To Make an Omelet Chapter 3 Draft v0.2

Omletta, soaked in sweat and slathered in motor oil, cranked a wrench to secure a bolt on her newest EggRobo prototype. Other technicians were present in the lab, though she felt a pair of reptilian eyes boring into her and watching her every move from the corner.

“Aaand our newest reports show seventeen casualties after the latest acid rain. How terrible!” A shrill, scratchy voice announced from the radio. The low fidelity of the device’s audio capabilities accentuated its grating quality.

“Uh... Don’t you mean terrific?” Another voice chimed in, dopey and slow in mannerism. Whenever he spoke, the pacing of the conversation usually ground to a near halt.

“No! That’s- Wait, which one is the bad one again?” The shrill one replied.

“I don’t really think it matters because seventeen people still died. Besides, the reeeaaal question is if the acid rain was the true cause of their deaths! Maybe, just maybe, it was a Skybounder gas attack!”

Omletta felt the urge to toss her wrench at the radio to silence it, but she didn’t own it. The sheer stupidity and ignorance incited infuriation within her. She kept her anger to herself and focused on the bolts as well as she could.

“What!? Of course the acid rain is what killed them!” The shrieker said. A metallic thwap rang out from the radio’s speaker.

“Oww, hey!”

“It’s what the report says, so it must be true you scrap-brained doofus!” The high-pitched one retorted. “If it was an attack from the degenerates above us, we’d be the first to know!”

Omletta never bothered to remember their names. She just knew them as failed experiments, akin to lame animals that would have been easy prey for a predator if placed in the wild. Why her father put them in a position to deliver the news mystified her.

“Look, alls I’m sayin’ is that the report says lung damage; and acid melts stuff, right? Shouldn’t they be slimy piles of goo instead?” The slower one responded.

“Did you forget already!? I tell you once, I tell you a thousand times! Acid rain isn’t acid-ey enough to melt things on the spot. It falls to the ground, evaporates, then turns into poisonous gas!”

“...Oh. Right. Heh... Heh...” The scrap-brained doofus conceded. “But if that’s the case, why don’t they just go inside?”

“Maybe they’re just as dumb as you are!”

Omletta’s wrench clattered to the ground. She groaned in frustration, took her gloves off, and called her father on her PDA. It rang one, twice, thrice, then connected. “Yes, dearest? Make it snappy, I’m very busy!”

“The propaganda bots are bickering again and I feel like my IQ is dropping with ever dumb word I hear!” Omletta said. “I’d turn it off, but-”

“Just turn it off, then!” Robotnik barked. “I’ll send them a zap to remind them of their duties, but you’re the Chief Robotics Engineer. If someone has a problem with the radio getting turned off, you have full authority to tell them to shove it. You answer to me, not them.”

Omletta sighed. “R-Right... Look dadd- er, sir- next time we meet, could you hand me the zapper? I don’t want our citizens to miss anything important just because they decide they want to argue over something stupid and boring.”

“You’re much too busy for all that. I’ll assign them a manager as soon as I get the chance, alright dearest?” Robotnik proposed.

Again, Omletta sighed. “Okay, okay... Just zap them real quick, please?”

“Didn’t I already say I was going to do that? Get back to work, Omletta.” Robotnik disconnected the call. As Omletta put her PDA away and put her gloves back on, two startled yelps erupted from the radio.

new stuff starts here

“Ow!” The shrill one whined. “Hey, what was that for?”

“Don’t look at me, I didn’t-” The two newscasters yelped out in pain again.

“Gah! It must be the big man hitting the ‘don’t argue on the job’ button. We’re getting off track!” He continued. “A-Anyway, we got just a few more things to mention. Dr. Robotnik, our benevolent leader, has announced that the Robotropolis military is receiving new upgrades in order to combat recent sabotages from Skybounder agents!”

“Yup!” The dopey one concurred. “After careful consideration, EggRobo units were deemed the most effective units, and are now seeing mass production! We’ll be sure to keep you wonderful listeners updated as new developments come out.”

Omletta half sighed, half groaned. “Announcing that already? We’ve barely even gotten started...”

“All the more incentive to pick up the pace I guess.” A technician added, peering over a computer monitor. “By the way ma’am, how’s the hardware coming along?”

The heir looked at the robot up and down and examined it from multiple angles before giving an answer. “I think all we need now is to insert a temporary power supply to test it.”

The tech nodded. He looked to an intern, who was in the middle of resupplying the coffee machine. “Hm? Oh yes, of course. One moment.” The intern finished what he was doing and moved to a storage container. He pulled out a dog-shaped battery and brought it over.

“Thank you.” Omletta said. She flipped open a hatch on the back of the EggRobo and let the assistant place it inside. She closed the hatch and signaled the technician at the computer.

“Turning it on, ma’am.” He rolled his chair to a glowing terminal and pressed a few buttons. After a moment, the EggRobo’s dark eyes lit up. It blinked once, then looked to its creator.

“Okay, it boots. Now then, let’s run a few minor tests.” She commented. “What are you?”

“...I AM AN EGGROBO UNIT CREATED AND MANUFACTURED BY OMLETTA ROBOTNIK. I AM PROPERTY OF THE ROBOTROPOLIS EMPIRE. AWAITING FURTHER ORDERS.” It buzzed.

“Looking good so far... Alright EggRobo, lift your arms.” Omletta ordered.

The robot did as instructed, lifting both of its arms into the air. “Drop your left, wait two seconds, then switch arms.” Again, it followed orders without question and did what Omletta asked of it. The young scientist grabbed an ornate red handgun holstered in one of her boots and handed it to the robot. It took the firearm and held it, but kept its finger off the trigger.

“What is the item I just gave you?”

“A ROBOTROPOLIS STANDARD ISSUE ‘CAPPER’ LOADED WITH A TEN ROUND MAGAZINE.”

“Unload it and clear the chamber, then set it on the toolbox.” She ordered, pointing to the bright red metal cart used for transporting and storing equipment. The EggRobo approached the cart, pressed the mag release, set the magazine on the cart, then racked the slide to eject the round in the chamber. It placed the empty firearm down, then turned to Omletta.

Before it could ask for more orders, Omletta continued. “Now, reload it, chamber a round, eject the magazine and place the bullet back into it, then load the magazine back in.” The EggRobo did as instructed down to the letter. “Now, hand the firearm back to me.”

The robot held the gun by the barrel and extended its arm towards her. Omletta grabbed it and holstered it back into her boot. Omletta sighed and gave a small smile to the robot. “Alright, looks like you’re pretty good at complex tasks so far.” She turned to the technician at the terminal. “Power usage?”

“The usual, ma’am. Nothing out of the ordinary. We’ll need to test power usage in combat, though.” He replied.

-

gonna clean this up and improve character interactions, as well as either giving Grimer a reason to even be there or have him not even be there at all
going to make the transition between the radio broadcast and Omletta's tests less abrupt
only 657 words written, writer’s block/fatigue is a bitch and a half, just glad I got something written at all

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Pub: 01 Jul 2022 00:59 UTC
Views: 273