Pyrotechnics
Evening: March 4, 2190 AI
The next day, everything seemed to get better. Werner had cleaned up the glass from Leehalt's angry fit, and managed to settle Virginia down after the incident. She had been upset over what the man had said about her friend, but relieved to know her father thought of Adam as a living, breathing, being with his own will, and not just something worth studying. Sure, he wanted to study the boy, obviously had plans to use his inborn powers for his plans, but he also knew how much his daughter would love to have a friend.
Leehalt wasn't talking to Werner, and Werner wasn't talking to Leehalt. Elliot told Virginia that this happened a lot, usually the jerk would break the silence by picking a fight over something work related in a few days, Leehalt couldn't stay silent for very long. But it would give the man a few blessed days of relief from having to take part in a frivolous argument. That was when Werner would be in the best of moods, and these instances actually coincide with the times he would come home so happy that he took the family out for dinner. Any time Ekatrina would ask why he was happy, he would say, " I had a very good day at work."
Pete had finally discovered the missing documents, they were in Duran's room. It turned out that the perverted scientist had left his porn magazine on Pete's desk when he came in to tell him about some dream he had where he and Beatrice were sitting on a beach, gazing at the sky together, when he was called away by a problem with the generator. Leaving his magazine behind, he ran off. Later, when he went back to pick up said reading materials, he accidentally took the file with him as well. Elliot apologized for going off on Pete, but the Baskar said he didn't mind. After all, he understood how worried Elliot was about the project, it meant more to him now that his son was gone. And it was reliving to know how Elliot thought.
The day seemed to go by very quickly, and soon night fell on them once more. Everyone was in a meeting, the planned one to discuss Yggdrasil's progress. Werner and Elliot were also going to bring up the notion of setting the birthing time of the Filgaia Sample back, so Virginia and him would be around the same age. Virginia knew that Leehalt and Malik would disagree, both having their own purposes, and that Melody would probably just not care. It would be on Pete and Duran to figure out what would be the best.
She went over to the specimen chamber when the meeting began, wanting to speak with her friend a little. This time, the girl felt as if he was staring at her, even though his eyes were shut. Suddenly, she heard a male voice in her mind, one she'd never heard before. *I know how much you worry about me, but you should be more worried about yourself. Even though I'm still not conscious, I can feel an enormous build up of energy from this plant. If it overloads, the two of us could be killed. This capsule can reduce my damage, it'll be the first line of defense, but you're an unguarded human being. Find shelter until the energy passes, do this for me. I feel your kind heart, you don't deserve death. Save yourself Virginia, just go.*
'Adam's speaking to me!' she thought, 'He's trying to protect me from something, but I don't know what it is. But I'm not afraid, I'll stay here with him. What could go wrong? After all, the generators were just fine when Uncle Duran checked them out yesterday. And no one can tamper with anything, they're all at the meeting. So there's no way there can be an accident. It is nice to know how much Adam cares.'
Just then, Duran came walking by with a file. Virginia wondered why he wasn't in the meeting. He didn't appear to notice the young girl sitting there, only took one look in the direction of the capsule that held the boy. Duran was extremely intrigued by the project, not for the reasons that Elliot had, but he was quite interested in the fact that they were able to create an artificial life form that resembled a human being so close, no one would know the difference. After all, out of the seven, Duran was the biggest science hound.
"Ziz iz going to be one long night. Leehalt iz trying to make an argument ve've already zettled. I zould finizh ziz project right away zen, by following ze advice Beatrice gave to me. Zankz to her, ve vill have a green Filgaia before ziz night iz through," he mumbled, walking past. He was heading for the generator room, and Virginia thought he'd gone crazy. But then she remembered he had an imaginary friend named Beatrice that he was always talking to. Probably giving her new life by accrediting her with his ideas now.
* * *
A tense hour passed, with Virginia hearing still more pleas from her friend to go to safety. But if there was some sort of impending disaster, she didn't want to make him face it all alone. The girl was not about to let the only friend she had die in a cold, dark, room with only the energy in his cylinder to keep him company. No! He would not die at all! She would prevent him from being killed with her magic, even if it ran the risk of her being discovered by one of the scientists. For this was her friend, and she'd never desert him in his time of need. After all, there was no way that Adam could defend himself inside of that large capsule.
Suddenly, she smelt something burning in the lab. Then and exploding sound could be heard from the direction of the generator room. Thinking that Duran had just miscalculated in his idea to fix up the system, and caused a minor shut down, Virginia didn't panic. But she heard Adams voice again, warning her to run now. To leave the Yggdrasil and hide in the forest until the problem passed. Urgency could be heard in his voice, he was genuinely worried about the girl. She stayed, not wanting to leave him alone.
Just then, another explosion rocked the laboratory, this one much closer. Some machines were blown out from behind them, and Virginia screamed. A flying piece of metal struck across her cheek, giving her a large gash. To her horror, a third explosion knocked the capsule off its base, spilling both the boy and the Panakea Fluid onto the ground. As the girl watched in horror, she suddenly saw another piece of metal flying from a machine, and it was heading right for Adam! He had no way to defend himself, he would die!
She quickly reacted to the situation, blocking the attack with her own body. The metal hit the girl right in the chest, imbedding itself inside of her. Virginia fell to the ground right next to her friend. It looked like it was all over for them, she was badly wounded and he had no way to finish his growth outside of the cylinder. Besides, if it was going on like this, the others in the council might be dead as well. Then, no one would be able to find them and rescue them. As blackness consumed her, Virginia whispered, 'At least I was able to die knowing I had a friend. You were with me up until the very end, Adam. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll see each other once again, in the world of the dead. Even if you weren't finished growing, you had a soul, so Ge Ramtos will take you too. Then, we'll be able to play together every day, never being apart again." With those words, the child fainted, unable to hear her name escape from the lips of the young boy.
- - - -
Teefa's Last Words…
Yup, typical Jet. Although he is much more open. I don't think he was born an antisocial punk, it just happened as he was living in the Wastelands. The past circumstances always affect the future attitude. There's only one more chapter left. Then, I can post the second story.
