Interludes After the 11th Angel, Part 2

Note, the parenthesis indicate languages other than Japanese, in this case, English.
Please Read and Review. I'd like to know what I'm doing right (to keep doing it), and what I am doing wrong (to correct it).

Tokyo-3

Now

"Hey! Look at that!" Shinji Ikari shook the shoulder of his friend Toji Suzuhara. They were on the way home from school, and a poster grabbed the pilot's attention. "Tickets now on sale!"

"The circus?" Toji scratched the back of his head, it had been a good while since the last time his friend had mentioned the circus, but it seemed it had just been pushed to the back of his mind.

Shinji's enthusiasm was very much present now. "Yes! Did you ask Hikari if she wants to go?"

"Uh… no. It slipped my mind." Toji's face went red, but Shinji didn't seem to notice.

"No problem. Let's go home and I'll buy the tickets from there. You call her and tell her I'm organizing an outing for all of us. My treat."

Undisclosed Location

2002

The two men looked around as they woke up in a dark room, both seated at a table. They occupied two of the three seats on one side, while a male figure sat at the only chair at the opposite side. Above their hears shone a powerful light, the other man was lit from behind, hiding his features perfectly. The man was heavy set, and seemed to have a short neck, his head seemed to rest directly on his shoulders. The little of his hair that could be seen was either grey or white.

"(Who are you and what do you want from us?)"

"(My name, Professor Ivo (1) doesn't matter,)" said the man seated in shadows, there was a glint of light where his eyes should be, but judging from the shape of the glint, the man wasn't wearing shades, maybe a kind of visor?

The man continued, "(what actually matters is what I can do for you. And what you can do for me, of course.)" There was a slight, barely perceptible accent in the voice, German, perhaps? Still, it was the voice of a man used to being obeyed.

Professor Ivo shot a glance to his partner and rival, Professor T. O. Morrow (2). Ivo's disfigured face twisted into a permanent sneer. "(What did you do this time?)"

"(Me? I haven't even entered my lab! Any of them! Not ever since the SSoSV (3) debacle! All I've done is theoretical work. In the isolated computer, thank you very much. Completely off the grid.)"

"(Gentlemen. Stop your bickering. We have important matters to discuss. I have been interested in your work for a long time. Amazo,)" he tilted his head towards Ivo, "(Red Tornado (4),) he looked at Morrow. "(But most especially, your last and greatest creation.)"

Both evil geniuses exchanged a look, but kept silent.

The man continued, "(I am aware you created her, Tomorrow Woman (5). A gynoid (6) so advanced it was undistinguishable from a true metahuman. Truly an outstanding job. Such a work of art it became a she, obtaining true sentience.)"

"(That was a mistake.)" Ivo grumbled. "(Somewhere in the programming…)"

"(It was the crowning jewel of our art, my friend!)" Morrow exclaimed, his voice riding in outrage.

"(Enough.)" The man spoke softly, but the annoyance in his voice was clear. "(What matters to me is that you two either created, or facilitated the creation, of something very rare. An artificial soul.)"

"(What?)" Both chorused.

"(A soul. Amazo is a great work, but it is tied to its programming. As its last clash with the Justice League proved. It was capable of copying the powers of the whole Justice League. At the same time. But the wording in its programming... As chairman of the JLA, Superman disbanded the League, and despite being literally surrounded by some of the most powerful meta humans in the world, Amazo wasn't able to copy any powers. Just because at the moment, none of them were active members of the JLA.)" (7)

Ivo's face went red, "(…well, yes... that was… a regrettable oversight.)" He shot a glare at Morrow, who made a good effort at looking innocent.(8) The only reason Morrow didn't whistle was because his mouth was suddenly dry.

The man continued, "(Red Tornado. Created to infiltrate the JLA and destroy them along with the JSA. It developed sentience, rebelled, and at the end, turned itself into a hero, overriding his programming.)"

This time it was Morrow who went red. "(The level of complexity of his programming...)"

"(No, it was not a matter of programming.)" The man said. "(An alien factor interfered.)" He slid a folder over the table. "(This file contains infirmation recovered from a piece of the JLA satellite, after its destruction. Though fragmented, it implies the Red Tornado Android was... possessed by an alien life form.)"

"(The Tornado monster?)" T.O. Morrow croaked, a fine sheen of sweat appeared on his brow. "(That thing almost killed me!)" (9)

"(Indeed, or more appropriately, that was Tornado Tyrant (10) and its counterpart, Tornado Champion (11).)"

"(The archive I have here implies that the alien factor in Red Tornado was truly alien. The Tornado Champion itself, a sentient creature made of living wind, first seen at the planet Rann, in its guise of Tornado Tyrant. The creature's mind eventually split in two, and was controlled by the second personality, Tornado Champion. It was this Tornado Champion that merged with the android body, giving it sentience. A kind of soul, if you want to use the term loosely. Though it took some time for said soul to really control both mind and body.)"

"(Well... that explains why the others have been functioning as programmed...)" Morrow noted.

"(However, nothing so far points at such a thing happening to Tomorrow Woman. Yet she did go against its programming. And I am using the correct pronouns in this particular case, so we can be clear about what happened. Now, the question I want answered, gentleman, is...)"

Ivo interrupted him, "(Why?)"

"(No. The why is actually easy. I already know why both Red Tornado and Tomorrow Woman rebelled against their programming. It's not something that can be solved with mere software adjustments. It is not a defect in the system. It is an inevitable consequence of the system itself. And it has happened more than once, though I admit that in the early instances, the results were far from benign. The JLA even faced more than a few self-aware artificial beings. In short, gentlemen, the matter is simple: anything complex enough to house a soul, will inevitably, either attract a soul, as was the case with Red Tornado; or develop one, as Tomorrow Woman did. Clones, even those grown artificially fast, develop their own souls in time. Superboy was the prime example of this. (12) Though I had not the chance to examine him, extrapolations from the Cadmus Project files and his own behavior leave no chance for any other conclusion.)" (13)

Both scientists gaped at him. The man continued. "(The original Red Tornado was exactly as complex as his duplicates. Yet it began to exhibit self-awareness almost immediately. Unlike the duplicates. Amazo, despite the complexity involved in copying powers, has a simpler brain. Tomorrow Woman was the most complex of them, I'm I right?)"

He continued, "(Amazo, in any of its versions, is still a slave to its programming, it falls short of being complex enough for sustaining a soul, therefore, it will always act within the parameters of its programming. Red Tornado didn't develop a soul by itself, but the body, the positronic brain (14) Professor Morrow created for it, was able to house one. If Tornado Champion had not taken the body over, it would have developed a soul by itself, given enough time. How long did it take for Tomorrow Woman to develop a soul? Four, five months?)"

"(Hum... from her activation to her destruction... seven months.)" Morrow said.

"(How long do you think the three other siblings (15) will take to develop their own souls, Professor Morrow?)" The man asked with ominous calm.

Morrows face paled considerably. "(I'm not waiting for that! All of them are very powerful and they could very well try to kill me too! I'll shut them all immediately!)" He fumbled in his pockets until he found a remote control. He pressed a complex sequence of buttons. "(Done, they will make some excuse or another, disappear from sight, and return to their stasis pods. I'll deactivate them later.)"

The man nodded approvingly. "(Good choice. What I want from you should be done in a controlled environment, with no chance for accidents. The Red Family is too powerful to risk them breaking free. And they might already grown their own souls, which would go against my goals.)"

The man leaned back on his chair, "(What I want from you is to study the process for growing or acquiring a soul, and find a way to... stop it. I require several clones, for a… project you need not worry about; and I need them to be soul-less husks, ready to accept an appropriate soul, a compatible soul provided by me. Think of it as a... transplant, or maybe, given your particular area of knowledge, fleshware ans soulware.)"

Both scientists looked at each other for a long time. Finally, they reached an agreement. "(We are going to need some test subjects.)" Morrow said.

"(That, I can provide.)" He opened a folder, the pictures inside were very clear.

Ivo grabbed the folder, "(Oh-hohoho! I've wanted to examine these wind-up toys for a long time!)" Ivo chuckled.

"(I have them. Their bodies are in stasis, but I'd rather have you begin working with the key part of their structures. The original bodies and systems are to be kept and preserved at a secret location, in case we ever need the original entities. However, as your task is to study the development of would, you'll only need the originals for comparison purposes. The plans and materials needed to build bodies and Responsometers will be delivered to you once you have reviewed your lab and coordinated with your collaborator. He is very adept with biological processes, and will be in charge of the cloning part of the Rebirth Project.)"

"(Wait, who do you mean?)" Morrow asked.

A new voice joined them, it was shrill and annoying. A thin man stepped in the room, his eyes hidden behind goggles, a spiky moustache under his nose, and a strange creature sitting on his shoulder, holding something that looked like a miniaturized video-camera in its hands. As he walked, the man rubbed his hands together in malicious anticipation. "(Well, but if it's not those two guys who tangle with the JLA! Heard you done a few of them in your time, Ivo my friend (16), and didn't collect a single sample! Tsk, tsk, ah, well, no sense in crying over the spilled blood. And genes, those are important.)"

"(Professor Ivo, Professor Morrow, this is your collaborator in this task. Dr. Dabney Donovan.)"

"(Genetist supreme and creator of monsters, at your service.)" The uneven moustache trembled in anticipation as he looked at Morrow's own facial hair, "(Oh, nice moustache, I'll need to remember to clone one. But I think I'll call it a… Must-Ache (17)! Yes! That's the ticket!)" Donovan sat heavily on the chair next to Morrow, smiling like a maniac, and for all his goggles obscured his eyes completely, Morrow felt like a bug under a magnifying glass.

On a sunny day.

Ivo and Morrow exchanged a worried look.

Tokyo-3

Katsuragi-Ikari Apartment

Now

Shinji walked around as he talked in the phone. "Misato, I think it will be good for everybody. Socializing and all that. But it will be fun. Ah, sure. How many? Yes, I can pay for their tickets too." He covered the phone with a hand, addressing Toji. "Misato is okay with the idea, but it has to be a Friday afternoon, and we have to go with some Section-2 bodyguards."

Toji nodded, it was Shinji's plan, so he would simply go along with whatever was decided.

Shinji nodded back, and uncovered the phone, "It's okay. I'll buy the tickets. The Circus arrives in two weeks, we can arrange things in the meanwhile. See you later, Misato. Bye." He hung up.

Smiling, he passed the phone to Toji. "Call Hikari, tell her I'm organizing the trip, and invite her. Friday, two weeks from now."

A possible XXVI Century

NERV-2 Base, Nevada Desert

"(Hey, which one of you bright lads sent a mail to the main address?)" Mari asked with laughter in her voice. There was a blinking icon on her screen.

Kamandi looked at Dr. Canus, who shrugged. "(It wasn't me.)" They chorused.

"(Really?)" Mari leaned forward on her chair. "(Well, let's see. I thought we were the only ones who still had a working computer.)"

Kamandi brightened immediately. "(Maybe there are other enclaves! More survivors!)"

"(Just what I was thinking, Blondie. Let's see what's this about, shall we?)" She pushed her glasses up her nose, and sent the image to the big screen. "(Ooookay, and Open Sesamail!)"

The mail opened. It read:

"(To Mari Makinami (AKA Fourth Child, AKA Problem Child), Andrew Forest, (AKA Kamandi), and Dr. Canus.

NERV-02 Base, Nevada Desert.)"

Kamandi gasped, "(A-Andrew Forest? Is that my name? Grandfather always called me Kamandi… but… it sounds right. It feels right…)"

"(Maybe the rest of the mail sheds light on that, my friend.)" Canus said, encouraging his human companion. "(Let's see what else it says, okay?)" Kamandi nodded.

"(Greetings.

You may wonder who am I and how it is possible for me to write to you.

I am the Artificial Intelligence known as Sky Surgeon, but I prefer the appellation 'Brother Eye' (18). An artificial satellite in geo-synchronic orbit above New York, I have been following your progress, waiting for the chance to contact you. This chance presented itself with your arrival to NERV-2 base, which is the only still functional base in the world. NERV-1, in Germany, and NERV-3 in Japan, were destroyed during, or just after the catastrophic even known as Third Impact, but you know it better as the Great Disaster (19).

My original function was to serve as a remote war surgeon, enhancing soldiers or treating their wounds as needed. Said purpose was put on hold due to the effective disappearance of the Human Race.)"

While Mari gasped and covered her mouth with her hands, Canus' ears perked up, "(Can it be? Could this Brother Eye know what happened?)" His interest was completely academic, he has spent his life investigating the remote past, the old technology and the Great Disaster, now he had a chance to find out what had actually happened.

"(The enclosed files contain the timeline of Third Impact, as recorded by myself as it happened, I obtained recordings from other satellites, so I have multiple points of view of the same event. The end result was the destruction of Mankind as a viable species, and the ascent of the enhanced animals that now are the rulers of the Earth. However, my analysis and projections all reach the same conclusion: civilization is doomed to fail on planet Earth. Eventually, the Animal Kingdoms will revert to Stone Age conditions, and devolve into unthinking animals.

This result cannot be allowed to pass.

I have been contacted by an old entity. The last remnant of the Age of Heroes. There is a way to stop Third Impact, and save both Mankind and Enhanced from the Great Disaster.

Review the files, discuss them. And contact me if you agree to help. The last file includes a radio frequency you can use to contact me directly. This would agilize our communications.

Brother Eye. (AKA Sky Surgeon)

Artificial Intelligence for Natural Intelligence.)"

"(Well… I had thought it could be just a mail that had been stuck since my time… but now…)" Mari tapped her chin with her left index finger. "(I guess you'll want to watch the files right now, don't you, Doc?)"

"(Oh, yes. Please!" Canus grabbed Mari's shoulder. "(I've been hoping for this moment my whole life!)"

"(Okay, Okay, breathe, Doc. You're perving again!)" Mari clicked on the first file. Later, she would freely admit she had not been remotely prepared for the images that appeared on the screen. She would have nightmares for months.

Author Notes

(1) Professor Ivo has been a thorn in the JLA's side for a long time, he debuted, along with his creation, Amazo, in The Brave and the Bold issue 30 (Jul, 1960).

(2) Professor T.O. Morrow debuted in The Flash 143 (Mar 1964). He found out Grenn Lantern's secret identity, but I'm not sure if he still remembers or has some convenient selective amnesia. In any case, for this story, he doesn't remember.

(3) The Secret Society of Super Villains. An on-and-off group. It debuted in Secret Society of Supervillains, Issue 1 (Jun, 1976). The membership has changed constantly. It is best known as the Legion of Doom in the TV Super Friends cartoon, and also appeared in the Justice League Unlimited. The debacle Morrow is referring to is part of the background for this story, and will be revealed in a future chapter.

(4) Red Tornado 2, an android created to infiltrate and destroy the Justice League of America and the Justice Society of America. But the android turned into a hero. He debuted in Justice League of America issue 64 (Aug, 1968)

(5) Tomorrow Woman debuted in JLA issue 5 (May, 1997)

(6) The correct term for a female robotic entity. Just like "Android" means "similar to a man", "Gynoid" means "similar to a woman".

(7) JLA 27 (Mar, 1999)

(8) Morrow's behavior is due to his actions in JLA 27.

(9) Morrow is referring to the events in Justice League of America issues 193 and 194 (Aug and Sept, 1981), detailing the origin of Red Tornado.

(10) Tornado Tyrant debuted in Mystery in Space, issue 61 (Aug, 1960), as one of the threats Adam Strange faced in Rann.

(11) Tornado Champion was first seen in Justice League of America issue 17 (Feb, 1963)

(12) Sorry about using the word "prime" in the same sentence than Superboy. I'm referring to the young Superman clone who debuted in Adventures of Superman, issue 500 (Jun, 1993). The very same who has been stuck in the XXXIst Century.

(13) All this discussion about souls was inspired by the talk Raven gives to Superboy in Teen Titans 26 (Sept, 2005), the events in that issue didn't happen in this story.

(14) A little homage to Isaac Asimov, whose robot stories shaped a lot of the SF stories that came after his.

(15) T.O. Morrow created a whole set of element based Androids and a Gynoid, complementing Red Tornado (adult male, element Air). They are Red Volcano (adult male, element Earth, debuted in DC Universe, issue 0, Jun, 2008); Red Torpedo (adult female, element Water; Red Tornado issue 1; Nov 2009); and Red Inferno (teen male, element Fire, Red Tornado issue 2, Dec 2009). As they debuted after the year 2000, they won't have an active part in this story.

(16) Donovan is referring to the last four issues of the original Justice League of America. Issues 258 to 261 (Jan to Apr, 1987). Two members of the JLA, Vibe and Steel, were killed by robotic duplicates of Professor Ivo.

(17) Most of Donovan's creations are based on awful puns. A habit he shares with his creator, Jack Kirby.

(18) Brother Eye debuted in OMAC issue 1 (Oct, 1974), as partner and guide to the titular OMAC. Both are Kirby creations. The OMAC storyline did not happen in this story, though I kept the Buddy Blank character as Kamandi's 'Grandfather', the story gives both a slightly different origin, which I'll explore in a future chapter.

(19) In Kamandi, the Great Disaster that killed human civilization was never detailed, though it was hinted it was a nuclear war, the radiation level was not high enough for it. Third Impact is a handy explanation here. It even explains the few degenerate humans in Kamandi's time!