“What if we let Herman out? He can roll in there and distract them, get them to leave the control room long enough for the rebel agent to deactivate the cells.”
Jamie shrugged. “It’s a better idea than trying to hold them down.”
Drake nodded. “Fine.” He looked up. “Hey, bubble, let’s halt this thing.”
The bubble stopped rolling around them within yards of the control room. A small slit opened at the bottom, and Herman moved towards it. “Wish me luck,” the little robot chirped.
“Good luck,” Jamie said, putting a hand to her lips and miming blowing a kiss.
Drake’s arm shot out and he mimed intercepting the kiss. “This belongs to me,” he said.
She rolled her eyes in response but then laughed good-naturedly. “Greedy.”
“When it comes to you, you know it,” he said, his eyes burning into hers.
“Okay you lovebirds,” Lakewood said, ruining the moment, “let’s keep an eye on my robot.”
Herman had rolled to the entrance on the right and stopped. He was emitting a series of bleeps, bloops, and whistles. The Hareema guards had turned in his direction, and one had walked towards the little robot, but neither had left the control room.
“Come on, Herman,” Jamie whispered. “You’ll have to do better than that!”
As if the robot ball heard her, he began to speak. “There is a disturbance among the cells. One of the creatures has gotten free and is attempting to free others.”
One of the Hareema, having taken the shape of an alien creature with four arms, frowned down at Herman. “I’m not showing any disturbance on our screens,” he said. “And just who are you?”
“Hareema Emulating Robotic Assistance Negotiator, or HERMAN, for short,” the robot responded. “The human, Dr. Lakewood, has created me to assist you. I have been given the task of patrolling the base and reporting any disturbances.”
“Well you missed a heck of a disturbance already,” the other guard, who had the form of a lizard-headed creature, said. “How come you didn’t warn us about that?”
“I have been patrolling the cells in central holding. I did not see any earlier disturbance. But I would urge you again to follow me. The creature seemed close to unlocking another cell.”
“Go check it out,” the four-armed guard said. “I’ll stay here.”
The lizard-headed one nodded, then followed Herman as he started to roll away. “I don’t know why we’re building robots to do our jobs. Soon we’ll all be out of work. Maybe I should just kick you out an airlock.”
“That’s the best we’re going to get,” Drake said when Herman and the guard were out of sight. “We’ve got to make our move now.”
The silver bubble opened a slight at the rear, down low, and the three of them climbed carefully out of it, crawling to remain out of sight. Once they were free of the bubble it collapsed on itself. The Hareema then turned himself into a look-alike of the lizard-like guard who’d followed Herman. “Stay here,” he said, “and follow my lead.”
The Hareema strolled into the control room. “You won’t believe what that stupid robot ball did,” he said to the four-armed guard. “You seriously have to go see it.”
“What?” his companion asked, his features showing his curiosity.
“Oh no, it’s too good. I’m not going to ruin it by telling you. Just go see. I’ll hold things down here.”
His companion shrugged, then laughed. “Why not?”
He headed out the entrance on the left and Drake motioned for Jamie and Lakewood to hustle into the opposite entrance before the guard could catch sight of them. “Stay down,” he said, then looked up at the Hareema. “Good job.”
The Hareema nodded and immediately set to work on the controls. “You want me to release the lock on every cell, right?”
“Yes!” Jamie said. “Free them all!”
“It will definitely create one hell of a diversion,” he replied, then started going down the console rows, flipping switches. There was a loud buzzing sound that repeated as he flipped. It was near deafening.
Drake risked a peek out the window. As he watched, cages began to open, the creatures inside them spilling out. The buzzing stopped, and suddenly he heard a scream.
He wondered which guard had been attacked.
