A Chance Meeting of Mad Scientists Part 2: Setting the Stage by Amanda Vaughan beat-read by Bodger and KR rated G disclaimer: I don't own the MST3k characters. They are owned by Best Brains. I don't own Washu, either. I do this for pleasure, not profit. May no lawsuits come my way. "Hmm...arms, legs, head, golden color," Washu said to herself, as she looked Crow over. The robots didn't respond to her immediately. They were recovering from the fall and the shock of their new surroundings. As soon as he steadied himself, Crow walked over to the toppled Servo, picked him up, and set him down correctly. "Are you all right, Servo?" the golden bot asked. "Yeah, I think so. What happened and who's that?" Servo asked. Washu, who had watched the whole exchange, clapped her hands to together and shouted in triumph, "I figured it out! You're robots! Granted, very ODD little robots, but still!" The bots looked at each other and then back at the strange woman. At that moment, two puppets appeared on her shoulders. "Washu, you are a genius! Washu, you are the greatest!" they cheered in unison. "Cool. She comes with her own cheerleading squad," Servo remarked as the little puppets vanished behind her. "Washu, huh? Odd name, odd hair color, too." Crow remarked. "I'm not so much odd as extraordinary," she replied, "Now please hold still for the scanners." Once again, Washu's hands flew over the keyboards, bringing forth a circle of metal cylinders around the bots. Before the bots could move or speak, bright lights emanated from the cylinders and covered them. The scanning lights were relatively non-invasive, only examining and recording basic molecular structure and components. However, the little bots were unprepared and overreacted to the multiple flash bulbs. "Ahhh, I'm blind! I'm blind!" cried Crow. "I'm blind, too," Servo wailed. "How can you be blind?" Crow demanded, "You don't have any eyes." "My dome has been blinded," Servo replied. "How?" Crow persisted, "It's clear and I don't see any photoreceptors." "I thought you said you were blind," Servo retorted. As the bots argued about who was more capable of being blinded, Washu looked the data over. The little box appeared to be an anti-virus device as she had figured. She pursed her lips in thought. Its structure wasn't too impressive, as it had clearly been cobbled together out of household goods. Yet, it had been powerful enough to defeat her spam-eating virus. The bots were a mystery as well. Despite the fact that they seemed to be built from old VCR pieces, they were talking and arguing like sentient beings. Clearly, their designer must have been very clever and very short-supplied. "Tell me, who built you?" Washu asked. The bots didn't even look up. Washu would have to talk much more loudly if she wanted to interrupt one of their arguments. "QUIET!" the petit scientist ordered. The robots turned to the scientist. "That's better. I want to know who built you," she said calmly. "Why do you want to know?" Servo asked cautiously. Washu was quiet for a moment, deciding how to answer. She ultimately decided to use the truth, mostly. "You are clearly very advanced robots. I'd love to meet the brilliant mind that produced you. I have a party to attend and I don't want to go alone," Washu explained. She decided to leave the Mad Scientist part out as that tended to scare guys away. "We were built by guy named Joel," Crow answered. "Tell me about Joel," Washu asked sweetly. She figured it must be fate. Here she was looking for a brilliant guy and then the robotic progeny of one appear right in front of her. "Why should we?" Crow interrupted, "Why should we tell a total stranger, emphasis on strange, about our beloved creator? What's in it for us?" "What do you want?" Washu asked. "Got any RAM chips?" Servo asked. "How's a whole sack full sound?" the scientist replied. Washu knew she could easily find some old RAM chips lying around. "Oh, and we also want a one-way ticket off the Satellite of Love," Crow said. "That can be arranged," Washu said reasonably. She didn't know what the Satellite of Love was, but she knew she could move just about anything just about anywhere with her trans-dimensional gateway. "Now can I meet him?" Washu asked sweetly. "Well, that'd be kinda hard becau-hey!" Crow yelped as Servo hovered right into him. "Excuse us a moment," Servo said as he hustled Crow out of her earshot. "What was that for?" Crow complained. "She doesn't have to know that we don't have Joel anymore," Servo hissed, "I say we give her Mike, tell her he's Joel, let them have fun at a party, and get a ticket off the Satellite and a sack full of RAM chips as a reward for humoring her." "I don't know. Do you think Mike would like her?" Crow asked. "What's not to like? She's a girl and Mike's been on the Satellite a couple of years now. I'm sure he'd be willing to go to a party with her," Servo said confidently. The bots returned to the scientist. "You want Joel. You got Joel, on two conditions." Crow announced, "First we want a one-way ticket off the Satellite of Love for everybody aboard. Second we want RAM chips, lots of RAM chips. Can you handle all of that?" "Deal," Washu responded, "Step right through the glowing door. I'll leave it open until you get back." With a few typed commands, the glowing door reappeared and the bots went through, thinking about how they would convince Mike to play Joel. Washu sat down and leaned back in her chair and daydreamed about the look on Smith's face when she came to the convention with this brilliant unknown. She didn't know what this Joel would look like, but she already knew he would be amazing. To be continued...