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After a long day of practicing and writing, Zer0 was excited to have a break to play! Happily trotting up to The Spine’s room, he was on his way to ‘borrow’ The Spine’s red fire truck.
Nearly skipping up the stairs, he saw one of the Roombas spinning in a circle.
“That looks like fun!” He giggled and hurried over to spin on his toes to mimic his little friend.
Round and round he went until he fell over with a loud laugh, even as the room spun. Robots could handle a lot of things, but even they got dizzy! Or at least, he liked to pretend he did.
While Zer0 lay down and giggled to himself, the Roomba continued to spin around until they bumped into Zer0. Once, then twice. And a third time for good measure before they finally turned around and zoomed in a straight line.
Zer0 sat up, watching the Roomba for a moment with a grin.
“I bet that’s fun too!” But scooting along like a Roomba was a lot harder for a large robot with arms and legs instead of wheels. It took a few tries.
First, he tried to pull himself on his hands, and that worked, but it was a little awkward to scoot like that. Next, he tried to use his legs, that was better, but he didn’t like the friction. And it was a lot slower.
Lifting up and crawling worked a lot better. With a laugh, he was off again! Shuffling down the hall, he chased after the Roomba.
“I’m catching up!” he told them as they raced down the hall. At least, until they came up to a set of stairs on the other side of the hall.
The Roomba stopped, seeming to give out a distressed beep before backing up and spinning around again.
Zer0 stopped one foot on the first step. His head tilted curiously, as he watched them. Right, only the spider Roombas could go between floors. Wheels and Roombas didn’t mix very well. And that wasn’t very fair! There was so much manor to explore!
Sitting down on the step, Zer0 watched his friend slowly roll away to find something else it could clean. That wasn’t didn’t seem right at all, being trapped on one floor of the manor. He got to go wherever he wanted! Even if he wasn’t supposed to.
Hand under his chin, he sat and thought for a while. There had to be a way to make sure it was fair for everyone. Who wanted to be stuck in the same place forever? It felt like he could cry, all the fun things the Roombas missed! And what if they missed each other! The thought of them trapped apart made oil bead up in his optics.
Suddenly, Zer0 sat up straighter and snapped his metal fingers with a bright grin. Roombas couldn’t use the stairs because they’d fall or get stuck with their wheels. But wheels could go down ramps. Like a slide! If Zer0 made a big slide then the Roombas could go all over the house. It was the perfect plan.
Jumping up from where he sat, the heavy bot nearly tumbled down the stairs. Arms waving like a fledgling bird, Zer0 laughed brightly and yelled while he tried to keep his balance.
And once he got his bearings again, he was off! Down the stairs two at a time, he went searching for something in the manor that he could use as a slide for the Roomba’s. There had to be something!
Searching was becoming a task in itself. Anytime Zer0 found something he thought would work, it was too small or had a funny curve or angle. A bookcase would have been perfect, but they’d have to climb it to get to the top. That was the opposite problem!
While Zer0 was trying to right said bookcase, and not trip on the knocked over books, Rabbit came around the corner as she shoved a Moonpie in her mouth. Watching her brother a moment, she tilted her head, pieces of pastry falling to the floor while she tried to chew.
“W-whatcha doin’ d-der, Zer0?” She asked and took another bite.
Zer0 jumped, dropping the heavy bookcase with a thud and a crack. Hopefully, no one would notice that. Looking around, he made sure there wasn’t anyone else around. Rabbit wouldn’t get after him for breaking something, but most of the other Walters and workers would.
“I’m making a stair slide,” he happily chirped.
“Or I will once I find something long enough that I can use as a slide anyway.” Picking up the bookcase again, he started to drag it back into the lounge he had borrowed it from.
“O-oh?” Following Zer0, she skipped alongside him.
“You could use a sled! I used to do that before Spine took it away after I broke some vase. It was really dusty. I don’t know why anyone cared that it broke!” she lamented.
Setting up the bookcase, he did think about that. A bunch of Roombas going down the stairs on tiny sleds. That would be a lot of fun, and he laughed.
“Maybe, but that might be hard for all the Roombas to keep trying to collect them!” He explained.
Suddenly, Rabbit’s face lit up. Now, that was a different problem to solve. And she knew exactly what they needed to do.
“A rollercoaster!” she shouted, jumping up in excitement.
“We make them a roller co-coaster, and they can go up-up and down whenever they want! And they can have a b-b-blast!”
Gasping, Zer0 danced in place.
“That’s the best idea EVER, Rabbit! They can have so much fun on a rollercoaster!” Rushing out to the hall, he paused.
“But, how do we make a roller coaster?”
A twitch, and she grinned widely. Hurrying out of the room, Rabbit grabbed Zer0’s hand and made a mad dash for the labs.
“We’re gonna need some tools! I know just what to do.”
Down in the labs, they grabbed what they could carry, from rods and metal sheets to power tools they couldn’t even name. They’d need a little bit of everything to make the perfect roller coaster.
Building a roller coaster took a lot of work. Especially when there was very little planning.
“Do you think the loop is big enough?” asked Zer0, waving a hand to a loop that nearly touched the ceiling.
Humming, Rabbit tilted her head to the side as she looked it up and down.
“I dunno-no, think we can make it any b-bigger? We want them to have a-a good time.”
“Who do you want to have a good time, Rabbit?” Asked The Spine as he stood at the bottom of the stairs the two had managed to build so far. His arms were crossed while he watched the two.
“The Walters don’t like us using the power tools,” he reminded them, nodding to the drill in Zer0’s hand.
“Nu-uh!” chimed Zer0, holding the drill closer.
“They only said you couldn’t use them to make a cattle pen! And we’re making a Roomba roller coaster!”
Steam wisped from The Spine’s vents, and he shrunk a little on himself, embarrassed of the memory of them dismantling the pen he’d made on the grounds and scolding him for wasting wood.
“I’m pretty sure making a giant roller coaster in the hall is something they don’t want us doing,” he tried, still sulking a little.
“B-but Da Spiiine!” whined Rabbit as she hurried down the stairs with a Roomba in hand.
“They’re stuck on their floors!” she reminded him, holding up his favourite buckaroo.
“Don’t you want them to have fun and explore?” Holding the Roomba closer to him, she gave him her best puppy eyes and the Roomba beeped almost sadly.
What resolve The Spine had melted away as he took the Roomba. They were ganging up on him!
“I suppose if that’s what you want to do, cowboy. I can’t tell you no, now can I?”
While his siblings cheered, The Spine put the Roomba down with a little pat to let them go exploring a whole new floor. Rolling up his sleeves, he would get to work helping build the roller coaster so it wound around the floor and back up another.
They used books and built legos for support as it twisted and looped around. String held the high loops to the ceiling so they would stop toppling over after the first fall snagged on Rabbit’s wig, and it took an hour to fix it.
But eventually, the first roller coaster floor was done!
“N-now we ju-just have to test it!” exclaimed Rabbit while she grabbed a nearby Roomba that beeped repeatedly for being lifted suddenly.
“Rabbit, shouldn’t we test this with something other than a Roomba? What if they get hurt,” worried The Spine.
“It’ll be fine! We did a great job. Right, Zer0?” She asked and nearly flew up the stairs to put the Roomba in place.
Looking over their work, held together with wobbly screws and tape, Zer0 gave a sharp nod and grinned proudly.
“It’s perfect! The Roombas are going to have the best time, The Spine!”
Well, if they were both confident, it couldn’t be that bad, right?
Rabbit squealed and spun on her toes before putting the Roomba on the roller coaster.
“Alright! The first ride of Walter Manor’s a-a-amazing spec-spectacular Roomba Coaster!” cheered Rabbit before letting go of their little friend. They beeped loudly as they started to slide down faster than they’d ever gone before. Down and down they went, picking up speed right up to the first loop, and then they kept going. Right passed the loop, and they shot forward like a bullet. Straight passed the other bots and down the hall.
Zer0 and The Spine tried to catch the Roomba, yelling for them to come back while the two chased after them.
But the Roomba didn’t get a chance to go far as Six rushed around the corner when he heard the yelling. Panicking robots was never a good thing.
Wrench in hand, Petes barely had a chance to drop it before the Roomba went flying into his chest, sending him sprawling onto the ground with a yell of his own. Sitting up, he tried to adjust his mask while he rubbed his head. Everything seemed alright, at least. Looking down at the Roomba in his lap, Petes sighed. Somehow, he wasn’t surprised.
Checking the Roomba over, he sent the poor thing on its way before climbing to his feet.
“Spine, why is there a Roomba launcher next to the Study of Salsa?”
The bots all shrank back a little at the question. But The Spine adjusted his tie and mimicked clearing his throat.
“We wanted to give them something fun, Petes. They work just as hard as any of us. They deserve breaks too.”
“Y-y-y-yeah! Like a rollercoaster!” added Rabbit quickly, as she rushed down the stairs to stand next to Spine.
There was a long pause while Six just stood there, staring at the trio through the keyhole of his mask. Long enough that the bots began to shift uncomfortably. It wasn’t like the Walters to wait to scold them.
Brushing off his slacks, Petes picked up the oversized wrench and popped it on his shoulder. Nearly dropping himself with the weight.
“You have to give them some kind of guard rail or something to attach them to the coaster, or they’ll just keep flying off,” he explained while he started to measure the rails.
When they were still standing frozen in place Six looked over his shoulder.
“Well, come on! We’re going to need a lot of metal rods!”