A/N – Well, I've seen the five new Teen-Bot episodes, and I breathed a huge sigh of relief. There wasn't really any major idea or fact presented that torpedos the rest of my plot. And returning characters, like Mogg and Smytus, are more or less as I expected they would be (I might have to make Smytus less of a buffoon, though). There were a few episodes that touched on ideas I'm using in this story, like Jenny worrying she's become obsolete. But I won't worry about it. And on the plus side, I think the Season Two episodes are funnier than your average Season One episode. Well, as you noticed, Chapter Nine was a bit of a breather, albeit an angst-filled one. Now we start to heat things up again …
Countdown to Mindshatter
A "My Life as a Teenage Robot" Fanfic
Chapter Ten – Return to the Iron Planet
The sun had set on the Starship Camp many hours ago, but the onsite science team was still hard at work, coming up with last-minute ideas to bolster the Earth's defenses. One batch of scientists was doing last-minute work on the captured Cluster spaceships, to get them ready for combat. Another team was still trying to salvage useful intelligence from the starship's main computer core. And then there was the secondary tent towards the back of the camp, where pieces of fantastic, broken machinery were scattered about the floor like an indoor scrap yard. Dr. Plink was sifting through the fragmented remains of his nano-slurry cannon, muttering and babbling to himself as he re-arranged the parts into different, bizarre configurations. And he was showing off a new set of hastily-prepared blueprints to his unimpressed colleague, Dr. Mogg.
"Mmm-hey-hey, it's so obvious, Phinneas!" blurted Plink, his glasses nearly launching off of his bulb-shaped face. "If we just add a Bunsen De-flange-ulator here, and a subatomic discombobulator here … glahh … wrap it up good 'n' tight with some duct tape, mount it on top of a nuclear reactor … we've got ourselves one honey of an anti-proton cannon! POW! Mwa-haww! I call it … the Plinkinator 5000!"
"Mortimer," groaned Mogg, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, "if you fire that thing from the ground, the anti-protons will react with the oxygen molecules in the air. You'll incinerate the entire atmosphere and destroy all life on Earth."
Plink frowned at him and shook his head. "Oh, it's so easy to criticize, isn't it, Phinneas?"
The scientists continued to argue back and forth over the merits of Plink's latest project, when a young corporal poked his head inside the tent flap to interrupt them. "Uh, Doctors? Sorry, but I have someone here to see you …"
"One side, please! Excuse me, sir. Make way, make way. Hot stuff coming through!"
Brad and Tuck burst into the tent like a hurricane, each carrying a stack of pizza boxes and wearing a yellow ball cap that identified them as delivery boys for Torterelli's Pizza. The scientists glanced at each other, dumbfounded, as Brad marched up to their work table and set his pizzas down on a stack of blueprints. Tuck set his down as well, and pulled a receipt out of his pocket. "Okay, that's twelve large pizzas, delivered in under thirty minutes, your total is ninety-four dollars and seventy cents," he said, holding out his little hand. "Unless you have our two-for-one coupon!"
"Wait a minute," said Mogg, suspiciously, "what is all this about? We didn't call for any –"
"I must say, it is very generous of you to order these fine pizza pies for our brave boys in uniform," grinned Brad, as he shook Dr. Mogg's hand enthusiastically. The con was on. "Yessir, not many famous, important scientists like you would take the time to worry about the ordinary guys! The tireless lads working outside the spotlight, doing their part to defend our planet …"
"There's been some sort of mistake," growled an increasingly irritated Mogg. "Nobody here called for –"
"Oh? Did we get the order wrong?" asked Brad, innocently. He opened a box, and let the succulent aroma of hot pizza waft out to quickly fill the tent. "Let's see what we have here … warm, gooey mozzarella cheese, with rich tomato sauce and fresh roasted pepperonis … mmm, would you just look at all those plump, succulent mushrooms …" – he used the lid of the box to fan the aroma in Plink and Mogg's direction – "… and those big fat slices of spicy, juicy sausage … mmmmmmmm …"
A crowd of hungry soldiers had gathered at the door of the tent, and were staring in at the pizzas like ravenous wolves. Neither of the scientists had eaten since lunch; a lake of Pavlovian drool was forming in Plink's mouth as the steam from the pizzas fogged up his glasses. "Oh my sweet glavin, that smells delectable … mwa-haw … oooh, with the garlic bread, and the little tiny peppers that get so hot in your mouth but taste so good, they do … pay the boy, Phinneas, and pass me a napkin! Bwa-haw!"
"We accept all major credit cards," smiled Tuck, thrusting out his chest. "And if you want to talk financing, I can give you some very competitive interest rates …"
"Oh, all right," groaned Mogg, surrendering to the will of the hungry mob. "I suppose we can afford to take a very short break. Dispense with your idiotic tomato and cheese confections, and then get out of here! And be quick about it!"
"We aim to please, sir," said Brad, snapping a brisk salute. There were a pair of long tables in the tent, covered with sensitive diagrams and blueprints, that would be perfect for the impromptu buffet. Brad cleared off all the scientific papers and set them on the floor – then he opened all the pizza boxes, set out the napkins and soda cups, and invited the enthusiastic soldiers into the tent.
"Oh, and don't forget your complimentary soda pop, sir!" Brad unslung a cooler bag that he was wearing like a backpack; he unzipped the bag and set out the free soda – then he winked at Tuck.
That was the signal for Tuck to get Dr. Mogg's attention. "Um, yes, so as I said, that'll be ninety-four dollars and seventy cents. Are you a member of our pizza lover's club? If you sign up tonight, then in only five more deliveries you get a free side order of cheese sticks …"
"I'm not interested," huffed Mogg, still not sure just who had set him up for the classic pizza delivery prank. He figured that it must have been one of his grad students. Or it might even have been Plink himself – he was certainly absent-minded enough to have phoned out for pizza and forgotten about it. The grizzled old scientist grumbled and dug into his lab coat pocket for his wallet …
And didn't notice that Brad had quietly folded up the scientific papers – the ones he'd just cleared off the tables – and stuffed them inside his backpack cooler bag. Brad took a quick look at one of the blueprints, and verified that it read Z-Pack Design Schematics at the top. Bingo, he grinned to himself. Then he noticed a large, handheld scanning device sitting at the end of the table, with a label that identified it as a Z-Scanner. He figured he'd better swipe that too, for good measure – so into the backpack it went. He zipped the pack closed, and swung it onto his back.
"Well, our work here is done," he said – barely heard over the feeding frenzy that had erupted around the pizza tables. He tipped his cap good night to the glowering Dr. Mogg, and the frenetic Dr. Plink, who was hopping around, yelling that he'd just burned the roof of his mouth. Then he grabbed his little brother by the hand, and drug him outside.
Tuck frowned as he thumbed through a wad of money, and shook at fist back at the tent. "You call that a tip?!? Five percent?!? Have you no respect for the working man?!?"
"Cool it, Tuck," hissed Brad, "it's time to make a clean getaway!" He leapt onto his bicycle and pulled Tuck up behind him. Tuck just had time to clutch onto his big brother's vest before the bike lunged forward and accelerated to top speed. The Carbunkle brothers rolled past quiet rows of darkened tents, and columns of jeeps and tanks, and in moments, they had wheeled past the park entrance, waving good-bye to the friendly soldiers guarding at the gate.
Once they were a safe couple of blocks away from the park, Brad unleashed a satisfied laugh into the cool night air. "We did it, Tuck! Of course, there was never any doubt thanks to my ingenious plan. Brad Carbunkle, Master Spy. You know, I think I have a knack for this. I'm gonna talk to the guidance counselor tomorrow morning."
"You do that, double-oh-dumbbell," sneered Tuck, rolling his eyes in aggravation. He took off his bright yellow ball cap, and examined the name stitched onto the front. "It sure was nice of Mr. Torterelli to loan us these ball caps. Let's just get back to his store and pay for the pizzas, and then we can go home and begin our all-night movie marathon!"
"Not quite, Tucker. Our mission isn't over yet." Brad patted the cooler bag strapped to his back. "The whole idea was to sneek a peek at the blueprints for this mysterious Z-Pack gizmo that's got Jenny all bent out of shape. That little Mogg twerp thinks that Jenny is obsolete, but I don't buy that load of hooey for a second. Now, with my razor-sharp intellect and keen deductive abilities, I'm going to study these blueprints, and find the flaw in its design!"
"Uh … telegram from Planet Reality, Brad. You got a C-minus in Physics on your last report card." Tuck smiled a nasty little smile. "You couldn't shave the peach fuzz off your own chin with that razor-sharp intellect of yours.
"Pipe down, runt," growled Brad, "or I'll shave a few years off your expected lifespan." He pumped the pedals faster and faster, speeding the bike down a quiet side road. Then he coasted around a turn, and disappeared over a hill that led back home to the suburbs.
Drew studied the power levels for the curved-space generator, then took speed and position readings from the navigation scope, just as he'd done every ten minutes for the past eight hours. It was completely unnecessary, as the autopilot was doing all the flying through hyperspace, but it helped him become more familiar with the Stealth Wasp's complex cockpit – and it helped him settle his nerves, if only a little. He grew the data screen from his arm again and went over another checklist. If his numbers were correct – and one benefit of becoming an android was that he'd gotten much better at math – then they mere moments from their destination.
"We should be there in five minutes or so," he called over his shoulder. "Give me some good news about the cloaking device. And would you please do it without calling me 'Mister Sulu'."
Sheldon was leaning back in the Silver Shell's command chair, with his feet dangling out of the chest's open hatch, typing up a storm on his keyboards. He'd run cables from the Shell's computers to the network jacks on the back-seat control panels, and had spent a good portion of the flight learning all about the Cluster craft's innermost workings. "Roger dodger! I got this cloaking device all figured out. It really soaks up a lot of power … and I mean, like, a lot of power; that's why you can't use it at the same time as the hyperdrive. It'll work, but we have to wait until we leave hyperspace before we can turn it on."
"Man, that thing better work as advertised," sighed Drew. "I was pretty much counting on being invisible for this. I may be crazy, but I'm not stupid – I have no delusions about heroically fighting my way past any Cluster battleships. Believe me."
Sheldon reached over to a food dispenser mounted next to the Shell's main hydraulic cylinder, and pressed the button labeled Twinkie. A pair of slender robotic arms popped out of the dispenser, quickly removed the plastic wrapper, and popped the yellow snack cake into his waiting mouth. "So, uh … what exactly are we supposed to do once we get there?" he asked, talking while he chewed.
"Well, once we're invisible, we just glide down to the Cluster capital, nice and quiet, and nobody notices us. Hopefully. We land a nice safe distance outside the city, away from the military base, and then make our way in towards the queen's palace. Of course, I expected to be on my own for that." Drew twisted around in his seat, and gave Sheldon a frustrated look. "Look … I wanted to do this alone was because it is so crazy dangerous. That way, if I screw up, I'm the only one who gets hurt. But I also figured – y'know – hey, I'm a shape shifter. If I can get into the city, then I'll be able to blend in with all the other robots. Maybe you ought to stay with the ship, Sheldon."
"Nothing doing, Drew! Why do you think I brought the Silver Shell along?" He smiled proudly and patted the Shell's row of glowing monitors. "As long as I stay in here, nobody will ever suspect I'm not really a robot! Besides, I can help you. Don't forget, I can hack into the Cluster computer networks. And I've actually been inside of Vexus' palace before – you haven't! You know, now that I think about it, it's a good thing for you that I came along!" With a satisfied smile, he punched a button labeled Cherry Soda, and a robotic straw twisted out of the dispenser to squirt bubbly red liquid down his throat.
"Yeah, lucky me," groaned Drew. Just because he was starting to understand Sheldon's Jenny-obsession didn't mean that he wanted to be his buddy all of the sudden. Well, that was beside the point … it looked like this was going to be a two-man rescue mission now. He cradled his forehead and slowly shook his head – until the gurgling sound of an empty soda tank rattled him back to attention. "Uh … do you think it's such a good idea to drink so much of that stuff right before … we … umm …?"
"Not to worry, my good man," grinned Sheldon, "this baby is fully equipped for any situation." He pulled a lever, and a loud swirling flush came from somewhere within the Silver Shell's chest cavity.
A silver-green shudder warbled up Drew's back. "Oh, geeez … dude … I did not need to know that. Man, it's a good thing I can erase my short-term memory banks …"
Then a soft beeping noise chirped from the front control panel. Drew whirled back into the front seat and checked the navigation scope, trying to decipher the still-mysterious symbols. "Hoo boy, I think this might be it. If I'm reading this thing the right way, then Cluster Prime should be just about …"
The roiling clouds of crimson and violet disappeared in a pulse of blinding white light, as if the ship had flown into an explosion of ball lightning. Then a spiraling vortex of energy spawned directly in front of the Stealth Wasp, opening a portal to a realm as deep and dark as a bottomless pit. Drew clenched his teeth and clamped tightly onto the control sticks as a wave of distortion ran through the ship, and he had the faintest sensation of plunging over the edge of a cliff … then everything was calm, and the sky went perfectly dark. Sheldon rubbed his eyes and looked out of the bubble canopy, blinking hard as a swarm of dots swam madly in front of him like drunken fireflies. Then the fireflies settled down, and he realized that he was simply looking out at the stars – they were finally back in normal, ordinary space.
And hanging right in front of them, filling up nearly half of the sky, was an angry rust-red metallic globe, circled by a jagged orange ring … and hundreds of giant warships.
Drew gulped hard, grew an extra set of arms, and frantically toggled switches as the Wasp's control panel lit up in a shrill symphony of alarms. "Holy Smokin'-eyed Moses, we nearly ran right into the dang thing! Shutting the hyperdrive engines down now. Oh, man, there's ships everywhere. Oh Jeez, c'mon Sheldon, c'mon c'mon c'mon, there's like more radars and sensor beams out there than I can even count, c'mon c'mon c'mon, they can see us, they can see us …"
Sheldon was mashing buttons and twisting dials even faster than Drew was. "All right, don't rush me, you're making me nervous! Let's see … reroute the space-curve matrix through the field generator coils and the quantum flux capacitor and … presto!" He tossed a pair of large black-and-yellow levers, and there was an audible whine as the ship's power briefly dipped, then bounced back to normal. A hint of distortion rippled across the stars, but other than that, nothing really seemed to be any different …
Drew was afraid to make a sound as they gently coasted along. "Is it on?" he asked in a whisper.
"The little light above the levers came on," Sheldon whispered back … then he felt his heart leap into his dry, clammy throat. "D-D-Drew … look out your left window …"
A dozen fast-attack Hornet interceptors were swooping up at the Stealth Wasp in perfect formation, their stubby wing-tips loaded with a full compliment of missiles. The sleek interceptors were covered with sharp-edged fins that resembled barbs and stingers, and their noses were tipped with long, pointed blaster cannons that looked capable of delivering a very lethal sting. Drew sat frozen in fear as he watched the Cluster formation glide towards him with stunning grace and speed. It was obvious that they were not going to break off. And he didn't think a Stealth Wasp could outrun twelve interceptors. And it would take almost a minute to charge up the hyperdrive engines again. Well, this certainly was a pretty short rescue mission …
Then the Hornets flashed past them, arrogantly streaking right across their flight path without the slightest concern for the danger they were creating. It was as if … Drew allowed a tiny smile to wiggle onto his face … it was as if they didn't even know we were here.
The boys watched the formation of Hornets recede into the starry background, and it was a few moments before either of them released the breath they were holding. "They didn't see us," Drew whispered. "The crazy thing actually works. Nice job, Sheldon."
"Thanks," he beamed back … then he looked right past Drew, at an amazing sight a few dozen miles off to their port side. "Oh, boy … ulp … would you get a load of that."
Hanging in an assembly area just above the planetary ring was a great swarm of Cluster warships, busily preparing themselves for the upcoming invasion of Earth. Each jaw-droppingly-huge mother ship looked like a giant beetle from some black-and-white horror movie, and was almost as large as the mile-long monster sitting back at the park outside of Tremorton. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of warships were being tended by shuttlecrafts that buzzed back and forth between the fleet and the supply depots that dotted the artificial ring. They were stocking the giant ships' supply holds with oil, fuel, and more drone troops and weaponry than Drew imagined could exist. He let his optical sensors analyze the formation for a good fifteen seconds, and even he couldn't come up with an accurate ship count, such was the activity swirling around the massive fleet.
"There's gotta be a couple thousand of them," gulped Sheldon, feeling both awed and a little afraid. Jenny is supposed to go up against … all of that?!? All by herself?!?
"At least," said Drew, "probably more." They watched the assembling war fleet in silence for a few minutes more, coasting through Cluster-patrolled space with their engines turned off. Then, with the ring and the fleet safely behind them, he turned to face the hulking rust-and-copper world that filled the sky in front of him. A map came up on the navigation screen, and he picked out a landing spot just outside the capital's industrial sector. As he cautiously brought the ship's engines back on-line, the Wasp's sensors showed that the skies above the capital were positively crawling with patrol-drones, Royal Police, and deadly Black Mantis robots. And on top of everything else, thought Drew, I'm not sure that I can even land this thing.
"Y-y-you know, I'm b-beginning to wonder if this was such a good idea," said Drew.
"I-I-I was just th-thinking the same thing," stammered Sheldon.
All she had left to do was process another six hundred and fifty-one inventory updates. Just a small matter of tracking the serial numbers for three million, eight hundred and thirty-six thousand proton blasters, as they were distributed among twenty-two different drone divisions, that were scattered across five hundred and fifty-nine different warships. Compared to what Allison had been put through over the past few days, with all the preparations for the invasion of Earth, it was almost easy. But it still pushed her processors far past their safety limits. She grunted in agony as a workload meant for three LSN units was funneled into her input port, and her processing nodes began to glow like searing hot coals. Then the last calculations were sent out into the ClusterNet, and she felt her mental pathways finally quiet down. She collapsed from her efforts, sagging limply in her web of circuitry, feeling like there wasn't an ounce of power left in her depleted batteries.
"Gasp … pant … heave … so tired …" she moaned aloud, though nobody was there to her hear her. She glanced around at the glowing pathways and hovering orbs of her garish cyberspace surroundings, and sighed with resignation. Over the past four days, she'd managed to catch fleeting glimpses of the outside world from the data streams that roared through her mind. She still had her personality, her memories, and even a sliver of her senses; but her physical body hadn't budged so much as a millimeter. She couldn't access her motor control center at all; those circuits lay outside of the glowing energy sphere that encased her, and she couldn't begin to imagine how she'd ever break through that. She couldn't even pull her virtual hands free from the glowing wires and manacles – why did Vexus need to cage her, too? Talk about overkill! She fully realized now that she was going to spend the rest of her life trapped in her mind-prison, working non-stop until her circuits broke down and turned to dust.
Suddenly, a dull glow manifested in front of her, quickly growing into a swirling cocoon of red polygons. Even in her current miserable state, Allison couldn't help but roll her eyes in annoyance at this latest unwelcome intrusion. Crackles of electricity leapt from the far reaches of the Great Network, merging together to transform the cocoon into a magnificent, regal form. With a final pulse of thought and energy, Queen Vexus took shape directly in front of the energy sphere, and gave the shackled robot girl a wicked, oil-curdling smile.
"Greetings, LSN-1482," purred the robot queen. "Been keeping yourself busy?"
"Oh, great," mumbled Allison, trying not to show her fear. "This is just what I need. You'll forgive me if I don't curtsey, 'Your Majesty'."
"Oh, now don't be like that, my dear," chuckled Vexus, shaking a finger at her. "Especially when I've come to you with such wonderful news!"
Yeah, I'll bet. "Your warranty expired, and you're being turned into a Clustard machine?"
"Ha, ha, ha, haaaa … charming to the last, I see. No, you've been such a good, hard-working little LSN unit, that I've decided to give you a little break, to relax your aching microchips." Vexus clasped her hands together, taunting Allison with mock sympathy. "We can't have you blowing a fuse, or overloading your circuits, now, can we?"
Allison gave the queen a nasty frown. "Gee, I didn't know you cared."
"Well, of course I care, child. I care about the well being of all my robot children."
"Yeah … or maybe you just want to make sure my processors don't overheat and shut down, so you won't be able to keep torturing me."
"Mmmm, now that you mention it, it is a bit toasty in here, isn't it? At least it's a dry heat." Vexus fanned her face with a twisted hand … then gave her prisoner an evil glare that sent shivers through her wiring. "Just remember the old saying, sweetheart. It's not the heat … it's the duplicity. All of this is happening to you because of your treasonous acts against me, and all robotkind! And you will continue to suffer until you come to your senses, and confess to your crimes against the Cluster! Then, and only then, will you be able to rejoin your brothers and sisters, and become one with us once more."
Even though Allison knew it would mean being reprogrammed, perhaps into a completely different, even unrecognizable robot, she was sorely tempted to simply give up and do what Vexus said. Resisting the queen was pointless. And it would put an end to all of this brain-frying agony …
Then she gave her head a shake, and summoned up all of her remaining courage. "Give it a rest, Vexus. I don't have anything to confess, because I haven't done anything wrong! All I did was learn the truth about you, and the way you run things. Jenny showed me what you're really like! If anyone needs to confess to crimes against the Cluster, it's you!"
Vexus heaved her tapered shoulders with a deep sigh; this girl's attitude was becoming as annoying as XJ-9's. "Jennifer has been tainted by living with humans. They've corrupted her programming …"
"Humans have corrupted her programming? Wow, pretty neat trick for a bunch of primitive animals that can't even talk," smirked Allison. "But the truth is, humans aren't primitive at all, are they?" She grinned at her small victory; she'd trapped Vexus in one of her own lies …
And the queen knew it. Fire raged in her eyes. "The truth is whatever I say it is!"
"In other words, whatever lies you tell us." Allison realized she was probably pushing her luck, but she didn't care anymore. "Every night, when all the robots in the Cluster back themselves up. Why do you have to lie to all of us all the time if you're so great and wonderful, huh? Unless Jenny's right, and you're just an evil old robot hag with major control-freak issues."
Amazingly, Vexus did not rip the girl's pump out of her chest on the spot for that insult. "Jenny, much like you, will see things differently once we conquer the Earth," she hissed.
Allison harrumphed, and sneered at the queen through the flickering energy sphere. "She said that you kidnapped her, and were going to reprogram her into a puppet queen to rule the Earth in your name! If the Cluster is so wonderful, why would you have to reprogram her?"
"Now listen to me, you insolent whelp. One teenager's life is meaningless in comparison to the glory of the Cluster!" Vexus clenched her hands into a pair of twisted fists, and the orb above her head seethed with an orange fury. She was building herself to a level of rage that few robots ever lived to talk about. "I will capture that little fool XJ-9, and reprogram her, and you, and as many other robots as it takes to spread my empire to every last star system in this galaxy! My destiny is to reign over every last robot, and enslave every last meat-creature, in the entire universe! My destiny is to become a robotic god! Compared to that, the life of one annoying little robot girl means absolutely nothing. The lives of a million robots mean nothing! If I have to pave the planet Earth with a layer of robot bodies ten feet deep, it means nothing! All that matters is victory! For that is the Cluster's destiny! That is my destiny!"
Allison could feel herself shaking in her bonds. The queen had whipped herself up into a rage that approached insanity. She realized that for the first time, she was seeing the true nature of Vexus. And she suddenly realized something else …
"You're afraid," she said, the words almost falling out of her mouth by accident. Allison grew bolder, and continued. "You're afraid of losing your power. Nothing makes you angrier that the idea of robots making decisions for themselves. Because then, those robots might choose not to follow you. Then you wouldn't be able to control them. And you're terrified of whatever you can't control …"
Vexus had reached her boiling point. She raised a demonic claw high above her head, her barbed fingers glowing a ugly blood-red, and screamed at the top of her voice. "Vexus fears NOTHING!" Allison cringed in her bonds, as the queen's killing blow rained down towards her chest …
There was a hideous flash, and the sizzle of electricity, and the sounds of electronic screeching and howling. Bolts of withering energy crackled around her …
But Allison didn't feel her circuits being shredded to bits. She didn't feel anything at all. She slid an eyelid open with the meekest of whirrs …
And saw the queen hovering in front of the energy sphere, rubbing her claw … as if she was in agony.
Allison couldn't believe it. Stupefied, she watched Vexus swing her deadly claws at her again – and the instant the queen's hand touched the energy sphere, its surface exploded into a frenzy of defensive activity. White-hot bolts of lightning screamed out of the sphere and ran into the queen's arm, shaking the mighty Vexus back and forth like a rag doll in a dog's mouth. The evil queen grimaced and ground her teeth together, her eyes brimming with hatred and pain. She ripped her claws into the sphere again, and again, and again, attacking like a crazed animal. But none of her blows penetrated the energy sphere. They hadn't even damaged it – although now the eddies of energy and computer code flowing on its surface seemed tinged with a familiar green color …
"You can't get through it," said Allison, slack-jawed with wonder. "The energy sphere … it's not here to keep me from getting out, is it? It's here … it's here to keep you from getting in."
Vexus rubbed her hands dejectedly, annoyed both with this infuriating LSN unit, and with herself for losing her cool in front of the robot girl. "I'm afraid these little get-togethers are growing rather boring, my dear Allison. And I have so many things to get done before the invasion fleet leaves for Earth … so I really must be off. Once the invasion and colonization is complete, there will be plenty of time to remove your electronic brain, dispose of it in the nearest recycling furnace, and have a more reliable model installed. Good-bye, foolish girl."
And then the queen was gone, in a virtual whirlwind of crimson polygons. Allison stared once more at the flickering sphere of computer code that surrounded her, still in a state of wonderful shock. It wasn't a prison; it was a protective cage! Was this why Vexus hadn't assimilated her yet? Because she couldn't?!? But that was impossible, wasn't it? After all, there wasn't a robot in the entire universe that could resist assimilation by the almighty Queen Vexus!
Well, that's not quite right, she smiled to herself. There's one.
Continued in Chapter Eleven / Thirteen Hours to Cluster Dawn
