"Wheatley, Wheatley wake up!" Wheatley rolled over and checked his time processer file. "No way, its only 3:17, Rick! Why are you up so early anyway?" Rick rolled his optic. "Why not? adventurers don't sleep, pal. What do you say we go on a road trip, just you and me? If we are quiet we might get out before Space core or Fact core wake up." Wheatley sighed. Well, at least Space core isn't coming. He thought. "Ok, as long as we don't get lost... remember last time? That racoon would have ripped me to atoms if it hadn't been for that fox!" Rick jiggled his handles in anticipation " yeah, and Space core almost frying his circuits wasn't much fun either, he has to learn not to think about paradoxes. But don't worry Wheatley , we wont get lost. come on take a risk, live a little!" Wheatley had a quick look through his management files. Laws of robotics, no. Cake recipe, no. Back up file , no... Management rail engagement command, Yes. A small hook extended down from the management rail above Wheatley and locked around his top handle. "Ok, lets go."

{-}

{-}

"Space... must go to... space." Space core woke up. He raced to Wheatley's room and whispered "Wheatley, wake up... space...Wheatley?" Space core turned on the light. He was nowhere to be found. Where's Wheatley gone? he thought. Sliding across to Ricks room he whispered "Rick... wake up. space. Rick?" flicking on the light he saw Rick had gone as well. Is Fact core gone too? space? "Sleep mode off" a murmur came from the next room. "Fact core? Space. The others are gone!" Space core said, his optic twitching in panic. "Fact: Wheatley and Rick have been corenapped!" Was the wary response. "What?! Rick and Wheatley are gone!? they will miss the party!" another voice came from the opposite room. Party escort! thought Space core "We will have to find them. all who agree say aye!" fact core exclaimed "aye!" Party escort and Space core replied. The 3 touched their handles together and shouted at the top of their audio processors "CORE TEAM GO!"

{-}

"Wheatley, trust me, I don't need a map, pal. I know where I'm going" Rick was hanging from the management rail on the inner roof of the car, two wires coming from his circuits, connected up to the steering wheel. "But Rick, now that you mention it, where ARE we going?" Wheatley mumbled nervously, but enthusiastically. "Well, I suppose wherever the road takes us. Think of it as a little adventure". Wheatley's optic shrank into a small white circle and he yelled "Well that's flipping GREAT isn't it! I thought you knew where we were going?! We're going to get lost and it'll be ALL YOUR FAULT!" Rick flinched , he hadn't seen Wheatley so upset since the time he found out he was an intelligence dampening sphere. "Trust me buddy, everything's going to be ok, I promise." he reassured him, "Relax, road trips are fun." Rick spoke with confidence but he had to admit, he doubted his navigating skills, and Wheatley was right, they were going to get lost. and it would be all Ricks fault.

Chapter 2: Flipping Lost

"Ummmm... Wheatley?" Rick squeaked "yep" Wheatley sighed they had been driving for hours. "we might be a tiny, small, miniscule, miniature, little bit..." "We're flipping lost aren't we?" Wheatley interrupted "Just a tiny bit." Rick confessed. Wheatley sighed "We should probably call the others, or is that a terrible idea? I've been told I have a lot of those." After that neither of them knew what to say. it was only 25 minutes later Wheatley said "Why don't we stare at the moon until the gentle glow of lunar energy transports us into a state of complete relaxation, it might help us think of what to do. It works better with Discouragement beams but..." Rick replied "It's worth a try buddy, its worth a try."

{-}

"But we need more police officers!" Screamed a manager to his workers. "I want posters put up all over England! I want..." He trailed off as he saw three small spherical robots coming through the door. "Space! Where's Rick... where's Wheatley?!" Space core exclaimed his handles flailing wildly. "What do you mean?" Said the manager "Wheatley? Rick? who are they?" Party escort Stammered "Our friends, they have been Corenapped! Help! Help!" His optical shrank to a pink circle and his handles quivered with fear. "Yes Corenapped! We have to find them!" Fact core added, sparks nervously flying from his processers. The manager smiled deviously "Corenapped you say? Well we will help you find your friends, on one condition... you join the police squad, what do you say? You help me... and I help find your friends." I just hope they are stupid enough to accept. He thought, twiddling his bushy red moustache. All three cores looked at each other and back at the manager. The trio began to think, it wasn't something they were particularly good at doing, their thoughts went something like this:

Space core: I wonder if I can be a space cop, ooooooh and I could get a sticker! A sticker would be great!

Fact core: Fact- this is probably a scam. But we can't not save Wheatley and Rick, I just don't know if we should join.

Party escort: As long as I can party! Being a cop might be fun!

{-}

Rusty sighed. She was sick of being the only core she knew about, all alone with nobody to talk to. Suddenly She heard a voice "We will never be able to get home! we're really flipping lost!" Rusty was intrigued and called out happily "Hello? Is there anyone there?" the voice came again "AAGH! Oh great, now a ghost is haunting us!" Rusty giggled "I'm not a ghost, please come over here" It wasn't long before she saw two spherical robots slide down the hill to where she was. "You're Cores!" she exclaimed. "I haven't seen another core like me before!" her silver optic shimmered with pure excitement. "Yes, um, Hello! I'm Wheatley. as you might have guessed we are very flipping lost, and its all thanks to this guy!" Wheatley gestured to Rick. "Hey, the name's Rick. What are you doing here, it can get mighty dangerous around these parts without an adventure core, like myself." Rusty giggled "I'm Rusty. I was defective, kicked out of Aperture laboratories, that's how I got here. I know as much about where we are as you two do, sorry." She sighed. "Rick was defective too... and I was made to be an intelligence dampening sphere." Replied Wheatley, staring wistfully down at the floor, as if contemplating. Rick turned to him, "You know Wheatley, I told you this would be a little adventure."

{-}

"SPACE! SPACE COPS! COPS! SPACE!" Space core exclaimed as the trio told the manager their choice to join. "Ok, what are your names again?" The manager asked, stroking his chin in thought. "Space core" "Fact core" "Party escort" They replied, their opticals widening to big colourful circles as they awaited the manager to tell them their positions. "Party escort, you can be ... um... in charge of weaponry." "Space core, you can be on speeding duty, set up some speed cameras and watch the roads for speeders." "Fact core you can be in charge of noting and storing evidence, got it?" "Yeah!" The three chorused happily. They all hurried out the door to begin their work excitedly. "Fact: we cant just scour the streets for crime, while that guy does all the work to find Wheatley and Rick." Fact core said to the others. "Forget that, with our new positions lets go find them ourselves!" Replied Party escort "CORE TEAM GO!"

{-}

"Management rail engage" commanded Wheatley and the hook came down and locked around his handle. Rick did the same and soon both of them were comfortably hanging from the ceiling of the car. Rusty stared down at the ground and sighed, she wasn't looking forward to going back to being alone, with no cores to talk to, for the rest of her existence. "Bye." she eventually said. "What do you mean bye?" Rick replied, Wheatley's optic widened to an excitable blue circle, "Hop in, let's go." he said. Rusty was the most excited she had been her entire life, she nearly blew a circuit! "Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" She exclaimed as Wheatley engaged the third management rail and the hook extended. "It's too bad the map wont be of any use, as we don't know where we are." he said to Rick. Suddenly Rick looked very awkward, and a couple of nervous sparks flew from his optic. "Ummm..." He began "Well, um, when we came into this place, you had fallen into sleep mode. And well, a guy in a suit gave me a map... sorry I forgot to say... um..." Rusty couldn't help but burst out laughing "So where's the map?" she giggled. "I converted it into a data chip, let me find it... AHA! here it is..."Wheatley just rolled his optic and sighed "Well at least we have the map." Suddenly Rick froze, and began to tremble. Everything went quiet, as Rick stammered "Y-you wont b-be-believe where w-we are..."

{-}

Fact core gasped in excitement at the thought of being high enough in authority that everyone would have to listen to his facts, if they don't he thought I will be forced to arrest them! he chuckled mischievouslyand swirled in his casing, his optic glowing with sheer happiness. But it was getting late, very late, and the trio decided that despite their ambitions to find the lost cores and defeat the corenapper, it was about time they settled down somewhere and activated sleep mode. not because they needed to conserve energy, but because it was almost pitch black and none of them liked the dark much.