The Amazon
Jinsei's tight,
defined muscles strained to carry the prostrate,
broken form of Sei which had been slung over his
shoulder. Every few moments a number of sparks burst
from the robot's pierced chest and back, fizzling
into nothingness as they struck Jinsei's smooth red
skin. Behind him, Murray the six-foot mosquito
trundled along silently, watching his crimson master
as he carried out his plan.
Jinsei stopped near
a small shelter composed of thatched leaves forming a
porous ceiling connecting four long, thin branches
which had been pushed into the ground. He had, only
moments earlier, erected a small crucifix just
outside the shelter.
As he slid Sei's
body off his shoulder and began to slowly, gently
remove the robot's skintight, blue robosuit, he
listened to the high-pitched squeaks let loose by the
giant mosquito and alternately smiled, frowned and
scowled.
"What you're
saying makes sense," Jinsei told the mosquito as
he folded up the robosuit and placed it beneath the
shelter, "but I just don't have the resources
out here, and I'm not going scavenging through the
EDD's abandoned scraps."
Murray let out
another volley of squeals.
"No,
Murray!" Jinsei snapped. Then he frowned.
"I'm sorry for yelling at you, but this thing
isn't alive. I built him, remember? It's
just a machine."
Murray squealed
again.
"I didn't build
you, Murray," Jinsei smiled affectionately.
"I spliced the DNA I collected from a dead Pixie
with that of a mosquito and forced your instantaneous
evolution. That's different."
Murray squeaked
once.
"What do you
mean, 'how is it different?'" Jinsei asked.
"You're alive!" He kicked Sei in the side,
turning the robot onto its stomach. "This thing
isn't! I made it to be whatever I wanted;
your existence was guided by your evolutionary
potential."
Murray shook his
head and let out a long, low squeal.
"His
programming controls the way he thinks, not
what he is," Jinsei explained.
"There is nothing in common between a living
being's evolutionary potential and a machine's
programming. Nothing."
Murray shrugged.
"I have to be
quick," Jinsei said. He pointed at the torn
opening in the centre of Sei's back. Beige, skin-like
material was forming at the edges in a criss-cross
pattern very similar to the way human's skin regrows
to cover a wound. "It is already repairing
itself."
Murray watched as
Jinsei again hoisted Sei's limp form and pressed it
up against the small crucifix. With one strong arm he
held Sei in place as, with his free hand, he bound
the robot's wrists and ankles to the wooden cross. He
stepped back and smiled in admiration of his
achievement then, snarling angrily, leaned forward
and scratched Sei's left cheek.
Sei's 'skin' tore
open as Jinsei's nails sliced through it, but no
blood seeped out; only a few, barely-visible sparks
which soon faded and the damage began, slowly, to be
repaired.
Murray squeaked
briefly.
"I agree,"
Jinsei replied slowly. "That is impressive, but
the technology behind it was simple enough to master
once Nagura reverse-engineered some of Blizzard Base
Zero's secrets..."
Suddenly, the area
was lit by a bright blue flash. Jinsei and Murray
whirled to face the source of the brief glow, but
neither reacted with any surprise to the arrival of
the red-clad Ikku and his miniature companion, Cog,
their bodies still shimmering with the raido energy
that marked their sudden appearance.
"Ah,"
Jinsei said calmly. "I should have thought
they'd come eventually."
He scratched the top
of his head and nodded to Murray. The giant mosquito
lunged forward at Ikku as the young man rose from
placing Cog on the ground and struggled to regain his
senses after the shock of teleportation. The insect
wrapped his long, needle-thin limbs around Ikku's
body and squeezed tightly.
"Wh...
wha-?" Ikku stammered. "What's? OH!"
As he realised where
he was, Ikku strained against the pressure Murray
exerted upon his torso, and as the creature begin to
slash forward with its long proboscis he was forced
to jerk his head back and forth, left and right. So
focussed was he on avoiding the monster's attacks, he
could not think of a way to free himself.
"Ikku!"
Cog shouted. "Use your legs!"
"What's that
voice?" Jinsei wondered aloud.
"What?"
Ikku shook his head, then realised what Cog meant.
With one tensing of his stomach muscles he lifted
both legs up and off the ground, leaving Murray to
support his entire weight. As Ikku expected, he soon
found himself falling backwards onto the moist earth
where Murray automatically released him.
He turned away from
the fallen creature to get a look at his
surroundings; but all that he could take in was the
advancing form of a nearly-naked man with red skin.
Jinsei was approaching, quickly and angrily.
"Henshin!"
Cog cried.
Ikku nodded. He shot
his hands out to his sides, then raised them above
his head. "Let's go, Robo!"
Red and blue energy
crackled around his body as, for a moment, it shifted
into a world all its own. As darkness seemed to close
around him, Ikku was able to peer through his
robosuit to see the glowing circuitry embedded just
beneath his skin. Lights darted along the
criss-crossing pathways and, as they passed various
points, released jagged shards of metal which passed
through porous openings in the fabric of the robosuit
to reform on the surface as a silver chestplate, a
helmet, boots and gloves.
Ikku discarded his
black trenchcoat and lifted his right hand in front
of his body.
"Chaos
Sword!" he
shouted. Blue energy crackled around his hand
momentarily, and as it began to fade he felt the
familiar texture of the black hilt of his translucent
red-bladed Chaos Sword nestle into his palm. He
gripped it tightly and tilted the blade across his
body.
"Whoever you
are - !" he began, but Jinsei did not give him a
chance to finish. Like lightning, the red-skinned man
lashed out, striking Ikku's unprotected stomach with
one solid punch. The Roboman cried out in pain and
dropped to his knees.
"Ikku! Get
up!" Cog called to him.
Ikku nodded slowly
and tried to stand. Jinsei remained beside him,
watching his effort.
"Yes, rise,
Roboman," Jinsei said. "One punch took you
down? Get up! Give me a challenge!"
Ikku grasped the
Chaos Sword more tightly in his right hand and placed
his left firmly against his stomach. The pain was
immense, far greater than he thought it should have
been after a single punch from a man the size of
Jinsei. He was muscular, but not overly-so, and Ikku
started to wonder if the severe pain was caused by
damage to something vital.
Ikku raised his head
to get a good look at Jinsei and saw, over the man's
shoulder, that Murray had also raised himself off the
ground. The insect approached Jinsei and let out a
series of high-pitched squeaks.
"Like the other
one?" Jinsei asked. "I don't know. This
one's Nagura's son. I think we'd be better off just
ending - "
Murray squeaked
again.
"Fine!"
Jinsei snapped. "You're an evolved being! You
can make your own decisions!" He threw his hands
up in the air and stalked over to his rustic shelter.
He sat, cross-legged, and rested his chin on his
hands. "Well? Go ahead!"
Murray nodded, then
dashed forward. Behind him, his wings began to beat
furiously, emitting a roaring, thunderous sound in
his wake. His body lifted slightly off the ground and
he tilted the side of his proboscis towards Ikku and
he approached.
What is he - ? Ikku
began to wonder, but he was unable to finish his
thought as the mosquito struck him. It wasn't a hard
blow, but enough to make him stagger. The insect
backed off, nodded to him, then began to approach
again.
He wants a fair
fight! Ikku realised. Fine! He'll get one!
He raised his Chaos
Sword in front of his body and waited for Murray to
come within striking distance. The mosquito buzzed
forward but, a moment before Ikku could reach out
with his sword, he moved to the side and made his way
behind his opponent.
What's he trying
to do?
Murray continued to
move in slow circles around Ikku until, finally, Ikku
lowered his sword.
"What are you -
?" he tried to ask, but he was stopped as the
insect struck his chest with the side of its
proboscis. Ikku stumbled backwards; the blow was much
stronger than the first, and caused him almost as
much pain as Jinsei's strike to his stomach.
Stupid... let my
guard down...
He raised his Chaos
Sword and ran forward. He slashed, and his blade was
met with the mosquito's long proboscis. As he pulled
the sword away for another blow, its edge ran along
the insect's protruding feature and, just for a
moment, Ikku thought he could hear the creature
scream.
Murray backed away,
moved to the side, and lunged forward again. Ikku
deflected the monster's strike with his Chaos Sword
but again, as the blade touched Murray's own deadly
weapon, he heard something very much like a cry of
pain - but it was a strange kind of hearing. There
was no sound... it was more like a feeling.
A few metres away,
Cog pushed her way through the short grass that, to
her, may as well have been the same dense foliage
that surrounded the clearing in which she found
herself. As Ikku fought, she had taken the time to
survey the site and had seen, a short distance away,
Sei's naked, crucified form.
Finally, with the
sounds of battle some distance behind her, Cog
discovered the base of the crucifix and the bare
soles of Sei's feet. She examined the bonds holding
Sei in place and soon realised there was no way, with
her miniature stature, that she could untie them.
How can I move
him if I can't free him? she wondered. She
walked around the thick branch which formed the
vertical support of the crucifix and considered her
options, then Of course!
She reached up and
placed both of her palms flat against the bottom of
Sei's feet. She turned her head around as far as she
could and, once she could clearly see Ikku's fight
with Murray, she started to concentrate. Bright blue
energy gushed from her body and surrounded Sei's and,
within seconds, both robots had disappeared.
The blue flash did
not go unnoticed by Jinsei or Ikku; the red-skinned
man jumped to his feet and stared angrily at the spot
where, up until a moment before, Sei had been hanging
as close to death as possible for a robot.
Ikku, catching the
light out of the corner of his eye, whirled to see
what had happened - but Murray, seemingly oblivious
to the existence of the fading glow, took the chance
to strike. His proboscis slashed across Ikku's lower
back, just below the area covered by his armoured
chestplate. Ikku yelped in pain and fell forward,
flat on his stomach.
Jinsei turned to see
what had happened.
"Ah," he
said. He lifted his right hand and offered Murray a
thumb's-up. "Good job!"
Murray fervently
waved his proboscis up and down in response.
"The other one
got away, Murray, but we can use this one just as
well." Jinsei glanced over at his small shelter.
"And we still have the robot's robosuit! This
just gets better and better!"
Murray squealed
excitedly.
"Of course it
will fit you!" Jinsei exclaimed. He stepped over
to the shelter and lifted the neatly-folded blue
robosuit. Murray approached him from behind and
glanced over his master's shoulder as he shook the
robosuit out and considered its size. "It should
expand out to cover your wings..."
Behind them, there
was yet another blue glow as Cog's tiny form
reappeared on Ikku's back. Without a word, she placed
her hands directly on the exposed skin beneath his
chestplate and concentrated.
Jinsei and Murray
moved quickly to stop her, but they were too slow;
Jinsei's red hands passed through the shimmering rain
of raido energy as Cog and her living cargo
vanished from view.
Jinsei glanced at
Murray.
"Can you follow
them?"
Murray nodded and
squeaked loudly.
"Do it."
Murray the Mosquito
stood perfectly still and extended four of his limbs
directly out to the side. Raido energy
surrounded the tips of his needle-like limbs and
rapidly moved to cover his entire body until, as
Jinsei watched on, the insect's body glowed brightly
and vanished, leaving only the fading blue mist in
its wake.
Later
Ikku rolled onto his
back and groaned loudly. He had been asleep - or at
least unconscious, Cog wasn't sure - for close to an
hour. His henshin had dropped the moment she
teleported him free of the clearing, and his
sweat-soaked robosuit did very little to keep him
warm as night fell and the temperature suddenly
dropped.
As he moved noisily
behind her, Cog looked closely at Sei's injuries. She
had managed, with the creative use of raido energy,
to prop his body up against the trunk of a tree.
Already, the scratches on his cheek had completely
vanished, and the hole through the centre of his
torso was nearly gone. From time to time a curious
insect would hover near the opening and she would
shoo it away, fearful of the damage it might cause if
it entered his mechanical system.
She waited, watching
Sei and listening to Ikku, for another fifteen
minutes before she heard Ikku sit upright. She
quickly made her way over to him and took another
look at the tear in the back of his robosuit which
had, like Sei's damaged body, repaired itself.
Ikku rubbed his eyes
and squinted down at the small robot.
"Where are
we?" he asked groggily.
"We're still in
the Amazon!" Cog replied. "You saved Sei,
but - !"
"The
mosquito!" Ikku shouted. "What happened to
- ?"
"Jinsei punched
you in the stomach, and the mosquito cut your
back!" Cog explained. "I had to teleport us
away!"
Ikku tried to lean
forward, but the effort was met only by a painful
reminder of the injuries Cog had just described. He
laid back down and tilted his head to look at Sei,
then sat back up and returned to his feet as quickly
as possible.
"Sei's
chest!" he exclaimed.
Cog hurried over to
Sei and climbed onto the robot's thigh, to get as
close to the injury as possible.
"What is
that...?" Ikku leaned forward and examined the
damage. "Are those... wires? Is that metal?"
He looked down at
Cog. She nodded.
"Sei's a
robot..." he realised. He staggered a few steps
backwards. "You said he just had... a brain
implant, or something..."
Cog shook her head.
"Sorry!"
Ikku leaned forward
again and ran his finger around the hole.
"It feels like
skin," he said, "but it is too soft. Too
perfect, I guess." He stared into the dark
opening. "It explains a lot, though." He
paused. "Hey, is that hole shrinking?"
Cog nodded.
"Yes! Sei can repair himself, just like your
robosuits!"
Ikku looked down at
his own robosuit and noticed that it was free of any
tears or marks. It was smooth, and perfect, like
Sei's skin.
"Speaking of
robosuits... why is Sei naked?" he asked.
"Jinsei took
his robosuit!" Cog replied. "We need to get
it back!"
Ikku nodded. He
raised his left arm and pressed a few buttons on his
bulky Alert Bracer.
"Kiko? Kiko,
are you there?" he asked. There was no reply.
She must still
be mad at me for not helping her look for Sei.
"Kiko?" he
asked again. There was still no response. "I
think we should take Sei back to New Orleans. Kiko
and I can come back for his robosuit."
Cog shook her head.
"My raido
shard is exhausted!" she told him. "I
can't teleport at all!"
Ikku looked at Sei.
"Sei can -
"
"No!" Cog
interrupted. "His eternity shards are
stored within his robosuit, like yours."
"Oh?" Ikku
asked. "I never realised where they
went..."
Cog pointed up at
Ikku's right leg. He looked down a saw a very narrow,
almost-invisible slit in the fabric there. He reached
inside and felt, slotted firmly in place, two smooth,
glass-like, eternity shards.
"So what should
we do?" he asked Cog.
Suddenly, Sei's eyes
shot wide open.
"Ian?" he
asked. He spoke normally; there was no grogginess, no
drowsiness, nothing slow about his speech to suggest
that he had been unconscious, asleep or... offline.
"What are you doing here?"
"Rescuing
you," Ikku replied. "You never made it back
from London."
"Yes. Something
large intercepted me and I materialised here, in the
Amazon rainforest," Sei said. "There was a
giant mosquito, and a man with red skin. I do not
recall what happened next."
"Really?"
Ikku asked. "Search your hard - "
"Sei!" Cog
interrupted. "The man with the red skin has your
robosuit!"
Sei looked down at
his body, then up at Ikku. Where the red-clad
Roboman's hair and skin was drenched with sweat, his
own body was unaffected. He raised an eyebrow and
looked at Cog.
"How did he
gain possession of the robosuit?" he asked.
"He captured
you!" Cog told him. "Ikku saved you, but
the mosquito and the man are still out there!"
"His name is
Jinsei," Ikku said.
"Where is Miss
Sato?" Sei asked.
"She's still in
New Orleans," Ikku answered. "We can't
contact her."
Sei stared up into
Ikku's face. "What is your plan?"
"W-what?"
Ikku asked.
"You are our
leader. What is your plan?"
"Oh!" Ikku
thought for a moment. "We need your robosuit and
its raido shards to get back home. So I
think we should find Jinsei so I can fight him and
take it back!"
In the distance
shone a bright blue flash which Ikku, Sei and Cog
recognised immediately as the same glow of raido
energy they had generated several times already.
Before they had the chance to move and investigate
its source, Murray the Mosquito was upon them. He had
used his massive wings to lift his body off the
ground and dove low to pierce Ikku's torso with his
proboscis, just as he had done with Sei.
"Let's
go, Robo!" Ikku shouted.
It took only a
moment for the silver gloves, boots, chestplate and
helmet to materialise outside his robosuit, and for
Murray's thin proboscis to bend and snap as it forced
itself against the protective armour. The insect
pulled back in pain and, once again, Ikku seemed to feel
its distress at the pain it felt.
What is that?
he wondered.
"Chaos
Sword!" he
shouted. Nothing happened. "CHAOS
SWORD!"
"Your
weapon is summoned using raido energy,"
Sei called to Ikku. "You cannot use it
here." He picked up Cog in his right hand and
rose to his feet. "Use your kenez energy."
"My
what?" Ikku yelped as he jumped back to
avoid Murray's flailing limbs.
"Your
eternity shards!" Cog told him.
"Remember, you can affect reality!"
"I
can?"
"Yes!
Remember when you used the Flame Tank to make a cage
to hold the Pixie?"
"Oh,
yeah!" Ikku grinned. "But... I can't create
the Flame Tank without raido energy."
"You
don't need the Flame Tank!"
"I
don't?"
"No!"
Sei and Cog shouted in unison.
Rather
than try to dodge the mosquito's next attack, Ikku
reached out with both hands and took hold of one of
its fragile wings. He closed his eyes and
concentrated - as with the Pixie, he tried to imagine
a giant cage forming around it, containing it. But
nothing happened.
Why...?
He
opened his eyes again to see Sei rushing at him.
Despite Ikku's firm hold of his wing, Murray had
turned and was trying to slash out with his damaged
proboscis. At the last minute, Sei pushed Ikku aside,
and the Roboman fell to his feet - while Murray's
attack scraped across Sei's shoulder.
The
mosquito hovered several inches off the ground as Sei
stood his ground in front of it. Behind him, Ikku
quickly returned to his feet and stared at the
rapidly-closing wound on Sei's shoulder; it had only
been a small scrape - a 'scratch', to most people -
but by the time he could focus on it it had already
disappeared.
Murray
lifted higher off the ground and, suddenly, began to
swoop forward again.
"Sei!"
Ikku shouted. "What are you doing!? Get out of
the way, before he - !"
"Nnnngh!"
Sei grunted as he caught the mosquito's descending
form in both hands. With one strong push he shoved it
to the ground, where it fell onto its back. Its wings
crumpled beneath its weight and it did not get up.
"Are
you insane?" Ikku asked. "It could
have destroyed you!"
Sei
turned to face Ikku and shook his head.
"That
does not matter," he said. "Your
destruction here would not have been sensible. You
still possess your robosuit. You stand a greater
chance of defeating Jinsei and returning to
safety."
"So,
what? It's okay for you to sacrifice
yourself? Better to guarantee two Robomen alive
in New Orleans than risk having two die here?"
"Yes,"
Sei replied. "Unless you give me your
robosuit."
"I
- no, what?"
"If
you give me your robosuit, there is a more
substantial chance of our safe return to New
Orleans," Sei explained. "I have a greater
understanding of its abilities and operation."
"That
isn't all that matters, Sei."
"Of
course it is."
Ikku
shook his head. He focussed for a moment, and dropped
his henshin.
"If
you really believe that, then I feel sorry for
you," he said. He walked past Sei and crouched
beside the mosquito. He could hear small, gurgling
noises emerging from its body - it was not dead. Not yet.
"What about Murray?"
Neither
Sei or Cog spoke.
"Look
at what you did to him," Ikku told Sei. "I
know he was trying to kill us, but did you have to
hurt him?"
"That's
a good question, Roboman!"
Ikku,
Sei and Cog all turned to see Jinsei's red-skinned
form approaching from the brush, but he was no longer
as close to naked as he had been during their earlier
encounter. He was, instead, wearing Sei's blue
robosuit.
"How
dare you hurt a living thing?"
Sei
seemed to miss the emphasis on the word 'you' as he
replied: "As Red Robo stated, it was attempting
to destroy us."
"'It'
is a 'he'!" Jinsei shouted. "Murray is a
living thing!"
"I
was doing what was best," Sei said. "Our
survival is more important and injuring the creature
was the most effective way of ensuring that
survival."
"Murray
was a living thing," Jinsei repeated. "A
highly-evolved living thing, but still
forced to act within the boundaries of its
evolutionary potential! He was simply doing what
mosquitoes naturally do!"
"He
was doing what you told him to do!"
Ikku shouted back.
"Murray
chose to do as I asked."
"You
sent the creature to attack me as we crossed the
Atlantic Ocean," Sei said.
"No,"
Jinsei replied. "Murray was testing his own
ability to teleport. You got in his way."
"This
debate is pointless," Sei said. "Return my
robosuit or we will take it from you."
Jinsei
glared at Sei, then nodded. "Fine." He
removed the robosuit and threw at it Sei's feet.
"Take it and go."
Sei
picked up the robosuit and, finding its concealed
pocket, withdrew one of the raido shards he
found there. He inserted it into one of the slots on
Cog's back, placed her on the ground, and climbed
into the robosuit. His Robo Rifle and its holster
remained attached to the suit; he drew the weapon and
levelled it at Jinsei.
"Put
it down," Ikku said.
"Now
is a perfect opportunity to - "
"Put
it down. You told me I'm the leader, and I'm telling
you to put your Robo Rifle away."
Sei
did as he was asked.
"We
will take Murray with us," Ikku said. "We
will turn him back into what he was and release
him."
Jinsei
thought for a moment. "You always were the
gentle one." He looked at Sei. "But you
- I will destroy you, you damned machine! I
wish I'd never - "
Ikku
never got to hear the end of Jinsei's sentence, as
his body was suffused with a familiar blue glow and,
an instant later, he materialised in the swamplands
just outside of New Orleans.
Blizzard
Base Zero
When
Doctor Brachis walked into the underground laboratory
she saw Doctor Nagura, clad in a red-and-black
robosuit, closely scrutinising the inner workings of
a robot which he had lain out on a metal table in the
centre of the room. His body, Brachis noted, had
continued to transform - his body's ageing had
reversed rapidly, and he seemed to be in his early
twenties rather than his mid-fifties, and the metal
which had protruded from his face had extended to
other parts of his body, forming what almost seemed
like jagged armour across his torso and left leg,
piercing even the fabric of the robosuit.
"What
are you doing?" she asked as she watched him
work.
"I
am putting the finishing touches on my latest
creation," Nagura told her. "I call her
'Katrina'."
"Why
Katrina?"
"Because,
like the hurricane of the same name, she will destroy
New Orleans," he explained.
"Destroy
New Orleans? Scott! Listen to yourself! This isn't
you!"
"Yes,
it is," Nagura said simply. "Sorceress Miko
killed my son, and I will destroy her.
Thanks to Jinsei and Director Satoshi, I now also
feel an intense hatred of the Robomen. With Katrina,
I can kill four birds with one robotic
stone."
"But
Miko didn't kill your son! Ian's still out
there! He's one of the Robomen you want to
destroy?"
"I-Ian...?"
Nagura seemed unsure of himself for a moment.
"No, not Ian. I meant my real son. The
one she turned into a monster before she took him
from me."
"Scott,
you need to stop this!" Brachis cried. "We
need to leave here. We can go to the EDD and get you
some help. None of what you're thinking now is coming
from you. Jinsei did this. It's all him." She
rushed forward and placed her hands on his arm.
"Please...!"
"Take.
Your hands. Off me."
Brachis
lifted her hands and backed away. She was lost, and
confused in a way that she had never been before. The
Nagura Scott that she thought she knew was a kind,
compassionate man - his Roboman project had been
designed solely to benefit humanity by providing a
means by which the potent eternity shards could
be used by government, support and aid agencies
around the world. To see him using his genius for
evil, for destruction...
She
ran from the laboratory and down a long, sterile
metal hall to the small quarters Nagura had given
her. Inside, folded and resting on a small table,
were two more robosuits - one black, and one green.
Nagura had said he wanted her help in testing them,
but that was before his attention had moved to his
new robot.
If
only I knew how to use these damn things! I could get
out of here, find Senshi, and get some help! Damn
it, Rose... what are you going to do?
New
Orleans
Red kenez
energy spilled over Murray's still-unmoving
form, resting on a mossy island inside the swampy
murk outside New Orleans. Ikku listened closely to
Sei's instructions as he manipulated Murray's
biology, not trying to warp or change him, just
undoing the transformation the creature had undergone
at Jinsei's hands.
In a
few moments, the change was complete and Murray was,
once again, a tiny insect buzzing beneath the gentle
weight of Ikku's hands. As Murray tried to free
himself Ikku felt, as he had in the Amazon
rainforest, an odd sensation - but this time it was
not one of pain, or distress, but one of gratitude.
He lifted his hands and the creature flew into the
distance.
"I
do not understand what happened in the
rainforest," Sei said once Murray had departed.
"That
doesn't surprise me," Ikku muttered.
"Please
explain it to me. Jinsei had the chance to destroy
us. He clearly wished to do so. Why did he let us
leave?"
"Maybe
he thought Murray's safety was more important than
his own victory?" Ikku suggested. "Maybe
what was sensible or logical or whatever wasn't what
he thought was best."
"That
is what I do not understand," Sei explained.
"Clearly, Jinsei is evil. Why would he want to
destroy us but save an insect?"
Ikku
stared at Sei's serious face for a moment. Hey,
he actually looks a lot like Jinsei.
"You're
serious, aren't you? You really can't see why Jinsei
would want to save Murray instead of killing
us?" He took a deep breath. "You heard what
he said about Murray - how he could only do what was
within his evolutionary potential?"
"Yes."
"Well...
the way I see it, we've all got something like that
within us."
"Of
course we do. DNA only allows - "
"That's
not what I mean. I'm not talking about biology. I
mean... our spirits. Our nature. We all have
things that are important to us, and our own way of
doing things, and we can't change that. For Jinsei,
one life was more important to him than any of his
other goals. For you... well, you said you would
sacrifice your own life to save mine, because I had a
robosuit. Your nature is different, and you can't
help but do things differently. You are cold and
unfeeling, but want the world to be safe.
Jinsei's evil, but cares about individual lives. I
don't know which of you is worse..."
Ikku
continued to stare at Sei as the robot took in
everything he heard. Sei offered no sign that he
understood anything; his body did not move, and a
single blink of the eyes was all that suggested he
was even functioning.
Functioning...
Ikku thought. It is still so hard not to
think of him as 'alive'.
"I
understand," Sei said. "I did not save you
only because you had a robosuit and I did not."
"Really?"
Ikku rolled his eyes. "Why, then?"
"I
saved you because you are my friend," Sei told
him. "We only met because Doctor Nagura employed
us both in Project: Roboman. I know that I have not
thought highly of you in the past, but despite the
way I have treated you you risked your life to save
mine. I am happy that I know you and Miss Sato and
Cog. I am not sure what I would do if you were not
with me, especially if I could have saved you."
Ikku
wasn't sure what to think.
"How
do I know you really mean that?" Ikku asked.
"You have lied to us so many times, and you're
still keeping secrets from us now!"
"I
am not keeping anything from you," Sei replied.
"I told you that I would explain
everything."
"No
secrets? What about the fact that you're a - "
"Ikku!
Sei!" Cog interrupted. "We should check on
Kiko!"
Sei
nodded and began to wade through the thick but
shallow bog, leaving Ikku and Cog alone on the
island. Cog approached Ikku and began to ask him to
carry her ashore, but he waited until Sei was out of
sight, then spoke:
"Why
do you keep interrupting me when I talk about
Sei?" he asked. "And what did Jinsei mean
when he said I was the gentle one? How would he know
anything about me?"
Cog
said nothing. Ikku reached down and lifted her up. As
he raised her to his eye level he sniffed.
"You
sound sick!" Cog said.
"Don't
change the subject. What was Jinsei talking about?
Why don't you want me talking to Sei about his
secret?"
Cog
threw her tiny hands up in the air.
"You
have met Jinsei before, but he had a different name!
He disguised himself as Doctor Smith!"
"From
Blizzard Base Zero?"
"Yes!
He helped Doctor Nagura develop Project: Roboman! He
trained you, and he built - " Cog stopped
suddenly.
"He
built what? He built Sei? Is that what he
was saying when you teleported us away? I wish I
never built you?"
"Yes!"
"Why
can't I talk to Sei about this?"
"I
- I don't think that Sei knows!"
"How
could he not know?"
"Did
you see the way he looked at you when he woke up? You
were sweating, but he was not! He seemed
surprised!"
"That's
your logic? You don't think he knows he's a
robot because he seemed surprised he wasn't covered
in sweat?"
"...
yes!"
Ikku
sighed. "What should I do?"
"That's
up to you!"
"What
do you mean?"
"I
listened to you and Sei!" Cog said. "What
you told him applies to you as well!"
"I
don't understand."
"You
told him everyone has a nature! His is to think of
the big picture and worry about the world instead of
an individual life. What's yours? What is your
nature, and if you are really stuck with it, what
would it have you do?"
"I
don't know," Ikku admitted. "I really don't
know."
"Then
you shouldn't be so hard on Sei! Maybe he
doesn't know, either!"
Ikku
nodded slowly and began the long walk home.
The
Amazon
Jinsei
returned to his small shelter with a broad grin
across his face. He ducked to move beneath the low
roof and brushed aside a small mound of dirt and
grass to reveal three concealed raido shards.
Those
idiots, he thought. As if I would keep their
artificial robosuit! I may not have learned how to
produce and use raido shards myself, but
between Murray and what I stole from the robot, I
have more than enough to experiment with... and the
Robomen... they got their robosuit back, so they
think they won... but I still have the upper hand! I
am Jinsei! I am life!
He
curled his lips into a sneer. "And I am also death."
NEXT: A
sticky situation!
COG'S
SPECIAL REPORT!
 |
Hi! I'm Cog! The Robomen use a lot
of complicated technology, and sometimes it
can
be a bit hard to get your head around it all
- especially when you can't
actually see what's going on! (Hey,
if you can accept that a two-inch tall
robot is talking to you, you better be
able to accept that than they can
break the fourth-wall and acknowledge they're
a character in a work of
fiction!)
|
To help you out, I'm going to pop in
from time to time to let you know what I know
about the technology - and that isn't as much as you
might think. Doctor Nagura told me a lot, but he's a
world-famous bioroboticist... and while I might have
been one at one stage, I'm not 100% sure!
Today,
we are going to talk about something other than
technology - we are going to talk about genes and
evolution!
As we
know, Jinsei thinks everything has a set evolutionary
path, which he calls an 'evolutionary potential'. To
him, no matter what he does to make a creature
evolve, there are certain things it just can't do!
But
what happens when he combines two creatures, like a
pixie and a mosquito?
Every
living creature possesses what we call 'genes'. These
are DNA sequences which contain the instructions for
building proteins which form cells. Living things
inherit their genes from their parents, and genes
tell your body things like what eye colour you should
have, what hair colour you should have, how your body
should be shaped, and more!
If your
parents both have blue eyes, you get two sets of
genes that tell your body to give you blue eyes - so
you probably will get blue eyes! But when
two different sets of genes conflict - like blue eye
genes and brown eye genes - your body has to make a
choice. Different genes are 'dominant' and
'recessive', and when your body makes these choices,
the dominant genes usually win!
The
same thing happens when you combine two different
types of living things. When Jinsei combined the DNA
of a Pixie with Murray, he had to choose which Pixie
genes would win and which mosquito genes would win.
The thing that confuses me, though, is how that
affects their 'evolutionary potential'. If a Pixie
has one evolutionary potential and the mosquito has
another, what happens when you mix them up? Was
Murray just doing what Murray would naturally do if
he evolved on his own, or was he forced into doing
things that would be very unlikely to happen
naturally because Jinsei forced him to evolve a
certain way?
It is
so confusing!
And
what about Sei and little old me? We are robots! We
don't have genes! Our 'evolutionary potential' is
programming! How much control do we have over what we
do?
Look at
the world around you and think: how much of what your
parents, your friends or your neighbours do is
because they really want to do it, and how much of it
is forced by their genetics, or even their
environment? Are they nice because it is in their
genes to be nice? Are they nice because everyone they
know is nice and they feel like joining in? Or are
they nice just because they choose to be
nice?
And how
many of them can answer that question themselves?
See you
next time! ^_^
