(COMMISSION) A Trip Through Time

The rain poured down in sheets that night, loud and heavy and unrelenting like a mental weight that pressed down on one’s very soul. The sound the rain made was all that could be heard aside from the howling wind and the occasional crash of thunder, overwhelming the ears of those few who remained awake in their homes. People were a sight seldom seen that night, which was unfortunate for a very particular animatronic Dilophosaurus. 

The whirring of motors and the clicking of mechanical joints could only faintly be heard over the deafening roar of the weather for Spider. Even the microphones underneath the  tough, plastic shell of what was left of her face were ringing. 

Thankfully though, there was an awning she was standing under that lead to the entrance of some museum that provided a protective shield against the elements. At least Spider didn’t have to damage her already frail servos. Those were her thoughts as looked to the entrance, the door being made out of a dark colored wood made darker from the cloud covered night sky. Padoek or Merbau wood, perhaps? Mechanical clicks could be heard as Spider craned her head towards the doors, squinting her azure eyes and her tongue lolling out of her immovable mouth. Located on the center of the door to the right, there was a sign that caught the animatronic’s eyes, which read “Please use other entrance. Thank you!”

Now Spider was even more curious, her legs creaking with ever step as she walked towards the museum’s dark doors. What could be inside? Were there new friends in there? Those ever burning questions were ones that had to be answered, the robotic creature couldn’t live a lost opportunity down. As the curious robot opened the doors, those of which were surprisingly unlocked by some forgetful guard, she stepped through the threshold, the sound of heavy, thudding footsteps against tile flooring echoed throughout the inactive building as wooden doors creaked into a shut position.

The interior of this section of the establishment was walled off, as shown by the looming temporary walls that seemed to reach all the way up to the high ceiling of the museum. The color scheme of the place were all in sepia tones, browns and tans making the place look like a building from a time never known by a robot such as Spider. Many display cases and stands stood in an organized fashion across, the layout easy to navigate and the space wide. Most cases were empty but those that did have something inside stood out. Crumpled sheets of paper and other bits of trash lightly littered the smooth tan tile flooring. A hollow ambience was audible all throughout, reverberating like the building was an echo chamber made just for such a sound. But most importantly…

There were animatronics here.

Most, if not all the robotic dinosaurs in this specific part of the building were strewn about loosely, looking decrepit and abandoned. All the ones that Spider could see so far were inactive, unmoving like toys that weren’t played with. Those that stood on their feet were limp, their limbs and head floppy as if they had no energy to “live”. Some were missing limbs, some had chunks of their latex skin missing and had their yellowing shells and wire revealed. And many of them were dinosaurs, too, coming from the Cretaceous period. It was like this place was an animatronic graveyard, robots left here to rot away without any purpose until they’re needed again. And to most visitors who decided to take a peek at this place, these motionless machines were a turn off for their curiosity. But to Spider? It was more than intriguing.

Spider let out what sounded like glitched radio static in friendly greeting, a voice who’s words were unable to be understood faintly seeping into the static, her mouth opening as far as her sticky joints would allow. It was as if she was trying to call out anything, anyone else that would listen. The robotic Dilophosaurus was taking tentative steps, metallic creaking and powerful thuds on tile melting into the ambience with each slow movement. The whirring of Spider’s motors made her sound loud enough to be heard all across the Cretaceous sector. Only the sound of another animatronic coming to life, a familiar mix of whirrs and metallic groans, would cause Spider to stop in her tracks. From where she was standing, the Dilophosaurus let out another static filled cry through her open mouth, the cacophony of which echoed through the dimly lit room. It was like Spider was trying to say that she came in peace, she meant no harm.

The sound of mechanical footsteps cut through the air, approaching like some sort of keen predator. Azure eyes lit by bright LED lights through tempered glass screens illuminated the face of the approaching animatronic, more details becoming clear with each lurching step. Despite the darkness of the room, this robot’s pupils were slits, thin and catlike. 

When the animatronic stopped in front of Spider with a small forward lurch, the little details became clear. He was the least worn animatronic in the room, the vast majority of the sage green latex that made up his skin still intact. The only places that were missing latex were a vast majority of his lower jaw, a vast portion of his right leg, a section of his underbelly, and a large chunk of his tail. All those spots, except his tail, showed a yellowed and aging shell that protected the insides. The velociraptor even had deep green faux feathers running down his head and neck, as well as the tip of his tail. He was about as tall as Spider was. There were no signs of fear in this animatronic, which was a huge relief in Spider’s opinion.

“Who… who are you?” The green dino asked, his voice smooth and somewhat suave as it echoed around the room. The acoustics of the room allowed for Spider to pick up on the sound of corruption in his voice, as well as what sounded like a somewhat audible Australian accent. 

Spider seemed to stop for a moment, the long rods adorning the sides of her face moving into a slightly different position. They clicked like tiny gears as they moved, with louder whirrs from protesting motors being heard as she bent down, grabbing a blank piece of paper and a pen with shaking hands. When the Dilophosaurus stood back up to full height, she  walked over to an empty display, mechanical sounds coming from her body with each motion. The green velociraptor who’s name she didn’t know kept his eyes on her, mechanical clicks being heard as he slowly moved his head to keep her in his line of sight as she wrote out a shaky message. 

“I A am SPIDER. 

I dOnt mean to intrude on yOr home(?),

neeDed a placE to get out of

WhO ar you?”

Spider had drawn a storm cloud with rain and lighting next to the word “of” in the third line, the lines of the cloud messy. As she picked up the paper and showed it to the other bot to read, her motors clicked as she let out a small static sound. There was a narrowing of blue eyes as the velociraptor read through the chicken scratch, looking up and making eye contact with Spider as soon as he was done reading.

“Call me Hawthorn, I’m one oF-“ Hawthorn, the velociraptor in question, was briefly interrupted by a loud screech-like vocal glitch. He was unbothered by it though, as if he had existed with such a condition for as long as he knew. “…one of the tour guides of the Cretaceous sector of the museum.”

With a tilt of the head and a turn of her body, joints clicking into place, Spider started writing more on the paper, each letter written coming out wobbly. 

“Tha t meAns you know a LOt about dinosaurs right?”

“You’re correct, yes,” Hawthorn said with a nod, his eyes opening and closing as Spider made a curious sounding crackling. She wanted to know more, more, more. “It’s sad for me to say but-“ there was that vocal glitch again. “Most everyone runs away - out of fear, I assume - before I can tell them any piece of knowledge I know.”

One of Spider’s upper eyelids seemed to move up, while the other stayed in a slightly lower position as her head tilted sideways, the motors visible in her neck groaning in protest. As she looked down at the paper to write her message, the Dilophosaurus looked around a little to see if she could nab herself another piece of paper after writing this specific message. She was running out of room on her current page.

“you dn’t sEem scar y, y do peoplE”

Spider had shakily drawn a stick figure, representative of a human, in a running position, to represent the words “run away.” The red and blue tangle of wires that adorned her bare head like a crown fell back a little bit as she tilted her head to the left, the rods on the right side of her head clicking into a new position like clockwork. The green skinned velociraptor remained silent for a few ominous seconds, like his corrupted AI was desperately struggling to process Spider’s question.

“That’s… something I cannot fully explain,” Hawthorn said in his echoey, slightly corrupted voice. His head and expressive LED eyes moved downward, the sound of the joints moving muffled by the worn down latex that covered his mechanical insides. “All I want to do is teach people about the Cretaceous time frame, and yet here I am.. reciting facts to a crowd of no one but unprogrammed machines.”

Spider opened her sticky mouth a tad as a static tone escaped her damaged vocal module, as if to attempt to speak. But she knew that wouldn’t work fully, as she had already held a blank piece of paper in her robotic claws and had begun to write again, her messy writing filling a portion of the page.

“I wan A leaRn aboutt he stuFf here! PlesE?”

“…you mean, you actually want to?” Hawthorn said, raising one of his top eyelids and his head tilting slightly, the recoil of motion causing his upper body to shake slightly. In response, Spider let out a distorted sound of approval, nodding as fast as her creaking, worn joints would allow. Even without proper facial expressions, one could just tell the Dilophosaurus animatronic was excited. She was more than desperate- and definitely more than delighted - to learn about what this entire museum section had to entail, despite how little the place actually had. And plus, this could mean she would have a friend! 

Hawthorn’s eyes blinked, the forest green painted eyelids effortlessly sliding over the glass panels that made up his screen eyes. He never thought someone would be so eager to have him of all people to ramble about the things he was programmed to. But maybe, just maybe, Hawthorn would finally be able to feel some fort of contentedness through guiding the bare looking animatronic in front of him around his walled off and unfinished area.

“Well, if that’s the case, we shall start the Cretaceous Tour! There may not be much now, but there’s still stuff to admire,” Hawthorn said, standing up slightly straighter, the joints in his body making muffled noise as he spun 180 degrees and started walking through the dark yet spacious room. It wasn’t long until the Dilophosaurus started following her new friend, her tail wagging despite the protest from her servos and excited sounding static emitting from her central speaker. She was carrying around her paper and pen, mainly to keep herself communicating with her new friend. 

The metallic footsteps and creaking of metal joints echoed through the room, which surprisingly enough, never seemed to activate any of animatronics laying limp around the spacious room. Not a single one, excluding Hawthorn of course, were completed. The farthest progress that the animatronics had were just a voice module with complete with a few test lines. And even then, there weren’t many that had this feature complete or even started. Really, it was unfortunate but it was a truth that Hawthorn had to live with.

“Now, to start..” Hawthorn started, stopping in front of a complete fossil of some form of small raptor, posed in some form sort of action pose. It was as if it was going to take a swipe at some invisible foe, it’s mouth forever open in a permanent roar. It wasn’t all that big, having only 4 feet in terms of length. But regardless, it was an interesting sight to see this tiny skeleton, here to remind people of who and what ruled the Earth’s surface long before humanity. “…this is the most complete fossil we have in the section so far. It’s what’s called a ‘Buitreraptor,’ a small carnivorous theropod from the late Cretaceous. Oh, oh, it’s name also means ‘vulture roost plunderer,’ which is cool.”

Spider let out excited sounding bursts of static, her tail wagging like that of an overexcited dog and the rods on her cheeks perking out at hearing facts about this interesting fossil inside the building. It was more than fascinating to hear about a dinosaur she’s never heard about before! Quickly, the Dilophosaurus started writing something on her paper, her clawed plasticy hands shaking with every letter written.

“do u knO how loNG ago it”

Spider had drawn a shaky looking human skull to represent death, a look of curiosity in her energetic blue eyes. 

“Hmm, according to what I know, likely 90 to 99 million years ago. I’m not exactly sure when this one died, but, it’s still really interesting,” Hawthorn said thoughtfully, his voice occasionally sounding glitchy or staticy as he spoke. The motors in his jaw did occasionally get stuck, keeping his mouth open for a few milliseconds. “Anyway, to continue, there’s another interesting fossil that I’m able to show you. It’s not that far away from here.”

Hawthorn nodded in the direction of the next fossil, a much, much larger reptile that towered over both robots as he turned and walked in that direction with powerful footsteps. Spider let out happy burst of distorted static as she followed along. This fossil had everything to it, except for its tail, which made it look odd. But regardless, it stood in a regal and powerful pose.

“This next dinosaur is called the ‘Abelisaurus,’ another carnivore who lived around 70 to 74 million years ago,” Hawthorn as he slowly walked in front of the royal-looking fossil. “And it’s name means ‘Abel’s Lizard…’ creative, I know. Sadly enough, the museum doesn’t have a tail for this curious dino. I guess whichever archaeologists dug it up were unable to find a tail.” As he explained everything

Spider was listening intently, her eyes looking between the fossil and Hawthorn with a wagging tail, walking behind the velociraptor with creaking joints audible throughout. To her, this was more than interesting. It was nice to listen and enjoy something outside of that cramped warehouse at the amusement park. She was really starting to get kinda lonely… and bored in there. And now she knew where to go when she wanted to talk to a friend, at least for a while! All because she stumbled into the museum to keep herself safe from a raging rainstorm! But, as the Dilophosaurus walked behind Hawthorn, there was something that caught her eye.

An animatronic, one that seemed slightly more broken than most that were located in the isolated section of the building. 

This animatronic seemed to depict some sort of raptor, as shown by the stature of it being not unlike Hawthorn’s. Whatever latex skin remained on its body were colored with a plum purple, a berry pink color in the middle, and a peachy orange color, the darkest color on its body being the purple feathers that adorned its head and tail tip. Though, a lot of what the skin was supposed to look like was a mystery, as this animatronic’s face, chest, back, and legs were all barren, showing yellowing plastic shells and multicolored wires. In its mouth, there was only a top row of teeth, the wires and hydraulics that moved the jaw exposed. And interestingly enough, the animatronic’s right arm was completely missing, wires hanging loosely from where it appears to have been literally ripped from its place. The raptor was standing on its two feet, everything about it completely limp, its LED screen eyes being dark and void like. It was also standing next to a relatively small display case.

As Spider stared at this unfortunate display, she opened her mouth a tad, letting out a static cacophony to get her tour guide’s attention, which seemed to work. The velociraptor had paused, his head turned to where one of his glowing eyes was facing the Dilophosaurus behind him. She had written something on a new piece of paper as he looked back. 

“what hAppned to tHat roBo t?”

Spider pointed to the broken raptor animatronic to try and show her friend what she meant by her written question, blinking a few times. Hawthorn had turned to face the Dilophosaurus again, looking back at the robot in question for a brief moment.

“You mean Nightshade? That Fukuiraptor?” Hawthorn asked, with Spider nodding as she moved her hands back into their usual position. “Well.. he was never exactly… finished, let’s just say. He’s got nothing to him, except maybe a few test lines coded into him, which still work surprisingly enough. And as for his physical condition.. there’s been a few.. accidents involving myself, which I genuinely didn’t mean.. at least he still works, 

Hawthorn’s face was pointed down, a look of guilt in his bright eyes at the thought of what happened as he gave a section of Nightshade’s non-broken upper arm a push like there was a button there. This caused Nightshade’s head to lift in a janky and rough motion, the motors screaming in protest with the movement when he opened his mouth to say only a single line, one in his vocal test bank.

“Hey! What’re you up to?”

Nightshade’s voice was leagues more glitchy and corrupted than Hawthorn’s was, even though the words could be made out through the distortion. And what remained of the original voice was a little higher pitched than the green velociraptor’s, as well as being a lot more expressive than his. The only similarity between their voices were the accents, but that was about it.

Even with Spider’s current condition, one could still see that she was feeling sympathetic towards this other robot as she scribbled another wobbly message on her piece of paper.

“d O you KnOW whAT x-aCtly happened ?”

“Well..” Hawthorn looked up, trying to find the words to describe everything, even through another one of those screeching vocal glitches. “All I can really say is.. part of my AI is corrupted and sometimes I have these.. fits of rage? I don’t know what to call them. But I got into one this one time and everything is blank after it started..”

Spider’s upper eyelids seemed to drop down over part of her eyes, mechanical clicking being heard as the rods along her face seemed to droop down in an attempt to show an expression of sadness. She bent down with some struggle, grabbing a partially folded and crumped sheet of paper from the ground and started shakily scribbling another message as she stood up again, her movements stiff. It took her a moment, but she was trying her hardest.

“Im stil noT scarD of yu if tha T helps!

it mAkes yoU more liKe me nd THat maks me hap Py BEcause yURe my frend !”

“You really.. you really think so?” Hawthorn questioned, the inflection of his accented voice showing a calm yet still engaged state of mind. He himself wouldn’t admit such a thing, but Spider was the sort of person - well, animatronic - he really needed to keep himself from going insane after the many years of being locked up in this lonely part of the museum. He had been so lonely and ignored that he wasn’t even sure if he’d ever be fixed.

In response, Spider nodded once more, the servos making themselves more than audible as they moved her head. A burst of static escaped her speaker as if she was trying to say “yes.”

Hawthorn blinked, a silence broken only by the occasional sound of robotic parts moving blending in with the hollow sound of the empty museum’s ambience. It was like Hawthorn’s AI couldn’t process it yet, even for how advanced it was. But now, he finally had a friend that would actually listen to him instead of run away at the sight of his presence.

“I.. thank you,” Hawthorn said, his voice distorting ever so slightly from the corruption that affected his very being. Spider’s tail was wagging, the spines on her cheeks raised up, figuring she had cheered her new friend up. “Even though we got sidetracked… our little tour is still going. We currently only have one other object of interest at this-“ Hawthorn was cut off by a vocal glitch, one of which he wasn’t bothered by. “…at this time. Luckily, it’s just as interesting as the other fossils we have.”

Hawthorn roughly turned 180 degrees on his feet, leading his guest down the rows of empty displays, the only sound being heard being the duo’s mechanical whirrs echoing through the building. Where the velociraptor led was to a relatively small display case, having only a small skull behind a box tempered clear glass. It almost resembled that of an ancient bird, a beak like mouth and all. 

“Now this one is a Rinchenia skull, one of the only ones found so far,” Hawthorn explained, his voice taking on that tour guide esque inflection that it held earlier. He held a hand close to the glass, as if he was explaining something using body language. “People can only speculate about what it looked like fully, but what we do know is that it was likely an omnivore.”

As Spider listened to Hawthorn’s explanation, she was desperately writing out a question she had in mind for quite a while now. 

“How do U knOw all thS stuff?”

“Good question,” Hawthorn said, looking Spider directly in the eyes. “I’m connected to a database with reliable sources that have everything humanity knows about the Cretaceous period. With every new discovery, the database is updated.”

Spider was listening intently, the rods representing what were supposed to be the facial frills of her species perked up in interest. She genuinely thought that this museum - and the animatronic residents that lived here - was more than interesting. And having a friend here to? Now, that was full reason as to why she could come back again! That is, when she was able to of course. After all, her programming wouldn’t be able to let her come during the day. Not like it’d really matter, since this portion of the museum was closed off from the public.

“So, do you have an-“ Hawthorn’s voice suddenly paused, being replaced by a loud, corrupted mess of noise, his eye screens turning into a staticky display and his mouth permanently stuck open, which only amplified the sudden distortion. If a comparison were to be drawn, the velociraptor sounded not too unlike one of those 1990s Furby toys with low power. It was startling for even Spider, who took a step back from where Hawthorn when she saw the velociraptor stopped mid sentence. Could this be one of those corruption fits that he mentioned while talking about that broken Nightshade character…? 

That’s what the Dilophosaurus was thinking when Hawthorn let out a static filled roar of what sounded like pain, as he turned 180 degrees with a lashing tail, using what little fragments were left of his non-corrupted personality to try and head away from whatever animatronics were nearby, including Spider. He wasn’t about to have another incident that was similar to what happened with Nightshade. And as the velociraptor was storming away, his hands taking swipes at nearby walls and his tail nearly taking down some of the empty displays with roaring motors, Spider couldn’t help but to look on in complete shock. 

However, Spider couldn’t help but to feel.. sympathetic as she looked on at the scene unfolding right in front of her eyes. She knew she didn’t have the same exact condition as Hawthorn but still, there was just… something about seeing her friend in this much pain from the corruption. And there was nothing either of the animatronics could do to stop this, it was practically in Hawthorn’s very essence of being. 

Thankfully enough, however, this little outburst lead to minimal damage taken to the area, since this one was relatively short in comparison to the ones that Hawthorn experienced on the regular. It was clear that the fit of pained rage was over when Hawthorn powered down in a self-reset, the room falling silent apart from the building’s acoustics amplifying the ambience, as well as the sound of whirring motors as Spider slowly approached the powered off animatronic. She was cautious, as she didn’t want to set anything off with him.

As Spider approached the rebooting animatronic, the sound of him booting up echoed through the room. The sight of his blue LED eyes cutting through the darkness instead of pure white noise was a relief to see. Hawthorn looked from side to side before looking back at Spider with a look of guilt in his eyes. If he were capable of crying, he would be, but because he wasn’t able to cry, there were no tears.

“I’m.. sorry,” Hawthorn said after a few seconds, turning himself around to face the  Dilophosaurus animatronic. That look of guilt remained in his azure eyes as he looked down at the floor. “I.. I didn’t mean..”

Hawthorn was cut short by a burst of static erupting from Spider’s damaged speaker, as if she was trying to say “hold on a second.” Her mouth opened a little as if she was trying to speak in conjunction with the static her speakers made. The green velociraptor’s gaze was lead up to Spider’s face, his head tilting as the motors in his neck clicking into place. His friend was writing something on a piece of paper using that pen she had been holding throughout the entire tour. 

“itS OK ay!! I’l l stilL be yur freNd! i dOn thinK it wa s yOUr fault a T all :D”

“…Thank you again,” Hawthorn said in a semi-quiet tone of voice. He spoke after a few good seconds of near complete silence. Finally, there was someone who never felt scared of his oddities and outbursts that he couldn’t control. He was dragged out of his thoughts when Spider held up the paper again, showing she had wanted to communicate something to him. There was a sad look in her eyes, her eyelids dropping down a little as she looked up at Hawthorn. The spines on her face were also pointing downward.

“IVe gotT to gO soon :(

my PRogRamm ing maKes me g O ba K to mY waRehousE before

I doN tHink I can stay mUch longer”

Spider had drawn a rising sun to represent morning in the second line of her message. As Hawthorn read her message, he himself felt his mouth become slightly agape, his glowing eyes showing an expression of sorrow. 

“You’ll come back… right?” Hawthorn asked as he looked Spider in the eyes. He didn’t bother moving the faux feathers that were dangling in front of his eyes.

Spider nodded happily, her tail wagging a little bit as she started writing one last message for the night.

“I’Ll be BacK soon to LErN mor!! Prom Ise :)

ThaMk yOU for thHe toUr, I haD fu n

ByE-bY E frEind”

“I’ll see you soon,” Hawthorn said as he waved to his friend, his facial mechanics whirring as if he was attempting to smile. After all, he was meant to make facial expressions considering how complex he was. “I’m glad you enjoyed your tour, I’ll be sure to tell you about new additions whenever you come by again.”

Spider excitedly nodded, a happy sounding static filling the air as she did so. She returned the wave as she started making her way towards the exit of the museum before her programming truly got to her, her motors letting out loud sounds as she walked through the maze of glass displays and unfinished robots. Tonight was a good night, one she definitely wouldn’t forget.