Ivo
Chapter 1 - "The Story Begins."
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"Come on, Grandpa! I want to visit your new space colony!"
Professor Gerald Robotnik smiled at his grandson's enthusiasm- At the young age of ten, young Ivo was already following in his footsteps, a child prodigy with an IQ off the charts. Yet despite his studious nature, he was still a kid- He was practically beaming with excitement at the prospect of going into space, his grey eyes widened with anticipation beneath his blue pince-nez glasses as his full head of reddish-brown hair waved slightly in the wind. He wore an oversized lab coat, hoping to perhaps emulate his grandfather, the man he looked up to and idolized over anyone else.
"Ho ho ho… Well, first of all, it's not my space colony, Ivo…" Gerald answered modestly, as he always was, "The ARK is a collaborative effort of the planet's greatest scientists, who I'm honored to be working with. Why, I'm merely a single gear in the well-oiled machine that is the scientific community!"
"Pfft. C'mon, you know you're the greatest scientific genius in the entire world." Ivo smirked at his grandfather's humility. It was true, too- The man was decades ahead of his time, and despite downplaying his role, he was responsible for the majority of the ARK's planning. "But still… I wanna go see it! The ARK's the greatest technological advancement of our time! I simply must see it firsthand!" He pointed upward, as if to space itself, striking a dramatic pose as he made his somewhat imperative request.
"I'll see what I can do," Gerald chuckled softly, "But I can't promise anything yet. There's a lot of red tape when it comes to getting access for outside visitors… Still, I think I should be able to get clearance from the higher-ups, at least for you to visit for a little while."
"Excellent! Aaah ha ha ha ha ha!" The boy threw up his hands and laughed, overcome by the sheer thrill of finally taking a look at his grandfather's greatest creation. "Thanks, Grandpa! You won't regret this!"
The kindly scientist gently patted his grandson's head, "I know I won't. I'm proud of how far you've come, Ivo. I think seeing the ARK will be a good experience for you… I believe this space colony is going to change the world." He smiled, looking off into the distance, full of optimism at the weight of his statement. Soon, he felt, mankind would enter a new golden age of prosperity… Soon.
"…SPACE COLONY ARK. ALL AUTHORIZED PARTIES PLEASE BOARD THE SHUTTLE TO SPACE COLONY ARK…"
Looking up at the loudspeaker, Gerald nodded, "In any case, I need to be heading back there myself. I'll put in a good word for you with the board directors, so that you can come along with me next time, okay?"
"Okay! Thanks, Grandpa, you're the greatest!" Ivo smiled, waving as his hero turned to get on the shuttle and head back to work. Gerald grinned, waving back, as he entered the ship, its door closing behind him. After a few minutes, the ship took off, and soon it was gone. Ivo waited until he could no longer see the shuttle as it rocketed into the distance before turning and leaving the launch site.
Returning home, Ivo was greeted at the door by his faithful companion, a robotic beetle who happily nuzzled up against him as he walked in. "Hey there, Motobug," Ivo grinned, reaching down to pet the awkward little robot, "Did you mow the lawn today as scheduled?"
Motobug happily clanked its sharp scythe-like arms together, wobbling back and forth, as if to nod in affirmation.
"Good job! Stay here- It's time to replace your power source…"
The robot obediently waited as Ivo went to fetch a large golden ring from his room. Opening a hatch on Motobug's shell, he carefully removed a similar ring, which by now was almost dissipated. Quickly, he replaced it with the new one, closing its shell hatch and stepping back, admiring his work. "That should hold you for another week- It's too bad these rings don't last very long, as power sources go. Maybe when I have time, I should experiment with some alternatives…"
Motobug happily spun around on its wheel, grateful for Ivo's regular maintenance.
"Say, are mom and dad home?"
The robot shook from left to right, as if to answer "No."
Ivo wasn't surprised. His parents were good, loving people, but they were always busy. As joint-owners of the prestigious Robotnik Corp., the two were regularly at board meetings, or traveling across the globe to deal with business partners. Ivo's parents had expressed a desire for him to continue the family business himself someday, but soon found that he simply wasn't interested in such a line of work. Ivo's passion was science, not business, and in his parents' frequent absence, he found himself spending a lot more time with his grandfather.
Still, Ivo was a responsible kid, and was able to take care of himself when left to his own devices. Motobug, his first fully-automated robot, was originally created to help him with daily tasks around the house. But he soon found he valued its company, and began treating it almost like a pet, as absurd as it seemed to him.
"Grandpa's going to see if I can visit him on the ARK," Ivo smiled.
Motobug tilted to its side, questioningly.
"I'm looking forward to it. I'll get to see his latest, greatest inventions!" He thought for a bit, "I guess I'll get to see Maria again too…"
He only vaguely remembered seeing his cousin when he was much younger, perhaps five or so. She was a bit older than him, around ten at the time, which would logically make her fifteen now. He didn't understand the details, but she'd come down with some sort of debilitating disease, and moved to the ARK where she lived ever since. As such, Ivo didn't know her that well, but still looked forward to seeing her again.
"Still, he won't be back with an answer for a while." It was then that he remembered, "Ah, of course! It completely slipped my mind, but the school science fair is tomorrow!" He hadn't even begun working on his project, instead spending the past week seeing as much of his grandfather as he could during one of his trips back to Earth.
"Ha! No matter- This is nothing Ivo Robotnik can't handle. I'll set to work on an amazing project that'll guarantee a first place victory! Mwa ha ha ha ha ha!"
And so he set to work, maniacally crafting his latest experiment through the night. Tomorrow would be an interesting day, indeed…
To be continued…