Reborn in steel

Leaving the military base In New Mexico, I fly across the state. From what feels like days was only hours. I look down and see a highway, thinking if I go down there, I’ll know where I am. I try to slow down and make a soft landing, but I’m still trying to get used to this body. I descend into the nearby forest, but not slowing down, and I try to turn off my rockets, but I soon run into the trees, knocking down each one I crash into. I bounce, tumble and soon come to a stop face-planting on the ground. I look up and see a sign that says, Welcome to Arizona. “I’m still nowhere near California!” I say to myself with frustration. I get back up with the last little patience’s I have and head back into the air. A couple hours have gone by, I come up on this sleeper town and I start feeling a strong force pulling me in, struggling to keep myself stable in the air. The force grew stronger. I dip straight down to the ground, crashing into a mountain and bouncing back off into the air. I try to fire up my rockets again, but they’re critically damaged, and I dip ONCE again. Trying to keep myself up in there and not crashing into traffic, I’m unsuccessful and crashed into a nearby junkyard, causing myself to shut down temporarily. “What do you think it is?” a mysterious young voice says. “Maybe it’s a giobot.” another voice replied. “It’s too big and bulky to be a giobot though.” I soon wake up to find two boys looking at me. I jump in shock and aim my gun at them.

“WHO ARE YOU?!” I say aggressively. “AHH, DON’T KILL US!” the boy with glasses says in fear. “Chill, man, my friend and I here heard some noise coming from here and wanted to see what it was all about.” the other boy says with a bit of a quiver. “What kid goes out and checks a noise in the middle of the night? You guys have a death wish?” I say to them. “Maybe…but that’s beside the point, what even are you?” I stand there in a moment of silence, coming up with something to say. “I’m…a robot?” I say to them. “Wait, so you are a giobot?” the kid with the glasses asks me. “Uhh yes…”. “Hmm, he doesn’t look like the other generations, perhaps he could be a part of gen 4!” “Gen 4? There are other generations?” I ask him. “Duh, that’s how it works. Gen 1 was in the 60s, Gen 2 were in the 70s and gen 3 which we still have now were out in the 80s. It’s been almost 2 decades since we had the third generation.” he tells me. I e asks more questions to see if he may have info on this Professor Giovanni guy. “Uhh, who created these giobots?” I ask him. “You don’t know who your own creator is?”

“Well uhh I did crash here, so my programming is a little fried.” I tell him. “Well, ok, before the giobots came into existent, Giovanni created robots to help the troops during world war two. Soon after the war was over, he disappeared and no one heard from him sense, but then he came back when he invented the giobots. They’re meant to be like a maid and a friend that the whole family can have. But during gen 1 and 2 there were reports of the robots be very human like and ending up being very hostile and would hurt people and their families. Other giobots would also kill the families that brought them in. But once gen 3 came, they were more robotic than previous ones.” “How do you know all this?” I ask the kid. “I’m kind of a fanboy of Giovanni and his work.” the kid says with a smirk. I sit and think to myself, maybe I am a giobot. Whatever I am, I still need to head to California, even though I don’t know what I’ll be looking for when I get there. “Well, I think my time here is done, I’ll be heading out now.” I tell them. “Wait, are you sure? You look pretty damage.” “I’ll be fine, I don’t need help from a child.” I tell him. I fire up my rockets and lift in the air, but they go on and off as they’re broken from my crash earlier, and I soon fall back down. “Looks like you need help, you bucket of bolts.” the other kid says. “I’ll show you a bolt when I stick my foot up your-”

“Hey! Be nice to each other!” the kid says. He kneels down to me and asks me. “What’s your name?” “I don’t even know.” “What does that say on your chest?” he asked me as he pointed to the lettering on my chest. He gets a closer look and spells it out. “T, E, D. Ted? That’s your name?” he asks me. “I guess so.” “My name is Andre and this is Maurice.” he says to me. “Nice to meet you, well at least one of you.” Maurice looks at me with a stink eye.

“Alright, let’s get this over with, I can’t stay long.” I say. “Sorry tin can, you’re gonna have to wait until tomorrow we have school.” Maurice tells me. “But I have places to be, I can’t just stay here!” I say with frustration. “It’s either you wait until tomorrow or you can walk the rest of the way, your choice tin can! Come on, Andre, let’s go.” Maurice storms off, but Andre stays behind. “Hey, sorry about him, he can be kind of a hot head.” “It’s fine, I suppose,” “Listen, if you stay I promise to fix you up alright? I shouldn’t be in school for long. Goodnight Ted.” he says with a smile. “Goodnight.” I replied. Andre walks off, I sit and contemplate my next move, should I stay and let the kid fix me? Or should I find another way to California? I shut down for the rest of the night.