Big guy and rusty the boy robot #42: Melissa’s secret.

Big guy is the property of dark horse comics and Tristar.

Previously on Big guy and rusty the boy robot…

The machine master is having a temper tantrum, throwing things around his place.

“They will pay. They haven’t seen the last of me!” The machine master yells.

He spins around and sees a strange floating device in his doorway. The screen comes to life with the sight of a cyborg.

“Who are you?” The machine master asks fingering a weapon.

“I am a mere representative of a group that could use your talents.” The cyborg responds.

“And what if I refuse?” The machine master asks.

“You won’t.” The cyborg responds.

Meanwhile at an unknown base the feedback of the machine is being played on a screen.

“Why do we want the services of weak human?” A cyborg asks.

“He is not a mere human. He has a special gift. The time is coming soon when we will announce our presence and we will need all the power we can get.” The other cyborg responds.

Soon the machine master is brought in front of the two cyborgs.

“So can I know who I am working for?” The machine master asks.

“You will merely call us by our designations.” The second cyborg says.

“Number one.”

“Number two.”

And now the conclusion…

The blood drains from the machine masters face.

“That’s impossible. You were all destroyed.” The machine master says.

Number one goes up to a console and brings something up. Schematics of the legion robots come up.

“Numbers one and two were the only ones created by the human Poindexter. They were the most powerful and had backups made in case of their deaths.” One says.

“We are the copies but we are just as powerful as the originals. We are about to step forward to take what is ours.” Two says.

“Yours?” The machine master asks.

“We are about to launch an offensive against the military and we will need your help in the near future.” One says.

“Why should I help someone that wants to destroy the city?” The machine master asks.

“We do not want to destroy it. Merely take control of it like our past selves tried to.” Two says.

The machine master just stands there thinking. Meanwhile in the city a huge power surge hits, blowing up a lot of transformers and blacking out most of the city. Including a military base. The commander watches over a soldier who is working furiously to bring up back up power. After a few seconds the backup power comes on with a dull red lighting. Suddenly the whole base rocks when something explodes. The computer goes haywire.

“Sir we seemed to have picked up a virus.” The officer says.

“Impossible. We have the best firewall technology and antiviral programs. There’s no way one could get through.” The commander says.

The commander frowns.

“Run the antiviral programs anyway. See if it works.” The commander says.

The officer runs it and everything seems to settle down. He then runs a diagnostic and it comes up clear.

“It seems to be okay now.” The officer says.

But suddenly a countdown appears on the screen.

“Uh what is that?” The commander asks.

The officer works like crazy.

“I don’t know. It’s like the computer has just started it’s own countdown for no reason.” The officer responds.

On screen the countdown is at 5 minutes.

“What’s going to happen when it reaches zero?” The commander asks.

The officer shakes his head.

“I don’t know but I doubt it’s anything good.” The officer responds.

Suddenly the computer speaks.

“Self destruct in 4 minutes and 30 seconds.” The computer says.

The commander jumps on the con and yells for evacuation.

“Try to get that stopped but evacuate if you can’t do it before the 1 minute mark.” The commander says.

But the officer is already going at it. The commander rushes towards the exit. But it slams shut in his face. He pounds on the door and a bunch of other soldiers join in.

“What the hell?” The commander yells.

The commander hits the communication device.

“The exit is locked. There is no way out. What is going up there?” The commander asks.

“It’s definitely the virus. I think it piggybacked on the power surge. That’s how it got through the firewall.” The officer responds.

The countdown says 2 minutes left.

“I can’t stop it sir. Nothing I use will affect the virus cause it’s disguised itself as part of the main program.” The officer says.

“It’s over.” The commander says.

He rests his hand on the wall.

“Send out a distress signal. There’s nothing anyone on the outside can do but we can at least tell what happened here.” The commander says.

Meanwhile the U.S.S. Darkhorse is under regular maintenance. Melissa, who has proven herself around machines and computers, is allowed to help. Thorton walks up to Melissa and watches her progress. Rusty is also there observing things and to spend time with Melissa.

“Sir everything is normal. The new systems are working fine.” Melissa says.

“Sir we are receiving a distress signal from military base c.” The communications officer says.

“Put it on screen.” Thorton says.

The commander appears on screen in the dark.

“This is Commander Green. A computer virus has penetrated our systems and has set the self-destruct. We only have 1 minute left. I am sending this only to tell what has happened.” The commander says.

“How long was that sent?” Thorton asks.

But before he can answer another officer comes to life.

“Sir picking up an explosion at that base.” The officer says.

Thorton shakes his head.

“There’s more to the message. A data pack.” The communications officer says.

The pack is brought on screen and scanned.

“According to this the virus came piggybacked on a power surge.” Melissa says.

Thorton frowns.

“Then doesn’t that mean it could…” Thorton starts to say.

Suddenly everything goes haywire. The lights go out and the backup ones come on. The ship rocks to the side as the stabilization goes out of whack. Thorton and the others brace themselves.

“What the hell was that?” Thorton asks.

Melissa goes to work on the system.

“Damn it. The virus is in the system. It came through on the data packet.” Melissa says.

“Tell me some good news.” Thorton mutters.

Melissa goes to work fast as a blur. On screen the virus code is thoroughly searched and any weaknesses looked for. Suddenly a power surge leaps from the console and hits Melissa. She is knocked down violently.

“Melissa!” Thorton yells.

But she doesn’t hear him cause in her mind visions are flooding through her. In her mind she sees a baby being born. A baby that doesn’t cry. The doctors look at her with concern. After many tests the doctors declare that her brain is severely underdevoped. The parents refuse to believe it but have to when their daughter won’t even play or eat without being helped. She just sits and waits for someone to come to her.

A few years pass and the girl is now in preschool. Like all other disabled children she is made fun of by the other kids. She has improved a little since she was a baby but she still cannot function well on her own. She can’t even control her bladder very well.

A kid walks up to her.

“Hey retard. Did I tell you that you could stand in my space?” The kid says.

The girl looks up but doesn’t say anything. The kid shoves her to the ground.

“Hey answer me. I asked you a question.” The kid says angrily.

But the girl still doesn’t say anything. Suddenly the kid grabs her and puts her in a sleeper hold. An adult notices but not before she loses consciousness. She wakes up in a hospital being treated for asphyxiation cause her lungs can’t handle low oxygen as well as others. One night she is lying in bed and hears her parents yelling. She doesn’t understand what they are saying but she knows that something is wrong.

The next day she is taken to a strange place in the bad part of town. Her dad knocks on the door 3 times pauses then 3 more times. The peephole slides open and the dad says something. The door opens up and they all enter. The little girl feels nervous at all these men that glare at her. A tall imposing man in a lab coat walks up and looks her over.

“Is this her?” The man asks.

The dad nods.

“Please help her. Money is no object.” The dad says.

The man takes the girl. She tries to cry out in fear but cannot.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make you better.” The man says.

As he carries her into the next room she looks back and sees her mommy crying and her daddy comforting her and saying something.

She is laid down upon a table and a mask is put over her face. She tries to struggle but is too weak to do it. Soon her vision goes blurry and she loses consciousness. The same thing happens for a few weeks. She begins to notice that everything is changing. She seems to understand things around her. She stubs her toe and cries for the first time in her life. This makes her parents smile.

Soon after the girl is sitting in front of the T.V. watching the news. Understanding it for the first time. A reporter comes on screen.

“The underground genetic group has been shut down. The group accused of using illegal genetic alterations on humans have been finally taken out. The customers are being found and arrested as we speak.” The reporter says.

This upsets her parents greatly. They start speaking excitedly and worriedly.

“It’s over. They are going to find out about us and take her away.” The mother says.

“What if we run away? To another country?” The father asks.

The mother shakes her head.

“I am not going to run. Maybe we deserve to get in trouble. We broke the law.” The mother says.

“Why is it breaking the law to help our daughter? If we didn’t do what we did then she would be forever severely retarded. She would have never had a real life. Now she can.” The father says.

But the arrests never came and neither did the explanations. After awhile of looking behind their shoulders, the parents finally accept that it’s a miracle. That maybe this was meant to be. The next day at school a bully picks on the girl.

“Hey retard. Do you think it’s going to work to not act that way anymore? I don’t think so!” The bully yells.

He shoves the girl to the ground. The girl gets up and he punches her over and over again until she has a bloody nose. Suddenly she snaps and punches him. He falls to the ground and stays motionless. Teachers rush and check on the boy. He is rushed to the hospital for a fractured skull and a concussion. Luckily the parents don’t press any charges but she is expelled from school.

The parents have another heated argument tonight. The girl lies in bed hearing the yelling and worrying.

“It’s all my fault.” The girl says.

The next day the parents approach the girl and say that they are going to move to another place were she wouldn’t be tormented. Soon after they leave and move to another state.

10 years pass. The girl is now in high school. She is at the top of her class. One day in computer class she is taking a typing class when suddenly her hands start flying at a blur. The teacher drops his books and checks on her score. 150 wpm with no errors. That night the girl asks something that her parents hoped she would never ask.

“Why am I different?” The girl asks.

The parents try to answer nervously but don’t satisfy her. But she doesn’t press anymore. That night she has a dream of herself as a young toddler. She frowns at the memories that she was so disabled and couldn’t live on her own. She then sees memories of the operation and what was done to her. She wakes up screaming.

The mother rushes in and holds her.

“What did you do to me mom?” The girl asks.

The mom nearly drops her on the bed in shock. The mother simply gets up and leaves. The girl calls out to her but eventually goes back to sleep. The next morning both parents who have a very serious look on her face wake her. They inject her with something and she falls back asleep. The next thing she knows she has no memories once more of what happened. For all she knows that she was always this way. One more memories hits Melissa. The girl was…she.

Melissa wakes up with a start and sees Thorton standing over her.

“I was genetically altered?” Melissa thinks.

Thorton helps Melissa stand up.

“Are you okay?” Thorton asks.

“No. But I will be for now.” Melissa responds.

Thorton doesn’t think much of her response. They both look at the console window that shows that the countdown has begun and only has minutes left.

“The self destruct sequence has been activated here like it was on the ship. I need you to get back to figuring out how to stop this before it’s too late.” Thorton says.

Melissa jumps back into the seat and goes to work. But those troubling memories won’t leave her mind. She runs an idea of hers.

“This ship has a virtual connection doesn’t it?” Melissa asks.

Thorton nods his head.

“If we send an A.I. into the virtual part of the system I believe we can physically attack the virus. We can’t stop the countdown without destroying the virus.” Melissa says.

“But that would require a very sophisticated A.I.” Thorton says.

They both look at Rusty.

“Oh boy!” Rusty yells.

Melissa opens up Rusty’s scalp and connects him to the computer. Rusty goes motionless as his whole program is uploaded into the program. Rusty appears in a blank space. He looks around and sees a strange looking creature that is eating at data.

“So you are the thing that is causing all of this.” Rusty says.

The creature stops and turns towards Rusty.

“Target found.” A voice says.

“Huh.” Rusty says.

Suddenly the virus jumps at Rusty and merges with him. In the real world Rusty falls to the ground and goes into convulsions.

“Damn the virus is in him now!” Melissa yells.

Thorton rushes over and cuts the self-destruct countdown. Melissa hooks up something to Rusty. She shakes her head.

“The virus is eating his system code up at an alarming rate.” Melissa says.

Suddenly Rusty goes limp.

“He’s gone.” Melissa says sadly.

She reaches down and closes Rusty’s eyes. Thorton looks sadly. Suddenly Rusty comes back to life. He looks around.

“Hey what’s everybody standing around me for?” Rusty asks.

Melissa does a scan.

“That’s impossible. The virus is gone.” Melissa says.

Melissa double checks.

“His system shut itself down completely. Must have been a fail safe. But that shouldn’t have taken out the virus.” Melissa says.

“Unless it got what it wanted.” Thorton says.

Suddenly the screen comes to life with a broadcast. The same one is being shown at the pit crew and gets the attention of Mack and Dwayne.

“I am a representative of the Neo Machina. We will take back this city that was made ours many years ago. And we will do anything to take it back. Cross us and you will regret it.” One says.

One’s eye glows red before the signal cuts.

“Computer run a match on the signal.” Thorton says.

The computer runs through and makes a match. The computer identifies it as number one of the legion ex machina. The same results are sent to the pit crew and Dwayne drops his cup on the floor.

Melissa is sitting in her room thinking. She takes a pad and decides to write an email to her parents who she hasn’t talked to in years. She puts a simple message on.

“I remember.”