A bit later...
We arrived back at H.Q., and we no longer have on our winter wear clothes on.
Evelyn, Buddy, and I just exited from the elevator where we were met with Agent Walker at the front.
I went to greet him, he greeted back, then he said, "Agent Aaron, great work up at Nova's lodge."
"Thanks, Agent Walker. Anything new I should know about?"
"I just wanted to come by and drop off a couple of upgrades. First, that crowbar has to go. You're an agent, not a thug."
"Aw man, I like my crowbar. *pulls out crowbar and looks at it*"
I don't want to lose this thing, I've had it for too long.
Walker then said, "Don't worry, the F-space manipulator does everything the crowbar did and, plus much more."
Okay, a little interested.
"I'm also replacing your old wrench with the agency's patented techno-tool."
"*pulls out wrench* Okay, I guess I can get behind that."
"I'm sure you will. It will allow you to salvage, but now you can also pick locks!"
"Those do sound a little awesome. *hands tools to Walker*"
"*puts tools away* You know you might want to train on that F-space manipulator a bit before you take it into the field. Why don't you head up to the hangar and try it out? The manipulator runs on Fenergy and there should be a Fenergy Vent up there."
"Oh yeah, Roxie mentioned those. I'll check it out."
He gave me the tools he was talking about and said, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm late for my daily haircut."
"Gotcha. Bye, Agent Walker."
Walker then left, and I went to the top floor to test the manipulator out.
I know I just got this thing, but I love it already. I can move heavy stuff with it, it's like I have the force whenever I use it.
Anyway, I came back down to the lobby and talked to Jenny.
"Hey, Jenny, any messages or anything?"
"Oh yeah! Listen to some of these: 'Jenny's fanfiction has become the impossible: better than the source material!'"
"Uh-"
"'Jenny's writing material is a must-read for Starcruiser X fans.'"
"Uh, Jenny? I meant messages for me."
"Oh. Yeah, just one. A mister 'Paul DiYeti' called and told you to find his old college roommate."
"Paul the yeti? Do you have the full message?"
"Of course. I'm not totally worthless, you know."
"Whoa, who said you were wor-"
"'Hey, Aaron. Sorry I couldn't remember more about my past life, but I thought of someone who would! Back in grad school I shared a room with a man named Mr. F.. Last I heard, he was going to open a lab somewhere in the city."
"Okay, one: Don't cut someone off. Two: thanks, Jenny. That's helps a lot."
"'Also, your secretary was very professional, and I would totally give her the rest of the day off to upgrade her blog. Your friend, Pete.'"
"His name's Paul. Nice try, though."
"Worth a shot..." she said sighing, as I walked over to Buddy and Evelyn.
"Hey, guys. If you were going to open a lab in the city, where would you build it?"
"Question: would a sky fortress still count as being 'in the city'?"
"It would not, Buddy."
"In that case, I do not know."
Evelyn said, "I would build it over in the industrial district. Getting permission to run experiments anywhere else wouldn't be easy."
"Ooh, smart. Buddy, let's catch the train to the industrial district." "Okay."
As we walked outside to the station, we waved goodbye to Evelyn, saying we'd be back.
When the train arrived, we got onboard and rode to the industrial district.
On the train, Buddy said, "Wow, this train ride is so long! I bet it'll be dark by the time we get there.
Good thing I brought this bacon and tomato sandwich! *pulls out sandwich and eats it*"
...Not even gonna ask where he got that from.
The train stopped at our destination and we got off. As we got down the stairs from the train platform, I said, "Alright, Buddy, it's been forever since I last been to the industrial district. It's a big place, I remember everyone and everything, but I don't know where to start. Mr. F. could be anywhere. Any ideas?"
"Well, usually if we wait long enough, someone just starts screaming. Then we go investigate that."
Well, he's not wrong. it's happened before...a lot.
So we waited.
...
...
...
This may take a while.
"...Wait for it..."
...
...
"Gabby, you slimy, double-crossing, NO-GOOD SWINDLER!"
"You called it, Buddy. I think that came from the junkyard. Let's roll."
Buddy followed me to the junkyard where we saw two other people who I haven't seen in a long time.
Two men close to their fifties: one my skin tone and gray hair, and wearing a fisherman's outfit, and the other had fair skin and had a white beard and hair, and had on the appearance of a junkyard owner, because he was.
"There is never a time, I can see you two without one arguing at the other, is there?"
They noticed me and smiled before going back to arguing, then going silent.
"Buddy, this is Barney and Gabby. Gabby owns the junkyard, and Barney's a regular here. These two always go at it like this. (two Barney and Gabby) Alright, you two, what is it now?"
"Nice a' you to ask, Aaron," Gabby started, "someone's been stealin' ma junk."
"That's your problem?! Stolen junk?!" Barney said, "Here's the real problem, Aaron: This crazy ol' coot sold me a broken boat!"
"Boat ain't broke, Barney."
"It's missing parts!"
"But the parts you got ain't broke!"
"It's in the middle of the junkyard and it won't run. What good is it to me?"
"You could sit in it an' close the door. That'd do me a world a' good."
Gabby turned to me.
"Don't mind him. Listen, little things gone missin' from the junkyard before. No big deal. Yesterday, though, someone swiped a whole engine outta ma car! I was gonna use it fer spare parts!"
"Maybe someone else needed them." I whispered to Buddy, "Maybe Mr. F. is involved in this."
"Gabby, maybe you probably just moved the engine and now you can't remember where." "Nope. Gabby's mind is still sharp! Someone was sneakin' 'round here last night, an' I'm fixin' to find out who!"
"(normal tone)I think we can help out with that." I said.
Okay, now for our new mystery: Who's stealing from the junkyard?
Buddy and I started at the scene of the crime.
We started at Gabby's car, and he was right. Whoever stole from the junkyard took the whole engine out.
I pulled out my magnifying glass and looked like the thief did indeed leave some prints behind.
We followed them and it looks like they came from one side of the junkyard, walked by the car, possibly took the engine, and walked passed a shipping container.
"Hey, what's that black stuff?" Buddy asked, pointing at something through my magnifying glass.
"I think that's some kind of oil. Probably from the engine."
After that, we didn't find much. The footprints just stopped. We need to find some clues.
"Uh, pal? What's that dog doing?"
I looked where Buddy was pointing and he saw a dog putting something in a doghouse.
"Oh, that's Gabby's dog, Grit. He helps watch the place. ...Hmm."
I went over to Grit's doghouse, looked inside and saw that he was messing with...an old sailing map?
With the initials 'B.C.' on it!
"This is one of Barney's old maps." I said as Buddy came over. "How do you know." "His initials are on it. His full name's 'Barney Cull'."
...Yeah, I know, like 'barnacle'.
"Buddy, can you give this back to Barney?" "Sure thing!"
Buddy took the map and took it to Barney. As he left, I saw Gabby come over.
"Find anythin'?"
"Well, I found some footprints leading away from the car."
"Aha! Gabby knew he was hoodwinked! Did you find the engine and the car remote?"
"Engine: not yet. Car remote: huh? What car remote?"
"Yup. To open the hood you need the remote, so I reckon the varmint took that too. It's usually in the green cabinet over in Gabby's shack."
"You haven't checked?"
"Nope. Lost the key to it."
"Oh, well in that case, I'll check it out. Be right back."
I used my techno-tool and picked the lock to the cabinet and got the remote as Buddy came back saying that Barney told him that Grit probably stole it from him.
Makes sense. Gabby said no one could open the hood without the remote, and I did find it in Grit's doghouse.
Anyway, with the remote, Buddy and I went to the car again.
I used the remote, and the hood to Gabby's car closed. Then, tried to open it.
I tried with my hands, and it didn't even move an inch. Then I used my F-space manipulator. It's not moving at all.
"Buddy, give me a hand?"
Buddy helped to lift hands with the manipulator, and it is taking a lot of effort to move this thing! Buddy and I ended up falling back on the ground.
"Whoa, Gabby was right. You can't open this with the remote." Buddy said as we got back up.
"Yeah, nothing humane could open that hood. It had to be someone or something strong enough to do it without the remote."
Who or what on Earth could've gotten the engine out? Someone must've seen something. That's when I remembered something.
"Wait! When I saw Grit messing with the map, I saw something black in his teeth!" "*gasps* Aaron, the oil!"
We ran back over to the footprint trail where we found the oil.
I called Roxie and said, "Roxie, can you analyze the oil from the dirt? We need to know where it came from." "On it."
After a short while, Roxie said, "This oil compound is too advanced for a car. It looks like it came from some kind of...robot?"
"Robot?" Buddy and I said as I ended the call with Roxie.
I then said, "...Something like a robot could be strong enough to open the hood. I say we look for it." "But, Aaron, where do we go from here?"
I said nothing and pointed at the container next to us, and there were small blots of oil on the container.
I used the manipulator to move a heavy tire for us to climb up on top of the container.
When we were on top, I used he techno-tool to pick the lock for the lid on top of the container. We used it to get in.
When we were inside, we found Gabby's car engine, and-
"Aaron, look!"
a robot...That's something you wouldn't see everyday. But hey, yetis exists, so I'm not too surprised.
I went up to the robot and said, "Hey, who are you? And why are you in here?"
The robot replied, "You ask a lot of questions, huh? I'm T.O.B.O.R.. I jumped in here after sustaining some dog-related damage."
This bot's name is just 'robot' spelled backwards; his creator must not have been that creative.
"I only asked two questions. So those were your footprints in the junkyard before you hopped in here. You stole the engine?"
"Yes, under the orders of my master. His name is- *static and glitchy sounds* ERROR!"
"Uh, hold that thought. *turns to Buddy* When Grit bit him, he must've messed up T.O.B.O.R.'s systems. We need to fix him before we interrogate him."
I pulled out the techno-tool and pressed a but feeling unsure, not sure what would happen.
Suddenly a part from the engine flew past Buddy and collided with the tool. So that's how this works.
About four minutes later...
Okay, we got enough parts and went to T.O.B.O.R. and repaired him.
It wasn't the easiest thing to do, I never worked on a robot before.
I did manage to fix him though.
Buddy then asked T.O.B.O.R., "All fixed, pal! Now, who's your master, again?"
"My master is Dr. F., who owns the lab on top of the hill."
"Dr. F.?" Buddy and I said. Like Mr. F.? "I'll have to go see him and talk to him."
"You'll have to enter the passcode. It's '01000110'."
That's 'F' in binary code, just thought I'd say that.
So, T.O.B.O.R. as ordered by Dr. F to take the engine.
"We found the engine, and we have the code for the lab. Nice. Let's go tell Gabby."
Buddy and I got out of the container and went to Gabby at the junkyard entrance.
"Gabby, we found out who stole the engine." Buddy said.
"You did?! Who?"
"The scientist on the hill, Dr. F.," I said, He ordered a robot to steal it. Right now, it's sitting in that cargo container."
"Oh. Well, thanks. Ol' Gabby'll have to get around ta movin' it...sometime..."
As we left, we saw T.O.B.O.R. coming out of the container, and head to the lab that was up on the hill behind the junkyard.
How did we miss it? I have no idea. But that doesn't matter.
Time to ask Dr. F. a question or two.