It felt strange walking down towards the tech lab again. The five of them walked in silence. Even when they finally reached the lab door, no one said anything. But as Asante attempted to turn the handle, it wouldn’t budge.
“Dang it,” he said while furiously jiggling the handle, “It’s locked.”
“Is this one not passcode protected?” LaNiye asked.
“Nope. As a classroom, it must always remain easily accessible by administration and authorities.”
“What does that mean?” Zuriya asked, obviously annoyed by the delay.
“It just means we need a key,” Asante said.
“Great. So, we need to go back and ask someone for a key?” Zuriya continued.
“No need,” LaNiye said.
She politely nudged Asante to step aside. Then she pulled something out of her pocket.
“A library card?” Zuriya asked.
LaNiye inserted the card into the space between the door and the frame. She attempted to slide it down towards the lock but met resistance. She tried jiggling the handle while sliding, but nothing happened. She removed the card, bent it slightly, and reinserted it between the door and the frame. This time, she tried to push the card in by force.
“Huuurgh!”
But still, nothing happened. After a few more unsuccessful attempts, she sighed in defeat and removed the card. It was bent and crumbled, and the ink was so scratched that her information was illegible.
“Sorry, guys,” she said.
“It’s not your fault. Nice try, though,” Asante offered.
“If it was a spring lock, that would have done the trick. It must be an interior. And I’d need a flathead to open it,” LaNiye explained.
“Oh, here, you can borrow mine,” David said.
Reaching into his pocket, David pulled out a long, flat-tipped screwdriver. He handed it to LaNiye, who quickly accepted it and returned to the door. Michael couldn’t help but stare at David. And it looked like Asante and Zuriya had the same question he did.
“W-why do you have a screwdriver just readily available?” Zuriya asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” he said defensively.
“But…well, you’ve got to admit, that’s a bit unusual,” Zuriya continued.
“Not really. He spends a lot of time in a garage. Don’t you, David,” Asante said, smiling.
“H-how did you know about that?” David asked, shock momentarily flashing across his face.
“When I looked up your phone numbers, I also saw your addresses. I remembered because yours was listed as Albert’s Garage and Repairs. I thought I had the wrong person at first. But nope, it was you.”
Michael thought about how cool it would be to learn about mechanics and cars. It was an excellent skill to have. He even wondered if David would have known what those suits were down in the basement. But when he turned to face David, he was surprised by the look on his face. His cheeks looked flushed, and his eyes were cast downwards at the floor. Asante also seemed to notice, as he now looked ashamed.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to…I mean, I didn’t know…I-I didn’t think it was a secret,” he stuttered.
“It’s not,” David said, his voice softer. “But I don’t really want to talk about it.”
Zuriya was quick to his side, placing her hand on his back.
“That’s okay. We don’t have to talk about it,” she said.
“Talk about what?” Michael asked, “He lives in an auto shop. So what?”
“Michael! Drop it, okay?” Zuriya snapped. “Geez, have some sympathy.”
“I’m just saying, working with cars sounds cool. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”
David lifted his head at Michael’s last statement. But before he could say anything, LaNiye finished working on the locked door. Michael was thankful that they could move on.
CLICK.
“Got it! Thanks, David,” she said, handing the screwdriver back to him.
“Sure,” he said.
LaNiye pushed open the door. It was dark, just like the last time. Asante stepped inside and made a beeline for the office door. The others followed behind him. Michael found a light switch and flipped it on. The lights flickered a bit before blinding the group with their intensity.
“Uggh!” Michael groaned.
But after letting his eyes adjust, he finally looked around the room. The room only had four square, little windows located near the ceiling, and they barely let any light in. But the room wasn’t dimly lit. The high-intensity lighting flooded the area. Michael thought there wouldn’t be any space left for shadows because of how much light there was. But other than the overwhelming light, Michael was disappointed.
“Huh. It looks just like any other science classroom,” Zuriya said.
“What did you expect?” LaNiye asked.
“You know, more tech stuff. Computers, high-tech gear, robotic machines. Tools.”
“It’s a lab, not a lair, Zuriya,” Michael teased, “That’s downstairs.”
Michael pointed to the office door that Asante had finally opened. Zuriya and David hesitantly stepped inside. But LaNiye, Asante, and Michael couldn’t help but stare at the state of the office.
“It’s clean,” Michael said.
“Yeah,” Zuriya noted, “it’s a teacher’s office.”
“It’s supposed to be a wreck. Everything was tossed around and knocked over,” Michael explained.
The desks were flipped back in place. The various books, folders, and papers that covered the floor were all scooped up and stacked on the desk. The bookshelves were back against the walls, and all the books were placed back on the shelves. There wasn’t even debris left on the floor. There was nothing left of the sea of chaos from before.
“Did they clean up after we left?” LaNiye asked.
Asante opened the second door and ran down the stairwell.
“Asante, wait!” LaNiye shouted.
But he was already out of sight. His footsteps echoed in the stairwell.
“Here we go again,” Michael said.
He and LaNiye sprinted after him, with Zuriya and David trailing behind them.
“Wait, guys. Shouldn’t we be a bit quieter!” Zuriya called.
“We don’t even know if anyone else is here,” David yelled.
Michael could hear their voices behind him, but he didn’t stop. He and LaNiye nearly flew down the stairs, skipping a few steps. They just needed to be sure that if Asante ran into someone at the bottom of the stairs, he wouldn’t be alone. If it played out anything like last time, he wouldn’t be able to get away by himself.
At the bottom of the stairs, they found darkness. They stopped momentarily, allowing David and Zuriya to catch up to them. Soon, they heard switches being flipped. First, there was a soft humming sound, the soft whirring of the ventilation and power networks ramping up. As the intensity increased, beeps and pings could be heard. Next was the rumbling of servers. Monitors lit up. Something mechanical creaked from somewhere in the room.
Zuriya jumped from the sound. She had grabbed onto Michael’s arm. Though his first response was to remove her, he relaxed.
Suddenly, light flooded the room. Everyone covered their eyes. Michael still hadn’t recovered from the classroom’s intense lightning. Down here, it was worse. At least the classroom lights flickered at first. These lights crackled to life at full intensity, one after another. There was no time to adjust.
“Uuugh. Asante?” LaNiye called.
“Here.”
Michael blinked his eyes rapidly, trying to force them to adjust to the new lighting. Through his welling eyes, he could make out the blurry shape of his classmate walking up to them.
“Sorry about that. I tried to get down here fast enough to turn everything on before you guys got down here. Don’t worry. You get used to it,” he said.
After wiping his eyes, he saw Asante smiling at him.
“Better?” Asante asked.
“I’m fine,” Michael managed to get out, blinking his eyes.
“I’m good,” LaNiye answered.
“Me too,” David said.
Zuriya nodded, still wiping her eyes.
“Good. Well, I guess we can look around,” he said, “But something tells me we won’t find much.”
Michael observed the state of the room. He knew what Asante meant. Just like with the office, the lab looked like it had been cleaned. During their last visit, the room looked more like a cluttered storage space. But today, it looked organized but empty. Even the boxes that he and LaNiye had hidden behind were gone. The tables were cleared. There were no books, folders, binders, or papers. The giant mechanical suit that the man had initially tried was also gone. There was nothing left.
“Everything is gone,” LaNiye muttered.
“They must have taken everything with them,” Asante added. “I figured, But hopefully—”
He walked over to a metallic door.
“You figured? And hopefully what?” Zuriya tried to ask, but Asante ignored her.
“David. Michael. Give me a hand, please.”
Michael and David glanced at one another, but both followed. They approached the door. Immediately, a cool chill made them shiver. Was there a freezer on the other side?
“We should try to open it as quickly as possible. Otherwise, it may hurt our hands if we hold on too long.”
Michael reached for the handle. It was freezing cold. His skin felt like it was melding with the metal. He immediately released the handle, shocked by how his hand had clung to it. It reminded him of when kids got their tongues stuck on icicles of frozen poles. There was no way they could open the door like that. They’d get frostbite or even lose a hand.
“Hang on,” Michael said.
He scanned the room, looking for something they could use to open the door. But he didn’t see much that would help. After thinking a bit longer, he took off his jacket.
“Here,” he said, “At least we’ll have something of a barrier.”
He wrapped his jacket around the door handle multiple times, trying to make a thick enough barrier. Then, he tried to pull on the door. It wouldn’t budge. Asante and David both grabbed hold of the handle and helped. Together, they were able to move the sliding door. It creaked and groaned with each rhythmic pull. And soon, they felt the freezing cold emerging from inside the room.
Asante ran inside, and before long, he pushed something out. On a push cart was another mechanical suit. Although it was deconstructed, it looked to be the same style as the ones those guards had rolled out.
“Another suit?” Michael and LaNiye asked.
“Well, an alpha prototype. I’d been secretly studying it when Dr. Reed wasn’t around. I don’t think he knew that I knew about it.”
“So, you really do know more than you let on, huh, Asante?” Michael asked.
“Not too much more than you guys. Just more about the suit. I thought it could help us find Dr. Reed.”
Michael’s eyes lit up. That was the best news he’d heard all day. Finally, they would make real progress.
“Seriously? Why wait so long? Tell us.”
“Wait, we never agreed to—” Zuriya said.
“Zip it, Zuriya.”
“Michael! Apologize,” David interrupted. “We agreed to come down here to look for clues. We never agreed to start a secret search for Dr. Reed. You agreed.”
“I distinctly remember not agreeing. I want to find Dr. Reed. Don’t you?”
“Of course. But what are we really going to be able to do?” LaNiye asked.
Asante cleared his throat, trying to gain the attention of the group. Everyone turned back to face him. He pushed his glasses back up his face.
“If I may, I think the alpha prototype may be the key to getting Dr. Reed back.”
“If he actually needs rescuing,” Zuriya clarified.
“Sure. But this suit can pinpoint its siblings using the GPS here in the lab. We can use it—”
“To figure out where Dr. Reed is!” Michael finished.
“Exactly. However.”
“What?”
“The system will only connect if we can get its network running again. Meaning, we’ll need to reconstruct the suit.”