Chapter Fourteen: Arriving at the Foundation

As the Durandal flew to the Kukai Foundation, the group made their way to the park to look at the floating station. Shane ran over to the window as she placed her hands against the window, a wide grin on her face along with a look of awe. ''My god, that place is so cool..!'' Allen and MOMO looked at the girl then to Shion. ''Shion...how did Shane...her lifesigns are normal...and her hair and eyes...'' ''Like I said, Shane's a strong girl...stronger than most humans, I think..''

''...So, that's the Kukai Foundation? They sure know how to spend their money,'' Allen said. The pink haired girl nodded. ''I can't wait to see the Durandal turn into a skyscraper! It's so beautiful...'' Shion and Shane turned to look back at MOMO.

''What? We're...going to dock, just like this?'' The brown haired woman asked in a surprised voice. ''Dude, that's fucking awesome!'' Shion covered the pink haired girl's ears just in time. ''Shane, watch your language!'' The silver haired girl held up her arms in response. ''Sorry!''

''Uh, this ship's supposedly one of the most famous landmarks in the Foundation. I saw it in a travel guide on the Elsa.'' Allen reached into his pocket and pulled out the guide. ''See?''

''Oh, really? I'd never know...I don't check out vacation guides very often...''

''You need a break once in a while, Shion.''

''And you need to watch your language.'' Shane growled, folding her arms. ''Sorry...'' MOMO looked up then pointed out the window. ''Oh, look, we're docking!''

As she said this, the ship docked vertically with the pointy nose tip rising. Everyone in the group watched the view turn vertical, the ship docking in its' rightful place--in the middle of the Kukai Foundation. Shane slipped down to her knees as MOMO looked at her. ''You okay, Shane?'' The silver haired girl groaned, holding her head. ''Aw, I'm fine...it's just the gravity changed and...I feel sick 'cause of it.'' She looked up to see Mary, Shelley, and a black haired man with green eyes wearing a suit come into the park.

"New Year's Eve is the best time to visit. The evening metropolis is quite a sight to behold with all her lights.''

''Gaignun Kukai...the managing director of the Kukai Foundation,'' she heard Ziggy say. She stood up staight, moving her hair behind her ear.

''Huh? Jr. ...?'' Shion whispered. ''What was that?'' Gaignun asked her as he walked up to Shion. ''Ah, nothing...nice to meet you.'' He smiled and held his hand out to her.

''Welcome to the Kukai Foundation.''

Shion looked down at his hand, seeing the numbers ''669'' on his right palm then shook his hand slowly. ''I heard about your situation from Captain Matthews and chaos. Is everything all right?'' She nodded some. ''Oh, us, yes. Thank you for all your help.'' Gaignun smiled at her. ''Enjoy your stay.'' He turned and walked over to MOMO.

What's wrong with me...? Acting so rudely toward someone I just met...

''And you must be MOMO. I've recieved word from Juli Mizrahi of the Contact Subcommittee. We'll make sure you get to Miltia safety. ''From...Mommy?!'' MOMO exclaimed. He nodded. ''Right. She told me to take good care of you,'' he said. ''Can I...talk to her?'' Gaignun shook his head. ''Well...she seemed pretty busy.''

''Oh...I see...why doesn't Mommy ever want to see me?'' MOMO asked sadly.

MOMO-chan... Shane looked to her then looked at Gaignun. ''I'll let you know as soon as I hear from her again.'' The pink haired girl nodded. ''All right...thank you very much.''

Geez...all this stardom is too much for me...I'm gonna blow a fuse if he walks over here...

''..iss?''

And to make matters worse, I argued with his red-haired, blue-eyed guncrazy counter part!

''Excuse me, are you alright?'' Shane looked up at Gaignun who held his hand out to her. ''...GAH! I'm so sorry, sir!'' She bowed lowly then raised up to shake his hand nervously. ''I'm Shane Lee...and I'm from Fifth Jerusalem and I'd like to go home, please.''

''Your full name's Shane Lee?''

''It's longer...and stupid sounding...''

''...And your kind of squeezing my hand, Ms. Shane.''

Shane looked down at her hand and Gaignun's as she let go with her face completely red. ''S-sorry!'' ''It's fine, really, Ms. Shane. Enjoy your stay here.'' He turned and walked out of the park with Mary and Shelley. He stopped once he was at a far enough distance, looking at Shion and Shane strangely.

No...it can't be...

Later, in Gaignun's office, Jr. leaned back in a chair behind the dark haired man's desk with his feet propped up on the desk. ''That android, KOS-MOS,'' he said, ''She's got an incredible amount of potential, you know. There's no way she's just a prototype. I'm also concerned about how she resonated with the Emulators..''

"The Hilbert Effect… I heard they lost the archetype, but it looks like there's more to this than it seems… And don't forget about her engineer… What was her name? Shion? And the other girl...Shane... I think they might be on to us…and our powers. ''

"No way. They're just ordinary humans,'' the red-head said in an nonchalant voice. Gaignun shook his head as he looked out the window with his arms folded. "They might not be as ordinary as you think.''

"I doubt it. They seems normal enough to me, though that Shane girl is bipolar. You know, she threatened me down in the isolation area. But I guess it's possible, though. After all, Shion's involved in the highest classified part of that project… The same one Helmer's involved in…"

"The Zohar Project…" The dark haired look-alike said. Jr. looked at him then placed his hands behind his head. "Listen… Why don't we…lay off the Mizrahi talk for a while?"

Gaignun looked at him. "Hmm… Concerned about that MOMO girl?" The red-head growled then said, "Don't look at me like that. You think she likes being called the child of a madman? After all, we were both there when Mizrahi finally met his end. We saw what happened. You know that girl's a Realian. Her memory might be imprinted with something…" "So you're saying the image she holds of Mizrahi is a false one?" The dark haired man asked.

He shook his head, looking to the side. "I don't know. That's why I want you to lay off when you're around her. At least for now, anyway." Gaignun looked at him again. "If you're that concerned about her, why don't you invite her down to the beach? I'm sure it'll help take her mind off of things."

Jr.'s cheeks turned pink as he took his feet of the desk and folded his arms, looking away. "Man… I told you, it's not like that!" The red-head walked to the door as Gaignun picked up a small box set. ''Hey.'' He turned around, catching the box set. ''...What's this?'' He placed the box on the table and opened it, letting out a surprised gasp. ''Oh man, it's a stainless-steel finish Makarov! With the original box and everything!''

''I won it at a Lion's Heart auction. It was part of their antique weapons collecton,'' the dark haired man told him. Jr. looked at him with a questioning look. ''...This isn't like you. You're up to something.'' Gaignun chuckled to himself.

"Not at all. I just though I'd reward you for all the hard work you've done for us recently… Have I gone too far?"

He watched the red-head shake his head ''no''. ''Don't go shooting that thing all over the place. Remember, you're older than I am. Try to act like it once in a while, alright?'' He made his way to the door. As the door closed behind him, he turned to hear Jr. yell with excitement.

''Sweeeet!''

Gaignun sighed, shaking his head.

Shion sat in her room (in the Residential Area) alone as she looked out the window. She thought about Shane, her fast healing, and the changes to her body, hair and eyes. Shane...just who are you, really? The sound of a doorbell brought her out of her thoughts as she looked back at the door.

''It's open,'' she said as Allen walked into the room. ''Chief, we better get going soon.'' The brown haired woman nodded, looking down at the floor. ''Yeah...'' He tilted his head to get a better look at her face. ''What's wrong? Maybe its' just me, but...you've been acting gloomy ever since we boarded this ship,'' he said. She looked up at him. ''Hm? No, really, its' nothing...what, you really think I'm acting like that?''

''Yep, no doubt about it.''

''Hmm...''

Allen pointed at her. ''See? Just like that.'' Shion shook her head some. ''Oh, I just have a lot on my mind...I'm sure that's all it is,'' she reassured him. ''Are you sure? If something's bothering you, I'd be more than happy to listen...'' Jr. came running into the room with a smile on his face. ''Hey, Shion, let's go out and play!'' She looked up at the red-head.

''Hm?''

''I'll wait for you over at the shuttle launch, so hurry, okay? See ya there!'' He ran out of the room, leaving Shion and Allen to their own devices. Later, the two stood outside of the room. ''Well then, I'll be heading to the launch pad. So, Chief, make sure you come too!''

At the Dock, Shane leaned against the wall with her arms folded. She looked to see chaos walk in as he looked to her. ''Shane, your hair...and eyes..'' She turned red. ''Uh, I woke up like this!'' The girl told him with a blushing face. ''A-after I woke up from a bad dream...''

''A nightmare?'' chaos asked. ''Can you tell me what it was about?''

''...Well, I was running from a guy...but my hair was longer; not short, okay? A-and I was wearing a long white shirt. He found me and I tried to attack him and he said some...things.''

''What kind of things?'' MOMO asked her. Shane shook her head. ''I can't say,'' she replied.

Because I don't want to fuck up the storyline even more with my presence here...

''And also, I don't want to make you lose your innocent hearing, MOMO-chan.'' The pink haired girl blinked at Shane then looked down. ''Hey, sweetie...I said that because it was a really, REALLY bad dream, okay?'' She looked up at the girl's gold eyes and smiled softly.

''Okay, Shane. I understand.''

Shion walked over to the group with a small but sad smile on her face. ''You okay, Shion?'' She nodded at Shane and the others ''yes''. Jr. walked over to her.

"Shion, why do you look so down? Let's hurry and go to the beach! I'll show you around!" The group took the shuttle to the Kukai Foundation, and to the beach. There, the group walk into a beach house and changed into swimsuits. MOMO, chaos, Jr., and Allen have fun. Shane was laying under the same umbrella wearing a white one-piece swimsuit that showed most of her clevage, snoring softly. Shion sat next to the sleeping girl in a chair as she worked on something with her U.M.N.

She closed her eyes and thought back on the time she (with short hair) and an dark haired man worked on the prototype of KOS-MOS. He stood over her maintanance bed and chucked to himself. ''Shion..would you laugh at me if I told you that...I think she has a heart?'' He asked her. She looked back at him from the computer screen.

''KOS-MOS? Showing emotional behavior?''

''I've run across some interesting phenomena. It's still pretty weak, of course...almost like a tiny little pulse...''

''Really? We should definitely keep an eye on that,'' Shion told him. ''KOS-MOS' elemental data structure duplicates that of a human brain, so something like that's certainly not out of the question.'' Her memory ended as she looked at the U.M.N. ''She was empathizing with MOMO back there...I wonder what her subconscious waves were like...?'' Shion saw a a line go across the green screen and sighed. ''Flatline...oh, well...nothing here at all."

''What's the matter, Chief? You didn't come down to the beach just to stare at a screen all day, did you? And there's Shane who--'' Allen's face turned beet red once he caught a glance at Shane's swimsuit. ''Come on, Shion! Shane, wake up!'' MOMO said as she waved her arms at them. ''Why don't you come and play with us?'' The brown haired woman nodded some. ''Sorry, in a bit..'' The little girl walked over to her, looking at the U.M.N. in her hands.

''Are you working on KOS-MOS? It must be really tough,'' she said.

The brown haired man shook his head, snapping out of his trance and wiping the drool from his chin. ''She's got a lot of black box areas that even we can't analyze.'' Shane stirred from her sleep as she sat up slowly. MOMO looked up at him. ''Black box?'' she asked. He nodded. ''Yeah. We're painstaking analyzing her bit by bit so that we can recreate her original form again. The only person who knew everything about KOS-MOS was Kevin...''

''And who's he?'' Shane dusted the sand from her hair and yawned loudly. Allen shot a glare at the girl only to glance down at her clevage again, going into a trance. ''..Did I say something wrong? Shion?'' She watched Shion turn off the U.M.N. and looked to Shane. ''No, you didn't. I'll tell you later, okay?'' The silver haired girl nodded. ''Alright..''

''Say, Allen. Do you think Gaignun and Jr. are father and son? They look a little too far apart in age to be brothers.''

''I wouldn't say that, Shion. My siblings are, like, way older than me. Like 20-40 old.''

''Really?--Shane, stop getting off-topic, please.'' Shane meowed at her. Allen shook his head again then looked at Shion. ''I've heard rumors here and there. Some say Gaignun cloned himself, while others say Jr.'s his illegitimate son or...''

''I don't think he's a clone,'' MOMO said. ''Their genome arrays are a little too different for that...'' The brown haired woman looked at her with astonishment. ''Wow! You can actually see that, MOMO?'' The pink-haired girl blushed some. ''I'm an Observation Realian...they're more than just siblings, or father and son, but at the same time they're not identical, either...''

''Is that sort of thing possible? Their DNA only has to differ by 0.1 to make them different people, right?''

''Other than that...'' Shane spoke up.

''Hey, who's an illegitimate son?'' The group looked at Jr. as he walked over wearing a pair of white swim trunks. ''Uhh...man, this beach is really great! It doesn't feel artificial at all.'' Allen said. The silver haired girl shrugged her shoulders and shook her head. Who the fuck are you trying to kid, baka? ''It's out latest product. You can even change the weather!'' He took out a remote from his pocket. ''You can't have blue skies all the time, right?'' He pressed the button as dark clouds appeared over the beach and thunder boomed overhead. Shane crawled out from under the umbrella and stood up with Shion.

''I hate...thunder,'' the brown haired woman whispered to herself. The silver haired girl tensed up as her hair spiked up some. ''...Damnit..''

''Shion? Shane?'' Jr. pressed another button, lightning flashing through the sky and thunder crashing loudly. The two girls yelped; Shion falling to a kneeling position and Shane covering her face. ''Stop it!! I hate thunder!'' The brown haired woman cried out, tensing up. ''I'm sorry...I just...really hate thunder..''

''Shion...'' chaos said, looking at her. Shion looked up at the silver haired girl who stood frozen. ''Shane...? Are you..you don't like thunder, either?''

''..My head...the rain...slick ground...I..'' She let her hands fall to her sides to reveal her eyes back to their default brown. ''I...'' She stumbled back, collapsing to the ground.

''Shane!''

Chapter Fourteen: End (Oooh, Shane's afraid of thunder like Shion. What DID she mean by the rain, her head, and slick ground? I'm not telling you...READ ON AND FIND OUT!! Please R & R. )