Hector and the Seven Eggs
Rated: G
Category: Drama
Type: One-Shot
Classification: What-If story. Universal rules for Dragonball
apply.
Main Characters: Dr. Briefs and Dr. Gero
Hector rubbed his eyes
as he leaned on his elbows late one Thursday night. The cold
steel of the lab table reflected the powerfull halogen lights
and made his head throb a little more. Slumping down onto his
folded arms, he looked sideways at the blueprints in front of
him.
"It'll never work,"
a man entered the large laboratory and commented. He was tall
and square-shouldered. His long, auburn hair fell past his shoulders
and he wore a self-assured grin.
"I'm beginning to think
you're right, Paul." Hector swivelled his chair around to
face his colleague. "99 tests on 52 different systems and
I still can't get the matter conversion syntax to reverse!"
Paul strode up to him and
studied the plans on the table. "How's the condention factor
coming?"
"It's crap. Once I get
a mass condensed it's still just as heavy. How can I expect consumers
to carry around a pill that weighs as much as a house!"
Paul patted his friend on
the back. "You're closer to capsulizing than you were two
years ago," he said as he pulled a stool out and sat next
to him. "A few more years is all it'll take!" He grinned
slyly again.
"This is beginning to
be too stressful! Look!" Hector put a hand through his lavendar
hair. "My hair's turning
grey, and I'm only 29!"
"Almost thirty,"
Paul chided.
"You're not helping."
"Sorry."
The men sat in silence for
a moment and shared a sigh.
"Well, I came here tonight
to tell you something, freind." Paul stood up and paced
a few feet away from him.
"Oh? What's up?"
"You and I have been
friends for what, seven years?"
Hector nodded.
"We've kept each other's
secrets all that time, vowing never to reveal or steal the other's
ideas. That will never change..."
Hector wished he had some
antacid. "What are you getting at, Paul?"
"It's time I moved on."
Hector gasped and jumped
off his stool. "What!? Did you get a contract!?" he
asked, incredulously.
"In a way..."
"Your androids..."
he whispered. "It's about your androids, isn't it?"
Paul nodded and turned his
back. "I've been asked by a... private institution to work
on further deveoping them... ALL EXPENSES PAID."
Hector's jaw dropped. "That's
GREAT! Wow! congradulations! I mean, I'll miss you and all, but
that's wonderfull!" He sat back down, relieved that the
news was good. "They wouldn't happen to want to develope
mass condention would they?" He smiled innocently at this
friend's back.
"No. They wouldn't."
Hector's smile faded. "Oh,
it was just a joke, really."
"No offence, you understand.
But the Red Ribbon Army concerns themselves primarilly with weapons."
Hector stood back up again
and took a step toward his friend. "The Red Ribbon Army?
Paul, they're terrorists!!"
"They're also loaded.
Do you realized what I could do with carte blanche? I could make
an android so realistic, so perfect that it would be completely
indiscernable from a living breathing man. I could make an artificial
human!" Paul turned and faced his friend at last.
Hector backed up a step when
he saw the strange gleam in his eye.
"I could even translate
and transfer binary data from the cerebral cortext directly into
an artifice, thereby granting a human eternal life! Don't you
see, Briefs!? I could be immortal!!!"
Hector was mortified. In
all the years he had know Paul Gero he had always had a glint
of something devious in his eye. In school they had called him
the Mad Scientist. "Paul, don't you think that's wishful
thinking?" he stuttered. "Our humanity is what keeps
us grounded. We're men of science, but science does not rule
our lives..."
Paul laughed in Hector's
face.
"You and your silly
zen mentality," he scoffed. "Science is king. To master
it is to master all things and I will. Oh yes, you'll see, Briefs.
Years from now while you're still trying to cram cars into peanuts
I'll be on top of the world!!!"
Hector could not reply. He
clentched his teeth at the insults and at the air of true madness
his friend exuded. He was lost to him now. Hector sighed and
put out his hand.
"Alright Paul. Good
luck."
Paul squinted at him, but
then sneered and took his hand. "I won't need it."
Hector nodded.
Without a good-bye, Dr. Paul
Gero turned on his heel and walked out the door. Before disspearing
down the corridor he called out to his former colleague. "And
good luck with your peanuts. You're going to need a miracle."
*
The telephone rang three
times before Gina could hop across the room with only one pump
on and pick it up. "Hello?" she asked in a bubbly voice
while slipping the other shoe on her foot. "Oh! Hector-dear!
I'm almost ready for our date. I.... What? You're cancelling!?
But why, Hector-dear?" she sat down delicatly on an overstuffed
sofa. "Oh, I see. Well, if you don't want to go out I'll
cook for you! Nonsense! I'll be right over! Not another word,
Hector-dear. It's my pleasure just to be with you!"
She said good-bye and hung
up the phone. Gina twirled on her tip-toes across the room and
dove into her closet to find a dress more suitable for an at-home
meal.
At 6:30 Gina rang appartment
5-G and was buzzed in. Hector was sloppily dressed in his button
down shirt and pants as usual but his expression caught his girlfriend's
attention.
He looks so sad!' she thought to herself, and deciced to make
it her mission to cheer him. Through the course of the evening
her twinkling laughter and sweet smile slowly rose the young
scientist's spirits.
After a simple, yet well-cooked
dinner, the couple sat in the tiny living room and listened to
a jazz program on the radio. Gina invited Hector to rest his
head in her lap and she ran her fingers soothingly through his
greying hair.
"Gina, why do you waste
your time on a loser like me?"
She looked down into his
small, blue eyes with a shocked expression on her face. "A
loser? Hector-dear, why are you calling yourself that!?"
"Because I'm a failure!
It's been two whole years now and I haven't done a thing! Pretty
soon the review board will be on me for results and I have nothing
to show for all their grant dollars!"
"But Hector-dear, you
haven't failed. You just haven't succeeded yet."
He smiled up at her. Gina.
The most optimistic person on the planet.
"It would take a miracle
for my capsule technology to succeed."
She smiled back. "Maybe
that's just what you need."
He raised a brow, but she
continued to stroke his hair and looked far off. He could tell
that she was gearing up to tell a story.
"It is said that
people who's intentions are right and who's hearts are courageous
and pure can find a solution to any problem and overcome any
obstacle in their path.
"In ancient times, there
were stories of wise men who's eternal questions lead them down
narrow roads. When they could find no end to their troubles,
they would take their questions to the mountains. There they
would question the dragon god.
"He was a benevolent
god and would charge the seeker with a quest. If he could locate
and return the dragon god's eggs, he might have any wish he so
chose; an answer to his question; a solution for his strife;
an end to his troubles.
"Many people believe
that emporer Yaun Che Tse went on such a quest. He ruled in a
dificult time when clan wars and dissention were rampant in his
kingdom. Shortly after he returned peace settled over the land.
Emporer Tse ruled for a hundred years with a just hand and fought
not one battle for the rest of his years. He had wished for the
ability to solve his people's arguments in a peaceful and equal
manner."
Gina looked back into Hector's
eyes. They were half open, but he was listening.
"I still don't know
why you stay with me."
"Because you don't treat
me bad or think I'm dumb like all the other guys do just because
I'm pretty."
"You're not pretty."
"Oh!"
"You're beautiful."
"Ohhhh..." she
cooed. "And you're so smart. I need someone who's smart.
Because, I am kinda dumb..."
"Gina..."
"It's true. I'm a blond!"
She shrugged.
"Well, I must be too,
because I can't transmogrify matter to save my life!"
"Hector-dear. You can
do anything. I believe in you." She bowed and kissed him
very gently on the lips.
"Gina," he smiled.
"Let's go look for the dragon god's eggs."
"Ok, Hector-dear. Tomorrow."
*
-Aoi Kami Sarah
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