By: Gie (phowah@cs.com)
Disclaimer: The characters within belong
to the ever-blessed Toriyama Akira,
and lots of companies that I prefer not
to name. The character of Tan'ne and
other assorted characters that may appear
later, are mine.
Timeline: This little dream of mine takes
place after the end of DBZ--but I am
disregarding DB-GT. I do not care
for that plot-line, so I will not use it. Writer's
prerogative, ne?
Yosei
Bulma sat on a large rock, watching
the construction crews dig up the ground
with disinterest. Her sky-blue eyes
glazed over as the mundane work did little to
stir her genius mind. 'Why is it again
that I am out here, in the middle of nowhere,
watching some males play around in the dirt?
Isn't this the reason why I delegate
tasks to junior executives? So I wouldn't
have to do put up with these menial
tasks?' She sighed and pushed her
toe into the ground. She really didn't want to
be here. Not when she could be home
enjoying the day with her family.
"But both Trunks and Bra are at school.
And Vejiita is playing in his gravity
room. So I'd be all alone anyway--might
as well spend it with a bunch of dirt, ne?"
She sighed once again and jumped off her
rock, stretching her cramped muscles.
She signaled to the foreman in charge, a
hulking man with a weathered face and a
bright orange hard-hat on. "Tokuei-san,
come here, please?" She called out over
the loud machinery.
The supervisor waved back, and walking
away from a man in an identical hat,
approached the petite female. "Hai,
Briefs-san?"
She smiled slightly. "Have you
accomplished what you needed to do today?
Have you found what we're looking for?"
Tokuei shook his head. "Not yet,
Briefs-san. The special ore you require in
this part of the area is fairly sparse.
But one of my associates thinks that we
might hit a vein soon."
Bulma nodded, a tired look crossing
her face. "All right. Just keep looking.
My scouters reported that the ore is here,
just hiding really well. We need it to
complete production on our Spaceship line.
It's some of the hardest material on
Chikyuu, and is perfect to line the hulls."
Tokuei nodded, a knowing smile crinkling
up the corners of his eyes. "I
understand, Briefs-san If you want,
you can leave. I can call you if we strike
pay-dirt."
Bulma smiled, a relieved look crossing
her face. "You read my mind,
Tokuei-san. I was getting rather bored.
I'll clean up my mess and then take off.
You have my cell number, ne?"
Tokuei nodded. "Right.
I'll let you know of our progress. Don't worry,
Briefs-san. We'll find your ore for
you. You have the best in the business on the
job."
Bulma chuckled. "I realize that.
Otherwise I would not have hired you."
She waved and turned to the Capsule house
she had set up as a mini-office. After
finishing up a few loose items, she encapsulated
the small dome and threw out
another, creating a small hover-jet appear
in its custom 'poof' of smoke.
As she was getting in the hover-jet,
a loud yell caught her attention. She
looked up and saw Tokuei running toward
her, arms flailing wildly, and yelling loudly.
She stepped out of the jet quickly,
an excited look crossing her face.
Finally, some action! "Did you find
it? The ore? Have you struck the main vein?"
Tokuei finally came up to her, chest heaving. "No--not exactly."
"Then what? What's got you so
excited?" Her eyebrows knitted together in
a frown.
He turned to the hole they dug.
"We found something, but we really don't
know what it is. One of the guys thinks
it's a body."
Her face washed white. "A body?
Down there? But you're hundreds of
meters underground!"
He nodded. "I know. But you got to see it for yourself."
She jogged along next to him, and upon
reaching the hole they had been
working on for the past couple of days,
peered over the edge. All she saw was the
metal rigging they had set up to stabilize
their hole, and dirt. "Are you sure it's a
body?" she asked again, a worried
look crossing her fine features.
Tokuei barked out some orders, and
a small hovercraft came close. "It's at
the bottom." He stepped on, and reaching
out, helped Bulma on to the small vehicle.
He explained what happened as they
descended. "Several of the men were
digging off to the side--the ore scouter
indicated that there might be a vein out a
little farther. As they were digging,
they broke through into an air pocket--or
what they thought was an air pocket.
Usually, this deep below the surface, there
are few air pockets, since the soil and
layers of sediment fill in. Nut when they
entered, they discovered it was fairly large--about
the size of a room." The small
craft took a turn, entering the aforementioned
branch. After a few feet, the
stopped, and landed. "It'll be easier
to get there if we walk." He explained.
"So what did your crew find when they
entered this 'air pocket?'" She
glanced around her, taking careful note
of the strong metal structure that stood
between her and a cave in.
"Well, take a look for yourself, Briefs-san."
He stopped suddenly, pointing
to the walls of dirt, which seemed, in the
sparse lighting, a darker shade of--dirt.
"When the men discovered the color change,
they thought they had struck the vein.
Then they broke into the room." He
indicated with his head, the small alcove ahead
of them.
Bulma turned on the flashlight that
she held and shined it within the small
area. She carefully stepped inside,
Tokuei next to her, his own flashlight in his
hand. What she saw stunned her.
It definitely was no ordinary 'air pocket.' The
'room' was fairly large, about 4 meters
tall, and 10 meters wide. It was definitely
not made by the crews, for there were not
metal struts along the walls or ceiling to
hold it in place. She felt a tingle
cross her skin, sending a shiver down her spine as
she walked past the entryway.
"Please watch your step, Briefs-san,"
Tokuei warned. "The body is close to
you."
Bulma immediately swung her flashlight
to her feet, but not finding anything
but dirt. She nodded and took a few more
tentative steps in, keeping the beam of
her light on the ground. "Actually,
Briefs-san, the body is against the wall."
Tokuei swung his light next to her,
and with an sharp intake of breath,
illuminated a large, oval-shaped, statue
resting against the dirt wall. Bulma gingerly
stepped closer, her curiosity overtaking
her sense of danger. She reached out a
hand slowly, and placed it on the unknown
object. It wasn't a statue at all, actually.
Whatever it happened to be was wrapped in
a soft material. She poked it a few
times, and to her surprise, it gave way
under her finger. "What is it?" she
breathed. "I thought it was a statue--but
it's soft and pliable." She moved her
hand down, dragging her fingers across the
smooth surface. "It almost feels like a
rubber material of some sort." She
abruptly pulled her hand away and backed up
hurriedly, running to the large frame of
Tokuei.
He placed his hands on her shoulders,
feeling the small quivers running
through her small body. "What is it,
Briefs-san?"
She shone her light over the large
object, going from top to bottom. When
she was done, she panned the beam slowly
over the rest of the room. Both let out a
sharp gasp. The entire wall was lined
with the same long, oval-shaped creations.
Although, she noticed critically, most looked
damaged in some way. A few seemed
to be intact, but the light only gave so
many details.
She turned to Tokuei, her eyebrows
knit together in concentration. "Get a
few men in here with some portable lights,
and some support beams. I don't want
the room to collapse on us." She turned
abruptly to the entrance way and walked
out.
Tokuei followed her silently to the
hovercraft, and helped her onto it once
again. "Briefs-san, if I can ask,
what did you feel? What startled you so much?"
She glanced at him, noting his concerned
look. "When I ran my hand down
the--thing--I..." she trailed off,
her eyes staring into space.
"You what?" he urged her to finish.
Her eyes cleared and she stared him
directly in the face. "I felt heat. It
was warm. But I also felt a heartbeat,
Tokuei-san. It was alive."