Disclaimer: I do not own DBZ.
Vermin
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Our father…Who Art in Heaven
Blip…Blip...Blip
On and on, the computer announced its discovery to any who cared to hear it. A little green bulb pulsed in time with the sound, sending brief flashes of light into a room that would have otherwise been lit by nothing but stars. The sum of life in the room amounted to nil, unless you counted the decaying space weevil in the corner waiting for a droid to clear it away. But that emptiness was all about to change.
Blip…blip…blip
The door to the computers' darkened room slid open without a sound. A sliver of glaring, unnatural light filtered in and with it came a being so strange that on earth its like had never been conceived; the first creature to enter that room since the computer had made its find.
Blip…Blip…Blip
The creature swung up to the machine on his lengthy arms, diminutive legs hanging uselessly underneath, scurrying for a foothold in the recycled air.
The creature threw itself into a moth eaten swivel chair and with fingers, which clawed the floors and handled food without being washed, it tapped at the computers screen. Had any other digits but his own attempted this they would have gone straight through the holomonitor to receive the shock of their life, literally, and it would have been their last shock. Wires galore littered the space behind the VDU, each unearthed and conducting tens of thousands of volts. The station was DNA sensitive. So if you weren't meant to be there, you really didn't want to be.
"Let's see," rumbled the alien from his perch, his crocodile-jaws accompanying each word with a snap.
The relentless blipping of the computer terminal died away. The alien studied the screen, nostrils fluttering. It blinked as understanding dawned in its widening eyes.
"What in the name of a flying arse…!"
Its stubby fingers scurried across the screen. There had to be some mistake. But no. The calculations came back time and again. There was no chance in hell it was a computer malfunction. It wasn't possible or at least extremely unlikely. This wasn't arrogance, no. He was just a genius.
Intelligence wasn't what had earned him his own little poky private office in the darkest corner of the space station though. Unfortunately, members of his species could secrete rather pungent pheromones when feeling strong emotions. Which meant at that moment, unless you were a female of his race, the stench of the room could deliver a knock out blow.
Fear, excitement and pride. But a few of the emotions wafting in an eddy and flow of odour. But mostly the being, which looked like a cross between a gorilla and a crocodile, was feeling smug. And he had reason to be.
The boss was going to be oh so pleased with him.
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"No mum you shut up, this is bloody hard on me too"
Gohan slammed the door behind him. It rattled on its hinges and sent tremors through the mountain valley. Cracks snaked out up the walls from the doorframe.
Chi Chi stepped back, clutching the oven for support. It was too late to berate her son. Even if he had still been there she wouldn't have been able to squeak. The plate, she'd been drying shattered in her hands. Shards embedded themselves in the palms of her hand. The pregnant woman barely noticed the dribbles of red marring the kitchen tiles. Her legs buckled and she sank into the puddle of her own blood, eyes staring at the space where her son had stood.
Where had it all gone wrong? She knew the answer.
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There were always rows nowadays, arguments, squabbles, disputes…fights. Any who passed through the front door found themselves immediately on edge. The house was no longer a home. No photos on the walls. Gohan had shattered them. No tournament trophies. He'd melted those. And the orange gis he'd burnt on a pyre at the peak of Mount Paozu. His mother had objected, of course. A smashed cupboard and a cold glare had quickly set her to rights.
Gohan fell back on the midnight grass and let the late dew soothe the heat burning inside him. But nothing seemed able to extinguish the raging fire in his heart. And why shouldn't he be angry? His father had abandoned them, him and his mother both and he…Gohan paused. Shook his head. The way he treated his mother was different. He wasn't abandoning her. He was trying to make her see what a loathsome example of humanity her husband was. But she wouldn't stop loving him. Gohan had.
His chest twinged. He shook his head. He threw his arms to either side and let the rays of the waxing moon cradle him. Eyes open, unblinking… unseeing. A white light flickered across the black of space, a shooting star, which couldn't grant the wish entrusted to it.
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Honey Nut Loop