CHAPTER FIVE
Oliver blinked, stunned by what he was seeing. Unlike the dusty, cobwebbed part of the factory that existed on the other side of the mechanized wall, the factory this side was bright and warm, glistening with cleanliness and brimming with the signs of life.
“Are you cold?” Armando asked. “You look like you’ve been in the rain.”
Oliver’s gaze flicked back to the inventor. He was shocked to actually be standing face to face with his hero. Even as the seconds ticked by, he was completely tongue-tied.
Oliver tried to say, “I have,” but the only sound that came from his throat was a garbled kind of grunt.
“Come, come,” Armando said. “I’ll fix you up a hot drink.”
Though unmistakably the Armando from his inventors book, his face had been ravished by time. Oliver made some quic
