Re: The Fatal Conflict! (GBS2G7) (Round 2: Robo City!)
05-20-2011, 02:01 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by MalkyTop.
The ensuing ambush-but-not-really was almost too uninteresting to describe beyond Luron being where he wasn’t supposed to be, such as right behind where a robot was going to be or right where a robot’s bullet was not. And then there was a lot of sword stuff. All while carrying a PINGing robot under his arm.
Simphonia, for her part, did try to pay attention for incoming attacks. She really did. But as a musical maintenance drone-ghost thing, she didn’t really have much to do. Once she did barrel out of the robot to knock heads (?) with another robot, but it did negligible damage and she retreated back into doing nothing. Had she been more observant, she might have noticed the mounting horror that her new friend was compiling and the desperate churning sounds its wheels made as it saw, much too close for comfort, what amounted as its brethren being mowed down by an illegal human. Sure, it had seen the propaganda, just like every other ‘bot. But there was no amount of propaganda that could have prepared it for this horrible act of violence. The aftermath was okay with it. Robots broke all the time. But actually seeing a robot get cleaved in twain by a man-made object, gears and oil and shrapnel flying through the air, it was metaphorically gut-wrenching. The constant alert and cry of ‘MAINTENANCE REQUIRED’ that blinked in its display didn’t help much.
So while her robot friend was busy being traumatized, Simphonia checked the file she had so recently received once more. Scrolling through, she unfortunately found the transmission switch. Unfortunately, because once she found it, she simply flicked it on and off, sending two-second messages out into the multiverse to random recipients. Two-second messages of silence. Then she checked her trigger-happy nature to allow a ten minute message. A ten minute message of “Hi! Hello! Hi! Hello? People? Hi!” that was sometimes interjected with MAINTENANCE REQUIRED MAINTENANCE REQUIRED MAINTENANCE REQUIRED while in the background the sounds of rending metal and firearms and violence. Once in a while, Luron’s hazy voice would work its way in the message, saying things like, ‘Sorry, sorry’ and ‘You don’t mind me dropping you, do you?’ and ‘This is actually getting boring.’ Eventually, both the message and the fighting ended. The ten minute message was left to wander the multiverse, ready to be picked up by anybody anywhere. Simphonia’s maintenance-bot decided to shut down visuals for a moment to collect itself. Luron, oblivious to what just happened, just walked down the hall, stepping around the broken remains of the ambush.
“You’re alright, right?” Luron said, almost conversationally. Finally noticing the whirling wheels, he added, “…Do…you want to be let down…?”
The answer, as expected, was not much of an answer. He decided it was a ‘yes.’ The maintenance-bot wheeled around much like a poor, lame Roomba before it remembered to turn visuals back on. It whistled morosely, trundling shyly behind the man as he peered around the hallway for anything remotely interesting. Maybe like a ridiculously large computer monitor that displayed evil diabolical plans of some sort? That would be interesting.
Unfortunately, robots don’t usually need computers. Luron found an elevator, though. Before he could press a button, the doors opened, revealing three people he sort of recognized but didn’t really quite expect. He stared at the zombie (maybe?), zombie (yes), and ghost (definitely). The maybe-zombie said, “You don’t want to go up.”
Luron replied, “Not a good idea to go outside either.”
The elevator doors almost closed, but Luron put a foot between them.
The ensuing ambush-but-not-really was almost too uninteresting to describe beyond Luron being where he wasn’t supposed to be, such as right behind where a robot was going to be or right where a robot’s bullet was not. And then there was a lot of sword stuff. All while carrying a PINGing robot under his arm.
Simphonia, for her part, did try to pay attention for incoming attacks. She really did. But as a musical maintenance drone-ghost thing, she didn’t really have much to do. Once she did barrel out of the robot to knock heads (?) with another robot, but it did negligible damage and she retreated back into doing nothing. Had she been more observant, she might have noticed the mounting horror that her new friend was compiling and the desperate churning sounds its wheels made as it saw, much too close for comfort, what amounted as its brethren being mowed down by an illegal human. Sure, it had seen the propaganda, just like every other ‘bot. But there was no amount of propaganda that could have prepared it for this horrible act of violence. The aftermath was okay with it. Robots broke all the time. But actually seeing a robot get cleaved in twain by a man-made object, gears and oil and shrapnel flying through the air, it was metaphorically gut-wrenching. The constant alert and cry of ‘MAINTENANCE REQUIRED’ that blinked in its display didn’t help much.
So while her robot friend was busy being traumatized, Simphonia checked the file she had so recently received once more. Scrolling through, she unfortunately found the transmission switch. Unfortunately, because once she found it, she simply flicked it on and off, sending two-second messages out into the multiverse to random recipients. Two-second messages of silence. Then she checked her trigger-happy nature to allow a ten minute message. A ten minute message of “Hi! Hello! Hi! Hello? People? Hi!” that was sometimes interjected with MAINTENANCE REQUIRED MAINTENANCE REQUIRED MAINTENANCE REQUIRED while in the background the sounds of rending metal and firearms and violence. Once in a while, Luron’s hazy voice would work its way in the message, saying things like, ‘Sorry, sorry’ and ‘You don’t mind me dropping you, do you?’ and ‘This is actually getting boring.’ Eventually, both the message and the fighting ended. The ten minute message was left to wander the multiverse, ready to be picked up by anybody anywhere. Simphonia’s maintenance-bot decided to shut down visuals for a moment to collect itself. Luron, oblivious to what just happened, just walked down the hall, stepping around the broken remains of the ambush.
“You’re alright, right?” Luron said, almost conversationally. Finally noticing the whirling wheels, he added, “…Do…you want to be let down…?”
The answer, as expected, was not much of an answer. He decided it was a ‘yes.’ The maintenance-bot wheeled around much like a poor, lame Roomba before it remembered to turn visuals back on. It whistled morosely, trundling shyly behind the man as he peered around the hallway for anything remotely interesting. Maybe like a ridiculously large computer monitor that displayed evil diabolical plans of some sort? That would be interesting.
Unfortunately, robots don’t usually need computers. Luron found an elevator, though. Before he could press a button, the doors opened, revealing three people he sort of recognized but didn’t really quite expect. He stared at the zombie (maybe?), zombie (yes), and ghost (definitely). The maybe-zombie said, “You don’t want to go up.”
Luron replied, “Not a good idea to go outside either.”
The elevator doors almost closed, but Luron put a foot between them.