Fry's Departure, Part 2
By Slick
The Search
Leela froze; she slowly scanned the faces looking
at her. Hermes looked worried, Amy on the verge of tears, and the Professor
studiously ignoring her. Bender, for the first time she had known him, was
silent and still. “Okay, so we ran out of Slurm, and he just stepped out to
get some, right?” Something inside warned her that wasn’t the case.
Amy looked as concerned as her self-centered brain
would allow, “We saw the tape.” She said in a low voice. “HE saw the tape.”
“Well, for some reason I got a bit mad with him during
the test, and I might have…” She looked towards the console where an image was
frozen on the screen. It was a desiccated corpse, large carnivorous owls ripping
shreds of flesh from it, but the face was identifiable, as was the tuft of orange
hair sticking out from the head. Time stopped, sped up, slowed again. “Uh,
excuse me a minute.” She said, running towards the bathroom, one hand over
her stomach, the other over her mouth.
Some time later, she looked at herself in the mirror.
Her stomach had purged itself of everything up to and including last weeks’
Neptunian slug. Her eye was bloodshot, running uncontrollably down her face.
Her top was stained, her lipstick smeared, her face a wreck. “How could
he Love THIS?” she thought. “He gave me beauty and truth and everything
I ever wanted from ANYONE, and I gave him…” Her stomach churned again, and
she stood straighter. “Not now. Get it together, Toronga! Find him first,
then kick his ass for leaving, then kick his ass for never acting that way,
and THEN find the robot preacher.” That’s all there is to it. Find him.
“Get mad. You know mad, you’ve been disappointed and mad and lonely your
whole life.” Wiping her face, she threw her shoulders back and walked out
of the room into the hall.
As Leela walked past the conference room, Hermes voice
sang out. “Dere you are, girl! We’re having a meeting about finding Fry.”
She stood in the door; the professor, Amy, Zoidberg,
and Hermes were at the table. Slowly she walked in and sat down. The Professor
was drumming his fingers together. “This won’t do, no, not at all.” He began
rambling. “Complete moron that he is, I’ve grown attached to the lad, Yes.
And Hermes has a plan to help us.”
Hermes stood up, and face Leela directly. “It’s quite
simple, really. I’ve hooked all my computers into da Central Beaurocracy Mainframe,
and set it to search for Fry. De boy can’t do anything widout the action being
recorded. His bank card, applications for anyting, travel tickets, you name
it; we’ll know de moment it happens.”
“So our strategy is to wait?” Leela asked. “Do nothing?”
She stood up, hands on the table. “Sit on our ass until the police find his
body???”
“What body?” Zoidberg looks up. “I didn’t treat him!”
“Hey, Leela!” Amy broke in. “If it helps, I’ve put
my father’s detective agency on it. They’re the biggest and best there is.”
She held up a picture. “I faxed them this to go by.” Leela took it. It was
a shot of Fry and Bender on the couch watching Bikini Robot Deathmatch. His
vacant face stared at the screen, and she suddenly thought it was the cutest
sight on the earth. “Eeuuuuggghhhh! We’re gonna have to find a happy medium
somewhere.”
Bender walks in, whistling. He strolls over to the
chair next to Leela, sits down, and begins drinking a beer procured from his
chest. “Not to worry, meatbag. I made a few calls, and the Robot Mafia is
handling everything!”
Everyone looked worried. Leela asked; “What DID you
tell them?”
Bender turned to her; “I put a contract out on him,
and it’s gonna cost you plenty if they deliver!”
“WHAT?!?!” Came from everyone. “You FOOL!” Leela
yelled, preparing to kick him to Proximus.
“Now wait, you apes!” Bender put his hands up defensively.
“They don’t get a dime unless he’s ALIVE! I usually don’t care what you organic
types do, but he saved me, and showed me how a life of thievery, robot hooker
chasing, video, gambling, con games and drinking were better than death! He’s
been like a Co-processor to me!”
Leela calmed slightly. “Okay. Everyone keeps looking.
Bender, you and I are going to your apartment for any kind of clue. Anything
at ALL, call me on my wrist.” The group scattered.
Bender opened his compartment door, then the other
one leading into Fry’s closet. Leela was on guard instantly. The room was
unnatural. “Who’s been here??” she demanded.
Bender checked his access log file. “Nobody. Fry
was the last one to leave.”
Leela looked around. There was no clothing on the
floor, not even a sock. The bed, if not made as such, had the sheet and blanket
pulled up almost flat. There was a large trash bag in the corner with a single
Slurm can setting beside it. “It’s… it’s… clean!” The only other small
item in the room was a piece of paper on the nightstand. Leela walked over
to check it out. It was a picture, the one Fry had made of them on the moon.
It was torn in half. The piece she held showed Fry, sitting back and smiling,
with part of Leela’s arm on the torn side. She looked around, but the other
half was missing. “That’s really how he feels, isn’t it. I have to change
that!” She put the picture in her pants and walked past Bender; strangely
quiet during this time.
“I’ll be back at the ship, waiting.” She informed
Bender with a calm voice. “Call me if anything turns up.”
Back at PE headquarters; Hermes sat in his office,
checking the system. “Even if they do find de lad, we have to stop him doing
anyting rash.” Suddenly, Bureaucratically inspired, he begins typing…
DETAIN PHILLIP J. FRY ON CHARGE 11982745/AD-4: FAILURE TO SUBMIT FORM 845HDG874-G;
FORM; EMPLOYMENT; TERMINATION OF. “Dat will do it!” He smiled smugly, and
went to eat.
Fry had walked the night away. He had had some bavarian
cream hot dogs from a shop down the street. His immediate plan was to get his
money and leave Earth. He’d figure out where to go later. He walked into the
main access of the Newark InterGalactic Spaceport. First, to get to a bank
machine, then get a ticket to… ah… to… “Where? How about Amazonia? Maybe
I could get sentenced to death by Snu-Snu.” Even that had lost appeal.
And besides, they were Leela’s friends now.
As he walked through the door, a maintenance robot
pushing a hoverdolly of luggage swept him with its optical sensor. Initiating
its internal modem, it sent a message to a secret number downtown. There would
be good booze and oil in the hopper tonight.
As he walked across the main lobby, a man standing
by a pillar deliberately took no notice. He was wearing a bright yellow jacket
with “Wong Detective Service” written on the back. He began speaking into a
small communicator.
As he stepped to the bank machine and began pushing
buttons to withdraw his cash, a console activated at the Central Beaurocracy.
A signal was sent down the hall, where a squad of Police from the Newark 3rd
Battalion was patrolling.
Bender was walking towards the PE building. His internal
communications beeped. Pushing a button at the corner video phone, the screen
cleared to a VERY large robot. “He’s at Newark Spaceport, south-southeast terminal,
gate 4,732.” The screen went blank. Bender walked quickly to the nearest tube
access. He told himself that there was no such thing as feelings for a human.
It was just that getting Fry would get the one-eyed meatbag off his back. Besides,
if he got to Fry before the robot mafia, HE could get all that cash for himself.
That was all it was, right?
Hermes turned his attention to a beeping from his computer. He read the screen,
then turned and reached for the phone.
Leela was on board the ship. She had checked and
prepped everything for the third time. She was pacing back and forth on the
bridge. Where could he be? Why didn’t he tell me all this? She paused.
He had. The Worms had made him smarter and stronger, but hadn’t changed his
feelings. He Loved her, he knew it even without the Worms, and SHE knew it.
The Holophoner was all true. It was just that the normal Fry brain couldn’t
think that way. It must have hurt him so much for her to push him away. Her
eye started tearing up again. She just never accepted him. Fry WAS special.
Fry; special; brain… Something, a memory, tried to push out, if she
could only remember…
On the couch, seemingly taking a nap, Nibbler’s third
eye twitched and tracked Leela pacing. Despite a iron-clad law of non-interference,
action must be taken. Until a weapon utilizing the unique pattern of the Fry
Brain could be devised against the possible resurgence of the Giant Brain, the
Fry Brain must be protected. As the only one on Earth who knew the pattern
of the Fry Brain, Nibbler knew his location to the micron. There was possible
danger of the Mind becoming lost. The purple-haired ham-giver is a fit guardian
for the Fry Brain, therefore it must be returned to her. If he had the chance,
he was willing to violate his world’s strictest law.
The console beeped. Leela flew to the pilot’s chair
and pressed the button. Hermes face appeared. “Fry’s at the Newark Spaceport,
12th lobby!”
Leela didn’t hear anything else. Her mind was racing.
Newark? What kind of an idiot would… never mind. Her fingers flew over
the controls for takeoff. “Leaving now.” Was all she said as she pressed the
final bank of switches. Hermes was trying to say something else, but the whine
of the superchargers drowned it out, and Leela wasn’t paying attention anyway.
AUTOPILOT: deactivated.
REACTOR SAFETY LIMIT SWITCH: off
THROTTLE SAFETY OVERRIDE: on
REACTOR LEVEL: 120 %
“On the way!!!” Leela yelled as she punched the accelerator
to the floor. The ship leapt from the building faster than the eye could follow.
Don’t you dare leave me! Uh… again! The ship lurched wildly as she
turned south. She was going to get her man. When did you start thinking
that way, girl? Her mind questioned her. When I realized how he saw
me. I want my clouds, and he’s got them. She flew over the Newark Spaceport
parking lot, slammed the brakes, and settled in front of the entrance. There
was a horrendous crunch as several hovercars were flattened by the landing gear.
Running down the steps towards the doors, she failed to notice Nibbler running
off to one side. Her vision had been reduced to a laser-tight beam, focused
only on her next obstacle, the door.
Fry turned away from the bank machine. He had more
money than most people thought. He had saved a bit for a present for Leela.
He had been thinking of a r… ri…, you know, that thing you get when you get
ma… marr…, well, that together thing. Maybe if he had…
“FREEZE!” Someone yelled. Fry looked up. Every
avenue from the lobby was occupied, each one by several Policemen. Everyone
was armed with an array of weaponry from lightsticks to anti-aircraft missle
launchers.
“DON’T MOVE, SKINTUBE!” Fry jerked around. From
behind several counters around the lobby erupted a group of robots, each one
with a laser, trained on him.
“HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” Simultaneously, from behind
supports and vending machines, appeared a group of men, all wearing yellow jackets,
but that didn’t draw as much attention as the business end of the positron rifles
they had.
There was a moment of silence. Fry had by reflex
raised his arms and closed his eyes. What did I do this time? The three
groups began eyeing each other, just noticing that the young man in the red
jacket was VERY popular right now.
“Everybody lower your weapons!!” A Police Sergeant
yelled. “No, not you, Smythe.”
“Stay out of this, cop!” A robot forcefully stated.
“Nobody gets him but us.” His barrel pointed towards the Sergeant.
“We always deliver.” A smug detective said. His
Positron rifle pointed straight at the robot.
The Police Sergeant was PO’d. Nobody threatens them!
He fired a shot at the robot while diving behind a TV chair for people awaiting
flights. He was noticing that All My Circuits was on the screen, and
was almost hit by a volley of return fire. The detectives all crouched, putting
down a blanket of fire while several of them went for Fry. The robots were
no cowards, their programming said so, so they stood their ground and cut loose
at all concerned. “Kill all humans!!” The leader shouted. “Oh… Wait! Not
the orange haired one!!” A blast from a positron rifle blew up the counter
next to him. The area became a full engagement as everyone found cover and
picked their targets.
At the first shot, Fry had done the bravest thing
he could do; he leaped to the floor. He crawled against one wall as several
holes appeared in it. “There’s no way out, and I can’t even surrender!” He
looked for any way that provided something resembling safety. There were several
Policemen behind a counter several yards away, and he figured them for the best
bet to live. He prepared for the rush across no-mans’-and-robots land…
Bender jumped from the luggage conveyor, and quickly
dropped down as firing quickly reduced the port to a mass of twisted metal.
He swung his head around to where Fry was against the wall. What was he doing???
Bender started to run across the room, and was immediately hit by several shots.
Knocked to the floor, he stretched his arm to try to reach Fry. Nnnooooooo!!
Leela had just entered the building, and heard the
distant sounds of explosions. She correctly deduced that Fry must be involved.
Nobody but him can cause that much trouble that fast. She ran towards
the noise, noticing, as she got closer, it built to a crescendo, and then began
tapering off. Please!, she begged any and all Gods in the Universe.
Give him to me! Don’t let him get killed now! I’ll kill him later.
She ran into the lobby and halted. The entire huge
room was a scene of utter destruction. Furniture, vending machines, counters,
and luggage were blasted to pieces all around. Police, detectives, and robots
were all standing around, weapons lowered or put away, eyeing each other warily.
A group of Police was clustered around their prisoner, others, armed to the
teeth, standing in a ring around them. Leela walked up to the group under the
eyes of several twitchy young troops. The others turned towards her to lead
him away.
Finally! I can tell him… She stopped still
as death.
“Bender?”
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