by R. J. Ross
Nico waves a hand through the computer screens and they disappear. He doesn’t even look at the robot as he follows the others.
***
“Oh my gosh,” Banshee says as Adanna tugs Cubby into the room by the hand. The little boy has a half-eaten banana in his other hand, and he takes another bite as the teacher crosses the room in a blink and places her hands on her knees so she’s closer to eye height. “Hello, you adorable little guy! Are you Panther’s boy?”
He looks up at her, swallowing his bite of banana before looking at his sister. “Say hello to Banshee, Cubby,” she prompts him.
“’Ello,” he says.
“So cute,” Banshee says, blatantly fan-girling. “Cubby, do you like music?”
He nods hesitantly as he looks around the room, and then up as Adanna places a pair of earmuffs over his ears. “His hearing is already exceptional,” she explains before pulling her own earmuffs on, as well.
“Ah, then we’ll be sure to keep it quiet, today, right everyone?” Banshee asks the room.
Adanna gives her a dry look. “Why do I never get that special treatment?” she demands.
“I had Nico make those earmuffs, didn’t I?” Banshee says, giving her a one-armed hug. Adanna snorts and Banshee gives her a smile. “But with Cubby, his hearing is still developing so he’s twice as vulnerable as you are. Now, places everyone! Places! Today we’re going to talk about theme songs! How many of you have a theme song already?” A few hands go up. Cubby’s hand goes up, as well.
“He’s already got a theme song?” Brandon says, startled into visibility.
“He’s going to inherit his,” Adanna says. “But really, Papa says they’ll have to revise it a bit, to make it more contemporary. They did it with him when he inherited the name.”
“Well, either way, today we’re learning the Panther theme song!” Banshee says, going to her desk and bringing up the music on their lit-up sheet music tablets. “Look it over and we’ll get started!”
“It goes ‘dun dun dun—dun! Dun dun dunnn,’” Cubby explains, singing the theme song as he stands at the front of the classroom.
“I don’t think I got that, Cubster,” Jack says, clearly lying. He’s a member of the Panther Fan Club, he knows the song by heart. “Can you do it again?”
“Pay attention!” Cubby scolds him before launching into the song again.
“I didn’t get it, this time!” Justin claims, waving his hand over his head. “Can you do it again?”
Cubby lets out a huge sigh, shaking his head. “You gotta pay attention!” he proclaims. “It goes like this!”
They get him to do it four more times while Banshee records the entire thing. It only stops when Adanna clears her throat and gives them a sharp look, her foot tapping the ground. They all try not to laugh as they busy themselves getting their instruments ready.
***
The little robot sitting on the bridge starts to move. He looks around, but doesn’t see anyone there, not even his new best friend or his maker. He gets to his feet, walking across the bridge and heading for the nearest ramp. He’s lonely. His friend was supposed to come back, right? So why hasn’t he come back?
The little robot really isn’t like the ones on the Apocalypse Field. All throughout his playing with Cubby, he’d grown rapidly, because of the AI system that Nico used to program him. He’s a learning robot. It’s a concept that Nico has been working on for as long as he can remember, practically.
Why yes, he had used his best friend’s child to experiment with. Is anyone really that surprised?
***
“I don’t WANNA go to lunch!” Cubby complains as the group heads for the cafeteria. “I’m not hungry.”
“How can you grow big and strong like Papa if you don’t eat?” Adanna asks. It isn’t that he’s not hungry, she knows, it’s because he’d been having so much fun during music class that he doesn’t want to stop. The entire class had been about him, after all! He looks around, distracted as a girl walks past him. His nose twitches, and Adanna silently groans. She knows what he’s about to do.
Cubby tilts his head, not quite sure he trusts his nose, and hears the faint sound of— “Rock!” he says, pointing at the girl.
“Cubby—” Adanna says as Sandra stops and turns to look at them.
“Cat,” Sandra says, pointing right back at him. Adanna’s mouth drops open slightly as Cubby bursts out laughing.
“I’m not a cat yet!” he protests, letting go of Adanna’s hand and running up to Sandra. That response clearly means she’s now his friend. “You smell ‘lectric,” he says, sniffing again.
“Yeah, yeah, it’s probably this,” Sandra says, glancing around before tapping on her watch to drop the illusion. “Scary, huh?”
His mouth drops open for all of a second before he reaches out and pokes her arm.
“He doesn’t mean to be—” Adanna starts out, worried that Sandra will get mad. Sandra’s extremely touchy about her looks, and the entire school knows it.
“I like little kids,” Sandra says as Cubby lifts her hand, looking at it curiously. “They don’t seem to care that I look like this.”
“You strong?” Cubby asks her.
“I’m really strong,” she says.
“Carry me!” he demands, jumping onto her shoulder.
“Cubby! You don’t just jump on people you’ve just met!” Adanna says, a bit stunned that her once-shy little brother is acting like this. “Sandra, I’ll take him—”
“Nah, it’s fine,” Sandra says. “He doesn’t weigh anything. But I’m going to lunch, so if you eat something, don’t drop it on my head, got it?”
“I won’t!” Cubby says. He pauses, looking around for a second, a strange expression on his face as he hears something. But before he can say anything, Sandra heads into the cafeteria.
***
“Hello,” Cubby says, sliding down Sandra’s arm and standing in front of the ordering register for the cafeteria.
“Hi!” Carla says, grinning widely. “Are you hungry?”
Cubby nods.
“Wellll… do you want chicken tenders?” she offers. “Or grilled cheese?”
“I don’t remember putting either of those things on the menu,” Vinny calls from the kitchen.
“But you can make them!” Carla says. “He’s four, he likes that sort of thing.”
“Hotdog,” Cubby decides.
“A hotdog it is!” Carla says.
“I want a hotdog,” Sandra says, “or three. Do we have pickle relish?”
“Not only did I not put hotdogs on the list—” Vinny starts out, sighing as he steps into the area. He stops, looking down at Cubby, who’s looks up at him, expectantly. “Fine, who else wants hotdogs?” he asks the room at large. Hands go up throughout the room. Most of them have already eaten, he notes dryly. “Okay, everyone out! We’re going to the grill.”
A cheer roars through the room as he heads into the kitchen to grab several packages of hotdogs and chips. “Carla, come get the condiments.” He feels a rush of air pass him twice and heads out, certain that the condiments are there already.
“Let’s get this barbecue started, shall we?” he says as he steps onto the concrete that surrounds the pool. There are three large barbecue grills on the patio, and he heads to his favorite, lighting it up with a snap of his fingers. “Wait, can the kid swim?” he asks, belatedly.
“He loves to swim,” Adanna says. “But it’s still too cold right no—” she almost jumps as she hears a splash, but when she looks over she’s relieved to see her little brother perched next to the edge of the pool, looking at Malina, who jumped in. Just as she’s relaxing, though, Cubby kicks off his shoes and jumps in, as well.
“Cubby! No!” she says, running over to the pool, only to blink at the sight of water shaped like a giant hand holding her brother on its palm.
“It’s too cold for non-water-types,” Malina tells him, gently placing him back onto the concrete patio. “Vinny, c
an you dry him off and warm him up, please?”
“Yeah, sure, come here, kid,” Vinny says. Cubby’s shivering like crazy, but he still hesitates as Vinny motions him over. “Come on,” Vinny says, motioning again. The little boy takes two tiny steps and then blinks as he finds himself lifted and flown over to Vinny, thanks to Max. “There we go,” Vinny says, tugging him closer and placing a hand on his back. In seconds, Cubby’s clothes are dried and several pictures of Vinny warming the little boy are taken. “What?” Vinny demands.
Cubby yawns.
“You’ll make a good daddy, Vinny!” Carla compliments him. “You made him warm, so now he’s sleepy.”
“He can’t sleep! He’s got to eat first!” Vinny protests. “I dragged all of this out here because of him! Hey, hey, wake up, kid,” he says.
“I haven’t seen him this panicked since Cisco came out of the corn,” Zoe says. The first one to laugh is Kaden, and she shoots him a look, “You can’t laugh, you freaked out, too.”
“Let’s be honest,” Max says. “Seeing Cisco come out of a corn field would freak me, out, too.”
Zoe starts to tease him, only to stop and look to the right. “What?” Max asks.
“Hmm,” she says.
“Look, you can sleep after you eat. The hotdog is almost ready,” Vinny says. “Wait, here, let me warm it up by hand.” He points a finger and one of the hotdogs lights on fire. He pulls the hotdog off of the grill with a pair of prongs and blows it out. “There, all done,” he tells Cubby, placing it in a bun.
Cubby blinks sleepily up at him, still leaning against his leg. He yawns again, and everyone else starts laughing. Vinny looks at the group, and then down at the boy. “Help?” he says, looking over at Adanna.
She takes the hotdog from his hand and squirts mustard on it before picking up Cubby and feeding it to him. The little boy looks like he’s about to fall asleep, but somehow manages to eat half of it before crashing.
“Want me to take him?” Max asks Adanna. “He’ll probably sleep better at the dorms, and you guys need to finish up before classes start back up.”
“Sure,” Adanna says with a smile. “Thanks, Max.”
***
His best friend! He’s being taken! The robot scans through his files—which consist of the school database and any local news reports—he’s being taken by a BAD GUY! He looks at the kids that his best friend had been with, wondering why they’re just letting a bad guy run off with his friend. All they do is line-up for hotdogs.
There’s only one choice, the little robot decides, HE’S going to have to save his best friend. All the adults are useless! He sneaks away from the party, climbing up the side of the building to avoid notice. No doubt Maximum will take his best friend to a secret—
To a secret—
The little robot looks down blankly (and rather disappointedly) as Max carries the sleeping Cubby into the dorms. No, he thinks, no, this is a good thing! He knows where Maximum’s secret base is ALREADY! He can save his friend!
Oh, but he’s missing something… something vital and important for a hero!
He needs a cape! AND A THEME SONG!! He looks around, and his eyes fall on the Cape High flag flapping in the wind. That’ll do for the cape… now for the theme song.
***
“Here we go,” Max says, placing Cubby on the couch in the rec room. He drops down next to the boy and leans back, closing his eyes and letting out a sigh. It’s been a month and a half since he started his post-graduate work. The new schedule has been tough on him. Well, no, not the schedule. The days he has to help Negatia have been tough on him. Century can handle anything, and if he has a crisis, he just stops time so he can clean it up. On those days, Max gets to play more than work. Marigold just gives him grunt work that he can do in his sleep, and Isotonic does the same. Only Negatia and his father hand over the reins to their respective Halls and then sit back and criticize how he handles things.
He can still hear Negatia’s sarcasm now, and it’s been a day and a half since it happened. He glances over as Cubby makes a tiny sound and rubs the boy’s back, casually sending a calming thought. Cubby falls even deeper into sleep. Max closes his eyes, thinking about taking a nap, as well.
Music starts. It jerks him awake, because it’s playing over all of the speakers in the dorm building. It’s a fast paced, cheerful song about being a superhero. He frowns and gets to his feet, intent on turning it off before Cubby wakes up.
The lights blink, and then turn off. The sprinklers start going off, and Max groans, waving a hand to keep the water from falling on Cubby. Cubby’s awake, he thinks. He’s going to be grumpy. “Great,” Max says.
Cubby looks around in confusion, and then up, seeing water falling on something invisible and changing direction before it hits him. “It’s loud,” he says.
“Sorry, Cubster,” Max says. “I think the system is messing up. I’ll call Nico—” he taps on his earbud, and then frowns and taps again.
“Bad guy!” a little boy’s voice says over the com-link, “I’m gonna beat you up!”
“What?” Max says blankly. “Look, kid, I’m not on the clock right now—” How did a little boy get on campus? The question makes him stop, suddenly taking this more seriously. He opens his mind, searching for the source of the voice. The only minds he picks up on are Cubby’s and all the other people who belong here. “Where are you?” he demands. “Come out and face me… like a super hero!”
The lights come back on and a small robot wearing nothing but the school flag as a cape is standing in front of him with its hands on its hips. Max’s jaw drops.
“ROBOT!” Cubby exclaims happily.
“I’ve come to save you!” the little boy voice says over the speakers. Max looks up, realizing something a bit worrisome. This rogue robot has access to the school’s computer system. “He’s a bad guy that’s grabbed you!” the robot points at Max in a dramatic fashion. Max feels the urge to clap, but he stops himself.
“Is just Max,” Cubby says, looking confused.
“He’s MAXIMUM!” the speakers say, sounding frustrated that Cubby doesn’t seem to understand.
Cubby stands, but Max moves between the two of them. “Wait, Cubby,” he says, “he’s a robot, so he shouldn’t be acting like this. Robot, stand down.”
“You grabbed my friend!” the speakers accuse him, again. The robot itself can’t speak, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. The sprinklers start pouring heavily and the walls of the rec room light up. “I’m going to SAVE HIM!”
Max jerks as a spark comes from the ceiling. It jumps from sprinkler to sprinkler, above the water, creating a net of electricity over his head. It looks like Nico added a bit of extra security to the building, and it’s about to be used against him. Getting electrocuted probably won’t hurt him, but it WILL hurt Cubby.
“Stop that right this instant,” he says, holding out his hands and asserting pressure. The robot’s metal body starts to creak. “You could hurt Cubby!”
“NO!” Cubby says, racing past Max and reaching for the robot. Max has no choice but to stop the gravity. Cubby is tough, but he’s still close to normal. The electricity over their heads sparks dangerously and Max curses as Cubby hugs the robot. He grabs both of them, racing out of the building.
“NICO!” Max yells.
The sprinklers and the sound of sparking electricity from the dorms stop. Max lets out a sigh of relief, only to grunt as a metal foot kicks him in the thigh. Max looks at the robot, blankly.
“Robot!” Cubby says, “Max is friend!” The robot looks from him to Max, and then back, clearly confused.
“Well, then,” Nico says, making Max look up. “Prototype nine—” he says something that sounds like code and the robot Max is holding goes perfectly still, the light of his eyes turning dark.
Cubby looks at the robot, and then pokes it. “Robot?”
“Robot’s in time out right now, Cubby,” Nico says, walking over and pulling the robot body out o
f Max’s hands. “It looks like he needs a reboot.”
“Reboot?” Cubby repeats. He watches as the robot is dismantled and his eyes fill with tears. “No—NO!” he says, grabbing the robot head out of the air and hugging it. “Nico, no!” he says before starting to wail. “Ro—ROBOT!”
“What did you do to my little brother?” Adanna demands from behind them.
“He KILLED ROBOT!” Cubby bellows, still sobbing. Adanna moves to his side, pulling him into her arms and glaring at Nico and Max.
“I haven’t killed him,” Nico says. “He’s just gone back to code.”
“How do you expect a four-year-old to understand that?” Adanna demands. “Shh, it’s okay, Cubby. It’s okay.”
Cubby sniffles, looking down at the metal head in his arms, and then nods. “I wanna go home.”
“I’ll call Papa,” Adanna agrees.
***
*Ten minutes later*
Pan storms into the Science classroom, completely ignoring the fact that he’s not supposed to be on campus. “What did you do to my son, Nico?” he demands, only to stop and stare.
Nico is standing in front of a child sized robot. This one doesn’t resemble the ones on the Apocalypse Field; instead, it looks like a sculpture. The detailed face, the perfectly shaped eyes, nose, mouth, even ears, all of it is enough to stop Pan in his tracks. Nico is building the robot by hand, rather than letting the pieces fit together in the air, like he usually does. To the side, Zoe is tapping away on the air, clearly lost in her work.
“I didn’t expect the robot to be that self-cognizant,” Nico admits.
“You mean Cubby’s friend?” Pan asks.
“Yeah, Cubby’s friend,” Nico says, shooting him a grin. “I had to cut down his access to the main computer, and he’s seriously reflecting on his actions right now—” He waves and the wall lights up. It doesn’t show anything, but they hear a little boy’s voice singing a song about being a superhero. “Prototype nine,” he says. The singing stops. “Weren’t you supposed to be reflecting?”
