breath.
“It’s okay, hon,” Lara tried to comfort. “Just a power outage. Give it a few moments and the emergency lights should kick on.” Lara reached down, found her daughter’s warm little hand clutching her pants leg, and held it tightly.
Suddenly, Cora screamed in pain and released her hand.
“What is it?”
“My eyes,” she whined. “It burns.”
Lara reached out and found Cora’s shoulders, then her head. She felt cool to the touch. No fever. “Like before?”
“Yes. Just louder.”
“Louder? What do you mean, Cora? What do you hear?”
“All of them. They’re all a-scared of the dark. All the grown-ups are acting like kids.”
What was she talking about? Was she hearing things? Cora had always had an active imagination. She had been much easier to entertain than Owen at her age. All she needed was a doll, a room and time and she’d create some amazingly intricate scenario out of nothing. But what was this new fantasy about? Should she take it seriously?
Cora shivered and clutched her mother tightly. “Mommy, I want to go home.”
I do too, Sweetie, Lara thought, holding her protectively in her arms.
“Just what makes that little old ant,” Lara began to sing, “ think he can move that rubber tree plant? Everyone knows an ant—“
“C-Can’t,” Cora joined her, “move a rubber tree plant.”
“Cause he’s got…”
The emergency lights flickered on in the lobby, fifty yards or so down the corridor. “Ah, there we go, Coraline. See, nothing to fear!”
The door beside them burst open and the two teenagers collided with a frozen theater Bot standing just behind them. Cora screamed as the boy clawed at the face of the motionless Bot as if fighting for his very life. The teen girl had already fled up the aisle ahead of him and the teen boy leapt off the chest of the fallen Bot and followed her, screaming her name in a high pitched voice: “Leslieee! Don’t leave meee!”
Lara glanced at Cora, who had started to shiver uncontrollably. “Hey now, what’s all this about?”
“Mommy, I’m scared,” Cora murmured through quivering lips, staring down at the frozen metal man at their feet. “What happened to the Bot?”
Lara tugged her arm forward away from the fallen body and started toward the light in the lobby. “Well, y’know, they run on electricity too and when the power went out, they went out too, I’ll bet.”
“But don’t they run on batteries?”
In the lobby, the bright arc light poured from a single ceiling fixture just behind the chandelier. Long stark shadows cut through the lobby and tiny colored spots reflected by the crystal teardrops flittered across the walls.
Other customers staggered forth from their darkened corridors like dreamers awakened too early from their sleep. They peered at each other and the two frozen theater Bots in confusion.
Cora cast a look back into the darkness of the green hallway they’d just left and asked, “Do you think the Bots are gonna be okay?”
“As soon as the lights come back on, I’m sure they’ll be as good as new.”
A surly faced old man looked around at Lara with a look of incredulity and gave a bitter laugh through rotted teeth as he started for the exit.
2
When the power went out, cries of dismay and frustrated curses went up throughout the Di-Lithium mine arcade. All those world records lost to the ether.
There was barely ten people left inside by then and Owen had been watching a particularly riveting game of Dragon’s Lair. The player, a twenty-year old college student from Rice, who had advised Owen during a third level animated exposition scene to “never, ever listen to anyone over thirty, little dude,” had advanced so far he had almost gotten to the final level.
Around that time Owen sensed motion out of the corner of his eye and looked up. A Mall Bot with the distinctive yellow
“It’s okay, hon,” Lara tried to comfort. “Just a power outage. Give it a few moments and the emergency lights should kick on.” Lara reached down, found her daughter’s warm little hand clutching her pants leg, and held it tightly.
Suddenly, Cora screamed in pain and released her hand.
“What is it?”
“My eyes,” she whined. “It burns.”
Lara reached out and found Cora’s shoulders, then her head. She felt cool to the touch. No fever. “Like before?”
“Yes. Just louder.”
“Louder? What do you mean, Cora? What do you hear?”
“All of them. They’re all a-scared of the dark. All the grown-ups are acting like kids.”
What was she talking about? Was she hearing things? Cora had always had an active imagination. She had been much easier to entertain than Owen at her age. All she needed was a doll, a room and time and she’d create some amazingly intricate scenario out of nothing. But what was this new fantasy about? Should she take it seriously?
Cora shivered and clutched her mother tightly. “Mommy, I want to go home.”
I do too, Sweetie, Lara thought, holding her protectively in her arms.
“Just what makes that little old ant,” Lara began to sing, “ think he can move that rubber tree plant? Everyone knows an ant—“
“C-Can’t,” Cora joined her, “move a rubber tree plant.”
“Cause he’s got…”
The emergency lights flickered on in the lobby, fifty yards or so down the corridor. “Ah, there we go, Coraline. See, nothing to fear!”
The door beside them burst open and the two teenagers collided with a frozen theater Bot standing just behind them. Cora screamed as the boy clawed at the face of the motionless Bot as if fighting for his very life. The teen girl had already fled up the aisle ahead of him and the teen boy leapt off the chest of the fallen Bot and followed her, screaming her name in a high pitched voice: “Leslieee! Don’t leave meee!”
Lara glanced at Cora, who had started to shiver uncontrollably. “Hey now, what’s all this about?”
“Mommy, I’m scared,” Cora murmured through quivering lips, staring down at the frozen metal man at their feet. “What happened to the Bot?”
Lara tugged her arm forward away from the fallen body and started toward the light in the lobby. “Well, y’know, they run on electricity too and when the power went out, they went out too, I’ll bet.”
“But don’t they run on batteries?”
In the lobby, the bright arc light poured from a single ceiling fixture just behind the chandelier. Long stark shadows cut through the lobby and tiny colored spots reflected by the crystal teardrops flittered across the walls.
Other customers staggered forth from their darkened corridors like dreamers awakened too early from their sleep. They peered at each other and the two frozen theater Bots in confusion.
Cora cast a look back into the darkness of the green hallway they’d just left and asked, “Do you think the Bots are gonna be okay?”
“As soon as the lights come back on, I’m sure they’ll be as good as new.”
A surly faced old man looked around at Lara with a look of incredulity and gave a bitter laugh through rotted teeth as he started for the exit.
2
When the power went out, cries of dismay and frustrated curses went up throughout the Di-Lithium mine arcade. All those world records lost to the ether.
There was barely ten people left inside by then and Owen had been watching a particularly riveting game of Dragon’s Lair. The player, a twenty-year old college student from Rice, who had advised Owen during a third level animated exposition scene to “never, ever listen to anyone over thirty, little dude,” had advanced so far he had almost gotten to the final level.
Around that time Owen sensed motion out of the corner of his eye and looked up. A Mall Bot with the distinctive yellow
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