Chapter Fourteen:
Fix You
xx
And things he has yet to explore.
At the table, Elefun swirled a spoon around a dollar store coffee mug. As he mixed the sugar that was just poured in, he stared at the front door, trying to plan out his actions in his head.
I'll take both of them down to the Ministry... Meyer should be there... we'll do the procedure– come back home, call it a day.
To him, it seemed like a no brainer– just another fork in the road before everything would return to smooth sailing.
But as for Meyer, it was different.
"Today... todaytodaytodayto– wait. Okay, it's fine."
He paced around his apartment, attempting to rationalize the circumstances he was under.
The date for the procedure had gotten moved from Friday, to Thursday (which was today), brought upon him of course, at the last minute and without proper warning.
But of course, if he wanted to keep Elefun's trust and be there for him– he had to do... this.
Continuing to pace around, you'd think he was doing prep work to get into character for some wacky kids cartoon, or perhaps a poor man's version of Rick and Morty– but, of course, he was not; and instead, was trying to soothe his anxiety in such a strange way.
Why couldn't Elefun just... wait until Friday to do any testing?! Now he has to get up at 6 AM after having spent the entire night re-watching vintage sitcoms, try to look presentable by almost stabbing himself in the eye with a comb he planned to use to brush the unruly curls in his hair, and quickly scarf down the little leftovers he had because god forbid in a time like this, he's gonna whip out a crusty, unwashed pan, and make scrambled eggs.
He hoped Elefun would at least give him compensation, or just an easier time.
...
At the ministry, Elefun was the first to get to his lab and set up, placing both Astro and Zoran onto their respective platforms and turning all necessary equipment on.
With a sigh, it was clear he was annoyed with the fact that Meyer hadn't shown up yet.
He bends all the way backwards for this man, a man that probably shouldn't have been given a second chance, all things considered. But in Elefun's eyes, turning him down would've ultimately made him look bad instead. So he agrees, and he has Meyer come in VIA request to be his assistant when he's not already busy doing schoolwork, learning as much as he can and getting the first-hand experience he never got as an intern, and for what? For him to show up late at a precious time like this? It didn't make sense...
Finally, Meyer stumbles into the lab, binders in hand and book bag slung over his shoulder, typical "I rushed out of bed and immediately came here" material.
"Meyer, what in god's name took you so damn long?! You were supposed to be here five minutes ago!" Elefun scolded.
"Well... professor... I almost stabbed my eye with a comb," Meyer walked towards him, "then I had to scavenge for breakfast leftovers– I think my car needed gas– oh! And I had to pay for parking," he set everything down on a nearby surface with a grin.
As annoyed as Elefun was, he knew there was no point in disciplining him after all that's transpired. He instead walked away, motioning for Meyer to follow suit as they both entered where Astro and Zoran were placed.
"I wanted to know for sure that there was something going on between the two of them– but I guess I must've triggered something, because both of their systems went haywire– had to kill switch them both, and they haven't woken up since."
"Oh no... do you think they've both suffered severe damage to their systems?" asked Meyer.
"It's possible, but I'm sure it's nothing I can't fix– I mean I've been here long enough to know what to do when these kinds of events occur, you know?"
"Yes of course! Wouldn't doubt that at all..." Meyer left Elefun, so he could walk over to where Zoran was, "So... this is Zoran?"
"Yes, that's her– created by Tenma for some unknown reason, think he's gone a little bonkers– might be hard to wrap your head around since you were here... before he left."
Meyer disregarded Elefun's statement, as, for now– he was trying to put his past behind himself. "Well, I heard a lot about her on the news– is it true... that she can talk to animals?"
"...what...?"
...
"The great thing about having new tech here is I don't even have to hook either of them up— perhaps maybe only to each other, but that should about do it."
Elefun could spend hours upon hours talking about virtually anything: science, foreseeable plot twists in over hyped soap operas— even who won the World Series! And Meyer will always struggle to pay attention, wondering if maybe spending the night in a crowded trash can would elicit more excitement.
"God, are you even listening?! I swear, Quinn, it's like pulling teeth with you sometimes!" Elefun snapped.
"Hu–What? I–I–I didn't know t–that you w–were talking–uh–pro–doc–Ele–you know..." Meyer knew when Elefun called him by his first name, that he was either genuinely pissed, or meaning serious business.
Elefun sighed with an eye roll, "Well what I was saying that 'you couldn't hear'– fucking bogus shit if you ask me– was that I'm going to need to hook the two of them up to each other."
"Oh, of course! Do you need me to–"
"Yes, I need you to help me do that– I'm not having you come in here to stand around, you got that?"
"Well, I figured much..." Meyer shrugged.
"Very good, I'll go fetch the cables we need, and then we can start," Elefun left Meyer behind to go back to the control center, hoping to find what he needed before Meyer could even attempt to dissociate and think of... whether pigeons have feelings? Some dumb crap of sorts.
...
You know if someone told Elefun that Meyer was perhaps... 18 and not 28, he'd probably believe them– and not out of stupidity, but out of pure belief that a man in his late twenties couldn't possibly be this incompetent, or think that showing up to work in a bow tie is "professional attire."
"I don't think this goes here..."
"It goes where I say it goes, Meyer! Don't be stupid."
"Well, it's not fitting right, what do you want me to do?!"
Elefun let out a sigh, "Let me see..." He walked over to Meyer in sheer annoyance to see what the dilemma was.
"You... you had it... backwards..."
"Oh! Now that makes a lot more sense."
Before Elefun could even walk away, he was bombarded with yet another question.
"So uh... what's the deal with this whole corruption thing? I've been hearing a lot about it..."
"We're not sure yet– but it shouldn't be of your concern anyways, you're not equipped to deal with corrupted robots of any kind," he went back to putting in more cables.
"But... how do they even get corrupted in the first place? It's not like we're all giving them small doses of alcohol..."
"It's just some coincidental malfunctions– nothing major."
"There's quite an epidemic though, don't you think the ministry should do something about that?"
"Quinn, we're looking into it, It's fine– now can you please just finish putting in the damn cables?!"
"I–I am. I can multitask!" Meyer was starting to get a bit annoyed with Elefun's attitude.
"Oh really? From the looks of it– I couldn't tell..."
Meyer sighed, "All done," he had stuck the last cable in.
Elefun peered over, "Oh yeah, you got 'em all in– and before me, what a surprise."
"So, we don't have to connect anything else?"
"No no, this new tech lets us just connect them both to each other and call it a day– and that's the last one," Elefun dusted his hands after having stuck the last cable in. He walked away and motioned for Meyer to follow him back to the control room they were in earlier.
"So um... what exactly... are we looking for?"
"We're looking for a 'connection' of sorts– or, so I've been told by the two of them– well mostly Zoran, Astro doesn't seem to care."
"But, if that's true– then why is that such a bad thing?"
"I really don't know– but they've been up my ass about it– so I might as well just do it and get it over with, so they leave me alone..."
"You don't really seem all that invested in your kids well-being, huh?"
"No. I just... I have too many things on my plate to dedicate time to each and every fork in the road."
"Oh... I see..."
Quinn has always wanted to be a dad for the longest time, even though some might argue it's "too late" for him, since he missed out on the whole "get married and have kids by 25" trope that gets thrown around by all kinds of ignorant older folk. But sometimes hearing Elefun go on and on about the struggles he faces to raise– not even actual humans– it worries him a little.
Was fatherhood not all it's cooped up to be?
Or perhaps, was Elefun just not playing his part.
Meyer looked to Elefun again to await his next instructions, even though it looked like he was already busy with something else.
He decided to just walk away back to where he set his binders down and look through a few of them.
"So... if you find this... 'connection'... what are you going to do?" He asked, flipping about the pages.
"Well, probably try to cut it the best way I can..." Elefun reached over for his coffee mug and took a sip.
"And how's that work?"
He sighed, "It's just... something in their programming I'm sure..."
"Huh... interesting..."
"Meyer, what are you even wasting your time doing?! Looking at papers? Gosh... uh... how's your school going, anyways– always forget to ask that."
"It's coming along..." Meyer muttered, "I'm doing a lot of lab work and research papers..."
"Oh, well that's great! You can just tick this off as another lab of sorts!"
Meyer almost wanted to chuckle, but couldn't find enough emotional energy to do so. He instead looked over at Elefun with an awkward smile which was immediately met with an eye roll from someone who didn't exactly like to be smiled at in such a way at a time like this.
"Well..." Elefun sighed, "I'll get everything on and ready– then you can come and help me out."
...
"So this is his main programming," Elefun pointed.
"Doesn't seem like there's much..." Meyer replied.
"Oh! Well um– we need to look deeper anyways, so it doesn't matter."
Confusion ensued for only a moment before Meyer was snapped back to reality by Elefun who was now moving things around on a holographic desk to better arrange what was being displayed on the screen.
"If we look closer, we can see he has tons of processes going on– quite ironic all things considered. But I don't... see... hmmm..." He moved more things around.
"How do you think a connection like this even happens? Could it be replicated?"
"Meyer, I have no fricking clue! I'm just putting all this blame on Tenma– that son-of-a-bitch could do whatever the hell he wants– so some weird connection of sorts is no surprise on my end."
Forasmuch as all that Quinn has gone through, he has, for some reason, found himself annoyed with Elefun's constant insults towards Tenma. He knew in his head it was all justified– Tenma by no means was a good man. But at the same time, he worried having Tenma constantly brought up would ware him down and attenuate all the effort he's put towards leaving his past behind– or at least avoid it for the time being.
He finds himself only being able to swallow hard and keep his eyes on the screen.
"I think we're gonna put Astro's system aside for now, we can take a look at Zoran's," Elefun moved things aside and made room for Zoran's system to display on the screen.
"Zoran from what I heard is far more complex, huh?" Meyer asked.
"To an extent– I doubt its anything but just a step up from Astro's."
On the screen, you could see not only Astro's system, but now Zoran's as well, with both looking like digital wires all connecting and converging into a single but large wire, on the ends of the screen, you could see statistics being displayed, as well as general information.
While Elefun was busy trying to get deeper into Zoran's "brain", Meyer preoccupied himself with looking at the said perimeters of the screen as a sort of "waiting period" before Elefun gives him any instructions.
Almost immediately, there was one stat that stroke his curiosity.
NO PROGRAMMING ENABLED
He quietly took a double take to ensure he wasn't hallucinating, and sure enough, both Astro and Zoran had this same warning.
"Corruption..." He thought.
"Professor..." Meyer began, "I... I uh... I think there's something wrong."
"Why, you see something?" Elefun turned to him.
"Y–yeah... it uh... it looks like both Astro and Zoran might be corrupted."
Elefun stopped what he was doing to take a look, "Both of them... dear god..."
"Oh, so you knew?"
"What– no! Of course not! This is news to me for sure..."
"It– It doesn't seem like it... how long have they been like this?"
"Mey–Qui– I don't know! I don't... I..."
Elefun sighed and licked his lips, "They... I..."
"Are you... okay, professor?" Meyer asked.
Elefun tried to form words, but was too caught up in digesting the new information.
Having Astro corrupted was one thing, and a big thing at that; but having Zoran corrupted as well? Now that was surely a task to handle.
Maybe perhaps, it was the corruption? Elefun was grasping at straws at this point– but it didn't seem like a bad thing to argue towards Meyer in defense to avoid having to admit that he's been fully aware of Astro's corruption and has done nothing to solve it.
In his head, though, he has no choice.
He either wastes his time "trying" to fix Astro's "very bad and bothersome" corruption, or he keeps his mouth shut and does what he loves to do best: his job.
Maybe he and Tenma weren't that different after all.
Or maybe in another life, they just so happened to both get bitten by the workaholic bug.
At this point though, it didn't matter; he had a connection to break, but if Meyer would please for the love of god stop looking at him with shock and go back to... disassociating... he could get this thing done in a breeze and everyone could go home and take a nap on the couch with decade old infomercials playing on the TV.
"I... I'm okay. You're just being annoying so shut up and let me do my thing," Elefun mutters and goes back to fiddling with Zoran's system.
Quinn is shocked for a moment with Elefun's response, but quickly tosses the notion aside and takes a look at Astro's system while it's still on the screen.
Knowing that he was corrupted made seeing his initial main programming understandable, having nothing enabled meant there weren't many connections going in– just ones that made Astro Astro–but without any of the limitations that could've been placed onto him.
Meyer slowly brought his fingers towards the desk, almost ready to place them down before–
"HEY! DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!" Elefun quickly yelled.
The sudden loudness sure scared the ever loving shit out of him as he quickly retracted his hands and with a hard swallow, he turned to Elefun to see what he would say next but ironically, he said nothing.
"P–Professor..." It took Meyer a bit to form words, "D–Don't you think... we should be... working... together... on this?" He really didn't like the sound of voices being raised, though he tried his hardest to not get that point across.
"Yes, but... not until I say so– who knows what a delinquent like you would do without my proper guidance– this isn't Lab Prep: 101, this is real shit– you screw this up I screw your neck like an energy efficient light bulb at OKEA."
Quinn in a panic, looked back at the screen and avoided all eye contact with Elefun, and it was at that moment that counting the clock until he had to leave became a priority.
"Okay... I think I've gone far enough..." Elefun stepped back to get a greater scope of what was on screen.
"It looks like the two of them are hyperactive right now– just as they were back home, but I imagine this equipment can take the blow, hence why we're not seeing any IRL activity."
"You think... the hyper activeness... is their connection?"
"Not necessarily– I think this is just..." Elefun walked back towards the screen, "a by-product of trying to break it."
...
Nothingness, and then the sound of sobbing was all Zoran could hear.
She looked around but it seemed like no one was there.
But the noises were so vivid, almost like they were coming from beside her and enveloping her in their pain and urge to be released from the hell they were in.
"Astro?" She called.
No response.
Suddenly, it was like she was covered in dismay as she feared for the very little she felt she had in life. Tears were pouring down her face and now abruptly she found herself swimming in them.
It was almost like she was in a room– but there was just nothingness! Or so she thought...
The tears kept coming, and even though she had no lungs and definitely no reason to breathe, she found herself coughing and gasping for air, begging to find the surface she needed to make it up shore and to somewhere safe.
But what was safe?
After all that she's gone through, nothing was or felt safe.
It was all a show, and she was the main attraction.
Though, she was kicked off too soon, and now she wants vengeance.
But how? She thinks
What could she do?
Can she even... make what's wrong... right?
How can she change his mind?
Because all he wants is to change his mind.
He too, is in nothingness– but in his nothingness, he is not crying.
He's screaming with every yell burning his throat and filling his urges to swing his arms around as if he was planning to punch something over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over until he changed his fucking mind.
...
"We can go about this the right way– or we could go the wrong way and screw everything up. Now if you listen carefully and do exactly as I say– you know what the outcome will be."
Meyer gave Elefun a nod, who then looked down at the many controls present on the holographic desk and spent a good long while figuring out what his plan of action would be.
"Wouldn't it be best to just disconnect everything from the main frame and then reconnect it?"
"No, Quinn, that would be a stupid plan of action, obviously this is happening because of something deeper than just 'main frame' work."
"Well, how can you be so sur–"
"Who's the one with the degree?" Elefun snapped.
"... Not me..."
"Exactly– so I think you owe me one to know that I–"
"But that's not fair!"
Silence, then instant regret.
"E–Excuse me, Meyer...?"
"I... I... I just– I uh–" Quinn could feel the heat rise to his cheeks as he nervously shifted around, unable to properly speak.
"You shut up, okay? I'm really tired of your attitu– you know– I don't have to do this for you, you understand that? The moment you quit your internship was the moment you gave up responsibility on our end of you– you left the ministry and you dropped out of school all to be with that pretentious 'ol what's-his-name– I don't even know! And now you wanna come back, go back to school– then try to finesse me into helping you out?! I could've– no should've said no to your sorry ass, and this is how you repay me? No respect..."
Quinn tried his hardest to keep his composure– but the more he heard Elefun scold him, the more he felt stinging in his eyes.
Forthwith, it was no longer a blast to the past– but a blast back to childhood, it was like if he squinted his eyes enough, he could see both of his parents towering over him and yapping on about the billion mistakes he's made and all the gaslighting they subjected him through.
Suddenly, he wants to go home.
"Oh so now is when you go quiet? Son-of-a-bitch I tell ya..."
"I–I think I'm just gonna–"
"No! I need you here to help me with this– now you're gonna shut up and just listen to what I have to say, no questions, no comments, no–" Elefun looked into Meyer's eyes and could see he was earnestly struggling to not weep, "and no crying, ya baby!"
Meyer let the room go silent before nodding.
"Jesus... I told you! It's like pulling teeth..."
Meyer turned back towards the screen as Elefun rolled his eyes.
"I'm gonna need you to move some of the wires out of the way on Astro's side. I'll do the same with Zoran's."
The two got busy moving things around on the screen to try and get a view of the most basic elements both Astro and Zoran had.
"Now you see," Elefun pointed, "Right over... here... this is where all the emotional wires are kept– you know, how robots are able to feel."
Meyer acknowledged Elefun's commentary before seeing Elefun get up close to the screen.
He slowly moved his hands around the desk to rotate his view of Zoran's "brain" when he swore he saw something unusual.
To him, it looked like a part of Zoran's emotion wires were behaving strangely.
"Over... here... we have the mirror wires– how robots are able to feel empathy..." with another rotation and zoom in closer, it looked like Zoran's entire system was going insane.
"Holy... heavens... I think we've found our culprit."
...
In the swimming of tears Zoran found herself in, she swore everything was turning red.
She tried opening her mouth, even if it meant swallowing all of the tears for the time being; she wanted to scream, and scream LOUD– but for some reason, she couldn't...
And then she saw him.
He pulled at his hair and with a mouth wide open, let out the loudest and most horrific howl she had ever heard.
"I UKFCNGI EHAT UOY! YWH NWOT OUY GECNHA TYOU IDNM?!"*
"Driontltehwmngueitimsbsonttjuawgnyoaauaghnketyeadiaaronwnvnalnetltildawkiteolehldnoheenwiilteelahehbeitlfttatgnsilhao, ukyucof."**
While Zoran couldn't really understand the words coming out of Astro's mouth, she could instantly feel the emotion and passion behind them, almost as if those emotions mirrored her own.
And that's when Astro turned around and saw her.
"Aonrz?! Og waya!"***
What did he say?
"Og awya!"****
Og... awya?
"Egvt–every–rynhei–thing si–is– yo–ok–ak–ay. Mi–I'm– ne–fi–if–ne."
Was he... malfunctioning?
But how could be malfunctioning in a place like this– in nothingness!
Perhaps maybe though... she could... try to communicate to him... in that fashion.
Zoran slowly opened her mouth and all of the tears that surrounded both her and Astro drained away.
"R...R..."
Great! She was making progress.
"R...s...tao..."
"Ozna..." Astro muttered.*****
"Athw... rea... ew... on...gid... eehr... "******
"Woo–I–in–don't–kdnt–know..."
Zoran in an unhurriedly manner made her way towards him, "Eiywotantholpu."*******
"Lonneihpdeetd."********
Zoran closed her mouth again, and the two of them were back in the same red teary water from before.
...
"Looks like Tenma must've gone the lazy route and used the same mirror wires on Zoran that he used on Astro, and so now they're in this forever loop of only being able to be empathetic towards each other..."
"Are... mirror wires unique to each robot?" Meyer asked.
"Some what, the same model type is always used, but tweaks are typically made to make it unique to a specific robot, then you just play around with settings and call it a day," Elefun sighed.
He stepped back for a moment to get another full view shot of the screen.
"We'll have to remove her mirror wires and tweak them thoroughly," he shoved his hand across the desk, which made the display screen turn off and disappear.
Meyer followed Elefun back to the main area of the lab where both Zoran and Astro were. He and him then got to work on disassembling every part of Zoran necessary so they could easily remove her mirror wires and tinker with them.
...
She wanted to help him, but he kept rejecting her help.
Being in the nothingness was actually starting to become annoying, as she felt there was no progress being made.
She had enough.
Her mouth opens again as teary water goes away, "LTMEPHLEE!"*********
Astro doesn't respond, but he turns to her and she can instantly see just how worn out his face was.
"Hiwtvdaheedstsoehohoy?" **********
"Ahw–Ohw?" Zoran tilted her head. ***********
"Rwotustheyihd?" Astro turned back around. ************
Suddenly, the darkness they were both in, became a basic shade of white.
"It... it hurts... because you let it hurt..." Zoran spoke.
With no reply, Zoran sought walking to Astro and continuing her speech.
"You need to let it out. You need to say what's wrong."
He turned to her again, this time with a tomato red face, eyes with luggage sized eye bags and tears just barely escaping past his tear duct.
She reached her hand out in sympathy, but he swats it away in anger.
"Why... why are... why are you like this? WHY WON'T YOU ACCEPT THE HELP YOU NEED!"
Abruptly, Astro grabs both of Zoran's wrists, and the two of them are walking at a fast pace, with Zoran in front walking backwards and Astro forcing himself to walk forwards.
"Is this what you want? Is this what you want? Is this what you want?" He repeats.
For a moment, She fears for her life, but remembers– it's still nothingness, right?
He doesn't... wanna kill her... right?
Is this what you want? Is this what you want? Is this what you want?
"Is..." Astro collapses to the ground and lets out a violent cough, "Is this... what you... fuck–ing... want," He looks up to Zoran for approval, who was now visibly shaking in terror.
"I... I... Just... wanted... to... help... you..." she looks down at him and sees that half his body was melting like candle wax, which petrified her even more.
"You..." He coughs again, "you want... help." With another cough, everything went spinning as Astro let out the same scream he did back when Zoran spotted him the first time.
Strangely enough, in all of the chaos, Zoran could hear a name be called, a name that... for some bizarre reason, felt familiar.
Tobio...
Tobio...
Tobio...
Tobio...
And then it all went blank.
...
Astro shot up wide awake with a loud gasp, which immediately prompted Quinn to turn around and walk over to him.
"Meyer!" Elefun called after him, hoping he'd ignore Astro and go back to helping him.
"Astro... Astro... are you okay?" Quinn asked.
All Astro could see was a man towering over him, but the vigorous sobbing he was undergoing made it hard for him to figure out who it was. Eventually, though, he could spot ginger hair peeking through his blurry eyesight.
"M...Meyer...?" It was the only name that came to mind.
Meyer sighed, glancing over at Elefun to see if he was looking at him, and while he wasn't, he peered over and whispered to Astro, "You... you can just call me Quinn..."
Astro almost wanted to laugh, but with the next inhale he took, he was back to panicking again.
In momentary defeat, Quinn sat down on the floor, feeling tears of his own pool in his eyes.
Nothing in that very instance seemed fair.
"Ugh! Are you serious?! Both of you need to cut it out! And Quinn– I need you to help me!"
"You'll never let him heal like he needs to if you keep saying that..." Meyer slowly stood and looked back at Astro again, reaching his hand out in sympathy towards him, "You're going to be okay."
Surprisingly, the soft yet still urgent tone of Quinn's voice was quite a change of pace for Astro, who was taken aback.
"Your sister just needs her mirror wires fixed– I think Astro and I are gonna stick around in the control room– he doesn't need to be here anymore..."
...
"So... did you decide to look into it or...?"
"Oh no, Zoran did... she uh... really um... thought something was wrong..."
"Well, it was a good call on her part– seems like she's quite mature for her age, don't you think?"
"I don't know... I guess?"
Quinn chuckled, "I mean come on– she's your sister! You gotta care about her to some degree."
"I–I never said I didn't... I just..." Astro sighed, "I don't... wanna talk about it..."
"Oh. Ummm... alright..." Quinn scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"It's fine..." Astro slowly smiled, feeling satisfaction in finally having his revoked consent taken seriously.
"So um... I didn't... know you were Elefun's assistant, how'd that happen?" He asked.
"Well, I was going back to school so I thought I would ask Elefun for some uh... additional... hands-on work..."
Was lying a second nature instinct for Quinn? Perhaps so– but from Astro's perspective, it seemed otherwise.
"So you left school? How come?" Astro thought if he pointed out the plotholes, Quinn would be more willing to dish out the truth.
"I uh... just needed a break- you know, you should always put your well-being above all else, even school. Nothing you gain in school is worth it if you're suffering..."
Okay, maybe he was telling the truth... "Yeah... you have a point– I mean you saw me, what was it... a few weeks ago? Maybe a month ago? I was taking a mental health day off..." Astro said.
"And you should! Nothing in life is worth overworking for, and I'm glad you see that," Quinn put a hand on his shoulder.
Astro for a moment didn't know how to respond, only able to nod for the time being. He looked out the window to see Elefun still fiddling with Zoran.
He figured Elefun must've already pulled out her mirror wires, and that's why he woke up like he did.
But... why would she need her mirror wires fixed?
"Oh Tenma, you son-of-a-bitch– try to out-stage me with a 'better' robot and you couldn't even bother to give her unique mirror wires, so god damn lazy!" Elefun stomped his foot against the floor in anger.
He looked back at the window to see Astro and Quinn sitting in front of each other and having a conversation.
"The hell are they talking about...?" He muttered before realizing it was none of his business anyways– and that he should probably practice what he preaches and not get off task.
Glancing down at the mirror wires, he could see he had a lot ahead of him to do, and with a sigh, he set them aside and walked away to grab the tools he needed.
"And she hasn't asked you out yet?" Quinn queried.
"...No... but to be fair– I haven't asked either!" Astro replied.
"Oh, I wasn– I mean I didn't mean– uh..." Quinn glanced around the room before speaking again, "You really shouldn't try to rush it."
"You speak from experience when you say that?" Astro sarcastically laughed, which made Quinn chuckle as well.
"Well... you could say that... I uh... I had a lot of relationships back then..."
"At the same time?"
"Oh no. Not– not at the same time– haha– that's not... um... haha... not the way to go about it, I'll say."
Astro seemed intrigued, leaning in closer inquisitively, "So where'd it all start, middle school?"
"High school, actually– probably like... freshman year. I had just made it onto the junior varsity football team... she was super nerdy– had like these... oversized glasses, never missed an assignment– but was always complaining about her braces– going on and on about how much they hurt and how she couldn't wait to take them of–"
"Meyer," Elefun peeked into the control room, which stopped Quinn in his tracks and prompted him to look at him.
"Yes?"
"I need you in here now."
"Oh, yes of course! You're okay, right?" He looked back at Astro, who gave him a nod.
He got up from his seat and walked with Elefun back to the main lab.
As soon as Astro saw them both leave from his eyesight, he quickly got up and left the lab entirely.
...
Outside of the lab, there was a hallway that when walked out of, lead to the main area of the ministry that housed many corridors, elevators, and stairs.
From afar, Astro could see someone walking towards where he was, and thus decided to check out what their deal was.
"Hey!" He called out to them. What he saw when he approached, was someone who looked to be a middle-aged female. She had black hair pulled into a bun, and rectangle glasses, the boring kind with a bulky frame, it seemed like she was in a hurry, as she also was clutching onto a clipboard and not letting the canvas shoes she wore drag on the floor for even just a second.
"Oh! Um... hello– and you are...?" She asked.
"Uh... As...tro...?" She had to be kidding him, everyone knew who he was... right?
She gasped, "Oh... oh goodness! My apologies– of course you're Astro, what was I thinking– Dr. Claire," She held her hand out for Astro to shake.
"Oh yeah! You're that famous biologist, right?" He gladly shook her hand.
"Yes, of course! Very much world renowned– now... you wouldn't happen to know where your dad is, right? Dr. Elefun?" Claire asked.
Astro paused for a moment to process her statement. Did she really just call Elefun 'dad'? That was a bit too forward.
"Yeah... he's uh... in his lab– with Mr. Meyer..." He stuttered with embarrassment.
"Great! I'll just be paying him a little visit and then be on my way– thanks a bunch for you're help, have a great day!" She waved goodbye to him as she walked away towards Elefun's lab.
"See ya!" Astro waved back.
Claire opened the door to Elefun's lab, and immediately knocked on the entryway door to the main lab.
Elefun looked up to see her knocking, and signaled for her to come through. She then opened the door and walked in.
"Good morning Dr. Elefun, Meyer," she looked to both men, who gave her a nod in response.
"My apologies for coming unannounced and in such a haste, but..." She strolled over to Elefun, "I wanted to confirm you'd still have Astro participate in the Emerson, Henley et al. study?"
"Oh, uh, yes? Is there a problem?" Elefun asked.
"No no– I– I mean we have overheard you have a new member at home... and... are you sure you can handle it?"
"Yes, of course! But um..." Elefun looked over at Meyer, then back at Claire, "Umm... please excuse me for a second, Meyer, I'm gonna go... talk to Dr. Claire for a moment, if you don't mind," He walked away and ushered Claire to a different side of the lab.
Elefun lowered his voice to a soft spoken tone, almost a whisper, "I"m... probably going to have to rescind my decision to keep the clone..."
"Oh, so you'd like me to arrange a disablement session?"
"Yes... I uh... I didn't– I didn't think... you-know-who was going to pull this stunt on me– honestly! And um... I just... I can't deal with four kids in one house– I mean where would I even put him? On the couch? I'm already spending a fourtune extending my house to accommodate for this new one, but... I'm not shelving out even more for a useless experiment..."
"I see... well– I'll let the team know, and have them get in contact with you to arrange the disassemble date, sound good?"
"Sounds wonderful. But um... if you don't mind me asking... what's your involvement with this study?"
"Oh, well um... as the head of Biology– we got in contact with the researchers because they planned to test their cloning out on samples we had– in fact, they reached out to us while I was conducting my own study of greenhouse gasses– quite funny now that I think about it," Claire pushed a loose hair strand behind her ear "And um... ever since– I've just been helping them out here and there– nothing much though, I have far too much on my plate to commit full time to this."
Elefun nodded, "Well, it was a pleasure to see you again, Claire– as always, you take care, okay?" he reached a hand out to her.
"Yes! Always a delight, you take care, Doctor," she glady shook his hand.
"Oh, and uh, on your way out– can you check up on Astro, he's in the control room!"
Claire turned around, "Uh, I... I just saw him before I walked in here– outside the lab,"
Elefun looked confused, but then slowly looked agitated, "Seriously? God– the kid can never behave!" He threw his hands in frustration, letting them fall and loudly hit himself, stomping away back towards Zoran.
Claire tried not to show the secondhand embarrassment she felt as she walked away and out of the lab altogether.
"D–do you think I should look for him, Professor?" Meyer asked.
"No, we have work to do! I'll go look for him later..." Elefun annoyingly went back to working on Zoran.
...
"Pues bien, ya sabes cómo es, amigo.1 Shits crazy..."
"I know right! And then I saw fucking... what's his name...– the ginger! Oh... um... Q...ummm– I dunno! But we started talking, and then he asked about Brianna..."
"Brianna? The blonde girl at your school that you're like... so infatuated with...?"
"Okay, yeah– but that's not the point! So we get to talking, right... and then I ask him when he starting dating, 'cause you know number one chismoso2– as you call it, that's how you say it, right? Spanish slang is so interesting..."
"Mmmhmmm."
"Well, anyways, he starts telling me how it all started in high school and how he got onto the junior varsity football team? And apparently he was dating a nerd who hated her braces."
"Oh, well– were you expecting him to say something else?"
"Hmm... now that I think about it... no, no I didn't– he fits the bill perfectly."
Astro and... Reno... were sitting together in the ministry's common area, catching up on current events.
Ever since robot rights were instated, the two of them... somewhat drifted apart, with a pure by chance accident causing Reno to get hired on the spot by the ministry, to Astro now becoming fully devoted to school. But unlike Reno, Astro's reason for drifting has been put on hiatus, whereas Reno still works in his own lab doing repairs on in-need robots, and filing papers to input into the ministry's computer system.
Astro did enjoy his company though, especially since he sometimes found hanging out with his other friends all the time to be... a little annoying. But Reno had his own obligations to deal with– so opportunity hasn't risen up yet for Reno to be invited to join both Astro and his friends on their endeavors.
Reno let out a hearty laugh before looking at Astro with a dorky smile, to which he reciprocated, but in a more gentle fashion.
"So umm... you have to go back soon, right?" He asked.
"Uhh... yeah– but it's fine, I'm sure I can stay for just a few minutes," Astro replied.
"Oh no, if you have to go, then go, don't let me stop you."
"I mean I guess... I just.. I never get to see you..."
"I know but... I don't want you getting in trouble— my breaks over in five minutes anyway..."
"Oh really?" Then I'll just go then," Astro stood.
Reno followed suit, then held his arms out as if to ask if Astro wanted a hug.
It took him a moment, but when he agreed and Reno put his arms around him, it was a weird feeling— but a strangely good one at that.
Though in accepting the hug, Astro found himself getting quite emotional, but why? He doesn't know, though he thinks perhaps just how gentle Reno was being was to blame. His sweet warmth enveloping him, making for just a moment, everything seem okay.
No stress, no sadness, no guilt.
The more Reno held on, the more compelled Astro felt to finally allow himself to cry, letting the tears pool in his eyes and fall down his cheeks.
It took Reno by surprise, had he done something wrong?
"Are... are you... okay?" He asked.
"... Never," Astro mumbled.
...
Back in the lab, Elefun and Meyer were still busy working on Zoran's mirror wires.
They both perked up to the sound of the lab door being opened and seeing Astro plop down onto a nearby chair with a sad sigh.
Seeing Astro sit prompted Elefun to stop what he was doing and walk to the control center to talk to Astro.
Quinn also stopped his work, but only to see where Elefun was going.
As soon as the door closed, though, it seemed like all hell had broken loose.
Thankfully, the windows and doors were soundproof, because Elefun sure was going off at Astro, presumably because he left without permission.
Quinn didn't have time to form an opinion, as he was still working on the wires, but he did at the very least find it a bit too excessive of Elefun to reprimand Astro at a time like this. The kid just needs a break! But why in the world would Elefun not give it to him?!
He has yet to know, but what he is confident in, is the great progress being made.
"Switch this one with... hmmm..." He looked around for materials.
He swapped more things out for others, at least as much as he could without Elefun's help. "...trings tie... hands... ands...on... mouth..." Slowly, he found himself mumbling song lyrics to try and fill the quietness of the room.
Elefun returned not too long after, though he obviously looked displeased.
" I swear— what would I give to have the Astro I had just two years ago! This one is so much more irritating— almost as annoying as you..."
Meyer chuckled in pure nervousness, shifting his weight before settling on a standing position once Elefun made his way back to the table.
"You got most of 'em done?" He asked.
"Somewhat... this really is a two-person job..."
"Exactly, but..." Elefun peered over, "You seem to have gotten it right."
Meyer nodded and put down the last set of wires he worked on.
"Alright, I think we got most of them done— we can put them back in and head over to the control room.
...
In the control room, Elefun and Meyer were back at the holographic desk where Elefun turned the screen on and brought up Zoran's system again.
Astro sat in a seat in the corner and didn't seem all that willing to converse with anyone.
Too many emotions were running through his head in that moment and, he had no way of deciding which one to broadcast to the world. He watched as Quinn helped Elefun navigate towards Zoran's mirror wires. For what reason? He didn't know— in fact, he still doesn't know why in the world she needed them "repaired" as Quinn put it, but whatever, he guesses.
"Now if you look here, on the sides, you have all of the statistics– like you showed me about Astro's corruption," Elefun knew Astro was nearby, and didn't think it was the right time to drop the news that Zoran was corrupted too.
He then pressed a few keys on the keyboard which changed the statistics on the screen to being a list of words, "Now, you see, we've brought up the current settings, and from here we can make the changes we need."
Meyer gave Elefun a nod, even though he was a pain in the ass, he couldn't deny how great of a teacher he was– he wondered if maybe any of his other classmates were in on this knowledge, or maybe not?
"Now, if we want to change settings for mirror wires, what do we do?" Elefun turned to Meyer.
"Uhhhh..." Meyer almost froze, "We uh... uh... we... um," he cleared his throat, "We... locate the wires...?"
"Mmmhmmm, and when we find them, then what?"
"We... look... to the current settings... and we... uh... we change them! Yes yes..."
Elefun sighed, but in his usual annoyed™ fashion, "Yes, we change them, but how?"
Astro could see from afar that Quinn was about to break out into a full on sweat, though he could also notice Quinn was trying to tap his heels together, perhaps to offset the anxiety? He wasn't sure.
But what he did know though, was the answer to the question.
Of course yes, you find the mirror wires and look to the current settings, but in order to change them, you have to bring up the programming menu, and from there, you essentially play hacker and "hack" into the robots system, thus allowing you to make any changes you want.
That is, if the robot isn't corrupted. And Astro knows this pretty well, as ever since he became corrupted, getting routine repairs has been a back and forth task and a half– he can't even get them done at home anymore! Though that fact alone always leaves him wondering why he could've just... never had them at home to begin with.
"Ugh... to change the settings, you have to bring up the programming menu," Elefun indecently pressed a few keys, which then brought up the menu, "Then... from here, you have to 'hack' into the robot's system– for that... you press... this key and the numbers... 4-2-0-6-9, got it?"
Meyer nodded.
"Now... what do we do next?"
Meyer looked at the screen, and suddenly he was reminded of the lecture he had about a week ago at uni, with everything being displayed on the screen becoming so so familiar.
"We have to look at the Z and Y indexes and... um..."
"We look at the number. Now– because asswipe Tenma was lazy, I have doubts he changed any of these parameters, so we'll just... click, and put in a random number for the Z index, say... uhhhh... 9... and then for the Y... 42..."
It seemed like everything was going well, and Elefun was even going to go on and explain the next step, but he took a double take when pressing enter turned the new numbers back to their old ones.
He sighed and took a step back.
"Is... something wrong?" Meyer asked.
"No no... she– it– I– corup– yeah..."
"Any... thing I can do?"
"Probably not– this is basically just a back and forth game now. You know what, I think Astro is in the mood for tomato soup, could you maybe take him to lunch while I fiddle with this?"
"Oh, um... of course! He can eat, right?"
"Oh yes yes, though I can't tell you how just yet– the technology hasn't been patented yet," Elefun turned to Astro and motioned for him to leave with Meyer.
"Wow, I didn't know you could eat?" Quinn spoke with amusement as soon as they both left the lab.
"Eh yeah, It's just some new tech that Elefun is testing– I guess he sees me as his full-time guinea pig, and... Uran too..."
"So it like... digest... and everything?"
"Oh no, no no no, it's just like... how do I explain it... like... how solar panels use the sun to convert sunlight to energy? So the food is like, the sunlight, and this new tech is like the solar panels..."
"Hmmm, interesting– and you want tomato soup?"
"Ew no, I have no idea why Elefun insists it's my favorite food– shit's gross."
Quinn almost took a double take, hearing Astro swear wasn't exactly on his list of things he wanted to experience today, but then again, nothing that's happened so far has been anything he's "wanted to experience," the more he thinks about it, at least.
Back in the lab, Elefun was struggling to get the programming menu to cooperate, as any setting he tried to change, would only change back to the previous setting, which annoyed him to all ends.
"Oh Zoran... why did this happen?" He sighed, "You weren't even meant to be here... but... ah... it's pointless– Life just, does what it wants, I suppose!"
He gave it one last try, and this time, the changes finally adhered. With a gasp of delight, he quickly seized the opportunity by going ahead and changing all the settings he needed to to ensure that Zoran's wires would be unique enough.
...
"Professor... I think you might've been mistaken– Astro tells me he thinks tomato soup is–"
Quinn and Astro had come back to the lab after having lunch, but were surprised to see Elefun wasn't in the control room.
"You think, he went somewhere else? Like his office?" Astro suggested.
"Hmmmm... maybe... let me just..." Quinn peered around to see if he was in the lab, but neither he nor Zoran were there.
"He's... not in the lab... let's check his office."
And sure enough, after quite a walk up to Elefun's office, they could see him sitting at his desk, with Zoran lying on the ground, not really saying or doing much.
"Professor!" Meyer greeted.
"Oh, you're back! And with Astro, great!" Elefun gave him a smile, possibly the first smile of the day.
"I uh... I think you might've been mistaken though, Astro told me he thinks tomato soup is... 'gross'?"
"Oh, um... well... my mistake then," He looked over at Astro in annoyance.
Astro almost rolled his eyes, but when he quickly caught Zoran lying on the ground, he felt an instant inclination to talk to her.
But perhaps... maybe not in front of... Elefun and Quinn.
"Uhhh... Z–Zoran.. and I... are going to uh... be right back..." He stuttered.
Zoran looked up to see Astro standing next to a man with curly ginger hair, she had no idea who he was, but she did take interest in the red bowtie he wore. In hearing Astro speak, though, she slowly stood from the ground and walked over to him.
He motioned to her and they both left Elefun's office for the time being.
"Oh my god," Zoran began.
"I... I know... I was there too..."
"You..." She almost choked, "you... you looked so scary... and sad..."
"I know... It– It's just– umm..."
"The mirror wires," she replied.
"...What?"
"We... we had the same mirror wires– that's why we kinda... had this connection... emotionally."
"Oh. Um... interesting..." Astro had to take a moment to process everything.
"But this is great! Now maybe you won't feel so ashamed to admit what's going on– because that was from me, right? I was making you feel that way?"
"No... no you weren't," He coldly replied.
"Wha– but... but I thought... that wasn't–"
"No. That was me– look Zoran, I... I don't wanna talk about it with you, or with anyone- ever. I wanna keep this shit to myself– I can deal with it, trust me."
"But–But– ooohhhhhh! I just! I wanted to help!" Zoran stomped her foot against the floor and dragged it back almost as if she was going to get into a running position.
"Well, I don't need your help, okay?! I can deal with this on my own!" Astro snapped.
"I can help you though! And you can help me! We can both help each other!"
"No, Zoran..." He slowly walked back towards Elefun's office, "You can only help yourself."
((END OF CHAPTER 14!))
* "I FUCKING HATE YOU! WHY WON'T YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND?!"
** "I just wanna make things right but you won't let me go and heal the way I want to and now I'll never heal like I need to and I'll fight this battle alone, fuck you."
*** "Zoran?! Go away!"
**** "Go away!"
***** "Zoran..."
****** "What are we doing here?"
******* "I want to help you"
******** "I don't need help."
********* "LET ME HELP YOU!"
********** "Why does he have to do this?"
*********** "Wha– who?"
************ "Why does it hurt?"
1 Translation: Well then, you know how it is, bud...
2 Translation/definition: Nosy person/gossiper
xx