I woke up this morning, the same as every other morning since I started living here. My apartment is such a drab place since it is cheap. I sat up in my bed, yawned, and then stretched my arms out. I looked over at my desk with the robot I have been making. I remembered that last night I finally managed to get it to open and shut it hands.
I didn’t realize how hard it was for programmers to do those kinds of things, I tip my hat off to them. I think I stayed up a little too late playing my favorite MMO (that stands for Massively Online Multiplayer Game) Warforged Online and working on the robot because I feel really sluggish and sleepy. Warforged online is one of the most popular MMOs to date that everyone and their mother is playing. According to my clock on the wall it is only 6:00 in the morning. I have to be at work at 8:30 today.
I swing both my legs out of bed and stand up. When I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth I looked in the mirror at myself. My hair is black, very short, has slight waves and is lined up neatly. Even though I just woke up, my dark brown eyes and my dark skinned face are alert and ready for the day. I finished brushing my teeth and ate breakfast. I then put on my favorite dark green zip-up hoodie and a pair of black denim jeans and sat at the computer. “Let’s hop onto Warforged Online for a little bit” I played until it was time for me to go to work.
My apartment is in a building on the 3rd floor. I take the elevator to the 1st floor, exit the building and walk to the store.
I get to the entrance of the store with its big “Bookopolis” sign right above the entrance, unlock the door and walk in.
As soon as I close the door I hear “Morning bud, ready for another exciting day of work?”
I turn around and see Darren Killpit, the second of the only 2 employees that work at this store, at the cashier counter.
He is the cashier and manager of the store and he also happens to be my best friend. He is about a foot taller than me at 6’6” and way more light skinned as well. He has been working here for about 7 years and has managed to become the store manager.
When I first started working here a couple of years ago, he not only helped me with working at the store but was also very helpful when I was struggling to pay my rent and electric bill.
It also happens that he is just as nerdy as I am when it comes to Videogames. He even plays Warforged Online with me. We are always discussing how cool it would be if Warforged Online was VR (Virtual Reality) compatible but right now that type of technology is only in dreams and wishes and does not truly exist.
I said “Yo Darren, early as always I see”
He shrugged and said “Yeah, you know it. What did you think about that last dungeon run last night?”
I said “I think we should have kicked those new guys out of the party before we entered. They were horrible. Because of them we wiped more times than I care to think of and we didn’t even get any good drops.”
He said “Yeah, I know what you mean. We had no choice though, all of our usual party members had prior engagements and weren’t able to party with us. We should check again tonight to see if everyone will be available and maybe we can do a better run.”
I said “Maybe we should have let Cupid come out show em whats what.”
Cupid is the name that I call Darren since his last name sounds like that if you say it fast enough. I refer to his nickname as the angry side of him that doesn’t have a problem with punching you in the face with a nice, big and bright placard smile. At first he really hated the nickname and would get mad and throw a fit but eventually he begun to really appreciate what the nickname insinuates.
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With a slight smile and a little chuckle he said “Yeah, well every time Cupid comes out things never go quite as planned.”
His eyebrows raised in remembrance of something and said “Oh yeah, almost forgot. There is a box in the back with a new shipment of books for you to put on the shelves. There might be something in there you will be interested in”
I replied “Roger, on it.”
After conversing with Darren, I walked to the back of the room to get the box that he was talking about. I found the box and carried it to the front of the store.
I opened the box to see what kinds of books are in it. Looking through it there aren’t many books that are interesting but there is one that catches my eye. It has something to do with robots and how to construct them.
“Hmmm…..I will have to check this out later.”
I lifted my head up from and yelled “Hey Darren, there is a book in here I am interested in. Mind if I borrow it?”
He yelled back “Sure, go ahead. Just make sure you bring it back.”
This store sells all different kinds of books from Non-fiction to Historical Documentaries. They also let you read books and not buy them and since I work here I have the special privilege of borrowing the books before the hit the shelves. I smiled and put the robot book on the side while I finished putting the rest of the books on the assorted shelves.
The rest of the time at work was fairly uneventful with the only thing of note being some customer thought it was funny to constantly reposition a book every time I put it back on the shelf. Needless to say, Darren and I insured that the customer was taxed a little bit higher today.
I said “Hey Darren, I just finished sweeping and I am about to head back home. Anything else you need me to do before I go?”
He took a quick look around and said “Nope, we did not get too many customers today, which isn’t surprising, so there isn’t much else to do. I can take care whatever is left and lock up. You can head home.”
I replied “Cool beans. Alright, I will see you on later tonight”
I went back to grab the robot book before I left work for the day. I was so eager to read the book that the walk back home completed before I realized it. I sat in my desk chair, reclined and started to dig in to the book as soon as I got back to my apartment. In between chapters, when I find something that I can apply to my robot, I switch back and forth from reading to testing out what I read. A couple of hours go by and I am thoroughly satisfied with what I was able to acquire and apply to my robot from the book I was reading. Now I am able to make it walk at a nice pace back and forth and also the hand that has a grappling hook actually launches and latches onto things. I am so excited that I decide to go outside and test it. I unhook the data cable from the robot and head outside.
About 20 minutes later I find a good clearing in the area to test my robot. This area does not have that many trees around and is far away enough that I will not be disturbed. There is a slight breeze blowing so I pull my hood over my head and continue to look around. I start thinking about what I should do next. I sat my robot down on the ground and using my Control Watch (Device that is used like a remote control for the robot) I controlled its legs and arms. I moved it about 10 feet when I looked up and I saw a slight shimmering of light a couple of yards away between two trees. Its faint but I can see it. Then it disappeared and reappeared immediately. It does this a couple of times when it finally starts to stabilize and appear solid. Its looks like a really big rectangular box, like the ones I have seen at construction sites. I stare with my eyes open wide in awe and admiration at the barely visible object ahead of me. As I look on, the light gets really strong and there is a loud sound like a window being shattered and some kind of strong shockwave or pulse is released from the object and I am pushed onto my back. I lay there dazed for a second trying to get my bearings. I get back up and look at the now completely visible box. Upon first glance it looks like it is made of metal. I try and locate where my robot went. It didn’t get thrown too far. I pick it up and slowly approach the box. I notice that the surface is not entirely metal but a kind of combination of something else. There are no signs, protrusions or any noticeable marks of any kind on the surface.
I go to one of the shorter ends and stretch out my hand. I somewhat hesitate to touch it but decided to just do it. I touch it and it is cool to the touch. It has a metallic and organic feel to it. Once my hand is on the surface for a couple of seconds I start to feel a warm tingling sensation. I try to pull my hand away but it is held in place to the surface. I pull and pull to no avail. Then suddenly my hand is released and I fall backwards on my butt flinging my hood off my head and I dropped my robot. I look at the place where my hand just was and there is a glowing hand print there that starts to slowing fade away. Once the hand print disappears completely the middle of the surface starts to vanish almost like its crawling away. When the vanishing surface is gone there is nothing but darkness inside. At this point I pick up the robot, get off the ground, wipe away the dirt and grass from my butt and look into the darkness. I cannot make out anything inside. As I stare a light abruptly turns on and for a second I am blinded. When my sight is returned to normal I take another look inside. From where I am standing I can see some kind of boxes on the inside, maybe computer panels and maybe monitors. I start to walk closer to get a better look. I think aloud “Well, since I am already here might as well go in.”