| Part VI: The Rusty Gate is Closed |
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As Papa Resek dealt with the treachery of Sleeptongue, Chris, Dan, and Mattapp made their way slowly down the 200 Hall, edging ever closer to the Main Office. The strain of the Disk was beginning to tell on Chris. He dragged his feet, walking slower and slower, with his head drooping as if he were asleep on his feet. Worriedly, Dan called a halt.
"It's the Disk, isn't it," he asked. "Yes," Chris gasped. "It's getting heavier." "Nonsense," said Dan. "It is still the same Disk as it was before. It must be in your mind." "Are you calling me crazy??" Chris snapped angrily. "You said it, not me," Dan replied quickly. An awkward silence ensued for a moment, and then Chris stalked off angrily, with Dan trailing behind. He tried engaging Mattapp in conversation, but the latter seemed to find himself a more engaging conversation companion. Dan began to suspect that Mattapp had a serious split personality problem, the two halves of which Dan had named Stoner and Loner. That night they burned some loose scraps of paper they had found in the hallway for a fire. Dan slept quietly for a while, but then he was awoken by a strange thumping sound. He stirred groggily, focused his eyes on Mattapp behaving very strangely, and determined that it would be better to pretend he hadn't seen what was happening. He closed his eyes to slits as if he were still asleep, but kept a careful watch on the very strange scene playing out in front of him. Mattapp was speaking to himself, at first in a soft, cringing voice. Then it would seem as if something had taken over, he would beat his head against the wall, and then his eyes would light up and he would speak in a rasping, evil voice. Then he would beat his head against the wall again, and the first voice would begin speaking again. Dan supposed that Stoner and Loner must be at it again. "Matthew promised," said Loner. "I promised to serve nice master." "Yess," said Stoner, "And what has it gots us? Hardly any food, and they wont lets us near our pot." "Is nice master," said Loner defensively. "He talks nicely to us. He pats us on the head." "Like we was a stupid dogses," grated Stoner. "If we takes back the precious, then we can watch our porn again." Either Stoner or Loner, Dan couldn't tell which, clapped his hands happily together at the word porn. "But Matthew swore to help the master," whined Loner in a last attempt. "And so we will be," answered Stoner smoothly. "We've seen how tired nice master is getting. The precious is a burden to him. If we takes it, he won't have problem anymore. And then, WE the master, and we can help ourselves." "Don't want to hurt nice master," said Loner, almost begging. "Matthew losing his nerve?" taunted Stoner. "Well...we could let her do the dirty work...Then we picks it off their corpses, once they're dead." Loner covered his face with his hands and moaned, rocking back and forth, but he nodded. Dan thought about warning Chris, but he decided that Chris probably had a handle on the whole situation. Besides, he thought, if everything went badly, the Disk might work very nicely in HIS computer.... The next day dawned bright and peaceful, a perfect day to be outside. "And wouldn't you know it, we're trapped in school on a day like this," Dan groused. "Come on, nice master," said Mattapp, completely ignoring Dan. "This way." After a short trip, they came up short against a large security grating blocking their further path to the main office. With probably more grandeur than the gate deserved, Mattapp proclaimed grandly, "The Rusty Gate...." *dramatic pause* "...of the High School!" "Well, great," said Dan. "How are we supposed to get past that? I don't suppose you have a key?" he asked Chris. "Do I look like a janitor?" Chris retorted. "Let me fiddle with the lock, I have certain, ahem, talents along those lines." He batted the lock around for a few minutes, then dug out a hairpin and began working at the tumblers. Dan looked at him with a bemused expression. "Don't ask," Chris warned. "Crap. The lock's too rusty to do anything with. Pass me some of that vegetable oil you use for your 'cooking'." "You mean the Seaway 100% Pure Canola Oil?" Dan asked. "With easy screw-top lid and leak-proof funnel? Attractively priced at only $3.99 a bottle?" "Yes, that," said Chris impatiently as he grabbed the bottle from Dan's hand. he worked some of the oil into the lock and began working again, a satisfied smile lighting up his face as the lock started clicking. Seeing his plans about to fall apart, and thinking correspondingly quickly, Mattapp jumped forward and grabbed Chris, pulling him away from the gate. "No, master!" he hissed. "Can't go that way!" "Why not?" asked Chris, confused. "I was just about to pick the lock." Dan could almost see the wheels turning frantically in Mattapp's head. "Well...did you hear your lock?" asked Mattapp slyly. "That sort of clicking echoes all over the hall. If you keep it up we'll have janitors all over us in minutes." "If that's true, then we're dead already," interrupted Dan. "Because we talk louder than the tumblers were clicking." "Not really," replied Mattapp. "It all has to do with harmonics - the clicking resonates and gets louder as it goes through these hallways, which were built in exact synchrony with the natural resonance of lock tumblers. It's not tuned to our voices, so they stay the same volume. Didn't you pay any attention in physics class?" Dan mumbled something under his breath. "So what do we do?" asked Chris. "I know another way," answered Mattapp. "More secret, more special, more direct, more...." "Whatever," said Dan angrily. "Why haven't you said anything about this before?" "Because master did not ask," replied Mattapp sulkily. "Just said 'take me to the Gate', not 'I intend to go through it'." "What else would I be doing at the gate?" asked Chris curiously. "Never mind...lead the way, Mattapp." Dan could not help but feel uncomfortable at the look of triumph in Mattapp's eyes. |
| Whew! You've just finished Book III! Take a deep breath, and then it's onward to Book IV, Part I ! |