Reports from the Rubble

Later, Carla regained consciousness. She found herself lying on a camp-bed, in what looked like a makeshift hospital, on Knoxville's outskirts. She saw paramedics running around, tending to those who for one reason or another had not evacuated in time. Soldiers also patrolled the area with guns, and she could see police cars and fire trucks racing past. It looked like all of Tennessee's emergency services, not to mention the National Guard, were in overdrive. On the opposite bed sat a dark-skinned soldier, looking at her, his face streaked with dirt.

"Finally, you're awake, love," he said to her, speaking with a slight cockney accent. Carla shook herself, still feeling groggy.

"Where am I?" she asked, barely able to get the words out, she felt so ill. "What happened?"

"You passed out in the city after the battle," Hutchinson told her frankly. "Good thing I was around, eh?"

"I remember..." Carla said quietly, holding her head in her hands. "That monster... it was dissolving... and Tyler..." Her eyes snapped open, as she looked around her. "Where'd he go?" She looked at Hutchinson intently. "Where did Tyler go? He's got a lot of explaining to do!"

Before Hutchinson could say anything, a gruff-looking man in police uniform approached her. He was of a fairly big build, with a bushy moustache and iron-grey hair clamped on his head like some sort of helmet. He had the sort of face that could curdle custard.

"Detective Rigden?" he addressed her as. It took Carla a couple of seconds to realise he was talking to her.

"Yeah, that's me," Carla said, sounding like she wasn't in the mood for talking. "Who are you?"

"Herman Jones, Commissioner of the Tennessee State Police," he replied with a certain aloofness, as if he was proud of his position. "I trust you have apprehended the prime suspect in the Katagiri case, one Alan Tyler?" he continued, peering at her searchingly.

Hutchinson diverted his gaze away from the scene. He still wasn't entirely sure why he was covering up for Tyler, or what this 'Katagiri' case was supposed to be. Then again, if he wasn't asked about it, he figured he wouldn't have to say anything. Carla, meanwhile, looked blank for a moment.

"Detective?" Jones said, clearly losing his temper. "Well?! Have you or have you not apprehended him?!"

Carla just shook her head.

"I haven't," she said, hanging her head slightly. "I lost track of him in Knoxville. I passed out... I don't know where he might be now."

Jones made a snarling noise, sharply gazing all around him, as if he expected Tyler to be hidden in one of the beds. He looked back at Carla, his face turning the approximate colour of a beetroot, his cold grey eyes narrowed.

"Irons spoke highly of you, Detective," he said, a nasty tone in his voice. "Looks like his faith was misplaced."

At this, Hutchinson started. He felt the commissioner was being somewhat unfair, considering the circumstances. He stood up and marched over to Carla's bed, looking at Jones dead in the eye.

"Leave her alone, for pity's sake!" he said, harshly. "She's been through a lot! I dunno if you've looked around lately, but getting caught in a monster battlefield is not something you easily recover from, believe you-me!"

Jones threw a very nasty look at Hutchinson. It was clear he didn't like frank discussion about his flaws, or being told that he had picked a very bad time to pursue this matter.

"I'm not blind to what's happened here, soldier!" he said, his anger seemingly rising further still. "However, this woman has wasted valuable police time and resources. In the time it's taken her to get out here and to lose the suspect, we could have arrested him and cleared this case! Now do you see why I'm so angry at her, soldier?!"

Hutchinson didn't reply, but the look he gave Jones said enough; he didn't like the man at all. Jones just snarled and rounded on Carla again, who looked like she had completely lost all interest in what was happening.

"Mark my words, Detective," Jones hissed. "Irons will hear about how much time and resources you have wasted. You have not heard the last of this."

With that, he spun on his heel and marched away from Carla. The detective just shook her head in disbelief. This was well and truly it. This was such a colossal blunder that she could not see how she could save face from it all. Never had she felt so utterly miserable; she had let down her Chief, and she had let down her department.

"What a tosser," Hutchinson muttered. He then turned back to Carla and tried to brighten his expression a little.

"He's right, though," Carla said, her voice seemingly dead of emotion. "I won't be able to save face after this mess-up. I'd always prided myself on catching the bad guys, but I let this one get away."

"Look," Hutchinson said, sitting down next to her, "what do they want with Tyler anyway? What's he supposed to have done?"

Carla sighed. This case had started out so simple; Tyler was the best possible lead they had into the enquiry of the possible murder of a Japanese government official. After everything that she had witnessed over the last couple of days, now she wasn't so sure what was going on or who to believe. She had never got any answers from Tyler anyway, not only because he spent so long as a mute, but also because she had passed out and let him slip through the net.

"I honestly don't know anymore," she said simply. "I'll probably never know now. Besides, what's the difference? After everything I've seen lately, it doesn't seem to matter anymore."

Hutchinson just shrugged. "Well," he said, "shit happens. We've just gotta press on. It's all we can do; go on living. It's gotta be better than the alternative, no matter how crappy it gets sometimes."

With that, Hutchinson rose from the bed and strode over to another soldier. As they engaged in conversation, Carla thought about what to do next. She supposed she would have to endure the consequences of her actions, whatever they were. Right now, there didn't seem to be anything else to do.

As soon as she was given the all-clear, she decided to just head straight back to Utah, no matter how long a drive it was. It was clear the Tennessee boys didn't want her here anymore. She didn't care if they found Tyler or not; that part of her life was over.

***

Alan and Shinoda wasted no time in making their way back to Utah. Sure that the police would still be searching for them, they decided to keep to the back roads and country routes to avoid as many patrols as possible. They had briefly contacted Kiryuu not long after passing the ruins of Nashville, just to let him know that they were both fine and that they were on their way back to Utah. They had been unable to find Manda after the incident and had no means of contacting him, though Alan was counting on the idea that the dragon would find them sooner or later. In the days that followed, they never switched the car radio off, and tuned into the TV news whenever they stopped at a motel. They wanted to catch every single piece of news that they could regarding the incident in Knoxville. As far as that went, the last piece of news was that King Ghidorah's remains had been taken to an undisclosed location by the Utah Foundation. Alan scoffed at this, wondering if they were going to try and make a Mecha King Ghidorah and start a collection of robot monsters.

As far as the photos of King Ghidorah's death went, photos of the incident had gotten onto the Network, taken by other G-Chasers who were much further away and with lower-quality camerawork, but still enough to make out the grim details of the dragon's death. The site was now a hive of speculation these days. Alan had only offered vague theories, trying to bring up possibilities other than a weapon of some kind. A lot of people in the site didn't buy into his theories. Some even disregarded Alan's statement that his camera had been destroyed and flat-out accused Alan of being part of some kind of conspiracy, especially since he had been so proficient in taking photos before. Ironically enough, Alan thought, they weren't far from the truth.

Outside of the Network, the news that was clogging the airwaves now focused on Kiryuu himself. Apparently someone had leaked information of Kiryuu's sentiency to the world, and as Alan had predicted after his first meeting with the mecha, the public's reaction was not too favourable. He had seen and heard news reports of rioting outside the Utah Foundation's offices, and Kiryuu himself had essentially told those rioters to piss off (though not in those exact words, of course). Of course, the Network had exploded with debate, more so than usual, now that Kiryuu's sentiency had been revealed. Alan hadn't told anyone that he knew Kiryuu well before any of this happened; in fact, he didn't get involved in such discussions at all, much to the chagrin of several members.

Speculation was rife about who would take over the Utah Foundation. Its former owner, Gordon Knight, had died during the battle of Knoxville. Alan had never met the man, and slightly regretted that he'd never had a chance to do so. He had a few well-chosen words for him, had he ever got the chance. Gradually, despite Kiryuu's near-constant saying of 'no comment', news had leaked. In his will, Gordon had left the Foundation and all of his estates to Kiryuu. However, to prove his sentiency, earn his citizenship and make the claim legal, Kiryuu had to pass the Turing Test.

Alan and Shinoda kept up with the news as best they could. Not long after Gordon Knight's funeral, as Alan and Shinoda were preparing to cross one last state border into Utah, the results of the Turing Test were in. As Alan had expected, Kiryuu's sentiency was proven. As he had also expected, the religious types had begun bickering over it. Kiryuu's sentiency was very much a point of contention, even on the day he was due to pick up his citizenship documents. The President of the United States, of course, seemed to have wasted no time in turning Kiryuu's rise to citizenship as a PR stunt, as Kiryuu's hologram was to appear in Washington, in front of a much larger audience than he was probably used to.

At their motel, just a few miles from the Colorado/Utah state border, Alan and Shinoda were awaiting the broadcast of the 'momentous' occasion. Alan could tell that Shinoda seemed more excited about this than Alan himself was. He was probably thinking of writing papers on the subject of artificial intelligence and the nature of what humans would call 'life'. That sort of thing didn't get Alan excited, especially not considering everything he had just been through. As the TV news played, going over everything that they had covered about the story of Kiryuu's sentience so far, there was a knock on the motel door.

At once, Alan and Shinoda looked at the door, looks of fear on their faces. Both could not help thinking that the police were still after them, even though nothing about them had been mentioned in the news. Alan had thought this odd, but had tried not to think about it lest he jinx their stroke of good fortune. In the end, as another knock on the door could be heard, Alan moved to the door, his gun clutched tightly in his hand, and opened it. There was a pause for a moment as Alan faced the unexpected visitor, gun raised.

"Is this how you greet all of your guests, Alan?" a familiar voice said in a light tone. Alan breathed a sigh of relief, lowering his gun and stepping inside to let Timothy Marx inside. He appeared much like his usual self, with the same scruffy blonde hair and Hawaiian shirt. Shinoda looked positively alarmed at his appearance; he had not forgotten what Marx really was.

"For all you know, Manda," Alan replied, smirking, "I might have had some ladies in here."

Manda just rolled his eyes in an 'I can't believe he said that' manner, before shaking Shinoda's hand.

"Actually, it's a good think you're here," Alan continued, putting his gun away. "I take it you're here about the 'strange energies' below Knoxville?"

"You catch on quick," Manda replied, smirking. Once again, he projected everything he was thinking into Shinoda's mind so the scientist could understand him. "I'm surprised you didn't come to Miami to tell me. You look like you could use a tan."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Alan replied. "In any case, we figured we'd better get back to Io as soon as possible. I don't doubt that she's still worried about us."

"As far as I know," Manda replied. "Kiryuu passed on your message. She knows you're on your way." He turned to Shinoda with a smile. "This will be quite a bedtime story to tell her, Dr. Shinoda."

"I..." Shinoda stammered. "I wasn't thinking of... well..."

"You were hoping to put it behind you," Manda said, finished Shinoda's sentence. "Something tells me I should not be surprised." He turned back to Alan, sitting down on the bed. "So how about it, Alan? Did you do what I asked?"

"Oh yes indeed," Alan replied, looking grim. "I certainly did."

"What did you find?" Manda asked. "Don't leave any details out."

Alan sat himself down in a chair, and told Manda everything that had happened to him. He told of how they'd followed King Ghidorah into Knoxville, about the tunnel leading into the catacombs, about the giant ballista that they had found, and the Liche. When Alan described the weapon, Manda's face became very grave.

"This weapon..." the dragon said, glaring forcefully at Alan. "Did you catch it's name?"

"What was it she said..." Alan muttered, looking away for a moment. "She told me the Liche had said something about a 'Meson Collider'. I think that might be it."

"The Meson Collider..." Manda muttered. Then he turned away, looking furious. "Malcho, I'm gonna kill you next time I see you!"

"What?" Alan asked.

"The Meson Collider," Manda explained, "was the very weapon that caused the fall of Atlantis. It's hard to describe how it works without going into a lot of detail about Technomancy, but the effects are like a sort-of 'clean nuke'. The weapon was sabotaged when we tried to use it... Well, to cut a long story short, it's the reason Atlantis is gone. I wish the sodding thing had never been built.

"Anyway, I'm guessing that Malcho found the weapon and moved it under Knoxville at some point, like how he moved the Tower of Babel underneath Oak Ridge. He probably planned to use it against King Ghidorah when he returned, but the Liche clearly got there first. If I had to guess, King Ghidorah must have told him to activate it as his back-up plan, should anything go wrong against Kiryuu. I can tell you now, if the Collider had been fired, Kiryuu would not have survived. He, and half of Knoxville at least, would have been vapourised."

"Well, we don't have to worry about that anymore," Alan said. "The weapon was destroyed. Carla did something to it that caused it to explode."

"It sounds like she removed the crystals that stabilise the energy transfer," Manda replied. "Expect a hefty bill from Malcho when he finds out what happened."

The look on Alan's face was priceless to Manda, as the human looked like he had just walked in on some unspeakable act. Manda could not help chuckling at this.

"In all seriousness," Manda continued, smiling, "you both did a good job."

"Thanks," Alan said quietly. He appreciated the compliment, knowing that he had done some measure of good after all. He also took a grim kind of satisfaction knowing that, for all Kiryuu had not wanted Alan involved, Alan had done more for him than he would probably ever know.

"Listen," Manda then said, bringing Alan back to his senses. "Did you learn who the Liche was?"

"Actually," Alan muttered, suddenly remembering something from the tunnel. "I did see a name tag on the body. It was a 'Gilbert', or something like that."

"Does the name ring a bell?" Manda asked.

"What's that supposed to..." Alan was retorting, but tailed off. As a matter of fact, he had heard the name before, and had only just remembered where he had.

"In the file about Dr. O'Brien and Dr. Jenkins..." he muttered. "William Gilbert..."

"Exactly," Manda nodded. "Will Gilbert was one of the research assistants to Dr. Jenkins. He must have taken the M-Zero cells himself after her death and tried to continue her research. And there was me hoping those infernal things had been destroyed..." He sighed a deep sigh. Clearly this whole ordeal had worn him out considerably.

"There's just one thing I don't understand," Shinoda then said. "What about the ghosts we saw in the graveyard?"

"Ghosts?" Manda asked, now looking puzzled. It seemed Shinoda's question had had the effect Alan hoped for; he was focused on something other than what they had all just experienced.

"We saw what looked like ghosts while we were there," Alan explained. "They weren't dangerous or anything, but what could have caused them?"

Manda looked thoughtful for a moment.

"It is true that sometimes the spirits of the departed are unable to move on for whatever reason," he said. "Most of the time, mortals can't see them. King Ghidorah's actions must have bombarded them with Mana energy, letting them take the form of some kind of roaming vapour, visible to all. I don't doubt King Ghidorah would have taken them for himself had he been given the chance."

"Speaking of which..." Alan muttered, a flash of fury glancing across his face for a second.

"Hold on a second," Manda quickly cut in. "I didn't know Kiryuu would use the Oxygen Destroyer. As far as that goes, you'll have to take it up with him! I didn't know the effect King Ghidorah's death would have either."

"I was about to ask about that," Alan said, his arms folded. "I heard King Ghidorah's last words too. What did he mean by that whole 'world my death will create' stuff?! What's going to happen now?!"

Indeed, Alan sounded scared, and Manda knew he could not blame him. He sighed deeply as he thought about what was to come, and knew that Alan had a right to know. He had no idea how long Godzilla's cells would keep Alan alive, but already he was fearing the possible effects.

"Listen, Alan," Manda began. "This world is going to change in ways beyond your imagination. If you thought that what happened in Knoxville was bad, you ain't seen nothing yet." He was about to continue speaking when his mobile suddenly gave a loud beeping sound.

"Excuse me," Manda said before pulling out his phone. He read the screen for a moment, before turning back to Alan.

"I'm really sorry, Alan," Manda said apologetically, "but I've got to get back. I promised Jo I'd help her with a case we've just been assigned to. I'm probably late already. I've told Kiryuu what sort of changes to expect; he can fill you in when you see him." He paused for a moment, then quickly spoke again as Alan was about to speak again, looking indignant.

"Give me your phone," Manda said.

"What?" Alan asked, confused.

"I told you this world's going to change," Manda said. "I can help you deal with those changes when they really hit, but I can't be here to hold your hand all the time. This way you can call me should you need it and I'll be there as soon as I can. I give it to you on the condition that you only call when you absolutely need my help. This isn't a license to waste my time."

Alan nodded, and handed his phone over. Manda keyed his number in to Alan's address book before returning it to him. He then stood up and walked to the door.

"Well," he said. "I'd better make tracks. Jo's going to flay my hide if I don't show tonight; things have been rough down south lately, and I don't think even she will want to be walking the streets alone these days."

As he was about to leave, Alan stepped after him.

"Wait a second!" he said. Manda turned to him, looking impatient.

"It's all going to be alright, isn't it?" Alan asked, looking uncertain. "We're all going to make it okay, aren't we?"

Manda just sighed. He gave Alan a piercing look, giving the human the impression he was having his mind read.

"There are things in this universe," he said, "that no matter how old you are, you can never truly understand them. The only thing I can say for sure is only time will tell."

With one last nod to Alan and Shinoda, Manda left. As Alan closed the door, he muttered under his breath. He had hoped for more reassurance than that, but he was still uncertain about a lot of things. Shinoda had been listening to the whole conversation; he was not sure if he would live to see the supposed changes the world was going to go through, but he was worried for Io's future and how she might be affected. The only thing that seemed a certainty to them was that they had to talk to Kiryuu; with any luck, he would have more time to tell them these things.

Speaking of which, Shinoda indicated for Alan to come over, as Kiryuu's citizenship was about to be made official on national television. They watched as Kiryuu, dressed in a tuxedo (which Alan thought looked very odd on the mecha) shook hands with the President. They listened as he was told to give a speech to the news crews assembled:

"I didn't plan to speak," he began. "I do appreciate what the President has done. If it weren't for some of the funding from the United States I wouldn't be speaking to you now. I know that a few of you see me as some sort of terror, some sort of sentient AI that's out to take over the world. Your assumptions are as irrational as they are ludicrous. Why would I want to take over the planet, or commit mass genocide because you're all made of flesh and I'm only partially flesh? Why would I do that? What would I do with an empty planet when I'm done? You put these things into your mind because you pay attention to Hollywood movies too much. You think that I'm going to build a virtual would and harness your body heat for fuel, or hack into your toaster and make it bite you so I could enslave you."

The sounds of laughter could be heard at this point. Alan sighed. He could see Kiryuu becoming a politician someday; he had already got the pithy jokes nailed.

"Those were fictional AI," Kiryuu continued. "I'm real. I'm a real person. Granted, I'm inside of a 200-foot tall cybernetic dinosaur, but I'm a real person. I own the Utah Foundation now. And I will continue on what Gordon Knight set out. I will help the sick get well. However, I won't be doing it with G-Cells, I know what some of you are going to ask. Though, I will be honest with you. I did not want to kill Godzilla. The reason why was that I feared that if I did kill him, my life would end. There would be no use for me. I feared my own death. That was my rebellion and I'm sorry. So to make it up, I will do what I was originally design to do. I will finish my job. I will kill Godzilla."

At this announcement, Shinoda audibly gasped, covering his mouth with his hands. Alan sprang up, almost as if he was about to suddenly smash the TV. He was looking at the screen intently, though he was not really listening to what was being said. All that mattered to him right now were the words "I will kill Godzilla".

"Kill Gojira..." Shinoda said, sounding like he was about to faint. "Kill his own son... He wouldn't..." He looked from the TV screen to Alan. "Surely he wouldn't do it? He just wouldn't kill his own son..."

Alan seemed to calm down at those words, and sat himself back down on the end of his bed.

"I don't believe him," Alan said, matter-of-factly. He was convinced that what he was about to say had elements of truth to it. "Kiryuu's told a lot of porkies in his time."

"'Porkies'?" Shinoda asked. He wasn't familiar with that particular bit of slang Alan used.

"Pork pies," Alan explained. "Rhyming slang for lies. He lied about building a new Oxygen Destroyer, remember? It wouldn't surprise me if he's lying again. I don't believe he will kill Godzilla."

It occurred to Alan that he may not get a chance to speak to Kiryuu now that he had taken over the Utah Foundation, so he decided that it was best to press on to his base of operations as quickly as possible. He had a lot he wanted to discuss with Kiryuu; the Oxygen Destroyer, his own mutations, what was going to happen to this world in the future, and most importantly, if there was a way King Ghidorah could come back. He was not going to be able to do that when Kiryuu was in the middle of a board meeting.

"Let's go," he said to Shinoda, grabbing his things, "It's still pretty early. Let's see how far we get before nightfall. We're only a day or two away, maybe even less than that if we don't run into trouble."

Shinoda nodded. He wanted to see Io as soon as possible, having missed her terribly. He was sure Io was equally worried, and went to grab his own things. As they paid their bill and pulled out of the car park, Alan wondered what he was going to do to Kiryuu when they met again; he wasn't sure how he was supposed to react to this supposed blood-relative of his who had just sent the world down the proverbial toilet.