The two
automatons sat perpendicular to her, all six legs on each firmly planted on the
vertical sides of the rafter beam. Perfectly still. No ticking or whirring
sounds came from them, no indication of clockworks. Their eyeless pillboxes
were partially retracted into their bodies. Moving slowly, ready for another
spray of the chalky substance, she looked down the beam in the other direction.
The two automatons there copied the same pose.
So
we just sit and wait until someone falls off?
Ess
hoped she would find this situation amusing in the future. Preferably, the very
near future.
Another
crystalline chime sang through the air. Two automatons, one from each pair,
popped their pillbox heads out, making Ess flinch and gasp. They climbed up the
vertical beams of the rafters and tap-tapped along the roof, hanging upside
down, heading for the skylight. She kept watch, as much as she was able while
keeping the other two, quiescent automatons in sight. Ess shivered as she
realized the moonlight had faded by at least three-quarters of its intensity.
How long had those things been chasing her around the warehouse rafters? Or had
the clouds moved in far quicker that she thought, when she predicted a
rainstorm coming up late tonight?
The two
automatons prodded at the skylight latch. Ess flinched and rose up from her
perch in the "V" when they grabbed onto the control cables for the
lock and rode them down to the ground, pulling the skylight open.
The two
automatons still with her raised one leg each, pointing them at her. A definite
threat if she had ever seen one. So, she reasoned, she could watch all she
wanted, turn her head to look around, but she couldn't move any other part of
her body?
Fine. She had a very good, unimpeded view from her perch here. So what was going to happen next?
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