Burning Embers
Chapter Six: Once Lost


Roger felt a strange coldness wash over him, a stillness of the nervous and various thoughts. Around him, everything became infinitely clear and sharp. He felt himself focus, a conscious act to see what was going on, and what he had to do. His emotions still raged just under the surface but he felt he had a tighter hold on them now. He could not let them get in the way of his decision, whatever it may be. He needed to see, to think. To know.

Michael stood before him, transformed from the oddly polite gentleman into a raging, angry man wanting to understand a part of himself that could probably never be fully understood. The memories he had caught glimpses of had showed him what was held in the secret depths of his mind and he had been caught up in the idea of rediscovery, to know what every human has always wanted to know.

Themselves.

And what was worse was that Roger had a feeling that the megadeuce did have the answers, the truth this man wanted. But on the other hand, Big O sometimes did as it wanted, without the consent of its pilot. If Price was allowed inside the cockpit, who knew what would happen? Heck, Roger didn't even know if Big O would allow a stranger inside. It was all so many fragments of a past best forgotten.

"Call the megadeuce, Roger, or you will lose Dorothy forever." Michael said, somewhat more calmly. Roger turned his gaze to Dorothy, trying to find life in the bottomless black eyes.

There was none.

She was completely under Price's control. And that only made his job harder. If only she would wake up and snap Michael Price in two like a twig. Well, maybe not that dramatic, but at least get away so Roger wouldn't have to worry about her. So he wouldn't have to say out loud the choice he had already made.

But it wasn't going to happen. Dorothy couldn't help him in this, and he couldn't negotiate with her on the line. No, everything counted on him, and him alone.

He took a deep breath and raised his wrist, looking grimly at the swirled faceplate of his watch.

"Big O." He whispered, closing his eyes. "It's show time."

The ground erupted under their feet, sending them lurching to the side as the gigantic robot unearthed itself. Roger stepped back, surprised at how fast the robot had reacted. Had it known what was going on? Did it know what Roger needed it to do?

Michael Price laughed delightedly as the earth stilled, and Big O waited quietly. He turned and gave Roger a mock bow, his arm still around Dorothy.

"Thank you, Roger Smith. And I hope you don't mind if I keep the young android a bit longer." He raised a hand as Roger stepped forward angrily. "Just until my memory is restored, as insurance you might say. I wouldn't want Big O here to trap me before I've gotten what I want." He smirked. "Don't worry, she will be returned to you. A pity, though, for her. To go back to where she isn't really appreciated." He shrugged, and stepped into Big O's waiting hand, pulling Dorothy with him, and Roger could only watch helplessly as they ascended to the cockpit. It was all up to Big O, now.

And the robot seemed to sense it.

As Roger watched from below, he noticed that Big O kept part of the sliding hatch open so that he could see, indistinctly, what was going on inside. Roger frowned. Maybe Big O really did know what it needed to do.

Roger saw Michael lean forward to read the words scrolling by on the projection screen, and it was the last sane thing that happened, for the next few moments would be spent in chaos.

* * * *

Dorothy knew someone was calling her.

It was an indistinct buzzing that she wanted to swipe away. It nagged at her, whispered in her ear, speaking a language that only her kind could understand. The coded language of computers.

It was a 'voice' she heard in her dreams sometimes, late at night after the nightmares had faded. A soothing, deep presence that reminded her, somehow, of Roger. It pulled at her now, trying to free her from the inky darkness that surrounded her. Her senses were all muddled, and she couldn't see clearly. Indeed, she didn't even remember where she was. The only thing she knew for certain was that the voice was insistent, it would not let up. It wanted her to come to it, to liberate herself from whatever prison she was in now. And she didn't know why, but she felt she could trust it.

So she did the only thing she could do.

She reached for it.

The voice immediately surrounded her, helping her. It spoke calming words to her, and urged her forward, towards the light that beckoned just around the corner. As she drew farther and farther away from the dark place she had been in, she began to understand the voice more and more. It was someone she had known for awhile, a friend even, and it communicated directly with her circuits, showing her what it wanted her to see.

And she suddenly knew who the voice belonged to. Knew who led her back to the world, and Roger.

Big O.

* * * *

She jerked back into reality with a snap. Her body lurched forward and something fell from her headband and shattered on the floor of the cockpit. She looked numbly at it, trying to pull herself back together. After a moment she realized it was the tiara Angel had put on her. And in that instant, she knew that Michael had been controlling her.

She turned her head slightly and met Michael's shocked gaze.

"You...you.." He shook himself. "How did you get free from my program?"

She straightened, her mind reeling with the information Big O was feeding into her system. In one tenth of a second she knew what had happened while Price had had her subdued, and a place deep within her (her heart?) ached as she realized Roger had given up Big O, for her. But she couldn't dwell on it because Big O kept 'speaking' with her.

"You thought you could control me." She said, flatly, her eyes narrowing at Michael. She took a step towards him and his face clouded.

"You aren't what I need." He snapped at her, turning back to the screen in front of him. He pounded on the arm of pilot's chair with a fist. "Show me what I want to see, Big O!" He shouted. "Show me the truth!"

Cast in the name of good...

Hardly realizing what she was doing, she stepped in front the display, blocking Michael's view of the screen. He looked up at her, surprised. Big O hummed in her ears.

"I will show you what you want to know." She said, quietly. "I will show you the truth." She reached out and placed her palms against his temples. Images flooded through her the moment she connected with his skin. They poured through her from Big O, and into Michael, who spasmed in his chair, overloaded with what he was seeing.

From outside, she could faintly hear Roger screaming her name, but she couldn't break away, couldn't even speak. Memories from what must have been Michael's life flew through her mind's eye. She saw him as a child, as a teenager, and even as he bumped purposefully into a red headed android in a supermarket. Everything she saw had already happened, right up to the moment they were in. Nothing was from any past life he might have led. Nothing from the moment before amnesia. Why was Big O only showing him the life he was living now?

But even as she thought the question, Big O answered her, and Michael heard it, too. As the words echoed in his mind, he screamed and Dorothy screamed with him, connected as she was to him. She felt the presence of Big O shield her mind, and she stumbled back away from Michael, yanking her hands away from his head. She collapsed onto the cold, smooth floor of the cockpit, her mind whirling and aching from acting as a conduit between the megadeuce and Michael. In the pilot's chair, Michael slumped back, his face slack.

Ye not guilty...

Dorothy passed out.

* * * *

tbc...

epilogue out tomorrow so keep a watch! I would have written it all in one but I'm too tired from class.. *yawn* so, how was it? I liked the idea of Big O communicating with Dorothy so I hoped it came across okay. IT'S ALIVE! Just kidding, get ready for some lovey mush next time and hope this had enough action for ya! Wonder what happened to angel? He he he he *runs off laughing hysterically*

*comes out wearing an apron* now for some ....pickles! what? Why pickles you may ask? Well, my roommate LOVES pickles. She is perfectly content to sit down with a can of pickles and start munching so I brought some for all of you! Aren't you happy? *blinkes innocently*

please review! *big hug*

twilight