Rip watched as the large group of people in the depot room began sorting out who would actually take the train to its destination point.

Sperry argued the police should go. This argument was countered, rather persuasively Rip thought, by Bixby and Sharp who pointed out the casualties already taken by enhanced and armed RVS personnel.

And the cops were neither armed nor enhanced.

But Sperry felt he had the authority here, even though the others were on a sanctioned RVS mission. Street cops belonged under the streets too, he asserted, even if they spent the majority of their time on the surface.

Sharp threw up his hands in disgust after several minutes of going around and around with the man. He walked away muttering something about blood on the inspector’s hands.

Bixby remained. He threw out the very real possibility that the train was pointed toward Ethinium’s steam vault. If that was the final destination, once there the police would indeed be out of their jurisdiction.

But this rather logical argument did not seem to bother Sperry.

“If the train begins in Ethinium, then where it ends is immaterial.”

Bixby conceded at last, but he encouraged Sperry to allow his older officers, and those who were family men, the opportunity to stay behind. Implied, but not stated, was the very real possibility of death.

Rip noticed Bixby made his final remarks loud enough for all the officers in the area to hear it.

Sperry noticed it too, and gave Bixby an irritated expression.

“Fine. I’ll take volunteers only.”

The look on his face suggested everyone better volunteer.

About the time this argument wrapped up, another one broke out about the automaton Dr. Oggolopoli modified.

He felt, having rushed over here with the contraption, that he should continue on the mission with police and RVS personnel.

While this seemed perfectly reasonable to the professor, Humphries felt it was a very bad idea.

“They just recently captured you, old boy. Now you want to go back into the lion’s den? That’s foolhardy, if you ask me.”

Oggolopoli grew stubborn, though.

“I took the very circuit board allowing the creation of this new control panel for our own very limited supplies of vault robots which we have tucked away in the Lyceum. I’m the only one who knows how to operate this contraption, and I should go forward from here.”

“It can’t be that difficult to operate, Oggy . . .”

“Perhaps an RVS person should take it, gents.”

Both men stared at Chance who interrupted their conversation with the suggestion. Twig stood beside him, nodding in agreement. Their fingers twitched in anticipation.

“Absolutely not,” Oggolopoli said. “It should stay in the hands of Lyceum personnel, at least until all the technical difficulties are ironed out. We are not ready to hand this weapon over to RVS just yet.”

“In that case, my good fellow, it should be me. I should be the one to operate it because I am the one authorized to tag along with this expedition for the Lyceum. You came here on your own accord, did you not?”

At last, this argument swayed Oggolopoli. Reluctantly, he stepped out of the giant robot, climbing out the rear panel on the torso.

Humphries, who stood taller than Oggolopoli but looked much skinnier, took his place inside.

“Dash it all, I have to stoop in this thing.”

“I’ve spoken with Fusselton. His team is near to producing our own models thanks to my circuit board. We can perhaps make them large enough for the majority of users, and thus have our own suits of armor. Mass production would be cheaper than bespoke models, of course. They’d all be the same size.”

Oggolopoli prattled on about the reduction in costs and what materials could be used, should they ever get to that point.

Humphries pulled up the rear panel, latching it from inside, and slid his head into the robot’s large cranial cylinder. All the internal components had been ripped out, leaving him room to see and turn his neck.

“Right, then. Let’s find out what this machinery can do.”

Several people drew near while the two old men fussed over the robot, out of curiosity. Not many had ever seen a robot before.

“What does this one do?” Humphries said.

The robot’s left hand shot out, thwacking an officer in the face and knocking him out.

“Oh, dear. Sorry about that.”

In the process of turning the bot to look at the stricken policeman, its right arm swung wide and whapped another officer on the shoulder, knocking him over.

“Oh, my. Oggy, help the poor fellow.”

At this point, everyone gave the robot a wide berth. A couple of brave souls came forward to help the stricken officers get out of its range, but other than that no one else approached.

“Right. I shall now endeavor to walk to the train.”

Servos whined as Humphries fiddled with the controls, and the robot took its first hesitant step under his command.

Its foot came down with a loud thump on the concrete.

“By jolly, I think I’ve got this.”

Humphries’s next step crushed a wooden crate filled with metal parts.

“I say! Takes some finesse, doesn’t it?”

At last, Humphries approached the last car of the train, leaving a trail of broken boxes behind him.

He pulled himself up onto the rear platform, making the last two cars creak as the opposite wheels try to lift off the tracks. He held on, unable to fit the contraption inside the car.

“I shall stay here. The hands are tightly gripping. See you back at the Lyceum, Oggy!”

“I suppose now is the time to say ‘all aboard,’” Bixby said with the group watching. “Sergeant, you apparently know how to operate this train.”

“Yeah, I got the skill,” Rip said, with a trace of bitterness. “Nobody seems to know if there’s a limit to the number of skills you can get. There better not be.”

“I’ve never heard of such a thing, if that’s any help.”

“Yeah. Okay.”

Rip headed for the front while Bixby called out for any police officers wishing to go.

Blair noticed the Verez sisters heading to the front, too. She hurried to catch up with Rip and cut them off.

Inside the engine compartment, all three women joined him.

At least they aren’t staring daggers at one another, he thought.

Rip looked out the window and watched everyone choose a car. It turned out some of the officers did in fact decide to stay behind.

The inspector gave them some last minute instructions. He made two of his men accompany Oggolopoli back to the surface and told the others to search the area. Then he turned and climbed onboard with the others.

Last to board the train was Lady Finley, who now looked much better after her near death experience.

She smiled up at Rip before entering the car closest to the engine.

“I think we can depart now, Sergeant.”

He nodded and turned back to the controls, adjusting the lever.

Reluctantly, the train crept forward, rear wheels howling in protest.

“How much does that robot weigh?” he said out loud as he cranked the lever higher.

The train slowly picked up speed.

Rip gave a final glance out the window, back in the direction they just came. He saw some of the officers poking around the crates, looking inside the ones undamaged.

One policeman hopped over the tracks and approached the boxes over there.

“Girls . . . where did you stash the bodies?”

Liza said, “Behind the cargo on the far side, Ripley. Why?”

He grimaced.

“I think the Ethinium police are about to find evidence of vampires.”

Neither vampires present appeared particularly worried about this.

Blair frowned, but she often frowned around the sisters, so he remained unsure how much to worry about it.

Before he could dwell on the matter further, the engine entered the far tunnel, and the train plunged into darkness.