The Return of the Titans by James Thompson Read Free Book Online Page B

them.
    “Is there a problem,
gentlemen?” he asked.
    “What was that?” one of
the boys asked breathlessly.
    “That? That was a
servitor.” Jonathon sounded amused. “You'll see a lot of them here.
They are quite useful. They maintain Sanctuary and help in its
day-to-day operation. It's thanks to them that the place has
survived for all these years. Now, let's continue.”
    He turned away and the boys began to follow
him again. They walked for several more minutes and Justin's mind
wandered as he looked at the wall carvings and thought about the
Servitors.
    “Here we are,” Jonathon
said, startling Justin out of his deep thoughts. He looked
around.
    They were standing at a four-way
intersection. To the right and left, Justin saw long corridors with
doors evenly spaced, facing each other. They extended such a long
way that he couldn't count how many there were. Jonathon
pointed.
    “The young women are down
that corridor and you will be staying down this one.” He indicated
a mark on the wall of the corridor. “That is the symbol for
female.” It looked like three vertical wavy lines. “And the symbol
for you gentlemen is there.” He pointed at the wall of the opposite
corridor; a symbol with two vertical wavy lines were carved there.
“Please don't get them confused. Boys are not allowed in the girls
sleeping quarters and vice-versa.”
    Justin noticed Benson rolling his eyes but
the young man didn't say anything.
    “Now, straight down the
hall from your quarters are the baths. Follow me and I'll give you
a quick tour.” Jonathon turned into the hallway leading to the boys
quarters. He stopped at the first set of doors and touched a round
button on the wall beside the right hand door. Justin was startled
to see the door slide into the wall to the left. There was no
noise.
    “Go ahead in and take a
look around,” Jonathon said.
    The boys crowded into the room. It looked
like a living room, with two leather sofas facing each other,
several comfortable chairs scattered around and a unit with shelves
standing against the wall. There were many scrolls piled neatly on
each shelf. A wide archway led into another room, where Justin
could see two large beds covered with bright comforters, with a low
table in between them.
    He walked back and ducked his head into the
room. He noticed a small doorway to the left.
    “The washroom is off of
the bedroom. As you can see, each suite is big enough for two, so
those who wish to pair up are free to do so.” Jonathon looked at
each of the boys. “Those of you who haven't gotten to know anyone
well enough yet to share with, or those who wish to have their own
rooms can choose to do that as well. We have plenty of suites to go
around, at least for now. Okay then,” he clapped his hands twice,
“let's show you to the baths and then you will be free to settle
in.”
    They all followed him back into the hallway.
Justin counted twenty sets of doors before he just shrugged to
himself and gave up. Finally they reached the end of the corridor.
A very large iron door faced them. Jonathon tapped another round
button on the wall, and this time the door split in the middle and
each half slid into the wall on either side.
    As the doors opened, a puff of warm, damp
air wafted into the hall. Jonathon motioned for them to follow him
in and they all walked into a large, open area and stopped.
    Two steps went down to the floor and Justin
could see four big round pools spaced evenly in the large square
room. Jonathon pointed to each pool, starting from the closest one
on the left and going counter-clockwise to the farthest on the
left. “Cool, warm, warmer, hot. Each bathing pool is kept at the
same temperature at all times. I'm sure you will each find one that
suits you best. The water is constantly being circulated and
replenished so the pools are always clean.” He glanced over the
group. “We encourage good hygiene for all of you. Those who choose
not to use the baths, every day, may