The apartment door was now glowing so intensely that small clouds of smoke were rising. Something was working its way through the metal from the outside.
Lio took a step back. “Alright then. Now would really be a good time for your escape plan.”
The refrigerator briefly flickered its interior light. THERE IS A MAINTENANCE SHAFT IN THE KITCHEN.
Keks raised a finger. “Technically, that’s an emergency trash transport system.”
“That just sounds like a particularly complicated word for trash chute.”
“Correct.”
The door crashed loudly. A glowing cut slowly spread across the metal.
“Okay!”, shouted Lio. “No more time. Where is this chute?”
Keks immediately raced to the kitchen. Lio and the refrigerator followed him. Once there, Keks pulled away a small metal plate under the sink.
Beneath it was indeed a large chute with a silver tube leading steeply downward.
Lio looked inside. “That’s never safe.”
Keks quickly checked his database. “The probability of serious injury is only twenty-three percent.”
“ONLY?!”
At that moment, a dull bang sounded from the living room. Apparently, part of the apartment door had already been broken out.
A cold robotic voice echoed through the apartment:
“SECURITY CHECK. REMAIN CALM.”
“They keep saying to stay calm,” muttered Lio. “That doesn’t calm me down at all.”
The refrigerator was already rolling toward the chute. I CAN FIT THROUGH.
Lio stared at it. “That thing is maybe a meter wide! How do you plan to fit through there?”
The refrigerator didn’t answer. Instead, it suddenly began to hum.
Then something completely crazy happened.
The sides of the refrigerator slowly folded inward. The entire machine became narrower, smaller, and more compact until suddenly it was barely wider than a washing machine.
Keks beeped excitedly. “Ohhh! Flexible titanium composite panels! Very expensive!”
“You can fold yourself up?!”
PREMIUM FEATURE.
There was another crash in the living room. Now heavy footsteps could be heard approaching.
“Apartment secured,” said a mechanical voice.
Lio swallowed. “Okay. We’re really jumping in there now?”
Keks nodded. “Alternative: arrest.”
“Then better the trash chute.”
The refrigerator let itself fall first into the silver tube and disappeared downward with a dull rumble.
Keks followed immediately behind.
Lio only had one second left. He already heard metallic footsteps coming toward the kitchen.
He hurriedly climbed into the chute.
At exactly that moment, a large security drone appeared in the kitchen doorway.
It was almost two meters tall, completely black, and had only a red sensor strip instead of eyes.
“CONFIRM IDENTITY,” it said coldly.
Lio didn’t answer.
He pushed off.
Immediately he shot down the smooth tube. The rush of air whistled past his ears.
“AAAAAAAHHHH!”
The tube suddenly made a sharp curve. Lio was thrown around and crashed against the wall.
Below him he heard Keks scream:
“I HAVE NO SEATBELT!”
Then everything went dark.
Seconds later, Lio shot out of the tube at the bottom and landed in the middle of a huge pile of packaging waste.
“Uff…”
Next to him, Keks was stuck headfirst in an old box. Only his wheels were still sticking out.
The refrigerator stood completely still beside them, as if nothing had happened at all.
ESCAPE SUCCESSFUL.
“That was NOT successful!”, gasped Lio. “I think my back just quit.”
Suddenly a metallic noise sounded above them.
The security drone had reached the chute.
A red light shone down from above.
Keks slowly pulled his head out of the box. A trembling potato appeared on his display.
“Uh… bad news.”
“Please not again.”
“They’re coming after us.”
At the same moment, the first security drone jumped into the chute.