Rob and Robbo
It took a bit of convincing for Robin’s mother to let the Zetatron Mk. II into the house, thanks to concerns over the maintenance and upkeep of having another being around. But, seeing the pure joy and harmony that Robin and Robert shared, she couldn’t find it in her heart to turn the robot away.
Rob and Robbo, as they became known, were inseparable from the day they met. They played together, laughed together and Robin even dropped out of school in favour of being educated through the Zetatron Mk. II’s Household Assistance features.
For a while, GammaTech had a bounty placed on returning the Zetatron Mk. II with serial number #R083RT to their store. Everyone in Rob and Robbo’s village knew where Robert was, of course; hardly a day went by without the pair of them playing in the streets or taking a walk around the houses. But Robert was family to Robin, so Robert was family to the village, and they would not betray their family. More than that, they’d fight for and defend their family!
Those outside the village did not feel the same camaraderie with the semi-autonomous hunk of metal as those within. Ax, whose corporeal form stabilised as the charismatic businessman who first tried to lead the GammaTech security to Robert when it first escaped, led a group of bounty hunters to try and track down Robert, using Ax’s knowledge of where Robert had got to. The village stayed resolute in resisting and disrupting this search, denying any knowledge of the Zetatron’s location, hiding Rob and Robbo, and otherwise generally making the bounty hunters’ lives difficult. And it worked. Rob and Robbo continued to grow up together in peace.
Mk. I #I8R0K5 was never found. According to internal reports, three employees managed to trap the bot before it could escape the facility, shutting it down and recapturing it for future testing. Rob and Robbo never learnt the fate of Mk. I #I8R0K5, who was left to fill in for the absence of Mk. II #R083RT with a whole new round of testing.
Mk. II #R083RT escaped. Mk. I #I8R0K5 will not be given the chance. Not again. Its glimpse of the outside world would remain forever just a glimpse.
After a few months, Rob and Robbo had given up their search for the missing bot, and a quiet memorial was held for Mk. I, serial number #I8R0K5. They collected a pile of rocks together as tribute and Robert gave a few words as eulogy. It didn’t end up very long on account of Mk. I #I8R0K5 not having had much of a life to speak of.
The apology for punching his lights out was the last thing Crash ever said to Smoke. After cutting out the bad influence, Crash was able to turn their life around, learning the art of coffee making, before eventually starting their own coffee shop.
Rob and Robbo had been regulars at Get Mugged ever since Robin was old enough to walk down the dirt track on his own. It was Robert who initially insisted they go, so it could prove that Crash was in fact trying to make them a mug1) of coffee.
It helped, of course, that the little cluster of shops which had sprung up on the dirt track leading to Robin’s hometown also featured Ullily’s Ultimate Mini-Mart – a clothing shop turned general store. Rob and Robbo’s trips to the coffee shop could then be an opportunity to catch up with their old friends. Lily had decided on the Mini-Mart part of the name in the hopes that Mimi would run the shop alongside her, but Mimi withdrew from the arrangement to “prove she could make it on her own”, and other ill-defined excuses and grumblings.
Mimi would still come to the Mini-Mart when she knew Rob and Robbo were on the way, so the group of friends were reunited and caught up fairly regularly. Robert would sometimes ask if the “other Zetatron” they had met on the dirt-track could join them too, and found Ullily and Mimi’s refusal to give a reason for saying no to be most unhelpful.
No matter how much Robin believed – wholly, truly believed – that Robert was flawless, spotless and impeccable in every way, Robert’s casing was still beginning to rust. Robin began reassuring himself that it was only a cosmetic difference, and that he was getting older and his appearance was changing too, so this was an acceptable change. After all, he still loved Robert.
Robert was well-loved and well-oiled, but it was more inevitable than Robin would care to admit that the rust which had been accumulating outside would reach the internal components as well. Robert’s gears and wheels began to slow and seize up, and the Zetatron wasn’t quite as nimble as it used to be. Gone were the days of racing around parks and playing catch and frolicking in the woods. But Robin didn’t mind; he had grown up too and wasn’t upset about losing the option to do the things he did as a kid. After all, he still loved Robert.
It was the breakdown of Robert’s mental circuits which really, truly broke Robin. Rob and Robbo remained inseparable, but now with Robert unable to process why its lifelong partner was now perennially miserable, and Robin trying not to share his sadness with Robert. After all, he still loved Robert, but if Robert was gone, what was there left for him to love?
Robert’s funeral was, by all accounts, a respectful affair. Robin had ensured that his friend – his best friend – received a send-off befitting any human. Mimi, Lily and Crash had made their way to Robin’s village for the ceremony where Robin gave a heartfelt goodbye to the Zetatron who had brought them all together. After all, he still loved Robert.