Betrayal From Within
A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic
Chapter Ten – The Exception to the Rule
The signal began to flicker, and the picture on the ceiling monitor degenerated into a hiss of static. Stanley's six eyes grew wide, and his cranial lights flashed randomly, in a state of complete and utter shock. Only seconds earlier, the video signal had clearly shown that XJ-9 was helplessly in the grasp of the Omni-droid, and on the verge of being absorbed into the Cluster. The silver-green android had been severely damaged, and his destruction had seemed all but inevitable. But now the telemetry readouts showed that the Omni-droid's health levels were low, and dropping fast. Stanley's six robotic arms skittered across his complex keyboards, trying everything he could think of to salvage his latest creation. After one last, desperate batch of commands, he punched his console in frustration.
"Bah!" he shouted, slapping his forehead. "Lousy software! Oy, you never find all the bugs in testing. You try and tell them you need to do more testing, but it's always with the hurry, hurry, hurry …"
Then he noticed that the lowly roach-drones on either side of him were shaking in fear, and sidestepped a few feet away from their bridge stations to putting some distance between themselves and him. A shadow fell over him, and he heard the deep, powerful growl of a large robot's servo motors. Stanley gulped hard, and turned to face the music.
Smytus towered over the diminutive robot genius, making no attempt to hide his displeasure. "So why isn't this amazing, indestructible nano-droid of yours regenerating itself, scientist?"
"Well, now see, technically, I never said it was indestructible," said Stanley, fidgeting with his hands. "I said it could perform unlimited self-repair. Now of, course, that only works if there's a 'self' left for it to actually repair …"
There was a shrill series of beeps from the console, and the ceiling monitor faded to black. The Omni-droid's telemetry signal disappeared; its tracking monitors displayed lifeless flatlines.
"NOOOOOOO!!!" bellowed the Commander. "What went wrong!?! You told me that this new android of yours was superior to XJ-9! It had captured her! It was about to assimilate her! I was going to get to do my evil laugh! I like to do my evil laugh! Well, I'm not laughing, scientist."
"Well, it was only Version Two," Stanley chuckled nervously, shrugging his shoulders. "Everybody knows that you have to wait until Version Three to get a robot that's stable, and won't crash …"
Smytus' eyes glared down with a fury that could've burned a hole through the genius' egg-shaped body. He raised a fist, crackling with a pale green glow, and built up a plasma charge. "I knew it was a mistake to rely on that ridiculous pile of ooze," he growled. "Now you will pay …"
Stanley's six eyes shifted nervously back and forth. "Look, don't you think I'm a little upset by this, too? Stupid operating system! I still don't have the kinks in the Personality Module worked out. It froze up when it experienced strong surges of human emotion! Blasted humans and their meshugenah emotions! How was I supposed to know that …"
"C-C-Commander," interrupted a quivering green drone. "Incoming encrypted message, sir."
"Coming from?" snorted Smytus, deciding whether or not to shoot the messenger.
"From Cluster Prime, Commander," whimpered the drone. "It's from the palace."
The mood on the bridge instantly grew dark and foreboding, and all of the roach-drones stopped their activities to watch their Commander's reaction. A large monitor dropped from the ceiling, pivoting on a robotic arm, to come to a stop in front of Smytus' face. A chill ran through his hydraulic fluid as the monitor glowed to life, and a pair of intense, regal eyes peered directly at him. It was Queen Vexus, smiling a deceptively calm smile.
"Greetings from the palace, Commander Smytus," the queen purred in a pleasant voice.
"Your Majesty!" gasped Smytus, instinctively bowing. He fought to keep his panic under control. "I … uh … to what do I owe this great honor?"
"You're a half-hour late for your daily status report," said the queen, flexing her long, spidery fingers. A hint of annoyance crept into her smile. "And I was just so curious to see how our little project is coming along. Oh, I realize you must be very busy, and I'm sure that you had a perfectly good reason for keeping your supreme ruler waiting like this …"
"I'm sorry, Your Majesty!' blurted the Cluster warrior. "Forgive me, please! It's just that … we've …"
"Oh, that's perfectly all right, Smytus. After all, I must admit I've been pleasantly surprised with the success of your mission so far. The Earth's defenses have been severely weakened, the sabotage targets have all been hit … you've done a great deal to restore your reputation." Then Vexus' tone grew cold and serious. "Of course, there is only one target that I am interested in hearing about."
"One … target, Your Majesty?" gulped Smytus.
"XJ-9," she snarled. "The reason I sent you Earth in the first place? Kind of important?"
"Right … um … XJ-9." Smytus' circuits kicked into overdrive, and he could feel the turbo-pumps in his chest pounding with anxiety. His eyes flitted to the telemetry station, and the black, dead screens. They flitted to Stanley, his arms and antennae shaking in terror. His mind flashed back to Vexus' warning to him in the war room, and the warrior who had been disintegrated in front of him, after the defeat of the Mega-Ant. His cooling systems struggled to keep his electronic brain from overloading.
"Well?" huffed the queen, drumming her fingers against her arm.
"Your Majesty, I am … pleased to report that XJ-9 has been captured, after a great and glorious battle," beamed Smytus. His chest thrust out with pride, and the arrogant smile was back on his face. "Oh, it was more difficult than I had anticipated, and I'm afraid that the Omni-droid was lost in battle. But I was more than up to the challenge. A mere teenager was no match for the might of Smytus!"
"Excellent!" smiled Vexus. "With XJ-9 as my loyal minion, Operation Cluster Dawn will guarantee the fall of her primitive planet. The Galactic Cluster Empire will soon be a reality! Your mission is a success, Commander. We look forward to seeing you back at the palace later today."
"Er … yes … about that," he hemmed and hawed. "Uh … the ship sustained some damage to its engines in the battle with XJ-9. I have the drones working on repairs now, but it will take some time to complete them. Twelve … no! Twenty-four hours. Yes … that's it, twenty-four hours."
Vexus arched a suspicious eyebrow, but gave Smytus a reserved smile. "Very well, Commander. Complete your repairs. But I want you on Cluster Prime in twenty-four hours … and not a second later. Keep XJ-9 safe and sound for me, Smytus. I'm ever so eager to see her again."
The screen faded to black, and the monitor retracted back into the ceiling. Commander Smytus heaved with a robotic sigh of relief, and felt the strain on his systems ease off a bit. Then he realized that every robot on the bridge was staring at him with eyes the size of dinner plates.
Stanley recovered from his shock, wheeled up to Smytus, and pointed an accusing finger at him. "You just … you just lied to the queen," he gasped. "What in Cog's name do you think you're doing! Have you blown a logic circuit? Are your gear springs too tight? Is the little robotic hamster asleep in the wheel? What, do you think the queen might not notice when we land back on the home world, and we're short one robot girl? What were you thinking?!?"
"I was thinking that if I told her the truth, we'd both be slated for recycling right now," growled Smytus. "Fortunately, scientist, my faith in you and your little nanobot project was less than total. You see, I have a plan of my own."
"Oh, excuse me, Mister I-Have-a-Plan!" shouted Stanley. "Let me guess, we take one of the roach drones, paint it blue, stick a couple of pigtails on its head, and hope the queen doesn't notice."
"My glorious plan will work," bellowed Smytus, irritated with Stanley's insubordination. "You may be a scientific genius, egghead, but you understand nothing of combat and warfare. You must truly understand your enemy to defeat your enemy." He clasped his green claws behind his back. "Your Omni-droid failed, because you did not fully appreciate the irrationality of human emotions. But where you see only problems, I see an opportunity. Those same foolish emotions – this ridiculous sentimentality that XJ-9 feels towards humans – will be her downfall. By this time tomorrow, she will be ours."
Noxious vapors curdled into the air, hissing from the surface of the dark acidic pond. Trapped in the middle sat the blackened remains of the Omni-droid; putrid brown smoke flowed from its malformed remains, adding to the rising column of fumes that hung over the industrial park like a sickly cloud. With a frenzied splash of liquid, the Omni-droid lurched forward, making one last attempt to escape its doom. But the damage it had suffered was simply too excessive. The blackened mass tipped over on its side, and continued to slowly dissolve in the acid.
Jenny and Drew sat on the loading platform, resting against a pair orange barrels, safely out of reach of the dangerous liquid. They watched their attacker's hideous demise with a mix of revulsion and relief. Jenny stretched out the actuators in her shoulders, still feeling the residual effects from the paralyzer blast. She felt horrible, but she imagined that Drew must have felt worse. He'd taken a good amount of abuse from both the acid and the Omni-droid. A good portion of his left shoulder was simply missing, leaving a charred, blackened wound that was very slowly repairing itself.
They laboriously turned their faces to take in each other's ragged appearance; Jenny covered in scrapes and dents, Drew sporting laser scorches and acid burns. The exhausted young robots looked like bomb victims. Finally, Drew cracked a weary smile. "We win," he chuckled. "Yay."
That got a laugh out of her. "You going to be all right, there?" she asked, in an fatigued voice.
"Oh yeah, yeah," he muttered. "That acid is … pretty nasty stuff. Uh … how about your arm?"
Her left elbow was still stuck, jammed into a useless position. "Ehh, nothing that a socket wrench can't fix," she smiled back. "No biggie."
They sat and rested silently for a few more moments, still a bit surprised that they had actually won – and how they had actually won. They exchanged a few awkward glances, and Jenny finally broke the silence. "So, that was an … uh … interesting trick you played on the Omni-droid."
"Uh, yeah … heh-heh." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess he couldn't handle strong emotions after all. So I figured … trigger a software freeze-up, and you could whomp on him."
"Right … right, good thinking."
A few more seconds passed; the only sound was the soft gurgle of nanobots repairing themselves.
"Did you happen to catch what he was saying just before I, uh … whomped on him?" she asked.
Drew suddenly looked very uncomfortable, and started to squirm in his makeshift seat. "Well, I, uh … wasn't really paying attention … and he really wasn't speaking very clearly …"
A loud metallic crash came from the direction of the chain-link fence, which separated the chemical plant from the scrap yard. The Silver Shell had just attempted to jump the fence, but had gotten stuck straddling the top – until a flurry of kicking and squirming had nudged him over, and plunged him into a pile of chemical drums. The Shell bounced back to his feet in a textbook superhero pose, as if nothing had gone wrong, while metal barrels rolled around in random directions. Somehow, he still had a perfect polish on his chest and his chin.
"Not to worry, XJ-9!" he bellowed. "That conniving Cluster criminal isn't going to lay a tentacle on you, if I have anything to say about it!"
Drew shook his head, and rolled his eyes. "Nice of you to join us, Double-S. Did you stop for directions on the way over?"
Jenny ignored Drew's smart remark. In spite of her fatigue, she instinctively checked her paint job, and brushed off a few flecks of dirt and soot. "Omigosh, the Silver Shell! He's coming over here! Drew, how do I look? Do I have anything on my face? Be a pal, turn your hand into a mirror!"
"Are you serious?" he snorted. "You told me yourself that the Shell lied to you. I thought you were supposed to be all mad at him, now!"
"I was mad," she excitedly whispered back. "I got over it! Ohh, look at those servos …"
Drew slapped his forehead. "Women," he moaned.
She didn't hear him; Jenny was lost in a dreamy gaze, as the Silver Shell approached her with a confident strut. He planted his fists on his hips, and thrust out his mighty chest to let the twilight rays of sunlight glint off of his trademark swirl. "Now then … where is that despicable silver nano-greaseball?"
He gave a quick look to Drew. 'Um … no offense."
"None taken," sighed Drew. "He's right over there."
The Shell took a few steps, with a quizzical expression on his face, and picked up the steaming, carbonized husk that was the Omni-droid's remains. He turned it over and over in his hands. "What kind of trickery is this, villain? Some kind of camouflage? Eh, it's really not very good ..."
"Uh … Silver Shell," interrupted Jenny, waving to get his attention. She pointed to the ground …
And the Shell finally realized that he was standing in the middle of a lake of burning acid. The liquid frothed in a vicious foam around his feet, sending wisps of smoke hissing into the air. Shrieking like a schoolgirl, the mighty hero jumped out of the acid, and danced madly around the loading area. "Aaaah! Aaaah! Burning! Make it stop! Make it stop! Aaaaah!"
He found a water hose at an emergency wash station, and quickly rinsed off his feet – just as six police cars roared into the parking lot of the chemical plant, screeching to a stop with their lights flashing. A dozen of Tremorton's finest spilled out of their squad cars, and sprinted towards the three robots with weapons drawn. Jenny and Drew slumped in resignation; they had forgotten all about the authorities during, after their titanic fight with the Omni-droid. The Tremorton Chief of Police was with them, and he ran up to survey the scene of destruction …
And broke into a huge grin. "Everyone, look! It's the Silver Shell! And he's defeated the alien robot!" The policemen cheered enthusiastically, and tossed their hats into the air in celebration.
"Huh?" mumbled the Shell, looking at the giant lump of carbon in his hands. Then he quickly recovered, and held the blackened mass over his head like a trophy. "Um … I mean, yes! Rejoice, citizens of Tremorton! For this is not merely a victory for the Silver Shell … it is a victory for justice!"
Now a fleet of vehicles pulled into the chemical plant's loading area. Two fire engines roared up, followed by a hazardous materials crew, to clean up the dangerous acid spill. News vans were right behind them, and soon the Silver Shell was surrounded by TV lights and camera flashes. As the Shell basked in the adoration of the Tremorton media, and posed with the destroyed Omni-droid, the Chief of Police broke away from the mob scene, and walked over to where Jenny and Drew sat.
"Uh … ah-heh, heh, heh … good afternoon, Miss XJ-9," said the chief, finding it difficult to look Jenny in the eyes. He nervously rubbed his bald head, and coughed to clear his throat.
Jenny simply folded her arms, and glared back at the police chief.
"Well, um … it turns out that it was another robot causing all that damage and destruction. We've got first-hand reports and security tape from the nuclear plant. Apparently, it was some kind of shape shifter that was just imitating you. Heh, heh. Shape shifter. Imagine that."
"Yeah. Imagine that, huh?"
The chief shuffled awkwardly, playing with the lapels of his jacket. "Er … obviously, all the local and federal charges against you and your mother have been dropped."
"Gee … swell," she said coldly. "That totally makes up for being called a traitor, and getting shot at with laser guns and heat-seeking missiles."
"Heh, heh, heh … right." He broke into a nervous grin. "Well, everyone makes mistakes! The most important thing is that we stopped the real saboteur, and that robots have no legal right to file lawsuits. Have a nice day, kids!" Then the chief of police made a hasty retreat, and joined the mass of people jostling to get an autograph from the Silver Shell.
Jenny's pigtails drooped with a pained whirr. She wrapped her arms around her knees, played with the jammed sections in her damaged elbow, and gave Drew a sad look. "So everything's back to normal, just like that. Everyone was ready to melt me down for soda cans, even though I was completely innocent. And tomorrow, I'll go back to saving the day, and nobody will even care."
Drew had finally finished reconstructing his shoulder, and with a quick shimmer over his body, he was back to full health. "Jenny, what's the problem? The Omni-droid is dead. You and your mom are completely off the hook. Those would all be good things."
"Come on, Drew," she moped. "After all the times I've saved the day, everyone turned on me when I needed them most. Every television and newspaper in the world said I was a menace. People were calling me horrible names, and said that I was just a mechanical nuisance that should be hauled off to the dump! I think … I think that's how everybody really feels about me, Drew. When they thought that I had gone bad, it gave them an excuse to say what they really felt. And everyone said that I was a horrible, metal monster. You just can't take something like that back."
He winced in sympathy, trying to think of something positive to say … but found himself agreeing with her. After all, over the past two days, people at school had been treating him miserably. "Maybe it'll all blow over in a few days," he said. "In a week, everyone will have forgotten all about this." But Jenny could tell from the look on his face that he didn't believe a word he was saying.
"I wonder …" She lowered her face, ashamed of what she was about to say. "I wonder if the Omni-droid was actually right, Drew. I mean, everyone at school did turn on us. And even though we fought the Omni-droid, and beat him together …" – she smiled at him – "… and basically saved the world, do you think that's really going to change anything? Nobody's going to apologize. They know that I'll always save the world, because it's the way I'm programmed … just like Omni-droid said. I'm just a machine, and I'm never going to be accepted as anything else."
Drew reached out and grabbed her hand. "Hey, if I had a nickel for every time I've been called a freak in the past two days, my college tuition would be taken care of. And everyone at school has been treating me like I've got a contagious disease. So I kinda know how you feel."
"It feels like the entire world is against me," she sniffed.
"Not the entire world." He took a deep breath, and went on. "When I jumped on the Omni-droid's back, I was trying to figure out how to trigger another one of those emotional seizures. When you told me that it had imitated Brad, I got an idea. You see, the biggest emotional outburst I've seen in the past few days was at school yesterday. Everyone in class was running you down, and saying all kinds of lousy stuff about you. Sheldon wasn't, but even he thought that something must have been wrong with you. No, there was only one person at school who never questioned your innocence. Not even once."
Jenny blinked in surprise. "Brad?"
Drew nodded. "So I started calling you an obsolete piece of junk … uh, sorry about that, by the way … and sure enough, the Omni-droid went nuts and started acting like Brad. I knew that when I called you 'just a machine', he'd totally freak out … because that's what happened in class yesterday."
She gasped, clasping her hands to her mouth as her memory tapes replayed the final moments of the Omni-droid's life. The sound of Brad's voice echoed in her mind. I'll always believe in you, Jen. The same thing he had said to her, back in the tree house. She smiled, and a strange warmth coursed through her circuits. Of course Brad would defend her and stick by her – he was her first and best friend, after all. But in its extreme emotional state, the Omni-droid had revealed a little extra information … "I've never told you how much you mean to me." Then it had started to say something more …
But just then, their attentions were drawn back to the parking lot, where a familiar van screeched in behind the police cars and the fire engines. The doors flew open, and out poured Mrs. Wakeman, Brad, and Tuck, all arguing amongst themselves with heated voices. Relieved to see some friendly faces, Jenny and Drew jumped off of the loading platform, and ran towards the parking lot to greet them.
"XJ-9! XJ-9, there you are! Finally!" Mrs. Wakeman waved her arms in an excited frenzy. "Good heavens, what is going on here? It looks like the aftermath of a meteor strike! Is everything all right? Has the Cluster assassin been neutralized?"
"Don't worry, Mom," said Jenny. "Everything's taken care of. The Omni-droid is toast."
Tuck flung his arms in the air. "Awww … we missed the whole thing! A four-way robot fight with lasers and chainsaws and nano-goop and we missed it! What a gyp!"
Brad folded his arms, and scowled at Mrs. Wakeman. "Well we would have gotten here in time, if someone had let me do the driving."
"My insurance premiums are high enough as it is, thank you very much," she scowled back.
"You could have tried driving at least one mile over the speed limit …" Then he saw Jenny approaching, and gave her a big grin. "But it looks like she took care of things, as usual. Woo hoo! Way to go, Jen! Once again, the girl has robotically laid the smack down. I knew you'd beat him!"
"Well, it wasn't quite that simple," she said, displaying her malfunctioning left arm. "I got smacked down a little myself." Brad winced in discomfort at sight of the metal sections jammed in her elbow; it almost had the appearance of a nasty bone break.
Mrs. Wakeman quickly looked over the damaged joint, and dismissed their worries with a wave. "That should prove to be a routine repair, once you are back home, XJ-9. In fact, I would like both you and Andrew to return to the lab and undergo a complete diagnostic, just to be on the safe side. Oh, and Andrew, I would like to retrieve the performance data from the jet pack, please."
"Uh … right … yeah. Doc, about the jet pack …" Drew gave the doctor a nervous smile, and she soon realized that her latest jet pack would not be making a second flight. He desperately tried to plead his case as the doctor unleashed a verbal tongue-lashing, while Tuck enjoyed a ringside seat.
Brad sauntered over and casually slid his hands into his pockets, not noticing the warm smile that beamed back at him from Jenny's face. "Wow, it looks like we missed one heck of a battle! You'll have to tell me all about it later on tonight, once your mom lets you out of the house. So how'd you beat this guy? Sidewinder punch? Razor-rang ponytails? Gi-normous particle beam?"
"I didn't beat the Omni-droid, Brad," said Jenny, with an impish smile.
"Huh? Well who did, then? Drew? The Silver Shell?"
A faint teal blush came across her cheeks. "Actually … you did."
Then Jenny wrapped her arms around his neck, enveloping him in a gentle, yet passionate hug. He nearly jumped out of his shoes in surprise, and his throat flashed dry, unsure of what to do or say. She took a moment to enjoy the baffled expression on his face – and took great amusement in watching him struggle against the oncoming blush, that set his cheeks glowing beet-red. She traced her finger softly along his jaw, then ran to her mom's van and jumped into the front seat, giggling mischievously.
Brad blinked his eyes a few times. "I hope someone explains this to me eventually."
THE END of Part One
Eight Days to Cluster Dawn
A/N – So Part One of the trilogy finally comes to a close. Once again, a great big cyberspace thank-you to all my readers, and a super-big thank-you to everyone who's left a review. Me likey reviews. I hope you guys didn't mind the length, because Part Two of the trilogy will be even longer. I might take a little time off to recharge my creative juices, but things are almost completely plotted, so the next story should get underway pretty soon.