The Mech-man

Chapter 8

Mr Brown’s black car stopped in front of the orphanage, with Max in the backseat.

“Max!” Mr Browm called from the driver seat, “Go in and call Lucas out.”

Max nodded and got off the car, he could wait to see Lucas. He ran inside to only be jump scared by Lucas who was hiding behind the door.

“You were so scared.” Lucas teased as he followed Max outside.

“No, I wasn’t!” Max argued, jumping into the car seat. Lucas just smiled; it was good to be together.

“Where are we going?” Lucas asked Mr Brown.

“The training centre, the place where all Protectors started.” Mr Brown replied while starting to drive.

“Is it like a school?” Max asked curiously. Although Max knew he went to a school but after the Incident, he didn’t remember anything.

“Yes, it’s like school, but a special school for only the talented children like you.” Mr Brown answered, “Don’t worry, you won’t get bored there.”

“How far is it?” Lucas asked, hoping to arrive soon, but his spirits sank a bit when he heard that they were going to the train station. “The train station means that we’re going somewhere far.” Lucas thought.

“Hey, that’s good! I have never been in a Time Train before!” Max cheered. A Time Train was the fastest and almost the only way of transport to faraway galaxies or planets. But even at high speed, the nearest habitable planet to humans was still one hour away.

“Which planet are we going to?” Lucas asked eagerly.

“PS-234, the whole planet is the training ground. Only Mech-man and trainers are there.” Mr Brown replied without looking thinking as if that question was already asked a million times.

“Wow!” Max gasped, “How long will it take?”

“About five hours, it’s a far planet from Earth.” Mr Brown replied after calculating for a while. Then he continued, “It’ll take you about two hours to get to the Train station for trains to planets with the number 100-300, then you’ll have to wait there for about one and a half hours and another one and a half hours you’ll arrive.”

“Good luck, I’m not coming with you.” Mr Brown admitted, “These are your tickets.” Mr Brown told one of his helpers to fetch four golden tickets for an envelope. Max got hold of the tickets, they were shining under the mid-day sun.

“They look so important.” Lucas commented.

“Take care of them.” Mr Brown said, “They are premium seats tickets. The one with the red edge is the one to the planet.”

“Mr Brown.” Max started.

“Yes?”

“We don’t have any luggage or clothes. What would happen when we get to the planet?” Max asked.

“Don’t worry, I think that they would provide you your needs.” Mr Brown answered calmly.

“You’ll be okay.” Mr Brown gave Max courage.

“Did we arrive?” Lucas guessed pointing at the massive structure.

Mr Brown smiled and said, “Yes, we did. The station looks impressive right?”

Mr Brown’s stopped and parked in front of the train station. The station from outside looked gigantic, the enormous glass doors were open. On top there was clock as big as the circle in the middle of a football field. The walls were newly painted. An image of a long train could be seen on it.

“That’s insane!” Max muttered while staring at the train station. “But where do we go for departure?” Max then asked.

Mr Brown told Max to go underground, “Go down the wide electric stairs in the middle then you’ll see a ticket machine and scan the ticket with the red edge. Inside, look for the train to Space station 100-300. You’re an hour early.”

“Thanks!” Max called excited and jumped out of the car, “Lucas come on!”

Lucas waved to Mr Brown and followed Max out of the car shouting, “Bye and thank you Mr Brown!” And then he disappeared into the crowd with Max.

“Those two kids…” Mr muttered under his breath smiling, silently wishing them good luck. Pick pockets often look for kids who are alone.

Max speed walked into the station and slowed down so Lucas can catch up.

“Lucas, look, I think that was the stairs that Mr Brown mentioned!” Max whispered in awe. The electric stairs weren’t only wide, it was also so deep that Max almost can’t see the bottom.

“How deep do we have to go!” Lucas exclaimed a bit too loud, passengers near by gave them strange looks.

“I guess you two are new here.” A man wearing casual clothes walked towards them. “Let me be your guide to the train station!” He announced enthusiastically.

“He looks like a nice man.” Max whispered to Lucas, “he can help us find our train!”

Lucas nodded a turned to the man, “Thank you! Are you sure you want to help us?”

“Of course!” The man grinned, “You can call me Jim!”

“So where are two going?” Jim asked curiously.

Max took out his ticket and showed it to Jim, “We’re going to Space station 100-300.”

Jim’s eyes nearly popped out of his sockets where he saw the tickets, “Wow, cool. I’ll take you to the station.” He forced a laugh.

“Those tickets cost a fortune, if only I had them…” Jim thought and then smiled evilly.

The electric stairs arrived at the bottom; artificial light lit up the whole station. A long row of ticket machines stood before them.

“There.” Jim said pointing at the ticket machines, “Go through those machines first.” Max and Lucas scanned their golden tickets and walked into the underground station.

“So, lets check when your train takes off.” Jim suggested as he walked towards a ginormous screen clearly showing hundreds of train routes.

“There!” Lucas exclaimed pointing at one of the routes and read, “Train to Space Station 100-300, pending departure.”

“You have forty-five minutes left.” Jim explained after seeing that line, “Do you want to wait at the platform already?”

“I guess so, I don’t want to miss it!” Max shrugged and said looking at Lucas for an opinion.

Lucas shrugged and commented, “No disagreement.”

“Okay then follow me!” Jim exclaimed happily.

“But what about your train, don’t you need to catch it?” Max asked Jim.

“No, it’s okay, I like helping children.” Jim replied, “Or stealing from children…” Jim then thought.

“Come on!” Jim called Max and Lucas to follow.

“Who doesn’t want free help?” Max thought then followed Jim with Lucas behind him. “Jim wanted to help; he must be a nice person!”

As Max got close, he saw a flash of something then he felt something being removed from his pocket. But when he realised that his ticket was gone, it was already too late. Jim was running with his ticket in one hand and a robotic hand in his other hand.

“Stop thief!” Max called and ran after Jim. But Jim disappeared into a group of passengers.

Lucas tried to help Max but also failed to catch up with Jim.

“Curse him, curse that I believed him!” Max gritted his teeth; he was furious but also worried.

“What will happen if I don’t have a ticket?” Max asked Lucas with a worried expression on his face.

“We’ll have to catch him! He should be in the station!” Lucas thought for a while and said, “We might get lucky!”

Max sighed, “Where might he have gone?”

“That direction!” Lucas pointed and ran off, starting their almost hopeless search for the thief.