"Tea in a loaded room, in a loaded house, in a loaded town
A finger taps the table, bottled ships they run aground
If only for my life
If only for my life
If only for my life, know me, know me"
Matthew Good Band, "Parable"
"How long has everything been like this?" MOMO asked as the small group entered a market store, climbing in through a broken front window since the doorway had been blocked by fallen rubble.
The sector of the city they were in now was in much worse shape than the one she'd arrived in; several of the buildings here had collapsed, sinking in on each other like sandcastles washed by the waves. It all seemed very structurally unsound, and she kept glancing at the ceiling of the store, trying to judge the strength of the building's framework.
Jan shook his head in response to her question, opening a freezer case that still seemed to be working. "I don't know," he mumbled. "A long time, I know that."
"But there's still food?" she went on quizzically, turning in a slow circle to take in the whole of the darkened store.
The blond man shrugged, making a small pile of wrapped items in one arm. "There's always food." He frowned, as if her question was making him think about something he'd never bothered to before. "We never really want for anything like that." Shaking it off, he turned toward Nate, dropping the parcels into a bag. "How does steak sound tonight? Since we have a guest?"
"It sounds great!" he beamed, in the process of scattering the contents of a box of dog treats in a short line down the main aisle. The boy laughed to himself as Nex followed the treats wherever the line led, snapping up each one with greedy precision.
I guess it makes sense, MOMO sighed to herself, considering the circumstances. "Please, let me help you make dinner," she offered, pressing her palms together in front of her. "For all the trouble I've caused."
"Well, if you really want to," Jan answered, startled. He turned to her suddenly, rubbing nervously at the back of his neck with his free hand. "But, you must forgive me, MOMO - I'm the one who should apologize. It's been so long since I've seen anyone else; I think I've treated you badly. Shooting at you and everything."
"No, please," she said, her cheeks flushing. She had to constantly remind herself that this wasn't Ziggy and he wasn't acting abnormally, that he didn't know her and she didn't know him and she couldn't be very casual with him. "It's all right - but, both you and Nate have said that before. What happened to everyone else?"
He gestured for them to follow him out of the store, and they had gone a distance down the street again, skirting rubble, before he finally answered her question. "There was a calamity, many years ago," Jan's deep voice began, reverberating through the stillness. "I forget just how long, but many people disappeared. Those who were left they began vanishing as well. More and more, until we're the only ones left. And disappearing isn't what we have to worry about, now."
"Vanished," MOMO repeated thoughtfully. "What kind of calamity?"
Nate stopped where he was for a moment, staring at the ground, Nex cradled tightly in his arms. The man's movements became jerky momentarily, his voice catching as he told her, "It was a huge explosion." He sighed, turning slightly toward the boy. "Come on. We should keep moving."
She fell silent as they continued on, following after pensively, her hands folded in front of her. She had begun to notice a pattern in the destruction of the city around her - or at least, it seemed that the further they went toward the center of the area, the more run-down and crumbling the buildings were.
Glancing around curiously, MOMO stopped walking as they came through another empty intersection, staring down the cross street in surprise. There was a building several blocks that way; she would never have noticed it apart from any other, normally, except that it stood intact in the middle of a wide swath of devastation.
"MOMO?" Jan asked as he stopped by her side, having noticed she wasn't coming along. "Is something wrong?"
"That place" she said slowly, pointing down the street at the unremarkable building. "How could it have remained untouched?"
Once again her two companions seemed uncomfortable, as if she was bringing up a taboo subject. "It sounds ignorant, in this day and age, to say a place is cursed," the man told her, moving slightly; the Realian turned to see as Nate suddenly pressed his face against his stepfather's side, his skin pale. "But," he finished, almost unconsciously rubbing the back of the boy's neck comfortingly, "that's just what it is. The thing that hunts us it's destroyed most of the sectors here, but it doesn't touch that one building."
"Nate?" MOMO asked as she heard a sob, leaning down to catch a glimpse of his tear-filled eyes. "What's-?"
"It scares me," he choked out, sniffling loudly before pulling away and turning his back to hide his tears from her. "Let's go away from here, MOMO, please!"
Nodding, she raised her hands to her lips, letting them hurry her away. One more mystery to add to the list, she thought, sighing.
The distance seemed to stretch out ahead of them as Jan led them further down the streets, many of them nearly barricaded by rubble. Her legs were starting to get tired just as they reached what looked like a dilapidated apartment building about five stories tall. The policeman gestured toward it, and Nate straightened up, looking slowly cheerful again.
"We're home," he called back to MOMO, waving his hand for her to follow him as he set Nex down and ran for the lobby, leaping through the broken glass door, which stood half-open in the frame, its automatic sensors not functioning.
She jogged a little to catch up with him, catching her breath at the top of a flight of stairs. The second-level hallway was dim, the track-lighting along the edges of the ceiling turned off as well. This had apparently been a fairly upscale apartment building beforehand, but now it seemed almost like a slum.
The boy stopped by a door, grinning at her. "This is where we live, for now," he announced proudly.
"For now?" she queried, both sensing and hearing it as Jan took the stairs behind them at a slower pace.
He nodded. "We move around, when when it finds us," he finished in a hurry. "But I think we're okay here. It hasn't found us in such a long time!"
'It', MOMO repeated silently to herself. Ziggy, this has something to do with you not waking up, doesn't it? Don't worry, I'll find out what's behind this!
His footsteps barely audible on the carpet, Jan came up behind them, fishing a keycard out of his pocket and waving it next to the door sensor. A little green light flashed on, and the sound of a click rang through the silent, silent corridor. "It seems to ignore what's already been destroyed," the man clarified. "That's why it's so dangerous for you - and you know this, Nate - to go into the remaining sectors."
"But that's where the playground is," the seven-year-old told him, as if that explained everything.
Stepping forward so that the door slid open, Jan gave him a gentle swat on the behind, propelling him into the darkened apartment. "Don't argue, Nate. You know better."
With an exaggerated pout, he turned to look back at the pink-haired Realian, giving her a grin, both golden-brown eyes closing in a wink he couldn't quite manage to pull off. "But if I hadn't gone to play, we wouldn't have found MOMO!"
Smiling back at him, she stepped in as well; there was the hiss of the door closing behind them all, and a soft beep ringing out as Jan immediately locked it again behind them.
The apartment was very dark inside, almost pitch-black, but even as she blinked to adjust her vision the man walked without faltering across the room. A moment later she was forced to blink again when he pulled aside the blackout curtains in front of the window, letting the golden light into the room.
It looked like any other living area MOMO had ever seen, if not a bit old-fashioned, a kitchen set at one end of the room, dining table and couch and viewscreen arranged neatly and a hall leading back toward bedrooms and bathroom. As she took it in, however, small oddities began to jump out at her - the arrangement of flashbeams and provisions near the door, for one, attesting to the need for a possible quick escape.
"Well then," Jan said to break the silence, removing his gun from its holster and setting it on the table next to the rest of the supplies, "let's get started with dinner while there's still light out, shall we?"
"All right," the girl agreed, following him toward the kitchen.
He began giving her instructions, telling her where pans and seasonings were kept, and as she moved to fetch the items, her eyes drifted toward the living area. Nate had gone to sit by the window on a tall stool, staring outside with a thoughtful expression, his little dog in his lap. She smiled a bit at the sight, wondering what he was thinking about, and then turned back to help Jan.
As she watched him drop the meat in the pan, observing the process curiously in case she'd have to cook something for someone in the future, the memory of her own voice came to her mind: 'If I work hard and become a good wife, will that make Ziggy happy too?'
She shook her head to herself, her cheeks flushing with strange embarrassment. It hadn't been very long at all since she'd asked that of Shion - onboard the Elsa, wasn't it? Yes, that was right Shion had been looking for Ziggy, wanting him to help her find Commander Cherenkov.
Before I met Junior, she reminded herself. A lot had happened, and the journey with her friends had changed her, as it was doing still.
Despite that, she could never have imagined for herself a scene like this one. The meat sizzled in the pan, the scent of the spices wafting upward around her face, the last rays of the sun spilling in through the large front window, giving the hair and skin and dull brown uniform of the man standing next to her a golden cast. He hummed to himself, barely audible past the sound of the cooking steaks, using a fork to flip them over. If she looked at only his face it was so warm and comfortable here, just a moment of captured happiness
This feeling it's stupid. Just like thinking I can ever be human too. MOMO sighed a little, looking down at her feet before straightening to fill some glasses with water and bring them to the small dining table nearby. By the time she was setting out the plates she had shaken off her melancholy, though the strangeness of the situation wouldn't go away.
"Nate, dinner," Jan said suddenly, blue eyes flicking toward the boy. He immediately perked up, sliding from the stool and plunking Nex on the ground before moving to the small table to seat himself. The Realian went to join him, watching as the food was served; it smelled quite appealing, despite her sensors telling her it wasn't even meat, but she waited until the policeman had taken his own seat before reaching toward her fork.
However, before she could get it, Nate had seized her hand, clasping it tightly in his own. She gave him a confused look, to which he simply replied, "We gotta say grace first, MOMO!"
The girl looked to Jan, who raised his eyebrows a bit, holding out his hand. Unfamiliar with this custom but willing to go along with it anyway, she rather hesitantly placed her hand in his, Nate on the other side of him making a circle. "No longer forward nor behind I look in hope or fear," the two said together, one voice loud and confident, the other deep and thoughtful, "but, grateful, take the good I find, the best of now and here."
Suddenly releasing her hand, the boy grabbed for his fork; Jan too let go of her, automatically reaching over to cut his son's steak into smaller pieces for him. Listening to the sound of knife against plate, MOMO finally was able to say, "I've never heard that before."
"It's an old poem," Jan told her. "Someone named Whittier. That's always been our grace."
"I like it," she said, ducking her head a bit. Finished with Nate, he half-gestured toward her plate, but she had already begun for herself, and so he merely looked down to his own food.
Neatly cutting off a corner of the steak with her knife, she speared it on the fork and raised it to her mouth. There was indeed something there, sort of, though it was less like meat and more like a mouthful of fluff. She chewed experimentally, intrigued by the strangeness of it.
It was certain, then: nothing in this world was really there, and the lack of data to her sensors meant she was unable to truly observe and catalogue her surroundings. Only the presences of Jan and Nate across the table from her had any substance at all, shining like streetlamps in the darkness.
"Is it any good?" the man asked her suddenly, looking almost anxious. "I'm afraid cooking isn't my best skill."
She nodded quickly, swallowing down the bite of food before trying to speak. "Oh, yes. It tastes great, Jan!"
"Karen - Nate's mother," he amended when she opened her mouth to ask, "loved to cook. So I never really had to do it, back then."
Cautiously, not wanting to give offense, MOMO asked, "Did she disappear, too?"
Jan shook his head, not appearing disturbed in the slightest by the question. "No it happened before then. There was an accident on board the ship where she was stationed; an explosion breached the hull. She was a medic all she wanted was to help people, and she was able to get a lot of them to safety before the emergency bulkheads closed. She went back for the last one, but they didn't make it out."
The girl was amazed by the simple, unaffected way he had told her the story, as it was certainly making her feel sad. "I'm sorry," she murmured back, setting down her fork.
"It's all right," he returned, his gaze unfocused for a moment, staring off into the distance. She couldn't help but shiver a little at the thought of memories with memories of their own. "It's been a long time. And Karen wants us to remember her happily, I'm sure of it."
"Mom's a hero," Nate said brightly. "She's always around, you know. Hey, Dad, show her the picture!"
He hesitated a moment before giving in to the boy's request, reaching for a pocket of his uniform and drawing out a palm-sized card, which he held flat. With a little flick, the holographic image bloomed into life above it, and as Jan extended it MOMO leaned forward to peer at the picture. Letting her take it, he returned to his meal, watching her even as he continued to eat in silence.
It made her heart wrench, seeing them so happy, Jan and the woman Karen, brown hair arranged in intricate curls, standing together in Federation dress uniform. In her arms she held a baby, obviously Nate. Stepson, she realized, trying to take in every detail while she could. That was why she couldn't see a relation in their genes. Oh, Ziggy, you were so lucky
Nate was leaning in over her shoulder to look at the picture too, although he'd undoubtedly seen it many times before, and after a moment she rather reluctantly handed it to him. He held it carefully in both small hands. "That's me, and Dad, and Mom when they got married. I was just a baby, see?"
"You were very cute," she told him with a smile.
He laughed and made a face at her, clumsily sending the hologram away and handing the card back to Jan. Almost in the same movement, the boy's arm shot out again, grabbing for her wrist. "Ooh, MOMO, what's this?" he asked, pulling a little at the bullet charm around her wrist to look at it for himself. "Is that a real bullet?"
"Nate, stop. Don't grab at people," the blond man told him sharply, and immediately he let go, looking only slightly abashed before clambering down from his chair.
"Sorry, but - Dad, look! That's a real bullet! Where'd you get it, MOMO?"
She let her other hand cover the charm, shoulders slightly hunched as she tried to keep in a sigh. "A - a friend gave it to me," she told him. "It's to keep me safe."
"MOMO," Jan began seriously, his gaze intense on her now, "aren't your friends - your mother missing you now? We ought to be getting you back to them."
The Realian slumped farther down, tracing the shape of the bullet hanging from her wrist. "I still have to find someone. I - I can't go back yet," she whispered. "I can't-"
As if to hide her unhappiness, she stood and began to clear the table, collecting the plates. She couldn't tell them why she was really here, though, could she? If this was a memory of the way Ziggy was, how could he understand what things were like now? She couldn't go anywhere until she found him
Jan leaned forward, rubbing at the bridge of his nose before sitting up straight in the chair again, apparently not convinced. "There should be a working dock left somewhere on this world," he began with odd tension in his voice. "There must be other people here, somewhere, in other cities. I can't imagine everything has been destroyed. We can find a - a ship to take you - take us - to Fourth Jerusalem. I wouldn't send you off alone"
She was touched by his kindness, but she also understood the reason for his uneasiness; for them to leave this world, maybe even this city, was, of course, impossible. "Thank you for all your trouble," she said in a low voice, listening to the quiet clink of the plates as she stacked them together, "but I don't think she even cares to see me. Please don't worry about it."
"She belongs here, Dad," Nate said loudly, almost as if to stop the oncoming protest. "She was already here to begin with."
What? MOMO thought, her hair whipping her cheeks as she spun toward him. "Already here?" she repeated, but he had turned away, crouching down to scratch behind Nex's ears. But I am, she realized slowly. I am part of Ziggy's memories too
"I'm sure your mother wants to know you're safe," Jan muttered, but he dropped the subject with obvious relief, turning his gaze toward the boy as he stood, pushing out his chair. "Nate, help her with those dishes. MOMO is our guest, not our maid."
He scrambled up from the floor like a shot, grabbing for the plates in a motion designed to get the chore over with as quickly as possible. Plunking them down uncaringly in the sink, he grabbed for the Realian's wrist before she could turn the water on to start washing them. "No, don't bother with that," he pleaded, hopping up and down energetically, swinging her arm along with his. "Let's go play! The kid who used to live here had some really great toys!"
"Okay," she agreed with a little laugh, gently disengaging her hand from his.
"Remember, only until it's dark," Jan said from the living room, leaning over the coffee table from his seat on the couch. His hands were moving in swift, practiced motions, flipping out the parts of his pistol as he made sure they were clean and in working order; glancing down, MOMO could see that it wasn't just any gun, but could also convert into a beam weapon as well, similar to Junior's.
"Right, right," Nate answered impatiently, tugging on her sleeve. "Come on!"
She let him pull her down the hall toward the two bedrooms and bathroom located at the back of the apartment, the dog trotting at their heels. The smallest bedroom obviously belonged to a child, decorated in bright primary colors and with toys scattered everywhere.
In the middle of the floor and rising up the side of the wall was a large model train layout, controlled by switches and knobs along one side; here the boy knelt, talking nonstop as he demonstrated how it worked. "I'm so glad you're here," he finished finally, smiling as he followed the motion of the toy engine as it wound its way through a cityscape. "And that we don't have to send you away."
"I-I'm sorry, Nate," she said quietly, unable to meet his eyes, "but I can't stay, either. I'm going to disappear too, soon."
"Oh, no," he said cheerfully, and her head flew up in surprise. He, however, remained focused on the small train's movements, pressing a button occasionally to switch the track. "You aren't going to disappear, MOMO. I know it. You're like Dad and me, you see."
Frowning, she asked, "What do you mean?"
"Hmm?" He glanced up, eyebrows raised. "About what?"
MOMO gave him a thoughtful look, finally letting out a little sigh. "Never mind. It's okay."
The rest of the time passed in silence until Jan appeared in the doorway, a folded blanket tucked under one arm. "Time, Nate," he announced, gesturing with his chin toward the bed in the corner of the room, the end of which Nex was already curled up on. "The light has to go off." As the boy groaned, slowly unfolding from where he was kneeling, the man continued, "I'm fixing the couch for you, MOMO, if you don't mind."
"Oh, yes, that's fine," she hastened to tell him, quickly getting to her feet. "Don't worry, I'll fix it." The girl held out her arms to take the bundle he held, and after a moment he handed it over with a nod. "Goodnight, Nate," she told him, and he straightened from taking off his shoes to grin at her.
"Night!" the boy called back, bouncing onto the mattress and giggling as the brown and white dog at the end of it whipped his head up to give his master an affronted look.
Starting back out into the living room, MOMO stopped and turned to look back, watching as Jan tucked his stepson in, sitting on the edge of the bed to speak to him in his usual serious tone. It's strange, she thought, pushing away the wistfulness that was rising inside her. He obviously cares for Nate, but he still seems so distant, somehow
In the dimly-lit living room, she unrolled the thick comforter to find a pillow hidden inside. Plopping it on one end of the couch and throwing the blanket on, she sat down to peel off her high white boots, placing them carefully to one side. Sliding her legs under the blanket, she lay down and pulled its edge up to her chin, lost in thought.
So far, there hadn't been many answers to her questions; she wished Nephilim was around to be interrogated some more. Jan, Nate: these had to be the parts of Ziggy's memory that, according to the strange girl, he had to come to accept. What she couldn't understand was why he didn't accept them already.
Certainly, Jan had died in order for Ziggy to be created, and because of the time that had passed Nate would be dead by now as well. Still, wouldn't it be better for him to remember them as they were, even if there was no way to return to his past life?
And, another thing, she thought, frustrated; what in the world is hunting Ziggy's memories? Why is there nothing here but these two and 'it'? One thing was certain, though - she couldn't stay here like this much longer. The longer it took to find the cyborg, the less time she would have to help him before she had to return from the dive or risk losing her consciousness here.
A movement from the hallway broke her thoughts, and she turned her head to see the tall policeman leaning slightly against the wall nearby. "You all right?" he asked, and she nodded, snuggling back against the pillow. Though she didn't feel tired - and there wasn't time for sleep - she remained where she was, watching as Jan cautiously pulled back a corner of the makeshift blackout curtain to peer outside. Turning back, he smiled absently, continuing, "Next time we move, I'll find a place with an extra room for you, if you're to stay with us."
A wave of regret pounding through her, MOMO sat up suddenly. How could she make them understand that she would have to return to reality? Somehow, she doubted they would believe her if she even tried to explain that they were memories and she was not. "Jan it's not that I don't want to stay with you and Nate, but" It was the only thing she could think of, and miserably, she repeated, "I am going to vanish too."
There was a gentle look on the familiar face as he lightly, almost awkwardly patted the top of her head. "No you're like us, MOMO," he told her, eerily echoing Nate from before. "Different. You're too important to just disappear - but that means it will be after you, too." Her golden eyes blinked up at him, astonished, and he knelt down briefly next to the couch. "Please don't worry. I'll watch out for you."
"Thank you," she whispered solemnly, and he nodded, rising smoothly to his feet and tapping off the light on the end table.
"Get some rest, now," Jan said, taking a step toward the short hallway. However, MOMO's sudden gasp stopped him, making him twist to look back at her again. "What is it?"
Not seeming to hear him, the Observational Realian remained still as a statue, clutching the blanket unconsciously between her hands as she stared toward the covered window. Her sensors were picking up the presence of a mech outside; it seemed like some kind of a drone, from what she could tell at this distance, with no sign of a pilot. It was slowly patrolling through the empty streets, but moving steadily, assuredly, in a straight line toward the apartment building.
"MOMO," Jan demanded once more, the sound of his voice snapping her back. "What is it?"
"There's something coming, something outside!" she told him without thinking. "At its present speed, it will arrive in five minutes!"
He looked skeptical, sidestepping around the window and coming up beside it to peer outward. "Damn! How in the world did you?" the man breathed, shaking his head. "No, that doesn't matter. The only reason it comes into the dead sectors is because it's found us-" Abandoning stealth, he tore off down the hall toward Nate's room, shouting back, "Get ready; we have to leave, now!"
Quickly bending to pull on her tall boots and pick up her Dragon Rod, MOMO was up and standing by the door by the time he returned, carrying the boy in his arms, Nex with his undying programmed loyalty right after them. Setting Nate down and handing him the prepared knapsack, Jan drew his pistol and grabbed for the flashbeam on the table before cautiously opening the door. First checking the pitch-black hallway outside, he gestured the two children to follow him at a run toward the fire-escape hatch at the end of it.
Fear she wished she couldn't feel clutched at her stomach, but when she looked at Nate he seemed apprehensive but calm, and it helped to ease her mind a bit. They've definitely done this before, she thought, easily swinging onto the short ladder ahead of them and nearly sliding down to the ground. The pink-haired girl looked around quickly as the others descended, her small face serious. "Jan," she said very quietly as he dropped down next to her, grabbing for his wrist, "it's on the other side of the building!"
He nodded, taking her knowledge at face value although it was obvious he was desperately wanting to ask her how she knew all this. "Which way?" he breathed.
"It's going to the left," she answered quickly, and he immediately began to lead them the other way, trying to keep the apartment complex between them and the drone-like thing she was sensing.
Once they'd gone a short distance, Jan urged them into a run, keeping the gun hefted in one hand and continually looking back over his shoulder. Nate couldn't run as fast as the other two, but his stepfather couldn't pick him up and still remain on the defensive; MOMO tried to pull him along and keep him from falling, her heart pounding. No matter how fast they went, no matter which buckled, rubble-littered street they tried to flee down, 'it' was steadily, almost casually gaining on them.
The man's little hiss of fear drew her to a halt, and she realized the sound of footsteps she was hearing weren't belonging to him. He had stopped, half-turned and his weapon ready to fire, but he looked back to them quickly, trying to mask the fear on his face. "Keep going!" he commanded in a strangled sort of tone. "We aren't losing it this way - I'll try to slow it down!"
Hefting the Dragon Rod in one hand, she let go of Nate despite his whimper of terror, turning to search around. It was getting closer and closer- "I can fight too, Jan! I'll help!"
His gaze flicked about, taking in the crumbling white skyscrapers rearing up ghostlike around them, assessing tactics and escape routes. "No! Children shouldn't have to - just go, MOMO! Take Nate and get out of here!"
Somehow, being called a child took her aback; for all that she was shaped like a girl of eleven, she'd always been known for what she was: an Observational Realian, a false human, a - a doll. But Realians hadn't existed when they had been alive, and so he didn't know he thought she was
Her hands shaking, she moved to obey him, and then a movement down the street caught her eye. It's too late, she thought, some part of her, despite her dread, curious to see what 'it' actually was, if it might somehow help her unlock the way to helping her friend in the real world.
Jan immediately moved in front of them, slowly moving backward and forcing them to move as well. "I want you to keep running," he told them grimly. "It won't go after you if I can keep it busy. Stay in the destroyed sectors-"
"But what... is it?" she squeaked, looking out from behind the policeman at the approaching metallic shape.
Nate bit his lip, his face deathly pale, and he clutched Nex to him tightly, just barely peering out from over the dog's head. "That's what's after us!" he whispered loudly. "It's called Ziggurat Eight!"
"Zi-" MOMO began, feeling as if she'd been slammed into a brick wall. "No!"
The shadowy movement suddenly began coming at them, faster and faster, and Jan tried to shove them into motion. However, the girl was frozen in place, unable to react, stumbling as Nate tried to pull her away and then let go. The - no, it wasn't a drone, was it? - the thing raised a limb, pointing at them-
"Look out!" Jan bellowed, lurching toward Nate as the wall of fire roared through them. Catching up the boy in his arms, he rolled them out of the way of the blast, using his own body as a shield.
Thrown away from them, MOMO struggled up to hands and knees, her attention, despite how bruised she felt, fixed on the tall figure that stood several meters down the street. It took heavy, even steps toward her, and the Realian began to tremble at the familiar sound of them, golden eyes the size of saucers. No, she thought frantically, no, no, no-
The thing looming above her now was the vague shape of a human, but instead of flesh it was plainly, almost defiantly made entirely of metal. Unconscious analysis revealed blades and other, more hidden weapons built into strong artificial arms; the lines of the body were slim, well-built, and almost elegant, strips of steel fitted together to move flexibly, even crossing its face underneath sturdy metallic plates.
But she knew that shape, she'd know it with her eyes closed, and she knew the cutting edge that jutted from the left forearm. And she also knew the electric-blue eyes that stared down at her, irises contracting and expanding mechanically as they focused in on her, except there was nothing in them, nothing at all - KOS-MOS had more life in her eyes than this-
It suddenly raised its arm as if a decision had been made, fingers drawing backward to reveal a hollow in the palm of the hand. Shots rang out from where Jan stood, the bullets ricocheting harmlessly off steel limbs, and MOMO raised the Dragon Rod defensively in front of her, otherwise unwilling to move away. "Ziggy!" she screamed, shaking her head. "Is that you? Please, stop! It's me! Don't you know me? It's MOMO! Ziggy!"
"Your identity is unknown to me," it declared, a motorized undertone to the voice she also knew so well, "and irrelevant. Everything must be destroyed."
She shook her head, her lips trembling, tears welling up in her eyes and trickling down her cheeks, tiny reflections glistening there in the darkness. "Why?" she mouthed, barely audible.
"Your deaths are a necessary part of my existence." Without further hesitation, Ziggurat 8 drew back its arm, flinging a handful of energy toward her. At the last moment swinging her wand forward protectively, MOMO winced, waiting for the impact.
However, there was a fast series of clicks and a bloom of green light exploding against the cyborg's arm, knocking the shot wide. The laser-like beam hit against the smooth metal of her Dragon Rod, tearing it from her hand and burning her fingers but otherwise missing her.
As her weapon clattered to the macadam, it raised its head, looking toward the source of the blast; scrambling backward, the girl did the same, gasping in relief.
Jan stood there to the side, the cylinder of his gun switched now to fire beams. His skin was pale, but he looked determined; Nate cowered even further back, half-behind a chunk of cement that had fallen from a building. "MOMO, come here!" he shouted to her. "We have to run! I can't fight it, I can't hurt it! We have to run!"
Nodding hard, with one more tearful look back at the painfully-familiar silhouette looming back in the darkness, she ran toward him. Its motions smooth and deliberate, Ziggurat 8 raised its hands again, aiming at the running Realian with all the concentration of a hunter in the woods, prey sighted.
She turned toward it despite herself, feeling her feet come to a stop. This isn't it's not "Ziggy!" MOMO wailed, reaching out toward the metal figure. With no reluctance whatsoever, it snapped its hand forward, the bright-blue light streaking toward her, the second one following a mere second later, shooting straight for her like twin stars-
And, with a rustle of cloth, her vision turned black, Jan's arms curling around her form.
She could feel the impact of the energy beam through him as it hit his back, and shrieked as the second one pierced all the way through to his chest, exiting just above her head. Nate screamed somewhere behind them, the cry mixing with his stepfather's, and the man swayed forward, staggering.
MOMO fought to steady him, her arms tight around his waist, the soles of her shoes scrabbling along the gravelly street for purchase. Blood was streaming from the wounds, bright red and hot as it trickled down into her hair, smearing across her forehead, her cheek.
Jan was gasping quickly now, fighting to draw breath into a collapsed lung, but he twisted around awkwardly, the gun raised in a shaking hand as Ziggurat 8 lifted its own metallic limb, poised for another shot. The man pulled the trigger; however, the twisting beam of green-white light veered upward from its target and blasted a hole through the corner of a building. A mass of rubble crashed down between them and their assailant, the tremor of the collision knocking all three hard to the ground.
Dragging herself back up, MOMO searched through the roiling cloud of dust for the shape and then quickly crawled over to where the policeman had fallen, her face pale with shock. Blood was already starting to pool beneath him; she knelt and gently pillowed his head on her lap, for the moment putting the sound of Nate's terrible moaning cries out of her mind. Oh, Ziggy, she thought, brushing the blond hair back from his face, this can't be happening! Can't I do anything!
"Run!" he hissed weakly, peering up at her blearily. "That won't stop it long!"
"No," she choked out, closing her eyes, a pale glow suffusing her skin as she activated her nanorepair function, although she had no idea if it would work on him. Leaning down, MOMO cradled Jan's upper body tightly to her chest, his blood burning her through the fabric of her navy dress, the light surrounding them brightening as she sent the spray of molecular robots to heal the man's gaping wounds. "Mystic powers," she sobbed, "grant me a miracle!"
She held her breath, eyes squeezed tightly closed, her face pressed into his hair. It felt like hours, his motionless form heavy against her, and then suddenly she let out a gasp, feeling him stir, hearing the sound of his coughing. He turned, retching up the clotted blood that had collected in his lung when it had been pierced. She could only blink back the tears and lean away as Nate tore toward them, flinging himself at his stepfather and bawling.
Jan put his arms around the boy automatically; his gaze as he looked at her was filled with gratitude. "How?" he whispered before shaking his head. There wasn't any time to ask questions. He retrieved his gun and moved slowly to lever up to his feet, letting MOMO support him as he stood. For a moment he took in the great amounts of his blood covering the street, their clothing, and glanced at her before shaking his head. "Come on. Quickly."
Moving as fast as they could, the small group hurried down the street in search of a place to hide. MOMO couldn't resist looking back over her shoulder, though nothing was apparent - just dust and rubble she knew inside weren't even there. Ziggy that's not you. I know it - I know it - but then where are you?