Chapter 11
Hiro dashed for the warehouse door, clutching the petri dish. He didn’t know who was controlling the microbots, but he knew they were behaving more like deadly insects than bots that were created to benefit mankind. Hiro looked over his shoulder and saw Baymax slowly waddling behind him. A wave of microbots was right on his tail. “Oh, come on!” Hiro yelled.
“I am not fast,” Baymax said.
“Yeah, no kidding,” Hiro said as he ran back and grabbed Baymax by the arm. “Go! Go!” Hiro told him until they had finally reached the door. Hiro pulled on it, then remembered it was locked. “Come on, kick it down!” he said to Baymax. “Punch it!”
In what seemed like slow motion, Baymax kicked the door. It was like a balloon hitting a brick wall. Hiro hung his head. But there was no time to mope. He jumped into some service tunnels under the floor and pulled Baymax in after him.
“Come on! Come on!” Hiro said, leading Baymax up the service tunnels to the second floor. They jumped out and headed for the window they had come in through. But again, Baymax got stuck.
Exasperated, Hiro looked back and saw a tall, dark figure in a white-and-red Kabuki mask. He was lurking in the shadows. It was impossible, but he seemed to be directing the microbots. The masked man must somehow have a neural transmitter as well!
Hiro was desperate now. He tried to shove Baymax through the window, yelling, “Come on! Suck it in!” But Baymax only flipped over, leaving Hiro dangling outside.
Suddenly, the microbots hit Baymax’s face and upper body, riddling him with tiny holes. Like a punctured balloon, Baymax began to deflate, and the force of the escaping air jetted him and Hiro toward the ground with a whoosh!
Baymax cradled Hiro as they fell, his body absorbing the blow when they hit the pavement. They scrambled to their feet. “Come on! Let’s get out of here! Go! Hurry!”
They ran for their lives. To Hiro’s relief, he saw the lights of a police station up ahead. “Go this way!” he yelled to Baymax.
Hiro dragged Baymax inside the station and caught his breath. He gathered his thoughts and walked over to a policeman behind a desk. After twenty minutes of conversation with the sergeant, the officer said, “All right, let me get this straight: a man with a Kabuki mask attacked you with an army of miniature flying robots?”
“Microbots,” Hiro replied, nodding. “He was controlling them telepathically with a neurocranial transmitter.”
The officer scratched his head. “So Mr. Kabuki was using ESP to attack you and balloon man over here?”
“He’s a robot,” Hiro said as Baymax reached for a piece of tape from the dispenser on the officer’s desk. The robot’s internal motors tried to re-inflate him, but the microbots had punched too many holes in his vinyl skin. The air coming out the holes made a high, squeaky sound. Baymax covered one hole with the tape and started the process over again.
“Did you file a report when your flying robots were stolen?” the officer asked, moving the tape dispenser closer to Baymax. The noises coming from Baymax changed pitch with every hole he patched.
“No!” Hiro replied. “I thought they were all destroyed. Look, I know it sounds nuts, but Baymax was there, too.” He turned to Baymax and said, “Tell him!”
“Yes, Officer, it’s truuuuuue.” Baymax was suddenly slurring his words.
“What the—?” Hiro said, looking at Baymax. “What’s wrong with you?”
“Loooowww ... baaatterryy ... ,” Baymax replied. Hiro looked at him closely and saw that the robot’s eye lenses were having difficulty focusing. Baymax was starting to sway.
Hiro took hold of his arm and tried to steady him. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Try to keep it home.”
“I’m health care!” Baymax shouted. “Your personal Baymax companion!”
The sergeant had seen enough. “Kid,” he said, “how about we call your parents and get them down here.” He turned in his swivel chair and grabbed a notepad. “Just write your name and number down here ...”
But by the time he turned around, Hiro and Baymax were gone. All that was left was a long piece of tape that stretched from the sergeant’s desk to the precinct door.
第 11 章
小宏抓著培養(yǎng)皿,沖向倉庫大門。他不知道是誰在控制這些微型機(jī)器人,但他知道它們看起來更像是致命的昆蟲而不是用來造福人類的機(jī)器人。小宏回頭看了看,發(fā)現(xiàn)大白正在他身后緩慢地蹣跚而行。一群微型機(jī)器人正追在他屁股后面。“哦,快點!”小宏大喊道。
“我跑不快,”大白說。
“是啊,別開玩笑了。”小宏說著跑回去抓住大白的胳膊。“快走!快走!”小宏一直催促著大白,直到他們跑到門口。他拉了拉門,隨即便想起來門是鎖著的。“快點,把門踢倒!”他對大白說道,“出拳!”
大白踢門時看起來就像慢動作,像是氣球在擊打磚墻。小宏低下了頭,可是已經(jīng)沒有時間讓他郁悶了。小宏跳進(jìn)地板下的作業(yè)隧道,轉(zhuǎn)身把大白也拉了進(jìn)來。
“快點!快點!”小宏一邊說一邊領(lǐng)著大白順著作業(yè)隧道跑到了二樓。他們跳出作業(yè)隧道,朝著剛才進(jìn)來的窗戶跑去。可大白又一次被卡在了那里。
惱怒的小宏回頭看時,發(fā)現(xiàn)了一個高高的黑色身影,他戴著紅白相間的歌舞伎面具,潛藏在陰影中??此撇豢伤甲h,可確實是他在操控著那些微型機(jī)器人。那個戴面具的男人一定也有一個神經(jīng)傳導(dǎo)器!
小宏有些絕望。他努力把大白猛推出窗外,大喊著:“快點!快擠進(jìn)去!”可大白又從窗外翻轉(zhuǎn)了回來,讓小宏搖搖晃晃地懸掛在了窗外。
突然,那些微型機(jī)器人擊中了大白的臉和上身,打得他滿是細(xì)小的孔洞。就像被刺穿的氣球一樣,大白開始放氣縮小,放出氣體時產(chǎn)生的推力把他和小宏呼地一下飛快地推向了地面。
在下跌的過程中,大白把小宏抱在了懷里,用自己的身體緩沖了他們摔在人行道上的沖力。他們倉促地爬了起來。“快跑!我們快點離開這里!快!快跑!”
他們拼了命地跑著。讓小宏感到安心的是,他看到前面有警察局的燈光。“這邊跑!”他對大白喊道。
小宏把大白拖進(jìn)了警察局,緩了一口氣,整理了一下自己的思緒,向桌子后面的警察走去。與警官談了二十分鐘后,警官說道:“好吧,讓我先理理清楚:一個戴著歌舞伎面具的男人,用會飛的微型機(jī)器人大軍攻擊了你?”
“微型機(jī)器人,”小宏點著頭答道,“他是通過頭上的神經(jīng)傳導(dǎo)器發(fā)射心電感應(yīng)控制那些微型機(jī)器人的。”
警官抓了抓頭:“也就是說歌舞伎先生使用超感覺力襲擊了你和那邊的那個氣球人?
“他是個機(jī)器人。”小宏說這話時,大白正從警官桌子上的膠帶座上扯下一塊膠帶。他的內(nèi)置發(fā)動機(jī)嘗試給他充氣,可是微型機(jī)器人在他的乙烯基皮膚上戳了太多的小洞。氣體從小洞里跑出來發(fā)出了尖厲的吱吱聲。大白用膠帶粘住一個洞,又重復(fù)這一過程去補(bǔ)其他的洞。
“你的飛行機(jī)器人被偷以后,你有沒有報警呢?”警官問道并把膠帶座向大白推近一些。隨著大白把每個小洞都打上補(bǔ)丁,跑氣發(fā)出的聲調(diào)在不斷地改變著。
“沒有!”小宏回答道,“我當(dāng)時以為它們?nèi)急粺龤Я?。聽著,我知道這聽起來很瘋狂,可大白當(dāng)時也在那。”他轉(zhuǎn)向大白說道:“告訴他!”
“是這樣的,警官,這是真真真的。”大白突然發(fā)音含糊。
“怎么……?”小宏看著大白說道,“你怎么了?”
“電電電……量低低……”大白回答道。小宏湊近他看,發(fā)現(xiàn)機(jī)器人的眼睛鏡片連聚焦都困難了。大白開始搖擺起來。
小宏扶著他的胳膊,想穩(wěn)住他:“哇哦,哇哦,哇哦。盡量堅持。”
“我是健康助手!”大白喊道。“你的私人顧問大白!”
警官看夠了。“孩子,”他說道,“我還是打個電話讓你家長來一趟比較好。”他把自己的轉(zhuǎn)椅轉(zhuǎn)過去,抓起一本記事簿。“把你的名字和家庭電話寫在這里……”
可等他再轉(zhuǎn)過來時,小宏和大白都已經(jīng)走了,只剩下一長段膠條從警官桌子上延伸到警區(qū)門口。