Back in Time Part 1
Anthony and his friend Mike Quartz take a trip back in time and discover something they never thought they see.
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 Prime what happened to the files and Botimus Prime 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 new friend Mike Quartz 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.
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 with his XO-Suit 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 no-one knows where they came from. Rup is disgusted 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 has an alternate programming preference for gender. Botimus Prime 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 (Bop).
Tiretracks is attacked by civilian thugs which pushes Botimus Prime's leadership to the test, and he sets 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 Prime and they agree they do not want to 'reprogram' Zapbots who have these angry thoughts, but try educate them and let them come around to their own decision in time.
In the Epilogue scene, Shortstop visits Tiremarks and Tiretracks and apologies for the problems that their programming may have caused while giving them a hug.
Featured characters
| Zapbots | Humans | Enemies | Planets |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Quotes
"My lord, Thou aren’t so clean. Never has thou seen someone this well groomed!"
- Medieval Person talking to Mike Q..
Notes
Versions
- First Version: 1989?
- Second Version: 1996?
- Third Version: 2021
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 T. aka 'Billy'. 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 (no offense to Bill.)
- This version of the story is completely expanded from the first version I wrote. In the original version it was a simple adventure timetravel/boy-saves-boy type of story. In this version I decided to add the extra subplot of the gay Zapbots. The goal here was two fold. 1) Can I write a story with two continuous plot lines and 2) Can I Star Trek like explain the logic behind being gay to someone who wouldn't have a clue? The goal was to provide a way to logically explain it to people that don't have a clue. I can specifically remember writing this in my Junior year apartment on my old computer. Good times!
- (I believe) this is the first appearance of Hot Shot and Rup.
- Third pass to provide extra details and upgrades happened in 2021.
Continuity notes
- The rule here is established with Timetravel's ability that for how long you are gone, is the time the continues in present time. So if you're gone ten minutes in the past you come back ten minutes later in present time.
Real-life references
Continuity and plotting errors
Other trivia
- The Dragon idea was somewhat inspired by Trogdor I think...
