The Prometheus Project by Douglas E. Richards Page B

several ordered rows of solid, tan-colored cubes, about three feet high. On a raised platform next to each cube sat a glass sphere about the size of a softball. They picked one up and examined it, but as usual couldn’t figure out its function or purpose.
    Regan put her hand on the side of one of the large cubes. It was smooth and very hard. She decided to sit on it and rest her feet.
    She gasped as the hard surface completely gave way under her weight and engulfed her. It was as if the material had turned to liquid for just an instant, had surrounded her, and then had hardened again.
    “Are you okay?” asked Ryan in alarm.
    “I . . . I guess I’m fine,” she said in surprise. A smile slowly formed on her face. “You gotta try this. This is the most comfortable chair I’ve ever been in. Like floating in water—or maybe Jello—only better.”
    “But how will you get out of it?” asked Ryan.
    She frowned. “I don’t know.” She tried to change position—and the chair let her. As soon as she moved it reliquefied—not hindering her movement at all—and then solidified again when she stopped moving for a few seconds. As they had come to expect of things associated with the city, it was quite remarkable.
    Ryan sat on the cube next to her and it gently engulfed him as it had his sister. Regan was right. The chair was impossibly comfortable. He wondered if there was a way for it to massage his back while he sat. Probably.
    He looked to the front of the room and was surprised to see the same holographic image they had seen outside; a large triangle surrounded by smaller ones. He decided to inspect it more closely.
    As he got up he stumbled over his own feet. Instinctively he grabbed for the raised platform beside him as he fell and was able to right himself. That was a relief.
    “Are you okay?” asked Regan.
    “Fine,” he replied. As he answered he noticed that the glass globe that had been sitting on the platform he had just grabbed had slowly rolled to the edge and was teetering there. He lunged for it. Too late. The globe fell to the floor and smashed into dozens of pieces.
    Regan winced but then shrugged her shoulders. “Look on the bright side. At least no one is here to miss it, whatever it was. I wouldn’t worry about—”
    She stopped in mid-sentence, horrified. They had forgotten about the city’s immune system. Would the destruction of the globe somehow alert the city’s defense force again? From the look on Ryan’s face it was clear he had also realized the danger they were in. “Let’s get out of here!” he urged.
    Regan screamed.
    It was too late. Their worst fears had been realized. A swarm of the black, piranha-like insects erupted through the floor with astonishing speed, totally surrounding them in seconds. Millions of pairs of tiny insect legs clicked furiously on the ground and millions of pairs of mandibles gnashed together horribly.
    The siblings watched in terror and revulsion as the unstoppable wave of death advanced steadily toward them.
     

 
    Chapter 20
     
    Repairs
     
    The insects fell upon a few of the broken pieces of the globe, which immediately melted away under their ever-moving jaws.
    Ryan and Regan held on to each other, helpless, and braced for the end.
    The insects cut a careful path around them to get to the other pieces of the globe.
    Around them?
    Ryan saw an opening! In their present formation he might just be able to jump beyond the swarm. He launched himself forward with all of his might.
    He realized with a sickening feeling that he wasn’t going to make it.
    But just as he was about to land on thousands of the insects at the edge of the swarm they scattered, leaving him an open space.
    Could it be? He took a step toward the center of the swarm.
    And they scattered once again. Again, his foot landed on empty floor.
    “Look!” he yelled excitedly to Regan. “They’re not trying to eat us. They’re avoiding us.”
    In seconds Regan had verified what her