Max and Gnome 4: The Facility

Chapter 4

Gnome, Strongman, Soldier and Bot fell into the same routine of talking about random things, chasing each other over loud noises, and trying to find interesting things to do.
"So where are the other toys?" asked Gnome as they all sat in a circle.

"No idea," replied Soldier. "They're probably strewn about different shipping crates so they can't combine their power and escape..." he sighed.
"I wanna get out," complained Strongman.
"PROBABILITY OF ESCAPE: POINT ZERO ZERO ZERO—" spoke Bot.
"Quiet!" said Soldier.
"SPEECH MODULE OVERRIDEN," said Bot, becoming silent.

The days went on and on. It seemed like nothing would ever change. Even though Gnome missed Max and Doll and Mendingbrew's house, he was used to the dark container and the rocking motion of the ship. He knew it would end eventually and was afraid of what was next. Would they be able to escape when the container was opened?

Gnome and his new friends shared everything they knew about the toy abduction service.
"It's got tunnels around the world, filled with crazy things. Dinosaurs. Ghosts. Toys. Who knows what," explained Soldier.
"Yeah... I think they have spies," said Strongman.
"They got NETS," added Gnome loudly.
"TOY ABDUCTION SERVICE" intoned Bot. "QUERY. RESULT. TOY ABDUCTION SERVICE TAKES TOYS AWAY. NO HUMAN KNOWS WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM. DANGER LEVEL: EXISTS."
They fell silent and didn't do anything for a long time. It was so dark and boring in the container that Gnome and the others had to scheme about how to escape the cargo ship.

"What about your guns?" Gnome asked Soldier. "Could we get out with those?"
"I supposed it's worth... a shot," he replied. He fired at the walls, but the tiny bullets ricocheted off and dug into the wood of some nearby furniture.
"This is too dangerous!" said Strongman.
"Strongman, maybe you can smash us out of here!" Soldier said.
Strongman looked sad and shook his head.
"Please just try."
Strongman sniffled, wiped his eyes, reluctantly got up and slowly walked to the wall. Everyone stood in a circle and watched while he used all his might to push against the wall.
"Ughh-"he grunted.
Nothing happened.
"How about we SMASH our way out?" said Gnome.
"We just tried that," said Soldier hopelessly.
"Go ahead, try" said Strongman, not sounding excited.
"EMOTION MODULE ACTIVATED. I—I BELIEVE—I BELIEVE IN Y—" spoke Bot.
The others were excited that Bot was about to finally offer them some emotional support.
"I BELIEVE THAT YOU EXIST" said Bot.
Soldier sighed loudly. Gnome made big muscles with his arms and charged into the wall then punched it. It just made a ringing sound. Soldier covered his ears.
"Oww! My fists! I mean my hands!" he cried, rolling around on the floor.

"Bot, go into the wall at top speed!" suggested Gnome.
"AFFIRMATIVO" spoke Bot, quickly accelerating and crashing into the wall. The robot dented the container wall a little but broke apart into several pieces on impact.

"Bot! Nooo!!" cried Strongman.
Soldier hid his face in his hand and Gnome ran over to see if he could help.

Bot's chassis, tracks, and computer were all separated from each other. The area was so dark it made it even harder to attempt a repair.

"I wish Max was here!" said Gnome.

They all tried to fix Bot for several hours but they were never successful. After that, everyone's morale was very low. Eventually, they started hearing more boat horns. Something was changing.

"I think we're entering a canal or port," observed Soldier.

"EAR CANAL!" yelled Gnome.

Strongman wished Bot could have said something funny. Suddenly, the feeling of motion stopped and they heard and felt a gigantic scraping sound.

"Yes!" yelled Gnome for no reason.

"I think we're stuck," said Soldier. "Something happened to the boat."

Max and Doll explored Ismailia for several days, doing pretty much everything they could think of. Someone chased after them once but they were careful to never be caught.

One day, Max saw a suspicious newspaper.

"Look Doll," he remarked. On the cover was... A photo of a cargo ship stuck in the canal!

"Whoa," said Doll.

Max looked at the name on the side. It was the same ship Gnome was on!

"We gotta go," said Max hastily.
They ran quickly to the little yacht club port nearby, which was separate from the gigantic shipping ship ports. They could see a bunch of sailboats and yachts up ahead.

"We should... Someone is going to be curious and take their boat close to the stuck ship, I know it. That will be our ticket to rescue Gnome."

"Brilliant," said Doll. "But how will we get on top of the ship?"

"My flower rope... Or rope on the boat here?" Max didn't really know.

"Well, we have to try," said Doll.

There was an idling yacht at the end of the dock, and the man who was probably the sailor was nearby lounging in the sun. They ran as stealthily as they could and hopped on the yacht, hiding behind the Captain's seat. Doll felt like the sailor may have seen them but she wasn't sure. There was an empty gallon bottle back there and a megaphone beside the seat.

Shortly, the sailor got back on his boat and revved up the big engine. Doll felt the motion of the ship and could tell they were headed in the right direction.

The boat reached a very bouncy top speed and they had a hard time not being bounced everywhere, having to hold onto the back of the seat legs.

Ten long minutes later, the boat slowed down and the sailor remarked something quietly to himself.
"I think we're there," whispered Max.
"Ok, let's grab this stuff and make a run for it," said Doll.
"A swim for it," laughed Max.

They grabbed the bottle and megaphone and ran under the Captain's door, diving into the water and using the bottle as a float. Max and Doll paddled out towards the gigantic ship that was blocking out part of the sky. It was scary and imposing to approach.
Max still had barely any plans for getting to the top, but at least he could make a noise and hope they could hear him. Maybe they'd already escaped, or they could hear him through the wall of the shipping container.

Almost halfway up the ship was a big anchor slot that protruded out. Aside from that the ship walls were smooth and concavely rounded.

When they got right against the stuck ship, Max made a lasso with his flower rope and looped it around the slot after several attempts.

"I think that's as far as we're gonna get-- this boat is way too huge," said Max sadly. "Plus, the ship's hull extends out too far to climb up any more... Do you think you can you climb this?"
"Yeah, I think," said Doll, scared.
They slowly ascended the long rope. It was especially hard to take the megaphone up there. Halfway up, Max looked back and saw the yacht was still nearby. It was terrifying looking down.
"Just a little more..." said Max, gulping.
They went, hand over hand, until finally the were able to climb atop the protruding piece and sit on a little round ledge up there. It was a precarious position, just barely enough to accommodate them.

"Now what?" asked Doll.
Max realized he hadn't completely thought things through. He pulled the rope all the way up and tried to throw it to the top deck but it didn't snag anything.

"At least we can try to talk to them," said Max.

"Gnome, if you're up there, it's Max!" He said through the booming megaphone. "We're at the front of the ship!"

He repeated this message over and over again.

"But they're probably just stuck in a container," thought Doll. "This isn't going anywhere..."