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

"It's not like I wanted to know about you," Bill muttered at 54. He grunted at the pain of the zap and rubbed his leg. He stalked away from the AI core, letting it stay where it rolled. "Who knows what's wrong with it; it's a problem."

Clutch rolled over to it and gently lowered his AI cord to it. Even in spite of the warnings, he was curious. "What is it that you hate about Bill?" he asked, and connected to the core.

''He.....Buried me...!'' It hissed. ''Left...Me to...DIE!'' It hissed as a sparratic zap of it's powerful energy surged into the wire violently and harshly. 54 yelped from feeling the zap first. ''Clutch, Bill said to leave it alone!'' She whined.

CD looked at Bill. ''So your telling...Us that this core is so messed up no one could...Figure out it's problem?''

"They're all humans incapable of understanding AIs," Clutch retorted, not realizing his words would carry down the cord into the AI. His RPMs raced when the jolt traveled back into him. "OW! Stop that," he chided the AI core. "If you have a problem, come out with it already. Or I'll run a diagnostic..."

Bill looked at CD. "We had an entire company working on it to no avail. If there was a way to fix it, we would have."

''What did they find it in? I know that a...Plane got shot down...'' CD choked, her engine starting to fail.

The core growled, zapping Clutch again. ''tERE....Are no....Problems I want....To speak of!'' It hissed, crackling.

54 winced from the zapping. ''Then why is it so zappy?!''

"Because speaking and running a diagnostic are two different things." He was already running the diagnostic, trying to absorb the extra current. He'd been lucky that Chris had given him extra dampening measures when he'd added 54 to his engine--but that meant an additional core to worry about.

Bill scowled and shook his head. "It was classified and as such I am unable to share such things. Suffice it to be said that it can't be fixed. Neither can it be destroyed. It's best to be buried and forgotten by time itself."

''I.....am Fear...Flyer...!'' Crackled the core loudly.

CD flinched. ''War plane!''

''Bill, nothing is classified unless you stil work for that com...Fear Flyer?'' 54 stated.

Bill didn't even look unfazed by the cores static crackling. "It's just an AI core. It can't do anything without its normal body. But what it does come into contact with, it has an unnatural ability to weaponize-" He bit back a curse as he let that bit slip. "Not that you needed to know that."

Clutch hissed back. "Fear Flyer? You're a plane? What happened to you? Where did your plane go?"

The core crackled violently again, sending another surge through the wire.

''Plane...Sunk in ocean....Shot down..Him!'' Referring to Bill. ''Tore my core out...Tossed it to..Be buried!'' It hissed, the memory stirring up commands for firing guns that no longer was attached to it. Or so one could think..

Bill turned to see what Clutch was doing and his face went white. "Clutch! Disengage at once!"

But Clutch wasn't paying attention to the outside world. "You sure he didn't try to rescue you first? There's gotta be some reason you couldn't be fixed...right?"

Chris watched, wrench in one hand, screwdriver in the other, unsure of what was going to take place.

The core crackles, then glows brightly, shifting. When the glow fades a crumpled up looking old silver hued car similiar to Clutch in it's build stood where the core had been. But the form flickered, appearing to be a hologram made by the core.

''If he...Had wanted to rescue me...He would have...Came to get me!'' It hissed, core surging again.

54 gacks. ''Clutch!'' She shouted. ''Bill, he won't listen! What did it turn into?''

Bill backed up until he was back in the tow truck. The backhoe he had already sent back to town. And Chris muttered an oath under his breath.

"What is that thing? A hologram? Since when?"

"Since one of my coworkers tried a new procedure and it backfired," Bill muttered. "Chris, get over here. We're leaving this thing behind. Clutch--we're going!"

Clutch ignored the rest of the humans. And 54. "So where are you going now?"

Clutch was nearly drained of his energy when the hologram solidified to form the crumbled but workingsilver hued car with six hidden cameras. Though it lacked it's weapons. And it looked like Clutch, aside from the hidden cameras and color. ''......Where am I supposed to go?'' It replied meekly, the core hidden within the crushed hood.

''Clutch!'' CD shouted weakly, and 54 made her core turn cold.

Clutch idled his power connection severed as his power levels died and 54's core cooled his overheating engine and battery.

Chris looked at his father. "Now what do we do? Clutch is stuck and CD is stuck and that new car is stuck..."

Bill sighed and looked at the tow truck. He'd brought the big one fortunately. "We're bringing CD and Clutch home. The other one can stay here. I'm not touching it with a ten-foot pole."

''Yes, thats it. Just abandon me here like every other lowlife has.'' Hissed the FF, but not budging. ''All humans could care was to make all AIs harmless. But all the flaws they failed to fix allowed me to make anything into a weapon, and drain mechanical apppliances of power than I can use as my own. So far I haven't found anything wrong with doing so. Hahaah...ha-ha!'' It cackled, core sparking.

CD looked at Bill. ''Why does it look like Clutch?'' While 54 kept her core cool to chill the hot engine.

Bill grimaced. "Unfortunately, that particular AI was an experimental model that failed horribly--as you can see why. We tried to create patches to work with it, cover up the many faults, but it was like playing 'fix the leak' when someone else was coming along behind you and unscrewing all the screws again. It probably looks like Clutch because it wants to blend in enough until it can get more power."

Chris scowled. "So basically it doesn't have any parameters to keep it from getting into trouble. That can be fixed."

"No, Chris, it's not that simple. We had our entire company working on it-"

"That's not the point, dad. Your company didn't know much about AIs--no offense." Chris cringed but continued. "I've worked with them a lot more. I know they can be fixed and improved. And this one just needs a little more work..."

"If you want to fix it, then fix it out here. I will not have that thing in my garage. And that's final." Bill started up the tow truck.

The FF scowls, but couldn't budge one bit. Still extremeoly low on working power as 54 attempted to awaken Clutch by normal means.

''Flaws and failures are all you humans can conjure up in your sceming little minds. You tossed me out to this sandy grave thikning that destroying my body would destroy me. But alas, I still live! Nothing can stop me from destroying those that failed to fix their mistakes!'' It cackled, shooting sparks a bit.


''So the spy plane...It was a failed expirement...A war fighter that we wrong?'' CD inquired. ''A test that couldn't be perfected no matter what was done?''

Clutch jumped and twitched and backfired as he came back to himself with a start. "Whoa what just happened? Why are you so cold, 54?"

Chris leaped out of the tow truck to approach FearFlyer. "If you don't stop shooting sparks, you'll short yourself out," Chris said.

And then Bill was grounding his teeth as he formed another reply. "It worked well enough as a spy plane, but it didn't want to be grounded after its mission was over. Unfortunately, we couldn't let it wander the skies without alerting a whole bunch of other countries about our newest trick. When it crashed, some idiot mechanic tinkered with it and it turned out like this. No amount of rewiring could fix it again."

The FF hissed and creaked backwards, the hole sealing shut and solid. It's engine rattlred loudly, shooting more sparks onto the sand. ''Maybe foolish mechanics shouldn't rewire my settings without asking! I liked to fly, until you idiots made me crash!'' The FF sneered, sparking again. It's door was ajar, the key jammed into the ignition.

''The FF drained you of your power and you shut down. Don't you remember?'' 54 asked Clutch, her core getting warm again. ''Hear it talking?'' She added.

CD frowns, wincing. ''Did that company make 54 too?''

Clutch felt his RPMs race again and then he made sense of what was going on. "Oh, right..." he flashed his lights experimentally. "Too many surges knocked me out there."

Bill really didn't want to comment, but he had no choice. "You knocked your own self out of the sky when you took on those SAMs (Surface to Air Missiles) by yourself. And CD--I'm not sure if he's the same model as yours--he may be a slightly altered version simply because it was made for a plane instead of a car."

Chris scowled. "I'm not an idiot mechanic. I know about AI's. I've worked on Clutch's, CD's and 54's."

''You ordered me to attack them!'' The FF hissed, it's door jarring open. ''It's all your fault I got changed!'' It hissed, the door wide open now. ''All mechanics are idiots, all of them! If no one could fix me, what makes you, a puny human boy, think you can do better?'' The FF snapped. It's core was starting to overload, sparking furiously.

''Din't you guys have any plane hulls that no one uses?'' 54 asked quickly as she sensed the FF's core going wild, and CD braced for impact of an impending explosion.