Tuesday, November 19, 2013

What the Hec?

The visual prompt:
Our main characters are:
A Golem ~ This iron man is held together by his electromagnetic core and unwavering confidence.
AND
A Leprechaun ~ This tiny man is do lucky that when he flips a coin it always lands as two coins.
The special object in this story is:
A Winter Wand ~ This ice device can freeze with ease.
Our story takes place in:
The Trapped Temple ~ A temple built to honor the spirit of giant swinging blades and hidden spike pits.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Doctor Speramint finished tightening the last screw, took a step back from his project, and adjusted his thick glasses with a smile, looking up at the finished product with great pride in his heart. "At last, mein creation is completed!"
On the operating table lay a variety of large metallic boxes arranged in such a way that they seemed to make the form of a giant robot, only its limbs weren't connected to each other. But they didn't have to be.
The scientist went to the large generator standing up against the wall and flipped the switch. At once, the room buzzed with electricity, and the different parts of the robot became connected by glowing blue sparks of electromagnetic energy. The parts were still separate, but now the pieces were linked, holding together just as he had hoped.
The robot's eyes slowly opened and came alive, glowing white.
"Hahaha, yes! It is alive!"
The old man's celebrations were interrupted by a faint, polite rap on the lab door. He adjusted his glasses again, wondering who it could be. Straightening his meticulously clean white coat, the famous esteemed scientist Doctor Hector "Hec" Speramint went to answer the door. When he opened it, however, he didn't see anyone. Just a long, empty hall.
"Look below, Doc, I be a-down here!" a lilting voice said, seemingly from out of nowhere.
Doctor Speramint looked towards the floor and found the voice's owner. He was a bit surprised to see a most minuscule man, no taller than a nickel standing upright on its side, as was proved by the gold coin the man held next to him, as if for comparison. He was a pale little creature dressed in a bright green costume, with wavy brown hair lying atop an impish face and a four-leaf clover tucked behind his ear. "You weren' a-thinkin' I be the type to knick-knacker ya? Knock on yer door and run away gigglin' like an eejit?"
"Ah, velcome, Herr O'Brian. I vasn't expecting you until tomorrow. Come in, come in, I vas just finishing up my project over here." The doctor stood aside from the door and waved the little man into his lab.
"Thanks a lot, Hec! You be a grand ol'bucko." The green-clad midget bounced into the room, holding onto his coin as it flew in huge arcs and left a rainbow trail that faded after a moment.
The coin hopped in place for a while in the center of the room when, with a loud snap of his fingers and a POOF of green smoke, the little man transformed in mid-air and grew to a more proper human size, though he was still a good foot or two shorter than the scientist. The little coin flipped in the air for a moment, finally landing in his open breast pocket.
"How are things a-goin', Specky-Hec?... Wow, phew-wee!" exclaimed O'Brian, waving a hand in front of his nose like he smelled something awful. "Seems to me as if you be spendin' a wee too much time in the lab. I can smell a benji off o' you somethin' fierce! Think ye can spare a mint, Doctor Speramint?"
The doctor's expression was deadpan as he fixed his glasses atop his nose. Leprechauns, they thought they were oh so amusing. They were short on height, but never on wit. "Yes, yes, a funny joke, Lucky. I haff never heard zat vun before." He turned and walked back towards the table where his great experiment lay.
"Ah, dunna be like that, Hector! You know I only be a-pullin' your leg," Lucky O'Brian laughed.
He skipped and followed the scientist to see what it was he was working on, then got distracted by one of the interesting inventions that were just lying around.
"Ooh, shiny!" The leprechaun grabbed a crystal wand with a candy cane striped handle, laden with buttons, dials and switches. He waved it about. "What does this quare little contraption do, Doc? You workin' a little fer ol' Saint Nick on the side?"
"Please, if you vould not to touch zat!" Hector pulled the wand out of Lucky's pale hands. "Zis is not a Christmas toy. Zis is a freeze ray I haff been vurking on zat is not yet competed."
"Away with ye, laddie! A freeze ray? I dunna believe you. How does it work?" Lucky asked eagerly.
The scientist ignored his question, placing the freeze ray wand gently back on the table Lucky had picked it up from. "If you vould kindly follow me, Herr O'Brian, you vill see vat I haff been developing for you."
He led the leprechaun to the big operating table, making sure he didn't touch anything else with his grubby little fingers. When Lucky laid his brown, childlike eyes on the giant robot, they become even bigger and wider with amazement. "Well, my word and willywigs, this is fantastic!"
The robot turned its head to Lucky, and with a mechanical whirring it sat up on the table and moved its legs to hang off the edge.
"Yes, rise, mein beautiful creation, rise!" said Doctor Speramint, loud and commanding, making a lifting motion with his arms in encouragement.
The bulky bot jumped off the bed with a heavy THUD, its round metal feet leaving 2 slight dents in the ground.
"Brilliant job, Doc, never seen a thing like it in me life! Haha... Ah, what exactly is it we be lookin' at over here?"
The robot's body spun in Lucky's direction with a whir. It couldn't turn its head, as it was firmly attached to its torso. "I am GOL-EM. My name stands for Gen-er-al Op-er-a-tor of Linked E-lec-tro Mag-net-is-um." The GOLEM spoke in a mechanical monotone, making emphasis on each syllable it spoke.
"Well, knock me down wit' a feather, it can talk too? You've right outdone yerself, Hector, great job."
Doctor Speramint took of his glasses and polished them with his coat, grinning to himself. "Tank you, Herr O'Brian, tank you. Ja, zis vould be mein proudest achievement, ze GOLEM. I haff been experimenting a lot in ze area of robotics. I developed a system for easy movement, because you know, too many robots, zare movements are too stiff and rigid. Also, ze power of ze GOLEM's electromagnetic core is a little veak, so I vas forced to use a metal alloy zat vas light enough for it to lift, yet tough enough for it to be difficult to destroy."
The leprechaun had been nibbling on the end of his four-leaf clover like a farmer chewing on straw as he tried to attend to the scientists wordy explanations. He rapped his knuckles on the GOLEM's orange arm, and found it solid as a wall. "Excellent, I'll take 'im!"
The scientist blinked at Lucky in surprise, adjusting his glasses. "Vat? You mean, right zis minute?"
"Of course, Pally O'Mally, there be no time for wastin or foosterin'!" cried Lucky, giving the Doctor a hard slap on the back. "I be headed off on the first plane tomorrow and flyin' over Dolus Templum, the Temple of Deceit, otherwise known as the Trapped Temple!"
"Ze Trapped Temple? Vat ever reason vould you have for vanting to go zare, mein friend?"
"Because, Hector me paddy, I be aimin' to be the first leprechaun ever to retrieve the Idol of Inretio from the heart of the temple."
When he got an uncomprehending look from the doctor, he explained further, pacing with excitement and making dramatic gestures.
"Many have tried, but all have failed, to survive the Trapped Temple, thanks to all them swingin' blades and hidden spike pits. You'd think anyone who goes in there would be a fool, actin' the maggot to even attempt such a thing, but the reason we do it is because that bust of Inretio's head can turn anythin' into gold!"
Gold, he said? Well, Docter Speramint knew that leprechauns would do anything for gold. Even if they already had pots of it, they always wanted more. "Is zat so?"
"Yesiree, Hec. And now, since you've made me this here thing, this Great Old Lump of Effin' Metal over there..."
"That is not what my name stands for," interrupted the monotoned robot. The scientist and leprechaun both looked at the robot with surprise. It had been so quiet they had nearly forgotten it was there and listening to what they were saying. "It stands for Gen-er-al Op-er-a-tor of Linked E-lec-tro Mag-net-is-um."
"Riiight," said Lucky. "As I was saying, as long as I got me this GOLEM fella, I won't have to worry about a thing. Dunna you see? If he can take a beatin' like you say he can, he'll be a fantastic help to me. He'll be able to set off all them traps for me, and I'll be unstoppable!"
"Oh? You vould bring ze GOLEM into a quest like zat, right avay? He hasn't even been tested in ze field yet, unt he is ze only vun of his kind. I vas hoping to run a few tests and experiments on him, just to be sure that he vurks as he should..."
The leprechaun made a motion with his hand as if to say "yeah yeah, sure sure". "It's alright, Doc, there be no need for that. I trust you've done a great job on this one. You be one of the best scientists I've ever had the pleasure of workin' with in this place."
Doctor Speramint pushed his glasses closer to his face. "Vell, tank you, mein friend. I vould hope zat ze GOLEM vill serve you vell. But do tell me, Herr O'Brian... Vie do you need someone to set of ze traps? Can't you simply shrink down to your leprechaun size unt hop on your coin to reach ze trap?"
"I canna do that, Doc. No magic be allowed in the temple." Lucky shrugged helplessly. "That's why I be comin' to you for help, boyo." He walked up to the robot and patted its metal side. "So whaddaya say, GOLEM? Ready to join me on me epic quest for fame, fortune and glory?"
GOLEM turned to Lucky and blinked his eyes at him.
"I be takin' that as a yes!" cheered the leprechaun. "Well, I best be off now. Thank you kindly, Doctor Speramint." With that, Lucky pulled his gold coin out of his pocket, gave it a toss, and while it was flipping in mid-air he shrank down to his original tiny size and caught the coin, riding the rainbow out the door. "I be a-seein' ya at the airport in the mornin'!" He cried behind him.
The robot and the scientist were now alone in the lab. The GOLEM turned to face his creator, his expressionless face unchanging, but perhaps his manner was a little halting and hesitant. "Doc-tor Hec-tor Sper-a-mint, am I, GOL-EM, real-ly go-ing to join this lep-re-chaun, Luck-ee O-Bri-an, on his quest for the Dol-us Temp-lum's I-dol of In-ree-she-o?"
The scientist smiled at the GOLEM, and adjusted his glasses once more. "Yes, you vill, mein proudest acheivement. But do not vurry, nothing bad vill happen to you. I vill be right behind you all ze vay, and make absolutely sure of zat."
Doctor Speramint walked over to the table where he had laid down the freeze ray wand, and picked it up. He flipped a little switch on the handle and it powered up, making the room dance and glow in crystal colors.
"Lucky O'Brian may not know zis, but he has picked ze wrong scientist to mess vith."

1 comment:

  1. What an engaging scene! It feels completed, yet this set-up has huge potential to be expanded on.

    As I was reading and imagining all the characters voices in my mind, "Hec" Speramint sounded just like Dr. Scratchensniff, Lucky sounded so authentically Irish, and the Golem made me think of how the Kraang from "TMNT" sound when they talk. Loved the way the scene just builds.

    The way the story wraps up, I'm sure that the greedy little leprechaun will pay for his lack of concern for GOLEM's safety. :)

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