Posted in: Other - Short Stories
Date: February 26, 2010
Wayne was lying on a mechanical bench at the machine shop. His circuit box was open, and every now and then there would be the sound of electricity and sparks would jump out. Technicians swarmed around him trying to fix the problem.
It was not looking good for Wayne. His circuitry was almost completely destroyed, and there wasn't much the technicians could do. You might wonder how a nice little robot like Wayne could find himself in such a terrible situation. Let me tell you...
It all started out as a normal day at school. Wayne rolled up to school with a big grin plastered on his face. Wayne loved downloading information. So far, Wayne had downloaded over fifty-two terabytes of information, which was way more than any other robot his age.
When Wayne got to the entrance of the school, the big robot Franky, was waiting there.
"Hey, Nerder! You going to download some information today!?"
Wayne's control panel began to flash a multitude of bright and happy colors.
"Yes, Franky! I love incorporating information into my memory system! It makes my circuits tingle with delight!"
Franky carefully looked around, and then took a small box out of his storage unit.
"You want something to really make your circuits tingle? Try this, man."
Franky held out the box and opened it. Inside was a soldering gun.
Wayne had heard about soldering guns. His parents had warned him never to use one, and there was even a special class in school about their dangers.
"Come on, Man", Franky Beeped, "It's so cool. Watch me do it."
Franky took the soldering gun and opened up his circuit box. He took the gun and placed its tip between two of his circuits. Sparks began to fly out of Franky's box and his control panel flashed the most beautiful combination of colors that Wayne had ever seen.
"Ahhhhhh! Yes!", Franky's siren went off. "It's so cool!"
Wayne hesitated. He wasn't sure he wanted to use the soldering gun, but he was afraid what Franky would think about him.
Wayne took the soldering gun and opened up his circuit box. Franky carefully instructed Wayne on which circuits he could touch, and which ones he couldn't. Wayne listened and then carefully touched the gun to his motherboard.
Time suddenly stood still for Wayne. The sky was morphing a bright rainbow of colors, and Wayne saw a giant dumptruck robot flying over him! Wayne suddenly felt a flood of information sweep over him and he began to process it in strange and different ways. It was amazing and it made his circuits tingle.
From that day on, Wayne was a soldering junkie. He bought his own soldering gun and he kept it hidden in his storage unit. He motherboard became black and charred, and Wayne never opened up his circuit box around older robots.
Then one day, Wayne accidentally touched the gun to a vital circuit. Wayne's circuit box sparked like never before, and he fell to the ground. He was fried.
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The technicians examined the damage on Wayne's motherboard. There was nothing they could do to fix it. They would have to perform a motherboard transplant, but there was a huge shortage of motherboards at that time. They put Wayne on the waiting list, and eventually he got a new motherboard. Wayne learned a valuable lesson, and will never play with soldering guns ever again.