THE CLOUD OF DUST SHOWED CLEARLY ON BURKE’S television monitor as he followed Neutron’s progress through the massive building. A piece of the concrete roof had almost fallen on the robot.
“That was close,” Booker said.
Burke nodded, studiously working the controls. Neutron had opened the fire door and moved into another part of the D-4 building. The uranium and plutonium storage areas were divided into dozens of separate vaults.
With Burke operating the control panel, Neutron began pouring a thick spray of foam over the storage bunker. There was just enough left in the canisters for one good soaking.
The ground shook again. Another bad one, the movement was horizontal, a sharp back-and-forth motion. Booker saw the front wall of D-4 start to buckle.
“Get out of there!” the fire captain shouted at them over a loudspeaker. “Pull back!”
The huge building was teetering.
“What about it, Jeff?” Booker asked his friend. If that front wall fell, they’d be crushed.
“I’m not leaving the robot,” Burke said. “I’ve got seven years of work tied up in that machine.”
They were experiencing a swarm of aftershocks, each stronger in intensity. Another part of the roof fell in. Booker heard it crash loudly to the ground.
The walls were starting to sway.
“Come on, Jeff!”
Burke hadn’t moved. Booker doubted he’d even heard him as he hunched over his laptop monitor, manipulating the controls.
Booker was getting ready to grab his friend and pull him to safety when he saw the robot emerge from the rubble. Rolling through a cloud of dust, the machine was using its powerful mechanical arms to clear a path through a pile of concrete and twisted steel that blocked D-4’s front door.
“I was worried about the durability of the metal framing,” Burke said, still staring at his computer keyboard. “I don’t think—”
“Jeff, let’s go!”
Burke started after Booker. Moving quickly on its omnidirectional platform, the robot followed them.