Bennet was shocked when West tumbled through the doorway, blithering
on about Zeta escaping. This was a robot who not two minutes before had
attempted the destruction of itself, and now it had escaped? But sure
enough, West spoke the truth, and the large message etched into the holding
cell wall sent a shiver up the senior agent's spine.
Viewing the video of the holding cells, Bennet had to admit it was in not the young agent's fault, despite his wishes otherwise. But, for some odd reason the tape began to blur, as if something had begun to emit an electromagnetic pulse at the camera. He could make out Zeta, but he seemed to be staring directly at the part of the video that was blurred beyond belief. Had something actually been there? West said he had seen nothing, but that was typical West. Then, as the EMP interference faded, Zeta had stood and restarted his hologram-but a darker, more dangerous looking being than he had ever seen the synthoid wear. Something told him this was not the quiet synthoid he had been chasing, nor was it quite the killer robot it had been; this was combination of the new and the old personalities.
And this new synthoid would get Rosalie back at all costs. Even if it meant killing someone.
------
Zeta sat on the top of the hover bus, uncaring now if he was seen or not, reprocessing both the data that he had gathered, and the vision of Ro he had seen. He knew she was being held against her will, that much had been sure. But besides the darkness around her, he didn't have any clues to her location. But, he reasoned, if he didn't know, someone around that city were bound to.
His processors were drawn back to the conversation with the divine being. She had constantly referred to his 'gift', and this confused him. Was the module in his head? That seemed unlikely. He drew up his limited knowledge of the tarot, to see if there was anything there that would answer his questions. Maybe she referred to his self-awareness. That, after all, was the underlying theme of the practice of tarot- "to know thyself."
So now he was the knight. Some part of his programming wondered if he was a knight from the Tarot- Was he of the wand, the sword, the cup, or the disc? He wasn't familiar enough with the ideology to know what suited him, but he guessed he must be a knight of the cup-for the angel had equated the 'holy cup' to Ro.
He again was reminded of how pale she had looked-he hoped he wasn't too late. And whoever had her would hope so too, because otherwise he'd take vengeance out on them, his vow be damned.
But that line of thought was severed as the vehicle beneath him ground to a halt. He was now back and the dark and dirty city where all this madness had begun- and where it would end.
------
Zeta shouldn't have wasted his CPU on worrying where to start. Instead, the lead had come to him, surrounding him. They weren't Jokerz, but they weren't perfect, either.
"I suggest you start handing over any valuables you might got, 'cause we going to relieve your corpse of them pretty soon." With that cue, a long knife- or was it a short sword? - was pressed against his neck.
Zeta caught the arm of the wielder and positioned himself under the joints, flipping the street scum over his head. He grabbed the arm of the one rushing towards him and flung him into the crowd of others. He picked up the curved knife from the first thug, slapped it against his other hand.
"Retreat! Let's get out of here!" A stocky man untangled himself from the crowd and began to back out of the alley. But Zeta wasn't finished yet.
He outstretched his arm and picked up the man, bringing him back to face him. He ran the blade under the chin, letting it dance across the skin without slicing. "I'm looking for a girl." The tip rested firmly on the Adam's apple.
"Look, man, we got plenty of girls around here, I mean just walk down Delancy and I'll-"
"Not that type. I'm looking for this girl." He held up his hand to show a 3-d image of Ro. "And I'd like to talk to your boss about her."
"Aww, man, no! He'll kill me!" The blade pressed into his skin.
"Well, you have a choice. Get killed later, or be killed now."
What a very simple choice.
-------- The four pantheons of Tarot are as follows: The Sword: reason and intellect, The Wand: will and wisdom, The Disc (Coin, or Pentagram): Physical Existence, The Cup: Compassion. Normally, I'd think that Ro was of the Sword, but right now for this story I'm making her the Cup (for her relationship for Zee).
What has this to do with Arthurian Legend? The entire quest for the Holy Grail has been argued as a demonstration of the relationships between the four houses of Tarot. It is also argued that the entire Quest is a metaphor for sex ('the heavenly cup of her thighs' and men going out to look for it with lances high. Gee, nope, no sex in there.) Don't worry, I'll get into the legend..err, next time.
The confusion over if it's a knife or a sword is lifted from Appleseed, which, if looked at a certain way, contains two very similar characters (albeit older, tougher) to Ro and Zeta.
Viewing the video of the holding cells, Bennet had to admit it was in not the young agent's fault, despite his wishes otherwise. But, for some odd reason the tape began to blur, as if something had begun to emit an electromagnetic pulse at the camera. He could make out Zeta, but he seemed to be staring directly at the part of the video that was blurred beyond belief. Had something actually been there? West said he had seen nothing, but that was typical West. Then, as the EMP interference faded, Zeta had stood and restarted his hologram-but a darker, more dangerous looking being than he had ever seen the synthoid wear. Something told him this was not the quiet synthoid he had been chasing, nor was it quite the killer robot it had been; this was combination of the new and the old personalities.
And this new synthoid would get Rosalie back at all costs. Even if it meant killing someone.
------
Zeta sat on the top of the hover bus, uncaring now if he was seen or not, reprocessing both the data that he had gathered, and the vision of Ro he had seen. He knew she was being held against her will, that much had been sure. But besides the darkness around her, he didn't have any clues to her location. But, he reasoned, if he didn't know, someone around that city were bound to.
His processors were drawn back to the conversation with the divine being. She had constantly referred to his 'gift', and this confused him. Was the module in his head? That seemed unlikely. He drew up his limited knowledge of the tarot, to see if there was anything there that would answer his questions. Maybe she referred to his self-awareness. That, after all, was the underlying theme of the practice of tarot- "to know thyself."
So now he was the knight. Some part of his programming wondered if he was a knight from the Tarot- Was he of the wand, the sword, the cup, or the disc? He wasn't familiar enough with the ideology to know what suited him, but he guessed he must be a knight of the cup-for the angel had equated the 'holy cup' to Ro.
He again was reminded of how pale she had looked-he hoped he wasn't too late. And whoever had her would hope so too, because otherwise he'd take vengeance out on them, his vow be damned.
But that line of thought was severed as the vehicle beneath him ground to a halt. He was now back and the dark and dirty city where all this madness had begun- and where it would end.
------
Zeta shouldn't have wasted his CPU on worrying where to start. Instead, the lead had come to him, surrounding him. They weren't Jokerz, but they weren't perfect, either.
"I suggest you start handing over any valuables you might got, 'cause we going to relieve your corpse of them pretty soon." With that cue, a long knife- or was it a short sword? - was pressed against his neck.
Zeta caught the arm of the wielder and positioned himself under the joints, flipping the street scum over his head. He grabbed the arm of the one rushing towards him and flung him into the crowd of others. He picked up the curved knife from the first thug, slapped it against his other hand.
"Retreat! Let's get out of here!" A stocky man untangled himself from the crowd and began to back out of the alley. But Zeta wasn't finished yet.
He outstretched his arm and picked up the man, bringing him back to face him. He ran the blade under the chin, letting it dance across the skin without slicing. "I'm looking for a girl." The tip rested firmly on the Adam's apple.
"Look, man, we got plenty of girls around here, I mean just walk down Delancy and I'll-"
"Not that type. I'm looking for this girl." He held up his hand to show a 3-d image of Ro. "And I'd like to talk to your boss about her."
"Aww, man, no! He'll kill me!" The blade pressed into his skin.
"Well, you have a choice. Get killed later, or be killed now."
What a very simple choice.
-------- The four pantheons of Tarot are as follows: The Sword: reason and intellect, The Wand: will and wisdom, The Disc (Coin, or Pentagram): Physical Existence, The Cup: Compassion. Normally, I'd think that Ro was of the Sword, but right now for this story I'm making her the Cup (for her relationship for Zee).
What has this to do with Arthurian Legend? The entire quest for the Holy Grail has been argued as a demonstration of the relationships between the four houses of Tarot. It is also argued that the entire Quest is a metaphor for sex ('the heavenly cup of her thighs' and men going out to look for it with lances high. Gee, nope, no sex in there.) Don't worry, I'll get into the legend..err, next time.
The confusion over if it's a knife or a sword is lifted from Appleseed, which, if looked at a certain way, contains two very similar characters (albeit older, tougher) to Ro and Zeta.