The other sparks cheered. Moloch rolled his eyes.
Princess Zeetha and Airman Axel Higgs regarded the cavorting sparks from a safe distance on the other side of the room. They shared a significant glance. Zeetha nodded and pulled a small mechanism from her pocket. “Oooo—kay. I think it’s time for this.”
Higgs leaned in to examine it. It was a small, decorated metal sphere. “What is it?”
“Don’t know,” Zeetha admitted as she hit the only switch, “but Agatha said it would help, and really at this point—how much more trouble could it be?”
The sphere shivered. Small panels slid aside releasing a set of arms and legs that unfolded with a snap. A mismatched pair of eyes swiveled open and examined the room. It turned back to Zeetha, nodded once, and leapt to the ground and scuttled away.
Higgs cocked an eyebrow. “I guess we’ll find out.”
The walls of Castle Heterodyne contain unusual spaces. Places where corners come together in odd ways, secret places sealed away for forgotten reasons, and, of course, places where the mechanisms that allow the Castle to perform its many wonders are housed.
In the Castle walls, two separate teams of dingbots, each led by a small commander, were busy assembling devices intended to crush their opposite number. Each of these primaries7 was fiercely territorial and regarded the presence of the other primary as a direct challenge to their control. They marched among their troops clicking and whistling with smug self-importance.
An unearthly music unexpectedly began in the room outside. Both teams of little clanks froze. Dreamily, they dropped tools and began to move towards the sound. They thronged into the room and gathered around the hulk of the security clank, waiting. The sparks who had been rebuilding it danced backward, trying their best not to trip over the single-minded tide of clanks. Standing atop the security clank was the music’s source: the little round clank that Zeetha had activated. The rest stared up at it, mesmerized. The two primaries pushed their way through the group until they stood at the front, gazing upwards in evident astonishment.
The music ended and the singer gazed down on the assembled crowd. The two primaries blinked, then each understood—with fury—that it was standing next to its hated rival. They moved to fight, but the round clank rang out a single clear tone and both primaries dropped to their knees. Atop the new clank, a small hatch folded open with a crisp snap and revealed a minuscule crown. The assembled clanks stood frozen before their new ruler. It clapped its jewellike hands once and, without a word, the clank armies became one. Surging forward, they overran the giant security clank like ants on a hill.
Everyone stared at this flurry of activity in amazement. Theo leaned back and nodded in approval. “They’re repairing it.” he said. “This looks promising.”
Doctor Mittelmind gripped his arm. “A promising disaster,” he growled. “Can you not see it?”
Theo blinked. “Um . . . no?”
Mittelmind indicated the organized chaos swirling before them. “Observe! Those little clanks are building! Designing!”
Diaz’ eyes widened. “Spitting in the face of the creator!”
Mezzasalma gasped. “Warping science!”
They all looked expectantly at Theo, who felt like he was letting down the home team. He shrugged. “So?”
Mittelmind smacked the back of his head. “They are taking our jobs!”
“We are doomed,” Diaz declared.
Mezzasalma concurred. “DOOOOOMED!”
Theo rolled his eyes. “Nonsense! These things are but tools!” He scooped up a clank that had been attempting to straighten a steel strut with only a tiny hammer. He tried not to notice it seemed to be succeeding. “New, complex tools, certainly. But surely there are unique strengths that we, as men of science, can provide that these little mechanisms cannot.”
The three sparks looked abashed. Mezzasalma rubbed his jaw. “Oh. Well, certainly . . . ”
The others nodded and looked like they might relax, when Moloch, who had been deep in conversation with Snaug, wandered up and took notice of what was happening. “Oh not these things again.” he groaned. “They start by being helpful, but soon they’ll build something terrible that could kill us all!”
The three older sparks went white. “DOOOOOMED,” they moaned.
Suddenly there was a shudder and a prolonged rumble. A huge billow of smoke and dust erupted from the shaft now opening in the floor. When the room stopped shaking, they all crowded around the edge and peered downwards. Higgs lit a torch, dropped it—they were able to follow it even through the dust—and saw it bounce and land on a heap of rubble almost a hundred meters down.
“That happened faster than I thought it would.” Moloch muttered to himself.
Diaz shook his head. “I do not know what you were expecting, but that was an explosion from a bomb. Someone did this deliberately!”
Zeetha looked stricken. “Agatha,” she whispered.
Airman Higgs carefully put his pipe in his pocket. “Master Gilgamesh is down there too. Guess we’d better go see if they’re all right.”
Moloch raised an eyebrow. “You ain’t going this way.”
Higgs nodded. “Lady Heterodyne carved this hole. There are other paths.”
“Well . . . sure. But where are they?”
Higgs paused, and realized that everyone was looking at him. “I . . . think I can get there.” Moloch looked skeptical. Higgs hesitated, then continued. “I . . . found a map.”
“A map!” Professor Diaz perked up. “That could be useful indeed! Where is it?”
The airman shrugged. “It’s down in the lab.”
Diaz frowned. “That does not do us much good, then.”
Higgs tapped the side of his head. “I remember maps.” The professor opened his mouth, but Higgs continued. “Who’s coming with me?”
Zeetha stepped up. “I am.”
A tiny smile scurried across Higgs face. “Good.” Zeetha felt inordinately pleased at this reaction. She tried to hide it by looking to Krosp. “How about you?”
“Of course,” the cat responded. “Agatha’ll be lost without me.”
Higgs turned towards Moloch. “How about you?”
Moloch looked alarmed. “Why me?”
“You’re useful.” Higgs slid a glance towards the huge security clank and the little clank army that swarmed it, working furiously. “Don’t think you’re needed here. Of course, the madboys could probably think of something to do to you . . . ”
Moloch clapped his hands. “Let’s go.”
Theo DuMudd and Sleipnir O’Hara, friends of Gil who had helped him gain entrance to the Castle, were standing to the side, watching. Sleipnir leaned in towards Theo. “A map?” Her voice was the barest whisper, practiced during countless pranks and adventures back on Castle Wulfenbach. “Of this place? That doesn’t even—”
Theo answered with a matching whisper. “I know. But he says he can get us back to Gil and Agatha.” He narrowed his eyes as he studied the airman. “If he’s got to claim there’s a map in order to do it? Fine. He found a map.” He raised his voice to call: “We’ll come too.”