The Robot King Read Free Page B

clanking robot feet.
    They followed the crowd to the Docking Station. A crowd of armoured robots blocked the entrance. They were made of thick black plastic. Their screen heads were protected with metal cages.
    â€˜Look at MoNa,’ Kip said in a low voice. She was still where Kip and Finbar had left her. But her Scrambler Beam Generator was plastered with bright orange police tape. Kip tried to push past the armoured robots.
    â€˜No-one goes in or out,’ grunted the tallest armoured robot. ‘There’s just been a death at the Docking Station!’
    â€˜A death?’ said Kip. ‘Can you kill a machine?’
    â€˜It’s very hard to destroy a robot,’ said the armoured robot.
    â€˜But it is possible?’ said Kip.
    The robot nodded grimly. ‘The death of the maintenance robot is shocking. It was just minding its own business, cleaning near the foreign starship.’
    The foreign starship? Uh-oh , thought Kip. What if they think MoNa’s got something to do with it?
    He decided that now was a good time to act confidently. ‘I’m the captain of the foreign starship,’ said Kip boldly.
    â€˜I’m his second-in-command,’ said Finbar.
    â€˜We need to see whoever’s in charge of the investigation,’ Kip said.
    A plastic hand clamped down on Kip’s shoulder. Another clamped on Finbar’s.
    Kip turned around and saw a police robot standing behind them.
    â€˜I’m in charge,’ said the robot. ‘And I’m arresting your companion for murder.’
    â€˜Why?’ said Kip, outraged.
    â€˜The maintenance robot was found with a white furball in his circuitry,’ said the police robot. ‘The circuitry caught fire, destroying the robot’s memory.’
    The police robot yanked Finbar’s arm and dragged him towards the moving walkway.
    â€˜I’m innocent,’ said Finbar in a dignified voice.
    â€˜Oh yeah?’ said the police robot. ‘Who else around here’s got thick, white fur?’

    He grabbed Finbar’s gloved paws and cuffed them to his feet with a pair of buzzing electric shackles.
    â€˜I’m not shedding at the moment,’ Finbar explained calmly. ‘It can’t be my fur.’
    â€˜Whatever you say,’ snorted the police robot, dragging Finbar away.
    â€˜Where are you taking him?’ Kip yelled, his panic rising. But the police robots didn’t answer. Within seconds, they were gone.
    â€˜They’ll throw him into the Acid Lake. That’s what happens to murderers,’ laughed the guard robot.
    Acid Lake? Kip shivered. That does not sound good. He raced to the walkway and jumped on. His first thought was to go to Pappy for help.
    But although Pappy had seemed friendly, there was also something creepy about him.
    I’ll follow those police robots instead and find Finbar without Pappy’s help, Kip decided. He knew it was important to follow his instincts on a mission.
    But he had no idea which way the robots had gone. Moving walkways branched off in all directions, each crammed with robots.
    There was only one way Kip could find out. He had to call MoNa on his SpaceCuff. She could track Finbar using her DNA Tracker. The DNA Tracker scanned the air for traces of Kip and Finbar’s DNA.
    Of course, Kip would have to tell MoNa that Finbar was missing.
    MoNa thought Kip was too young for the job of Space Scout. So he hated admitting to MoNa that the mission was going badly. But he hated the idea of losing Finbar even more.
    â€˜Come in, MoNa,’ said Kip into his SpaceCuff.
    â€˜What now?’ said MoNa wearily. ‘This mission has been horrible. First a robot sneaked into my landing bay. Then there was all that orange tape gumming up my Scrambler Beam. It’ll take ages to clean it.’
    â€˜Listen, MoNa,’ Kip interrupted. He didn’t have time for her complaints. ‘Finbar is missing. I need to you to find