Broken Pixels (The Chronicles of Mara Lantern, Book 4) by D.W. Moneypenny

said.
    Ping patted Sam’s arm and asked Mara, “Were you successful in making contact with Cam?”
    “Yes, I didn’t realize that I would be required to develop telepathy to interact with a bunch of robots.”
    Ping looked taken aback. “I beg your pardon?”
    Just then something occurred to her. It was almost like she had an idea, a sudden insight into something. She wrinkled her brows.
    “Are you all right?” Ping asked.
    She thumped the side of her head with the ball of her hand, as if getting water out of her ears. “I think Cam just sent a message into my head. Weird . He says something just exploded at the dispensary, and his head is being moved. We’ve got to get going.”
    Mara stood up and led them from the railcar onto the platform of the tiny subterranean station. It looked exactly like the one where their journey had begun. She pointed toward the inclining tunnel ahead and said, “Cam says this is the station for the downtown repository and there’s an elevator through here.”
     

CHAPTER 13
     
     
    The elevator’s wire-framed compartment—large enough to accommodate a large vehicle like the one they rode in earlier—came to a stop with a sudden jerk. Before them stood another roll-up garage door that automatically rose once they arrived at ground level. It opened into a dark square featureless space—other than a reflective white line in the center of the single lane of asphalt that led from the elevator door to another bay-size door some fifty feet away. The space resembled a one-car garage. Tentatively Mara exited the elevator and waved for Ping and Sam to follow.
    Behind them, the door rattled and rolled closed. Ahead, the other door made a clatter of its own as it opened, revealing a narrow alley tightly wedged between two buildings. As they stepped to the opening, Mara was surprised that it was dark outside. Her virtual reality experience with Cam had given her the impression that it was still daytime, but that event had occurred earlier in the day. Outside, mounted on the cinder-block wall of the building to the left beneath a rusty domed shade hung a single light over two small green Dumpsters. On the right, a brick wall was unadorned except for Dumpster shadows.
    They stepped into the alley, and the door behind them rolled down. Sam looked over his shoulder and then to Mara and said, “How are we supposed to get back in there, assuming we’re taking Cam’s head to the repository?”
    Mara was about to say something and then stopped, her eyes narrowing. After a moment, she said, “Cam says I can think it open like they do.”
    “ Think it open?” Ping asked.
    “Use the Sig-net the way they do. Let’s give it a try,” Mara said.
    She turned to the door and thought open . The door began to rise. She smiled and looked at her brother with a satisfied expression. The door stopped its upward movement and then lowered again.
    “I might get the hang of this yet,” she said.
    “I always thought you would make a great robot,” Sam said.
    Ping interjected, “Where do we go from here, other than to the end of this alley? Can Cam guide you to the location of his head?”
    Mara was about to pose the question to Cam when she noticed a row of tiny yellow dots hovering in the center of the alley. They emitted a faint light that brightened and dimmed in a regular, repetitive sequence, like lights on an airport landing strip. She pointed ahead and said, “What is that?”
    Ping looked to where she pointed and frowned. “Are you pointing at the ground?”
    “No, those dots just above the ground,” she said. Sam looked at her like she was crazy and was about to comment, but she held up a hand, then added, “No, wait. That’s the path to Cam’s head.”
    “You’ve got a Google map in your head now?” Sam asked.
    Mara shrugged. “I guess we follow the dots until we find his head.” She held out an arm for them to proceed. “I’m not sure I like having all this stuff flowing into my