By David C. Daoust
“I can’t believe you’re a little girl too!” Dicey’s muffled voice said from within Margo- The little girl still comfortably hanging out within the massive bucket that someone had decided to use to house Margo’s Data-Sphere. “We have so much in common!”
“Yep, once my friend Colin shows up with my body,” Margo began without a doubt that Colin was going to pop back into her life, at any moment, with the ‘stunt-bot’ body she had entrusted him with- to ‘keep safe’, “…I’ll be back to normal! In the meantime, I’ll have to make do with this hunchback monster!”
“It’s not so bad,” Dicey comforted as she made the small stuffed bunny in her hands march over the wadded mass of blankets. “I think it’s fun.”
“It has no neck!” was all Margo said on the matter. Though, what was a far greater concern was the malfunctioning anti-gravity gizmos built into the junk-bot form, gizmos meant to grant her movement, but could only spin her about in circles. Ultimately, they only managed to turn her into a carnival ride! It was probably great for a passenger tucked within, but Margo found the whole thing…. demeaning. The only way she’s managed to get anywhere at all, was to avoid using the thrusters, instead drag the massive levitating bucket around with the oversized arms- arms that were just as monstrous as the rest of her. It was not a good day for her self-image. (IT HAD NO NECK!)
Margo was still floating within the hold she had been powered back up in. One camera was pointed within so she could see the girl inside of her as they chatted, and the other showed the hold. The ramp into the massive Sand Crawler, that was Dicey’s home, stood open. The two had been chatting non-stop since Dicey had introduced herself, proper.
Dicey was unwilling to leave the confines of the ‘bucket’, Margo did not press why.
Though when they heard the blond haired woman’s arrival at the foot of the ramp, Dicey suddenly shushed them and stood up within. Dicey peered through the empty eye socket that previously held the camera which was now obscured by the side of the little girls head.
The pair watched as the older woman marched another young girl into the hold. The woman had the girl by the arm, with a displeased look on her face. The girl looked older than Dicey, though only slightly.
“That’s my mom and sister,” Dicey whispered.
Margo could tell that the girl was in trouble. The runaway bot suddenly wanted to be somewhere else; she didn’t want to be in trouble too. Margo had to suppress the urge to explain that she hadn’t done anything- which was probably silly.
The woman marched right past them as she dragged the girl into her home. The woman did not take so much as a second glance at the hovering junk-bot. Margo thought she probably blended right into the ugly junk heap and let out a sigh. Luckily, it went unnoticed by the angry mother.
“I can’t believe you would do that, Grace,” The woman said with displeasure, “What were you thinking?”
“I don’t know,” Grace muttered, noncommittally.
“Throwing rocks at people?” the girl’s mother pressed in a ludicrous tone of voice, and asked again, “What could you’ve possibly been thinking?”
Grace shrugged.
“They’re coming here, now,” the woman informed ‘matter-of-fact’, “You will apologize to them.”
The look on Grace’s face changed from a downcast guilty grimace to a suddenly frightened and embarrassed face. Outraged at the idea, the girl stammered out a bunch of nonsense that didn’t end in anything cohesive.
“Slow down,” her mother couched the girl, “Think about what you want to say…”
The girl didn’t, she couldn’t. Her face was red, and the words would not formulate properly. The local sheriff of Grady showed up at the ramp, and tears appeared in her eyes as the frustration overwhelmed her. There was an old couple with him, neither looked terribly angry.
“Oh crap, it’s the fuz!” Dicey whispered. “Things just got serious!”
Margo didn’t respond- She did not want to be noticed. ‘Serious’ didn’t sound good though, her attention was pulled to the scene at the bottom of the ramp.
They watched as her mother marched Grace back down the ramp. The girl held back her tears, best she could, as she grasped her mother’s hand. Margo could barely hear what was said, but she dare not drag herself closer. She could hear just enough to make sense of the body language from her vantage. Dicey’s mother did most of the talking. In fact, it didn’t look like anyone else got to say much of anything as the mother plowed through her version of how sorry she was that the incident had happened at all. Margo listened as the girl got her turn to apologize; again nothing truly coherent came out of the girl’s mouth. Margo had to assume that Grace had managed to form an apology though, because she was suddenly sent to her room.
Grace ran past, tears streaming from her eyes as she clumped up the stairs that would lead into the living quarters of the massive Crawler.
The four adults stood there chatting some more. The old couple finally had a chance to say their piece. Dicey’s mother listened closely for a moment, her posture changed as she absorbed new information, she suddenly spun on her heal and marched back up the ramp.
“Dicey!” the woman yelled furiously into the sand crawler. Margo was sure her voice reverberated through every room in the massive structure, “Get your little ass out here!”
“Crap,” Dicey suddenly said aloud, “They dropped a dime on me!”
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