Chapter 12
Back at Garden, the whole group excluding Selphie was sat around the briefing table in Cid's office. Papers were strewn everywhere.
"Where the hell is she?" asked Gered. Squall shrugged. How can he be so uncaring Gered thought to himself. "She is one of us. We have to do something!" Squall still remained silent. "Don't you care what will happen to her?" Gered stood up violently sending his chair crashing to the floor. Quistis took his shoulder, to try and calm him down. Reluctantly, he picked his chair back up and sat down. Irvine spoke.
"Where's Selphie anyway?"
"She's in the second floor classroom." Said Quistis "She is hacking into some mainframes or something. I don't pretend to understand, but I think she is trying to get some information as to Yannie's whereabouts."
"I'll go see how she is getting along." Irvine left the room.
"So, until we get some information, what is the plan?" Quistis asked, directing her question at Squall.
"I don't know? What are we supposed to do?" he swivelled his chair and stood up. "We can't look for someone if we don't know where to begin."
"We have to try!" shouted an angry Gered.
"See it from my view." Said Squall in a rather condescending tone. "There are other missions need accomplishing. I can't waste valuable recourses to save one person." Gered's hand made a fist. Squall continued. "She wasn't even a SeeD. And we hadn't known her that long. I don't think there is anything we can do."
"You wouldn't say that if that was Rinoa out there would you?" the even mention of her name had been forbidden in his presence since she had left. Squall said nothing. "Ah, have I hit a raw nerve there Squall? You know as well as I do that you would die for her. Not that she'd care…"
"You leave Rinoa out of this!" he turned and shouted. "We are not sending out a party for her and that's it!"
"You evil low life bastard. She's not some two-bit piece of meat you can leave to the kill. She is a person and…"
"She's not a person. She's a thing. I'm not going to risk my forces to save an object!"
"Take that back!" he shouted, walking across the room to where Squall stood. He was about the same height as Squall and looked him straight in the eyes. Their faces only a couple of inches apart, he said it again. "Take that back!"
The others could sense there was going to be trouble. Zell tried to intervene.
"Hey come on guys. Lighten up…."
"Keep out of this Zell." Shouted Squall. Zell stood back.
"Take it back…"
"Nothing but a piece of meat…"
"Bastard…no wonder Rinoa left with you as a boyfriend." Squall lunged for Gered, fighting him to the floor. He punched him twice in the face before the combined efforts of Zell and Quistis managed to pry them apart. Gered sat on the floor, and raised his hand to his lip. Blood.
"Son of a…"
"I'm calling Cid." Said Quistis picking up the phone.
"Don't bother." Said Squall. "I'm outta' here." He exited through the door. Quistis put down the phone and knelt down next to Gered.
"You ok?"
"I'll survive."
"You really pushed your luck there." Said Zell. "Never bring up the 'R' word."
"You want to see the doctor?"
"No, I want to find Yannie."
************************
Selphie was sat at a computer in the classroom. She usually only used them to update her school Garden Festival page. But today, it was being used for a much more important, and no doubt an illegal, use. It was then that Irvine walked through the door.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Anything yet?"
"No, 'fraid not." She slumped back in her chair and sighed. Irvine looked at the screen. Random letters and numbers flickered and darted in some sort of hyper-electronic dance."
"How the Hyne can you read that?"
"I majored in computer science for my pre SeeD modulars at Trabia. Passed with a distinction."
"They teach you how to hack as well there?" Selphie laughed.
"Hehe! No, hacking was 'Extra Curricular'!" Irvine smiled.
"Does Cid know what you are doing?"
"Not officially. Just covering himself in case anyone finds out. Off the record though we have the go ahead. He is really eager to find her. As if he knows something we don't." She sat back up and began typing furiously at the keyboard. For a while they engaged in idle chit-chat. Then Selphie interrupted Irvine's invigorating story of how he once beat a T-rexaur single-handily saying,
"Wait a minute!"
"What?"
"I think I've got something! Look here." She pointed to the screen. "That name look familiar?"
"Ocaspe? That's Yannie's surname isn't it?"
"Read it all."
"The O.C.A.S.P.E. Project?" they were both stunned.
"I found this while searching trough the files at Odine labs."
"What does it mean?"
"I think," said Selphie "we have found our girl."
"Can you get anymore information?"
"I'll try." Again she began typing furiously. "This is all I can get. Anymore and they'll know we were there." Irvine read it out loud.
"37 years ago, Odine labs embarked on a project so vast in its importance, it was able to achieve what its predecessors had only ever dreamed. After 20 years of research, the plan finally came to fruition. Unfortunately, the test subject, lovingly nicknamed 'Yannie' by the lab staff mysteriously disappeared when only three years old. A major search was launched, but was called of when no trace of the test subject was found. 20 years of hard work and dedication to the project had been wasted. And with her disappearance, went all the information we would require to create the Yannie Mk 2."
"That's all I can find." Irvine was speechless, but managed to find the words,
"She…She was created?"
"Looks like it."
"Why?" Selphie typed some more keys and shook her head. "I can't find out. She must've been important." Irvine flopped down in a chair. He took of his hat and rubbed his head.
"It all makes so much sense now."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. You remember her telling that she had never had a family. She couldn't remember her parents? And that cage that trapped her. I thought at the time that it must've been Estharian. The only place I know with technology like that." Selphie was silent for a moment. What she had to say, she already knew Irvine would be thinking, but it needed saying anyway.
"You don't think Sir Laguna knows anything?" Irvine said nothing. "I mean he is president of Esthar after all."
"Squall is not going to like this. You know what a touchy subject his father is."
"Still, he might be able to help us."
"What if he was the one who ordered her kidnap?" Irvine put his hat back on.
"You don't think he would do that do you?" Selphie said worried.
"Depends on how important she is…"
"I'll print this off. Let's go see the others."
***********************
Quistis, Zell and Gered, were once again sat around the table. Gered was rifling through some papers, Zell was looking through a dossier, and Quistis was sat in deep thought. It was then Selphie and Irvine burst through the door.
"We've got it!" they shouted in unison. Then they noticed Gered's black eye and bloody lip.
"What happened to you?" asked a concerned Selphie.
"He mentioned Rinoa." Said Zell, plopping the dossier on the tale.
"Yikes," said Irvine. "That's playing with fire. We bumped into Squall in the corridor. Thought he looked agitated."
"What have you got." Asked Gered, looking at the paper in Selphie's hand.
"Oh yeah." She handed it over to him. He read it and fell back in his chair. Quistis took the paper from his hand and read it also. Zell stood behind her and read it over her shoulder.
"I guess Squall was right." Said Gered. "She's not human, she is an object."
Back at Garden, the whole group excluding Selphie was sat around the briefing table in Cid's office. Papers were strewn everywhere.
"Where the hell is she?" asked Gered. Squall shrugged. How can he be so uncaring Gered thought to himself. "She is one of us. We have to do something!" Squall still remained silent. "Don't you care what will happen to her?" Gered stood up violently sending his chair crashing to the floor. Quistis took his shoulder, to try and calm him down. Reluctantly, he picked his chair back up and sat down. Irvine spoke.
"Where's Selphie anyway?"
"She's in the second floor classroom." Said Quistis "She is hacking into some mainframes or something. I don't pretend to understand, but I think she is trying to get some information as to Yannie's whereabouts."
"I'll go see how she is getting along." Irvine left the room.
"So, until we get some information, what is the plan?" Quistis asked, directing her question at Squall.
"I don't know? What are we supposed to do?" he swivelled his chair and stood up. "We can't look for someone if we don't know where to begin."
"We have to try!" shouted an angry Gered.
"See it from my view." Said Squall in a rather condescending tone. "There are other missions need accomplishing. I can't waste valuable recourses to save one person." Gered's hand made a fist. Squall continued. "She wasn't even a SeeD. And we hadn't known her that long. I don't think there is anything we can do."
"You wouldn't say that if that was Rinoa out there would you?" the even mention of her name had been forbidden in his presence since she had left. Squall said nothing. "Ah, have I hit a raw nerve there Squall? You know as well as I do that you would die for her. Not that she'd care…"
"You leave Rinoa out of this!" he turned and shouted. "We are not sending out a party for her and that's it!"
"You evil low life bastard. She's not some two-bit piece of meat you can leave to the kill. She is a person and…"
"She's not a person. She's a thing. I'm not going to risk my forces to save an object!"
"Take that back!" he shouted, walking across the room to where Squall stood. He was about the same height as Squall and looked him straight in the eyes. Their faces only a couple of inches apart, he said it again. "Take that back!"
The others could sense there was going to be trouble. Zell tried to intervene.
"Hey come on guys. Lighten up…."
"Keep out of this Zell." Shouted Squall. Zell stood back.
"Take it back…"
"Nothing but a piece of meat…"
"Bastard…no wonder Rinoa left with you as a boyfriend." Squall lunged for Gered, fighting him to the floor. He punched him twice in the face before the combined efforts of Zell and Quistis managed to pry them apart. Gered sat on the floor, and raised his hand to his lip. Blood.
"Son of a…"
"I'm calling Cid." Said Quistis picking up the phone.
"Don't bother." Said Squall. "I'm outta' here." He exited through the door. Quistis put down the phone and knelt down next to Gered.
"You ok?"
"I'll survive."
"You really pushed your luck there." Said Zell. "Never bring up the 'R' word."
"You want to see the doctor?"
"No, I want to find Yannie."
************************
Selphie was sat at a computer in the classroom. She usually only used them to update her school Garden Festival page. But today, it was being used for a much more important, and no doubt an illegal, use. It was then that Irvine walked through the door.
"Hey."
"Hey."
"Anything yet?"
"No, 'fraid not." She slumped back in her chair and sighed. Irvine looked at the screen. Random letters and numbers flickered and darted in some sort of hyper-electronic dance."
"How the Hyne can you read that?"
"I majored in computer science for my pre SeeD modulars at Trabia. Passed with a distinction."
"They teach you how to hack as well there?" Selphie laughed.
"Hehe! No, hacking was 'Extra Curricular'!" Irvine smiled.
"Does Cid know what you are doing?"
"Not officially. Just covering himself in case anyone finds out. Off the record though we have the go ahead. He is really eager to find her. As if he knows something we don't." She sat back up and began typing furiously at the keyboard. For a while they engaged in idle chit-chat. Then Selphie interrupted Irvine's invigorating story of how he once beat a T-rexaur single-handily saying,
"Wait a minute!"
"What?"
"I think I've got something! Look here." She pointed to the screen. "That name look familiar?"
"Ocaspe? That's Yannie's surname isn't it?"
"Read it all."
"The O.C.A.S.P.E. Project?" they were both stunned.
"I found this while searching trough the files at Odine labs."
"What does it mean?"
"I think," said Selphie "we have found our girl."
"Can you get anymore information?"
"I'll try." Again she began typing furiously. "This is all I can get. Anymore and they'll know we were there." Irvine read it out loud.
"37 years ago, Odine labs embarked on a project so vast in its importance, it was able to achieve what its predecessors had only ever dreamed. After 20 years of research, the plan finally came to fruition. Unfortunately, the test subject, lovingly nicknamed 'Yannie' by the lab staff mysteriously disappeared when only three years old. A major search was launched, but was called of when no trace of the test subject was found. 20 years of hard work and dedication to the project had been wasted. And with her disappearance, went all the information we would require to create the Yannie Mk 2."
"That's all I can find." Irvine was speechless, but managed to find the words,
"She…She was created?"
"Looks like it."
"Why?" Selphie typed some more keys and shook her head. "I can't find out. She must've been important." Irvine flopped down in a chair. He took of his hat and rubbed his head.
"It all makes so much sense now."
"Huh?"
"Think about it. You remember her telling that she had never had a family. She couldn't remember her parents? And that cage that trapped her. I thought at the time that it must've been Estharian. The only place I know with technology like that." Selphie was silent for a moment. What she had to say, she already knew Irvine would be thinking, but it needed saying anyway.
"You don't think Sir Laguna knows anything?" Irvine said nothing. "I mean he is president of Esthar after all."
"Squall is not going to like this. You know what a touchy subject his father is."
"Still, he might be able to help us."
"What if he was the one who ordered her kidnap?" Irvine put his hat back on.
"You don't think he would do that do you?" Selphie said worried.
"Depends on how important she is…"
"I'll print this off. Let's go see the others."
***********************
Quistis, Zell and Gered, were once again sat around the table. Gered was rifling through some papers, Zell was looking through a dossier, and Quistis was sat in deep thought. It was then Selphie and Irvine burst through the door.
"We've got it!" they shouted in unison. Then they noticed Gered's black eye and bloody lip.
"What happened to you?" asked a concerned Selphie.
"He mentioned Rinoa." Said Zell, plopping the dossier on the tale.
"Yikes," said Irvine. "That's playing with fire. We bumped into Squall in the corridor. Thought he looked agitated."
"What have you got." Asked Gered, looking at the paper in Selphie's hand.
"Oh yeah." She handed it over to him. He read it and fell back in his chair. Quistis took the paper from his hand and read it also. Zell stood behind her and read it over her shoulder.
"I guess Squall was right." Said Gered. "She's not human, she is an object."