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Juice's groggy eyes were halfway shut as he steered the space ship. It'd been a while since he last recharged. It'd been a while since any of them had recharged. Nine, Ten, and Hubble were all in the back sleeping away like they had spent an entire day out in the sun, and Juice couldn't blame them. How long had it been? Weeks? Months? Probably months. It had been that long since Juice had rested, too, yet he insisted that he drive the ship for a while to let them sleep.
He continued to steer (quite messily mind you) for one, two, three minutes. His eyes would fall shut, but he'd snap them back up again. His mind would wander towards half awake dreams, but he'd shoo them away just as quickly as they came. He was weak, though, especially when it came to things like lazing around. Before he knew it, the droopy eyes and the dreams flew back in with a viscious fervor and he was unconscious just like the rest of them.
And he slept.
And he slept.
And then something loud erupted from the ship's windshield.
He jolted upright, hands flying up and body spasming backward. His eyes were wide as he scanned his surroundings. What happened, what happened?
"Juice, what happened?"
He could recognize Nine's voice from anywhere, even when it was groggy and tired. He looked over his shoulder and, low and behold, all three of his friends were up from curiosity. He clenched his teeth as shame washed over him.
"I-I dunno? I, um...I fell asleep, and-" Juice tried, but he was only interrupted.
"You fell asleep at the wheel?" Ten's voice came, high with anger. He flinched, knowing he should've gone to bed when he had the chance. He was too stubborn sometimes.
"I'm sorry!" Juice tried. "We're fine though, see! Nothin's tryin' to kill us. The ship isn't fallin' apart. We're chill!" But Ten only squinted her eyes.
She stomped forward toward the windshield, eyes roaming over the vacuum of space. Her hand was plastered against the ship's mainframe and her posture screamed of frustration. Slowly, she reached out her hand and touched the glass.
"We're fine, huh?" she began. Her body twisted towards Juice who's eyes were wide with concern for not only his friends and the ship, but for himself, as well. "There's a fucking crack, Juice!"
"I said I'm sorry!" Juice held his hands up in defense. He tried his best to lean as far away from Ten as he could, but she wasn't having it. She stomped toward him, a small protest from Nine ensuing. She ignored it.
"Get your ass outside!" she yelled at the freckled blond. He paused for a moment, face contorted with raw nerves. "I said, get your ass outside! Check to see what the fuck hit us!"
"Okay, okay! I will, jeez!" Juice replied, standing up, back stiff and rigid. He shfited around Ten's body, making his way toward the door. He chanced a look at Nine, who seemed to be slightly worried for their friend, only to keep on walking anyway. "Shitass space trash." Juice mumbled to himself in regards to Ten, but he didn't mean it. He loved her, even when she was acting like a bitchy older sister.
He sighed to himself, hesitantly pressing the button that opened to the air lock chamber. He stepped inside, glancing over his shoulder at a glaring Ten, closed the door, and went to pressing buttons until the door to space opened. He didn't need air, though. Lungs weren't something his internally metallic body needed.
Something else he didn't need? Another robot on the ship.
But that was exactly what he got.
Not even twenty feet away was a small, beach ball sized robot casually floating around. It seemed to have an eye, blue and glowing in the darkness of space, and it swiveled and whirred in each and every direction until it landed on Juice. The android's grip on the rope connecting him to the ship tightened. What the fuck?
"Hello?" Juice transmitted. He hoped this guy was capable of communicating through waves. Lucky for him, the little glowy eye wobbled and squinted happily at the transmission. He cocked an eyebrow, smirk uplifting his cheeks. The little guy was kinda cute.
"Hello!" the robot transmitted back. It paused for a moment, and then, "Would you mind helping me out? I've been a bit stuck out here for a while, and you're the only person I've run into since." Juice pursed his lips, taking a glance back at the spaceship behind him. He knew that Ten wouldn't be too keen on another person joining their little brigade, but this little guy needed help. Plus, he'd already pissed Ten off, so what's a little more push gonna hurt?
After shrugging his shoulders, Juice finally pushed his feet forward. He used as much force as he could muster to drift toward the ball like robot, the solar panels on his head fluttering with concentration. The little guy's eye widened, shaking back and forth. Juice presumed it was happy to have some help. Then, within a minute or so, Juice was reaching out and grabbing hold of the other robot, hand gripping one of its little handles that protruded from its round body. Its eye squinted once more in delight, and Juice began to pull them both back toward the ship with the rope.
Another minute or so later his feet were connecting with the metal of the ship's landing. He drifted in, carrying the rope and the robot with him. He tampered with a few buttons, and then the door to the outside was closing and gravity was being restored. His landing was rough, but he recovered with ease.
"Oh, thank you so much!" the little robot cried. Juice's eyes widened. He pulled the robot up to level with his face. "I-I don't know what I would've done if I hadn't crashed into your ship! Sorry 'bout that by the way. I don't have any arms or legs to help you fix it, and I don't really know how I would do so anyway, but I truly am genuinely sorry, believe me! I would help if I could, though! But anywho, thank you so much! Your ship saved my life, really truly, it did. So did you! Oh, and my name is Wheatley, by the way. Probably should have mentioned that earlier." Juice's mouth was hanging open by the time the robot finished. His eyebrows were knitted together in confusion, because really he didn't catch a word that this guy said. He didn't know how to respond. It was all a blank, so he said the first sentence that even made the slightest bit of sense.
"So...British accent, huh?" Juice told Wheatley. Then, "Heh, nice." And then he was heading inside to share his new talkative friend with the rest of the gang.
Ten wasn't happy at first, especially with Wheatley's incessant rambling, but he grew on her. He grew on all of them.