Clack, clack, clack....The sound of pacing echoed through the cramped dorm room. Tabitha fiddled with her ECHO device, trying her hardest to motivate herself.
“Call...it's just a quick call. Just say; Oh hi Clay, how are you? It's been a while hasn't it?” She curled her fist. “No! That's not what this is about!” She had to remind herself of the terrible blue-prints with his name chalked to the back. How could he be a part of something so dreadful? This wasn't like the Clay she knew, he wouldn't create a weapon of mass destruction. What good was a laser that could blast a planet in two?
“This is about the Eye of Helios, it is not a friendly chat!” She barked to herself, “Besides, it's not like he would want to have small talk anyways. Otherwise he would have showed up...” She paused, momentarily remembering her last night at her old base. He hadn't even bothered to come, would he really want to hear what she had to say now? An image of a poor lonely planet combusting into shards that drifted through space shoved her in the right direction.
Pushing all hurtful memories aside, she dialed up the old base on her ECHO. After a moment of static, a rather tired woman's voice cut through.
“Hyperion base R03. How can I help?” There was a long sigh after. Tabitha paused for a moment, she was doing this.
“I'm calling from Hellios and I need to reach the manager of Project:0.” She finally blurted it out.
“Patching you through.” another bought of static rippled through the ECHO before Tabitha's call was answered.
“This is Braden.” Tabitha blinked for a moment,
“What...” She finally asked.
“You have reached Braden, can I help you or not?” Braden grumbled.
“Well...I was trying to reach the manager of Project: 0.” She responded. There was a snort on the other end before Braden retorted with,
“Uh, yeah, that's me.”
Tabitha's mind was racing, had he misheard her? Had she misheard him? Perhaps this was all a practical joke.
“I'm sorry, I thought Dr. Clay was the head of that project...is he out for the day?” Tabitha hoped that perhaps he was just sick or too busy to reach the ECHO.
“Look, lady, I am the sole manager of this project now. Clay was demoted months ago. Now can I help you or not?” He was growing more impatient by the second. Tabitha couldn't speak, she didn't know what to say...Clay...demoted?
“W-why, how!? What happened!?” She blurted out, unable to contain herself any longer.
“You're wasting my time.” Braden spat, and with that her ECHO went back to static. Tabitha fell onto her bed, head resting in her palms as she stared at the red line running flat across the ECHO screen. This had to be a mistake, why would they demote Clay? He would never do anything wrong, he was a hard worker, brilliant scientists, and the creator of 'A'.
A gasp escaped her.
“A.” her voice was a whisper. “What happened to A?” If Clay was no longer the head of Project 0, did that mean he had abandoned 'A'? Worry struck her and immediately all thought of the Eye of Hellios were lost, she had to get to the bottom of this. Immediately she contacted base RO3 with her ECHO again, the same exhausted woman answering her call.
“This is base RO3 how can I...”
“I need to get in contact with a Dr. Clay. He lives at your base.” Tabitha interrupted the woman's memorized speech. The lady huffed, the sound of her nails clacking away on a keyboard echoed through the device. There was a brief silence before she finally responded with,
“There are no workers here by that name. Sorry.” She snorted. Tabitha's confusion grew. He was demoted AND no longer at base RO3? What was happening.
“When did he leave the base?” She was determined to solve this puzzle, as abstract as it was. Again the woman on the other end went quiet as she typed into her database.
“Mam, there are no records of a Dr. Clay ever working in this base...you must be calling the wrong location.” She insisted.
“That's impossible. I was born at that base and lived there my whole life until just a few months ago. I've known Dr. Clay for years.” Tabitha explained, her voice was a frantic pitch of distress.
“Look, i'm just reading what the computer says. There are no files of him anywhere in our systems and if there was...then they were destroyed. Now is there anything else I can help you with, or are we done here?”
Tabitha's brain was racing, how could she get in contact with Clay is she didn't even know where he was anymore? He could be halfway across the galaxy or...dead for all she knew. There were so many strange clues, his name on the blue-prints, his files being erased from the databases, him being demoted from his special project and leaving their home base. She couldn't help but think back to the last few times she had seen him. He was a complete stress storm, oozing with anxiety. During the Awards Gala she could definitely tell something was wrong. His speech sounded like something written by a Hyperion super fan and not a passionate scientist. He had been moody and irritable, avoiding her the whole night. Perhaps, she thought, something had been wrong for quite a while.
“You don't understand.” She remembered his words to her as they danced through the waltz. “they are mad at me! I had to do something. Mason told me I'm walking on thin ice with them.”
Tabitha quickly reigned her thoughts back in, there was no doubt, Clay was in trouble. She had to reach him, but how? Frustrated she leaned against the far wall of her room, trying to block out the sounds of the hall beyond. Workers clonked up and down the walkway in their heavy boots, chatting amongst themselves. Tools drilled and hammered against the frigid metal walls. And robots buzzed and hummed as they performed their assigned tasks. However, one robot in particular was louder than the others as he sped up and down the crowded base.
“Clap-Trap coming through, important business stuff here! Hey watch it mister! Don't you see me rolling here?” The irritated tones of a CL4P-TP unit seeped through the thin walls of her room. And just like that an idea struck her. Immediately she turned back to her ECHO where the woman on the other end still waited...surprisingly.
“Patch me through to CL4P-TP unit R03641.” She demanded, and the woman quickly complied.
The small purple robot idled by the door to the upgrade shop, longingly eyeing the disco ball installment behind the counter. His hopes and dreams had literally been ripped from out of him and smashed into a million pieces on the ground. He was no longer a super hip party bot.
“I'm just a lame...do whatever Braden wants bot...” He grumbled under the whir of his internal mechanism. The only thing standing between him and his beloved ball of shiny glass squares, was the pin number of Bradens card. His new boss was not nearly as trusting as Clay had been, and barely asked the poor robot to do anything anymore. And so he simply spent his time alone...staring hopefully towards a funkier upgrade.
He was in such a deep sorrow, he hardly registered his inner ECHO device going off, alerting him to an incoming call.
“Lamest Clap-Trap ever here...who is this?” He answered mournfully.
“Clap-Trap...this is Tabitha. I need to ask you some things.” The sound of the mechanic he had come to know and love made his metal body perk up, a cheerier ring returning to his voice.
“Tabitha! Perfect timing! What's your card and pin number?” He questioned.
“Look, I don't know what you are doing right now, but I need you to listen to me for a minute.” Tabitha tried to explain, but it seemed Clap-Trap had more pressing matters on his mind.
“It's just sooooo shiiiiiiny! After all the care I put into it, I polished it everyday and only used it at the best party moments. It was the pinnacle of my rusty existence. It was my hidden gem, without it I am...I am...just a square hunk of metal!” He sobbed, smashing himself against the wall in a heap of self pity. Tabitha sighed, unsure of what exactly had the robot so upset. He was a passionate individual, that much she was used to, but she had never heard him sound so frustrated and heartbroken. Deciding it would be nearly impossible to talk to him while he wallowed, she tried for another approach.
“Oh poor Clap-Trap,” she cooed, “You sound like you've just been having the worst time ever. What happened to you?” The small robot pushed himself off the wall with a feeble struggle.
“Everything. Everything that could possibly go wrong has gone absolutely utterly wrong!” He exclaimed, shaking his arms. “Braden broke my disco ball!” He shouted. Tabitha's ears perked up, that was the name of the man she had talked to before.
“Who is Braden? He sounds just awful, why would he break your disco ball?” She knew Clap-Trap was a sucker for talking about himself.
“He's my new boss. And you are right, he is a jerk! The worst possible human I have ever met, and that says a lot.” He rambled. “I was just bustin a move when he kicked my dome in! My disco ball popped off and rolled down the stairs and...s-SHATTERED INTO A MILLION PIECES!” He whaled, his tire squeaking against the floor as he let himself slide down the wall dramatically.
“He sounds like the worst. Oh you poor thing. Why don't you just go back to work for Clay? Why isn't he your boss anymore. Surely Clay would buy you a new disco ball.” Tabitha suggested.
“He would, I know he would! I miss him, Braden is dumb, he can go suck on a spark plug!” Clap-Trap huffed. “If I could work for Clay again I would, but he was demoted and dragged off by the CEO's just a day before you left. More than likely he's in a cell somewhere rotting away, waiting for death.” A saddened sigh escaped him. Tabitha felt her heart sink in her chest.
The day before she left? That was the day they were supposed to have dinner together. That was the day she decided to leave...the day she thought she meant nothing to him. It was all a mistake, she should have known.
Her eyes lingered on the shiny plaque hanging from her wall, Clay's reward from the Gala. She had hung onto it, thinking...hoping that maybe, she could one day use it as an excuse to go see him, but now...
“Clap-Trap...why did the CEO's demote him? Why did he get in trouble?” She could hear the sobs in her own voice and tried to swallow them, now was the time for answers not tears.
“I'm not sure, I wasn't there when it happened. But he wasn't exactly on great terms with them. It could have been the time that he took 'A' away from the project for 3 months. Or the time you fought the trainer. Maybe it was when he refused to add the modifications that they ordered. Then again it could have been because he swapped the DNA they wanted him to use with yours.” He shrugged, trying to come up with a good reason as to why all these terrible things had happened to Clay and as a result, to him as well.
“Wait...what.” Tabitha stopped him. “He did what now with the DNA?” Perhaps she had heard him wrong.
“After the Stalkers broke out, he had me go and steal one of the vials from the lab. It had DNA in it from a soldier that the CEO's wanted him to use in making 'A'. But when I brought him the vile he cleaned it out and filled it up with your blood sample. I had to go put it back in the labs so no one would know, but there are cameras everywhere so I don't know what he was thinking.” He explained.
Tabitha's heart was racing, he had tricked her. After she had saved his life from those...horrible creatures, he had turned around and taken advantage of her.
“I should take a blood sample, who knows what diseases those things carry.” The scene played out in her mind, she believed him so easily. Why...why didn't he just ask? Yet, somehow despite all this, she couldn't bring herself to be angry about it. In fact, she felt almost flattered. He wanted her DNA for his prized experiment. The thought made her blush. She had always liked 'A', but now things were a bit different. He was part of her. All his human features, his emerald green eyes and rounded ears, his soft cheeks and wide smile, that was hers.
“What happened to 'A'? Is he ok...?” She knew Clay had been the only thing standing between 'A' and Hyperion's greedy claws. But if Clay was gone, what had become of her darling 'A'? There was a pause from Clap-Trap that made her stomach churn.
“It's not good.” The robot muttered. There wasn't much that made him feel sorrow for anything other than himself, but 'A' was that rare exception. “You wouldn't recognize him.” Clap-Trap added. Tabitha felt a lump stick in her throat, what was that supposed to mean?
“W-what...” She was cut off, the robot understanding what she wanted.
“As soon as Clay was kicked from the project, Braden was given full control. He's modified him beyond recognition. They took so much away from him and added all sorts of artificial parts...I'm not sure if he even has any organs left. He was in the lab for months, but now they've started his training. You wouldn't recognize him Tabitha, neither would Clay. I hardly do. He's so miserable, I try to stay away from the project as much as possible, I hate it. He told me the other day that he had to stay strong for Clay. Braden has him tricked into thinking that if he cooperates with them, that they'll let him see Clay again.”
Tabitha couldn't take it, her heart was breaking all over again. She had no clue any of this was going on back home. Here she was working at Helios, feeling sorry for herself, unaware of the terrible things happening to her boys. Her fists clinched and she wanted nothing more than to storm into the CEO's office and demand justice. But that wouldn't solve anything, it would only cause trouble and perhaps earn her the same fate given to Clay.
“I need to save 'A'.” She whispered. There had to be a way to get him out of Bradens' grip.
“I'll be in touch with you Clap-Trap. Thank you for telling me.”
The small plumb shaded robot hummed in reply before disconnecting his ECHO device. He turned back to the glass window and peered into the CL4P-TP upgrade shop. The small disco ball glittered from it's display shelf in all it's glory.
“I will be a mega party bot again.” He grumbled, a burning hate for his boss sparked through his wires. It had been Braden's worst doing, destroying a Clap-Trap's single joy, that...would be his downfall.
Authors Note:
Here is the first chapter of the next part! Yay! I am thinking of making these chapters a little bit longer, but I always get impatient with myself, so no promises. The longest I've been able to do is an almost thirty minute read, so...anything could happen really. Also, I'm excited to jump into this next part mainly because I'm not %100 sure what is going to happen and that's always fun XD
Clap-Trap: "GIVE ME MONEY!"
Author: "You don't need it."
Clap-Trap: "Yes I do, I need to be the party king I was meant to be."
Author: "What does that even mean?"
Clay: "Look, it's best to just give in now. It only gets worse from here."
ns 15.158.61.6da2
