Snacks From the Butler's Pantry

I push my sister on a swing at the local park, enjoying the carefree life of children. Suddenly, the sand beneath us starts to move, flowing towards some sort of sink hole in the center of the sand pit. It starts to suck me in, like quicksand. My sister grabs me with one hand, and with the other, holds onto the chain from the swing. There is some sort of terrible vortex or black hole, sucking everything into it. The air swirls like a tornado, crackling with lightning as it is sucked into the vacuum. We hold on, but the vortex sucks in the swing set, hurdling us both into blackness.

We fall into a post apocalyptic world run by evil robots. They recognize us as humans, and chase us relentlessly through a ruined city of blown out buildings and shattered stone. Cornered, we realize we will not be able to escape them. They have been programmed to hunt down humans and kill them, and are perfectly designed for the job. Just when all hope is lost, an old, beat up truck crashes into the crowd. We hop in the back as it speeds away from the town.

The evil robots hop on their motorcycles and give chase, grabbing at us in the bed of the pickup truck as we careen around dangerously narrow mountain roads. We climb into the cab of the pickup truck for safety, only to find it is also being driven by a robot. This robot looks different. His clockwork mechanics look much older than the polished hydraulics of the evil robots. Rusted and dented, he looks like he is barely holding together as his bolts shake loose from the vibrations of the high speed chase. His bottom jaw hangs on a hinge, giving the illusion of a wide goofy smile.

He calmly recounts to us the history of this world, while still swerving dangerously along the mountain roads, harried by hordes of evil high tech robots. He absentmindedly jerks the wheel this way and that, without even seeming to pay attention to the road or the dangerous situation. Apparently, he opened a wormhole in time to find help. This is the future, where robots have destroyed all the humans and taken control of the planet. With no remaining humans, he had to bring us from the distant past. He doesn't seem to notice, or care, that we are just kids.

Our friend's erratic driving and the dangerous winding road combine to knock our pursuers off the sheer cliffs, one by one. As the last one clatters down the rocks, our truck swerves into the side of the mountain, crashes through the thick brush, and into a hidden cave. This is the resistance's secret mountain hideout. Our rescuer is the only remaining member of the good robots who once served the humans. While still rambling incessantly, he leads us deep into the mountain, where an underground hanger houses an enormous futuristic airship, long overgrown with moss and vines. It is clear that our robotic friend is completely insane, but has some sort of harebrained plan to save the world that somehow includes my sister and myself.

After much clanking and kicking, the airship sputters to life, and we launch out of the mountain to take on the evil robotic empire. While we sneak on board the floating capitol city, our robot hacks into the security system to begin sabotaging all aspects of the automated city. Everything goes haywire, the whole city turning on itself. We take advantage of the chaos to confront the evil robot emperor. He is protected by an elite team of 12 invincible super combat robots. They chase us around the throne room as the floating city's guidance system fails, and the whole complex starts to plummet towards its demise.

It is here that our clockwork companion reveals himself as the previous emperor who ruled over a peaceful society where both humans and robots lived in harmony. With what remains of his power, he uses his emperor-level-computer-clearance to access the mainframe and reprogram the elite 12 into his own bodyguards. They turn on the evil emperor, smashing him to a pile of scrap metal. Our robot sits on the throne, and restores order to the city, landing us safely in a grassy flower covered meadow. He opens a portal to send us home. As we wave goodbye, we see primitive humans appear from the treeline of the dense surrounding forest, looking in wonder at the marvelous robot city that has landed in their garden paradise.