Ties of Blood, Ties of Oil
A "My life as a teenage robot" Fanfic
Chapter 6:
Wherein the knot begins to tighten
Celestial bodies hung gracefully in the vastness of space. Massive globes of dirt and rock drifted along slow elliptical orbits around a fiery red sun in a graceful, rehearsed ballet. Clumps of ice and rock raced on trails around the sun and as the heat of that burning red giant warmed them trails of brilliantly colored gas escaped, transforming them into brilliant comets. One comet flew around a gas giant, captured by its vast gravity. The comet circled around the lordly ball of vapor in a tightening path, like a ball bearing circling a drain.
Inexorably, the comet was pulled toward the planet. Not large enough to establish an orbit as a moon, it was fated to collide with the surface, and leave a ugly scar upon the planet. Shorter and shorter the orbit of the comet became until finally its final pass was about to be made. With the force of a thousand megatons, the comet shrieked through the space around the giant, preparing to enter the upper atmosphere of the waxing giant. In an explosion of fire and heat, the comet scarred the planet with a deep, ugly layer of soot. Streaks of burning gas covered the scar, before they quickly snuffed out.
Tatican stood on his observation deck, watching the scene with his expressionless face. In all my life He thought I have only seen cometfall once. He placed his hand on the view screen. Like love He mused Drawn together inevitably, with such passion and ardor that leads to his demise. And the planet, she is scarred, but she continues. He sighed Such poetry in destruction, such elegance in its brutality. His hands fell heavy to his side.
A faint green light on the monitor besides him blinked with a faint lime strobe. Taticans body did not move as his eyes glanced at the blinking light. So, He thought The frigate is in place. He looked out into the void. Finally, the fleet was in striking range of earth. His hands balled into fists. And now, I will have what I sought he thought.
"Begin the invasion" He said to no one in particular, his voice like steel.
Sheldon hurried through the hall of the school frantically. His black and white sneakers made sharp flapping noises as he did. As he would turn corners, sharp squeaks would sound. He slid past a corner, narrowly avoiding startled students, and collided with Jenny Wakeman in a sharp clang of metal and flesh. Startled, Sheldon fell flat on his hindquarters. Jenny however remained as sturdy as a building support, only gently vibrating from the Impact. She looked down at Sheldon's undignified position with a frustrated eye. Her face softened when she saw the massive, shiny bruise on his eye which was swelling painfully.
"Oh Sheldon! Are you OK?" She said, extending her hand out to help him up "Did I give you that bruise? Oh, I'm sorry"
"No, No it's fine. I... I fell down some stairs." Sheldon said as he took Jenny's hand. Normally he'd be exited to even touch Jenny, let alone have her touch him, but there was something more important than that. "Jenny, Just the person, girl, robot I wanted to see." He looked around nervously. "Uh, can I talk to you, eh, somewhere else?"
Jenny's eyes hardened "Sheldon, Whatever you have to say you can say it here. I'm not going to go somewhere 'private' with you." She looked off into the distance "We all know how that turned out last time…"
Sheldon blushed in painful embarrassment " Right, right… Well, I guess I can say it here" He looked around "Well, see, I was trying to talk to Mr. McKinley yesterday-"
"Ugg. Are you and Brad still talking about that guy? Honestly, I don't see what's so exiting about him"
"No!" Sheldon said in a Sharp whisper "Well, I mean, That's not what this is about. See, I sort of, saw him in his apartment, and-"
"Yes, And?" An elderly male voice said from behind Sheldon. Sheldon Spun around frantically to come face to face with a smoldering James McKinley. He had a smile on his face like a wolf, hungry and menacing. The cut on the side of his face was scabbing something awful "How did that end for you?" He stressed the word end with a sort of malevolent joy. Vaguely, Sheldon remembered McKinley's threat to "end" him if he told Jenny about McKinley's secret.
"It uh. It. It." Sheldon stammered "He. You. McKinley has a great selection of shirts. Just thought you might want to know"
Jenny gave them a bemused look, wondering why McKinley was out and about in the halls. 'Whatever" She said dismissively, and walked off to her next class.
McKinley held his smile as she left, and then turned back to Sheldon. He winked and then continued on his way to his classroom.
It was perhaps the most menacing wink Sheldon had ever seen in his life.
Ufral walked down the crowded Cluster prime streets casually. He was a medium height robot, styled with a relatively anachronistic look, and painted a deep blue and red. In his metal hands he clutched a briefcase. It was not unusual to be carrying one in the crowded streets, even though Ufral did not actually seem to be a business bot'.
He pushed his way through the press of robots. They were from every walk of life. Some were factory workers, some were children, and others still were high profile business robots. Each walked past one another absorbed in their own thoughts. They were complacent, ignorant drones. They were all unaware of the tumultuous changes about to take place. Changes Ufral would be directly responsible for.
Ufral turned the corner of the street until he reached a run down apartment building. It was tall, maybe ten or twenty stories high. It was painted green, and though the paint was fading grey, Ufral could tell that sometime long ago it must have been truly sight to see. He cracked his neck with a jerk, and then he gently pushed open the steel doors.
The inside was in just as bad of a shape as the outside. Peeling wallpaper and yellowing floors were the rule of the place. A few dour patrons loitered about in the foyer, reading Comcast waves with their morning oil and mineral supplements. At the counter, a burly robot amused himself by twiddling his fingers.
Ufral walked up to the counter nonchalantly and coughed to get the attention of the proprietor. "Excuse me. I have a reservation for room 334b. under Chu-16."
The Burly robot looked at him with a sort of annoyance and let his eyes studied Ufral. They slowly took appraisal of Ufral, eventually stopping on the briefcase he held. His eyes turned back to Ufral as he slid a keycard across the table. "Fine. Rooms yours" Ufral took the key, and turned toward the elevator.
He stepped inside the outdated and obsolete steel shell, and pressed the button for room 334b. With a jarring thud, like metal against metal, he felt the elevator come to life. Elevators on Cluster prime were a bit different than here earthly counterparts. Instead of just taking you to a certain floor, they took you directly to your room. This was a convenience for Ufral, he would not need to encounter anyone else on his way to the room.
The Elevator stopped with a grinding of gears. A panel of the wall unfolded, displaying a keycard slider. Ufral nonchalantly slid his card through, and the door opened. The room was dirty and empty, save for a couch and a flickering consol. Ufral looked around the room, until his eyes fell on a missing panel. He moved over to check it, getting on his belly in the process. The missing panel opened up into the empty sky, where the wind gently howled and sky cars and mag-rails went about their daily business. It also was a portal to a beautiful view of the Cluster prime palace. Ufral smiled.
He laid his suitcase on the floor besides him. With a few expert taps, he punched in the combination to his case and was rewarded with the click of his suitcase unlocking. He pushed open the top of the case, and began checking over the machinery inside. With a experts eye he checked for damage or wear. Satisfied by its condition, he began to take the parts out, and assembled them. With workman like care, he gently attached each piece together, so that they interlocked perfectly. He hefted the finished product, admiring how the light fell on it.
The precision rifle in his hand glinted in the artificial lighting.
Ufral sank to his belly with the rifle, extended the tripod, and began to sight the scope. The rifle he held was a mass of oiled perfection. It was a 103 Crema "Widowmaker" rifle, the best money could buy. Dangerously illegal, this military grade rail gun could shoot a sharpened rod over three miles with enough force to go through solid steel. It was a masterwork of death. To Ufral however, it was an old friend.
As he lay on the ground, his rifle zeroing on the cluster prime palace, he pondered the weighted feeling of the rifle, its oiled warmth. Gently, he thumbed the safety off. His eye caressed the scope. He saw from his vantage point the shrouded body of the queen. With great care, he slid open the barrel, and placed a 6 inch rod of steel inside. Slowly he closed it and secured the breach. He lay completely rigid in his vantage point
"Sing for me" he whispered, and squeezed the trigger. The rifle sang with the deafening crack of a bullet speeding through the air.
The bullet flashed through the head of the queen of cluster prime with a shower of… nothing.
Ufral watched in stunned amazement as the image of the Cluster queen wavered and flickered in the sunlight. A hologram! Ufral looked around frantically. It was a trap; he had to get out of here. He rose quickly to his feet as he looked for an escape. His grip tightened on his rifle. If only he could-
The door to the apartment slammed open from the pressure of an enormous boot, swinging wide in a fraction of a second. Grey and black canisters rolled through the opening in rapid succession. Swearing, Ufral attempted to shield his eyes as the canisters exploded with a disorienting blast of light. Every spectrum bombarded Ufral in a white flare that fried Ufrals optic sensors for a few precious moments. Blind, He stumbled disoriented as he groped for a point of reference. He could hear heavy booted feet rush through the door and he staggered around. With a jarring blow, he felt the impact of the side of an assault rifle hitting his face, sending him reeling. He felt his arm twisted behind him as he was slammed bodily into a wall.
Ufral coughed oil as his optics came back online. Hazy images of Black SWAT officers marched through the apartment, checking every room with mechanical precision and weapons raised. He could hear gruff barks of "Clear!" from the officers as they swept the room. Frantically, Ufral searched deep inside himself. Somewhere, buried in a long forgotten subroutine was the activation of his self destruct. He concentrated as hard as he could.
As if on some sort of insidious cue, an officer flipped a thin rod into his hand. It crackled for a few seconds with blue arcs, and then was pressed into the base of Ufral's mechanical spine. Ufral opened his mouth to scream but nothing besides a gurgle came out as his extremities began to shut down. He crumpled like a sack of hammers. Nothing below his neck was functioning, and all of his weapons systems had been fried. He lay face up on the floor, staring into the impassive masks of the Cluster SWAT.
One of the officers looked up "Subject subdued. Clear?" He was answered by a chorus of calls, each yelling "Clear!" A subordinate officer approached the first officer "Sir! Room secured, Should I radio the commissioner?" The first gave a curt nod, and the other began speaking into his headset.
The First officer, a hulking brute of a robot, kneeled down to Ufral. Behind the expressionless visor a growling voice escaped "You speak?" the officer asked.
Ufral gritted his teeth "Yes I can speak you imperialist bastard" His face was a mask of rage
The visored face didn't change. "Just wanted you to know," He leaned in close "That were going to trace your entire network now. And it's going to be all, your, fault"
Ufral looked back at the officer for a few strained seconds, and then began to laugh. It was only a chuckle at first, but soon changing into an insane cackle.
"Why the hell are you laughing?" The officer grasped Ufral by the neck, hoisting him close to the officer's face "You've lost."
Ufral smiled, like a fox with a chicken in its mouth. "Have I?" he coughed up a little oil on his lip "I think I just made one hell of a distraction" He burst out laughing once more, his body shaking in the vibrations.
The last conscious image Ufral saw was the boot coming down on his face.
Sheldon had been trying to get Jenny alone all day without success. No matter where he went, there was McKinley watching over them like a hawk. A creepy, fifty year old hawk, but a hawk none the less. Sheldon was at his wits end. He couldn't keep this secret, he needed to tell Jenny. But the more he tried the harder it seemed to get her alone. Not that it was easy before he had a psychopathic science teacher following him in his free periods, but now it was nearly impossible.
He had hoped to catch her after school, but he had gotten locked in a supply closet. Originally he had hoped to use the closet as a place to hide from McKinley until he could find Jenny, but it had turned out McKinley had found him first. Sheldon had been banging on the door for at least ten minutes before the Janitor had let him out.
He still had time to catch her though. Her Mom was getting home today, so she was sure to drag her feet. Sheldon entered into a full sprint as he dashed down the hot pavement, gasping for breath. This is sort of familiar he thought as he ran.
In three minutes he was gasping and coughing down the street. As it turns out, panic and a sense of duty do not make a suitable replacement for exercise. He was only a few blocks away from Jenny's house; he needed to push through it. Straining his legs, he powered down the street.
Soon, he caught up with Jenny, who was only a few houses from home. He slowed in stilted stops and jerks, barely gasping out "Jenny!" before he was forced to pant violently. He stopped in front of her, doubled over from exertion. "Jenny… I… need to… Talk… with… you…." He managed to gasp out between breaths.
Jenny crossed her arms "What is it now Sheldon?" she was not amused by Sheldon today. He had been following her around all morning, and was acting really nervous. It put her on edge when Sheldon was this nervous; it usually meant something bad for her. Like a new present or surprise. She liked the presents usually, but his delivery was just painful to watch sometimes.
At last, Sheldon caught his breath "Jenny, listen. I need to talk to you about McKinley."
She made a face "And his shirt selection?"
"Yes. I mean no. Sort of. Jenny listen-"
"Whatever it is you can say it while walking" Jenny said as she began walking back to her house "I should probably say hi to Mom as soon as I can anyway."
"Right, right, sure. Jenny, something's weird with McKinley. See, I was-"
"Weird? You mean like he's a Jackass? I swear, he's always yelling something at someone all the time. Its like he practices berating people." She looked over at Sheldon "That's it right? You saw him practicing" She was smiling
Sheldon felt a warm feeling pass through him somewhere around the region of his stomach, and began to smile as well. He caught himself. He could admire her smile later damn it. "Jenny, no. I really need to say this. See, Well, I sort of was looking through McKinley's window last night, and-"
"Again with the window. Why were you looking through his window?"
"Jenny, focus! See I was-
"Sheldon, what were you doing at his window? That's really creepy"
"It's not important right now."
"It sort of is Sheldon"
'Fine. See, Brad and I were talking, and we got on the subject of that whole virus thing you got a while back. And, and I sort of figured that McKinley couldn't actually have cured you."
"But he did, Sheldon"
"Yeah, but the only way he could do that was if he had known what virus you had. And since he didn't run a diagnostic, he couldn't have found out. So he would have had to known what virus it was beforehand"
"What? Are you saying my Science teacher is trying to kill me? That doesn't make any sense Sheldon. He tried to cure me. If he was trying to give me a virus earlier why didn't he just let me deactivate." She gave Sheldon a harsh look
"That's what I was so curious about." He said with emphasis "See, I could figure out why he'd do that, or how he could know how to fix you, so I thought that maybe I should take a look." He grinned sheepishly "I guess all that spy training stick with you"
Jenny's lips tightened remembering Sheldon's brief tenure as a government agent. She couldn't remember being more furious with him. "Yeah, guess it does." She made a dismissive gesture "And why am I supposed to care?"
Sheldon was beginning to go slightly mad. He was trying to tell her something important, and she wouldn't listen. This is what you get for being a dork Sheldon He admonished himself. "Jenny, come on. I'm trying to tell you something important! Can't you just listen?"
"Whatever it is, tell me inside"
Sheldon looked up. They were outside the Wakeman house. He had been so focused on Jenny that he hadn't looked where he was going. As Jenny began to open the door, He blurted out "Jenny, McKinley is-" he stopped.
Inside the house, Mrs. Wakeman sat on a couch. In her elderly hand she held a tiny cup of tea. Steam wafted up gently from the cup as Wakeman looked up at the two teenagers at the door. She was sitting on the edge of the couch, as far as possible from the others in the room. A coat rack stood behind her with a tattered trench coat hanging up that was far too large for Wakemans' four foot nine frame. She sat across from the front door, and across from Wakeman sat a scarf and turtleneck wearing James McKinley.
Surprised, Sheldon finished his sentence in a staggered cadence "Right. Inside. Your. House"
Vega walked down the near empty halls of the Cluster Prime palace. The architecture was expansive in its green a yellow décor. The ceiling was at what could be estimated to be a massive fifty feet in the air. The light of the evening sun filtered in from the crystal skylight. She could see figures move in adjacent hallways.
She had been rushed out of her waiting room only a few minutes ago, when the first bullet had raced through he decoy. J-40 walked beside her, his hands tapping nervously on his carapace. A delegation of grim faced royal guards followed them. Before today, she had never understood why she needed an escort in her own palace. Now, as she was moved quickly and efficiently to a safe room, she couldn't help but feel safer. Though a field blanketed the palace that allowed no energy weapon to function, the possibility of an attack could never be doubted. Simple weapons could never be deactivated, only avoided.
She glanced around. Everyone was on edge, especially J-40. He was jittering and twitching as his four legs passed along the tiled floor. Vega noticed him chewing his bottom lip. He's more nervous than me Vega thought And no ones trying to kill him. Admittedly she was frightened too, but she had distanced herself from it. It was a talent she had learned when she was young. But J-40 was not handling the stress well. He muttered to himself as he walked, rehearsing passcodes and emergency procedures. His hands jittered against his metallic thorax as he glanced nervously at his surroundings. Vega frowned, leaned over, and punched J-40 lightly in the arm.
J-40 nearly jumped out of his armor. He looked over at Vega in shock. She looked crossly at him "Quit it, your freaking me out"
J-40 smiled self consciously "Sorry, sorry. I'm not used to this. Not at all." He looked around, "I'm just nervous, that's all. It's not everyday you try and thwart assassination attempt"
"It's not every day you're the target of an assassination attempt. Shouldn't I be the one freaking out?"
"Yeah, I guess. And I'm older than you too. I think something got switched around somewhere along the line"
"Oh good, perhaps the target of the assassination switched as well."
J-40 smiled nervously "I want to say that I wish that wasn't the case, but I think that's treason" he laughed nervously. J-40 was visibly calming down now. He still glanced around, nut he had stopped visibly shaking. The staccato of his tapping hands had died to a nearly nonexistent drone.
Vega sighed in relief, the more calm everyone else was, the more calm she could be. She turned another corner in the palace along with her procession. Maids, butlers, and minor officials gave them wide birth as they passed, at the silent urging of he personal guard. They had continued down the hallways of the palace for several minutes when Vega heard J-40 muttering to himself again. "Are you OK?" she said with concern.
"Something's wrong." He said, paranoia thick in his voice "We've had to make three detours, resulting in a total of a twelve second delay. We've also had to make a 13 degree change in course resulting in a 100 foot deviation from our intended course. And I've seen that maid three times." He gritted his teeth as he glared at a passing maid, who gave a frightened glance back.
"Jordy, you're being paranoid" Vega said
"Am I?" J-40 shot back "I think we all should be a little paranoid right now"
Vega narrowed her eyes "Calm down. No one knows where we are"
"I'm not so certain. This can't be just a coincidence" he said in a growl
The procession stopped at a wall. Vega frowned "Why are we stopping? Are we at the safe room?"
One of the royal guards stepped forward "This is not in the blueprints your majesty; it must have been a recent addition." He bowed "I am deeply sorry for the inconvenience"
J-40's eye began to twitch "This isn't right, this isn't right at all" He glared around the hallway, now almost entirely empty. Against her better judgment, she was beginning to believe him. She looked around the hallway, which was much more sparsely populated than before. Nothing seemed amiss to her. "Come on, we should get going" she said. At her order, the procession began walking back through the hall. The light crowd of bots' was slow to move this time, and the guard began pushing civilians out of the way.
J-40 was not happy. He ran the data over and over through his mind and it didn't add up. Why would there be so many problems with the path to the safe house? Why would there be a wall here? Why was this hallway so empty all of a sudden? And the robots here,why were they acting so sluggish? Some of them we even moving slowly enough that the royal guard would accidentally rub against them. He glanced around frantically as they moved. Things just weren't adding up.
A faint sound registered on his audio receptors. Normally it would be edited away as background noise, but in his heightened state of paranoia it was registered as a threat equal to the cocking of a gun. He spun his head behind him.
One of the doors of the hall way had opened. From it, precisely five robots emerged. Two of which were dressed as Janitors, and three of which were dressed as maids. Each carried a towel over their left arms. J-40 scrutinized them, looking over each of their faces. He stopped mid search. One of the maids was familiar. She's the one from before He thought. A pit rose in his stomach. This can't be right. Maybe Vega's right. Maybe I am overreacting. He tried to calm himself down as they moved closer to the procession. Even as he tried to calm himself he could feel his artificial muscles tighten. One of the Royal guard noticed them in his peripheral vision and turned to face the smaller procession. He raised a hand up as the moved closer. "I am sorry Miss, But I must request that you stay at least-"
J-40 saw what happened next in what seemed to be slow motion. Without breaking stride, one of the maids casually removed the towel from her arm, revealing a wickedly serrated dagger which hummed menacingly, and with a smooth, rehearsed motion, plunged it into the forehead of the Royal guard. As he fell, sparks dancing from his forehead, the rest of the "Help" threw off the concealing towels and advanced with knives drawn. Behind him, J-40 could hear the sound of knives clearing sheaths, and the sound of shearing metal and the cries of the Royal guard. He could hear the sound of the three remaining guard spring into action, one throwing itself in front of him in attempt to shield his queen from her attackers and neatly skewering a attacker. He heard Vega gasp in shock, even as she activated her sword arm, which exited her forearm with a distinctive ring.
"Protect the Queen!" On of the royal guard called as he bashed an assailants' head open with a backhanded blow. The two other guards collapsed around Vega and J-40 in a triangle formation, centered on the yelling guard. Crouching their seven foot forms to a combat ready six feet. They fought like men possessed, stabbing and spearing their crazed attackers. One assailant, dressed as an electrician, threw himself upon one of the guard. Without moving any other part of his body, a royal guard snatched him from the air in one massive hand and crushed his central nervous system. Without pausing, he flung the body back at the press of attackers, unbalancing two as he did. His spear flashed out in their weakness, killing one and crippling another.
The attackers circled the defensive position warily. They had lost too many, too quickly to fight otherwise. Their knives hung tight in their hands. J-40 could barely see anyone outside of his safe position with Vega. Nearby him, she held her gold colored sword at ready. J-40 had never explored is new weapons systems, and now he was beginning to regret it. How could he fight when he didn't even know what he could do?
Abruptly, the attackers charged. As if on some insidious cue they pressed forward as one unbearable mass. The Royal guard attempted to stop them, skewering three in an instant, but the press moved forward in a dark tide. The guards were forced to club and bash at their assailants even as their armor opened up with wounds from the attackers knives. The defensive formation began to crumble. J-40 felt his breath catch in his chest.
He didn't have time to think, only to act. Spinning as fast as he possibly could move, J-40 darted toward Vega. Seizing her around the middle in his arms he yelled over the carnage "Get on!" and he hoisted her onto his back as if he was a horse, lowered his head, and charged.
He was aware of many things at once as he barreled past the assailants. He was aware of their weight as he pushed past them in his dash for freedom. He was aware of the knife wounds that opened his arms and side. He was aware of the material of the floor, the brightness of the room, and the humidity of the air. He was aware of the hisses of surprise from the attackers as he raced by them. He was aware of the Guard still fighting. He was aware of the cries of the wounded, friend and foe alike. But mostly he was aware of her, clinging to his neck, and how her form was weighted upon his body. He ran.
J-40 broke through the press of assailants with his queen upon his back. He ran with all his might, every piston pumping and every synthetic muscles straining. He had never been more afraid in his life, and the weird thing was, he wasn't afraid for himself.
He ran down the hallway, his voice bellowing "Assassins! Assassins in the Palace!"
"So, uh, you two know each other?"
Jenny sat uncomfortably in a chair with her mother and her teacher across from her. She squirmed in her seat. Sheldon sat only a few feet away in another chair. He had tried to leave earlier, but McKinley had been oddly insistent. Jenny noticed that there was some sort of weird vibe between her mother and McKinley. That vibe, however, was some sort icy hatred.
Mrs. Wakeman took a sip of her tea "We knew each a long time ago"
McKinley looked over at Nora "thirty years in fact"
"Yeah, well that's fascinating" Jenny said "But, um… Why are you here" She looked at McKinley
McKinley rocked back on the couch he sat upon "Yeah… Now normally you have to understand Jenny that I would prefer to have been born a quadriplegic rather than suffer your mothers company for more than a few seconds. Now don't get me wrong, I bet your mother has become a wonderful person in the last thirty years, I bet she has a fantastic time teaching harpies the proper screeching techniques, and that the community must be so very thankful that see's stopped circling the town abducting virgins to eat. But this is one of those rare occasion I can stomach my loathing of her, and actually, request her presence. You see Jenny, I have to be here to talk to you"
Nora sneered "Yes, normally I wouldn't allow James to come within a mile of my house without a preacher and the blessings of every known god placed upon the house. But in this… I agree with him."
Jenny looked confused "Agree on what?"
McKinley smirked "Well Think-Sack knows. He's been trying to tell you for a while in fact. I thought that by locking him in the supply closet this could be a private talk. But now, I think that this might be better if he's here. I always did like making people uncomfortable. I never had any talent at making them miserable though that was Nora's specialty"
Mrs. Wakeman took another sip of tea "Hmmm… Yes. Of course. You did spend all your time drinking didn't you? It's hard to devote yourself to something when your pallin around with Mr. Jack Daniels. Isn't it that right James?
"Oh, you're in rare form today Nora. Have you started sleeping on the ceiling like I recommended all those years ago? I thought it would be best for you to get back in touch with your bat ancestors that way."
"That's enough." Jenny said, frustration creeping into her voice. She pointed at McKinley "You, Jerk. Stop belittling my Mom. And you," she pointed at her Mom "Stop encouraging him." She folded her arms "Now what is this about"
McKinley looked taken aback. He cleared his throat 'Well she certainly does take after you Nora." He muttered "Alright, it's a little complicated though." McKinley repositioned himself on the couch
"I met your mother a long time ago. I was only twenty years old then, fresh out of Yale.' He looked at jenny with a sidelong look "I skipped a few grades, as you might have guess" He cleared his throat "See, the Intergalactic war was ding down right around then, an I had developed the reputation as a, well, rambunctious scholar." McKinley said with a little laugh.
"He was a criminal." Nora interjected. "Even hacked into the draft and removed his name"
McKinley glared at Nora, and slowly turned back to Jenny "Well I admit that some of my actions were, less than legal. Everyone has their own in indiscretions you know. Anyway, at the end of the war, the United earth Nations began cracking down on domestic crime." He raised his arms in a shrug "And in the press, they cracked down on a few petty criminals like me-"
"He stole 6.5 million dollars from a multinational corporation" Nora said with an impassionate voice
"They deserved it." McKinley said, pointing a gloved finger sternly at Nora. He turned back to Jenny "Anyway, it would so happen that I was at the time the leading authority on artificial intelligence. It was my field of study you know. A prodigy, as they called it"
"To this day I still don't know how he pulled it off"
"Christ woman! Let me tell the story."
"Hey! don't talk to my Mom that way" Jenny snapped
McKinley looked plaintively at Jenny "but she won't let me tell the story"
"I wouldn't have to interrupt if you would be truthful for once in your life. This is why we never found you af- "
"Shut up!" Jenny shouted "You're like two freaking children!" She looked at McKinley "Are you going to tell me something or not?" She glowered at him. Sheldon edged ever so slightly farther away from them all.
McKinley tugged on his gloves, shot a venomous glare at Wakeman, and continued "On my incarceration, I was approached by a few government agents. The same ones that busted me actually, and they gave me a deal. Either I'd rot for fifty years in some god forsaken jail cell, or I could work on a project for global safety. As it turns out, the project was working with Nora.
"She wanted me to work on the AI systems for the XJ systems of robots. It was reasonable request, and judging by the logic errors in Armegedroid, it was safe to assume that it would be a better idea than letting her work on it herself. I got a get out of jail free card and she got the best mind in the world working on her artificial intelligences.
"You worked with my Mom? On my sisters?" Jenny asked, curious
McKinley smiled "Sure did. Fine robots, the lot of them" In her corner, Nora rolled her eyes
McKinley continued his story "So we started our partnership. We hated each other with a greater passion than ever before, but we were good. Real good. Nora could make anything, anything at all, and I could program living and feeling minds. We worked together for about six years. I made the brains, she made the bodies. It was a good gig.
"It's not to say that many of them worked. We went through at least five prototypes. In the first year or so I experimented with different programming styles and languages, but every brain had an incurable neurosis. XJ1 was a thruway project, just to see if we could actually make a working robot. We never really expected it to achieve the limited sentience it did. And XJ2, well, I still have the scar.
XJ3 was a better one, as far as intelligence goes, but we couldn't really get her to hold together for long. That one's Noras fault" He jerked his thumb in her direction. Mrs. Wakeman made a huffing noise in disdain. McKinley went back to talking. "XJ4 was our first real success, but I could never actually program that neat streak out of her. Now XJ5, well, I really don't know what we were thinking about when we made her. She worked, but She could never shut up." He leaned forward "Also, I found out that when I did program the talking out of her, she developed an aberrant fascination with fire" He made a face "That didn't end well. So we put her back to Normal and started XJ6. She was a really good one. She was humanoid, strong, smart, and unfortunately a bitch. We shut her down after we caught her screaming insults out at passerbies on the street.
"This really wasn't panning out for us. So I tried another, and slightly crazy, programming style. Nora Agreed to let me try for a modified Engram. An engram is a copy of a person's neural pattern in computer code. Normally, every applicant goes insane, but I had a different idea. I made a combination of Nora's and my self's neural patterns, and began tinkering. The first two prototypes were disasters, XJ7 got stuck in a depressive loop no matter what we tried, And XJ8… She just never got stuck in any emotions. I was tired of failure, so I went for broke on the next one.
"I took our engram patterns, and then I coded everything ground up. But more importantly I stopped trying to make a robot, and started trying to make a human. I kept that bit secret from Nora. I thought that she would take offense to it." He looked over at Nora, "I wish I was there when she found out. Oh the look on her face would have been priceless" Nora made a faint growl. McKinley began talking again "She had made a comment about it being a teenage robot, offhandedly of course, and I thought 'Hey, why not?' I essentially made that positronic brain mimic a real one. It even had glands and hormones.I was just like the real thing, except it was a million times faster, and could survive being dropped on the floor." He sighed "That brain was the most sophisticated thing I had ever worked on.
"I finished that brain thirty years ago. It was going to be my masterpiece. I had meant to work with Nora and program its new body to respond to it correctly, it was so different from what we were working on before I doubted Nora could ever get it to link with a body without my help, but I was forced to leave before we could work on it…" McKinleys face grew dark. He stopped talking.
Nora put down her tea"It took me twenty three years of reverse engineering to finally make the body work with the ninth brain he created" She said quietly "And I'm still finding easter eggs he buried in the system…"
Jenny stood completely still "The ninth?... That means…"
McKninley stood up from his seat, water welling up in his eyes. He walked over to Jenny "All these years." McKinley said through a sob "All these years, How I have longed to see you" He placed his arms around Jenny in a warm embrace as hot tears trickled down his cheek.
"Jenny… My daughter"
Oh Snap!
Hey, it's me again. I've been working on my action sequences, can you tell? Sorry for being a little late on the update, but I had a few Anthropology papers and a test to turn in last week, so I'm surprised I even finished it on Monday (Technically Tuesday.) Ah well, C'est La vi.
Suddenly, I am reminded about how I loathe the French language. Damn you English and your constant borrowing of words and phrases outside of your cultural background. Do you think yourself a God!?!
Anyway, back the Fic. This is going to be the last big super secret I'm keeping, I promise, no more. Anyway, I think I'm going to wrap this up in about two or three more chapters. After which, I'm going to hopefully start up another fic (Verry hush-hush you know) As far as today's story, I like it. Of course I say that now, but In a day I'll be wigging out about it. Also, I'm sorry for the last chapter.
Anyway, review me. With every review my ever present hunger is abated, and I refrain from devouring this pathetic ball of dirt you call a planet. For I am Galacticus, Devourer of Worlds! Only your reviews can stop the ever present hunger. Galacticus craves feedback!
See you next week true believers! (Stan Lee's going to knee-cap me for that one)