Another

Chapter Nine: Chink in the Armor

We had walked down the pathway towards the kingdom when Snow asked what we were looking for.

"We're looking for tires that fit R.C. He can't roll around without proper protection!" I laughed.

Snow giggled, but asked where we would find some tires.

Flint and I stopped dead in our tracks, I had completely forgotten where we were going and who we'd meet.

"Hello? Where is it?" Snow asked confused.

Flint hopped out from my pocket, "We're going to the junkyard, but there's someone there we were hoping not to see."

"Who?"

"Coal..." I sighed.

"Wait who?"

"Coherent Organism or Android Locator. Coal" Flint and I both said in sync.

"What the heck does that mean?"

"It has to do with finding sentient beings or something Motherboard told me."

"So, if Coal's name has some sciency meaning behind it... What does Flint's name mean?" Snow asked.

"Functionary Local Inter-Neural Topographer!" Flint shouted.

"Flint." I added.

"And the lowdown?" She asked.

Flint and I looked at each other, I had never asked what Flint's name meant, it was just a bunch o jumbo mumbo to me.

"I have no idea Snow..." Flint chirped almost disappointed. Flint doesn't even know either?

"What's so bad about Coal?" Snow interjected.

"Well, he's kinda insane, too many loose circuits if you know what I mean. Hehe..." I spoke nervously.

"Oh he can't be that bad... Where to?"

***

We could see the entrance to the junkyard. It was right outside the castle walls. Snow was holding Flint on one shoulder and R.C. in her hand. We had come up with a plan, Coal always patrols the front gate, so She and Flint would sneak through the back and fit some tires for R.C.

"I'm going to go talk to Motherboard while you two are doing that." Flint and Snow nodded and started to walk around the fenced off area.

I found myself walking through Motherboard's large castle doorway. One reason I decided to do this was because I wanted to get away from the small chance of reuniting with Coal, yet the biggest reason was that I had some questions for her...

I paused at the entrance to her domain, took a deep breath, and took one step.

Immediately Motherboard welcomed me inside, asked me where Flint was, the usual. And then she asked me where the specimen was.

"Her name is Snow, and that's what I came to ask you about."

Motherboard's pupil contracted in the slightest, yet it put off a message strong enough to guess that she knew what was coming.

"I was going to ask, why did you send me and Flint to go explore the cave? Some of your guards would have been plenty capable to explore it. I'm just wondering-"

"Jacob... The stimulus caused by that small 'cave raid' would have sent my finest guards on the fritz. You have to understand that only your complex and human mind could take in those things. I hope that answers your question... Now about the specimen..."

In that moment, my trust for Motherboard dropped sharply. Not only did she say cave raid, but the fact that Flint never told her about that means she was spying on us. Plus she said her finest guards' brains would be turned to mush... Flint's didn't. Did that mean-

"Jacob, your heart rate just went up, is there something wrong? Did something happen to the specimen?"

Dropped lower.

"Is that all you care about? Snow? Nothing happened to her. But I'm a little curious... Why did you say the guards would go crazy when you weren't worried about Flint?"

I could tell she hesitated a bit. "Flint has a very complex microchip, he was created to have the intellectual level of a child. He's much smarter, yes, but he was made to withstand that amount of stimulus."

I sighed. "Ok I understand." I started to walk out.

I turned around and said one more thing.

"Oh by the way, Flint never told you he called it a cave raid."

You could almost see the shock on her face from that small error.