"Hogarth…" He caught my shoulder before I could lose it. "Stay with me." At the sound of his voice, I glanced over at him and saw the honest worry on his face. "Stay with me."
I. - Hogarth.
I kept from looking at the Giant but I knew exactly what he was experiencing, it was one of those few and far apart instances we were both on the same wavelength; normally in the past this had involved his weapons but that didn't lessen the severity of this moment. I knew once the two of us turned around, it would probably be over. Trant, to my vivid memory, had been electrocuted.
If the Giant could shudder, then that was the feeling I felt standing on his shoulder.
"Stand still." I told him stolidly as his eyes wandered over to me. "He wants you to move."
"Hogarth-." He argued.
"He's already caught us off guard." I turned to him. "If we react too suddenly there's no chance."
"You haven't even heard my reasons for being here." Trant's casual tone irritated me.
"We have to do something." The Giant said sensibly.
"Don't move." I tried to keep the frostiness from my voice. "He'll bait you, just like Kina."
"You would be wrong there." Trant retaliated calmly.
"Hogarth-" The tremor entering the Giant's voice made me really see. I realized, strikingly, that we weren't sharing the same grudge-match. In reality we both shared something more paralyzing.
Fear; it was the fear of letting our polar opposites overcome us. For me, it was Kent's more adept and eloquent grandson and for the Giant it was his over-glossed, updated version. But I knew also that if we didn't face the few last remaining obstacles in our way, we would never move forward.
"I'm not scared of the Motorix." The Giant told me, seeming to understand me better then I could understand myself in this moment. His grey shutters arched inward gravely. "I'm afraid for you."
II. - Daniel.
I kept my eyes locked to the black mustachioed lead droid operator across the way, my trembling thumb posed over the device I would need to transmit a broadcast of the recorded earlier thoughts of the operators' scandal. He knew I had an ace up my sleeve if he tried to cause the Iron Giant's clone to go berserk. The problem that I faced, however, was far more complicated even if it didn't involve robotolgy. My attention was divided in three directions; Taylor, her mother and this bozo.
"Do you have the recording set?" Trisha's voice barely registered in my multi-tasked focus.
"Set and secure," I reassured the on edge woman. What would you expect; we were all living in the Twilight Zone with humanized robots and same-suited individuals. Anything was fair game.
"Taylor." She said dazedly, as if the realization of her daughter's predicament finally registered.
"The Giant's clones were originally meant to fuse physically and anatomically with infants."
"God." Trisha buried her face into her hands.
Before I had the chance to console her, still keeping my eyes on the now distracted man, I heard the sounds of deliberate stomps approaching from inside the clear-cased space between us and the yet-exposed operators inadvertently working for Dimelo. Pygmy came up to where her head was just a foot from touching the podium Taylor stood upon; which I'd have recommended not occur.
But then, common sense didn't always apply here.
The tension was almost unbearable at this point when the young woman took a few steps back as the droid drew closer, I thought for just a moment that she was finally having a good dose of self-awakening when Pygmy stepped back, readied her big body and leapt up to meet Taylor's height.
Everyone held their breath as the droid's head surfaced to where she met the pregnant girl's wide eyes, and landed to the ground with a sturdy, resounding shake. Anxiety and tension changed into curiosity and wonderment as the droid erratically circled the outstretched podium. She blinked a few times and then jumped up again as Taylor was on the far side watching her. The two caught each other's eyes before she fell back down again, repeating the same shtick several more times.
The funny thing was - it was funny.
People were beginning to smile or grin at each other in restrained laughter as Pygmy kept making great 'leaps' to reach Taylor's height, even I found myself relaxing as the large droid was easing off the raw feelings of mutual distrust. I looked over at Trisha, her flushed face was now red with relief and amusement. The droid jumped around and around over excitedly, like a birthday child.
Taylor finally gave up trying to predict Pygmy's point of resurface and stood in the center.
"Nothing seems to faze her, does it? She'll go after what she wants head-on." Trisha commented.
"No." I chuckled in my husky voice. "I suppose a grandiose game of peek-a-boo proves that."
But the good humor was about to take an unexpected turn. Pygmy ceased her jumping, growing more curious herself as she passed under the extended tread of flooring. We all watched with no thought that the large robot would do anything harmful, when she rose up onto her toes and took the middle of the podium in hand. People began panicking as Pygmy tried to bring it downwards.
"Taylor!" Trisha cried out. Her daughter, stomach and all, was about to go off of the edge.
I locked eyes back with the chief droid operator and we pressed down in unison on our devices.
III. - Trant.
Realizing there wasn't really much of an option, the two turned to face me. If my life wasn't over with, I would have laughed at the surprised looks they developed when they realized that I stood by only an eight-foot-tall replica of my Motorix. That was an important rule, when you decided to connect bodily with a droid to transmute you it was wise to keep a few back-up manna cartridges.
"Giant," Garth said with no emotion. "I seemed to have dropped my trade tokens." He swerved his arm out to the far right and let a twined blue bag fall from his hand. "Will you set me down?"
The robot leaned down and plucked the bag up between his fingers instead. "Hogarth…"
"Nice Motorix replacement." He sneered humorlessly, leering at me as he took it back.
"Original matching ensembles." I replied innocently, mussing back my dark red hair.
"If Hector is back to try and murder Patroclus, my pal Achilles here won't… like… it."
I grinned slightly. "I would have taken your uncanny teamwork as that of the Aeantes."
"Great and little Ajax." The Giant reiterated without amusement towards the analogies.
Hogarth turned to him incredulously.
"Taylor."
"I'm impressed, Giant. Metal sculptures, literature…" He then remembered my presence.
"Speaking of which, how is Helen of Troy?" I asked.
The younger man shot me a hard look. "Care to say that at ground level?"
Surprisingly, the Giant lowered him down in a cautious motion and Garth strode over to me while his droid leaned down in a hovering crouch. As they bore down, I recalled the unpleasant experience with the unrelenting pair back in Iceland and swallowed back bile.
"You… you said only if I endangered your friend again." I struggled to remind the robot.
Nothing in his sharp-eyed expression so much as flinched, he leered at me spitefully. And when I looked back, the six-foot-two man was in my face. "Give me one good reason the Giant shouldn't stomp you into a bloody pulp." He leaned down and inquired indignantly.
I held my own and took a step back, composing myself. "As I said, I am not here-."
Garth clutched me by the shirt front and forced me up to his face, but there was a flash of some haunted realization in his deep blue eyes and he set me down tentatively. I had the strangest feeling that it was not just because of our close proximity. He recovered quickly.
"You're lucky I don't hack your balls off, gauge your eyes out and change them around." I could tell that even as he threatened me with some desire; there was a falter to his once forward and threatening brutality. It was as if Patroclus had discovered himself over time.
"The menace is gone, Garth." I told them both - knowing they could kill me. "I see the emptiness in your threats. Once you believed your friends were dead, you had potential-."
And then a pair of fingers that could pop my head as easily as a grape had my shirt front.
"No, wait." I begged quickly, my limbs trembling as the Giant rose me to his yellow eyes.
"Giant." Hogarth said bemusedly. "He's not worth the effort."
It was amazing, how calm and trusting he was around a creature fifty times his size. That connection they shared tightened the knot in my chest and I strained as far away from the enormous iron behemoth's penetrating stare as much as I could, trying to blur out his face.
"Just do it now." I didn't keep the tremor out of my voice, wanting it to end swiftly.
"You want me to do it?" There was great surprise in his baritone voice.
"Not fully," I admitted. "But I have nothing left in which to live for." My eyes closed.
"Trant." The Giant said in a low, heavy note, and than I felt the ground return. He got up in his crouch as I reopened my eyes; the robot was watching me now with a morose and unsettled expression at my irrational choice. "How dare you make me decide your fate."
"How dare you nearly step out of your noble bounds." I received a rough push.
"Trant, you crazy bastard!" Garth yelled at me angrily. "Do you have a death wish?"
I stood up and brushed myself off, pleased that someone else was questioning my sanity.
"It is a last resolve, Garth."
"Hogarth." The Giant started to correct.
"You're pawn scum, Mansley the third. Impure and simple - Kina's catch of the day."
I had been around Hogarth long enough to learn what puns were. "Kina is gone."
"So is your common sense." He said with a disgusted tone and turned to look at the now darkening sky, sighing roughly. "It looks like we're camping out one final night, Giant."
The robot didn't respond, he now had a decided look in his eyes. "Trant," I stifled a deep urge to cover myself with my arms as he said my name tersely. Maybe I could savage a sort of compensation with them like normal Alpha people, or maybe it would finally end.
"Yes." I stood up straight, keeping my shoulders upright so they wouldn't shudder.
"What do you need to tell us?" He asked patiently to the surprise of us both.
Hogarth and the Giant exchanged looks and I saw his fair-skinned face soften in it's deep grimace at his large friend's leniency, the undeserved show of consideration brought an unexpected wave of emotion passing through me; It relieved me to feel human right then.
"You're lucky the Giant's a stickler for mercy," Garth pinned me with another glare and crossed his arms tightly, daring me to do something wrong. "Make it damn good, Trant."
IV. - Taylor.
It's hard to describe falling in love, especially when you're falling. Everything felt like it could just fade away at that moment; my boys had been gone for three long weeks, Mom didn't know what to do with me, and my pregnancy had progressed at a very unhealthy, accelerated pace. I pin wheeled my arms to try to save us at that thought. No, my baby!
"Help!" My voice coughed in a choked sob.
And then… the unexpected descent had ended as abruptly as it had started.
I looked up as I was enveloped delicately inside violet-colored, cool metal hands with an unintentionally intimidating pair of large buttermilk eyes looking at me, enraptured. My initial reaction was to try and scoot away from the sudden presence, but I didn't get far.
"Taylor." Her deep, but young femalely sounding voice said. "Taylor… okay?"
A small smile parted my lips. "Pygmy…" I said her name helplessly. The way she was looking at me made my heart beat fast, the way my first crush had made me feel but in a different way. "I'm okay." She lifted her lower shutters a bit as I assured her all was fine.
"Taylor." Pygmy repeated my name in more of a statement. "Taylor?" she switched me gently to one hand and I backed away a little as she curbed two of her fingers in so as to touch the side of my face. I was use to this from the Giant, but this was a little different.
My distrust towards any droids other then him and Gold, wherever she was, still lingered.
I looked to see if she was disappointed, but she only brought them back at my disinterest.
Chewing my lower bowed lip, I pursed it out as I raised a hand slowly to try touching her.
Instead, Pygmy cupped me back into both of her hands like a fairy with broken wings and rose me up to her smooth, iron-flat face. "Taylor-," she sought my devotion, "and me?"
"Us." I confirmed and placed my hand upon her cheek. "You and I."
She started to put a finger to my stomach, paused and then pulled away. I fought an urge to laugh and moved the retreating round tip to touch my bulge. "Us all." Pygmy affirmed.
Who knew the bridge between man and machine could be built by a single material: love.
"All of us." I declared quietly.
V. - Hogarth.
Despite the fact that we hadn't believed a word Trant had to say, the Giant's conscience won out and we allowed the little red-haired pussy to spend the night a safe distance from us. I wrapped my weather-resistant jacket close around my bare shoulders, trying to get a spark of fire going using two stones as the onset of navy twilight outlined tall towers out in the distance of the main, Cuba-like city: Robocity Japan. The suspense was unnerving.
A grin crossed my face as I got a healthy flame started between my sparse little twig hut, but then a swift swoosh of wind and a pair of big heavy metal feet landed heavily down into the gully-like, black terrain trenches. The volcanoes chained around were inactive as they formed long, vegetation free archipelago; an unnatural earthquake could change that.
My flame nearly flitted out as the Giant's vibrations ended.
As I looked up at him, he leaned down and thrust split sticks right into the dying flicks of fire. My look turned rather wry as he produced another batch of brown for stoking up the blaze which now had an aura of saffron illuminating the outside wood; he sent me a kind of apologetic look as I placed my lighter back into my pocket and he handed me the final tofu-enclosed sandwich. I tried to hide my distaste of the sandwich and my lost appetite.
"We need to be ready for tomorrow." The Giant said with duty plain in his eyes.
"What would I do without you?" I joked and took a large bite, washing it down with coke.
"Let's not think that far." He responded, humoring, and cupped the fire as he slid down in a stretch-legged sit. I watched as the robot eyed his now smelted food supply with a very uneasy look, he saw my anticipant eyes and reached over to retrieve something up higher.
"I bet you slipped Trant a sandwich back there." The words flew out of my mouth.
"He's made a lot of mistakes, Hogarth. But we can't just let him starve."
"Humph!" I glared into the licking flames and ripped an angry bite out of my sandwich as my temper flared hotter then the fire or boiling water. "Queering out of reality and life at the thought of standing alone, populating the past with cyborgs." I got up and kicked dirt.
"Hogarth…" He caught my shoulder before I could lose it. "Stay with me." At the sound of his voice, I glanced over at him and saw the honest worry on his face. "Stay with me."
"Sorry," I said lamely and gently brushed his fingers aside. "You're right." The warmth heated my chilly upper body and cooled my hot bitterness. "It's back in the past, right?"
"Right." The Giant replied pleasantly, producing a metal spoon he had made. I shook my head in amusement and watched as he dipped the big makeshift flatware into the shallow pool of silver, emerging with a sticky, smelling scoop of thick melted metal. "Here I go."
"A silver spoon and a man on the moon…" I mused as the dark side of the glowing white orb had changed from first quarter to a near half point; an affect by the diluted atmosphere.
The large spoon eclipsed the expanding moon, and then rose to bring the smelted muck in to its final destination. "Delicious." He exaggerated, thumbing drops off of his mandible.
"Yum-yum for your metal tum-tum." I chuckled deeply.
"It's not that bad actually." The Giant scooped up another helping. "You drink water…"
"Well, yes, but not metal that smelled like the inside of a smith shop on fire."
"Mmm…"
The ebony shrouded scenery below cast an unnerving feeling over me; I lay sideways and looked out with my arms pressed to my chest to try settling my upset insides. There was no telling what was waiting for us, sometimes this felt less like a journey and more like a maze. I felt a quick poke against my shoulder and, grinning, pushed back the metal hand.
"It's all right, you know," His deep voice said, "I'd never let anything happen to you."
At this point, I was no longer ashamed to show my feelings. "I know, pal… 'Night."
"Good night, Hogarth."
I met his eyes and he met mine. Touched at his earlier kindness towards Trant, I smiled and we shut our eyes as one. The fire's calm heat blanketed me in the front, while the very familiar presence of safety encompassed my backside. I knew with absolute certainty that the Giant would never leave unless he had to, and I believed without a shadow of a doubt that my best friend and I could endure anything. The bond we shared was totally restored.
Nothing could come between us.
To be continued…
