Forums » Sci-Fi Roleplay » A Chance encounter... (Closed)

OOC: This is a brief one-off scene. My partner had some personal stuff come up and we delayed the start of our game. I am not able to commit to anything further than this one scene but I'll play it out to its conclusion. Any kind of character from any genre is welcome.

It is only open to the first person that replies. If someone else responds, please do not jump in. I'll mark the thread closed as soon as I get a reply, but may not be able to close it immediately. Please read my character's profile before responding...

IC:

The Operator was busy working on a public space phone near a refueling station at some dumpy spaceport at the edge of the galaxy. The place was seedy and run down. "I didn't sign up for this," she grumbled pulling out her diagnostic equipment and attaching it to the phone. Her hover van was parked nearby with an orange traffic cone was set out behind it. She carefully peeled the yellow "Out of Order" sticker off of the credit slot and lifted the receiver. There was no dial tone. She hung the phone up and prepared to open it to get a look at its innards when it suddenly rang to her surprise.

"'Ello? Who's there," She asked wondering who might call a random space payphone at a dumpy little place like this. Should you choose to encounter her in person, you see a human woman who appears to be in her early 20s. She's wearing an ITC work uniform and her black hair is pulled up in a bun.

OOC: Did you dial a wrong number? Randomly calling phone numbers to see who answers? Maybe you're lost in space and see a public payphone, but to your dismay someone from the phone company is working on it. You can either be the person on the other end of the call or perhaps you walk up to her and need to use the phone... enter however you like.

She walked slowly to the pay phone, her master wanted her to call his wife to tell her they would be late home. She had jerky robotic movements. She saw somebody using the phone. She gently tapped their shoulder. “Are you going to be using the phone for a while?” She asked, her voice was quiet but very sweet. Since that was how it was programmed.

"Ello? 'Ello? Operator speaking. Operator... are you there," She asked. The phone made a series of strange beeps and chirps. She slammed the receiver back on the hook in frustration and picked up a tool and tried tightening some wires down.

The Operator was busy fiddling with the phone when she heard someone approach and whirled around to see what at first she thought was a purple-haired woman. She bent down and dropped a screwdriver into her toolbox before looking back up.

"'Ello there love," The Operator said.

“Are you going to be using the phone for a while?” She asked, her voice was quiet but very sweet. Since that was how it was programmed.

"Oh, need to make a call? I'm with the phone company," She replied quickly. "I'm afraid it's on the fritz. They called me out here to get the bugs out."

She looked around for a moment, noting that this seemed to be the only payphone in the area and there was not another one to direct her to. This lone call box was at the far extreme of the spaceport away from the fueling station and the Astromart where people could go in and buy food, beverages and other goods as well as use the lieu. The Operator noted the woman was not with anyone and she didn't see a vehicle.

"Are you needing to call someone for a lift? Some kind of urgent trouble?" Looking at her, she didn't appear to be in distress. It was then that The Operator noticed that the woman was some sort of android.

Sorry is this still open? It says closed.

Ooc I closed it so no one else will join.

Ah ok. Sorry.

She sighed. “No it’s not a emergency. Me and my boss are way far from home and he wanted me to call his wife..” she said softly. “It will be fine. We can manage..” she added, but she knew she would be yelled at if she didn’t call. That out a small frown of her face. “I’ll talk to him, have a nice night.” She said softly and started to walk away.

The Operator sensed the disappointment in the droid's voice as she turned to walk away. She'd been all over the galaxy and met all types of beings including robots, androids, artificially intelligent vending machines and talking cars. Many of them were as human as any living being if not more so. Sometimes, mechanoids were treated as servants and in extreme cases, even slaves and their masters were not always kind to them.

"Hold on there a moment love," The Operator called after her as she walked away. "Just give me a moment there. I can have this phone fixed in a gif. Ya say you and your master are far from home, eh?"

She turned for a moment, “it’s fine I promise. We are only about three are four hours away.” She said and smiled a little. She was used to being punished for things like this. She turned away again and started to walk back to her masters hovering limo.

The Operator started to say something else to change her mind, but the android girl began walking toward a limo. While that was going on, the side door on the telephone company hover van opened and a ramp lowered. A small, metal box on wheels resembling an antique toaster rolled out. It's two-eye stalks looked around a moment. They looked first to The Operator, and then to the purple-haired girl.

The little droid made a series of whirrs and beeps before speeding off and blocking her path to the limo. "Excuse me," the little robot said in an even monotone voice. "I can help you make your call..." The words were choppy and even. It made another series of noises and belched a cloud of steam or smoke from a vent on its side. A bell dinged and a little flag bobbed up and down as it tilted its eyes upward to look at her. A red light bulb on the top of its head came on. It sat there waiting for a response.

She smiled a little and kneeled down. “I can promise you we can manage.” She said softly. She moved her hair from her face. “I have dealed with worse” she added and got up. She started to walk away again to the limo.

"Yoo-nit! Yoo-nit! What are you doing out of the van you daft little toaster," The woman who had been working on the phone said with a hint of annoyance in her voice. "Leave the poor girl alone!"

She moved closer to the android. "I'm terribly sorry," The Operator apologized. "He means well. He really does." She looked down at the little metal box.

"Come along now, back in the van! I'll have this phone fixed in a jif, and we'll be on our way," She said to the little computer.

"Right," The little droid said tilting its eye stalks back to the machine girl. It looked at her longly before lowering its eyes and looking toward the ground as if a bit sad. "I can manage too... too... too..." its monotone voice began to skip the way an old vinyl record might if there was a scratch in it and the needle got stuck in the groove. It shuttered violently as it began repeating itself over and over.

She smiled softly as she was no longer noticed by them. Once at the limo her master opened the window. “Did you call my wife you mistake?” He asked. This made the android look down, her smile faded and she shook her head. “The phone is broken sir..” she whispered.
This made her master mad. “I’m leaving you here! Powered off!” He said with a growl. He pressed a button on a remote and hit the power off button. Her eyes turned fully black. The last thing she said was “powering off..”. Then she fell on the ground hard.

The Operator groaned in annoyance. The purple-haired android moved to the limo as The Operator gave Yoo-nit a good swift kick. It immediately stopped repeating itself. "How were you going to help her out," The Operator scolded. "You're a toaster masquerading as an antique GPS."

The Operator was no longer focused on the robot girl. She turned her attention back to the payphone and started moving toward it again.

Once at the limo her master opened the window. “Did you call my wife you mistake?” He asked. This made the android look down, her smile faded and she shook her head. “The phone is broken sir..” she whispered.

This made her master mad. “I’m leaving you here! Powered off!” He said with a growl. He pressed a button on a remote and hit the power off button. Her eyes turned fully black. The last thing she said was “powering off..”. Then she fell on the ground hard.

When the robot girl fell to the ground, The Operator quickly turned back around again. She looked at her lifeless body lying on the pavement and back to the car. "What? NO! Wait! Stop," she cried and ran toward the limo.

I’ll be replying later then usual today! Sorry.

The girls Master already rolled up the window, but before he did it dropped the remote next to Project 364’s body. Then he ordered his driver to leave. He could of cared less of The operator.

"Can we keep her," Yoo-nit asked rolling over to the poor android's deactivated body and turning its eyestalks down to look at her as its master tried in vain to chase down the android girl's owner.

"Grrr," The Operator said in frustration. She turned to Yoo-nit. "Can we keep 'er? Can we keep 'er? She's not a lost puppy!"

The Operator bent down and picked up the tossed remote and stared after the Limo as it disappeared. "Poor girl," The Operator said shaking her head. "Not her fault the phone was on the fritz! What sort of man would do that? Well, maybe we can turn her on again. Perhaps the misses wants her and will be very upset with the hubby. I'd like to think the man was decent and just having a really bad day."

The Operator examined the remote. "For all we know, she was stolen and had her mind wiped," The Operator said more to herself than her robotic companion. "The whole scene might have been an act or something."

The Operator fiddled with the remote for a moment and looked down to see if the Android girl came back to life.

Once The operator hit a green button, her eyes turned to their normal color before she said ‘powering on.’ She looked at him. “I’m so so sorry…” she whispered. She jumped out of her arms. She sighed softly and looked down, she rubbed the back of her head. “You shouldn’t be in the middle of this..” she added.