8) Missing Cat
The episode opens with Dan Dastun investigating the murder of Jessica Wallace, a wealthy 52-year-old jeweler. She'd had a golden retriever, a very valuable possession in a place like Paradigm City. As he surveys the scene, he's called outside by his men, who've found the grotesque remains of some sort of animal in the swimming pool. Meanwhile, Dorothy is out walking, despite the driving rain. She stops next to an alley, and spies a stray kitten. Unafraid, the kitten approaches her and meows. She seems alarmed by this, and drops her umbrella. But she ends up taking the kitten home. Roger is none too pleased about this, especially after the cat trashes his desk. He wants Dorothy to get rid of "Perot", as she's dubbed the critter. However, Dorothy claims that the cat wanted her to rescue it. She herself is a little surprised at her own benevolence, but she explains that she feels like caring for the cat is acting on a memory of her dead predecessor, the original Dorothy Wayneright. (Not to mention a strange melody she'd found herself humming-- was this another lost memory?) Roger replies that since he had a collar, Perot had an owner-- and an animal like a cat was very rare in Paradigm City. He starts to tell her that the original owners will want Perot back, but she cuts him off, insisting that he negotiate for the fate of Perot when the owners arrive. Roger decides to take things in stride, and the kitten becomes an amusing member of his household over the next couple of days. The owners of the cat eventually show up, however. They're a relatively normal-looking couple named Robert and Louise Ferry, but they seem very curt and unpleasant, almost desperate. When Roger tries to steer them towards negotiating for the cat, Robert says it's out of the question, and Louise compares losing the cat to losing a child. Dorothy resigns herself to letting Perot go back to his owners, but as the Ferrys go to claim the cat, some sort of VTOL appears, and grabs Dorothy (and Perot) with a huge mechanical claw. The Ferrys, surprised, identify the VTOL pilot as someone named "Eugene". Eugene quickly guns Robert down, and as a distraught Louise rushes towards the VTOL, Norman stops her. "Let me handle this," he assures her, and picks up a gigantic heavy machine gun, opening fire on the VTOL. The vehicle is repelled, but only temporarily-- it opens fire on Roger, then manages to get in a few shots on Louise. Roger pulls her to safety, but she seems to be fatally wounded. As the VTOL flies away, she reaches for it weakly. "Roy..." she sobs, "... my little boy. My boy." She dies. Utterly enraged at both the kidnapping of Dorothy and the cold-blooded murder of the Ferrys, Roger goes straight to Big Ear for information. He discovers that "Eugene" is Eugene Grant, a rogue geneticist (he's referred to as an "alchemist") with a small private army and a reputation that makes even the Paradigm Group hesitate to confront him. He gets the address of Grant's headquarters and sets off, brusquely telling Norman that there'll be no negotiatons this time. As Roger approaches Grant's building, he's joined by Angel, looking for stray memories and information as usual, who fills in some of the blanks for him. Meanwhile, inside, Grant confronts a puzzled and unhappy Dorothy about his genetic projects. He uses the tissues and organs of humans to try and recreate rare animals and sells them for an enormous profit, blithely ignoring the fact that many of his creations later mutate horribly and go berserk-- this is what happened to Wallace at the beginning of the episode. Grant reveals the horrifying truth-- that the kitten Perot used to be Roy, the Ferrys' young son. Then, the alarms sound, and armed guards rush to deal with Angel and Roger. They don't stand a chance. Grant finds this all very amusing, and sics a towering genetic monster on Roger. Completely undaunted, Roger summons the Big O, and quickly overcomes the creature. But Dorothy intervenes, insisting that he doesn't kill the huge beast-- because it's Perot! As for Grant, he has Dorothy at gunpoint, and gigglingly threatens Roger, telling the gigantic beast to get up and resume fighting the Big O. But Perot remembers Dorothy's kindness, and will have none of it-- he kills Grant outright. The enormous beast shares a brief moment with Dorothy, and then, tragically, walks into the burning wreckage of Grant's building, immolating itself. Later, at the Smith household, Dorothy wonders whose memory the tune she hums came from. Roger replies that the song, and her memories of Perot, belong to her, and that she should cherish them.
