The mission of Buzzbot

by Golden Paw

Construction and questions

Tinker was dumbfounded, a book written by him? He hadn't written anything, let alone had something published. He turned the book over with his hooves and read on: 'Welcome to the wonderful world of pony robots, if you have this book then you’re planning to build an infiltration pony-bot.

‘This will aid you in building a mechanical assistant that will be perfect for all your covert needs. This unit, once built, is able to take on the form of a multitude of ponies and has been supplied with adaptive programming. You will soon see that the infiltration pony robot is a must-have for any covert action!'

Still struggling to take all this in Tinker checked the publication date and saw the first edition was printed in five years time. A chill ran down his back, this had to be some kind of joke, somepony was pulling his hind leg.

He carefully put 'his' book on the table and before double-checking the other two titles. To Tinker’s growing amazement he discovered they were also first editions, the future dates of their publication emblazoned proudly upon their covers.

Breathing heavily, Tinker’s world reverberated within his gas mask, while he blinked in confusion. Suppressing a slight tremble he shifted the impossible books and peered deeper into the crate. Under the layers of foam packing was the unmistakeable shape of a robotic pony leg.

Eyes now wide, Tinker tore off the mask and with growing excitement began removing various components and pieces. Another leg, half a face and almost endless reams of cabling were all revealed, a mixture of dark metal interposed with smooth white plates.

Tinker took several more breaths, staring down at the marvel before him. It looked sleeker than any machines currently being tested now, even the most advanced mechanisms from the upper levels of T.C.A.P looked like rough framework dolls compared to the kit before him.

“That would make sense, if this box really did come from the future?” Tinker mumbled, holding up an impressive looking camera lense which trailed lengths of wiring in its wake.

Moving as if in a daze, Tinker began to clear space on a number of tables and started setting out all the parts, neatly spreading them out like and exploded diagram. The rounded metal plates that made up the outer casing were clean and clinical white, while the working parts were of black metal or polished chrome.

The finely worked circuit boards, delicate connectors and complex devices that Tinker had never seen before all called to something deep within his soul, “Simply beautiful.”

He began to smile, “No not simple! Advanced!” The grin grew as with fevered haste Tinker grabbed components, studying them with a little chuckle. With the eagerness of a foal with a new toy set he began connecting pins, screwing nuts onto bolts and admiring the workponyship with a giddy glee.

After several minutes of busy assembly Tinker held up a smooth plated face, no bigger than adolescent pony’s. He regarded the pair of yellow glass eye holes set into the otherwise bare ponykin-like visage and only then noticed the faint green glimmer within.

Suddenly nervous, Tinker leaned back as if it were about to bit him. Letting out a frightened squeak Tinker fought to keep his hoof steady. The mask tilted and the glow vanished as if it had never been, leaving him dumbfounded for a moment.

Panting, he stood there in the suddenly chilly workshop and slowly tilted the face back and forth carefully. Soon the green glow returned and Tinker smiled with relief as he understood the truth.

Looking behind himself and back to the crate Tinker saw a faint shimmer from within the now empty container, almost empty. Sidling closer he saw the glow was coming from a concealed compartment hidden in the depths of the matt black innards of the crate.

Cautiously Tinker, still holding the faceplate, undid the revealed section and smiled as another little note was found. 'Be very careful with these, they cannot be replaced', The cylinders gave off a green glow which lit the lower half of his face, but still didn't shine as brightly as Tinker Track's eyes did now. Even as an earth pony, he could feel the power coming from the little cylinders and made a mental note to investigate them later.

Returning to the table, Tinker carefully put down the mask and turned again to the instruction manual. His enthusiasm for the task had simmered down and Tinker was now ready to give the book his full attention. Many of the parts now spread out across the table baffled even his technical mind.

“The theory and application all appears to be in order,” Tinker said, rubbing his chin, Well what bits he could understand anyhow. The basic theories of magical construction and application flowed well.

The more complex details, though over Tinker’s head right now, did at least have sensible instructions behind them. “It should work,” Tinker thought out loud. And why couldn’t it? Tinker had written the book himself hadn't he? (or at least soon would have). He wouldn't put it past his future self to have designed such a fantastic pony-bot! Oh the things he could do with such a machine!

Turning back to the as yet unbuilt pony on the table, Tinker's yellow eyes sparkled. He raised his left front hoof to the sky with a dramatic flourish while simultaneously slamming his other hoof down on the table in triumph, "Nothing will stop me now!"

The whole dramatic effect was slightly spoiled by the fact that Tinker had slammed his hoof right down on his hay fries and the bag, which had gone through so much abuse already, finally gave out. Soggy hay-fries along source coated Tinkers face, the red goo now slowly dribbling towards the floor.

After a brief left eye twitch he saw that the majority of the parts upon the table were now looking very sticky and reddish. Tinker dropped back down into a sitting position and in an absent minded way began licking his right hoof. “Could be worse. They really do make good food at Hearties Hay Fries Takeaway.”

---

After substantial cleaning and several curses, Tinker Track was once again prepared to commence the building process. Chewing the last few remnants of his food he poured over the technical marvel before him.

If there was one thing that could really bring out Tinker's obsessive side it was when he was working on machines. His world narrowed to one of welding sparks and power tools singing their song and the machine in front of him began to take shape.

The worries of the day faded as he saw how servos matched with sockets and wires plugged into connectors. Part by well crafted part the pony-bot came together. Tinker only had to check the instructions (now stained a reddish brown) when he came across an unfamiliar gizmo that he assumed must have not been invented yet.

“Wouldn’t want to damage something as beautiful as you,” Tinker chatted away to the disembodied head now staring at him. The camera’s hidden behind the yellow eye covers reflecting Tinkers distorted, besotted smile as he worked long into the night followed by a generous amount of the next day.

Finally, as the clock flashed three twenty seven, Tinker attached the last metal plate and stood back to admire the wonder. Shorter than an adult, but by no means a foal, the thin pony gleamed in the cold light.

It was hard to tell if the pony-bot was meant to be male or female but as Tinker walked around it he felt the vague impression of a ‘girl’ about ‘her’. The way the up-link and power cables ‘tail’ flowed from her rear had a feminine hint to them.. A series of sensor spines, little probes and antennae flowed back across the head and neck hinting at the notion of a short cut mane.

Trotting around the slight figure Tinker checked and rechecked all the connections. Tested servos and leg movements, smiling as they moved easily with little whirrs. Though still unpowered, the pony-bot held an air of alertness and Tinker couldn’t shake the feeling that it was already watching him.

Shrugging off this absurd notion Tinker chuckled to himself, he’d installed the power crystals himself and knew they were dry of magic. Shaking his head Tinker attached the android’s tail to the power outlet nestled in the nearby wall, before stifling a yawn.

With a final glance at his his new ‘toy’, Tinker performed his ablutions in the small sink tucked into a corner, before stumbling over to his makeshift bed. The small sleeping bag was stuffed under a workbench, along with a simple lamp for when Tinker couldn’t pull himself away from work.

Yawning again Tinker laid his head down and blinked sleepily, “You my dear are going to be my ticket to a brighter future, I just know it.” Reaching up and turning off the lamp Tinker snuggled down and dreamt of his revenge.

---

“Yes I’m happy to accept the award on behalf of Tinker’s Center for amazing ponies, Princess Celestia…..” Tinker blinked away the fading dreams of a future ascendant, the cheers of the crowd morphing into the shrill whine of an alarm.

The digital clock next to his head showed seven thirty and Tinker Track groaned. Glaring at the offending timepiece he yanked the clock upwards, ripping it’s plug out of the wall before throwing it clattering across the cluttered floor.

“We’re putting you on leave Mr Track,” Tinker grumbled in a mocking voice as he shuffled around inside the warm sleeping bag. “Give you time to consider your position within the organisation,” He continued on in the same mimicking manner.

Kicking his sleeping bag off Tinker stumbled upright and rolled his stiff shoulders before shaking his head, “Thanks for the unpleasant reminder,” The venom in his voice directed at the now scuffed clock which lay among other castoffs.

Tinker stopped as the memory of last night’s events returned and a grin blossomed on his muzzle, there still in the centre of the room was the pony-bot, “Oh they will see, just you wait. I’ll show them what a real pony machinist can do.”

Feeling better already Tinker quickly grabbed some breakfast from battered fridge. Hefting a bowl, milk, cereal and a worn apple in one tottering motion Tinker staggered over to a vaguely clear table. Soon he was happily tucking into his food and with growing excitement turned to the next book from the stash.

“Building a Gateway to the Past, the Do's and Don'ts',” Tinker proudly announced, his mouth full of food. This book was much more complicated than the last one. All theoretical ideas about time and its nature.

Shoveling another helping into his mouth Tinker skipped past arcane diagrams and instead focused on the hardware displayed within. Far more familiar things such as metal tolerances, torsion strengths and power flow charts greeted Tinker and he felt his confidence increasing. He may not know all the ‘hows’, but Tinker was pretty sure that he could build the machine laid out within except...

"What's a 'temporal displacement inhibitor' when it's at home?" He asked out loud, checking down the list of more exotic items listed and frowning.

"It is a component that prevents the time portal from being removed from its own time and being lost, similar to an anchor for a ship," A cold voice came from over Tinker track's shoulder.

That seemed sensible. If you were going to have a machine that could move things through time then it was a good plan to make sure that it would be stable.

"What about an ‘energy portal line stabilizer'? Tinker went on popping a slice of apple in his mouth before crunching it with enthusiasm.

"That is the magical/techno device that prevents the time portal's corridor from collapsing under the significant pressures of forcing a stable path from one time to another, or in simpler terms: Keeps the time portal open under the pressure of reality trying to close it again," The synthesized voice answered once more. Tinker Track nodded again, then after a few seconds sat very, very still.

"How would I go about 'attuning the temporal guide network'?"

"That is automatically achieved when a first temporal portal is initiated. The gate registers a fixed time point where it is located and uses that reference point to begin mapping out locations. Or more simply it takes a good look around to see where and when it is the first time you turn it on."

Although the voice was still without modulation or emotion and certainly synthetic it still managed to somehow sound smug. Tinker Track froze, chills running up and down his spine before finally mustering the courage to turn his head around. He stared at the pony-bot which was focusing on him with its camera-like eyes.

Tinker’s own pupils went wide as he took a deep breath of surprise, well he tried to. What he actually got was a deep breath of mostly chewed apple and oats. Spluttering and choking, Tinker discovered as many foals had before him that ponies can't breathe apples.

Eyes bulging and his face turned red, Tinker could only watch as without haste the pony-bot walked about behind him and gave Tinker a sharp buck in the back. Half eaten foodstuffs flew out of his mouth and splattered on the floor where the pony-bot had originally been standing.

"It is unwise to attempt to take in nourishment that way," The robot pressed on in the same monotone voice, yet still managing to convey smugness. Tinker Track winced at the impact of the pony-bot's buck, but happily drank in the stuffy air nevertheless.

"When did you start up?" He managed between hiking gasps.

The pony-bot was trotting around to look more closely at the food on the floor before, in a slightly disconcerting manner, shifted one of its camera eyes to focus on the bemused Tinker.

"Approximately six hours ago, my power cells were fully charged and I saw no point in wasting surplus time with inaction."

"You mean you have been roving around my workshop for about five hours while I was sleeping!"

Shivers danced across his skin, this thing could have done anything to him while he was catching up with his rest. The pony-bot shifted again and Tinker, not wanting to be caught off guard, hefted his bowl and held it threateningly.

If his ‘guest’ took any offence it didn’t show it, calmly looking up from the floor and bringing both its camera eyes around to focus in on Tinker.

Tinker shook like a foal hearing his first ghost story, "What were you doing all that time then?" Tinker let loose, "Stealing my master plans? Looting my safe?" The engineer continued to tremble, the images of all the terrifying things the machine could have done flashing through his mind.

The pony-bot shifted its head to one side as if thinking about how to answer the accusation before going on with its normal level of speech. "I was merely enhancing my vocabulary along with my understanding of temporal physics. I also discovered a number of interesting facts about myself and just to pass the time I learnt how to build a temporal travel engine." The mechanical pony stated

"Ur...." Tinker blinked at this as his brain worked through what he had just heard.

"I read your books," The machine announced and when it seemed that Tinker wasn't catching up fast enough pointed a robotic hoof at the pile of books on the table. "As for the other implied acts, understand that I am your master plan. So it would be hard for me to steal myself. Furthermore I don't think that you even have a safe in this room," The pony-bot stated levely.

" Why did you read my.....?" Tinker trailed off as his brain processed the last piece of information he had heard. 'I am your master plan' the pony-bot had said. His eyes went wide as his pupils shrunk to dots. "I sent myself that crate?" The whole idea seemed insane. Then he thought of the book titles and things began to fall into place in his mind.

"This is gonna get very complicated isn't it?" He looked at the other 'pony' in the room who gave an understanding nod, as if to a foal.

Comments

[xoid]

You repeated much of the prologue in this chapter. …and the final paragraph is also seemingly repeated from the prologue.

[FordPrefect]

Enjoying the story so far.

Found two small errors.

Tinker could feel the power coming from the little cylinders and made a mental not to investigate them later.

note

What were you doing all that time then?" tinker let loose again

Tinker