Chapter 20
Sticking close together, the team crept down the stairwell.
Fred chose that time to begin singing. “Six intrepid friends led by Fred, their leader. Fred.Fred’s Angels. Uh-uh-uh. Fred’s Angels. Uh-uhuh. Harnessing the power of the sun with the ancient amulet they found in the attic. Uh-uh-uh. The amulet is green. Uh-uh-uh. It’s probably an emerald. Uh-uh-uh—”
Wasabi silenced him with a look. “Fred, I will laser-hand you in the face!”
Fred shrank back.
“Shhh,” Hiro said as they entered a huge concrete testing lab. “Any sign of him, Baymax?”He looked at Baymax’s scanner. The signal had disappeared.
“This structure is interfering with my sensor,”Baymax said, still trying to get a reading.
“Oh, great,“ Wasabi said anxiously. “The robot’s broken.”
“Guys, you might want to see this ... ” Honey said.
Everyone was on high alert as they scanned the lab. The place appeared to have been badly damaged. The ceiling had caved in, leaving a gaping hole. The walls were cracked, and chunks of concrete were scattered everywhere.
Two large circular structures that vaguely resembled portals of some sort dominated the room. One was intact but half dismantled. The other seemed to have been completely blown up.
“What do you think they are, genius?” Go Go asked Hiro.
“I’m not sure. But look,” Hiro replied, pointing to a bird symbol on one of them. It was the same one Hiro had seen on the metal piece Yokai was transporting across the bay.
Then Honey said, “Hiro.” She was pointing to a flickering light. It was coming from a control room in a tower overlooking the lab floor.
Yokai must be up there, Hiro thought.
The team climbed a decrepit metal stairway, ready for battle. But when they burst into the control room, they found it abandoned.
The flickering light was coming from a bank of video screens. The biggest screen showed the graphic image of a bird. "Silent Sparrow" was printed underneath it.
Hiro walked over to the computer and hit a key. An image of Alistair Krei appeared.
“Krei ... ” Hiro said, a little shocked.
The paused video began to play. It showed Alistair Krei standing in the lab when it was sleek and new. A small audience that included military officials was listening as Krei said, “We were asked to do the impossible. And that’s what we did. We’ve reinvented the very concept of transportation.”
Krei gave his audience a broad smile and pointed to two large circular structures—the same ones the team had found in the lab. “Friends, I present Project Silent Sparrow.” He nodded to the control booth, and the two structures powered up with a hum.
Krei took the hat of one of the generals. “May I?”he asked. But before the general could answer, Krei tossed the hat into the closest circular portal. In less than a second, it flew out of the other portal.
“Whoa! A magic hat!” Fred said.
“No,” Hiro said, impressed with what Krei had done. “Teleportation. Those circles are portals.”
On the video, Krei handed the general his hat. “Teleportation: the transport of matter instantaneously through space. Not science fiction anymore,” Krei said. The guests burst into applause.
Next, Krei led his audience up to the control room. “Now, we didn’t spend billions of dollars to teleport hats.” His guests nodded and laughed nervously as Krei motioned to a video monitor. “Ladies and gentlemen, you’re here to witness his tory.”
Krei spoke into a microphone. The image of a young woman flashed onto the screen. “Ready to go for a ride, Abigail?” he asked.
The pilot gave a thumbs-up. “We’ve invited all these people; might as well give them a show,” she said as she climbed into a flight pod set up to enter one of the portals.
Krei turned to his guests. “The first human teleportation in history, courtesy of Krei Tech Industries,” he said with a flourish, and the countdown began.
第 20 章
大家緊挨在一起,慢慢地沿著樓梯向下走去。
弗雷德選擇在這一刻開始唱起了歌:“六名無懼無畏的英雄,以弗雷德的領(lǐng)導為核心。他們的領(lǐng)袖是弗雷德。弗雷德的天使們啊。嗯嗯嗯。弗雷德的天使們啊。嗯嗯嗯。用在閣樓上找到的古老護身符駕馭太陽的力量。嗯嗯嗯。護身符是綠色的。嗯嗯嗯。很可能是綠寶石。嗯嗯嗯……”
芥末無疆看了一眼弗雷德使他安靜了下來:“弗雷德,你信不信我用激光手砍你臉一刀!”
弗雷德退縮了一下。
“噓!”在他們進入了一個巨大的混凝土鑄就的測試實驗室時,小宏說道。“有他的行跡嗎,大白?”他看向大白的掃描器。信號消失了。
“這個建筑正在干擾我的探測裝置,”大白一邊嘗試著獲取信息一邊說道。
“哦,這下好了,”芥末無疆焦急地說,“這個機器人壞掉了。”
“大伙,你們快來看看這個……”哈妮檸檬說道。
他們在觀察實驗室時,都高度警惕著。這地方似乎被嚴重破壞了。房頂塌落了,裂了一個大洞。墻體坍塌了,混凝土的碎塊散落得到處都是。
兩個巨大的像某種入口一樣的環(huán)形構(gòu)造占滿了整個房間。其中一個的一半是完整的,另一半被拆除了;另一個看起來已經(jīng)被完全炸毀了。
“你覺得這是什么,天才?”神行御姐問小宏道。
“我不確定。但是看那個,”小宏指著他們上面一個鳥的標志答道。這和小宏在海灣看見的妖怪運送的金屬物件上的標志一樣。
就在這時哈妮檸檬指著一處閃爍著的燈光說道:“小宏。”燈光源自于位于一處高塔的控制室,從那里可以俯瞰整個實驗室。
小宏想,妖怪一定就在那兒。
隊員們爬上一段破舊的金屬樓梯,做好了戰(zhàn)斗準備??僧斔麄儧_進控制室時,發(fā)現(xiàn)那里已經(jīng)被遺棄了。
閃爍的燈光來自于一堆熒光屏。最大的那臺屏幕上顯示著一只鳥的圖形,下面印著“無聲雀”幾個字。
小宏走到電腦前,摁下了一個鍵。阿里斯泰·格利的影像呈現(xiàn)了出來。
“格利……”小宏驚訝地說道。
暫停的視頻開始播放。視頻所展現(xiàn)的是格利站在實驗室里的畫面,那時的實驗室一切還井然有序且嶄新如初。包括軍事長官在內(nèi)的一小群觀眾正在聽格利說著:“我們應(yīng)邀去完成不可能的任務(wù)。這就是我們的成果。我們重新定義了運輸?shù)母拍睢?rdquo;
格利對他的觀眾報以開朗的大笑,指著兩個巨大的環(huán)形構(gòu)造——正是超能陸戰(zhàn)隊在實驗室中發(fā)現(xiàn)的那兩個。“朋友們,這就是我們的新項目:‘無聲雀’。”他朝控制臺點了點頭,兩個構(gòu)造啟動開來發(fā)出了嗡嗡的聲音。
格利從一位將軍頭上取下了一頂帽子。“可以借給我嗎?”他問道。不等將軍回應(yīng),格利就將帽子扔到了離他最近的環(huán)形構(gòu)造之中。一秒鐘不到,它就從另一個入口飛了出來。
“哇哦!魔法帽!”弗雷德說道。
“不是吧,”小宏說道,他被格利所做的驚到了。“遠距傳送。這些環(huán)形物就是入口。”
視頻里,格利將帽子遞給了將軍。“遠距傳送:通過空間瞬間傳輸物體,再也不是科幻作品了。”格利說道。來賓們爆發(fā)出了熱烈的掌聲。
隨后,格利領(lǐng)著觀眾去了控制室。“我們花了數(shù)十億的美元可不是用來傳送帽子的。”格利向來賓們示意讓他們看熒光屏,他們點點頭,緊張地笑了起來。“女士們、先生們,你們即將見證歷史。”
格利對著擴音器講話。一個年輕女孩的身影閃現(xiàn)在了屏幕上。“準備好出發(fā)了嗎,艾比蓋爾?”他問道。
飛行員豎起了大拇指。“我們請來了這么多人,也該讓他們看場好戲。”她一邊爬進飛行吊艙準備進入其中的一個入口一邊說道。
格利轉(zhuǎn)向他的客人。“歷史上第一次活人遠距傳送,格利科技工業(yè)出品。”他炫耀地說道,倒計時開始了。