The old man leaped and whooped, pumping his fist in the air at the same time.

“I knew it! I knew it worked! I deliberately altered the spatial parameters for linear displacement, you understand. I put your appearance zone precisely one level up! You came in on Level 12, did you not?”

“Uh, yes?”

“I knew it! My calculations were very precise! I would not let Darhaven reap the fruits of my labor. I’ve spent my entire life working on the proper formulae for the creation of an electrical portal between worlds. And now I’ve finally done it!”

Chance, standing outside the door, said, “Lord Bixby, I don’t like the sounds coming down the corridor. No marching steps, but I wouldn’t doubt if my little boom might’ve been heard around here.”

“Right. Let’s focus on getting you out of the vault right now, Dr. Oggolopoli. Sergeant Coulter will have plenty of time to tell you all about it once we’re safely aboard the airship. See if your wrench will work on those manacles, Sergeant.”

Rip nodded and applied a light blow to the metal. They fell off the Doctor’s wrists immediately.

Oggolopoli hardly noticed.

He said, “Of course, of course. Just let me gather my punchcards. We must be very careful with the punchcards, they must not be folded, maimed or be let to fall out of order.”

Now free from his chains, he hurried over to the side of the great room-filling machine, where thousands of heavy yellow cards lay stacked in a bin. Each card had holes in a grid pattern.

Very carefully, Oggolopoli transferred the tray’s contents to a large briefcase. Rip caught a glance when he opened it. The interior was divided into compartments, each filled with stacks of cards.

“There. That was the last batch. I must say, I was surprised to find the Darhaven had a Hallwood tabulator down here. It’s the largest thermionic valve tabulator in existence. When their agents pounded on my door and took me away, one of them grabbed my briefcase. Now I see why, of course. The electrical resonance transformer the tabulator’s attached to is amazing as well. That’s what we used to bring this fine young man here, into our world.”

“Doctor, let us depart.”

Oggolopoli nodded and headed for the door. In the next room, he stopped and stared at the slumped robot.

“Oh dear. What a waste of an automaton. How did you people disable it?”

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Rip said, “I turned it off.”

“Really?”

The soda bottle glasses turned to Rip and two very large eyes appraised him.

“Were you able to take the Mechanic’s class just by donning their work attire upon your arrival in our world?”

“Uh, no. I didn’t take any classes.”

“Of course, of course. Too soon for that, I’m sure. You’re still mundane. Nonetheless, taking on a guardian statue is phenomenal.”

“I had this. They say it’s enhanced.”

Rip held up the wrench for a moment before placing it back in his overall’s pocket.

“Ah! Mechanic’s garb and an enhanced wrench. Well, no wonder you are able to do things like this, even without the class.”

“Doctor,” Bixby said with a strained note in his voice. “We need to go.”

“Of course, of course, Baron Swathmore. Forgive me. There’s just so much fascinating automation down here, I must say I’m easily distracted by it all.”

Chance waited for everybody at the door, gun pointing down the hallway. When the others walked through, they could hear the distant tramp of the now familiar footsteps on metal.

“Another patrol is coming, Colonel. A large one.”

“I hear them, Mr. Chance.”

“And somebody used up all our dynamite,” Blair said, glaring at the infiltrator.

Chance kept an unrepentant look on his face.

He shrugged and said, “I did what was needed at the time.”

“We’re not going to be able to fight our way through a large force,” Bixby said, retrieving his map from a jacket pocket. “However, there is an emergency lift further this way. If we can get on it, we can ride it to the surface.”

“It’ll be guarded, sir.” Chance pointed out. “Probably by something mechanical.”

The sounds of heavy boot steps marched closer.

“Odds favor us in that direction, Mr. Chance, especially without any more of your dynamite. Come along, all of you.”

They quickly advanced down the hall heading away from the stairs, with the colonel and Chance in front, Rip and Dr. Oggolopoli in the middle, and Blair at the end. She darted backward glances as they left the laboratory behind, gun at the ready.

Footsteps tromped closer now, echoing off the floors and walls, but the troopers had yet to round the curve.

Bixby kept his map out and continued glancing down at it as they passed door after door.

“It’ll be an outer one, and it should be marked. Keep a sharp eye ahead of us, Mr. Chance.”

“Will do, sir.”

They passed at least two dozen doors to their right. Rip imagined them being on the outside of a giant underground wheel.

At last, Bixby called a halt in front of one with a symbol painted on it. It looked like a box with vertical lines intersecting.

“That’s the lift room. It will be guarded, as Mr. Chance suggested.”

Chance jangled his keys and raised his eyebrows.

Bixby shook his head.

“I doubt one of those will work. They did not open the laboratory with Dr. Oggolopoli. Nothing too secure is on that ring, I fear.”

He turned and glanced at Rip.

“Sergeant Coulter, if you will do the honors, please. Mr. Chance, to my left. Sergeant be prepared to close it if the gunfire is too intense.”

“Let’s hope they don’t have a 9-50.”

“That’s a good point, Lady Brooke. Dr. Oggolopoli, please step away. The automaton guarding you was singularly well armed. This one might be, too.”

Oggolopoli nodded and stepped away from the door. Blair backed up a few paces, too.

Bixby nodded at Rip and he grasped the wrench with both hands, holding it up above his head before swinging down on the latch.

The lock broke and he shoved the door open with his shoulder, then ducked to give Chance and Bixby clear shots.

“Danger! Intruders! Stand back!”

“Great,” Rip said, covering his ears and preparing for a fusillade of giant bullets.