The Year of Robo Chapter 11
May 2300
By Robo
May 1, 2300
Robo and Rachel were doing about as well as could be expected on their mission. If anything, Rachel was bored. She knew walking around in public would be suicide, so she would stay inside all day in a small tent Robo had made for her. It was in the forest East of the Arris Dome. Of course, Robo had the real hard time. He had to paint himself with blue paint so he could sneak into the Arris Dome and gather the information. And from the looks of the information, it wasn't the least bit good. Both Robo and Rachel were taken off their feet when they learned about Mother Brain was producing these new XR-Series. In fact, Robo was about to go back to the Keeper's Dome and report his findings. She convinced him to stay, saying that it may not be the only thing they needed. She began to mix the blue paint. It was washable so that it could come off easily. That also meant a new coat had to be applied everyday, so Rachel got to mix the paint everyday.
Her mind wandered, and she found herself thinking about Doan again. Supposedly he had aged terribly, even though he was only in his mid-twenties. She couldn't blame him, he had lived in that alternate future, but her ancestor prevented that future. Even when she met him, he still looked fairly old, as if in his forties. Since she had met him, he seemed to regain some of his youth. His hair turned from whitish to blonde, the bald spot on top of his head was completely gone by the time she left for this journey. Maybe he is just changing to adjust to this new furture. Time travel, alternate futures, Lavos, it could get confusing very easily. But she couldn't doubt that she had grown happier since meeting him. She stopped suddenly. For some reason, she would always begin to think of him. She thought of her old friends in the Proto Dome, and the others in the Keeper's Dome, but her thoughts always came back to him. It was just that almost turned from a forty-year-old man to a twenty-year-man so fast before her eyes, she would assure herself.
Her communicator lit up. Robo had brought them, in case they needed to communicate in emergencies. He had never used it before, so she tought it must be fairly important. It lit up, and Robo's face appeared on the small screen. "Miss Rachel, can you hear me?"
"Yeah, what's wrong?" she replied. She noticed he no longer had his coat of blue paint. "What happened to your disguise?"
"I have encountered a problem I did not anticipate," said Robo. "They were able to detect me, when they grew suspicious and scanned my internal computer. I will need your help to get out of here."
"Do you want me to get help?" she asked. "Lab 32 isn't too far away. I can get Johnny and some of his troops."
"No, that will not do," said Robo. "I am the number one person on the Mother Brain's most wanted list. When they inform her that they have caught me, she will have me immediately transported to the Geno Dome."
"I'll do my best," said Rachel. She did not know what to do. She took the Masamune, ready to fight, but knew that could not work. There was no way to overcome an entire dome full of robots single-handedly. She would have to use her wits. She remembered that captives in the domes wore rags, and if she could find a trash bin, surely there would be some discarded uniform of a human captive.
She set out at once, hiding behind trees, until she had to come out of the forest. She saw a small trash bin, and quickly but silently made her way there. She was discouraged to see a robot guarding there, but knew she could handle it. When it saw her, he fired his laser cannon at her. Instantly she drew the Masamune and deflected the shot. The laser beam hit the robot, blowing him up. She rummaged through, and found several uniforms. She slipped one on that wasn't too filthy or disease-infested, and snuk into the Arris Dome. At once, the guard stopped her.
"Do not procede further. You are human, and all humans were executed today by order of the Mother Brain. How could you elude capture?"
Rachel knew it best not to speak, and let the robot come to its own conclusions.
"You must have been overlooked, and therefore must be executed immediately," the robot concluded. He took her down to the quarters of the prisoners. The robot spoke to the robot in charge of that room, "Here is a late arrival. Take care of her at once." The other robot nodded, as the first one left. He approached her, and she silently cast Ice, which froze it in place. Drawing her sword, she smashed it into tiny pieces. After searching the room for a short while, she found where Robo was.
"Ahhh, Miss Rachel, I see you were sucessful," said Robo. "Disguising yourself as a human captive, quite clever I must admit."
"Yeah, let's go," she said.
They walked out, when an alarm sounded. The Guardian approached, followed by two smaller Bits. Rachel knew that there was no sneaking around this thing, nor did she want to. She cast of her cloak. Ever since she was a child and learned about the evil robots, she grew an amazing hatred for them, save Robo and Johnny. She held the Masamune, and struck the Guardian. In turn, the Guardian fired a laser at her, then formed a Delta-type attack with the Bits. She fell down, and Robo picked her up. "Do not strike the main machine yet. Take out the smaller Bits first."
The Bit to the left fired a tiny missile at Rachel, but she moved out of its way. She called for Robo, and cast Ice as Robo fired his Fire Beam. It hit the left Bit with a varition of the Antipode, and it was instantly destroyed. Robo used his Rocket Punch, hitting the right Bit with his Prism Fist. Before it had a chance to explode, Rachel swung the Masamune and hit it straight on. The Bit had no chance. The Guardian remained, which fired several bullets. Both Rachel and Robo dodged, but had to dodge again when the Guardian fired a shower of small missiles. Robo returned fired with his own Tech Missile, which blew a hole into the Guardian's left half. The Guardian struggled to control its movement, and fired weapons of fire. Rachel fires a stream of water, which put out the firey weapons. She casted Water 2 and Ice 2, forming the Glacier attack. It destroyed the Guardian. They fled the dome, but were met by several robots. They managed to fight their way through, Robo swing the Prism Fist if anything should get too close, Rachel swing the Masamune. They were fine until they gathered around the door. Robo fended them off with a simple Shock, destroying almost a third of the robots and wounding several more. They made their way out and managed to get back into the woods. They were safe, for the time being.
They discussed what they learned, and Robo told her about the execution of all the human slaves, Mother Brain's idea of revenge after the robot's failed attempt to take Lab 32. They knew in the previous attempts in the last few months, she was only stretching a small finger of her true power out towards the humans. The situation looked grim. Rachel did not want to feel depressed, so she tried to at least end the discussion on a good note. She explained her sudden interest, almost obsession with Doan. Robo listened, and thought.
Remembering to his days with his old friends, and the explanation Lucca had given him of human emotions, Robo was sure he knew the answer. "I believe that you are feeling an emotion. A quite common emotion, but still powerful."
"Could you be a bit more specific?" asked Rachel. As much as she respected Robo, she thought he could be the world's greatest authority on missing the point.
"That emotion," said Robo hesitantly, "would be, in my opinion..."
"Yes, yes," said Rachel impatiently. "Out with it!"
"As I was saying before I was interrupted, I believe the emotion would be, I am sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt," Robo stalled as long as he could. "The emotion, I am very sure," he looked at Rachel and decided to get it over with. "The emotion would be, if you are ready to hear this, the emotion is love."
That of course, led into an even longer discussion, the very one Robo did not want to get into. Why, he thought, did she ask me of all people, the one with the least possible experience with emotions. However, he convinced her that Rachel was in love with Doan.
Much later, and after she accepted the fact that for the first time she loved someone, Rachel got serious. "So, what do we do now? Our plan has pretty much failed."
"I do not know Miss Rachel," sighed Robo. "I honestly do not know."
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