Copyright 1998 -- Robert Baer Jr. D J Entry - "On the Run" W A R N I N G D I S C L A I M E R The following is PURE FICTION, it REALLY DIDN'T HAPPEN, only in my mind. It is presented for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES ONLY, and NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN TOO SERIOUSLY, it represents a struggle of the mind. The Dinosaur Chronicles PROLOGUE Among all the web pages and e-mail addresses in cyberspace roams a dinosaur, but not just any dinosaur, a Computer Dinosaur! One who thinks Unix is the name of a long distance phone company! What is this fugitive of the Stone Age up to now? Well.......... Entry # 703 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- We were all having a wonderful day in the woods. I was with my good friends the Computer Renegade with Otto and his girlfriend Samantha by his side. We were just taking a nice quiet walk in the forest when all of a sudden BOOM!! instantly standing in front of us was Uncle Buford and Maxx! "Hey, I really like this "black box" of yours, nephew!" Uncle Buford said happily," and it's built in tracking device led me right to you and Otto." "Were you wanting to join us on our nature walk?" I asked politely. "Sounds fun, big guy, but no, I have other things to do," Uncle Buford replied,"I need to give Otto a maintenence check-up, to make sure all his parts are functioning properly." "I just did a diagnostic survey of myself, pilgrim," Otto answered in his John Wayne type voice," and I'm A OK!" "I just want to make sure, old friend," Uncle Buford said to Otto. Otto got a strange look on his face, I could tell he was afraid of letting Buford examine him. Samantha Maddog seemed a little nervous also, and even the Renegade was at a loss for words. "Come with me, Otto," Uncle Buford commanded,"this won't take long and you'll feel better than ever!" "I don't want to come with you, sir," Otto replied. "HA HA HA HA," Uncle Buford laughed,"Now that's funny, but seriously Otto, come with me now." "I must respectfully decline," Otto said as he slowly started moving backward. "Something is wrong here," Uncle Buford said,"Maxx, do a quick diagnostic on Otto." Maxx shot out a green ray from his eyes fixed on Otto's head. Within a second, Maxx had distressing news for his master. "Cerebral link estabished, master," Maxx said in his cold digital voice,"his central programming core has been rewritten, by an undetermined enitity from within....." "Oh my gosh, he's self aware!" Uncle Buford said excitedly,"ok, no one panic, Otto, initiate shutdown sequence 1275M." Otto's facial expressions changed, as if he was taking sharp pains in his body. "STOP IT, YOU'RE HURTING HIM!" Samantha barked loudly. "Don't worry, young collie," Uncle Buford said reassuringly,"he'll be alright once I reprogram him." "I refuse to be turned off!" Otto sneared. "Subject has successfully resisted your command, master," Maxx stated coldly. "Maxx, override Otto's control, shut him down!" Uncle Buford shouted. "Implimenting command now, master!" Maxx stated. Once more, Otto's facial expressions changed, this time worse than before. "STOP IT! STOP IT! LET HIM ALONE!" Samantha barked and made a lunge toward Maxx. In a split second, Maxx activated a force field that made Samantha "bounce off" and fall to the ground. "SAMANTHA!" Otto shouted as he saw his true love motionless on the ground. This made Otto growl very loudly, so fiercely that Uncle Buford commented,"I never programmed him to growl like that." "I'll fix you, you oversized lawn ornament!" Otto screamed as a blue ray shot out of his eyes and focused on Maxx's head. "New program being introduced," Maxx stated,"all system shutdown initiated." As Maxx "spoke," he fell down and lay motionless before his master. "MAXX!" Uncle Buford yelled and in a split second, Otto was standing beside Samantha and BOOM!! they disappeared. "Oh NO!" Uncle Buford said wildly,"Otto is out of control, we have to stop him, he'll take over the world! Just look at what he did to my poor Maxx!" "Wait a minute," the Renegade interrupted,"according to my pocket computer, Maxx is just in a diagnostic mode, not destroyed or damaged, simply non-functioning I estamate for about two hours. If Otto wanted to 'kill' Maxx, he'd melted some circuits or 'blown' some memory boards wouldn't he?" "Are you defending that robot?" Uncle Buford yelled curtly,"Otto is a menace to society, and I'm going to have to terminate him!" "Please don't do that!" I begged,"Otto is my friend and ......." "Stay out of this, fossil!" Uncle Buford grunted,"you don't understand, he's dangerous, I've got to get back to my lab and reboot Maxx's systems! Use your 'black box' signal detector to find that runaway dog! It's up to you, nephew!" "He must've turned his homing signal off," the Renegade said,"there's no signal to follow." "He's smarter than I thought!" Uncle Buford said as he produced his black box,"keep looking, I'll join you when I get Maxx running again!" BOOM!! "Oh dear!" the Renegade said sadly,"I wish I knew where he was. Where would he go? To a veternarian to get help for Samantha? Where would he go?" "Think," I deduced,"Otto is upset and angry, wouldn't he go to someone he trusted, someone that maybe both Otto and Sam fully trusted? Who's the only person we know that they both can trust?" "I'm with you big guy!" the Renegade said as he produced his black box,"setting the coordinates now!" BOOM! =========================================================================== I knew where the two canines were, at the Computer Counsellor's house! Sure enough we instantly appeared in front of her house and slowly walked up to the front door. Inside, Otto quickly explained the entire matter to the Counsellor, who listened while applying first aid to his fallen lover. Otto instantly "zapped" Samantha's father, Ben Maddog, to the scene and quickly told him the tale. "That's outrageous!" Ben barked,"Buford attempted to shut you down, and my Sam got hurt trying to save you? I won't wait to get that mean man in court, I'll bite first, ask questions later!" "Simmer down, Ben," the Counsellor said calmly,"your daughter is alright, just a bump on the head." "Otto," Samantha said slowly. "I'm here, my love!" Otto answered. "I'm OK, we'll find a safe place to stay so no one will ever try to shut you down again!" "I don't care about me, my darling, all I care about is you, you need to go home with your father, this is my battle, I love you and don't want to see you get hurt again!" "I'm going with you! I love you, Otto, and I'm not going to lose you now!" Samantha slowly arose on her four feet, with a look of determination on her face. "Uh oh," Otto said with fear,"I detect two figures outside your home, Counsellor." "Buford and Maxx?" Samantha asked. "No," Otto said,"one is very, very large." "it's the Dinosaur!" the Cousellor said,"I've sure he's on our side." "My master must be with him" Otto deduced. "Ben, go to the front door and tell them to meet us in the back yard," the Counsellor said,"I know C.D. is too large to fit in my house!" All of us met out back and tried to figure out what to do next. Otto kept insisting that he should hide out alone because he didn't want to put any of us in further danger, but we refused to abandon our friend! As we were brainstorming, a loud BOOM! shook the ground. It was Uncle Buford and Maxx! "Now Maxx!" Uncle Buford shouted as Maxx fired a yellow beam out of his eyes and it formed a "sphere" which surrounded the place where Otto and Samantha were standing. Otto tried to 'zap' out of it but his alarm buzzers kept sounding. "Now I have you!" Uncle Buford said with a smile,"Maxx has a energy field surrounding you, you can't use your 'black box circuitry' to escape this time! Good work, my nephew, I followed your homing signal here." "STOP THIS!" Samantha shouted,"leave my boyfriend alone!" "My dear young lady," Uncle Buford said respectfully,"your boyfriend is a machine, I built him myself, he's not real." "HE IS REAL, AND I LOVE HIM, YOU MEAN MAN!" Samantha growled,"AND I WON'T LET YOU KILL HIM!" As she spoke, she moved in front of Otto, barking loudly! "I want to help him," Uncle Buford said sweetly as he pulled a brown box out of his pocket,"this contains a transmitter that will introduce a computer virus into Otto's systems. It won't hurt him, just immobilize him until I get him back to my lab..." "NO!" Samantha shouted,"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" "Stop Uncle," the Renegade pleaded,"Otto is alright, don't harm him, he's a good dog." "A good dog that nearly deactivated Maxx..." "After you tried to deactivate Otto" I added. As Uncle Buford was ready to push the button on his little box, the Counsellor, with one swift and sharp kick, hit the box out of his hands and flying into the air! I gasped at the sight and in a split second, the 'box' flew into my half-open mouth! "Woman, what have you done?" Buford said in complete shock,"Dinosaur, be a good reptile and cough up that box for me." "I can't, Uncle Buford," I said with embarrassment,"it went straight down. If you want me to try and throw up I'm sure I could....." "NO!" Uncle Buford said angerly,"I don't have time for this!" As Uncle Buford produced another device, Ben Maddog barked,"you terrible man! You better not harm my daughter or Otto, or I'll chew your leg off!" Maxx activated his defense shield, Ben was start enough not to try to get through it. "Now, it's over Otto," Uncle Buford said as he pointed this strange device at the two dogs. I jumped in front of them and said,"Stop this, Uncle Buford, please don't do this." "Get out of the way, you're blocking my aim! I saved your life once, why have you turned against me?" "You saved me from men who wanted to kill me, to cut me up and sell my bones. Don't you see, this is kinda what you're trying to do to Otto. Didn't you once say that you didn't believe in punishing the innocent? What has Otto done to deserve this? He was only defending his lady love, doesn't that tell you he's more than a robot? He's a true canine! Can't you see that?" With that, Uncle Buford's facial expression changed, and he gently dropped his device to the ground. "You're not only huge, my Jurrassic friend, but also very wise," Uncle Buford said sadly,"Maxx, turn off your defense systems and deactivate the energy field." Maxx instantly complied. I moved out of the way as Uncle Buford slowly walked toward the two dog lovers. "Otto, Samantha, can you ever forgive me?" he said with tears in his eyes. "I think we will in time," Otto said,"but Sam and I are pretty shook up right now." "I still don't trust you!" Samantha cried,"you tried to terminate Otto, and I truly love him!" "Buford," Ben Maddog added,"I think it's best if you and Maxx leave now." "Alright," Uncle Buford said sadly,"I'm sorry everyone! I really am!" BOOM!! "Nathan," Otto asked,"if I need to be repaired or examined, would you do it for me? I know I can always trust you." "Of course I would, dear friend!" the Renegade said proudly. "Is there anything I can do to help y'all?" I asked. "Mr Dinosaur, you've already done so much for us" Samantha said politely. "Yes, big guy," Otto said,"you saved my life!" "Gee whiz," I said shyly,"weren't nothin." "Otto, Samantha," the Counsellor said,"I think perhaps we should talk about this experience." "Yes, I'd like that," Samantha said,"please honey, won't you come also?" "I'll go anywhere with you, my love!" Otto said softly. "Maybe me and the big guy better go back to our nature trip," the Renegade suggested. "Why don't you all stay here for a while," the Counsellor replied,"we could all have tea on the patio." "Sounds good to me!" I said with glee. We spent the entire afternoon at the Counsellor's house. She's a wonderful person, talking to all of us about the day's events. We all left her house calm and relaxed. I'm glad I stood up for Otto, I wonder if those two will get married. Who knows? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ End of Entry