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The Dream Machine Chapter 24: Situation Dr. Sky twirled her finger while waiting for Zero to show up. Since they dragged her off kicking and screaming from the cafeteria, she’s calmed down significantly, but the guard standing by the door still looked at her with suspicion. I don’t blame him. She thought to herself, looking sheepishly at the guard. It did take me…oh… two hours to stop yelling… She examined the visiting room she was sitting in. It was divided by a sturdy looking pane of glass; one side for the visitor, and one side for the prisoner. Each half looked the same, with a table, a chair, and a guard outside the door, observing through a window. Not the happiest looking place in the world, but the expectation of seeing her friends made even this dank, cold place seem cheery. Her face brightened when Zero was escorted in the room. Zero sat down, took a deep breath, unsure of what to say to her. Luckily for him, she broke the silence. “How’s X?” Zero raised an eyebrow to her question. “I know I said some really awful things about him… you’ve probably heard.” She leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment. “I didn’t mean it… well,” she chuckled, “I probably did mean it at the time, but I think I’m losing it.” She smiled but in seconds her lips started to tremble. “Sometimes I feel everyone’s trying to kill me.” Zero, who spends most of his time with other Hunters, was not accustomed to consoling individuals crying in front of him. Even when someone does cry, he sends X or Alia in to do the job. “X is outside, actually. He wants to talk to you, but we both thought it would be best if I talked to you first.” He paused for a moment while Dr. Sky wiped her eyes on her sleeve. “The Reploid you attacked is going to live.” “Yeah, I heard. Apparently it was only a really messy wound, not really a life threatening one…but they’re still going to charge me with assault.” “Don’t even worry about that.” He assured her. “Aya said she’s going to defend you herself. She’s already checked out most of the law library for case history.” “Thanks.” She wiped her eyes and returned a weak smile. “Um, could you send X in? I need to talk to him.” “Sure.” Zero got the guard’s attention and the door opened with a loud buzz. Seconds after Zero walked out, X entered, looking hesitantly at Dr. Sky. She got to her feet and gestured at the chair on the visitor’s side. The Blue Hunter nodded, then sat down. “Now, X, I just want to apologize for the things I said in the cafeteria.” She paced around her side of the room as she explained. “I think the stress might have gotten to me a little. I’m sorry.” X blinked, visibly surprised by her apology. “It’s okay. But right now we should worry about your defense at the trial. Aya’s going to lead it, but it’s not going to be pleasant…the prosecution has a lot of witnesses lined up, including some people who saw you…er… our conversation the night I came back.” He sighed. “They’re going to label you mentally unstable.” “Is that why I get my own cell?” She joked, but X didn’t laugh, and continued to look at her sadly. “No, you should worry about finding the rest of those chips. You guys are going to be fine without me, right?” “Well, we’ll just wander around blind throughout the Maverick bases and hope we don’t run into trouble. Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Oh! Zero made you cookies, it’s being scanned right now by security, you should get them sometime tomorrow morning.” “He didn’t mention it, but tell him thank you for me.” “Aya wants to talk to you too, she’s right outside.” X got up. “You take care, okay? Your next scheduled visiting hours is in three days. We’ll drop by then to give you the FYI.” Light streamed into the room as the door on the visitor side opened. Aya entered, nodding to X as he left. “I always knew you were crazy.” Aya grinned, shaking her head casually as she sat down. “But I hadn’t realized how nutty you really were. What made you start screaming about X anyway?” “He had this look on his face.” Sky stared distantly, picturing the smile X gave her in the cafeteria as they dragged her off. She wrapped her arms around herself. “Like he was… He looked crazier in that moment, than when he told me about killing all the Reploids in the world. I know didn’t imagine that. X is up to something” “So, why did you tell Zero you were losing it?” “I think you’ve already guessed, since you don’t look a bit surprised. Something is still wrong with X. I don’t have anything right now to prove it, so telling Zero would only alienate the possibility completely from his mind. You’ve seen how he is when he’s defending X.” “So instead of warning him, you’re going to ask me to keep an eye on him. Hmmm…” Aya considered the situation. “I can do that. But really, what do you think is wrong with you? You did mistake that Reploid for your own sister. They look nothing alike.” “I don’t know. Stress has never been a factor like this before. When they brought me in they tested a blood sample from me, but it came back negative for known substances. So I couldn’t tell you.” She plopped down into the chair. “Despite that, keep a watch out on X anyway, will you?” “I can do a little digging around for you. Maybe it’s something you ate.” Aya tapped her fingers on the table, searching for some other possibilities. “Are you allergic to anything?” “Actually, I am, but I haven’t eaten any of the things I’m allergic to in a long time. Heh, not since Zero accidentally put poppy seeds in my soup! Dork.” She crossed her arms in front of her, and made a comic angry face. “He didn’t know at the time, of course, but I made sure he wouldn’t forget! You can get the full list from one of the assistant bots.” “Okay. Until the next time I see you, sit tight!” ----------------------------- “Hey, kiddies! Time for lunch!” Aya announced as she rang the doorbell on Dr. Sky’s quarters. Evariste opened the door, and the other assistant bots in sight lined up behind him in two rows, ready to go to the cafeteria. One of the lines was shorter than the other, though. Aya looked through the line and saw who was missing. “Wait here.” She found the missing assistant bot reaching inside a garbage can near the back of the living room. “James, what are you doing? Cookies? From the garbage? Ewww.” Peeking inside, she saw cookies and the pieces of a broken jar. “What happened here?” James started to explain about the occurrence of the other night. Aya nodded as James spoke in binary, gesturing the sounds and actions with his arms. Noticing the show going on in the back of the room, some of the other assistant bots gathered behind James, while the rest joined James, each giving their best impression of what Dr. Sky was doing. “Hm… she just freaked out, you say?” The bots nodded in unison. “James, can you get me a plastic bag?” James rushed to the bathroom and returned with the requested item. “Thanks. Now let’s go… fishing.” She flipped the bag inside out, retrieved a cookie, and flipped the bag right side out. “Okay, everyone, let’s go visit Uncle Mel at the lab before lunch, okay? I have to drop off something…” ----------------------------- After dropping off the assistant bots to Dr. Sky’s quarters following their expensive--but quite entertaining--lunch, she gathered the necessary equipment for their mission tonight. There was just enough time to get everything ready before they were to meet at the hanger. Since this mission is supposed to be secret, they couldn’t just teleport to their locations. Driving would be involved, so they had to leave before sunset to arrive before midnight. The com device on her desk rang as she was cleaning her rifle. Curious as to who was calling, she set the rifle out of view and sat down at the desk. A face appeared when she pressed the answer button on the keypad. “Dr. Wily?” Aya stared with mild surprise. “I can’t believe you’re calling me at work, where they’ll most certainly try to trace the call.” “Let me worry about that, Aya, I’ve taken measures against that already.” Dr. Wily grinned, quite satisfied with his abilities to give security the run around. “Our call is completely secure from intruders.” “Why are you calling me, of all people? Shouldn’t you be more interested in talking with X or Zero?” “Once again, you ask a question to which you already know the answer.” Wily laughed. “You should be most interested in my latest offer.” “Your offer didn’t entice me last time. What’ve you got this time?” “I am willing to give you all the data I have on the Zero Virus I have…” Wily paused for dramatic effect. “Along with all the new data I have on the new strand Doyle has created.” “Well, that is a generous offer, but what do you want in return?” “I think you already know.” “The key codes.” Wily grinned, nodding affirmatively. “It’s a deal, Wily.” Aya smiled. “I will get you all the key codes, if you send me the files immediately.” A window opened on the screen, indicating a file transfer in progress. Within seconds, the transfer was finished. The Hunter opened up several of the files and looked at them with satisfaction. “I trust everything is in order?” Wily asked. Aya nodded slowly, slightly concerned about why Wily was being so compliant. “Then I will take my leave. I will contact you again, soon, to check up on you and on the progress of the key code’s retrieval.” “Just a second, Wily.” Aya turned her attention back to the scientist. “Tell me, are you still influencing X?” To that question, Wily simply smiled. “I think I’ve been very generous with my information already. The answer to that will have to wait until you bring me the key codes.” The call window went blank again. Aya let out a breath of frustration before sifting through the files Wily just sent. The informal was much too technical to just skim, but it was all there. “Well, this is just going to have to wait for later.” Aya closed the files and locked it, still wondering what game Wily was playing. ----------------------------- X, Zero and Aya left for another one of their targets after X’s last shift ended later that afternoon, and drove on air bikes for the next several hours to their target. This time, the target was an old amusement park. Most of the structures were still intact; the amusement park was far enough away from the impact point of Eurasia that it was only partially buried in sand. The Ferris wheel and roller coaster tracks reached out from under the sand… a glimpse of the past. “The Mavericks made themselves a base in the underground tunnels and rooms beneath this place, which the employees used to get around the park.” X explained. The three of them stood at the entrance way. X held a map for the other two to see as he drew out the plan. “The tunnels have entrances at these areas marked in red; we might have to dig a little to get inside, but it shouldn’t be a problem since the sand is at most twenty feet deep.” Aya gave him a questioning stare, but X continued. “We’ll start here, here and here. I’ll take this entrance, Aya, you take this one, and Zero you will go in the remaining one. We’ll search in a standard C5 pattern until we find something, or confirm there’s nothing here worth our time.” “We’ll stay in contact with this encryption frequency.” Zero displayed the setting on his headset. “Try to keep it minimal, though. This will be much more difficult now that we don’t have a spotter, so we’ll have to watch out for each other. To keep each other’s location in check, we’ll connect our radios every two minutes. If you see someone heading in the direction of one of us, you should give a warning.” “We should finish in less than three hours.” Aya checked her radio and her weapon. “Let’s move.” ------------------------------- “Aya? Aya, are you there?” It was neither X’s nor Zero’s voice coming over her headset. Aya looked around the storeroom she was searching; it was still clear from guards. She backed into a wall, between some crates, and answered the call. “Who is this?” Aya asked wearily. “It’s me, Dr. Melvin. You did tell me to call whenever I had those test results back for you, even if it’s in the middle of the night.” “Oh of course!” Now that the identity of the caller was known, Aya spoke with more enthusiasm. “Did you finish the set of tests I ask you to do?” “Indeed I did.” Dr. Melvin said proudly. “Although I should ask why you asked me to test for these drugs no one uses anymore…” “The results?” Aya looked over the crates again; still no one around. “This isn’t exactly a good time for chit chat.” “Oh yes. One of the things you asked me to test for came up in the scan! The plant extract that some Native American tribes used for their rituals, a mild hallucinogen at this dosage. It’s been diluted quite a bit.” “Yes, thank you Dr. Melvin. I owe you lunch tomorrow, and I’m sorry you had to stay up to do the tests.” “Don’t worry about it! And good night.” Dr. Melvin cut off the connection. Oh this is quite the situation, isn’t it? Aya thought. So the cookies were poisoned...since X was the one who gave them to her, that would mean Dr. Sky was right about him...and of course X, being a unit commander, would know they don’t test for old drugs unless the situation warranted. He would know exactly what to use to set her up to look like a crazy, unstable threat... A crate stacked several feet above her head started to teeter. By the time she realized what was going to happen, the crate fell down towards her. Her arm went up in time to protect her from part of the impact, but the heavy crate pinned her to the ground. “Shit.” Aya raised her arms when the three Mavericks standing over her pointed their weapons menacingly. This was not going to be fun. “Aya, what’s wrong?” Zero’s voice came over Aya’s intercom. “Looks like you got me, boys.” Aya announced, hoping Zero would get the message and not talk as loudly. If he yelled loud enough, the Mavericks could hear it, too. “I’d get out of here if I weren’t pinned down here, but, I’m no commander Zero, I’m not as skilled as he is in getting away.” “No way!” Zero said over the intercom, softer this time. “No one’s leaving unless we’re all safe, I’ll get X, and we’ll come get you.” “One should never trust the advice of a Blue Jay, I suppose.” Aya said aloofly, causing the Mavericks to exchange confused glances. It was a hidden warning for Zero, vague enough so she wouldn’t put Zero in danger if X heard it, but maybe too vague for Zero to understand in the heat of the moment. “Aya! We’re coming to get you!” It was X’s voice this time. “We have your location.” “Oh look! You have more friends coming this way! Hi guys! Don’t you look chipper?” Aya waved to the crowd of Mavericks gathering. “Just so you know: if my dad hears about this, I’m in BIG trouble! He’d ground me for sneaking out this late without permission! I shouldn’t make a big scene though, since I’ll be fine!” She laughed, hoping X and Zero would leave. “I’m a big girl, I can take care of myself!” “Zero, we should get out before they find out there’s more than one of us here!” X’s voice came over the radio. “Aya’s right. To rescue her now, we’d make a big scene, and Signas would find out!” “But X!” Zero started to argue. “I can take care of myself!” Aya laughed. “As long as I don’t take advice from the Blue Jay anymore, right Red?” Aya pointed to one of the Mavericks, who wasn’t red, but purple. Please understand Zero, your life depends on it! “You think the crate hit her head too hard?” One of the Mavericks asked. “Someone shut her up! Her babbling is driving me nuts.” Another Maverick complained, setting one of his hands on his hips, clearly annoyed at Aya’s behavior. A third Maverick stepped forwards, and sent the butt of his rifle down hard on Aya’s head, knocking her out cold. ------------------------------------ The next morning, Dr. Sky awoke in her cell to find the batch of cookies Zero made for her beside her breakfast tray on the floor, through the opening in the cell door. She opened up the bag of cookies and smelled it. Mmmm, this smells good. She reached in for a cookie but saw small black dots on top of the cookie. “Poppy seeds? What the?! But Zero knows I’m allergic to Poppy seeds! He wouldn’t have…he couldn’t have made these. That could only mean X made them… but why would he lie about making me cookies?” She tossed the cookies into the garbage bin before sitting on her bed to start her breakfast. “I didn’t refuse the last time he gave me cookies, so why would he need to lie?” She opened the packet of milk and slipped the straw inside, thinking about what X was up to. Cookies... poppy seed... “Wait a minute, the last time I had his cookies I hallucinated Doyle in my room.” She bolted upright. “And most recently I hallucinated after I drank coffee he brought me! Before I saw Aya in the bathroom, he kissed me with practically a mouth full of hot fudge he made and tried to offer me! THAT’S IT! He must be drugging me somehow! But with what?” Breakfast forgotten now, she sat back down on the bed. “The screening they did in my blood showed nothing…so why is that?” She closed her eyes and concentrated. “All this is too much of a coincidence; there must be a connection between the hot fudge, the cookies, and the coffee…” “Dr. Sky.” She looked up and saw Zero standing directly in front of her. “Are you accusing my friend of all those terrible things again?” “What? Zero?” She looked at the door, then back at the Hunter standing in front of her. There was no way he could have gotten in. This is a hallucination. She closed her eyes. “You’re not real.” “I get mad when people use lies to hurt my friends.” Zero’s voice teetered between normal and cold. “I’m going to have to return the favor.” “Not real, not real, not real, not real.” She repeated to herself, keeping her eyes shut. There was no way a hallucination could touch her, so all she had to do was ignore the voices. A welcome silence followed her mantra. Hesitantly, she opened one eye and discovered Zero was gone. She sighed, then wiped the cold sweat from her face. Something slick got on her face instead. She pulled her hand away and saw an oily film covering her fingers. “The one I held the cookie with…” She thought back to the other events in question, and recalled the same stuff on her hands when she ate the other cookies. Floating at the top of the coffee was a slightly different colored film…oil maybe. She hadn’t thought too much at the time… and she had some trouble cleaning the fudge off her face since oil and water are opposite in polarity and don’t mix well. “And when X first came back, he held my hand…I had the same stuff on my hands.” The pieces started to snap together in her mind. “I didn’t think much of it, since I was so upset…but that night I did have my first hallucination; X, standing behind me in my own room… Whatever this is, it’s the stuff that’s making me crazy! I have to tell Aya and Zero!” She paced the room. The guard definitely did not like her, so there was no way to sweet talk him into delivering a message. Her next visiting period is in two days, but by then X could have already made his move! Zero, Aya, and everyone else is in danger! Frustration boiled in her veins as she paced the room. Various options of escape were down, since she couldn’t physically overpower any of the Reploid guards… the only human she’s met that she might be able to win a physical fight with was the doctor who administered the drug test…. “Doctor...” She whispered, then looked at the cookies in the garbage pail. A new plan surfaced. She grabbed the bag of cookies and, after a deep breath, took a bite out of one of them. “I have two, maybe two and a half hours before I really kick the bucket…the guards should notice by then… maybe.” Suddenly she regretted the rash plan, but steeled her nerves as she laid down on the floor, feigning unconsciousness, with the cookie in her hand. If I do die, the nanites would revive me anyway…but no one said it was fun dying. It was about an hour later that a guard came to retrieve the plates from breakfast. By then, Dr. Sky was having real difficulties breathing, that part she didn’t have to fake. The guard bent down and shook her. “Wake up! What happened?” The guard asked, pulling her into a sitting position. “Poppy seed...” Dr. Sky gasped. “Allergic...” She opened her mouth wide, and physically extended her arms, trying to grab air. “Help…” Exhaustion from the low amounts of oxygen she was getting, she fell back against the guard’s arm. The guard’s eyes darted around the room, soon landing on the cookie with poppy seed sprinkled on top. “Shit…” He muttered before picking her up and carrying her out of the door. “Where’s Dr. Sands?” The guard asked the computer. “Teleport me directly to the location, override the security protocol.” Dr. Sky felt the warm tingles of teleportation, and when she next opened her eyes, she was lying on top of a bed in the medical wing. “I just gave her a shot of adrenaline.” Dr. Sands, who was standing a foot away from her, said to the guard. “She should recover in half an hour.” “Good, that will give me some time to arrange for security here.” The guard headed for the door. “I will be back in a couple of minutes. She won’t wake up until then?” “No, no, she was in quite bad shape from the low oxygen levels. She couldn’t possibly recover that fast.” As soon as the guard left the room, Dr. Sky hopped out of the bed and knocked Dr. Sands out cold with a swift blow to his head. “Sorry, doctor, but I guess you didn’t know about the nanites…” When Zero accidentally poisoned her before with poppy seeds, she hadn’t realized it until she was already having difficulties breathing. The assistant bots administered adrenaline to counter-act the severe allergic effect. To everyone’s surprise, she recovered fully within seconds after the adrenaline was injected; a medical anomalies to most, but a newly discovered effect of the nanites to Dr. Sky and the assistant bots. This was the edge she needed to escape. She ran out the door, and headed straight for Aya’s room, hoping she is still not too late. --------------------------------------- X entered his quarters, dropping a bag full of paperwork at near the entrance, and headed straight for the couch. It was awkward today, having to answer questions about what happened to Aya and if they were involved. “Hands up, creep.” Dr. Sky’s voice came from behind him. X complied, raising his hands in the air, then turned around. “I didn’t tell you to turn around!” “Dr. Sky, what’re you doing?” X’s face fell when he saw the light gun in her hand. “Don’t give me that stupid innocent look.” She spat. “I am sure this time that you are the one who did this to me, and I have proof this time.” “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Dr. Sky.” X gulped, looking hurt from her accusations. “Please, let’s talk about this.” “Peyote-K.” Dr. Sky said, making X reel back slightly from surprise. He quickly recovered, though, and smiled. “Extract from the peyote cactus crowns, diluted then refined into peyote-k, a mild hallucinogen used for recreational purposes in the late 21st century.” “Impressive. How did you figure out what I was giving you?” X’s face transformed in seconds, revealing a nasty, twisted expression. “I stopped by Aya’s place first. She wasn’t here, but she had some interesting notes, apparently she was planning on running a test on the _other_ batch of cookies you gave me against some of these possible hallucinogens, all of which were excluded from standard drug tests since no one uses them anymore. She had some primitive equipment lying around, so I used it to test for the major ingredients of peyote-k.” “Very good, but I’m afraid you little detective game is over.” X took a step forwards. “Stop! Or I’ll shoot!” Dr. Sky stood her ground, squeezing the trigger a little tighter. “You’re not going to shoot me.” X laughed. “Why shouldn’t I shoot you?” X shook his head. “Because you had to ask, that’s why.” He took another step forwards. Searing light ripped a gash through his left shoulder pad. The force of the blow pushed him backwards. “Hhhhhh.” He drew in a deep breath, his eyes wide, looking around in confusion. “You’re not me! Get out…of my head…” X said as he clutched his head. “Get out, GET OUT!” Tears flowed from his eyes. “GET OUT!” He screamed, stepping backwards until he hit the wall. “Get out, get out…” He repeated, sinking to the ground. Dr. Sky approached cautiously, keeping her gun pointed at X, who continued to repeat the phrase in a soft voice, cowering like a trapped mouse. She stood still for a moment, then dropped her gun, kneeled down and reached for X’s face. Gently she stroked his face, wiping the tears away and trying to clam the boy down. Her sense of responsibility for X’s condition had taken over her doubts about X. It’s my fault he ended up like this. She thought. I have to fix him, not kill him. “It’ll be okay. Dr. Cain and I will take care of you. With his help, I’m sure we can figure out what Dr. Wily’s done to you.” She closed her eyes, allowing the weight of her responsibility set in. X looked hopefully at Dr. Sky, but his face suddenly twisted again, eyes flooding quickly with cruelty. While she was occupied with comforting X, the hunter had picked up her light pistol and aimed it at her. X shoved the gun in her rib cage. Dr. Sky’s eyes snapped open in shock, and then lingered on his in disgust. “You’re so easy to trick! It’s almost sad.” He said, shaking his head. “What is this? The second time you fell for that one?” “I only trust you because you’re Zero’s friend.” She shook her head, lips trembling in anger. “Were you anyone else I would have shot you before you even noticed I was here.” “Lies, and you know it. You’re not the type to shoot people in the back. You might even be more innocent than X.” “What?” Her head tilted slightly, intrigued by X’s words. “I haven’t told you, have I?” X got up, then waved the gun upwards, commanding Dr. Sky to stand up slowly. “X--the X Zero knows--is here right now, but I’m the bitter side to his personality, and I have control right now.” “What?” She asked again, but then found the answer herself. “Wily…he did something else to X.” “I’ve been in control ever since I got back. It’s really lots of fun listening to him whine about not hurting his friends, but I do what I want and he can’t stop me! You were right in the cafeteria, I did come back to hurt you all, but also much, much more…” He aimed the pistol for her chest and fired it. The light beam shot clear through her chest, sending her flying to the ground. X knelt down beside her, watching as she clutched painfully at the wound, the life draining out of her in red. “Don’t worry, your nanites will have you back in no time! I can still use you in my plan.” One of her hands reached out angrily, leaving streaks of blood on his armor as she clawed at him. Blood found its way into her mouth, choking her as she gasped for breath. In seconds, her labored breaths ceased, and her entire body went limp. “Then again,” he reached down to brush her cheek, “if you don’t come back, I’m fine with that as well.” Fan Fiction - Top |
