Free Rivets and Sprockets by Alexander Key Page A

Underground Mars seemed to be inhabited only by machines.
    â€œI’ll be blessed!” the doctor finally exclaimed. “Sprockets, call Ilium and Leli and tell them—”
    â€œI’m talking to Ilium now,” Sprockets said hastily. “They’ve discovered the power source. It’s a dilly!”
    Ilium, Leli, and Rivets were all talking at once. “There’s not another like it in the Galaxy,” Ilium was singing. And Rivets was exclaiming: “All red and huge . Must be a mile across, or anyway yards and yards and yards —” and Leli was adding: “A dozen passages meet here, all different colors—and we’ve found the one that leads to the Something! We want you to come here as quickly as you can. It will be much better if we call on the Something together.”
    Sprockets could feel his circuits tingling. “But how can we find you, Leli?”
    â€œGet on one of the conveyances—be sure it’s a red one—and it will bring you straight here.”
    â€œThere are conveyances?”
    â€œOf course! Haven’t you seen one yet?”
    â€œDoes it go beep-beep-beep? ”
    â€œNo, but we’ve heard something that does. The conveyances are little automatic cars that stop beside you and tinkle. They save a purplish lot of walking. Blue tinklers follow blue passages—red tinklers follow red. Hurry and catch a red tinkler. We are so glowingly, spectrumly excited we can hardly wait!”
    Sprockets turned quickly to the doctor. “Sir, Ilium and Leli are practically at the door of the Something, and they want us to join them immediately. Leli says that we can reach them easily by catching a red tinkler.”
    â€œAnd what is a red tinkler?”
    Sprockets hastily explained about tinklers. “We should find one down the valley, sir. They seem to be waiting by every passage.”
    â€œI’ll ride in anything that doesn’t beep, ” said Jim.
    They hurried down into the valley, searching for a tinkler. One of the little bottle-shaped workers skittered respectfully out of their way, and went humming up the side of a house with a sponge in its wiggling snoot. No one saw the tinkler until it drew up beside them, its tiny bell tinkling invitingly.
    It was shaped like a long peapod, and made of shiny plastic like the houses. There were four seats in it. It floated a foot above the ground on nothing at all—probably, thought Sprockets, on an invisible power wave sent out from the power source.
    â€œHey,” said Jim, “this tinkler’s black. We’re supposed to catch a red one—but I don’t see one anywhere.”
    â€œMaybe we’d better ride in this till we find a red one,” said the doctor. “It might save time.”
    Something told Sprockets that a black tinkler was definitely not the one they should take. But the doctor and Jim were already trying to wedge themselves aboard, and the tinkler was tinkling impatiently and beginning to move. Sprockets leaped inside, and the tinkler shot away so fast they were almost jerked from their narrow seats.
    â€œW-wow! W-where are we going?” Jim cried, as the houses streaked past in a blur and everything suddenly darkened around them.
    â€œWe’re in a tunnel now,” Sprockets said uneasily. “A black tunnel. I think we’ve taken the wrong tinkler.”
    â€œWe’ve got to stop it!” cried the doctor. “Quick, how do you stop it, Sprockets?”
    â€œYou’re supposed to push a button in front of the seat,” said Sprockets. “But there’s no button here.”
    â€œT-there are no b-buttons anywhere!” Jim panted. “If we can’t stop it, we’d better jump!”
    â€œNo!” cried Sprockets. “We’re going fifty miles an hour. Don’t you dare jump till I can slow it someway.”
    Sprockets’ metal fingers tore frantically at the strip of plastic under