Ring stared out the window, resting his chin on his knees, his arms lightly wrapped around himself. The rain was depressing him; he was an active, friendly boy, and having to stay inside upset him. But Pharaoh would be more upset if he went outside in the rain and caught a cold. Which was ridiculous, because as a robot he could inot/i catch a cold, and in fact the water would probably be good for him, because it was getting sort of hot in here. Pharaoh hated the cold--he was designed to work in extreme heat so Cossack had not given him any tolerance for cold--and had probably jacked the heater all the way up...
Although staying inside was depressing, he had to admit it was pretty outside, as the snow began to melt under heavy rain. The window was awash in tiny beads of water that ran and criss-crossed and glimmered in what little light there was. It was afternoon, which meant there was enough light to see, but not enough to be anything resembling cheerful.
He sighed and leaned against the window frame. This was his favorite spot even when it was sunny. Sometimes he'd run and hide when Pharaoh wanted to give him piano lessons--he didn't know why, because he was terrible at piano, for all that he was a robot and ishould/i be able to do most anything with relative ease--and just sit here, watching the outside. He stayed here more often in the winter, because in any other season he could find a decent hiding spot outside. Russian winters, however, were far too cold to chance leaving without snow gear, and all that bulk would make him more obvious than a hippo in Siberia.
Besides, he didn't think there was any gear in his size. As the "youngest" of Cossack's eight robots, he was also the smallest, barely even five feet tall. He was slender and very light--Cossack made him too thin, even for a speed-based robot--and out of armor, humans often mistook him for a very young boy; a late preteen or early teenager. He had fair skin lightly dotted with freckles, short brown hair with two long braids in the front, and big, green-brown, Bambi-like eyes.
By contrast, his older "brother", Pharaoh, was huge. Designed to be a leader and physically powerful, he was over six feet in height and broad-shouldered, heavily "muscled" and had large hands with short, calloused fingers that made anything delicate like computer work difficult. He had shoulder-length black hair that he kept neatly brushed and tied out of his hair, black eyes, and skin that was a nice shade of golden-brown. He fit right in in Egypt, but here in Russia amongst so many tiny pale people he stuck out like an excrutiatingly sore thumb.
As far as they both were concerned, Pharaoh was the brain iand/i brawns of the two of them, and Ring was his little monkey boy, going into places Pharaoh couldn't reach--such as air ducts and bathroom stalls--and doing things with his tiny hands Pharaoh couldn't. Ring had much smaller hands with, in proportion, longer fingers and was more suited to writing or computer work, even if he wasn't very bright.
Actually, Ring was a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for. He just lacked common sense, and put up against six other robots who liked to torture him, that was a bad thing.
He fiddled with his braids, looking at his feet. Everything about him was tiny--tiny hands, tiny feet (although he lacked toes; Cossack saw no point in them and so made his robots without any) and, well, he was just short. He'd tried taking one of those forumlas they advertised on TV, that were supposed to increase your size... But they hadn't worked, and Pharaoh yelled at him when he found out. He still didn't know what the big deal was.
He sighed and kicked off the thin, holey slippers he wore, staring at his tiny little toes. Why couldn't he have been built a little bit bigger? Just a teensy bit? He was tired of being half the size of the other seven robots. Even Bright was taller than him--Ring was exactly four-ten while Bright was five-one.
Cossack hadn't exactly been entirely sure what he'd wanted with Ring. First he'd wanted an air-based robot, Bird Man or Angel Man or something. Then he'd decided he didn't, and that he wanted another long-ranged fighter, except that he'd forgotten to tell the construction droids that and they'd already completed the base body--the skeleton and wiring that would transfer information to his extremeties, the plastic outer casing and then the synthetic skin to cover the seams. By the time Cossack remembered that he'd already told the droids to begin, Ring had been complete, wings and all. He did, however, remember in time to stop them from getting very far on the armor, and he switched the plans.
Cossack was a genius, but scatter-brained like that. It would have been far too costly even to disassemble Ring and rebuild him, so he tested him out with the new armor. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten to make adjustments to incorporate Ring's old design with the new one. The new armor weighed him down too much for flight, and also slowed him down considerably.
It was embarrassing, to say the least. He was a total failure--he knew it, Cossack knew it, everyone knew it. So Cossack had been working on a way to wheedle out a new grant for a new robot to replace him...
Well, that was okay. Cossack wouldn't take Ring apart as long as he was useful, and he iwas/i useful--as something to show off. Although small he was polite and very sweet, the ideal servant to have when Cossack invited guests over.
Although staying inside was depressing, he had to admit it was pretty outside, as the snow began to melt under heavy rain. The window was awash in tiny beads of water that ran and criss-crossed and glimmered in what little light there was. It was afternoon, which meant there was enough light to see, but not enough to be anything resembling cheerful.
He sighed and leaned against the window frame. This was his favorite spot even when it was sunny. Sometimes he'd run and hide when Pharaoh wanted to give him piano lessons--he didn't know why, because he was terrible at piano, for all that he was a robot and ishould/i be able to do most anything with relative ease--and just sit here, watching the outside. He stayed here more often in the winter, because in any other season he could find a decent hiding spot outside. Russian winters, however, were far too cold to chance leaving without snow gear, and all that bulk would make him more obvious than a hippo in Siberia.
Besides, he didn't think there was any gear in his size. As the "youngest" of Cossack's eight robots, he was also the smallest, barely even five feet tall. He was slender and very light--Cossack made him too thin, even for a speed-based robot--and out of armor, humans often mistook him for a very young boy; a late preteen or early teenager. He had fair skin lightly dotted with freckles, short brown hair with two long braids in the front, and big, green-brown, Bambi-like eyes.
By contrast, his older "brother", Pharaoh, was huge. Designed to be a leader and physically powerful, he was over six feet in height and broad-shouldered, heavily "muscled" and had large hands with short, calloused fingers that made anything delicate like computer work difficult. He had shoulder-length black hair that he kept neatly brushed and tied out of his hair, black eyes, and skin that was a nice shade of golden-brown. He fit right in in Egypt, but here in Russia amongst so many tiny pale people he stuck out like an excrutiatingly sore thumb.
As far as they both were concerned, Pharaoh was the brain iand/i brawns of the two of them, and Ring was his little monkey boy, going into places Pharaoh couldn't reach--such as air ducts and bathroom stalls--and doing things with his tiny hands Pharaoh couldn't. Ring had much smaller hands with, in proportion, longer fingers and was more suited to writing or computer work, even if he wasn't very bright.
Actually, Ring was a lot smarter than anyone gave him credit for. He just lacked common sense, and put up against six other robots who liked to torture him, that was a bad thing.
He fiddled with his braids, looking at his feet. Everything about him was tiny--tiny hands, tiny feet (although he lacked toes; Cossack saw no point in them and so made his robots without any) and, well, he was just short. He'd tried taking one of those forumlas they advertised on TV, that were supposed to increase your size... But they hadn't worked, and Pharaoh yelled at him when he found out. He still didn't know what the big deal was.
He sighed and kicked off the thin, holey slippers he wore, staring at his tiny little toes. Why couldn't he have been built a little bit bigger? Just a teensy bit? He was tired of being half the size of the other seven robots. Even Bright was taller than him--Ring was exactly four-ten while Bright was five-one.
Cossack hadn't exactly been entirely sure what he'd wanted with Ring. First he'd wanted an air-based robot, Bird Man or Angel Man or something. Then he'd decided he didn't, and that he wanted another long-ranged fighter, except that he'd forgotten to tell the construction droids that and they'd already completed the base body--the skeleton and wiring that would transfer information to his extremeties, the plastic outer casing and then the synthetic skin to cover the seams. By the time Cossack remembered that he'd already told the droids to begin, Ring had been complete, wings and all. He did, however, remember in time to stop them from getting very far on the armor, and he switched the plans.
Cossack was a genius, but scatter-brained like that. It would have been far too costly even to disassemble Ring and rebuild him, so he tested him out with the new armor. Unfortunately, he'd forgotten to make adjustments to incorporate Ring's old design with the new one. The new armor weighed him down too much for flight, and also slowed him down considerably.
It was embarrassing, to say the least. He was a total failure--he knew it, Cossack knew it, everyone knew it. So Cossack had been working on a way to wheedle out a new grant for a new robot to replace him...
Well, that was okay. Cossack wouldn't take Ring apart as long as he was useful, and he iwas/i useful--as something to show off. Although small he was polite and very sweet, the ideal servant to have when Cossack invited guests over.
