Chapter Ninteen: Amanda

"Oh wow…" Julie said as she entered. "This place is both amazing and scary at once."

"You have to be extremely careful." Gloria reminisced, going ahead of the others. "The defense lasers can vaporize a hole in twelve-inch thick steel armor faster than you can blink. But they won't attack us if we're registered. We'll need to register our profiles in the computers so the 'bots and lasers won't get us."

"'Bots?" Asked Michael.

"Yup. Robots too. We just call them 'bots. They too are armed with lasers, but not as powerful because their power supplies don't draw on the main power plant." Gloria said. "But, like I said, they'll leave us alone if we register our profiles."

"Just how are we going to 'register' anyway?" Joshua asked.

"We'll just need to locate the main computer terminal and access the registry files. I can probably hack a profile for us. In case I never mentioned it, I'm really good with science and technology, computers in particular." Gloria continued as she looked about. She turned left at the intersection. "If I remember properly, the terminal is located in the middle of the center dome. Let's move quickly, it's only a matter of time before the security system detects us. That hacked access code I entered won't frazzle the security system long…"

A short time later…

"Here it is," Gloria said gesturing inside an enormous room full of panels, screens, computers, and doorways. The upper walls, like all of the rest of the lab, were lined with miniature laser cannons, each and every one ready to fire. "The central computer room." Just as Gloria approached a computer, a strong hand grabbed her from the left.

"Hey, kid!"

Gloria turned around. A girl: pale-skinned, gold-eyed and pink haired stood before her in a gray, rubbery skin-tight suit. She was a peculiar-looking girl. The girl looked to be no older than nineteen. She was also about five inches shorter than Gloria. She carried an odd-looking pack on her back with wires coming out of them. The wires came down the sides of her arms, terminating in a set of gloves with tiny laser cannons on the fingers.

Gloria stared in recognition. "Amanda? It that really you??"

The girl (Amanda?) stood surprised for a moment then grew giddy with excitement. "Gloria! Oh, I'm so glad you're alright!!!" She yanked her hands out of the gloves, took a big step forward and hugged Gloria so hard she actually lifted Gloria off her feet, grinning earnestly all the while. "I thought you were dead! It's been, what, three years? Look at you, just look at you!! You've changed so much and yet so little!! I'm so happy to see you again!!!"

"Urk! Calm down, Amanda!" Gloria squeaked.

Amanda stopped hugging her and put her down. "Sorry," she said gleefully. "I'm just sooooo happy ta' see my best bud again!!!"

"You two know each other?" Julie asked as she and the others entered.

"Know each other? We're best pals!!" Amanda said slapping Gloria on the back strongly.

"Ooof! Yes." Gloria replied, rubbing her back. "This is Amanda Rowlinzski. Friend extraordinaire. Amanda and I were the best of friends in the lab."

"And who might you be?" Amanda asked, quirking an eyebrow at Joshua. "Meow, whatta hunk!" She purred and flittered her eyes at him.

"…Er…" Gloria cleared her throat in the uncomfortable moment. "These are my friends, Julie, Joshua and Michael." Gloria said, pointing to each one in turn.

She mewed at Joshua again, who was blushing at her flirt. "Pleasure to make your acquaintances." Amanda replied politely. "You're probably all wondering what's with the funky suit, right?"

"Um, yeah. Why are you wearing that thing, anyway?" Joshua asked.

"Why, it's so I don't have to update the registry so often, and to protect against accidents." She replied, her enthusiasm declining as she mentioned the part about accidents.

"Gulp. Accidents?" Julie asked fearfully.

"Ah, don't worry 'yer pretty little head." Amanda playfully mussed Julie's hair up. "They're few and far-between." Amanda said casually. "Worst thing that happened that I know of was when Curtis fell into a tub of latex and set off the security system in Lab 5." She began to giggle a little.

"That old coot is still here?" Gloria queried.

"Yup, eccentric as ever too-no worse. He's gone o'er the limit. Big-time. He's a full-fledged nut of the first-degree now. That ol' chestnut claimed to have seen a giant bird with fire-red feathers and eyes as blue as the sea." Amanda stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh. Yeah, sure, and little black kittens turn into dragons at night away from human eyes." The quartet gave each other meaningful looks. "Also, check this out!" She pressed a button causing a mirrored sheath to engulf her arms completely and her legs up to the knees.

"Ooooh! Cool!" Julie piped up.

"Neat, huh? I can reflect lasers with these. Let's see a 'bot try to sear a hole in me with this!" She pushed the button again, the "mirrors" sliding away. "So anyway, the suits are in the third door on your left in this room. Oh, and if ya' can't get 'em on, use the zipper! I lost count of how many duds couldn't get it on because they forgot to use the zipper."

"Blip, blip, blip! " One of the terminals beeped loudly, blinking a red light.

"Uh oh. I gotta' fix this darn problem. Main power's down again and I can't get Auxiliary on! Can't get outta here if ya can't open the locks on the doors, eh? Help me out when ya get into the suit, ok Gloria?"

Later…

"This thing feels weird." Joshua commented as he tried to walk in the suit. It seemed stiff to him and it kept making funny little squeaks as he walked.

"Hey, techno boy! Your barn door's open!" Michael said.

"Huh?" He reprised. He looked down. "Ha, ha." He said in sarcasm. "Really funny, Mikey."

"Don't call me Mikey." Said Michael.

"Mikey, Mikey, Miiikey!" Joshua teased in a "nah-nah-nah-nah-nah" tone.

"Cut it out you two!" Gloria cut in. As Joshua calmed down a little with a playful shrug, Michael stuck out his tongue triumphantly at Joshua. "Hold still, Joshua." Gloria zipped up the back zipper, which was partially open. "See, that wasn't so hard was it?"

Joshua stuck out his lower lip in annoyance. "Stupid, stupid, stupid." He muttered under his breath.

"Hey, Gloria!" Amanda called out. "I still need you!!"

Gloria went to the computer where Amanda was staring in frustration at a glowing panel. "Ah, geez. This is a problem." According to the readout, something was wrong with the main power supply.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Amanda said poking her finger at a grid on the screen, which, unlike the others, was green instead of blue. "If the power supply is truly out, why is Grid 9 still receiving nominal power?"

"Huh. That really is weird. Maybe it's just the computer." Gloria tapped a few keys and brought up the source codes. "What the heck is that?!?!"