Disclaimer: See chapter 1.
Finally! Chapter 8's finished.
Thanks to:
Xalan (as ever)
Death-bunny Bishoujo
Daiosharune
Whoever it was reviewed anonymously
Catherine Perey
Rini Sayian-jin,
for their reviews.
And to Daiosharune,
First, the to and too thing. The two words are for different situations. To: As in, 'I
am going to school.', or 'I am going to do some work.'. It's used when writing about
doing something.
Too: As in: 'There are too many.', or 'Are you going too?'. Too's used when talking
about numbers (usually in a bad way, i.e.: too few, too many), or instead of writing
'as well'.
But about the words I've missed, what sort of words? It'd be really useful if you
could give me some idea. Not a list or anything, just a couple of examples. And
thanks, this is the first really critical review I've had. Not that I don't appreciate any
other kind of review just as much!
And Death-bunny Bishoujo,
Nope I checked. In the beginning Tima does say, 'I am who?' after she repeated Kenichi's
question, 'Who... are you?', but at the end the exact words were: "Who-who am I-I?"
Thanks for the review though!
Here you are then. Chapter 8:
*********************************************************************
"…and you're sure you two are okay?" Aki asked.
"Yes we're fine Aki. Koh's resting now but I'm going to stay up a while longer, at
least until Tima gets to sleep." Kenichi said, turning and smiling at the figure sitting
and looking around wearing an expression that made her look like she had just opened
her eyes for the first time. He was standing in the centre of the screen looking out at
Aki through the small box that served as a window into the real world.
"Will you be coming out once she's asleep?" Aki asked.
"No. I'm going to stay here and look after Tima for the time being, at least until I
have to come out to help you. Oh and Aki?"
"Yes?"
"Something's the matter with Tima. She can't quite seem to understand what's going
on around her, and her speech has been funny ever since she woke up. Can you run a
scan and see if you can find anything wrong?"
"Okay. See you tomorrow then."
"Goodnight Aki," the picture in front of Kenichi disappeared, he turned and walked
back to Tima.
As Kenichi knelt down beside her Tima looked up at him. He couldn't help but smile
at her as she shuffled up beside him.
"Ke…i?"
"Yes Tima?" Kenichi answered looking sideways at her.
This was all Tima seemed to want to hear. She sighed quietly, leaned against
Kenichi, and fell asleep. Kenichi soon followed.
* * * * *
"Tima!" Kenichi yelled, sitting up suddenly.
Rubbing his eyes and looking around, Kenichi realized it had all been a dream. But it
felt so real, that…
"Kenichi is something the matter?" Aki was at the terminal in moments.
"No… I'm sorry I startled you Aki, it was only a bad dream…" Kenichi looked down
at Tima who was still sound asleep beside him. She must have been much more tired
than he had thought to have slept through that. Koh was still sound asleep a few
metres away.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Well… alright. It was like several dreams in one, and I was being shown images of
what I guess were me and Tima's lives but…"
"Go on."
"… A lot of the images weren't good ones. Of course I dreamt about bringing her
back and what I would do when I had but there were other things. The Ziggurat being
active with armed robots pouring from all the entrances, Tima and I crying together,
and the worst was the two of us standing against hundreds of enemies, robot and
human alike, and I had some kind of energy weapon and a sword and was guarding
Tima's back but she… she had a pair of blades on her arms, and her eyes were
glowing and all around her was death and… and…" Kenichi couldn't say anymore, he
looked down at Tima and sat silently.
"Oh…" Aki seemed lost for words. The usual, I'm sure it was just a dream just didn't
seem appropriate.
After a few moments Kenichi pulled himself together and faced Aki, "Were you able
to find anything wrong with Tima?"
"Yes. Various program modules are missing or partial all through her mind.
Especially in the speech, audio/visual recognition, memory, and most of the fuel
controls, as well as a few of the cognitive functions."
"Well the others we could repair in time, and the memories are all backed up in her
body, but without the controls for the fuel systems we can't reinsert her mind or she'd
be a walking bomb," Kenichi shook his head.
"I'll call up the readout for you Kenichi. See what you can make of it," Aki said.
"While you're doing that, do you think you could change the surroundings to
something more homely? This stark emptiness is starting to give me a headache."
* * * * *
"Well Aki, you've outdone yourself," Kenichi was sitting at a desk in a room, which
looked for all the world like a nineteenth century study combined with a bedroom of
the same era. Half of the room contained three large beds lined up against the wall,
two of which were occupied by Tima and Koh, a large wardrobe with a mirror in the
door against one wall, and a painting of a sunset over the Metropolis skyline on the
other. Kenichi had wanted to put up a picture from his homeland but Aki had vetoed
him saying that Koh and Tima would find it a lot nicer to have something they knew
well to look at, and besides she thought it was a lovely picture. The other half of the
room held the desk at which Kenichi was sitting, a beautiful mahogany affair with
three draws down either side, lit by a banker's lamp in the right hand corner and with
a holographic computer interface in the centre, which somehow managed to blend
into the room's rustic look. The only other things were a mahogany dining table with
three chairs, and a huge bookcase that covered two of the walls, and contained
hundreds of books covering almost as many subjects, such as 'A History Of
Metropolis', 'Robots and You', 'The Collected Works Of William Shakespeare', and
'Duke Red, A Biography' which was next to 'Bird Physiology Volume XII: Beak
Structure'. This was a joke on Aki's part, and after she had drawn his attention to it
Kenichi found it hard to go near and keep a strait face. The room's wallpaper was a
deep red colour, decorated with a simple floral pattern, but the dominating feature was
the fireplace. It was an example of expert woodworking, its dark wood decorated
with a simple but elegant flowing pattern, and containing a roaring fire, which
provided the room with most of its light, but for a pair of gas lamps on either side.
"…Coolant Systems Control Module: Nominal, Fuel Systems Control Module: Error:
Corrupt. Let's see what's the matter…" Kenichi muttered hunched over the screen,
"Oh… it's almost all missing. I don't think I can repair it."
"Kenichi… isn't there something in Dr. Laughton's notebook that could…"
Kenichi cut her short, "No. It's a record of Tima's construction, not her
programming. Oh isn't there anything we can use…?"
"Didn't you tell me that when you fought that program, she said 'Tima isn't even
complete without me', or something like that?" Aki asked, her expression changing
from sad to hopeful.
"You're right! We've still got that back up of the override program that we made just
in case somewhere haven't we?"
"So if the missing portions of Tima's mind are part of the program, then we can
merge the two and restore her!" Aki was already digging around in the messy storage
space near the terminal.
Kenichi's face suddenly darkened, "But we'll have to be very careful. Unless we can
find a way of making Tima dominant over the override program, this whole mess will
start again."
"I'm going to seal off a section of the room. Tomorrow morning I'll release the
program into that protected memory and we can make the adjustments. But now
Kenichi please, get some sleep." Aki said, taking on a parental sort of tone.
"Alright Aki I will," said Kenichi standing up with a yawn and stretching, "No need
to nag."
"Humph. That's what you think." Aki muttered, disappearing from the screen.
Kenichi walked across the room, tucked Tima in, got into bed, and fell into a deep and
mercifully dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
"…Ke…i? Ken…chi?"
Kenichi felt himself being shaken gently, "uhn… five more minutes Uncle…" he
murmured.
Tima stood blankly for a moment, then started again.
"Ke…ichi?"
"Huh…? Tima?" Kenichi sat up in bed.
"Whe… ar… we?"
"In a room Aki made for us."
Tima knelt down on the bed beside Kenichi, "I …ouldn'… sl...p."
"Come on," Kenichi climbed out of bed and guided Tima to hers.
As soon as Tima was settled and Kenichi had tucked her in again, he sat down on the
edge of the bed beside her. Not knowing what else to do, Kenichi stayed quietly
where he was until Tima was asleep. Then he climbed into his own bed hoping to
make the best of what was left of the night, knowing that if all went to plan the next
few days were going to be very busy.
*********************************************************************
As ever, reviews are really appreciated! And they actually help me come up with
stuff sometimes too. Thanks too everyone who read the story.
Happy New Year!
Finally! Chapter 8's finished.
Thanks to:
Xalan (as ever)
Death-bunny Bishoujo
Daiosharune
Whoever it was reviewed anonymously
Catherine Perey
Rini Sayian-jin,
for their reviews.
And to Daiosharune,
First, the to and too thing. The two words are for different situations. To: As in, 'I
am going to school.', or 'I am going to do some work.'. It's used when writing about
doing something.
Too: As in: 'There are too many.', or 'Are you going too?'. Too's used when talking
about numbers (usually in a bad way, i.e.: too few, too many), or instead of writing
'as well'.
But about the words I've missed, what sort of words? It'd be really useful if you
could give me some idea. Not a list or anything, just a couple of examples. And
thanks, this is the first really critical review I've had. Not that I don't appreciate any
other kind of review just as much!
And Death-bunny Bishoujo,
Nope I checked. In the beginning Tima does say, 'I am who?' after she repeated Kenichi's
question, 'Who... are you?', but at the end the exact words were: "Who-who am I-I?"
Thanks for the review though!
Here you are then. Chapter 8:
*********************************************************************
"…and you're sure you two are okay?" Aki asked.
"Yes we're fine Aki. Koh's resting now but I'm going to stay up a while longer, at
least until Tima gets to sleep." Kenichi said, turning and smiling at the figure sitting
and looking around wearing an expression that made her look like she had just opened
her eyes for the first time. He was standing in the centre of the screen looking out at
Aki through the small box that served as a window into the real world.
"Will you be coming out once she's asleep?" Aki asked.
"No. I'm going to stay here and look after Tima for the time being, at least until I
have to come out to help you. Oh and Aki?"
"Yes?"
"Something's the matter with Tima. She can't quite seem to understand what's going
on around her, and her speech has been funny ever since she woke up. Can you run a
scan and see if you can find anything wrong?"
"Okay. See you tomorrow then."
"Goodnight Aki," the picture in front of Kenichi disappeared, he turned and walked
back to Tima.
As Kenichi knelt down beside her Tima looked up at him. He couldn't help but smile
at her as she shuffled up beside him.
"Ke…i?"
"Yes Tima?" Kenichi answered looking sideways at her.
This was all Tima seemed to want to hear. She sighed quietly, leaned against
Kenichi, and fell asleep. Kenichi soon followed.
* * * * *
"Tima!" Kenichi yelled, sitting up suddenly.
Rubbing his eyes and looking around, Kenichi realized it had all been a dream. But it
felt so real, that…
"Kenichi is something the matter?" Aki was at the terminal in moments.
"No… I'm sorry I startled you Aki, it was only a bad dream…" Kenichi looked down
at Tima who was still sound asleep beside him. She must have been much more tired
than he had thought to have slept through that. Koh was still sound asleep a few
metres away.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"Well… alright. It was like several dreams in one, and I was being shown images of
what I guess were me and Tima's lives but…"
"Go on."
"… A lot of the images weren't good ones. Of course I dreamt about bringing her
back and what I would do when I had but there were other things. The Ziggurat being
active with armed robots pouring from all the entrances, Tima and I crying together,
and the worst was the two of us standing against hundreds of enemies, robot and
human alike, and I had some kind of energy weapon and a sword and was guarding
Tima's back but she… she had a pair of blades on her arms, and her eyes were
glowing and all around her was death and… and…" Kenichi couldn't say anymore, he
looked down at Tima and sat silently.
"Oh…" Aki seemed lost for words. The usual, I'm sure it was just a dream just didn't
seem appropriate.
After a few moments Kenichi pulled himself together and faced Aki, "Were you able
to find anything wrong with Tima?"
"Yes. Various program modules are missing or partial all through her mind.
Especially in the speech, audio/visual recognition, memory, and most of the fuel
controls, as well as a few of the cognitive functions."
"Well the others we could repair in time, and the memories are all backed up in her
body, but without the controls for the fuel systems we can't reinsert her mind or she'd
be a walking bomb," Kenichi shook his head.
"I'll call up the readout for you Kenichi. See what you can make of it," Aki said.
"While you're doing that, do you think you could change the surroundings to
something more homely? This stark emptiness is starting to give me a headache."
* * * * *
"Well Aki, you've outdone yourself," Kenichi was sitting at a desk in a room, which
looked for all the world like a nineteenth century study combined with a bedroom of
the same era. Half of the room contained three large beds lined up against the wall,
two of which were occupied by Tima and Koh, a large wardrobe with a mirror in the
door against one wall, and a painting of a sunset over the Metropolis skyline on the
other. Kenichi had wanted to put up a picture from his homeland but Aki had vetoed
him saying that Koh and Tima would find it a lot nicer to have something they knew
well to look at, and besides she thought it was a lovely picture. The other half of the
room held the desk at which Kenichi was sitting, a beautiful mahogany affair with
three draws down either side, lit by a banker's lamp in the right hand corner and with
a holographic computer interface in the centre, which somehow managed to blend
into the room's rustic look. The only other things were a mahogany dining table with
three chairs, and a huge bookcase that covered two of the walls, and contained
hundreds of books covering almost as many subjects, such as 'A History Of
Metropolis', 'Robots and You', 'The Collected Works Of William Shakespeare', and
'Duke Red, A Biography' which was next to 'Bird Physiology Volume XII: Beak
Structure'. This was a joke on Aki's part, and after she had drawn his attention to it
Kenichi found it hard to go near and keep a strait face. The room's wallpaper was a
deep red colour, decorated with a simple floral pattern, but the dominating feature was
the fireplace. It was an example of expert woodworking, its dark wood decorated
with a simple but elegant flowing pattern, and containing a roaring fire, which
provided the room with most of its light, but for a pair of gas lamps on either side.
"…Coolant Systems Control Module: Nominal, Fuel Systems Control Module: Error:
Corrupt. Let's see what's the matter…" Kenichi muttered hunched over the screen,
"Oh… it's almost all missing. I don't think I can repair it."
"Kenichi… isn't there something in Dr. Laughton's notebook that could…"
Kenichi cut her short, "No. It's a record of Tima's construction, not her
programming. Oh isn't there anything we can use…?"
"Didn't you tell me that when you fought that program, she said 'Tima isn't even
complete without me', or something like that?" Aki asked, her expression changing
from sad to hopeful.
"You're right! We've still got that back up of the override program that we made just
in case somewhere haven't we?"
"So if the missing portions of Tima's mind are part of the program, then we can
merge the two and restore her!" Aki was already digging around in the messy storage
space near the terminal.
Kenichi's face suddenly darkened, "But we'll have to be very careful. Unless we can
find a way of making Tima dominant over the override program, this whole mess will
start again."
"I'm going to seal off a section of the room. Tomorrow morning I'll release the
program into that protected memory and we can make the adjustments. But now
Kenichi please, get some sleep." Aki said, taking on a parental sort of tone.
"Alright Aki I will," said Kenichi standing up with a yawn and stretching, "No need
to nag."
"Humph. That's what you think." Aki muttered, disappearing from the screen.
Kenichi walked across the room, tucked Tima in, got into bed, and fell into a deep and
mercifully dreamless sleep.
* * * * *
"…Ke…i? Ken…chi?"
Kenichi felt himself being shaken gently, "uhn… five more minutes Uncle…" he
murmured.
Tima stood blankly for a moment, then started again.
"Ke…ichi?"
"Huh…? Tima?" Kenichi sat up in bed.
"Whe… ar… we?"
"In a room Aki made for us."
Tima knelt down on the bed beside Kenichi, "I …ouldn'… sl...p."
"Come on," Kenichi climbed out of bed and guided Tima to hers.
As soon as Tima was settled and Kenichi had tucked her in again, he sat down on the
edge of the bed beside her. Not knowing what else to do, Kenichi stayed quietly
where he was until Tima was asleep. Then he climbed into his own bed hoping to
make the best of what was left of the night, knowing that if all went to plan the next
few days were going to be very busy.
*********************************************************************
As ever, reviews are really appreciated! And they actually help me come up with
stuff sometimes too. Thanks too everyone who read the story.
Happy New Year!