The Plight of the Bumblebee: Chapter 6

Chapter 6

After stepping inside the train the three Starmen took a quick look around. They were in a sleek high-speed train that was divided into six compartments. Each compartment had 24 booths, with 12 on the left and 12 on the right. The booths were divided into pairs that faced each other, and each one could sit two people.

“I don’t see him,” Zip said as he briefly scanned the people inside. This compartment was roughly half full.

“Neither do I,” Mark replied. “He must have gone to another compartment.”

A conductor came by. “Please sit down. No one is allowed to be standing up while the train is en route.”

The three Starmen sat down in a nearby booth. “Where is this train going?” Joe asked.

The conductor looked at him in surprise. “To New Spindrift, of course,” he said, referring to the giant floating city off the coast of New Jersey. “This train reaches a top speed of 475 miles per hour, so we should reach it in precisely 32 minutes.”

“That explains it,” Zip said after the conductor walked by. “The drone couldn’t land there so he landed at the nearest town and took the train the rest of the route.”

“Wonderful,” Joe said. “It’s amazing what robots can do these days.”

Mark had his compad out and was studying it intently. “I think the droid is in the next,” he said. “I’m picking up some energy signatures from that cabin that correspond to a nuclear power source. I can’t be sure, but that would be my guess.”

Zip nodded. Calling over the conductor, he asked if they could move to the compartment up ahead.

“That’s the first-class cabin,” the conductor told him. “Do you have first-class tickets?”

Zip took them out and looked at them again. “Um, no,” he said.

“Then I guess you can’t.”

“I don’t suppose,” began Joe, “it would help if we told you that we were after a runaway robot who had stolen a data core from the L5 space station, and that if we don’t retrieve it soon the space station will have to be abandoned.”

“Nope. That is a new one, though! Never heard that excuse before.” The conductor calmly went back to his post, leaving the Starmen sitting there.

“Next time,” Zip said grimly, “we are going to bring our Starman uniforms with us, even if it means going all the way back home to get them. This is ridiculous.”

“Well,” Mark said reasonably, “it looks as if the drone is headed toward New Spindrift. We’re over the ocean now,” he said, pointing outside the window, “and the drone can hardly leave the train while en-route. We know where he is, so we can just wait until he gets there and then make our move.”

“I’ve got an even better idea,” Zip said. “Let’s call Richard and tell him what happened, and see if he can arrange to have the drone met with a reception committee when it arrives. I’m sure that Starlight Enterprise has a significant presence on New Spindrift – it’s mainly a research facility, isn’t it?”

He got out his compad and dialed Richard’s number. Since he was located on the moon and they were on Earth there was a three-second delay on each end of their conversation.

Zip explained the situation to Richard and asked him how things were going on L5. “They haven’t gotten any better since you left 90 minutes ago,” he said grimly. “If you don’t recover that data core in time the station will have to be evacuated. I’ll arrange for some of our personnel to be there when the train arrives. It should not be difficult to intercept an unarmed drone. I only hope that it hasn’t damaged the core any further.”

Zip signed off. Directly across the aisle a little four-year-old girl was staring at them, wide-eyed. She turned to her mother and said “Look, mommy! Those people think they are spies!” The mother hushed her child and picked her up, then turned away from the Starmen and stared out the window.

* * * *

“Twenty more minutes,” Mark said, “until the train arrives. We can wait that long. I’m sure that Richard will have a group awaiting its arrival. Our part, gentlemen, is done.”

“Unless the drone tries to escape,” Zip warned. “It’s done a pretty good job of that already. And we still don’t know what is going on up at L5. For all we know there really may be Xenobots involved.”

“Or their mothers,” Joe remarked.

There was nothing for them to do but wait, so wait they did. After what seemed like an eternity the train pulled into the station.

“Let’s go!” Zip said, jumping up to his feet – but it was already too late. A large crowd had formed as soon as the train started pulling in, and try as they might they could not fight their way through it. The compartment had two exits and both were blocked: one by a man struggling with his luggage, and the other by a very large lady who was talking in a loud voice to her friend about how awful these trains were and how pushy everyone was and how things were so much better on other lines. They seemed content to just stand there and discuss the situation, while the people behind them grew impatient.

The Starmen tried to push their way through the crowd but all they got were some dirty looks from their fellow passengers.

“The windows?” Zip asked his friends.

“Sealed,” Mark said.

Zip sighed.

When they finally made it outside the train they began looking around. “Look!” Zip shouted, pointing. Over in the distance, emerging from the front compartment, was the drone that they were seeking.

“And look over there!” Joe replied, pointing in the opposite direction. Approaching the drone was a group of men, but they were definitely not from Starlight Enterprise.