The Toymaster's Castle

Chapter Eleven - The Emergency Exit

The next morning, we were up bright and early and, wonder of wonders - we didn't even have a gym session. "It's generally considered good practice to take a day or two off per week to give your body the chance to recover," my lord and master explained.

So, after a quick breakfast, he sent me along to my room to take my collar off and get changed. Of course, now I could see that the 'clothes for a powerboat trip' that I had chosen a couple of days before weren't quite as random as I'd assumed at the time!

Then I hurried back to find him in the lobby by the lift. He smiled when he saw me in the shockingly red jumpsuit that Helen had persuaded me to go for. I mean... it really didn't feel like me but, somehow, the fact that I was wearing it made me walk with a bit of a swagger!

He pressed the button and I was distinctly nervous as the lift approached - I suppose the horrible consequences of my last attempt to call it were playing on my mind. He must have worked out what was going on in my head because he put an arm around me... but then, when I was distracted, he reached down and gave my bottom a gentle squidge. I gave a squeak but I suppose I did forget all about feeling nervous!

When the doors opened, we stepped inside and I was totally astonished to see that there were only two buttons - marked 'Lobby' and 'Penthouse'. By the time I managed to work out that this lift was for his own private use, we were stepping out into what looked like a security room with half a dozen screens showing live feeds from around the building. George and another guy were sitting at a desk, monitoring them.

After a couple of friendly words, we stepped out of the room into a public lobby area with one wall made of glass which looked out on the street. Daniel led me across to another lift and this one took us down two more floors to something marked 'sub-basement'. From here, he led me out into a concrete-walled corridor which led to a serious looking door which he opened with a security fob.

And I was just on the point of asking what was going on when we stepped out into an underground boatyard.

It had quite a narrow strip of water... I suppose you might call it a little canal... and there were dozens of boats hanging in special cradles. Daniel took out his phone and, after he had tapped a couple of buttons, one of the boats started moving.

It was lifted out of its cradle and slowly carried across the room and then plopped into the water.

He took me across to a row of lockers In the wall behind us and he opened up one of them and handed me a funny waterproof onesie thing to put on. It was a bit big for me but I would survive. He had a matching one - twin look, I suppose! Then he helped me to put on my life jacket... it was surprisingly complicated.

When we were ready, we walked down a ramp onto a pontoon and, with a couple more button presses, the boat was pulled across so we could step on board.

It was about 20 feet long and looked as if it was made of black rubber but it did have a hard bottom. There was a small half cabin which would give you a bit of shelter with two seats behind it and a wide sort of bench behind that. He guided me into one of the seats... not the one behind the steering wheel, of course!

"Welcome on board 'The Emergency Exit'!" he said. But I was too stunned to even notice what a funny name it was.

"I partially own this building and had a hand in designing it," he explained with an enormous smile. "The underground marina was my idea and it has proved to be surprisingly popular."

The end of the little canal was blocked by a solid-looking metal door. But, with a few more button presses, it started to rise, revealing a tunnel with a little bit of light at the end of it. I guess that led out to the river.