Ellie Quin - 04 - Ellie Quin in WonderLand Read Online Free PDF Page A

‘A bonobo chimp actually.’
    ‘OhMyGod!’ yelped Jez. ‘It…it
talks too
!’
    The chimp looked at Jez then shook his head wearily. He trained his big dewy brown-eyes back on Ellie. ‘Is your friend normally this rude?’

CHAPTER 5
    ‘Frasier? Seriously?’
    The chimpanzee sighed as he led them up the dimly lit passageway. He walked with an awkward gait, on the outer edges of his feet, his thumb-like toes brushing past each other with every step.
    ‘Yes. Frasier. Not Freddy, or Reggie, or Benny…or any other insultingly cute pet name you might care to think of. The name's
Frasier
.’
    Jez chuckled with delight and nudged Ellie. ‘He’s the coolest monkey I’ve ever met.’
    Frasier looked up at her with poorly concealed disdain. ‘I’d imagine I'm the
only
‘monkey’ you’ve ever met.’
    ‘Excuse her,' said Ellie. 'She can be a bit blunt.’
    ‘And what are you people called?’
    ‘I’m Ellie, and this is Jez.’
    He stopped in his tracks and lifted his cap. ‘Greetings, Ellie and Jez.’
    ‘Very pleased to meet you, Frasier,’ said Ellie offering her hand. He nodded approvingly at the gesture and grasped her hand. ‘The pleasure’s all mine, m’dear.’ He replaced his cap and resumed leading them along the passage.
    ‘Forgive me, Frasier, but you must be some sort of genetic product? Right?’
    ‘I prefer the term ‘engineered individual’. But yes. Designed, fabricated and AI-programmed all at this facility.’ They approached an intersection of passageways, all of them dimly lit by orange service lights. He gestured. ‘We take a right, here.’
    ‘What is this place, Frasier?’
    ‘You might have heard of it. Most probably not. It’s called
WonderLand
.’
    Ellie shook her head. ‘No. I don’t think I-’
    ‘Hang on,’ said Jez. ‘I’ve heard of it. Isn’t WonderLand some sort of a holiday place?’
    ‘An exclusive luxury theme park,’ he corrected her.
    ‘Yeah, that’s it.’
    Ellie looked around at the dark, grimy bulkhead walls, lined with power conduits and drooping loops of tag-tied cables. ‘It doesn’t really look very luxury to me.’
    ‘This is the mezzanine deck,’ he replied. ‘I assure you, it does get a lot more appealing up above.’
    ‘Is that where everyone is?’ asked Jez.
    They stopped beside the closed doors of an elevator. ‘Mother? It’s Frasier.’
    A soothing feminine voice replied from a wall speaker. ‘Hello Frasier.’ Above the speaker a small screen winked on and displayed a cartoon image of a matronly woman; grey hair in a bun, glasses and a kindly maternal smile.
    ‘Elevator for the guest decks please, Mother.’
    ‘Of course, Frasier. Just one moment and I’ll have it there for you.’
    ‘The guest deck? Is
that
where everyone is?’ asked Jez.
    Frasier bent down and rubbed one of his bare feet. It looked like it was troubling him. The tired upright way he shuffled along appeared to Ellie to be awkward for him. She wondered whether, out of sight, he normally resorted to walking around on all fours.
    ‘It’s where Shelby is,’ replied Frasier.
    ‘Who’s Shelby?’ asked Jez.
    He looked up at them. 'My Creator, of course.'
    The elevator doors parted with a soft hiss and Frasier led the way inside. They were standing in a small cylindrical plexitex blister that showed nothing beyond but darkness, pipes and power cables outside.
    ‘Shelby?’ said Jez. ‘Is that, like,
another
monkey?’
    ‘No,’ replied Frasier, testily. ‘He’s one of WonderLand's Archi
techs
.’
    The doors hissed shut and they felt the elevator lift gently.
    ‘We were not expecting a shuttle for another few months,’ said Frasier. ‘And we certainly weren't expecting any
visitors
.’
    ‘No visitors?’ Ellie looked down at him. ‘Is this place not open then?’
    He shook his head. ‘It has never been open. In fact, the construction on this facility was never completed. Watch your eyes…'
    Just then, the elevator emerged from the subterranean