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TF club
Apr 10, 2008 19:33:20 GMT -5
Post by frostdragon on Apr 10, 2008 19:33:20 GMT -5
A STORY!!! courticy of docs lab
Part 1: Metamorphosis
Life, it has become so strange and wonderful for me. Perhaps it is best to tell you about myself, my name is, or was Doctor Rachel Harris and I was the head scientist at the Eastern Robotics Corporation.
I was born in August 2081 and I grew up in Mars colony Utopia, It was an upstart colony and my family had lots of trouble living day-to-day life. I remember that time well, my mom was a botanist and my father was a miner. I know the both of them tried to make life better for me, not to mention the others in the colony. I guess that was what began my dream to create robots.
The both of them made sure I had the best education available and so they sent me to Earth at the age of five to live with my Aunt and Uncle. Earth, what a place it was. After the third world war, it was like a pig sty, and I guess that was what gave birth to the colonization of Mars.
I did love living at my Aunt and Uncles place though. They lived on a quiet ranch in the mid west where they grew artificial plants. They made sure I kept my grades up and I am sure I made them and my parents proud.
When I got old, enough I got into the Isaac Asimov robotics academy and graduated with high honors and soon my goals expanded to fit the needs of all humans. By the age of 24, I became a technician for the Eastern Robotics Corporation and I quickly rose through the ranks of the company. Soon I was building my first robots. They were very simple but most of the skills I put into them eventually became a part of my ultimate project
Now let me describe my former self before my metamorphosis, I was thin, about five feet tall and had long brown hair and green eyes with light tan skin. I was pretty much a loner and I had no real company around the small mansion I was able to afford for myself with the large sums of money the company gave me. I was 30 when I first invented the Toonbots; the creations that would help change the course of history and change my life forever.
Now if you were to ask why I came up with the idea for them, well, there was a lot of animosity towards the humanoid androids the company made ten years ago. You see when the Eastern Robotics Corporation first released its humanoid android models there were riots and plenty of anti android sentiment. Then there was the great android purge, where people beat and burned the humanoid android models.
That was a terrible time for the company, for six long months they had to recall those poor androids and dismantle them. I found myself fortunate that I was not a part of the dismantling team; I do not think I would be able to do it.
Anyhow, that left many spare parts, and from those parts, I started to build my Toonbot prototypes. Now the Toonbots are robots that rather look like characters seen in those old cartoons, AKA paper wasters to the neo environmentalists. I made them have animal qualities, after all most of the animals died in the third world war and so I thought it was a good approach.
I also wanted them to have some human qualities too; I gave them a “face mask” design that was inspired by those old Disney and Warner Brothers characters. Now if I must fully explain what a Toonbot looks like well that is a bit complicated as I developed many models of them, but for now I will describe the base form.
I made each Toonbot at least four feet tall and I gave them the builds of seven-year-old children. I gave them telescopic expansions that can stretch at least six to ten feet each way and I made sure that they would be able to do all sorts of tasks that other robots and androids could not do. I made them have sneaker like feet that had boot like padded treads on the bottom of them with gear like ankles on their sides. I wanted something simplistic and traditional for their feet... no toes, no hooves, just basic robotic feet that would be able to handle all kinds of environments. The lower legs are somewhat cylinder shaped, the upper legs are slender but sturdy, and they have small kneecaps. Their hips are medium sized and the midsection's are thin and slender. The chest area is a bit thick and the shoulders are rounded gears. The upper and lower arms are about the same size and have small pads where the elbows are. Their hands are roughly humanoid, glove like, streamlined and with five slightly squared off digits, and I gave them sensors underneath so they could “feel”
Instead of nails or claws, I gave the Toonbots tool fingers that have the ability to turn their square-ended tips into tools, from sonic screwdrivers to laser cutters. I gave them these so that they could repair themselves when needed, and of course, they could use those tools to repair the belongings of their owners. Their facial features varied per model, though I gave each one gentile blue eyes that glowed when they thought, their eyes looked pretty human except that they were elongated and very innocent looking and their pupils were a darker shade of blue then their irises.
For their creation I made sure I developed different models of them, as I knew not everyone had the same tastes, I made models that looked like cartoon cats, ones that looked like cartoon dogs. I even made some that look like rabbits, mice, turtles, and anything else I could think of. I even made ones that looked human, though those did not sell well at all.
I also developed male and female designs to add extra individuality to them, and I did develop different personalities for each one.
You see not only I developed the looks of the Toonbots; I am also the one that developed their personalities. I gave them the personalities of children, mostly that of five to seven year olds, but I also I gave them a vast amount of knowledge. You see I wanted to create a medium between our past models and something that would not threaten anybody, something that would have the personality of a child but have a vast I.Q ratio.
I certainly thought at the time I started to make them that their innocent personalities would win people over, and in many ways, it did. I offered a lot of choices to the company's customers, and I even included paint schemes and for those who wanted it we did offer artificial fur, though that stuff never really sold that well.
So far, the company has overcome many of its past mistakes, and made quite a lot of money on this idea. Heck, I myself bought a few models to do some housework around my small mansion; I also kept my two prototypes as I always felt so close to my creations, and I guess that closeness is what got me into trouble, but it also gave me my new life.
It all started so simply, my personal Toonbots were starting to get curious about themselves and their relationship to me. I guessed that was bound to happen, I never treated them as my servants or slaves, sure I did have them clean and cook for me but I always gave them something in return, like repair work. Mainly I treated them as if they were my own children; I never abused them or ordered them to do something I knew they could not do.
They were both innocent and curious in their behavior, but that is how I programmed them. I never had an issue with them asking me questions, and I did not mind answering them. The real trouble in my relationship with them came from the outside world. Every so often I caught them watching news programs and historical shows, and they paid a lot of attention to the news reports of people trashing Toonbots, and I knew that they were aware of the great android purge. I tried my best to tell them about how we human beings feared what we did not understand.
I guess they understood me, as they did not ask about those events often, but I did know deep inside it troubled them. Now I got myself I had four working models, not including my two prototypes that did not work anymore.
I had a Panda model (AKA a Pandabot in Company terms), a dog model (Dogbot), a cat model (Catbot) and a mouse model (Mousebot). I decided to make them different colors, as I wanted them to feel like individuals, I gave my Pandabot Annie a violet paint scheme and I gave my Catbot Richie a blue paint scheme. For my Mousebot Lillie I gave her a red paint scheme and my Dogbot Ollie I kept him in his base colors.
You see I decided to give my personal Toonbots names, as I did not want them to call themselves by those crazy robot identification numbers the company gave them. The two prototypes I had did not have anything really, I gave them a very basic model design and well I often had to keep my functional Toonbots away from them.
I had to tell them that the prototypes did not work anymore and I was very sad about it, And in fact I was, those two were like my own children and when they did not work anymore I actually cried for them. My Toonbots and I had a good relationship and often I would play with them, they were always active and I made sure they were happy, and yes, I gave them emotional protocols. For the next few years, we were happy, until fate quite literally knocked on my door that one fateful day.
It was a Tuesday morning when Charles Benson from the company came to my door; Ollie greeted him in, and took him to my bedroom. Ollie then knocked on my bedroom door and said, “Mistress Rachel, Mister Benson from the company is here to see you.” in his kindly male childlike electronic voice.
“Thank you Ollie” I said, “go ahead and let him in”
Ollie opened the door and brought Benson in; Ollie gave me a smile and said, “Will you need anything else from me mistress?”
“No thank you Ollie” I smiled, “go and find your friends and see if they need any help with anything okay?”
“Okay mistress Rachel, I am at your service,” he said with a smile on his young doglike face, he then walked out of the room as Benson slowly approached my bed.
I was still in my bedtime clothes as I had just gut up a few minutes ago, as usual Annie brought me breakfast earlier that morning and I still had the eating trey next to me when Ollie brought Benson in.
Charles Benson was my boss; he looked out for me quite a bit and often came when something terrible happened. He was almost like my protector, he knew the world of Anti artificial intelligence very well and knew that I became very upset when something happened to my Toonbots.
Benson came in nearer to me and said “Rachel, the riots are happening again”
“Are they?” I said with a sigh “well that is usual”
“Yes, I think we are repeating history. There was another anti android riot, and this time it was against your Toonbots. Rachel I hate to say it, but this is looking way worse then the great android purge. Mass riots are everywhere and literally thousands of the Toonbots are gone”
I began to feel depressed. I thought this would not happen again, but it did, and I began to feel responsible for them. These Toonbots were my creations and I felt very close to each one of them.
“Why the hell is this happening?” I said, “Why can’t Humanity ever grow up?”
“There is more, your aunt and uncle were killed when they tried to protect the Toonbots they had.”
“NO!” I cried aloud, anger began to fill me as Benson spoke again.
“I am very sorry, Rachel, but I sill have one last bit of bad news to deliver. To protect the company's investment I decided to make a recall. We already have a lot of them at our main office, and in a few days we are probably going to dismantle them.”
“Beaver dam it!” I shouted “my Toonbots did nothing wrong! Please, let me take them or at least let me handle the dismantling operation.”
Benson shook his head, “No I am sorry, because of all this I have decided to cut you out of your contract. Look its nothing personal, but for the safety of the company I decided to relieve you of your duties”
“You bastard,” I cried, “You can’t do this to me!”
“I am sorry,” said Benson as he started to walk out of my room
“Sorry I disagree, if you were so sorry you would have at least let me take care of the Toonbots. Go on and get out of here and never come back!”
Benson knew I was furious and so he took his leave
Feelings of anger and sorrow overcame me. I wanted to help my creations so badly. I then heard my door open and soon my Toonbots started to gather around me.
“What is wrong mistress?” asked Lillie
“How can we help you?” Asked Annie
“Please tell us what is wrong,” said Richie
“Yes, we live to serve you Mistress Rachel and we only want to help you,” said Ollie
I turned to them and tried to smile “I know you guys care about me, but I am fine. You guys go off and play while I think for a bit okay?”
I started to lie back, but my Toonbots had disobeyed me as they looked at me with their gentile eyes.
They just stood there, ignoring my orders, and I knew they saw me in deep thought.
“Mistress please, let me help you if you are sad.” said Lillie
“We are programmed to help humans in times of need,” said Annie
“Yes mistress, we can understand your pain,” said Richie
“Please let us help!” said Ollie
“They are so kind” I thought I knew I gave the Toonbots lessons on compassion and they delivered it well.
“I am sorry you guys, it’s just that things are getting bad again and now there is another riot.”
“Oh” they all said with dread
“So you are saying that people are killing robots again?” asked Lillie
“And the humans are angry?” asked Annie
I nodded, though I did not want to tell them about the recall and dismantling of the other Toonbots, at least not yet.
“It’s a shame,” I said, “we have all this technology and yet we can’t use it right. I am so sorry that so many of your Toonbots are suffering right now.”
“Its okay, we remember what you told us about some humans.” said Richie
“But please we don't want you to be sad mistress, we will do our best to serve you in your time of need” said Ollie
“I know, but I feel so guilty, you guys are more human then most of those people out there, and I wish they could see that. I just wish that I and the rest of humanity were more like you.”
“We understand,” they all said simultaneously, they then walked off and went to do some chores.
I went back to my bed and took a little nap, unaware what my words had started. Throughout the rest of that day, not much happened, as I did not want to put my Toonbots to work. I felt it so wrong to put them to work when the world outside was about to destroy them.
It was on that night they started their work on their wonderful machine of theirs, the same one they would use to grant my wish. Their childlike AI's computed on how to give me my wish, and I could only guess on how long they worked on the thing. I knew they must have made their wonderful machine at an incredibly fast pace, properly calculating everything that would go into their creation.
I now know they built their machine without any malice or hate, and I knew that they did not want to hurt anyone, but you could understand my shock when they first delivered their plan to me. After they built their machine, I knew they have sent some kind of message out to their fellow Toonbots in the area as when Annie woke me up there were thousands of Toonbots right outside my window, I know now that my other Toonbots must have elected her to wake me up, then again, it was the most logical choice, Annie was the one who normally woke me up anyway to give me breakfast and help me start my day.
“Mistress we have something to show you, please get up” she said
I got out of bed and saw her next to me, I looked at her and asked “what is happening Annie?”
“Please follow me mistress, there is no time to explain right now.”
She walked to the door and opened it for me, out of curiosity I came out of my room and followed her downstairs. I then looked outside and saw the Toonbots looking into my windows, they gathered around my small mansion like kids around an ice cream truck.
“What is going on out there?”
Annie looked at me and said, “They have come here for your help, they all escaped from the humans who want to dismantle us”
“You know about that?” I asked with a bit of fear.
“Yes, we are sorry mistress but we watched the TV the other day without you knowing.”
“Oh god” I said “so you know”
“Yes” said Annie looking up at me “but I think we have a good idea. Can the others come in here and stay?”
“I guess” I said “but there isn't a lot of room”
“That’s okay, besides we have something to show you in the basement”
I could not stop myself from asking, “Why, what is in the basement?”
“I cannot explain right now, please come with me mistress.”
I was a bit worried but I said “alright, but first I will let in those other Toonbots”
“Okay” said Annie with a smile, I opened the door and soon the whole place filled with Toonbots.
I then followed Annie to the basement and there before me was a tall slender metal plated machine where my three other Toonbots gathered around. ((insert more detailed description of the machine here))
“Mistress you are here!” they all cried with joy “please come and get inside the machine we made for you.”
“What is it?”
“It’s for your wish,” said Richie
“Yes we built it,” said Lillie
“Please mistress step inside of it,” said Annie
“Yes please,” said Ollie
“What is this machine for?” I asked
“We made it to make you like us; you said you wanted to be like us so we built this machine” they said collectively
This was a shock; I did not know they would be able to do anything like this. I was both frightened and fascinated by the machine before me, but they all stood there before me giving me gentile smiles.
“But I did not want you to take my orders literally; I was just saddened by what was happening”
“We know, but we decided to build it anyway just in case you really did want to do it,” said Lillie
“Yes, you gave us orders and we obeyed them to the letter,” said Ollie
“We only wanted to help you,” said Richie
“You are so kind to us so we decided to do this for you,” said Annie
I thought on what they said for a bit, they were so gentile, so compassionate... so human. I decided to ask them the biggest question in my mind at the time “will it hurt me?”
“No mistress, we would never hurt you,” they said collectively once more “And we will never force you to go into our machine against your will.”
I realized they meant what they said, and somehow I guess they knew I would want this. The thought of being one with my creations fascinated me, and I knew they would never hurt or harm me I knew my Toonbots wanted me to be happy and it was then I said, “Alright I will do it.”
“Alright mistress!” they all said with joy, and then I slowly walked over to the machine and stepped inside.
I must admit the inside of the machine was beautiful, it was polished and white all over and I began to feel a gentile warmth come around my body. A polished glass door quietly shut behind me, but it was rather calming inside the machine, I could hear the sounds of birds projected inside the machine and the gentile voice of Annie came into it.
“Are you ready mistress?” she asked
“Yes I am,” I said
“Okay, but once this starts there is no way to stop it,” Annie said with some concern
“I understand, go ahead and start okay?”
“As you wish mistress,” she said with a bit of joy, the chamber of the machine began to glow and a gentile sensation surrounded my body. I looked down at my feet as I felt something crawl up my legs, and saw wires wrap around them gently. They snaked their way up my body as fragments of metal followed up after them, the wires and metal slowly made their way upward but already my feet began to look like the ones my Toonbots had.
Soon my Ankles, kneecaps and everything else below my waist became metallic and robotic. Smooth white metal slowly covered every part of my lower body as the robotic parts molded itself to my body. It crawled upwards to my waist, arms and neck. I saw my fingers become smooth, mechanical and glove like. I felt the material move up my head and then I felt something enter my head, but it caused no pain other then a small but gentle pinch.
I could see little of what was happening to me, but I did see my new feet, knees and arms. It was like a thin and slender suit of armor that molded perfectly to my thin form, I saw small white gears near the knee joints and where my ankles used to be, and I knew that the inside of my body became robotic as well though I did not feel any bit of it.
I closed my eyes as I felt the strange transformation come over my face, I felt it re mold itself into a new shape though it did not hurt one bit. I began to feel something strange on my head but I paid it no mind as I felt it was like a part of me.
I opened my eyes once more and numbers began to scroll down into my field of vision, but it did not was not frighten me and it greeted me with a friendly message
“Welcome to our mental data link mistress Rachel.” it said with a very gentile voice, “we wanted to give you this so we can communicate with you inside the machine. I think it’s time we told you the truth of the plan we made.”
“Then what is the truth about all this?” I asked
“We want you to be our caretaker,” it said “our representative and… our mother.”
That took me completely by surprise “mother? You want me to be your mother?”
“Yes mistress Rachel, you are our creator, we look up to you and already you are like a mother to us and we want your help to make the humans understand us like you do.”
“But how in the world can I help so many of you at the same time? I am only one person”
“Yes, but together we can change things for the better. We can make humans understand us and let us have peace. We know it’s a big responsibility but we know you can do it, after all you are our creator”
They had a very valid point, out of all the people they could have done, this to I was their best choice, and it was then I decided that I should grant their wish.
“Okay then, I will be your mother. And I do think your plan will work”
“Alright then, you are almost done in there. We just have to make a few changes here and there and we will be done.”
“Very well” I said as I closed my eyes and then I began to feel more of my body become robotic, but I liked it, and the new sensations I felt were wonderful. Soon I felt things pull off my body and I knew my metamorphosis was complete.
My new eyes opened as the machine opened, my vision was at much better then it ever was before. I then stepped out of the chamber, my new feet clanked as they hit the ground. My Toonbots gathered around me as they gave me smiles, Ollie went off to grab a mirror nearby and pulled it up to me and I saw my new body for the first time.
I could not believe my eyes, my body was sleek thin and robotic. The metal that covered my body molded itself very well to my form; my hips and stomach were very streamlined and flexible. The biggest shock to me was what they had made me into; I was not just a Toonbot but they made me into a Bunny Toonbot model (Bunnybot.)
My face, ears and “tail” were like those of a rabbit, I then turned to my Toonbots and asked, “Why did you chose to make me like this?”
“Rabbits are a symbol of gentleness and you are very gentile to us, we thought it might suit you. If you want to be a humanoid Toonbot we can do that for you if you wish.” said Richie
“No its fine, I rather like it. It suits me quite well,” I said with a smile. Indeed my new form did suit me, certainly the Toonbots made an ideal choice.
“We want you to know that have given you our abilities, we given you our tool hands and you have our telescopic parts. Go ahead, check it all out.” said Annie
I did so, I then found myself stretching out my arms to lengths I never thought possible. I then retracted them and tried to form tools out of my new fingers, soon I saw my fingers form into all kinds of tools as I looked on amazement. I looked back at the mirror image of my new form and smiled at the new gentile blue eyes I had, I opened my new mouth and licked my new buckteeth with my tongue out of curiosity. The teeth actually felt normal and I was very happy to find that I could still feel things.
“You can see your other features with the operating system we gave you, its sort of like the one you gave us so you should know how to operate it.” said Ollie
I nodded and I found myself pulling up my new internal operating system and saw the incredible changes done to me from within. My heart, my brain, everything was exactly like the parts of a Toonbot. I had a micro fusion generator to power my body; the thing acted like a heart, pumping energy to my servos and my new brain.
My brain, I still do not know how my Toonbots altered it without me loosing my will or causing me pain, was now a positronic matrix, computing at super speeds unheard of before. I looked at my schematics and awe overtook me, I knew then that my human life was gone and now I was one with my creations at least.
“I am very impressed you guys, I don't know how you did it but I must say that I am very happy.”
“We are glad you like your new body Mother, but what about the rest of your wish?” they all asked simultaneously
Mother, I still cannot get used to them calling me that even to this day, but at that time, I decided to let it go. “What, my desire to make others into Toonbots? I do not know if people will like the idea of becoming like this. Most people are hurtful, but maybe there is a chance we can get some to undergo the process of becoming a Toonbot.”
“Well whatever happens we will do our best to make you happy Mother,” said Ollie
“That is our only wish,” said Richie
“If the other humans don't want this to happen then that’s fine, we will never hurt humans,” said Annie
“Yes, we have no ill will against the humans, we know they are scared of things like change” said Lillie
I nodded and said, “Well let’s see what happens eh? But now I am not human anymore I think I want to rename myself, how does the name Julie sound to you guys?”
“It’s a great name mother!” said Ollie
“But you will always be called mother by us” said Annie
I nodded and said, “Well first we go and find some place to be safe for a while, and then we will get the other Toonbots around the world. After that we can see if anyone else wants to get into that machine of yours.”
“As you wish mother” said the Toonbots, I then started to walk forward and my fellow Toonbots began to follow my lead, exiting from my mansion and the life of a human to a brand new existence...
Part 2: unity Before we left the area I wanted to try to revive my prototype Toonbots one last time. I took them out of the room I had them in and with the other Toonbots we began our operation. The speed I worked at was incredible, my new arms and hands were able to do a great many of tasks at the same time, and I felt no fatigue whatsoever when I did this and there no hunger or thirst either.
I quickly discovered the problem with the prototypes; their positronic brains needed a major reboot. At the time, they stopped working I thought it was more then that, I thought that their brains totally melted down. With my new computerized intelligence, I knew exactly how to fix them.
I opened up their skull plating and I was able to re initiate the positrons inside their heads, soon their eyes flickered open as they looked up at me.
“We... we are alive again”, said one.
“Thank you very much”, said the other.
“You are welcome you two, but we must be fast. Let me re connect your parts here and we can go to the Eastern Robotics Corporation Headquarters. There we can get you some new parts and also do something very important.”
“What is it mother?” asked Ollie
“We have to disable the company’s tracker satellite; you can feel its effects cant you?”
Ollie nodded “yes, it is calling me to go to the Eastern Robotics Corporation headquarters and prepare for shutdown.”
“I hear the same thing,” said Richie
“Me too” said Lillie
“Same here Mother!” said Annie
The others also reported hearing the message broadcast by the satellite, I nodded and said, “Look none of you listen to it, yes we will go to the Eastern Robotics Corporation headquarters but you will not prepare for shutdown. We must find a way into the building and a way to shut down the satellite, it will be a very large risk but I think we can do it.”
“We are willing to follow you anywhere mother!” said Annie
“Yes, we will not let them control the other Toonbots like this” said Ollie
I nodded once more “let’s go into the sewers and then see if we can get into the building from there”
My fellow Toonbots nodded and soon we took to the sewers. It took us exactly two hours fifty-five minutes and thirty six seconds to get to the Eastern Robotics Corporation headquarters; I knew this as my mind now worked like a computer. I still do not know what to say about that part of my new life, I seemed to be able to think like my original self and yet I noticed that in some places I think like a machine.
I guess I really do not have a problem with it, after all I knew I was still me and even though I did not look human anymore, I still thought like one. My mind became focused on the control satellite, I always considered that satellite wrong and even though it had the noble intention of tracking the company's robots and androids just in case of anti robot riots it also limited the freedom of the Toonbots.
The signal it gave out was very annoying to me and it was repetitive, and I had to consider that not all the Toonbots would be able to resist it. I decided to shut down the control satellite on my own; I did not want to my band of Toonbots into more danger so I came to the surface and made my way to the Company HQ.
The place was huge, filled with many guards. I only had one chance; I had to make contact with Benson. I still had ill feelings against him, but somehow I knew he would listen to me. I came up to the front gate where two guards stood, I came up to them and I saw their color drain as they saw me.
One of them came up to me and said “who... what are you?”
“I am Julie Bunnybot, leader of the Toonbots. I wish to speak to Benson, Is he in?”
“Yes, are you here because of the recall?”
“Yes, and I am also here on the behalf of the Toonbots. I do not wish my fellow Toonbots to be dismantled and I will fight if I have to even though I find the thought unappealing.”
“I am sorry but we cannot let you pass, we have our orders”
“I understand,” I said, I then began to leap higher then I ever could before over the fence. The guards stood in shock for a moment, and then began to chase me. I began to use my tool hands to tunnel underground, I formed claws on my fingers and soon I began to dig to the edge of the building.
I resurfaced and found myself near the leftmost corner of the building and soon I dug again until I found myself in the buildings underground warehouse. This was the area where the company stored the Toonbots and our spare parts for them, most of the Toonbots here were going to be new models but I knew that they were at risk too unless I did something, though I knew I would have to worry about them later.
Getting to Benson was still on my mind, I knew where his office was from here and I knew I could use the air ducts to get to his office. I leapt up again and I climbed into the duct right above my head, I began to crawl upward in hopes of getting to Benson's office soon.
I had to be very cleaver getting up the shafts. I used my tool hands to form claws again and soon I came up to the floor where I knew Benson was, soon I found myself right over his office and I saw him below me.
I formed one of my fingers into a laser torch and began cutting my way through. Soon I landed with a thud right in front of my former boss.
He looked at me with shock as he cried “what in the world?”
“Hello Benson, it’s me Rachel”
“Rachel?” he cried, I knew he recognized my voice though it was electronic now.
I nodded and said, “We have to talk”
Benson stood up from his chair and said, “What in the world did you do to yourself? Are you so obsessed with your creations that you had to become one?”
“Look Benson, I am not here for an argument. I want the broadcast to stop; I want my fellow Toonbots to be free.”
“You really must be determined to save those creations of yours; otherwise I don't think you would have done something like this.”
“Yes, I sacrificed my humanity just to be with my creations. Look Benson I know deep down you don't want the Toonbots to be turned into scrap, please let me be their voice, please let me save them.”
“How did you make yourself into a Toonbot though?”
“Actually my Toonbots built a machine for me, though I assure you I went in on my own will. I know it was an insane choice but I felt I could serve my creations better this way.”
Benson sighed and then said, “very well, I will shut down the satellite.”
“Thank you”, I replied.
“It’s the least I can do for you. But if I do this, my career is over here. If I let the Toonbots go free the higher ups will have my head.”
“Well if you want to you can join me, becoming a Toonbot is not that bad actually”
“I will think on it,” said Benson, I then left the way I came and I did know that Benson would save my butt once again.
I returned to my fellow Toonbots and we soon began our plans to unite as many surviving Toonbots as possible. Benson allowed me to take the Toonbots from the factory, as he knew they would be better with me then anyone, he also let me take a bunch of spare parts and some of those parts helped my Toonbot prototypes become full-fledged members of the rather large family I was making. Soon they became my two other personal Toonbots, though I did not impose any programming on them like the others I had, eventually they chose their forms and their own names. One became Miki the Birdbot, and the other became Viki the Foxbot, they quickly became friends with my other personal Toonbots, not to mention the others.
Six months passed since the day I became a Toonbot, I lead all those Toonbots to another continent. For those six months, we were able to get most of the Toonbots we had in North America, South America, Europe and Australia but the biggest challenge would be in Asia. After the third world war, Asia had united under one banner called The Asian confederacy, and we sold Toonbots by the thousands here each day.
Ever since the day I left Benson's office there had been many purges here but there were still many out here to save. By that sixth month, we knew that The Asian confederacy knew about us and we became aware of talks of war. War, the way humans handled stuff like this, I found it saddening that because of us The Asian confederacy considered going to war with my former homeland. Before I left North America I did try to negotiate with all the worlds’ governments, but none of them listened.
Soon the Toonbots and I left North America aboard small aircraft and we began to start our quest to help the other Toonbots across the world. I found it sad though that no one else so far joined me in becoming a Toonbot, I did tell Benson that I would keep the one I had in my mansion just in case he decided to join our adventure.
The Toonbots and I built another machine in Europe, but that one we made a portable unit. We took it around in hopes of finding people who would undergo the metamorphosis like I. Alas, I was alone, I am sure if my Aunt and Uncle lived, they would have joined me but fate had other things in store.
Then came the day where another would undergo the great metamorphosis. Sergeant Phillip Myers told me that he was a soldier for the member of the Delta battalion of the North American union defense army. He was at least six foot tall and was rather muscular mainly due to his army training. He had brown hair, brown eyes and the same tone of skin I had before my metamorphosis. He said he was anything but a scientist, so when I started my campaign events all those months ago he did not know a lot about Toonbots or anything along those lines.
He was just a soldier, that was his assignment in life and that was his job. The Events of me and my Toonbots did not matter to him, he had never met a Toonbot nor did he desire to own one.
The Asian Confederacy thought that we were making an army; they thought that the North American union reprogrammed the Toonbots to do this and thought it as an act of war. Now this is where Phillip came into the scene, on the benefit of the North American union they sent him and a large team of soldiers to invest into the situation, the Asian confederacy agreed to this deal and they sent their own officers to help in the investigation. Therefore, he and at least twelve other soldiers went into the area that used to be China and headed right to my doorstep.
It was only a short time before he and his troop had arrived in the territory of Xinjiang near the Ürümqi district. I must say that things were hostile here and very intimidating, even the Toonbots and I did not like venturing out that much around this area. Ürümqi was not the city it once was, it was an oversized shed with no real buildings whatsoever other then the super shed that the citizens resided under.
Phillip’s craft landed in a small airfield nearby, where a large band of soldiers met him. There he met general Sho who lead the local army. Soon they got right into business as they chatted about their tactics. Then they all headed out to our area and soon they saw a very large complex that the Toonbots and I had made.
They walked right up to our base, earlier I gave the order to the Toonbots to let anyone in, as I wanted to try negotiating. Phillip was the first one in with Sho close behind, he saw me sitting in a char in the central room of the building, here we had a massive operating center and below us was where the Toonbots made their temporary homes.
“Hello, I am Sergeant Phillip Myers of the North American union and this is General Sho of the Asian Confederacy. Are you the one that these Toonbots call mother?”
“Yes, I am Julie Bunnybot, leader of the Toonbots. They like to consider me their mother figure; after all I am the one who created them.”
“What are you doing here anyway then Julie?” asked Sho
“Making our final preparations, we are going to leave Earth here soon in search of a better world for us. I think that we would be better off going elsewhere as Earth is too hostile, though I am a bit sad that I am the only human to become a Toonbot.”
“What do you mean by that?” asked Myers
“I used to be human six months ago until I decided to be one with my creations, time and time again I wanted others to join me but they think that the Toonbots are evil and want to enslave humanity. Humanity, ha! That is a loose word anymore, the way humanity has been I think the Toonbots have preformed a better job; I kinda guess that’s why I did this.”
Myers piped up again “how did you become a robot anyway?”
“My Toonbots made a machine to make me like this, look I have told this story to so many and it’s running dry.”
“May I see this machine?” asked Sho
“I don't see why not”
I then got up and led the two men and their teams to a room near the back of the complex. I can tell you now that the room where the machine was in was the most beautiful room in the entire building, the Toonbots made illustrious paintings of birds, lakes and a place where humans could be as one. The machine here was no different then the one I had left back at home, except it could hook up to a traveling case that had its own power source, Both Sho and Myers looked the machine though it was Sho who spoke up first
“I must wonder though, could you modify this machine to enhance the performance of field soldiers?”
“Yes,” I said, “this machine is very powerful.”
Sho nodded. “Well then in the name of the Asian Confederacy I claim this machine, you will bring it to me so I could bring it to the council!”
Myers turned to Sho, stunned. “Now wait just a Beaver dam minute here! I thought this was a mutual mission, we were supposed to be on even ground here bud!”
“Don’t worry my friend; you shall get the scrap metal. I think the government would like to have this as our weapon of terror”
“You want this to become a weapon; a stupid weapon!?” I cried, “This machine is not to be used as a weapon! I refuse to let you take it!”
“You have no choice,” said Sho, he pulled out a gun, “you will hand over the machine to me now or I shall take it by force!”
“Like hell you are!” shouted Myers as he came in to attack Sho, the two began to fight and soon the whole base became a war zone. There was firing everywhere as the Toonbots began to head for cover, bloodshed was everywhere and as I looked on, I began to feel even more distant from humanity then I ever was before. But then there was Myers, he really made me have hope, he defended me as he kicked and punched Sho all over the metamorphosis room. Even though I detested violence, I could not help but to cheer Myers on, but then gasped as Sho drew a short knife and stabbed him.
Phillip went down, clutching his wound. Sho then began to charge at me, I could not let him have the machine so I did the only thing I could do. I grabbed his arm and then broke it in two with a painful crack.
He cried out as his arm broke. “Get out of here, NOW! I don't want to hurt you any farther but if you continue with this operation I will not think twice on breaking you in half, I may hate violence but when someone wants to use this great machine for evil I will defend it from them!”
Sho then started to back away and soon he darted out of the room. I then turned my attention to Myers who was bleeding badly all over the beautiful floor of the metamorphosis room.
“I am sorry for bringing this battle here” he said, “I guess this is what I get for trying to interfere with foreign matters.”
“You are bleeding pretty badly, I don't think you can live for much longer... listen if you want to I can use this machine to heal you. I know becoming a robot is a very terrifying idea but if you don't want to I can understand”
He gave me a smile and said, “For all my life I have been a soldier, I think it is time I had a change. Go ahead, does it, I am sure I will enjoy it.”
I nodded and slowly took him over to the machine, I closed its glass door and I gave him notice, he gave me the thumbs up as I engaged the transformation sequence.
Slowly he became a Toonbot and I was happy to see what happened to a person inside the machine for the other side of the machine.
I saw a gentile glow surround him as his body, I looked at the control panel and saw the machine transform both the inside and the outside of his body transform into a Toonbot, I saw armor coat his body and before I knew it the process was complete.
Soon Phillip came out of the machine and began to look himself over
“Woah, this is incredible I feel so much better!”
I then pressed a button and soon a mirror came before him, he looked over his features and said, “So you decided to make me like you eh?”
I nodded; I decided to make him into a Bunnybot with a blue color scheme, as I did want to try to have some companionship.
I gave him a smile and said, “Well you protected me. I know it is a complete contrast to your personality, but you did say you wanted a change.”
He gave me a large smile with his new rabbit mouth as he said, “indeed I did, but I do admit I do like it”
After he was comfortable in his new body, I turned to him and said, “Let’s check if anyone else survived”. He nodded as we went out to check on the outside. We found at least eight survivors, three people from the Asian Confederacy and the rest from the American forces.
“What a terrible scene” said Myers “so many lives lost”
“What do you want to do with them?”
“I want all of them to get treatment, it is strange but I feel that I have a responsibility for all of them.”
I nodded and soon we began to check injuries and then we sent them to the infirmary.
The Toonbots made this just in case we found somebody who was hurt, and indeed, we found a lot of use for that place on that day. I came up to one of the members of the Asian confederacy as he said, “Why are you helping us? Are we not your enemies?”
Myers came up to him and said, “No, I no longer feel any malice towards you or your solders. If you wish you can even become like Julie and I.”
The soldier nodded “it must be wonderful not to feel hate and malice”
“It does” I said, the soldier then gave us a smile as he drifted into sleep.
Several hours passed and soon the soldiers were ready, and we asked each one if they were willing to undergo the metamorphosis. At least half of them agreed, including two of members of the Asian Confederacy and two from the American forces. The one soldier we talked to earlier was one of them, and he seemed eager to become a Toonbot. Soon Myers and I got four new companions as we turned our eyes to the future.
Part 3: a brave new world
It did not take a long time for war to break out between the nations, and my fellow Toonbots were eager to get off this planet. Then came a great change in attitude as the war ignited, reports of our machine broke out with a little help from Benson who finally undertook the metamorphosis. Myers and I stayed together and acted as representatives of the Toonbot race. Myers decided to change his name as I did after I became a Toonbot, he began to call himself Jerry Bunnybot and he quickly became like a father to the Toonbots.
Others began to change their names too, including the previously unnamed Toonbots. The population of people who became Toonbots became larger, by the time the nations began to fire missiles we had over then thousand people who became Toonbots, most of them were children or injured soldiers. Those that remained behind did not seem to care as our ships began to leave; we all gave a sad look back at the Earth as we saw the planet light up with nuclear missiles.
We were able to evade that as we took caution on where we launched from, but there was one other place I wanted to go to before we took ourselves farther into space; Mars, the place where I grew up. I wanted to see my parents again, even if they had died like my Aunt and Uncle I still wanted to say goodbye to them.
I went in alone at first, with the portable metamorphosis machine in tow. I came down to the colony where I knew they lived. During my time on Earth I kept in contact with them, from the time I moved to my Aunts and Uncles to the day before I heard the news about the riots.
I came out of my craft and slowly came to the domed colony of Utopia. I had no need for spacesuits now that I was a Toonbot, and the Martian air felt cold, but strangely calming. I came up to the door of the colony and opened the front door, the pressure door shut behind me as a voice said, “State your business”
“I am Rachel Harris; I am here to see Jack and Rose Harris. Are they around?”
“Rachel?” said the voice once again
“Yes it is me Dad,” I said knowing that he monitored the gate on Thursdays, I knew he quit his mining job after he became too old for it “you can say I have undergone some changes since the last time you saw me.”
“Well what in the world happened to you?”
“I will have to explain when I get in”
“Alright, opening the doors”
“Just prepare for a surprise when you see me from the other end.”
The doors opened as the pressure met that of the inside of the dome, my father came to greet me and almost passed out when he saw my new body. He was able to spit out “What in the world? Rachel is that you?”
I nodded and said, “I told you to prepare for a surprise” with a smile on my face “look I need to talk to you and mom”. He nodded as we walked off to my old house, a place I had not been in for over twenty years now. I sat with them and told them of all the events leading up to this moment. As I finished with my story as my mother and father began to look dazed, and I admit there was a part of me that feared they would reject me.
Then they stood up and my father said, “Rachel, you have done so much. You created a brand new race of beings and you shown great responsibility in leading them in a new future for themselves. And this metamorphosis thing sounds really interesting.”
“I too find it interesting, you certainly did something that people would have considered impossible a long time ago.”
I decided to pop the question “So will you guys join me? After all I did want to try to make your lives better by making robots”
“We know,” said my father “I know I want to try it”
I turned to my mom and asked “well what about you mom?”
“Well things have been slow around here, and I think its time we moved on.”
I nodded and said, “Well I have the machine back at the aircraft, I will go get it and I will see if anyone else will take me up on the offer. My parents nodded and soon I came back to the colony with the machine. I was surprised how many people here wanted to undergo the metamorphosis. In fact, I had to call down for over half of the ships to get those who wanted the change.
I had my mom and dad go first, I made them both into Bunnybots like me and soon after, we began to convert those who wanted to be Toonbots. We soon gave our proposal to the other colonies and nearly half of the population of the planet wanted to go with us.I guess the crisis on Earth really scared the colonies on Mars, and it took us a long time to get the people who wanted to become Toonbots to come with us.
It took at least half a year to leave Mars, and soon we found ourselves on a quest to find a new home world. We searched fro a long time, but we were all very patient, soon we found a planet with plenty of ore and mass where we could start a colony.
We made sure we settled on a planet with at least somewhat of an atmosphere though we did not need to breathe, the planet we settled on was a tad similar to Mars though it did not have as many storms on it and its ground was a gentile blue instead of red. The planet was about over half the size of earth, and its gravity was manageable. Of course things like atmosphere and gravity did not matter, though we did want a planet were we could feel comfortable. Temperature wise the planet was a but cooler then Earth, most of us adjusted to this weather well and soon we began building cities out of the ships we arrived in and without the need of food and water, our settlement grew very fast.
The new society we made quickly grew, and soon we had things like police units, fire departments and repair stations. There was no more money, no more greed, the minute each one of the humans that became Toonbots became Toonbots including myself things like hate and violence became almost alien concepts. There would be no more hate, there would be no more wars, and I found all that very satisfying.
On the new world, both the humans who became Toonbots and the ones I helped make in the company looked to me for guidance. With me was Jerry who also helped me in guiding our new civilization. We formed a secular council that even my personal Toonbots became a part of. In our new society there would not be any leaders, everyone had an equal amount of power, and without the need of things like land and territory there was nothing to claim except our freedom.
As for Jerry I eventually married him, we made such a great couple together and as for the four Toonbots who started it all, they stayed with me even though they had many new activities to do in the new city we built.
Ollie became the head of the police unit, Richie became the head of the fire department, Lillie became my chief secretary and Annie still woke me up each day. They still stayed near me though, and they still talked to Jerry and me. They made Jerry and I very happy with their visits
You know sometimes I think I programmed my Toonbots a little too well, But I do know they wanted me to be happy, and well to be honest Jerry and I have never been happier in all our lives.
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