Chapter 8
X sits in the tiny saucer, he cant quite hear what Wily is saying to the reploid guard that pilots the hovercraft, but X can hear the anti gravity whirls of both vehicles clearly. They hum in sequence, in a phasing reverberation that vibrates the hulls of both and feels pleasant. Xs processors already determine that the frequency will overlap every 44.212 seconds. He starts to anticipate the vibrating metal and he noticed his excitement growing as the moment of sync gets closer. It reaches the harmonic point and the ships vibrate again, X feels a soothing ,comforting, almost sleep inducing wave pass through his body.
Then, as if he was aware he was being distracted, snapped back to focus. X was thinking about that footage of Wily and this Rock robot. X wasn't that surprised really that he used to be another robot. He didn't feel any loss of self, he never felt any hole inside that needed filling. This was the way things were and for whatever end it brings, good or bad, this is his world now. Something did bother him though.
I wonder if the computer in this little saucer will be enough.
No, Wily did say its his personal logs. I shouldn't. But , its already in my head and I suppose I can delete it. Ill still need to hook up to this computer to do it.
X links himself with the saucers computer. Wily has already convinced the robot guard that he is a reploid tech here to help with a massive order from the city of Neo Tokyo. All the waste disposal bots and support vehicles are due for a moving parts overhaul. Wily had forged contract papers and a work permit. X could tell the ship was moving again. He was just gonna delete this data real quick...
X starts to scan the file names and dates from the data logs in his memory. He deletes one after another, after another, until the very last entry log dated,Jan 1st, 205X. X hesitates, but then activates the memory file.
Straight away Xs perspective shifts to a camera lens on the outside of Wilys saucer. Its landed in a wooded area with a country style log cabin at the north end of the wood line. He can see Wily clearly,on his back , on the ground. The same blue robot is standing over him. The right foot of the blue bot is on top of Wilys left arm, at the bicep. The left foot of the blue bot is standing on Wilys chest. Wily is crying out in pain and you see the face of blue bot light up with a bright smile. He leans forward and presses down his weight. Wily screams out, as loud as he can ,for about 3 tenths of a second before he passes out. Just a shriek that cut out as quick as flicking a switch. The pain too great for his mind to process. The blue bot takes a few steps back and then starts to take random shots at Wilys body. The bursts of plasma are as small as grains of rice but the bot is shooting them at such a high speed that the naked eye cannot see it. Small holes randomly give way to small pools of blood, now to starting to cover the front of Wilys chest...From out of the sky comes a red flying object. It has the head of a dog in front and its rear legs are boosters. It slams into the blue bot throwing him off of Wily. The blue bot rolls quickly into a recovery and takes aim at the red aerial attacker. A massive energy blast erupts from behind the blue bot. A Red bot with a scarf and dark glasses has blindsided the would be attacker. A 10 meter by 10 meter blast explodes with a shocking force. The ground beneath this behemoth wave fractures and then melts and small debris and sand are forced out of their resting places at high speeds. A pebble flys right off into the camera from Xs perspective. The last millisecond before the end of the recording,X could see the massive blast;exploding the blue bot into pieces...
Dr. Wily - Out...
Dr. Wily commands the hatch to open. A little door pops open in front. X comes crawling out.
Dr. Wily - what took you so long? Couldn't you tell we were moving? We have already landed. Come outside and look at the city...
X doesn't answer but looks eager and follows Wily out of the inner hold and out of the ships exit. The lights of Neo Tokyo , snare Xs attention...
X - This place. Its, its beautiful...
Dr. Wily - beauty is in the eye young man. Come..im afraid our view for the next while wont be as pleasant as all this.
Wily stands over a manhole cover. The saucer stands landed in the yard of an abandoned prison. The lights of Neo Tokyo are so bright, they reach all the way out to the defunct industrial yard is lit as if by full moon. Green vines and honey-suckle wrap all through the chain link fence surrounding the parking flashes of colors reflect on the grass that have grown wild through the yard. The neon signs of the highest permitted posts shine so bright and hot, that moths getting even within 3 feet can catch fire. Such signs were also considered great lighthouses for bad smog days to keep vehicle to building collisions to within a respectable ten a year.
The prison looks run down. X looks at wily expecting some kind of instruction.
Dr. Wily - down here im afraid...
X descends with Wily below.
Down the ladder but as X closes the manhole ,which surprisingly wasn't heavy ,a force seems to pull the manhole cover down and two emitter arrays form a force field below the cover. X reaches up like a curious child to touch the force field with his index finger. Unlike a human however, he judges the distance to within a thousandth of an inch. He only allows a small surface of molecules to interact with the field to gauge its power. He determines the emitters increase power to the field the further he pushes his finger. He only need sacrifice an extra thousandth for the verification. X looks at his finger. It hurt a little.X's mind immediately comes up with the conclusion he could force the emitters to overheat by forcing a hard substance like diamond into the field to break it. The split second urge was deemed irrational and X continues down the ladder into a typical stone sewer passageway.
At least, typical in the layout only. The lighting is kept very dim but X can see that there isnt a piece of dust let alone filth down here. A puzzling expression comes over Xs face. Hes never been in a sewer. How does he know its supposed to be filthy from human waste? He ignores it and looks to catch up to Wily. He can smell the old mans scent and dusty lab coat and follows it down a straight corridor. The air is clean. The air. I am a robot do I even respirate? The answer almost comes to him as if hes known his own body forever and just had a silly moment of forgetfulness at something so obvious. He constantly is testing conditions with all his senses, not just seeing and hearing. Replicating the process of breathing provides a good way to get real time environmental data. Each breath refreshes the current status of the area directly around him. Xs focuses a moment on heightening his senses. He breaths in very slow through his nose and lets his eyes goes out of focus. He stands very still. Wilys steps can be heard now as if they were made by a gorilla standing next to him. He smells Wilys breath from the trail still hanging in the air. X jogs to catch up to Wily. He closes in and the bland trail of granite stone gives way to a highly advanced hatch. Octagon shaped. Single square shaped glass window to look through.
The door is silver in color and before X could really get a good look it opens up automatically at such a speed that it almost seemed the door disappeared rather than moved into its recesses. It made no noise either. Then a pop.
X is momentarily startled.
Wily is standing on the other side of the hatch. Grinning.
Wily - Like that? I haven't seen anyone jump from that hatch in years. That still, is quite amusing. Its a small sonic boom from the speed of the hatch opening. Its a hyper magnetic pull device that makes clever use of mono-pole magnets. Yes. Yes I know! Right? Mono-poles would push each other, oh but thats the...well nevermind. Come come...
X walks through the opening and the hatch shuts behind him. The speed of its closing is a ridiculous snail crawl.
Wily - Safety first after all...
Wily looks at X with the smirk of a confident comic artist , sure of a laugh to come.
X doesnt get it of course.
Wily - Yeah well , ive never cared much about safety X,that was the joke.
X gets a flash of memory back to the shriek of the same man in front of him, passing out in agony.
Wily - Come lay down here X...
Wily has his hands over a lab table as if hes presenting an item to bid for a public auction.
Wily - If you will be so kind ?
Wily is bowing with his arm to the side as if leading the way.
