Chapter 19: A Little Secret
It was just another day at the Guild for T-65. He was running low on Meseta after buying a Fire Rifle and getting it upgraded soon after, so he really needed a job.
"Ya got anything with a good reward?" he asked the ever-sunny Guild girl.
"Of course," she smiled, scanning through a list of quests. "This one pays 4500 Meseta. It's called Secret Delivery." She brought it up on the screen for him to see.
Client: Simons
Quest: I want this package to be dropped off on Ragol, underground, immediately.
Reward: 4500 Meseta
"I'll take it!" T-65 said enthusiastically. "Call 'em up!"
"Right away!" the Guild Girl replied, eternally enthusiastic. Less than five minutes later, a tall young brown-haired man appeared from the transporter in a green uniform of a short-sleeved shirt and white baggy pants. He looked a bit frantic, trying to calm himself. Two soldiers also appeared in the room. The one in blue stood near the man, while the one in red stood near the Guild entrance.
"So you're T-65," he tried to say calmly. "I'm Simons Olo. I work at the lab."
"Which one?" T-65 interrupted. Labs of all sizes were known to fill the Pioneer ships. Simons gave him a nervous look, glancing at the expressionless soldier.
"Um, that's not important," he said quickly. "What is important is this." He revealed a small, somewhat thin, silver box. "Please deliver this box to Ragol as soon as possible!" He put the object into T-65's hands.
"Whoa!" the RAcast exclaimed, not expecting the small box to be as heavy as it was.
"Sorry, it's heavy."
"I noticed," T-65 said wryly, clipping the box onto his belt. "What's in it?"
"It contains…um," the scientist stumbled, glancing at the soldier again. "I can't tell you. I think you've heard about the mutants underground."
"Yeah."
"This box will be used to study those animals!" Simons said quickly, remembering his lack of time. "Got it?"
"Got it."
"Anyway," Simons continued in the same rushed tone, "we have no time to waste! Finish this job as soon as you can!
"What should I do if Dr. Montague discovers what I've done!" he asked himself worriedly.
"Wha?" T-65 tried to ask, hearing the doctor's name. Since the man seemed so panicked, he decided to ask a more important question. "Where exactly am I supposed to put this thing?"
"Hand it to YN-0117 on floor B2!" Simons said, sounding more frightened, actually pushing T-65 out of the Guild. "Quickly! Just put it on YN-0117 directly. It's easy. You can contribute to the mission…" The soldiers glared at him, with one of them coughing. "Err! I mean, the study!"
"But," T-65 tried to ask.
"You're running out of time!" Simons yelled, getting the attention of nearly every hunter on the deck. "Please go! If you're late, YN-0117…Oh, my poor YN-0117!"
"Alright, alright!" T-65 grunted, moving to the Ragol transporter. His destination was Caves 2, or B2 as Simons had called it.
------------------------------------------------------------
Mina, in a plain lavender dress, was preparing for the visitors she was having that day. It was a day for them to discuss the status of Ragol and possible solutions to their predicament. As she expected, Alicia was the first to arrive, wearing a yellow dress with blue embroidery.
"Hoi," Mina greeted.
"Hello, Mina-chan," she said, smiling softly.
The next people to arrive were Nadja Dennen and Karen McDougal arrived. Nadja was in a red Dezoran-styled robe and bonnet. Karen was one of Mina's friends, who worked for the government as a computer programmer. She was dark-skinned, with medium length green hair. She was dressed casually in jean shorts and a black blouse under a small green jacket.
"Hi, Mina," Nadja said bashfully. "Um, sorry about leaving you like that…"
"It's okay," she said.
"Yeah, we know what a freak you are," Karen joked, patting Nadja's back. "So, Mina-girl, are you just gonna' stand there?" Mina replied with a hug.
"How's that?" she asked.
"That's what I'm talkin' about," Karen said, laughing. "I've got plenty of hush-hush, top secret stuff."
"Like government files?" Mina asked inquisitively.
"No!" Karen laughed. "I mean gossip! Did you know that almost half-of the people on Pioneer 2 are bisexual?"
"Kar-ren!" Mina moaned, aggravated.
"I'm just messing with you," she said. "I've got a few government secrets." The next person to arrive was Dr. Mome, a short, mustached man with uncombed, spiky hair in a white lab uniform and blue visor.
"Welcome," Mina greeted, shaking his hand.
"It's a pleasure to see you again, Dr. Chikara," he said, taking off his visor. "I'll be representing the Council's lab staff."
"So, who's left?" Karen asked, sitting at the large table. The doorbell rang again.
"That's probably him now," Mina said, frowning a bit. When the door slid open, there was a raven-haired Newman, who was no taller than Mina. He wore yellow tinted glasses, beige slacks, a green vest over a burgundy tunic, and a clever smile on his face.
"Hello, Minako," he said enthusiastically, accentuating his grin.
"Hello, Jean," she said, with much less zeal. "Everyone, this is Dr. Montague."
"Jean Carlo Montague?!" Karen asked, taken aback.
"The Dr. Montague?!" Mome inquired, just as astounded.
"The biotechnology genius?" Nadja asked.
"The very same," the Newman said confidently, walking past Mina.
"That's right, Montague; lap it up," Mina thought, not liking the fact that he was again stealing her spotlight. "Dr. Montague, where is Elenor? She's always with you?"
"She's doing lab work today," he said casually. "I figured that she'd be able to handle it while I attended this meeting. That should also keep the military preoccupied for a while ha ha ha. Now, let's get to down to business!"
-----------------------------------------------------------
T-65 had been gotten pretty far through Caves 1 without too much trouble. For some reason, Pioneer 2 had never thought to launch a transporter directly to Caves 2, so he had to take the long way. So far, the only monsters that had given him trouble were large numbers of mutant sharks and the occasional miniature dragon. He killed off the last red shark in the current "room," which was devoid of lava, but still had some jets of smoke and steam coming out of cracks in the floor. He wasn't bothered by the heat in the least. What did bother him, though, was the time limit he had noticed on the device that was given to him. At this point, he had about 25 minutes to do what he needed to do. After going through the next door, he found himself in a corridor, on a metal platform that was suspended above a river of lava. He also saw a familiar person.
"Bernie?" T-65 asked himself, peering at the blue RAmar. He had his large weapon just like before. He had been looking at his ISL, when he noticed the RAcast. As T-65 walked over to him, Bernie noticed the box hanging from his belt. "I'm glad I finally found someone down here. Do you know anything about this?" T-65 said pointing to the device.
"That seems to be an energy pack," the RAmar said, looking at the item closely. "EM-05? Is that a product number?"
T-65 shrugged. "Do you know?"
"I have no idea," Bernie replied.
"Does YN-0117 ring a bell?" the Android asked quizzically.
"YN-0117?" Bernie repeated. "I've never heard of it before…I didn't know there was another hunter here working alone." The RAmar looked a bit disillusioned. He realized that T-65 was giving him a questioning look. "I realized that I'm just one of their tools."
"What are you doin' down here?" T-65 asked.
"I'm a professional," Bernie smiled lightheartedly, "so I can't say, of course."
"Of course," T-65 agreed with equal sarcasm.
"I know what you mean," Bernie chuckled. "A transmission from a girl was suddenly lost. I'm trying to track it." T-65 opted not to waste any more time, and pressed forward.
"Could it be that same girl from before?" T-65 asked himself. "Or maybe he's looking for the same person I am? YN-0117…that's definitely a serial number… Could it be an Android?" T-65 got a bad feeling from his last reflection. As he moved through the next door, he found himself in another large cavern surrounded by lava flows. As usual, another group of turquoise sharks mysteriously teleported into the room to fight him. All he had to do was shoot them from a distance and retreat to gain more distance.
"Man, these things are stupid," he commented, sniping one shark until it couldn't take anymore and fell. His new Fire Rifle was doing an excellent. Every few shots, he would fire a bullet of orange flaming photon. Although these fire bullets killed the sharks much faster, they tended to miss their mark more often. Each bullet rattled the rifle a bit and had more recoil, throwing off T-65's aim. Whereas about six regular shots to the body would kill a shark, it only took two or three fire bullets to do the same job. Soon, T-65 stood in the middle of the cavern, surrounded by grounded sharks.
Next, a giant mantis/locust mutant appeared, creeping down the small set of stairs. T-65 knew that kind of monster was only dangerous at close range…at least he guessed so. He had always killed the huge target before it could get close enough to attack him. He never wanted to be close to something with huge scythes for arms. This time was no different, so he opened fire on the mammoth insect. In response to the painful shots directed at it, the mutant reared up and charged at T-65 with alarming speed, spitting some stringy, sticky substance the whole way. T-65 held his ground to keep his aim, and fired off his burning flame shots. The creature collapsed just before it could reach the Android.
"That wasn't very smart," he taunted the dying creature. He backed away, as the creature's young burst out of its carcass and scurried away.
T-65 noticed that the door ahead of him was locked, so he made a detour to the unlocked door on the left to find a switch. He would have appreciated to know why doors were locked in the first place if monsters were all over. After passing through a small corridor on a bridge over lava, he walked into a pitch-black room. The only sources of illumination were the door on the other side of the room and an out of place recharge station, which was, according to his radar, against a wall and occupied by someone. When he got close enough, he could see that it was a white RAcast with a wedge-shaped head. If his memory served correctly, it was a Type: O military-class Android. After looking at his ISL and checking for other people in the area, he found that it was indeed a Type: O
"Wait mode," the soldier said suddenly. "…Input command."
"YN-0117," T-65 said.
"Transmission to YN-0117 is not available now," Type O said robotically. "Bio-structure analysis is not available now." T-65 thought for a moment and looked at the device on his belt.
"EM-05," he said. His counterpart hesitated for a moment.
"…Error," it finally said. "…Exclude mode."
"What?" T-65 said, not understanding. The door he came through before made a banging noise as it locked itself. He suddenly found that the Android had drawn an Autogun on him. T-65 ducked out of the way just as Type O began to fire. Kicking Type O away, T-65 drew his Fire Rifle and fired at the soldier. It blocked the first two shots with its wrist shield, but was taken down by a flame shot. T-65 ran back toward door, which was clearly lit red in the darkness. As he banged on the door, photon bullets bounced off of the door, coming from behind him.
"Comin' back for more, huh?" T-65 said, raising his rifle in search of his attacker. Unable to see the other RAcast in the dark, T-65 looked to his radar to see where it was. His ISL put up its shield as it was hit by another bullet before he could fully study the radar. "He must be doin' the same thing…Well, I'll show you I ain't some dumb mass-produced model!" T-65 was jolted to the ground as more photon flew at him. He lied on the ground, aiming his rifle where it needed to be according to his radar. Photon bullets began to stream above him. The radar was only a "head's up view." It couldn't tell whether a person was standing or lying down. The military Android didn't realize that, but T-65 took advantage of it. Lining up his rifle according to the radar, he charged it for maximum power, and fired one regular shot, a charged shot, and a flame shot. Each one found their mark as he saw the soldier's cursor on the radar spin and stop suddenly. Then, he heard the clank of a falling RAcast. He waited to see, if any more movement would occur.
"Unlocking procedure for Door Lock A," it announced robotically, but somewhat strained. The door behind T-65 boomed again, as the light turned green and it unlocked. The door on the other side of the room also unlocked. T-65 entered the other door and found the switch he was looking for. When he returned to the room before the dark room, he found a single dragon there, wandering around aimlessly. When it saw him, it flew off the ground and flapped some distance away. Opting not to waste time on unnecessary battles, T-65 went through the door he had unlocked and found a transporter to Cave 2.
----------------------------------------------------------------
By now, Mina was giving her findings on Ragol. Since she specialized in mechanics and cybernetics, she didn't have much to say. Everyone was enjoying a beverage of some sort, whether it was cola, juice, or just water.
"That explosion was made of strange energy," she said, displaying a self-made still hologram of the explosion. "It didn't leave any scorches, smoke, indentations, or any sort of residue around Central Dome. There are no longer any signs of human, newman, or even android life from Pioneer 1 on the surface."
"Perhaps they went to an underground shelter," Mome suggested.
"They aren't in the caves," Mina said memorably. "There is still the possibility of another area that we haven't found yet."
"What about the perpetual rain?" Nadja inquired.
"At the rate it's going," Mina answered, "it'll probably remain perpetual. This winter, you can bet there'll be snow. The same energy that caused that explosion is causing the rain. All I know is that the energy seems to be powerful and negatively charged."
"Central Dome?" Nadja said.
"That's another mystery," Mina said, scratching her cheek thoughtfully. "From what I saw, the building has been melted from the inside, but without endangering its structural integrity. However, Central Dome has been effectively destroyed. The explosion and the inside of Central Dome don't seem to be directly related though…. Nadja, what did you find about the monument?"
"Monument?" Mome asked inquisitively.
"Uh huh!" Nadja said a little too giddily.
"Try not to get too excited," Karen added, smirking.
"Okay," Nadja said, composing herself. "Near the Central Dome, we found a monument that was over 10 feet tall. According to Rico Tyrell's messages, it was supposed to commemorate the migration of Pioneer 1. However, it's obviously too old to serve that purpose. I still can't get an accurate figure, but I estimate that it's between 800 and 2,000 years old. The language written on it is an outdated form of Esper."
"What is Esper?" Mome asked."
"Yes," Dr. Montague agreed. "I've never heard of such a language. Are you sure you don't mean Espanol?" Nearly everyone rolled their eyes at his comment.
"No, Esper," Nadja said, trying to maintain her calm. "You see, Mina and I are Algolians. Someone from Coral would probably never hear about Espers in their lifetime. On my home planet, Dezolis, there was once a band of people who studied the ways of magic. They called themselves Espers. Around AW 342, they made it their duty to protect Algo from destructive gods called Dark Forces."
"Dark Forces," Mome thought. "I recall hearing about those."
"Wasn't that just a child's fairytale?" Dr. Montague asked, not really believing this.
"Not in Dezolan society," Nadja said, somewhat offended as she revealed photos of the monolith. "Anyway, the monument uses words from an old prayer that many Dezolans are familiar with. I haven't deciphered all of it since the script is so old. It has the words light, darkness, seal, pair, unlimited, rule. The modern prayer that it seems so similar to sounds like this: There can be no light without darkness nor darkness without light. Existence begat of nothing subsequently reincarnated from an infinite life force."
"What does that mean?" Karen asked, interested.
"It's a story of origin," Nadja said gently, feeling at peace. "It describes the birth ties of opposing forces, dark and light. Opposites need each other to exist. Otherwise, they would become indefinable and negate their own being. The monument had extra information on it, but I can't straighten it out. The words that just don't fit in are seal and rule. But our situation does seem similar to…." She stopped speaking suddenly.
"What?" Mina asked, intrigued. "Continue!"
"No…never mind," Nadja added. "It's not important."
"Well," Karen began, "The information I have isn't quite as good as that, but it does have some interesting implications. But, just one thing before I begin….I need everyone to swear that I never said any of this."
"Everything being said is completely confidential," Mome assured her.
"Especially you!" Karen pointed at him. "You work for the Council. I work for the government and the military. If either one found out about this I'd be fired and… Pinky Swear!" Dr. Montague couldn't help but to burst with laughter. "I'm serious!"
"Ha, ha, ha!" he continued to laugh. "Very well, then." They each wrapped their pinky fingers around Karen's finger and promised not to tell.
"All right, then," Karen began. "Both the government and the military are up to something. The military is slowly considering an expedition onto Ragol. But knowing them, they'll probably send hunters first, as much as they'd hate to do that. They've started up military Android production, which is a big surprise. And apparently, the military has some idea of what was really happening on Pioneer 1. Speaking of conspiracies, the government is working on virtual simulators to train hunters for Ragol. That's probably because over a couple dozen people from Pioneer 2 have already died on Ragol. And I'm pretty sure the government has some backdoor secrets that it doesn't want anyone to know about. Pioneer 1 was doing something or some things that the general populous isn't supposed to know about. And I just know that Pioneer 2 has a few high-ranking officials that are keeping a tight lip on things. That explosion might have been just the end-result of a top-secret experiment gone wrong."
"Wow," Mina said, astonished. "That was a lot. Dr. Mome, do you have anything?"
"Actually," he started, "I only had information about the new simulators. But she already mentioned that, so I suppose I'll just keep listening to what you all have to say."
"I see," Mina said, hiding irritation. "…I think I should show you all my full-motion, high definition simulation of the explosion." She stepped into her personal lab, got special black spectacles, and a small cylindrical object. "Alicia, could you help me with something?" she called, putting on a pair of glasses.
"What is it?" the tall woman asked, entering the lab.
"Put these on," Mina said, handing her a pair of glasses. "And give them to everyone except Mome." She then picked up a small, phallic device.
"What are you really doing?" Alicia asked, wary of Mina's sneakiness. "What's that you have in your hand? Is that… what I think it is?" she asked, arching her eyebrow. "You actually use a…"
"No, it's nothing like that, Mina interrupted, dispelling the thought. "Mome is trying to get free information without contributing. This is one of my inventions that I created just for myself… Not like that!"
"Whatever you say, Mina," Alicia said, giggling. They walked back to the living room with the supplies. "Everyone, you're all going to have to wear shades to protect your eyes from the simulation. It has a little too much high-definition." Mina giggled at the excuse.
"We have our own," Dr. Montague said, as he and Dr. Mome put on their eye protection.
"Dr. Montague," Mina began, winking at him, "your yellow tinted glasses aren't shaded enough. Use these dark ones instead."
"Ha, ha, very well," he complied, catching on. Everyone had on dark sunglasses except for Dr. Mome, who had his blue visor. Mina took her chance, raised the device in her hand in front of Dr. Mome, and pressed a button on it. It emitted a blinding flash that stunned him.
"What did you do?" Alicia asked worriedly, noticing that his neck had just gone limp.
"I erased his memory," Mina said, picking him up and dropping him outside of her home.
"A neuralizer," Dr. Montague clarified, picking up the object that caused the flash. "Ingenious. She is definitely a worthy rival, ha, ha, ha!"
-----------------------------------------------------------------
T-65 liked the Caves 2. The scenery was much more pleasant, with its pools of water and trees. What he didn't like was the presence of more mutants and various traps set throughout the area. They only served to slow him down. At this point, he had just less than 13 minutes left. He was returning from a dead end that he had reached upon making a wrong turn.
"Glad I'm an Android," he thought, destroying what was probably the 20th trap. "Who's putting these things here?" As soon as the next door opened, he saw a shark standing there, waiting for him. He instinctively jumped back and fired away. The creature didn't even get the chance to move before it was dead. The next chamber was one of the more beautiful types of rooms. It had several trees, plenty of natural light, fresh water, filled with fish, and grass and moss growing around the trees.
Many other sharks, lilies, and even the giant insect creature were there as well. Unfortunately for them, there were many traps. T-65 stood at the doorway, knowing they would do something stupid. As soon as one creature, a shark, took a step toward him, the traps all detonatedand maimed most of the mutants. The mantis creature had been blown in half and was being eaten inside out by its young. Then, two dragons flew out of the trees to finish the job. After killing all of the remaining mutants with beams and bites, they roared in triumph as strange streams of energy flowed out of the carcasses and into the miniature dragons. T-65, although impressed by their independence from the other animals, became worried when they suddenly got bigger and more muscular. They were at least twice their original size. He had learned earlier that they were invulnerable to fire. Again, luckily for him, the dragons turned on each other. One of the beasts shot seeking projectiles of energy while the other fired a large blast of energy. Both were hit, but the one hit by the single large beam was obviously crippled. The other dragon prepared to finish it off with another blast.
"Oh, no you don't!" T-65 yelled, firing on the stronger dragon from behind. It flinched and began to take flight. Just as it got a few feet into the air, T-65's gunfire overwhelmed it as it toppled to the ground comically. T-65 then made short work of the remaining dragon. T-65 noticed how many dead bodies there were in the room. The stench of burning flesh was in the air, with green and blue blood oozing all over the floor. The mantis's young were crawling everywhere. "That's a lotta dead bodies," T-65 mused. Then he noticed something he hadn't before that shocked him to his core. In the corner of the chamber, there was a sterling silver RAcaseal in a bubblegum pink outfit, lying on her face.
"Elenor?!" he shouted. She wasn't moving at all. "Elenor?!" he called again. "Don't tell me you're YN-0117!" There was no response. He rushed over to her, but stopped in front of the next obstacle. The land she was on was separated from him by a relatively small gap of water. Unfortunately for him, the water was too deep for him to wade through without sinking into a crevice. He wasn't particularly confident about his swimming skills. The crevice also seemed just too far of a leap for him to make. The device beeped a warning suddenly. He only had 10 minutes left. This was why Simons had been so urgent. He looked around helplessly, searching for anyone that could assist him. He looked to his map. There was no one in his immediate vicinity. There was no time to go looking for another way to get to her. His "Chat" function on his ISL showed that there were Type: O and Type: W military Androids in Caves 2. Desperate for help, he sent a message to them through the "Chat" function.
"Need help!" he yelled into the device. "Type O and Type W, Assistance requested! Please respond!" He got no response, so he tried a different method. "YN-0117 is in danger! Your mission is endangered!" He finally got a response.
"Transmission to YN-0117 is not available now," both Androids replied.
"No shit!" T-65 yelled angrily.
"Bio-structure analysis is not available now," they added. T-65 was awfully angry by now.
"Fuck the analysis!" T-65 barked angrily. "Report here immediately!" He got no response, so he added, "EM-05."
"Error," they replied. "Exclusion…mode….on standby?" Apparently, he had confused the dim Androids.
"Fuck!" T-65 yelled, searching for a new solution. He looked up and saw the trees. "Maybe I can shimmy up that tree and jump." Without thinking twice, he put away his rifle and began climbing the tree. He reached a branch far above the ground and got on top of it. It quickly snapped under his weight, sending him crashing to the ground far below. Though hurt, he slowly got back up and looked for a new solution. Now there were only 7 minutes left. It seemed that his only choice was a leap of faith.
"The things I'll do," T-65 said to himself, backing up for a running start. "Gotta save Elenor!" he said, running towards the gap. He put all of the power he had into his legs and leapt for all he was worth. He managed to get far enough to grab the edge of the island. Now he had to use all his strength just to save his own life. T-65 noticed just how heavy he really was. He strained and struggled to lift his own mass. The device beeped again, letting him know that he only had 5 minutes left.
"No turning back now!" he told himself. His hands were only a foot away from Elenor. He used all the strength he had in him, but to no avail. Then he remembered someone that could help him.
"Kalki!" he called to his Mag. It was floating just above him. "Hey, buddy! I could use a hand here!" The Mag didn't seem to respond. "I know what it is. You're hungry." T-65 hung by his left arm while he gave the Mag a Trimate that he had been saving. It beeped as a light surrounded it and it began to change shape. It got bigger and began to look like a pair of shoulder pads rather than dinky headlights. It beeped again and T-65's arms were surrounded by a red aura. It had just powered up T-65 with Shifta.
"That's more like it!" he said, finding new strength from the Technique. "He raised himself out of the water and onto land. "Thanks…Surya," he said, looking at his ISL to see its new name. Not bothering to get up, he scrambled to Elenor, who was lying flat on her face. "Elenor…"
"Sleep mode," she said robotically. "Input command."
"EM-05!" he yelled.
"Clear sleep mode," she replied mechanically.
"YN-0117, wake up!" he said.
"Yes, master!" she said, startled into consciousness. "YN-0117 is awaiting your…your… I can't move…." She could just barely see the device hanging on his belt, but didn't know it was T-65. "Oh, excuse me, but I think that's mine. From Master Olo?"
"Yes," T-65 said, glad that she was functioning. "If this is an energy pack, where do I put it?"
"Perfect!" she said happily. "Would you mind inserting it into my back for me?"
"Sure thing," he said. He saw a barely visible slot between her shoulder blades and inserted it there.
"My name is Elenor," she said, slowly getting up with her back turned to him. "I'm an Android who's serving Dr. Montague. I ran out of energy and was stuck here."
"Hi," T-65 said bashfully. She turned to face him.
"Oh, it's you T-65!" she said, surprised. "How are you and your Mag?"
"We're fine now," he said, glancing at his faithful Mag. "In fact, it was this guy who helped me get to you. I didn't have any time to find another way around, so I tried to take a shortcut. First I climbed that tree," he said pointing. "But then the branch broke. Then, I tried jumping over here. I caught the edge but I couldn't get up here. Then, this guy decides to evolve and give me the strength I needed." She had been listening intently, despite his babbling. She seemed a bit flattered that he went through that kind of trouble for her.
"I'm glad it was you who came to help me again," she said, hiding a blush. They both stood there for a moment, not really knowing what to say. "Oh, I'm on duty! Well, I'm okay now. Thank you very much. Please tell Mr. Olo that I'll go back after I complete my mission," she said, summoning her Sniper.
"I will," he said, smiling. She smiled back before teleporting away in a circle of blue light. T-65 was completely taken by surprise. "…She can teleport? She just gets better and better."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"So, Alicia," Mina began. "The animal's DNA has been altered?"
"Yes," Alicia replied. "Since it's a genetic issue, you might not understand."
"Don't worry about that," Dr. Montague chuckled. "I'll understand, so your words won't be wasted." Mina found herself scowling at him.
"Okay," the blue-haired woman complied. "There are certain components that are common to all animal DNA, a certain setup that all organisms in the Animal Kingdom share. The Forest animals aren't following that pattern, though. The animals on Ragol have been altered somehow."
"How do you know they aren't just different?" Karen asked.
"Too much of a coincidence," Alicia shook her head. "The animals were fine until that explosion according to all the reports. Mina and I also found a baby animal that was unchanged, even though its parents were. According to my research, something has been changed in their brain that makes them fierce and aggressive. Even their outward appearance may have been altered."
"Are all of Ragol's animals like this?" Nadja asked.
"I don't know," she replied. "But apparently, all of the adults in the Forest have been affected. I don't know what to call this new factor…it's so different from anything I've ever seen. It's as if something infected all of them."
"Could the mutants in the caves be advanced transformations of this factor?" Dr. Montague asked. "I have noticed that the photons on Ragol are very different from our own."
"Photons aren't everything," Mina commented. "They're only particles of light."
"Particles of light filled with energy," the Newman corrected, waving his index finger. "Ha, ha, ha! Don't worry Minako! This genetic lingo is a bit much for you, isn't it?"
"No," Mina said defensively. "I just don't see what photons have to do with this situation."
"Photons affect everything around us," Dr. Montague explained. "They might very well have something to do with our situation. There's no need to get snippy about your ignorance of basic genetics." Karen whistled, imitating a dropped bomb and its following explosion.
"Alright, that's it!" Mina yelled. "This meeting's over! Get the hell out of my house!"
"Well!" the Newman said, offended. He got up and began to leave.
"Door, hit him on the way out," Mina ordered. As Montague exited, the door swung into him abruptly.
"Does anyone else think he's gay?" Karen chuckled.
Notes: No, he's not gay. He's just flamboyant and probably metrosexual. But he still knows his stuff. Too bad he didn't get to say everything he needed to say. But at least Elenor didn't die, thanks to INCOM T-65…and his Mag. Now if only he had the guts to see her more often.
On the next dramatic episode of PSO: Sidestory: It all started innocently enough with a basketball tournament. But a father realizes that he must help his daughter the only way he can… hire some help. Not just anyone. He needs someone on her level, someone who puts up with many of the things she does. He needs… Misha and Taya. This isn't gonna be as funny as it sounds. This girl is messed up… and it looks like she isn't the only one in Silent Lament. Practice makes perfect…Only Toonami!
