Chapter 26: 18's malfunction

The next day, while Vegeta and Trunks were training - like usual - Bulma was comfortable laying on a couch, reading a magazine, when she was disturbed by someone knocking softly on the main door. Frowing a little - she wasn't expecting anyone, except maybe Yamcha, who did not bother knocking on the door - she stood up and headed for the entrance. Her eyes widened when she saw the beautiful blonde that had knocked.

Android 18. What was she doing here? All right, the androids had proven that they weren't as evil as they had initially though, and she had even married Krillin not long ago... but, still, she did not seem very sociable, and Bulma had never actually talked to her. What would she be doing here?

"18? I-I mean, if that's still your name..."
"Still is," the android replied with her slow voice. "Look, I won't waste my time or yours, I need your help."
"My help?" the blue-haired woman repeated. "What for?"

Without any more explicit invitation, 18 stepped inside the room. She sighed.

"Well, not necessary your help, but I need someone qualified and Krillin says you're the only one I can ask."
"Erm... all right, if I can help in any way, I'll be glad to do so. What's wrong?"
"I'm sick."

Bulma blinked several times. Sick? How on Earth could an android be sick?

"You're... sick?"

Again, the fair-haired android sighed.

"Not really. Krillin says I'm sick - I reckon malfunctionning would be more appropriate."
"Oh. Well, then I guess I can help, if you come downstairs with me."

Once they reached the lab, 18 sat on the edge of a table while Bulma turned the computers on.

"So, what makes you think you're malfunctionning?" she asked.
"I'm feeling very odd. Weaker than usual, even to the point of getting dizzy sometimes. I guess it must be the power supply. Perhaps it's running low."

Bulma frowned. She had never looked at 18 or 17, but she knew for a fact that 16 had a limiteless power supply, so why wouldn't they? On the other hand, 19 and Dr. Gero himself as an android needed to absorb energy in order to use it, so perhaps 18 was different, too.

"I'll check that first, if you'd just lay there for a minute or two..."

The android obeyed in silence, allowing Bulma's machines to scan her. The young scientist stared at her screen, frowning more at each and every new information that appeared.

"That's weird... very weird..." she whispered for herself.
"What is?"

Bulma quickly turned to look at her.

"Can you feel?" she asked out of the blue.

18's pale blue eyes narrowed.

"What do you mean?" she asked, sounding a bit irritated.
"I mean, do you ever get angry or scared? Can you feel pain, can you feel the warmth of a hand on your skin?"
"Of course," 18 replied, sounding and looking very offended by these questions.
"Then..."

Bulma's eyes wandered back on her screen.

"How come you're... if you were..."

Her sapphire eyes widened.

"I get it! Oh my God, I'm a genius! You are not an android, that's as simple as that!"
"What the hell are you talking about?! Of course I am an android!"
"No you're not! My father and I repaired 16 few years ago, and he was an android, he wasl thoroughtly mechanical and artificial. There was not a single biological cell on his body. You, however... and probably 17 as well... you have human cells."

She nodded for herself, smiling ear to ear.

"This explains why you call him your brother, and why Cell could absorb both of you."
"That is ridiculous. If I am not an android, what on Earth am I?"
"I'd say you're a cyborg. Yes, that makes much more sense now."

18 raised an eyebrow.

"Why don't we skip to the part where you explain that to me?"
"A cyborg," Bulma said, "Is a human being whose body has been enhanced by technology. An android is an artificial being like 16, it's a machine, just like... like... my oven! An android does not fear nor does he feel pain, whereas you..."

Bulma smiled.

"You said it yourself, you feel pain, anger, sadness, happiness... you could even fall in love with Krillin. That is the ultimate human feeling."
"But I am not human," she objected. "I do not age, my bones do not break, I don't need to eat, drink or even sleep. Humans have these needs, even the toughest ones."
"Dr. Gero modified you," the scientist explained. "If I hack into his old files, I might be able to find out how much he changed your body, but we know for a fact that he modified or replaced your bones, and gave you a power supply, probably limitless. He must've tried to erase your human identity, as well, which is why you don't remember your name or the life you had before, but you were able to remember that 17 used to be your twin."

She taped on her lips a few times, lost in her thoughts.

"That must be why you guys attacked Gero when he activated you... I reckon he must've kidnapped your or tricked you in any way, and your hatred for that man remained... yes, that makes sense..."

18 sighed, obviously bored.

"All right, all right, this is all very interesting, but can you already tell me what's wrong with me?"
"Nothing's wrong with you," Bulma quickly replied.
"This cannot be true. You must've made a mistake."
"I do not make mistakes," Bulma replied, glaring at her. "Look."

She pressed a button, and a scan from 18's body appeared on the huge screen.

"Here," Bulma said, moving her finger around the stomach. "Can you see?"
"No," she replied, frowning and shaking her head.
"Look more closely."

18 moved closer a little, but shook her head again.

"That, here. God, you really don't see it?"

When 18 glared at her in a pretty threatening way, Bulma decided to end the suspens:

"It's a baby. You're pregnant, not sick nor malfunctionning."

She blinked several times, staring at the young scientist.

"How in the world did that happen?"
"I'm really not going to explain this to you," Bulma replied, chuckling awkwardly.

The blonde glared again.

"Sorry. I mean... I guess Dr. Gero did not thing about that, but you must still be biological enough to have kept your fertility. It's... odd, but not unlogical."
"But how's that going to live inside me?" she insisted.
"I'll make further research, but I suppose the baby will live on your power supply, just like you do."

Upstairs, the door opened.

"MOM, MOM! I flew under 20 times Earth's gravity, I did it, it was so coo-"

Trunks' voice interrupted at once when he noticed that his mother was not around.

"Mom?!"
"Yes, Trunks, I'll be there in just a moment!"
"Hey," Vegeta's voice said before she had finished speaking. "Where's the lunch?"
"Yeah, I'm hungry too! Mom, did you-"
"I said just a moment!"

Vegeta grunted and she heard him dropping on a chair: Trunks did exactly the same right after him. Saiyans were sure irritable when you stood between them and their food.

That night, Bulma woke up when someone dropped on the bed next to her. It was Vegeta, of course. Her eyes half-opened, she merely grunted for being woken up in the middle of the night like that, and turned around to get closer. He put his arm firmly around her, like he used to do, and Bulma was about to fall to sleep again - since Vegeta never spoke in those moments - but his voice woke her up again:

"About what you said to Trunks yesterday..."
"Mmyeah, what about it?" she mumbled, her eyes still closed.
"Why did you do it?" he asked.
"Because you wouldn't."
"But how did it get to this anyway?!"

She sighed, and opened her eyes.

"You know that Trunks would like to spend time with you outside the training, right?"

Vegeta merely shrugged, and did not speak.

"Well, Saiyans might not care about that, but he does. That made him sad, and I had to explain him, I didn't want to let him like that. If you think I did it wrong, then you can go and explain it yourself."
"I didn't say you did it wrong," he objected. "I just wondered."

Bulma smirked.

"So I did it right?" she asked, glancing up at him just in time to catch a glimpse of the smirk that was curving his own lips.
"You could say it like that."
"You won't ever admit that I'm right, uh?" she asked, rolling her eyes.

Again, he said nothing and she looked at him in the darkness of the room.

"How come you never told him yourself?"
"Because you think I want to explain my son that our people was destroyed because of a crazy son of a bitch who craved for power and feared for his life? Hell no."
"But that you were the prince?" she asked with a smile. "I'm amazed you didn't tell him yourself."

Vegeta glared at her.

"Because it would've brought questions about the fact that we are not on my planet, thus forcing me to explain about Frieza. He killed my people, destroyed my planet and enslaved me, I'm not so keen on talking about him."
"You never told me about that. I mean, how it was for you all these years you were under his orders."
"I told you, I'm not so keen on talking about Frieza," he repeared coldly. "Not even to you."

Especially to you, his mind corrected. The silence fell on them again, this time for good: Bulma quickly fell asleep again in his arms. Vegeta, however, remained wide awake for hours, staring at the ceiling upon their heads.

You're the last person I'd ever tell about these days where I had to bow and obey like a well-trained dog, Bulma.

End of the chapter: There you go :D I hope you enjoyed it!!! (God, I'm amazed at myself, with 26 chapters it's officially my longest so far, and still many to go :D)