~*Act I: Scene I*~
Setting: Former Sanc Kingdom
Year: AC 260
Location: Wind Electronics
Time: Late Evening
A tall elderly man dressed in deep blue, green and silver of the Winner corporation walked through the plastiglass doors of the lab department of large electronics company that served most of Earth-sphere now. He scanned the off white room silently through his visible emerald eye and then nodded silently at the gray haired man walking towards him.
The doctor smiled at him and bowed slightly at the waist towards him. "I am deeply honored that you found time to come here, Professor Barton."
Trowa nodded slightly in response and scanned the room once more before finally speaking. "What was it that you thought I had to see.. I don't see anything here that I haven't seen before."
The gray haired man turned and gestured towards a silver door across the room. "My name is Dr. Marrin. It's in the room behind that door.. as you might of heard we found Peacecraft's notes 8 years ago.." Trowa nodded silently as Marrin walked across the room towards the silver door. Trowa followed him and stood behind him as the doctor entered a code through the pad beside the door. "Well, as you know they held numerous things that greatly helped us figure out what he had planned on doing before he.. passed on."
"Yes. I know all that." he said quietly as the door hissed open. He remembered very well when the tall blond had finally succumbed to the Angel virus that wasted away his muscles and fine motor skills slowly for ten long years. The Angel of death had finally stopped his heart and robbed the world of one of the finest minds it had known since the last wars had ended. Now only two of them, himself and Quatre remained alive, or awake to recall those times and the people of them. The other pilots, Heero and Duo, had been placed under frozen sleep. Their bodies slowed down under there was barely any life signs on the monitors..
He followed the doctor through the door and into the small white room beyond, stopping when the other man did just in front of another door. "We have to be sterilized before going any further." Marrin told him as a hard heated wind whipped around them, blowing his bangs out of his face briefly and revealing an old scar along his hidden eye, that barely missed the eye itself.
As the wind slowly died down he let his mind remember the Chinese pilot, Wufei. The warrior scholar had taken his life fourteen years ago in a ritual suicide after hearing of Milliardo's death. He had tried to stop him, only to have Wufei attack him and snarl that since the blond doctor had died he'd lost any reason of living, and referred some kind of A.I. project called Leo 13. Then he cut his own throat and died before Trowa could get him to the hospital.
Another hiss brought him out of his memories and he looked up to see Marrin step through the door and out into the room beyond. Following silently he scanned the large room and noticed two large round plastiglass columns set in the center of the room. One was empty, the other held a web of wires flowing through crystal veins that were attached to an ebony cube. "What is that?" he asked quietly.
Marrin smiled towards him as he gestured at a couple other men in the room. They hurried over to the column that held the cube and began doing something involving lights and remotes. "This is the major achievement we've made. We found in his notes that he had begun to construct an actual A.I... obviously we were shocked and searched through the other records and the archives for anything we could find on it. But we all we found was what you see over there.. it took us three years just to figure out how to power it up again, and then two more to figure out how to program it and get it to project an image.. we still have a few bugs to work out, but just watch this."
Marrin nodded at the others and slowly there was an electric charge in the air that began to make the hair on Trowa's neck stand at attention. He glanced at the empty column and the stared as a shape began to form within it. Marrin spoke again as it smoothed itself out into the familiar appearance of Milliardo Peacecraft. "We decided to put it in our founder's image out of respect for his work.."
Trowa stepped closer to the column and stared silently at the figure. He was just as he remembered him, before the Angel virus had attacked him and aged him before his time. He had forgotten just how beautiful he had been. His thoughts were broken when the figure looked down at him and spoke.
"Who are you.. I think I recall you.. but you don't look right.."
Trowa looked up into the azure eyes and all the breath left him in a gasp. The eyes didn't look human.. they looked exactly like the pair of azure crystal's Milliardo had gifted him and Quatre when they had gotten married. He tried to find something to say, but the figure spoke again confused as it looked down at its hands and the rest of the body that the image showed.
"This.. this isn't right.. can you please bring me a mirror?"
Trowa finally caught his breath back and nodded walking away to look around the room and finally picking up a piece of reflective aluminum and walking back towards the column and holding it up so that the man inside could see the reflection.
"This is wrong.. he showed me what I was supposed to look like.. and..." The A.I.'s eyes gained a distant look in them for several seconds before focusing again. "The chip.."
"Chip?"
"He was working on the chip, that would complete me.. he said. But then he left me.. alone.. he fell and didn't get up and I couldn't do anything but watch." The baritone seemed to raise in pitch for a moment, almost sounding like a tenor for that brief moment, but afterwards it fell back into the low baritone. He lowered the metal sheet down, laying it on the floor.
"If you could help me.. I could maybe finish this chip for you.. and maybe even fix the image so it is right?" Trowa asked studying the man behind the plastiglass. The eyes fixed on him and the figure nodded.
"Please.."
Trowa nodded and turned to Marrin as the image flickered and faded away. The doctor sighed. "That was the longest we've been able to keep it running. I would be honored if you wished to help us.. you are welcome to search the area where we found the A.I., but we didn't find any chip."
"I'll search in a moment, first I wish to see all the notes you have on this, and then the room where you found it." Marrin nodded and led him away from the columns towards a large desk with papers scattered over it, along with large blueprints.
"This is all we have.." The doctor said sadly, gesturing at the desk.
"Are these all his, or is your notes mixed in with them?"
"Oh, no.. our notes are over across the room. Closer to the A.I.. for easier access."
"Good. Now the room."
Marrin nodded and led him to the end of the large room where an old metal door lay hidden within the shadows. The doctor opened it and led him inside. It was almost bare, having only one file cabinet whose drawers looked like they had been forced open. A desk sat in the middle of the room, with the remains of what reminded him of the crystal web inside the column in the other room hanging limply from the ceiling. A couple fragile looking rods laying shattered or merely broken in two over the desk and floor.
Trowa waved the doctor away and searched for a light switch for a couple minutes. Not finding one on the walls he walked towards the desk and turned the knob on the small lamp that sat on it. A weak light came from it for a moment, reflecting off of something on the surface of the desk before dying out. Trowa slipped a hand into his pants pocket and drew out a small pen light and shinned it over the desk, stopping when it too reflected over something on the desk. He bent to get a closer look and smiled faintly. A small pair of crystal claws held an almost tiny chip within their grasp. Straightening up he left it alone for the moment and left the room to get a new bulb for the lamp. With the notes, and his memories of now clear conversations he had had once with Milliardo, he felt sure he could finish his friends work for him.
Setting: Former Sanc Kingdom
Year: AC 260
Location: Wind Electronics
Time: Late Evening
A tall elderly man dressed in deep blue, green and silver of the Winner corporation walked through the plastiglass doors of the lab department of large electronics company that served most of Earth-sphere now. He scanned the off white room silently through his visible emerald eye and then nodded silently at the gray haired man walking towards him.
The doctor smiled at him and bowed slightly at the waist towards him. "I am deeply honored that you found time to come here, Professor Barton."
Trowa nodded slightly in response and scanned the room once more before finally speaking. "What was it that you thought I had to see.. I don't see anything here that I haven't seen before."
The gray haired man turned and gestured towards a silver door across the room. "My name is Dr. Marrin. It's in the room behind that door.. as you might of heard we found Peacecraft's notes 8 years ago.." Trowa nodded silently as Marrin walked across the room towards the silver door. Trowa followed him and stood behind him as the doctor entered a code through the pad beside the door. "Well, as you know they held numerous things that greatly helped us figure out what he had planned on doing before he.. passed on."
"Yes. I know all that." he said quietly as the door hissed open. He remembered very well when the tall blond had finally succumbed to the Angel virus that wasted away his muscles and fine motor skills slowly for ten long years. The Angel of death had finally stopped his heart and robbed the world of one of the finest minds it had known since the last wars had ended. Now only two of them, himself and Quatre remained alive, or awake to recall those times and the people of them. The other pilots, Heero and Duo, had been placed under frozen sleep. Their bodies slowed down under there was barely any life signs on the monitors..
He followed the doctor through the door and into the small white room beyond, stopping when the other man did just in front of another door. "We have to be sterilized before going any further." Marrin told him as a hard heated wind whipped around them, blowing his bangs out of his face briefly and revealing an old scar along his hidden eye, that barely missed the eye itself.
As the wind slowly died down he let his mind remember the Chinese pilot, Wufei. The warrior scholar had taken his life fourteen years ago in a ritual suicide after hearing of Milliardo's death. He had tried to stop him, only to have Wufei attack him and snarl that since the blond doctor had died he'd lost any reason of living, and referred some kind of A.I. project called Leo 13. Then he cut his own throat and died before Trowa could get him to the hospital.
Another hiss brought him out of his memories and he looked up to see Marrin step through the door and out into the room beyond. Following silently he scanned the large room and noticed two large round plastiglass columns set in the center of the room. One was empty, the other held a web of wires flowing through crystal veins that were attached to an ebony cube. "What is that?" he asked quietly.
Marrin smiled towards him as he gestured at a couple other men in the room. They hurried over to the column that held the cube and began doing something involving lights and remotes. "This is the major achievement we've made. We found in his notes that he had begun to construct an actual A.I... obviously we were shocked and searched through the other records and the archives for anything we could find on it. But we all we found was what you see over there.. it took us three years just to figure out how to power it up again, and then two more to figure out how to program it and get it to project an image.. we still have a few bugs to work out, but just watch this."
Marrin nodded at the others and slowly there was an electric charge in the air that began to make the hair on Trowa's neck stand at attention. He glanced at the empty column and the stared as a shape began to form within it. Marrin spoke again as it smoothed itself out into the familiar appearance of Milliardo Peacecraft. "We decided to put it in our founder's image out of respect for his work.."
Trowa stepped closer to the column and stared silently at the figure. He was just as he remembered him, before the Angel virus had attacked him and aged him before his time. He had forgotten just how beautiful he had been. His thoughts were broken when the figure looked down at him and spoke.
"Who are you.. I think I recall you.. but you don't look right.."
Trowa looked up into the azure eyes and all the breath left him in a gasp. The eyes didn't look human.. they looked exactly like the pair of azure crystal's Milliardo had gifted him and Quatre when they had gotten married. He tried to find something to say, but the figure spoke again confused as it looked down at its hands and the rest of the body that the image showed.
"This.. this isn't right.. can you please bring me a mirror?"
Trowa finally caught his breath back and nodded walking away to look around the room and finally picking up a piece of reflective aluminum and walking back towards the column and holding it up so that the man inside could see the reflection.
"This is wrong.. he showed me what I was supposed to look like.. and..." The A.I.'s eyes gained a distant look in them for several seconds before focusing again. "The chip.."
"Chip?"
"He was working on the chip, that would complete me.. he said. But then he left me.. alone.. he fell and didn't get up and I couldn't do anything but watch." The baritone seemed to raise in pitch for a moment, almost sounding like a tenor for that brief moment, but afterwards it fell back into the low baritone. He lowered the metal sheet down, laying it on the floor.
"If you could help me.. I could maybe finish this chip for you.. and maybe even fix the image so it is right?" Trowa asked studying the man behind the plastiglass. The eyes fixed on him and the figure nodded.
"Please.."
Trowa nodded and turned to Marrin as the image flickered and faded away. The doctor sighed. "That was the longest we've been able to keep it running. I would be honored if you wished to help us.. you are welcome to search the area where we found the A.I., but we didn't find any chip."
"I'll search in a moment, first I wish to see all the notes you have on this, and then the room where you found it." Marrin nodded and led him away from the columns towards a large desk with papers scattered over it, along with large blueprints.
"This is all we have.." The doctor said sadly, gesturing at the desk.
"Are these all his, or is your notes mixed in with them?"
"Oh, no.. our notes are over across the room. Closer to the A.I.. for easier access."
"Good. Now the room."
Marrin nodded and led him to the end of the large room where an old metal door lay hidden within the shadows. The doctor opened it and led him inside. It was almost bare, having only one file cabinet whose drawers looked like they had been forced open. A desk sat in the middle of the room, with the remains of what reminded him of the crystal web inside the column in the other room hanging limply from the ceiling. A couple fragile looking rods laying shattered or merely broken in two over the desk and floor.
Trowa waved the doctor away and searched for a light switch for a couple minutes. Not finding one on the walls he walked towards the desk and turned the knob on the small lamp that sat on it. A weak light came from it for a moment, reflecting off of something on the surface of the desk before dying out. Trowa slipped a hand into his pants pocket and drew out a small pen light and shinned it over the desk, stopping when it too reflected over something on the desk. He bent to get a closer look and smiled faintly. A small pair of crystal claws held an almost tiny chip within their grasp. Straightening up he left it alone for the moment and left the room to get a new bulb for the lamp. With the notes, and his memories of now clear conversations he had had once with Milliardo, he felt sure he could finish his friends work for him.
