Robots were not a threat to the human race, but they had censors that could detect major problems and photograph anyone who might be a threat and send the photograph down the line to a computer and if the operator thought there was any danger to the system, he would press a button and fry your brain.
Douglas walked quickly back to his seat as the robot opened the communicating door and surveyed the seated committee. A whirring sound as the robot surveyed the people seated. Douglas guessed the robot was counting the people making sure no-one was missing and he wondered what would be the consequences had someone had been. Thought processors had been lifted from the thirty volunteers to test the outside world as there would be no need for them to worry about any comeback as the committee were far away from the City centre and some were not likely to return. It was one way to flush people away in which the authorities thought was humane and they were never short of volunteers who thought it was a way out of a dark existence.
Douglas and the rest of his team donned their white suits. They were heavy and cumbersome and somehow they felt safe and not vulnerable to anything that the outside would be able to harm them. They carried their helmets under their arms and would be told when to put them on and from that certain point the team who had greeted them would go no further.
The train began to slow down and eventually stopped and the doors slid open. Douglas, being the leader of the committee went first. It was makeshift platform with a very crude gangway of wooden slats to the foot of some concrete steps. A party of people were waiting for the group and they beckoned the committee to walk up the steps. It was a long arduous trek. Douglas tried very hard to count how many steps, although it didn’t seem important enough to do so. He was beginning to feel the strain as the suit was insulated. Douglas had read the instructions about the suit and by pressing a certain button, areas within the suit would fill with cool air. He began to feel better. He stopped to take stock and rest and make adjustments to the valve and he gave instructions to his team to do the same.
Eventually they reached another concrete platform and assembled in an orderly fashion and their escort helped them secure their helmets. Prayers were said and the escort waved them goodbye.
Douglas eyed the long passage before him and moved quickly, he wasn’t prepared to hang around. If it was going to be a sure death with no feeling he was ready. He stopped and looking round at the rest of his volunteers and visibly nodded his head. They were ready.
It was cool in the passageway which had surprised them all and they felt a gradual incline of the concrete path below their feet. The noise of some machinery was heard in the distance and Douglas had a flash memory strike his mind that the noise was associated with the coolness and not to be afraid by what they heard. He assured them that all was well.
Douglas saw a door in the passageway and he decided to stop and rest before facing the nemesis that might be beyond the door that looked heavy.
After a brief rest, Douglas with the help of four other men opened the door. It was hot, very hot, they even felt the heat through their suits and they all adjusted the valves within their suits to acclimatise themselves against the harshness of whatever it was that was beyond the open space they could all see.
It was a simple trick, but something that had not been researched enough by those who had deemed to be in charge. The heat was generated from one of the most powerful telescopes that had been launched into space but had been brought down when the world had gone mad and bombed itself out of existence. The sun’s rays had shone upon the mirror which had covered the jagged entrance to the passage. It must have fallen and crashed on that part of the underground railway system. Anyone within a certain distance from the entrance with the sun at its zenith would be fried.
The committee had forgotten to close the lead-lined door. All the committee returned which amazed their escorts and Douglas made his report back to City centre.
Another way out would have to be planned.