Forums » General Roleplay » Sands of Time (1x1)

The beach was empty but for the sound of manic honking. In the distance, sand could be seen flying in all directions as a once-red Buick sped down the beach, racing against the tide.

"Ah-hahaha!" the Artificially Intelligent car cackled, as the rising waves came up short. "You'll never reach my tires, let alone my rims! Kiss my bumper!" The car sped down the beach, kicking up sand before sliding to a halt. The sand made for poor traction, but the car seemed to be getting pleasure out of the ability to skid further and faster.

It backed up and turned to face the way it had just come, and then revved its engine. "Try to catch me now!" Clutch crowed, as he shifted into first gear. He only made it a third of the way down the beach before he hit something that made him lose control. He skidded into the surf.

Hrrrrnk. The drowsy barely audible barely heard honk of a failing horn. The sound came from a car restng in the waves a bit, too rusted out to budge much besides the tide that mmoved it closer to the shore, tires sunk into the thin sand. It was deathly silent, crabs crawling over the hood, and seaweed clinging onto the rims. A tow hook was hung onto the trunk, but the rope was frayed and broken.

The car didn't seem to turn on, though. But it seemed to be concious somewhat, though the stalled engine wasn't making noise at all. The car remained silent after the horn sounded from it, starting to roll back into the water when the waves washed out, dragging it back to it's 'grave' of sorts.

"So much for my rims," Clutch muttered darkly as he tried to drive his way out of the surf. That's when he heard the tell-tale signs of a dying horn. "Um, hello? Is someone stuck out there?"

The internal component of his AI core that registered other AIs began to beep and he assessed it for further information. Driving out of the surf made it weaker; driving into the surf it got stronger. "You've gotta be kidding," he muttered. "I don't have clearance for this kind of thing!"

But he was intrigued and he patrolled the beach, narrowing down where this AI signal was coming from. At last, he found it. His forward sensor beeped indicating he was about to run into something, just as a wave came crashing in.

CLUNK

The rusted hunk smacked into him. The car horn blared weakly and failingly. Whoever this was didn't seem to like being hit, but waterlogged to the point it couldn't move much. Yet it's core was still in a somewhat working order. Tje signal responded weakly, clunking occasionly when the water washed over the hole ridden hood. The wires near the windsheild shot sparks, damaged. The horn blares weakly again, starting to fail again. Yet the core still kept signalling, somehow.

''............'' And the engine puttered pathetically, stalling out and shutting down again, also waterlogged.

"Aaaah you hit me!" Clutch recoiled as the wave washed over him. "I'm gonna rust!" But he didn't drive away. Instead, he sighed and made an awkward U Turn in the water and lowered out a tow cable. There was a powerful magnet on the end, which allowed it to hook onto any metal surface it came into contact with.

"I hate rust," he muttered, as he began to pull the lump of whatever he'd run into that also had an AI sensor in it, to shore. His tires spun in the wet sand for a minute, before getting traction, and then he strained forward. The surf threw him forward and a moment later he was tugging the vehicle behind him to shore.

The lump slowly was pulled to shore, to reveal itself to be a who knew how old rusted out sports car, tires barely gripping the sand at all. The rope dragged behind, similiar to that of a boat in a way, but frayed.

Once on shore, static could be heard from the car. Static that came from two speakers embedded into the area close to the headlights. The enginge puttered, but stayed out, and the car blared it horns again until it finally was able to detect Clutch was what had found it. ''Zzzzzz!!!'' It 'hisssed', static.

Clutch huffed as he finally made it to dry 'land'. He deactivated the magnet and then patrolled a slow circle around the thing he had pulled out. "Are you a car?"

He had a small scanner thing that popped out of his hood, but it had gotten wet from the wave and he'd have to wait for it to dry before using it. The static from the speaker made him reverse briefly. "What are you? What were you doing in the ocean?" he asked.

''Zzzzz!'' It hissed again, seeming to be in a fit. After more zzzz'ings a stray bee fluttered out and died....

''.....................Whhh....yyop...?'' Asked the car, straining to pronounce anything. ''O.....cea....???'' It questioned, water dripping out of the speakers enough for the staticy feminine voice to be heard, sounding damaged,hurt, and also ill.

"You were in the ocean," Clutch said. "And now we're on the beach. What were you doing in the ocean?"

But he could sense that it wasn't all in working order. The static it emitted was painful to listen to. "How long were in there for?" He didn't have eyes, but he could only imagine the rust.

''I.....Innn.....ocea.....fr...fif six..yers...?'' She replied, straining still. Enough water dribbled out to loosen her core up from some sand. She tried so hard to get her headlights on, but they stayed out. She tried to move her tires, but all that came was a screechinh sound of metal against metal from stuck brakes. That didn't seem good at all. Flustered, the car blared the horn until it too went out. ''Bea...ch..?''

"Y-you need a serious carwash," Clutch replied, wincing as he heard metal grinding on metal. "Er, you should stop trying to move. If you're out of oil you might catch fire. And not to mention the rust build up..." He sighed and beeped his horn. "I'm turning into a mechanic, darn it."

"Look," he said to the car. "I'm gonna try my best to find someone to patch you up. You think you can still roll forward some?" He was already adjusting the tow cable in preparation for hauling her back onto the road.

She barely rolled forward, gears groaning in deep protest of moving in rust. She did manage, however, to open her eyes...To show a pure white screen, empty. ''...Blck...? Yo...Black?...Who tu..light off..?'' She asked, deeply puzzled, and apparently confused about something of her cracked windsheild, her engine finally sputtering to life breifly, enough that her brakes got loose and the grinding ceased. Though the ennginge sounded rougher than a jagged moutain rock, coming from the hole covered hood. The core, though intact, cracked a bit whebn the engine was on, and the car shuddered violently, engine stalling and jamming up again.

"I'm red, usually," Clutch replied. "But I'm kind of sandy today." He cringed as the sound coming from the engine seemed bad. And then the car behind him shuddered. "I told you to stop trying to do anything, let me do the work. If you force it you'll blow a fuse and then you might need rewiring and I won't be any help."

He activated the magnet again and it stuck to the car. "Do you have a name at least?" he asked it. "I'm Clutch, by the way." He began the slow, methodical task of hauling the rusted metal vehicle behind him in the sand, making furrows from the tires.

''....My....na....ees....Cranky.....Doortrap.....'' The car stuttered, rolling foward from being towed.
''y...Cemeras....asEE..To be shot....'' She said, static still sounding. ''You...Are....Chlu...?''

"Cranky, huh? Well, I'd be cranky too if I was in the ocean for five years. Your door's probably trapped because of the water inside or the rust..." Clutch said, as he bumped over the slightly less sandy sidewalk and pulled onto a road that, while still covered in sand, was at least firm and allowed for a speed limit over 30mph.

"And yes, my name is Clutch." He shifted into 3rd gear and pulled her along. "It's too bad I found you washed up out here...this place is like the desert--so unpopulated...it might be a while before we find someone."

CD grumps, and rolls a window down. Water pours out, and a few fish go flopping out aswell. A few red snappers and one random seahorse in the mess. And a big lump of seaweed, too. ''I sa...56 years!'' She exclaimed, starting to come to concious, systems slowly stirring back to life. Her front bumper got loose and broke off with a dull clink, temporally turning the voice off. ''......!!! ...! ...'' All that could be heard was her core beeping in a fit loudly.

"Oh, well, fifty-six... FIFTY SIX years?!" Clutch braked in surprise, which was probably just as well since a moment later CD's bumper fell off and left her muted.

"Mechanics almighty, and you're still talking, moving...working? Whoever worked on you can work on me--assuming I don't end up in the ocean afterwards."

Her fit of beeps brought him back to reality. "Hey, hey, calm down...I can't think when you're blinking and beeping at me." He tried the sensor thing again, it had dried off somewhat, but sand wasn't going to hurt anything.

"Look, I have a wire that can possibly link us...but I haven't used it in a while and it hooks straight into the AI core. I won't meddle with anything, but if you wanna talk it'll help. Uh...where is your AI core anyway?" He forgot about her lack of ability to speak at the moment.

''........! ..!!!....'' Her core beeped angryly, and she lifted her hood up, seaweed dangling off it a bit. A strong gas-based scemt and feeling emanated from within, where the beeping was louder and clearer, a flashing white light visible occasionly, a crack also visible in a metallic shine admist the rust.

''.....! ....... .... ...!'' Thus another fit of annoyed beeping from her core, though it was timed in tunes of some old wartime tone, like a code of sorts.

His own AI sensor was beeping in time with hers and it distracted Clutch.

"If you're trying morse code, I haven't gotten around to learning it yet," he replied with no little annoyance.

He extended the wire into the engine, hoping that he wouldn't get electrocuted or worse in the process. At last, there was a snap and a pop as the wire found CD's AI core and made a connection. Now they could talk, and he could run diagnostics if he wanted to.

He wasn't sure he wanted to. "Alright, can you hear me now?" He braced himself for her response. Sometimes the wire was touch and go; other times it over amplified the other vehicle's response. Rarer still, it did neither of the above and let two AIs communicate without shorting out in the process.

After a tense hour of silence...

''...I th..ink so?'' She replied hesitantly, he cores beeping dimming until it wasn't heard anymore. ''The beeping is my..Only way to communicate if my speakers...Break. My name is...Cranky Doortrap. Or...CD...'' She stammered, shutting her messed up eyes so a transparent purple windsheild apeared where they had been. ''Wi..re?''