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It had been a long day in the lab. Peter Walter VI had broken away only for a few moments to see Chelsea and The Spine off when they left for the concert downtown. After they left he had gone back down to work some more. A bit later, Lorene came down to ask him if he was going to stop for a dinner break. He looked over at the clock on the server rack. It was 7:00pm. He smiled, wondering about the reaction The Spine was having at finding out he was going to meet his most favorite band in the world. Lorene could almost read his thoughts. She said, “I’ll bet he’s shaking like a leaf right now.” She laughed lightly. “We’re going to have to recalibrate his gyros tomorrow.”
Peter laughed with her. “I can’t wait to see that go-pro video.” He checked the apparatus he had set up on the workbench then jotted down a note in his notebook. “I think we can call it a day. This is almost ready to go. We can give it a test run tomorrow.”
“What do you think it’ll do?” she asked peering up at the power connection in the ceiling.
He was looking up at the power connection too. “I have no idea.”
At that she laughed lightly again and put an arm around his waist. He picked up his mask from off the desk near the doorway, though he was less self-conscious of his face now with Lorene's acceptance. He switched off the lights and they headed toward the elevator together. They had only gotten halfway down the corridor when the hallway emergency lights started flashing red.
“Alert! Alert!” Beebop’s deep voice rang over the loud speakers. “Alert! Alert! Code Red. System malfunction. Number One Silver. System malfunction. Telemetry link indicates coolant leak. Repeat coolant leak. Alert! Alert! System malfunction. Hydraulic function overload. Alert! Alert! Code Red Level 2! Number One Silver down. System Malfunction. Circuit overload. System not responding to restart, ….” The message repeated.
Peter grabbed Lorene by the hand and together they raced down the corridor to the stairwell. They ran up 4 flights of stairs then out through doors that put them in the garage under the manor. Flashing lights here as well, Beebop’s message repeating, still at Code Red Level 2.
Matter Master David and Walter Worker Camille burst through a door on the opposite side. Rabbit and Zero also appeared as they converged on the emergency vehicle, a stripped down RV who’s appearance belied its purpose as a hazard containment unit. Peter almost told the robots no, but David had already told them to get in the back. “We might need their muscle. Whatever took down The Spine did it pretty quickly.” His face was grim as he got up behind the wheel. They all piled in, reaching for their seat belts immediately. They were out of the garage and on the road in seconds. Rabbit and Zero were still securing their shoulder straps in the back. David muttered, “ETA 20 minutes. Gotta make that less. Hold onto yer hats.” He floored the pedal.
Peter’s phone rang.
“Chelsea??? Chelsea what’s going on? What happened? No, wait…what? WHAT?!?” He listened, his face showing his astonishment and confusion. “If his fins were out, from that height, it’s good he’s face down. Is he venting? Don’t worry about the core cover. That’s unbreakable. Is he venting?” Peter sighed in relief at the answer. “Good. Be careful of hot wires, we’re getting a circuit overload reading here. Okay, open the access plate on his back. It’s jammed? As in bent? It’s titanium. How…?” Peter hissed through his teeth. “Beebop says he’s not restarting and there’s a coolant leak. I don’t know why the self-seals aren’t working. How many fins are broken? Jammed? Just the lower two? Do you have your kit? Okay good, you can access through his lower back plating…open that.” Peter’s jaw muscles worked as he hoped those were not damaged too. “Good! Good. Can you see the leaks? Just use the clips and clamp them off.” He waited, tapping his foot nervously on the floor as several minutes passed. “That’s it. 4 of them. Yes. Don’t try to reconnect or repair anything. We’ll be there in…” he looked over at David.
“Eight minutes.”
“Eight minutes.” Peter looked at the readout on the Qwerty link in the dashboard. Still at Red Level 2, no restart, but the coolant leak had changed to read Coolant level low. Almost not daring to look, he scrolled down the readout. Core temperature looked good, a tad high but still in the green, hydraulics and steam pressure not so good but holding steady. His attention was brought back to the phone in his hand. “Chelsea, who’s there with you? Paramedics?!? Chelsea! You’re HURT???” He looked back at Camille who had grasped at his shoulder, worried for her sister. “Chelsea, it’s ok, you don’t have to stay with him. Telemetry is stable. Now do what they tell you. Please! We’re almost there. Let them take you to the hospital. I know, I know. We’ll take care of him. Don’t worry. What was that? Who needs our help? Drum-O?” He looked at Camille who shrugged.
From the back Rabbit answered, “Th..th..that’s the band’s drummer. He’s a robot too.”
Peter nodded. “Got it Chelsea. We’ll see to Drum-O too. Let the paramedics do their thing. I can see the marquee up ahead. I gotta put the phone down. I’ll send Lorene over in the Sprinter to be with you. Chelsea, you did good. You did good.” He hung up the phone, stowing it in his shirt pocket. He grabbed his mask from where he’d tossed it on the dashboard, not wanting to show his face in public. At the same time he was squirming in his seat belt to fish his keys from his pocket. He handed the keys to Lorene. He fitted the mask to his head while saying to her, “The van’ll be parked in the VIP section of the side lot. Should be right near the front as it’s oversized. Won’t fit in the parking garage. I’ll update you when I can. Got your phone?” Lorene nodded, marveling at his control of this entire situation, then realized they must have rehearsed this scenario more than a few times.
When they hit traffic, David skillfully maneuvered the van down the first side street he came to going in the right direction and rolled up within a few hundred feet of the back stage door. They were stopped by police officers waving them off.
Peter muttered, “Damn, shoulda thought of this.” He pulled out the phone again and pressed a speed dial. “Come on answer, answer the damn phone…Joe? Hey Joe...yes, I know you are a bit busy right now...Please tell your men they need to let us through. NOW! Sorry, yeah, it’s an emergency. Yes, I’m here in person, myself and 5 others. YES, it’s THAT kind of an emergency!” Peter looked up to see one of the officers speaking into his shoulder mic, then they were being waved on through. “Thanks, Joe. Let them know we are going in the stage door. I brought my own team. Okay. Okay, if we need help, we’ll be sure to ask.” He hung up.
“Ready, everyone?” Peter asked as David stopped right outside the double doors to the stage. The doors were already open and they could see the wreckage from the roof on the deck. “Crap! Camille, hard hats and flashlights!” She jumped to the opposite side of the van and flipped open a locker door. Grabbing quickly she tossed hardhats to Peter and David and kept one for herself. Flashlights too. They all exited the van.
“Rabbit, on me. Zero help David with the stretcher,” Peter said as he headed for the door.
David and Camille went to the rear outer compartments of the van to grab the trauma kits while Zero pulled the heavy wheeled stretcher from its stowage by himself. David could see the intense, wide-eyed look on the robot’s face. He put a steadying hand on Zero’s shoulder. “Just like the drills Zero. The Spine is just powered down. It’ll be ok.” Zero could only nod. His eyes were intensely blue and glowing brightly. This wasn’t a drill.
Lorene watched helplessly, keeping out of the way, not a part of the well-practiced team. She looked at the keys in her hand. She had been given instructions. She nodded to herself and went off to find the van.
Rabbit and Peter climbed over the wreckage near the door. Once inside, the damage didn’t appear to be all that bad. Looking up, there was a surgically clean round hole about 10 feet in diameter cut through the roofing. They could see the darkening sky above. Peter quickly surveyed the stage grid system with his flashlight, seeing the debris tangled in the rigging. “Yeah, that's not good. Let’s be quick about this. They moved toward center stage. Paramedics were just transferring Chelsea on a backboard to an ambulance gurney. Her left arm appeared to be in an air cast. They could hear her crying as her other hand left The Spine’s shoulder when they lifted her away.
“Chelsea, we’re here, we have him,” Peter called to her, not sure if she had seen them. To the paramedics he asked, “What hospital?”
“Mercy, Hillcrest” came the reply. Peter frowned at that. Trauma Center? But it was also the nearest emergency room too. He quickly dialed Lorene to relay the information as he knelt next to the downed robot.
The Spine was lying prone on the deck, his face to one side, his eyes closed. His arms were splayed but didn’t appear to be broken. Intermittent wisps of steam curled from his top vents. His right leg was bent at an unnatural angle at the hip. His left knee appeared to have broken thru the heavy decking and was wedged between floor joists. Green coolant lay pooled under his chest. Peter could see through cut clothing where it had oozed from the two jammed lower fins. Hydraulic fluid seeped from his right leg, staining the trousers a darker black and dripping slowly onto the decking. It was mixing somewhere with a red fluid so it looked eerily like blood in the dim stage work lighting. The hydraulic lines were made to be self sealing, so Peter reasoned it was only what had been in the broken ends of the lines. It wasn’t insignificant, but it wasn’t still pouring out.
Rabbit was already clearing debris from the area, trying to make a path to the door. David made his way over, also looking up with his flashlight at the debris in the grid. “Peter, we aren’t going to be able to get the stretcher in this way. They’ll have to carry him,” he nodded at Zero and Rabbit then knelt down too. Using heavy shears he finished the job Chelsea had started, cutting away clothing so they could better see what was going on. Peter was trying to open the yellow access panel on The Spine’s back, but it was indeed jammed.
“Rabbit, need help with this,” he muttered with a grunt as his fingers slipped for the third time. Rabbit came over and gently felt around the edges of the plate.
“Peter, you push the release while I try to unspring this,” she said. Peter did so while Rabbit pressed down hard on the outer edge of the casing along the spinal process. The hatch sprung open. He peered inside. Chelsea had expertly applied pinch clips to the severed coolant lines. She’d had to work at an almost impossible angle. There were some scorch marks which showed him where the severed wiring was and he wasn’t sure how Chelsea had avoided it. As a spark arced across a broken connection, he realized she’d had to time her work. The flash dazzled him. “Camille, hook him up. We need to stop the auto-restart sequence before something catches fire here.” He shone his flashlight into The Spine’s chest cavity then looked around at the debris on the floor.
Camille had already opened the small case and now attached a lead to the port at the base of The Spine’s skull. She looked at the screen on the portable console and deftly typed in some key commands. “Autostart shut down, Peter. He should be safe to move. He may be in rigor, I can’t tell. His numbers are staying stable. Core still in the green but steam pressure is high. We should get him hooked up to outside power as soon as possible.” She looked at the green puddle on the floor. “That’s not a lot of coolant for four ruptured lines.”
“It’s still pooled inside. We need to get to a belly plate.” He pulled the shirtsleeve from The Spine’s right arm where David had cut it away. Nothing here appeared to be broken. The limb was pliable, not locked in rigor luckily, or moving him would have really become more of a problem. “Zero, come around here. Take his arm and pull back to expose his belly. Rabbit, you stabilize that hip joint as we turn him.” Zero did as told, being careful not to look too long at his fallen brother. Just quick glances. “That’s it,” Peter said. He pushed a probe between armor seams and with a deft twist popped open an abdominal plate. Coolant gushed out onto the floor. Zero’s jaw clamped tight at the sight of it and he swayed a bit, but he held on. “Okay, let him down, Zero.” Zero did so, gently placing The Spine’s arm back on the floor and stepping back out the way as he’d been taught. Peter moved to The Spine’s trapped knee now. He pulled gently but the broken, downward-angled boards held him like a bear trap.
Rabbit looked at it. “Maybe if one of us goes below and breaks those boards off from down there.” She got up to go. Peter called her back. “No, Rabbit. You stay here. Zero, you know where the stairs are. You go down and try to do as Rabbit said. Take my flashlight.” Zero took it and trotted off backstage to the pit stairs. “Rabbit, you know what this Drum-O looks like, right? Can you find him? We need to get him out of here too.” Peter looked back up at the grid. “Pretty quickly.”
David was deftly examining The Spine’s right leg. Both tensor actuators had been snapped off at their mounting points on his thigh. One was cracked and leaking the red fluid they were seeing. Nothing he could do for that here. He used some cloth tape to bind them into position just to keep them from dangling free. The whole hip joint showed signs of severe stressing. The armor sheathing on several wiring bundles had been pulled apart, which probably meant more damage at the connectors inside. This was going to need some careful work when they got back. He checked the sources of the hydraulic fluid. The self-seals were working. Nothing appeared to be leaking but the whole joint was a mess.
From nearby came a metallic groan and a loud bang, followed by a deeply voiced “thaaaank yooou.” Rabbit had found Drum-O and had gotten him back up on his feet. He had been blown off his platform and onto his back on the floor. Rabbit guided him as close as possible to the exit. He was moving erratically and Rabbit had the distinct feeling he was more injured than letting on. “Wait here,” she told him, going back over to Peter. “Zero and I are gonna have to carry Drum-O out. He can’t negotiate the debris at the door. He’s hurt too, but saying he’s fine.”
Peter nodded grimly as he held The Spine’s left leg at the shin. Zero was below. Several sharp cracks and enough planking had been broken to free the leg. They all looked up at a loud groan from the grid. Peter pulled The Spine's leg free and checked the motion. Everything seemed to be moving okay.
Zero appeared back up on stage almost magically quickly. “Can we pick him up now? We gotta get outta here. The joists down there…” He shook his head, wide-eyed. Peter quickly scooped up Chelsea’s kit bag and stood up. David stood too, both waiting to help the bots where they could. Camille disconnected the telemetry lead and picked up the trauma cases. She took them out to the van to be out of the way and ready when they brought him out. Rabbit came over to help Zero. They both scooped up their brother and together crab-walked his body over the debris. Peter helped David guiding the robot’s legs, carefully keeping the ruined joint aligned. They put him on his left side on the heavy stretcher waiting at the door. Peter strapped him down while Zero and Rabbit went back for Drum-O. He and David wheeled The Spine to the van and, using a geared lift, got the stretcher inside and latched down. Peter climbed in beside him and reattached the telemetry lead. Zero and Rabbit easily carried Drum-O over the wreckage and trundled him over and into the van.
Tossing in the hard hats and flashlights they all jammed into the van. David driving, Camille in the front seat, everyone else in the back. It was a tight fit. The vehicle was heavy. David pulled away slowly, feeling the weight. He stopped the van. “Zero, Rabbit, you need to get on the same side over here behind Camille to counterbalance Spine and Drum-O. The two robots shifted places to sit together on the floor behind the passenger’s seat. There were no hold down straps here. They braced their feet as David again pulled away. He drove quickly but carefully, not breaking any speed records but still driving as fast as the vehicle could safely carry them all.
Feeling Zero trembling against her side, Rabbit put her arm around his shoulders. She saw tears welling into his eyes as he watched a now maskless Peter sitting stiffly with a hand to The Spine’s shoulder. A drip of green fluid fell from the side of the stretcher. Zero looked away quickly. His jaw began to tremble.
“It’s okay,” Rabbit whispered. “it’s okay to cry now. You did fine little bro.” She took his hand as his tears began to fall silently.
"Rabbit? I kinda want to throw up," he whispered.
"I know the feeling bro, I know the feeling." She held his hand tighter. Right now she herself was on autopilot, just as had happened in all the wars she and The Spine had endured. She was worried for The Spine, but inside she felt detached, as if watching it all from afar. It was good to be this way, she decided. For now. She needed to be the strong one. For now. She would have a good cry. Later.
Two Walter Workers were waiting in the garage on their arrival. Rabbit and Zero hung back out of the way as the two injured robots were brought into the lead-lined trauma suite through a blast door at the end of the garage. It was a well lit but ominous space. Anyone who went inside that room was well aware that if there was a blue matter accident, one or all of them could be killed. They brought Drum-o in as they didn’t know the extent of his injuries or even what his physical make-up might be.
They wheeled The Spine into the center of the suite. Camille took what would normally be Chelsea's station at the computer console at The Spine’s head. She leaned over the console to attach a lead to the port on the back of his skull. Powering up her console she switched The Spine over to supplied power to take the strain off his boiler. Then she began to run the diagnostic routines. The two techs were already pulling tool trays into position to assist.
David and Peter stood on each side of the stretcher waiting for the door cycle shut. Then they began to remove armor plating on The Spine’s chest, back and lower right side. Some of it they had to use far more persuasion than should have been necessary. In two instances, they had to use a diamond grinder to break the attachment pins.
“We’re not going to be able to put that armor back on,” muttered Peter as he began probing the two broken fins. Without looking up he said to one of the techs, "Becka, have someone go down to the armory and bring up his heavy armor and put it in his maintenance lab. We’ll put him in that later.”
Working together, David and Peter managed to re-deploy the lower two fins without having to remove the assembly completely. They repaired the severed coolant lines, David cursing the design flaw that had allowed that to happen. The force required to push those fins in at an angle that would cut the lines and damage the self-seal circuits must have been massive. No wonder there was damage to his frame as well.
“Camille, report.” Peter started fishing for the severed electrical connections.
“I have a solid red on the lower coolant module. Coolant level is low. Core temperature, now that I have him on house power is stable at green level two. Steam system pressure is a little high but the static vents are working. Water level is adequate. Hydraulics showing low pressure in his lower right quadrant. Hydraulic self-seals are reporting steady. All other systems reading green except for electrical. It looks like he took some kind of energy pulse. I’m not reading an EMP signature but his signals are erratic.”
David looked up at Peter. “Restructuring?”
Peter grunted, “Probably, let’s let it run its course and see where he’s at in an hour or two. We are going to need him verbal to do some of this lower repair work anyway. Let’s get these circuits repaired and coolant into him then we can get him up to his lab for the rest of the work. All of the custom tools are up there. You get that going and I’ll have a look at our friend over here.” Peter stepped away from the stretcher and looked over at Drum-O, seeing him for the first time. He’d never seen a robot quite like him before. It was obvious he was made for one function only, as a drummer automaton. Drum-O looked at him with eyes that were sentient, wide and fear-filled. Peter immediately brought a hand up to his face.
“Oh! Don’t be frightened. It’s okay, I just look like this. Kinda scary, huh? It’s Drum-O, right? Your name is Drum-O?”
Drum-O was backed up tight to the wall. His hands were trembling. “Y-y-yes, my name is…is Drum-O…” came the wavering reply in his deep basso voice.
Peter waved over Walter Worker Kyle. “Drum-O, this is Kyle. We’re gonna have a look at you, ok? Can you tell us if you’re injured? You’re going to have to help us out here because we’ve never met a robot like you before. But as you can see, we do help injured robots. Can you tell us a little about yourself maybe? Do you need a power supply? We can match any polarity or connectivity you might need.”
A hatch opened on Drum-O’s right side. “I’m a standard Edison 110. I am just very low on power,” the little bot said.
Kyle went to a cupboard and pulled out an extension cord. “Do I just plug it in Drum-O, or do you need to power down first?”
“Plug it in,” came the answer. “Ah…thank you.” He looked around with eyes a little more aware now. “Where…where’s Olly? And Nelly? And…and…Sully?” There was still a scared tremor to the little bot’s voice, but Kyle was patting his side gently.
“We don’t know where your bandmates are,” answered Peter truthfully. “But we will try to help you find them. Do you remember what happened?”
Drum-O looked at him blankly for a full minute, then his eyes grew wide and cast about anxiously. He kept looking up at the ceiling while backing himself as tight as he could into the corner of the room. “He came for them! He said he would. He said he would come for them and he did. Ohno ohno ohnoooooo…..” His hands covered his eyes and he shuddered in what could only be a cry, tearless and noiseless as it was.
“Who Drum-O? Who came for them?
“Him. HIM!” The little bot was practically screaming in terror.
“Okay, okay Drum-O. It’s okay. You’re safe here with us.” Peter kept his distance but Kyle put his arm around Drum-O, trying to calm him.
“No one is safe from…him! No one!” He continued to cry softly. “Why didn’t he take me too? They need me. Why didn’t he take me? Why? Why?” He kept repeating the word.
David caught Peter’s attention. “Ready to roll Peter. Coolant level topped and staying constant, no other leakage. Core is stable. His steam pressure has stabilized. We have a few greens on his electrical system status too, so the restructuring seems to be progressing along.”
Peter knelt down to look Drum-O in the eyes. “You’re safe here. We’ll have you stay in this special room and you’ll be safe. Try to rest. We’ll talk more later.”
Peter stood up. “Kyle, you and Becka stay here with Drum-O. If he needs anything see what you can do to help him. If anything goes beyond your skillsets, do not hesitate to call us. David or I will come up to see if we can assist.” He looked to Camille. “Fully charged?” She nodded and lifted the power unit from the console, putting it in a receiver rack on the stretcher. “Let’s go.” Peter cycled the door.
Out in the garage Rabbit stood up from where she had been sitting on the tailgate of the RV with Zero. “Spine?” she called.
Peter shook his head. “Still out Rabbit. He’s stable so we’re taking him down to his lab. That’s all I got right now. Sorry.”
Rabbit was holding Chelsea’s bag, an oversized purse that contained her field kit. She caught up to Peter and put the bag on the side of the stretcher. “You need to look in there,” Rabbit said, then dropped back to watch the elevator doors close. On the ride down to The Spine’s lab level, Peter looked in the bag. It held the Go-Pro he had given Chelsea for the evening.
They brought The Spine into his lab, using the lift equipment there to transfer him to his specially formed exam table in the center of the room. It was padded to allow him to be placed on his back with his cooling fins extended. Camille powered up the console then inserted the battery power unit they had brought from upstairs. She brought up the main displays on the wall behind her so Peter and David could see the telemetry at a glance.
“Now we wait,” Peter muttered as a few more of the electrical status indicators turned from yellow to green. “Let’s have a look at this go-pro. Maybe Chelsea was able to record what happened.” He took the unit out and removed the SD card. He handed it to Camille who plugged it into a reader on her console. She brought up the video and put it on one of the large wall monitors.
The three of them watched with smiles as The Spine discovered his seats and his moment of meeting the band. Then Chelsea must have gone back to her seat as the next shots were from the audience perspective of The Spine introducing the band and the band going into their first song. Half way into the song a high-pitched sonic pulse drowned out the music. They watched in horror as a section of the stage roofing fell in and a green meteor fell onto the stage with enough force to knock everyone off their feet. Chelsea must have been knocked back too as the camera view skidded off, showing nothing but the red theatre carpet and the sounds of people screaming. But she must have picked it up again as the shaky image now showed the monstrously huge, green cadaverous form with The Spine in its grip. They flinched at his roar of pain then three blasts of energy from off right hit the thing’s wrist. It dropped The Spine as it turned its attention to Nelly, Sully and Olly. Its eyes blazed yellow as it cast a blast of energy from its other hand, capturing them in a green sphere. It smiled an evil smile, looked upwards and was gone in a streak of green light. The three band members, gone as well.
“What the Hell was that!” exclaimed David as the image went dark.
“Something that was never meant to be,” said Peter darkly, his expression both pensive and fearful.
“You know what that was?” David asked incredulously.
Peter nodded and looked over at The Spine. “I think he bought them some time. Let’s hope so anyway. Keep an eye on him. I have to go upstairs. I’ll be back…as soon as I can.”
Peter took the elevator back up to the garage level. He entered the trauma suite. “How’s our friend doing?” he asked the techs.
“He’s resting,” answered Kyle. “Said he was going to shut down for a bit while he recharged.”
“Mhm…okay. Would you leave me alone with him for a few? Go grab a quick bite to eat then come on back. Thanks.” The techs left the room.
Peter brought one of the console chairs over to sit down in front of the little robot. “Drum-O? Drum-O, I need you to wake up.”
Drum-O opened one eye. On seeing Peter, both eyes opened and darted warily around the room.
“We need to talk. Your friends, they have…powers…don’t they?”
Drum-O didn’t answer. He shifted uneasily though and refused to meet Peter’s eyes.
“You don’t have to answer. I can understand if you don’t want to. You said that they needed you. Are you their power source? Storing energy, like a capacitor, for them? This is important. Did they recharge before they were taken? Is that what left you so weak? I hope so, for their sake. I don’t know where the Necronaut has taken them, but if they were taken as mere mortals, I don’t have to tell you there isn’t much hope for their survival”
At the mention of the Necronaut, Drum-O’s eyes grew wide and he gazed upwards to the ceiling. When he looked down, he met Peter’s eyes. “They recharged,” he whispered. “They took as much as they could before being….Oh, sir, how do we get them back? How do we find them?”
“I don’t know yet. I’ll do what I can but…. You know this timeline is supposed to be off limits, right? You were supposed to leave once your…abilities…were recognized.”
Drum-O dropped his gaze to the floor. “We just wanted to be a band,” he whispered. “We didn’t ask for this. We don’t want to be…heroes. We just wanted to be a band….”
Peter stood and put a hand to the little bot’s chassis. “I’ll do what I can. When the techs come back, I’ll have them take you to a room upstairs. You are welcome to stay down here, but in the grand scheme of things, as I see it now, it isn’t any safer down here, and it’s far more lonesome.”
Drum-O nodded. “Thank you, sir. I’ll go upstairs. I don’t want to be alone.”
“The name’s Peter. The other bots call me Six. And some other things as well, I’m sure.” He smiled. “We’ll talk again later.” He left, finding Kyle and Becka outside the room as he expected. The man still had half a sandwich in hand but they had come back to wait by the door in case they were needed. “Take Drum-O up to the guest room. He’s far more capable now than he was when he came in. Do not be surprised by anything he might say or do. It’s all good.” Kyle wolfed down the last of his sandwich and entered the suite with Becka. Peter left, taking the elevator up to his private office in the manor. This room had a door, a door with a very special lock. With a motion of his hand, he activated a monitor screen. Sitting down wearily at his desk, he spoke at the monitor.
“Cavalcadium. Brown. Urgent. Peter A. Walter Six.” He waited.
Two hours later, when Peter got back down to The Spine’s lab, he found a lot more people there. Zero, Rabbit, Lorene and Chelsea had joined David and Camille. Chelsea did not look well, leaning heavily against Rabbit with her head resting on Rabbit’s shoulder. Rabbit had her arm around Chelsea’s waist and was quite possibly holding her from sliding to the floor.
Lorene came over to Peter and hugged him. At his raised eyebrows and nod at Chelsea she filled him in. “Broken arm and a couple cracked ribs. And enough pain meds on board to tranq a horse. But she insists on being here until he wakes up.” Peter looked back over with concern but he could see Chelsea’s unwavering gaze at the still form on the table. For the first time it dawned on him that he could see the love in her eyes for the injured silver bot. He wondered if The Spine was aware of it, then realized that he must be. He wanted to kick himself for not realizing how close the two had become over the last year or so. He shook his head sadly, knowing how that would play out, and sighed. He gave Lorene a tight hug before going over to the table, looking closely at the readouts on the screens behind Camille. David stood on the opposite side.
“He’s at 90%?” Peter asked.
Camille answered, “Yes and the rate of repair has increased proportionally. Do you want to try a restart now?” She looked over at her sister Chelsea with concern.
“We should wait for at least 95,” Peter answered, aware of her concern but not wanting to rush the restructure repair sequence. Systems were winking green quite rapidly now. It was only a few more minutes for the 95% threshold to be met, and exceeded. Peter let it go until all systems showed green.
“Ok, I guess this is it,” Peter said quietly. Rabbit helped Chelsea over to be nearer as Peter gave the nod to Camille. She keyed in a command. The Spine twitched, then returned to lying still. “Again,” Peter said tensely. Camille keyed in the command. The Spine shuddered. His chest spasmed upwards and his arms flailed to the side, then he went still again. There were tears in Chelsea’s eyes as Peter said, “Again.” Camille keyed it in. This time the spasm was shorter.The Spine’s head rocked from side to side and his arms were tensed. “Come on, Come on! You can do it. Power on dammit!”
The Spine awoke with a start. "Chelsea!"
*
Sully awoke with a start. “Ollie!?” He was weightless and floating in a gaseous green orb. Stars in myriad colors were ahead of him and behind him, while oddly nauseating colors streaked by all around. It hurt to move.
“Don’t fight it Sully,” came back Olly’s voice from nearby in the murkiness. “Lie still. Save your energy.”
“Nelly?”
“She’s still unconscious.” Then she pointedly added, “Drum-o is not here.”
“Damn….”
“We’ll just have to wait to see where he is taking us.”
“I’m sure it’ll be someplace nice. Soft sand, warm water, clear skies,” Sully said.
Olly laughed half-heartedly. “I doubt it.”