CHAPTER 16:
Giru Gets a Checkup

Giru squirmed in Trunks' hands as he tried lay the robot down on the mechanical table in the launching area, but it was hard because it kept bleeping wildly and thrashing its limbs in every direction. "Just calm down, Giru! It's only a checkup!"

"-giru giru-! Giru no want open, -giru giru-!"

Trunks secured him down onto the table and with his other hand, tied duct tape around Giru's round white frame.

"-giru giru-! Danger! Danger! -giru giru-!"

"Honestly, Giru, you're just as bad as Goku getting a shot." Trunks made sure the frantic robot was secured tightly in place then reached into the cabinet and pulled out a pair of white surgical gloves. After making sure they were on comfortably, he switched on the overhead light and picked up a small screwdriver. He carefully began to turn some of the knobs that held Giru's outer shell together. "Don't worry, I just want to get a look inside you and make sure you're okay, that's all."

For the past two weeks, the robot had been malfunctioning, giving false alarms of danger when around Trunks. At first, it scared the life out of all three of them, but after Giru started becoming the 'boy who cried wolf,' Trunks decided to make sure one of his circuits hadn't blown. If something were wrong with the robot, there could be a small chance of another circuit going off and damaging the dragon radar. Knowing their luck for getting into trouble when searching for dragonballs, Trunks felt the need to take some action.

"Giru, stop moving or else I'm going to have to shut you down!" After a few terrified "giru"s, the white robot went limp, trembling a little bit as Trunks removed its outer shell Trunks' eyes went wide when he saw the internal circuits of the robot. He had never seen them before, and it was fascinating to see the masterwork of Dr. Myuu in front of his eyes. He felt like how his mother must have felt when working with Android 16 so many years ago when he was just a baby. It was just sheer brilliance to look upon this new mechanical design.

"Alright then... now to find your danger sensor..." Trunks took a plastic pick from his toolbox and began to part the wires gently to get a better look inside.

The robot still trembled below him, quietly muttering under its sensors, "danger...danger..."

As he searched, he began to notice several interesting patterns to the wires and their directions. They all lead to the circuits in the center which Trunks found to be in perfect condition, meaning that they weren't the cause for Giru's malfunction. Without having the designs for Giru in front of him, finding the true source of the problem would take a while and they didn't have that time to spare at the moment.

Trunks thought of an alternate way of getting Giru to quiet down, and began to search through the wires again. There were all kinds of small boxes, computer chips, several tiny motherboards and daughterboards, adaptors, converters and... "Aha, here it is. I think I found it." Trunks parted the wires a little more and turned the overhead light brighter so he could get a better look. He picked up his screwdriver and began to lightly tap an internal red box. "Does that hurt at all, Giru?"

"-giru giru-..."

"Alright then, just a little tweak..." Trunks turned the knob slightly clockwise. The robot let out a little bleeping whine followed by a twitch of its limbs. Trunks paused and brought his tool back to the table. The robot lied unmoving under the light. "How are you feeling, Giru?"

"Giiiirruuu..." The little robot tried to stretch out its right arm desperately toward the screwdriver.

Trunks shifted the tool away from him with a small smile. "Tell me, Giru, is there any danger that you sense?"

"No danger..."

"Really? Are you telling the truth, Giru? No danger at all? Not even in the slightest?"

"No danger, -giru giru-..."

"Great! You're good to go, my friend. Let me just put your shell back on and –" Something caught his eye in the corner of Giru's frame. Using his small pick, he separated the wires and found something dark and cylindrical among them. He smiled and checked to see if the item was removable by tracing the wires that led from it to Giru's hard drive. It seemed okay; it didn't connect to any important memory chips. He pulled it out effortlessly and held it in front of the robot. "Giru, do you mind if I take this? I think I'd like to develop it if that's okay."

"-giru giru-"

It was amazing. Ever since the robot had eaten that camera two weeks ago, Trunks had completely forgotten about it. He smiled, thinking of what he could do with the film. He decided to keep it a secret that he had it. It would be a nice if he could surprise Pan with a scrapbook of memories. It would make a nice gift someday, assuming all the pictures turned out. They could really get some good laughs from some of them.

He slid the cylinder into his pocket then picked up the section of Giru's shell that he had removed and slid it into place. "Now, Giru, if this hurts you at all, tell me, okay?"

"No danger... No danger, -giru giru-."

Trunks secured the frame back in place, tightening the bolts as much as he could without actually damaging the robot. He pulled the duct tape off of Giru and stood back with his arms crossed and a proud look on his face. "You're free to go."

The small robot bleeped once and scuttled out of the launching area as quickly as its hover gear could go. Trunks put his tools away, threw his surgical gloves in the waste bin and turned off the lights to the room. As he entered the hallway, he noticed several screams and loud laughter came from the lounge. He could hear Goku shouting "That's not fair! You cheated!" followed by Pan, "I did not. I beat you fair and square!" Trunks smiled and shook his head with a relaxed sigh. Those two were up to their video games again. He had to admit, though, it was easy for them to get bored when stuck in the ship for weeks on end.

He walked past the gaming area and entered his usual spot, sitting in the pilot's seat. While they were up to playing and partying, he had a lot on his mind that he had to work out, including calculating their next rest stop. The water pressure was getting low and he'd have to restock some fuel soon.

He pressed several buttons on the dashboard and opened up the coordinate chart on the monitor. It read that there were nine planets within a week's journey, three of which were habitable, two which had advanced technology. He pressed more buttons to locate the distances between the planets. The two advanced ones were in the same solar system. It looked like they wouldn't have much choice but to go in that direction.

Trunks leaned back in his chair and put his arms behind his head, closing his eyes. One more dragonball to go, a month and a half to get back home. They were really cutting it close. If it weren't for the Parapara brothers and the incident on M2, they'd have had an extra few weeks to spare. They could do it, though. All they needed was an easy seventh dragonball. No more people turning into dolls, no more ruthless tycoons or parasites, and most definitely no more marriages.

He and Pan had avoided that subject ever since they left Kikaru. It was awkward bringing it up, so he never did; plus, talking about it really served no purpose. It was a huge joke that ended up not being so funny. However, although it was never mentioned, it was still hard to completely push it out of his mind. Every time he looked at his bare left hand, that ring served as a reminder of that stupid, embarrassing day when he had to wear that dress. Pan still had hers as a souvenir hanging up in her closet, but he had returned his to those people, whatever their names were... he couldn't remember.

He wondered what would happen when they would return to Earth, if he and Pan would grow apart. It most likely would happen, with his job and all. He didn't have time for any leisure nowadays. Plus, she would be a year behind in her schoolwork and her parents would most likely force her to study to make up for all the time she lost. She most definitely wasn't making any effort to catch up on her work when up in space, that's for sure.

"Hey there, Trunks, what's up?"

He turned around in his chair to see Pan entering the cockpit. "Hi." He watched her take a seat in her chair to the left side of him. She followed his example by kicking up her feet and lying back in her chair.

"Grandpa may be good on the battlefield, but when he tries to play a martial arts game, he's severely lacking in the department. Even you are a better gamer than him."

"I heard you guys. I take it you won."

"Hah, yeah, only fifteen times! Fifteen in a row, yeah!" She made a punch in the air and turned it into a thumbs-up before letting it drop to her side. Trunks silently continued to look out into space. She turned to him and raised an eyebrow, "So what have you been up to?"

"I fixed Giru." Trunk's couldn't stop a yawn from escaping him. He covered his mouth with his right hand and then turned his head to face Pan. "Other than that, I've been just sitting here."

"Doing anything in particular?"

He turned his head to look back into space. "Thinking."

"Thinking? You, think? Oh wow, Trunks, that's a first." Pan grinned and reached over to gently punch him on the shoulder. He looked at her again with a confused expression. "Aww, you know I'm just teasing! You always seem to be in here, thinking. What do you think about?"

"Mostly home, I guess."

"What about home?" Pan turned her head to face the stars and shifted her feet a bit on the dashboard.

"Well, for one, how your parents are going to make you hit the books when you get back, since you're behind on studying for your university entrance exam."

"That's a long way off."

"Not too long, and you have a lot of stuff to learn. You'll never make it into college if you don't ace that test."

Pan turned to Trunks, grinning. "What did you score on it?"

"High." Trunks closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"Come on, out of 800 points, how 'high' was your score?"

Trunks turned his head to look at her again. "It doesn't matter how I did. I got into Orange Star University, and so I went. Simple as that."

"I bet you never studied for it, did you?"

Trunks smiled a bit. He would never tell her.

"Well, I'm not going to study for it either." Pan sat forward a bit and adjusted her bandana. "We'll see if I do well or not, but I really could care less."

Trunks propped his head forward with his left elbow against the seat and smiled at her. "You know, Pan, I think your parents might have other plans for you."

"They might, but I've already decided I'm not going to college." She crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"What? You're not?" Trunks laughed and sat up, "What do you intend to do with your life?"

"I'm going to take over my Gramps' dojo. Or start one of my own. I already talked about it with him and he said he'll give me the money to start my own school once I turn 18." Pan smiled as she imagined all the fun she'd have there. "What did you think I'd do? Have a desk job like you and get out of shape? No way." She sat up and flexed her right arm, making a muscle and grinning. "I'm the granddaughter of both world champions and I'm going to carry on the family tradition."

Trunks put his hands on his knees, and sighed, looking down. "I'm glad you've figured out your future. I wish I could have had the same say..."

"Hey you guys!" Trunks looked behind him as Goku came bounding into the small room holding Giru. "Hey Trunks! I thought you might be interested in hearing that Giru found another dragonball!"

"Another one? Really? It's about time!" Trunks took the robot from Goku and turned it over, looking at the dragon radar. "Two weeks away. Wow, I'm amazed that Giru was able to pick it up at such a long distance! That's great!"

Pan fingered the bandana around her neck and looked down at Giru. "It must be because we have the other six dragonballs already. They might be making the other pulsate more because of their gathered energy."

"Could be." Trunks turned in his chair and began typing things into the coordinate screen. "It seems that our next pit stop will only detain us a few days from our destination. Let's see here... I wonder if there's any information about the planet it landed on..."

As Trunks was plugging in coordinates and markers, Pan took Giru in her hands and gave him a squeeze. "Aww, Giru! I can't believe you did it! You found the last dragonball! After this we can go home!"

Goku tapped Pan on the shoulder, "Alright Pan, I think I got it now. I was supposed to press 'back' then the B button for my ultimate attack, right?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, I want to play you again! I finally figured it out, and I know I can beat you this time."

"Just you try Grandpa!" Pan jumped out of her seat and marched toward the door.

Trunks called out to them, still looking at the screen and typing, "Hey guys, before you go. I found some information on the planet the dragonball is on, and it isn't pretty."

Goku and Pan turned to look quizzically at him.

"It says here that the planet is in the process of having a severe ice age. All life forms have died from the extreme cold."

Goku smiled happily and leaned against the doorframe. "That's no problem. I can handle extreme cold."

"It says that the average daytime temperature of the planet is 269 degrees below zero. If you can handle that, I'd be surprised." Trunks looked up from the screen to smile at Goku. "I know my science, and I can most professionally tell you that air itself liquefies at –270." Trunks shook his head in disbelief. "Let's hope for a heat wave, or else expect to get wet."

"Can't we just wear our space suits?" Pan crossed her arms and frowned.

"I'm afraid that's not an option. There's a lot of ice on the planet and most probably violent winds. If anything begins to freeze on the suit, or if the suit freezes by itself, you're going to get stuck there." Trunks looked back at the monitor. "I suggest that we buy some heavy jackets at our next stop. We should be able to reach a planet with technology in about a week."

"A week!" Goku's shoulders slumped. "What are we gonna do until then? I'm so bored."

"Well, for one, I can kick your butt again as Gramps."

"That's not fair, he's your best character!"

Trunks shook his head in confusion. "What? Gramps? You mean Hercule is in that game!"

Goku laughed, "Yeah, what would a martial arts game be without Mr. Satan as a character?"

"You know what," Trunks chuckled to himself under his breath and stood up from his chair, "I really should have figured that. I mean, considering he's in every single high school text book, all the magazines, billboards and, well, everywhere else, it's practically a given that he'd be in that game, too."

"My Gramps rocks," Pan laughed and put her arm around Goku, "but Grandpa should really be the one in all those games. Grandpa Goku versus Gramps. That'd be the day. I wonder who would win?"

"Oh come on, it wouldn't even be a fair fight." Trunks suddenly cracked a large grin, "Considering I was able to beat Hercule when I was eight, I am quite sure that Goku could knock him out by just sneezing on him!"

Trunks and Goku burst into roaring laughter at the memory.

"I remember that! You had just won the junior division championship and you were supposed to fight Mr. Satan in an exhibition match!" Goku wiped a tear from his eye in his struggle to breathe.

"You beat my Gramps up?" Pan's eyes widened in surprise as she stared at Trunks.

He continued to laugh, bent over and gasping for air, "Hahahaha, I didn't even mean to! He told me to lightly punch his face because it was some tradition or something, and I sent him flying! HAHAHA!"

As the two saiyans doubled over and fell onto the floor, Pan's eyebrows knotted and she crossed her arms, tapping her foot. "I don't get what's so funny."

Trunks reached up and grabbed the arm of his chair. "Sorry Pan. Hehe... ah, that was great." He smiled at Goku, "Too bad we found out about Buu that day."

"That's right! That was the one day I was allowed to return to Earth. I remember that." Goku stood up, chuckling slightly and trying to breathe deeply to calm himself.

"So Grandpa, are we gonna play or what?"

"Yeah! I'm playing. Trunks, do you want to join us?"

Trunks smiled and shook his head. "No, I'll stay here and man the ship. Have a fun time, you two. And Pan, try not to go overboard with Hercule. You know that they make him out to be a lot stronger in that game than in real life."

"Aww... alright. Grandpa, I'll go easy on you this one time." Pan grabbed Giru, taking him under her arm and turned to walk toward the door.

Trunks smiled as he watched them leave the room. He stood there for a moment and then sat back down in his trusty chair. He leaned back and kicked his feet onto the dashboard. Gazing at the stars, he found his thoughts once again wandering toward home.

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–10/19/04–