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Chapter 9

Roger
March 24

Those men who wear clothes that allow them to move underwater were exactly going after the same thing as Angel. They were drawn to the bright light of memories that shone in the dark deep sea.

"They'll take away all the memories!" Angel screamed, her face pressed against the window. She looked at me as if I personally cared about her egotistical desires.

"That light source of power! Is it something humans are capable of making?" I wondered. Electricity could be generated underground in turbines and by monsters, I knew that thanks to Electric City. But underneath oceans? Under the ruins of wiped out civilization?

Under close scrutiny of the underground vault, I saw a pair of bright 'eyes' that I knew did not belong to any frog. Something was happening, something very important. I had a feeling that those frogmen did not expect this either. A bright blue blinding glow started to emerge out of the rectangle; it grew bigger and bigger. There was a brief explosion and then debris and smoke began to rise up. Angel and I stared in fear through the window. The sound of rushing water against the glass was deafening. The glass rattled; we were afraid it was going to burst. We braced ourselves while curiously looking out. Angel screamed as she saw the empty scuba diving gear of the frogmen unnervingly floating up with the current.

"Looks like someone woke up the memories' guardian," I yelled.

There followed a second explosion. This time our entire building shook. Angel started panicking again. She started running to the right at some invisible target. "We can't stay here! You will die!"

I made sure Angel was distracted enough and then hunched down towards my left wrist, muttering into the watch, "Come in, Big O." I designated the coordinates.

The skyscraper groaned. I couldn't see out of the window; there was too much dust. Something obviously had emerged from underground, causing all the ruckus and our building to shake. In fact, the floor beneath was starting to slant. I held onto a window bar, struggling to keep ground. Angel was against one wall of the building, trying to push against it as if her strength alone could keep up thousands of tons. No, wait. She was trying to hold open the doors, trying to prevent them from closing. Things from the wall were already breaking and crashing.

"Give me a hand here, will ya? If you don't we won't get out of here!" she yelled, turning to look at me angrily. I released my position from the window and grabbed a chair, hoisting it above my head. She looked at me in fear and let go of the doors, hunching down. The building moaned as it slanted some more. She grabbed the door handle as her legs dangled.

As I fell, I smashed the chair forcefully against the windows, shattering the glass and then eventually causing an entire gush of water to flood the room. I held my breath.

I hoped Angel was a good swimmer. But then again, she was really good at surprises.

The water flooded the room, grabbing us with its currents and tearing us in multiple directions. I lost sight of Angel. But nevertheless the rush of water would shoot everything straight up to the surface. I kept eye on my watch, following the miniature map. Two minutes of excruciating lung pressure and I was at the surface, surrounded by debris. I panted heavily, catching my breath and looked around to hear screaming. There was Angel, flailing in the water meters nearby as if she couldn't swim. I immediately swam in her direction. It was early dawn.

"Roger! There you are!"

"Why did you plan on making a dive underwater if you can't swim?" I yelled to her in annoyance.

"I can, but not with--" she cried, sputtering out water, with the most frightened expression as she plunged under. I was close to her now and I dived down below, not believing the actual amount of trouble this girl caused. And then I saw her plummeting downwards with closed eyes and wide cheeks as she held her oxygen and desperately tried to kick forwards. There was something attached to her left leg.

I swam downwards to see a corpse literally attached to her limb. The frog-like scuba headlight gear wrapped around the head of the deceased man had somehow tangled itself on to her leg. I untangled it off to let it have its final resting place at the bottom of the ocean and then brought Angel to the surface. She was very weak but for the most part calm. She looked at me with eyes that looked surprisingly empty and without any emotion other than tiredness. She looked phased. I told her to hold on to my back as I swam to shore and she nodded blankly without saying one word. She coughed up more water and then stopped when her lungs were clear. I felt her breathe okay, a little bit weak, but okay. She had the most initiative to live than anyone I had ever met. If that was a good thing.

I peered out onto the beach.

Sure enough, Big O was a quarter mile of a swim nearby at the shoreline.

I brought her to shore, weighted by her body and my soaked up, dripping clothes. I did not set her on the muddy beach but rather on the wooden platform of a dock. She was motionless but breathing, and her closed eyes had an exhausted expression. She reminded me of an ill-fated human-turned sea goddess from mythology. I looked at her one more time before going to the Big O.

Like I've done so many times, I ran and climbed myself up to the cockpit. I opened the entrance hatch and jumped in, expecting to see my old man as planned but seeing an android instead. I was thankful nevertheless to see a familiar face, to see a different face.

"What happened to Norman?" I grunted. "What are you doing here, Dorothy?"

She was sitting still like a polite child on the red pilot seat, hands clasped on her lap. Her neck whirred to me. "I can operate without oxygen. It was a much wiser decision."

"I get the old guy is obviously disappointed right now," I chuckled. Dorothy leaped up to the side of the cockpit so I could take a sit. It felt good to smell fresh air again, to feel it fill my lungs and clear my mind. And the scent of my beloved Megadeus. I would never take the earth for granted.

I clicked the usual buttons, flipped the according switches, and grabbed the operational joysticks. 'CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD YE NOT GUILTY' flashed on the screen. I smiled to myself.

"Okay, Big O! And action!"

I checked my coordinates and then looked at the map on one of the screens. The moving red dot indicated there was a very large body at the northern side-- possibly a Megadeus. I proceeded to get moving. I activated the thrusters and Big O was soon on its way to the city.