"He's okay."
Cornelius pulled the miniature neuroimaging device away from Michael's head. Tucking it back into a red box that sat on the floor beside him, the inventor began to dig through the rest of the MedPack to see if there was anything else that might help.
"Are you sure?" Franny asked. She stood beside her husband with a worried hand resting against her lips. She stared at Goob's unconscious body on the bed, concerned that while the Neuro-Band might have cleared any suspicion of permanent damage, Michael might still be in pain once he awakened.
"Well, there's no indication that there will be any problems. He just pushed himself too far and his mind needs time to catch up. It would be like if someone punched you in the stomach and you felt winded for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if he slept for a whole day."
Franny nodded and shook her head.
"You both pushed yourself too hard."
Cornelius nodded sheepishly and shrugged. He wasn't going to argue with her. She was right, per usual.
He closed the MedPack and picked it up from the floor. Moving towards the door, Franny followed him downstairs. Together they sat at the dining room table where the memory scanner still laid. Cornelius picked up the earphones so that they weren't hanging off the edge while Franny sighed.
"Cornelius..." Franny began, playing with her skirt nervously. "Are you sure about still doing this?"
The inventor didn't respond. He turned to glance at her, sure of what she was going to say.
"I mean..." she continued. "I know you explained it and it all made sense at the time... but after what just happened, are you sure it's still a good idea? Don't you think his reaction was dangerous?"
Cornelius swallowed, not wanting to admit that Franny's suggestion to stop was tempting.
"His desperation is going to the point of hurting himself." Franny said. "At this rate, what will happen if rebuilding Doris doesn't work? Will he react even worse?"
"I don't know." he replied, resting his elbows against his knees and putting his hands on his chin. They shared silence for a moment, Franny trying to think of a solution that would work best for both of them while Cornelius tried his best not to think of giving up.
A thought struck Franny oddly. A thought that she was afraid to suggest out loud. Perhaps... well, would that work? She glanced up at Cornelius hesitantly as if he could read her thoughts. She had to admit that it was a plausible theory but the real problem was whether or not Cornelius would go along with it. She had a feeling he wouldn't like it.
"Maybe..." Franny piped up after a minute or so. She paused, wanting to form her words carefully. "Maybe if I talked to him myself he would change his mind..."
"What?" Cornelius asked, finding the idea rather absurd. He lifted his head away from his hands in order to stare at her with a puzzled expression.
"Well, I mean, maybe I could convince him to give up on the idea and come stay with us."
"I already tried that." Cornelius retorted, somewhat irked that she was suggesting that Goob would listen to her and not himself.
"I know you did." Franny said, raising her hands slightly to show that she meant no harm. She should have known he would react this way but she had already brought it up so there was nothing else to do but to finish her thought process.
"I just wonder if maybe talking to someone else might help. He has a lot of built up rage against you, so it's no wonder that he wouldn't listen to you. But he's never talked with me before and plus I... well, I can be a little more... comforting."
Cornelius blinked, then shook his head with an irritated air.
"No, that won't work." he responded stubbornly. Was she seriously suggesting that she could help Goob better than he could? The very idea struck him angrily. He refused to believe that, even if her suggestion was a smart approach. Cornelius wanted to be the one to fix Michael's situation since he had been the one to hurt it in the first place, not anyone else. Having someone else help him felt like failure and the inventor was well known for his wanting to never give up. Suddenly the temptation to stop disappeared and he was driven by a desire to prove Franny wrong. She had to be wrong. If she was right, then all his hard work will have been for nothing.
Franny sensed this and fully expected him to turn down the idea. But still she felt that she was more right than ever before. This was a touchy subject for her husband and she knew that he might not be thinking right simply because it meant so much to him. An outsider's perspective would be more helpful than ever yet he was going to refuse that help due to the fact that he would feel proud if he did it himself.
"Cornelius, this isn't a matter of pride." Franny said, reaching out to touch his knee. "I know you want so badly to help him, to help yourself, but your inventions can't always help everyone. Sometimes science isn't the answer."
"No, I need to do this." Cornelius said, standing up from the chair. "Even if it doesn't work I need to know that I tried. That I didn't just give up and walk away. It's not about pride. It's about helping a friend. I did this, even if I didn't mean to, and I need to know that I did everything in my power to try and fix it."
Franny gave him a hurt expression. She sank into her seat, feeling defeated. There was nothing she could say that would change his mind. Playing with her fingers worriedly, she bit her lip and looked up at her husband pitifully. He was being just as stubborn as Michael and he just didn't see it.
"I brought everything I needed with me in the car." Cornelius said, looking at the memory scanner. He voice was steady but there was an underline of threat. "I'm going to edit the memories and finish Doris right here."
Franny stood up in alarm.
"Honey, you haven't slept in a long time. I know you want to finish this as soon as possible but it's already going to take a while to finish this. I don't have to know what you're doing to know that it's delicate work. Perhaps you should continue when you're feeling refreshed."
"No, Franny, I have to finish this!" Cornelius barked, throwing his hands up in frustration.
Mrs. Robinson, startled, took a step back at her husband's sudden outburst. Cornelius saw the hurt expression on her face and immediately regretted losing his temper.
"I... I'm sorry..." he said, lowering his arms and stepping forward to take her hands in his. "I just... this is so important. I need to do what's best for him. And what kind of scientist would I be to not make something that could help?"
Franny stared at him in disgust and shook her head. She pulled her hands away.
"You're making a mistake. This is not what's best for him. The theory was good but the execution is poor. He's too far gone for scientific help. It's human contact that he needs. You do what you want, but let me be the first to say I told you so when your experiment fails."
She turned on her heel and marched towards the front door. Cornelius immediately ran after her.
"Franny, wait!" he called but it was no use. She slammed the door in his face and left to return to the Robinson's household.
The inventor stood staring at the floor in a defeated manner. Great. He hadn't meant to start a fight.
Realizing he had wrongfully lost his temper, Cornelius sighed and brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes. He shouldn't have yelled like that. Yet despite his outburst, why couldn't Franny see that what he was doing was right? He meant no harm by what he was doing. Quite the opposite, actually. And Goob would most certainly benefit from seeing Doris again. Franny wasn't there to see his reaction to the memory scanner. Sure, that had ended badly, but that was only because he himself had fallen asleep. That was a mistake and shouldn't have happened. Franny was overreacting to one small slip-up. If she had seen how happy he looked watching those memories than surely she would agree with him that rebuilding Doris was the right thing to do.
After a minute or two of gathering himself, Cornelius opened the door to retrieve the items he needed to finish Doris. He could solve the fight between he and Franny later. Right now, all he could do was keep moving forward with the project at hand.
