Forgotten

"Finished!" exclaimed Chloe.

"Finally," mumbled Raya, placing her phone in her pocket. "Where are Ivan and David? They should be here by now."

"Oh, they're off picking up some spare parts for Chloe," piped up her sister, Sarah. "They should be back any minute."

A knock sounded upstairs: 3 short raps, a pause, and one hard one... the knock that signals a friendly.

"I'll get it! shouted Sarah, bounding up the white marble stairs. Chloe pressed a button on her watch, allowing the teched-out basement to be revealed from the old, abandoned shack that acted as their cover for the lab. Sarah sped up the stairs and opened the door to two soaked boys carrying large cardboard box. They stepped into the shack, taking shelter from the rain. Sarah escorted them down the stairs, yapping about the newest invention Chloe just finished.

"It's pouring down there!" exclaimed Ivan, shaking his blond hair, spraying little droplets on top of Sarah and Raya.

"Hey, watch it!" snapped Raya, wiping the droplets off her arms.

"Yes, the parts!" exclaimed Chloe, snatching the box from David's hands and making her way deeper into the lab.

"Nice," Ivan whistled. "You cleaned this place up a bit."

"Are you guys going to come or not?" shouted Chloe from the other side of the room.

Sarah, Ivan, David, and Raya made their way to Chloe.

"Can I test it?" exclaimed Sarah. "Oh please, can I?"

"Better let me do it," replied Chloe. "Just let me turn it on."

Chloe walked over to what looked like an android: it's human shape standing no taller than 5 1/2 feet, the blue and black metal glistening, giving off almost a futuristic look. Chloe opened a panel on its back, flicked a small switch, and closed the panel. It's blue eyes glowed, and a small whirring sound emerged from it's body.

"Everyone," introduced Chloe, "Meet the Security Automated Machine 6.0, or SAM for short. SAM, say hello."

Everyone was silent as they awaited a response from the robot.

A couple beeps sounded, then a pause, until finally the robot spoke.

"Hello," SAM said. "It is nice to meet you Sarah Peterson, Ivan Orwan, David Calloway, and Raya Key."

"Woah, you taught it our names?" exclaimed Ivan. "Freaky."

"Actually, I programmed it to scan any human it encounters and store its information in its database."

"Affirmative," responded SAM.

"Isn't it a bit dangerous to... you know, make it self aware?" asked David.

"It can be a bit dangerous," admitted Chloe, "But I have control of it through this." She lifted her wrist to show her watch, the one she programmed to be a control panel of all her major inventions.

"What else can it do?" asked Sarah, reaching out her hand to touch the robot.

"It's going to be our security system in the event of a break-in. It will also act as back-up for us in case a mission goes bad."

"Don't you have enough security?" asked Raya, gesturing to the numerous cameras, knock-out lasers, instant scans, and hidden traps all over the lab.

"Well, those things can only do so much," said Chloe. "Having a self-aware robot will make it more independent on input from a user, and why not have a robot?" Chloe smiled.

Suddenly, the robot's hand moved, transforming to one of the many weapons installed into it.

Chloe turned pale as the knock-out laser became exposed on the android's hand.

"SAM, what are you doing?" asked Chloe shakily, as she fiddled with her watch, trying to turn off the robot. "Back up slowly," she whispered. "No sudden movements."

"Why is it doing that?" whispered David, slowly stepping back from the suddenly armed robot.

"Invader i-i-i-identified," said SAM, his head and limbs jerking.

"I don't know," admitted Chloe, pulling up the robot's controls on her watch.

"I knew making it self aware was a bad idea," mumbled Raya, putting her arm in front of Sarah as a sheild.

"Invader. I re-re-repeat, invader. Must tranquilize."

The robot raised its arm and pointed it at Sarah. The laser glowed as it powered-up. It's arms and legs twitched, little sparks of electricity bursting from it's joints.

"Chloe," growled Raya, putting herself in front of Sarah. "Get your robot under control."

"Got it!" Chloe exclaimed, triumphantly pressing a button on her watch. The robot froze, it's blue eyes ceasing to glow. They all breathed a sigh of relief.

"That was too close," said Raya. "I told you it was a bad idea."

Chloe stepped in front of the frozen robot. "It could have been a short circuit, or maybe a malfunction." She turned around and faced the group. "I'll have to fix it. It should be ready in a few days, but if it keeps raining like this, then-"

"Chloe," said Ivan shakily.

"What is it now?" asked Chloe.

David pointed behind her, trembling.

Chloe slowly turned around to see the robot no longer frozen, it's eyes glowing red. The machine whirred with life.

A look of terror was etched on Chloe's face. The robot grabbed her by the collar and thrust her to the wall, causing several metal parts to fall from their shelves.

"You tried to k-k-kill me," said SAM. "You must b-b-b-be eliminated."

The robot lifted it's arm, a new device attached to it. Chloe recognized it instantly and started talking.

"Listen to me," she said hastily. "Don't let the robot escape. You need to shut it down for good."

The device glowed as red as the robot's eyes. Raya continued to stand in front of the trembling Sarah, grasping Ivan's hand.

"There is an emergency hard drive hidden in the lab. I need you to grab it and-"

She was interrupted by a blast of white light that emerged from the weapon. The others shielded their eyes from the blinding light, and opened them to find the robot gone.

"Where did it go?!" shouted Raya.

"Chloe!" gasped Sarah. Raya turned to see Chloe on the ground, limp, her back against the cracked wall.

"David, Ivan!" shouted Raya. "Go after the robot! Don't let it get away!"

The boys hesitated, staring at Sarah as she lifted Chloe's head from the ground.

"GO!" Raya screamed. The boys nodded before bounding up the stairs into the outside world. Raya ran towards Chloe, kneeling down beside her.

"Is she..." Sarah asked shakily.

"No," responded Raya. "She's breathing."

A small groan escaped from Chloe's lips as her eyes fluttered open.

"Oh, Chloe!" exclaimed Sarah, tears in her eyes. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Chloe stared blankly at Sarah.

"Chloe?" asked Sarah.

"... who's Chloe?"