Toby groaned wandering the junkyard. The dead parts of billions of different robots surrounding him. Floating high in the night sky was Metro city. A literal shining beacon of light.
He couldn't have been out for more then an hour, after being blasted by the most advanced airship in the fleet. The Spirit of Freedom was the most massive, and heavily armed, battleship there was. A single blast should have been enough to obliterate him, but somehow he not only survived but he was in perfect health.
It had hurt but it did absolutely no damage. It did knock him out for a little while but not very long, by the look of the night sky. Guess being a robot had its advantages.
Looking around Toby bit his bottom lip to stop the tears from flowing. His dad, or rather the person he thought was his dad... his 'designer' would be more accurate. That thought caused a tear to fall and the escape of one broke the way for the flood. He had to stop for a moment to collect himself, choking back the tears and rubbing his wet eyes. So he could produce tears, good to know.
His dad had kicked him out of the house. The man didn't want him. He made him to replace his dead son. What kind of person would even think of something like that? After Toby proved he was not like the human boy, the man classified him as a failed experiment.
Toby wasn't good enough... no not Toby. Toby was the human child that tragically died. He was just a robot programmed with that boy's memories... he didn't have a name...
The robot went back to wandering aimlessly. He saw a few barely operational robots, in the junkyard, but for the most part they were reduced to nothing but scrap.
The human him never thought about what happened to the robots after they were decommissioned. Would he care about this place? Would it affect him the same way it did the little robot Toby?
Orrin was lucky. As a home service droid he'd be kept operational for years. Toby remembered the day his dad got Orrin after getting rid of their previous robot. Toby's friend and caretaker, since the boy was born, was turned off so casually and the delivery men took him away after activating Orrin.
The human Toby got on his bike and road out into the street, to get away from his unforgivable father. He ended up getting hit by a car and spent about a month in the hospital. The medical robot said he was lucky, if the car had been going just a little bit faster he'd be dead. The little robot imagined dad would have just made himself a new son then, and this version of robot Toby wouldn't be here.
Still... even though it had all been so traumatic, the human Toby eventually forgot about his long time friend. Then started playing with Orrin, well more like messing with Orrin. Human Toby was so mean to Orrin, because he didn't want to get attached to him like he had to the first robot. His father's lesson had been hard, painful even before the crash, but it worked.
Robot Toby, before he was told he was just a machine, had felt different about it, after waking up. He saw how Orrin was reacting to him. The robot was... scared of him. Was human Toby such a terror? Robot Toby decided he should try to fix that, actually playing with his robotic house keeper and nanny. He tried his best to be nice well still enjoying himself in the fun, which wasn't hard but might have been for human Toby.
Robot Toby knew something was wrong the moment he woke up. He felt weird, as if the very way he felt things was different. His very skin responded to the feel of his blanket differently, probably because he was feeling with sensors now but he didn't know that at the time.
He still had all his old memories, and knew how he used to perceive them, but it was like he was looking at them all more objectively. Like he had been watching someone else's life, turns out he was... Was he here?... Toby's old friend that he technically never met? Was he just a few worthless parts in one of the mountain high piles of scrap?
Toby sighed, everything he thought seemed to depress him even more. He should just find a place to sleep and hope tomorrow was better. He could make a life for himself here if he tried. Maybe he could try repairing some of these damaged robots. There was definitely enough spare parts for him to help the survivors.
There was some kind of bizarre sound off in the distance, a mechanical groaning wheezing. Maybe Toby should start his life as a mechanic now, and help whoever was making that sound. He hopped up into the air and his red boots folded in. Flames of the rockets in his legs blasted him forward. Flying was easy once he got the hang of it.
The sound faded but Toby kept up his speed. He flew all the way until he saw a blue phone booth. As the door opened, Toby ducked behind a pile of scrap on instinct. Turning off his rockets, he hid as silently as he could, and stealthily peeked out.
There was a young man, about 25, seen stepping out of the box. He was wearing a dark Victorian suit, with a bowtie, top hat, and carrying a cane.
Another man stepped out... an odd looking man. He looked... kind of like a human potato. He was bald and short with a thick neck to the point that it may or may not exist and potato brown skin... Three fingers? He was wearing a dark suit with some kind of blue armor underneath, which revealed what little neck there was.
The first man was already far off in the distance, where the potato man quickly followed, leaving the door wide open.
Toby bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't but he was always too curious for his own good. Looking to make sure the men were gone he slowly walked over to the box.
"OH MY GOD!" Toby screamed seeing inside the box.
There was a whole other world in there! Toby ran around the box but it couldn't be larger then your average phone booth. Gaping he hesitantly stepped inside looking around the giant room hidden in the small box.
Toby couldn't stop himself, his feet moved on their own, while his eyes darted around. His mouth a gape, and his mind too stunned to think. He was in some kind of control room.
"This... this is impossible," Toby gaped. "It's bigger on the inside!"
"So I've been told," Toby jumped turning around to see bowtie guy with Potato man. "You see," Bowtie glared at potato, "this is why you make sure you close the door!"
"H-hey," Toby hesitantly waved. "I didn't mean to snoop but... are you guys aliens?"
"What gave you that idea?" Bowtie sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Well it doesn't really take a genius to figure out this is a space ship," Toby stated, looking at the controls. "and well... him." He pointed at the Potato man.
"He's seen too much, shell I destroy him now?" Said Potato.
Toby's eyes widened, great HOSTILE aliens! He quietly did a scan of them and gulped. Bowtie may look human, but his biology was completely different. He had two hearts! Along with a few organs Toby never saw before.
"Strax," Bowtie sighed again either speaking alien gibberish or Potato's name, "Shut up." Bowtie looked over at Toby. His eyes closely studied the boy. "Besides I don't think you could make a dent in little Astro."
"Astro? Is... is that the name of the ship," Toby dared to speak, was Bowtie worried killing him would get blood on the rug? Not that Toby had blood... and there wasn't exactly a rug, either.
"No," Bowtie said shortly, walking further in. He casually took off his coat and threw it on one of the railings, along with his hat and cane.
"What then?" Toby stood firm, ready to defend himself, but Bowtie walked right passed him, and started fiddling with the controls.
"Run along little robot, I'm busy."
"No, not if... not if your part of some invasion force," Toby declared.
"I'm retired," Bowtie assured.
"So you used to invade people?"
"I never invaded anyone," Bowtie glared. "Well maybe the Daleks... and the Cybermen... then there was that one time with the- no I've never invaded anyone who didn't attack first, and I find it insulting you assume I'm the bad guy."
"S-sorry," Toby blushed.
"I'd expect better from a synthetic lifeform."
"Well... in my defense he did threaten to 'destroy' me a few seconds ago," Toby pointed at Potato.
"Oh just ignore him." Bowtie waved off. "His species is far too closed minded to think anything else."
"Huh... so... you were a soldier?" Toby asked walking up next to the alien.
"Once... a long time ago," Bowtie looked so sad as he thought about it.
"I'm Toby, what's your name?"
Bowtie examined the boy a moment, as if debating something in his head, "I'm the Doctor."
"Doctor Who?"
Bowtie smiled a sweetly sad smile as he remembered something. He definitely wasn't acting like a 25 year old, more like an old man who's seen far too much. Maybe he was, no telling if aliens aged the same way humans did. he could be in his 80s for all Toby knew. "Just 'The Doctor'."
Toby smiled back, "Even aliens gotta have names."
"Most do, but names for my people are very precious. We don't share them often."
"Huh," Toby accepted. "Soooo... what are you doing in a junk yard."
"I could ask you the same question."
"... my... my designer said... he doesn't... he doesn't want me anymore so," Toby paused to shrug, "here I am."
The Doctor groaned as if he should have known that, then immediately (and in no stealthy fashion whatsoever) changed the subject.
"Retirement is rather boring, so I came to this world to collect a few parts. Don't know what I'm building yet but that will come to me when I find the right parts. Planet Metro... Just outside, or under really with the whole giant floaty island in the sky bit, Metro City is the largest scrap heap of mechanical parts in the galaxy. Everything here is useful and precious if someone where to take the time to care for them." Toby got a sneaky suspicion the Doctor was talking about him now.
"... need any help?"
"A bit," The Doctor confessed. "If you find anything feel free to come by tomorrow night and show it off."
"Sure!" Toby grinned as the Doctor stepped away from the controls and headed out the door. Toby quickly ran passed him. "I'll look around and bring back anything I find," he promised, jumping into the air and activating his rockets. "See you tomorrow," he declared and flew off.
"Tomorrow," The Doctor whispered.