The Key To the Kingdom (47 page)

“The next level?” Hawk asked.

“Yes, we wanted to create the first walking, talking, lifelike audio-animatronic man. It was a big, daring project, but we wanted it to be done in secret so we could really experiment and test it. We wanted to get it right.”

“So, how do you think we did?” Walt grinned at Hawk.

“I think you pulled it off!” Hawk responded quickly, which seemed to please Walt.

“The goal was to blend our previous technology with new experimental designs and then even add to the mix artificial intelligence, which would allow a level of realism and interaction we had never achieved before.” Rales paused and looked at Walt Disney. “Walt here is the result of that work.”

“I’m what they call around these parts an AI-1000 Audio-Animatronic.” Disney smiled as he said the words. “I can roam anywhere I want in this office, I can interact with and you verbally and can sense most of your gestures. I’m almost real.”

“Indeed he is.” Rales beamed. “Hawk, you are the first one outside of a few of his designers to ever see him.”

“So did you design him for an attraction?”

“Not really.” Farren paused for a moment. “Walt was created for a different reason.”

“Farren, that’s enough about me,” Walt said casually. “Grayson, obviously I’m not real. But my creation does have something to do with you and why you are here now. Farren, I think it is time you should tell my partner what is really going on.”

“Of course, you’re right.” Rales said. Looking at Hawk and standing he made a sweeping motion with his arm back toward the door. “It is time to show you something.”

Hawk stood and followed. As he and Farren got to the door, Walt called out to them from behind his desk.

“If you need me, I’ll be right here.” He saluted with two fingers placed near his forehead and smiled as the preacher and Imagineer walked out the door.

The pair stepped back into the hallway Hawk had been in for just a few seconds before. To the right was the door that would have placed them back in the reception area Hawk had entered earlier. The hallway did not extend beyond that point in that direction. Turning to the left Hawk looked down the length of a massive hallway. Mentally he was trying to figure out exactly where he was in relation to the utilidors. Before he could figure it out Farren had guessed what he might be thinking.

“You have entered through one of the two entrances to this tunnel,” he stated as he pointed his finger behind and then forward. “It was created especially for what you have seen and are about to see. There is no access into this tunnel from the utilidors and to get in here you have to know the way or you will never find it.”

“Farren, I thought something had happened to you!” Some of the shock of seeing Walt Disney had worn off, and now Hawk’s presence of mind began to return. “The police have been looking of you!”

“I know, I’m sorry to have put you through all of this, but it was the only way to get you here. There are so many people who would do anything to have the key to the kingdom and solve the mystery. I knew you could do it and it was a mystery that could only be solved by someone who was passionate and really cared about Walt Disney, his dreams, and what he lived his life trying to create.”

“You mean, this is it? I’ve solved the mystery?”

“Yes, my friend, you have solved the mystery.”

“The mystery was finding the AI-1000 Audio-Animatronic Walt Disney?”

“No, Hawk, the mystery was unlocking Walt Disney’s Kingdom and becoming the keeper of the key to the kingdom.”

As the two walked side by side down the long hallway, their footsteps echoed in a hollow refrain. The offset lighting lining the ceiling gave the passageway a warm and cozy feel. Momentarily they came to the end of the passage and stood in an intersection where they had to choose to go right or left. Without hesitation Rales guided them to the left where they came face-to-face with another stainless steel door. The cold metal door stood in stark contrast to the decor of the hall. The lock was identical to the one Hawk had entered earlier gaining access to the reception area of the audio-animatronic Walt’s office. Rales looked at Hawk, waiting.

“You know how to open it,” he said reassuringly.

Hawk slid the old key into the opening.

“I’m glad you didn’t lose the key I gave you,” Rales kidded.

“If I would have known all the trouble it was going to cause . . .”

“I know, that’s why I didn’t tell you all it would open.”

The key was followed by the four silver bars and then the N234MM punched into the keyboard. The light turned green and the door unlocked. Pushing it open Hawk once again retrieved the key and the bars from the lock. Rales nodded for Hawk to enter first. As Hawk finished pushing the door open, they both stepped through into the next room.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY
-N
INE

Day Seven Afternoon

T
HE ROOM WAS LINED
with workspaces. Counters and consoles containing flat screens blazing with images, twinkling lights, whirring computers, and monitoring systems engulfed them. A sudden drop in temperature made Hawk feel as if he could actually see his breath as the wave of cold air hit him. The extreme chill, he realized, would allow the equipment to run smoothly, preventing overheating. In the center of the futuristic space was something that appeared as if it could have been snatched right out of Tomorrowland. It was a tall silver cylindrical tube that resembled a rocket ship loaded with gauges and dials. The entire area appeared to be designed around this ten-foot-tall hub, just as the rest of the theme park was designed around the hub of Central Plaza.

“Where are we?” Hawk asked.

“This is a command center.” Farren spread his arms. “You can actually sit in this room and monitor everything that is happening in the park.”

“Everything?”

“Everything,” Rales repeated. “I have been able to watch your progress as you got closer and closer to finding me.”

“So you watched me getting chased and beat up?”

“Well, almost everything.” Farren patted his friend’s shoulder. “But you are good; there were times I couldn’t keep up.”

“So this is a security center?”

“No, no, no . . . this is a unique command center designed for controlling the entire park. Security can only do what it was designed to do based on the plans of our security teams and designers. This place can see things that security can’t. It can override every other control in the park; it is a base of operation that gives access to every area and can protect the park even better than security. However, there are limitations.”

“Limitations?”

“Yes.” Rales shook his head. “For example, I didn’t know that Juliette was being held in the Character Zoo or I would have gotten her out. I didn’t know she was missing until you were looking for her and didn’t have any clue where she was until she emerged in the utilidor with you and Kiran after you freed her.” Rales punched up a view of the utilidoors and the entrance to the Character Zoo. “I could have seen her being taken in there if I had been looking for her, but I didn’t know she was missing or even in the Magic Kingdom. This command center is designed for more specific tasks than just general security. I spent most of my time tracking you as you moved through the park.”

“Can you track activity in other parks?”

“No, just this one.”.

“Farren”—Hawk titled his head—“I don’t get it.”

“I’m sure.” He smiled. “Hawk, remember I told you I was giving you the key to the kingdom and if you took that key and did what Walt did when he left the Dwarf’s Cottage . . . your imagination . . . your ability to understand a story . . . and how you touch the world will never be the same?”

“I do remember that.” Hawk nodded.

“I know you do,” Rales added. “Because you could understand the story, you were able to start figuring out the puzzle, the mystery, you cracked the clues I left for you. Now, I’m sure you had some help from Pal Mickey. By the way, what do you think of my interactive clue giver?”

“Amazing,” Hawk patted the mouse’s head.

“There has never been another one like it!” Rales beamed. “It was created especially for you. After they took the little creature out of the gift shops, it became easy for me to tweak, adjust, and add to the technology we already had in place. I figured if I couldn’t be with you, then you needed someone to keep you on track. And now you have followed the trail, solved the clues, and have unlocked the kingdom, Walt Disney’s kingdom!”

“I’m sorry.” The preacher wrinkled his forehead. “I still don’t get what I’ve unlocked.”

“My dear friend.” Rales’s smile grew bigger. “You have unlocked the kingdom and it is now yours!”

“Walt Disney’s Kingdom is mine?”

“Yes, the kingdom is now yours!”

Hawk looked thoughtfully at his friend. He slowly allowed his attention to drift to the command center they were standing in. He wandered away from where Farren was standing and began to study the room more closely. Walking, he made a complete circle through the room, around the silver cylinder, before returning to where he began.

“I guess you still have some questions.” Rales quizzically raised his eyebrows.

“I would say more than just a few.”

“Have a seat.” Farren laughed as he pointed to one of the command stations. “Let me tell you the story.”

“I knew there had to be one.” Hawk sat, glad to be talking with his friend, who was safe and unharmed.

“There is always a story.” The old Imagineer chuckled. “This one began a long time ago. In the sixties when plans were being designed for Walt’s Florida project, some of us began to notice a change in Walt. His health wasn’t as good as it had been. Part of it was age, surely part of it was from the stress and pressure of being Walt Disney, but something else was wrong.”

“His cancer,” Hawk knew.

“Yes.” Rales slowed. “Walt didn’t know he was as sick as he was, but he began to think about his legacy. What if something went wrong? What if something did happen to him? What would become of his plans and dreams? All of those became troubling questions for Walt. One night in the summer of 1966 a few of us gathered in Walt’s office for a meeting. We didn’t know why we had been asked to come; with Walt you never really knew, you just knew he had an idea . . . and this one shocked all of us!”

“Was it something about Walt Disney World?” Hawk slid forward in his seat.

“Oh no, something very different. I arrived at Walt’s office, and Roy was there, and two other trusted members of Walt’s creative team.”

“Who?”

“You’ll learn soon enough.” Farren patted Hawk’s arm and went back to his story. “Walt and Roy had a plan. It was a contingency plan, an emergency plan, in case anything ever went wrong. Walt wanted to make sure that no matter what happened, there would always be someone who could take his dream, his vision, his passion for all the things he had poured his life into . . . and keep them alive.”

“That’s what Roy did.”

“Yes, Roy really did take care of Walt; they were partners in this great adventure. But that night was different. The rest of us in that room became partners in this amazing plan Walt had designed to make sure the Disney dream would never die. That night Walt and Roy gave the three of us the biggest project any Imagineer would ever tackle. Bigger than building a theme park and bigger than creating any resort. They entrusted us to create the Key to the Kingdom.”