Chapter 12

#0200: Herein lie familiar faces.
Chapter 12: Mainly Involves Robots

#0201: Shadow2 and Kat hangin' out.
Annie: *Kat!*
Sound: SLAM!
Kat: Hi Annie! Take a look at this!
Kat: I figured out how *Shadow 2* talks!
Kat: See it turns out he isn't really a shadow at all.
Kat: He has a very slight mass on the molecular level that is so then it might as well be a layer of *light.*
Kat: Or *dark,* in his case.
Kat: He can make a noise by vibrating on the surface.
Kat: That's why the noises he makes are different depending on what surface he is on.
Shadow2: BWAAH! FNAR!

#0202: So "he" is talking with a girl's voice?
Kat: But watch this!
Kat: Hello Annie!
Sound: BUZZ
Shadow2: Hello Annie!
Annie: Kat, that's wonderful! He even sounds like you!
Kat: Yeah, he's really smart too. He's remembered a bunch of stuff already.
Kat: He understands words, but not how to make the sounds.
Kat: We could probably teach him english real fast.

#0203: Nobody likes boxbot.
Sign: 2F
Kat: Oh! Did you need to tell me something? You came rushing in here...
Annie: Yes! On my way over I saw... *Robots!*
Kat: We have robots all over the place, Annie. There's one over there.
Boxbot: Helloooo!
Annie: Yes, but these were *proper* robots!
Boxbot: aww...
Annie: They looked just like... *Robot.* Remember, from the bridge?

#0204: Telling robot jokes, no doubt.
Narration: I wanted to ask them about him, but they ran away when they saw me.
Bot1: Boop-be doo!
Bot2: Hahaa, yeah!
Bot2: Uh oh!
Bot1: Doo?
Bot2: Scarper, Montgomery!
Bot1: Doo!
Annie: Wait!
Bot1: *Doo!*

#0205: Just a boring ol' door.
Sign: BORING DOOR
Narration: There was no handle on the door through which they escaped.
Narration: Then, suddenly...
Narration: *Another* robot appeared!
Doorbot: What?!
Doorbot: Wadda you want?!
Annie: I, um... would like to enter, please.
Doorbot: *Robots only!*
Doorbot: *Go away!*
Sound: SLAM
Narration: He wouldn't let me in.

#0206: The result of Annie's meddling.
Kat: What are you thinking, Annie? Mr. Eglamore already said your robot was disposed of...
Kat: I don't think it's worth getting into trouble again.
Annie: He wasn't *my* robot, Kat, He was his own person.
Annie: And because of me...
Annie: I should at least find out what happened to him. He was...
Shadow2: Friend.
Annie: Yes.

#0207: Don't worry, Shadow2 hid out of sight when Mrs. Donlan popped in.
Annie: Besides, if we can get in and out quickly, no one need ever know. What do you say?
Kat: I'd come if I could, Annie, but I made such a mess in here that my mum said I couldn't leave until I tidy it up.
Annie: Yes, I was... wondering about that.
Kat: Hah, oh well. You'll need to think of a way to get past that door-bot.
Annie: Oh, I think I can put together a clever disguise. *And* bring some help.

#0208: It's Reynardine! And he's still a dump!
Narration: A short while later.
Rey: And what, exactly, do you need me for?
Annie: Don't think I've forgotten about my lockpicks, Reynardine. It's about time you did something useful.
Rey: Fine, fine. As long as it gets me out of that blasted box.
Annie: Here we are.
Doorbot: What?!
Doorbot: Wadda you want?!
Annie: Hello. I would like to enter, please.
Doorbot: *Robots Onl...*
Doorbot: What's that on your head?

#0209: I don't think Reynardine is being sarcastic.
Annie: These are my antennas, because clearly I am a robot.
Doorbot: Oh! Well... It's true that some robots have antennas... Hmm...
Annie: Also robots never lie.
Doorbot: Hey, you're right!
Doorbot: Come on in, friends!
Annie: We're looking for a particular robot. A... *fellow* robot. Because we are also robots.
Doorbot: Administration is right down that way.
Rey: Your powers of deception and trickery are bewildering, child.

#0210: Your friendly central administrator.
Doors: 6, 7
Desk: ADMIN
Annie: Hello, sir. We are looking for someone.
Adminbot: Certainly. Make, model number, serial or name, please.
Annie: His name is Robot!
Text: STARE
Annie: Um...
Annie: Number 13?

#0211: One robot, coming up.
Adminbot: Let me guess. He had tiny little wings on his back.
Annie: Yes, that's right.
Adminbot: Of course. *S13* is quite sought after. Not least for all the trouble he causes.
Adminbot: He was returned to us some weeks ago. Darned fool left the facility grounds.
Annie: That sounds like him. Can I see him?
Adminbot: Certainly.
Sound: SWISH
Sound: CHONK
Adminbot: Here you go.

#0212: I bet he says that to all the girlbots.
Annie: What is this?
Adminbot: It's a box of *paperclips.* The fate of the criminally inclined.
Annie: On no... Poor Robot.
Adminbot: Meanwhile, as his body begins a career in paper fastening, S13's *CPU* has been sent to *Research.*
Annie: What is a CPU?
Adminbot: His *brain,* my dear. Criminal behaviour is to be studied.
Sound: CLANG CLANG
Annie: So he is still alive?! Where is this research?
Door: 3
Adminbot: At the end of corridor three.
Adminbot: You realise I could have told you all this in about 1/25th of a second if you'd had a communications port installed.

#0213: Annie, you are rubbish at running!
Annie: This could take some time.
Annie: It might be better if we ran.
Narration: A disappointingly short time later.
Annie: huff...
Annie: huff... huff...
Rey: Haha! Tired already child?!
Annie: Don't be so cocky. You don't have any lungs.

#0214: I've been waiting since Chapter 3 Page 23 to draw this.
Rey: Fine... Get on.
Sound: SHOOOM
Annie: Well now...
Rey: A simple trick. This toy of yours is a wolf, no?
Annie: And may I...
Rey: I insist.
Rey: Hold fast now.

#0215: Robot research.
Door: RESEARCH
Annie: This must be a directory of the CPUs being studied.
Annie: There are a lot of names.
Rey: Heh. Trouble in the ranks, perhaps?

#0216: No one ever told Reynardine how to use lockpicks.
Annie: Here it is... S13.
Sound: BREEP
Annie: And this is the date he was brought here.
Sign: CURRENT
Sound: DING!
Label: S13
Annie: Okay, Reynardine, you can try to use my lockpicks to open...
Sound: CRASH
Annie: Oh. Well, there you are then.

#0217: Elite security.
Sound: POP!
Sound: WARK WARK
Annie: Oh, I do so dislike alarms.
Guardbot: *Halt!*
Sound: CLANK
Sound: Hop!
Guardbot: No, I said halt, not "run away"!
Guardbot: Maybe they didn't understand. Say it again!

#0218: Ciao, Administrator!
Guardbot: Bah! Running!
Guardbot: Our one true weakness!
Sound: GOMPA STOMP
Adminbot: Hmm?
Door: EXIT
Annie: Thank you for your help, sir!
Adminbot: Oh my, how polite!
Adminbot: And such a curious design.

#0219: Doorbot, your job is pretty simple so don't mess it up.
Guardbot: Maybe... Maybe they stopped for a rest just up ahead...
Guardbot: That makes sense!
Sound: STOMP STOMP
Annie: *Open the door, please, mister door robot!*
Doorbot: Huh?!
Sound: WHAM
Annie: *Thank you!*
Doorbot: Ahh!

#0220: Kat forgot to mention the docking station also has tear glands.
Narration: Back at the lab.
Kat: Let's see. Well, it looks like a normal CPU...
Kat: But I don't know what this extra part is.
Sound: TAP TAP
Kat: Anyway, I have just the thing!
Kat: This docking station has a camera, speaker and microphone, so the robot will be able to see, speak and hear.
Sound: SNAP
Robot: *-oor Mommy! How terrible I am! She fell off the bridge! What did I do?!*
Kat: Woah!

#0221: Yeah, that guy's still hangin' around.
Robot: Am... Am I in heaven?! I see an *angel* before me!
Kat: Haha! Aww!
Annie: Robot?
Robot: *Mommy?!* You're okay! Oh thank goodness!
Robot: Unless... Unless...
Robot: *You are in heaven too!* *Oh woe is me!*
Annie: No, Robot, I'm fine. And so are you. In a manner of speaking...
Annie: Your body was made into paperclips.
Robot: Oh! Well, it's good to be useful!
Rey: Hah! Optimism defined.

#0222: Kids! Guys in forests are always willing to help!
Annie: Robot, can you tell us what happened in the forest?
Rey: What?!
Robot: Yes! I remember. I crossed the bridge and the shadow man joined his family.
Robot: I went looking for a new arm, but the forest was so big!
Robot: I didn't have much luck.
Robot: Then one day a man came.
Robot: He told me he knew where to get a new arm.
Rey: *Grrr!*

#0223: It all begins with a seed.
Robot: He put a tiny seed in my body
Robot: And the next thing I knew...
Robot: I had an arm of wood!
Robot: It felt like an instant, but my internal chronometer said several months had passed.
Robot: And then, horror of horrors!
Robot: A shadow man took control of my body!
Robot: I don't know how, but he had control of my actuators...
Robot: And he made me walk to the bridge...
Robot: And I say you...
Robot: And the edge...
Robot: And...
Robot: And now here I am.

#0224: Reynardine!
Annie: Don't worry, Robot, it's all over now.
Rey: Wait! *Wait! Stop!*
Rey: *This* is the contraption from the forest?!
Robot: Hello!
Rey: *You* sent it there?!
Annie: A while back, yes, when I first came here.
Rey: *Argh!* Child you have no idea what you've started!
Annie: What is it?
Rey: The people of the forest will be wanting answers! They detest all forms of technology.
Rey: Why do you think there is such a divide between the Court and that damned place?!

#0225: Kat's english lessons are already looking dubious.
Rey: And what's more, you saw fit to capture one of their *glass-eyed men!*
Shadow2: No!  Annie  and  Princess Kat  help!
Annie: Princess Kat?
Kat: Haha!
Rey: It's a wonder my fool cousin hasn't already retaliated. He must be up to something...
Annie: Your cousin, Reynardine?
Rey: Ah! Uh... Uh...
Sound: POP
Annie: Typical. Just as he as about to say something interesting.

#0226: What will Robot look like next? Answers on s [sic] postcard. No don't. End of chapter.
Sic: Answer on a postcard.
Annie: Well, now that we have you back, Robot, we should do something about your body.
Kat: I think I can whip something up for him. At least something temporary while I get the parts to make a better body.
Robot: Thank you very much!
Annie: Robot, I'm so sorry I caused you all this trouble. I should have told you to come back after you crossed the bridge.
Robot: Don't apologise.
Robot: You see, you gave me something I'd never had before.
Robot: You gave me a choice.

#0227: Reynardine is not creepy at all!
Bonus Page: Adonis in Stitches
Annie: You've been very helpful today, Reynardine.
Rey: Yeah, well.
Annie: Can you assume any other forms?
Rey: Hmm...
Sound: POW
Rey: Does *this* excite you, girl?!
Annie: Get back in your box.