By David C. Daoust
Olivia had just managed to plug Wilford’s data-sphere into the oversized mining-bot, when the thugs had stumbled upon her. She was old. She decided to play dumb… the old ‘little-old lady’ routine!
Unfortunately, she was not much of an actress; they were not amused and ordered her down immediately. She milked the climb down for all it was worth… Okay, she actually was a bit too old to be climbing around on anything like a jungle gym… no one needed to know that though; All part of the act!
Truth be told, the sudden plant-life springing to life out of the nearby junk-bot, was a bit startling—though had anyone been paying attention, they would have noticed her ham-like acting as she gasped and fell to the ground– where the gasp involved shifty-eyes as the idea formulated and crossed her face, and then the ‘fall’ was more of a ‘little old lady lower down to the ground without upsetting any of her joints’ maneuver. So, more of slow kneel that converted into her laying on her side—at which time she rested her head on the crook of her arm for a moment with her eyes closed… She could not help but take a quick glance to check whether or not she had fooled anyone or not. ‘Went ahead and fixed her hair when she realized no one was looking.
It only worked out so well because, ultimately, everyone’s attention was on the weird plant-monster-thing.
Olivia knew absolutely nothing about ‘Potters’, they had not roamed the Onion in her lifetime. So, while the fact that the crazy plant-monster took out the ‘bad guys’, made it a safe bet that it was on their side… it was still a flipping plant-monster! So, she decided to lay still even after the two thugs had been knocked out cold.
The tension lifted as soon as she felt Wilford’s hands on her, her eyes fluttered open as she took stock of the hold around her. The thugs were out cold, and the plant-monster had disappeared. Only Wilford was there, he was holding her gently. The concern was clear on his face. She didn’t let up, pretended she really had fainted…
Suddenly the old man coughed, he looked like he had something caught in his throat. But then twisted his back like there was a pain in his chest. He clutched his chest!
Olivia was confused, not only did she not understand where he got this form, considering they had left his normal ‘old man bot’ back in their living quarters… suddenly his chest bulged forward! Like, unnaturally warped! She sat up searching for the cause. Her eyes were huge, she forgot all about play-acting that she had fainted.
Wilford reached into his chest, his form warped around his hand as he pulled a great big heart right out of his chest!
Olivia’s mouth dropped wide open—baffled.
“Look what you’ve done to me now!” Wilford accused as he held his heart in his hand, between the two of them, as the old couple still huddled on the ground.
Yet puzzled, she recognized it as the heart-shaped hover-bot, that Wilford had given the small bunny to use. Olivia let out a “Ha!” and a loud obnoxious laugh escaped her as she pulled him in close to hug him. She could feel him chuckling in her embrace.
“What in the world did I miss?” Olivia asked as she released him.
“It would seem the Sun Particles,” Wilford began as he presented his current form, and even gestured to the heart in his hand, as proof, “Don’t care who they synch with, or why…”
“Margo’s form-things?” Olivia tried to follow his reasoning.
“Yes,” Wilford nodded. “For some reason my data-sphere synched up all the way over here, rather than in the mining-bot… I must have enveloped the heart when I pulled myself together…” he pieced it all together for the two of them. Then added after a moment of thought, “A strange feeling, that. And I’ll tell you!”
“Well, what the hell was that giant fern thing?” Olivia pressed; she had never seen anything like that before. However, Olivia knew Margo’s particles could shift into ‘whatever’. At least that was what Margo claimed, though the unusual little bot stressed that she could not figure out why someone would want to be something they are not.
Since she knew about its shifting properties, Olivia was able to guess, “That was you?”
“Um, well—” he affirmed with a nod as he sidestepped the question. “I’ll tell you all about that someday…”
They were interrupted by a noise nearby.
“Hey??” the Junk-bot suddenly sprang to life– Margo’s voice erupted from the blue hulking contraption, in protest. “Where the heck did my Particles go?”
“Oh—hi, Mr. Wilford, sir. Hi, Mrs. Wilford,” Margo said as she found the couple looking at her, “What are you two doing in here?”
“Fending off these goons, of course,” Olivia answered the bot’s question.
“These particles really are quite powerful,” Wilford stated as he rose from the ground before helping his wife to her feet. “It would seem they have synched with my DataStream?”
“Yeah, they do that…” Margo agreed, “But listen…” Margo gestured at the fighting sounds outside, “the Battle Drones are trying to get in! Mr. Ferguson has a whole squad fighting them– just outside the door, but some are trying to cut into the hull, too! I need to get back in my particles– and go try and protect Ratchet and Harper! Right away!”
“Battle Drones! Attacking here?” Olivia was surprised to find out there was a battle outside…After a moment of listening– sounded close. She realized there was an especially huge ruckus at the hold doors… which had been open this entire time!
“We should try and transfer from particle to form,” Wilford said to Margo. Then added grimly, a little too seriously, “We need a greater understanding of how these Sun Particles work.”
“Um- okay!” Margo agreed, oblivious to the old man’s reasoning on the matter, “How?”
The two bots squared off.
“Focus on the static between us. I can feel you… can you feel me?” Wilford asked.
“Yeah, kind’a weird,” Margo giggled.
Olivia found the entire exchange weird, considering they were just standing there, a misshapen junk-bot and a wiry old man, looking at each other. She trusted something else was going on there.
“Try and claim them,” Wilford suggested.
Before Olivia’s eyes, Wilford suddenly broke up into a mass of glowing Particles. A swarm that shifted and reshaped, until it became the little girl form Margo preferred.
Just as suddenly, the massive Mining-bot shifted the pile of odds and ends that had previously hidden it in the hold, out of the way, so that the colossal form could step out into the cleared portion of the hold.
“Wow that was easy!” Margo proclaimed from her little girl form. The junk-bot now sitting perfectly still– void of life.
“Yes,” Wilford’s voice agreed from the colossus, “It is clear… only you can reclaim the Sun Particles from another…”
“Alrighty!” Margo, happy to be back in business particle-wise, though indifferent to the whole experience, ran for the stairs, “Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Wilford! I got to get going up to the Family Room!”
“I think you should go with her, as well,” Wilford suggested to his wife. “I’ll help fend off the drones from here…”
Olivia was not ready to leave just yet, she watched as the girl raced to the higher floors.
“Only you can claim them?” Olivia, questioningly, repeated Wilford’s unusual statement once the young bot was well outside of earshot.
“Best she believe such for now,” Wilford strode forward in the monstrous form. Then proclaimed through the mining-bot’s draconic visage, “Such power should belong only to the State.”
After a moment of thought, Olivia agreed whole heartedly.
The Red Faction would swell.
Unstoppable.
With that, Wilford charged out of the hold– headed straight into the fray.
As Olivia headed up the stairs to the Family Room, picking up her pace only once she noticed the two thugs start to regain consciousness.
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