Sorry for the delay in getting this posted but I got rather busy
sorting out my costume for the masquerade for the RecontanimeTed
convention in Birmingham UK on 3-5 November. So my schedule slipped
(hmm and another couple things as well :) ).
This masquerade was "different" on several 'points' - let me know
you want the tragic details posting here / \ / \
O O
o
I now have some pictures scanned in - over 18's only ^_^
Well here is chapter 3 grandma and smell checked - blame wormstar.
Incidently, there are some minor changes to chapters 1 and 2
<--- chapter 3 --->
Bubblegum Crisis
****
The Tempest Chronicles II
****
(c) Robin Smith 1995
Bubblegum Crisis is copyright Armtic,
Youmex and Toshimichi Suzuki.
Other copyrights belong to their respective holders.
=========
Chapter 2.3
-----------
There was a brief pause before a voice came from the data unit.
"Please lift this unit from within the carrying case in order to
provide adequate ventilation for continued operation."
Sylia and Mackie looked rather surprised at the sound of the voice
emanating from the data unit.
"That's Katsuhiro's voice isn't it ?" Linna whispered to me.
"Yes that's Katsuhiro all right Linna, a voice from the past for
three of us."
"Quiet please."
Sylia hissed back at us as she complied with the request and placed
the data unit to one side of the case.
"Since this unit has been activated, it must be assumed that I am
either permanently incapacitated or dead. The more likely of the
two scenarios is I have been killed by Genom for having voiced my
feelings about how they propose to use my developments in the
creation of the buma.
I know you must be present Tempest; thank you for arranging this
meeting. What you have been through is probably more than most
people would have been willing to endure. I know you will
probably never forgive me for the methods my father and I employed
but thank you for your perseverance.
Sylia, Mackie I'm sorry for what I've put you through. You must
think of me now as monster, I can only say that I did it to give
you the best possible chance I could.
There will now follow a series of questions for each of you, after
which your scores will be given. The unit will then stop until the
button is pressed again.
All the questions will have to answered correctly for the data
appertaining to Tempest's last treatment to be divulged."
The questions for Sylia, Mackie and I followed at a very rapid
pace. The final score was 40/40 for Sylia, 15/15 for Mackie and
54/55 for myself!
"How did you manage to get the number of enhanced minds wrong
Tempest ? I thought you said there were six in total ?"
Sylia was looking at me with a look of shock and anger.
"Well that's what I had worked out and I was 80% sure about the
sixth, obviously that person is just a natural genius.
Sorry people guess I blew it big time there.
Shall we find out if there's going to be any more information
given ?"
"There's not really very much else we can do."
"Here goes nothing then." I pressed the button.
"Congratulations to you all, you have all given the right answers."
"WHAT the ..." I blustered.
"SHH" Sylia raised a finger to her lips.
There was a pause in the unit's output almost as if Katsuhiro was
expecting a brief exchange between us.
"I fully expect there is some surprised looks at present, especially
on Tempest's face since he is no doubt thinking that he has
answered incorrectly and thus the data will not be decoded.
The answer of 'six' that Tempest gave is incorrect but in the
context of your supposed current knowledge then it is correct.
If Tempest had given the true figure then the data unit would have
self destructed.
Tempest please ask Marvin to execute program "Eccles"; this will
fully disarm the detonator if you provide the correct answers.
Since you once mentioned this piece of now obscure history to me
it seemed to be suitable choice and I very much doubt anyone else
is capable of making the link.
As an additional safeguard it MUST be Tempest who answers the
questions, Marvin won't accept any substitutes.
No further information will be available until this is successfully
completed."
"Well I'd never have thought that a wrong answer is right."
"What did he mean about the password and the link ?"
Nene sounded puzzled.
"I'll explain, though it will sound maybe just a little odd.
The name of Eccles is probably best known as a town in the county
of Lancashire in the United Kingdom which gave it's name to type
of cake."
"That doesn't seem difficult to follow, so why did he describe it
as obscure." Nene was still puzzled.
"It would be fair to say that is the link that most people would
come up with and you're correct it's not that obscure.
The answer that is being sought will relate to the roots of my
sense of humour, which you all seem to dislike so much.
There existed in the 1950's a radio program called 'The Goon Show'
broadcast in the United Kingdom which had a character whose name
was Eccles."
"So if it was on in the 1950's, then you would be only one year old
at best.
How does this relate to your sense of 'humour' and how do you know
about it ?"
"Oh Nene Nene, WHY did you have to ask that." Linna muttered as
she put her hands over her ears and dropped slumped forward so her
forehead was resting on the table.
I could see the others shaking their heads in sympathy with Linna's
remark, their body language betraying what Linna had expressed
openly.
"Relax folks this will be short, I promise.
Here are the answers in reverse order Nene.
The radio shows were transferred to tape and were available in
shops and my father introduced me to it.
Much my 'humour' or 'stupidity' as some have put it comes from
this and other similar shows.
For the Linna and the detractors was that short enough ?
Hmm 'Linna and the De-tractors', would that be a band of
agricultural musicians ?"
A series of groans went up at that last remark, definitely not one
of my better efforts, quick off the mark though.
"Well baring the last feeble attempt at humour, yes that was short
enough thank you Tempest.
Please don't tempt him like that again though Nene, unless of
course you'd like to attend some of my advanced exercise classes."
Nene blanched at the thought of taking part in any of Linna's
exercise classes; let alone the advanced classes.
I decided to rescue Nene from the hole she figuratively now found
herself in.
"Okay, everyone want to hear the rest of Katsuhiro's message ?"
A series of yeses and okays confirmed that.
"Marvin execute program 'Eccles'."
<Affirmative.
Tempest you need to give me at least ten associations with the
name of this program>
"Harry Secombe, Michael Bentine, Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan,
Valentine Dyal, Wallace Greenslade, Max Geldray, Ray Ellington,
Eric Sykes, George Chisholm, Charlotte Mitchell, Neddy Seagoon,
Bluebottle, Bludnock, Moriarty, Grytpype-Thynne, Henry Crun,
Minnie Bannister, Little Jim, Sewerman Sam, Sergeant Throat.
Is that sufficient Marvin ?"
<Perfectly acceptable, though ten would have been sufficient>
"Thank you Marvin."
Marvellous even my AI was getting the hump now !
"Can we proceed ?"
<Affirmative, initiating sequence>
"Parts of what I'm about to relate will cause you all further pain,
some more so than others.
There are three major items to be considered here
1. The new treatment for which Tempest has been the guinea pig
2. The completion of that treatment, sorry Tempest you've got
some more pain ahead.
3. Who has been enhanced.
Point one.
The final drug Tempest was treated with gives him several unique
attributes, some of which may seem like a gift from heaven. However
I know Tempest will have raised some exceptionally valid points for
staying away from its use and release upon the world.
Once Tempest had been told of what he'd just been treated with he
discussed many the problems that would arise. He has a highly
developed morality gland and a code of conduct to match, a man
very much out of his time in this respect.
First thing, I did not invent this drug myself; I only completed
its development. The person who created it is unknown but it was
delivered to my person by a young man one stormy night. Where he
came from, I don't know. Only that he pressed a small vial and book
into my hand, touched my forehead with his hand and said "Remember
Thomas Alva and Alexander Graham. This requires work." and then he
disappeared before my eyes. To my dying day I was never able to
come up with a plausible reason of how he did this, maybe you will
be able to solve the riddle.
The properties endowed upon the taker are
The ageing process and deterioration of cells is halted, this
means you could live forever. As you will see with Tempest, an
enhanced mind can also control their apparent age.
You still feel pain, though with an enhanced mind it can be
suppressed to a large degree. If you are not enhanced then the
threshold of pain is increased over time and experience, so
lessening the effect.
Rapid healing of injuries, which is even faster and controllable
if you're enhanced.
Injuries still occur but with the rapid healing; it takes a lot
more energy on behalf of the attacker to create the intended
effect. However note well that death is still possible if
sufficient damage is done, therefore it is not true immortality.
I will offer no guidance on how to continue if you choose to use the
data, but I will give you some points to think upon.
Unless space travel has happened by the time this message is
played then think long and hard about the population problem that
will ensue. Coupled with this is the question of feeding everyone.
Who gets the treatment, there are many organisations; Genom for
one, which will try to make sure they have control of the
distribution.
Who gets to play god ?, as Tempest so correctly pointed out to me.
Point two.
I must finally thank Tempest for volunteering to be the guinea pig
for the drug. He did so without any prior knowledge of the potential
effects or its purpose. His overwhelming ideal to prevent the
suffering of others overrode the logic of his enhanced mind; I was
truly astounded.
For this I give to him a final gift
Marvin execute program 'highball'
authorisation 'dk290'
password 'merlin25'
sub-code 'BIV'" {6}
Katsuhiro's voice stopped coming from the unit and I had an uneasy
feeling some big was about to happen. I got as far as saying
"Marv"
But never completed it as I was enveloped in a coruscating nimbus of
blue light that played all over my body and set my senses afire with
a strange tingling sensation. As suddenly as it started, the tingling
stopped. Then I lost all feeling in my limbs and collapsed.
My vision was tinged a pale shade of blue and I noticed that
everything seemed to speed up around me. For while it looked as if
all were running round me at high speed, fleetingly pausing at my
side then abruptly they all turned back towards the data unit.
I recall some noise but it wasn't making any sense to me at that
point and then I couldn't hear any sound at all.
The blue light slowly increased in its intensity to totally obscure
everything before winking out, but I still couldn't see.
My hearing returned with a vengeance as I heard a shout of "NOOO !",
then a vast pain exploded inside my head and with that I blacked out.
Next thing I recall was lying on a futon in front of the fire, minus
the headache. As my vision slowly cleared I could make out the Sabers
around me and I saw the tears in their eyes, even Mackie's face was
tear stained.
"Wwhha"
I managed to croak out before I finally got my mouth working again
and successfully asked,
"What the hell happened ?"
Before anyone answered, I tried to prop myself up on my elbows;
got part of the way up, couldn't make it and fell back to the floor.
Nene looked down on me and reprimanded,
"Lay still you idiot."
"Not likely.
Help me up please, I'm going to be sick."
Sylia and Linna hurriedly pulled me up into a sitting position,
whilst Nene placed a bowl in front of me into which I emptied the
contents of my stomach.
Nene passed me a glass of water and I managed to rinse out my mouth
unaided.
"Thank you. Anyone get the number of the truck ?"
"What truck ?"
"The one that hit me."
Priss remarked,
"Sounds like his recovery program has kicked in, he's trying to be
funny again."
At least I think it was Priss, there was an edge to her voice that
didn't sound quite right.
"Ugn urg, gaaarrg, fuaw"
I replied still rinsing out my mouth.
"Ugh, that's better."
Sylia handed me a glass containing an effervescing fluid that was
orange in colour.
"Here drink this down, it'll help."
"At vunce hair doktor."
I said doing one of my worst mad scientist impressions yet.
Had to be terrible if I thought it was bad ...
"What it is though ?"
"High energy drink, you need it."
"Yes nurse."
Blimey it may be good for you, but the taste - yeuuuck, I think I
preferred being sick ! I washed away most of the taste with another
swallow of water. Having said that, it was definitely worth
drinking for I felt a hell of a lot better afterwards; so much so
that I was able to sit up unaided.
With no response from my earlier question and being ever hopeful I
asked again, however I had the nasty inclining that the answer
involved a dead man by the name of Katsuhiro.
Would I like the answer ?
"Could someone please tell me what happened to me."
Sylia looked at my with tears in her eyes, coughed slightly to clear
her throat and replied,
"I'm afraid we may never know the answer to that."
Still not firing on all cylinders I failed to notice she was angling
her head in a certain direction. Sylia caught on to my confusion and
made it blindingly obvious by pointing towards the table on which
the data unit had been placed.
As my gaze followed her outstretched finger my heart sank, for
there on the table were the smoking remains of the data unit,
clearly now about as useful as a chocolate fireguard.
"How on earth did that happen ?
When I got blitzed ?
No outside influence should have got past Marvin's defences."
"Not an outside influence but definitely a force."
It was then that my brain finally got out of neutral and found its
way through first and into second gear.
"If not outside, then how or what ?"
My brain then made the leap into third gear when I picked up the
sound of a stifled sob coming from behind me. Now I could see Sylia,
Mackie and Nene too, so it must be either Linna or Priss from where
the sound was emanating.
I turned slowly round to see blood dripping from Priss's left hand
and the glove on the hardsuit was shredded as well. Finally my mind
made the connection, broken unit and ruptured glove must have
equalled one very angry Priss.
Question is what got her that enraged so much ?
"Did I miss anything whilst I was out ?"
Sylia smiled,
"While you were in your blue period.
Sorry couldn't resist that one.
My father's explanation said there was little point in discussing
what was happening to you until you came round, which would be in
about five minutes. So he made a start on the third point about
who was enhanced, but it was never completed since the unit
suffered a major modification by Priss."
"Any reason as to what made her smash it up ?"
Sylia paused as if she didn't really want to have say something.
"There was a pretty good one I'd say, I'll recap what was said
just before it was destroyed.
My father's third point was;
I've no doubts that you'll all have ideas of who has been enhanced.
They are myself, Tempest, Sylia, Mackie and Meison - he had a
larger dose than anyone else.
There is a sixth person of whose identity Tempest is aware, but I
shall refrain from revealing their name because I doubt that
Tempest will tell anyone until he's 100% sure himself. They may
not be ready to accept they are enhanced yet.
However a total of six is incorrect because there was another
smaller program carried out with a different goal. This has never
been recorded in any of my notes or logs and so the identities of
the subjects are currently only known to myself.
The subjects of this latter program were enhanced with different
variants of the drug. There are details of a drug that will bring
them all up to full enhanced capability, but if administered then it
will be a year before it becomes fully effective.
The subjects names and what attributes they have are :
Linna Yamazaki = reactions
Nene Romanova = intelligence
Prissilla Asagiri = improved healing and pain resistance"
There was another sob from behind me and Sylia paused briefly before
continuing.
"My father 'primed' me to select them all when I formed the
Knight Sabers and Linna, Nene and Priss were also 'primed' to
probably accept my offer, although they were not bound to this if
they had any doubts.
It would seem we've all been pre-programmed to some extent here.
It was at this point that Priss modified the construction of the
data unit, so I think the explanation of what has happened to you
has been lost forever."
"Hellfire and damnation, I thought there weren't any more surprises
like this still uncovered. Was there no limit to the bastard's
tampering ? It's good job he's dead.
Oh damn it, sorry Sylia, Mackie there I go again shooting from the
mouth without thinking of your feelings. It wouldn't be very
pleasant to find out you've had your life predetermined by someone
else.
And I'm deeply sorry for all of you, it must have been a very nasty
shock."
Nene and Linna thanked me and nodded their heads gently, although
Priss didn't answer me; she seemed wrapped up in a world of anger
and grief at this point. Not knowing how best to handle the I looked
to Sylia for guidance when she held up a finger across her lips. For
a brief instant I though she meant me to be silent, then it dawned
on me; pillock, use your brain, think !
'Sorry Sylia, guess I'm still not one hundred per cent after that
little fiasco. What normally happens when she's like this ?'
'Well there isn't a standard cure if that's what you mean.
We just have to wing it and hope it all comes out okay.
So far we've been lucky each time.'
'Oh, well do you want to try first since you're closer to her ?'
'No you're the nearer'
'What ?'
'Heh, guess your sense of humour can become infectious.'
'Arrgh, okay I surrender.
All right let's see if I can get another set of broken bones for
the collection.'
I gently pulled my legs under me so I could kneel and swivelled round
till I was facing Priss. It didn't seem that hugging her be a good
idea particularly if she returned in kind, after all she was still in
her hardsuit. So keeping in mind I could be approaching an angry
tiger I gently brushed her hair aside revealing a look of anguish or
anger (or maybe it was fear). Tears were running down her face.
"Priss" I gently whispered.
She raised her slowly, locked eyes with mine and looked at me
longingly.
'Thank goodness for that' I thought, she's going to be all right.
Oh boy was I ever more wrong ! After a second a light seemed to
flash in eyes as she hit me with an exceptionally hard right hook.
"Get away from me you bastard !"
My chest hurt like hell as I barrelled across the floor knocking
Sylia and Mackie aside like bowling pins adding to my injuries.
As soon as I'd stopped moving Priss was up on her feet and pointing
her railgun at me. I had only two thoughts at that point; the pain
in my chest and how to get out of the way quick !
I did my best to shove aside the pain; heaven only knows what was
broken, and looked for an escape route. The problem was this meant
getting closer to Priss, which in the circumstances was probably not
a good idea. Suddenly I had my options further reduced for Priss had
fired her railgun, oh hell I don't want this. There was no way I'd
fire upon Priss even assuming I had a weapon, which I didn't.
"MARVIN SHIELDS UP" I yelled.
Nothing happened.
OH SHIT.
I was already moving to one side but there was no way on earth I'd
avoid the rapidly approaching spikes. I'd raised my hands in front of
me in a subconscious reaction to try to shield myself; daft when you
think about it and was fully expecting at least some holes in my
hands for my crazy effort.
When no pain came my first thought was "my god she missed" and then
I glanced towards my hands and was surprised to see I had caught
both projectiles. They were lodged in gaps between the fingers of my
left hand and strange to say there was no injury either. Now I might
just believe that catching one was a lucky break, but two ?
No time to think about that though as Priss had fired again, I
ducked but she'd anticipated this and aimed low. I still had my hands
'shielding' my face and as I concentrated, the spikes now coming
towards me seemed to slow down and my hands twitched briefly. Now I
was holding four spikes !
"Marvin what's going on here ?"
No response, now that's strange, I'd never known Marvin fail to
respond, this could mean trouble in a big way. Since Marvin either
couldn't respond to sound or was out of action I was going
to have resort to the terminal on the diagnostic port. Unfortunately
this would mean having to go passed Priss.
'Sylia could you hold off Priss whilst I get to Marvin's console
point please ?'
No answer, uh oh. I tried again
'Please answer me Sylia, I need to get to the terminal point behind
Priss.'
Silence, double uh oh. By know I had a nasty feeling that the blue
light and the blackout had done something to Marvin and me, or maybe
it was just me that was affected. Ah well, I didn't really want to
let Priss know I was going to come past her but by now I'd run out
of options.
"Sylia, Linna, Nene, Mackie, I'm going to have to come past you and
Priss. Can you stop her from using me for target practice please ?"
Another silence. Now two possibilities sprang to mind at this point
and neither of them were exactly pleasant.
One. I was now persona non-gratia with all the Knight Sabers and
may now have to consider them as hostiles.
Two. I was dead.
Suely if I was dead then I'd hardly be thinking at this point, unless
of course there really was an afterlife. Interesting philosophically
though it may be it would be of little use, as how does one then
communicate with the living ?
Aaw nuts who gives a damn, so I ran as fast as I could for the far
side of the room, powered up the terminal and nothing happened.
Seem to be a lot of 'nothings' happening to me at the moment, so I
double checked what I was doing. I depressed the power switch, it
went in and stayed in, I waited, no welcoming 'gweep' and since
power lights went out fashion years ago the terminal seemed DOS. {7}
Now what ?
In my haste to get to the terminal I'd neglected two things.
Firstly I didn't feel any pain from Priss's usage of my body as a
punch bag; hmm perhaps my pain suppression technique was getting
better.
Secondly I still had hold of the four railgun spikes, ah ha just the
thing. I casually tossed them over my right shoulder towards the
waste bin and for once was rewarded with a satisfying clang as they
hit the bin.
Hey a miracle they went in ! {8}
Suddenly the pain in my head erupted again; I felt giddy, sick and
dropped to floor. However I didn't black out this time and as I
turned my head gently to my left I was taken aback by the sight
presented. All the Sabers were looking in my direction with their
mouths hanging open and looks of astonishment on their faces.
Priss for one looked as if she was about to fall over in shock, both
her arms were hanging limply at her sides.
"Ow my head hurts" I murmured.
Sylia and Mackie were the first to recover and for once Sylia was
beaten to it as Mackie jumped in with a question.
"How did you do that ?"
"If you mean fall over, it's really very simple."
Well, that hopefully rules the out 'dead' and 'persona non-gratia'
theories.
"Not that you twit."
Mackie obviously wasn't in the mood for my humour.
"I meant get from one side of the room to the other so quickly."
"Well I must say I'm touched by your concern for my well being."
I groaned as struggled to feet, before dropping into a chair.
Strange the headache was gone again.
"In answer to your question though, I ran.
Any more silly questions ?"
Sylia decided to join in the verbal fencing.
"Well if you want to call this silly.
How did you get those railgun spikes into the bin ?"
Now this was much too good an opportunity to miss.
"Easy you aim at the bin and throw.
Tadaa next !"
"That's not what I meant and you damn well know it !"
Hmm, Sylia sounded decidedly miffed, guess she wanted a 'real'
answer.
"Now I know this is going to sound crazy, but to be absolutely
honest I'm not sure myself."
Linna and Nene had latched themselves onto Priss's arms, guess they
were trying to make sure target practice was over for tonight.
"When Priss fired at me and Marvin failed to provide the shield, I
just concentrated on trying to avoid the spikes. I know it was a
crazy idea to try and dodge railgun spikes; but I instinctively put
my hands up to shield my face, self preservation kicked in I
suppose. As to how I caught all four, I haven't a clue."
"Hey now hold on a minute, I thought those with enhanced minds had
perfect recall ?"
Linna prompted.
"Yes I thought that, but the images I recall are the spikes coming
towards me and then I was examining the spikes after I caught them.
Mackie, Sylia did you see anything else ?"
"Would I have asked if I knew the answer ?"
Sylia countered.
"Suppose not, sorry guess I'm being much help here.
And yes all I did was to run for this point.
I certainly didn't try for the teleport trick since Marvin was not
responding. And speaking of Marvin ...
Marvin are you able to respond ?"
Silence reigned for a while, until Mackie chipped in.
"Perhaps whatever happened to you has also affected or taken out
Marvin's audio response. By the way what's so important that you
ran over here anyway ?"
I pushed myself to one side so everyone could see the terminal.
"This is a terminal connected to one of Marvin's access ports, you
might want to call it the 'console' port. However it seems to be
broken or Marvin is out of commission. Probably just the terminal
since there's no 'gweep' when I turn it on."
"Excuse me 'gweep' ?" Mackie queried.
"You mean you don't know what gweep means ?
Nene, shame on for not telling Mackie the finer points of hacking."
I shot a smile in her direction.
She sighed gently.
"For the benefit of the under-informed, 'gweep' is the noise a very
*old* terminal used to make when you tried to backspace beyond the
beginning of the line. A DEC VT100 if I remember my *history*
correctly."
Nene carefully stressed the words *old* and *history* and grinned
back at me.
"Miya miya, I'm not that old.
Well okay maybe I am." {9}
"By the way Tempest, that isn't a VT100 you have there so why should
it go 'gweep'"
Nene quizzed.
"Because I liked the sound, I modified this one to go 'gweep' on
power up and also to mimic the backspace action.
Gives it a touch of class."
"Hmm class isn't quite how I'd put it. Let me guess, you'd like me
to try interfacing to Marvin since your 'gweep's dead ?"
"Very nice of you to offer thank you.
I was beginning to think you'd never ask; which would be totally out
of character, after all Nene pass up the chance to hack into a
computer system.
Hell will freeze over first !"
"Is it all right with you Sylia ?"
Nene put on her best doe-eyed appealing look whilst pointing to
Priss's left arm. Obviously Nene was still concerned about Priss's
use of me for target practice.
Mackie solved that problem by taking Nene's place at Priss's side.
"Yes go ahead, just be careful, we don't know what going on in
there."
Sylia sighed in a resigned fashion.
Nene bounded over to the access point as if she was floating on air.
She quickly pulled out leads from various places on her hardsuit,
plugging them into several points and then replaced her helmet. Her
fingers began to dance over the small keyboard that was in the right
arm of her hardsuit, faster and faster they darted over the surface
until suddenly she stopped. Then carefully removing all the leads and
replacing them back in her suit she raised her visor revealing a
downcast look.
"Sorry Tempest although the port is functioning okay, Marvin's not
there, in fact I could find no trace of a operating system or
anything. Looks like all that's left is the hardware."
My heart dropped and everyone knew it as my head slumped forward.
"I'm sorry, I guess Marvin meant a lot to you."
"Damn it, I've spent the last ten years with him around.
It's almost like losing ..."
My throat suddenly went dry.
"Your best friend."
Linna finished the sentence for me.
"Not quite"
I croaked
"More like a piece of myself, not to mention a bit of Katsuhiro."
Priss who'd been silent throughout this now spoke up.
"I, I don't know how to say this properly, but I'm sorry Tempest.
After what we'd learned of ourselves earlier it wasn't a good idea
for you to try and comfort me.
You reminded me too much of Dr Stingray and his infernal bumas,
since you're no longer human in the true sense of the word."
She paused and looked rather pensive, reflecting on what she'd just
said.
"But I suppose I'm not either, I just didn't realise it until now
and it leaves me with a nasty taste in the mouth to have say it."
We were all seeing a side of Priss that may not have been displayed
before in public.
"For what this is worth Priss.
Do you think I like what has been done to me in the name of
science ?
However I've tried to make the best of bad job.
How many people have the drive and energy to do what you all do ?
I know you almost quit at one point, but through your friends and
the strength of your character you continued despite the loss of
a good friend.
She was a very special lady who also tried her best to overcome
what had been pushed at her and surpassed many people still around
today.
How many are that good ?
Please don't give in now because of what I am or because of what
Katsuhiro has done to you."
Tears were running down my cheeks as I finished my monologue.
Priss must have felt for some of what I'd said for she too was now
weeping.
"What would you know about her ?" Priss sobbed.
"You mean my references to Sylvie ?"
"YYes"
She hesitated and stumbled over the word.
"I met Sylvie and Anri on a few occasion briefly and I know what
they were capable of becoming and I'm not refering to their design
purposes.
They were probably more human than many people who live in this
city despite being conceived purely for the pleasures of others.
However they surpassed this barrier, learning and sharing their
experiences. They displayed not only love for each other, but for
their friends and life as well. In short they were human in almost
every sense; it was only their physiology that made them different.
They certainly deserved better and were as worthy of life as you
and me, please don't let their sacrifices be in vain.
Use the abilities you have been given to put back what the world
has lost with their deaths."
Priss was sobbing quite heavily; the tears streaming down her face
and I could see that the others had been affected by my outburst on
life.
"Come lean on me, let it all out.
Just don't crush me with that hardsuit, I'm not sure what you did
with that right hook of yours."
Linna looked at me as though I'd gone crazy.
Even Sylia raised an eyebrow as if to say "Are you nuts ?"
Such was the silence that if a pin had been dropped it would have
sounded like a gunshot.
I hauled myself out of the chair padded gently over to Priss and
raised my arms to hold her; she stood there quietly for a moment,
opened her arms wide and moved towards me.
She put her arms around my back gently hugging me just overdoing it
a bit and when I groaned she eased the pressure slightly.
We were locked in this delicate embrace for a while, gently rocking
from side to side, our heads resting on each other's shoulders.
Priss slowly eased off her grip, pulled back slightly, turned her
face to mine, pecked me twice on the cheek and then kissed me full
on. Taken completely by surprise I wasn't sure what to do next;
until she drew me closer and we held the kiss until she gently eased
away breaking the embrace.
"Thank you" she whispered as we separated.
"I hope you can forgive me for what I did earlier, it was a
thoughtless reaction unbecoming of me which you didn't deserve.
I'm sorry I hurt you so."
I stood there dumb struck at what had just taken place and judging
by the expressions on the other's faces they were just as surprised.
Priss had always struck me as one who kept her love and affection
firmly hidden, something not to be displayed in public.
<End of Part 2.3>
TO BE CONTINUED ....
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Footnotes:
{6} I'll be truly amazed if anyone manages to make the connection
and come up with the name and type designation number they relate
too. (No more hints)
Mail me with the answer.
{7} DOS - Dead On Start-up
{8} My track record for getting stuff into a bin is rubbish :)
I could miss for the Galaxy and win !
{9} Miya - sort of like the sound a cat makes (watch Techi Muyo)
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(c) Robin Smith 1995 Tempest@ktsabers.demon.co.uk
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-- Tempest aka Robin Smith Author: "The Tempest Chronicles"
^[$B%m%S%s^[(J ^[$B%9%_%9^[(J Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
Miyazaki, Sonoda, Shirow, Suzuki, Takahashi <-Unsorted All Hail UF