Author's Note: Hey, I'm back. Sorry it took so long for me to update this fic. I kinda had other concerns such as buying the requirements for all my classes this semester. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed that last chapter. Here's Chapter 12.
Disclaimer: Refer to the prologue
Story Title: Corrupted Programming
Chapter Title: Rebellion
Grand Marshal Yomex's Command Ship
Brad surreptitiously took a glance around the command bridge of Grand Marshal Yomex's ship. All around him were insectoid robot drones going about their functions in a strangely coordinately and efficient manner. Brad knew that it would be stupid to try anything here. If he did, he knew that all of the drones he had observed would jump him and tear him apart before he could even utter a scream. The mere thought of that fact made his legs feel like gelatin.
"Very well, Queen Jennifer," Brad heard Yomex's voice say, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I will start off with my formal declaration of secession myself. You can make your own address to the Cluster afterwards."
Brad turned to see a very exasperated-looking Yomex facing Jenny. The look on the Grand Marshal's face actually made Brad's eyebrows arch up in surprise. To him, Yomex's expression looked exactly like Mrs. Wakeman's expression every time she and Jenny disagreed on something. It was almost funny to see that very same expression on the face of a Cluster robot.
But any humor that Brad could've derived from the situation was quickly disappeared as the full implication of what the orange-gold robot said hit him. They were gonna give their declaration of war now. And when Vexus herself saw Jenny presented as a figurehead for Yomex's rebellion…
Well, it wouldn't be good for his best friend.
Brad knew that he had to find a way to stop the transmission before Jenny could be introduced by Yomex as the "leader" of their rebellion, but how in the name of chum would he do that? There was no way he could stop the transmission here, not without being vaporized. And he knew too little about the layout of the ship to sneak out and find his way to the communications node to sabotage it.
He turned to look at the green ant drone he had spotted earlier. The only way he'd be able to stop the transmission was to find a way to get himself alone with the ant drone so he could use the ridiculously exposed off switch to shut down the robot then merge with its systems. Once he accomplished that he could--if he remembered Tuck's merging with the ant drone in the past correctly--get the data on the layout of the ship from the drone's memory banks. Only then could he find and sabotage the communications node.
Of course, the problem was how he was gonna get himself alone with the ant drone. Brad was pondering on this problem when he suddenly felt a growing pressure in his bladder. 'Oh man!' mentally moaned the boy as he realized that he hadn't gone to the toilet since he left Earth.
'I don't have time for this!' Brad thought. 'I'm stuck in the middle of a Cluster ship that's about to start a civil war! I don't have time to worry about tinkling…'
His thoughts trailed off as an idea hit him. 'Of course!' his mind shouted silently. He could use this little "call of nature" as an excuse to let him leave the bridge, and he knew that Yomex and Viruz would most likely send an escort with him since they'd be apprehensive about letting him wander around the ship alone. And knowing the thinking of Cluster robots, they'd sent a big, intimidating robot to keep him in line. In other words an ant drone.
'It's worth a shot.' Brad thought as he nervously licked his lips, steeling himself for what he was about to do.
"Hey," Brad called out, trying, and barely succeeding, to keep his voice steady and nonchalant. "Uh, can you guys tell me where the little boys room is?"
Brad gave out a nervous chuckle as he saw Yomex, Viruz, the brainwashed Jenny, and several other robots turn to look at him. "Uh," he added, still chuckling nervously. "I really need to go."
The redheaded boy saw Yomex and Viruz exchange a sort of uncertain look. He realized that it must be because there were no toilet on a ship made for robots. But he knew that they'd find a place for Brad to do his business. After all, they'd be stupid to let him "go" in the bridge.
"We don't really have toiletries, human." Viruz answered. "But we do have a waste disposal conduit in the lower level on the ship."
The High Commander turned, much to Brad's relief and elation, to the green ant drone. "423503, show this human to the waste disposal conduit."
"Yes, Sir." The drone answered. The green drone turned to Brad and said: "Come with me, please."
The drone then turned and walked out of the bridge. Brad followed, smiling a small, unseen smile. So far, so good.
But that smile disappeared as he heard Yomex speak.
"Alright, prepare the communications systems for a Cluster-wide wide transmission." Brad heard the Grand marshal say. As the door closed he managed to heard Yomex continue. "It is time we declared our intentions to the entire Cluster Empire."
Cluster Imperial Palace, Cluster Prime
Queen Vexus closed her eyes contentedly as she lay within her Royal Maintenance Chamber. A smile grew on her face as the maintenance tendrils of the chamber went over her systems in a systematic yet soothing manner. She let out a sigh of content as the tendrils fired jets of soothing mechanical lubricant on her robotic joints. To a machine such as her, it was bliss. Pure bliss.
But that bliss was abruptly interrupted as a call alert sounded within her chamber. The queen's eyes flew open. She gave a snarl-like growl of annoyance as she reached over towards the panel of the chamber's video intercom.
"This had better be important." Vexus said to the image on the screen in a low, menacing tone.
The image on the screen, it was of a yellow-orange roach drone, cringed at Vexus' tone of voice. It gave a quick bow and, in a fearfully quivering voice, addressed the screen. "Many apologies for the interruption, my Queen. We have just intercepted a Cluster-wide transmission that may be of great interest to you."
'A Cluster-wide transmission?' Vexus thought, frowning. She had not authorized any general transmissions to the entire Cluster Empire. "Patch it through here."
"At once, my Queen." The drone said. The roach drone's image disappeared to be replaced by a face that was very familiar to the queen.
"Yomex." Vexus hissed. Yomex had always taken particular liberties with his authority. The Cluster monarch made a mental note about severely reprimanding Yomex for the unauthorized transmission. On the screen, the image of Yomex began to speak.
"Greetings fellow robots of the Cluster Empire. I am Grand Marshal Yomex, overall commander of the great Imperial Forces of the Cluster. This transmission is addressed to all the sentient machines in the Cluster. As of today I announce the intention of me, and many other fellow machines like myself, to withdraw our support for the rule of Queen Vexus. We feel that—"
"TRAITORS!!!" Vexus screamed in fury, realizing exactly what Yomex had declared. She slammed her fist into the video intercom's screen, breaking it and thus preventing her from seeing the rest of the Grand Marshal's rebellious speech. The Cluster ruler lashed out upon the maintenance tendrils in her personal Maintenance Chamber. She tore the tendrils off the chamber walls and shredded them apart.
She had always thought Yomex to be a tad too ambitious, but she never imagined that he'd do something as overt as open rebellion. That was an oversight on her part that she would correct, harshly. She slammed her palm onto the button of the Royal Maintenance Chamber's backup intercom.
"I want Cluster Prime and all Cluster colonies put on high alert!" the queen yelled into the intercom. "And I want you to keep on playing that transmission so that you may trace it. I want Yomex found!"
The drones on the other end of the intercom scrambled to obey the queen's orders. As the "Red Alert" signal went out to ever Cluster world, Cluster Prime's artificial planetary ring started to shift slightly in shape as it released battleships from it's hidden docking bays and deployed a huge amount of weaponry on the outer rim. Meanwhile, on the inner rim of the artificial planetary ring several large panels opened up and activated a large planet-wide force field. The Cluster was going to war.
Cluster Stealth Wasp, somewhere in Irken Territory
Words and symols on the Stealth Wasp's panels reflected off Dr. Wakeman's glasses as the diminutive scientist leaned over the panels. The navigational systems were in full working order, thanks to ADAX, and the craft itself, despite losing an engine to alien fire, was operating well. Now the doctor only had two problems that needed to be tackled.
The first problem was the fact that the cloaking device and the wormhole generator could not be used at the same time due to power limitations. Meaning that the cloaking field had to be turned off for the Stealth Wasp to exit Irken territory. That, of course, was a detriment to both the doctor and ADAX since they were right in the middle of an Irken Armada that would jump them the minute they were visible.
The second problem was a sort of an inverse of the first one. If they somehow managed to leave Irken territory the fact that cloaking device couldn't be used together with the wormhole generator would be a bad thing, to say the least, when they exited near whatever Cluster manifestation that had captured XJ-9. Xj-9's captors would surely detect the entrance of the Stealth Wasp and, once they ascertained that the Stealth Wasp wasn't one of theirs, would surely attack it. With the ship being in the state that it was, that would make rescuing XJ-9 an utter impossibility.
"What the frig are we sittin' here for, Wakeman?" ADAX said impatiently. "Let's go already!"
Mrs. Wakeman ignored the green robot as she concentrated on solving the two problems at hand. The first problem could be chanced, but the second one definitely couldn't. Then, a thought occurred to the inventor. She reached for the jerry-rigged monitor system and typed in commands which made the machine attempt to localize XJ-9's tracking signal. The system processed the data for a moment before it finally showed the diagram of a small blip orbiting a much lager blip. Apparently, XJ-9 was being held on a, judging from the larger blips size, a small planetoid.
Dr. Wakeman pursed her lips thoughtfully. If she could plot the right exit vector she might be able to use the planetoid to mask their arrival from the Cluster ship's sensors. She carefully plotted out an exit vector before turning to the green robot beside her.
"Hang on, ADAX," she said. "This might be a tad bumpy."
"How many times do I have to say it?" ADAX said in a vaguely annoyed tone. "It's Dax, dag nab it, Dax!"
Mrs. Wakeman took a sharp intake of air before she turned off the cloaking device. Instantly, their ship showed up on the Irkens sensors and the little green aliens wasted no time in pursuing it. The docotor deftly made her way through the blockade of alien vessels that were all firing at the Stealth Wasp. Finally, as the Irken ships started to close in, the Stealth Wasp's wormhole generator activated. The bug-like vessel disappeared into the cosmic portal, leaving behind thousands of irked Irkens.
Author's Note: That was Chapter 12. Thanks again for all ho reviewed the last chapter, I promise to try and get the next one out sometime next week. Please review. Oh, one more thing, about the last two words of this chapter's last paragraph, the pun was not intended.