Chapter 2: The Calm Before the Storm.
18 stood up slowly. She never would have admitted it to her brother, but she
was tired. She looked at the clock, it read one am.
No wonder she was tired. She had been working since 8 in the morning. Well,
she was almost done. She carried the tray of freshly shined silverware back
to the kitchen.
She had been working this job for three months and secretly she was proud to
have managed holding it down. 17 hadn't been so lucky. He had taken about ten
jobs in the four months since the Cell games and hadn't managed to keep to
keep any of them for more than a week. He just caused to much trouble.
She and 16 were pretty much the providers. Between them they pulled together
enough money to rent a small apartment and provide the small amount of food
she and 17 required to function.
While she did not particularly enjoy waiting tables, she didn't mind it
either. She took some napkins from a box and started wrapping the silverware.
Rolling the silverware was the last thing she had to do before heading home.
Once the silverware was rolled and stacked neatly she tossed her apron into a
laundry bin and clocked out.
As she was headed for the door, Evan, the restaurant manager called out a
goodnight.
Humans, she thought, they waste so much time on conversation.
She had learned quickly that most of a waitresses money comes from tips. When
she was working with a customer she would smile and make small talk like the
other waitresses, her tips were sufficient for her needs, but they were never
large. As hard as she tried she couldn't make herself seem more interested in
these strangers lives, and her smile never touched her cold blue eyes. Far
too often she forgot to respond to her "name."
They had decided before arriving in this small town that they would not
reveal their true nature. They had agreed to choose human names for
themselves so the humans would not ask too many questions. The only one of
them who was any good at remembering to respond to his name was 16. He had
chosen to go with the name Ceti. 17 and 18 didn't know where he had gotten
the name but he seemed to like it and no one had asked any questions about it
in the town. She had chosen to go with Ami and 17 had decided to go with
Steve. Neither name seemed to truly suit them, and both had trouble
remembering that they were supposed to respond to them.
16 and 17 were waiting for her in the parking lot. Together the three headed
for their small apartment. As they walked along a mewling sounded from
someplace on 16's shoulder. 18 turned her head to see Brief, 16's small black
kitten. They were about to put it down at the shelter where he worked so he
brought it home. Fortunately he had only brought home one animal so far. When
she had asked him why he named her Brief he said she reminded him of Dr.
Brief's cat, Kitty.
17 stopped walking to look around then continued. He reached up and brushed
his finger over the gold hoop earring Dr. Gero had installed. Binary code
flashed from his computer brain to hers. It was almost like telepathy.
#Someone is following us.#
#Where?#
#He's sitting on the roof of that first building to the left.#
16 carefully deposited Briefs on the ground. Since he had adopted her she had
always managed to find her way home so he knew she would be safe.
#I am faster so I will go around the back. 17 come in from this side. 18
cover the sky.#
He was rewarded with a double #Confirmed# ringing in his head, then he and
the twins were moving out. 18 leapt into the air and hovered over the
building. She caught sight of a human figure looking around in confusion at
the sudden disappearance of the three androids before 16 and 17 converged on
him. He made a vain attempt to escape. He was obviously a fighter, but no
human could have held off even one of them, and he was quickly subdued.
She dropped to the roof to find her brother pinning a small human down. He
was completely bald and only about four feet tall. She recognized him
immediately.
"Krillin."
"Oh...uh...hi,18." He was turning a ludicrous shade of red.
#It's OK 17, he isn't powerful enough to do us any damage.#
#You sure?#
#Positive.#
17 let Krillin get up and leaned against a wall to watch, his sister seemed
to know this scrawny human.
"Krillin, what are you doing here?"
"Well, um...I uh...wanted to see how you were doing. I knew you probably
wouldn't appreciate me coming to your apartment or anything, so I thought I
would just make sure you guys were OK...and uh..." Krillins voice trailed off.
#Why does he care?# 17 wondered.
18 ignored him.
"How did you find us?"
"Well..um...Piccolo has been staying at the Lookout so I asked him to
keep an eye open for you."
"The Lookout?"
"Yeah, that place where we were when we summoned the Dragon. You can see
any place on earth from there."
"Anyplace?" 17 asked, he hadn't been very interested in the rest of the
conversation, but the idea of being able to see anything on earth fascinated
him.
"Well, you can't really see through walls or anything like that. But you
can see anything that happens out in the open."
#Drat.#
#What 17 did you want to use it to peek in windows or something.#
He didn't answer her, he did not want to admit that human women were an
enigma to him.
But she assumed it anyway. #Why you...#
"You know," 17 said, trying to change the subject of the binary
conversation, "I never did understand why the Z senshi tried to turn us into
humans."
"Oh...uh...um" The short human looked flustered and he was turning an
absurd red color. "I...um...thought it would be easier for you guys to, you
know, get jobs live your lives, so on, if you were human. I thought maybe you
could live normal happy lives."
17 looked at the blushing human skeptically and turned to his sister with a
raised eyebrow. She was turning red too! What in the world was going on here?
He looked at the two blushing people then turned his back and headed for the
apartment. It was better not to ask.
16 followed, leaving Krillin and 18 alone on the roof.
"Good night Krillin." She said as she turned to leave, unconsciously
doing the same thing she had mentally scorned Evan for doing.
"Um...18."
"Yes."
"Are you angry with me?" She turned to look at him.
"What for?"
"Well...uh, for following you."
"No. Goodnight."
She heard Krillin breath a sigh of relief. She dropped to the street and
walked to the apartment. She would never have admitted it, even to herself,
but she was glad to see the little man. It was kind of sweet to have someone
care enough to check up on her. She couldn't remember anyone except maybe 17
caring about her. Maybe Krillin was sincere.
*********************
They saw quite a bit of Krillin over the next few months. He ate at least one
meal a day at the restaurant, (He said he liked their hamburgers, 18 had
tasted those burgers and personally wouldn't have fed them to Briefs, so she
wondered if it was really an excuse to hang around.)
18 did not do anything different from what she normally did, but whenever
Krillin was around her tips were bigger. At first she thought maybe Krillin
was adding to her tips after the customers left, but she watched him while he
ate and he never left his seat. What she did not realize was that when
Krillin was there her smile sometimes reached her eyes and people were able
to warm up to her a little.
Evan and the rest of the staff could not figure out what had happened to her.
Somehow, in some indescribable way, she had changed.
Krillin also spent a lot of time volunteering at the shelter where 16 worked.
He seemed to like working with the animals as much as 16 did and 16 did not
complain about his company.
17 just tolerated him.
He had been tentative about hanging around for the first couple of weeks, but
when it became clear no one would chase him off he seemed a little more at
ease.
The days passed in a slow dreamy pattern and sometimes it felt as though time
had stopped and nothing could ever threaten earth again.
*********************
Steam filled the small room, fogging up the single mirror.
18 slipped wearily out of her clothes. It had been a long day and even
Krillin's company could not keep her back and feet from aching.
She slipped into the water, enjoying the comfort which was seeping into her
body. She closed her icy eyes and laid her head back.
When she opened them she was immersed head to toe in the warm liquid. The
round tank, with three inch thick glass distorted her vision. So did the
constant stream of air bubbles which rose up through the amber liquid,
brushing lightly against her body.
She could barely make out the shape of the other tank she knew was in the
room. She could not see him, but she knew her brother was floating inside it.
The liquid kept them immobile in a constant state of suspended animation.
Cords, wires, and tubes ran through the lid of the tanks and into their
bodies. She had a vague sensation of pain all over her body.
A short balding man with cold ice-blue eyes appeared in her field of vision.
He carried a clipboard on which he was making notes.
His voice was distorted by the glass and the liquid surrounding her but she
could still hear him speaking.
"The installation of the computer brains seems to have been successful."
"Yes Doctor." That was the computer.
18 narrowed her eyes, even that small amount of movement was exhaustingly
difficult. How she hated him.
"Initiate the next step computer."
What now? 18 wondered.
"Sequence A236790OTA initiated. Fusion of organic titanium alloy in ten
seconds."
18 dully wondered how much this would hurt.
"Five...four...three...two...one...sequence initiated now."
The tubes connecting her to the heavy machinery outside the tank began to
jerk as liquid poured down them. She jerked as the liquid was suddenly pumped
into her body. The pain was intense as her body began to convulse in spite of
the restraining liquid, it felt as though liquid fire was being pumped into
her and her whole body was burning to a crisp. No one could survive this! Her
face twisted as she tried to scream.
18 jerked suddenly to a sitting position, cold water pouring off her body.
She had been asleep. She shuddered as she pulled the stopper from the plug
and allowed the water to drain from the bathtub.
What was that? It was terrifying!
She had never dreamed before. Not since she was released from Dr. Gero's lab
anyway. Now, suddenly, she was awakened by a nightmare.
Her body ached all over as though she had been beaten all over.
She closed the curtain and turned the shower head on. The warm water washed
over her body, warming her and lessening the effect of the nightmare.
She had no way of knowing that her nightmare was just a drop in the bucket
and that a dark storm was brewing on the horizon.