Rowdy Dead Productions

((So, last week, you may have noticed, my site was down. It was a tense couple of days, but everything seems to be okay now. Apparently, my host server was down for ’emergency maintenance’, I never got the whole story. ty,DD ))

By David C. Daoust

 

Ratchet took the steps two at a time as he ascended into the upper quarters of the Sand Crawler. The rumbling roar of the engine could still be felt through the ceiling and walls, yet the initial bumpy ride, that recklessly hurled those aboard about, had ceased, once the Sand Crawler had cleared the crumbled ruins of Grady, and entered onto terrain it was actually built for; the ‘Crawler tread smoothly over the sandy dunes of Twin Crown.

Some part of Ratchet knew he was in a whole new kind of trouble, just for leaving the town limits.

Another part of him didn’t give a damn.

While the rest of him, was still puzzling out what was going on. He headed for the bridge, the small forward cabin that housed the oversized vehicles controls. Someone had to be at the helm… Ratchet could only guess.

As he rounded a corner, the light down the hall was weird. It shifted about as though it was lit by a torch. Suddenly, before him, appeared the ancient Ark Device, the very device the judge had allowed to steal his memories. The sight of which brought him to a quick halt. Ratchet thought he may be sleeping. Could it all be a nightmare? The little fiery bot-guy that followed the levitating sphere from the chambers- did not help Ratchet feel planted in reality.

Ratchet watched as the tiny guy suddenly gripped a rope that was wrapped around the strange device, and half hurled, half pulled itself atop it. Ratchet was frozen in place as the large stout lizard-man, Hugo Lions, suddenly followed behind the pair.

Ratchet did not know how to wake up.

“Ratchet?” Hugo asked as he caught sight of the boy. “What’s going on? Where’s the girls? Who’s driving this thing?”

The barrage of questions got Ratchet’s mind moving again, especially once he accepted he was not going to wake up. The Brain Stealer was here- Right in front of him? The device that held a complete copy of his mind within its mysterious circuitry- was on the crawler. How could it possibly be here?

“Well, what’s wrong with him?” the fiery bot asked Hugo.

“Ratchet? Are you okay?” Hugo suddenly asked as Ratchet was at a loss for words.

“I… I don’t know…” Ratchet finally managed to say, then grasped at the one question he could answer, “The girls are okay, they are in the cargo hold with Margo. I don’t know where Harper is…”

“You don’t think she’d suddenly want to go gallivanting through the desert…?” Hugo began to ask.

“No,” Ratchet interrupted, “not for any reason that I know of.”

An old couple appeared from the apartment on the opposite side of the hallway. Ratchet was familiar with the Laurens. They were citizens of Grady, they were normally sweet and friendly. Well, to anyone that wasn’t Ratchet. Ratchet tended to get a cold shoulder from the people of Grady nowadays. The old man looked angered to find the Ark Device aboard.

“How did this get here?” he asked sharply, as he pointed to the device.

Again Ratchet was at a loss for words, felt as though the old man was accusing him– felt as though he was now in even more trouble.

“This should not be here!” the old woman joined in, “I don’t know what you people are up to, but you’re not going to get away with it!”

“I didn’t do any of it,” Ratchet protested, his head felt like it was going to pop. “I have no idea what’s going on, and I sure don’t know what that is doing here!”

The floating device suddenly shifted as its single central lens emitted a bright beam. Ratchet winced, and was tempted to flee before it could zap him again. The beam only wove a hologram.

A mirror image of Ratchet, suddenly stood before the group. “I am here… because I brought myself here,” it stated in Ratchets voice.

The old couple was suddenly taken aback. So was Ratchet. And so was Hugo. Pretty much everybody, everybody in the narrow hallway was taken aback, except, of course, the crazy little bot that stood precariously atop the rounded sphere.

“And I am also here- because I brought myself here!” the flaming bot announced. “Well, technically he brought me here, I guess,” he added pointing to the device, and then thought better of it, and shifted his finger to the hologram, then just shrugged and continued, “but this is all rather moot, considering we are all going somewhere else! I think the more pertinent question would be- where are we going?”

“Why is everyone asking me?” Ratchet asked. “I don’t know! Your closer to the bridge than me! I just came up from the hold!”

“I think maybe we should put this riveting conversation on pause, while we go and check the helm!” Hugo suggested.

The small motley group of young people, old people, strange devices, and an old Jinn seemed, at last, to be in agreement, as they headed in that direction.