San Fransokyo
15 years ago
"Be careful with that, Meiko. Oh, and don't touch that machine to your right. I'm still working out the kinks on that one," instructed Atsuo, guiding his wife through his lab. She gently put down the screwdriver she was inspecting and went to her husband's side.
"You need to clean this place up. You'll trip on something and dislocate your shoulder, or something of the sort," Meiko frowned, glancing around Atsuo's lab. "If you would just let me do a bit of work in here-"
"I can't do that. All of my experiments are done in here. Who knows what's still lurking around in this place," He explained, eyes narrowing playfully as he crouched on the ground like an animal and hopped around the floor for emphasis. Meiko giggled and leaned over to kiss his mop of black hair.
She smirked, "Then you agree with me?"
Atsuo grinned sheepishly, "The lab could use a good cleaning."
Meiko lovingly russled his hair again, "So, what did you bring me here for?" Atsuo thought for a moment, and then smoothly rose from his crouch. Smiling at Meiko, he glided over to the large control counsel running along the side of the room. Pushing seemingly random buttons, Atsuo brought a blue print up on his screen and projected it onto the wall. Meiko stared at it with interest.
"This is my new project, Tsuki. If I work on him three hours every day, I'll be done with this baby by the time our baby comes," Atsuo kissed Meiko of the cheek, "If not sooner." Leaning over to the counsel once more, he rotated the projection of the boy-bot so she could see the entire machine. A few animations next to the design of the robot showed it running around and another depicting it working with what seemed to be dangerous chemicals. Meiko looked up at her husband's proud expression.
"What does it do?" she inquired, crossing her arms over her slightly extended stomach.
"Tsuki's purpose is to assist in hospitals," he gestured to the animation of the robot handling chemicals, "He'll be able to safely transport radium and heavy equipment. His assistance will help protect not only patients, but their doctors too. It'll make hospitals safer than they are now."
Meiko nodded, staring at the blue print of the small robot in fascination.
"And you'll never guess what I'm making him with," Atsuo said, grinning enthusiastically at Meiko. Before she could answer, he grabbed her hand and led her over to a case in the corner of the room containing a small vile filled with a black, oil like fuild.
"This is the Obdoboryte I've been playing with," Atsuo explained, grabbing a pair of safety gloves from a hook on the wall and slipping them onto his hands. Eyes widening, Meiko sent her husband a shocked expression.
"Obdoboryte? I thought you said it was an unstable substance," she inquired, watching her husband lift the glass case off its pedestal.
"That was last week. I've secured it now. It's perfectly safe-" Atsuo was interrupted by the explosion. He and Meiko were thrown backwards. Atsuo's head collided with the main counsel, and all he could do was watch Meiko land hard on his tool box. He heard her scream and saw the broken glass propel themselves into her stomach just before the world went black.