I woke up the next day with the covers practically thrown over the bed and my plug yanked from the outlet. My immediate assumption was a nightmare but…I was a robot…and… Did robots…have dreams here?

Wait. Here?

Were there other places?

Surely there were. There had to be. Cluster Prime was one little planet in a massive, possibly limitless universe. For a short moment I wondered if any robots—from Cluster Prime, assuming there were any other robots elsewhere—had traveled off planet before, and if they still did.

It would be kind of interesting to know more about my home.

And part of me also wanted to know about my accident. What could have possibly been horrible enough to batter me into hospitalization, at death's doorstep, and wipe my memory to add salt to the wound.

…Salt. What was…salt?

It…was…i-it was… It was on the tip of my tongue, that's what it was… I knew salt was a real word but where did I hear it from and why was I remembering that but not what it actually was?

Another question for Vega…perhaps.

As if on cue, I heard light knocking on the gargantuan doors echoing throughout the nearly empty room. It wasn't too loud but the room's bad acoustics made it loud enough to startle me.

"Yes?" I called—once more the room's acoustics making the sound echo.

Perhaps it didn't echo yesterday because the doors were open? Now it was just a huge, barren space.

"Jenny? Are you up yet?" It was Vega.

"Oh…yeah, I'll be right out."

I was thankful to still feel so energized. I shouldn't have been much lower than a full charge last night but somehow I was. I was probably at…maybe, 70%? I had also been under a great deal of stress yesterday. A lot of shock and knowledge I had to take for face value. Forced into trusting the word of someone that in my mind, I'd never once seen before. Maybe my brain used a crazy amount of processing power to register everything being thrown at me so suddenly and that was what had been draining my batteries.

I got out of bed and reeled my plug back in, deciding to ask important questions only scarcely throughout the day, between intervals so I wouldn't overwhelm myself. I was sure Vega already knew I had a lot of questions to ask. I was sure she was prepared for an interrogation.

I opened the door to see Vega patiently waiting for me, casually leaning against the wall.

"Good morning," I said.

"Morning, Jenny!"

She seemed so perky and cheerful. I…didn't think I could be that way right now.

"Are, uh…are you okay, Jenny? You look a little…erm…down," Vega commented.

"I guess…I-I just have a lot of questions, that's all. I'm fine though," I replied truthfully.

"Are you feeling better today? Hopefully recharged—Oh, was the bed comfortable? I hope you didn't have any trouble sleeping…" Her voice trailed off and she chuckled at her own words. "I don't even know what I'm saying, we can just power off, enter sleep mode, whenever."

Well…maybe she could but I obviously couldn't. I still didn't know why but I was positive it had something to do with stress. Maybe deep down I didn't want to power off. Maybe what I really wanted was to continue thinking about the day and absorbing so much information. Even being friends with royalty was a huge shock. How did that even happen? How did I not know she was the princess of Cluster Prime? Of my home? Was I just ignorant?

"Vega—"

"Oh, how could I be so stupid!" She smacked her forehead. "You must be starving!"

Starving…?

I suddenly became aware that I was running low on fluids. My body needed maintenance. I was only just now receiving those signals.

Vega grabbed my hand and excitedly pulled me through a series of hallways in this enormous palace.

"Just wait until you see the kitchen!" she said. "And after we refill, I can show you the most relaxing room in the entire palace! A spa built specifically for robots like us!"

Robots like us? Were we in a certain category? Were all robots classified? What class…did I—we—fall into?

"We can spend as much time as you want getting pampered, taken care of, having fun…" she continued.

I didn't feel much like having fun…or getting pampered. I wanted to learn. I wanted to go to school. I wanted to meet my other friends and my peers. I had asked what I was like but I hadn't asked what they were like. Surely they were fun too, why didn't she mention hanging out with them? Or at least including them.

Ugh…my arm… All the pulling felt unnatural, like my arm simply didn't want to be messed with right now. I blamed my injuries.

She finally arrived at another room. More huge doors, but behind them was far from another empty room. This time there were robots I didn't recognize. Some were the ones that still looked like beetles, this time dressed in white button-up coats and flitting around behind a long counter. Others were robots with more similar designs to Vega and me. Two arms, two legs…mostly. Some were on wheels.

"Oh, right, sorry…" Vega mumbled. "I-I keep the kitchen open to other robots. Homeless ones. They have needs too."

Robots…like me?

"Yullon!" she called. "Two rounds of synth when you get the chance."

Synth…? Oh, synthetic oil. That sounded pretty good.

Her voice captured the attention of every robot in the room. Anyone who hadn't noticed me before noticed me now. More than a few had a look of terror. Vega seemed to ignore it but I couldn't, not as the object of their fear. As if I didn't already have enough questions, now this begged another one—why were they scared? What did I do?

"Surely you all remember Jenny," Vega said, a slight passive aggression in her voice.

I slowly waved a hello to all these strangers.

One, more nervous-looking robot nearly panicked as he breathed, "Th-That's…XJ-9…"

Maybe he thought I didn't hear it but I absolutely did. I was probably fine on fluids for now. I didn't want to be here anymore.

I turned back, disregarding Vega asking me where I was going, and left the kitchen completely. The doors were supposed to close behind me but Vega rushed through them at the last second and grabbed one of my shoulders to hold me back. Honestly, I didn't know where I was going in this place, but the plan now was to be gone from here. Vega's hospitality was appreciated but I obviously wasn't welcome.

"Don't worry about them," Vega said. Maybe I was imagining it but she sounded very worried. "You should stay here. With me."

"Why?" I muttered.

"I'm your friend and you don't have anywhere else to go," she answered. "It's best for everyone if you just stay here right now."

I didn't even have it in me to argue with her. Besides, if my home was truly gone then I really didn't have anywhere else to go. I didn't know anyone else… Even if I came across my other friends I knew I wouldn't recognize them.

"Okay," I sighed. "Let's just…not go back in the kitchen right now. I don't need oil that bad."

"Of course," she agreed. "We can go back tonight if you want. Everyone's usually gone by then."

I nodded and added, "Maybe we can go to that spa you were talking about."

She seemed to perk right back up at that. "Yeah! I almost forgot about that! You're going to love it!"

I highly doubted that but maybe I could have some other questions answered while we were…well…what did robots get pampered with?

"Oh, right. Um…m-my arm is a little stiff…" I mumbled before she yanked me around again.

She hummed curiously and I held the afflicted arm out. She looked it over and hummed again, this time knowingly.

"Some parts of you probably aren't used to much movement yet. You were in the same position for months," Vega reminded me. "I think it's normal but I'll have one of my mechanics check it out to be sure. Come on."

She didn't grab the stiff arm, she grabbed the other one instead. I hoped this arm wouldn't get stiff too. It would be really uncomfortable to have both arms practically useless until they realized they needed to wake up.

Once more I was led through a whole maze just to get to a single room. This one looked oddly similar to a hospital, but didn't have any charging stations and was filled with numerous tools of all shapes and sizes. I only recognized them generically—wrenches, a malformed jackhammer, a mallet… So many things with the same purpose: repair.

Vega called over one of the…what, four?…mechanics working there. This one was one of the robots with designs more like mine than a beetle guy. He was more brown and less orange than Vega though.

"My good friend here hurt her arm," Vega explained. "She went to the hospital but she says it still feels stiff. You think you could take a quick look?"

The robot—a buff, burly one I might add—took one glance and froze.

Alright. That was it. The butler, the kitchen, the citizens, and now the mechanic? I had to nip this in the bud before it somehow managed to get any worse… Assuming it could…

"Hi, sir!" I politely greeted him. "It's very nice to meet you."

I extended a hand but it required a commanding look from Vega for him to take it. I shook it with a smile but no friendly gestures, words, or tones of voice were going to simply "nip" this. The robot was only following orders from his queen…nothing else.

"Is…this…" he started, struggling just to speak to me—at least, that was how I was interpreting this situation.

Maybe…with some small amount of luck…he was just nervous because Vega was watching…

"Oh, yes, um, this is the one," I answered, using my free arm to motion to the one he still held.

He hummed as Vega had earlier and let me go in seconds.

"One of your screws needs replacing," he said. "It's deformed. Creates friction in the joints."

"Could you kindly fix it for her please?" Vega asked.

The robot reluctantly agreed and walked off behind a shelf case. I heard metal rattling around moments after.

"Vega," I said, "does that robot have anything against me?"

She playfully scoffed. "You're one of the nicest robots I know. Don't take it personally, he tends to be pretty shy."

"What about the ones in the kitchen? They—"

"Jen, come on, do you know how many cans of diesel they've had the night before? Makes 'em super paranoid."

Jen… Jen sounded familiar, but a strange kind of familiar. Like only a very select few people ever called me that. Was Vega one of them?

I had no choice but to trust her about the shy guy and diesel-bots. Even though Vega herself had seemed a tad on edge at the hospital, at least she would bother herself with me. She was kind to me. She talked to me. She was excited to hang out with me. She took care of me. Vega met my mental checklist of what a friend would typically act like so I was truly hoping everything she said was completely accurate. No lies, no half-truths.

The mechanic came back holding a shiny new screw and I kept my arm straight in front of me.

One of his four fingers popped into his hand and was quickly replaced by a screwdriver. He jumped when I did—I didn't know robots could suck in their body parts like that.

"It's okay, Jenny," Vega assured me. "He's a great mechanic, he'll be gentle."

I smiled uncomfortably and tried not to focus on the finger-screwdriver that was now turning by itself to unscrew my deformed screw. He was gentle but even if he had been rougher, that wouldn't have been the part the freaked me out.

I noticed the shape of the screw he had pulled out as he put the new one in. It was badly damaged. The actual screw looked fine but the head was bent and looked like it had started to melt at one point before cooling again. Perhaps…I had been in a fire. Maybe that was what my accident was.

"All done," he said. "Have a good day."

He seemed eager to get back to work and I was a little eager to get out myself, too. Vega must've sensed this in both of us because she thanked the "shy" mechanic and escorted me back out. I waved a thank-you over my shoulder but he already had his back turned to me.

Probably for the best.

"Does your arm feel better?" Vega asked.

I moved it around just to be sure and nodded. Felt just like the other one.

"Vega, can I—"

"Oh! Hold that thought, Jenny! I want to show you something first!"

"But the spa—"

"It's on the way, don't worry."

I was getting a little tired of being interrupted and dragged around everywhere but hopefully this was the last pit stop. And at least my arm was better now.

Vega led me to a completely different room. A bedroom, this time, but not my guest room. It was garnished with various portraits and paintings and upon first glance I assumed this room belonged to Vega. Then I realized that the portraits weren't of Vega. They depicted a weird…eh…another bug…beetle thing? She largely had the same colorations as Vega, give or take a hint of green. She reminded me of…someone I knew. I couldn't place my finger on it though.

"You two were sort of like rivals," Vega explained. "Do you have any memory of this robot at all?"

I couldn't get rid of the confused look on my face.

"It's true I played a big part in dethroning my mother," she continued, "but you did too. All of Cluster Prime knows the story of the evil Queen Vexus. And…by extension…they all know the story of Jenny."

"Me…?" I breathed. "I took down your mom…?"

"Well…y-yes but, um, it was for a good cause!" she said. I sensed the panic in her voice. "And I was on your side the whole time, I helped you do it!"

"Did…I kill her…?"

"What, no! My mom was banished from Cluster Prime. Once the robots found out how deceptive and manipulative she was, they wouldn't tolerate her anymore. They elected me to be the new queen."

"But you still lost your mom…"

"Well…I mean…you're not exactly wrong but I've made my peace with that. She's still out there somewhere. One day, if and when she realizes what she did and how terrible it was, maybe she'll come back and apologize to her people. If that day comes, I'll let them decide if she's allowed to stay. They were just as much a victim as us."

"Why was I the only one fighting with her though? Why didn't I try to tell everyone else she was bad?"

At first Vega looked uncomfortable, then thoughtful, like she was searching for a way to soften the blow. If there was a blow to be dealt…

"It's really hard to explain but you weren't in the best position to tell us that. You knew we trusted our queen too much, we would never have listened to you."

Oh…well, that would make sense…

"Anyway, Jenny, after we teamed up to get her out of power, the whole city loved you. News quickly spread everywhere else on Cluster Prime too and suddenly the whole planet loved you. You were a hero to them."

I knew she was trying to make me feel good again. Maybe she was even trying to make me stop caring about anything else, at least for a time. But…

"Then what did I do to make them hate me?" I asked.

If I was such a big hero, if I was a beloved figure among these robots, then why wasn't I being treated as such? Even if I wasn't revered and worshiped as some tag team savior, even if they didn't show me the utmost respect as the queen's friend, why did they appear to be so terrified? Maybe the butler was formal, it seemed befitting. Maybe the mechanic was shy. But the kitchen? It wasn't overflowing with robots but there were enough to give me an idea of how the average robot here felt in my presence, with or without too much diesel.

"I'm…I'm sorry this is upsetting," she apologized. "I really though that you might like…"

I stared at her. Not glaringly, but definitely enough to reveal some amount of frustration that I didn't want to show.

"I don't like knowing I banished my friend's mother and I hate not remembering probably the only heroic deed I've ever performed."

Vega opened her mouth but she was obviously stuck on what to say. She didn't need to say anything. She claimed I was a hero for doing all that to Queen Vexus but if she was lying about the whole hero thing, then suddenly everything made sense. Perhaps they weren't holding Vega responsible but they were certainly pinning the blame on me.

And maybe the blame was solely on me. Maybe Vega fabricated some of the story to spare my feelings. Maybe she didn't have anything to do with it…

Maybe Queen Vexus wasn't even a villain…

Maybe…I was just a bad robot…and Vega didn't want me to know…

My accident, my memory loss, would be the perfect smokescreen for that kind of thing. It would also give me a chance to be a good robot this time, like a blank slate.

But if she was taking advantage of the accident, even if it was to make me good, how much could I trust her? How much of this was reality and how much was fiction?

A/N

Well I wanted to update yesterday but the site was down...not that it would've made much difference. It's been a long time, I'd lost interest in the show and story, but it's back now! Also I'm sick and have nothing to do but write, watch TV, and sleep. Plenty of time for the next chapter. I hope to have it up next week!

Sorry about the long wait but let me know what you think! :)