Читать книгу The Unwritten Books 3-Book Bundle - James Bow - Страница 4

PROLOGUE

Rosemary read.

***

Marjorie gasped. “What is this place?”

She stood, with her brother, John, and her new friend Andrew, at the base of the tallest, largest building they had ever seen. Chrome jaguars guarded the steps, frozen in mid-leap. The other buildings seemed to crowd together, pushing them up the stairs. A thousand Zeppelins patrolled the sky.

“Is this where the people went?” asked Marjorie.

“Yes,” said the Sentinel. “

That’s comforting,” deadpanned Andrew. “I think we should go now.”

“Perhaps there was some disaster,” said John. “I wonder what happened here; it’s like the Marie Celeste!”

“Do you wish to see the people?” The Sentinel, moving stiffly on stone joints, stepped past them and pushed open the doors.

“That walking statue is just so creepy,” said Andrew. He put his hand on Marjorie’s shoulder. “Let’s get out of here!”

“No.” Marjorie pushed her horn-rimmed glasses further up on her nose. “I want to see.”

The Sentinel ushered them forward.

They found themselves in a vast, dark cathedral. Huge marble slabs stood suspended from the ceiling, row upon row, seven feet wide and tall, and two feet thick. Some swung almost imperceptibly, as if something inside them stirred.

The rhythmic heartbeat of the city hammered off the walls, breaking their thoughts to well-ordered pieces.

“But … where are all the people?” asked Marjorie. John looked up at the slabs. His face went white. “Marjorie …”

The doors slammed behind them.

***

Rosemary winced. She turned the page.

***

Each slab held the impression of a person: here an old man with wide staring eyes, there a young woman, a child; each as different as people are from one another.

Frightened but curious, Marjorie led the way onto a moving sidewalk towards a second set of giant doors. The Sentinel pressed Andrew and John to follow her. “Ours is a powerful civilization,” he said. “We have built many wonders. But civilizations grow old, and old civilizations disappear. Knowing this, the people of this planet built the great Machine. The Machine was the pinnacle of our technology, capable of answering any question put to it and performing any action asked of it. We told it our fears and we asked it to preserve us so that our civilization would never die.”

“But I don’t understand,” said Andrew. “Where are all the people?”

“The Machine did as the people instructed,” said the Sentinel. “It automated all the processes and turned all the people into stone.”

The second set of doors swung open as they approached, and the heartbeat intensified. At the end of a long hall sat the Machine.

***

Rosemary swallowed hard. She flipped ahead.

***

Metal claws snaked down from the ceiling and grabbed their wrists and ankles.

The Sentinel spread its arms as if puzzled. “Why do you resist? The Machine preserves all on this planet. You are on this planet, so you must be preserved.”

“We’ve got to get out of here!” Andrew yelled.

“Concentrate, Marjorie!” shouted John. “Teleport now!”

“I can’t!” cried Marjorie. “It’s the Machine! It’s breaking my thoughts!”

Andrew screamed as the metal pincers wrenched him off his feet.

“Marjorie, do something!” John shouted as the claws pulled him away. There was the sound of clanging metal, the hiss of steam. Her brother’s yells ended abruptly.

“Andrew! John!” Marjorie screamed. She struggled vainly against the metal cables wrapping around her body, pulling her to the Machine. “No!”

***

Horrified, Rosemary threw the book across her room.

It landed with a thud, and Marjorie’s story slammed shut.