Akiko and the Great Wall of Trudd Read Free Page B

was pretty obvious that no one had actually lived there for years and years.
    “Look at all the windows,” I said. “Do you think people used to live
inside
this thing?”
    “Evidently so,” Mr. Beeba replied, sounding as if he was about to come up with an elaborate theory on the subject. “Their whole society must have revolved around the maintenance of this wall.”
    It was pretty spooky to think of thousands of people spending their entire lives inside this wall. I couldn’t help wondering what had happened to them all.
    “Well, if they made windows,” Spuckler said, rubbing his jaw with one hand, “they must’ve made
doors
, too.”
    “Good thinking, Spuckler,” Mr. Beeba replied. “If we can find a door, maybe we can locate some sort of passageway from one side to the other.”
    So we walked down the hill until we got closer to the base of the wall and started looking for a door. Spuckler pressed a button on Gax’s body, causing a binocularlike device to pop out from inside him with a loud squeak. Gax positioned the device in front of his eye sockets and began surveying the wall from left to right.
    In the meantime Mr. Beeba paced back and forth, mumbling to himself as if he was making a series of very difficult calculations. Poog also seemed to be thinking about something, but he had a distant look in his eyes, as if he was focusing on something else, something many miles away.
    “ I’VE FOUND A DOOR, SIR, ” Gax announced after a minute or two of searching. “ IT’S APPROXIMATELY 547 YARDS DUE EAST. ”
    “Good work, Gax,” Spuckler said, patting him on the helmet like a proud dog owner. “C’mon, gang. Let’s go check it out!”
    So we followed Gax through the overgrown grass and piles of unused stone until we came to a large gray doorway. It was a very grand double-doored entrance, with a large, wide staircase leading up to it. But for some reason it was covered from top to bottom with large boards that had been firmly nailed into place, making it look like an old abandoned house or something.
    “Bad luck,” Mr. Beeba said. “We’ll have to keep looking for another entrance.”
    “Oh no we
won’t
,” Spuckler declared as he ran up the steps and began tugging violently on one of the boards with both hands. “Your problem, Beeba . . .
rrrgh
 . . . is ya give up on things . . .
nnngh
 . . . too easily!”
    KRRRAK!
    Off came one of the boards, and Spuckler casually tossed it aside, nails and all.
    “Um, Spuckler,” I said cautiously, “do you need any help?” I wasn’t so sure my little arms would make much of a difference, but I thought I should at least try.
    “Naw, ’Kiko,” Spuckler answered with a loud grunt. “I ’preciate . . .
arrrgh
 . . . ya askin’, though!”
    GRRAAK! BRRROTT! KRRRUK!
    One by one Spuckler tore the planks away, throwing them over his shoulder without even bothering to see where they’d land. The more wood he pulled off, the more the door seemed to be bulging outward, as if something was pressing up against it from the inside. It occurred to me that maybe these doors hadn’t been boarded up to keep people from getting
in
, but rather to keep something inside from getting
out
.
    “Spuckler!” Mr. Beeba called out, ducking his head to avoid a piece of wood Spuckler had just sent whizzing through the air. “Stop for a moment, will you? I think there’s a very good
reason
these doors have been boarded shut!”
    It was too late, though. The doors began to creak and groan, and the last few planks started to crack and pop off by themselves. Spuckler finally got an idea of what was about to happen and slowly started backing away.
    “Stand back, everybody!” he shouted. By that time, though, Mr. Beeba and I had already stepped back at least twenty feet or so. Even Gax had wheeled himself away several yards, and Poog was floating a safe distance up in the air. Spuckler leaped out of the way just in