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

Bill studied 54 intently, observing the blue static along her sides. Very little got past him--especially when it came to cars. "The virus was classified, still is," he glanced at Chris, "but a few of us learned of it. It's part of why AIs became sentient, developed the ability to learn for themselves and also make decisions on their own. It's a double edged sword. On one hand, the driver is freed from typical driving duties; on the other, the car can become more disagreeable."

Bill swung the AutoWrench in an effortless circle around his finger and then set his hand on 54's hood. It was cold, but he didn't seem to mind it. "But if one of you is able to withstand 56 years in saltwater and the other is able to withstand freezing conditions...you must be made of sterner stuff than I realized."

Chris started to get a jack and a spare tire, intending to fix Clutch's flat.

CD snorts. ''Oh yea, I survived. It's only after getting fished out I start looking like this.'' She replied. ''Though my metal hood thing read CrankDoor and some numbers...'' She rambled on after also naming the number.

54 flinched at her hood getting touched, tensing up a bit. ''CD is over 290yrs old. I am only about 19yrs old in human years. Cranky Doortrap was made to only deliver basic info to her comrades. It was only until she was blasted that she crashed into the water, where she was lost to time. With CD gone, the war was going in our favor until...'' And she flinched again, grumbling. ''She returned, about 2 years later. Persistant pest.'' She hissed.

CD grumbles. ''I don't remember anything. All I know is Clutch found me.''

Bill listened as he carefully propped up 54's hood and then began to add just the slightest bit of antifreeze to her system.

"Why is there such a huge age difference between you two?" Bill asked. "If it's generational, I can understand, but if you have CD's old engine..." he whistled as he took a closer look. "No wonder you're having problems, 54. A new engine should fix you right up. As well as warm you up some. But maybe not quite as warm as CD. What'd you do to her, Chris? Light her on fire?"

Chris flinched and rolled his eyes. "No. That happened all on its own."

54 flinched again when she felt her hood raise up, mumbling. ''It's not a generation issue. It's an issue regarding that CD was made in a factory while I was built in a high-tech based facility that used only the bestest parts.'' She hissed, the frost starting to recede. The tiny core was seen inside the old engine, a slim crack-sized peice of a crystal similiar to CD's larger crystal. ''We share a creator, but theor name was forgotten after the war 'ended.'...'' She scowled. ''And I still hate my 'sister'.'' She growled.

''Well, I hat you too.'' CD retorted.

''If I could shoot..'' 54 grumbled, her core letting loose a small electrical discharge.

Chris watched in surprise as his father managed to get 54 to let him look around under her hood. Chris, by contrast, still had to conjole Clutch into letting him experiment--and most of the time the answer was still no.

Bill pulled away when he saw the spark building, pausing only to whack 54's bumper with the Auto Wrench. Not enough to ding or dent the bumper; just enough to get her attention. "Hey, play nice," he reprimanded. "I won't have you making a mess in my shop. Or harming any vehicle under my roof. Got it? CD--please stop inciting her. Besides, 54, as state of the art as you were 19 years ago, I'm afraid even Clutch's model outranks you, for all that your the faster."

"Dad!" Chris sighed and braced himself for a retort from either of the three AIs.

"We haven't raced yet," Clutch retorted as Chris set the jack up and then began to remove the lug nuts.

''I can only about 190...'' 54 grumbled, wincing from the whack slightly.

''Well, I can about 250...Whenever I'm not just rusted out and just sitting here. Heh.'' CD retorted. ''Racing was fun, where you didn't have to worry about getting shot..My racing number is 45.' She added.

54 just mutters stuff, clearly annoyed for reasons unknown, core still going berzerk. The stamping on the engine block only stated 'A54092 450927 3412' in bright blue colors. Similiar to the letters and numbers that CD also had. Also, theres was an out of place chip that seemed to be connected to the core. The computer chip was rather intact, though it looked like it wasn't doing any good, due to causing the core to spazz out. But was too snug in place to be moved easily.

Bill shook his head. Apparently the need to brag wasn't just a human trait; or maybe it had carried over into vehicles from their respective drivers. "190 and 250, you guys should be on the racetracks. I know several professional drivers who might take interest in either one of you. That being said, you both need a lot of work."

He glanced at his son. "Chris, would you come here and help? There's a chip in here--I want to know what it does."

Chris nodded and grabbed his laptop, hooking it up to the computer chip. A beep and a surge of energy later, and he was scrolling through massive info. "I-I don't even know what half this stuff is..." Chris commented, his eyes huge. "I'm guessing it's code for maybe everything?"

Clutch rolled closer to listen. "Did you pick your own number for racing?" he asked CD.

(Sorry, woulda replied later but internet at school derped)

''I chose it myself, but it was also considered my production number. I don't know if theres another 45 out there.'' She replied.

The coding was immense from the chip 54 had; It held data for her original purpose, a few bits were the systemetic bits for her cautionary warning errors that plauged her build. Some were simple, but others were complex bits of coding and mix-matched words.

"We'll have to isolate the code as we go then." Said Bill matter of factly. Chris looked at him, surprised. "54, can you flash your headlights for me? CD, Clutch, can you do the same?"

Chris understood what his father was going for: timing the delay between 54 and the other AIs. He pulled up a timer to observe the delay and then waited for the code to change.

"Fine," muttered Clutch, who flashed his brights without hardly a second thought.

CD flashes her with ease.

54, however, failed to do so for several minutes. The code flares wildly, until her headlights flicker on than off after the delayed signal. ''Not sure of they flashed, though. My transmitters are sluggish.'' She grumbled, the code delaying itself once more.

"Well that answers that," Bill muttered sourly. "Did you get anything useful, Chris?"

Chris hesitated. "I found the code for headlights; but it's so scrambled in the overall programming... I'm amazed anyone got this to work." He sighed, opened another browser, and began to type. "I could probably re-write a code to shorten the original, throw in shortcuts and shorted delays...but we're looking at possibly a week or two. And I'm not any closer to getting CD fixed."

Bill sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced at CD. "Fixing her, are you?" He sighed. "CD,you're not rusted through, are you? Because if you are, it won't matter what kind of stuff we add--your insides will literally fall out of you."

''My rust is only on the surface. Overall my body is still intact. Though my engine is rusted out from the saltwater, my bumpers have fell off, my brakes are out,and I'm blind due to my cameras not working. My emergency brake is working, though...And all my tires are flat.'' She replied. ''I also have no memory of how I landed in the ocean the first place. Only my core is cracked and slowly losing the charge it holds.''

"250, huh?" Bill murmured, looking over CD. "Well, I suppose you can probably hold your own in a race. Very well, Chris, I'll help you rebuild her. See if you can salvage any of 54's coding and shorten those delays."

Chris smiled. "Really? Thanks, dad!"

Bill gruffed but smiled too, while Clutch beeped from his spot. "Alright, alright, enough with the sentiments. When do I get my double deluxe car wash?"

"Right after we finish repairing CD and 54," replied Bill and Chris simultaneously. Clutch sighed. "I get no love around here."

"Well, shall we work some magic then?" Bill asked, rubbing his hands together. "It's been a while since I've done a complete overhaul, but I've got some ideas in mind--and a donor engine from a scrapped racer. What do you think, CD? Want an upgrade?"

She chuckled lightly. ''Sure, but be mindful that my core dislikes being touched. I might be a rusted hunk of a car, but I'm still ready to race like I used to. Though my cameras are out of order, so I can't see anything. And Clutch, if you had never found me I'd still be in the ocean. I'm grateful, though, that you did find me. Ok?'' She inquired, engine turning on a humming a bit, though it still sounded rough as a moutain rock.

54 snorts, her engine revving up in sputters, still getting delayed signals. ''Thats all spy cars ever think about. Even after their retired.'' 54 spouted.

''I am not retired!'' CD snapped defensely. ''If I was retired I wouldn't be working. Retired AIs like my kind would have their coding terminated by a computer back at base.'' She scowled.

Clutch settled at CD's words. "Well, to be honest, I'm glad I'm not the only AI car around these parts. I was starting to get lonely."

Bill looked at the AI core and shook his head. "I'm not going to touch the core--just the engine. Chris, you know how it works?"

Chris hesitated. "Well, yeah. I hooked her up to the, ah, WRX over there, and it worked fine. I can probably hook her up to any engine. Just need a couple of wires and a capacitor."

His father gave Chris a sharp look but nodded and turned back to the two AIs in front of him. "Alright. Well, once we get you both set up, you two can both 'retire' from your spy games and do something more productive than shooting each other up. Also, I'm not sure that weapons would make you street legal in any case..."

Chris rolled his eyes. "54, can you flash your headlights again? I think I fixed that part of your code."

(ooc: And I just got a flash of Speed Racer with all the cars and gadgets and stuff...)

(At tech, leaving soon)


54 turned her headlights on quickly and easily, before shutting them off again. ''Like that?''

"Perfect. Yeah!" He punched the air in victory and then resumed typing. "Alrighty, if you can, ah, put yourself in drive, then neutral, than reverse...I'll see if I can get those code for you as well. Oh, and brakes too."

Bill simply shook his head, amused but not willing to admit it. Clutch huffed burst of static over his radio. "Used to be Chris was thrilled when I did that.Now he's all orders..."

Bill ignored the sarcastic AI. "You said you aren't retired, CD. Does that mean you're still spying?"

CD giggles. ''Yes, but theres nothing to spy on anymore since the spies like me and 54 were killed. I can only assume the remote to turn us off was lost somewhere, however. It is a rare, but slim chance that the remote is still back at my base in..Uuuh..'' She falls silent for a bit, then speaks again. ''Somewhere in a classified section of Missouri....''

54 grump, but does as Chris orders, then snorts. ''My gearshift is jammed. Someones superglued it to reverse. And I can't move.'' As she uses her brakes, tires squealing almost instantly before she released it, so they ceased to move.

Chris grumbled under his breath as he left his computer to check on the gearshift. "Who would superglue a gearshift in reverse? Well, I know a few who might--as a practical joke--but that wouldn't apply here."

He pried off the gearshift cover and looked at the actual mechanism. "Oh man... you weren't kidding."

Bill shook his head, amused in spite of himself. "Missouri, huh? Well, classified base or not, it's more than likely no one's going to find it anytime soon. I think you'll be safe."

''Eh, it could have destroyed as years passed. Theres nothing to state that the base is still intact, anyway. The base was ssooo awesome though! It was this 200 story building with all these fancy techincal machinery where they would train spies or hold prisoners. It even had tons of security cameras! Some cars they made were normal. But a rare few, like me and my 'sister', were made with cores. Though they would never tell us where they got the cores.....'' CD repled.

54 snorts. ''Thats because it was classified and no one was brave enough to risk their life to find the answer. Only brave cars would have been allowed to be sentient anyway. Your just a coward.'' 54 retorted.

''H-h-hey!'' CD snapped. ''Am not!''

''Am too.'' 54 replied.

So forth sprung the two bickering over the subject, CD's core starting to heat up again as she argued, getting angry, a white water-based liquid slowly oozing out of the small crack within, cackling with electricity and data.