So now I was no longer "the prototype," which was the only thing that Father
ever referred to me as. He said it so often that I winced each time I heard it.
But thanks to Uncle Albert, I now had a name - Blues. It took him a few days to
remember it and get it right, but once he did, Father was great on calling me by
"Blues."
He was also great on giving me loads of work to do around the
house, something that angered Mother and Uncle Albert.
"Blues, could you
help me over here? I need this turned to the left. When you're done there, can
you wash the windows, polish the furniture, dust the rooms, do the dishes and
the laundry, and vacuum the house and lab?"
This went on all the time.
All the work really depleted my energy reserve, and each night I went to bed
feeling totally exhausted, only to wake up the next morning still tired, because
I hadn't fully recharged all the way. Since I wasn't fully recharged, my
performance levels were unusually low. And then Father would wonder why I would
suddenly shut down in the middle of doing a task.
Some people.
My
status was starting to concern Uncle Albert - he could see that I was dead tired
all the time; anyone with half a brain (or one who wasn't absent-minded) could.
Finally, Mother talked to Father after I had fallen asleep standing up while
vacuuming.
"This can't continue, Thomas! You didn't build Blues to be a
slave! Look at him - he can't go on like this; he'll deactivate by Christmas!
And besides, he hasn't reached his full height yet - the vacuum is as tall as he
is!"
"Perhaps you're right, love. All right, I'll call Albert down here
and we'll start inventing some help."
"Good," said Mother in a huff. And
with that she picked me up, carried me into my room, laid me on the bed, and
finished the house work with Aunt Sarah.
Yes, I had, or rather
have my own room; we all do. There were several guest rooms in Light Labs
-- I have no idea why; we never really got any visitors; we still don't. Maybe
they were rooms for all the children Father and Mother were going to have. Oh
wait, they couldn't have children. And what's up with Father calling the
place "Light Labs"? He should have included Uncle Albert's name in there, too,
maybe like Wily-Light Labs or something...
............
No, I'm
not bitter, not bitter at all.
Anyway, Light Labs had several guest
rooms, one of which Mother and Aunt Sarah transformed into a room for me. In
fact, they had done this several months before I was activated.
Now
there's planning for you.
As soon as Uncle Albert arrived at the Labs, he
and Father got to work. Father thought about the very first creation, and
started to draw up the basic sketch of its appearance. By this time, I had
recuperated and was interested in what was going on - Father and Uncle Albert
were essentially creating my new siblings; it was very exciting, and I wanted to
watch them. Since Mother had finished all the house work along with Aunt Sarah,
I was able to hang around Uncle Albert and Father as they invented. As Father
drew up the schematics, I pulled myself up on the back of his chair and peered
over his shoulder. This first creation was strange-looking - it was red and
white, with a human-like body. But it had a giant pair of scissors on top of its
head. I watched as Father thought, then picked up his pencil again and wrote
this new android's name -
DRN003 -
Cutman
"Hey...Father?"
He never looked up. "Mmm?"
"Why,
if my Mechanic's Code is DRN000, is Cutman's gonna be DRN003?"
"Ah...that
is because I have already started on DRNs 001 and 002, but they will be more
complex to build and will take more time. These next few robots will be
relatively easy to construct, and they should all be done within the next couple
of months."
'Couple of months?' My face fell. I would still have
to endure the hard work for just a while longer.
After he was done with
the sketch of Cutman, my first real brother, Father slid the paper over to Uncle
Albert.
"Hmmm...good design. What will he be used for?"
"Cutman
will be used for...well, cutting wood. He'll be a timber felling robot. He can
help out during the winter, when we need firewood." He beamed; Uncle Albert and
I exchanged glances.
"Um...okay. I'll see what I can do with him. Get
started on the next one."
I was amazed at how fast Father could whip up a
sketch. It took him only about two hours to come up with a final sketch for
Uncle Albert to work with. Within the next few days, all the sketches for my new
help were complete.
Now came the harder and more involved part - actually
building the droids and programming them with their interfaces. That was what
took the longest. Even though I was starting to get impatient, I knew that in
order for the droids to be flawless and unique, Uncle Albert needed a lot of
time. So I waited. I think the only reason I held on for as long as I did was
because I kept imagining what it would be like to have brothers, droids who were
like me. And I was always appreciative of the help that they would lend
me.
Since the new droids were younger than I was, Father said that he
would program them to listen to my orders as well as his. At first I thought
that it would be kind of neat to have droids under me, who would listen to
whatever I told them to do. But then I started thinking about myself...I didn't
want to order them around, as I was. It wouldn't be fair to them. So I told
Father not to program like that.
"I don't want them to be my
servants, I want them to be what they are - my brothers. They're
just going to help with the housework, that's all."
"Well...all right,
Blues, I'll tell Albert to leave that module out."
It was mid-July when,
at long last, the new androids were complete. The whole family assembled into
the rec room, where Father and Uncle Albert had set up my brothers.
There
were six of them - six new pairs of hands to help me, but more importantly, six
new brothers for me to talk with. It wasn't as if I was getting tired of Xavier
- quite the opposite. The two of us had become inseparable friends; it came to
the point where I couldn't imagine life without him. It was Xavier who had made
me feel the most human, and for that I was eternally grateful. He is my best
friend, and I would do anything for him, as I would do for anyone in my
family.
"What are their names?" asked Aunt Sarah.
Father went over
to the android on the far left; it was Cutman. Father stood next to him and
pointed to various parts of the droid as he explained.
"DRN003 - Cutman.
His main purpose is to fell timber. The scissor on his head here can be removed
and thrown (at this last sentence everyone stared in disbelief at Father)...in
order...in order to cut many trees down at once," he said, shifting as everyone
stared.
"Isn't that kind of...dangerous, Thomas?" asked
Mother.
"Oh, no," piped up Uncle Albert. "It is perfectly safe. I've
installed a safety mechanism in the scissor - there's a mini radar on it that
senses when the blade is getting too close to a living creature." Aunt Sarah and
Mother relaxed a bit at this, and Father went to the next android.
This
android was extremely tall and imposing. He looked built for hard labor. He was
red and yellow, with spots of black, and a jaw that stuck out. On his head was a
Metool helmet.
"DRN004 - Gutsman. He's a wilderness reclamation robot,
and so he is extremely powerful. He can lift things that are 200 times his
weight and size. Most of Guts is made out of Metool armor, so not a lot can stop
him."
Metools...I think everyone here knows what they are. Hard-hats,
Mets...they have many names, are virtually indestructible, and annoying as hell.
The only time that you could destroy one was if it came out from under its
helmet - its body is just regular alloy, so it can be taken out quite easily in
this state. Of course, the little buggers shoot at you when they do come
out, so it's best to take extreme caution. Their shots are meant to eat through
metal (they're the original mini-Gutsmen), which can be dangerous for an
android.
Ah...I've gotten off track yet again. My apologies. As I was
saying...
Father had moved on to the next android. He was incredibly
short, even shorter than I was. He was the most human-looking out of the six so
far, and he was dressed like an Eskimo in blue furs.
"DRN005 - Iceman.
This little bot will be exploring the Antarctic. I've always wanted to do
research there, but because it's too cold for any human to withstand, Iceman can
do the research for me. Who knows what's out there? I don't, and that is why I
want to find out. Maybe there's a valuable resource there, or something
more...Iceman's job is to explore and find out. Consequently, he'll be in charge
of keeping the house cool in summer, and will operate all machines that use
cold."
"Like the fridge-a-mator, Uncle Thomas?" asked Xavier. Father
chuckled.
"Yes, Xavier, like the refrigerator." He moved on. This
android was short, but taller than Iceman, and stout. He, like Guts, was red and
yellow, and had a red mohawk.
"DRN006 - Bombman. He'll be in charge of
demolition, so we can get started on that addition to the lab. We can also lend
him out to other companies. If they need a building demolished, they can borrow
Bomb for the job."
"I don't know, Thomas," said Mother. "Isn't a bomb
robot a little dangerous, too?"
"Not to worry, sister," said Uncle
Albert. "All of our robots are programmed with the Rules of Robotics - they will
never harm humans."
I could relate to that.
After Bombman came a
red and gray android who had a mask on that resembled a furnace. He had no real
mouth, as the others did, but rather a grate that was like an oven
burner.
"DRN007 - Fireman. He's in charge of waste disposal (Good,
I thought, now I won't have to do it.), and will also help keep
the house warm and cozy in the wintertime. He'll also be in charge of
maintaining those machines that use heat, like the oven."
Then came the
last android, six out of six. He was also human-like, except that he had on a
black outfit with a lightning bolt on the top half. Around his middle was a
yellow belt, which matched yellow boots and wristbands. On his head was a mask
with the same lightning bolt pattern as his front.
"And last but not
least, DRN008 - Elecman. Elec is our atomic energy controller, which means he's
in charge of all the electricity in the entire lab. He's probably the most
important of these six robots."
He let that sink in. And
then...
"Well, shall we activate them now, Albert?"
"Yes, I think
that would be a good idea, Thomas."
With that, Father and Uncle Albert
each activated three of the six robots. One by one, their eyes opened for the
very first time. Each of them looked around; I knew what they were thinking. It
had happened to me, too, four years earlier. I smiled to myself,
reminiscent.
My new brothers were beginning to test out their functions.
Ice had discovered that he could walk, and so the others tried it, too. Fire
found that he could move his arms as well as his legs, so, following suit, the
others moved their arms. Guts jumped up and down, causing the entire lab to
shake; this was one thing the others did not try, fearful that they, too, would
cause a mini-earthquake. Cut kept sitting down, then standing up again, with a
big grin on his face - it was fun to sit down and get back up again in a quick
manner. Seeing this, the others all tried it, too, Guts causing subsequent
mini-earthquakes. Then Bomb fell backward on his back; stunned, he just lay
there. The others copied him, falling onto their backs as well (another
mini-earthquake ensued).
By this time, I was laughing my head off. It was
so funny to watch them, like a bunch of drunks. As they heard my laughter, each
android stopped. Elec blinked, walked up to me on shaky legs, and peered at me.
When I didn't hear anymore noise coming from the group, I stopped laughing and
opened my eyes. Startled at seeing Elec so close to my face, I gave a yelp and
jumped back, causing my frightened brother to do the same. After recovering from
the initial shock, he stared at my mouth. I understood now.
"It's called
laughing," I explained. "And what I'm doing now is called talking. You can all
do it, too."
Elec slowly nodded, then opened his
mouth.
"T...talking. Yes, I see. It's more efficient than Mechanic's
Language when talking with humans." He had a child's voice, but it sounded older
than mine; probably around an eight or nine year old's voice.
I nodded.
"That's right."
The rest of the droids gaped at Elec. Then they filled
the room with five different voices, all excited.
"Wow! Wowwowwowwow! I
can't believe we can talk! So cool! ...er, no pun intended
there!"
"Sheesh, Ice, that was really bad. Look, I can lift the couch,
chair, and Dr. Light all at the same time!"
"Whooaaa! Put me down,
Gutsman!"
"That's nothing!! Watch me, I can toss bombs at
stuff!!"
A shriek. "NOT IN THE HOUSE!!" Toss,
slice!
"Hey...why'd you go and do that, Cut? Fire's
awesome!"
"Not when it causes large explosions, it's not! And besides,
fire's scary!"
"Aw, you're just sayin' that 'cause you've got an
internal cooling system!"
A barely audible whisper. "Oh, that's
it...THUNDER BEAM!!!"
Five cries. "IIIIIIIIIITAAAAAIIIIII!!!"
[Ouucchhh!!!]
Five droids falling to the
ground.
"Owieowieowie...that really
hurt..."
"Itaiiiiii..."
"Cough, cough!! What the
hell was that for, Elec?!"
"Yeah, really, you almost set Bomb's
bombs off! Which might have been neat, but still..."
".............ohhh,
man...."
"Are you okay, Blues?!"
"Hey, what's wrong with you
guys?"
Five sets of eyes staring at Gutsman in his Metool
armor.
"..................do us all a favor, Guts."
"Sure,
Fire..."
"Shut. The hell. UP!"
"But..." A look of realization.
"...ohh...heh...sorry."
"Hmph. All of you be quiet. You were
starting to get rowdy. Er...all except you, Blues. Sorry - I didn't realize how
close you were to me."
"...yeah, okay. Here, help me up."
"Sure,
Blues." He grabbed my hand. That's when I frowned and pulled him down with the
rest of us.
"ACK! Hey...hey, guys what's with those looks? Hey, look, you
were getting loud...I had to...guys...guys, c'mon..."
Five matching evil
grins.
"We know you were trying to help...we just want to show you how
much we...appreciate you, Elec. Get him!!!"
Minutes later,
Elec in a pink frilly dress with matching accessories (courtesy of Mother) and a
frown to go with the ensemble.
It was the most fun I had ever had in my
entire life. So happy was I to get these brothers...I considered myself to be
the luckiest android activated. From now on, I thought, things are
going to be so great!
I couldn't have been more right...and more
wrong.
