The Nano Empire
Chapter 2: The New Arrival
It was one in the morning when Jenny had suddenly got an alert from her inbuilt Comm-Link wirelessly connected to the Sky Patrol's Atmospheric Satellite orbiting the earth. Jenny then sighed irritably since she has school later on, so she accessed the Satellite Camera on her Comm-Link Screen, unintentionally waking up Leo's Spark. He then drowsily flew onto Jenny's left shoulder, swaying side-to-side in fatigue, complete with sagged marks under his dilated eyes and making a soft, low kazoo tone to sound like groaning.
Jenny then turned away from the screen for a moment and said apologetically in a whisper "Sorry if I woke you, sweetie, but I got an alert from the Sky Patrol's Satellite in earth's orbit." Leo's Spark looked up at Jenny and made a few low toned kazoo noises, which Jenny understood immediately as "No need to be sorry, Jen-Bear." Jenny then made a small smile and pecked Leo's Spark softly, getting both of them to blush, when the latter looked at the screen and made a questionable kazoo sound.
Jenny then turned to the screen and saw what looks like a meteor at first glance; after zooming the camera manually, she and Leo's Spark saw it was a small shuttle, but much more advanced than Cluster-Made equipment. Jenny then rubbed her chin and asked "What do you think, Leo? A little bit of Deja-vu or something else?" Leo's Spark, who looked more awake now, darted to the open window and gestured to Jenny to investigate more closely, which Jenny agreed with her boyfriend's proposition.
She then puts away her Comm-Link Screen and dove through the open window before using her Flight protocols as Leo's Spark hovered next to her. It was a moment after when they witnessed the High-Tech Shuttle falling in a ball of fire towards an abandoned field just out of Tremorton's City Limits. When they heard the unmistakable sounds of a heavy crash, Jenny said with widened optics "We should check if the occupants, if any, survived the crash." Leo's Spark then nodded with an agreed harmonica tone, before they flew towards the crash site.
Meanwhile, the suspect began to stir awake after a turbulence problem got him to hit his head hard on the console after entering the Earth's orbit. He then groaned through gritted metallic teeth as he felt his forehead with his left hand; he then heard a loud noise he wasn't accustomed to, but felt it wasn't a good sign. He then frantically looked around and saw a rectangular hatch in the back, since the side door is too badly damaged to open safely. He then attempted to lift the lever to open the hatch, when it suddenly snapped off from the hinges, much to his annoyance. He then said while sitting on the floor to kick the hatch open "Oh give me a break already…" He then kicked the hatch firmly, hitting it with a *Clang!* on each impact, before it popped open after the fourth kick.
The suspect then slid down the hatch onto the dirt, before crawling out through a small space between the rear of the shuttle and the levelled ground. As he emerged from the crashed shuttle, he found himself in a field a mile or two from a city he's never seen before. His attention then turned to the same sound he heard a minute ago and saw a narrow cone of light approaching his position, before realising it was a searchlight from a helicopter. Feeling that he should probably leave the area, he rushed to a cluster of oak trees on his left and hid behind a rather thick trunk before leaning his back on it.
He then caught his breath, before he suddenly realised a problem: He can't remember what happened before the crash and he knew it must be vital. He then looked down and thought, with his optics quivering in suspense "I must have acquired Amnesia during when I was entering the planet's orbit… How am I supposed to recall what happened before the crash?" When he heard some ground vehicles enter the area, he peered around the trunk and saw that a few ground vehicles had mounted Plasma Turrets. Seeing that he's pretty much outmatched, he silently left the area unnoticed and went to the disused Industrial District of Tremorton.
Seconds later, Jenny and Leo's Spark entered the vicinity of the Crash Site and saw a squad of Sky Patrol soldiers already on the scene. Seeing that she helped before with Leo's Crash Site, Jenny landed on the ground gently and approached the advanced shuttle. The staff member on-site, who happens to be the Head Researcher for the Sky Patrol, approached Jenny and said warmly "Pleased to make your acquaintance, Jenny Wakeman. I was just about to contact you, in case you were asleep, but I'm glad I didn't have to."
Although Jenny wasn't sure a call from the Head Researcher would be better than a call from her Comm-Link Alert, she personally reasoned herself that she would reply to the call either way. The Head Researcher then said while readjusting his glasses "Now, I don't blame you for wanting to return to bed… heck, I'm not even forcing you to stay on-site, but I wouldn't object to another pair of helping hands with assessing this remarkable piece of craft." Feeling that she might as well check it out, admittedly in part of curiosity, Jenny consented to help out with the investigation.
The Head Researcher then noticed a sentient spark looking at the shuttle curiously, before Jenny turned her attention to Leo's Spark. She then told him "Hey Leo? I'm sorry to leave you like this, but I need to help with the investigation. Would you be okay to be by yourself for a few minutes?" Leo's Spark reluctantly agreed to Jenny's request, seeing that he was splintered into many pieces, before Jenny stroked him softly and pecked him gracefully.
She then went with the Head Researcher, who inquired about the sentient spark, when Leo's Spark looked to the right and saw a subtle, but recent footpath in the grass leading to a cluster of Oak trees. Having a notion that whoever or whatever had left the area recently, he followed the footpath to a thick Oak Tree Trunk, before following more footsteps towards the disused Industrial District.
Over at the abandoned Coal Plant, the suspect entered it through a broken window after seeing the double metal doors are too rusted to open even an inch. He then moved from the reception area to the main room, where he saw mostly everything inside is either damaged beyond repair or corroded beyond use.
As he noticed an exit on the intact catwalk above, he accidentally turned on the furnace and tripped over a hunk of hardened coal onto a conveyer belt. He then gritted his metallic teeth in both pain and embarrassment, when a large bucket of coal the size of basketballs dumped onto him, pinning him down as he was being moved to the active furnace.
Back outside, Leo's Spark followed the recently left footprints to the Coal Plant, when he saw a plume of smoke coming out of the middle smoke stack of the recently active building. He then heard the noise of a cry for help inside the building and darted through the same window that the suspect entered the building with. He then entered the Furnace Room and saw a heap of large bundles of coal slowly moving on a conveyer belt towards the only active furnace, when he saw some movement underneath and realised it was the occupant and that he was in danger of being melted into slag.
Seeing that he was too small to deactivate the furnace, Leo's Spark looked around for something to close the furnace hatch, when he saw a hook suspending just above it. He then darted and looked around for something to lower it, as the suspect yelled through the coal pinning him down "Someone there? Please help me… I could really use a hand!" Leo's Spark then found the spool and looked on either side to see that the wall mounts holding the spool in place is critically corroded.
With a look of determination, Leo's Spark tackled the right corroded wall mount and it flew right off the beam; as the right wall mount came off, the left one came off easily due to the increased pressure. Without the wall mounts to secure it, the spool fell down onto the opened furnace hatch and shut it tight, with the left wall mount hitting a switch that turned off the furnace. Feeling pleased on his feat, Leo's Spark darted over to the pile of coal that the victim was under and helped him push off some larger hunks of coal until he managed to free himself.
The first thing the suspect saw was a floating spark looking back at him in concern, but instead of feeling embarrassed to be rescued by an intelligent spark, he felt grateful for its timely arrival. He then said to the spark "Thank you so much for saving me, little guy… Another minute and I would've been slag." Leo's Spark closed his eyes happily, pleased to help out another robot in need, even though this one was significantly different to him or Jenny.
His attention was then diverted to the imprinted marks on the victim's left arm, which he squinted his dilated eyes into a horizontal leer and made a set of focused, low harmonica notes that said "Z… X… 1." The victim looked at the Spark in astonishment, before he looked more clearly at the imprinted ZX-1 on his left arm, when he felt something clicked in his head. He then had a brief flashback on a room filled with high tech equipment and robots like him staring at him from outside of a container, before he came back to his senses.
Leo's Spark then made a few, mid-toned harmonica notes that ZX-1 understood as "Is everything alright, man?" ZX-1 nodded slightly at the Spark, before he asked the intelligent Spark "If I may, what's your name?" Leo's Spark responded by saying in a medium and low kazoo note, which ZX-1 understood as the word "Leo." ZX-1 then closed his eyes with a small smile at making a new friend, even though it was only a single spark, when they heard a loud smash and heavy metal torn off.
They then turned their head to the direction where the entrance is and saw a pair of robotic hands folding the deeply corroded doors like 2 halves of an accordion, before Jenny steps into the room with a few Sky Patrol soldiers right behind her. Leo's Spark then made 2 high tones harmonica notes, which both robots present understood right away as 2 words "Jen-Bear!" Jenny then looked at Leo's Spark and said right away "Lee-Bee!" She was then affectionately nuzzled on her right cheek by Leo's Spark, who has his eyes closed with a harmless crackle of electricity, which ZX-1 smiled warmly at the sight of a cute relationship between a robot and her little spark.
A Sky Patrol rookie then aimed his rifle at ZX-1, believing him to be a potential threat to Earth, when Leo's Spark stopped right in front of the rifle barrel with a defiant look and shook horizontally. Jenny then took the rifle from the Rookie Soldier and removed the loaded magazine, saying in an angry tone "Don't shoot yet! There wasn't a statement yet! And furthermore, do NOT shoot what's left of my boyfriend!" The Rookie Soldier is surprised that Jenny would defend a single spark from a spray of bullets, but decided to stand down until he hears ZX-1's statement.
Leo's Spark then whizzed over to Jenny's right shoulder and closed his eyes in affection, before Jenny looked at ZX-1 in a 'Tell us what you know' look. ZX-1 then said "I'm sad to say that I can't recall what happened before I crash landed… I must've gained Amnesia when I entered Earth's orbit and some turbulence caused the shuttle to make a violent jerk and I must've been knocked out in the process." Although it was still up to debate whether he could be a potential threat, Jenny, Leo's Spark and the Sky Patrol Squadron believed that he wasn't lying on recently being Amnesiac; after all, the first tests of re-entry into Earth's atmosphere supports his statement.
After giving his designation number away willingly, ZX-1 is sent to the Sky Patrol Headquaters to test whether he has power and abilities like Jenny; despite the initial suspicion, ZX-1 knew that they had decently strong security from outside threats, so he agreed willingly. Although she felt that her mother should assist in the testing, maybe even analysing the hardware, Jenny knew that there was a day and night staff at the HQ. ZX-1 then held his hands behind his head and went with the Sky Patrol to be examined and tested thoroughly, before waving Jenny and Leo's Spark goodbye.
Knowing that the Sky Patrol R&D team aren't taking him apart to examine and test, Jenny and Leo's Spark darted back home and re-entered Jenny's Bedroom. When Jenny slumped onto a pillow, Leo's Spark rested on the Pusheen Plush and looked at Jenny romantically; Jenny then looked at Leo's Spark and blew a kiss at him, which Leo's Spark responded with love hearts as his eyes. They then shared a soft giggle, before they looked at each other in deep affection and drifted off to sleep.