few miles, but as soon as he stepped away, the chain snapped in two.
“Well, made it this far,” he said.
Then, without another word, the group moved a little closer. After a few minutes of careful steps, they arrived at the robot’s side. Darryl growled, then woofed at it twice, but Molly immediately shushed him. They held their breath, waiting for something to happen. Nothing did. Whatever noise they made, it didn’t seem to matter.
“Let’s split up,” Arvin suggested. “You search the top half. I’ll take the bottom. Maybe I can find the escape hatch I used last time.” He headed down toward the robot’s feet.
Molly got to work searching for an easy way in. Between all the broken-down bits of machinery her dad had scattered around their property, and her Gruncle’s never-ending inventions, Molly knew her way around most mechanical contraptions. But this was far, far bigger than anything she’d ever seen. Up close, the sheer scale of it made it feel almost unreal.
Carefully, she laid a hand on the sleeping giant, not sure if her touch would trigger some reaction. Her mind jumped to the last time she’d made contact, which had ended in her getting thrown to the ground, hard. But now the robot remained perfectly still, save for the faintest vibration. Molly’s heart was pounding. She had made it this far. Somewhere on the other side of all that metal, Wally was close. She just needed to make her way in.
Under both the robot’s arms, Molly found large venting panels. She tried jamming her pocketknife into their seams, but they were impossible to pry open. She pressed her face to the slats, feeling a soft, cool breeze coming through. It made the hair around her temples dance. She cupped her hands to her mouth, and in a whisper, she called through the vent:
“Wally? Are you in there? Can you hear me? Wally, I’m so sorry….”
Molly found herself unable to stop talking. She had no idea if her brother was listening, but it felt good to say out loud everything that had been building inside her. And for some reason, at this moment, a giant robot’s armpit in the middle of the woods made for the perfect confessional booth. The words kept spilling out.
“… Sorry it took us so long to find you. But we’re gonna get you outta here just as soon as we find a way in! And Wally? I’m sorry I banished you yesterday…. I feel like it’s all my fault you’re here…. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I know I do that a lot…. I…”
The steady breeze on Molly’s face had a calming effect. Her voice blended with the hum of unseen engines, inviting her to continue….
“I’m sorry for always blaming you whenever something goes wrong.”
As she spoke those last words into the cold metal vent, Molly realized all at once that there was something much bigger than a giant robot separating her from her brother.
She bit her lip to stop it from quivering. Molly had one more thing to say:
“Wally…?” She looked into the darkness between the slats. “It’s not your fault Mom left. Sometimes it’s nobody’s fault.”
Molly’s entire body felt lighter. Okay then.
She turned to check over her shoulder. Darryl was watching her curiously. He was probably wondering why on earth she’d come all this way just to talk into a robot’s armpit. But Molly figured this wasn’t the first time humans didn’t make sense to a dog. Did anything they do make any sense? Did Rube Goldberg machines? Or rescue missions? Or jumping in holes? Or walking out on your family? Or thinking that five lousy words on a postcard were enough? Sometimes, Molly admitted, they didn’t make sense to her, either.
Arvin returned, pulling her back to the present. “No luck,” he said. “I’m pretty sure the door I jumped out of was in its right heel, which is currently flat against the ground. Maybe we wait for it to wake up?”
“Maybe,” Molly said.
She listened to the continuous whirring sound, felt the flow of air on her face, all coming from the open vent, and thought of another opening.
“Or maybe,” she said, “if we want to find a way in, we search for a way up.”
“Up? Up where?”
“Its mouth is open.”
“No way. I’ve been swallowed once already.”
Molly just stared at him.
“I guess we could look,” he finally said.
They circled the sleeping giant once more, looking for the best access point to the top. Molly decided on the claws. They were scary-looking, yes, but they were the lowest part of the robot, which made them the easiest to climb.
“You guys stay here,” she instructed the non-human members of their crew. “But be ready for anything. And if the robot wakes up… hide!”
Darryl took up position by the tree to guard their bicycles. Crank appeared to ignore them altogether. Don Carlos blended in.
“You ready?” Arvin asked.
Molly reached into her backpack. Her Gruncle had once told her that the key to a clear head was a full stomach. So she split a fluffernutter sandwich with Arvin, took a swig from her canteen, and then zipped her backpack back up. Deep breaths, Molly, she thought, deep breaths.
Adequately fueled, they made their way over to the claw and felt around its smooth surface for a place they could get a good hold. Nothing.
“Why is metal so slippery?” she asked out loud.
Finally, with a boost from Arvin, Molly stretched her arms as high as they could go and barely reached the top of the claw’s upper edge with her fingertips. Summoning all her strength, she lifted herself a few inches, then scampered up to the top. Then she reached down to pull up Arvin, just like they’d done in the footprint.
It was a hard thing to do quietly. Every time their sneakers rubbed against the metal surface, they made a loud squeaking sound, and the two froze. But no matter what they did, the robot stayed motionless, so they kept going. Carefully, with Arvin following closely behind Molly, they started making their way up the robot’s giant cylindrical arm to where it connected to its giant body. The arm was segmented every few feet to allow it to bend, and they took care not to trip on any of the joints.
At one point, Molly nearly lost her balance, spinning her arms in circles like a windmill. Arvin offered a hand from behind to help steady her. Before they knew it, they’d hopped up onto the robot’s shoulder, crossed its chest, and stood looking down the darkened pit of the robot’s throat. Up close, it looked even bigger than before.
“Not a good memory,” Arvin said.
Molly patted his shoulder. “I know,” she said.
They both paused another moment, staring into the mechanical mouth. “Wally, I hope you’re in there,” Molly said.
They quickly scrambled up and over the robot’s massive bottom jaw, not wanting to get stuck there if it suddenly closed shut. Then—ooof! With a soft thud, Molly half-landed, half-crashed onto the other side, rubbing her elbow where she’d bumped it and waiting for her eyes to adjust to the dimness of the robot’s cavernous mouth. Arvin climbed in after her.
At last she was inside! Molly felt a sudden thrill—immediately followed by a sense of dread. Pushing her fears down, she took a step forward. The surface beneath her curved down, gradually getting steeper until it disappeared from view. She took another step, then started to slip. She could make out a trail of tiny red bulbs like Christmas lights, but it was hard to make out much else.
“Molly, be careful!” Arvin whispered.
She hesitated, staring down the dark tunnel before her, but her sneakers couldn’t get a grip. They started making a high-pitched sssssqqqqquueeaaakk as she slid down the ramp of the robot’s throat.
“Molly—!”
Quick, she thought, do something! Just then, she noticed a shadow, a dark, round shape that hung from the roof of the robot’s mouth. What was that? As she continued to slip, Molly’s mind jumped back to a film she’d seen in school about parts of the body.
“A uvula?” she said out loud. “Why would a robot need a uvula?”
“Don’t ask me!” Arvin said, now several feet away. “Ask the Russians, or whoever made this thing!”
Molly grabbed hold of it with both arms. Uff! She held on tight, her toes now barely scraping the floor.
The metal uvula swung back and forth. It started ringing like a church bell.
BONG-G-G! BONG-G-G! BONG-G-G! BONG-G-G!
“SHHHHHHHHHHHH,” Arvin said to Molly.
“SHHHHHHHHHHHH,” Molly repeated to the uvula. But it ignored her and kept ringing.
BONG-G-G! BONG-G-G! BONG-G-G! BONG-G-G!
More lights flashed on, followed by a series of clicks and beeps, then a loud metal groan. Oh no! The mouth was shutting! Molly watched helplessly as the band of sunlight between the robot’s open jaws grew thinner and thinner until it vanished with an ear-ringing SLAM.
