Authors: Zac Harrison
The next thing John knew, he was standing in the hangar. It was a huge space, easily as big as the Sonic Sports Hall, with one side closed off by a gigantic set of vertical sliding doors. Beyond those doors lay nothing but space itself. It always gave him an uneasy feeling to think about how close that never-ending void really was.
The sonic transference waves had set down the students in order of year. John found he was standing with Shazilda, Emmie, Kaal, Mordant, and Dol the P’Sidion.
“I guess we’re through to round two!” Emmie smiled.
“Give that girl a gold star,” Mordant scoffed. “Of course we are, you moron. Why else would we be here?”
Before John could say what he was thinking, Master Tronic began his next announcement. “This is the Black Tunnel Test! In this round, we will test your robots’ agility. Speed and weapons count for nothing. Only careful manoeuvring will see you through.”
Master Tronic pressed a button on his arm. Suddenly, a swirling black opening like an upright whirlpool appeared in front of the contestants. It formed one end of a long, flat-bottomed tube that extended away from Master Tronic’s podium and wound around the hangar in a zigzagging, spiralling maze, returning in a circle to open back out at the podium.
“This’ll be easy,” Mordant snorted. “Even with all those twists, the tunnel’s three times as wide as any robot here.”
“I should probably mention,” Master Tronic added with a hint of menace, “that the tunnel is self-adjusting. It will shrink to fit whichever robot enters it. You will have very little clearance to work with.”
“That’s
you
told, Mordant,” bubbled Dol.
Master Tronic continued. “Rules of this round are simple. The aim is to guide your robot through the black tunnel without touching the sides or the top. You may, of course, touch the floor.”
It’s like those buzz games,
John thought.
With the wiggly metal wire and the loop you have to weave around it. I was always pretty good at those!
To his surprise, some of the older students were whispering among themselves. John saw nervous faces.
“What’s up with them?” he asked Kaal.
“None of them were prepared for anything like this,” Kaal said. “This challenge has never been in the contest before.”
“Good!” Emmie said. “That means we’re all equal.”
Mordant Talliver rolled his eyes. “As if.”
Dol raised her flipper-like arm. “Sir? Is there a time limit?”
“Good question,” the robot-bodied teacher said. “You have fifteen minutes each to complete the test, but most students do not take that long.”
Surprised murmurs broke out among the students.
“Like I said, speed is not the point of this round,” Master Tronic repeated firmly. “However, if your robot so much as brushes the sides or top of the tunnel, you are out of the competition. Any other questions?”
“How are we supposed to see our robots inside that tunnel?” asked Kaal hesitantly.
Master Tronic held up a pair of goggles. “We’ve thought of that. These will let you see through the tunnel walls. Everyone else can watch the robots go through the tunnel on the tracker-cam, since a plain black tunnel isn’t very interesting to look at.” He pointed to a huge screen on the wall. “Now, would anyone care to volunteer to go first?”
John heard Emmie take a deep breath. “I’ll go,” she said. Then she turned to John and whispered, “May as well get this over and done with.”
“Good luck, Emmie,” John said, patting her on the shoulder. He crossed his fingers.
Behind him, Mordant was talking to G-Vez. “Get IFI ready for me, would you? That hopeless piece of trash is going to screw up at the first bend.”
G-Vez asked, “Are you referring to Miss Tarz, master, or to her unfortunate robot?”
“Take your pick,” Mordant said with a shrug. “Though since you mentioned it, the robot’s probably brighter than she is. And I heard she borrowed its brain from a broken-down toilet-cleaner droid.”
Emmie’s face showed no sign that she’d heard a thing. She pulled on the goggles, then used her remote control to steer Cammy to the opening.
“Whenever you’re ready,” Master Tronic said. “Take your time.”
Cammy slowly moved through the opening and into the tunnel. To John’s horror, the robot’s skin immediately shifted to a deep black.
“Oh no, Cammy, not now!” Emmie said despairingly. Mordant burst out laughing. Emmie fiddled with the controls, but Cammy remained almost invisible against the black tunnel wall. John crossed his fingers even tighter. But it did no good. John watched the tracker-cam screen, which showed a view of Cammy from behind. Emmie was struggling to move her robot around even the gentle starting bends. It was just too hard to see where she was.
“Only one working feature on that stupid robot, and it’s making it harder for her,” sniggered Mordant. “What a genius.”
Emmie tried to steer Cammy around a U-bend turn. Instantly, a warning siren blared. One of Cammy’s tail fins was sticking through the wall.
“Oh, shooting stars!” Emmie said disgustedly.
The tunnel dissolved into a flurry of black pixels. Cammy appeared at Emmie’s feet.
“Bad luck,” John said. He felt sorry for Emmie, but a little bit relieved. At least Emmie’s humiliation was over quickly.
“Oh, it’s OK,” she said, with a smile John didn’t really believe. “It’s only a game, isn’t it? Just a bit of fun. It’s not about winning − not really.”
But her knuckles were still white where she had gripped the remote control, and with her other hand she was bending the antenna as if she wanted to break it.
“I’ll go next,” Mordant said, pushing to the front. “Watch and learn.”
A new version of the twisting tunnel appeared, resized to fit IFI. Mordant pulled the goggles on without waiting for permission and sent IFI humming into the tunnel mouth.
John watched the cone-shaped robot on the tracker-cam. It was zooming through the tunnel almost as quickly as it had raced through the Sonic Sports Hall. Mordant took even the tightest corners at high speed, without so much as breaking a sweat.
Something about his self-assured arrogance made John wonder. He thought back to how G-Vez had bounced off IFI’s protective force field. Was it even
possible
for Mordant’s robot to touch the walls, with that force field surrounding it?
After only a few minutes, IFI emerged through the other end of the tunnel. “Yes!” Mordant yelled. “That’s how it’s done. Smooth as!”
There was an awkward silence. Mordant looked around, obviously waiting for applause.
“Amazing performance, sir!” G-Vez crooned. “The prize is as good as yours!”
“Who’s the robot master?” Mordant shouted, hopping up and down on the spot in an absurd little victory dance. “I
said
, who’s the robot master?”
John wondered if Mordant had any idea how ridiculous he looked. Not one single student said a word to him.
John was glad he hadn’t rushed to go first. He was getting a little familiar with the tunnel, just by watching the other two go through it on the tracker-cam. The real killer was the U-bend about halfway through. He’d have to be extra careful when Super-Rover reached it.
Some older students had their turns, and then Kaal was up. Like John, he’d been studying the tunnel carefully. As he activated Laserdon and sent him flapping into the air, John felt anxious on his behalf. It would be very tricky to keep a flying robot from bumping into the ceiling. It was funny how what helped you in one round could work against you in the next.
That must be the point
, John thought.
The winning robot would have to be an all-rounder.
“Here we go,” Kaal said nervously. Laserdon flew into the whirling tunnel like a hawk plunging into the mouth of a cave.
At least Kaal knows what it’s like to fly. He has wings of his own. That’s got to help, surely...
Kaal flew his robot cautiously, negotiating the tangled tunnel metre by metre. He was past the deadly U-bend now and heading down the slope towards the exit.
Mordant coughed loudly.
John saw Kaal frown, distracted by the noise. It was only a split-second distraction, but it was enough. Laserdon was still flying level – and the tunnel was about to slope down.
John held his breath.
Kaal quickly nudged the controls. Laserdon swooped down, avoiding the sloping ceiling by half a centimetre. The robot flew gracefully down the exit tunnel and back out into the hangar.
Kaal held out his arm and Laserdon landed on it, clamping on with robotic claws. Kaal was smiling in sheer delight. John gave him a thumbs up.
A rubbery tentacle nudged John in the back. “You’re up next, human. Wish I’d brought something to read. I just know you’re going to take
hours
.”
All eyes were on John.
He sent Super-Rover trotting to the mouth of the black tunnel. He felt the pressure of thousands of eyes watching him. It had gone quiet in the hangar − so quiet, John could hear the faint echo of his own footsteps.
He pulled on the goggles, and the tunnel seemed to become smoky and transparent. He could see through it to where the little robotic dog sat waiting faithfully for his instructions.
“When you’re ready,” Master Tronic said.
A wave of nervousness washed over John as he thought of the whole school watching.
I can do this,
he told himself.
I’m good at those buzzer games. Excellent spatial awareness, my dad always says. He says I’ll make a good driver once I turn seventeen.
He moved the controls, and Super-Rover walked into the tunnel. Slowly, cautiously, he guided the little robot around the first long bend, keeping him clear of the sides. Then there was an upward spiral, followed by a zigzag. He fought against the urge to speed up.
It doesn’t matter if I take ages; I mustn’t hurry this. That’s what Mordant wants.
Super-Rover trotted down a short slope, his antenna ears almost brushing the ceiling.
Easy does it
, John told himself. Now there was a long curve back the other way, so he could relax a little.
It’s not so different from flying my little remote control helicopter back on Earth. OK, so it’s a robotic dog. And this is outer space. And a load of aliens are staring at me. But
apart
from that, it’s not so different.
Now he had to contend with that dreaded U-bend, the most dangerous spot in the whole test. Already it had finished more robots than any other section.
John slowed Super-Rover down to a slow crawl. The robot paced carefully around the bend, a few centimetres at a time. Any slower, and he would have fallen over sideways.
Just then, John heard Mordant give a loud, sarcastic yawn.
He gritted his teeth.
Yawn all you want, Talliver. I’m not speeding up.
But the hard work of concentrating was beginning to wear on John. He was sweating all over, and his hands felt clammy.
Super-Rover plodded out of the bend. Excitement took hold of John. The worst of it was behind him now. After all the drama of the day before, he was in with a real chance of making it to the final!
He guided Super-Rover around another, gentler bend, up a rise, and through the last zigzag.
Almost at the end now.
John was trembling all over, though whether that was from nerves or excitement he couldn’t say. No doubt it was a bit of both.
Everyone watched as Super-Rover came trotting down the last slope.
I might just do it
, John realized, the final in his sights.
I’m nearly there.
But the more he fought not to screw up, the more certain he became that he would.
Keep calm,
he told himself.
Be cool, John.
But his hands were shaking as if he’d had a nasty shock. The remote control suddenly felt slippery in his hands. He tightened his grip, afraid to drop it. There was a faint click as his thumb accidentally pressed a button.
Super-Rover’s tail began to wag slowly, whipping back and forth in the tight tunnel.
“Oh no,” John said, horrified. “No, stop that! Stop! Bad dog!”
Super-Rover just wagged his tail more, as if delighted to see John again.
Mordant sniggered and said, “Oh, what a shame. You were so close.”
Super-Rover was only a few metres from the exit now. But his tail was thrashing faster and faster, coming closer and closer to the tunnel’s sides...
If that tail even so much as grazes the side, I’m out of the contest!
John thought, fighting to get Super-Rover back under control. The controller felt as cumbersome as a lead weight in his hands. He thumbed the tail control, but the tail just wouldn’t stop wagging.
There must be a short circuit
, John thought in desperation. The tail wagged faster and faster. Any second now and it would swish into the tunnel wall.
There was only one way to get Super-Rover out of there before that happened. In desperation, John hit the rocket booster.
Super-Rover shot out of the tunnel like a cannonball and tumbled head over heels across the hangar floor. He came to rest at John’s feet, sat on his haunches, and looked up. His tail still wagged madly.
“Good boy,” John said, too amazed to think straight.
No siren. No buzz. The tunnel hadn’t vanished.
Does that mean...
“Congratulations, John Riley,” boomed Master Tronic. “You are through to the next round. A pity there are no bonus points for a dramatic finish.”
Instantly, Kaal and Emmie were at John’s side.
“You did it!” Emmie said, slapping him on the back. “That was fantastic!”
Relief flooded over John. He looked down at his hands, which were still shaking.
“Are you
sure
you’ve never done this before?” Kaal asked suspiciously.
“First time. Honest!” John noticed that the grin on Kaal’s face was wavering. His friend didn’t see him as competition, did he? But then Kaal held up his hand for a high five, and John, feeling silly for worrying, smacked his palm. Emmie did the same.
“Why are you hitting each other?” Dol asked, her beady little eyes wide with horror.
“It’s an Earth victory custom,” Emmie explained. “When your friends score an ‘epic win’, you bash hands together. It’s fun.”
Dol bubbled with laughter and slapped her own flipper against Emmie’s outstretched hand. “My people usually just whistle,” she said modestly.
John smiled to see Emmie happy again. She looked like she’d forgotten all about her own failure and instead just wanted to congratulate John and Kaal. Warmth seemed to shine from her.
His victory was starting to sink in. He’d done it. He’d really done it.
Right now
, John thought,
I wouldn’t change places with anyone in the universe.
This was a perfect moment, and nothing could ruin it.
Behind him, he could hear other students cheering and congratulating one another. Without thinking, he turned around to join in.
“High five!” he yelled, slapping the tentacle that came up to meet his. “It’s an Earth victory... custom...”
Mordant Talliver was standing there, smirking.
“That’s really sporting of you, Earth boy,” he said. “Nice of you to recognize your betters. So that’s a high five, is it?”
“So-called because Earthlings have five digits on each hand, master,” G-Vez butted in.
“How quaint. Maybe you can give me another of those high fives when I win the contest.”
Not if I can help it, you slippery half-Gargon git,
John thought to himself.
* * *
“Victory feast!” John said, sitting down in the Centre.
The table was spread with food, organized into three neat sections. His own had a stack of cheese toasties, a huge bowl of corn chips, some bowls of what he hoped were dip, and some crusty sausage rolls.
“Bit early for that, isn’t it?” Kaal said. “I know we’ve both done well so far, but still...”
“Victory lunch break, then,” Emmie said, tucking in. “Gotta say, though. If you two keep this up, I won’t know who to cheer for! After all, you can’t
both
win.”
They all laughed.
“What
is
that stuff?” John had to ask, pointing at Kaal’s own collection of little bowls. They looked worryingly similar to John’s own dips, and he didn’t want to mix them up.
“Acheron wasp eggs, mashed scab-root, and Jengeroon spit. Want some?”
John silently moved his bowls of dip further away from Kaal’s. “I’ll pass.”
The next round was back in the main auditorium. This time, John made sure the three of them went in together, with plenty of time to spare. He sat between Kaal and Emmie in one of the centre rows.
Up on the stage stood the ten robots that had made it through the Black Tunnel Test. They looked very small next to the three grim-looking, unknown machines that stood nearby.
Despite their futuristic casings and blinking lights, the machines looked somewhat familiar. One had huge, crushing, vice-like arms, another dangled a flat weight from a glowing green force-cable above an X mark, and yet another had a track leading up to a wide flat wall.
Even more worrying were the three Examiners who hovered nearby, holding strange devices in their manipulation fields that looked like laptops with egg whisks welded on.
“What are those things?” John wondered aloud. “And why do you think we’re up here instead of down there?”
“Well, they haven’t given us our controllers back,” Kaal mused. “So I guess they want to see how well our robots do on their own.”
“I don’t get it,” Emmie frowned. “What can a robot do without an operator?”
John felt uneasy looking at the big machines. Where had he seen them before? Something he’d watched with his dad...
Then it came to him:
Top Gear.
These machines looked like car-crash testers.
“Oh no,” he said. “Guys...”
“Waaaait,” Emmie said. “I get it! They’re going to smash them up, aren’t they?”
Before John could say anything else, Master Tronic stepped onto the podium. “Welcome to Round Three! As you can see, the Examiners have been kind enough to assist me with the judging for this one.”
A tense silence hung over the hall. Nobody was ever glad to see an Examiner.
“This round measures robot strength and durability,” Master Tronic continued. “Each robot will be put through its paces in a series of punishing tests. Six lucky robots out of these ten will make it through to the semi-finals. The remaining four –” and here his metal skull throbbed ominously – “will not be so lucky.”
“Those are pretty good odds,” Kaal whispered to John. “Better than fifty per cent...” But in spite of his words, he was rubbing his hands together nervously.
John could guess why. Kaal had needed to make Laserdon quite lightweight, to allow him to fly. And only the most robust robots would survive this round, that was certain.
“And the first robot to be tested, determined by random chance, is...”
John held his breath.
“Super-Rover, built by John Riley of Earth!”
“Oh, great,” said John, burying his face in his palm. “I don’t know if I can watch this.” He felt Emmie squeeze his shoulder.
An Examiner picked up Super-Rover in its manipulation field, placed him carefully between the two vice-like crushers, and backed away. The little robot’s tail was still wagging from the last round, unable to stop. Somehow, that made this even worse.
“Begin!” Master Tronic declared sternly.
The arms of the vice closed. John didn’t want to watch, but he couldn’t make himself look away. There was a long, drawn-out
crrrrrunk
as Super-Rover was squeezed. A high-pitched electronic sound came from somewhere inside him.
It’s just his servos adjusting,
John thought. But it had sounded exactly like a sad whine.
After far too long, the arms of the vice separated. John watched gloomily, expecting his robot to topple over like a piece of scrap. But although his tail was wagging much more slowly and one of his ears was bent, Super-Rover was still working!
“Go on, Super-Rover!” Emmie yelled suddenly. “You can take it!”
The watching students burst out laughing. A few of them even clapped and cheered.
Unfortunately for Super-Rover, the tests were far from finished. The Examiner placed him on an X mark beneath a flat-bottomed metal weight.
John winced. He knew exactly what was going to happen next. And sure enough, there followed a loud
CLANNNNGGGGG.
The Examiners looked at the readouts on the machine and made notes. Master Tronic nodded to them.
The weight reeled back up. Super-Rover was splayed beneath, his four legs sticking out like the X he was lying on.
John crossed his fingers and hoped as hard as he could.
With a grinding
sproinging
sound like a broken clock, Super-Rover staggered to his feet. He didn’t look good. There were a few whoops, yells, and gurgles from the audience.
“Come on, little guy,” John muttered. “Hang in there... it’s almost over now.”
“John, it can’t actually feel anything,” Emmie said, a look of deep concern on her face. “It’s just a robot. Did you think—”
“I know!” he interrupted. “I just don’t understand why they’re doing this. All the robots are going to be busted up before the semi-final!”
“I think we’ll get a chance to fix them,” Kaal said, but he didn’t sound too sure. “So long as they aren’t too badly damaged, they should be fine.”
John looked back at the stage, just in time to see the Examiner putting Super-Rover into a wire cradle on the third machine, the one with the long rail and the wall at the end. It stood back, and its light changed from red to green.
Super-Rover whizzed down the rail in a blur of speed and slammed head-first into the wall.
This time he did fall over, with a sound exactly like John’s father putting the cans out for recycling.
Crash.
Oh well,
John thought miserably.
I tried.
But then, to John’s total surprise, Super-Rover struggled to his feet again. Bent and crippled, he started to waddle towards the front of the stage, little blue sparks pinging off him as he went.
As the audience broke into spontaneous cheering, the Examiners rushed after him to fetch him back.
“He made it!” Emmie said happily. “He survived!”
“Looks like his steering controls broke, though,” Kaal said. “He was going the wrong way there. That test was rough.”
But John was smiling. “They didn’t break,” he said. “I gave him a homing system! He knew he needed to be fixed, so he was trying to go home.”
“
Home
?” Emmie asked, confused.
“To the technology lab, where he was made. It’s the closest thing to a home he’s got.”
John could relax a little now that Super-Rover had survived his ordeal. There was no way to know whether he’d made it to the next round, but at least he hadn’t been squashed flat or smashed to bits.
John sat and watched the rest of the robots being crushed, dented, flattened, pummelled, and slammed about. Laserdon was the last to go, Kaal covering his face with his enormous hands throughout his robot’s entire ordeal, until at last Master Tronic took to the podium again. He had a ThinScreen in one metal hand, covered with information.
A hush fell over the whole auditorium. Spellbound, the audience waited for the results. But Master Tronic said nothing. Suddenly, just as the students were beginning to murmur, all the lights went dim. Master Tronic turned his head to look up, his red eyes glowing into the blackness.
There followed a sound of churning machinery. From the darkness high overhead, a great gleaming claw descended from a bundle of metal cables. It whirred back and forth above the students, as if a titanic robotic beast lurking above were searching for something.
“It’s time to pick out the winners!” rumbled Master Tronic.
Each student who passed the last round looked up, including John. He could see everyone’s hopeful faces, willing the crane to come down and grab them.
This must be what the teddy bears in those claw games on the pier feel like,
John thought.
Waiting for the claw to move, hoping it’ll stop above you. I was always rubbish at those. Dad said they were a waste of money...
The claw opened wide, swung – and dropped.
It came back up holding Mordant Talliver.
“Now there’s a surprise,” Kaal said bitterly.
Mordant beamed triumphantly as the crane hoisted him above the seats. He swung back and forth in the claw, waving at the students beneath. There were more than a few groans, and someone sarcastically muttered, “Be a shame if it dropped him, wouldn’t it...?”
The claw set Mordant down on the stage next to IFI. Mordant strutted back and forth, making let’s-hear-you gestures to the audience. No one clapped.
Master Tronic coughed to get Mordant’s attention and shook one of his rubbery black tentacles. “Well done,” he said stiffly.
The claw was on the move again. It scanned back and forth, froze, and fell – to close around the troll-like body of Quondass val Haq. Wheezing under the strain, it hauled him up and set him down beside Rocky, his track-mounted drill robot.
“I knew he’d make it through,” whispered Kaal. “When Rocky went in, I thought the vice would be the one to break! Do you think he might be the Robot Warriors’ champion two years running?”
John sat still, almost too excited to breathe, as the claw swung over his head. But then it moved on, plucking a different student out of the crowd. She had stark white skin and six dark eyes clustered on her face, and she squealed as it lifted her up.
That’s Raytanna
, John thought.
Always studying, she is. No wonder she built something so complicated.
Her robot, Charly, was like a shimmering jellyfish. It hovered in the air, metallic tentacles dangling below, a transparent casing above. You could see through to the robot’s electronic innards.
Every student in the room was watching the crane. John couldn’t think of a more dramatic way of bringing the winners onto the stage. No matter the student’s size and shape, the robotic claw could adapt.
The claw was over at the other side of the hall when it picked up winner number four, a tiny alien less than half John’s height, who Emmie said was called Gredilah. “She’s a third-year. I heard she was a semi-finalist last year, as well.”
“She looks like a squirrel,” John said to himself. It was a wonder she could see out of all that spiky fur. But as she swung over his head on her way to the stage, John saw that her fur wasn’t fur at all; it was a coat of rubbery spikes.
He quickly looked up at Gredilah’s robot, Fop. It looked suspiciously like a life-size toy robot from Earth – an old-fashioned one, with colander eyes and doors in its chest that opened to reveal transparent cannons. It made John wonder if Gredilah’s planet had been scanning Earth’s television signals.
There was a clang above John. He looked up to see the claw, wide open.