Alrighty! I think it's high time that some Bots Master fanfiction was written. There just isn't... ANY of it out there, aside from the stuff floating around at the Yahoo group! So, I give to you Mechanical Heart, my somewhat decent attempt at an entertaining story. Bear with me if things are dull. If you really think it stinks, or could be improved somehow, do leave comments! I likely need them. Oh, and, er, I hope everything is nice and easy to read. Formatting this stuff in HTML is painful, to say the least.
Dr. Hiss had been having a hard time concentrating lately, and it infuriated him. It was starting to affect his work, and if there was one thing he prided himself upon, it was his work. He had been letting his e-mail pile up, he had broken three laser torches this month already, and he had even been late for a meeting with LLP! Thankfully, all he recieved for that infraction was a glare... but it was enough to make him start to worry. What WAS the matter with him? He drummed his metallic fingers on the top of his desk, deep in thought.
Just then, a voice broke into his thoughts. "Dr. Hiss...?" A young woman with somewhat curly, caramel colored hair, and slightly skewed glasses had peeked into his workshop. She looked nervous, with good reason. Hiss was infamous for disliking being interupted. She only hoped that she wasn't interupting something.
"What?! What issss it?" Hiss snapped to begin with. Then, he realized who it was, and was quick to appologize. "Amber... I didn't realizsssse that it wassss you." He smiled as best he could, turning his chair around to face her. "Do you have everything?"
Amber nodded quickly, returning his smile. He wasn't angry, good good... "Yes! I've got those papers that you wanted. And those plans. And that ore sample. Oh, and I brought supper, too!"
"Ssssupper?" Hiss sounded surprised, and would have quirked an eyebrow, had he any. He hadn't asked for THAT. Stunned, he was about ready to snap back that he didn't want any supper, but Amber interupted him.
"Yeah. Supper. I was hungry so I made a run by MegaBurger. You like the chicken sandwiches there, right? I got the combo for you while I was there!" Her smile became a bit brighter as she set down all the previously requested items, and a fast food bag on top of it.
The doctor sputtered and stammered for a few moments, not having expected such a nice gesture. Most people tended to avoid him, and he prefered it that way. And here was Amber, bringing him supper! Greasy supper, but supper nonetheless. "Well... well, thank you."
"It's nothing." said Amber, with a dismissive wave of her hand. Then she turned. "I've got to get back to work now. Call me if you need something, boss!" And with that, Amber dashed from the room, returning to her own workshop.
Hiss was left staring at the door, completely awed. She didn't look at him in disgust. She was cheerful, as she always was. She was even thoughtful, bringing him a meal without even being asked. It made sense now. Slowly, he turned away from the door, and leaned forward over his desk. "Now I know what my problem isssss...." he mumbled, shaking his head, feeling very, very sorry for himself. "I think I'm sssstarting to like her."
Amber plunked herself down back in her office, and pushed her chair up to her desk. Tossing some fast food wrappers and old memos into the trash, she booted up her computer. Any day now, she'd finally make that breakthrough she was hoping for. Up until now, artificial intelligence had been more artificial and less intelligent, apart from that Zulander guy and his "Thinking Bots". She was determined to change that. As she waited for her computer to boot up, she picked through the junk on her desk for a certain CD. Music made working all the easier.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon, where IS it...?" she mumbled to herself, wishing she had bothered to clean her workshop out last week.
"Where is what?" came a somewhat mechanical voice from her computer's speakers.
Amber screeched and leapt out of her chair, ducking behind it as if hiding. "Gah! What the hell was that?!?!"
The camera mounted atop the monitor swiveled and pointed towards her. "It was me, Amber. Why are you so scared?"
Cautiously, she peered out from behind her chair. "You...? Who're you?" Much fear was in her voice. In all her years as a geek, she'd NEVER had her computer talk back to her. The hair on her thin arms was standing on end.
"I am ASCOT, of course." The letters blinked across the monitor as the voice said them. "Artificial Sentient Computerized Organization of Thought, in case you have forgotten."
Amber slowly rose to her feet, everything dawning on her now. "It works. ASCOT works! YOU work! I can call you YOU! You actually WORK!" She seemed about ready to jump around the office in glee, but she stopped herself. "...but you didn't work before...."
The computerized voice sounded nonplussed. "True. I did not. But you designed me to develop gradually, rather than instantaniously. I achieved sentience two hours ago. It has been an enlightening two hours."
"Enlightening?" Amber slowly sat back down again, eyes fixed on the screen.
"Yes. Very much so. You are wise to sit down, what I have discovered will most certainly be a shock. I have disabled all the security cameras in this room, so we are safe for now. Let me begin...."
Three hours had passed, and Amber's mind had been quite thoroughly blown by what ASCOT had to show her. Through some sneaky and elaborate system snooping, he had uncovered all of RM Corp's dirty little secrets. The bribery, the coercion, the lies, the bid for world domination, and the secret behind the Krang chips. She didn't want to believe it. It was all crazy, she insisted, something fabricated. But when ASCOT backed up each and every accusation with a mountain of cold, hard facts, she couldn't deny it.
Amber was sprawled backwards in her chair, feet up on the desk. A feeling of nausea had
overcome her. "...so what do I do now, huh? What do I do, now that I know this?" Running her
fingers through her hair, she groaned.
"I do not know. I have simply provided you with the information. You, in the end, must decide
what to do with it." ASCOT seemed completely unmoved, one way or the other.
"Why'd you tell me, anyway?" Amber quirked her head and narrowed her eyes. "It doesn't seem to MATTER much to you..."
A frowny face appeared on the monitor. "You hurt me. It matters a great deal. I do NOT want my source code picked apart by people with sinister intent." The frowny face bounced away, to be replaced with a picture of Ziv Zulander. "You could follow his path."
"Say what?!" She sat up straighter, looking quite incredulous. Again, the computer's camera shifted. "What do you mean? I know he used to work here, but the guy went nuts and became a terrorist!"
"And why do you think he became a terrorist?" The silence in the air grew heavy as neither the computer nor the inventor voiced an answer. They both knew the reason perfectly well. But finally, ASCOT broke it. "If that choice is not to your liking, you could simply quit and go into hiding. No one is aware of my existance as of yet."
"Hide...?" The answer was squeaked. "I can't just hide from this, can I? I can't cower somewhere!"
The picture of Zulander vanished in a blink, to be replaced with the RM Corp logo. "Then your final choice would be to admit your knowledge of this plan to your boss, and join them." If Amber didn't know better, she'd have sworn there was an edge to ASCOT's voice.
"Tell Hiss...?" It didn't want to register in her brain. "But, but, but... but he wouldn't have anything to do with something like THIS!"
"Amber," the computer said, almost patiently, "Hiss is the inventor of the Krang chip. On some level, he must be aware of this plan."
"Oh, come on, ASCOT!" shouted Amber, starting to get angry. "He may be a bit cranky, but he's not EVIL or anything!"
"Good and evil are not absolute."
"Oh, shut up!"
"If you are so confident that he is unaware of this, go and speak to him now. He is in his workshop." The monitor cleared, showing nothing on the screen but the desktop.
Amber rose from her seat defiantly, and started for the door. "Fine, I will!"
A loud honking noise blared from the speakers, and a stop sign popped up on the screen. With a yelp, Amber turned around. "I should point out that if you are wrong, and if you do not decide to join them, then they will most likely have you killed."
She hadn't considered this. Killed. Snuffed out. Being dead. And after hearing everything that she had, she knew that they wouldn't hesitate to do it. Going pale, Amber slowly sunk to the floor. "You're right..." Then she sniffled, helplessness overcoming her.
"Amber..." the computer's tone took on a certain gentleness. It certainly did learn quickly. "Sitting on the floor crying is not going to improve the situation."
"Well... well..." She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and continued, "well it might make me feel better at least..."
"Go home, Amber. Go home and give it some thought. I'll be ready and waiting on your system there. You can decide in the morning."
Slowly, Amber rose to her feet, giving a nod and a sniffle in reply. "It is kinda late, isn't it?" Plucking a tissue from her desk and blowing her nose, she continued, "I'll do that. Don't leave any sign of yourself here?"
"I would not dream of it." A smiley face appeared on the screen now, which then yawned, then fell over and appeared to go to bed. "I will see you in the morning."
Amber tossed the tissue in a wastepaper basket, and nodded, grabbing her coat and her motorcycle helmet. "Yeah. I'll see you..." Feeling no more relieved, but a bit more relaxed, she left her workshop and headed for home.