(Big Finale and I had been sitting on a post for some time now, and since things are quieting down a bit... *cue crickets* I thought maybe I'd go ahead and post. I don't want to interrupt anything, but maybe a new post here and there will spark some activity. Besides, poor Dorothy has been unconscious for months now.
In any case, here it is, better late than never. I'll back up a bit)
Roger began to ward Norman off when footsteps signaled the arrival of Dorothy, and he was surprised to see her as soaked as he was. And naturally, she had to comment on his condition. "Why were you out and about dressed in your bed clothes? It's raining out, you know," she remarked, giving him what he knew was a dim look. "You are so strange, Roger Smith."
Roger didn't feel like dealing with Dorothy's sarcastic if motherly personality right then. "You're one to talk, lecturing me while you stand there dripping wet." But he realized he could be opening a can of worms and put his hand up. "Never mind, just... don't. Norman, get me a towel."
"I..." Dorothy stopped short of Roger and suddenly what would've been a rather spirited and routine quarrel between Dorothy and Roger darkened ominously as Dorothy's legs gave way beneath her. She collapsed rather like a string puppet. Her mechanical limbs hanging limply at her sides. Yet strangely enough she was still conscious, "A memory..." She managed to say before her luminous dark eyes went dead.
“Miss Dorothy!” Norman cried, all thoughts of Roger's well-being thrust aside for a moment. He may've been cold and wet still, but the girl falling dead to the floor was a little more concerning. He knelt down, running his eyes over her form. No external clues that he could see... what could've caused this, the old man had no idea.
"Dorothy! " Roger cried at the same time, falling to his knees across from Norman, watching nervously as the old butler and Megadeus technician studied the android's unmoving form. Dorothy had proven to be an incredibly robust and reliable android, and had never had a problem or... for lack of a better word, fainted before. What could have caused this? To get the obvious out of the way, he asked Norman, "This... couldn't possibly have happened because she was drenched, could it?"
Norman frowned at that. “She's been in the rain quite often before, Master Roger. I can't say I believe something had changed this last time.”
He shook his head, muttering, "No, of course you're right." And like most worried people, he was just making conversation to occupy his mind. But there was something to ponder, what Dorothy said as she faltered completely.
"A memory..."
'Dorothy had a Memory... all this time??' That was a startling revelation. But... what was the nature of it? Had something triggered it? Was it trying to be 'remembered,' and had that caused her to collapse? What she'd spoken was echoed by another remark, something dark from his nightmare of just a while ago.
"Your inactivity is causing Memories to pass from this world forever! One by one, they perish!"Memories... everyone wanted to get hold of them, but the nature of just what they were was a perpetual mystery, and here, Dorothy seemed to hold one in her electronic mind all along. Roger wasn't the superstitious type, but the disturbingly vivid dream and it's subjects just before this happened bothered him. Was there possibly any meaning to it... could it even be a warning? And furthermore... with Dorothy's Memory, if indeed it was a Memory, was it something he wanted to know?
Norman's musing were more immediate, but he was likewise silent, lost for the moment. “...We're not going to get anything done here,” he stated at last, the unspoken messaage being that they needed to move her down into Big O's maintenance area, where all of his tools were. He was nowhere near as capable as Professor Wayneright when it came to androids, and to be perfectly frank with himself, he doubted he could do anything for her when it came to this. Still, if nothing else, the fact there was an attempt at repairing her would no doubt ease his employer's troubled mind.
Roger was glad to have something to do, leaning down to take the slender yet incredibly massive android in his arms. "You'd better let me tend to this. Dorothy isn't losing any weight."
Before the Negotiator could even start to act, Norman had slid his arms under Dorothy's frame, and with a bit of huffing and effort, hoisted her up, hurrying to the laboratory as Roger followed, dumbstruck.
