Our Friends the Machines.v2 (Bill, Alex, Kent, Pascal)

Intro: March 1986, local Loop designers have created a hot new line of toys, Transmorphers, transforming robots to be manufactured right here in Boulder City! A boost to the job market and local economy.

Hyped since Christmas, in commercials, cartoon show, and comic books, the kids have been saving to buy their own. But perhaps there's “more than meets the eye” to these new toys. Now Spring break, the toys are finally hitting the shelves at the local toy store.

13yo Jimmy/Hick (Bill): Detention again because mom shops Goodwill clothing. Eddie’s mom donates there. Thus, him teasing me about scrounging thru his trash. So, I remarked, “I wondered whose stench that was.” He hit me; I kicked him in the crotch. I’d say “balls” but his haven’t dropped yet. Maybe I loosened them up. I’m building my own robot MOTO, with help from the others.      Jimmy had his sights on SEDIMENTA with its treads, but when his mom got involved, she steered him toward the helmet, PROTECTOR. "I hate to see you throw good money away. At least the helmet will come in handy on your paper-route."

13yo Alvin/Computer Geek (Alex): Alvin is the new kid on the block. Daydreamer. He is always smiling, especially as he tweaks the programming for the robot MOTO. He has his sights set on the airplane, SHARP. Not because it’s one of the “evil” Deceiver; it’s the only airplane in the entire set. How cool would it be if it actually flew!

13 yo Louis/Popular Kid (Pascal): It’s tough being a nerd, stuck in a jock’s body. Following in the footsteps of my bigger brother, now graduated. Truth be told, I’d rather play D&D and do nerdy stuff. I like the Transmorphers comic books. Good stories and catchy music in the cartoons. I might buy one; maybe the Convoy leader EKVIUS OPTIMUS. Cool name.

15yo Rod/Troublemaker (Kent): Rodney has always been short and young looking for his age. Tends to make questionable hair choices, such as his current mullet. Lives with his dad now that his parents finally divorced. She still works at the Loop. Dad got a job at the factory where the Transmorphers are being built. “I wonder if he gets a discount on them. How cool would it be to get AUTOMATA NIL, the nail-gun? Just like dad’s in his workshop. But I’m getting too old for toys…still…

 

MOTO- the robot: Quaisimodo for its looks; Moto as in “motors”. Jimmy started with a 2-legged robot, but it kept falling; so, he added a tail that helped some. Alvin suggested gyros for balance but still it moved awkwardly. They settled on treads for locomotion. It’s a work in progress. Jimmy scrounged another part from Mr. Pierce’s Junkyard and added it to Moto. “Bigger than we wanted, 3.5 feet tall, but what do you think?” Alvin hooked up his laptop and ran another diagnostic. He typed a few new lines of code, then hit ‘load’. Moto’s gears whirled and the treads spun into action as it followed the pre-programmed course Alvin had loaded. “It’s alive! Now, what do we want it to do?”

Rod scrounged under the empty baseball bleachers and found a few more pop bottles. That he tossed into the air and shattered with his bat, “It’s another homer for A-Rod!” Rod took off the goggles dad gave him from the workshop and replaced them with his headphones for his Walkman. He tuned in the local rock station and smiled as his favorite group, Talking Heads, just happened to be playing an oldie but goodie, “Burning Down the House.” Followed by another advertising break and the catchy tune, “Transmorphers, more than meets the eyes. Come on out to your local Toy Corner store today, 4pm, for the grand opening sale. The mayor will be there along with the toy creators themselves, Ellen Voss and Ursula Kerr. The good Convoys versus the evil Deceivers are waiting for you. Come on down.”

Louis stepped behind the dugout to pack up his glove and bat after baseball practice. And pulled out his Transmorphers comic book. “What ya got there, son?” Louis tried to hide the book from his coach. Too late. Louis’ shoulders slumped as coach corralled him, “You gotta get your head in the game. Like your brother. How’s he doing?” As Louis crumpled the book and tossed it into the trashcan, coach slapped him on the back, “You’ll be great, like your brother, as long as you don’t let toys and girls distract you.” As coach walked away, Louis was just about to reach for his book when Randy showed up. The leader of the local bullies. “Loui, old buddy, what’s this I hear about you hanging around those loser nerds. That true? Didn’t think so. Me and the boys are cutting school today to harass all the geeks lining up to buy those toys. Want to join us?”

Friday, 7:30am: Louis was already home and changed for school. A quick goodbye to mom and dad and grandma and he was out the door. And paused to puzzle at the imprint in his front yard, peeking out from the melting snow. “Municipal robots are programmed to stay off the lawns.” And that’s when Jimmy rode up on his paper-route bike, “What ya looking at? Robot print? From the looks of it, I’d say heavy, maybe 6 ft and running the way the toes are a deeper imprint. Look, you can even see the Loop logo with the R&D division stamp. Reminds me of those robots we saw last year. Did any of your neighbors buy one of those as security? No?”

And that’s when Rod arrived. About to join them, till he noticed the black sedan parked across the street. Man and woman, in black suits, starring with binoculars toward his friends. Well, beyond them, as if searching the neighborhood. Rod pulled between them and his friends and waved his hands to finally get their attention. And gave them the ‘one-finger salute’. They started the car and drove off.

And that’s when Alvin arrived, “What was that all about?” But Jimmy called them over to look at the print. “Help me look for a 2^nd print to see where it came from and went.” Nothing. So, Louis told them about his encounter with Randy and the threat to harass everyone at the store. Alvin smiled as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a picture, “Remember last year and those dinosaurs? Checkout this picture of Randy and his soiled pants. He’s not going to be harassing us.” Everyone got a good laugh as they passed the picture around as they rode off to school.

It was if time stood still. The school clocks frozen as if the minute hand slowed by molasses. Teachers had to almost yell to be heard over the dim of the student chatter about the robots. They rapped rulers on their desks and slapped blackboard erasers to no avail. Gym classes were just as boring as the students just went thru the motions as they excitedly talked about which robot they planned to buy. Lunchtime was just as antsy as the talk grew louder. At least for those who hadn’t skipped out and were already lining up at the store. Nor Randy and his guys who tried once more to get Louis to join them. It was a grueling prison sentence waiting for that 3pm bell. “Clang!”

It was a long line of kids, moms and dads, and adult collectors all lined up. The high school band was there along with the mayor and 2 men dressed as robots walking the crowd, promoting the coming sale. Rod pointed at the black sedan, “They’re here again.” Alvin programmed Moto to wheel towards the car while swinging its arms as Jimmy snuck around the car. He froze in place when he accidently tripped and almost fell. But the men only starred at Moto. Jimmy got to the rear passenger window and peeked in. The man held an electronic box marked with the Loop logo and the R&D insignia. Its multiple dials hummed as a pen drew amplitude waves on graph tape, “I’m telling you Karen, the readings are off the chart.” Jimmy watched and listened, all while making moose-antlers (with his hands to his head) for his friends. They snickered. Jimmy finally grew tired and rapped on the window, “What are you doing?”

The man and woman jumped as they turned to look at the intruder. Then sputtered, “Myer Electric Company. Checking on power outages. You seen anything?” Jimmy giggled, “Rod says he has a message for you.” Jimmy repeated the ‘one-finger salute’, then ran away. Suddenly embarrassed he’s done something so adult and bold.

Meanwhile, Louis tried to mingle with the crowd, asking if they’d seen the car before. Dorothy mentioned it was in her neighborhood, driving up and down the street. But she was interrupted by a bullhorn announcement, “Be sure to get your tickets. One per child, for a drawing prize of a free robot. That’s right kids, you could own your very own robot free of charge.” Alvin pondered, “Dad says that’s gambling which is evil.” But Rod corrected him, “She said free ticket. That’s not gambling.”

And that’s when they noticed the mayor talking with the store owners, Henry and Ann. Tense and annoyed reactions, hands up in the air till the mayor excused himself and walked up to the microphone. The band started playing the Transmorphers tune …poorly … till the mayor gave them the “cut” signal. “OK kids, it’s about time. I’m sorry to say the designers couldn’t make it. But you’ve waited long enough. Open the doors!”

It was a stampede. Pushing, shoving, reaching, grabbing, fighting over the same box when others just like it were still on the shelf. Alvin patiently waited to get his SHARP robot, helping others who tried to get their own. Louis already had his EKVIOUS in his hands when Randy appeared, “What are you doing with that?! Don’t tell me you are one of the nerds?” At first startled, Louis gained composure, “I won’t tell you that, but I will tell others about the picture Alvin has of you and your peed pants. Now leave me alone.”

Cameron approached Rod, “How about helping a fellow. Not enough money. You distract everyone while I ‘get’ my robot and I’ll do the same for you. How about it?” Rod made his way towards the owners and a group of kids, “OK, I guess it’s time for me to perform my latest rendition.” He proceeded to stick his hand inside his shirt. If you listened hard enough, his armpit farts did kind of sound like “Burning Down the House.” The kids laughed and the adults just grimaced. Cameron got his robot outside before returning for Rod’s turn. As Rod carried NIL outside, conscious tickled his guilt. With the cashier busy, he put his money on the checkout counter as he rushed out.

Meanwhile, Jimmy helped the small kids get their toys. He knew his helmet was not popular thus not in demand. It could wait. When he finally got to the register with PROTECTOR and cash in hand, he saw Rod’s money and handed to the cashier before paying for his own. Except the store owner Ann interceded, “I saw you helping the kids and give that cash. Yours is on the house.” Jimmy blushed, not sure what to say. Nor did he know what to say when he heard the announcement, “And the ticket drawing winner of MEGATON PRIME… goes to Jimmy Bunyard.”

Rod was already on the sidewalk opening his package, marveling at the metal robot. “Hi, I’m Automata Nils.” Rod was startled, “Uh, hi?” No reply. Seeing the black sedan, Rod decided to test Nils as he snuck up to the car and whispered, “Shoot the tire.” “Bang!” Rod was startled again and laid flat as the occupants wondered, “What was that?” Almost a minute before Rod pulled out the nail and retreated to the sidewalk. Where Alvin snickered, “That was… AWESOME! Let’s get to the junkyard and open the rest.”

They tore into their packages with excitement. Yet when Mega Prime spoke, all the Convoy robots began to flash lights and react, “Warning. Enemy.” Conveys versus Deceivers squared against each other despite Alvin’s pleas, “Why can’t we just be friends?” Alvin was shocked to see the robots actually look at him, “They understand me!” His Sharp spoke, “Humans are friends.” To which Mega responded, “For now.” Which prompted Alvin to pull out his laptop and run a diagnostic on them, “Very advanced stuff. Programmable chips. These aren’t just child toys. They appear to be getting signals from an outside source. Something about chip implant. Next thing you know, they’ll be trying to implant chips in us in our sleep. Sorry, just teasing. I hope.”

As Alvin put Sharp in a microwave to test blocking the radio-wave, Rod instructed Nils to give up its nail armament. It complied. Rod gave them back. He asked, “Why do you think they your enemy?” It ignored him; instead fascinated and befuddled with Moto. Unable to decide friend or foe? Meanwhile, Jimmy had his own ideas of adding speech to Moto. But that would have to wait as he heard Rod ask Nils, “If humans are friends, would you obey me to shoot my hand?” Thankfully no, “Rod is friend.” Which made Rod silently ponder, “I wonder if he’d shoot Randy if I asked?”

And that’s when they heard Louis on the radio, calling the other kids at the bookstore hangout. “Yeah man, it’s cool. They got weapons. Lisa’s attacked mine. We’re taking bets on the winner. Who cares if they destroy each other? Lisa says she just wants the parts.” In the background, Louis could hear other kids chanting, “Fight, fight.” As he hung up, Louis pulled out the manual that came with his. “The pictures and words don’t even match what came out of the box.”

Alvin was already formulating a plan, “They are receiving signals from somewhere. I’ll rig up some receivers of my own. We can take them to different parts of the city to triangulate the source.” Jimmy added another idea, “Could you also make a tracker we can put on that sedan to follow them? They might lead us there too. Once they fix their flat tire.” A lightbulb came on as Jimmy jumped up, “I’ll be right back! Run to the pharmacy to get some ex-lax to add to their drinks. Give them a reason to leave their car. Then maybe we could grab that electronic box of theirs.”

Along the way to the store, Jimmy spotted the sedan in the Apple Orchard Motel lot. He called the others to meet him there. He returned from the store just as the others arrived. “So, which room is theirs?” A two-prong attack: Jimmy leaned inside their car to honk the horn as Rod ran down the walk, banging on each door. Multiple folks stepped outside to look, but they were interested in the black-suited couple stepping out of rooms #24/25. Rod was close enough to hear the man decide to go fix the flat.

Which gave Jimmy the opportunity to sneak into his room. Except the door was locked. And Jimmy couldn’t rattle it open. “Hey kid! What are you doing?!” Jimmy panicked… and ran. Alvin commanded Sharp to intercept and distract the man. Louis approached, “Hey mister, need help with that tire?” But he was already off and running in pursuit. Which gave Louis time to check the trunk where he found a notepad. Meanwhile, Rod commanded Nils to attack. “OUCH!” The man hobbled from the nail sticking out of his calf, “What the…Hey Kid, what the hell?!” Rod grabbed Nils and ran.

7:30pm: Louis had already coordinated a sleepover at his house. Which game them time to inspect the note. “Subjects A and B and the prints at my house.” Jimmy theorized, “Maybe the creator humans were inside the robot that trampled your lawn as they escaped. What’s that about ‘former escape bodies’?!” Alvin passed out his receivers, “I planted the tracker on the car. As for the receivers: Rod take yours to the toy store, Jimmy take yours to the school, and I’ll read mine from here. Go.” Soon Rod called back on his walkie-talkie, “Hey guys. There’s a pile of Convoy toys out of their boxes, inside the store, trying to escape.” All were back at the house within an hour. “OK, it will take a while for my program to analyze the signals. All we can do is wait.”

Adrenaline overload. They were soon asleep. Till around 3am when Louis woke. And noticed the bedroom door open. “Hey guys, where are your robots? Mega and Nils are gone.” They found Mega on the parents’ bed, between them, in basic form but with its lights flashing. Jimmy quickly grabbed it. Rod found Nils on grandma’s bed also with its lights flashing. They hustled back to their bedroom, “What was all that about?!” Rod stroked Nils like a cat as he instructed, “Bad boy. Give me all your nails.” Nils complied… one at a time… slowly. They shut them in the bathroom.

8am: They awoke to the sound of the programming dinging, done. And the smell of breakfast. They dressed and went downstairs, where they found Louis’ dad starring at the TV that was turned off. Mom in the kitchen making her 5^th tin of cinnamon rolls. And grandma in the Livingroom doing sit-ups! Alvin exclaimed, “They’ve been chipped!” Jimmy was in the Livingroom looking at grandma and noticed the cut on her neck. He rushed to the others to exclaim, “They’ve been chipped!”

They grabbed their robots and ran outside. Where they saw other adults, dressed in factory work-suits, ambling in sync down the street. Not along the sidewalks. IN the street, on a beeline direction toward the factory! “They’ve been chipped!” Jimmy offered, “Maybe if we could get some of those jumpsuits, we could sneak into the factory. But first, I wanta check on MY parents!” Phew! They were OK. And Alvin's. Except for Rod’s dad standing at his frig with the door open. Just standing there. A big no-no in this house. Dad had been chipped! Rod grabbed dad’s jumpsuits out of his closet and hamper and rushed back to Jimmy, “Dad’s chipped. I could only find two. But here’s his keycard.”

Jimmy reported, “Sorry to hear that. My parents are OK. But I found little Carson in the street crying about his hand cut by his robot. He heard his VERTICAMP helicopter say they were supposed to kill all, before it flew away. Anyway, Alvin and Louis are tracking the car. They just called in to say it’s out on Nathan Avenue across from an odd-shaped house. Said there are lights on the 2^nd floor, first floor dark, and flashing lights in the yard, like robots on guard duty. Let’s roll.”

This time Louis made noise so Rod could sneak up on the car to overhear, “Off the chart! This is Kerr’s house, one of the designers of those things. We need to report back.” Once the car drove away, Rod snuck up to the porch and looked into the window. Empty. He knocked. “I’m busy. Come back later.” Odd, dull tone. That repeated, “I’m busy. Come back later.” Rod opened the door and found a robot just inside, repeating the recording. That swung a knife when Rod tried to stop the tape-player. He kicked the robot across the room then signaled the others to come in.

At the top of the stairs, they followed the awful stench of body odor that led to an office. Where they found a woman sitting before a large computer screen. Wires ran from her skull to the terminal. She did not turn as the boards creaked when they entered. Only typed. They read the screen, “Help. Destroy factory! Robots out of hand. Been activated. Chipped me.” Jimmy rushed to her side with his multi-tool to cut the wires till he read, “STOP! Don’t. Need doctor. Get Helen. At factory. She will help. Picture on frig downstairs. Hurry. Keycard on nightstand.” Alvin tapped her shoulder before leaving, “Ursula, I’m a big fan of yours.”

As they ran out the front door, Louis’ Ekvious lit up, “Danger, danger!” It’s lights flashing as a hailstorm of nails, bee-bees, and bursts of flames erupted from the lawn. Alvin stumbled losing his glasses. Rod grabbed them and helped his friend escape.

Soon they parked their bikes just inside the tree-line as they viewed the factory with its fence, gate guard, and line of workers robotically advancing thru the gate. “Buddy up. Chicken-fight stacked. Put on the jumpsuits and get in line.” Rob sat on Alvin’s shoulders as they approached the guard. In his best robotic impression, “Glad to be back to work.” The chipped guard waved them thru. Next up, Louis on Jimmy’s shoulder as he handed over Ursula’s card. The guard scanned the card, “That is a woman.” To which Louis squeaked, “Yes, I am a woman.” Jimmy stuck his knees out to enhance the breast image. The guard dully responded, “Sorry. Have a nice day.”

It was a 2-story building with a radio tower atop it. A fleet of 18-wheelers were being loaded with crates stacked with the toy robots. Broken convoy robots littered the grounds and inside floors as a VERTIKAMP helicopter circled overhead. They passed one door labeled, “Danger, highly explosive.” They entered another marked “Supplies”, where they found more uniforms. Jimmy exhaled, “Dang glad to get you off my shoulders.” Individually dressed, they stepped out onto the factory floor where Deceiver robots paused to stare at them. Rod commanded Nils to convince the other robots to ignore them. When he returned, Rod rewarded him with a single nail, “Good job.”

They climbed the stairs to the offices where they quietly knocked on the doors. Till they heard, “Go away.” Jimmy asked, “Helen?” Rod added, “Ursula sent us.” After showing their necks to verify not chipped, she let them in. “The ‘creator’ robots came weeks ago and took over the whole operation. Converted our toys to these things. They plan to ship them all over the world to make puppets out of us humans. Or kill us. I’ve been creating a virus. You’ll need to insert it into the driver inside the control room. But you also need to destroy the shipment. If even one gets away… even corrupted with the virus, they could be reprogrammed by someone as devious as the creators.”

CLIMAX:

“I saw a room with explosives. I could set them off with my lighter. I could hack into the computer and enter false commands to delay the loading dock work. We could trigger the fire-alarm as a distractor and to get the workers safely out. Plus, the water might short-out the robots. Enough distraction to get into the control room to load the virus.”

Lead: Louis reviewed the plan. [successful roll allowed him to divvy 6 dice to the others]

Sneak: Rod snuck back to the room and readied the explosives. Setting a makeshift fuse. And waited for the alarm to sound.

Hack: Alvin hooked up his laptop and reprogrammed the delivery of crates. Which had workers driving forklifts crashing into each other.

Move: Louis and Jimmy were intercepted by Deceiver robots as they tried to enter the command room. Till Louis help up his keycard, “Server maintenance.” Jimmy stepped into the pitch-black room. Only guided by the flickering of lights on the servers. He silently pondered which server till he noticed 2 large robots (the creators) with wiring running from them to a single server. “Bingo.” 

Jimmy rushed forward, snipped a few wires just in case the robots could stop the virus, and inserted the floppy disk.

The two robots came to life. Alarms sounded. Soon drown out by the fire alarm. Soon drowned by the rain of water. The robots stopped mid-stride in their reach for Jimmy. Deceiver robots shorted out throughout the factory. Workers regained their human consciousness and ran from the building. Prompted by Louis yelling, “It’s gonna blow!” Rod flipped his lighter and ignited his fuse then ran. They JUST got out of the factory when multiple explosions rocked the area. Helen slumped as she watched, “All my work…” She hurried to the Kerr house to help her friend Ursula.

EPILOGUE:

The Transmorpher robots ground to a halt. No more actions or audio. Simply toys. That could be manually manipulated into their alter forms. Till they broke.

The Toy Corner store displayed a “Going out of stock” sale on its robots. Now useless junk. Except to the collectors and those seeking a great bargain

Alvin knocked on the Kerr door where Usuala invited he and his dad in for dinner. And autographed pictures of she and Helen. “Nothing but the best for my best fans.” These were the few adults Alvin was willing to trust lately.

Rob sat on his bed listening to music as he held Nils while inserting nails into his breach. “You earned it buddy.” Rod held him to his chest as he began tearing up.

Jimmy gathered his collection of broken robot parts and began building a newer Moto. “Let’s see if I can make you new and improved and miniaturized. I think I’ll add more eyes so you can have a full 360 view. Like a spider.”

Louis rushed home to hug his parents and grandmother. They had a great dinner that night. Although grannie complained about her sore joints and back. Later, Louis sat on his bed listening to his favorite music.