Island In The Sand, Chapter XXII

Star Black walked the short distance back to the living room where her band was once more gathering. "The lower story is not a story at all," the house intoned. I must assume that the defective Ninety-One machine was referring to the extended unit set into the base of the canyon face. That would place it lower than the house, which is accurate, but it is a thousand meters down, connected only by a small express lift." "So, there's something at the bottom of the canyon and there's a way to get down to it," Jameson said, with no doubt from his tone that he was eager to find out more, and immediately go exploring. "That's correct and accurate," the house stated. "So, where's the lift and when can we go down?" "The lift is rising, but it's of an old variety and will take some time to reach the dwelling." "Rising?" Star said, her voice piercing in tone, stopping all activity in the room. "Why would it be rising?" "There were no humans in the vicinity, as loosely defined when you pointedly used the word'outside' in your question," the house shot back, it's tone almost one of faint or vague petulance. "How could anyone get in the lift and use it if they aren't an administrator?" she asked, realizing when she got the words out that the answer to that question was right there among them. So much was happening at once Star couldn't figure out what to do first. They had members of Sly's band, who had somehow gotten to the bottom of the canyon and were riding up to arrive at the dwelling at any moment, as a possible and vital life or death issue. "The nodes and the lifts do not require the code to be provided by an administrator," the house said. "Unlike accessing the main complex entity and myself, they only require a spoken or written code." "Give me the device," Jameson said across the room to True, "and you better pray that we don't find any more on you when there's time to search you." The boy slunk against the wall, standing with his back against the stone that extended out from the fireplace, which still exuded heat even though the flames were gone. He held out his open hand, palm up, with a small black electronic device laying upon it. The device had a short antenna sticking out of it. "I don't have anymore, that's the last one," he murmured in the silence, as everyone waited to see what was going to happen next. "I didn't know who was going to win," True said, his voice soft but faintly rebellious. "If Star won I knew it would be okay, but if Sly won then what was I to do, die with everyone else?" Jameson stepped quickly forward and swept the device off True's exposed palm. He threw it down and smashed it into bits with the butt of his rifle before anything could be said or other action taken. Once done, Jameson raised his rifle up to point at True. "We're out of time, Jameson," Star said loudly, demanding the boy's full attention. We've got to get to the top of the lift before it gets up here. Where are the lift doors, house?"