The Ruins of Arlandia - By William Wood Page 0,25

It was thin, and on the top there was a needlelike spire that reached high into the sky. It was a breathtaking sight. He was completely stunned at what he was seeing. One side of the building was severely damaged, like the facade had been scraped off. There were thousands off holes in it. It was amazing that the building was still standing.

The silver robot took them in low and gently landed the shuttle on a large platform near the ground. There was a soft bump as they touched the ground. The engines shut down, and the sound slowly died down and went silent.

Calvin and Jax took off their seatbelts. The robot turned the computers off and got out of his chair. One of the black robots was already up and moving toward the door.

When the door opened, cold air flooded the shuttle. The air smelled very odd. It was a musty, dirty, moldy, old-metal smell all wrapped in one. By the time Calvin got out of his chair and made his way back to the door, all of the robots were outside and were walking across the wide landing platform. The ground was covered with cracks. Calvin and Jax had to run to catch up to the robots, across the platform toward a large gold and purple archway that marked the entrance to the building. The wind was blowing harder out in the open. It felt like it went right through their clothes and down to their bones. Calvin wished he was wearing more than just a light jacket.

The building towered above them. The sides were silver and smooth, and they reflected brightly in the sun. Thin, wispy white clouds floated in the sky above.

“Where are we?” Calvin asked in awe, staring at his surroundings.

“I don't know,” Jax said. “But it looks like this place has been dead for a long time. If only my dad could see this. I wonder what he would say.”

“He’d say what everyone else would say. ‘I told you so. This is what happens when you don’t mind your own business.’”

“You’re right,” Jax said.

As they neared the entrance, Calvin continued to gaze up in the sky. He couldn’t stop looking at all of the damaged buildings. Then a small dark object caught his eye. He almost missed it, but there was no mistaking what it was. It was a spaceship! It looked like the same one that Calvin had seen a few days ago on the bridge of the mother ship. He stopped, as if frozen, and stared at it. The robots continued walking toward the entrance. Then he saw something that truly alarmed him; it was moving, coming toward them!

“Um, guys, what is that?” Calvin asked, pointing at the approaching spaceship. The silver robot looked up. When it saw the spaceship it made a loud, sharp noise.

“I hope it’s friendly,” Jax said. “Please tell me it’s one of yours.”

The robot replied with a short grating noise, and then it rattled something off quickly to the others in a loud, excited voice. All the robots started running. Calvin got left behind very quickly.

“Wait! Slow down! Wait for me!” Calvin shouted.

“Hurry up!” Jax shouted.

The arch leading into the building was very big and ornately decorated. The robots didn’t bother trying to open the door. One of the black robots threw itself into it. The door didn’t stand a chance. The robot flew through the door, disintegrating it into a thousand pieces. A loud boom echoed off the buildings. The other robots made the hole bigger as they rammed their way through. Calvin and Jax followed, carefully climbing over the debris that was left behind. They were enveloped in darkness as they ran down a long hallway. Powerful beams of light came out of the robots’ eyes, lighting up the whole area. Large puffs of dust and dirt were thrown into the air with every footstep. They followed the main hallway as it led them up and down stairs, down long corridors, and through sections that had lots of turns. Calvin was tired and was having a hard time keeping up with Jax and the robots.

The inside of the building was in an advanced state of decay. Stones were cracked, and debris covered the floor. In many places they had to jump over big chunks of rock that had fallen out of the ceiling, and there were a lot of gaping holes in the floor. The robots went over the obstacles in their path effortlessly, like