Spoiler!
I couldn't post this yesterday due to... "technical difficulties," let's say. Even after rewriting the section I lost, I was busy/gone most of the day, so... here it is now!
CHRONICLE 04.8 [10/14/18]
Spoiler!
PLANET NABERIUS, NORTHERN RUINS
“Well, well. What do we have here?”
Akasha and Sitrius stopped dead in their tracks. Neither of them had spoken, which could only mean one thing: they’d been spotted. Akasha quietly cursed her own stupidity. After all that sneaking around, she hadn’t thought to look up. Slowly, reluctantly, she craned her neck towards the source of the voice.
Spoiler!
Standing atop the second stone arch, almost directly above her, were the silhouettes of two human figures. Akasha squinted her eyes against the afternoon sunlight. After a moment the silhouettes resolved into actual people. They were both men. Both tall and broad-shouldered. One had light skin and fair hair, the other had dark skin and dark hair. Akasha recognized them from their ARKS file: Cristophe Sanos and Belletrum Yardrai.
“You’re early,” said the light-skinned man, Sanos.
“Too early,” said the dark-skinned man, Yardrai.
Spoiler!
Were they expecting us? wondered Akasha. She decided to play it cool. “Sorry, fellas, but we’re here to crash the party. It’s past General Rae’s curfew, so she’ll be coming back with us now.”
The general herself was ten meters in front of them, propped against the base of the ancient stone obelisk. Her hands and feet were bound with rope. Given the way her head drooped forward and the fact that she hadn’t reacted to Akasha’s voice, she was probably unconscious… or worse.
Akasha edged forward to get a better look.
“That’s close enough,” warned Yardrai. “One more step and I’ll blow her to smithereens.”
The man sounded serious. Plus he had a grenade launcher aimed directly at Rae, his finger tight around the trigger.
Akasha slowly raised her hands and backed away. “Okay, okay,” she replied. Very calmly, very casually. “No need to, uh, blow things out of proportion here. We can talk about this first.”
“What are your terms?” asked Sitrius, speaking up for the first time.
Sanos raised a blonde eyebrow. “Terms?”
“For releasing the general. I assume you have demands.”
“Ah.” He smiled coldly. “In that case, I have only one demand: Leave. Now.”
That wasn’t a very reassuring answer. In fact, that was about the worst possible answer they could have given. It meant they weren’t interested in negotiating. Maybe they were political idealists who kidnapped Rae to make a statement. Maybe they were cultists who needed a human sacrifice. Maybe they were serial killers or rapists. Whatever they were, they had General Rae right where they wanted her, and they weren’t planning to give her up.
“See, that’s gonna be a problem,” said Akasha. “Because we’re not leaving without General Rae.”
“You’ll be taking her back in pieces if you don’t go,” Yardrai replied. His launcher hadn’t wavered a single centimeter.
“You’re cowards,” she said.
Yardrai’s eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Are you proud of yourselves, using an unconscious woman as a hostage? Does that make you feel like big men?”
No reaction.
“You’re pathetic. You don’t even have the balls to face us like real soldiers. Without your human shield, you’re nothing special. I bet I could kick both your asses without breaking a sweat. I probably have bigger balls than you, too. What do you think of that?”
Next to Akasha, Sitrius fidgeted nervously. His mouth hung open like he wanted to say something. Probably something along the lines of stop provoking the bad guys with the big gun. But he didn’t. In the end, he shut his mouth and said nothing.
It was Sanos who spoke first. He chuckled darkly and said, “You’re trying to goad me with taunts. How cute.”
Crap, thought Akasha. So much for that idea…
Then, to her great surprise, Sanos added, “Alright. If it’s a fair fight you want, I’ll be happy to show you your place. Assuming you’re prepared to wager the general’s life, that is.”
“S-Seriously?” Akasha could scarcely believe it. It was a risk, yes, but it was better than leaving Rae with these creeps. Plus, Akasha was confident in her abilities. She could do this. She was sure of it.
“Five minutes,” said Sanos. “I’ll indulge you for five minutes. If you can best me before then, I’ll let your precious general go. If not…” He gave Yardrai a meaningful look. “…She dies.”
Sitrius poked Akasha in the shoulder. “This is crazy,” he hissed. “You can’t do this, it’s too dangerous. As team leader, I insist—”
“Deal,” Akasha said to Sanos.
A look of devilish satisfaction crossed the blonde man’s face, and for a moment Akasha wondered if he would keep his word. Then he hopped down from the stone arch and landed next to her on the walkway. A two-story jump, but Sanos made it with ease. Akasha kept her guard up in case he decided to try anything funny.
He didn’t. He just smirked and said, “Follow me.”
Akasha turned to Sitrius. “Stay here and make sure Mr. Itchy Trigger Finger sticks to the deal.”
“Akasha—”
“I know, I know. You can put this one in the report later if you want. But I have to do it. Like it or not, it’s our best shot right now.”
Sitrius gave her a stern look but didn’t argue.
She threw him a reassuring smile. “Hey, don’t worry. I’ll be back in no time. Trust me.”
* * * * * * * * *
Sanos led Akasha to the middle of an open courtyard. A row of mossy, glyph-covered pillars lined its eastern and western borders. The stone tiles that comprised the floor were cracked and worn. Like the rest of the ruins, the place looked like it had been neglected for a thousand cycles.
The two combatants stood facing each other. They were a good five meters apart, far enough to be outside of immediate striking range. Akasha gripped her Union Twin Daggers tightly in both hands. Sanos was barehanded, though not unarmed. He had a rather nasty-looking double saber strapped to his back. A Slave Saber, if Akasha wasn’t mistaken. A rare and highly-prized weapon capable of high-level photon output.
The presence of the double saber meant that Sanos was a member of the Fighter class—just like Akasha. He would be fast and deadly at close range. His jet-black armor looked like it could absorb a decent amount of punishment. On top of that, he was sporting augmented gloves and boots meant to push his strength and speed beyond normal human limits. A minor problem, thought Akasha, but nothing she couldn’t deal with.
“Why are you doing all this?” she asked. “You can’t really expect to get away with it. I mean, she’s the ARKS head commander aboard Ur. People don’t take this sort of thing lightly.”
“The clock’s ticking,” Sanos replied. “Five minutes, remember. Or would you rather waste it on small talk?”
An arctic breeze from the nearby mountains swept through the courtyard. The fighters began circling each other, slowly and purposefully, each one sizing up their opponent. Akasha tightened her grip on her daggers, waiting for an opportunity to strike. Sanos made no move for his saber yet somehow managed to appear supremely calm and confident. It was a bit unnerving.
I don’t have time to stand around like this, thought Akasha. If this guy’s not going to give me an opening, I’ll just have to make one.
So she charged straight at him. After three paces, she leaped into the air and raised her twin daggers overhead. Then she brought them down, both blades aimed at the center of his chest.
Sanos’ weapon was in his hands in an instant. Akasha’s Union Daggers crashed against the Slave Saber, sending a brilliant shower of blue and violet sparks flying in all directions. Akasha rebounded and came at him again, faster and harder this time, but Sanos parried the strike with ease. Frustrated, Akasha channeled Zan wind energy to her hands and feet. It was a way of boosting her natural speed, a technique she had developed over the past few months. And since force is the product of mass and velocity, increasing her speed increased the power of her attacks as well.
Not that it had any effect on Sanos. The faster she moved, the harder she struck, the stronger he seemed to become. The man was able to match her move for move. At first he didn’t even try to hit her back. But then, as Akasha pressed him with a flurry of high and low swipes, Sanos caught her blades with his own and shoved her backwards. Hard. While she was still reeling, Sanos planted a metal boot in her stomach.
Akasha protected herself with a cushion of wind just in time. If she hadn’t, the fight would have been over then and there. As it was, the blow knocked her down and sent her tumbling across the courtyard floor. The hard stone tiles scraped up her arms and legs pretty badly.
“What’s the matter?” Sanos taunted as Akasha climbed to her feet. “I thought you were going to kick my ass without breaking a sweat. Isn’t that what you said?”
She growled and rushed in again. Once again he deflected her blows with little to no effort. It was making Akasha anxious and impatient. She couldn’t understand her inability to hit him. Were their skill levels really so different? Sanos was an ARKS captain, sure, but Akasha was the famous Giant Slayer! She had saved an entire colony ship from the rampaging Typhon! Her photon potential was unmatched by anyone!
So how was she losing this fight?
As if sensing her frustration, Sanos said, “You disappoint me, Giant Slayer. I expected you to put up a better fight than this. Or is this all you amount to in the end?”
Akasha gritted her teeth. So, Sanos knew who she was. Well of course he did. Everyone knew her, so that was no surprise. But it was more than that. It was like… like he knew her moves inside and out. Like he was anticipating them. Clearly, the man was an expert Fighter and duelist. For the first time, Akasha wondered if she was in over her head. Had she made a mistake in accepting his challenge?
Stop it. You can’t think like that. The minute you think you’re beaten, you are. Remember, Sitrius and Rae are counting on you. You are not going to let them down!
Akasha took a moment to center herself. To calm her troubled mind and raging spirit. Getting mad wasn’t going to solve anything, and it sure as hell wouldn’t save the general.
With a renewed sense of purpose, Akasha came at him again. This time her attacks were sharper. More focused. She was holding her own against Sanos, matching each of his moves with one of her own. He went high. She went high. He went low. She went low. The blue and violet blades howled as they smashed into each other in a violent flurry.
“I like those eyes,” said Sanos, somehow smiling through it all. “They are filled with such fire, such determination. You want to win that badly, don’t you? Not for her sake, but for your own. To prove something to yourself. Well, we’ll see how strongly that fire burns when you’ve lost everything you hold dear.”
Akasha scowled at him. “I’ll show you fire,” she retorted.
Drawing on the photons around her, Akasha summoned a raging torrent of Foie energy. It burst forth in the form of a two-meter-high wall of solid flames. The blaze quickly encircled the fighting stage, trapping the pair of opponents inside.
“You think I’m planning to run?” asked an amused Sanos.
“Not quite,” she replied.
With a wave of her arm, a stream of orange fire leaped out at Sanos from behind. He noticed just in time and sidestepped the attack. But Akasha wasn’t ready to concede. She kept trying. More flaming fireballs converged on Sanos, one after the next, emerging from one side of the fiery wall and disappearing into the other. Sanos dodged left and right, expertly avoiding each one in turn.
When it became clear she wasn’t making headway, Akasha opted for a more direct approach. She charged forward, twin blades swinging, hoping to catch him off-guard. Maybe she could even knock him into the fire.
Unfortunately she had no such luck. Sanos was ready for her, blocking or parrying each strike, while at the same time avoiding the fireballs flying back and forth. On and on it went. No matter what Akasha threw at him, no matter how hard she tried, nothing managed to connect.
This isn’t working, she thought. If he’s gonna dodge everything, maybe it’s time I shorten his leash.
Akasha focused on narrowing the fighting stage, on drawing the flames inward—towards Sanos and herself. It took a considerable amount of concentration, but Akasha found that if she tried hard enough she could do it. The trick was to not lose sight of the battle in front of her. Which was difficult, because Sanos was an excellent fighter. Not only that, she had to be careful not to burn herself. The flames would roast her just as easily as him.
The wall of fire gradually shrunk to a diameter of three meters. Which wasn’t much. It was just large enough for the two of them to stand there and swing their blades around. As a result, the battle quickly grew faster and more frenetic. But that was exactly what Akasha wanted. At close range, her pair of (comparatively) short daggers had the advantage over his one long saber.
In theory, anyway. Sanos still managed to counter all her moves. She charged at him with a Raging Waltz. He dodged. She spun at him with a Wild Rhapsody. He blocked. She tried to jump-kick him with a Symphonic Drive. He parried. Their blades clashed high and low, left and right. Photon sparks erupted like fireworks all around them as the flames licked at their backs.
And still, both sides refused to give up. Neither one would back down. Akasha gave everything she had to the duel. Hoping, desperately, that something would get through. But as the fight dragged on, her hope began to fade. Because she knew that time was running out.
In one final, desperate bid, she dove at Sanos with her right dagger extended, a war cry on her lips. He raised his double saber to block. But Akasha’s attack was merely a feint. As her first blade met Sanos’ saber, her second blade swung for his midsection.
Only she swung too early. Sanos hadn’t committed to the block yet. He still had time to jump out of the way. Akasha watched the moment pass in slow motion, certain she was about to fail.
Except she didn’t. Her dagger caught him square in the chest, slicing him open from the right side of his abdomen up to his left shoulder.
When it was over, both combatants stood frozen in place, as though time itself had stopped. The wall of fire surrounding them gradually dwindled away to nothing, leaving a circle of black ashes in its place.
“Well done,” Sanos wheezed. “And with fifteen… seconds… to go…”
The Slave Saber fell out of his hands and he collapsed backwards to the ground. He was dead almost immediately.
Akasha hardly noticed. She was still in shock over what she’d just done. Despite the battle that took place, the events that had transpired, and the stakes involved, somehow the outcome came as a surprise to her. She’d cut a man down. Murdered him with her own blade. And while he wasn’t the first person she’d killed, she felt his death like a cold knife to the gut. It left her numb and hollow inside.
Then she came to her senses and remembered the urgency of the situation. Stowing her weapons, she dropped to her knees and shook Sanos’ limp body by the shoulders. “Hey!” she cried, eyes wide with desperation. “I won our little bet. You said you’d let Rae go, didn’t you? Call Yardrai, tell him to let her go!”
It was no use, of course. On some level she knew that. But she kept shaking him, kept pleading with him. Because there was nothing else she could do.
Then she heard it, off in the distance: the pop of gunfire, and the roar of a grenade exploding.
* * * * * * * * *
Twenty-three seconds earlier, Yardrai glanced at his chronometer. And smirked. “Time’s up,” he announced.
He was still standing atop the stone archway, his grenade launcher still aimed at the unconscious General Rae. Below him, Cal Sitrius shook his head. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned. Sitrius had his twin machineguns aimed at Yardrai.
“A deal is a deal,” the big man replied.
“If you shoot her, I shoot you. Don’t think I won’t.”
“Let’s put that theory to the test,” said Yardrai. “Because if you want to stop me, you’re going to have to shoot me.”
His finger closed around the trigger. When it did, three things happened in rapid succession. The first was that Sitrius shot him. A quick three-round burst from his right-hand weapon. The attack was aimed at Yardrai’s shoulder, only it missed.
It missed because of the second thing that happened, which was that Yardrai half-turned towards him at the last second. Instead of hitting him in the shoulder, Sitrius’ bullets struck Yardrai in the chest. They pierced his armor and punctured his heart, a fatal hit.
And the third thing was that Yardrai pulled the trigger. Only his launcher wasn’t aimed directly at General Rae anymore, so his shot went wide. The grenade flew past the obelisk and slammed into a wall. There was a deafening roar as it exploded into a thousand pieces.
Yardrai never got a chance at a second shot. He dropped his launcher, staggered forward, and fell off the edge of the stone archway. His lifeless body crumped to the ground and was still.
It was over.
* * * * * * * * *
Akasha returned shortly afterward. She told Sitrius what happened with Sanos and he nodded without saying a word. Together they untied the ropes binding Rae, then hoisted the general to her feet. Being picked up finally roused the chocolate-skinned woman to consciousness.
“L-Lieutenant? Akasha?” she asked groggily. “What’s going on?”
Spoiler!
“Don’t worry, General,” Sitrius replied. “We’ve got you. It’s over now. I’ll explain everything on the way back to Ur.”
Rae nodded, not quite awake yet. Sitrius supported her from one side while Akasha supported her from the other. The three ARKS hobbled awkwardly down the stone path, underneath the concentric archways, away from the four-sided obelisk.
Akasha and Sitrius should have been happy. After all, the mission was ostensibly a success. They had tracked down the kidnappers and rescued the general, and they had done so without taking casualties. No doubt Lieutenant Arkon would be pleased upon their return.
Yet somehow, neither of them felt like celebrating. Two ARKS captains were dead, and for what? Why had they kidnapped Rae in the first place? What had they hoped to accomplish? The answers, in this case, remained elusive.
As they headed back towards the research camp, Akasha felt something—the stirrings of a presence. Something deep and dark and impossibly old. She glanced back at the ruins, but there was no one there. No one at all.
* * * * * * * * *
The black-clad figure perched atop the obelisk watched them go. And smiled. It was a cold, cruel smile, devoid of any warmth or humanity.
Despite a few hiccups, everything was proceeding on schedule. And soon enough, the end would come.
CHRONICLE 04: END
Author's Notes:
Spoiler!That's it for this one. I'll be back in a few weeks with the next!
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
Spoiler!Interesting to see two people gamble their lives short after someone threw it away. Must really believe in this greater plan to just go and do that I guess. Though I wonder how things would have gone if the duo arrived later? Not sure how much later was expected or if they planned to hold off an entire assault. Makes me wonder if they rigged their shuttle too, heh?
@yoshiblue:
Spoiler!This whole chapter (all 8 parts of it) was mostly setting the stage for things later. At the beginning of any story, there's a lot of time spent putting pieces on the board. In my last story, it wasn't until season 2 that the different story threads started coming together. You'll start to find out more about things pretty soon--but not yet.
And no, the shuttle wasn't rigged by the way.
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
I'm back! I wanted to post this a couple weeks ago, but real life got in the way. You know how it is...
CHRONICLE 05.1 [12/8/18]
Spoiler!
COLONY SHIP 02, UR: SPACE GATE
Home, sweet home.
There was a little bounce in Rho’s step as she exited the tunnel connecting the campship launch bays with the terminal. After three days away, she was glad to finally be back from her mission to Amduscia.
Spoiler!
And what a mission it was! Rho hoped to never see that awful volcano planet or its grouchy, snout-faced inhabitants ever again. Seriously, never again. Let the Dragonkin deal with their own problems for once. How was Rho supposed to know that glowing cube was a holy item, and that accidentally breaking it was sacrilegious to their ancient traditions? They didn’t have to chase her through their temple like that. And how about a thank you for showing up at all? Like, “Hey, thanks for taking valuable time out of your busy schedule to help us protect our stupid junk.” Was that so much to ask?
But whatever. It was over and done with, which meant Rho could finally get paid. Sadly, most of that meseta would go towards repairing her Stelltor bow, which got damaged on Amduscia in what could only be described as “an unfortunate biting incident.”
Rho sighed to herself. Another day, another problem.
She threaded her way through the crowded terminal. Most of the people there were ARKS like herself, either on their way to fulfill a client order or (like herself) headed home after a job well done. It was an eclectic bunch. There were armored CASTs with mean-looking grenade launchers strapped to their backs. Newmans wearing elaborate robes discussing the merits of Light versus Dark Techniques. Humans in cowboy hats sipping juice boxes. And—
“Hey!” someone called out from behind.
Rho didn’t recognize the voice so she didn’t bother looking.
“Hey!” the person called again. “Aki! Hey, Aki03! Wait up!”
At that, Rho stopped and turned around. A Newman in Force gear was grinning and waving enthusiastically as he approached. The man was about Rho’s height, with powder blue hair and sapphire blue eyes. His black-rimmed glasses added character to an amiable, unassuming face. Not a bad-looking guy, Rho decided. She had definitely seen worse.
The Newman finally caught up with her. He stopped waving but kept grinning. “I knew it!” he exclaimed cheerfully. “It is you. I’d recognize that red and black armor anywhere. I just didn’t expect to see it here—to see you here, I mean.”
Rho was a hundred percent sure she didn’t know this guy. But he seemed to know her—or rather, the CAST whose body she now inhabited, Aki03.
“You remember me, right?” he asked. “What am I saying? Of course you do. You’re a CAST, and CASTs don’t forget.”
Luckily Rho had a copy of her sister’s memories in her data banks. She performed a quick scan of those memory files. Less than a second later, she had her answer. “Julien Elwinter,” she nodded.
That prompted an award-winning smile from the man. Seriously, he looked like he’d just won the lottery or something. With a clap of his hands he replied, “The one and only!”
Spoiler!
They were still standing in the middle of the busy campship terminal. A steady stream of people flowed past them on both sides. Departing passengers on the left, returning passengers on the right. Like a river around a rock, or a flock of birds flying in tandem.
“Got a minute to catch up?” Julien asked. He had to raise his voice to be heard over the raucous din of a hundred separate conversations and two hundred pairs of feet slapping against the tiled floor.
Rho didn’t know how to answer that. So she said, “Um, sure?”
“Great. Let’s get out of this crowd, though. I can barely hear myself think!”
* * * * * * * * *
They worked their way over to one side of the terminal, to a spot near the pilots’ lounge. There weren’t as many people coming and going in that area, and the noise was kept to a tolerable level.
Julien leaned against a nearby railing and flashed her another winning smile. “It’s really good seeing you, Aki. I mean it. I heard a rumor you made it out after Orpheus got, well… you know. Taken. But I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, especially not here.”
He paused for a beat. “The last time we talked was during that client order on Lillipa, right? The one with those out-of-control Spardans? What a mess that was. Hex and Troy got stuck in that mine shaft and you had to bail them out. Remember that? But you did it, and we completed the mission on time. The Lillipans sure were grateful to us afterward. I think they even wrote a song in our honor!”
Hoo boy, thought Rho. This conversation was about to get real awkward, real fast. How was she supposed to tell this guy she wasn’t Aki03? That the original Aki03, the one he knew, had died almost three cycles ago on a mission to apprehend a high-level criminal? And that the criminal in question, Arden Sabik, was Rho’s own creator? (Well, maybe she didn’t have to tell him that last part…)
“Actually, I—,” she started to say, before he cut her off.
“You were the only CAST Force I knew back then. I’m sure it wasn’t easy. Er, not that a CAST can’t be a Force! It’s just, generally CASTs excel at stuff involving strength and accuracy. Classes like Hunter or Ranger. But you stuck with Force, and you were good at it. Better than me, that’s for sure. I had the higher photon potential, but you made up for it with other things. You were tough and brave and you never gave up, ever. I don’t know if I ever told you, but I really admired you back then.”
Rho squirmed uncomfortably. The guy seemed hell-bent on making this as hard as possible. Not that she wasn’t enjoying the unfounded praise…
C’mon Rho, tell him the truth already! This isn’t going to get any easier so you might as well do it now.
“Look, Julien,” she said, “I’m sorry for not telling you this sooner, but there’s kinda something you should know. See, the thing is, I’m not… That is, I-I’m actually not—”
“A Force anymore?” he interjected. “Yeah, I could tell by that busted-ass bow you’re lugging around. By the way, are those bite marks on the side of it?”
“It’s, uh, a long story.”
He laughed—a pleasant sound, warm and inviting. “I’m sure it is. Well don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. You made a great Force, but I bet you’re an even better Braver. The best of the best.”
For some reason Rho felt flustered. She glanced down at the floor and replied, “I-I’m pretty kick-ass, I guess…”
Just then, Julien’s expression changed. All of a sudden he was the one who looked uncomfortable. He fidgeted and adjusted his glasses and tugged at his collar. “So, uh, I hope I’m not being presumptuous here, but I was wondering if maybe you wanted to… go out and do something later?”
Wait, did he just…? Rho was dumbfounded. Completely floored. She frantically scanned Zero Three’s memories for any hint of a romantic relationship between her sister and Julien. But no. As far as she could tell, they had been professional acquaintances, nothing more. Unfortunately she had no idea how Aki03 felt about him personally. The memory files were simply a collection of sensory input—what Zero Three saw, heard, touched, smelled, and tasted. But nothing at all about how she felt. For better or worse, thoughts and emotions weren’t part of the package.
Julien filled the awkward silence by adding, “Truth is, I sort of had a thing for you back then. You probably didn’t even notice. But I did, and I always regretted not acting on it. Which is why I told myself that if I ever saw you again, I would work up the courage to ask you out.”
“O-Oh,” was all she managed to reply.
“So, what do you say?”
“You’re asking me on a date?”
He chuckled. “That’s what I said, yeah.”
“Even though you’re, y’know… and I’m, y’know…?”
“What, a CAST? That’s one of my favorite things about you. Besides, interracial couples are pretty common these days. Er, not that I’m implying we’re a couple. I just meant it’s not an unusual sight in this modern age.”
Rho felt terrible. The guy had put himself out there, emotionally. Totally vulnerable. And here she was, about to rip his heart out. But it had to be done. She couldn’t keep stringing him along. That would be wrong, and dishonest, and unfair. Better to tell him the truth now than compound the pain later.
…On the other hand, she kind of liked him. And the heart has a strange way of messing with the brain.
“Okay, sure,” she said with a smile, quietly cursing her own cowardice.
Julien’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Great!”
Rho gave him her address and he promised to pick her up at six o’clock. He waved, then she waved, then he disappeared into the mass of people departing the terminal.
Then Rho buried her face in her hands. What the hell am I doing? she wondered with a groan.
“Well, well, well.”
That voice. It couldn’t be. No, no, no.
Rho looked up. Strolling towards her, a smug grin on her punchable little face, was the last person she wanted to see. “Luna. What do you want?”
The diminutive support partner raised her pink eyebrows and pointed at herself like Who, me? She said, “What, I’m not allowed to greet a friend at the space gate?”
Spoiler!
Rho crossed her arms. “First off, we aren’t friends. We’re, like, frenemies at best, so don’t pretend otherwise. And second, you wouldn’t go out of your way to greet me at my deathbed, let alone the space gate. Therefore, let me ask again: what do you want?”
“Okay, fine,” Luna conceded. “If you must know, I’m actually here to recruit a few pilots. Or I was, until I heard you lying your shiny metal ass off to Lover Boy over here. That was pure comedy gold, by the way.”
“His name is Julien, and I was not lying to him!”
“Close enough. He thinks you’re Zero Three and you didn’t exactly correct him, did you?”
“None of your beeswax, Shortstack. Why do you need campship pilots, anyway?”
“For a certain new business venture I have planned,” the support partner replied with a sly grin. “Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll hear all about it soon enough. And don’t change the subject!”
“I’m not!”
“Then tell me why you lied about being Zero Three. What sort of con are you pulling here? Is it some elaborate prank, or are you just trying to get to his bank account? Because if so, I want in.”
“It’s not a con, and I’m not trying to steal his meseta! I-I just…,” Rho stammered. “He was being nice to me, okay? I didn’t want to, y’know, break his heart like that. I figured I’d let him down easy later… after our date.” She paused, then added, “Maybe after the third date… or the fifth…”
Luna slapped her forehead in exasperation. “Oh, brother! Don’t tell me you actually like this guy?!”
If Rho were human, her cheeks would have been flushed from embarrassment. And from that embarrassment, she did what most people tend to do: she got defensive. “A-As if!” she scoffed. “I’m just taking pity on the guy, that’s all. Y’know, an act of mercy. Unlike you, I’m not a coldblooded egomaniac. And even if I did like him—just a little—so what? Is pretending to be my dead sister to go on a date really such a terrible crime?”
Luna rolled her multi-colored eyes.
To which Rho responded, “I’m proud to belong to a generation of CASTs with emotion processors advanced enough to experience romantic love, the same as any organic being. Our ancestors weren’t so lucky, y’know. They had to approximate love by combining similar emotions. Admiration and trust. Gratitude and contentment. But not me! I get the real thing, the genuine article. The whole enchilada. Or something.”
“Big deal,” said Luna. “What’s so great about love, anyway? I have the same emotion processor you do, and you don’t see me getting all hot and bothered over it.”
Rho shook her head condescendingly. “You just don’t get it. Love is… something special. Something magical. It defies logic. It breaks down barriers. And it’s worth more than all the power and all the money in the world. But I guess you wouldn’t understand that. Because even with that ten million meseta sitting in your bank account, love is something you can never buy.”
“Twenty million, actually,” Luna retorted sourly. “Thanks to some smart investing, I already doubled what I won in that raffle.”
“Whatever. Ten or twenty million, it doesn’t matter. When six o’clock rolls around, I’ll be on a date and you’ll be at home alllll alooooone.”
Rho took the time to let that last statement really sink in. It wasn’t often she got the better of Luna, and she wanted to savor the moment. Not because she was cruel, but because the little twerp totally deserved it. Luna was always acting all high and mighty like she was better than everybody else, a condition that had only gotten worse since she became a multi-millionaire. But now, finally, the tables had turned, and Rho had something Luna didn’t. It was delicious. So very, very delicious.
“You sure about that?” Luna replied, interrupting Rho’s private reverie.
“Huh?”
“Maybe I’ll be the one on the date, and you’ll be stuck at home.”
This time it was Rho’s turn to roll her eyes. “And how, exactly, do you figure that?”
“I don’t care about ‘the power of love’ or whatever, but I do care about teaching you a lesson. And today you’re going to learn two of them. Lesson number one is that I’m better than you in every way. Lesson number two is that there’s nothing you have that I can’t get. Which is why you’re going to let me take your place on the date tonight.”
Rho barked a laugh. It was a joke, it had to be. No way Luna was being serious. In her most sarcastic tone she said, “Oh, right, because we look so much alike. I’m sure Julien won’t notice when a little pink she-devil answers the door tonight.”
“No, you moron. I meant we’re literally going to trade places. Your infiltration program will let you switch with a support partner, right?”
“I’ve never tried,” Rho answered cautiously. “It should work, as long as you have a compatible data port. But why the hell would I agree to do that?”
“Because,” said Luna, her grin pure evil, “if you don’t, I’ll tell Lover Boy who you really are. Won’t he be surprised to find out you lied to get in his pants.”
Rho gasped. “Y-You monster! You wouldn’t dare!”
“Come now, Rhosie, I think we both know that isn’t true. I can and I will, unless you do exactly as I say.”
“But why?! You don’t even care about him!”
Luna shrugged her tiny shoulders. “You’re right, I don’t. But the thought of ruining your special night fills me with such joy. I couldn’t possibly turn down such an amazing opportunity, right? And besides, being treated to a night out doesn’t sound so bad. Who knows, I might even enjoy it.”
Rho glared daggers at the little support partner. There was nothing she could say. She knew it, and Luna knew it, and that made it all the more frustrating.
“So, do we have a deal?” asked Luna.
Rho’s armored shoulders sagged in defeat. “Fine,” she muttered, a hundred percent sure she would regret it later.
TO BE CONTINUED
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
You return! Welcome back.Spoiler!" . . . lit up like a Christmas tree." For some reason i imagined roulette sounds as christmas lights rapidly blink around. Also makes me wonder how much of a upgrade the body was compared to her old one? I guess my mistake with support partners is I never think of them being excessively cunning and tactical. Then again she is a Cast, just pocket sized. Then again it could also just be her riding on the seat of her pants. Also makes me wonder if Luna could easily swap bodies with all that money she has?
@yoshiblue:
Spoiler!Whose body compared to whose? You mean Rho's original body compared to her current one?
Support partners are often soldiers as well, so they need to be sharp and tactical. I wish there was some in-game lore about support partners. As far as I know, the game itself never really explained their presence. I just assumed they're robotic helpers built to assist the ARKS. Sort of like Mags, but with a more complex and expressive intelligence.
You'll find out more about how Luna plans to spend her money as the story goes along.
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
CHRONICLE 05.2 [12/15/18]
Spoiler!
COLONY SHIP 02, UR: RAUTH ROBOTICS
With a rising sense of apprehension, Rho’s eyes fluttered open. One eye was vivid pink, the color of a lighted neon sign. The other was a rich violet, like a sun-kissed wildflower. They were beautiful eyes, custom built, though Rho obviously couldn’t see them herself. Not at the moment.
She sat up on the cold metal operating table and looked around. Everything looked huge. The walls of the room were massive and distant. Shelves of data disks rose up like veritable mountains. The swivel chair in the corner could seat a giant. Even the operating table itself was bigger than a king-sized bed. It wasn’t because Dr. Rauth’s lab had suddenly gotten larger. Rather, it was because Rho had gotten smaller.
She let out a sigh. Despite having just woken up, Rho knew exactly where she was, and who she was, and why. And right then, she was Luna. More precisely, she and Luna had swapped places thanks to her special infiltration program. But not by choice. The little pink-haired devil had blackmailed her into doing it. If you don’t, I’ll tell Lover Boy who you really are. Won’t he be surprised to find out you lied to get in his pants.
Rho had no doubt Luna would’ve done it. She was cunning and evil like that, and usually made good on her threats. So Rho had agreed under protest, and the two of them had returned to Rauth Robotics to perform the switch. Luckily no one else was around. Rho probably would have died from embarrassment if anyone found out.
Spoiler!
Right away she performed a quick system diagnostic. It was her standard operating procedure, something she always did when trading places with someone. A ritual to make sure her host body was functioning normally. She didn’t want any nasty surprises popping up later, after all.
As expected, everything came back green and clear. Luna’s body was in tip-top shape. No structural damage. Plenty of energy reserves. Oil and coolant at optimal levels. She was as fit as a newborn straight off the assembly line.
After that, Rho poked around Luna’s neural network for a bit. She discovered her programming was similar to that of a CAST. Which made sense, logically. Support partners were essentially CASTs shrunken down to the size of children. They had the same basic needs and carried out the same basic functions. Plus, Luna had been built by Aki02, who modeled her support partner’s neural pathways after her own. And since Rho and Aki were twins, that meant she and Luna had similar networks as well. It wasn’t crucial, but it made the adjustment process smoother, in the sense that Rho already knew how things were laid out. Like using a new computer with a familiar operating system. Or visiting a house with the same layout as your own.
Beside her, on the second operating table, a giant began to stir. Except it wasn’t a giant. It was Luna. More precisely, it was Luna in Rho’s body. And she was huge! Her arms were as thick as tree trunks. Her hands, as big as dinner plates. Her hair was a crimson curtain longer than a bedsheet. Not really, of course, but that’s how it seemed from Rho’s perspective. Was this how she usually looked to Luna?
Spoiler!
Rho considered their relative sizes. She was normally 1.76 meters tall. Luna was normally 1.02 meters tall. Comparatively speaking, she was seventy-two percent larger than the support partner. About the difference between a four-year-old and a fully-grown adult, at least in terms of height. Which meant that, perception-wise, Rho’s former body looked like it was over three meters tall. Taller than an average room.
In other words, a giant.
Luna removed the data cable from the port in the back of her neck and sat up. With surprising lightness for someone so huge, she hopped off the edge of the operating table. Rho felt a mild tremor as Luna’s armored feet hit the floor. The little support partner—now a very big support partner—took a moment to examine her new hands. First the backs, then the fronts. She was used to seeing smooth synthetic skin, not hard metal and exposed joints. A jarring change, to be sure, and one Rho could relate to personally. After all, her first body had been a humanoid type like Luna’s.
Following that, Luna looked around the room. At the walls, the shelf, the chair, the table. She took some time examining each one. The first thing out of her mouth was, “Everything’s so small now!”
Then she noticed Rho. The two women stared at each other for a solid minute, each one not sure how to react. Finally Luna stepped forward and said, “Oh. My. Gosh. Is this how I look to everyone else? I’m so… so… so cute!”
Luna scooped Rho up into a big, suffocating bear hug. “I am so freaking adorable!” she squealed in delight, pinning Rho tight against her chest. “No wonder everybody loves me.”
“Mmf,” replied Rho. Her face was trapped between a pair of molded, metallic mounds. When she finally managed to separate herself from Luna’s chest plate she said, “Actually, everyone thinks you’re annoying.”
Luna decided to ignore that particular comment. As if suddenly coming to her senses, she set Rho back on the operating table, then glanced away like she was embarrassed. “D-Don’t get the wrong idea or anything! I wasn’t hugging you, I was hugging my own body. You’d better take good care of it while I’m on my date.”
She emphasized the words I’m and my with a tinge of smugness—probably just to annoy Rho. And it worked, because Rho was definitely annoyed. But there wasn’t much she could do about it. The alternative was to tell Julien the truth, and there was no way that was happening. Like, ever. So instead she crossed her arms and mumbled, “Yeah, yeah. Go drink a vat of battery acid while you’re at it.”
Luna poked Rho in the chest with one of her metal fingers. Not very hard, but Rho was twice as small and Luna was twice as large, so it felt four times as strong. “Seriously, don’t try any funny business,” Luna warned. “I had the bank freeze my assets until tomorrow, and I password-locked my memory files. You can’t get to my meseta, and I’ll know if you try hacking into my memory. So don’t bother or you’ll regret it.”
Rho barked a laugh in return. “I’m a reformed criminal, remember? I don’t steal anymore. Though, I could probably make an exception if it’s your money we’re talking about.”
“Let me sweeten the pot,” said Luna. “Call it an extra incentive to behave. If you do as I asked, I’ll throw in a little something extra for you: fifty thousand.”
Rho wasn’t sure her auditory sensors were functioning correctly. “F-Fifty thousand meseta?!”
“You heard me.”
“All I have to do is sit around here all evening? That’s it?”
“That’s right. Play the role of the good little support partner and tomorrow you’ll be fifty thousand meseta richer. Not a bad deal, right?”
It was a tempting offer. Too tempting to pass up, really. Rho hated Luna for dangling it in front of her like a lure. A sparkling, irresistible, gold-colored lure. But she hated herself even more because, deep down, she knew she would accept it. Which, of course, only proved Luna’s point—that money could buy anything, even her own complicity.
Not that she had much choice in the matter. But if she was going to do it, she might as well make a few meseta for her trouble. Right? “Alright, fine,” she growled. The words tasted bitter in her mouth.
Luna patted her head like she was some sort of pet, or a small child. “Good girl. Though, you’re not really in any position to argue, are you, Shortstack?”
“Hmph.” She angrily brushed Luna’s hand away. “I may have agreed to this, but that doesn’t mean I have to enjoy it. And by the way, call me ‘Shortstack’ one more time and I’ll go jogging through the mall buck-naked. Both floors, in front of all your favorite shops. Good luck trying to live that one down.”
“Sheesh. Alright, ya party pooper. No need to blow a gasket. Just sit tight and it’ll be over before you know it.”
Fwoosh! The sound of a mechanized door sliding open, two rooms away. Both women froze. They knew right away who it was, and why. The faint voices echoing down the hall confirmed it.
“Remember our deal,” Luna hissed, mere moments before Dr. Rauth and Aki02 stepped into the room. The middle-aged doctor entered first. He was smiling and chuckling with good-natured cheer, like maybe he’d just finished telling a joke and they had missed the punchline. Aki entered second carrying a large plastic box. The top of the box was open and there were several mechanical components poking out at random angles, including what appeared to be a robotic hand. CAST parts, Rho realized. The box looked heavy but Aki didn’t seem to mind. Her attention was on Rauth and whatever he’d been saying. As usual, her face was a mask of stoicism mixed with mild curiosity. The subtle upturned corners of her mouth were the only indication she was in good spirits.
Spoiler!
“Rho, Luna,” Rauth said warmly in greeting. “This is a pleasant surprise. I didn’t expect to find you girls here. Aki and I just paid a visit to the parts shop. I think we found what we need to finish up that special R&D contract. Would you, ah, care to assist us?”
Luna put on her most apologetic smile. “Sorry, Doc. I’d love to help, but I have to get ready now. Got a hot date tonight!”
She skipped out of the room before either of them could stop her. Rho, meanwhile, tried her best to sneak out the back door unnoticed.
Tried, and failed.
“Luna!” Aki called out to her. “Don’t leave. I’m going to need your help with this.”
Rho froze in her tracks. So much for sneaking out, she thought with a sigh. And being mistaken for Luna! That was a grave indignity, an insult to her pride. Still, she had no choice but to play along.
“O-Oh, hey!” she replied, trying to sound natural. “See, the thing is, I’m a little, um… busy right now. I kinda have a thing to take care of, sooo…”
Aki raised a questioning eyebrow. “A thing?”
“Yeah, a thing. Like, far away from here. Something totally real and definitely not made up to get out of working. Serious business, y’know?”
“Oh, really?” The Caseal’s tone suggested skepticism. A heavy dose of it, in fact.
But Rho was in too deep. She couldn’t back out now. “Totally, really, seriously. Couldn’t get out of it even if I tried. So how about I take a rain check this time? What do you say? I promise I’ll help out as much as you want tomorrow. Literally, all day long. If I act like I don’t know what you’re talking about, just remind me that I super-promised to do it. Don’t let me get out of it! Oh, and be sure to call me a whiny slacker. I could use some stricter discipline.”
Rho laughed inwardly at her own crafty genius. That’ll teach the little brat to blackmail me. By tomorrow we’ll be back to normal and Luna will get stuck doing all the work.
Aki, however, had other ideas. She set down the box of CAST parts and crossed her arms. “Whatever you have to do, I’m sure it can wait. We cannot delay the job simply because you don’t feel like working. That would be unfair to Dr. Rauth, and to our client.”
“But—”
“You are my support partner, are you not? I expect your support when I need it.”
Rho opened her mouth to object, but there was nothing more she could say. Instead, her shoulders sagged in defeat. Her head hung forward in resignation. “Yes, ma’am,” she mumbled quietly.
“Good. Then let’s get to it.”
* * * * * * * * *
Two hours later, Rho was bored out of her mind. Her half-sister had a passion for CAST engineering—a passion she respected and even admired—but personally, Rho found the work dull and tedious. She’d much rather be hanging out with Akasha, or even facing a swarm of murderous Darkers. Anything to get out of the lab. Seated on the edge of the operating table, her tiny legs dangling off the side, she stared at the wall and sighed wistfully.
“Psst.”
Rho glanced to her left. Peeking through the open doorway was an anxious-looking Luna. Still in Rho’s body, of course. “Psst,” she whispered again.
“I heard you the first time,” Rho responded bluntly.
“Where’s Aki? And the doctor?”
“They’re out taking a five-minute break. Which means they should be back in approximately… seventy-six seconds.”
“Alright, good.” Luna stepped into the room, at which point Rho nearly burst out laughing.
“Did you… Did you actually polish my armor?” she snickered.
It was true: The red-and-black metal looked positively radiant, gleaming and shimmering like it came straight off the factory floor. A lot of care had been taken to buff out the dull spots, smooth down the rough edges, and polish the joints to a fine shine. A fresh coat of wax added an slightly glossy sheen.
Suddenly self-conscious, Luna pouted and said, “Yeah, so what? I’ve got a date tonight, remember?”
“I thought you didn’t care about Julien.”
“I don’t! But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to look nice. I do have standards to maintain, despite what you may think.”
Rho waved it away. “Okay, fine, whatever. So what do you want?”
“It’s almost six o’clock. Lover Boy’s going to be here any minute.”
“Come to rub it in my face one last time?”
“Actually, I need your help,” Luna replied. And surprisingly, she sounded sincere about it.
“What now? Haven’t you tortured me enough for today?”
“When he gets here, I need you to distract the others. Like a diversion or something.”
“And why would I do that?”
“Because,” Luna explained, her tone slightly impatient, “Lover Boy thinks you’re Zero Three, remember? What do you think’s going to happen when he shows up and asks to see your deceased sister?”
Suddenly Rho understood. “That… would be bad,” she agreed.
“No kidding. Which is why—”
Ding-dong!
Rho checked her internal chronometer. Six o’clock exactly. Well, the man was nothing if not punctual, that was for sure.
At the same time, footsteps began echoing loudly down the hall. Two sets of them, approaching at a hurried pace. There was no question who it was.
“That was the front doorbell,” she heard Dr. Rauth say.
“I wonder who it could be,” she heard Aki02 reply.
“Maybe Rho’s mysterious date?” pondered the doctor.
“We’ll find out,” said Aki.
In the nearby workroom, Rho and Luna traded panicked looks. “Go go go!” Luna hissed urgently.
“And do what?!” Rho demanded.
“Something. Anything! I just need a distraction.”
Rho grudgingly complied, grumbling to herself as she hopped off the table and raced out of the room. The timing turned out perfect. She intercepted Aki and Rauth just as they entered the lobby. They were still five paces from the front door. “Wait!” she called, drawing their attention.
Aki cocked her head slightly to one side. “Luna? What is it?”
“There’s, uh… there’s an emergency!” Rho cried, flailing her little arms for good measure. “In the workroom! Quick, follow me!”
Luckily they didn’t question it. They simply followed Rho back to the workroom, the same one she had left moments earlier. Luna was already gone, having snuck out the other door.
Aki and the doctor scanned the room, their faces full of concern. When nothing was apparently wrong, Aki asked, “Where is the emergency?”
Truthfully, Rho hadn’t thought that far ahead. “Oh. It’s, um… it’s… over here! Someone left this soldering iron on. See? That could be dangerous. Eventually. Maybe…”
Aki pursed her lips. It was hard to read her expression, but Rho was pretty sure she wasn’t amused. “Thank you for pointing that out, Luna, but I think we both know that doesn’t qualify as an emergency. Next time it happens, you can turn it off yourself. Like this.”
The Caseal flipped a switch and the soldering iron immediately shut down. Turning back to Rho, she added, “Honestly, I don’t know what’s gotten into you today.”
Rho laughed nervously. “Me? I’m fine. Yep, fine and dandy! Just being my usual quirky self. Quirky, funny Luna. Ha ha… ha…”
Behind her, Rauth snapped his fingers in sudden realization. “Oh!” he exclaimed. “I almost forgot about the doorbell.”
All three of them headed back to the lobby. Rauth strode over to the front door and pressed a button on the nearby wall. In response, the door slid open with a sharp hiss.
Oh please oh please oh please, Rho silently prayed.
The front porch was empty. There was no one around. It seemed she’d bought Luna enough time after all. Mentally, Rho let out a sigh of relief.
“Whoever it was, they seem to have gone,” remarked the doctor.
Aki looked puzzled but eventually shrugged it away. “In that case, shall we get back to work?”
“Yes, let’s.”
Rho slapped her forehead in frustration. There were some battles she simply couldn’t win.
“Aw, maaaaan.”
TO BE CONTINUED
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
@yoshiblue:
Spoiler!It was a big change in the sense that Rho went from a loli humanoid body to an adult robotic body. That's one thing I always found interesting about CASTs, that their physical appearance is totally unrelated to their level of maturity. Aki has looked like an adult since the day she was first activated. Rho was the only one who "grew up," and that was thanks to Aki's generous donation of her former body (and later, the switch with Zero Three).
CHRONICLE 05.3 [12/22/18]
Spoiler!
COLONY SHIP 02, UR: RAUTH ROBOTICS
It was a tricky maneuver, but Luna handled it with ease. Just before Aki02, Dr. Rauth, and Rho entered the workroom, Luna slipped out the back without being seen. After that she had to sneak down the hall without being heard, which proved harder than usual in her current form. As a support partner she was small and nimble. It was easy to slip in and out of places undetected. As a CAST, however, she felt completely exposed—and not just because she wasn’t wearing any clothes. Each step with her clunky metal feet sounded like a nuclear explosion going off. Not really, of course. That part was all in her mind. Still, it made Luna nervous. She had to reach the front door and get out of there before Aki and the doctor got back, otherwise there would be a lot of uncomfortable questions to answer. Such as, why had she switched places with Rho? And more importantly, why was she masquerading as her poor deceased aunt, Aki03?
Spoiler!
Despite her handicap, Luna reached the front lobby without incident. With any luck, Rho would keep the others distracted for another minute or two. Plenty of time to grab Lover Boy and get the heck outta Dodge.
Hopefully.
Luna pressed a button on the wall and the front door swished open. Standing on the porch, a nervous smile on his face, was exactly the man she was expecting: Julien Elwinter. He was wearing a crisp three-piece suit that matched his powder-blue hair and eyes. In his hands he clutched a vibrant red rose.
“Ah… hey,” he said in greeting. “I hope I’m not early.”
Spoiler!
“Right on time,” Luna replied. She stepped outside and the door shut behind her. Grabbing Julien by the arm, she hustled him down the sidewalk towards his car, which was parked on the curb. It was a sporty dark blue convertible, a two-seater. Luna didn’t bother opening the door. She simply hopped over the side and plopped into the passenger seat. Meanwhile, Julien took his time rounding the front of the car, opening the door, and sitting down in the driver’s seat. He was in no hurry. Why would he be?
But they were still exposed, and Rho couldn’t risk someone spotting them from the lab, so she utilized some quick thinking and flipped a switch on the dashboard. In response, the roof of the vehicle slowly extended, sealing them in like a pair of sardines.
Julien looked a little surprised but didn’t question it. He just smiled and handed her the rose he’d been holding. “For you,” he said. “Your armor always did remind me of a beautiful red rose.”
“Um, thanks,” Luna replied, not quite sure what to do with the flower. For all her skill as a Force and a lab assistant, she was woefully unequipped to deal with matters of the heart—a fact she hadn’t realized until that very moment. When Aki02 programmed her, “dating tips” weren’t part of the package. She had never been in love and had no real interest in it. Which meant that, unfortunately, she was totally clueless about even the most basic courtship rituals. She knew flowers were often used in romantic gestures, but what did the recipient actually do with those flowers?
Surely the rose must serve some purpose. Something practical and obvious. But what? Was she supposed to wear it as an accessory? Possibly, but wouldn’t the stem get in the way? Maybe it was a symbol, like a good luck charm or a sign of affection. No, no, definitely not. It couldn’t be something so cryptic. Maybe she was expected to… eat it? The idea was revolting. Consuming a piece of slowly-decomposing plant matter? Blech! Then again, organic beings were often irrational in their customs. Everything seemed to be based on feelings or traditions, not because they made any logical sense. In that case, maybe eating the flower wasn’t so far-fetched after all.
Luna stared hard at the rose. Maybe if she stared hard enough, she thought, an answer would present itself.
It didn’t. So instead, she went with Plan B. “It looks… tasty?” she guessed.
Julien frowned in confusion.
“I mean… pretty! It’s very pretty.”
Julien smiled, and she knew she had guessed correctly. So, the flower was just for looks. He didn’t actually expect her to eat it. What a relief!
“About tonight,” he said, “I was wondering if you’d be up for a trip to the planetarium? I heard they’ve got a fascinating new exhibit on pulsars, and their long-range telescope is currently observing the Poseidon Galaxy. It’s in the process of being swallowed by a supermassive black hole—not something you get to see every day.”
Luna scratched the side of her head. “I’m going to be honest with you, Jules… that sounds really boring.”
There was a flicker of disappointment on the man’s face, but he recovered quickly. “Fair enough,” he said with a smirk. “If you have something else in mind, I’m open to ideas.”
She tapped a finger to her chin, thinking. “You asked me out, so that means you’re paying, right?”
“Of course! I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
“In that case, I know just the place: Happy Rappy Land.”
It took a second for him to process that. “Happy Rappy Land? That’s… an amusement park, right? The one on the other side of downtown?”
“It’s not just an amusement park,” Luna replied, her face and tone completely serious, “it’s the amusement park. Pretty much the greatest, most wonderful place in the world. They’ve got awesome rides, nighttime parades, even a fireworks show! If you’ve never been there, Juley-boy, you are in for a real treat.”
“Well all right, then! Let’s do it.”
“Now we’re talking!” Luna cheered as the car pulled away from the curb. Finally, things were looking up.
* * * * * * * * *
Things were definitely not looking up for Rho, who was stuck in the lab helping Aki02 with an R&D contract for the ARKS military. They had been at it all afternoon, with no clear end in sight. Rho had to remind herself that she was putting up with it for a good cause: money. Fifty thousand meseta, to be exact. All she had to do was play along until Luna got back. Easy-peasy, right?
Sort of. The work was tedious and Aki hardly ever took breaks. On top of that, Rho had to be careful not to blow her cover. As far as anyone knew, she was Luna the support partner. Nothing more, nothing less. But pretending to be the annoying little brat was tougher than it seemed. It took real effort to maintain the appropriate levels of snark and conceit. How did the real Luna manage it?
Spoiler!
“Hand me the arc welder,” said Aki02. She was standing next to the operating table with her back to Rho. Lying atop the stainless work table was a metal chassis, mostly matte black, and roughly humanoid in shape. When it was finished it would be a CAST soldier. A living, thinking being like herself. When Rho considered that, she was in awe of her half-sister’s skills and accomplishments. Creating new life from a pile of scrap metal and circuitry was certainly no small feat!
Spoiler!
That didn’t make it any less tedious, however. Rho crossed the room to the work bench, retrieved the arc welder, and delivered it to Aki’s outstretched hand. “Are we, like, almost done here?” she asked. It wasn’t hard to sound impatient when she was actually bored.
Aki lowered her welding helmet and ignited the torch. With careful precision, she traced the azure flame along the seam between two metal plates, sealing them together. “Three more hours should do it,” she replied. “Perhaps two point eight, if we’re feeling ambitious.”
Rho groaned. She wasn’t sure she could last three more minutes, let alone three more hours…
* * * * * * * * *
It was Luna’s third time visiting Happy Rappy Land, and the place was just as amazing as she remembered. The ticket booths were clogged with endless lines of smiling, cheerful faces. Everyone passed below the inviting neon entrance sign with its ubiquitous Happy Rappy logo. The slogan next to the sign read: “The Rappiest Place on Ur!”
Inside the gate, an assortment of delights threatened to overwhelm the senses. Employees in Happy Rappy costumes danced around the plaza taking photos with guests. Pop music blared from the speakers. Street-corner vendors were peddling all manner of goods, from Rappy-shaped balloons to Rappy-shaped candies. There were Rappy dolls, Rappy masks, and even Rappy toothbrushes.
Everything was loud and colorful and cheery. In the distance Luna spotted the Ferris wheel and the Rappy-go-round, the parachute drop and the Rappy coaster. And rising above them all, in the center of the park, was the towering Rappy castle, its bleached white spires and parapets the perfect symbol of charm and whimsy.
Magnificent. It was all so magnificent. Taking Julien by the hand, Luna hurried to the nearest ride, laughing and skipping the entire way.
* * * * * * * * *
“The capacitor goes here?”
“Correct.”
“And the resistors go here, here, and here?”
“Correct.”
Alright, thought Rho, here goes nothing. There was a small rectangular circuit board on the table in front of her, secured in place with yellow plastic clamps. It had already been fitted with several components, but four empty spaces still remained.
First up, the capacitor. Rho took the disc-shaped component and bent its prong-like leads an appropriate distance apart. After that she inserted the leads into a pair of unused holes on the circuit board. With a soldering iron in one hand and a coil of solder in the other, Rho pressed both pieces against the first metal lead. The process took only a couple seconds. There was a tiny puff of white smoke as the solder melted and pooled into a small mound around the base of the lead. By the time Rho removed the iron, the solder was already starting to harden.
She repeated the same procedure with the other lead, then six more times—twice for each of the three resistors. After that she used a wire cutter to snip the excess leads down to size.
There, that should do it. Although she wasn’t capable of sweating, Rho wiped her brow anyway. Truth be told, she’d been nervous about doing the work. This definitely wasn’t part of her normal job functions. And without access to Luna’s memory files, she didn’t know how the support partner usually handled it. Luckily she had a copy of Zero Two’s memories from their last session in the recharging alcoves. That had helped. A lot, actually, though it wasn’t a perfect solution. For one thing, there was a difference between knowing how to do something and having done it yourself. In other words, the difference between knowledge and experience. The other problem was related to size and perspective. In Zero Two’s memories, the work was performed using tools that fit into a normal—i.e. human-sized—hand. But Rho wasn’t human-sized at the moment. She was half that size, which meant the tools were twice as big by comparison. That made them tough to hold and even tougher to operate.
Somehow, she’d managed it. And now that she was finished, Rho could step back and admire her work. It wasn’t much, just a circuit board for regulating a CAST’s internal functions, but she had assembled it herself. And with only minimal help! That, at least, was something to be proud of.
“Nicely done,” said Aki02, examining the finished product. “Keep it up and I may have to hire you as my full-time lab assistant.”
Not gonna happen, thought Rho. She didn’t say that, of course. Let Luna deal with it another day. For now, all she could do was smile and offer a noncommittal shrug.
“While I’m installing this board, I want you to fetch the ‘special components’ we purchased on Tuesday. The ones you said would look better on than off.”
Uh oh. Rho had no clue what Aki was talking about. The last time they shared the recharging alcoves was the previous Saturday, so her memory files were out of date. And she couldn’t simply claim she forgot. That was impossible for an android—unless the files got corrupted, but there were several checks to prevent that, which made it extremely rare and unlikely. Which in turn made it an improbable excuse. Even if she tried, Aki would simply run a diagnostic on her memory, at which point she would realize that “Luna” was actually Rho.
That left her only one option: bluff and improvise. “Uh, right! The special components. O-Of course! I’ll, uh, go get them for you. Right now.”
Rho scoured the lab more or less aimlessly. Hoping, basically, to stumble across whatever it was she was looking for. Not the best plan in the world, but it was the only one she had.
Hold it, she told herself. Let me think about this. Maybe I can narrow down the search a bit. I know I’m looking for CAST parts. They must be unusual, because Aki called them ‘special components.’ And they must be small and light enough for Luna to carry, otherwise Aki wouldn’t have asked me. Where would they store something like that? In one of the cleanrooms? No, they couldn’t risk the particle contamination. In one of the other workrooms? Probably not, because they like to keep the jobs separated. Wait, I know! The storage room at the end of the hall. Duh! Why didn’t I think of it sooner?
That was an elongated version of Rho’s thought process. In reality the monologue lasted only a fraction of a second, carried out at a speed far beyond human comprehension. In the time it would have taken an organic brain to form the words hold it, hers had already solved the problem and planned the rest of her week—just one of the many advantages of being an android. Regardless, Rho took off in the direction of the storage room, certain her objective was close at hand.
* * * * * * * * *
Round and round they went. In the background, faces and lights and signs all became hypnotic streaks of color, one big blurry mess. Luna threw her head back and laughed with wild abandon. Despite herself, she was enjoying the moment. Across from her, Julien looked like he might be sick. His cheeks had turned an unhealthy shade of green. His head was wobbling back and forth like a bobblehead doll. And yet they kept spinning, round and round and round.
“Aki, please… no more…,” Julien gulped.
“Oh come on, ya big baby! It’s just a little motion sickness.”
Luna gripped the wheel in front of her and gave it another tug. In response, their vehicle started spinning even faster. The two of them were seated in what looked like an oversized coffee mug. Mug Spinners, the ride was called. Each cup-shaped vehicle sat on a circular track, and each rider could rotate their vehicle by spinning the wheel in the center. Luna loved it. Julien, not so much.
At least he was being a good sport about it. To his credit, the man had followed Luna around the park like a loyal puppy dog. Every ride, every attraction, even the ones she could tell he wasn’t interested in. They had rocketed up (and then down) the parachute drop. Taken a boat cruise down an exotic river, complete with robotic animals and an eccentric tour guide. Watched a parade with floats made of nothing but colored lights. Ridden the infamous Mad Rappy Coaster, the fastest ride in the Oracle fleet. Attended a concert by up-and-coming pop star Gemini, and even gotten an autograph from Elli Singh, the actress from the big-budget action movie, “Battle of Ur.”
And after all that, there was still plenty of evening left! Luna planned to make the most of it. With a nauseous Julien in tow, she headed towards the next great adventure.
* * * * * * * * *
The “special components” turned out to be pretty cool, in Rho’s opinion. At first glance they were nothing special, just a crate full of dull gray armor plates. Kind of disappointing. But then Aki02 explained that the plates were made of chromesium, an alloy that changed color when stimulated by an electrical charge. By attaching conductors underneath the plates, the CAST they were building would be able to alter his color at will.
In other words, it was camouflage armor. He could make himself white in the snow, green in the forest, tan in the desert. Or black for night ops. The possibilities were endless, really, which is why the ARKS were investing in the project.
But Aki wasn’t too interested in the military applications. That part of her life was over. Rather, she took the contract because she wanted to test her skills and broaden her knowledge. Or something like that. Rho wasn’t paying much attention when Aki explained it. All she cared about was finishing the job so she could finally relax.
Based on Aki’s initial estimate, they should be done in less than fifteen minutes. Rho was practically salivating at the thought. Sweet, sweet freedom was almost within her grasp! Aki just had to weld one last armor plate to the CAST’s torso and that would be it. Or, at least, that was what Rho assumed.
Aki shut off the torch and raised her welding helmet. Carefully, she inspected the seam of the weld to make sure it looked okay. Which, naturally, it did. Aki’s welds always came out perfect. She checked them merely as a matter of protocol and thoroughness, because that’s the type of person she was. Methodical to a fault.
Satisfied, Aki nodded to herself. Then she turned to Rho and said, “That does it for the mechanical work. I had planned on saving the wiring until tomorrow, but we’ve made good progress so far. Perhaps we can finish everything tonight.”
Rho gaped in disbelief. Wait, is she saying—
“Most of the cable harnesses are already assembled, they merely need to be installed,” Aki continued. “It shouldn’t take us more than two additional hours. Three, at most.”
A terrible moan filled the workroom. It was long and low and blood-curdling, a sound borne of pure despair and hopelessness. The kind of sound you’d expect to hear in a tormentor’s dungeon at the height of a particularly grueling interrogation session.
It took Rho a moment to realize the sound had come from her own mouth.
There goes my night, she thought glumly, and got back to work.
TO BE CONTINUED
Sig art by Aussei ^_^
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