Disclaimer: MST3K belongs to Best Brains Inc. I don't make a cent off of this.
“Mike, you alright there? Come on buddy, answer me!”
“Do you think he’s dead?”
“That’s impossible Servo! He can’t be dead now. Come on Mike, wake up!”
The semi-conscious human felt a small, metallic, claw-like hand slap him across
the face. Unfortunately this only caused a small groan to escape Mike Nelson’s
throat as he lay where he fell in the smoking wreckage of the crashed Satellite
of Love. Two robots, a golden bowling pin beaked one and a red gumball machine
headed one, were trying to rouse him from his unconscious state. At the front
of what used to be the bridge a large purple ‘bot was busy digging a small mute
robot out from under a pile of fallen ceiling.
“Well, at least we now know he’s alive,” Tom Servo, the red robot, said with
a small hint of relief in his voice.
Mike barely even heard him. He had finally snapped back into full awareness
of their situation, though not because of the golden robot’s, Crow’s, slap across
the face. No, it was the cool breeze that had swept through the destroyed bridge
that roused him. There was no breeze in space, so that meant only one thing
to Mike. He was finally back home to Earth.
When he had at last opened his eyes, Mike was afraid to even blink, afraid that
this was all just another dream. As he slowly stood up he completely ignored
the ‘bots and the rather large, but not serious, scrape on the back of his head.
He was too entranced by the sight of the evening sky and the trees showing through
the various jagged holes where the Satellite of Love had fallen apart upon its
return to Earth. Trying to keep his balance while walking through the rubble,
Mike made his way to the largest of the holes, which was just big enough for
him to pass through into the open air. He was almost scared of stepping out
of the satellite which was his home and his prison for the last five years.
Scared that this really is just a wonderful dream and it would all disappear
any moment now. Taking a deep breath and swallowing his fears, Mike forced his
eyes shut and stepped out into the world.
The second his foot touched the damp grassy ground he couldn’t hold his joy
back any longer. Dignity became the furthest thing from Mike’s mind as he dropped
to his knees to hug and kiss the muddy ground below.
“Geez Mike,” Crow said, coming up behind him. “You haven’t even taken Mother
Earth out for dinner and you’re already creeping her out.”
If he had heard the ‘bot’s jeering, then Mike didn’t seem to care. All that
was going through his mind was, ‘I’m home, I’m finally home…”
***
Meanwhile, about ten miles away a young man was sitting at his desk. On the
wooden surface in front of him sat a small black device. The metallic instrument
looked like nothing more than a small black box with a small screen on the front
of it. At that moment though the screen had couple combinations of numbers and
a small red dot glowing on it.
“Impossible,” the man muttered, obviously taken aback. The numbers and dot wouldn’t
have meant much to most people, but it meant a lot to him.
Shoving the small device into his pocket, the man grabbed a hooded black jacket
and a set of car keys. With one last look around his fairly good sized bedroom,
he grabbed a few things and shoved them into a duffel bag as if on last thought.
Five minutes later he was driving down the dark driveway.
***
“Is everyone alright?” Mike asked his companions. The lack of light made it
difficult to see the robots, or even a few feet in front of him.
Tom floated up to the human. A small sphere shaped object was cradled in his
small arms, which was quite a feat considering that his arms didn’t work.
“Cambot here took quite a beating,” the hovering ‘bot informed Mike. “Other
than that we’re all just honky-dory.”
Mike very gently took Cambot from Servo and into his arms. The little camerabot
was quite charred, his lens was cracked and he had lost the ability to hover.
For a moment Mike feared for the worst, but those fears were quickly alleviated
by a quick series of buzzes and beeps from Cambot, signaling that he was still
with the living.
“You going to be okay Cambot?” Mike asked him, though he already knew the answer.
Unless the small ‘bot was repaired quickly, there was no telling how much damage
had or will be done. Despite this Cambot gave Mike an encouraging beep, causing
the human to grin slightly. He had to hand it to Cambot, the little guy had
spirit.
“Uh, guys?” Gypsy’s high pitched voice tore Mike from his thoughts. “I don’t
want to alarm you, but I just heard a siren coming down the road. And if I didn’t
know any better, I’d say it’s heading towards us.”
Mike brightened at this news. “Well, isn’t that a good thing? We’ll be able
to get help…”
Gypsy shook her large purple head. “You don’t understand Mike. If you told the
police that you were shot into space and was forced to watch bad movies by a
mad scientist who wanted to rule the world, do you honestly think that they
would believe you? You’d be locked in the nut house faster than you could say
Richard Baseheart. And what about us?”
The human blinked at Gypsy’s sudden jump in intelligence before remembering
that she had full use of the brain capacity now that she wasn’t running the
ship. Of course she was right. There were very few people in this world that
would believe their story, and he didn’t know where any of them are at this
point.
“Yeah Mike,” Crow spoke up, looking at him. “What about us? We’d be smashed
into little bits and chucked into the dump along with soiled mattresses and
shameful homework!”
“That is, after the weird and twisted experiments they’ll no doubt perform on
us,” Tom added, panic seeping into his voice.
“They’ll tear us apart, rewire us, make us into robot entrails and back to robot,
only by then we’ll be mutant robots with flippers and blowholes and stitches…”
Crow began going into hysterics with Tom, who was already shaking with terror.
Mike tried his best to do some damage control. He didn’t want anything bad happen
to the ‘bots that were like family to him. “It’ll be alright you guys,” he said
softly, gathering the two frightened robots to him with his free hand, the other
still gently holding Cambot. “I won’t let anything like that happen to you guys.
I promise I never will.”
“Cross your heart and hope to die?” Crow asked.
“Cross my heart and hope to die,” Mike reassured him. A faint flash of a flashlight
caused the human to look up. Realizing that it was time to go, he turned to
Gypsy. “Can you carry Crow? I’ll carry Tom and Cambot.”
Gypsy nodded and told the golden robot to climb on her and hold on. Mike picked
up Tom and, with one last look at their now wrecked former home, ran away from
the approaching authorities, with Gypsy and Crow not too far behind.
***
At the back of his mind, the young man felt grateful that the police were all
preoccupied tonight, so there were none on the road that cared that he was going
quite a bit over the speed limit. However, he had larger things at the forefront
of his mind, like getting to the crash site first. To get to the survivors first,
if there were any.
He didn’t dare to even think about that possibility. He needed their help too
badly. They had to be alive…
Turning off onto an empty dirt road that went further into the dense forest,
he stole a glance down to the little device that he had propped up on the dashboard.
Yes, he was getting close, just a little bit further…
A sudden movement on the road caused him to slam on the brakes. In the middle
of the road the strangest looking group was in the process of crossing before
getting caught in the headlights of the man’s car.
In the back of his mind, a yell of triumph sounded as he quickly grasped the
door handle to get out.
***
The group let out a collective scream of terror and surprise as a silver car
came to a screeching halt just a few feet from them. Mike was in a daze from
shock before Gypsy yelled for him to run for it. Coming quickly back to his
senses, the farmboy began to bolt for the opposite wooded area when a voice
stopped them.
“Mike! Robots! Wait!”
Mike’s heart stopped, as did his feet. How did this man know who they are? Tom
fidgeted nervously in his left arm, whispering to the human to keep running.
Gypsy had stopped as well, with a loudly protesting Crow perched on top of her
large head.
The human looked at the man. He couldn’t make you his features, but the voice
sounded vaguely familiar. “How did you know my name?” he asked the unknown man.
“I’ll explain everything soon. Just get in the car! Unless you want to get caught
by the Feds, trust me on this!”
Mike swallowed hard. He didn’t really see a better choice at the moment. With
a quick nod to Gypsy, he jogged to the silver car, the purple robot following
close behind him. Tom and Crow were protesting louder than ever.
“I don’t trust this guy Mike!” Crow wailed. “What if he’s some psycho killer?!”
“We don’t really have a better choice Crow.” Mike tried to comfort them, but
was failing miserably. The two ‘bots continued to protest as the human helped
them into the back seat. It was a tight fit for them, especially Gypsy, but
they got in. Mike sat down in the front passenger seat with Cambot still in
his arms. The unknown man was already in the driver’s seat and was ready to
go. Mike had no sooner shut his door when the car began speeding down the road.
Signaling for the ‘bots to hush down, causing them to glare at the driver but
shut their mouths for the time being, Mike turned to the man. “Okay, now who
are you and where are you taking us?”
The young man responded, “I’m taking you guys to a motel not far from here.
From there we’ll figure out what’s going to happen next.”
“What about your name?” Mike asked, starting to get rather impatient.
The man sighed, as if reluctant to let his identity known. “Just remember,”
he said. “That right now you’re going to have to trust me if you want to keep
the ‘bots safe.” With that, the man reached up and turned on the car light,
allowing his features to be shown.
The two previously protesting robots let out a scream while Gypsy yelled out
an outraged “You?!” at him. Even Cambot was beeping loudly.
Mike, on the other hand, was speechless for a few minutes, having been taken
completely aback.
