Sticking close together, the team crept down the stairwell.

Fred chose that time to begin singing. "Six intrepid¹ friends led by Fred, their leader. Fred.Fred's Angels. Uh-uh-uh. Fred's Angels. Uh-uhuh. Harnessing the power of the sun with the ancient amulet² they found in the attic³. Uh-uh-uh. The amulet is green. Uh-uh-uh. It's probably an emerald. Uh-uh-uh—"

Wasabi silenced him with a look. "Fred, I will laser-hand you in the face!"

Fred shrank back.

"Shhh," Hiro said as they entered a huge concrete testing lab. "Any sign of him, Baymax?"He looked at Baymax's scanner. The signal had disappeared.

"This structure is interfering⁴ with my sensor,"Baymax said, still trying to get a reading.

"Oh, great," Wasabi said anxiously. "The robot's broken."

"Guys, you might want to see this ... " Honey said.

Everyone was on high alert as they scanned the lab. The place appeared to have been badly damaged. The ceiling had caved in, leaving a gaping⁵ hole. The walls were cracked, and chunks⁶ of concrete were scattered⁷ everywhere.

Two large circular structures that vaguely⁸ resembled portals of some sort dominated the room. One was intact but half dismantled⁹. The other seemed to have been completely blown up.

"What do you think they are, genius?" Go Go asked Hiro.

"I'm not sure. But look," Hiro replied, pointing to a bird symbol on one of them. It was the same one Hiro had seen on the metal piece Yokai was transporting across the bay.

Then Honey said, "Hiro." She was pointing to a flickering¹⁰ light. It was coming from a control room in a tower overlooking the lab floor.

Yokai must be up there, Hiro thought.

The team climbed a decrepit¹¹ metal stairway, ready for battle. But when they burst into the control room, they found it abandoned.

The flickering light was coming from a bank of video screens. The biggest screen showed the graphic¹² image of a bird. "Silent Sparrow" was printed underneath¹³ it.

Hiro walked over to the computer and hit a key. An image of Alistair Krei appeared.

"Krei ... " Hiro said, a little shocked.

The paused video began to play. It showed Alistair Krei standing¹⁴ in the lab when it was sleek¹⁵ and new. A small audience that included military officials was listening as Krei said, "We were asked to do the impossible. And that's what we did. We've reinvented the very concept of transportation."

Krei gave his audience a broad smile and pointed¹⁶ to two large circular structures—the same ones the team had found in the lab. "Friends, I present Project Silent Sparrow." He nodded to the control booth, and the two structures powered up with a hum.

Krei took the hat of one of the generals. "May I?"he asked. But before the general could answer, Krei tossed the hat into the closest circular portal. In less than a second, it flew out of the other portal.

"Whoa! A magic hat!" Fred said.

"No," Hiro said, impressed with what Krei had done. "Teleportation. Those circles are portals."

On the video, Krei handed the general his hat. "Teleportation: the transport of matter instantaneously through space. Not science fiction anymore," Krei said. The guests burst into applause.

Next, Krei led his audience up to the control room. "Now, we didn't spend billions of dollars to teleport hats." His guests nodded and laughed nervously¹⁷ as Krei motioned to a video monitor. "Ladies and gentlemen, you're here to witness his tory."

Krei spoke¹⁸ into a microphone. The image of a young woman flashed onto the screen. "Ready to go for a ride, Abigail?" he asked.

The pilot gave a thumbs-up. "We've invited all these people; might as well give them a show," she said as she climbed into a flight pod set up to enter one of the portals.

Krei turned to his guests. "The first human teleportation in history, courtesy of Krei Tech Industries," he said with a flourish, and the countdown began.

 

大家紧挨在一起，慢慢地沿着楼梯向下走去。

弗雷德选择在这一刻开始唱起了歌：“六名无惧无畏的英雄，以弗雷德的领导为核心。他们的领袖是弗雷德。弗雷德的天使们啊。嗯嗯嗯。弗雷德的天使们啊。嗯嗯嗯。用在阁楼上找到的古老护身符驾驭太阳的力量。嗯嗯嗯。护身符是绿色的。嗯嗯嗯。很可能是绿宝石。嗯嗯嗯……”

芥末无疆看了一眼弗雷德使他安静了下来：“弗雷德，你信不信我用激光手砍你脸一刀！”

弗雷德退缩了一下。

“嘘！”在他们进入了一个巨大的混凝土铸就的测试实验室时，小宏说道。“有他的行迹吗，大白？”他看向大白的扫描器。信号消失了。

“这个建筑正在干扰我的探测装置，”大白一边尝试着获取信息一边说道。

“哦，这下好了，”芥末无疆焦急地说，“这个机器人坏掉了。”

“大伙，你们快来看看这个……”哈妮柠檬说道。

他们在观察实验室时，都高度警惕着。这地方似乎被严重破坏了。房顶塌落了，裂了一个大洞。墙体坍塌了，混凝土的碎块散落得到处都是。

两个巨大的像某种入口一样的环形构造占满了整个房间。其中一个的一半是完整的，另一半被拆除了；另一个看起来已经被完全炸毁了。

“你觉得这是什么，天才？”神行御姐问小宏道。

“我不确定。但是看那个，”小宏指着他们上面一个鸟的标志答道。这和小宏在海湾看见的妖怪运送的金属物件上的标志一样。

就在这时哈妮柠檬指着一处闪烁着的灯光说道：“小宏。”灯光源自于位于一处高塔的控制室，从那里可以俯瞰整个实验室。

小宏想，妖怪一定就在那儿。

队员们爬上一段破旧的金属楼梯，做好了战斗准备。可当他们冲进控制室时，发现那里已经被遗弃了。

闪烁的灯光来自于一堆荧光屏。最大的那台屏幕上显示着一只鸟的图形，下面印着“无声雀”几个字。

小宏走到电脑前，摁下了一个键。阿里斯泰·格利的影像呈现了出来。

“格利……”小宏惊讶地说道。

暂停的视频开始播放。视频所展现的是格利站在实验室里的画面，那时的实验室一切还井然有序且崭新如初。包括军事长官在内的一小群观众正在听格利说着：“我们应邀去完成不可能的任务。这就是我们的成果。我们重新定义了运输的概念。”

格利对他的观众报以开朗的大笑，指着两个巨大的环形构造——正是超能陆战队在实验室中发现的那两个。“朋友们，这就是我们的新项目：‘无声雀’。”他朝控制台点了点头，两个构造启动开来发出了嗡嗡的声音。

格利从一位将军头上取下了一顶帽子。“可以借给我吗？”他问道。不等将军回应，格利就将帽子扔到了离他最近的环形构造之中。一秒钟不到，它就从另一个入口飞了出来。

“哇哦！魔法帽！”弗雷德说道。

“不是吧，”小宏说道，他被格利所做的惊到了。“远距传送。这些环形物就是入口。”

视频里，格利将帽子递给了将军。“远距传送：通过空间瞬间传输物体，再也不是科幻作品了。”格利说道。来宾们爆发出了热烈的掌声。

随后，格利领着观众去了控制室。“我们花了数十亿的美元可不是用来传送帽子的。”格利向来宾们示意让他们看荧光屏，他们点点头，紧张地笑了起来。“女士们、先生们，你们即将见证历史。”

格利对着扩音器讲话。一个年轻女孩的身影闪现在了屏幕上。“准备好出发了吗，艾比盖尔？”他问道。

飞行员竖起了大拇指。“我们请来了这么多人，也该让他们看场好戏。”她一边爬进飞行吊舱准备进入其中的一个入口一边说道。

格利转向他的客人。“历史上第一次活人远距传送，格利科技工业出品。”他炫耀地说道，倒计时开始了。

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