Chapter Three: Mind and Matter
She slumped back into the swivel chair in relief, after what seemed like days had all been worth it, she'd managed to insert the chip it his brain structure, it was long and hard work, but she managed it. She actually felt like running around her lab in joy, she would never have been able to finish her work so fast if she didn't have the constant fear of him waking up and killing her. But now with that small chip, none will be the wiser, you can hardly tell. People were safe, he wouldn't suddenly attack them.
"To think," she began, "I was going to use a remote devise instead. I don't know how I ever came up with the idea of a small chip, but it's a good thing I did." She remembered back to what happened before. "Look what happened when I gave Krillin that remote to shutdown you androids, if he had used that, then I wouldn't be here making this world a safer place … and Krillin wouldn't be happy. I guess he did the right thing, in a way." She scratched her head. "Well, it wasn't a good idea at the time, I guess it's one of those situations that you have to look back on and be thankful … yeah."
She picked up her mug and drunk the last of her frothy cappuccino.
"Ah, nothing like a frothy cappuccino after a hard days work."
She put the mug back down on the desk, next to nine other mugs.
She looked over to the android and stood up as she walked next to him. The blue haired genius looked at him oddly and shook her head.
"I'm quite surprised you haven woken up yet -- not that I want you to, but still…" She walked back to her chair. "At least you calmed down a bit, that must have been some dream, you were really upset. Just who is Lieta?" She sniggered slightly at what her subliminal thought. "Like you'd tell me, but I'm like really curious now."
She looked around the lab and at the door.
"Maybe just a little nosey, you're not planning on waking up any time soon. I'm almost 100% certain that I have something, or if not I can wipe up something in no time to check out dreams … I do think that I have something."
She opened the cupboard door and rooted though, yelling in success as she pulling out a small silver and blue cube with small white buttons on the sides. She placed it next to her computer and pushed the small button gently. Suddenly the small cube expanded into a thin piece of metal, which she balanced on the side and pointed it directly to the android.
"Good thing I kept this, who'd a thought it would come in handy again. Luckily Yamcha came to me, asking if I could do something about this dream he had, only problem the silly idiot couldn't remember it." She continued to laugh and speak to Android 17 as she was speaking to Krillin or another close friend. "Let's see, that's it."
She plugged a fine blue cable from the back of the cube into her computer and typed a five-letter code to activate it. It glowed an electric blue before bleeping a couple of times.
"Bulma!"
She stopped what she was doing and looked at the door, the voice was familiar -- it was Krillin's.
He must have told 18 about her brother, why else would they be here?
She was quite disappointed about not being able to test out the invention, but maybe 18 would know about what he was talking about, they were brother and sister after all -- twins -- and they were always closer than close. Maybe she might know.
She stood up and walked out the door, closing it slightly behind her, not to make much noise. No matter how harmless 17 might be now, she still didn't want the shock of walking into her lab and fining him standing there or just not there at all.
"Hey, Bulma," said Krillin, standing next to 18 and Marron.
"Hey guys, so you came. I wasn't sure if you would show or not." She bent down and waved at the small girl. "Hey, Marron!"
"Hallo, Bulma," the blonde child smiled.
Bulma smiled and stood back up to look at Krillin and 18. Krillin stood there, tapping his foot on the floor, hands behind his back. 18 on the other hand looked vaguely calm.
"So, Bulma," he began, "I take it 17's not awake then."
"No. How'd you know?" she asked bewildered, placing her hands in her jeans pocket.
"Well I kinda figured -- seen as though you're not dead an all."
"Krillin!"
"He's just nervous about being near my brother," 18 spoke finally. "What happened anyway?" she inquired.
"I'm not to sure myself of what happened to him, all I know is that he was in the desert area when the boys found him and brought him back here." She sat down on one of the seats and motioned for the others to sit as well.
"When do you suppose he will wake up?"
"I'm not sure, I was actually surprised that he hadn't already, he was muttering something in his sleep and I was wondering if you might know anything. He sounded really upset and mentioned a name, Lieta.
"Have you ever heard that name?"
18 thought for a moment, trying to scan her memory for anything on the name that Bulma had mentioned, but came up with the same thing … nothing.
"No, I haven't," she responded to the genius. "Never."
Krillin walked forward and looked at the two women. He smiled gingerly, which was followed by a slight laugh as he put his hands on his hips.
"So, what's the big deal if he mentioned a name in his sleep? It was probably just a dream, that's all. See, not big deal."
But no one listened to him, just ignored him and continued to speak.
"What did he say?" 18 asked curiously, thinking that maybe it might trigger something off in her mind.
Bulma thought for a moment, trying to remember what is was exactly that he said, she didn't want to get it wrong and tell her complete rubbish.
"Hmm, let's see…" she trailed on. "He said:
'No! Lieta, get outta here. Now! Go! You can't stay here; it's not safe. If he -- if he catches you, he'll just hurt you … please get outta here.'
"That was the exact same thing that he said … anything?"
She took a glance to 18, who was deep in thought. She was trying to remember anything that would fit in to help her, but she had not recollection of what happened before they were released. She had always presumed that her brother was the same as her, not able to remember anything. She didn't even know if there was anything to remember before that! She knew that she was human before becoming what she was, but couldn't reminisce on any of those long-forgotten memories. She didn't know who or what her family were like or any of her friends -- she didn't even know what her real name was, she just went by the number that Dr Gero had given her. 18. All she had known was that 17 was -- is -- her brother, her twin brother … so she gathered. 17 was her brother wasn't he? He was like her, wasn't he? Human before?
Why?
Why would Dr Gero do that though? He had many androids, why more?
Why them?
What did their parents do?
Did they have parents?
Did they care? If so what happened to them? Did they know what happened to their children, why let that happen? She couldn't understand the reason why.
Why have my brother and me? Why? Did he specifically want us, or just two people?
Twins?
Relatives?
Us?
Why us?! Why destroy our lives? Did -- did we … want it this way?
I don't know any of these answers and I guess the only on who would know them was Dr Gero, but he's dead now, so will I never know?
Does 17 know anything? Something I don't … I need answers just as much as he does. I need to find out! I will find out!
When she looked around she saw Krillin looking at her worriedly.
"Are you all right?" he enquired.
She looked away from him, she didn't know how to answer that, she was all right, but she wasn't at the same time.
"I don't know," she began subtly. "I was just thinking … about my life before becoming an android. My friends … my parents … my brother. What ACTUALLY happened and why."
Krillin looked down to the ground then at his daughter.
"Oh," he said downcast. He could even begin to wonder what 18 was going through and what was going through her head at that moment. He understood that family was important. Even if she had a new family, she still had an old one. It was just hard for Krillin to except that because he didn't like what was left of her family. Maybe there were reasons behind actions?
"Only…" she drew off.
Krillin looked up at her.
"…Only when I thought about it all … nothing came to my mind. I can't remember anything. I don't know what happened … to me … my brother or the rest of my family -- if I even had one." She looked down at the floor and sighed loudly. "Why can't I remember?" she asked softly.
"Don't worry, I'm sure that…" he trailed on, not knowing how to say what it was he wanted to say. The truth was that whatever it was wasn't good; he didn't want to lie to her. "I don't know what happened, love, and I can't even begin to image it. But…" He looked at her, her face was so sad as she looked down to the ground. He shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and smiled faintly. "I'm sure we can find out what happened, it might not be as bad as you made it out to be. I bet your family tried their hardest to prevent it from happening."
She looked at him and nodded happily. "You might be right."
"Course I am," he said gleefully.
She laughed lightly at her husband's attempt to cheer her up, and it worked perfectly. Whatever she would find out wouldn't be as hard as long as she had her family right along next to her, all she need was her family.
*********************
Android 17 slowly opened his ice blue eyes, not sitting up, just letting his eyes get use to the scenery. Where was he? He couldn't remember getting out the desert, he was glad that he was out, but wanted to stay there, he deserved to be there, not where he was now. He wondered slightly were he was, he had never seen this place before. Was it a dream? Had the sun gotten to his head so much that he began to hallucinate? So was this place just part of his mind?
He gradually sat up and looked around at the room that he was in. A computer in the corner hooked up to a strange device bleeping red, cupboards, and draws. It wasn't until he looked down at what he was lying on, a white operating table, that he became alert. He jumped off quickly and looked at the table and his surroundings…
The room was black, deathly black and was filled with a foul stench that made his eyes water. He rubbed them slightly and walked further inside, looking around carefully for what might loom inside of each nook and cranny. Inside was filled with many strange devises, some large and some small, each one looking not to pleasing to the eye. He glanced at the further end. Large tube containers filled the whole line and some had people inside?
Could they really be people? Some looked realistic and some, well… He didn't want to see any more of this sickening stuff. He turned to leave when he collided with something head on, knocking him hard to the ground. He shook his head and slowly got off the ground to see what he ran into. He feared for the worse, anything could be lurking in every dark corner of this place, so he really didn't want to look, just to get out of this place.
He stood up straight and looked around, no dreaded monsters or vampires, deadly gremlins or goblins, just Dr Gero, standing there with his hands on his hips. He had a stern grin on his oldish wrinkled face that curled into a smile, a wicked smile.
"Hmm, curious were you? You always were the more curious one out of you and your sister," he sneered.
"What is this place, Dr?" he asked the older man quickly.
"This? Well, this is my lab, do you like it?"
"Looks like something from out of one of those corny horror flicks," he said humourlessly.
"Yes, well even I need inspiration," the old man laughed. "You never answered my question, my dear lad. Do you like it?"
He slowly walked nearer to the lad as the boy slowly walked backwards, taking small steps, trying to get closer to the door and run.
"Smells like someone's died."
Dr Gero laughed at the youth.
"I take it you don't like my sense of style?"
The boy raised an eyebrow; he needed to get out of here and fast. He told his sister he was only going for a walk … to get away from her constant nagging about him getting into fights. What was he supposed to do? But he knew that he didn't want her to come across this place. If it was freaking him out then how would she react?
"Can I go?" he replied soundly before dropping to a lighter tone. "You know my sister, just as curious as me, you wouldn't want her to come across this…" He looked around before commenting on what he thought. "Place."
"After all I've done for you and your sister, I took you in after that tragic accident with your family," Dr Gero said in an oily voice.
He looked at him with sudden anger. He never liked anyone talking about his family, he didn't like it here and wanted to get him and his sister as far away from this creep as possible, but it was more difficult than it seemed. She actually enjoyed being here. How?
"You really should be more grateful, my dear Niketa, not everyone gets to see my lab."
"I see why," he said to himself.
"What was that, my lad?" He stayed calm with the boy; it was the best way to have his plan fulfilled.
"I need to go." He turned around and began to walk away, straight to the door.
"Not so fast, Niketa!"
He turned around to face Dr Gero, he was no longer smiling, and he looked angrier.
"You're not going anywhere! I can't let you go and tell everyone about what you've seen here!" he spat.
"I'm not staying here!" he shouted at the Dr, making his point loud and clear. "And believe me, I wouldn't want to tell anyone about this dump you call a lab! Like I said before, Dr, I'm not staying here."
"Yes … you are, and there's nothing you can do!"
"What's is your problem? What do you want? You're a sick man and I hated every moment being near you!" He clenched his fists and looked straight at the old man.
"Is that so?" Dr Gero said slyly. "Then why did you stay, you could have left, you know." His voice was a lot more calmly this time, was he just toying with him.
"No I couldn't! You know that! You made me stay! You said you'd hurt my sister if I left."
"And I'm sure she is utterly grateful for that, not every brother would take all the pain for his younger sibling, would they?" he smiled.
"You think I wanted to?!" Niketa shouted astonished. "You're sick, old man, I mean that. I'm not staying here any longer and neither is my sister, we're outta here … right now!" His voice was loud and eyes were cold, hatred aimed straight at Dr Gero.
"Is that so?" he smiled.
"Stop mocking me!" Niketa was about to stride over, but thought against it. "I'd like to see you try and make any of us stay here any longer than we already have. I know your game and I also know the truth of what happened to my family. You won't get away with it! I'll make sure of that!" His words were acid, but didn't affect the man at all; he was just smiling at the boy. Not to say scary at the least.
"Is that so?" he laughed. "All right then, if you really think that you can get away, then I'll let you go. Here, I'll even give you a two-minute head start and if I catch you then you have to stay, if you manage to get away, then congratulations." He looked at the watch he had on is wrist and held his hand up. "Two minutes … starts … now! I'd run if I were you, Niketa … time's running out."
He looked at Dr Gero strangely. Why was he doing that? He didn't care he just ran out the lab as fast as he could, the further away the better he felt.
He ran to the rocky edge and looked down, panting hard for breath. How was Dr Gero going catch him? He was a just an old man who would get out of breath if he ran for thirty seconds, so he didn't bother to run any more, as long at the old guy didn't cheat he was fine. He slowly continued to walk away from the lab, trying to forget all he saw when he heard a noise. He promptly turned around to see what it was, but nothing was there except rock and dirt. He rolled up his sleeves and put his hands at the back of his head. He closed his frosted blue eyes for a moment then opened them again, looking to the ground. He slowly let his arms slump to the side as he crouched down to look at the ground further, then looked up in the sky. There he saw a person, just standing in the air, arms folded and eyes locked on him. He slowly began to drift down, but didn't touch the ground. He was a lot taller than Niketa and bulkier too. Short orange hair and eyes almost the same colour as his. He backed away from the person.
"What the hell is that?" he spoke to himself more; he didn't expect this giant to answer his question. He didn't speak at all, just stared straight at Niketa.
"Your presence is requested by Dr Gero," he finally spoke in a gruff tone.
"The hell it is! I ain't going back to that freak-show! No way am I going back there, I'd rather die!" Please don't take that literally. "All right big guy, lets make a deal. You let me go and I'll … let you have the honour of being my friend," he joked, but the silent giant didn't see the funny side. "Fine, you can have my coin collection … even though I don't have one, you can still have it."
The large man landed on the ground with a thud and continued to stare at the raven-haired boy.
Ok, pissing him off isn't going to get me out of here alive.
He tried to think of a way to get him out of this situation that he was in, so he said the first thing that came into his head.
"Look," he pointed, "a coyote eating a squirrel!"
The big guy turned around and saw nothing but rock, rock and more rock. When he turned around he saw…
"Oh Jesus, I never thought that would work. Now run, Niketa, and keep on running if you want to live. No way am I going back to that place."
He ran as fast as he could, avoiding all barriers to slow him down. He pushed his long sleek hair from out of his face as he sprinted away. He didn't know how much further he could run, but he knew that if he stopped, that big guy would get him for sure. As he ran he suddenly felt his feet fall to the ground as a wave of pain ran though his body. He tripped over a rock and fell, unfortunately not having enough time to slow down to stop himself from falling off the cliff-side. He gripped onto the edge as hard as he could, trying to pull himself back up to the top, but he could feel the cliff-edge begin to crumble beneath his fingers. It wouldn't take the full weight of him. He desperately tried to get a better grip. He kicked his leg onto a ledge and pushed himself up, but only by a couple of centimetres, but it supported him. He dug his fingers into the rock as he felt the small ledge crumble and give way. He still had a firm grip on the cliff, but wasn't too confident about whether he would be able to pull himself up fully. Niketa yelled out in pain as one side of the cliff fell apart, red dust and small flakes of rock shooting into his eyes. He hung on for his life with one arm; he couldn't lift the other up high enough to grip onto the ledge. He could feel his warm blood seeping from the large cut in his hand that the fall had caused.
The boy didn't want to think of anything, but knew that he was never going to see his sister again; he wouldn't be there to protect her. What if that Dr Gero sent that big guy to get her? What if they hurt her?
I can't believe I'm going die like this! I can't seem to get a good enough grip on the cliff; it's going to give way any minute now, I can feel it.
If that Dr Gero does anything to hurt my sister!!
What good am I? I won't even be there to help her, protect her. I was supposed to be looking out for her, that's what I should have been doing. I should have left that freak when I had the chance … how the hell did we get stuck with him anyway?
I swear Dr Gero; if you do anything to hurt my sister I swear I'll kill you will my own hands!!
He tried to open his eyes, but they just stung too much, he couldn't see anything, all he knew was that the cliff was going to give way any moment. He could feel the remainder of the ledge collapse under his weight and the next thing he knew was he was falling fast, straight down, straight to his death. He grinded his teeth and prepared for the worse, the rocks below waiting to piece his body, rip it to shreds. He didn't want to imagine so much pain being indulged at one, but he couldn't anything to stop it. The fall was slow to him, waiting, waiting to die. Maybe it was his mind playing tricks on him; a fall couldn't be that slow. He managed to open his eyes slightly, but wanted to shut them as quickly as he opened them. His last sight were the rocks below him, approaching more rapidly and fast. His last breath being the scream which he could no longer hold when he hit the floor and his last memory being how he had let his sister down, so tragically and painfully to both him and her.
He opened his eyes, slowly so they could adjust to the setting. Where was he? Was this hell? He remembered falling hard and fast to the ground. The pain flowed back to him, it was like what he experienced all over again, only this time he was able to remember feeling it all over. He didn't sit up immediately, but then something strange, familiar. The smell, he'd smelt it somewhere before. The same foul stench that he smelt in…
He quickly rose, shacking his head from rising to fast, and looked around. He knew it, the same smell. He was -- how was this possible? It wasn't possible, even in death that lab still haunted him, he still haunted him. He closed his eyes; he didn't want to look at it.
"Ahh, so you're finally awake, my dear lad…" It was a voice no one could ever forget, especially him. "You had me quite worried for a moment, and I'm pretty sure that your sister would have been so too."
"What?" he said dazed.
"Don't worry, it'll all become perfectly clear when the time comes," Dr Gero said softly.
"Why? What have you done to me?" His voice was emotionless and his eyes more cold.
"Me?" He pointed to himself and smiled. "Well, you could say that I saved your life -- well, what was left of it, that was quite a fall."
"How -- how did I survive?"
The old genius smiled again and laughed lightly.
"Ho, you didn't survive, my lad … oh no. That fall was a clear one to the death. It was lucky 16 was there to bring back what was left of you in time for me to save your life."
"So…"
"Nothing like that will happen again, don't worry." Dr Gero walked over to him and examined him carefully. "Very life like, not even your sister will tell. You do remember her, don't you?"
His steel blue eyes grew smaller as he gave the Dr an evil glare.
"Of course I remember my sister, how could I forget?! And I still remember you, and what I said!"
"I am impressed you still remember, it would be such a shame for me to erase them, it's all you have left of you're old life."
"What are you talking about?!" He was becoming impatient with the aging genius.
"Temper, temper 17." He motioned with his arms for him to calm down.
The blacked haired boy instantly stopped and looked at Dr Gero in bewilderment.
"What -- what did you just call me?"
"17. Because that what you are, number 17. Android 17 … my latest creation." With that he walked out the room and left Android 17 alone to ponder on what he said.
He slowly jumped off the table and looked at it and all around it. A large black operating table surrounded by operating equipment. Sharp scalpels, small plastic things, razors and a small sharp drill. He didn't like the sight of it any more that first time. What had Dr Gero done to him? He pondered for along time and then something suddenly caught his eye, a large roll of blueprints at the top read, 'Android 17'. He dropped them to the floor in shock. So that's what happened. He looked over to the strange tubes and notices two were empty, one read 17 and the other read 18. His eyes widened at the though he had.
"If I'm 17, then … Lieta!!"
He ran out of the lab as quickly as he could, he needed to get to his sister and fast, he wouldn't let Dr Gero do the same thing to her as what he did to him. He just wouldn't.
"I mean my word Dr Gero … this time I can keep it!"
He shook his head and realised that he wasn't in Dr Gero's lab, it was another lab, a strange one. He didn't like the idea of being in here, he woke up on an operating table, last time that happened he was turned into the monster that he was. What could be worse? Something happened, he had a feeling. He didn't like it and wanted to leave, quickly. There was only one door, but what could possibly stop him from blasting a hole in the wall?
He held up his hand to the wall…
They all turned from where they were sitting and looked at the white door and listened at the loud sounds coming from the room. The sound of chairs falling and glass breaking, and that was slowly followed by the pained cursing of a very angry Android 17.
"Oh, I take it he's awake then," Bulma said, looking at Krillin and 18.
To be continued…