Hamish X Goes to Providence Rhode Island Read Online Free Page B

lifted the child out of the cubbyhole next door. Noor’s would be next. Parveen donned a pair of goggles that covered the last of his bare skin. He made sure he had packed everything up, leaving no evidence of his presence. Satisfied, he leaned over his sister’s sleeping face and whispered in her ear: “Don’t be afraid, Noor. I’m with you. I won’t let anything happen to you.” Parveen brushed a stray hair from her forehead and pressed himself against the side of the cubbyhole, trying to make himself as small as he could, which was very small indeed.

Chapter 4
    The robot arrived at Noor’s cubbyhole. A small camera fixed to its black plastic front whirred, the lens extending and contracting as the robot scanned the inside of the compartment. Satisfied, the robot extended its two mechanical arms to grasp the pallet on which Noor lay and slowly pull it out into the cargo pod.
    Why didn’t it see Parveen, you ask? Ah, well. One would have to blame the jumpsuit. Parveen had adapted it from the “sneaky sheet” of the airship Orphan Queen . Remember the camouflaging skin of the Chameleon whale? 17 While staying at the Hollow Mountain, Parveen had been inspired to develop a synthetic version that could be manufactured and sewn into garments. The suit he wore was the prototype. The testing process had yielded excellent results. He had been in the midst of completing the final tests before making suits for all the Royal Swiss Guards. The invasion had cut short the work. He now wore the only working “sneaky suit,” and he thanked his lucky stars that he had stuffed it into his backpack (sewn from the same material) before he had set out on this mad rescue attempt.
    As a result, when the robot surveyed the inside of the compartment, Parveen, pressed against the wall, had appeared to be just another innocent piece of the interior. A handy trick. Anyone searching the compartment would haveto step directly on the hidden boy to discover him. He had also insulated the suit from heat and infrared because he had a suspicion that the Grey Agents’ goggles allowed them to see in spectra that normal humans couldn’t.
    Lifting the pallet, the robot backed out and turned to make its way down the pod to the doors. Parveen had always been a very small and slight boy, making the extra weight as he clung to the underside of the pallet that held his sleeping sister negligible. He positioned himself so that he hung head forward, back to the floor, his fingers wrapped around the plastic struts of the pallet and his toes jammed under the short lip that ran around the edge. He lowered his head so that it skimmed the floor of the pod as they approached the doors and headed down the loading ramp.
    He found himself in a giant open space brightly lit from above by banks of blue-white lights burning with nauseating intensity. The cargo pod he had arrived in was one of perhaps a hundred arranged in a semicircle around a central metal loading dock. Its surface was rubberized and textured to reduce slippage. All around the loading dock, robots were transferring their cargo of immobilized children on pallets into large racks. The racks, stacked with trays of humanity, reminded Parveen of the tray racks at the back of the cafeteria in Windcity Orphanage. Intent on sliding Noor into one of the vacant slots, the robot trundled across the loading dock towards an empty rack. Parveen quickly scanned the area to make sure no one was watching. He was just about to drop from his perch and roll to his feet when he heard a voice say …
    â€œStop!”
    The robot carrying Noor and Parveen jerked to a halt. Footsteps approached until Parveen saw two pairs of polished grey shoes standing to one side of the pallet. Hegripped the pallet tighter and prayed that the suit would hide him from close scrutiny.
    â€œA good haul, Mr. Sweet.”
    â€œYes, Mr. Candy. Most will be utilized to provide conductivity