"Are we almost there?" Ciel asked, red-faced and exhausted. She was in very fit condition, for a human scientist, but that wasn't saying much. She glanced over at Ema enviously… the other woman seemed to be indifferent to the heat and the bugs that were swarming around them, all trying to get a sip of their blood. The jungle was really much worse for bugs than the river. Possibly because the river had a breeze, while the jungle had none at all.
Worse yet were the animals. The larger ones avoided them, but Ciel had narrowly escaped being bitten by a venomous snake. X had spotted it and killed it before it had gotten close. But Ema's cheerful commentary on how it was a two-step snake… you could take precisely two steps after being bitten before you died… had not helped at all. Nor had the realization that the snake was another mutation.
"Another day," Ema said, peering around at the vegetation suspiciously, on the lookout for snakes. "But you and I will only be going to the lookout post."
"Say what?" Ciel said, turning red not just from exhaustion. "We can't go all the way to the city? Why not?"
"It's irradiated," Ema said calmly. "If you like the idea of having all your teeth and hair fall out…"
"Then why are you and I going at all?" Ciel would gladly have stayed on the ship, and been spared this utterly miserable trek through the jungle. Copy X laughed, and Ema flashed her a grin. Leviathan and Zero both glanced at Ema, wondering what the explanation was. The trip would have been much easier without Ciel, and even Ema slowed them.
"Stay on the ship? In Marran? With the villagers who hate us and the village elder who tried to proposition Leviathan? We might have survived his body, but surely not his breath!" Ciel looked confused for a moment, then paled as she suddenly realized what Ema meant.
"You really think they would have…?" She glanced at Copy X, who smiled, but it was a cold, razor edged smile. He nodded.
"Probably. Then tried to blame it on pirates or something… of course, to do that, you would both have to be dead. We'd have killed him and razed the village, but it wouldn't bring you back." That silenced everyone for a while. Then Axl spoke.
"I should probably tell you a bit about Larkspur. It's a bit different from the rest of the villages, towns and cities you'll find around here."
"Oh?" Zero queried, using his saber to hack a path for them. There was a road, after a fashion, but it was plain gravel and had been untended for so long that plants were industriously working through it.
"Right… it was founded by religious refugees from Tartoga bay. That's some place on the African coast… anyway, they have a really peculiar religious thing going on. Christian, really heavy on gospel music and feeling Jesus." Axl poked X affectionately, who grinned widely. "Also a huge emphasis on free love and some sacramental, smokeable plants thrown in for grins. The established churches in Tartoga bay drove them out as heretics, I can't imagine why."
"Oh… I see," Zero said, shaking his head. "Are you sure they'll have fusion generators?"
"Yes and no," Axl said with a small grimace. "I mean, they will have fusion generators, the ones they use in the hovercars they produce. They mostly make hovercars and those hoverboards you saw in Hell's Mouth. But I don't know if they can make units small enough to fit into you." Then he spoke more cheerily. "But I think they got updates on their fusion tech from somewhere else, so they can probably give us an idea where to go."
"And even if they can't, we can sell our jewels there for a really good price," X put in cheerfully. "They're all rich and they love gems for jewelry! And the girls there are just wonderful."
"We all know what's most important to you, X," Ema said dryly. "Try not to wear yourself out entirely before you get back, I have plans for you." Everyone laughed at that, and concentrated on the path.
Eventually, they reached the lookout post. It was basically a little house, with a small booth right beside the road. Both were made of fine white stone, apparently a native material. It was clear the lookouts were lacking for things to do, because one was asleep and the other was drunk. Very, very drunk, in the middle of the path. X surreptitiously tried to steal his bottle, and got a dirty look from Ema. "Hey, it's not like he'll miss it!"
"He will when he wakes up. Speaking of which…" She reached over to shake the second Reploid, who woke up with a start. He had been sitting in the booth, asleep, with his head in his arms.
"Urk… visitors?" He blinked rapidly, rubbing his eyes. "…Holy crap, visitors! First visitors I ever did see… Hey, where the hell is Arkan?"
"You mean this guy?" Axl grinned, poking the unconscious body with a foot. "I bet he wouldn't notice if I shot him in the leg." The Reploid in the lookout booth stood up to get a clear view of his friend. He was wearing bright purple armor, enameled with drunken-looking blue flowers, and a strange mix of gold and silver bangles on his wrists. His buddy on the ground was garbed in neon pink, with an aqua fabric vest similar to X's. Except that it was embroidered with green vines, and had only silver chains.
"God damn… I sleep for a little while and he does that!" The lookout sighed, rubbing his head, and looked them over with dark green eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm Cobol, and that cretin is Fortran. How may we assist you?"
"I know how you could assist ME." X said brightly, and pointed to the passed out Fortran. "May I pillage the body?" Cobol laughed.
"I'd love to let you, but he'll wake up soon and be pissed."
"Actually, we want to go to Larkspur," Axl broke in smoothly. "Could Ciel and Ema stay here with you? And what's the toll?"
"You know about the radiation, eh?" Cobol rubbed his head. "The toll, I dunno… we haven't had travelers so long… let me check the binder." He pulled out a slim little binder, and started riffling through it. "Tolls, tolls… one ounce of gold for a party." X nodded, pulling off a bangle and passing it over. The Reploid quickly weighed it, then passed a small ring back as change. "Thanks. A few more people and maybe we'll be able to hack down all the weeds." He stepped out of the toll booth, and swept a bow to Ciel and Ema. "Ladies! You look tired. Would you like to visit my home? It's not much, but it has plumbing and a water heater."
"Another bath?" Ciel sighed. "That would be heavenly." After a few days in the jungle, she was ripe again. The heat was quite ghastly. Soon, she and Ema were ensconced in the house… Zero was slightly worried, after their comments about the village elders, but Copy X and Axl were able to reassure him. They had done this before, and the Reploids of Larkspur were trustworthy.
Without the humans slowing them, they were able to break into a run and go considerably faster. Although…
Zero slowed unconsciously, as he smelled something incredibly, intoxicatingly sweet. Leviathan looked enchanted, sniffing the air energetically… but to his surprise, Axl was scowling and X was looking annoyed.
"How did that get here?" Axl complained. "Those stupid toll booth guys should have killed it ages ago!"
"Killed it?" Leviathan said, caught off guard. "But it smells wonderful!"
"Well, of course it does," X said with a scowl. "That's how it… ah!" Something small and crablike trundled into the path. It looked like a mechanical turtle, although they couldn't see any eyes. On the shell, were hundreds of long, wavery fronds in hundreds of colors. They all looked furry, soft and cuddly to the touch… and the glorious scent was intoxicating. Zero tried to give it a name. Attar of roses? Essence of Plumera? Leviathan sighed and stepped forward-
And was jerked back rudely by Copy X, who was aiming his gun at the small creature. Zero saw, startled, that he was back in his angel armor and charging his gun.
"What are you doing?" Leviathan gasped, gripping X's arm.
"Destroying that thing," X said, not taking his eyes off it. "It smells wonderful to attract you. Those fronds do feel nice… and they deliver an electrical charge. It's more than enough to paralyze an unwary Reploid. Then it kills you, but it's not very efficient at it. It would probably take it hours to get through your armor… and it starts with whatever part is closest. That's usually an arm. So it takes a long, long time to die." He finally released his shot, and the little monster exploded with a high pitched cry.
"Where did it come from?" Zero asked, shaken. Axl glanced over, and shrugged, putting his guns away. X had handled it well without his help.
"We don't know… but we think someone must still be creating them and seeding them all over the place. That smell they have? It's repulsive to humans. It only attracts Reploids." Axl explained.
"Someone MUST be seeding the damn things to get one this close to Larkspur," X said, annoyed. "They know about the little bastards, and they kill them on sight."
"Well, nevermind… let's get going." Stepping over the corpse, they all kept walking to Larkspur. Soon, they could see the city in the distance.
"Is that a real city?" Leviathan asked dubiously. Copy X grinned, and Axl laughed softly.
"Yep, it is. I don't blame you for doubting it, though." Axl replied playfully. The city up ahead was… odd. Most of it was made from the same white stone as the lookout station. But the roofs were painted every color under the sun, from bright purple to a particularly virulent orange. As they walked down into the city, they could see that some of the walls had been painted with murals. The subject matter was a trifle… odd. Some of it would have appealed to Christians of any stripe, like a beautiful portrayal of the virgin Mary holding a baby Jesus. Although the circle of flowers surrounding them might have been a trifle surprising. The rest of the murals, though, were mostly flowers and complex, geometric pictures. And a few were… Zero pulled his eyes away with a blush. He was sure that wasn't a feature of most religions.
The city wasn't very busy, though. That probably wasn't surprising, since it was so difficult to reach, but Zero was a bit surprised by how few residents there seemed to be. And everyone was very surprised to see them. Several people were soon coming over to greet them.
"X!" A beautiful girl with African skin and thick, curly black hair hugged Copy X tightly. He returned the embrace, and kissed her… Axl watched, amused, then smiled as a blond girl greeted him.
"I hope they're not going to expect me to sleep with someone…" Leviathan grumbled, eyeing several of the males. They were mostly nice looking, but she had only one person in mind… Zero shook his head.
"They may believe in free love, but I doubt it's mandatory." Zero said to her quietly. Leviathan blushes, and looked at Zero hopefully, having a treacherous thought about the 'sacred weed'. If Zero tried it…
Her attention was caught by a very tall, handsome Reploid in purple armor. He was wearing a white cloak and a thick gold chain around his throat, with a strange symbol hanging from it. Zero frowned. The symbol was vaguely familiar, although he couldn't place it.
"X, Axl!" The man smiled warmly, shaking hands with both of them. Then he glanced at Zero and Leviathan curiously.
"Hello, Gate," Axl said cheerfully. "This is Zero, and this is Leviathan. She's from Neo Arcadia." Gate's reaction to the news was rather peculiar. He stared at Zero, surprised, then slowly looked him over. His expression turned faintly disbelieving, as he glanced at Axl. "I know, it's a terrible remake, but that's just the way it is."
"What?" Zero said, surprised… then frowned at them both. "You knew me from before, didn't you?" Axl looked faintly sheepish, and Gate was amused.
"Only slightly… my main claim to fame is that once, a long time ago, you spared my life." Gate paused thoughtfully. "Although, I suppose if it weren't for you I wouldn't have gone mad in the first place… but! That was long ago. It's gone and forgotten." He waved it away. "This is my home now, and my people. So, what are you here for?" He smiled gently, a twinkle in his eye. "I doubt you came for the joy of our company… well, most of you." He said with a glance at X, who was now greeting two other young ladies. None of whom were at all jealous of the others.
"We always love your hospitality, but no, Zero has a problem… his fusion generator is failing." Axl explained. "So we were wondering if you could make one to fit him?" Gate winced.
"A class-A fusion generator? No. The best we can here is class B." Gate looked at Zero with a small frown. "Actually… we could re-tool a class B generator to fit him. They're the right size… but there would be a degradation of function." Axl brightened, and Zero tilted his head to one side, considering that.
"What kind of degradation?" Axl questioned, and Gate shrugged.
"A drop in stamina. He wouldn't be able to maintain heavy activity as long, or take as much damage… his reflexes might also slow, but that would be slight. I estimate his efficiency would be cut by twenty-five percent." Axl winced, then glanced at Zero.
"Do you want to?" Even if his efficiency would be cut, the time constraint would be off them. Zero wouldn't be passing out randomly, either. Zero hesitated, but only for a moment.
"Yes, but we still have to find a proper generator." He wasn't going back to Neo Arcadia with his fighting power down. He looked searchingly at Gate. "Do you know where we could find one?" Gate shook his head.
"Not directly. Our last support from Hope's Dream was ages ago, and I have heard they moved. I can rule some places out, however. Places we create Reploids for." With class B generators, Larkspur was a major manufacturing centre for Reploids. Fairly good ones, although not something a place capable of class A generators would buy. "And I could give you a better map than those wretched things X makes."
"Hey!" X overheard that, and protested. "My maps at least have hazards written on 'em."
"In symbols no one else understands," Gate replied easily. "Come, the maps are in the community centre." Gate led them into a very large building. The roof had been painted a rather pretty mint green, and the murals on the walls were a little different from the usual… very pretty landscape scenes, from what looked like a deciduous forest. The trees would not have looked out of place in most of Neo Arcadia. It was nothing like the jungle that surrounded the town. Zero wondered if perhaps it was the kind of landscape Gate had enjoyed when he was young.
Inside, there were thick, hand woven carpets all over the floor. Zero looked them carefully, interested… they had dozens of different patterns, but the most common seemed to be vines and flowers. Several people were sitting on the rugs, meditating, and a few were smoking pipes. Zero wrinkled his nose at the smell, and glanced over at X, who grinned.
"The sacred smokeables." X said lightly. Gate glanced over at them, amused.
"Indeed." He examined one of the Reploids smoking for a brief moment. "It may not lead to enlightenment, as some people claim, but as long as it's limited to one pipe a day it's a harmless habit."
"Ah…" They followed Gate as he led them to what appeared to be a work room. There was very high tech equipment against the walls, and a lab table where a half-completed Reploid lay. They examined the Reploid, interested… she was very short, with thick purple hair and gold checkmarks on her cheeks. She was being built with a shoulder cannon, and looked like a combat model. Gate very gently picked her up, and set her on the floor… there was only enough room for one table. Fortunately, the floor was extremely clean and wouldn't harm her.
"I have a good class B generator here." Gate picked it up, and nodded at the Reploid. "It was meant to be hers, but she can wait a bit. If you'll just lie down…" Soon, Gate was looking through Zero's systems as the others waited.
It wasn't a very long wait. Gate was extremely efficient, retooling the generator rapidly and carefully inserting it as Zero ran on life supports. He carefully checked the generator for a few minutes, then nodded, satisfied. He quickly roused Zero, who sat up with a wince.
"How do you feel?" Leviathan asked, tilting her head to one side. Zero rubbed his chest, assessing himself, then winced.
"I'm much weaker." He could already feel it. On the other hand… "I feel steadier, though." He had none of the precarious feeling he all too often had before, when his generator was thinking of doing a fade out. "It feels a bit better."
"It should. Most Reploids have that style of generator, on this side of the ocean." Gate said. "Although class C generators are slightly commoner." Leviathan nodded.
"Class C is the most common in Neo Arcadia. We can only make Class B using crystals." Gate blinked at her, then frowned slightly.
"That sounds inconvenient. Would you perhaps like a copy of the plans for Class B generators?" He said politely, and Leviathan blinked in shock. She had expected that she would only be able to buy generators, the sort that were difficult to take apart without causing them to explode… and very difficult to reverse engineer. But to be offered the plans…
"Are you sure?" Axl said with a frown. "No offense, Lady Leviathan, but I know what Neo Arcadia thinks about us. And no one over here has any desire to end up under a boot heel." While the individual cities and states were strong, here, the lack of any real central government or control would make them vulnerable to attack. And with a few exceptions, most of them didn't have the technological edge to offset their lack of population, compared to Neo Arcadia. A lot of places were outright barbaric.
"Neo Arcadia has never been expansionist," Zero cut in. "As much as I don't like their policies, I would have to admit that. Those stories mostly served to keep their citizenry from leaving." Leviathan shot him a grateful look. "And this gift could keep Reploids from being retired. But would you also provide those plans to the Rebellion?" Axl looked dubious, but Gate nodded.
"I would be glad to." He smiled slightly. "Now, here is a map…" They spent the next hour working out which places would definitely not have what they wanted, which might know where to find it, and which could possibly even make it.
"This is going to be a long trip," X finally said with a contented sigh. "I haven't done a tour of the African coast in a long time!"
The route they had planned was a long one. It would involve going upwards, to India, then around the African coast. That would take in a massive amount of territory… but with all the port towns, they were almost guaranteed to finally find someone who knew where the A-class generators were made. Gate carefully rolled up the map, slid it back into a tube, and presented it to a startled Axl with a smile.
"We can keep this?" He said, startled, and Gate shrugged.
"It's a copy of the original. And while the main points are correct, it's not too detailed… unlike X's maps." X grinned. He'd already mentioned that. He had many more maps than the three of this area, and he possessed at least partial maps for every single area they were planning to go to. Gate favored him with a look. "You needn't be so smug."
"Why not?" Copy X said cheerfully. "Mind if we stay for tonight's service?" Gate shook his head with a smile.
"I never thought you would miss it." Zero and Leviathan exchanged concerned glances, but couldn't think of any graceful way to ease out of it. But they were both worried about what the sacraments would be.
As it turned out, it wasn't as bad as they had feared. There was a brief sermon by Gate, about God's plan and the unity of all thinking beings. Gate was a good speaker, and his audience was very rapt. A few other people spoke as well, enthusiastically but with varying levels of skill. Some of the takes on reality were quite interesting, though. As the speeches were happening, several pipes were being passed around. When one reached Zero, he hesitated… but Leviathan poked him with a wide, brilliant smile on her face. She'd tried it first.
"Try it, it's good!" She said a bit too loudly. Zero hesitated a moment longer, then sighed and picked up the pipe, planning to only quickly try it. But the smoke was a shock, and he held it in his lungs longer than he had planned.
Zero blinked slowly as the room seemed to… expand. He slowly let out the smoke, watching the strange, pretty patterns it made in the air. Then he passed on the pipe, enjoying the dreamy haze. It was really quite pleasant…
The speeches ended, and everyone was meditating and… Zero blushed as he saw Copy X kissing a girl, another rubbing his shoulders. Axl was lying on the rugs, his head in another girl's lap as she petted his hair. Zero blinked as someone touched his shoulder, and he turned to see…
"Leviathan?" Zero murmured softly, grappling with the strangeness of the situation, his own mental state, and the look Leviathan was giving him… it reminded him vaguely of Ciel looking at a chocolate chip cookie she desperately wanted to eat. Longing.
"Zero," Leviathan sighed, and folded herself against him, kissing him deeply. Zero hesitated for a long moment… but she was so warm, so inviting against him. So beautiful… he returned the kiss, enfolding her in an embrace. This felt familiar, although he hadn't done it sense Ciel had activated him. Older memories were guiding him, and he knew exactly what to do…