NOVEL FROG A New Day
Psi is standing in the corner of Vito's room, powered off, as the morning sun creeps in.
"Psi..." Vito pokes onto the Drone's visor. "Psi..." Vito stares at the Drone for a few seconds. "PSI!"
Text flashes across Psi's visor.
Poweri̵̤͌̓n̴̗̬͝g̵̬͓̓ ̴̤̬̒͋Ỏ̶̱̯n̸̮͒̚
Some static shoots out from under Psi's shirt, where his stomach is, and his eyes flash on. Psi blinks a few times and turns to Vito.
Vito is dressed in some simple casual attire, consisting of a white shirt and some jeans. "Finally." He scratches his chin. "I should do a check up on you, seems like I didn't fix everything."
Psi just tilts his head as he stares at the young boy.
"Annnywaaaay! Let's go get some daily morning nutrients!" Vito throws a fist up and shuffles over to his door. "Come Psi, lets go get some breakfast."
Psi nods and follows after the teen as they head down stairs, Vito jumping past the last steep, creating a thud that echoes in the house. Vito then runs over to the kitchen and then goes sliding as he tries to stop on the wood floor with socks on.
"Woah!" Vito nearly slams into the kitchen wall next to the fridge, but he manages to catch himself. "Stuck the landing!"
Psi walks over with a confused look as Vito opens up the fridge and rummages through it.
"Cold Pizza... Cold Turkey, that needs to be eaten today?" Vito starts to hum as Psi glances around, at the pretty clean kitchen.
The Drone notices some pictures on the wall that leads into the living room. They're mostly pictures of Vito and an older looking man with bright blond hair and tired green eyes. But Psi does notices something the lack of Vito's mother in the pictures he's seen.
Vito sighs, catching the Y unit's attention, as Vito pulls out a jug of milk.
"Looks like it's cereal again." Vito sets the jug on the counter as he digs out a cereal of of Golden Waffles and white bowl.
Vito takes the three items and sits down at a large table in the dinning room connected to the kitchen. Vito pours the cereal first like a model citizen and not the milk like a lunatic, then milk. Vito sighs as he starts to eat his breakfast with Psi standing a few feet away, staring at him.
Vito glances out a window to his left, staring at a few trees the block the view of the next house. The trees lightly sway with a breeze, as a few leaves blow past the window. Vito the glances to his right as sees Psi just standing and staring at him.
"Sit down, Psi." Vito motions to the chair beside him. "You're making me uncomfortable by just standing there... and staring."
Psi glances at the chair, then back to Vito, he motions to the chair again. Psi walks over to the chair and pulls it out, before sitting down and turning towards Vito, staring at him.
"Psi... can you please not stare?" Vito asks in concern.
Psi nods and starts looking around the room. At the vintage cabinets with glass doors that hold fine china within. The several hand painted paintings on the wall, the Cat tower near a window, then he glances into the living room.
A brick fire place with several pictures on its mantel, a coffee table in the middle of the room, magazines and remotes on the top. Next to the fireplace is the TV on a table, a couple consoles under the table, with stacks of games and movies. Several plants are along the walls with a couch on the other side of the TV. There's a recliner next to a large window that looks out towards the street.
Psi then hears a clatter beside him and glances over to see Vito finished eating, cleaning up the table. He takes his stuff over to the sink and puts everything away. Vito then glances up to the clock above the entry way.
7:05 A.M.
Vito turns over to Psi, who's getting up from his seat. "Well, Psi, I gotta head to school, the bus will be here any minute." He heads towards the front door, with Psi following. "I would love to bring you today, but I need to register you with the Main Office, before I can bring you in." He looks Psi up and down, rubbing his chin. "I could possible pass you off as an N unit, they're kinda tall."
Psi stares at Vito.
Vito picks up his school bag which is beside the front door, and slings it over his shoulder. "You are way taller then all the other Drone Units. This is gonna be hard to keep others from figuring out what you are, but-" He shrugs his shoulders. "-What can ya do?" he opens the door as a bus pulls up in front of the house. "See you later, Psi! Don't cause any trouble!"
Vito runs out of the house, shutting the door behind him. Psi stares at the door as he sees the bus take off through stained glass in the door.
Psi blinks a few times before he turns to the side and heads off into the living room. He glances around as he heads over to the fire place. He looks at the pictures on the mantle, most of them being of Vito and his father, a couple of them looked like they've been torn just beside Vito's father.
Psi keeps looking as sees a photo of a baby Byzan. The drone smiles as he looks at the photo, before returning to neutral and he keeps looking around. He looks at the recliner near the window and walks over to it, and looks down at it.
Psi slowly sits down in the chair, he lets out a sigh as he sinks into the soft chair. He closes his eyes for a few seconds and his hands fall off the sides of the arm rest, his right hand its a lever.
Text flashes across his visor.
?
Psi's eyes appear and he looks over the edge and sees the wooden lever, he grabs it and pulls it back. The chair's back shoots backwards, making the drone panic and grip the edges of the chair. After a couple seconds Psi calms down, and swiftly exits the chair.
Psi then heads out of the living room and heads down into the basement. Looking around at all the electronics and tools, he even spots a drum of Drone Oil off to the side.
Something clatters to the ground and Psi swiftly changes his left hand into an Anti-material rifle and aims it down beside him. His right eye changes into a reticle as his left disappears.
"Meow." Byzan meows up at the Drone as a large gun is pointed in his face. He purrs and rubs himself on the end of the gun before walking off.
Psi changes his hand back to normal and his eyes return. He looks around the room one more time, before walking back upstairs. He glances to the seconds, floor, but decides to ignore it and head back into the living room.
Psi glances around and his eyes land on the grey couch, he walks over to it and slowly sits down onto it. He lets out a sigh as he leans back and rubs his hands on the soft seat.
He stays still for a few moments as he closes his eyes. And once he reopens them he goes to stand up, but Byzan suddenly jumps onto his lap and goes loaf mode.
Psi looks at the cat in confusion before making a shooing motion. Byzan just closes his eyes and starts to purr. Psi light tries to push the cat off him, but he refuses to move.
Psi sighs and leans back into the couch, and closes his eyes. Text flashes across his eyes.
SYS:
Power Saving Mode
----
Alarms ring out as Psi opens his red eyes as the door to the charging port opens up. Red lights flash as he looks around, seeing 18 other identical versions of him exiting their charging pods.
"Y Units!" An Authoritative voice calls out and all Y units snap to attention. The Colonel stands in front of all the Drones. "An Unidentified Drone is currently wrecking havoc in my base, I want you all to go out there, and destroy that beast! Now Move!"
All the Drones March out of the room and down the dark halls, lit by the flashing of red lights. Psi passes by a window and blood splatters onto it as a Text-to-Speech giggle echoes outside.
The Drones stop in front of a large garage door, it opens up and a wet crunching sounds reach the Drones Audio sensors. The Drones march out of the garage and see-
---
"I'm home!" Vito calls out as Psi wakes up, clutching the edge of the couch as he takes a few heavy breaths.
Byzan meows as he hops off Psi's lap and walks off into the kitchen. Psi looks around and notices that he's been asleep for most of the day.
"Psi?" Vito calls out.
The drone stands up and peaks out of the living room, seeing Vito taking off his shoes as he sets his bag down beside the door. Vito spots the white eyes of the drone peaking around the corner.
"Psi, how are you? Didn't cause trouble?"
Psi gives him a thumbs up as he walks over.
"That's good, look we're gonna explore the town today." Vito smiles at the drone. "But first, let me go to the bathroom and quickly get something to eat."
A little while later Psi and Vito are walking through a large city.
"Our town's kinda small, only 10,000 people. But I like it here." Vito explains as he shows Psi around the town.
Psi looks around, seeing many people looking at him, being the tall Drone he is. He sees many electronic build boards scattered everywhere, and cars filling up the streets. Several aircraft fly overhead, overall the city is loud... Psi doesn't like it.
"It may seem crowded, but you should see the big cities, you could hardly walk around." Vito explains.
Over the next few hours Vito takes Psi around the large city, showing him various places such as the Movie theater, a couple of his favorite restaurants, a few convenience stores and a video game store.
"I think that was the last place I wanted to show you..." Vito hums in thought as he taps his chin with a finger.
The sky is a bright orange as the sun hangs over the horizon, Psi looks up at the sky, glancing around at all the clouds and how colorful the sky could be. Vito then tugs on his arm and they go down an alleyway.
"Come on, Psi, this is a really fast short cut, I take it all the time."
Psi narrows his eyes slightly as the teen drags him along, and he forces Vito to stop as they get halfway through.
"Psi?" Vito glances at him. "What's wrong?"
Psi points up ahead and Vito looks to see three large thugs entering the alleyway.
"This is cliche...." Vito mutters.
"Heya kid, nice Drone you got there." The closest thug comments. "Must've costed ya a pretty penny."
"S-So what?" Vito slightly stutters as he stares down the large thugs. "What's it to you?"
"Well, first you could give us 'ur wallet, and then we'll take 'ur Drone." A second thug calls out. "If you do all that, we'll consider not hurting ya."
"No!" Vito shouts as he takes a step forward. "You're not taking Psi!"
"Oh, the kids named it." The third thug speaks up. "Probably thinks its his friend. HAHAHA!"
Vito glares at the thugs, only to grow confused as Psi walks past him.
"Psi?" Vito questions as the Drone stops a few feet in front of him.
"Citizens, I order you to turn around and leave the area." Psi orders.
"Oh?" The Thug leader raises an eyebrow. "It thinks it can order us around." He pulls out a large knife. "I say we give it a lesson."
One thug pulls out a bat while the other brings out a butterfly knife.
"Deadly Weapons sighted." Psi looks the thugs up and down. "Citizens, if you do not put down your weapons, I will use force. You have five seconds to comply."
A timer counts down on Psi's visor from five.
"This damn thing." The Thug leader walks towards Psi. "Drones arn't supposed to order around Humans." He stops in front of Psi and raises up his knife. "Fuck selling ya, I'm gonna rip this thing apart."
The thug brings down his knife as the timer on Psi's visor hits 0. Psi brings up his hand and catches the thug's wrist.
"Huh?"
"Citizen, you have violated the law. Attacking Military Issued Equipment is up to 10 years in jail and a $50,000 fine. You have also threatened a young male child, which is up to 15 years in jail and a $50,000 fine. I shall now use force to sedue you, please do not resist."
Psi twists the man's wrist, making him yell in pain and drop the knife. The Psi roughly tugs on his arm and a loud pop is heard, before Psi pushes him to the ground.
"AH FUCK!" The thug leader rolls on the ground, clutching at his dislocated arm. "Kill that thing!"
The two other thugs charge at Psi, their weapons held high. A bat comes down at Psi, but he punches it, breaking it in half, before grabbing the thug by the front of his shirt.
"Huh?" The thug gets thrown into the wall beside Psi, his eyes roll back as he foams at the mouth.
Psi the leans back as a small knife slices past him. Psi then punches the man in the throat, making him gag and cough, before Psi grabs the back of his head and slams it into the ground.
"Hostiles eliminated." Psi observes. "The police have been notified and video evidence as been submitted, please do not resist arrest and have a good time in prison."
Psi stands up and glances at Vito, who has stars in his eyes.
"THAT WAS AWHAHAHESOME!" Vito shouts as he runs up to Psi. "That was so cool, Psi. I didn't know you could do something like that."
Psi gives a thumbs up. Sirens wail in the distance, making Vito sweat.
"We uh- should get out of here." Psi nods in response as the teen drags Psi out of there.
An hour later the suns nearly set as Vito and Psi arrive back at home.
"Well, that was a very eventful day." Vito tugs on his shirt as he pulls out a house key.
Vito starts to unlock the door as Psi stares at him.
"Well, tomorrow I do get to bring you to school." Vito unlocks the door and puts his key away. "I got you all registered and everything."
Vito opens the door and smells something cooking. He raises an eyebrow as he and the drone step inside.
"Dad?" Vito closes the door behind him as he starts to take off his shoes.
"Vito!" A man that Psi saw in the photos steps out of the kitchen.
He's wearing a button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and suit pants.
"I-" The man starts, but notices Psi. "A Drone? Vito, is that the one you've been working on?"
Vito nods with a smile as he runs up to his dad. "Yeah! I finally got him working, isn't he cool?!" Psi walks up to them.
Vito's dad looks at Psi up and down. "Um, he's kinda tall for a Drone, wouldn't this raise suspicion? We don't even have his Certificate of Ownership, we could get in so much trouble."
Vito blows raspberries. "Dad, it'll be fine. Trust me."
Vito's dad sighs. "If you say so." He then remembers something. "Oh, I got something good cooking! It's your favorite, spaghetti with grilled cheese!"
Vito gasps in excitement. "Yes!" Vito runs off into the dinning room, leaving the Drone and Vito's father behind.
Vito's father looks at Psi. "Uh, um... I don't know what to say to a Drone, but um... Please be nice to Vito." Psi nods as Vito's father sighs and rubs his tired eyes. "Thank you, the kid does have it tough sometimes, but I just want what's best for him."
Vito's father walks back into the kitchen as Psi stares at his back.
Vito and his father have dinner, then Vito takes Psi into the basement and does some tweaking to his programming and fixes up a couple of glitches.
Then Vito heads off to bed, and swiftly falls asleep. Psi is back in his corner and is about to power down for the night, but he hears Vito's father through the barely open door.
"No, you can't see him... You know what the courts said! ... Well, you should have through about that before going back on that stuff. ... ... It ain't my fault, you have to take the blame for being irresponsible! ... No, he's sleeping so I'm not waking him up. ... He has school tomorrow and it's already midnight. ... ..."
Vito's father sighs. "... If you can get a note from the doctors stating that you've been sober for a month, then I'll let you see him. ... Okay. ... ... ... Sounds good, bye."
Footsteps walk past the doorway and another door opens, before shutting.
After waiting for a few minutes of hearing nothing, Psi finally powers down and enters charging mode.
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09-10-2024
2853 words