Chapter 5: Chapter 5
As he pulled open the large door, the first thing Kelvin noticed was how unlike a vault it looked. Instead, it looked more like a home. A mansion, even. Built inside the mountain.
The entrance was dimly lit, but as Kelvin stepped inside, the lights flickered on, revealing a grand lobby. A sweeping staircase led up to a balcony that overlooked the entrance. The walls were adorned with paintings and tapestries, depicting scenes of nature and wildlife. It was like stepping into a different world.
Kelvin took a moment to appreciate the surroundings. This was not the kind of life he had lived, and to be in a home like this made him feel out of place. But he didn't have time to worry about that. He needed to find Zeta.
The main floor was supposed to have everyone else. Zeta was supposed to be taken upstairs. He took the stairs two at a time, his boots echoing in the vast space.
At the top, hallways stretched in both directions, and seemed to curve back towards each other.
Kelvin chose the left, and as he walked, he noticed that the paintings on the walls changed. They were still of nature, but the scenes became more violent, more chaotic. The once serene wildlife was now engaged in fierce battles, and the landscapes were marred by storms and fires. He wondered if this was a reflection of Arthur's state of mind, or if it was just a personal preference.
The doors he passed left him worried. Arthur had said there would be traps and guards. He had also said Zeta would be guarding his resting place. That sounded like a bedroom, which could be behind any of these doors. He couldn't afford to take his time, but he couldn't afford to skip any room they may be holding her in.
He tried a door, just to see what he might find. He pulled gently, trying not to set off any traps. Only a few inches open, and he heard a crack as a heavy crossbow bolt embedded itself in the door. The weight of it pushed the door open further and Kelvin could see in the room. There were shelves with several awards, and in the middle, a grand piano. Nothing helpful, so he shut the door and carried on.
Arthur had said this would be his pharoah's tomb. Had he built a museum to himself? Kelvin remembered several conversations with the man after a long day of hunting, but mostly the man had told Kelvin how much he admired his ruggedness, comparing him to some of the movies he loved as a kid. He said it was something he'd missed from his time with his father.
Arthur had been...a head of some company or other. Kelvin had taken a lot of big wigs hunting, and they had all loved to brag about killing the biggest animal, or how much money they had. And there had been some of that with Arthur. But Arthur had seemed more interested in proving he could do it on his own, rather than letting Kelvin do all the work, then take the final killing blow like most of his clients.
Kelvin had admired Arthur, for a pompous rich guy, but it turned out he didn't actually know much about the man himself.
Now wasn't the time to research the man. Kelvin had 25 minutes or less, and even that was a guess.
He cracked open another door and immediately heard the faint familiar whirring of one of those robots. He pressed the door closed, but it suddenly jerked open as the robot slammed into it from the other side.
The lights were all red instead of their usual green, and Kelvin could guess what that meant.
Without any weapons, Kelvin wasnt sure he could handle the metal opponent, so he ran back to the only other room he'd seen so far. He ducked as he flung open the door in case another bolt came, then scrambled into the room. There were trophies and awards behind glass, and a piano bolted to the ground. The only thing he could pick up was the piano bench. He turned quickly to the door to defend himself, but the Mr. Fix-it didn't enter the room. Maybe it was forbidden from entering the room or tearing up Arthur's displays. Whatever the case, whether it came in after him, or stayed just outside the door, Kelvin couldn't just wait here. Time was running out. The robot just hovered there, making no advances, although occasionally Kelvin heard a zap of energy as the extended hand arced with energy.
He doubted the piano bench would do much, but he had to do something. There were a lot more doors to check.
Kelvin tried ordering the robot. As the overseer, all robots should obey him, but this one just continued floating and waiting. Finally, he walked close to the door and tried swinging the piano bench into the arm. It didn't do much damage, but it did seem to break the current, and the arm lowered to its side. It suddenly turned and hovered away, heading away. Must be a programmed response. That or it was heading for repairs. Either way, Kelvin took the chance and ran. He passed doors. Chances were, the master bedroom would have obvious doors. He'd look for that first.
Sure enough, at the apex of the curve, there they were. Leading to the middle of the oval, large ornate double doors. Leading out the tip was a heavy metal door with a large ornate A engraved into it. The single outer door felt more like a bedroom, so Kelvin reached out and slowly pushed it open.
In the middle of the room stood an ornate bed with silver curtains and metal flowers. The bed was recessed into the ground with a glass surface to protect the would be Pharoah, which would now lie forever empty. Behind the bed stood a large killer with a platform at the top that look designed for an angel to perch on. But there was no Zeta. There were several robots of varying shapes and configurations, but their lights all shone green and seemed uninterested in him. Kelvin shut the heavy door and turned around. The large double doors stood before him. He pressed his hands on them and they opened automatically. Inside were clothes. Not vault clothes, but dresses and clothing of various colors and complexity.
There in the middle, amidst the storm of fabric, was Zeta. Unconscious, she was propped up by various robots ad they clothed her in ethereal white fabric. Once placed on her body, the fabric was pulled out behind her in a flowing style, and then held as some form of chemical was spayed on it. The fabric seemed as if it were in a frozen motion. It was beautiful. Kelvin didn't much care for such things, but between the Zeta's flawless beauty, and the hardened fabric, he could tell that it would be a crime to destroy this masterpiece.
Yet that's exactly what he came here to do. He didn't know when she'd been injected, but it had been 15 minutes since the video, so he hoped there was still time.
He tried calling the robots for assistance, but even using his overseer authority seemed to have no effect, as their primary orders seemed to be to finish this memorial.
Finally, Kelvin remembered back at the door. He looked at Zeta. He thought he could still see her chest rise and fall. Arthur had said irreversible at 30 minutes, but not that she would be dead at 30. Was he too late already?
She was still on the other side of the room, and he couldn't reach her. If he tried riding a robot, they'd likely both fall, and it might even become aggressive. If he tried to find the crossbow that shot at him earlier, even if he managed to successfully shoot one of the syringes, he was more likely to kill her than cure her.
The litany of curses he had for Arthur was doing him no good. Maybe they would bring her out before it was too late and he could just stick her then? That seemed a lot to hope for. He needed to get the antidote to her as quick as possible.
He ran back to the bedroom. The bots were all still motionless and refused to respond when he spoke to them.
What about the one he'd injured? He ran back around the hallway loop looking for the robot with the broken taser. It seemed to stop fighting after he broke the arm, maybe it had gone back to its original settings whe. It couldn't attack anymore. It was a stretch, but no idea was a worthless one right now.
He finally came to the far end of the oval hallway, and there it was, just hovering, doing nothing. He grabbed a syringe out of his pouch and placed it in one of its hands.
"Can you take orders?" He asked it. It whirred and clicked, spinning gently to face him as it's hand closed around the syringe. None of the other bots had responded at all, so maybe, just maybe.
"I need you to take this syringe to the room at the end of the hall and administer this medicine to Zeta... Zeta. The only other person here." As he finished, the robot took off, zipping down the hallway towards the memorial room. Kelvin followed, his heart pounding in his chest. He didn't know if this would work, but it was their best shot.
As they entered the room, the robots surrounding Zeta paused, their lights flickering briefly before returning to green. His robot, the one holding the syringe, approached Zeta carefully, its mechanical arms moving with surprising gentleness. It extended the needle towards her arm, but as it was about to pierce her skin, all the robots suddenly froze.
Their lights turned from green to a harsh, blinking red. A voice echoed through the room, "Intruder detected. Initiating lockdown."
Kelvin's heart sank. "No, wait! I'm Kelvin, the overseer. I'm trying to help Zeta."
The voice ignored him, repeating, "Initiating lockdown. All doors sealed. Intruder must be eliminated."
The robots surrounding Zeta came to life, turning towards Kelvin. He backed away, hands raised. "Wait, wait! I'm not an intruder." Kelvin had assumed the bots wouldn't turn aggressive in this room to prevent damage Arthur's prize.
He couldn't tell if the bot had injected Zeta or not. There wasn't much time, but he watched the bots glowing red as they descended upon the rogue bot, pulling him away and then methodically tearing him limb from limb. It wasn't a struggle, as the fight was seven on one, and the one didn't even realize he was supposed to fight back.