Star League 6 (7 page)

I pull myself from the wrecked Megadroid and stalk towards iRis. She's too busy fighting off the others to notice me at first, so I walk over and plant myself right in front of her.

‘What's this? Another annoying little bug for me to squash!' she says.

‘Who are you, iRis?' I ask. ‘You said you were my friend. Instead you turned me against the people who are my real friends! What are you trying to do?'

‘I am your friend,' iRis says with a nasty sneer. ‘Don't you remember? I'm the only one you can trust! Maybe you need a refresher lesson.'

She pushes a button on her wrist and I feel another flood of anger cloud my brain. But this
time I'm ready for it. I shake my head to clear it, focusing instead on feeling happy.

‘Part of having emotions is learning how to control them,' I say. ‘You can't let yourself be controlled by someone or something else. You just have to be yourself.'

‘But wasn't that the reason you accepted the Emotochip in the first place?' taunts iRis. ‘You agreed to it because your friends didn't like you being yourself.'

I glance at the rest of the Star League, suddenly unsure. iRis smirks when she sees she's hit a sore spot.

‘That's not true, Sam,' says Jay.

‘Isn't it? You guys got mad at me for not knowing how to act like a human!' I say.

‘Sure, we get a little frustrated sometimes,' says Connor.

‘But that doesn't mean we don't like you,' adds Leigh.

‘Ups and downs are part of any friendship,' explains Asuka. ‘It's completely normal.'

‘You're our friend, Sam, and we like you for who you are,' says Roger. ‘Especially when you reprogram the vending machines to give us free snacks.'

‘You shouldn't ever have to change yourself for other people to like you,' says Jay. ‘If that's the case then they're not worth knowing.'

A warm rush of happiness courses through my body and I feel myself smile. The anger of the Emotochip fades away to nothing.

‘I've had enough of this!' screeches iRis. She reaches down and grabs me in her Megadroid fist. ‘I'm going to crush you one by one, starting with you, robot. Let's see how well your feelings work when you're nothing but spare parts!'

The fist starts to squeeze around me. Luckily I don't need to breathe in order to survive, but if I don't do something soon I'm going to be crushed to pieces!

I clear my mind and ready myself to put my plan into action. I have enough energy stored within my cells to release something called an electromagnetic pulse. Basically that means that when I release the pulse, everything electronic within a twenty-metre radius will have its circuits erased. It will stop iRis and her Megadroid in their tracks.

There's just one problem – it could also wipe out my memory.

I run through my plan and slowly doubt starts to creep in. The pulse will stop iRis, but at what cost? I think I'll be able to reboot my programming after the pulse, but what kind of personality will I have after I do it? Will I still be the same as I am now? Will I go back to the old Sam? Or worse, will I become another unthinking, unfeeling robot like I was originally programmed to be?

Soon my doubts are crushing me almost as much as the Megadroid fist. I take a moment to
clear my thoughts, and I realise something. Just because I'm scared, or sad, or angry, it doesn't mean my emotions have to completely control me. I know this pulse is the only way to save my friends, and I have to do it.

I close my eyes and electricity pulses through my body.

‘What are you doing?' asks iRis, her eyes widening as she feels the electricity build.

‘I'm doing what I feel is best,' I tell her.

I let the pulse go. The air crackles with electricity, and I see iRis's Megadroid collapse. Then everything goes black. everything goes black.

REBOOTING …

REBOOTING …

SYNTHETIC ARTIFICIAL MACHINE PROGRAMMING SET TO RUN MODE …

I sit up and open my eyes. My visual sensors identify Jay, Asuka, Connor, Roger and Leigh crowded around me.

‘Sam! Are you hurt?' asks Jay.

My systems run the question through my data processing unit.

‘Negative. I am in functioning order.'

‘How are you feeling?' asks Leigh.

My systems search for the correct response.

‘DOES NOT COMPUTE!'

They glance at each other in concern.

‘The pulse must've fried his brain,' whispers Roger.

I try to keep a straight face, but I can't help myself. I burst out laughing.

‘Just kidding! I feel great!'

The others stare at me in shock.

‘What's the matter, haven't you ever seen a robot with feelings before?' I jump to my feet and brush myself off.

I notice that iRis has been pulled from her broken Megadroid and is tied up in a corner. A wave of relief rolls over me, but it's quickly followed by worry.

‘I'm feeling emotions,' I tell the others, ‘which means the chip is still working. I have to remove it or I'm in danger of being controlled again.'

I frown. If I take the chip out I'll go back to being the old Sam, who hurts people's feelings and only thinks logically. I'd kind of got used to having feelings, but I know I can't put the others at risk by
keeping the Emotochip. I open the control panel on my wrist and take out the chip, handing it to Jay to destroy.

‘Hey, this chip is burnt out!' he says.

I take it and analyse it closely. ‘You're right! It must've been fried in the electromagnetic pulse!' I scrunch my face up in confusion. ‘But that means …'

‘It means that whatever you're feeling now isn't because of the chip,' explains Leigh.

‘You must've taught yourself feelings,' says Asuka.

‘First you're the only robot to think for yourself, now you're the only robot with feelings,' says Connor. ‘What next, are you going to grow wings and fly?'

I feel so happy I think I'm going to burst. But then I hear a voice that makes my happiness come crashing down.

‘REBOOTING!' iRis calls out. ‘Running
program: Identity Replication Interface Simulation!'

‘Huh?' asks Roger. The name might not mean much to him, but it sure sounds familiar to me.

‘I've heard of that,' I tell the others. ‘That's what iRis stands for! Identity Replication Interface Simulation. It means she's not really a robot with her own personality, she's just had somebody else's personality uploaded into her!'

‘But who is psychotic enough to want to destroy us with giant robots?' asks Jay.

We all freeze as we figure out the answer at the same time.

‘Loading personality: Professor Pestilence,' says iRis.

I can't believe it! I've been taking orders this whole time from our arch-enemy!

iRis looks at us and smirks. ‘So, now you finally know the truth. I, the great Professor Pestilence, uploaded my personality to this robot so I could spy on you and learn your secrets in the hopes of
destroying you. And I still might. This robot has a self-destruct mechanism that will blow this place sky high! INITIATING SELF-DESTRUCT MODE! Ten … nine … eight …'

‘No!' I lunge for iRis and connect with her programming through her wrist panel.

‘Seven … six …'

‘Quick, Sam, do something!' yells Asuka.

‘I'm trying!' I examine iRis's programming but I can't figure out a way to stop the self-destruct mode.

‘Five … four …'

Maybe I can disconnect the explosives! I close my eyes and focus on staying calm, even though my circuits are buzzing with fear.

‘Three … two … one …'