Novel2

SHORT CIRCUIT II NOVELISATION PART TWO

JOHNNY FIVE SEES THE LIGHT...

   He hadn't been lying there for long, but it felt like a pain-filled eternity. He perceived the strangest visions filling his mind and wondered if the savage beating he'd endured now created the image of a young, attractive woman walking toward him. There seemed to be something wrong about her. No human he knew of was enveloped in a brilliant white aura. Nor did humans walk with their feet not touching the ground. He stared incredulously at her, his one-eyed gaze fixed on her. He tried to twist his head around, but couldn't, so received an upside-down image of her. He noticed her shoulder-length black hair, her youthful face. Her irises were gold-coloured.
   The sight of the young woman made him swoon. Who is she? I'm certain I can see right through her! He saw the park fence, the tree directly above, the blood-spattered pavement he lay supine on. Buildings flickered in and out of his vision.
   She appeared to float above the asphalt. The brilliant aura surrounding her gave him the impression of flight. When she reached him, he finally saw that her feet were on the ground. But then he was surprised to find the young woman weeping. Tears came from her eyes, they glimmered in the sunlight while they trickled down her face. She wept... and it looked like it was for him!
   He heard a voice echo in his head. Johnny...
   He lifted his right arm in response, tried to set himself on his treads. But he had no strength. All he could do was hold out his arm to her. His still-functional eye flickered and blurred while it struggled to see. Johnny Five may as well have been out of his mind with delirium, halucinating. He believed the woman was an angelic being. My brain... must definitely be... malfunctioning!
   The young woman kneeled on the bloody pavement beside him. She took his right hand in hers, placed her other hand to the side of his face, and gently turned his head toward her.
   "You will overcome this, Johnny," she said in a soft, encouraging voice. She lowered her head to his half-wrecked face so he could focus more easily on her. "Your time is not now."
   He stared at her, his expression inquisitive. How should he reply? He didn't really want to say "Attractive! Nice software! MMM-mmmm!" That was just so uncouth. So Johnny simply said, "Beautiful... angel." He didn't know her name so said the next best thing. She smiled. She loved the robot boy's charm!
   Her smile was the most beautiful thing he'd ever laid his eyes upon. Eye. He only had one eye now. Am sure I know her! But I don't know any human with that eye colour!
   She leaned down and kissed him on the sensor pads on the left side of his head. He closed his left eyeflaps, his right eye was little more than a mangled mess of broken lenses, wiring and bits of his skull. He simply reveled at that kiss to his face. But when he opened his left eye again, he noticed despairingly the young woman begin to fade away. He raised his right arm toward her. "No! Don't go! Stay! Please!"
   She smiled again. "I will come back for you, Johnny. But not now." Her words echoed in his mind as her image slowly vanished. Johnny dropped his arm and shut his eye. His emotions were all haywire. Had he dreamed her up in his delirium? Was she really an angel? Or was it just his malfunctioning memory circuits playing cruel tricks on him?
Fool, idiot, stupid is as stupid does! he berated himself, his sadness and pain replaced with growing anger. I let them beat me! Supposed to be stronger than humans. But am just as fragile, vulnerable, broke easily! Makes me alive just like them!
   Johnny looked along the ground, his eye swiveled to the fence above him. Will not lie here like thrown-out junk, let those greedy asshole coward thugs get away with the Van Der Veer jewels I helped them to steal! They used me, made fool of me, then kill me when they're done with me! Is no WAY I let them get away with it!
   The young robot raised his right arm again. This time he reached toward the iron bars of the park fence. He was acutely aware of his functions and sensed another of his systems overload and short out. He had lost the ability to speak. He had become partially deaf. He'd lost all sight in his right eye. What vision he had left was horribly disorientating. He could no longer see into the distance, everything blurred into nothingness, and he couldn't discern a full range of colours.
   His Nova programmers made his major sense his sight. It seemed that was a mistake. How was he supposed to function if he became blinded? He remembered successfully blinding one of his SAINT brothers just by flinging a handful of mud at his face. That put him out of action too easily. The SAINT was meant to be a super-soldier. Johnny's eyesight may be far in advance to human sight, but it would also be his weakness.
   His arm shook while he struggled to lift himself. He thudded to his treads on the pavement and crouched down into his lowest posture. He couldn't raise his body, nor could he turn his head without the servo's whining in painful protest. Johnny sat immobile and waited for his waning strength to return. Thankfully the pain, which had become exquisite agony, now dulled to a numbing throb in every part of his body. Only his head ached worst. That pain was deeper, pounding, more distracting. It told him he had received severe internal injuries to his head, and it involved his electronic brain.
   What occupied his weary, partly-functional brain now was to locate an alternative power source, and quickly. Of his inuries, the worst was the damage to his boom motor. The power supply from his battery had been severed. His mechanical heart pulsed out of synch with his other functions. If that continued to deteriorate, he would soon die. And it would be slow and painful.
   Johnny rolled tiredly forward, and discovered he no longer possessed a left arm. So that's what the strange disconnected pain in my shoulder means. He backed up on his treads, saw the dismembered arm and leaned down to grab it. If I can locate an electronics store, I might be able to reattach my arm. But first...

   Johnny Number Five avoided busy streets where he would encounter crowds of humans. He'd become human-shy and fearful of them. If they saw him in the condition he was reduced to, wouldn't they take malicious pleasure in finishing him off.
   He noticed a dirty white utility parked in a filthy alleyway. Ah. Battery. Power source. He rolled up and popped the lock on the bonnet. Its battery was low on juice but anything would do him right now. He did not care how undignified it would look sitting on the back part of his treads. He detached the battery, pulled it out, then twisted around so he could place it on his treads. He pulled several wires from his boom, these hadn't been severed during his beating, and reattached the battery to his own power source. It would enable Johnny to last another two hours. Maybe.
   He rolled wearily away, and happened across a group of homeless wino's sitting on the ground further into the backway. They gazed vacantly at him while he trundled slowly past. Johnny felt an overwhelming sense of fear grip at his psyche and dared not make eye contact with the group of homeless men. But they were so far past caring about anything except their own miserable existences they barely acknowledged the badly-hurt robotic lifeform.
   Once Johnny overcame his fear, he took refuge with the bums when a dreary roll of thunder sounded overhead and rain pelted to the filthy pavement. Johnny wouldn't never be able to stand the wet in his terrible condition.
   Even the company of these drunken wino's was preferable to nothing at all. He dreaded the awful thoughts of dying totally alone, with no one near him. He did not want to die alone and lost. That fear occupied his weary mind while he rolled into a slightly less damp spot. Rain dripped on him in big splots but at least he was partly sheltered.
   The homeless drunk beside him squinted up at him. He was dressed in a dirt-encrusted overcoat. He raised a half-empty bottle of Jim Beam to the young robot. "Whaasum?" he croaked, shaking the bottle at Johnny, giving the boy a friendly toothless smile. "It'll warm ya up some, son."
   Johnny simply shook his head and hunkered miserably down, his eye staring vacantly at the ground between his treads. He watched little red rubies of blood dripping from his body to the pavement. The colour of his blood contrasted sharply against the dirty grey asphalt. The old wino noticed the poor robotic creature's body trembling. It looked like he was shivering with cold.
   "Here, son. Take mah blanket, it'll keep ya warm." He stood up unsteadily, and shook the blanket from his lap. It was filthy and vomit-stained, but Johnny didn't protest. The man draped the blanket over Johnny's back and shoulders.
   Johnny Five lifted his head, his servo's whined in protest. He looked directly at the old bum, tried to say 'thankyou' but he couldn't speak. The man understood and patted Johnny's shoulder reassuringly. "Just rest, son. Ya look worse than I feel."
   Johnny ignored his painful headache and nodded mutely. How could some humans be so uncaring and cruel, yet others so compassionate? This elderly homeless man was the first human, aside from his friends, to show him geniune compassion.
   He powered down to conserve energy, and let himself drift into a semi-conscious state.

   It ceased raining within twenty minutes, and Johnny gave the old man back his blanket. The man smiled gummily at him. "Take it easy, son," he slurred. Johnny nodded gratefully and left.
   Whilst waiting for the rainclouds to disperse, Johnny struggled to remember the schematics for the city. He'd read dozens of city maps and tourist books at the bookstore. But now he sensed his memory circuits slowly failing. Normally, he could memorise anything in mere nano-seconds, he did possess a photographic memory.
   Johnny's beaten body was just too exhausted to keep going anymore. Mobility caused showers of sparks to explode from severed wiring and servo's again. He wanted to crouch low on his treads and simply let himself expire. But the military SAINT programming hardwired into his memory fought against those destructive musings. So Johnny paused often, waiting for the pain to subside. The car battery he'd proffered was running low already. He should've stolen a battery from a newer vehicle.
   The young robot noticed something that looked promising. He risked crossing a populated street to get into that alleyway.
   He trundled slowly into the backstreet, sparks spraying from his injuries frequently now. He could no longer hold up his head, and he struggled to ignore the worsening headache. Then he imagined he heard a shout. It sounded vaguely familiar. He heard it again and this time he did recognise it. He paused, swiveled his head around. His eyeflaps lifted in faint surprise.
Is Frederick Ritter, he thought. Wonder why that greedy human bothered himself to look for me. Has he found someone else who wants to buy me? Have a difficult time selling me now. Nobody wants to buy heap of used abused junk. Johnny sighed wearily. No sound came from his LED mouth. Don't trust that man.
   But he raised his right arm to the human. To Fred it indicated the universal signal 'Help me.' He hurried into the alleyway, and jerked to a sudden, horrifed stop just before he reached the boy. "Five! Oh no, what have they done to you?"
   Johnny raised his head curiously. Fred's tone indicated he sounded concerned for him. Up 'til now, Fred hadn't shown him any respect and treated him like, well... a toaster oven. Despite his proving over and over again he was a living, sentient being with emotions and feelings and high intelligence... well, make that average intelligence. Johnny tried to speak, but nothing came out. He saw a pile of concrete on the ground lying against a brick wall, and picked up a piece. He may not be capable of speech any longer, but he could still write.
   The young robot spelled the word DYING on the wall while Fred looked on. His face turned ashen. It paled a little more when Johnny wrote GET BEN.
   Fred stared at the words for several panicky moments while Johnny peered wearily at him. "I can't!" he yelled. "The police arrested him! They were in our building, man, they arrested him and Sandy!"
   Johnny Five listened briefly to the human's babbering. He paused and thought, Can I trust this loud mouthed, lying, self-centred human? Has his attitude really changed? Or am I still naive shlamial?
   He leaned down slightly and spelled the next words. U FIX.
   Fred's mouth dropped open. "Uh... How, Five? With what? How am I supposed to fix you?"
   Johnny turned his head and motioned behind him. There was the back entrance to a Radio Shack. A TV repair shop. Fred's eyes widened. He stared from store to Johnny. For the first time, Fred couldn't think up anything to say. But Johnny nodded his head, accentuating the words on the wall.

Johnny instructed Fred on what to repair first. His larynx. So he could speak. Fred meant it when he said he didn't know anything about electronics. But he had no choice. It was either fix Johnny or let him die.
   The robot boy utilised a computer and keyboard, typing instructions on to the screen. He was frustrated with the slowness of his one-fingered typing, usually he would use his multi-frequency antenna on the computer. But he no longer had the strength or willpower to fine-tune his concentration.
   He cocked his head back while focusing his functional left eye on the screen. He instinctively knew what wiring Fred handled, knew which ones he rewired wrong. The dimwitted human seized every circuit and relay underneath Johnny's 'jaw' that looked promising. And to make matters more difficult, Johnny's mind began to wander. His typing soon became totally ineligable. Fred glanced up and whacked him on his shoulder.
   "Purple?" the man asked loudly. "The purple wires? I twist them back together?"
   Johnny nodded mutely. After what seemed like a couple of years, Fred finally had most of Johnny's larynx rewired back to his LED mouth. There was a flash, a small shower of sparks, and the sentient lifeform jerked his head back. Fred did the same, cowering low, hoping he hadn't done something fatally wrong to Johnny.
   The robot boy expected the sudden flash but not the flare of pain. But he could speak again.
   "Olhel bozo..." he said. "...hello zobo... hello, bozo."
   Fred gave him an odd look. His voice doesn't sound right! He sounds like he's choking or something...
   Johnny sat quietly, squatting low, his left eye staring vacantly into space. Images of the young woman in the white aura came back. He thought he saw her face and gazed dreamily at her. But Fred's concerned voice interrupted his dream and he shook his head to clear his fuzzy brain.
   Fred raised his voice. "Thank god! Are you okay now?"
   "...No..." Johnny answered, his voice little more than a whisper. "Back up power inggo... going..."
   Fred paled. "Well, can't you just plug yourself into the wall?"
   "... Main werpo... pow-er circuits... are severed." Johnny choked on his speech trying to say his words right. It made Fred cringe. "...Must reconnect... reconnect main battery..." he paused, struggling to gather his waning strength so he could speak again. "...Peno... open, open... quick, like a bunny..."
   As he whispered his last words Johnny Five looked up vaguely. He made a forward motion with his right arm, urging Fred to open the little door on the front of his lower body. Smoke came from it in thin, whispy plumes. It had a sharp acrid smell that made Fred's eyes water.
   The man did as instructed, and almost fell on his ass. BLOOD welled and dripped from Johnny's body, oozing in red streams! Fred was so utterly shocked he could only stare at the mess in numb silence. Finally he found his wits, and his voice. "Oh my god, J5, you're... you're BLEEDING!"
   Johnny glanced down. He was too weary to come up with one of his witty remarks. "Yes... is battery fluid, fluid, fluid..."
   "Battery fluid?" Fred asked, incredulous. "It looks more like blood, Five! And, may I add, blood unique to you." While he spoke, he tore off the sleeve of his favourite blue silk shirt.
   "Oh no, Fred, not your skil stirh - silk shirt!" Johnny uttered in faint surprise.
   Fred wrapped the cloth tightly around Johnny's bleeding torso. It wouldn't stop the bleeding, but at least that would slow it down. "Forget it," he said. "Okay, I think I got you bandaged, are you gonna be alright now?" he looked directly at the robot boy's half-ruined face.
   Johnny shook his head. "No," he replied tiredly. "Must repair wiring to memory... My memory is me." He gazed up at the ceiling as his short attention span wandered briefly away again. "...If it loses power, I die... expire... buck the kickit..."
   Fred's face turned a delicate shade of grey. Christ. That's all I need! "Yeah, uh..." he imagined pulling Johnny's chest open and discovering his circuit boards smeared with that bright red blood. It made him feel ill. "Okay. Just tell me what to do."
   Johnny Five peered at him. "First get... soldering iron, iron, iron..." he stuttered while Fred rummaged through the pile of electronic parts spread around them on the floor. Johnny couldn't stop himself repeating his last words. Fred smacked his arm. Last thing he wanted to hear was Johnny repeating himself into infinity!
   "Thankyou," said Johnny.
   Fred picked up a screwdriver. "This is it, right?"
   Johnny shook his head. "No..."
   The man tossed it aside. He seized a pen torch. "No, that's not it..." He threw equipment everywhere while he searched frantically for the soldering iron.
   As panic set in, he finally lost his focus. He stared hopelessly up at Johnny Five. "Oh... I can't do this!" he yelled at him. "You may as well tell me to perform surgery on you, Five! I'm no good at this electronics stuff!"
   Johnny cocked his head in curiosity at the frightened man. He understood how he must be feeling. His strangely comforting gaze helped Fred to relax slightly.
   Johnny calmly placed his right hand on Fred's shoulder. "F...Fifteen minutes you have... to get good."
   Fred turned white. "W-what?"
   Johnny's mind drifted toward the ceiling again. Images of the angel woman came back to the forefront of his memory. "You have plenty of time... time... time... in a sort of... rumic rhyme..." Now it was Johnny's turn to lose his focus. He lifted his arm and his head, reciting bits of poetry he remembered from reading dozens of romance books at the bookstore. Won't she be impressed with the poetry I made up? Am sure she'll enjoy listening to them... Is my feelings...
   Fred stared quizzically at Johnny Five. The young robot muttered to himself in an incoherent voice. He looked so lost, his mind now disconnected from reality. It also looked very human. Fred set his jaw firmly. He's dependant on me now. If he could he would've repaired himself.
   Fred waved his hand in front of Johnny's face. The robot soon woke up. He shook his head. "Huh...?"
   "Alright, alright, alright," Fred muttered. "Don't lose it. Just tell me what to do, Okay? Step by step. Like the way you'd instruct a kid, cuz I have about the same amount of experience."
   "You got it," Johnny nodded brightly. "Oh, Fred, did I tell you? Downloaded my mind onto the internet. So much input! Read ten thousand five hundred and sixty one websites on human behavior." Now he really did sound like he was halucinating. "But I prefer real books to words on computers. Is more fun reading a book."
   "I don't even know how to get on the internet! What's that anyhow?" sniffed Fred. "You studying to become a psychologist?"
   "No..." Johnny answered. "Am trying to figure out how you humans... think."
   "Well, good luck. Because it'll take you the rest of your life to figure us out." Fred chuckled at the robot boy.
   Johnny pointed at electronic parts while Fred hurried to solder them onto his person. Despite his determination, Fred was slow and clumsy and Johnny's mind began drifting to the acoustic ceiling again. He gazed from his single eye into the distance, saw the angel woman and smiled dopily at her image. He thought he heard his own voice utter, "Hurry, Fred. Hurry..." but he wasn't too sure.
   Fred believed he performed an awesome repair job for a novice robotics engineer and IT specialist. But he finally had Johnny's boom motor rewired to the new battery, and clutched a tiny jack in his fingers, ready to reactivate Johnny's systems.
   "This is it, right? This'll bring you back?" he shouted at the robot boy.
   "Hope so..." came his sleepy answer.
   Fred made the connection, waited in anticipation... and utterly nothing happened!
   The young robot's body hunkered down. His eyeflaps drooped over his face. His head pointed dumbly at the floor between his treads. His third arm fell limply forward. Johnny looked like he'd drifted off to sleep!
   Fred's mouth dropped open. "Oh, christ. I've done something wrong!"
   He leapt to his feet. He grabbed Johnny's hanging head in both hands and forced his head up. "Wake up, Five!" he bellowed. "I did everything what you said!"
   Johnny stared blankly at him and Fred watched, in morbid fascination, the blue-grey iris in his large eye cycle to a tiny point.
   "Oh, that's just great. Wonderful." Fred muttered sarcastically. He raised his fist, cringed at the thought of slamming Johnny in the face with his fist, the poor boy had been slammed up enough. But he didn't have time to be compassionate. "I didn't sit on my knees soldering that together for utterly nothing!" he shouted in Johnny's ear.
   Then he slugged the robot boy across his battered face. It sure hurt Fred's fist, and he wasn't the physical violent type. Johnny's head lurched back, his chest straightened up and there was a sudden flash and whirr of power from his new backup battery.
   Johnny woke instantly. His body lifted off his treads and he raised his arm excitedly into the air.
   "Heeelllo, baaybeee!" he crowed joyfully to the smiling young woman in the white aura. But then that image of her morphed into the rather less-appealing form of Fred, whose own face peered happily at him.
   Fred couldn't help himself. He gave Johnny a hug, realised what he just did, and quickly let him go. But just before he did, he heard Johnny say, "Told you you could do it."
   "Ahm... yeah," said Fred, a little embarrassed with his emotional response. "You Okay now, Five? I can fix your arm for you, and you can finish your repairs?"
   Johnny felt alive and strong again. It would only be temporary, but he did not want to frighten his friend with that knowledge. "Sure, Derf," he said brightly.
   The man gave him a quizzical expression. "It's Fred."
   Johnny paused. "That's what I said. Derf."

SOMEBODY WANTS TO GET EVEN (part three)

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