My Life As A Teenage Robot Porn Story: Diamonds Are a Robots Best Friend – Chapter 5
Diamonds Are a
Robots Best Friend
A My Life as a
Teenage Robot Fanfic
Chapter Five
Unraveling the Tapestry
The light was dimming in the overcast evening hours, and a
faint breeze was picking up, scattering scraps of paper across the concrete
roof of the Marquis Diamonds building.P
Far above the streetlights, the rooftop was blanketed in dark gray
shadows.P All was silent, except for a
few muffled grunts coming from the direction of the alleyway.P Then with a soft clank, first one,
then two silver-green claws flung themselves over the wall, and morphed into
sturdy clamps.
Finally, Drew said, relieved to be finished with the
four-story climb.P Not that it had been
especially tiring or difficult, but it was the first time hed ever tried
something like that with someone hanging onto his back.
This wouldve been a lot easier if you had just flown
up, grumbled Brad, clinging on tightly.
They spilled over the ledge, and landed ungracefully on the
rooftop.P Ive told you a dozen times, I
cant fly, hissed Drew.P How hard
is it to remember that?
Couldnt you just eat a rocket engine or something?
Lets get our butts moving and get out of here or my next
newspaper photo is going to get taken down at the police station.
Just relax nothings going to happen.P Brad chuckled, as he got to his feet and
dusted himself off.P He was totally
into the whole sneaking-around thing, and hed dressed for the part in a black
sweatshirt and dark jacket.P He took off
his backpack and checked the contents.P
Camera looks okay.P Flashlight
for each of us.P And plastic bags to
collect the evidence.
Drew grabbed a flashlight and rolled his eyes.P Evidence.P Oy vey.P Lets get this
over with.
They started walking slowly around the roof, focusing on the
ledge overlooking the sidewalk, where Rojack had been standing in the
photograph.P Brad skulked around
enthusiastically, sweeping his flashlight from side to side, humming the theme
from Mission Impossible.P But all
they could see was cracked, weathered concrete, blowing litter, a few antennas
and satellite dishes, and the occasional pigeon.
Well, maybe you can deduce something from this candy bar
wrapper, said Drew, but I am officially clueless.P Im not sure what you were expecting to find up here.
Brad was snapping pictures with his camera as he spoke in a
melodramatic voice.P Theres always
something lying around that does in the overconfident criminal.P All we have to do is find it.P One tug at a loose thread, and the whole
tapestry of deceit comes unraveled!
Tapestry of deceit?P
Sheesh.P Were wasting our time,
Brad.
Come on, we havent even started looking around yet.P Put those robot peepers to good use!
Okay.P Oooooh, look,
Im zooming in on the roof now!P Drews
eyes hummed and telescoped a few inches out of his head.P He waved his hands in the air.P Ooooh!P
Really tiny rocks!P Really tiny
bugs!P Yechhh, cockroach
droppings.
Come on, will you be serious for a minute? groaned
Brad.P If we can find out why Rojack
stole the diamonds, with Jenny right in front of him, then hey, do you
hear that?P That sounds like voices.
Drew schlorped his eyes back to normal.P Theres nobody else on the roof but us.
Shhhh!P Brad cupped
his hand to his ear, then swung his flashlight around, searching.P There was a narrow ventilation duct poking
out of the roof a few yards away.P He
walked over quietly, knelt down, and put his ear closer to the duct.P The voice was very distorted, and sounded
tinny, but That sounds like the billionaire dudes voice.P I recognize that fancy accent of his.
I thought your little brother was the one with the
overactive imagination.P Drew snuck
over, more than a little skeptical.P
Suddenly they heard a female voice, and their eyes lit up with
recognition at the same time.P Hey,
thats Jenny!
Brad had his ear pressed against the metal of the shaft
now.P She must be working late on her model
training, he mocked.P Man, I sure
wish I could make out what theyre saying!
So much for unraveling the tapestry of deceit, said
Drew, a little uneasy.P We cant spy on
Jenny.P Sure, she kicked us to the curb
today, but shes still our friend.P Its
just plain wrong and I wont do it.
She must be getting her last session of training with all
her new model friends.P Hmmm
all those supermodels, prancing around in their dressing room
A big, dumb grin spread on Drews face.P Wow, youre evil.P Okay, get your camera ready.P
I got an idea.
Brad had to smile to himself all too easy!P Drew might be a robot now, but he was still
a guy.P As he tried to check the
settings on his camera, he did a double-take as Drews eyes stretched out of
his face connected by thin stalks, like a snail.P The eyes stretched down to the narrow
ventilation shaft it was only six inches across slipped inside, and started
stretching down towards the source of the voices.
Do you have any idea how freaky that looks? Brad asked.
Do you have any idea how freaky this feels? Drew
answered.P Okay, do you have that
little cable that comes with the camera?P
Plug it into the back of my head.
Now theres a sentence you just dont hear everyday.P Brad hooked one end of the cable up to the
camera, and plugged the other end into a socket that formed on the back of
Drews head.P The view-finder on the
back of the camera came to life, and Brad was now seeing everything that Drews
eyes were seeing, deep inside the workings of the ventilation system.
This is so insanely cool! Brad grinned, watching the
small, disorienting picture as the shaft tunnels weaved left and right.P Pictures a little dark, though.P Okay, ahead ahead turn left
No backseat drivers, Drew mumbled.P Let me concentrate, and I think I can get
some sound back to you, too.P Wait, hang
on.P I think Im almost there.
With another soft schlorrrp, a patch on the back of
Drews head turned into a small, solid-state speaker.P There was a soft hissing pop, and Brad heard several
voices but those voices were being drowned out by a high-pitched, hissing
sound.
What is that noise? Brad wondered aloud.
Just a second With one last right turn, Drews eyes
stretched through a ventilation grate, and came out in the vast interior of a
large machine workshop.P Nuts, no
supermodels here.P He looked around
briefly, and What the heck is she doing?!?
There was Jenny, standing a few feet away from a six-sided
slab of quartz that stood over ten feet high, blasting at the surface with her
palm lasers.P She was looking through
some kind of optical scope deployed from the top of her head, and she seemed to
be concentrating very, very hard.P
Maximillian Marquis and Rojack were standing a few feet behind her with
a few other workers, all looking very contented.P There were five other, identical, six-sided quartz slabs to the
side of the work area, each one of them a perfect glimmering mirror.
Brad stared into his viewfinder, stunned and confused.P Well, Jenny was right about one thing, he
said.P Model training is a lot
harder than I thought it was.P Jen,
what in the world are you doing?!?
Jennys palm lasers finally came to a stop, and she shook
her hands a bit to cool them off.P
There we go thats the last of them!P
Six perfectly flat mirrors, down to the atom.P Whew!P Thats hot work.
Maximillian Marquis strutted over and patted her on the shoulder.P Sensational, Jennifer!P Simply sensational.P Once again, you have come to my rescue.P That our only quartz grinder should break
down the day before the exhibition I am most embarrassed.
No problem at all.P
Although I have to admit Im still a little confused, she said, walking
up to examine her reflection in the giant ten-foot hexagon.P Why did you need mirrors made out of this
stuff?P And why did they have to be perfectly
flat?P Wouldnt it be easier just to use
normal mirrors?
Ah, er well, yes perhaps, but then again nothing
about tomorrow night will be normal.P I
insist on having the finest of everything.P
My centerpiece exhibit will feature the Jovian diamonds and these giant
quartz mirrors because they are without equal, anywhere else in the world.P People expect the exceptional from
Maximillian Marquis.P And tomorrow
night, I will deliver!P Exceptional
jewels, and an exceptional young lady.
Jenny giggled, then grew a bit more serious.P Thank you but I was wondering if I could
ask for a little favor?P Could I
invite some more friends to the show tomorrow night?P I already gave the two extra invitations to a pair of girls at
school.P But I have a couple of other
friends that Id really like to be there.P
Even if they are sort of being jerks right now
Sadly impossible, replied Marquis.P Jenny pouted a bit, a little sad.P It would have been nice for Brad and Drew
to be there to see my big night although this wouldnt have been a problem if
they hadnt made fun of me at lunch today.P
Arghhh boys!
I am very sorry, Jennifer.P
Perhaps this can make up for it.P
I have a surprise for you.P
Something for you to wear for tomorrow night.
Jennys face brightened.P
A surprise for me?P What
is it?P Where is it?
It is waiting for you upstairs, in the same room that you
used for your training sessions with the other models.P Go, now! he chuckled, with a grandfatherly
laugh.P Hurry!
Thank you!P Jenny
practically bounced out of the work area, and ran for the elevators with giddy
excitement.P The doors slid closed.
Finally, breathed Marquis.P That took longer than expected, but the results speak for
themselves.P We now have, perhaps, the
six most perfect mirrors ever to have existed.P Impressive, are they not, Rojack?
Rojack gave a quick glance at his large frame in the mirror,
then tilted his head silently towards his master, with a mildly concerned look
on his face.
Marquis nodded in agreement.P You are right, she is starting to ask too many questions, and
she is most frustrating to work with.P
But without her talents, we could never have completed the mirrors – and
that foolish robot girl is too enamored with her silly dreams to see the
reality around her.
He turned to the center of the room, where there were still
a dozen of his men and robots working feverishly.P Marquis walked over to the foreman.
Will everything be ready for tomorrow night? he asked.
The Moonsword is in fantastic shape, Mr.
Marquis.P Theyre just putting the final
touches on it tonight.P Well have the mirrors
shipped over to her as soon as theyre cooled off enough to transport.
I trust I do not need to remind you to take extraordinary
care of them, said Marquis, with a tone that carried an implied or else.P And the Jovian diamonds?
Installed and ready to go.P
They passed the energy stress test with flying colors.P No anomalies in the beam at all.P Boss, this thing is going to have twice
the power you need to get the job done, the foreman laughed.
More is always better, grinned Marquis.P What of the necklace?
Take a look for yourself, sir.P The two men, followed by Rojack, walked over to one of the work
tables, where a jeweler was putting the final touches on an amazingly beautiful
choker necklace, studded with dozens of blue-white lunar diamonds.P He had removed the large, center diamond
and he was holding an intricate microchip in a pair of tweezers for his
boss to see.
Has it been set to the same frequency as the XJ-9s
electronic brain? asked Marquis.
The jeweler smiled.P
Took the readings while she was being fitted for it.P She doesnt suspect a thing.
Excellent, excellent, murmured Maximillian Marquis.P There was a tray of loose moon-diamonds on
the workbench.P He ran his fingers
through the gems, savoring their color and texture. PHow very fitting that she wear lunar diamonds tomorrow
night.P They are my very favorite of all
fine stones.P And thanks to that silly
robot, soon I will have more than any king, or sultan, or emperor in history.P After tomorrow night, I shall rebuild my mansion
out of moon-diamonds! he laughed.
He was interrupted by a soft beeping from a light on
Rojacks black and silver chest.
The double-M insignia flipped open, revealing a small
television screen.P On it was a picture
from a security camera on the roof of the building.P Even with night vision lenses, the picture was a little fuzzy
but it was plainly a young man, perhaps a teenager even, next to a strange
silver android of some sort.P And they
had a camera.
Marquis frowned intensely.P
Deal with them, he growled.
Rojack smiled, nodded, and walked out of the room.
Brad was still clicking away with his camera, nearly
dumbfounded from what hed just seen and heard.P I dont believe this! he said, struggling to keep from
shouting.P The whole things a
set-up!P He doesnt like Jenny at all,
the big faker!P Hes got her making giant
mirrors?P Whats up with that?P And whats the deal with that necklace and
the microchip?P Jenny could be in real
danger!
Drew shifted back and forth on his feet, even while his
eye-stalks still stretched down into the ventilation shaft.P Okay, okay, youve almost got me
convinced.P This guy is starting to
creep me out a little.P I dont know
much about jewelry, but those guys dont sound like theyre talking about earrings
and bracelets.P What the heck is a
Moonsword anyway?
Keep looking around, said Brad, growing a little
angry.P Weve got to find out if this
guy is really going to hurt Jenny.P I knew
that guy was no good!P That sneaky
miserable old coot P And Jenny!P Shes all Mr. Marquis this and Mr.
Marquis that and Tee hee, giggle giggle!P
She always was a sucker for a charming face.P Lousy rotten fancy-talker weve got to warn her!
Focus, dude, and then lets get out of here, whispered
Drew, nervously.
Brad gathered himself and looked in the viewfinder.P Okay.P
Boy, this is going to be one bad mamma-jamma of a Career Week
project.P Hey, check out that huge
wooden crate over in the corner.P Can
you see whats inside?
The picture shifted and zoomed slightly.P I think its empty.P But its about the same size as those giant
mirrors.P Maybe its a packing crate?
Brad squinted into the viewfinder.P Theres lettering on the side.P
Can you read it?
Drew focused for a second It says Marquis Aerospace?P Does that even make sense?
Well he said that he owned all kinds of companies,
not just jewelry and diamonds.P He
probably owns an aerospace company too.P
Ill snap one more picture and well figure it out later
They were concentrating so much on the camera that neither
of them even heard the whistling sound rush towards them through the night
air.P Brad just had time to notice a
high-pitched, whistling shriek, when the metallic blades whizzed by his face,
inches from his ear.P They sliced neatly
through Drews eye-stalks, without even slowing down, and whined off to
one side.
Drew stumbled backwards, suddenly blind, with two silver
stubs wiggling from his eye sockets.P Whoa!!!P Who turned out the lights?!?
Brad wheeled around, almost scared out of his wits.P Hed just come inches away from nearly
getting his head cut off by by what!?!
A large, silver-and-black forearm shot up, and plucked the
spinning blades from the air with ease.P
Maximillian Marquis personal assistant, Rojack, stood perhaps fifty
feet away, his eight-foot frame looming menacingly in the shadows.P His weapon was a three-bladed boomerang
high-strength steel with, naturally, diamond tips, making it extremely
dangerous.P And Rojack was very
skilled with it.P He glared at Brad and
Drew, with menace in his glowing red eyes, and a confident, cocky smile on his
face.
Deftly tossing the boomerang in his hand, he grabbed it by
one blade, took aim, and hurled it again.P
Brad watched, mesmerized, as the shrieking metal blades flew through the
night, directly towards his head.
Continued in Chapter
Six