A large auditorium packed full of aliens cheered as the projector screen displayed shots of gold confetti. Spotlights illuminated the stage for a presenter in a suit to stroll out and greet his audience. The screen then changed to display the Satellite logo.
The presenter was a handsome seahorse alien with a golden spiny mane that glistened in the spotlight. He took a moment for the audience’s applause to die down before he smoothly started his presentation.
“Since the early 1990s, Satellite has grown to become the System’s number one supplier in spacecrafts and robotics. In the year 2000, we came out with the Satellite Advanced Drones, which were responsible for making deliveries throughout the System in record time. In 2010, our maintenance robots revolutionized how we ran our spaceships. They now help prevent engine and other spacecraft malfunctions that would usually be responsible for costing the lives of countless aliens. By 2015, about a quarter of all registered spacecrafts in the System were either Satellite-made, or were upgraded using Satellite.”
The seahorse strolled to center stage and boldly stated, “The System civilization that exists today would not be possible without Satellite technology. As more of you depend on our technology to survive, we won’t stop innovating to make sure that we don’t just survive through the space age, but flourish.”
“Satellite is celebrating its 35th anniversary with a new line of innovations that the entire System will soon be depending on in this new age.” The seahorse alien then stepped aside and motioned to center stage, and a hologram of a blue humanoid figure appeared.
“We have made recent strides in holographic technology,” the presenter announced. He walked up to the hologram and spun it around with a single motion of his hand. “You can now directly interact with holograms with just your fingertips. This technology is suited for a variety of biological limbs and robotic limbs as well.”
He then motioned to a table at the side of the stage, which a glass of water sat on top of. “Can you fetch me that glass?” he asked the hologram. The hologram instantly nodded and walked to the glass, and a small drone concealed itself within the hologram to retrieve the glass and carry it back to the presenter.
The presenter took the glass from the hologram and stated to the audience, “We are combining holograms with drone technology to make them more interactive and diverse in their uses than ever before.” He shook the hologram’s hand, which sparkled with golden light from the touch. The audience applauded this stride in interactive hologram technology.
The hologram walked off stage in an impressively realistic manner. The seahorse in a suit then continued, saying, “We already have several buyers for these new Satellite holograms. You should be witnessing their many uses in no time.”
The large screen behind him then displayed the next innovation, a new spaceship that was circular and resembled a flying saucer. “The all-new Satellite Saucer is now the fastest spaceship in existence. With its lightweight design and crystal-powered engine, this ship has broken boundaries by making the historic flight from the Moon to Q-23 in record time.” A demonstration of the saucer propelling through space was shown on screen. The ship was a flat circle with a dome on top and had exterior blinking lights. The demonstration also showed the ship’s anti-gravity beam, which was able to lift passengers into the ship with a single beam of light. The audience celebrated this other exciting advancement.
“Alongside solar and RTG’s, crystal power is becoming a leader in energy. Mined from the Martian moon Phobos, the Flare Crystal is revealing itself to be more of a useful power source with every passing year. Innovators at Satellite are now discovering the capabilities of using the Flare Crystal’s raw power.” The screen showed a beam expelled by a crystal-powered cannon, which caused a part of an asteroid to explode and leave behind a small crater. “This can be a brilliant tool for further mining.”
Roswell watched the presentation from backstage. If he had a mouth, he’d be mouthing along to every word. Instead, he leaned forward to stay attentive and his big dark eyes continuously glanced towards the grand audience, scoping their reactions. His green form glowed slightly in the dark space behind the curtains.
A glossy white android approached from behind and announced, “She is here.”
He sighed. “Just as it’s getting to the good part about the Flare Crystal.” Roswell thought for a moment before he asked, “We still don’t have any leads on the fugitive who raided the vault complex, do we?”
The android searched its memory drive before stating, “They had horns.”
Roswell brought a gloved hand up to his face. “We can’t just interrogate every alien in the System who has horns.” He turned away from his view of the stage and motioned for the android to move. “Lead the way.”
The android led him from Satellite Headquarters’ convention auditorium and through the polished clean halls. One of the automatic doors opened for BL-A1R’s head to swivel into the corridor on a self-guided tray.
“>:(”
“Oh, this is awkward.” Roswell stopped and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I wasn’t waiting for Blair.”
“The one you were waiting for is here,” the leading android clarified.
“Fantastic.” He motioned for the android to lead the way again.
As they continued down the white and blue halls, BL-A1R’s tray followed and she exclaimed furiously, “I was left floating around in space for hours!”
"But one of my androids did come and get you, right?” Roswell asked. “Otherwise you wouldn’t be here.”
“I am your personal assistant,” she reminded. “You have no idea how much work I do to keep the headquarters running!”
“And yet when I asked you to catch the fugitives, you lost your body instead,” he stated plainly. “You failed a very important job, and costed me an expense.”
“You are going to replace it though, right?”
The sounds of his footsteps filled the corridor as he didn’t respond.
“Roswell, I can’t be stuck as a head forever!” BL-A1R’s antennas sparked with rage.
“You’re a computer,” he reminded. “The android body was just an accessory. Embrace your natural state!”
Her automated voice screamed, and her tray stopped moving as she threw her tantrum. Roswell didn’t bother to watch her and he kept walking away. BL-A1R called out to him desperately, “Where are you even going!?”
Roswell turned back before he shortly said, “I’m hiring someone who can actually get the job done.” He then turned the corner, leaving BL-A1R behind, who muttered to herself bitterly as her antennas continued to buzz with livid sparks.
The leading android stopped outside the door to one of the headquarters’ smaller docking ports. Roswell entered the port on his own to find the alien he had been waiting for inspecting the exterior of the new Satellite Saucer.
Plasma was a mantis alien who was partially made out of dark twisted wood and thorns. Her large insect body towered over Roswell, and he noticed sap oozing from her brambly forearms. She was physically more insect-like than humanoid, with four legs and two pincher arms.
She used her mandibles to clean some of the sap off of her forearms and her antennas motioned towards the saucer. “Nice ship,” she commented. Pleased with her cleaning routine, she lowered her arms and asked, “You got another job for me?”
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Roswell nodded. “You must have heard about the fugitives that abducted two humans from Earth by now.”
“Crazy that happened, isn’t it?” She spoke almost jokingly, expecting that Roswell had something to do with this.
“I need you to bring the humans here alive,” he said in the same straightforward tone. “The fugitives you can do whatever with.”
Her mandibles stretched into a grotesque smile and she raised her thorny arms eagerly. “I can tear their bodies in half,” she said sadistically.
He waved his hand impatiently. “Yeah, whatever. It doesn’t matter what happens to them. But no one can know about this. This will be your most classified and important job yet. And for that reason, you’re getting some help.”
She grimaced a bit. “It’s not from a robot, is it?”
Roswell strolled in a circle, gazing up at the saucer ship in thought. “I’m realizing that some of my newer androids are not as dependable as I once thought. Silly things like flashing lights are taking them out, while the primitive robots remain functional and unaffected. I guess there’s something to be said about old reliables, right?”
Plasma didn’t respond, not sure where this was going.
“There’s a robot I’ve been working on for years. He may not have been built originally to be a bounty hunter, but I think I’ve perfected combining his original skills with some programming of my own.”
He then pulled a device from his suit pocket and imputed a command before the port’s automatic door opened again. A robot that couldn’t be more than three feet tall entered the docking area.
The robot’s head was a literal boombox. He had glowing green eyes in the two black circular stereos, and in the middle of the boombox was a colorful rectangle that glowed with audio equalizer bars. He had a CD intake and controls on his chest. The exterior of his dated blocky body was made mostly out of plastic, and some of his metal joints from his interior skeleton were showing between the gaps.
The audio equalizer bars moved up and down when he spoke. “I have been summoned at your request,” he stated in a robotic voice that was so distorted and dated that it made BL-A1R’s voice sound natural.
The short robot approached them, walking in perfect tempo to a song that wasn’t playing. Once he was at their side, Roswell said, “Plasma, meet Ace.”
She stared down at the robot expressionlessly. “That’s a toy.”
“It no longer matters what he was originally made to be,” Roswell countered. “After decades of improved programming, he is now more capable for the job than any other robot I could pair you with.”
She turned to him in shock. “Wait, he’s actually a toy!?”
“He was never used as a toy, alright?” He stepped towards Plasma as he defended himself. “He’s been shut down and systematically developed for his entire existence. All he knows now is to help you capture the humans. I can assure you that Ace is the best there is for the job.”
Plasma forced shut her mandibles, knowing that fighting against Roswell would only be a poor decision.
Roswell then nodded to Ace. “You know what to do.”
Ace saluted with movements that were obviously mechanical before he headed towards the saucer. Roswell tossed Plasma the ship’s key and said, “Enjoy the ride.”
Her excitement for flying the System’s fastest spaceship was slightly damaged by having to work with some sort of ex-toy bounty hunter. She sighed and then used the key to open the saucer’s anti-gravity beam, which pulled Plasma and Ace up onto the ship.
The saucer’s exterior lights blinked on and then the ship sped out of the docking port, into the traffic of Q-23. While Plasma piloted the spaceship, Ace took a CD from the storage compartment in his torso and put it into the CD player in his chest. His audio equalizer bars synced to the techno music that played through his speakers. Ace bobbed his boombox head to the funky beat.
Plasma stiffened and just forced her attention to the windshield. All she had to do was find the humans. If Roswell gave her a toy for a partner, that just meant she had to work harder.
---
The System Agents would have access to Kepler’s ship registration, which allowed certain space stations in the System to read their ship pass by in the vicinity. This could be used to track where Kepler’s ship was headed. But Plasma and Ace needed to get to the humans before the System government did. They needed the ship registration to find the fugitives first.
They knew from Roswell which repair shop in Q-23 to visit, which had Kepler’s ship registration logged in a recent data file. If they could extract it, they would have a better chance at getting to that ship first.
Plasma piloted their saucer to the run-down district where their destination was. Their ship came in for a landing on top of the repair shop’s dated and eroding structure. It was now late and past regular business hours in Q-23, meaning that the shop was closed for the time being. The exterior of the shop was completely dark, along with nearby structures that were messily interlinked in the vicinity.
The saucer’s metal legs extended so that the ship could land sturdily on top of the repair shop. Their ship remained dark and unmoving, ensuring that the no one in the vicinity would notice their landing. Plasma then headed to the ship’s airlock, and Ace naturally followed.
Plasma wore a spacesuit uniquely designed to accommodate her mantis body, while Ace didn’t need any spacesuit as he was a robot with a built-in gravity-regulator. Plasma’s spacesuit also had a gadget installed on her arm that was equipped with various tools. Inside their airlock, Plasma glanced down at the robot and asked through her headset, “Are you gonna be able to fight if we run into trouble?”
Ace pulled out a small laser gun that was stored in his torso compartment alongside his CDs. After putting it back and closing up his torso, he droned, “What about you?”
She raised her large pincher arms. “Don’t worry about me,” she assured confidently.
The airlock’s floor opened so that they could fall in low-gravity to the surface of the structure. They made their way around the broken gaps in the exterior until they found an airlock they could break into. Plasma’s gadget was equipped with a break-in key, which she used to hack the door’s lock and break inside within a few minutes.
Once they were both through the repair shop’s airlock, they found themselves in a dingy corridor with occasional missing tiles in the ceiling. Plasma turned on the headlamp on her helmet, cascading a bright light down the otherwise dark desolate hallway. The surrounding vents mechanically hummed and occasionally rattled noisily, but nothing else could be heard.
After glancing up and down the empty corridor, Plasma moved forward and said, “Let’s find this data file and get out pronto.”
“Running data extraction sequence,” Ace reported in his distorted automated voice. He then pressed a button on his CD player and another song started playing through his speakers. He moved down the corridor while dancing in a robotic fashion.
“Cut it out, you’re ruining our cover!” She hurried towards the grooving robot to silence him, but before she could, a maintenance robot entered their corridor. It clearly belonged to this shop, as it had a rusted color and was made of dated geometric plates. Plasma froze, waiting to see if Roswell had control over this one.
The maintenance robot scanned them with its lens and its body shook as it glitched in place. A second later, lights in the corridor started flashing and an alarm sound blared repetitively. Nope.
Plasma surged towards the maintenance robot and picked it up with her large pincher arms before slamming it into the wall, forcing it to short-circuit and collapse to the floor. She turned around to find that Ace was gone. His techno music echoed down the halls amongst the alarm sounds.
More maintenance robots entered Plasma’s corridor and she raised her pincher arms at the ready. She threw one robot into another strenuously and picked up a third, raising it towards the red flashing lights before tearing its body in half. Plasma shouted as she tore apart the robot’s body, producing buzzing sparks and broken wires between the two halves.
Ace danced his way down the checkered tiles in the flashing lights until he reached a private office. A few computer screens sat on a desk. Ace climbed into the office swivel chair, but he was too short to be at eye level with the computers. He pulled the chair’s lever to boost his seat up more and be able to access the desk.
He bobbed his head to the music still playing through his speakers while he hacked the computer and got to the desired data file. Now just needing to extract it, he pulled a clean CD from his storage compartment to download the file onto. He searched the exterior of the computer for a CD slot, but couldn’t find one. Ace then just started inserting the CD into different crevasses within and around the computers, searching for something that would take the disk.
"Move aside!” Plasma came up from behind and pushed Ace’s swivel chair away. A USB drive dispensed from the gadget on her arm and she used it to download the file from the computer. “No one uses CDs anymore, you busted relic.” She then picked up Ace and imagined tearing his head off. Instead, she raced back to down the flashing corridors, begrudgingly carrying a robot playing music and bobbing his head along.
They turned a corner and found another group of maintenance robots. One of them held a laser gun at the ready. Ace pulled the gun from his torso, but before he could fire, Plasma opened her helmet to extend her mandibles and vomit a huge surging wave of dark sap at the robots. They were all flooded by the heavy downpour, and the force of it made them all collapse. Now all stuck to the floor, the robots glitched and buzzed in place as their hardware was defiled by the sap. Plasma cautiously trekked by their fallen forms, using her insect legs to climb the walls and avoid the sap-covered floor.
They broke back out of the repair shop and then used the beam of light to enter their saucer. Inside their ship’s airlock, Plasma put down Ace and exclaimed, “What the hell was that!?”
Ace just looked at her before he droned, “A success.” He then continued the music on his CD player and stated, “Initiating victory dance sequence.”
While Ace danced mechanically in place, Plasma groaned furiously and stormed to the ship’s control panel. She flew their saucer away as quickly as possible before anyone discovered the mess they left behind.
