Part 2

Chapter 39 A Modicum of Information

"Jan, my little soldier, I've been watching you."

"Ingrid, but you're not supposed to be here…"

"Now just isn't the time to speak to you in person. Your subconscious will have to do."

"You shouldn't be here…I'm being monitored."

"Quite frankly, I'm not really concerned about that. I don't care what they make of it. It's merely a dream."

"Cyborgs don't have dreams. Cyborgs never think of their previous life."

"And what? Are you afraid of what they might do to you? Are you afraid to die?"

"No, I don't fear death, but I don't know what they will do to me if they find anything wrong with me."

"Hm. Is that so? So they still hold control over you."

"Don't be so surprised…I should already be dead."

"But you're not. Surely there is a reason behind it."

"Is there?"

"Well, sure. Haven't you thought of KOS-MOS—

"Don't mention that name."

"You're ordering your own mother around? I think not. It's bad enough that you're calling me by my first name.

Ziggurat had nothing he could say to this.

"Haven't you thought of her?" continued Ingrid, "She doesn't seem to die. Perhaps she is merely a spirit moving from body to body until she finds her true one."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that she is like you. Fate will not allow her to die. Perhaps she is the reason you still live."

"I don't have anything to do with her. She is her own person…"

"But you love her, don't you? You have everything to do with her."

"I…don't know. She's not mine."

"You're talking about Yeshua. You weren't thinking about him before when you kissed her."

"Ingrid" began Ziggurat with a hint of embarrassment, "I just wasn't thinking. If Yeshua really loves that girl, why isn't he ever around? Sometimes it just seems as if he lets things happen."

"That's a good question. Perhaps you should ask him that yourself."

"How?" asked a perturbed Ziggurat, "He doesn't seem like the sort of person that you can just walk up to."

"All in due time. I'm sure he'll want to meet you in person one day."

"One day? Time must not mean anything to him."

"It shouldn't mean anything to you either. Well, let me leave you in peace, Jan."

"Wait…why did you come in the first place?"

"I was bored. I'm sure you feel the same way. Besides, nothing special is taking place now,"

"No, I guess not."

Without realizing it, he had said his last statement out loud. It was already the next morning and the scientist was already finishing up the maintenance.

"What was that, Ziggurat 8? Did you say something?"

"N-no," said a startled cyborg.

The scientist grinned at the cyborg, "Right. Surely even you know the routine. Now let's get to it."

That routine was what his entire life consisted of these days. It was rather impossible for him not to know it. Again the cyborg found himself sitting in a hard metal chair staring at nothing in particular. There was a change in the scientist's eyes when he looked at the results an hour later.

"What is this? There was a plethora of activity in your subconscious. One would think that you were having a dream. Well, Ziggurat 8, were you?"

The cyborg looked at the scientist silently, unsure if he should answer. "Yes."

"What was it about?"

"Is it important?"

"Of course it is. Everything about you is."

"Scientist, I don't ever ask you about your dreams. Why should you?"

The scientist crossed his arms, "Fine. Have it your way. Come with me."

"Of course."

Ziggurat was led to an interrogation room. The cyborg grew instantly wary. There was going to be another bombardment of questions that he was forced to answer. The scientist left the cyborg in the room and the same investigator from before entered almost automatically.

"This is strictly routine questions."

"The same as before?"

"Yes, perhaps you might answer them differently now that reports say that you are of a sound mind. Now, what was it that caused your maintenance to be incomplete the first time?"

"Apparently, Angela had not been there to finish it and I would have died if it weren't for Pope Sergius' and KOS-MOS's help."

"How do you suppose, Pope Sergius knew of your predicament?"

"I'll simply use the process of elimination to answer this. At some point, he must've made contact with Leah who then told him where I was. Assuming that KOS-MOS was there with Leah, they left together to find me."

"Are you saying that the Pope Sergius arbitrarily decided to visit Captain Wakana's house? I understand that you recently received a mission that entailed the protection of the pope, but you pretty much failed that mission; you were in some type of deep coma the entire time."

"Pope Sergius was often interested in me, but he was also showing interest in Angela. It wasn't uncommon for him to visit her every so often once Leah came into the picture."

"Yes, Leah, a stray baby. So Captain Wakana and the pope were friends. He decided to visit her and instead sees KOS-MOS and Leah."

"Correct."

"But who is KOS-MOS? What's her real name?"

"I don't know; that's the name she gave me."

"Well, as soon as we analyze her DNA and put her into the system, we'll know for sure. So Leah heads to school and the other two go to the maintenance lab."

"The pope was looking for Angela I believe, but KOS-MOS, she was looking for me. They must have known that we would be in the same place."

"So when you awoke—what next?"

"We realized that Angela was missing so I helped them find her. We went to a pub that she had had an altercation in seven years ago. It proved to be the very place we needed to go. A witness of the incident before told me exactly where to find her. Angela was associated with the wrong kind of people."

"Did you ever find out who these people were?"

"No. My job was to simply find her."

"And find her you did. You went on a rampage and destroyed countless lives just to get to her."

"I'll admit that I killed four guards, but that was necessary. The rest were dead long before I ever got there. Their corpses were already rotting. You can see that for yourself. I don't know what had taken place before I got there."

"So you don't know anything about those other guards?"

"No. You know the rest, investigator. I told you exactly what happened before."

"Well, I guess there's no need to go over anything if you're just going to say the same thing as before. However, I've noticed something. You know Captain Wakana on a first name basis. Why is that?"

"I've been working under her for years."

"But it is said that she has an extreme aversion to cyborgs."

"Apparently she's had a change of heart."

"It wouldn't have anything to do with that Leah girl now would it?"

"She was always rather maternal towards her. She was nicer. However, this all happened after her amnesia."

"A bad fall down the stairs or at least that's what the doctor's report says. Is that true, Ziggurat 8? Reports say that you brought her in."

"I did. I found her unconscious at the bottom of a flight of stairs."

"Where?"

"At her home," answered Ziggurat automatically.

"I see," said the investigator satisfied. "The only other person we can speak to on this situation is Leah, but she was barely involved aside from her skipping school."

"Leave her out of this."

"Listen, I know you have a soft spot for that girl. She's also the only person who survived. I can't question her, however; she's been deemed too mentally unstable. She's in shock, Ziggurat 8."

"Sh-she is?"

"Why wouldn't she be? She's just a child and she saw two of her friends murdered in cold blood right in front of her. You're a cyborg—I wouldn't expect you to understand. Something like that could traumatize a girl, though it obviously didn't affect you very much."

"I'm sorry…but I had to do it. I wanted her to live."

"See, this is where you lose me, Ziggurat 8."

The cyborg simply stared at the man before him.

"Ziggurat 8, you won't be able to see her for years if ever. Was it really worth it?"

"…Yes."

"You call yourself saving her, but instead you've ruined her life."

At this the investigator stood up marking the end of the interrogation. There was a disgusted look on his face when he shook his head. After gathering up his papers, he left. The scientist came in promptly.

"Well, wasn't that a nice change of scenery? Your story was consistent, however. You've passed yet another test. You deserve a little time to yourself. Stay here and I'll be back in a few hours."

The cyborg sighed inwardly. Everything was a test. There was no doubt in his mind that this too was merely another test.