A/N: I would like to apologize to everyone who has waited so patiently for
an update of this story. I know it has been a long time and I should have
updated long ago. I have a couple of excuses though. 1: I have been
simultaneously running this story on a dragon ball z web site and did not
want to post on ffn faster than I posted on the other site. However,
Kajidragon, the pagemaster of the site has been having some personal
problems and has not updated her page in several months. 2: After I sent
chapter 5 to Kaji for her to post it, one of my disks messed up and erased
it so she had the only copy. I asked her to send a copy back but I don't
know that she ever got it, so I had to rewrite chapter 5. Sorry and thank
you so much for your patience. Hopefully I will begin updating this far
more frequently. (It helps that Cartoon Network is finally running new
episodes^.~)
Dream Girl
She stood in the doorway, her curly violet hair hanging almost to her knees. She was dressed in a baggy, ankle length denim skirt and an oversized man's shirt. Over this she wore a heavy lab coat. She was barefoot and carried a thick black book in one hand. Her bulky clothes hung from her small frame making her appear small and vulnerable. *
A pair of thin glasses rested on her delicate nose, partially hiding her wide violet eyes. She had soft ivory skin and full dark lips. He had seen women use cosmetics to darken their lips, but he had rarely seen a woman with lips which were naturally as dark as hers. They were almost the same shade as her hair.
"You'll have to forgive Simpson. He forgets his place sometimes."
She turned to the security guard, "Your job is to keep people from breaking into my lab. Not restricting my guests to it. I suggest you get back to work."
Simpson gave her a dark look as he trudged from the room.
"Sorry about that. I think sometimes he forgets that he works for me. He likes to take things into his own hands and he looks for trouble."
"Nix?" 17 was very confused, first he has a weird dream about this girl, then she shows up.
Confusion briefly crossed her face, then realization dawned and she laughed. It was a pleasant warm laugh, like tinkling glass. The way it had sounded in his dream.
"Nobody has called me that since I was a kid. It was a pet name, given to me by a very special friend. How did you come to know it?"
"I saw you in a dream. You were playing with some other children and that is what they called you," his answer was given coldly and clinically, if she thought it the slightest bit odd she did not say so.
She extended her hand to him with a warm smile, "I'm Doctor Rana Morrison, welcome to my lab. I don't mind what you call me, so long as it isn't insulting." Her warm smile lit her violet eyes, making them glisten, "You can even call me Nix, if you like, I certainly don't mind."
"Sorry about the trouble I caused, I know another Doctor Morrison and I thought this was his lab."
Did I just say that? I don't have to justify myself to her.
Her eyes turned mournful, "Yes, my father."
She crossed the room and laid her book down on a table, he noticed her rounded nails were painted dark purple like her hair. A quick glance at her feet revealed the same was also true of her toe nails. She reached up to push a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, the light danced off on ornate silver ring on her left hand.
As she crossed the room to examine 16 she took off her glasses and tucked them safely into the pocket of her lab coat, apparently they were only for reading. 17 followed her over to the table.
As she began to work on some of the more complex wiring in 16's chest the hovering robots automatically stayed out of her way.
"How did we get here?"
She grinned, "You landed on my doorstep, literally. This whole complex is underground. You and those robots were battling right above us. I have been trying to reconstruct the events leading up to your arrival here.
"I managed to deactivate one of the robots before it self-destructed. Unfortunately however it was designed to have a system crash if it was deactivated in battle. It's memory was almost completely wiped. I haven't been able to peice together enough of it to figure out where they took your sister, or why.
"I did find out that they were carrying SGT Battle Droids though. If I could find them I might be able to determine where they took 18."
"Wait a minute, you know that we're androids-and you know were siblings, most people don't make that connection."
She waved at 16, "When I was repairing his computer I accidently opened his memory banks."
"So you know everything about us?"
"No, I only know what is in his memory banks. I don't know anything that happened before he was activated. However there was also some damage to his memory banks so there is a little bit missing. I was unable to retrieve the coordinates of you original battle with these robots. If you could tell me where it was I might be able to find 18."
******
Two hours later 17 sat in the passenger seat of a large transport truck. Rana sat in the driver's sear feeding the coordinates into the onboard guidance system.
"This is going to be a long trip Nix, why don't we just fly there?"
"Because I don't have a transport plane big enough to carry as many robots as you say you fought. I may have to go through a lot of robots to find the information I need if they have been severely damaged."
"Why not encapsulate the truck?"
She laughed, "This isn't a Capsule Corps. truck. I don't ever trust a Capsule vehicle with real important stuff. I always worry that I won't be able to get the capsule open again."
"Don't they come with a gauranty though? If they don't work send them back and Capsule Copy. will extract it and replace the capsule."
Rana sighed tiredly, "I'm afraid it isn't that easy. For some reason there are some types of technology that malfunction when I'm around. Capsules are one of them. I can't explain it but whenever I'm around a capsule device for very long it freezes up. That's part of the reason I set up my own lab, I don't have that kind of problem with equipment I personally build."
17's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Are you saying that some technology reacts to your presence?"
"That's a pretty good way of putting it."
"And you don't know why?"
"Not really, I have a couple of theories. I think my father might have had something to do with it."
17 said nothing. After all what was there to be said, other than the obvious statement that that was odd, which would be strange to hear coming from a walking weapon.
Despite 17's concerns about the slowness of the vehicle they made fairly good time. Within an hour they had reached the scene of the fight. Smoldered and burnt robots littered the fields. Military trucks and personnel were crawling all over the place, carefully gathering bits and pieces of robots into evidence bags.
17 looked at Rana, wondering what she would do now. She looked thoughtfully at the scene before her.
"I figured the military would be involved by now. Ever since the Cell game they have been trying to upgrade their equipment so they cam be more prepared if something happens again, which is likely. However, I don't think mere machinery will ever stand up to a creature as powerful as Cell."
If that's the case she probably has a plan for getting past them. She seems to know an awful lot about Cell. I wonder what she would think if she knew beings that powerful do still live on the planet.
She parked the truck just outside the boundary markers set up by the military, opened the door and jumped out. Having nothing better to do 17 got out and followed her.
He caught up with her in time to hear her receiving directions to the commanding officer's tent. He walked with her to the commander's tent, their passing through the camp was marked by several cat-calls directed at Rana. The fact that the military now had soldiers of both sexes did not seem to diminish the effect Rana's slim figure had on the men; they still acted as though they had not seen a woman in years.
17 suddenly felt as if someone had turned on all his defense mechanisms and he could feel his shield raising automatically. He walked close behind her, as though shielding her from their prying eyes.
When they reached the command tent they were told the commander was out in the field. 17 expected her to fo search for him, but she sat down on a box of grenades to wait. She glanced around the tent, seeming to focus especially on the computer banks.
"We can wait," she said softly, dismissing the commander's aide.
17 leaned back against a pole and studied Rana. Quite frankly, the girl surprised him. Most humans, especially female humans, seemed to find it necessary to chatter when they were not doing something. Rana , however, seemed perfectly content to sit and just be silent. She certainly was not trying to force a conversation with him the way many women did. He was surprised to find that he enjoyed her company, maybe because she did not try to draw him out. For some reason being with her was like being with an old friend, someone so familiar words were not needed.
He blinked suddenly in surprise, he had seen something strange, but it was like something he had caught out of the corner of his eye. Whatever had happened was faster than any human eye could follow, fortunately his computer brain recorded faster than the eye.
He closed his eyes and replayed the scene in his memory, his brow wrinkling in confusion. For about one second Rana had turned transparent and looked like a holographic projection with too much interference between the projector and the receiver. A second replay revealed that in the same instance every computer in the room went static, then came back online.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" Rana looked around in confusion.
"You changed, just for a second, and all the computers messed up."
"Really? That's odd. I didn't notice anything."
"Yes. I wouldn't have either if not for-" 17 was cut off by the arrival of the commander. He was a big muscular man, with a scar down one cheek, despite this however he was still quite handsome.
Rana rose gracefully to her feet, "Good afternoon, Commander. I am Dr. Rana Morrison, a weapons specialist from Star labs. The company I work for has a data retrieval agreement with the military. The military allows us to extract data from enemy technology, and in exchange we share any information we gather that is of military importance, as well as developing new weapons exclusively for you. I was sent out to collect these damaged fighter units. If you check your computer you'll see my clearance papers."
The commander walked over to his computer and entered a sequence of commands. "Alright, you're clear. If you'll follow me..."
Three hours later they had a truck full of damaged robots and were back on their way to the lab.
********
."Piccolo, do you know where Krillian is?"
"No, I haven't seen him in a few days."
"Oh, I was hoping to see him before I have to go home." Miria Trunk's face fell as he spoke. When he had returned to his own time no one had really expected to see him again, but true to his word he had returned for a visit and to assure his past family that everything had been set right in his own time.
"I'm certain he will be fine. I think he went to find the androids."
"And you let him go alone? For all we know they could have killed him."
"They have been hiding out in a little town in the 47th sector. He drops in on them pretty regularly. So far they don't seem to mind."
"Well why don't you check on them and see if he's there?"
"Alright." Piccolo walked over to the edge of the look out and searched for the town. "Hm. Looks like there was some trouble over there. Most of the mess has been cleaned up, but Krillian might have been caught in the cross fire."
"Com'on Piccolo, we need to check this out. I trusting those androids was a mistake..."
Trunks leaped over the edge and took off for the 47th sector. Piccolo shook his head at the Saiyain's hotheadedness before taking off after the lavender-haired youth
Dream Girl
She stood in the doorway, her curly violet hair hanging almost to her knees. She was dressed in a baggy, ankle length denim skirt and an oversized man's shirt. Over this she wore a heavy lab coat. She was barefoot and carried a thick black book in one hand. Her bulky clothes hung from her small frame making her appear small and vulnerable. *
A pair of thin glasses rested on her delicate nose, partially hiding her wide violet eyes. She had soft ivory skin and full dark lips. He had seen women use cosmetics to darken their lips, but he had rarely seen a woman with lips which were naturally as dark as hers. They were almost the same shade as her hair.
"You'll have to forgive Simpson. He forgets his place sometimes."
She turned to the security guard, "Your job is to keep people from breaking into my lab. Not restricting my guests to it. I suggest you get back to work."
Simpson gave her a dark look as he trudged from the room.
"Sorry about that. I think sometimes he forgets that he works for me. He likes to take things into his own hands and he looks for trouble."
"Nix?" 17 was very confused, first he has a weird dream about this girl, then she shows up.
Confusion briefly crossed her face, then realization dawned and she laughed. It was a pleasant warm laugh, like tinkling glass. The way it had sounded in his dream.
"Nobody has called me that since I was a kid. It was a pet name, given to me by a very special friend. How did you come to know it?"
"I saw you in a dream. You were playing with some other children and that is what they called you," his answer was given coldly and clinically, if she thought it the slightest bit odd she did not say so.
She extended her hand to him with a warm smile, "I'm Doctor Rana Morrison, welcome to my lab. I don't mind what you call me, so long as it isn't insulting." Her warm smile lit her violet eyes, making them glisten, "You can even call me Nix, if you like, I certainly don't mind."
"Sorry about the trouble I caused, I know another Doctor Morrison and I thought this was his lab."
Did I just say that? I don't have to justify myself to her.
Her eyes turned mournful, "Yes, my father."
She crossed the room and laid her book down on a table, he noticed her rounded nails were painted dark purple like her hair. A quick glance at her feet revealed the same was also true of her toe nails. She reached up to push a wayward strand of hair behind her ear, the light danced off on ornate silver ring on her left hand.
As she crossed the room to examine 16 she took off her glasses and tucked them safely into the pocket of her lab coat, apparently they were only for reading. 17 followed her over to the table.
As she began to work on some of the more complex wiring in 16's chest the hovering robots automatically stayed out of her way.
"How did we get here?"
She grinned, "You landed on my doorstep, literally. This whole complex is underground. You and those robots were battling right above us. I have been trying to reconstruct the events leading up to your arrival here.
"I managed to deactivate one of the robots before it self-destructed. Unfortunately however it was designed to have a system crash if it was deactivated in battle. It's memory was almost completely wiped. I haven't been able to peice together enough of it to figure out where they took your sister, or why.
"I did find out that they were carrying SGT Battle Droids though. If I could find them I might be able to determine where they took 18."
"Wait a minute, you know that we're androids-and you know were siblings, most people don't make that connection."
She waved at 16, "When I was repairing his computer I accidently opened his memory banks."
"So you know everything about us?"
"No, I only know what is in his memory banks. I don't know anything that happened before he was activated. However there was also some damage to his memory banks so there is a little bit missing. I was unable to retrieve the coordinates of you original battle with these robots. If you could tell me where it was I might be able to find 18."
******
Two hours later 17 sat in the passenger seat of a large transport truck. Rana sat in the driver's sear feeding the coordinates into the onboard guidance system.
"This is going to be a long trip Nix, why don't we just fly there?"
"Because I don't have a transport plane big enough to carry as many robots as you say you fought. I may have to go through a lot of robots to find the information I need if they have been severely damaged."
"Why not encapsulate the truck?"
She laughed, "This isn't a Capsule Corps. truck. I don't ever trust a Capsule vehicle with real important stuff. I always worry that I won't be able to get the capsule open again."
"Don't they come with a gauranty though? If they don't work send them back and Capsule Copy. will extract it and replace the capsule."
Rana sighed tiredly, "I'm afraid it isn't that easy. For some reason there are some types of technology that malfunction when I'm around. Capsules are one of them. I can't explain it but whenever I'm around a capsule device for very long it freezes up. That's part of the reason I set up my own lab, I don't have that kind of problem with equipment I personally build."
17's brow wrinkled in confusion, "Are you saying that some technology reacts to your presence?"
"That's a pretty good way of putting it."
"And you don't know why?"
"Not really, I have a couple of theories. I think my father might have had something to do with it."
17 said nothing. After all what was there to be said, other than the obvious statement that that was odd, which would be strange to hear coming from a walking weapon.
Despite 17's concerns about the slowness of the vehicle they made fairly good time. Within an hour they had reached the scene of the fight. Smoldered and burnt robots littered the fields. Military trucks and personnel were crawling all over the place, carefully gathering bits and pieces of robots into evidence bags.
17 looked at Rana, wondering what she would do now. She looked thoughtfully at the scene before her.
"I figured the military would be involved by now. Ever since the Cell game they have been trying to upgrade their equipment so they cam be more prepared if something happens again, which is likely. However, I don't think mere machinery will ever stand up to a creature as powerful as Cell."
If that's the case she probably has a plan for getting past them. She seems to know an awful lot about Cell. I wonder what she would think if she knew beings that powerful do still live on the planet.
She parked the truck just outside the boundary markers set up by the military, opened the door and jumped out. Having nothing better to do 17 got out and followed her.
He caught up with her in time to hear her receiving directions to the commanding officer's tent. He walked with her to the commander's tent, their passing through the camp was marked by several cat-calls directed at Rana. The fact that the military now had soldiers of both sexes did not seem to diminish the effect Rana's slim figure had on the men; they still acted as though they had not seen a woman in years.
17 suddenly felt as if someone had turned on all his defense mechanisms and he could feel his shield raising automatically. He walked close behind her, as though shielding her from their prying eyes.
When they reached the command tent they were told the commander was out in the field. 17 expected her to fo search for him, but she sat down on a box of grenades to wait. She glanced around the tent, seeming to focus especially on the computer banks.
"We can wait," she said softly, dismissing the commander's aide.
17 leaned back against a pole and studied Rana. Quite frankly, the girl surprised him. Most humans, especially female humans, seemed to find it necessary to chatter when they were not doing something. Rana , however, seemed perfectly content to sit and just be silent. She certainly was not trying to force a conversation with him the way many women did. He was surprised to find that he enjoyed her company, maybe because she did not try to draw him out. For some reason being with her was like being with an old friend, someone so familiar words were not needed.
He blinked suddenly in surprise, he had seen something strange, but it was like something he had caught out of the corner of his eye. Whatever had happened was faster than any human eye could follow, fortunately his computer brain recorded faster than the eye.
He closed his eyes and replayed the scene in his memory, his brow wrinkling in confusion. For about one second Rana had turned transparent and looked like a holographic projection with too much interference between the projector and the receiver. A second replay revealed that in the same instance every computer in the room went static, then came back online.
"What was that?"
"What was what?" Rana looked around in confusion.
"You changed, just for a second, and all the computers messed up."
"Really? That's odd. I didn't notice anything."
"Yes. I wouldn't have either if not for-" 17 was cut off by the arrival of the commander. He was a big muscular man, with a scar down one cheek, despite this however he was still quite handsome.
Rana rose gracefully to her feet, "Good afternoon, Commander. I am Dr. Rana Morrison, a weapons specialist from Star labs. The company I work for has a data retrieval agreement with the military. The military allows us to extract data from enemy technology, and in exchange we share any information we gather that is of military importance, as well as developing new weapons exclusively for you. I was sent out to collect these damaged fighter units. If you check your computer you'll see my clearance papers."
The commander walked over to his computer and entered a sequence of commands. "Alright, you're clear. If you'll follow me..."
Three hours later they had a truck full of damaged robots and were back on their way to the lab.
********
."Piccolo, do you know where Krillian is?"
"No, I haven't seen him in a few days."
"Oh, I was hoping to see him before I have to go home." Miria Trunk's face fell as he spoke. When he had returned to his own time no one had really expected to see him again, but true to his word he had returned for a visit and to assure his past family that everything had been set right in his own time.
"I'm certain he will be fine. I think he went to find the androids."
"And you let him go alone? For all we know they could have killed him."
"They have been hiding out in a little town in the 47th sector. He drops in on them pretty regularly. So far they don't seem to mind."
"Well why don't you check on them and see if he's there?"
"Alright." Piccolo walked over to the edge of the look out and searched for the town. "Hm. Looks like there was some trouble over there. Most of the mess has been cleaned up, but Krillian might have been caught in the cross fire."
"Com'on Piccolo, we need to check this out. I trusting those androids was a mistake..."
Trunks leaped over the edge and took off for the 47th sector. Piccolo shook his head at the Saiyain's hotheadedness before taking off after the lavender-haired youth