Umm, I don't know if we ever learnt what President Camford's first name was, so I'm calling her Evelyn. I think from now on, that's what I'll call her. Yeah. ^^
Chapter 8: Another revelation?
It was warm in the kitchen and as far as Raven was concerned, he was happy for the moment, drinking down a cup of hot chocolate. Nobody could make hot chocolate like Mrs Camford. She wanted the boys to call her Evelyn, but they had flatly refused, coining the term Mrs. C. She was upstairs getting one of the spare bedrooms ready for Prozen, who was curled up on the couch. Shadow was snoozing in front of the fire, head tucked under his shiny tail.
Raven was still reeling from the revelations. It was all laid out in front of him, he just had to get his head around it…if everything it said was true, then hell, they were up to their knees in shit without a way out. He looked down at the journal, wishing he could read it. The earliest ones at first looked like rows and rows of odd letters, but when you concentrated, you realised it was a language in itself. Notes were all through it, by a fellow called Angus Mirrirma. If Raven remembered correctly, Mirrima was a phycologist.
He shut the book and went into the living area and looked down on the sleeping man. "They thought you were crazy so they took you to a shrink. How thoughtful."
There was a yell at the back.
Raven had taken the water along thinking they would go out into the desert. From the news reports on the radio, the vidscreens and so on, that was where the military was heading, so maybe the whole idea had worked out for the best. And now he could hear the cursing of Karl and Thomas as they wheeled Ambient into the garage. The jeep was parked in the carport a few metres away, so everyone could see that things were fine. Karl and Thomas had both called in and said they were staying to keep the ex-president safe…
"The room is ready, if you want to wake him up." He heard Evelyn call. She smiled at him. "Is anything wrong?"
"Nah, I just found all the secrets in the universe. What are those two doing out there?"
"I'm not sure, but I think they're enjoying it. I'm not going to stop them."
"Hmm. I'm surprised you're going along with all of this."
"Times change. People change. For better or for worse. What I saw today proves that there is no hope for them now…in power I mean. And…if this young fellow here can meld with a Zoid Core and come out of it alive, then I'm willing to guess there's more going on here than I thought possible. Besides, you're such a sweet boy, Raven."
Raven stared at her, slightly worried.
Evelyn gently pulled Prozen up and helped him towards the room upstairs with the surprising strength that old ladies seem to have. Raven followed, just in case. Of what he wasn't sure, but right now…
"It's been a very long time since I had people in this house. It was often just my assistant Charlotte and I on retreat, but I raised Robbie in this house…"
"It must really suck not being able to talk to your son like a mother."
Evelyn gave him a motherly look. "It is awful, Raven. Open the door, please, love? Thank you." She helped Prozen inside and sat him down on the soft mattress. He slumped into it and snuggled down beneath the quilt as she laid it over him. "Could you fetch me a thermometer? It's in the box there…that's it…"
"You're not going to stick it up his ass are you?" Raven muttered.
"Raven!" She giggled. "No, it's a mouth one…give it a moment…oh dear…"
"What's the matter with him?"
"He is running a fever. I thought so." She brushed his hair out of his face and sighed. "He must have caught something while in hospital, poor pet. Come on…he'll be safe here. The quilt is light enough to keep him warm, but at the same time cool enough not to overheat him." She opened a window and a soft breeze played with the curtains carrying in the sounds of the sea. Then, with the gentleness of a mother, she lightly guided Raven to the door so Prozen could rest. "We have to let him sleep."
"I know, it's just…"
"There will be time for reminiscing later."
Raven didn't argue with that tone. Even for a guy who hadn't seen much of his mother and was raised by a rather strange man, he couldn't resist that voice.
When they went back into the kitchen again, Karl was nursing a nasty cut (He hadn't been looking where he was going and consequently snagged his sleeve on one of Ambient's tail spikes.) and Thomas was poking around for something to eat. Both snapped to attention as Evelyn entered.
"At ease gentlemen. Our boy has a fever, so he won't be joining us."
"I didn't think he was ready anyway." Thomas muttered.
Raven's hands touched the box and he thought hard. "Well?"
"Well what?"
"Shall I begin?"
"Go ahead."
~*~
"It was when I first moved in to Prozen's quarters that I noticed things. You always do when you're a kid. He lived at the palace, like most of the other guys did, but what I noticed was that while everyone went home on the weekends, Prozen didn't. See, he had no family. I'm not talking about being an orphan or anything, he wasn't listed in any of the birth records no matter how far I looked back. There was one, however, but it seemed fake. I later learned it was a fake. Lady Falanaer had died giving birth; and the kid died soon after. Her husband had died a few months before the tragedy took place. Thing is though, it was a boy, and the boy's name was to be Gunther. Named after his daddy. The emperor had always been close to this family, and it hurt him so to see them all pass on like that. But the problem was the title claims held in the Falanaer name - The nobles fight like cats and dogs over that sort of thing.
But then along comes this excited guy who says he's found something in the ruins. They've pulled this kid out of a pod wearing bloodstained linen, and he was unconscious. It was an amazing find; everyone said it was a Zoidian. So the old fart goes down to investigate.
The kid is sleeping in a tent, dead to the world. The only thing they know about him is the word 'Prozen', because of a tag on his wrist, along with a number. That same number is tattooed on the kid's left shoulder blade. 3927. The emperor goes into investigate, then asks about anything else they've found. Only a lot of old bones, long picked clean, is the answer. The kid's parents sacrificed to save him? Maybe. Maybe not. Most of them are crushed. Traumatised. The more they look, the more worried they become. There was a fight. A nasty one, and the more they look they realise there were more than three species of people in the room at that time.
Anyway, back to the kid. The old guy goes to investigate, and as he reaches out to touch the boy, the boy opens his eyes and tells him his son will die when he turns thirty thanks to an STD. After he's killed his wife. Their son will live. Then the boy collapses. Old guy is freaked. His son? The next emperor? Killing his wife then catching a yucky sexual disease? But then again, twelve years later, it happens. And Rudolph the third, our current emperor is left behind.
The emperor adopts the kid, calling him Gunther – here is the answer to his problems. He makes up this story about how the kid is some missing cousin or something of the late Lord and Lady Falanaer.
And Gunther Prozen officially comes into existence.
This kid is a prodigy. He speaks another language. He can read people's emotions and react to help them if they need it. He is infinitely curious of everything. Occasionally, he'll tap into someone and be able to tell them a bit of what might occur in the future so they can stop it before it happens. But there are downsides…he gets sick easily. The doctors don't know why he's an albino, usually there's some form of pigment left in the DNA to show that there was supposed to be something there. No. See, this little boy has not four base strands, but twelve. Tightly packed around and around to form…not a ladder…but a rope. This kid is unheard of.
And so there you have it folks, the first record of human history of a Rare Hertz.
It blew the minds away of the archaeologists. They thought that maybe he was the by-product of Zoidian research or something, but the more they look into it, the more they realise that this little life has happened thanks to thousands of years of evolution. The Zoidians were not the only ones on Zi. But this upset people. They didn't want to know. But what could they do with a kid who was suddenly showing extreme feats of the impossible? Reading people's bodies like an open book. 'Seeing' the future. Melding with Zoids-"
"I knew I hadn't been imagining that." Karl whispered.
"Yeah, you see? So they figured out all the human parts of the strand, and then went about neutralising the others. Do you have any idea how many drugs he had in his cabinet by the time he was too far gone to stop the chaos? He was popping pills like sweets. He was an addict who had been told to take the drugs because it was the only way to keep him in check. Started him off early, and of course, he didn't ask questions - if the doctor says your sick and you need to take such-and-such, you're not going to ask why, are you? No. So he slipped deeper and deeper into this drugged sleepiness, which explains how he was so mellow. But by doing this to him, well…they caused a bigger problem.
There was something else inside him that now had a way out. I'd see it some times, and it always freaked the living daylights out of me."
"What was it?"
Raven had stopped pacing and was now looking out of the window at the dark sky and the pounding surf. His voice was low, afraid, something rare for him. "Something we now know as the Dark Kaiser.
I remember walking in on the Kaiser once – Prozen was fighting with it in the mirror. There were two voices, this wasn't someone with a split personality. Even his reflection in the mirror had changed…it was the person I saw melding with the DeathSaurer. A darker version of him. And…and he was so afraid. I listened, and what I heard…The Kaiser was some sort of weapon, a time bomb ticking away inside Prozen until the time was right to activate. It was built to annihilate all life…except the Zoidians. It went into overdrive when it was trying to meld with the DeathSaurer, the ultimate machine to do the task it had been set by it's programmers, but I don't think it was expecting the DeathSaurer itself to fight back. We know Zoids are partially sentient, and that was one pissed off Zoid. And then when Hiltz…I think…Hiltz could have been infected too. Or at least, he was trying to save Prozen and then got infected. Why, I don't know. He merged too, but the Kaiser program just found a new mind and body to fuck with."
"But Hiltz was a Zoidian. That doesn't make sense." Thomas replied, idly rocking on his chair at the table. He was giving Raven his full attention, for reasons known only to the gods – when Raven was relaxed, he was quite a speaker.
"I know." Raven sighed. "I've been thinking about it for ages. I think Rhyss was in on it too…Anyway, When Thomas told me that Ambient down there-" He pointed in the direction of the garage "-Dropped Prozen onto Karl's lap, it led me to believe that maybe the Kaiser program wasn't strong enough to eliminate Prozen completely, or at least, the DeathSaurer itself. He was adamant on raising it, but didn't know why."
"He wanted to kill everybody maybe?" Thomas responded.
"No. Sometimes, when I had time to talk with him about it, he seemed really happy and excited. He talked about it like an old friend or something. The original GenoSaur was its offspring. He…he had a hand in that, but what I don't know. Anyway, I think the DeathSaurer somehow purified him of the Kaiser program, and Ambient, being a part of the core just like Shadow can do, collected the body and absorbed it to release later. This whole process…by rights, an organoid would not have been able to withstand that much of a beating. But I knew from the beginning Ambient wasn't an ordinary organoid. I heard Hiltz call him a MK III, whatever that is. Anyway, he stayed stationary and safe within the core until your scientists woke him up, and he had to get out. He was too weak to attack the place head on, so he buzzed around and bluffed his power until he could get out. Through the glass, and to the only person Prozen knew could help him…you, Karl. Then of course, his job done…he died." Raven fell silent.
"You care about him, huh?" Thomas asked softly.
Raven smiled a little, unaware of the somewhat dopey look on his face. Spending time with the crazy tech-head was nice; even if he couldn't understand what the man was saying half the time. Thomas was such a nice guy. He tried to be mean to him, but he just wasn't good at it, you couldn't be mean to Thomas…it was like hating rainbows or something. No, bad comparison, Raven. Hurting Thomas would be a crime, he was so gentle and innocent and filled with good will. He wasn't annoying at all. "You know Ambient killed my parents. And I was pretty pissed off with him too. But at the same time, I met Prozen. I was the one who chose my life, I wanted to be tough so I wouldn't rely on anyone, and I could protect the people I cared about…even if my heart was hard. I don't hate Ambient. He saw a threat. He reacted." Raven looked away. "He didn't kill me, either."
"That's a very mature thing to say." Evelyn's voice still had that gentle motherly tone. It had a soothing effect on all of them, a somehow wonderful yet terrible reaction, especially to Raven. The way Evelyn looked at him…with no judgement, no disapproval, was delightful, and he wanted to make her proud.
Why?
"Thanks Mrs. C"
"Well, an interesting story that explains a lot of things about him that were left up in the air." Karl said, finally breaking his silence. "When Thomas and I were just kids, back when the war was in full swing, we'd often be in the palace while people talked. I remember seeing Prozen do things that I knew were impossible…I don't know…and when he took care of us during that little spat of fighting on our own turf, he seemed to know exactly what was going on and was telling me all the names of the tactics and so on…I told him I wanted to be in the military and he told me that was probably not the best idea…I still did it though." Karl rubbed his eyes and sighed. "It almost killed me when he turned on us. And now I find out he was a prisoner in his own mind. Bloody fantastic."
"Yeah." Thomas scratched his nose. "I always wondered where the Prozen I knew had disappeared to. Uh, he always helped me out with my ideas and stuff. He wasn't very good with computers and machines apart from Zoids, but he'd always listen to me. I was so angry…" He shook his head. "So we take care of him now?"
"Yeah, until we figure something else out. No one will believe this story without the hard evidence, which we have all seen…apart from Mrs C. here."
"At the moment there is a sick man upstairs in one of the guest bedrooms. I don't care who he is, he's sick, I'm taking care of him. End of story. Now you three look like you're about to collapse. When did you last have sleep, Lieutenant? Keeping him up, Raven?"
Raven laughed. "We did bust our asses to get down here."
"Then I think, if you don't mind me saying, it's time for bed. I prepared the other rooms expecting company anyway, but with all this going on I doubt if anyone will be dropping by. No, colonel, you are not going to lock up, you are going to have a light meal, a hot shower, and then it's to bed with you. No arguments, thank you. It's been a very long day today, and it will probably prove even longer when the officials drop by tomorrow to check up on me. All right?"
Mouths opened, then closed as tired minds came to a sudden conclusion.
A few minutes and empty dishes later (Cheese on toast with a side order of egg for a very hungry Raven) the three were gently prodded upstairs, and when Evelyn checked in on them around half an hour later, (just out of habit) they were sound asleep.
~ to be continued.
Bah, this one sucked. I rewrote it a few times. Please try and stay with me on this one ;;
