Free Rivets and Sprockets by Alexander Key Page B

his feet. There must be wires, or possibly power tubes, somewhere in the tinkler that he could loosen.
    As he struggled he was aware of areas of color flashing past, and realized they must be lighted passages crossing their route. The strip of plastic began to bend. Suddenly it snapped. Sprockets called out: “Turn on your force globes! Get ready to jump when I slow it!” The force globes should help cushion their fall.
    His exploring hands touched metal. Instantly a horrid jolt went through him. Sparks flashed. Green fires danced around him, and his circuits began to heat so quickly that it was all he could do to gasp, “It’s slowing—jump as soon as you can—”
    A robot must protect his master even though it completely sizzles his circuits. Poor Sprockets knew he was bound to be sizzled in a matter of seconds, but he tightened his fingers and managed to hang on until he saw the doctor and Jim leap to safety. Then he blanked out.

    When Sprockets was able to blink his eye lights again, the tinkler had stopped and everything was still black around him. He wondered what had stopped the tinkler, and discovered that the piece of metal he’d been holding had finally come loose. And just in time, he thought, or a little robot named Sprockets Bailey would have been melted to an unrecognizable lump, right in the middle of black nowhere.
    He sat up weakly, and realized that the buttons he’d been using had automatically clicked off when his circuits started to sizzle. He turned on his radio button—and immediately flicked it off again with a yelp. “O-o-o-oh! My poor blistering circuits,” he moaned.
    It would be impossible to use any of his buttons until he cooled. Without the help of his buttons, matters could be difficult.
    But his positronic clock was still working, and he was surprised to find that only a half hour had passed since the doctor and Jim had leaped to safety. They couldn’t be too far away.
    Slowly, stiffly, he got out of the black tinkler and turned around, expecting to see only blackness ahead. Instead, the passage was clearly lighted with a soft green glow.
    Incredulously, Sprockets looked back in the direction the tinkler was pointed. There everything was black again. He jerked around and walked a few steps forward. He was astounded to discover that the passage was always black in one direction, and always green in the other.
    â€œMy goodness!” he exclaimed, blinking worriedly. “Why must this be so confusing?”
    Without the help of his cerebration button, it took poor Sprockets’ overheated brain nine full seconds to figure out the reason for the reversible colors, which he decided all the passages must have. This was so you couldn’t get lost in the tangle of Martian passages. If you started out for a pink destination, the way would always be pink till you got there. If you had to return to a yellow place, the right direction would always be yellow.
    He could imagine all sorts of interesting places where the different colors might lead, but he refused to think about the black passage. Some things, he decided, are much better unthought.
    Thankful that he was not color-blind, Sprockets began trudging back toward the valley as fast as his aching legs could carry him. Each step sent a jolt through his quivering circuits, and he wished he could be safely home, so Mrs. Bailey could put an ice pack on his head.
    What could have happened to Jim and the doctor? There was no sign of them as far down the green passage as he could see. Presently he reached the first cross passage, and paused a moment to study it. It had a blue glow on the right, but the glow changed to red when he looked to the left. The power source itself was red—and Leli had said to take a red tinkler to reach it.
    Sprockets hesitated. Could the doctor have turned left here to search for Ilium and Leli?
    His hand crept to his radio button. “Turn it on,” he told