The Hidden Robot by the_academy_awards
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A Robot Tuskaninny flies past - on fire! “Help! Help! Dr. Sloth is after me!” Casi pushed herself against a wall as the metal inferno wheeled past her. Her metal body didn’t register the heat at all - but if the Virtupets Outpost was this dangerous - they hadn’t even started Defending Neopia yet! After a moment, the Kacheek focused on the map on her screen. She was marked with a glowing dot. Her dormitory - and a new roommate - was marked with a star, two levels up. Her body was difficult to manoeuvre in the corridors, full of technicians, administrators, and tourists, but she did make it to the dormitory without stepping on someone’s Turdle (Close call, though). Placing a metal glove to the panel, it scanned, and the door slid open into two parts, allowing her to step through - where another robot was there, staring out the wide window looking down on Neopia. They were quite tall, dark against the light of the sun shining through. They turned slowly at her presence, eyes glowing white - And they slowly faded to be the normal red of a Robot Zafara. “Hi! You’re here!” Slowly, he motioned for her to join him at the window. The view was stunning, and for a moment, she was caught off guard, only remembering when he introduced himself as Jiegle, “Short for Jiegledato VY-29528.” “Oh yeah - Casirus - Casi.” “You don’t have a model number?” “Um…”. Did all robots have model numbers? “Casirius 71-NHU.” She hoped she could remember that. He gestured to the door inside, beside the couch. “We bunk in there. I already picked my cot and charge port - But if you want, we can switch.” Uh oh. “There’s not…two sleeping areas?” “Not for rookies,” Jiegle laughed ruefully. “I promise, I’ll mute myself so you don’t hear me snore.” Casi laughed in return, but it was half-hearted. She had been counting on a modicum of privacy, to take off her suit. Only robots could serve on Virtupets in the Defenders of Neopia, and she was not a Robot. When the Defenders of Neopia had an open call, the only option available for non-robots at the time was an outpost an hour outside of Altador with a tiny population. While the food would be tasty, it would be dull, herding Baabaa and getting Vaeolus’ out of trees. So…she built her own Robot Kacheek casing, put it on over her Snow-painted body - and signed up. They assumed she was truly a robot and sent her above the atmosphere, to Virtupets Space Station. “So we can be the first line of defence against threats from outer space?” Casi had asked Judge Hog - THE Judge Hog! “Because you’re metal and circuits,” He said, waving a hoof. “May the blessings of Fyora be with you!” And with that, he shoved her onto a shuttle. Casi hadn’t expected to get this far - but it was time to figure something out. She nodded, entering the room. Even if she couldn’t escape her suit right now, she could at least lie down. —- Their first briefing as agents of Defenders of Neopia was the following day, and Casi and Jiegle had risen early to prepare. There had been a shower that confused them both. It was large enough to accommodate a bulky bot, but had water spigots. Jiegle, being taller, had looked at the faucets high on the wall before sighing. Casi had pretended to be curious about it and had insisted Jiegle wait in the living space as she poked around. “It’s too cramped with both of us in here,” She pointed out. With him gone, she had taken the opportunity to escape her suit, deeply breathing the recycled air of Virtupets for the first time. At least there was one private place. Casi figured 30 minutes of stalling was long enough, and suited up again and went out. “We’ll have to ask the station, we don’t want to be late.” —-
The Briefing was given by a Kougra in front of a very high-tech-looking screen. She gave a run-down of the station, including a mysterious lever she didn’t recommend they pull, the Gormball arena, and the hangar, “Where several of you will spend most of your time today, watching for unauthorized users, laser fights, and the occasionally escaped smoothie from the Cafe,” She looked at a clipboard - with actual paper, which surprised Casi - flipped through some pages. “Volbox-ERO4249, Casirius - what is your model number? No, tell me later - 1000 hours to 1300 hours - Get a charge and get going.” With a wave to Jiegle - who took a moment to raise his arm in farewell - Casi followed Volbox, a Robot Kiko, down to the hangar, where spaceships were preparing for takeoff and landing. “Chatterbox” was a more appropriate name for Volbox, as he floated around in an endless stream of conversation. “That’s a spell station,” He gestured to the back of the hangar, where a dusty terminal sat. “Rumor has it, you had to type the best or…” “Or else what?” He shrugged. “Who knows! They stopped whatever it was. For a while, it was mandatory for anyone staying up here, but tourists got frustrated - and the more Robots that arrived here, the more pointless it would be. What typing challenge could stop us?”
“So, they scrapped it for - for us.” Volbox blinked. “A robot? Using the s-word? They’re a little touchy about that up here. Didn’t you download the culture manual to your internal memory?” An eyebrow rose. Casi hoped he couldn’t see her blush (Could Snow-painted Neopets blush?) through the tint of her helmet. “I…forgot?” He stared for 10 long seconds. Was the charade up already? It was only day one - He laughed,“A robot? Forgetting? I’ve seen it all now!” Thus, for the next hour, Casi was treated to various lectures on the cultural differences between “up here” and “down there”, on Neopia. She had to admit, it was pretty informative. When she thought Volbox was finished, he started talking about a growing tourism rivalry between Roo Island and Kiko Lake until there was a soft beep in her helmet, signalling the end of her shift. She headed for Grundo’s Cafe - she had to find something to eat - and a way to eat it without her suit, without people looking…she should have thought to pack more food for these first few days. Eating in public would expose her, but there was no harm in looking - and she spotted the familiar red-and-silver casing of Jiegle sitting at the counter, waving stiffly at her.
“Gargarox was giving me the rundown on the Station’s occupants,” The large green Grundo nodded at her as he served a scruffy-looking purple Chia something translucent green. “He says it’s pretty safe.”
Casi hefted herself onto a barstool, clutching the counter as she scrambled up. She would have to remember to account for the weight of her suit. “But that Tuskaninny - On fire -” Gargarox came over, setting down two glasses and filling them with dark, thick oil. “That BILOU-4282.” He rolled his eyes. “We’ve tried to modify his memory chip, but it gets stuck and he always thinks Sloth,” Gargarox said the name in a whisper. “Is after him. It’s nothing.” He slid the glasses over to them and continued wiping the counter. Jiegle sipped at his oil. Casi stared at it - it would probably stain her slushy body beneath, so she moved on. “And the fire?” “Overheated components. He likes that casing, so we leave him to it - Look - over there,” Casi and Jiegle turned to see a purple Mynci spray BILOU-4282 down with flame-suppressant foam, looking very bored. “That’s Channy. Busy guy.” For the next hour, Gargarox gave a running commentary on the residents of the Virtupets Space Station as they passed. After a whirlwind of names and faces, Casi was hungrier than ever. “Hey - can I take that?” She pointed to something that looked edible, several long, tan rods. Gargarox stared at her. “You want …food?” Robots didn’t eat organic food. There had been a complementary bag of mixed nuts and bolts in the bunk she hadn’t touched - but they had disappeared. She guessed Jiegle had eaten them.
“I…like to pretend I can eat.” She cringed inwardly at how weak it sounded. After a second, Gargarox shrugged and pushed it toward her. “Have fun.” —- The food was…something fried. ‘ She wasn’t sure what, but it was edible, and to Casirius, after subsisting for days on a date and fig energy bars it was the best thing she had ever eaten. After the second time, Gargarox had set aside a plate each day. Jiegle had asked maintenance, and Channy had configured the shower to switch between water and compressed air, built to remove dust from nooks and crannies of robots and rinse off space dust. At least Casi could be clean and dry - as much as a Snow-painted Kacheek could be. Hangar-watching duty turned into moving giant monitors, looking for lost keycards, and helping to repair a busted compression chamber. Quini - the Kougra who gave them their assignments each day - stood in front of them, her face serious and clipboard forgotten. “You may have heard some rattling and hissing in the air vents. It could be a Wind-Up Geb. It could be a pressure leak putting all of us at risk.”
Jiegle turned to Casi. “I heard it in the robot shower, I thought it was a leaky hose…”
“All of you - search. Smaller robots can navigate the vents, larger ones can keep their eye-screens and…uh, ‘ears’,” her paws made air quotes around the word. “-open. Report at 1500 hours.” Casi and Jiegle stuck together; Though they shared their daily adventures back in the bunk during designated rest hours, an assignment together was rare. “Where should we start?” Casi asked. “Let’s go to Level 4.” Level 4 was the maintenance level, where civilians weren’t allowed - but robots were. They saw fewer and fewer occupants of the Station the higher up they went until it was totally empty on Level 4, a very long attic cluttered by wires, panels, and random objects. Jiegle was digging through the pile closest to them, a collection of appliances. “If we can’t find whatever’s making that noise, we can find something neat. Ooh,” He withdrew, holding a long device with a metal pointed claw at the end. “Upgrade! I will hold on to that….”
Casi walked deeper into the clutter. Here was another place she could remove her suit - though she would have to be very careful, lest her coworkers see her – Hisssss….. She jumped, knocking over a pile of screwdrivers. What was that? It sounded metallic, but also - alive? Like a long, slow breath being released - Nervously, she tapped a space on her arm, and a panel popped out. A communication connection to Jiegle - “Jie - something is here!” “Besides us?” Hisssssssssssssssssss….. “Besides us! Am I on your radar? Find me!” She stayed where she was, an eye on her helmet glass where a glowing dot moved toward her, until the heavy thudding of the robot approached. “What’s up?” “Sh - do you hear that?” It had started again. Jiegle turned his head; An ear lifted with a speaker beneath. “I think it’s over here…” Jiegle moved past Casi and toward a stack of canvases leaned against a wall. The sound got louder. It sounded like less of a hiss and more of a fan spinning rapidly. Casi bent down, shaking within her suit, but happy for the defence it provided as she looked behind the canvases - she saw two twin orbs, glowing a hot green. “Pull them back,” She commanded Jiegle, who nodded and gripped the edges. It was no issue for a machine to lift them. They both gasped as they saw what was beneath - A small Robot Gallion. It looked up at them and closed its eyes, curling up. The fan noise got louder. It gave a long sigh - Hissssssss. “It needs to cool down…I could go look for coolant -” “There’s no time.” No matter the risk to herself, Casi didn’t want a Petpet to suffer. With a deep breath, she withdrew her arm into her suit, and with a few flicks, detached the left mechanical arm from her robot casing. It hit the floor with a thunk. Jiegle gasped as Casi’s natural, Snow-painted arm popped out of the casing. “Cas-Casi, what - ?” It came out as a rough, scraping sound of shock. Without a word, she lay her paw atop the hot casing of the Gallion. Steam rose from its metal body. “You’re - you’re not a robot?” Jiegle whispered, as the little creature’s fan began to slow down to a normal speed. With a sigh as well as a robot could do, the Gallion uncurled and pushed itself into a sitting position, still leaning against Casi’s slowly melting hand. “You’re painted Snow? Is it hurting you?” With a creak, Jiegle pointed to Casi’s hand. “I can fix it later.” Somehow. Normally, she would have a stash of Happy Valley snow to patch herself up with. She would have to find an ice machine. The petpet’s fan was now almost inaudible. “Can you scan it for a name, an owner, while I, uh, put my arm back on?” Jiegle nodded, eyes glowing white, and looked at the Gallion for a few seconds. A white light shot out of his eyes for 3 seconds, then faded. “No owner listed. I wonder how it got here.” With a snap, Casi had reattached the arm to her casing. Her eyes were fixed on the Gallion. “So -” “Ah - That’s why you take the food from Gargarox!” He said, volume rising with realization. “To eat it! Smart - I’ve been going to the Neocola machines!” What is he beeping about? “The Neocola machines charge robots?” Jiegle suddenly grew still. Casi took a step back. His eyes glowed again, a bright red, accompanied by a low hum. Oh no - did Jiegle overheat as well -? Suddenly, he slumped forward. Then, the chest casing opened up with a decompressing hiss. Despite manners, Casi looked inside, unfamiliar with the inner workings of a Robot. The inside of Jiegledato VY-29528 looked very similar to the maintenance floor. There were wires, small monitors and keyboards, and two joysticks surrounding a gaming chair. But unlike the maintenance floor, in that chair was a Baby Zafara. He had overalls on, and a mask over his mouth attached to somewhere in the metal body. Detaching it, steps popped out from the shins of the Zafara mechsuit and he jumped to the floor. Her jaw dropped. Jiegle wasn’t a Robot either! He answered the question before she asked why he was a Baby Zafara - “It was the only way I could fit inside,” His voice was a lot higher than the metallic scrape she was used to. “I wanted to see if it was possible to build and pilot a robot that looked real. Well, a real Robot-painted pet.A Defenders recruiter saw me in Neopia Central one day putting out a little fire at Hubert’s and said “Go to space!”, and here I am!” He beamed. Casi shook her head. “Two non-robots in the Defenders of Neopia, what are the chances?” “And we’re roommates,” He laughed. “At least I can stop locking the bunk door to disembark and stretch.” “I was using the shower,” Casi said ruefully, and he shrieked even harder with glee. “Us two’ll stick together.” Casi nodded. Well, they’d have to find organic food…Gargarox might help.
“We three!” The Gallion was sniffing the foot of Jiegle’s mechsuit and gave a start as he patted his metal back. “Let’s go tell Quini we found the issue!” He jumped back into his casing and shut the door; With a whir and 4-note melody, Jiegle’s robot body was back in operation. As they walked back toward the service elevator, the Gallion nestled in Casi’s arms, she realized something. “At the cafe - how did you drink that oil?” Jiegle laughed, and Casi could almost hear the organic lifeform beneath. “I piped it into a bottle here. When you were out one day, I disembarked and oiled my joints. Still got some left, I’ll help you - You’ve been getting a little loud, sounding like - uh -” “A robot,” Casi laughed, which started Jiegle laughing, and the pair of friends descended with their shared secret - and a newfound bond. The End.
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