Dark Past
Chapter 3
A loud crash followed by an earsplitting boom made the two's head jerk around and thus, ruined the moment. Behind them a rather large tree branch had fallen. They both just sat there in an uncomfortable silence starring at the branch like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
"Hey..." Katrina finally broke the awkward silence, " I-It's getting dark, shouldn't we go back home, I'll bet your mom and everybody's back."
"Yeah..." Trunks nodded, and so they went home.
Bulma and the others weren't home yet, so they decided to watch a movie. They sat on opposite ends of the couch, neither one watched the movie much, both of their minds were racing.
'What was I doing?' Katrina thought. 'It felt so right, but then... Ugh! It's so confusing. I can't stop thinking about him! I don't know what to do with this feeling! There're so many things I want answered! When we were in that room today... And what was in that book he was looking at? It seemed to be important by the way that he was acting. The flashbacks are getting more violent also. I swear if get one more emotion put up in me I'll explode...then little pieces of me will be everywhere.' She pictured this and smiled a little.
On the other side of the couch, Trunks' thoughts were running along the same line. 'What was I thinking? She probably doesn't feel the same way I do. But if she didn't feel the same way why did she lean in? Does that mean she likes me or that she just got caught up in the moment? That book in mom's laboratory...why was it there? I think it may have something to do with Katrina's past. From what she's told me of the flashbacks she may have been-'
"Concentrating awfully hard on the movie don't you think," someone cut in. The two jumped at the voice; it was Vegeta.
"Oh, it's you," Katrina said, "Where's Bulma?"
"Upstairs putting the child to bed."
"So...uh...how did it go?" Vegeta glared at Katrina. "Or maybe not..." she said quietly. Vegeta mumbled something about how much he loathed shopping and then went upstairs to bed. Trunks turned to Katrina and was about to tell her something, but she beat him to it.
"It's ten thirty, I think we should go to bed."
Okay, so it wasn't what he had wanted, or expected her to say, but his nerve to talk to her about that afternoon was quickly shriveling up, so he just nodded and followed her upstairs. During the next week Trunks and Katrina did a lot of things with each other. They went to the movies, the beach, and even went to go visit the sick Goten to wish him well. The day of the flashback and the glass shattering was all but forgotten between the two friends. They were spending a lot of time together, which is something that didn't go unnoticed.
"
I don't like it," Vegeta mumbled one night as he and Bulma got ready for bed.
"Don't like what honey?"
"That human girl... she's spending way too much time with Trunks."
"I think it's nice. I was afraid that they didn't like each other, but they seem to be getting along great now."
"Hmph."
"Oh Vegeta," Bulma said, and climbed over the bed to where he was standing with his arms crossed. She kissed him and he cracked a small smile.
"That's better," she said...
Katrina waited until everyone had gone to sleep to go look for the book Trunks had read a week earlier. She hadn't forgotten about it...or Trunks for that matter. He was on her mind 24/7. If she wasn't thinking of him, she was usually sleeping. She quickly and quietly made her way to the laboratory and found the navy blue book, she opened it and began to read:
Over the past several Years, Certain threats have overtaken the earth. While the military has attempted to stop these occurrences with their formidable manpower and technology, they have fallen short every time. Small footage clips from the encounter with the android known only as Cell have been analyzed by top government scientists, and it has been concluded that the power that Cell had was in fact a reality.
It was also concluded that the power contained within Cell was more than ever thought imaginable to put into a single being. While the military is still investigating how Dr. Gero could have accomplished such a feat, his long sought after laboratory has yet to be found by intelligence agents. Since the time of what the military has dubbed "the Cell Crisis", another threat arose to challenge the fate of the earth. Once again the military attempted to oppose this threat, and was crushed. The same mysterious team of warriors that showed themselves during other times of crisis arose once again to take action.
Of these same warriors, some have entered the World Martial Arts Tournament. During this event members of our intelligence agency have kept a video record of the abilities of each warrior, along with their stats and battle technique. It was hoped that by acquiring this information that the military could further develop weapons to use against any threat that that may rise again. However, it is feared that to put such an extraordinary amount of power into a simple weapon (i.e. Bombs and tanks) would make the devise so complex that a simple and singular flaw could endanger the lives of countless civilians.
It was then that the military turned to one Bulma Briefs, head of Capsule Corporation, and considered somewhat of an authority figure on things such as androids similar to those that were created by Dr.Gero. She was asked to create an android with the power of or exceeding that of Cell. She refused, saying that as long as the warriors existed, that there was no need to create such a thing. She also pointed out that Cell had gone beyond his original programming and had turned on his master, as had the androids 17, 18, and 19.
The military then anonymously asked Dr. Geode, who had worked closely with Dr. Gero before his disappearance, to perform that same task. Although his record was not one of good history, he was the most predominant in his knowledge of Androids and human genetics. He too pointed out the flaw of disobedience in the androids, but agreed to do the project on the terms of full funding, and no questions asked. The two sides finally came to an agreement: The military would fund his project, but only if he gave them a progress report every six months. It was also agreed that Dr. Geode could use any means necessary to obtain the final product of which the military desired. However, if the media, or anyone else other than top officials found out about the project, it was made clear that the military would pull the plug and deny all prior knowledge of the incident.
The following are from six years' worth of experimentation and work put in by one Dr. Geode. These are his annual six-month reports gathered by the military after his sudden and unexplained disappearance one year ago. The code name for this operation is 22051.
Katrina put the book down in amazement. 'This must be top secret,' she thought. No wonder Trunks had looked so concerned when he read it. But how could Bulma have obtained a copy of something like this? Maybe they gave it to her after Dr. Geode's disappearance. Why was it in a locked drawer then? Should she not have it? And if she isn't supposed to have it, then how and why does she? Could it have something to do with her past? Perhaps that's why Capsule Corp. had rung a bell in the hospital. Katrina was so caught up in her own thoughts she didn't notice that Trunks had once again followed her into the room.
"What're you doing," he asked. Katrina jumped a few feet into the air at the sound of his voice. After she had realized who it was, she calmed down a bit and instructed her heart to get out of her throat and to start beating slower.
"Trunks, you startled me. What are you doing up so late?"
"I could ask you the same question," he said coolly and folded his arms Vegeta style across his chest.
"I...you see..." she stuttered and finally found the words she wanted, "The reason I'm here is because of this book," she held it up for Trunks to see, "When I saw you read it, you had this look on your face, so I wanted to see what it was about."
"And did you?"
"Well, yes, come here and look." She held the book out to Trunks, who took it and picked up where he had last left off. Katrina studied his face the whole time, trying her hardest to know what he was thinking.
''How could they ask mother to do something like that,'' she heard him say.
"Nani?"
"I didn't say anything."
"Yes you did."
"When?"
"Just now, you said 'how could they ask my mother to do something like that?'" "No I didn't"
"Yes you did."
"Where do you get off telling me what I did and did not say?"
"Where do you get off telling me what I did and did not hear?"
"Okay, yeah, maybe I was thinking it, but I never said it aloud."
"Well," said a frustrated Katrina, "think a little more quietly for me okay?"
"Fine."
"Fine." When he finally finished he scanned through the other pages.
"Wild," he said, "this must have been top secret stuff. Look, all the writing from here on out is encrypted." He held out the book for Katrina to see. It was encrypted, very well by the looks of it. All she saw was:
00011000001110101010100001000100001000010000001111111111000000011110111111111111110001010101010111000010000100000111
10100100010001010101000100010101010001010001000100010101010001000101010101011111111100011101010110111010100111010101
00011000001110101010100001000100001000010000001111111111000000011110111111111111110001010101010111000010000100000111
10100100010001010101000100010101010001010001000100010101010001000101010101011111111100011101010110111010100111010101
She let out a low whistle.
"That's pretty messed up. But I think this may have something to do with my past, and one way or another, I'm going to find out what this says."
"I agree. Listen, one of my moms' inventions was a device that could crack the toughest codes. I bet if we download this into it we could find out more." The two made their way down to the other part of the science wing as quietly as they could. Once Trunks was done putting the information in the small computer like device he turned to Katrina.
"Now it's just a matter of time before it figures out what it means."
"Can you get an estimate of how long it'll take?"
"I... think so," he said as he punched some more buttons. Green words flashed across the screen and as Katrina read them, her face fell.
"Three weeks," she moaned miserably, "I'll go crazy from suspense in three weeks."
"Well, I'll just have to keep your mind off it until then."
"And how do you plan to do that?"