Ch. 2: A futile hope?
The white doors shuddered apart and admitted X into the room. Alia was at her desk, in front of her computer. She pushed away from the desk (her armchair was on wheels), and considered the data on the screen, a frown on her face. The she shook her head.
"This can't be right… It's impossible…"
X walked over to her and rested a hand on her shoulder. She jumped a little.
"Oh! X, you surprised me."
"Don't tell me you didn't hear me come in. The hydraulics on your door requires servicing."
"Yes, well, I'm not really concerned with that. I wanted to show you this," she indicated the screen. X took a chair from beside her pod (a pod is to reploids what a bed is to humans) and sat beside her. They both looked at the display. He saw a wave pattern that flared up for a second, and then died away, to repeat itself over again.
"An energy signature of some kind?"
"You recognize the pattern? HQ received it once per day for three days during this week. It transmitted for one second, then died away."
"So, what is the significance? There are energy signatures from reploids across the Earth that can be received by HQ at any time of the day."
"Yes, but this one came from Sector Z, coordinates (0,0)"
"The South Pole?"
"Correct. Also, it was received at midnight each time."
X noted that on the 24-hour clock, midnight was also called 'zero hundred hours'.
"So… a regular signal, positioned at the South Pole and transmitted midnight each time. Is there anything else?"
"Yes… the reason I called you… The signal… It's Zero's."
"WHAT!!!" X yelled, his eyes dilating several inches. He looked at the screen, which had the ever-repeating wave pattern of Zero's energy signature. Alia grinned slightly. She knew that X would be bowled over by this revelation.
"Zero… you're alive? I knew you were…" he murmured, eyes transfixed on the screen. Was it a futile hope? Both reploids were uncertain.