CHIPPERS

Years ago, when my children were much younger, We would sit on the couch on Saturday mornings and watch cartoons together. I'm sure most of us have done this and even watched the same cartoons.

I now have a few grandchildren, but the cartoons are very different. I have began wondering how it would work out to bring back the "old ones"; but put a few twists here and there so they are different.

Let's see what happens when we combind the "Smurfs" and "Ninja Turtles" with a new electronic situation running in the back ground.

I would like to offer up the story of the "CHIPPERS". I have brought about their creation and tried to set up a premise of how they would interact together as the go out and face the challenges of the world. I would like to get contributions which hold close to this story line and in the forms a short story as each chapter of their lives unfold.

I don't think there is any lack of imagination from the members of A T S, I feel there would only be a lack of willingness to participate. Who knows, this could turn into a good sized book which we could all pass on to our grandchildren. OR, this singular chapter could reside here for years, with out any further activity from anyone who cares.

I do not plan to claim any copy right or singular ownership to this or any subsequent parts to the story.

a reply to: tinymind

C H I P P E R S

CHAPTER ONE


In a laboratory just at the edge of town, a scientist - Dr. Moroon and his assistant, Prof. Ietchey, are putting the finishing touches on their latest and greatest invention. This project was to be the culmination of Dr. Moroon's long hard carrier as a research scientist. He had at last found the means to secure his rightful place in the history of the world. He would use this machine to rule it all.

As the Prof. worked at a bench carefully cleaning the last components which were to be placed in the control panels of the machine, a fierce electrical storm began to build outside. The lightning would flash and the thunder crashed as the professor moved the parts from one metal pane to another. The Dr. had given him very specific instructions to always keep them setting on their pins to prevent any static build-up which might harm their very special internal circuitry. The Prof. would take them one by one and wash it with a special solution, then rub it totally dry. They were so small this was a particularly difficult and tedious job, almost any wrong move could damage them. The Dr. would be very upset if he had gotten so near his goal and so bumbling accident preventing him from finishing his great life's work.

Just as he was placing the last chip into the dry pan, a huge flash of lightning came into the laboratory through a skylight, striking the array of rods and supports which were mounted on top of the work bench. A fork of this lightning ran down and across the top of the bench, right to the pan where the small delicate chips had just been placed.

With the loudest explosion he had ever heard, the Prof. was thrown backward across the floor and under another work bench. It took him a moment to collect his thoughts but even while his coat and hair was still smoking he jumped to his feet and made his way back to where he had been working.

"OH, NO!" he screamed. "This can't be. The Doctor will kill me, he'll skin me alive!"

As soon as he saw the top of the bench he knew he was totally doomed. Where, only a moment ago, a pan had held his future as "an assistant to the ruler of the world", there was now a black smoking hole. This was not even close to the kind of accident which Dr. Moroon would understand. This was the end of the world as the Professor knew it. There was nothing he could do to stop the rath of Dr. Moroon for the rest of his short misurable life, even though it could never be shown in any way as his fault. The Dr. was not a very forgiving person and would rain his retribution onto the Prof. as long as he lived.

As he stood, staring at the hole, the Dr. walked up behind him.

"And just exactly where are my chips?" he ask. "You do know the ones I am talking about, don't you? The six small logic chips which you were supposed to very gently clean, dry, and prepare to be installed into my machine!!"

Professor Ietchy slowly turned his head to face Dr. Moroon. It took all his strength and will to muster a small smile as he said, "They seem to be gone, Doctor. I was just finishing them up when..."

"I could have sworn I heard a loud noise come from this area," snarled Dr. Moroon. "Would you know anything about what happened to cause it? And WHERE ARE MY CHIPS??"

"I don't know, Dr. One moment everything was fine and then - boom - they were gone. I only left for the briefest of moments and they were not here when I got back," said the Professor, as he began to cry. He knew this was not an acceptable excuse to give the Dr., but it was all he had. He also knew his world was just about to come to a crushing end.

"Well, I would suppose you should set about finding them, hadn't you." he snarled. "You are sure to find them, if you would only search as though your life depended on it, I'm sure. I only say this because it does!"

"If you cause me to delay the start-up of this machine for more than one minute, I will make you pay for it for as long as you live. You know how crucial the timing on such a thing can be. If I do not begin the earth’s transformation process at just the right moment, I will have to wait for years for a new alignment of all the elements. I have not put in all this time and effort to watch you spoil it all because you can't do one simple task. NOW! FIND MY CHIPS!!"

When the lightning bolt ran down the work bench and hit the pan, it had sent it flying through the air and against the wall. It lay there upside down, trapping it's cargo of six tiny chips under it. Somehow they had all been stuck to the inner surface by a small static charge left by the lightning.

Suddenly one by one the tiny chips began to wiggle and move.

They were coming to life.

Some of their tiny pins began to take on more of the shape and function of legs as the front pins moved toward the end and appeared to become antennae. They began to have the appearance of tiny square shaped bugs, but with one difference. The patterns on their top sides, which were odd anyway, looked for all the world, to become a face. Each a face with little lights spread out across it.

a reply to: tinymind

The bolt of lightning which had caused all this to come about, had also broken a hole in the skylight were it had entered the lab and the wind of the storm was whipping around in the room, causing all the Dr.'s papers, and many other things, to be blown around. It also blew the pan from covering the chips and they saw two huge scary creatures crawling around the room. This was, of course, the Dr and the Professor franticly searching for them. Being frightened at such a site, they all quickly scurried into a crack at the base of the wall. Even though they were small, there was not much room left as the last one began to enter and it barely touched the leg of another.

This created a small spark between them which they all saw and heard, causing quite a reaction from the others. The two which had touched turned and looked at one another in surprise. Only a moment ago they had all been alone in their own thoughts and now these two knew of one another. They began to "speak" rather than just making the pops and squeals which they had been making and hearing only seconds before. Suddenly these two realized they were a part of something more than just themselves. They also realized the others were there but they could not speak with them. The only thing they could do was to try to touch them. Maybe this brief contact was what was needed to allow them all to get in touch with one another.

As these two began to move toward the others, they noticed there was more room in the crack than they had first noticed. The others, being fearful of the spark and noise, began to move away from the first two. They also began to make popping and squealing sounds which sounded almost like screams. The first two continued to go after them until they had gotten into an air duct where there was lots of room for them to run away. As they began to scurry about, they made little ticking and scratching noises with their feet on the metal inside the air duct.

"Quiet, you fool!" shouted Dr. Moroon. "Can't you hear that?"

He had cocked his head to one side with his ear toward the floor. As he did, he began to slowly step over toward the air duct where the tiny little chips were hiding.

"I think I know what has happened to my chips," Dr Moroon said as he went. "It would seem they may be even more special than I had ever imagined."

"No, don't be so perposterous. These things are just so much silicone and wire, they are somewhere being blown around by the wind and I think I know where that bumbling fool Ietchy threw the pan when he was scared by a little lightning."

"There it is! over by the wall. What better place to find it and all my precious work; poured out all across the floor like it doesn't matter. That fool is going to wish that lightning had hit him if he has lost any of my chips," continued Dr. Moroon.

By now, he had gotten close to the wall where the air duct began and the tiny chip creatures could see him coming closer. They did not know what to make of any creature so large, and were very fearful. The two which could speak to one another tried to tell the others to run, but they still only sounded like pops and squeaks to the rest. They knew there had to be something done quickly or they could all be caught. That was when they quickly moved to the opposite sides of a third chip and threw themselves up against it.

"Whoa! What was that all about?" it shouted. "You two have been acting weird ever since we came up into this place."
"Hey, wait!" it exclaimed. "Why are you two looking at me like that?"

"It's because now we can understand what you are saying," said one. "We need to get all of us a little further back from this opening. I don't like the way that big thing is moving in our direction."

"Oh, you can speak and all of a sudden you're psychic, too? Do you always feel like everything is out to harm you?" it ask. It then looked around and saw the Dr. getting closer and closer to them. "Well, I guess there really is no real reason to just stand around here all night. Let's all go down here and see where this thing comes out."

With that, these three moved down the duct in the direction of the others. This caused them to run even deeper into the duct and well away from the reach of Dr. Moroon.

They were all running down the duct like so many little critters running down a long metal hall way. With each step the made a clicking sound and again it caught the attention of Dr. Moroon.

"There's that sound again," said the Dr. "If I didn't know better, I would think something is running down this duct away from me." he then got down on one knee and peeped through the grating over the end of the duct.

"Ah ha!" he shouted. "Quick! Ietchy! Bring me a light! I think I may have made an even more amazing discovery!!" He then began to take the cover grate from the end of the air duct.

The sight which the tiny creatures beheld was terrifying. This huge face and balding head would surely start down to get them and who knows what it would do next.

The, now, three who speak to one another were running as fast as they could behind the first three and seemed determined to catch them. They also knew it would be best if all six could talk so they could better deal with the monster which was now after them.

Dr. Moroon snatched the flashlight from Professor Ietchy and turned it's brilliant beam down the air duct just in time to see the tiny creatures all scurry to one side trying to avoid the light.

"I knew it!" he shouted. "The sound I was hearing is my tiny creations and they have come to life."

a reply to: tinymind

As he said this, he was almost in tears with delight.

"I knew I was an exceptionally brilliant scientist and engineer, but I never really knew just how special I am. I have created life on a computer chip. They are truly alive and I have made them." He was so full of himself, he could hardly contain the thoughts of his accomplishment.

"Now, all I need to do is get them back into the lab, and I can really expand my plans. All I need do is get them back and everything will be back as it should be, for a scientist and leader such as me. I will be the ruler of the world after all!!"

While giving himself all the praise he so rightly deserved, he was pushing one hand farther and further down the air duct, reaching for the tiny creatures hiding there. To the chips, themselves, there was set of the most awful appearing things imaginable moving along the length of their hiding place in their direction. Wiggling and grasping at them, they were beginning to block out the beam shining from the flashlight.

"Uh, fellows," said one. "I think it's time we tried to find a way out from here. That thing coming this way is getting a little too close for me and I don't think it has any good intentions."

"Yea, I see what you mean," said another. "Is it just me or do you feel a little different when that thing covers up that bright spot out there? It's like I can't move or think real well when I can't see it."

"Yea, now that you say so," replied the first. "It's like I need to stay so I can see that bright spot to operate. I'll have to look into this a bit more later, but right now we need to go down a little more. Those things are getting closer and closer."

By now the other chips had moved far enough down the duct until they were standing in the light which came in from another room. As they looked back, they could see the large hand and fingers moving down the duct after the first two and knew they had to do something to help them. As they watched, they continued to make all the pops and squeals along with the tapping sounds of their feet on the metal surface of the duct. Since they had not yet touched one another, they could not speak but knew they needed to do something to help the others of their kind.

The third one, which had been touched, knew the only way he would get the others to understand what to do was to make contact with them. So, running as fast toward the as he could, he piled headlong into one as it jumped up and made noises.

"What the hay!" it shouted."It seems somebody is going the wrong way, if he really wanted to help that little guy."

"That's my plan," said the third."I just don't think I can do much by myself. We all need to get into this if we are going to get away from those things."

"Well, what do you propose we do now? There are two of us and a bunch of them, and our friends up there don't look like they will be of much help. They look like they are just standing still."

"Yea, I was seeing that," said the third. "It looks like every time that thing covers up that bright spot, they slow down or stop. I don't know what that means, but I don't think it is a good thing. We have got to find a way to get those things out of the way so we can get them down here with us."

"Maybe you should run down there and hit it like you did me. That still hurts." the fourth one complained.

"You may be on to something. I don't guess it would hurt to try and reason with it just once. It has seemed to make a difference in our understanding one another," said the third.

"What do you mean by that!" exclaimed the fourth. "I knew exactly everything that was going on before you hit me, and while I'm at it let me tell you, don't ever do that again!"

"Yes, you knew everything but all we heard come out of you was a bunch of screaming jibberish," explained the third. "I think it takes our making contacts for us to talk to each other. If we can do the same with those things maybe we can get them to go away and leave us alone."

"O K, I'm game! Look they are almost on to those guys." said fourth."If we are going to do anything, we need to do it now or there won't be no one to save by the time we get there."

The two little creatures began to run with all their might toward the big wiggling things which were about to grab hold of the others. Then with a great burst of energy, they threw themselves into the middle of them.

ZIP!! ZIP!! ZIP!! ZIP!!

Tiny, but powerful, sparks shot out from their tiny feet as they made contact with the huge things they had jumped onto.

"YEOW!!!" screamed Dr. Moroon in pain. "I think those little beggars just attacked me."

He withdrew his arm from the duct to look at his hand. There on one of his fingers were some tiny burn marks and the scratches left by the feet of the tiny creatures.

"Well, now we know," said the third.

"Know what?" ask fourth.

"We know not everyone wants to talk things over before they go away." third replied. “At least we got a chance to get these guys on down and away from whatever that was"

a reply to: tinymind

The two little things now began to push on the others to move them along.

"Hey, I can do fine on my own thank you," snapped one of them. "I was just trying to stay still so that thing wouldn't see me. We kind of had it planned like that, didn't we pal," as he looked at the other one which had been with him.

"Oh, we had a plan?" it replied. "I felt like I was stuck or something. If I could have had a choice, I would be a lot further down yonder than those other guys are. Those things are scarry. I'd like to move on now if we can."

"Yea, did you guys notice anything kind of strange when that big bright thing showed up?" ask the third. "It looked to me like that was when you both started to act funny. I thought I could feel a little difference myself. It felt better being where I could see it, than when those big wiggly things got in the way."

The tiny creatures walked on down the duct to the lighted area where the last two were waiting. As they approached these last two moved around keeping a close watch on them as if they knew something was about to happen.

"I'm thinking you guys know what we have to do, don't you?" ask one to the others.

"Yea," said the fourth one. "I don't think these guys are to much in favor of it either. I will say one thing though, I did notice that the first contact was the only one to make that spark and popping noise. When we pushed on you guys it was not like that first time we touched."

"But you can't tell them anything. They just have to learn," said the third.

That's when they all jumped at once.

"ZAP!! ZAP!! ZAP!!" A series of very loud sparks and pops came from a small tangled pile of the little creatures, as they all came together at the same time. Each of them had managed to touch the other and each was now able to speak to the others as well. They then tumbled apart and came to rest spread across the bottom of the duct.

"I guess now that that's over, we can get on to finding out what comes next," said one. "I, for one, would like to know just who and what you guys are suppose to be? You would think most things are made to serve a purpose, but from the way you all look it can't be much."

"You’re a fine one to talk like that. You look to me to be just like the rest of us." exclaimed the third. "I don't know, but I figure we are all about alike and in this all together. We need to start finding a way to help each other. I don't know if you noticed it or not, but we are not very big. Those wiggly things were just about as big as anything I want to run up on."

"Yea, speaking of 'running up on'," chimed in the fourth. "Did you feel that thing when we hit it? It was wet and sticky, and had a odd kind of taste to it."

"What are you talking about taste," ask the third. "I don't see any place on you for a mouth! But ... I think I know what you mean. Maybe we have some kind of way of sensing these things or something."

"All this is very interesting, but I do think we don't want to spend the rest of whatever time we may have here in this place,” said one. "We need to find out what this place is and if there is some way out."

"Before we do that, I can think of something else that would be handy." said the fourth. "How about we figure out what to call each other, if I chose to speak to one of you, it might be nice to know you I was expecting to answer me."

"O K," replied one of the others. "What's with the writing on the sides of you guys. I noticed each of you has a different set of symbols on your side. Maybe we can use those to tell the differences in us. At least it would be a place to start."

"I guess that would be a start but how do we know what our own symbols are saying," said fourth. "I don't know if I can trust you guys to call me by my right name or not."

"That would be a good one," said the third. "We could give you some dorky name and you'd never know the difference. Let's see... "

"O K guys. Let's just call out the symbols we see and go from that," said one. "We can find things to fuss about later. I don't want to be in this area anymore than we need too. Those things could come back and we don't know if there are more of them."


All the while, Dr. Moroon and the professor are watching the display on one of their instruments.

"You see, Professor Ietchy," said the Dr. "I know they are up to something. This meter has been jumping around like this ever since they attacked me in the duct work. I'll bet they are plotting right now a way to come back and do it again."

"But Dr.?" ask Ietchy. "How can you be so sure they meant to harm you? Maybe they were just frightened and thought you were going to harm them?"

a reply to: tinymind

"Don't be stupid," snapped the Dr. "I made them, they are mine! I have every right to get them back and use them in my machine. And now that I know how well they turned out, I am more determined than ever to have them back. It looks like this meter reacts to whatever it is they are doing. Maybe I can use it to keep track of them and when they come out in the clear, I'll be there waiting on them."

Moving down the duct, the little guys soon came to a large panel which blocked a part of the way. Looking past it they saw a set of huge curved pieces moving around and around. They could tell it would be a very bad thing if they were to be struck by a part of it. As they approached, they began to get very close together. When two of them stopped, their legs were touching and one of them suddenly had the thought for this thing to stop, so it would not harm anyone. That was when the fan stopped.

"Wait, did you guys see that?" ask one of them. "Try to let it start again."

And it did.

"Hey, this is cool!" it said. "It looks like we can make things do stuff. How cool is that?"

"O K! Now hold it stopped until we can all get past."

One by one, the tiny creatures moved quickly past the blades of the fan, toward safety on the other side.

With that the "CHIPPERS" had learned their real first lesson.

Through their cooperation they could gain a bit of control over their lives and the world around them.

As the morning began to break, the tiny little chip like creatures had made their way through the lower channels of the labs ductwork and found an end which opened out to the rest of the world. They peered out onto a realm whose scope appeared so vast they could never imagine what it could hold for them. The only real comforts they could hold to were the bonds which they had for one another. They had just began to realize how much they seemed to know and how fast they could learn from their encounters with the rest of the world.

CHAPTER TWO