Chapter Twenty-Two: Do You Remember How We Met?
We had entered the third tower, and MOMO nearly had a grasp of normal speech.
It had been decided after the robot ambush in the second tower that communication was key to our survival in the Song of Nephilim. We had forgotten the fears of disturbing any hidden security systems. Even the mechanical guards seemed to run into us haphazardly. The speech did not hinder us from moving furtively, rather, it helped us to coordinate our movements. And I had been teaching MOMO to speak again.
"Your mother sent me to rescue you from U-TIC- an organization against the Federation government."
"Mother?" MOMO's voice was thin and robotic. I felt the need to elaborate.
"Juli Mizrahi is your mother. She's not your mother in the natural sense, but she is your legal guardian, and you are legally her daughter."
"I am her daughter," MOMO mimicked. She paused. I had been telling her of our exploits. "Then?" She asked. Her simple knowledge of words struck me to the core. A skeleton of the MOMO I had known. It hurt deep down, where no other feeling could reach. I halted for a moment, waiting for chaos' visual conformation. MOMO and I moved from behind one niche to another diagonal from our position.
"I arrived at the U-TIC base undetected, setting a charge of explosives near the gate should I need them at a later time." I gently provoked her to duck while I craned my neck around the corner to look for guards. None were anywhere to be seen. I allowed her to come to full height again as we ducked into a nearby passage following Jr. and chaos. "You were locked in a containment cell guarded closely, and I managed to retrieve the cell block key with little hassle." Jr. looked over his shoulder to listen to us.
"I meet Ziggy," MOMO said unblinkingly, staring up at me. I nodded, glancing at Jr., then back to the Realian.
"When I unlocked the cell door, I confirmed your identity as the 100-Series Prototype Realian. You..." I paused, seeing the sudden apprehension flash behind MOMO's eyes. Was there someone still inside of that precious girl? "You told me that you preferred to be called MOMO, because that was what your father had called you."
"Daddy..." MOMO muttered, her lips barely moving. I stared, surprised. Neither of us had uttered that work after discovering MOMO in her current state. How did she know? Jr. cleared his throat.
"Did Shion and KOS-MOS follow you?" he asked. I met the eyes of the boy and nodded.
"We staggered arrival times, just to be safe," I answered. As I said this, Shion and KOS-MOS entered the small passage we had all crammed into. "All clear?" I asked.
"Yes," Shion breathed.
"I detect no immediate threat in the surrounding area," KOS-MOS added. Jr. took it as all the reason he needed and padded swiftly back into the main corridor. chaos went with him.
"Then?" MOMO asked again. At least her rudimentary language skills managed to get the point across.
"The main exits were blocked," I began again, listening for Jr.'s signal. "We managed to hide from the patrols in an overlooked control room. Do you remember-" I stopped myself. Of course she didn't remember. "You are the one that gave me the name Ziggy," I said after clearing my throat.
Shion caught my eyes. It had just occurred to me that I had never told the woman that fact. There was a sad, far-off look in Shion's eyes. She cast her gaze downwards when she realized I had seen her sad eyes. Jr. gave a shrill whistle.
"Come on," I urged, and MOMO and I left the passage. We darted into an alcove. "We managed to dodge the U-TIC guards with a few exceptions. But with your help, we had no trouble dispensing with them. We were about to get away practically scot-free, when he showed up." I grimaced. Margulis was his name. If I was correct in my assumption, it was Commander Margulis. His words still lodged themselves in my mind. He had left quite an impression.
"Who is he, Ziggy?" MOMO's words began to gel.
"A commander of U-TIC," I said quickly. She didn't need to know his name. There were many things she didn't need to know. Her mother's uncaring attitude toward her. The nature of her father's death, of his life. If anything, I was glad she didn't have those things to worry about. "He attempted to halt our progress of escaping the fortress, but you and I-" I couldn't help it; a tug of the heartstrings, a shortness of breath, "-make quite a team."
"Ziggy and MOMO... Quite a team," her tiny voice mimicked the reverberations of my own. We moved from our alcove to share one with Jr. and chaos again.
"How much further do you suppose the mechanism KOS-MOS mentioned is?" I asked. chaos shrugged. Jr. stuck out his bottom lip in thought.
"Maybe you should ask her," he said with a distinct redness clouding his face. I didn't have to wait long. I repeated my question to the android. She was silent, and I assumed that she was running calculations and scans inside of her head.
"The mechanism is down two floors, precisely."
Jr.'s grin flared. "Hey, lucky break, huh?" He tucked one gun into its holster, but kept the other close. "We can use those ladders over there to go down, I guess." He rounded quickly. "But keep an eye out, got it? Don't get stupid just because it looks easy." I had a feeling that all of his hostility of late was being used on me, and I had a good idea as to why. I couldn't help the sarcasm that sneaked into my voice.
"I'll try not to act 'stupid,' Jr.," I assured him. MOMO, owl-eyes glancing between us both, stopped her gaze on Jr.
"Jr. is not stupid," she stated lowly. "Ziggy is not stupid. MOMO is not stupid." She was getting it, at last. The words congealed into language. Jr.'s face morphed into a wide smile.
"MOMO! You can... That's great!" He looked up at me. "Teaching her how to talk again, old man? That why you're telling stories?"
"Something like that," I muttered. I felt Shion's smile as she stood behind me.
"I think it's sweet," she said lowly.
Jr. suggested that I be the first to use the ladder. I'd had a recent bad adventure with ladders, on our trip through the Encephalon. It had disintegrated from under my weight. Then again, his logic was sound: If it could hold me, it could probably hold anybody. I could vaguely hear MOMO telling Jr., "Ziggy is on the ladder," as I gingerly stepped onto the first rung. It was steady. As I held another rung firmly in my hands, I felt the thick steel beneath my human hand, safe and sturdy. I lowered myself steadily, checking the stability of the ladder. Not one fault, flaw or other compromising factor. It was as if the Song of Nephilim had been constructed that very day. It reflected the pristine coldness of the entire ship.
"All right," I announced as I pulled myself from the ladder a floor down, "it checks out." Jr. was next, instructing MOMO the whole way down. She nodded, repeating most of his words. His steps echoed in the vast emptiness. He soon hopped down next to me, beckoning for MOMO to follow. The movements were jerky, slow and precise. She moved concisely, with purpose, but her movements were stiff and unused. She nearly fell twice, and I jumped as if to catch her both times. She finally made it to the bottom, where Jr. and I inspected her quickly. Jr. turned to coax Shion down the ladder when MOMO tugged at my arm.
"Then?" she asked again. I leaned against the nearby wall, searching my memory.
"We commandeered- stole- a small ship to escape the U-TIC fortress. We were pursued by a small fleet of Auto-Techs, which were persistent in recapturing you. You took over the flight controls, while I took care of retaliation."
I wouldn't be much of a bodyguard if I didn't.
Shion was down the ladder, and hovering just outside of our conversation.
"We made the jump into hyperspace, and we still hadn't lost the Auto-Techs. A civilian ship," my eyes flashed up to Shion, who had now been joined by chaos, "was in our flight path. When our left engine had been shot out of commission, it was the Elsa- the civilian ship- that saved us."
Are you scared?
A little... But I'm okay. Because you're here with me...
"The Elsa saved us," MOMO repeated. KOS-MOS had taken the ladder, the last of us. She had already started descending to the second level. chaos followed soon after. I started to follow, watching as MOMO strode close to me.
"We met Shion, KOS-MOS and chaos when our ship was picked up by the Elsa." I helped her onto the ladder. I followed. We stood side by side at the bottom of the ladder.
"Then?" Her voice was almost eager.
The Dock Colony. Cherenkov. Cathedral Ship. KOS-MOS. . .
There were some things she didn't need to know.
"Jr. and the Durandal- his own ship- appeared just in time," I lied miserably. I had always been a terrible liar.
It was only a matter of time before KOS-MOS located the mechanism and activated it. I was continuing the story. We had no way of telling whether the maneuver had worked other than to trust KOS-MOS' word. A door on the outside of the tower led again to the dark place full of thunder and lightning. Just as KOS-MOS had said, a lift was waiting for us just off of the catwalk. Lights on the lift glowed brightly into the darkness. We all managed to squeeze onto the small lift, which, at Shion's prodding, took us down to the lowest level.
A small building, though still somewhat of a tower, was directly before us. It gave off an ominous feel of its own. There was only a door between the six of us and whatever KOS-MOS had detected inside. Whatever it was, I knew that we had to keep the Gnosis from attacking the Foundation any further than they already had, and our solution may very well lay inside the building ahead. Jr. had his hand on the door. It was shaking. I looked concernedly at the boy, and he must have felt my gaze on the back of hi head, for he calmed himself a degree.
"He's in there. I know it." That was all he said. MOMO, who had absorbed more words than I could have possibly hoped, stirred.
"I am not feeling well," her tiny voice struggled with every word, as if trying to sound each out as its own sentence. "So please ... exclude me from battle."
I didn't even remember using half of the words she had used.
Jr. stared at the girl, eyes flicking to mine once, then shrugged nervously. "Sure," he muttered.
"Thank you," were the last words out of her mouth before Jr. opened the door.
A blast of cold air hit me straight in the face. A vast, flame-lit room was before us. Bodies of silver haired girls littered the floor, their eyes open and staring into the nothingness of death. And sitting, on a throne of obsidian, was a tall, deranged-looking white haired man.
With MOMO in his thin, white-gloved hands.
AN: Awiiiiiight... Swootness. Albedo apeareth! I hope you had fun thinking Kirsch-MOMO was cute, cuz she's about to die. MOMO/Ziggy cuteness and it wasn't even MOMO doing the cutness. heheh... Anyway, I think I'll have fun writing insane Albedo. Also, just in case some people don't check my author page, the finalists for the sequel's title are "Detriment" "Providence" "Collapse" and "Divine Intervention." It'd be awesome if I could have your input on this stuff. Thanks for reading, everyone, I love you all!