<--- cut here --->
Bubblegum Crisis
****
The Tempest Chronicles II
****
(c) Robin Smith 1995/6
Bubblegum Crisis is copyright Armtic,
Youmex and Toshimichi Suzuki.
Other copyrights belong to their respective holders.
=========
Chapter 2.3
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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, 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 be answered correctly for the data
appertaining to Tempest's last treatment to be divulged."
The questions for Sylia, Mackie and me 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 much else we can do is there ?"
"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 that 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 that 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 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 these
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 acceptable 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
back into the night from whence he came.
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'" {15}
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 turning red and then 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 inclination that the answer
involved a dead man named 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.
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 later 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.
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
tigress 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.
The instant I 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 past 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 hostiles.
Two. I was dead.
Surely 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 ?
Aww 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. {16}
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 ! {17}
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 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 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. 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.
"I 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. Hmm, 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. Just 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 call it the 'console' port, however it seems to be broken or
Marvin is out of commission. Its 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." {18}
"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 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 kind 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 Romanova 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 twenty 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 ?"
"Y-Yes"
She hesitated and stumbled over the word.
"I met Sylvie and Anri briefly on a couple of occasions and I know what
they were capable of becoming and I'm not referring 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. The
others had also 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; when I groaned she eased off 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 that 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:
{15} 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.
{16} DOS - Dead On Start-up
{17} My track record for getting stuff into a bin is rubbish :)
I could miss for the Galaxy and win !
{18} Miya - sort of like the sound a cat makes (watch Tenchi Muyo)
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(c) Robin Smith 1995/96 Tempest@ktsabers.demon.co.uk
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<--- cut here --->
-- Mink/Tempest aka Robin Smith Author: "BGC : The Tempest Chronicles"
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/2302 Lichfield, Staffordshire, United Kingdom
"I was committed once, but the fools let me out for good behaviour !"
IRC : Mink or Tempest- [ but "Mink" most of the time ^_^ ]