Free The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) by J.J. Thompson Page A

a solid
railing along the outside about four feet high and when Justin judged
that they were about halfway to the top, which took a surprisingly
long time to reach, he stopped and suggested they take a quick break
to rest and catch their breath. No one argued.
    Aaron sat down on a step
beside Justin. He grunted as he stretched out his legs and began to
rub his thighs. “This is definitely an endurance test,”
he said with a tired sigh.
    Justin agreed as he
stretched and then took off his shoes to rub his feet. His sneakers
were a bit faded and frayed from all the running, jumping and
swimming he'd been doing in them lately, but they were holding up
okay. He shook them to get rid of a few small stones and then sat
back for a minute and relaxed.
    After a very short break,
Maria stood up and suggested they move on. “We don't know how
long it will be before that machine comes back up the stairs, and
frankly I don't know if there's enough room for it to get by us.”
    Startled at the thought,
Justin quickly put his shoes on and he and Aaron began to climb
again, feeling at least a little rested.
    Finally, one last turn in
the staircase showed them the ceiling up ahead with a large hole cut
into it and the staircase leading up and through to the next level.
    Justin hesitated a moment
before entering the darkness ahead, then took a deep breath, glanced
at Aaron who nodded grimly and proceeded up the darkened stairs.
    The ceiling was very
thick and the staircase wound around one more time before the group
reached the top of the steps. As Justin's head popped up through what
was now the floor of this new level, hr noticed that the ground was
covered by a fine sand.
    Sand? he thought and
experienced a momentary rush of excitement. It reminded him of the
Hall of Remembrance that he had once been taken to by Mr. Fitzgerald.
But as he continued to climb out of the stairwell, Justin realized
that this was a different area entirely.
    The others followed him
out of the darkness until they all stood in a group, looking around
and taking in this new area.
    They were standing in a
room of sorts, perhaps forty feet square with nothing but deep sand
covering the ground. There were no other features to be seen, but the
walls of the room only extended up about twenty feet. Beyond that,
the far off ceiling was just as distant as the one from below, but
the light here was just light, white and devoid of any warmth or
color.
    Near the stairwell, an
area bare of sand and covered with bits and pieces of banana peels,
small leaves and a few rotted mangoes was evidently the spot that the
monkey-bot dropped its loads of fruit. But where was it taken from
there, Justin wondered. And who took it?
    A path of disturbed sand
led away and out of an archway, the only exit, straight ahead of
them. The sand did not hold the shape of any footprints, so they
couldn't tell just who, or what, had made the path. The air was acrid
and dry, pinching their nostrils. Aaron coughed lightly.
    “ So
what do you guys make of this?” Maria asked the group.
    There was a general
exchange of glances but no one seemed to have an opinion. Justin felt
the same way. The place felt dead. Maybe it was the harsh, bright
light or the gritty sand, but he couldn't imagine anyone actually
living on this level.
    They were all startled by
a sudden clanking sound ringing up from the stairwell. As a group,
they moved back, close to the archway and watched as the monkey
machine trundled up and into the room.
    It totally ignored the
teens as it limped to the clear space in the sand, emptied its net of
fruit into a pile and then backed up against the wall and became
immobile.
    Hesitantly, Justin walked
close enough to see that the red glow of the machine's eyes had faded
and it stood like a statue.
    “ I
think it's shut itself off,” he told the others. There was a
sigh of relief from the group, none of whom had seemed to really
trust the machine's good intentions.
    “ Well,
what now,