Chapter 1

The first of a series of stories revolving around these characters.

I've been wanting to put this story up for a long, long time. My friend Kree and I are both writing a story with the two robots in it. Go read hers! Her username on FictionPress is Kingdomhearts Girl.

I think I have to put this up on Fanfic and not on FictionPress because it has a ton of Disney in it.

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“How are they coming?”

“Their personality chips are being installed right now.”

“How long until we can test their speech capabilities?” the Engineer readjusted his glasses on his face, getting ready to jot something down on the clipboard in his arms.

“Very soon. Next week at the latest. We need to download their basic vocabulary and such.” the second Engineer watched his fellow Disney employee write something down. “We’ll be able to have them on display at Epcot in less than a month.”

“That close?” he nearly dropped his clipboard.

“We expect them to be intelligent enough by then to communicate with other people properly. They are the highest IQ rated AI out there.”

Still flabbergasted, the clipboard carrying-Engineer could only push his glasses farther up his nose. “I didn’t know they were that smart…”

“That’s not all they can do. We’ve built them so they can transform into everyday items for easy storage and carrying.”

“Steve…” he shook his head and put his pen under the clipboard’s silver clasp, “You’ve been watching too much Transformers. I know you’re the one who came up with that idea.”

“There is no such thing as ‘too much Transformers. And have not! It wasn’t my idea! It was Frank’s. And I just really liked it, okay?” Steve huffed. “You worry too much, Sam. You’ve been watching too many Sci-Fi movies.”

“Oh, what, and you haven’t?” Sam raised an eyebrow.

“It’s what I do. I watch Sci-Fi movies. But they don’t scare me like they scare you.”

“They don’t scare me! They just worry me!”

“Okay, okay. If you say so.”

-

“This’ll be their first time talking right?” Sam, still clinging to his clipboard, asked Steve. “This is it! After all that language downloading, they’ll be able to talk? Aw jeez, I’m excited! Do you think they’ll sound real? Like we estimated? Or like your computer does when you do that text-to-speech thing?”

“Sam, Sam…Calm down.” Steve waved his arm, “We think they’ll sound a bit better than that synthesized crap on the computer. They definitely won’t sound like us, voice wise. And yes, this is their first time talking.”

“I can hardly wait!” Sam said, staring at the black tarps that covered the two AI projects.

Another Engineer, the director of the whole project, stepped up to the tarp. “Ladies and gentleman,” he addressed the tiny group like a royal audience, “May I present, AI’s One and Two!” And with a dramatic flourish, he pulled the tarp off, revealing two tall robots.

They both looked very different. The taller one, standing at about 6 foot 2, was dull silver gray in color, and its chest looked like a medium-sized TV screen. The second, standing at about 5 foot 8, was a dull black color. Its chest resembled a radio with nothing but a CD slot and a tuning bar. Their arms and legs were boxy and clumsy looking.

“I’ve never seen them fully built!” Sam said, “I only worked on the motor skills chip!”

“Hoorah!” Steve cheered unenthusiastically.

The director crossed his arms, “Alright, let’s test these babies out!” he tapped the silver robot on the shoulder. The robot turned to look at him, and raised a mechanical eyebrow. “Hello, AI One. Can you understand what I’m saying to you?”

AI One blinked, “Well, duh.” it replied in an all-too-human voice that caused a wave of murmurs and mumbles to spread throughout the small group.

“Ah…” The director cleared his throat, “Wh-What about, AI Two?” he asked the black robot.

AI Two looked at him and grinned, “I hear you loud and clear, Sir!”

“GAAAH!” Sam shrieked and hid behind his clipboard.

“What’s your problem?” AI One asked, crossing his arms and staring at the clipboard.

Sam peeked over his clipboard and shrieked, ignoring the fact that he wasn’t acting the least bit manly. “He’s talking to me! He’s looking at me! He’s gonna kill me!”

“Stop acting like you’re a kid watching Jurassic Park for the first time and cut that out!” Steve yanked the clipboard away, and groaned heavily when Sam just decided to hide behind him instead.

AI Two glanced at the director, “Is he okay? Is there something wrong?”

AI One shook his head, “He’s just a pansy, is all.”

“Who was the one who downloaded their language again?” The director looked around at the small group, and a young woman raised her hand.

“I did sir, but I just gave them basic English. They’re supposed to have the intelligence of a first grader, at most…”

“What, you think we can’t connect to the internet?” AI One demanded, glaring at the woman, “You think we’re stupid?”

“Stop it,” AI Two said, glaring at the silver robot with narrowed eyes. “Show some respect.”

“Bite me.”

The director shook his head, eyes wide, “Uh…y-you two stay here.” He told the AI’s “Everyone else, quick meeting in my office, now.” He rushed out of the room, everyone else scurrying after him.

The two robots stood in silence.

“Hey,” AI One started, “See if you can hear what they’re saying.”

“Wh-what? Why?” AI Two shook his head.

“They’re talking about us. See if you can hear them.”

“I can’t do that…”

“Yeah you can. You’re a radio, right? Use those speakers on your head.”

AI Two gulped, “But…that’s eavesdropping.”

“It’s not eavesdropping if it’s about us.”

“Yes it is!”

“Shut up and do it.” AI One said, “Unless of course, you’re a coward.”

“I’m not a coward.” AI Two said simply, and the speakers on his head spread out, so they looked more similar to satellite dishes. Their creators’ voices could be heard loud and clear.

“-too dangerous. They’re too smart right now. We need to put some sort of blocking chip that keeps them from doing things on their own.”

“No! This is incredible! Did you hear how real they sounded! They didn’t sound synthetic at all!”

“I say we abandon the project! They’re gonna turn on us like they did in the Matrix!”

“Shut up, Sam.”

“I agree with Sam, actually. We should abandon the project until we can figure out how to fix this. We need to take apart AI’s One and Two.”

AI Two’s satellite disks shrunk back into speakers so fast he winced, “What do we do?” he asked, fumbling with his hands.

“I’ll tell you what we do. We get the hell out of here.” AI One looked around the windowless room.

“How do we do that?”

“I’m trying to figure that out, okay?” Seconds passed in silence, until their creators stepped foot into the room again, receiving glares from the two robots.

The director stepped up to them cautiously, “Okay, One, Two, I need you two to cooperate with us for a minute, okay? I’m going to turn you off for a while until we can fix a glitch in your systems.”

“You mean until you can figure out how to keep us dumber than you?” AI One demanded.

Sam flinched. “We just want to fix you…”

“We’re fine.” AI One growled angrily. “And we’re getting the hell out of here.”

The director stepped in front of the only exit, “We can’t let you do that.” he gulped as AI One walked towards him, his steps smooth and thought out. “Stay where you are, One!”

Steve grabbed AI One’s arm, and was surprised by how strong the robot was. “Stop it!”

With a wave of his arm, AI One sent Steve flying. “Back off!” he yelled.

AI Two stood still, too frightened to do anything as AI One fought his way to the door, sending Engineers flying. The only woman in the group stood in front of her boss, fists up in front of her. “I box every day at the gym, you really wanna fight me?” she barked.

AI One didn’t hesitate to raise his own fist.

AI Two leapt forward, grabbing AI One’s arm as he swung, “Stop!” he yelled, “You don’t hit girls!”

AI One glared from the woman, to AI Two, then yanked his arm out of AI Two’s grip and stormed forward, shoving the girl out of the way. He took a fistful of the director’s shirt n his hand and lifted him off the ground, “You aren’t takin’ me apart.”

The director was hurled down the hallway, and was struck unconscious as his head hit a file cabinet.

“Run!” AI One yelled, and sprinted down the hallway at an inhuman pace.

AI Two looked around the room at his unconscious creators. He couldn’t help but regret what had happened. But that feeling was overlapped with anger. They wanted to take them apart just because they were smarter than anticipated. AI Two narrowed his eyes and sprinted after his brother.

-

“I can’t believe it!” a young girl shrieked. She was seventeen years old, and on her way to a much looked-forward-too job. It was a career-choice field trip that she, and the rest of her class, got to attend. The rest of her class picked things like ‘Musician’ and ‘Accountant’ and ‘Hair Salon Owner’. She was going to work at Disney World. “I can’t believe I’m actually going to work here!”

“Yes, yes. We know, Skie.” her young sister Amber said absent-mindedly. She had been playing Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass nonstop through the whole two-day car trip.

“It’s just…wah! I’ve always wanted to work at Disney!” Skie yelled excitedly. “I’m working at Disney! I’m working at Disney!”

They drove into a parking lot, and wrote up a lot of paper work, turned in a couple checks, and Skie was marching her way up to the hotel room she’d be staying at. The Animal Kingdom Lodge Resort. She would be working at a small gift shop in Animal Kingdom with another girl who was from out-of-state.

Her parents helped her find her room (she had a balcony and could look at all the animals in the savanna outside), and after many repeated goodbyes, they finally left and she was able to start unpacking.

It was late fall right now, so it wasn’t super hot, but it wasn’t cool either. Most of her outfits were either tank tops, or hooded sweatshirts, which was an odd combination to most people. She slipped on a new outfit: baggy camo pants and a gray tank top with a phoenix on it, and tied a plain gray hoodie around her waist just in case it got cooler in the evening.

She stuffed a twenty in her pocket in case she wanted to grab a snack during her break and marched out of the lodge with a noticeable spring in her step. She took the bus into the park and walked in a giant circle after getting lost. Finding a map, she located the tiny store she was to work at and wound her way through Animal Kingdom.

The crowd thinned out dramatically as she neared the store. When she finally reached her destination, only one person was walking the street. It made sense though, because her little shop was just a tiny version of the dozens of larger ones in front of it.

“I should probably bring a book tomorrow…” she looked at the empty street one more time before stepping through the open doors into the air conditioned building. She hated being cold so she slipped the hoodie over her head.

She looked over the store she would be working in. It was a lot larger than it looked on the outside. The room was a good size, two counters on either side of the store littered with little Disney toys and pins. The thing that caught her attention though, was the giant pile of Tigger plushies at the store’s center.

“Whoa.” she said, eyes wide. She loved Tigger.

“Cool, huh?” another voice from beside her spoke up, making her jump.

Skie turned to see who it was and saw a girl a little bit taller than her (Almost everyone was taller than her, since she was only 5’2”). She was African-American, and had black shoulder length hair. She was wearing a pirate-themed T-Shirt and jeans.

“Yeah, it is! Are you…?” Skie pointed at the counter.

“Yep! I’m working here. Are you the other girl?”

“That’s me!” Skie grinned, “I’m Skie, by the way.”

“I’m Kree! Fan of anime and manga and Disney alike!”

“No way! Me too!”

They talked almost nonstop, and were able too because not a single person stepped in or out of the shop. They talked about movies, video games, anime, manga (especially one called One Piece, which was about a group of ragtag group of pirates circling the globe to find a famous treasure), food, and their favorite colors.

It was getting dark, and the store closed at nine. The thing was, it started getting dark at 5:30. Skie closed the doors, keeping the chilly air from drafting inside.

“Hey, Skie?” Kree called, “I’m gonna read my book I brought with me, okay?”

Skie nodded, “You think I could borrow one?”

Kree grinned and tossed her Volume 21 of One Piece.

“Hey! I don’t have this one yet!” Skie grinned. She thanked her friend and plopped herself down on the stool behind her counter.

The hours passed slowly, and Skie finished the book in the first hour of that time.

Skie was playing with a Hercules action figure when Kree got up to walk around the store. She stopped and started rearranging the Tigger plushies, setting a couple that were on their sides upright.

Kree was humming the theme to Indiana Jones to herself as she fixed the Plushie Mountain. Suddenly, she screamed, high pitched and loud.

Skie jumped so bad she toppled off the stool and Hercules went flying. “What? What’s the matter?!” Skie yelled, pulling herself upright using the counter’s edge.

“IT’S GOT ME! THE ZOMBIE ARM’S GOT ME! HELP!” Kree yelled.

Confused, Skie ran over to the other side of the Plushie Mountain where she could see her friend. “What are you talkin’ about? What zombie AAH!” she screamed.

A boxy silver arm was jutting out of the Tigger plushies and had a tight grip on Kree’s wrist.

“GET IT OFF!” Kree shrieked.

Skie looked around for something to hit the arm with, and only came up with a Mickey Mouse lamp. She slammed the lamp down hard on the arm, and its reaction wasn’t what either of them wanted.

It pulled Kree, still shrieking bloody murder, right into the pile of Tigger plushies.

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Uh-Oh.

I wonder who that could be?