Track 11: What's Trust Got to Do, Got to Do With It?
Sonika trailed behind the Internet Co. Vocaloids. Lily headed the quartet, followed by Gakupo, and then Gumi. Sonika didn't think the abandoned lab could look creeper from the inside, but it did. At least from outside there was full moon shinning and illuminating the entire area, even if it coated everything in a ghostly light. From the inside only small glimmers of that light showed. Sonika activated her night vision immediately. She saw furniture that looked like someone had torn through them, clawed through them, smashed them against the walls, and so forth. She wished to be in the dark a bit longer.
At her waist was a belt of miniature pineapple grenades. They had been given to her by a Tuner who wanted to "test an experiment" that he wouldn't give Sonika too much details about. For some reason they bugged Gumi when she told the story, but Sonika felt they were still necessary for a ghost hunting expedition into a creepy old building. She also pleaded with Gakupo to bring his sword and with Gumi to bring her gun. They both tried to tell her that if they actually met a ghost then physical weapons wouldn't harm the already departed. Sonika told them to stop being silly and take them anyways.
And if what Lily was telling them about was true, Sonika was absurdly glad she badgered. Her metal teeth chattered with fear. She poked and poked Gumi's shoulder. She hadn't even stopped when the Japanese Vocaloid faced her. "G-Gumi, my cute little C - Carrot," Sonika started, failing miserably to keep the fear out of her whispering voice. "L-Lily can't possibly be t-telling the t-truth about these 'V-Virus' things, right?"
Gumi patted Sonika's hair. "Viruses are real but don't worry, we've fought them before. Some of them don't even like eating androids!"
"Eating!" Sonika repeated. "I'm going to get eaten?!" Lily shushed her. Sonika covered her mouth but her mind spat out thoughts at a mile a minute. Crap, crap, crap, what the hell did I get myself into?! Sonika glared at Lily. The blonde did not notice since she was conversing with Gakupo. Unusually, the samurai was quiet. It was Lily who spoke and tried to get closer to him as he moved away. What the hell did she get myself into! Perhaps a section of Sonika's brain remembered that she would've gone ahead into the tattered building regardless of Lily. Mostly however, Sonika let her anger latch on to Lily. Of course she'd attract a bunch of monsters. At least she'll get eaten first. The blonde with big breasts and scanty clothes always dies first in horror movies. Then it goes by most skimpy to the most prudish… She looked at Gumi who was clad in her official Vocaloid outfit: a cream blouse with an orange crop top and matching skirt. Next the omniglot peered at Gakupo, still in his white robe that hid a bluish bodysuit underneath. She stared at her own outfit, with its well fitted bra, exposed stomach, and short shorts. "I don't want to be the second one to die!" She cried.
"Shut up!" Lily growled. Something dark colored flashed behind her in the open window. "No one's going to –"
Sonika pulled out a mini grenade and plucked the metal ring off. She chucked it outside the window. The BOOM echoed from the outside the lab and the wall exploded. Pieces of rock and glass knocked Lily off her feet.
"I saw one! I saw one! I saw one!" Sonika screeched. She jumped in place and pointed at the now broken window. "It was dark and wispy looking and –"
"Um, Sonika - chan," Gumi swept through the debris with her hand and brought back a burnt piece of transparent gray fabric. "I think it was just a curtain."
As if on cue, the wind blew from the other window. The four Vocaloids turned to it and saw gray curtains tousled by blowing air. Lily glared at Sonika. "Anyone could've made that mistake!" the Engloid insisted.
Lily grumbled as she got up. Gumi looked like she was about help the Virus Hunter, but stopped herself. Her face became pained. The verdette scampered towards a bookshelf, glancing through dusty texts to distract herself.
Sonika grit her teeth. Why Gumi cares so much for that girl is beyond me! That wasn't the whole truth. From the moment she met Gumi Sonika knew that the two green-haired, green-eyed girls would hit it off. The Japanese Vocaloid's motherly nature was well matched with the British Vocaloid's tendency to act like a spirited teenager. But she shouldn't waste her energy. Lily's no good for Gumi – or Gakupo either! Her pity for the samurai – like android was ignited by seeing him solemnly thumb through magazines on a table.
"Hm?" He murmured as his hands rested on a journal. It was black with no words on the cover, only concentric circle, the outer one blue and the inner one gold. "What's this?"
When he gently traced the symbol he blinked. He took his finger off the cover and saw that some skin and some metal had been chewed away. Meanwhile, the blue ring glowed. Everyone's eyes locked on the abrupt light. It trailed off the circle and Gakupo dropped the journal. He started to back away from the dented steel table when the blaze of blue moved beyond the book, past the table, and dripped onto the floor.
When the glow hit the floor, the wooden ground shuttered and cracked, the splinters plummeting into darkness. Gakupo moved backwards but the hole caught up with him before he could run away. Gumi screamed, she sped, but it was too late to catch him.
Lily leapt and gripped Gakupo's fingers. Sonika clasped his left arm. The two of them held on and pulled him up. They all leaned against the wall. The gap in the floor grew larger and larger. But just as it reached the tip of Sonika's boots the breach stopped growing.
"You alright Carrot?" Sonika called to Gumi on the other side. Gumi nodded so much that her goggle – headphone set nearly fell off and into the abyss. "Lily, your maker's pretty warped." Might be where a certain blonde gets it from…
"She is not!" Lily groused. "It's not like you're the one deal with emotion eating creatures on a daily basis!"
"Neither did she!" Sonika griped. "She made asshole android to deal with them 'cause she was too useless!"
"What do you call dealing with it? She could've stayed at home instead of helping Japan not become a wasteland."
"Ladies." Gakupo cut in. "As fun as it is to have girls argue about me, well, around me, I'd like to point out that a glowing notebook that makes a big hole in the ground might be important."
The table and the journal were still intact as was everything north of it. They all edged closer to it, using the walls for support, till the Vocaloids finally were reunited around the table.
"I wonder what's inside." Gumi said.
Lily leaned over the book. She saw the concentric circles and jumped. "It says 'Mother'!"
"It does?" Sonika questioned. "Where?"
"Right here. That means 'Mother'." Lily tapped the symbol lightly, in a second her fingertip was dissolved down to her circuits and wires, like Gakupo's. The inner circle shone gold. "Oops." The androids ran on to the same side and pushed themselves as far as they could away from the room's center.
The gold shimmered through the cover, table, and floor just as before. Only this time the wood sunk slowly, forming a stairwell that lead below. Deeper into the steps radiant yellow lines could be seen.
"That might also be important." Gakupo noted.
Lily made her microphone appear from thin air again. She poked the "journal" with the stand end twice. It didn't seem to react at all. "It's not a notebook, or at least not a paper one. Somehow it acts like a key and an alarm system to this place. Her real stuff must be underground! Those lines remind me of the Junk Lab!"
She skipped down the stairwell, Gumi followed, then Gakupo, and lastly Sonika.
"What's the 'Junk Lab'?" The green haired girl in yellow and black asked.
"That's Yuriko's old workspace in Japan. It was where Mosh and I were born." Lily turned to look at Sonika, but ended up seeing Gumi and Gakupo's stunned faces. Her blue eyes quickly returned to the ground, "Which I should have told you two about long before."
Gakupo frowned but then a smile spilled forward. He put his arm around Lily.
"Hey – what are you?" The blonde began.
"It so hard to stay mad at such a 'dere' face for long." He said with a laugh. Said "'dere' face" was somewhere between a snarl and a smile. "But I'm just glad you're being honest with us now."
"Me too." Gumi said. Lily gasped again when Gumi moved her other side and wrapped her arms around the blonde. "Please trust us from now on, Lily – chan! You won't regret it!"
Lily's small grin made Sonika's gears churn. They forgave her so quickly?! She griped inside her digital mind. I've been cast out for less, so why does she get so many chances?!
Sonika was about to verbalize her rant but the sight of a flickering screen, nearly six feet across and twice as tall, made the words fly out from her head like paper airplanes in the wind. "Whoa." She breathed instead.
"Kaiganone – san was really something to build all of this and two androids." Gumi said, awestruck as the gold beam trailed onto the roof. The cellar, the sleek keyboards, and the wires as long and thick as snakes – everything glowed with the same gold. So far only the several smaller and less humanlike machines that lined two walls of the hidden lab were lightless.
Lily couldn't help but smirk in pride for her maker. She had long grown tired of others criticizing her Yuriko.
The largest screen finally stopped flickering and nearly went pitch black, save the sunny yellow circular symbols on the screen. They read:
You are Project Lily.
Lily stepped back in surprise, and briefly translated for the rest of the Vocaloids before answering: "Yes, I'm Lily."
The text disappeared, but more soon followed:
I am a program created by Yuriko G. Kaiganone, who also created you and a Project Mosh by my records. I store all information about Viruses she has collected in Taiwan and other areas of this planet called Earth. However, I have no data on the three other projects that sensors indicate are present. Are they intruders? I can have them removed.
After briefly chuckling at the idea having Sonika dragged out by her knee – length yellow boots, she told them what the computer had relayed again. All looked visibly disturbed but only Sonika hopped off the ground and into Gumi's arms, a la frightened Scooby – Doo pose.
"They're not intruders." Lily told the program. "But you said you have Yuriko's information in you, right? I need to see it!"
Of course, I've been waiting for this day Project Lily. A slice of keyboard flipped, revealing a touchpad on the other side. It beeped slowly as a line of black swam across its surface, like a human heartbeat. You need to place your hand on the pad, Project Lily. It will dig into your synthetic body, but it's the only way to get Kaiganone's notes straight into your memory files.
When she explained the last part, Gumi bit her lip. Lily hadn't seen the sign of discomfort however, at least not until Gumi handed Sonika over to Gakupo and tugged at Lily's tunic.
"Lily – chan, don't." Gumi plead. Her voice was shaky but certain enough to stop blonde android. "I have a bad feeling about this."
Lily looked at her, and then desperately to the screen as another message came by.
Project Lily, this information is urgent. Kaiganone meant for you and you alone to have this knowledge.
"I have to Gumi - chan!"
Gumi gripped her arm tighter. "No! There's something suspicious here, why can't the program just tell us what it knows about Kaiganone – san?"
Lily frowned, that wasn't a point she considered. "Well? Can't you just tell us?"
I will not. You have to put your hand on the touchpad Project Lily. The screen insisted. I do not trust these intruders.
"Hey! I already told you they aren't intruders!" Lily groused. "And I've been down that 'trust-no-one' road – it sucks – so spill your binary guts or we're out of here!"
Ignorant doll. The program scolded. I am like you, the work of Yuriko G, Kaiganone, and should be far more trustworthy in your eyes than Megpoid.
"Megpoid?" Lily echoed. Gakupo and Sonika blinked at the sudden use of Gumi's product name. "Why'd you call her that?"
That is the proper name for the android you called "Gumi – chan". If she could not even bring herself to tell you that then you should have no faith in her.
"'Cept she did tell me." Lily glared at the screen. "But there's no way you should've known that name. 'No data' on the other projects, remember?"
The screen went blank, the golden glow of light dimmed. They stood in silence and darkness.
The computer's cords shook and snapped up. They grabbed Lily's tattooed wrist and yanked her forward.
A/N: The next chapter is one of my faves, I've already worked on it ^^ look forward to more!