Back in Time Part 1

Anthony and his friend Mike take a trip back in time and discover something they never thought they see.

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Synopsis

The Zapbots continue their efforts to start a new Federation of Planets. Shortstop (Anthony) discovers that some log files from the crew were deleted during a brief period during his death. He inquires with Botimus what happened to the files and Botimus will not disclose indicating the information is 'classified.'

Anthony a bit stressed from the weeks of work spends time with his human friends as his core crew of Zapbots provides him with a surprise. Timetravel's special ability is ready to be tested and as such, Anthony and his friend Mike take a trip back in time.

Back in Time

While back in time, Anthony and Mike are amazed to see a dragon attacking a village of people. Using his stealth technology Anthony stops the dragon and forces it back into its cave. Anthony sends Timetravel back to the future to get information if a dragon ever existed in this time period.

Back in time, Anthony and Mike explore the cave where the dragon lives to try and determine where it came from. During the visit he discovers crystals very similar to the Matrix crystals. While he grabs one, Mike is spooked by the cave bats, which causes the dragon to attack and burn Mike's body. Anthony takes Mike to where Timetravel should be but he isn't back yet from the future yet. In the forest Medievial Monks come out of the bushes and take Mike's body back to their temple. There they take the crystal that Anthony grabbed in the cave and set it on Mike's chest. Energy flows out from the Matrix to the crystal and slowly Mike's body is restored to normal. Timetravel returns and the three read a book that provide a prophecy of the events that happened thus curing Anthony's concern of messing up the timeline. Anthony instructs Timetravel to take Mike back to present time for safety.

Anthony proceeds to attack the dragon but is overwhelmed until Timetravel comes to assist. After disabling the dragon they come across a revelation that it was a robot. After making sure the inhabitants are set, they head back to the future.

Present Time

In Bop's bar, Hot Shot tries to get Rup and Bop to explain their history, as noone knows where they came from. Rup is digusted when a Zapbot named Tiretracks walks by and Hot Shot is unaware of why.

During Anthony's absence unrest begins to build on the ship as it is discovered that Tiremarks as an alternate programming preference for gender. Botimus has to deal with the crew arguing over Tiremarks gender preference. He informs the crew to leave him alone and treat him with respect till Master Anthony returns from the adventure. Roberta reveals that Shortwing, Speedy and Timetravel's lost brother (who was created during Anthony's short death) also had a same-sex gender preference and apparently, committed suicide because he tried to alter his programming.

In Bop's bar, Bop comforts Speedy for the new knowledge of his brother and why he killed himself. He also lets Speedy know, in time he will know where he came from.

Tiretracks is attacked by civilian thugs which pushes Botimus's leadership to the test, and hsets off to find the robots that attacked his friend. While Pliers patches Tiretracks up he realizes the errors of his ways and later apologizes.

Later after Anthony has returned and in Shortstop mode in Bop's bar, Anthony has a drink with Botimus and indicate they do not want to 'reprogram' Zapbots who have these angry thoughts, but more so educate them and let them come around to their own decision in time.

Featured characters

Zapbots	Humans	Enemies	Planets
Boaty Botimus Prime Click Dodge Flier Fortress Misslemax Hot Shot Pliers Repairs Rup Scan Shortstop Speedy Superrobot Terrain Tiny Tiretracks Tiremarks Ultra Attack	Alan F. Bill T. aka 'Billy' David D. Jeremy D. Matt R. aka 'Rogish' Mike B. aka 'Mikey' Mike Quartz Various Medieval Individuals	Dragon	Earth

Quotes

"My lord, Thou aren’t so clean. Never has thou seen someone this well groomed!"

Medieval Person talking to Mike Q..

Notes

Production notes

• In the original writing of this story, Matt E. still existed and the story was based around him. In 1996 when I rewrote it, I changed it to my 'straight friend' Bill. Rereading it in 2020 it didn't quite have the same impact unless there was a romantic involvement with the character so it was adapted to include Mike Quartz.
• (I believe) this is the first appearance of Hot Shot and Rup.
• Third pass to provide extra details and upgrades happened in 2021.