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

Now awake, Chris grabbed a screwdriver, popped the hood and began to tinker. A minute later, the alarm ceased and he breathed a sigh, rubbing his ears. "That was fun. Alright, I think I fixed your alarm system. That or I completely disabled it..."

''You disabled it.'' She inquired, wincing again. ''Was everyone ok after the explosion? You didn't get hurt too badly, did you?''

"Yeah, everyone was okay; well, except for CD who got the worst of it. I'm fine, just a bit beat up." Chris hesitated and then added, "I'm gonna go grab a couple of spares from out back and see if we can get you and CD and that other AI set up. It won't be glamorous, but maybe we can get some sort of link set up. Unless you have any suggestions, 54..."

It was funny how quiet the garage was when the other AIs were off.

CD winces. ''54's shut off. I'm talking.'' She retorted, hurt. ''You know what happens if me and 54 get linked..I'm glad everyone else is ok, though.''

Chris winced and rubbed his head. Maybe he should have slept in. Except that, right, it had been CD's alarm that had brought him down here. He looked back at Clutch, sitting quietly, and then back at CD.

"Right, sorry. I'm still recovering. I guess the link thing shouldn't be set up right now anyway--I would have put in safeguards to prevent any merging. The last thing I want is for rogue AIs to take over any working machine...not that I have to worry about that now."

''The FF could be useful if it didn't sound like it was dieing. If some data is left, maybe it knows more about your father and the AIs he worked on. And how he knew about 54 when he met her.''

"True. But there really wasn't a whole lot of code left. I'm not sure if it would be worth waking him up for that." Why FF struck Chris as a "him" wasn't entirely clear. He figured it was the obstinate personality, similar to Clutch's but worse. Not that he would believed such a thing was possible.

Chris grabbed his laptop. "Good news though is that the capacitor is fully charged now. Bad news, my laptop nearly fried. How are the rest of your systems running, CD?"

CD winces. ''Everythings out of wack from falling and tumbling. My tires are flat to the ground and my cameras are still out.''

Chris sighed. "But your AI core is working so that's a good thing. Everything else is just...superficial." But it was an important superficial. "I'm gonna have to call in some friends I think to help me patch you guys up. There's just too much work for one kid to do."

''Can we trust your friends?''

"They're mostly harmless. Jim might try to rewire some things, but just don't let him under the hood or near your AI core. He can do tires and oil changes and everything else just fine. He builds robots for fun..." He trailed off. "Can you transform into a robot? He might have better luck working with you then."

CD winces, and shifts to her human form. Most of the dress she had on was in shreds, and her left arm was warped and crushed up. Overall it looked like she had been through a trash crusher.

Chris' eyes widened. "Whoa. You look like you've been through a compactor..." And then he grinned. "Jim is going to have loads of fun with you, fixing you up. Let me go call him real quick. I'll also go call Aaron, he might be free to help as well."

Chris vanished inside to call his friends, conveniently forgetting to turn Clutch on...

CD winces again, cringing.

54 stirred awake, her core slowly coming to life as she awoke.

Chris returns after a few minutes and he's got a bowl of cereal with him. "Well, they'll be over shortly." He goes over to Clutch and sits down in the driver's seat to turn on the AI. "Wakey, wakey, Clutch. And 54."

54's core turns on fully, pulsing lightly as she stirred to life. ''I'm up, I'm up.'' She replied, then waited for Clutch.

Clutch stirs and at last he flickers on. "I'm up, what is it? Chris?"

Chris, satisfied that everyone is up and talking, more or less--excluding the newest AI in the background--tells them the news. "My friends Jim and Aaron are coming over to help fix you guys up. So I want you to behave. They know their ways around a car just as well as I do, so there shouldn't be any problems."

Clutch blasts a bit of static. "Not Jim!"

"He's the only one that can restore CD to her full capacity. So shush, Clutch."

CD attempted to stand up, but fell back down again with a deep sigh. ''Ow.'' She hissed, wincing.

''CD sounds beat up.'' 54 piped in.

"Did something just say 'ow'?" Called a second voice. The sound of footsteps reached their ears as Jim and Aaron entered the garage.

Chris grinned. "Jim, Aaron! You guys made it. Yes, see. I've got a couple of beat up-"

"Oh my gawd, you have a robot?!" Jim practically sprinted to CD, and bent down next to her. "What have you been doing to her? She's mangled."

"Actually," muttered Chris dryly, "I was hoping you could fix her up. She was in better shape earlier. And Aaron I need your help with the cars."

CD scowled at him. ''Leave my core alone and you can work on me.'' She sneered, wincing a bit. She couldn't see him, but her core cackled in protest at hearing the word 'fix.'

54 just snorts. ''At least he got her gender right.'