A/N – Thanks to everyone for the reviews, and the enthusiasm for the trilogy. And to red52, I'd just like to say – thanks for the Bruce Campbell reference! Groovy. 8-)
Betrayal From Within
A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic
Chapter Two – Jenny's Fifteen Minutes
A crowd of people had gathered around the wide front steps of Tremorton City Hall, jostling for the best viewing positions for the upcoming ceremony. Intermixed with local media and politicians, there was a little over three hundred average citizens who had taken time out of their day to be there. It was a very impromptu ceremony, with little decoration save for a standard red, white and blue bunting in front of the mayor's speaking podium. The whole ceremony would probably not last more than fifteen minutes, and most of that would be speeches. But still, the mood was upbeat and jovial, and with little else of interest happening on a Monday afternoon, the crowd began to attract curious passers-by. And since City Hall wasn't that far away from Mezmer's, even some Tremorton High students were drifting over, on their way to some after-school relaxation.
Brad had already been there for a while; he'd come over straight from school. And to his pleasant surprise, the attractive girl from his History class was also there, shuffling aimlessly next to a large water fountain, playing with her wavy blonde hair. They'd been exchanging flirty glances and playful banter for about a week. Brad rubbed his hands together eagerly; this looked like a prime opportunity for action. He glanced at his watch; it was still five minutes to four. Plenty of time for the ol' Bradster to work his mojo. He quickly checked his black vest, removed a few flecks of lint, and smoothed out his shirttails.
"Hey there, Chloe," he said, flashing one of the most charming smiles in all of Tremorton. "Trying to deep-six your History homework?"
That got a laugh out of her. "Hey there Brad," she giggled. "I'm pretty sure Mrs. Jefferson would just give me twice as much tomorrow. I was headed over to Mezmer's with a few friends, saw the crowd, and thought I'd check things out for a minute. Are you going to Mezmer's too?"
He recognized from her tone that it was an invitation, not a question. Gotta love it when the fish jump into the boat all by themselves. Well, general consensus among the girls of Tremorton High was that Brad was cute (the word "hottie" had been tossed around), he enjoyed a certain degree of popularity, and was well thought of, because it didn't go to his head. He grinned back at Chloe, enjoying "the game", admiring the sparkles that danced in her eyes. "Well, if I wasn't before, I am now. I think they have the new Acid Reflux album playing on the jukebox."
"Oh, I love those guys! They so rock!" She grabbed him by the arm, and started to drag him away from the crowd. "C'mon, we can head on over before it gets too full. It'll be more … private that way."
Wow, a blind man could pick up these signals. And he had heard through the grapevine that Chloe was crushing on him. But Brad was at City Hall for a reason. "Relax! There's gonna be plenty of time to hang out after this ceremony is over. I don't want to miss it."
"So what's the big deal? Do you know what's going on here?"
"Yeah, the city is finally giving Jenny some props!" He gestured enthusiastically to the podium on the steps, and the TV cameras surrounding it. "The mayor's giving her a medal for saving the city. Pretty sweet, huh?"
"Oh … yeah, that's … pretty sweet, all right," answered Chloe, with the enthusiasm one might feel towards polka music. "Does this have something to do with that big metal – ant-thingy – that smashed up the interstate this morning?"
"It was a giant alien robot ant-thingy. And she totally turned it into a scrap heap. How awesome is that? She saved the lives of hundreds of people."
"And that's really … great," Chloe chuckled awkwardly. "You know, Brad … I think it's really kind of nice that you let Jenny hang around with you and everything. You know, going to the movies, sitting together at lunch hour, pretending like you're friends with it …"
"I am friends with her," Brad interrupted, as diplomatically as possible. "Look, I know a lot of kids at school are still a little freaked out by her. But if you took the time to get to know Jenny, you'd think she's pretty cool. She's really not any different from you or me. Hey, tell you what. After she gets her medal, why don't we all go over to Mezmer's together? Then maybe you and I can grab a milkshake and a burger, and Jenny can hang out with your friends."
"Wow … and yeah, that sounds good and all, but … I really don't think that Jenny would enjoy herself with us. See, my friends and I are going over to the mall after we leave Mezmer's. We're shopping for our prom gowns. And Jenny doesn't wear dresses, right?" Chloe swallowed hard, and a mild blush glowed from her cheeks. "It's hard to believe that Prom is less than two weeks away. There's a lot to do between now and next Saturday. Of course, I'm not really sure if I should even buy a prom dress. Nobody's even asked me to go, yet."
Brad fought back a chuckle – Chloe wasn't bothering with subtlety. She gave Brad a coy little smile, and continued her routine. "It's really a shame, too, because I found the most perfect dress – lavender, satin, off-the-shoulder …"
Yikes. Brad tugged at his collar. Envisioning Chloe in an off-the-shoulder prom gown was making him break out in a sweat. He certainly wouldn't mind dating her, but he wasn't sure if she was the girl that he wanted to take to the prom. There were a few girls interested in him – it did wonders for a guy's ego – but he wasn't ready to make up his mind just yet, even though Chloe was trying her best to do it for him. She gently arched her back, and curled a lock of hair around her finger … she knew how to play "the game", too. Brad swallowed, trying to moisten his suddenly dry throat. Phew. Knock it off, hormones!
Chloe giggled, and fluttered her eyelashes at him. "You know, Brad, everyone knows you spend a lot of time with the robots, and don't get me wrong … I think that's great and all." Then she turned her feminine charms up to maximum power. "Maybe it's fun hanging out with a robot girl. But you know, sometimes … only the real thing will do."
Oh, wow. "Umm … Chloe, look, I …"
"After all, Brad," she said, "Jenny's just a machine."
"You take that back, you peroxide-soaked slanderer!" shouted a sudden, agitated voice. "Jenny's ten times the woman you'll ever be!"
Brad had been so absorbed in the flirting contest with Chloe, that he hadn't even noticed Sheldon walk up next to him. The poor fellow's high-pitched, nasal voice shattered the mood like a brick through a plate glass window. Brad shook his head with frustration, and glared at Sheldon through a pair of eye-slits. "Hey, Sheldon. Um, Chloe and I were kind of having a private conversation …"
"I heard what she said about my fair maiden," Sheldon growled, "and I will have none of it. None of it, I say! Especially not on the day when Jenny finally gets the credit she's due!" Sheldon folded his arms in a huff, mercifully covering the ketchup stain on his hooded sweatshirt. Unfortunately, he got his hands tangled in the strap of his camera bag, and he knocked it off of his shoulder, spilling its contents. Brad slowly shook his head, as he watched Sheldon madly juggle his camera, flash, and lenses. He could almost admire Sheldon's nerdy version of chivalry, defending Jenny's honor in her absence. That's more than ninety-five percent of the kids in the school would have done. But that nobility was wrapped up in an awkward, acne-riddled body that had the poise and grace of a circus clown.
"Everybody just chill, and relax," said Brad. "Chloe didn't mean anything by what she said about Jenny." At least I hope she didn't, he thought to himself.
"Look, Brad …" she said, "I think I'll just head on over to Mezmer's now, to beat the rush. If you want to come over later, that would be great." And without giving him a chance to respond, Chloe retreated from the crowd, gathered up her backpack, and took off down the sidewalk in a brisk walk – obviously eager to put distance between herself and the conversation about the school's lone robot girl.
Sheldon dropped his head, and fidgeted with the settings on the zoom lens of his camera. "Golly, Brad … I'm sorry about that. I just lost my head for a moment. I didn't mean to cost you a date."
"Forget about it, Sheldon," sighed Brad. "You didn't do it on purpose."
"It just really burns me up that everyone keeps running Jenny down all the time," he moaned, clutching his hand to his heart. "Personally, I think all the other girls are just jealous because they realize how beautiful Jenny is, and they feel secretly intimidated by her. I mean, she's gorgeous and she's a superhero. That's pretty tough to compete against. She's like Miss America and Atom Girl all rolled up into one."
"Well, Atom Girl better hurry up," laughed Brad, "or she's going to be late for her own ceremony."
"No, she isn't! Look!" Sheldon's arm shot towards the sky, pointing at a glowing trail of fire that was descending towards City Hall. He grabbed his camera and started clicking away, while Brad shaded his eyes from the sun. Intentionally or not, Jenny was making a grand entrance.
The crowd, which had swelled to over five hundred, burst into cheers and applause, led by the mayor and city councilmen standing beside the podium. Jenny dropped toward the steps at what seemed to be a breakneck speed. Television cameras tracked her trajectory through the sky, and more than one person wondered if she might actually crash-land. But Jenny was as much at home in flight as she was on the ground. Like she had done so many times before, a burst of exhaust brought her to a pillow-soft landing, precisely on the spot that had been set aside for her. When her pigtail-jets turned off, she realized, to her amazement, that the applause was nearly as loud as the noise from her rocket motors had been.
Sheldon shouted enthusiastic cheers, and Brad allowed himself a second to enjoy the huge smile on Jenny's face. He could tell how much the moment meant to her. She was drinking in the warmth of the crowd, and gave a little wave back to her well-wishers. Sheldon was right; it was about time that Jenny got the credit she was due. She seemed almost embarrassed and overcome by the attention; but she drew up her reserves of courage, and walked forward to the microphone on the podium.
"Thank you all very much!" she said, almost blushing. "I'm really sorry that I was almost late. I had make a quick trip to Colorado to stop a railroad tunnel from collapsing." She said it in such a glib way that it generated a round of laughter, and another wave of applause. But Brad knew it wasn't a joke. That's just another day in the life for Jen, he smiled.
The mayor stepped forward to give a longwinded speech, reciting the numerous times that Jenny had saved the city, and the Earth itself, from destruction. Then he went over the details of the morning's fight with the giant Cluster Mega-Ant. Apparently, one of the cars that Jenny had rescued on the highway contained an important congressman, who was also in attendance, and eager to have a photo-op with her after the ceremony. Jenny politely waited, clasping her hands behind her back, until the Mayor called her over for the medal presentation. He lifted a silver medallion out of a velvet-lined case, and Jenny gently bowed forward, retracting her pigtails out of the way with a quick whirr of her motors. Flash bulbs went off, the crowd applauded her once more, and the mayor waved his arms in a grandiose fashion, proudly proclaiming that today was officially "Jenny Wakeman Day".
Jenny waved to the crowd, and then waved enthusiastically to Mrs. Wakeman and Drew, who were standing up in front, at the foot of the stairs. Mrs. Wakeman beamed with pride, basking in the recognition of her great scientific accomplishment. But somewhere on that analytical face was the glow of a mother's pride. Drew was there because he had also participated in combat against the giant robot; but from the expression on his face, Brad could tell that he felt out-of-place, like he didn't belong there. Of course, laughed Brad, Drew always looks like that.
Glowing with happiness, Jenny shook hands with the mayor and the congressman once more, and then telescoped the zoom lenses in her eyes to scan the crowd. It didn't take long for her to pick out Brad's signature red hair. She started waving excitedly to her best friend. Sheldon, naturally, assumed that Jenny was waving at him. Brad laughed as he waved back; he thought that Sheldon might faint.
Jenny Wakeman Day, he smiled to himself. Pretty darn cool. Maybe enough time had finally elapsed for people to accept robots like Jenny as normal members of society. Maybe she could finally walk down a sidewalk, or into Mezmer's, or into a store at the mall, and people wouldn't freak out at her any more. Everybody seemed to obsess about the metal body and the super-powers. And make no mistake, Brad had always thought that having a super-powered robot neighbor was just about the coolest thing in the world. But he could never, ever remember thinking of Jenny as an "it", or "just a machine", as Chloe had called her. He always thought of her as the girl next door. Who happened to save the Earth for a living.
I've always known that she was pretty awesome, he grinned. I guess it just took the rest of the town a few months to catch up with me. Maybe things will start looking up for Jen from now on.
The Cluster light cruiser slipped inside the orbit of the Earth's moon, nimbly flying a stealth approach towards the southern hemisphere. Earth was militarily primitive compared to the Cluster Empire, but their surveillance equipment still had to be dealt with, and by the queen's orders, they were to avoid detection for as long as possible. That was a simple matter of knowing where the satellites were, and flying in their blind spots. Something rather impossible for a fleet to do, but for a single small ship – like a light cruiser – it was something one learned to do in his first week at the academy back on Cluster Prime.
Commander Smytus barked out another order, and the bulbous, beetle-shaped starship went into a dive, riding the lines of Earth's magnetic field towards Antarctica. In a matter of seconds, streaks of blood-red plasma danced madly about the cruiser's large cockpit, filling the interior with a strobe effect. Some robots would actually think it was beautiful; but Smytus was still in a foul mood, and he had piloted far too many re-entries to be impressed by another one. The red-and-yellow cruiser pulled out into level flight ten miles over the South Pacific Ocean. The hulking robot commander gave the order for his crew of twenty roach-drones to activate the radar cloaking systems, and set course for a land mass the locals called North America. It was several thousand miles away – they would be there in about fifteen minutes.
He left the bridge and trudged back into the cargo area, where the genius-bot Stanley had set up his mobile lab equipment. Super-advanced computers and maintenance consoles hummed with energy, as Stanley wheeled about in his own little world, tending to the Omni-droid. He was feeding it programming from a tall bank of supercomputers. Smytus frowned at the bizarre, eight-foot silver-red android, with its slippery, liquid surface tone. In his mind, it was still the embodiment of an insult directed towards him; he, a Cluster commander, now in charge of a mere light cruiser. Reduced to a cosmic delivery boy.
"These nanobots of yours, scientist," said Smytus, looking into the Omni-droid's featureless red eyes. "You tried to capture XJ-9 with them once before, and you failed. What makes you think things will be different this time around?"
Stanley answered without diverting his attention from his data screen. "Aha, you still doubt my little nanobots, Commander? Still find it hard to believe that a bunch of tiny machines, each thousands of times smaller than a grain of sand, can work together to create a masterpiece like my Omni-droid? Relax, Commander Smytus. All the bugs have been ironed out in Version Two, here."
"Well, what went wrong in Version One?"
"Still obsessing with Version One, arghh!" shouted Stanley. "You have one little itsy-bitsy disaster on a secret project, and they never let you hear the end of it. Here, observe, while I make with the hologram." Stanley punched a few keypads with two of his six arms, and an image flickered to life, hovering in front of the Omni-droid's curved face. It was a picture of the silver-green android, the one they had seen battling the Mega-Ant with XJ-9 earlier in the day.
"Version One was an attempt to infiltrate an existing robot – which is to say, young Miss XJ-9 – with a small colony of nanobots, which would grow and take over her systems. Unfortunately …" – he smacked what must have been his forehead – "… we put the nanobots in the wrong robot. Well, actually, they wound up getting inside of a human. Oy, what a mess."
Smytus seemed disturbed at that thought. "Are you telling me that android – used to be a human?"
"Exactly," answered Stanley. "I still don't know how it happened. The first-generation nanobots were programmed to adapt and evolve on their own. I would have expected them to turn that hairless monkey into a pile of compost. Instead …" – he gestured towards the 3-D image – "… we get that. Oh, I'd love to get my claws on him, and get him back to my lab on Cluster Prime. I could run tests on his insides for months and months! But … sigh … orders are orders."
"Yes, the queen said to annihilate him," pondered Smytus. "She seemed a little more peeved than usual when she said it, too."
Stanley's six eyes flitted from side to side, and he waved for Smytus to bow down so he could whisper into his auditory inputs. "You didn't hear this from me, but they say that the last time Queen Vexus went to Earth, that blob of silver-green axle grease cut off her right hand." Smytus whistled in astonishment. If that story was true, then that android's life wasn't worth half a torsion bolt.
"Anyway, in Version 2, we just grew the whole android in the lab," continued Stanley. "No more with the cute little flying wasp-bots. No more problems with the losing control! We manufacture the whole Omni-droid all at once, with a nice blank slate for a brain, and then program it with whatever software we want. In fact, I have a little surprise for you, Commander. I think you'll like it."
Before Smytus could protest, the Omni-droid raised an arm towards him. A small shimmer-pattern gurgled on the wrist for a second, and then two long, thin snakes of silvery nanobot material flew out towards Smytus' head. Each long, twisting cable formed a round metal pad, and affixed itself to either side of his massive robotic brow – nearly scaring the sprockets out of him.
"What is the meaning of this!" he roared. "Scientist, remove these thing now, or I shall …"
Stanley raised a hand, wagging a finger at the commander. "Ah, ah, ah, hold onto your horses there, Mister Cranky Pants! He's not hurting you in any way. In fact, you're something of a mentor to him right now. Like the silver-green android, the Omni-droid can interface with electronic equipment. It's reading your brain, Commander. It's downloading your knowledge and your experience, along with the top secret details of the mission given to you by the queen. When it ultimately goes into battle against XJ-9, it will do so with the full military education and career experience of the great Commander Smytus! Lord of the Outer Rings, Mayor of something-something, yada-yada something else, Destroyer of Worlds …" – Stanley broke into a grin – "… and Conqueror of Planet Earth!"
An evil smile came to Smytus' face, as the silvery cables retracted with a shwerrrrp into the Omni-droid's arm. "So it shall actually be my skill and expertise that defeats XJ-9 in glorious combat. Hmmmm. Not bad, scientist. Not bad at all."
The Omni-droid's red eyes glowed to life, and a low, synthesized voice boomed from an unseen speaker in its throat. Though somewhat distorted, it sounded a bit like Smytus. "Android OS 3000 system startup complete. Mission parameters loaded. Phase One – Sabotage. First target – Deep Space Radar Warning Facility, Wyoming, United States."
Smytus frowned at Stanley. "Queen Vexus has ordered me to operate secretly, sowing the seeds of chaos and disorder prior to our invasion," he growled. "So just how am I supposed to operate secretly when I have to play taxi-driver to your magic pile of nano-slime, scientist? That facility will be heavily guarded. We could defeat it easily, of course. But not without being detected."
To Smytus' surprise, Stanley started to laugh. "Oh, but we want to be detected. Or that is, we want the Omni-droid to be detected. Watch closely, Commander. I think you'll find this very interesting!"
Smytus folded his arms, determined to be unimpressed. Then shimmering waves of silver-crimson started to flow over the vaguely insectoid form of the Omni-droid. Its features seemed to melt away before their eyes, and an electric hum echoed through the space of the cargo hold. In less than a second, the Omni-droid had degenerated into a quivering, gurgling pillar of shiny silver-red fluid. Then, as Smytus had seen it do earlier in the queen's war room, the amorphous blob began to take shape again – but this time, something was different. Very different indeed. The nanobots compressed themselves, shrinking the pillar's height to a mere six-and-a-half feet. A pair of smoothly streamlined legs formed, then a flexible pair of arms with four-fingered hands. The Omni-droid's midsection coalesced into three distinct pieces, which gave the Cluster shape-shifter a distinctly feminine appearance. Then a blob sprang up and expanded into a perfect sphere of a head, topped with two movable triangular sections …
That looked very much like two blue pigtails.
In spite of his resolve, Smytus gasped in amazement. A final ripple washed over the surface of the Omni-droid, touching up the pale blue coloring on its torso and leg housings, and forming a small blue bolt in the middle of its belly. It now was a perfect duplicate of XJ-9.
"Scientist … er, Stanley … I think this Omni-droid of yours might prove useful after all," he grinned.
"Gee, do ya think?" chuckled the squat little genius. "Believe me, Commander, this is going to be the easiest mission you've ever had in your life. Here, sit down, put up your feet, have yourself a nice glass of coolant." He looked into the stern, emotionless eyes of the newly formed "XJ-9", and planted all six of his arms on his sides. "Omni-droid, prepare to initiate program on Commander Smytus' orders."
Smytus tapped his chest. "Ahem, ahem … Omni-droid! This is your commander speaking. I am Smytus! Lord of the Outer …"
"Again with the monologue," grimaced Stanley, "Give the command, already!"
"… er, right. Omni-droid! Execute Phase One!"
"Execute Phase One – Sabotage," parroted the Omni-droid. "Deployment in ten seconds."
A roach-drone activated the aft cargo doors, and the back end of the Cluster ship split in half, swinging open like a clamshell. As the shriek of wind filled the cargo hold, the counterfeit XJ-9 leaned forward slightly, and with an electric hum, panels of blue-colored metal unfolded from its back. In seconds, the shape-shifter had deployed an exact physical copy of XJ-9's wings and booster rockets. The triangular pigtails on its head rotated in place, and a pair of nozzles grew out of their base. Then, with a high-pitched whine, a blast of pale blue exhaust billowed underneath the Omni-droid. Riding the brilliant flames from its pigtail-jets and booster rockets, "XJ-9" catapulted from the back of the Cluster ship, and rocketed into the dark, empty Pacific sky.
Smytus and Stanley smiled as they watched her bank to the right, taking a northeasterly heading. At the speed she was traveling, her first target was only six minutes away.
Continued in Chapter Three / Ten Days to Cluster Dawn