Chapter Five
HYBOTS
The cold, cramped concrete room wasn't much, 15 years later, but it served as a workroom, and Temple was glad he had it to himself. Working tirelessly for years, he was almost finished with his greatest invention ever. He sat up straight at a hovering desk. One eye closed Temple inspected the square blue plug which he held in one hand and the round blue hole in a circuit board he held in the other. Seeing as they clearly wouldn't fit together, he squeezed his brow, then searched for any other hole that would be a match for the blue plug. All the other holes were round, oval or octagon, except for a single square plug, but it was green. Not knowing what else to do, and figuring this was the only hole that at least matched up in shape, he shrugged. Knowing better than to try it, he tried it.
As he propelled backward, still clutching the plug in his hand, his first thought was,
Wow, that's a lot of power. It sure will come in handy. I wonder how I can use it.
His second thought, resulting from the shock of the situation, occurred next as he continued to fly back through the room.
Charlie gave me that plug.
The final thought he had, as he braced himself right before he hit the wall was,
This is going to hurt!
The back of his head smashed into the adjoining cement wall between his and his competitor and friend Charlie's workrooms, forcing out the most peculiar noise. A sound unlike any he'd heard come out of his mouth before or since. Then he slid down the wall and landed hard in a sitting position on the floor. He reached for the back of his head to inspect for damage. It was then he saw that his workroom had become a totaled mess. Black soot covered his work area, papers and notes lay on the floor with burnt edges.
“Hey, Charlie!” Temple yelled at the wall pounding his fist, “Can't anyone get anything right around here? I'm going to start a tutorial for you about the difference between particle plugs and accelerator in line adapters,” he said and laughed with no response from Charlie, who most likely was intently working on a project of his own. He had borrowed that cord from Charlie, who’d sworn it was the correct one.
Temple went over to his hover stool and spun around avoiding cleaning up as he daydreamed about winning the contest and finally seeing his father after so many years. After a couple of minutes, he gave in. Temple began to clean up, and caught sight of soldiers through the window. The smile vanished from his face, and he dropped everything in his hands and never once looked down.
His gaze stayed fixed. In the distance C.A.C. Trainees marched on the training fields in preparation for the Annual C.A.C. Master Competitions. For now, the cadets dressed in their regular silver training suits, but Temple knew, that during the final matches, they would wear their ceremonial armor. His father had worn it, and this year his brother would wear it. He knew he would never wear it. Not after the accident. And, not since Mrs. Veins taught him how to lose his powers as if they never existed at all.
Temple observed the trainees intently and began to mimic their every move. He grabbed a long wrench from the tools on his work table and tucked it up under his arm, exactly how the trainees positioned their weapons. He moved along in perfect rhythm, knowing their routine by heart.
This wasn't just any competition; it was also the 100th anniversary of the World Alliance. Temple sighed, wishing more than anything that he could be out in the fields training with the rest of the trainees. Instead, he was cooped up in his workroom tangled in a bunch of wires that ran from one side of the room to the other. Wires, attached to a small, floating mass of a clear, gel-like substance that was a little bigger than his head.
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“I may not be able to train with them, but at least I have you, R.U.S.H. My greatest invention yet,” Temple said to the flying substance. “What would I do without you?”
R.U.S.H. stood for Randomly-Unioned-Synthetic-Hybot. Constructed from the Randomly Unioned Synthetics that Temple had accidentally invented one day in Lab-Camp while living with Mrs.Veins. There wasn't a single hard part to the robot whatsoever; entirely made of “microblog gelbots” as Temple also called them. Each gelbot measuring only slightly larger than the atom the replicated.
R.U.S.H. was much more than just a nifty robot, however. He was also Temple's pet. Temple had given the robot the consciousness of his great, great grandfather's pet chocolate Labrador retriever who'd been named Maximum Rush. Real pets were a thing of the past. R.U.S.H. was as real to Temple as any dog had ever been to a child.
“Sit boy,” Temple commanded. The blob wiggled itself down a little lower in the air; the best version of “sit” it could manage in that form.
“There's no one else like you, is there boy? We are two one of a kind- me and you. Soon you'll be revealed, and I just know you're going to blow everyone away.” Temple removed the plugs from R.U.S.H. one at a time, and finally, he pulled out the last one. “Here were go.” Temple stepped back excitedly. R.U.S.H. transformed from a transparent blob into a dog.
“There you are, boy,” Temple said. He patted R.U.S.H.'s furry brown head.
R.U.S.H. leaped onto Temple, his front paws on Temple's chest. The force knocked them both to the ground, and R.U.S.H. licked Temple's face. The two wrestled playfully on the floor. Until, Temple thru his hands up, surrendering to exhaustion.
Temple watched R.U.S.H. and sighed a surge of pride. Temple knew he had created something truly unique and wished at that moment that he could show his father. Hopefully, his invention would be enough to win. With all his heart, he knew his father would finally see him differently, if only he won the contest.
It had been 15 years since he'd seen his father or for that matter his brother Tar. He'd spent that time under Mrs. Veins care, and though he'd grown to love her like a mother, there still wasn't a day that went by without him missing his real family. If Temple could win the contest, he'd be able to see his father at the C.A.C. Facility. Living with Mrs. Veins and not seeing his father or his brother Tar was hopefully about to come to an end.
Temple realized long ago that he couldn't use his powers, for fear of hurting or even killing another. He hated himself for it. It came in spurts at random times. Unformed, uncontrollable, lethal and forbidden. Bubbling from under his skin with pain, he knew he was more than everyone said. But his father was right. He could never train like Tar, and the doctor was correct as well. Temple did not want to. He held it back as he was taught. He had no choice.
“Tomorrow's is the competition boy. Are you ready” Temple asked R.U.S.H.
“Wolf wolf wolf !” R.U.S.H. barked.
“I sure hope so. I'm excited too!”
Temple loving stroked R.U.S.H.’s head with his hand. For that moment, R.U.S.H. was not a robot.
Beep-Beep, his communicator, startled him: Facility walk-through with Master Brock 1400 hrs.
Temple looked at his watch, 1:45 pm. He looked down at what he was wearing and realized he still had to get his uniform on and return in time for the walkthrough. If he missed it, he would get disqualified from the technology competition. The fifteen-minute walk to the sleeping area was not an option. No time for a shower and a change, OK fine. But he’d forgotten his ID Pass. He had to have it, or he’d be finished.
“Here boy” Temple called. R.U.S.H ran over and sat. “You have to go in stealth mode.” Rush turned back into the blob.
“Go fetch my pass boy! Go, go get it, Boy!!” Temple said sending an almost invisible R.U.S.H. on his way.
Out the door R.U.S.H flew, leaving nothing but a breeze. Temple paced back and forth in his workroom. Seeing the blown up wires in the corner, he shook his head.
“I need to focus on my work and stop worrying out this competition. Maybe I should have just stayed with Mrs. Veins. Who will take care of her now anyway?”
R.U.S.H. popped back in with the pass. Temple grabbed it out of the blob, at the same time he sprinted out the door as fast as he could to meet Master Brock.
“Good boy!” Temple yelled running out the door and slamming it on Rush. “Stay!”