A single beep woke Jimmy from sleep. He opened his eyes and looked around. The sight of his lab made him sigh. Neat, orderly, pristine, cold, and devoid of friends. It had to be this way of course. At night Jimmy didn’t sleep- not really. Every night when the others climbed into their cozy bunks, Jimmy the Robot stood in his recharge station while his battery charged and experienced the absence of consciousness -sleep, if you will. The cybernetic implants in his brain just couldn’t replenish any other way.
There were times it didn’t bother him to be different. He was stronger and frankly, smarter than the others. They always seemed to appreciate the edge he gave the group in this regard. On this day, however, Jimmy was keenly aware of the wide gulf between himself and them. As he walked into the common area, he found them rummaging in the fridge and cupboards for breakfast.
“Good morning,” he said trying to sound chipper.
“Hey, Jimmy. Want to go for a jog with me?”
“No thanks Ricky.”
“Don’t be gone long, Ricky. Remember, we’re heading over to the professor’s today,” MC Bat Commander said, closing the fridge with his elbow, hands full.
Jimmy groaned internally. He’d forgotten that was today. The band periodically stopped to visit the professor who had helped them once long ago. It was he who gifted them the battletram, and gave each of them their special powers. The professor always fussed over Jimmy, checking his systems, testing his functioning, and sometimes updating programming. Jimmy wasn’t in the mood to be fussed over. He sat down gloomily and watched Crash channel surf for a while.
Some hours later they reached the professor’s remote coastal lab. He was waiting for them outside.
“Hello boys, how’s the old battletram been treating you?”
“Runs just like a dream,” Bat Commander said, smiling, “but I’m sure you’ll say it needs a tune-up. You always do.”
“And how about all of you? Everyone fine? Not taking too many chances I hope?”
“Now professor, you know we’d never run from danger. It is the Aquabat way to protect those in need and save what needs saving; from burger huts to burrito shacks and even, when we have to, health food stores.”
The professor laughed. “Glad to hear you have priorities. Let’s get you all inside. I’ll check your enhancements. But first maybe lunch?”
After lunch the professor gave each Aquabat what basically amounted to a yearly checkup. Because he had given them their unique abilities, he was best qualified to see that they were in good health. The others took turns volunteering (Crash’s turn was particularly noticeable as his super-growth broke the observatory roof) while Jimmy hung back, waiting until last.
“It’s ok Crash, there’s nothing interesting in the sky for weeks anyway. I’ll get it fixed. Ok Jimmy you’re up.”
Jimmy followed the professor into his lab. It dwarfed Jimmy’s lab by several sizes. Really the professor’s lab was several labs altogether for fields ranging from botany to pharmaceuticals to geology to nanotechnology. He sat Jimmy down on one of the lab tables and began his checkup, starting with the cybernetics in Jimmy’s pupils.
“Professor,” Jimmy said carefully, “There’s something I need to ask you.”
“What’s that?”
“Why did you pick me out of the others to give cyborg implants? You could have chosen any or all of us. Why me?”
The professor smiled, continuing his exam. “Is there some special reason you ask?”
Jimmy hesitated, then blurted out, “You made me different from the others. I get sensations differently now- I don’t even sleep. I’m so different the Commander even calls me Robot. Why did you have to make me so different?”
The professor stopped examining Jimmy and looked thoughtful, as though considering how to answer. “When you arrived on my shore you were in pretty rough shape. You all were. You were in and out of consciousness and I didn’t get a whole lot out of you until much later. I wondered who you were and where you came from, but I didn’t get that answer until I tested the Bat Commander’s DNA. Once I saw he had markers for Aquabanian descent, I understood. I’d already become familiar with Space Monster M. You may well look surprised. Yes ‘M’ was known to me. I am after all a collector of knowledge. Does it surprise you so much that stories of Space Monster M would reach me? But perhaps the full story of that is best saved for another day. The fact is, even if the signs of battle damage you’d all suffered hadn’t been from a struggle with ‘M’, I knew he’d be coming one day to finish you off. He hates all Aquabanians and anyone who befriends or welcomes them. I couldn’t let you leave empty-handed. You needed help, and I knew I was just the person to help you. Jimmy, your robotic implants make you stronger and smarter than the others. Your speed, brainpower, and nearly indestructible frame were essential to equip you to face the dangers out there- most especially Space Monster M.”
“But professor, why was it me? Why me and not the others?”
“As I said you were all in sorry shape. At first I was the most concerned about Eaglebones. He has the least body fat of all of you. When I pulled him off the beach his pulse was the barest flutter under my fingertips. He remained unconscious for three days while I fed him intravenously.”
“But I thought Bones was the first of us on his feet after you found us,” Jimmy put in.
“He was. On day four he opened his eyes and started talking to me. By the afternoon he was up walking around and, as far as I could tell, completely healed. His capacity for healing is truly remarkable. For a time I considered him for the implants I gave you, but I quickly realized his ultra-healing would actually pose a problem there. The same enzymes his body created to speed the healing process would reject and fight any implants I tried to impose on his system.”
“But, Professor,” said Jimmy, becoming frustrated, “none of the others have super-healing! Why-”
“Patience, I’m getting to that. All of you were incredibly determined; I could tell that just from the fact that you survived as long as you did on the open water. I knew whenever ‘M’ came back you wouldn’t go down without a fight, no matter what the odds. I wanted to give you abilities that would help you in a variety of situations you might face. Ricky was the most physically fit already and a very health-conscious eater. During his recovery I stimulated mitochondrial production in his muscles while surgically improving his joint-stress-capacity. Once he’d fully healed, he was able to harness all that extra mitochondrial energy for speed without wearing down his joints. The gift of super speed wouldn’t have worked on anyone else. Now Crash was a puzzle for a while. His bulk helped him recover relatively quickly physically, but his morale was low. The first time he smiled was the day Eaglebones got out of bed and came around to visit him. Bones found a prism I’d been using in my experiments and hung it in the window- it threw rainbows all over the room. Crash didn’t stop beaming for days. It was then I knew his strength lay in his intense reactions. His super-growth happens as a response to his intense emotions. Now the Bat Commander-”
“Wait,” Jimmy interrupted, momentarily distracted from his dispirited mood, “You never explained how you gave Crash super growth. That’s a nice trick.”
The professor chuckled. “Actually that was the easiest modification of them all. It works the exact same way as the Incredible Hulk. Yes I know, just listen. When the phenomenon was discovered, science writers knew the general public wouldn’t accept the principle because it sounds too far-fetched. So instead of releasing it to a reputable journal, it was released as scifi. I actually know several of the scientists who worked on it, which is how I obtained the methodology. I was even able to counteract the peculiar skin hue. Eaglebones was the key to that breakthrough. The biliverdins from rapid blood trauma turn the skin green. Bones’ healing ability is just an enzymatic process caused by gene activation. I copied the same gene into Crash’s skin and it activates during the Hulk cascade. Simple.”
“But that still leaves the Bat Commander. You didn’t give him any powers, did you?”
The professor laughed again.
“The thing about the Bat Commander and special powers is- he never needed them. As soon as he was awake he was regaling me with stories of your heroic exploits. He was ready to go and it was all I could do to keep him in the infirmary. No, I didn’t give him anything, I just pointed him in the right direction by suggesting you all continue to stick together and play music as a group. Well technically I gave him a cape, but he lost that ages ago…
The point is, I gave each of you something unique. One of you needed to get the cybernetic implants. And it was you”
“But,” said Jimmy, nearly shouting, “you made me the most different. I’m the one who doesn’t sleep, doesn’t feel, doesn’t get it when others feel. I’m-” he gulped, a sob catching in his throat, “I’m the freak.”
The professor put his arm around Jimmy. “I did make you different. When I found you, you were clinging to life. You’d been badly injured, you had head trauma and your hands were injured beyond repair. I knew you would lose them. I wanted to give you back more than what you’d lost. Now you have hands that function in defense of yourself and your team. You have eyes that allow you to scan things to take in higher levels of information and a brain that allows you to process that information faster. The implants I gave you allowed you to heal more quickly because they took the place of some of your brain function. Without them you’d have been laid up months waiting for the neurons to recover. I wanted you to have that time, Jimmy. It had to be you.”
“But it didn’t have to be just me. You keep saying that. You say you did it to give us an edge against ‘M’, you say one of us needed the robotic enhancements, well why not Crash or Ricky or the Bat Commander? Why just me professor? Why did you make me different? You must have known that would be hard on me. You took my emotions and my humanity and made me alone! Why did you do that?” Jimmy was yelling by this point. His breath came in gasps and he’d risen to his feet.
“Jimmy,” the professor said softly, with a smile, “you sound angry.”
“Of course I’m angry! I- I…” Jimmy’s voice dropped in volume to match the professor’s. “I am angry. But how? I thought you told me my ability to process emotions would be affected by the implants.”
“Because I knew it would, and I wanted you to know you might be different with the tech I put in your head. But I also suspected your brain would overcome this given a little time. If you think back over the time since I last saw you, I bet you can name multiple occasions when you felt happy, sad, anxious, angry, and scared. You’ll still have trouble sometimes with deciphering emotions when they occur in others, because that’s more complex. But you still have your emotions. It just took you some time to find them.”
“But why didn’t you tell me this?”
“Honestly, I didn’t really know. You are the prototype, and I wasn’t sure how you’d end up compensating for the addition of the implants. And the fact you’d be able to restructure your brain neurons was a bit of a hunch. Apparently a good one though.”
“So that’s it then?” asked Jimmy. “You picked me to make a cyborg and got lucky when my neurons were able to handle it?”
“Well there is something else too. You’re right when you say I might have picked one of the others for similar implants. In fact, I had it in mind to give some tech to the Bat Commander as well. But there was one obstacle. The Bat Commander is an incredible leader and hard-headed enough to persist to the bitter end, but he really isn’t very subtle. That goes for his interactions with others too. He’s not the most tactful person and has a tendency to be a bit inconsiderate. To risk breaking his connection to his emotional responses- I felt it was a bad idea. I wasn’t worried about that with you. You were the last one I dragged from the beach that day and my strength was flagging. You kept mumbling something. When I bent down to hear what it was, I realized you were apologizing that you couldn’t stand. Then the next morning when you were awake properly for a few minutes you said, ‘My name’s Jimmy. When can I see my friends?’ You asked about them every day, usually several times. (You were having a lot of trouble getting a grasp on the passage of time.) I always told you it would be soon. Then you’d ask if there was anything you could do to help me. It came through strongly that helping others was important to you and how emotionally tied you were to your friends. Your humanity was what I saw in you that made me sure this was the right choice for you. You care about making sure those around you are safe and happy. I knew that quality would stick with you, and maybe even help you find a way around the challenges the implants would create. And I believe it has.”
Jimmy was quiet for several minutes. Then finally he said, “I’m sorry. I must sound ungrateful. I’m not, I just-”
The professor smiled, “It’s ok Jimmy. You’re brain has been working itself out for a while on this one. And you’ve only just put it all together. You are different, but you are also still you. Do you still feel like I took your humanity? Maybe, maybe that’s fair.”
Jimmy shook his head. “No, I was angry when I said that.”
“You could ask the Bat Commander to stop calling you ‘robot’ if it’s bothering you.”
Jimmy grinned a little, “I guess I’m actually used to it. I am different, but that can a be a good thing.”
Then Jimmy stopped smiling. “I do wish I could stay in the sleeping quarters with the other guys at night. The lab recharge station feels really lonely.”
The professor tapped his chin, lost in thought for a moment, then snapping his fingers, said, “I’ve got it.” He left the room and five minutes later came back carrying a small rectangular box. “Don’t know why I didn’t think of using this sooner. You’ll only be able to use this some of the time, and ONLY if your energy is still at 15% or greater- I don’t want you using this after major battles, understand?”
Wide eyed, Jimmy nodded.
“Ok. It’s a battery that you can plug into while seated or lying down. I had been using it for my atomic spinner, but I can take a couple months break from that project until I get another one built. For now I’ve swapped the input so it can work for you. The battletram energy station I built for you is still the fastest way to charge, but once in a while you can use this to stay in the sleeping quarters with the others. I understand this doesn’t change a lot of what you said made you feel different…”
“It’s perfect, professor,” said Jimmy, smiling.
“Oh, and… there’s this too.” The professor looked almost sly as he handed Jimmy a small electronic chip. Jimmy looked at it blankly. “What’s it for?” he asked.
“Can’t you guess? It attaches to the battery. If you charge completely it flips to screensaver mode for couple minutes before waking you.”
“Um, screensaver?” said Jimmy, still perplexed.
The professor nodded. “So for about two minutes you’ll be able to see the screensaver and, it’ll be a little like you’re-”
“dreaming,” Jimmy breathed. Wordlessly he hugged the professor and ran out of the room to tell the others.