"Venusian Christmas Carol" - Part 2
Gustav's eyes flutter open.
"Ach,
mein aching head." He touches a hand to his face, then suddenly sits bolt upright. "Vot is this?"
"My apologies, Doctor." Larathra looks up from where she is pensively examining the RIDE, which appears blackened and scorched. "Some substance in the cavern where we met appears to have caused a feedback look in my device. This accounts for the somewhat bumpy ride we had."
"Bumpy?" Gustav's bristly eyebrows rise, "Zat was like Captain Fury as his most enthusiastic. 'Bumpy' does not begin to descri - oh my!" he breaks off as he realises how their surroundings have changed. "This is terrible!"
"I shall have the RIDE fixed soon, Doctor -"
"Not zat!" Gustav interrupts, "Zis!" he gestures at the field around them. The ground is pitted with shell holes and scorch marks, and dozens of bodies lie sprawled in the mud. "Humans! And Venusians! All dead!" he hurries over to the nearest group of bodies and kneels to examine them. "From ze looks of it, dead at each ozzers hands!"
The Doctor whirls to face Larathra,
"Vot is the meaning of zis? Humans and Venusians have never fought each ozzer! It is as ludicrous to zink of as zat Germany would declare war on France!"
"We are in a different reality now, Doctor." Larathra reminds him, "Something must have happened here that caused a war to occur. It's quite distressing. Why must other races be so violent?"
"Archie!"
"Archie? What do you mean, Doctor?"
But Gustav isn't paying any attention to Larathra right now. Instead he is hurrying across the battlefield, stumbling in holes, and splashing through muddy puddles, toward a large metallic object near the edge of the nearby jungle.
The object is a robot, fully eight feet tall, with a broad chest, a sleek helmet-like head, and powerful looking arms that end in razor-like claws. Atop each arm is a wide-barrelled weapon of some kind, the nozzle of which is blackened and burnt. Stencilled on the robot's chest are four large red letters:
R-CHI
And beneath those, in smaller black type:
Robot: Combat (Heavy Incendiary)
"It is Archie!" Gustav exults, "I knew I recognised him!" This line leaves the audience scratching their heads, as the robot looks nothing like the blocky, ungainly Archie. "Ach! He has been damaged! If only I had my toolbelt wiz me."
"I have a tool you could use, Doctor." Larathra produces a silver ball about four inches across. Gustav takes it from her and examines it curiously.
"How does it vork?"
"It is an Omnitool." Larathra explains, "You simply need to think of the tool you desire -" the Omnitool immediately turns into an egg whisk in Gustav's hand. Larathra looks confused, "I am not familiar with that tool, Doctor. What does it do?"
"I vas just testing." The Omnitool blinks back into its original shape as Gustav's bald skull gets slightly pinker. He frowns for a moment and the Omnitool transforms into a screwdriver. The Doctor them pulls open a hatch on Archie's chest, revealing lots of complex wiring and a small diagnostics monitor. Gustav immediately plunges half of his upper body inside the robot.
"Ah yes, ze main cable needs to be re-routed here ... and ze secondary logic circuit needs to be disabled to allow for ze additional hardware specifications I am adding ..."
"Doctor." Larathra speaks.
"Just a moment, please." Gustav waves a hand for quiet, "Zis is a very delicate operation."
A new voice; deep, male and aggressive; breaks into the conversation.
"Get away from the robot, you Nusi saboteur, or we'll fry your carcass where you stand!"
"
Was?" Gustav straightens and turns around, a bad order to do things in as he bashes his forehead on the side of Archie's hatch. Rubbing the rapidly-forming bruise, he stares at the newcomers. There are six of them, all sturdily built humans in what looks suspiciously like surplus British Army camouflage suits with Space Force insignia sewn on. The leader, a crew-cutted, square-necked fellow with a surly expression and a large gun, which he points at the two reality refugees.
"Ah! Space Force!" Gustav smiles happily at the humans, "Zis is good luck. Ve are travellers, and zere seems to be something wrong wiz ..." he considers how to describe the RIDE, "... wiz ze device zat controls our craft. Perhaps you could help us?"
The human leader grunts.
"You 'eard me: Get away from the robot, or I'll blow your bony butt away from it myself."
Gustav blinks.
"I don't think they wish to help us, Doctor." Larathra observes.
"Zis is ridiculous!" Gustav protests, "I vas merely trying to repair Archie!" he gestures with the Omnitool, which has returned to the form of a silver ball.
"Look out sarge! He's got a grenade!" One of the soldiers snaps a gun up to his shoulder, ready to fire.
"
Put the grenade down! Now!"
"But zis is not ..."
"
[/b]Grenade! Down! Now![/b]"
Gustav sighs and slowly crouches, placing the Omnitool on the ground.
"Zis is really unnecessary, we are not your enemies ..."
"Anyone in the field who ain't Space Force is either a Nusi, a damn Nusi-sympathiser, or ..." the Sergeant looks at Larathra with a puzzled expression, "... or whatever the heck she is."
"I am a Sarathri, from the 19th Quadrant of the Elocin Cloud Systems, some forty two
glintar from here. My name is -"
"
Shut up!" the Sergeant bellows. He points to his men, "Anderson, Hodges, shoot 'em if either of 'em talk again. Pieterhoff, slap 'em in electrocuffs. We'll take 'em back to base and see what the Commander wants done with 'em."
The Space Force troops lock Gustav and Larathra in a pair of large silver handcuffs each, and hustle them into a nearby jeep. The Sergeant guns the engine, and the vehicle bounces out of shot.
We pan back to the silent battlefield, and the still form of Archie.
Beep.
The diagnostics monitor blinks into life, and text starts to scroll by.
System initialising.
Accessing core program.
Core program loaded. Core program: Military operations.
Accessing secondary program.
Secondary program loaded. Secondary program: Domestic Duties.
Error! Hardware unit EGWSK001 not found.
System initialisation failed.
Accessing basic command routine.
Basic command routine loaded. Basic Command: Protect Alois Gustav.
Command initiated.