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Sounds of shouting and banging reached them from the floors below. “What the hell is happening now?”
Hours earlier, the four of them had been heartened by the sight of a sky filled with airships, but when nothing happened, they’d settled back into a dull lethargy. By all appearances, the Overseers had forgotten they even existed, since no food or drink had been brought to them.
Their stupor had been broken an hour earlier by the sounds of a battle taking place outside. Unfortunately, whatever was happening couldn't be seen from their lone cell window. But even though they couldn't see anything, the four of them stayed by the window, listening and hoping to catch a glimpse of whatever was taking place outside.
Harmony grew hopeful with each passing moment and even more so when the battle sounded as if it had moved inside the building they were being held in.
When sounds of a commotion drew near, Harmony and the others ran over and peered through the bars of their cell door. Since the guard had abandoned his post to investigate the noises, there was now only an empty hallway.
Walker slammed a palm against a bar and grinned. “I think father got tired of waiting for us to come to him.”
Harmony shushed everyone. “Do I hear Boy’s voice?” She tried to hear over the racket, but the shouts were all too unintelligible to make out any words.
Boy pushed through the door at the end of the hallway, Molly close on his heels. As if Molly didn’t have eyes of her own, he turned and told her, “There they are.”
The moment they reached the cell, Molly reached through the bars and touched Griffin’s arm. “You’re okay. I was concerned we wouldn’t get here in time.”
Griffin patted her hand. “We’re fine. Fortunately, I think they’re debating what to do with us.”
Harmony asked Boy, “Where’s Father and Journey?” but before he could answer, a horrible thought crossed her mind. “Tell me you didn’t land and leave Airus unattended, after I specifically told you to wait?” There was no chance in hell of escaping Freedom if he had. The Overseers were sure to steal the airship, giving them the technology they needed to invade the rest of the world. They would then no longer have any reason to keep any of them alive.
Before Boy could answer, Tech and Journey came running through the doorway.
Her father slid to a stop at the cell door. “Thank goodness everyone’s still okay,” he said, eyeing everyone. Satisfied they were unharmed, he nodded toward the doorway. “They wouldn’t answer our questions so we had to take matters into our own hands.” He smacked a metal pipe against his palm and grinned. “On the way here, Journey mentioned how Harmony had used a pipe like this to save Griffin, so I thought it might be a good idea to pick up a couple in the train yard.” He glanced at the bent pipe in his hand then back at the doorway. “I’m afraid I may have only confused him for a moment or two, though. We need the key.”
Harmony shook her head. “Of course we need the key. Do you think we’d still be in here if we had one?” Men. No wonder they needed a woman in their lives. The whole lot of them were dunderheads.
An Overseer now appeared in the doorway, but just stood there, silently watching them.
Harmony leaned forward and whispered, “Father, now might be a good time to use that pipe again.”
Before Tech could do so, Molly headed over toward the Overseer, dropping screws and bolts as she went. Boy followed behind, picking them up.
The brave little robot didn’t stop until she was within arm’s reach of the Overseer. It was impossible to know what Molly thought she could do against such a formidable foe, but then she immediately demanded, “Let the prisoners go and take us to Randall.”
Harmony fully expected the enormous Overseer to crush Molly, but it just stood there, mute, while everyone else but Harmony held their breath. She leaned closer to Griffin and whispered, “Your friend’s got balls of steel, I’ll say that for her.” They exchanged smiles before she asked, “Who is this Randall, anyway, and what does he have to do with any of this?”
Griffin shrugged. “I have no idea, but then Molly knows everyone here in Freedom. She’s always been allowed to go anyplace she wants.”
“Why?”
“She was created before The Great War, so she’s been here from the beginning.”
Harmony looked at Molly with renewed admiration. If they lived through all of this, she had a million questions she wanted to ask. It was unbelievable that all this time a fount of information had been riding along in the airship with her. To be able to talk to someone who knew about the world before it had been destroyed was just another reason to yet out of this alive, and hopefully without Molly getting crushed like an insect by this Overseer.
Without warning, the Overseers pushed past Molly and Boy, knocking them against the wall. The giant spider-like robot moved soundlessly across the tiled floor. When he stopped at their cell door, everyone froze, waiting for his next move, but then, without any explanation, he unlocked it. It took a moment for it to sink in that he really was releasing them, but then Walker and Shadow hurried out, leaving Harmony and Griffin behind.
Harmony whispered, “I’m not complaining. Really, I’m not, but is that it? We’re not going to have to shoot or blast our way out of here? You’re not telling me we’re really just going to go have a civilized chat with some guy called Randall ... and what kind of name’s that anyway?”
Griffin grabbed Liberty’s hand and hurried her out of the cell. “You wanted a shootout? Let’s get out of here before they change their minds.”