Short Circuit 1/2

Chapter 1: A New Way of Life

It was a wonderful day out. The sun was high in the sky, and Johnny Five was just rolling about, looking at the flowers in the garden that his friend Stephanie had planted near the house. Johnny Five was a robot, but no ordinary one. He had been struck by lightning about six months ago, and had gained life. His original name was "Number Five", but he had decided that "Number" would be a stupid name, so he named himself "Johnny" .He stood 6 feet tall at full height, and had gotten rid of his laser after saying he didn't want to "disassemble" anyone or anything. In the place of his laser was a red tool box, in which he sometimes carried books, and other things in. He was a kind robot, not the kind that people would be afraid of. He suddenly stopped to look at a bell-like flower.

"Fox Gloves. Poisonous to eat, but seeds used to help heart." He said as he reached toward the pinkish bell flowers. A somewhat tall and skinny woman with short, wavy brownish hair walked out near Johnny.

"Hey, Johnny, whatcha doing?" The young lady asked. "Oh, hey Steph! Looking at flowers, admiring. Beautiful Fox Gloves!" Johnny said,

picking one, and handing it to Stephanie. "For me? Oh, Johnny, you're the sweetest guy I know." Stephanie replied, smiling. Johnny decided to roll on his treads toward the other acres on the forty-acre lot,

away from the house. Stephanie followed him. Johnny suddenly tripped, "Ahh!" Johnny landed on the ground with a thud. Stephanie

rushed over, and helped Johnny Five get up. "Is everything all right, Five?" Stephanie asked. "I think so. But I think Newton Crosby Ph. D. forgot a log, tree branch.." Johnny

said as he picked up a somewhat small log in front of him. Johnny threw the log to the side. "I told Newton to get rid of these sticks! God, does he ever listen?" Stephanie put

her hands on her hips, just as a tall, skinny man walked toward her and Johnny Five, with brown eyes, and short brown hair.

"What was that about me?" The man said.

"You have forgotten to pick up the sticks so Johnny can go towards the woods back there, smart one. He tripped, and he could've broken an arm!" Stephanie said.

"Well, excuse me if I forgot a log." Newton said. The two got into uncountable arguments, but still had respect for each other.

"Is okay. I can be more careful, diligent, when I go to the woods." Johnny said, starting toward the woods once again. "And plus, Newton needs to fix toaster. When I was making toast for breakfast, it sparked and the dish towel caught on fire." Johnny snickered.

"So much for your invention." Stephanie said under her breath to Newton.

Newton looked at Johnny, "And what did you do about the fire?"

"Well, I obviously didn't want to get wet, so" Johnny tried to explain.

"So you left it alone?!" Stephanie exclaimed.

"Well, yeah" Johnny said, a little sheepishly. "Now what was that about my invention?" Newton replied, as he and Stephanie began running toward the cabin, leaving Johnny to go explore.

"Nothing" Stephanie said innocently, and the two humans rushed out of earshot to put out the fire.

Like most robots, Johnny couldn't eat. But he could talk. He had laser lips, and when he talked, they lit up. Johnny enjoyed being a talkative robot, and he loved input. He was crazy over it. And any book he could get his robotic hands on. He could literally read a 30 chapter book in about 6 seconds.

Johnny rolled onward, and looked at all the animals Stephanie had adopted. There were squirrels, snakes, rabbits, kittens, cats, dogs, sheep, geese, chickens, and the list just goes on. Stephanie was, how you would say, "animal-crazy", and adopted any animal that she found to be a loveable pet.

"I wonder where Stephanie got so many pets"Johnny said to himself as he gazed around the beautiful scenery. Johnny loved being around the country. His old life as a military robot was quite boring and rough. He remembered little bits of how he was pushed around as though he were a man in the army. But then again, that's what military was all about. He enjoyed living in peace, with the birds singing, and the crickets chirping. He thought the whole place wonderful and full of life.

"Hmm, maybe I can go a little farther than last week. Stephanie wouldn't mind." Johnny said to himself, as he rolled through the woods over a few leaves, and a stick every now and then. Within an hour, Johnny Five was pretty much lost.

"Now, I know came from that direction Or was it that direction? Well, I know home is south, so I'll start in that direction." Johnny said as he rolled out of sight.

Later, after Stephanie and Newton had put the fire out (which the dish rag on fire was thankfully in the metal sink where nothing else could catch fire), Stephanie walked up to Newton who was sitting in the living room, watching TV.

"Hey, Newton, have you seen J5? I can't find him anywhere." Stephanie asked. Newton wasn't paying attention. When he noticed Stephanie looking at him, he said, "What? "Have you seen J5?" Stephanie repeated herself. "No, why?" Newton replied. "I need to go grocery shopping and wanted to take him with me." "Why? So he can make a mess of the place searching for input?" Newton asked her. "No, he won't do that." "Speak for yourself." "Okay So he has made a mess of my house before, but that's when he didn't know rules exist." Stephanie said, standing up for her friend. "True. Well, I'll help you look for him. He's probably in the woods somewhere." Newton switched off the TV and walked out the back door, towards the woods in which Johnny was in.

"Okay, now I am totally lost." Johnny said, and started to yell, "Hello?! Anyone out there? Need input!"

There was only the sound of crickets chirping as the sun was slowly setting. Johnny Five had been lost for quite a few hours, and he heard distant voices in which he didn't recognize, nor understood what they were saying.

Johnny suddenly looked up ahead and saw another house. It looked just like the one he lived in, but with a smaller yard and smaller structure.

"Ooh! Home! Need input!" Johnny said as he rolled as quickly as he could toward the strange house. He saw an 8-year-old girl come out of the house, wearing a dress. She had long blonde hair, and small brown eyes. Her small eyes popped open as she saw Johnny Five roll up to her.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look! It's the robot man!" The little girl shrieked with joy as she ran toward Johnny. A young woman with brown hair and blue eyes, kind of short for her age, walked out of the house, and gave Johnny a weird look. The little girl came up and hugged Johnny.

"Um, do I know you?" Johnny asked, "I am confused, flustered, shocked." "See, Mommy? He can talk! I told you I saw him in the neighbors yard! He was walking around all alone! I think he needs a friend, Mommy. Can we keep him? Please?" The little girl pleaded, giving her mom the "puppy eyes".

"Oh, Holly, You know your father doesn't like you to be around anything robotic or machine-related. He gets very mad when you look at his stuff in the basement. He doesn't even let you use the microwave. Surely he wouldn't let you keep this robot. Plus, it probably belongs to the neighbors down the road. We better phone in." The mother said. "I do not belong to anyone, I live!" Johnny said. "See, Mommy? He doesn't belong to anyone! He can talk for himself! He can live with us!" The little girl, Holly, said. "I'll talk to your father, but we better phone the neighbors just in case." The mother said, walking toward the house.

"Oh, but I live with Stephanie Speck, and Newton Crosby!" Johnny Five told her. "You do? Well! Those are our neighbors. You see, Holly, you can't have everything. Especially if they live somewhere else." Holly's mother walked into the house and picked up the phone.

"My name's Johnny. What's your name?" Johnny asked politely.

"I'm Holly! Mr. Johnny, sir? Could you help me with something?" Holly asked, leading Johnny into her house. "Sure, what is it?" Johnny cocked his head to the side. "You see, me and my mom have been trying to get into the basement, but my daddy keeps it locked with a special password in the computer, and we don't know what he does down there. Can you figure out the password?" Holly asked.

"I could try" Johnny said. Holly led him to the stair case. "Um, I don't think treads can go down chairs" Johnny started to say, but he was cut off by Holly.

"Oh, don't worry. If you get the password right, the stairs turn into a ramp." Holly replied.

"Why?" Johnny asked, seemingly confused. "Why what?" Holly asked, turning the computer near the staircase on. "Why do the stairs change into a ramp?" Johnny asked again. "So dad can move his stuff up here when he wants to show us. We hear some weird noises down there when he's working in the basement. He says he's seen you around a few times in the woods, and that he thinks you're a machine that had ran away from your family, but I think you're nice. He just doesn't know that you're in the right place. He jumps to conclusions too much. I think you should stay away from him." Holly explained.

"And another question" Johnny said, "Why does he not like you around machines?" "Well, he thinks that I'll be too curious of what he does with the machines in the basement he works with if I get into that stuff." Holly replied.

"I see" Johnny looked at the computer, as a screen popped up. "Password, please?" A woman's voice from the computer's speakers said. Johnny gave the computer a blank look, "Any hints?" "Correct. Next password?" The computer said. "First easy, second hard." Johnny said. He thought it over. "The second password has something to do with machines, my mom told me." Holly said. "Build." Five said to the computer. "Incorrect." The computer replied.

"Must be smart computer" Johnny said, looking at the computer with interest. "Hmm, how about. Artificial Intelligence?" "Incorrect." "Assemble?" "Incorrect."

"Okay, I give up." Johnny said. "What is it?" "Incorrect." "Dang, I thought it was going to fall for that too dumb machine. Go disassemble yourself." "Correct." The computer said, and the stairs changed into a ramp before Five's and Holly's eyes.

Holly's mother walked up to them. "Holly, Johnny's friends are going to pick him up, and" Holly's mother stopped as she saw the basement door swing open automatically. "You… You found out the password?"

"Actually Johnny did, mommy." Holly answered sweetly.

At the moment, they all heard a knock at the door, and Holly's mom answers it to find Newton and Stephanie waiting to take Johnny back home.

Got to part two