Every Stamp Tells a Story by pikatribble |  |
This week: Robot Skeith Stamp (Conclusion)
NEOPIAN POST OFFICE KIOSK - Welcome back, stamp collectors. This week, we will
conclude the look behind the Robot Skeith Stamp which began in week
67 of The Neopian Times (apologies for the delay)...
Gert was still waiting patiently for Sam and Scar to return when she heard
something clanking in the shadows of a nearby building. Looking over, the Robot
Skeith used her night vision and saw a Robot Chomby approaching. Something about
the Chomby looked odd, but Gert couldn't figure out exactly what it was. The
Chomby beckoned her over, and curious, Gert walked nearer. The Chomby led her
to a small alley beside the building, which was filled with robot pets of all
types, all of which once again held a strange odd quality that confused Gert.
A robot Kacheek was addressing the group.
The Kacheek proceeded to tell the assembled robot pets that Neopia was in great
danger. According to the Kacheek, Dr. Sloth had managed to create a nasty virus
that would shut down every computer system in Neopia. Banks would be unable
to access account information, power generators would fail, the stock market
would crash, the Neopian hospital would be unable to treat patients...to say
nothing of what would happen to the robot pets themselves - in short, chaos.
The only way to combat this was to introduce an anti-virus program, carried
by the robot Neopets, to all corners of Neopia, which could be uploaded by the
robot pets into every system that they came across.
Gert was uneasy about this whole story...something about the other robot pets
seemed fishy to her. As she shuffled forward in an attempt to better see the
speaking Kacheek, who was obviously the leader of this little band, she accidentally
stepped on the foot of the robot Chomby who had led her here.
The scream of pain that emerged from the robot Chomby was definitely not mechanical
in nature. Gert looked down swiftly, and saw that foot she had stepped on was
now flattened into the ground like nothing more than a piece of paper. Of course,
it wasn't paper...but cloth, and Gert realised the robot Chomby was not a robot
Chomby at all. She swiftly gave a harsh tug to the flattened-cloth foot, and
the costume tore off to reveal a Skeith...Malkus
Vile himself! The Kacheek on the stage screamed orders at the other
'robot' pets, none of whom where actually robots. As they swiftly shed their
costumes, it was revealed that most of them were other Skeiths, though the occasional
differing species of Neopet was amongst the mix. All of them were wearing cold
and calculating expressions. They attacked Gert en masse, and though she fought
bravely, she was unable to fight them all off. One of them attached a small
device to her belly to drain her power, and the world went black.
When Gert's power was restored, she was alone. She knew only one thing...she
had to get back to the station...and nothing could stop her. She didn't remember
anything else, or even why she had to get up to the station, only that she had
to get there. Unbeknownst to her, she had been reprogrammed during her period
of unconsciousness. The 'robot Kacheek' (who undoubtedly was not an actual Kacheek
but unlike most of the others, had kept his costume to keep himself hidden)
was correct...there was a virus loose. However, it was created by the top-secret
crime organisation of which Malkus Vile and his henchmen were a part of, with
the sole purpose of causing havoc at the VirtuPets Space Station. This insidious
virus would shut down the vital systems onboard the station, such as life support
and electricity, forcing the evacuation of all the inhabitants to the surface
of the planet below. With the orbiting station abandoned, the organisation would
ship some of its agents aboard and easily entrench themselves into a new base
from which to take over the Neopia. Gert was now the unwilling and unknowing
carrier to the dangerous virus.
She hurried from the dark alley, heading automatically back toward the shuttles
up to the station, pushing roughly past any pets in her way and knocking several
to the ground. The commotion began to attract some attention, and a Gelert stepped
into the robot Skeith's path.
It was Scar, but Gert didn't seem to notice. Scar noticed his sister's odd
behaviour, and was about to question her when Gert threw him roughly aside.
He recovered and once again blocked Gert's path, but was forced to dive behind
a rock to seek shelter from a magic pebbles attack launched by Gert. Growling,
Scar was about to launch a counterattack, when Sam arrived to see what all the
commotion was about. She was carrying a small backpack tightly in her arms.
She called to both pets to stop, which confused Gert because she didn't remember
knowing any of them. The Skeith turned her attack on the young girl, and as
the pebbles bombarded her, Sam dropped the backpack to free her arms to protect
her face. The backpack hit the ground, and out slithered a malnourished Cobrall.
Now, some may say that pets who have become robots have no hearts. Certainly,
they have a mechanical pump that controls the lubricating fluids in their bodies
and circuits, cycles oils through their joints, but true feelings and emotions
- the metaphorical heart - are something they lack. Any appearance of emotion
is merely a programmed response to some external stimuli, dictated by lines
of code stored in circuits and chips. The responses may seem real, but in truth,
robot pets are no more than fancy mechanical machines, and one should feel no
guiltier about mistreating them than one should about mistreating a toaster.
If this were true, then Gert should have continued to follow the objectives
she had been reprogrammed with - to travel to the space station and deliver
the malevolent virus to the system's computers...but she didn't.
For a long moment, she stared blankly at the Cobrall who began to slither toward
her, then looked to Sam and Scar, somehow knowing she should know them, yet
not remembering them. A battle raged within her as her current programming warred
against her emotions, struggling against the programming blocks the organisation
had placed into her systems. In their rush to have their plan carried out, the
organisation had thankfully only redirected most of her circuits around her
memory, effectively blocking it rather than deleting it entirely, as it was
notoriously difficult and time consuming to actually erase a robot pet's mind
(and even erasing it did not provide any guarantee that the information could
not be recovered). As Hiss slithered up onto Gert's back, Gert's feelings reasserted
themselves, redirecting circuits around the blocks to restore her mind. With
a rush, her memories returned...the meeting of the pseudo-robot pets, the false
pretence of an evil plot by Sloth, and the true evil plan, which had been recorded
by her audio processors running on her backup battery. She quickly explained
everything to Sam and Scar, and the family swiftly went to the authorities.
Though the identity of the 'robot Kacheek' leader, no doubt a high rank in the
organisation, was never discovered and Malkus Vile was never caught, several
of his henchmen were apprehended and are currently serving time for their crimes.
Additionally, the virus Gert was carrying was removed from her memory banks,
and an anti-virus was quickly developed. It was doubtful that the organisation
would attempt to use the virus now that its existence had been uncovered, but
authorities wanted to be prepared.
For her part, Gert was overjoyed to be reunited with Hiss. Apparently, those
trips which Scar and Sam had taken together to Neopia had actually been made
not to relax, but with the mission of tracking down the Cobrall, whom Gert had
mentioned on more than one occasion. Though it had taken a tremendous amount
of investigation and legwork, Scar and Sam had managed to find Hiss in the ownership
of a poor girl who had only recently arrived in Neopia. The girl was reluctant
to sell the Cobrall, as her Lupe had grown quite attached to it, but when Scar
offered to give them his cloud paintbrush in exchange (which had not actually
been stolen by the pant devil, only by a Pteri friend of Scar's wearing a blue
sheet in a ruse designed to allow them to surprise Gert with the recovered petpet),
the Cobrall was swiftly handed over.
Since Malkus Vile and the organisation knew that Gert had spoiled their plans,
the robot Skeith and her family had reason to worry for their safety. They changed
their names and disappeared. For a long time, it was feared that they had been
found by the organisation and were being held captive, tortured...or worse.
However, when the manuscript for Sinister Skeith turned up on the doorstep of
M. Shankly Publishing Co. penned by Gert herself, it was clear that they were
alive and well. It is rumoured that both Scar and Gert take turns visiting the
lab ray, constantly altering their colour and species in order to remain untraceable,
and the family routinely moves from one Neopian land to another. So who knows,
that speckled Jetsam with his spotted Cobrall munching down on Shiver Me Shrimp
across from you in the Golden
Dubloon might be the one who exposed an evil plot to dominate Neopia
and demonstrated that even robot Neopets have hearts...or it just might be a
speckled Jetsam...
Until next time, happy stamp collecting! |
