Chapter Eight: Unveiling The Cyborg
"Professor! PROFESSOR!"
I was sure my frantic shouts were heard thoughout the whole of St. Mystere, not that I cared. Realisation had just back-handed me across the face, and I needed to tell the Professor of my findings. I ran up the stairs, two at a time, then skidded to a halt outside Flora's bed chambers. I pushed open the door with great force, slightly panting from the running. As the door banged against the wall, the Professor looked up from his work. His face was content, as was mine. Our eyes met, and in unison,
"Robot!"
We then exchanged slight laughter, with hints of relief and happiness. I began to walk towards him, closing the door behind me.
"Well done, my dear," he praised, standing up off the bed. He generally sounded very proud of me.
"It was easy, Professor," I said, shrugging my shoulders, feeling a little embarrassed of the appraisal, "I just had to ask the right people."
The Professor then approached me. He extended his arms around me, in a small embrace.
"I knew you had potential," he whispered.
I smiled, and returned the embrace. I inhaled his cologne, which had a minty essence to it. I was happy, no one had shown this much care and affection towards me in a while. After a minute passed, the Professor realised what he'd just done, and hastily pulled his arms away. His cheeks were tinted red, and he was trying hard to conceal it.
"I-I'm frightful sorry, Victoria," he apologised, a slight tremor in his voice, "That, that wasn't meant to happen, I just, well-"
"It's fine," I said, interrupting him, for his own accord, "I'm sure it was a spur of the moment, Professor, it's not a big deal."
Hmm, you're doing well, aren't you? Don't you usually have fan-girl seizures when you and the Professor share 'moments'?
My lip curled with annoyance.
Shut up.
"Anyway," continued the Professor, "Yes, it seems that young Miss Flora here is actually a robot, and rather than died, she malfunctioned. Could I see your notes, Victoria?"
I nodded, and retrieved the notes from my back pocket. He scanned through them, and nodded with approval.
"Yes, it seems you asked the right residents. Quite surprising when you don't know the village. I am impressed."
Yeah. . .not quite, Professor.
"What about you, Professor?" I asked, "How did you find out?"
"Ah, yes," he said, leading me towards the bed, "Just take a look."
I looked down at Flora. Nothing. I couldn't see anything. I blinked once, then looked again. I still couldn't see.
"Erm, I can't see anything."
"Look closer, particularly the hair."
I gently took hold of a clump of Flora's hair, and looked. I also felt them between my fingers. It wasn't soft, like hair should be.
"This is, synthetic hair?" I asked.
"Correct," the Professor said, "Synthetic hair planted into the scalp to resemble Flora's hair. And that's not the only thing."
The Professor then gently took hold of the body, and flipped it over. He moved the hair out of the way, to reveal a timer on the back of the neck.
"The timer was set to eleven fourty seven," he continued, "When the time came, the power was disconnected, and to the untrained eye, it appeared that she died."
"Whoa," I said, dumbfounded, "Well, what now?"
"We need to find Bruno, a robot specialist that lives around here. He seems like the only person who would know anything about this."
The Professor started towards the door. I grabbed his arm to stop him.
"Professor. . ." I began, "It's all well and good that it was a robot that died. But, that doesn't tell us where the real Flora is."
"I know, my dear," he replied, sighing, "But one thing at a time, I suppose."
We left the bedroom, then walked down the stairs. We spotted Matthew on the ground floor."
"Matthew, my good man! Great news!" The Professor called as we approached him.
"Oh?" Matthew asked, slightly confused.
"It wasn't Miss Reinhold, it was a robot! A robot Flora was made, and it malfunctioned."
"Oh?" Matthew said again, shocked and relieved at the same time, "Well, that's fantastic, that's so relieving! Oh, but what about the real Miss Reinhold?"
"Don't worry, he'll soon find her," the Professor assured, "You wouldn't happen to know where Bruno is, would you?"
"I'm terribly sorry, Professor, but Bruno had been out of town for quite some time. He didn't say where he was going."
The Professor sighed with frustration.
"Hmm, no worries, we'll have to track him down. Don't worry, Matthew, Flora will soon be safe again."
Matthew nodded, a small smile spread on his face.
The Professor and I then made our way back to the Laytonmobile. I yawned.
"Tired, Miss Belladonna?" the Professor asked me.
"Hmm? Oh, yeah, a little," I replied. He laughed.
"Well, you'd better get used to it. Our days on investigating are far from over, and they're about to get a lot more tiring."