Author's Note: Hey, thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter. I know that Mrs. Wakeman having a Cluster ship was kinda convenient, but then the off switch on that ant drone was also kinda convenient. Anyway, here's Chapter 6.
Disclaimer: Refer to the prologue
Story Title: Corrupted Programming
Chapter Title: Reawakening
Wakeman residence, Tremorton
Dr. Wakeman took another look at the portable monitoring system's screen. XJ-9's signal was gone, apparently she had been taken beyond the range of the monitoring system. But that didn't matter, Mrs. Wakeman already had that problem pegged. She grabbed several tools and headed toward the refurbished Stealth Wasp, carrying along the portable monitoring system.
She climbed aboard the craft and started to open a part of the craft's instrument panel with her tools. She then took the portable monitoring system and started to hotwire them onto the Cluster vessel's instrument panel. A moment later, the jerry-rigged monitor came to life. On it was a blip representing XJ-9. The monitor showed that she was already light years away.
Realizing that she had no time to lose, Dr. Wakeman jumped off the craft. She started scooting around her basement laboratory, grabbing several pieces of equipment and weapons and shoving them into the craft. It would've been a comical sight had there been anyone to witness it. Finally, she was done. Putting on some sort of spacesuit, Mrs. Wakeman started to climb aboard the Cluster ship. But as she climbed up, the logical part of her mind managed to retake the reigns of her mind.
'Very well, Nora,' that part of her said to her. 'You've already decided firmly to go on this foolhardy adventure, so I guess trying to stop you would be pointless. Still, are you sure you would want to proceed with such an undertaking ALONE?'
Dr. Wakeman paused. As always, that part of her mind made perfect sense. But who would she take? Certainly there was no one else she could turn to for help. She considered taking one of the other XJ-class robots. But no, they were inferior designs that would most likely be more burden than help. Besides, their computer brains would be easy prey for assimilator robots like Viruz, and the last thing she wanted was to give the Cluster another robotic puppet.
But even as she thought that, Mrs. Wakeman started to realize something. 'Computer brains…' her mind said silently, repeating part of her previous thoughts. Computer brains would be easy prey for Cluster assimilation, but what about a machine whose brain WASN'T computer-based? The doctor turned her head around and looked right at an almost unnoticeable green pod in her lab. 'Yes,' she thought. 'It just might work…'
She walked toward the green pod and stared at it for about a second. She then put her hand to the side of the pod and made a sweeping motion, brushing some of the dirt off the pod's surface. She looked at the stenciled words that the dust had concealed for about 12 years. The word, all written in capital letters, were: ADVANCED DEFENDER ANDROID, EXPERIMENTAL.
Viruz's Stealth Wasp
Jenny mentally slumped in defeat. She had repeated tried to regain control of her body, but all her efforts had been in vain. She felt Viruz laugh at her futile efforts through the link he used to control her systems. She felt helpless as Viruz mentally taunted her inability to regain control.
Jenny looked through her own eyes. She could still see and hear, but only passively. She couldn't actively control any of her visual/auditory sensors. Looking through her eyes, she saw the exchange that had happened between Viruz & another robot through the communications system of Viruz's craft.
She had heard what both robots had said & realized that Viruz had indeed told her the truth, albeit partially. They really were against Vexus and they really did want her to be their queen. Though, judging from what she heard, she would be nothing more than a puppet queen. She heard the slight sound of struggling beside her. Concentrating on the periphery of her vision, she saw Brad bound and gagged, struggling to get free. Upn seeing that, she felt a pang of guilt. The only reason Brad was here was because he was HER friend. Now he was being taken along with her to the Cluster to be a slave, and it was all her fault.
'Don't worry, XJ-9,' Viruz's voice said in her mind, startling her. ' We won't hurt your human friend. In fact, he will be well taken care of since he will be your royal pet.'
Jenny felt anger rise within her as she heard those words. She mentally snapped at Viruz: 'I'll get you for this, you creep! For this, for kidnapping Brad, and for hurting Sheldon!'
Viruz laughed in her mind. 'I'd like to see you try, XJ-9.'
Furious, Jenny temporarily forgot her despair as she again tried to retake control of her systems. But just like before, it was all in vain. Viruz's amused laugh came through Jenny's mind again, taunting her helplessness and the futility of her actions.
'If I'd have known that preserving my victims' minds would be this amusing I wouldn't have been so quick to overwrite the core programming of my past victims!'
'You smug jerk!' jenny mentally screamed. "I'll get you, you hear me?! I"LL GET YOU!!!'
Viruz just laughed harder.
Wakeman residence, Tremorton
Dr. Wakeman's hands flew over the keys on the pod's terminal as she initiated the activation sequence on the pod. But just before she struck the final key that would begin the activation sequence she hesitated, remembering why she had locked away the machine within the pod in the first place. Was it really a wise decision to activate such an unpredictable and aggressive machine, even for this?
Mrs. Wakeman shrugged that thought away. It was necessary, this was the only robot she had built that could possibly resist any override program. She knew that fact first hand. Before she had stored the Advance Defender Android, eXperimental, or ADAX, away, she had tried and failed repeated to correct ADAX's faulty programming. No matter what she had tried, ADAX's brain had resisted it all.
That was because ADAX's brain was different from any other robot brain in existence. Twelve years ago, before the XJ-series had been conceived, ADAX had been the prototype design for the Global Robotic Response Unit. All the most top-shelf hardware of that time had gone into ADAX's design, ensuring that ADAX would make a perfect Global Robotic Response Unit.
But all that hardware would've been for naught without an adequate control processor to run it. And since the computer technology of that time proved to be inadequate, Dr. Wakeman had turned to a radical solution: She was going to use an actual biological brain to run ADAX's systems. Of course, she couldn't use a human brain. She, instead, used a chimpanzee brain, which she managed to procure from a biological research lab. She had emptied the chimpanzee brain of all memory and did a few modifications on it, such as bioengineering it to be capable of surviving and operating in a non-biological system. She then wrote ADAX's core programming onto the brain.
What she hadn't counted on was that not all of the information inside the chimp brain had been completely removed prior to the programming. Some of the chimpanzee's instinctive aggressiveness managed to remain and had somehow merged with ADAX's core programming. This, consequently, made ADAX a highly aggressive and unpredictable android. In fact, his aggressiveness reached the extent that Mrs. Wakeman had to shut ADAX down after her reprogramming efforts failed to remove the aggressiveness. The biological nature of ADAX's brain somehow made his programming resistant to tampering.
Now, she was going to reactivate ADAX. She wasn't entirely sure what the consequences would be, but she was ready to face them. If this was her only real chance for success in her endeavor, then she was willing to pay the price. She pressed the final key.
There was a loud hissing and a metallic creaking sound as the green pod slowly split open. Dr. Wakeman drew back slightly as the pod opened like a butterfly's chrysalis, but the thing inside was definitely not a butterfly.
It was a six-foot-tall humanoid form with a pentagonally shaped head & a body that bore some resemblance to XJ-9's body, except that this machine had more masculine proportions. On it's face were two eyes that bugged out slightly, making them look like chameleon eyes. It also had two arms arranged in a lopsided manner. The right arm had "normal" proportions and ended with a four-digit hand. The left, however, had an enlarged forearm and ended with a three-digit hand. The enlarged forearm was actually ADAX's sensor pod. Finally, it was painted in shades of green, giving it a vaguely "frogman-ish" appearance.
Mrs. Wakeman then heard the whir of servos as the machine started to move. Its eyes looked around in a confused manner as its mouth opened. It started to speak.
"What the… Where the… How…" it said with a confused voice that sounded like that of a teenage boy. Suddenly, its eyes found Dr. Wakeman. The confused look on the robot's face disappeared only to be replaced by an angry frown.
"Wakeman!" ADAX said in a voice that sounded like a snarl. "Wakeman…"
Author's Note: Well, that's all for now. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can. If my description of ADAX wasn't clear enough, there are illustrations of him and my other OC s on mpcp13.deviantart.com.