V. 2. Zats dream
Characters in this section:
Bee-G-CAN; Brain researcher.
Zat-R-NIK; New citizen to PLN, wearing a ripped uniform.
Random-R
Aratos-O
Neko
Grey-V-MST; "Greymist" Head of Research &Design in PLN
Bill
Rinsai, Greymist's pet docbot.
Jumpyip.
Forum covered in this section:
R&D Main lab, 50.2 -> end page 54
Jumpyip is, once again, inexplicably standing in a daze. The bot Rinsai wheels up slowly behind him.
"Citizen, what is the sound of one hand clapping?
"Er, I don't know. What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
Rinsai whacks Jumpyip in the head.
"WHO CARES? NOW GET BACK TO WORK!"
"Er, yes...perhaps I should do that."
He exits, and Grey-V-MST walks through.
"All right. So much has happened lately, I'm taking a break."
Bee marches in, extremely PO'ed.
"Bee, you're authorized to provide authorization, just not under my name."
Zat-R snores softly. The eye visible to observers is still slightly open.
"Greymist! I... oh. Well, have fun."
Authorization? Great. I authorize everyone to smeg off! Bloody nitrogen. Bloody stuff is everywhere. Bloody Tech Services.
He sits down at his desk, and puts down his load. It sticks to his hand frostily.
Bee takes a deep breath, and thinks happy thoughts. Friend Computer's Big Giant Eye inside the visor of a whining petbot at the bottom of a well, or something.
"Would someone please help me?"
Bill walks in from the ex-CCC Lab, tapping the snoring Zat-R on the way by.
" Say, Zat-R! Mind giving me a hand with this vat? Two of us should be enough to roll it over to this room. Looks like we need to test this a little bit here before we take it over to Power Services... "
He makes sure lid is secure on vat.
Bee looks around.
"Zat? Where?"
.... then looks down...
"Oh. Hello Zat? Hello? Wakey-Wakey! Some hot water please, or something,"
"Zat stirs a little. The eye closes, then opens a litle, blinks and looks blearily around. It sees the GREEN citizens YELLOW boots, travels up the YELLOW jumpsuit and RED lab coat and finally reaches the face. A moment of recognition is replaced by confusion, which is immediatly forgotten.
"Sir?"
"Some hot water, please. I need to unfreeze my hand from his thing... And by hot water I don't mean HotFun, warmed up ColdFun or anything -Fun. Ordinary hot water is just as exciting as most forms of nutrition, and nicely watery."
"Yes, sir. Although if I may, wouldn't cool water be better for a frozen hand?"
She looks for a clean beaker to fill at the nearest boiled-distilled-water despencer. Not seeing one very close, she deciades that speed is probebly more important, and pours some into her hands. As she turns the tap, the word "fun" is revealed to be written on the side previously out of sight...
GREENY takin' my help... oh well... I'll have to see to HIM later... Thinks Bill-O, then sighs and starts trying to inch the vat across the floor toward the ex-CCCP lab door.
SCCCRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE
Random strolls in nonchalantly
"Sooooo... how goes the heavy lifting? Hope I'm not to late to do my part... He looks expectant."
"Please quit the scraping noises." Interjects Bee-G "Citizen Random-R, kindly give him a hand. Zat? Quickly now."
Random goes over and helps Billy move the vat to wherever he's moving it to.
"Wow, this thing is really heavy, citizen... uhm are you sure that lid is secure? I have'nt gotten a response to my requisition for hazmat gear yet and would hate to get any of that stuff on me."
Aw, is da widdle GWEENY annoyed at da howwible noise? Good! Serves ya right ya little... Ya know he used to be a pretty ok guy back when we were both REDs... must be something that happens when you get above YELLOW clearance..
" HAZMAT Gear?! I hardly think that'll be necessary! I was just talking about gloves and goggles! Oh well, if they don't have them, they don't have them."
"Anyway, we're just moving this over here to this door, where I have a bit of a mess to clean up before we head back over to Power Services... Where IS Aratos, anyway?"
Bill and Random manage to 'roll' the vat over to the door without too much more scraping noise. Once at the doorway, Bill removes the protective lid to reveal to bubbling, steaming contents.
" Ok, we need to slowly and carefully pour some out onto the floor here... goood... gooood... goo..AH VATCRAP!!"
Rinsai apparently decides Bill has been standing in one place too long, and whacks him one in the shins, causing a good deal more 'stuff' to pour out... about half the vat... before Bill and Random wrestle it under control. A huge puddle of 'stuff' pours rapidly into the ex-CCC lab.
"Zat! Hurry up! I hope you're not using the Fundamental Particle Oils tap. We don't have much of that stuff left."
"No sir, it says Boiled Distilled Water f- er, water, sir."
She notices that the conainer is nearly empty, gives up and carries the whole thing over. She rushes over to Bee-G and turns the tap, hurriely, tipping the container slightly. One drop falls. She gets ready to increase the angle.
As the drip falls towards Bees hand, Zats PDC makes a noise that sounds rather like "Wlreeereeegrrrel."
(If you have ever heard the noise of an old mobile that has been ran over several times but is STILL RINGING makes, you know what I mean.)
The ringing causes her to hesitate a moment. The drop hits Bee's hand with an ominous plik.
Time slows as the drop falls towards Bee's hand. The PDC rings in a deep slo-mo tone, and Bee's eyes blink and flick down, watching the drop. His mouth opens slowly...*
"Nnnnooooooooooo........"
The drop hits....
"..........oooo! not like that. More water please, don't worry about the device. It is waterproofed. I think."
Zat sighs and upends the dipensor. Some of it splashes and trickles down Bees boot, some more splashes on the pdc. It keeps ruinging, sounding only slightly moreirritatng.
Bryyoooondg-hhiooooonrrrnnnrrn-weeeeerrrop
Bee unsticks his hand with a velcro sound.
"Ah, thank you."
He looks at his boots.
"Ah. Oh well."
Bee prods the device. It doesn't do anything. He frowns, and reprods.
"I think we'd better test this. And I can't, not this soon... "
He looks up at Zat. He smiles.
She looks back, and returns the smile trustingly.
"Sir?" (Brrrrriiisnnnnnng)
She then looks a little worried,
"sorry, about your boots..."
"Hey, no problem. Frost is above my clearance anyway. I'm sure an adventurous citizen like yourself would jump at the chance to test one of my, er, special devices! 42% pain-free! And only half the calories!"
"Um, sure... to be honest, if I'm going to be moving to HPD&MC for a while I'de prefer to have at least a little time in R&D, sir."
She looks at the device, them wipes some liquid of it.
bluuuurgle fnnoooorrrtllllbbbbrrrrrreeeg
"Er, mind if I cheak this message first?"
Bee-G waits, patiently for a citizen of his clearance. He drums his fingers.
Zat cheaks the PDC. It continues making unhealthy souning noises, though less annoying now.
The Message wrote:
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ gϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛauϛϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛ ffϛϛϛϛϛ ϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛ ϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛ
ϛϛ uaruϛϛϛ ϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛshϛϛaϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛeϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ
Zat sighs.
"okay, sir, what should I do?"
"Alrighty then... put your hands on the console, and think happy thoughts. Then the antennae come out. Bend them towards you and then... well, you'll see."
"Okay, sir..."
She puts out her hands and places them on the console.
Im serving loyally! :)
nothing happens
the computer is my freind? =)
nothing happens.
In this sector ill probebly get promoted soon? =D
The antennae pop out, and zat bends them towards herself.
"There we go... now just relax and... oh. Yeah, you got the hang of it quick."
Gee, that really isn't very pretty...
Zat looks surprised for a moment then slumps. The antenae, firmly planted in her temples, follow her down with a zwwwwlip noise.
--------------------
A stange, juniorclonelike female voice speaks
Desire...Desire...desire...
What?
Exactly, what? What do... do you desire?
Nothing/loyalty only/something?
Nevermind.... Come deeper.
Zat follows, swimming after a small undefined shadowy figure down a well that gets darker the further they go. Oddly the figure gets brighter and more defined in the darkness.
What did you desire?
I don't know?
the dream scene changes, Zat is back in NIK sector, speaking to the computer.
Freind Computer... I don't know what to do.
The big eye slides across the screen, it's pupil contracting questioningly.
Well, it's just... the don't really need me here, and I think I would be able to serve you better elsewhere.
Possibly.
"I was watching that vid sho-"
I know
"er, of course... Well I was thinking-"
I know that too.
"right, well can I?"
Yes.
"thankyou, freind computer!"
Transfering you to PLN sector - May you live in interesting times. Report to CPU, tardiness is treason
The door opens and Zat leaves through it, heading back into the tunnel. It is simultaneosly brighter and darker than before.
What did you learn?
I... What do you mean? That was just a memory...
I suppose...
...what did you desire?
I don't know.
come deeper.
As they move deeper the surroundings make less and less sence. They float downwards through a vast cavern, falling and flying as the walls press in around them. The figure can now be seen to be a junior clone with black hair, though the detail are still vaugue.
White tendrils on the girl in a black dress enfold Zat,the void dissolves and she is standing on sand. She if surrounded by a huge croud of the child. None of them are exactly the same, and they do not glow like the main incarnation. They whisper in the darkness.
Do you remember us?
Do you- Do you remember?
no
when? how far?
do you rem- do you remember?
Do you? tell us?
Well?
NO!
She doesnt remember
dosn't she care?
What did we do wrong
How could you? You're PATHETIC
YOU ARNT REALLY LOYAL! ITS JUST A FARSE
YOU DONT EVEN KNOW YOURSELF!
The whispering rises to an angry pitch, the figures rushing towards her, bacoming ghostly, menacing and distorted; Mouths gaping and clawed hands evtended they decend, and Zat cowers.
What did you Learn?
Zat lies sobbing, sprawled on a vast white surface. She opens her eyes blearily. The girl points upward. Above them a scene of the crowd rushing at Zat suddenly unfreezes. The mob swarms in and she cannot see her self. She hears herself scream, and a single drop of bood falls to land on her unturned face, mingling with the tears. The scene fades away, leaving only the spot of blood. The girl stands before her, leaving no shadow. She raises her head and looks directly in Zats eyes. Both pairs are the same startling green.
That is all that is left, do you understand?
Why?
Do you know what you desire?
...please...
They are the present, did you know? Is this the future?
The spot of blood dissolves, and the area grows cold. It is dark once more, and the girl is some distance away.
----------------
WHITE smoke begins to come out of the CCC Lab door
"Uh oh! Uh, HOU Sector, we have a problem! Random! Help me get this vat out of the door so we can close it! HURRY!!"
Bill-O starts pushing the vat back away from the CCC Lab door.
He helps as best he can, straining with the effort
"At least... it's not...quite as heavy... as before...there!!! phew... that wasn't such a chore then."
"We could probably carry it to Power Services fairly easily now with just three clones, don't you think? Although I don't think any of us should hang around after we dump this stuff onto the affected area..."
Lying on the floor as she fell, Zat had tenced up after a time. She had broken out in a sweat, and was breathing heavily. For a moment her whole body goes rigid.
----------------
Hehehhahaha! Come and play with me!
..........Play! ................Come and play! .....................Hehhehehahaha!
Mist rises in the darkness.
Huh? Whats going on.... Wait!
The girl doesn't seem to hear. She runs off into the mist after something only she can see. Time passes and Zat takes a tentative srep forwards. With each movement the mist grows thicker. After a time the mist is so thick that Zat cant even see her own nose.
.....................Hehehahaha!...........
Zat follows the sound of the laughter. The mist thins to reveal the girl playing with another junior clone in a sand pit. The two seem quite happy an content, though Zat feels immediate, though underfined anxiety that borders on panic at the sight.
No...
She starts rushing towards the pair, but can make no progress fowards. The girl whispers something to her playmate, who blushes.
You can't change it.
What?
Zat whirls around. The girl is standing behind her, chewing on a finger.
You just can't
No... I know.
You remeber now, don't you?
I... Yes... Well, a little.
Zat kneels down and looks into the identical green eyes.
You're me, arn't you? As I was... before?
Behind Zat, the same little girl, Lucy, is being carried off by the teachbot, to the distress of the young Bee. The girl takes the finger out of her mouth, looks at it, then speaks.
Sort of... Let me see if I can explain.
Lucy's eyes close. When se opens them they are white. Superimposed over the young girl is the same seven foot tall INFRARED that Bee had seen in his dreams. Their two voices intermingle as they speaak.
We are a part of all things.
.....................................of all things.
All that ends, and all that begins.
.............ends..............begins.
All you see and hear.
......hear.
And every thought and dream.
..........every dream.
It all comes to us.
....................will come to us.
She is of you.
.......you.
As you are of us.
..............will come to us.
But not now.
You don't belong here yet.
The cloaked figure vanishes, and Lucy and Zat are once more alone. Lucy wipes her finger and smiles, taking Zats hand, and starting to lead her back the way they came.
It is you who are you, whoever you decide to be.
I am you, yes, but I am so much more, and so much less.
You may even find the truth in PLN. Is that what you desire?
Zat pauses.
What do you mean, Won't I remeber?
No, the block in your mind is stong, that you must come this deep to see me...
But...
You should come.
As they drift slowly up the tunnel of the well, the walls grow brighter, and Lucy grows fainter, once again a mere shadow. Zat stops, looking confused.
Who did you say you were?
There is the sound of distnt laughter. As it dies away Only the echoe of one word can be heard.
Desire...desire...desire....
-----------------
As the dream fades away. The last of the tension drains out of her body and she smils slightly, sucking on a finger and sleeping normally.
"Er, guys?" Says Bee, "I have a volunteer here who isn't able to move by herself... and I'm not sure when she's going to wake up..."
Bee looks down and scratches his head.
I hope I don't look like that when I'm in there. I wonder what she's doing?
Random, resting from the exertion of moving the vat, sees Zat asleep on floor.
"Oh...good, she was looking a little stressed out earlier. I'm glad she finally got a chance to get some rest."
"I just wonder how long she'll be out...oh well, it's not like that mess in Power Services is going anywhere..."
Random slumps to the floor.
"I'm not ready to sleep myself, but I can rest here till she comes to."
"Ohh, you mean in Power Services?"
Bee thinks for a moment.
"What the heck are you guys trying to clean up in there that is so bad you can't be in the same room as the stuff?"
"Citizen Bee-G, were so preoccupied with your own actions with Zat that you failed to notice what just happened with the mess we just cleaned up over there?"
Random points in the direction of door.
"I'm not particularly enthused with the idea of hanging around here any longer than necessary, but we need Zat in order to move this vat to Power Services, sir."
"Oh. Yeah, whatever. I just thought no one would be silly enough to create a dangerous situation here without prior approval, that's all."
Bee watches Zat sleep peacefully. He notices her clothes are ripped somewhat, with patches of skin showing here and there. He shakes his head, as if to clear it.
I wonder what those hormone suppressants I flushed down the toilet actually suppressed? It's not like I'm not allowed to alter my pharmaceutical intake at my rank... plus I'm a scientist, I should know these things...
He drums his fingers hurriedly, waves in Random-R's direction irritably.
"Just so long as you closed the door. Or you'll have to clean it up before you leave, and that might take a while."
Bee mutters under his breath.
"yeah...without proper cleaning it would take an inordinately long time...which is why we are in this mess in the first place."
Random remembers where he is and to whom he is speaking.
"Oh... sir yes sir!"
Bee jumps at the loudness.
"Yes. Er, thank you. What IS that stuff, anyway? Not above your clearance, is it?"
Random stands to attention.
"Don't know, don't care, sir! Just trying to do my bit, sir! I know nothink...nooothiinnkk."
he drops to knees pleading and snivelling.
"Please sir *sniff* I'm just a simple clone trying to serve friend computer any way I can...*waaaa*" He begins the serious bootlicking, "I'm new to this sector, sir... unaware and ignorant of its protocols," looks over at Bill-O, "Besides which, I was acting under orders from Bill-O... it was all his idea."
"Ignorance is treason, citizen. You do realise that, right? ... Sigh ... I'm not accusing you, but I'd keep an eye out in future. We have no traitors here in R&D, ok?"
Aratos wanders in, lookign rather quesy.
"Ach, yer still here? Ah was wondering if ye'd got it tae Poower services whilst ah was away being kilt by a docbot. Oh aye. and a msitake in the clonebats with me voval cords has left me speaking wi a NED sector accent tae boot. Ach. Anywho, we gonnae shift this thing or whit?"
Randomjumps to his feet.
"Yeah, now we have three clones for the lifting... That's the ticket!"
He rushes over to help lift the vat.
"wella ctually laddie, ah wis plannin' own supervisin' you lot, ya ken?"
"Excuse me..." Bee reads the name tag, "Aratos-O? Why don't you help lift as well? Bill-O is lifting, and they need three to carry it all the way there. Why don't I supervise, until you get out the door, at least?"
Hmm. Power is fun. No wonder all the capitalists abuse it.
Random looks dejected. He shuffles his toe around on the floor in small circles with hands behind his back.
"Oh, yeah I see... It was just that when we needed four clones for the job you seemed more willing to pitch in is all... and what with Bill-O generously giving of his time and energy to help out... I just figured...naw, you're right... a high clearance clone like yerself, probably would'nt want to put hisself out to get a necessary job like this done for Friend Computer and all... "
He looks up expectantly with big puppy dog eyes.
"ach aye, I see yer point. Ah mean, if there aren't enough tae do tha job then of course ah'll have tae help. A bit of exercise ne'er did onybody any harm efter all. So, where's the vat goan tae?"
"Hmm.... help the common worker to carry out a task regardless of rank or station? I'd love to, really I would... sounds a bit commie though. Plus I'm still waiting for results on this device Zat is testing."
Zat continues sleeping... For the moment there are no dreams. Some would think that lying on a pdc in a puddle, drenched with sweat wouldn't help you sleep... But it would seem that reviving memories lost by brainscrub isnt particularly good for you, and that the stress on the mind translates itself to the body.
"oh aye? This is the same Zat who was assigned to cleaning up at Power Services? Can I assume we're expected tae find oorselves a new cleaner on top ae moving this cleaning stuff?"
"If this stuff works as expected...we won't need to do much else beyond getting it there... then running like HEL sector."
"oh, that's braw that is. Jings, it's amazing what R&D comes up wih, isn't it?"
"yup."
"I know I'm just a lowly R&D scientist," interupts Gee-G, "or perhaps one might say a "boffin" (although I really should have white hair sticking out at odd angles and spectacles), it might be a good idea to weld that thing shut, in case the lid comes off. Accidents to happen, and are treason. Unless of course there is anything volatile in there, in which case I'd forego the welding and leave notes for your next clone. Lucky we have six, huh? ..... Hmm. That is a puzzle... a conundrum, if you will. I wonder how many citizens are on their first clone still? I know a nice CPU collator who might help... "
Bee begins typing a PDC message to CPUeaucrat, and after a time gets a reply.
-----------
cMail wrote:
From: CPUreaucrat-G
To: Bee-G
Subject: Re: URGENT! URGENT! URGENT!
Congratulated on making GREEN you too. I have taken up GREEN appartment #3. I really like the space, but it looks like I got stuck with the surly bot again. If he sticks to that attitude for long, I might even start to miss Scrubby.
As for your request, you haven't even picked up the new Service Group Employment Charts you requested before. That makes sense because they are not finished yet. And that would be due to figures lacking from... yes, R&D! I'm confident that you will make sure I receive those figures soon.
Don't worry too much about clone numbers. It seems to me like you are just overly anxious about losing your priminity. That's only natural and you will get used to it soon enough. As they say, once bitten twice cloned.
----------
Bill looks up from over near the door to the CCC lab.
"Ah, good! Aratos! I was starting to wonder... Anyway, yeah, we just did a little test of the... stuff... in here. It seems to be working REALLY well... in fact, so well, that we didn't even need to scrub anything... everything in that room is clean as a whistle... "
He looks doubtfully at the door a moment.
" think the ventalation system should've taken care of the smoke by now... let's have a look at how well it worked, hmm"
He opens the door to an utterly SPOTLESS room... everything in the room is a gleaming WHITE, and the only contents are the bits of metal and very hard materials that the stuff couldn't eat, and a few wisps of WHITE smoke still lingering.
" Hmm... looks like we'll have to get some VIOLET (or maybe ULTRAVIOLET, since that's the color of the room now) citizen to authorize a re-painting of that room... but it's quite clean, though... Now then, shall we head over to Power Services? There should be enough left to take care of whatever needs cleaning there... "
Random resecures the lid.
" I think the lid should be sufficient to keep it in. We don't have any welding equipment even if we wanted to weld it shut... besides... I don't know how flamable this stuff is... it seemed pretty chemically active when we used it on the CCC lab, though... I'm sure the lid will be good enough... Zat? What happened to her? Oh well... I guess we can try it with just 3, I suppose... Going to be tougher that way, though..."
He positions himself with his back to the vat in preparation for lifting.
"Ok, ready everyclone? Aratos, you'd better lead the way, since you know where the mess is."
Bee glances at the message, and makes a note for jumpyip to do some work once in a while. A flash of white and a strongly chemical smell catches his attention. He gets up and looks in the door.
"Hey guys, is that rooooooo... " His eyes goggle, "WHAT THE VAT-LOVING CRAPSTINIAN GOOGAJOO HAVE YOU DONE?!?!?"
"Cleaned the room, like you asked..."
"Ach, ah take it there'll be a wee bit less structural damage when we use it at poower services? Ach."
Aratos grabs the other side of the the vat.
"...my... my... my lab... Ultraviolet clearance..."
Bee sways, and feels a little faint.
"My... it was my... I loved that place... the brains... the smell of polypromokaliphectilin dioxin... I'm speechless..."
Bily stares at Bee-G for a while.
"I think he likes it... well, let's get this vat over to your mess, hmm?"
"ach, off we go then. "
Aratos leads the carrying of the vat off to A corridor"
"Fine, leave me. I can't get into my favourite lab in the whole wide complex, Armed Forces blowing it up, you guys bleaching it a clearance way above me... damn it. All my favourite brain jars were in there too! Maybe I can focus on something other than brains for a while. Weaponry is fun, but everyone does that these days. Pharmatherapy, perhaps. With a smattering of biology. And gravitational physics throw in for good measure. Octal note arts? With a little mega-culture engineering... can't forget that... what was I supposed to be doing again...? Oh right. Zat. Still asleep. Better wake her up before someone comes in and finds her. They might think she's slacking off or something."
Bee bends down and gently shakes her.
"Time to wake up now. Time for breakfast. Or lunch, I'm not sure. Dinner, maybe. Oh well, you'll get whatever you desire."
Zat wakes up slowly, just catching the end of Bee's sentence.
Er, Desire?
Neko waks dow the hall and right before he gets to the door, starts to speak,
"Sir, so far I have... Oh, wait, he's not here. Oh, hi Bee! I haven't seen you for a while, is everything going well?"
Greymist strolls in casually.
"Ahh! Mandatory Vacation is wonderful at Violet Clearance! So, what has happened since I've been gone? Is Neko here? If he is, I want a report. If he isn't, he's fined 10 credits, and I still want a report from whoever is here. And I want a full report, not what CPU gets. Nothing is too small to be left out. What projects have been worked on? How's Rinzai? How's the docbot?"
"Greymist sir! I tried to do as you ordered, however I did not get even halfway through, but that is because of the other service groups."
***The following section (in italics) is not relevant to the Bee/Zat storyline***
"Immediatly after waking up I headed off to PLC, and tried to find someone there, however I was accosted by a monitor which tried to transfer me to PLC, and I returned here quickly to try to get you to prevent it. I wasn't transfered, but Bill stalled me a little bit trying to get me to light myself on fire so he could melt a clone shaped chunk of plastic. He then left to find something to start the fire, and I returned to PLC, finally managing to find somebody, who said that he was the only person he had seen there. I briefed him on what we wanted, and he said he would do it. Due to the fact that nobody was there except for one person, who was apparently hiding and waited for a while to come out, thus costing me time, I was late.
"I headed to the main lab to see if you were here, so I could inform you that I had completed that first step, but you weren't here. I saw Rinzai, bopping a lazy clone, and the DocBot was humming happily to itself in the corner, or buzzing happily, or just doing something happily in the corner. I then left to continue with my job.
"I hurried over to CPU, to find somebody there. Fortunatly no one tried to convert me there, but there was also no one there. I searched the premises, during which I saw a report on a vidscreen within my clearance that said something, which although I am not trained in CPU jargon it seemed to me to say that no one working for CPU had reported in for an overly long time.
"I then made my way quickly to HPD&MC, and to my surprise, there was nobody there either! I searched there also, but to no avail. I sensed a patter, and was about to leave to go to the next place, The searching of course set me back even further, then I got the report from Friend Computer, hail him, to spend money so as to not be communist horders!
"I, a loyal citizen, rushed over to the PLC mall, and attempted to purchase items, however there were many other citizens in line, and when I got to the counter there were only two things I could afford, Inner Happiness pills and a PDC. I made sure that those were the only things I could purchase, then acquired a couple packs of the pills, then returned here, looking for you so I could give you a status report, then you showed up, and so I am giving to you this report."
Neko releases a sigh, finally able to take a breath after unleashing all those words.
"Anything else, sir? Shall I continue with my duty where I left off or shall I head to those places which were previously vacant, and try to find somebody again."
"Yes, Neko, continue on your way. Good job, Bee, on keeping the place from imploding or exploding at the same time. It's almost a record."
"Ah. Professor Greymist, sir," Bee straightens up, "Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed yourself on your time off. I understand there was some sort of disturbance here, and the CCC labs got trashed. Well, I asked Bill-O to give it a quick clean and... well... he used some kind of experimental cleaning agent. Let's just say no one can go in right now, unless you get promoted of course... I think we'll have to arrange a repainting. Until then we're left without a specialty lab, so I'm just finishing up my brain research now."
Disire... hmmm The word reminds her of something, but she cant quite think what.
"huh? Oh, s'you, Sir." She sits up slowly. Sudden nausea driving all thoughts pertainnig ti the word 'desire' quickly from her mind. She holds her head in her hands for a moment. "Uhg..."
Zat looks up at Bee, wincing as she pulls out the probes. Her face is still slightly moist and she is shaking slightly.
"Er, Zat? Zat? Are you ok? You really don't look so good. I think we should go get some breakfast. Er... lunch. Whatever."
Bee glances at Zat's slightly ripped uniform, and swallows hard.
"...And a new uniform, I think. Got any credits?"
Greymist glances at Zat.
"You know, Zat, you seem to go through more uniforms... Perhaps we should look into more durable fabrics..."
...Greymist?
Zat finally notices the VIOLET. She stands up too quickly and swoons, leaning on something while Bee speaks to Geymist and her vision returns to normal. She notices Bee asking her a question.
"Erm, yes, sir..." She pauses a moment. "At least I think so... Yes I have some credits..."
Hmm, he looks a little uncomfortable... Must be because of the VIOLET.
"Right. We'll pick up some HotFun at PLC, you can get a new uniform and you can tell me if the machine worked. I hope Vinnie has some left, I hear supplies are getting a little scarce..."
Zat nods and follows Bee out.
Bee-G-CAN; Brain researcher.
Zat-R-NIK; New citizen to PLN, wearing a ripped uniform.
Random-R
Aratos-O
Neko
Grey-V-MST; "Greymist" Head of Research &Design in PLN
Bill
Rinsai, Greymist's pet docbot.
Jumpyip.
Forum covered in this section:
R&D Main lab, 50.2 -> end page 54
Jumpyip is, once again, inexplicably standing in a daze. The bot Rinsai wheels up slowly behind him.
"Citizen, what is the sound of one hand clapping?
"Er, I don't know. What is the sound of one hand clapping?"
Rinsai whacks Jumpyip in the head.
"WHO CARES? NOW GET BACK TO WORK!"
"Er, yes...perhaps I should do that."
He exits, and Grey-V-MST walks through.
"All right. So much has happened lately, I'm taking a break."
Bee marches in, extremely PO'ed.
"Bee, you're authorized to provide authorization, just not under my name."
Zat-R snores softly. The eye visible to observers is still slightly open.
"Greymist! I... oh. Well, have fun."
Authorization? Great. I authorize everyone to smeg off! Bloody nitrogen. Bloody stuff is everywhere. Bloody Tech Services.
He sits down at his desk, and puts down his load. It sticks to his hand frostily.
Bee takes a deep breath, and thinks happy thoughts. Friend Computer's Big Giant Eye inside the visor of a whining petbot at the bottom of a well, or something.
"Would someone please help me?"
Bill walks in from the ex-CCC Lab, tapping the snoring Zat-R on the way by.
" Say, Zat-R! Mind giving me a hand with this vat? Two of us should be enough to roll it over to this room. Looks like we need to test this a little bit here before we take it over to Power Services... "
He makes sure lid is secure on vat.
Bee looks around.
"Zat? Where?"
.... then looks down...
"Oh. Hello Zat? Hello? Wakey-Wakey! Some hot water please, or something,"
"Zat stirs a little. The eye closes, then opens a litle, blinks and looks blearily around. It sees the GREEN citizens YELLOW boots, travels up the YELLOW jumpsuit and RED lab coat and finally reaches the face. A moment of recognition is replaced by confusion, which is immediatly forgotten.
"Sir?"
"Some hot water, please. I need to unfreeze my hand from his thing... And by hot water I don't mean HotFun, warmed up ColdFun or anything -Fun. Ordinary hot water is just as exciting as most forms of nutrition, and nicely watery."
"Yes, sir. Although if I may, wouldn't cool water be better for a frozen hand?"
She looks for a clean beaker to fill at the nearest boiled-distilled-water despencer. Not seeing one very close, she deciades that speed is probebly more important, and pours some into her hands. As she turns the tap, the word "fun" is revealed to be written on the side previously out of sight...
GREENY takin' my help... oh well... I'll have to see to HIM later... Thinks Bill-O, then sighs and starts trying to inch the vat across the floor toward the ex-CCCP lab door.
SCCCRRRRRAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE
Random strolls in nonchalantly
"Sooooo... how goes the heavy lifting? Hope I'm not to late to do my part... He looks expectant."
"Please quit the scraping noises." Interjects Bee-G "Citizen Random-R, kindly give him a hand. Zat? Quickly now."
Random goes over and helps Billy move the vat to wherever he's moving it to.
"Wow, this thing is really heavy, citizen... uhm are you sure that lid is secure? I have'nt gotten a response to my requisition for hazmat gear yet and would hate to get any of that stuff on me."
Aw, is da widdle GWEENY annoyed at da howwible noise? Good! Serves ya right ya little... Ya know he used to be a pretty ok guy back when we were both REDs... must be something that happens when you get above YELLOW clearance..
" HAZMAT Gear?! I hardly think that'll be necessary! I was just talking about gloves and goggles! Oh well, if they don't have them, they don't have them."
"Anyway, we're just moving this over here to this door, where I have a bit of a mess to clean up before we head back over to Power Services... Where IS Aratos, anyway?"
Bill and Random manage to 'roll' the vat over to the door without too much more scraping noise. Once at the doorway, Bill removes the protective lid to reveal to bubbling, steaming contents.
" Ok, we need to slowly and carefully pour some out onto the floor here... goood... gooood... goo..AH VATCRAP!!"
Rinsai apparently decides Bill has been standing in one place too long, and whacks him one in the shins, causing a good deal more 'stuff' to pour out... about half the vat... before Bill and Random wrestle it under control. A huge puddle of 'stuff' pours rapidly into the ex-CCC lab.
"Zat! Hurry up! I hope you're not using the Fundamental Particle Oils tap. We don't have much of that stuff left."
"No sir, it says Boiled Distilled Water f- er, water, sir."
She notices that the conainer is nearly empty, gives up and carries the whole thing over. She rushes over to Bee-G and turns the tap, hurriely, tipping the container slightly. One drop falls. She gets ready to increase the angle.
As the drip falls towards Bees hand, Zats PDC makes a noise that sounds rather like "Wlreeereeegrrrel."
(If you have ever heard the noise of an old mobile that has been ran over several times but is STILL RINGING makes, you know what I mean.)
The ringing causes her to hesitate a moment. The drop hits Bee's hand with an ominous plik.
Time slows as the drop falls towards Bee's hand. The PDC rings in a deep slo-mo tone, and Bee's eyes blink and flick down, watching the drop. His mouth opens slowly...*
"Nnnnooooooooooo........"
The drop hits....
"..........oooo! not like that. More water please, don't worry about the device. It is waterproofed. I think."
Zat sighs and upends the dipensor. Some of it splashes and trickles down Bees boot, some more splashes on the pdc. It keeps ruinging, sounding only slightly moreirritatng.
Bryyoooondg-hhiooooonrrrnnnrrn-weeeeerrrop
Bee unsticks his hand with a velcro sound.
"Ah, thank you."
He looks at his boots.
"Ah. Oh well."
Bee prods the device. It doesn't do anything. He frowns, and reprods.
"I think we'd better test this. And I can't, not this soon... "
He looks up at Zat. He smiles.
She looks back, and returns the smile trustingly.
"Sir?" (Brrrrriiisnnnnnng)
She then looks a little worried,
"sorry, about your boots..."
"Hey, no problem. Frost is above my clearance anyway. I'm sure an adventurous citizen like yourself would jump at the chance to test one of my, er, special devices! 42% pain-free! And only half the calories!"
"Um, sure... to be honest, if I'm going to be moving to HPD&MC for a while I'de prefer to have at least a little time in R&D, sir."
She looks at the device, them wipes some liquid of it.
bluuuurgle fnnoooorrrtllllbbbbrrrrrreeeg
"Er, mind if I cheak this message first?"
Bee-G waits, patiently for a citizen of his clearance. He drums his fingers.
Zat cheaks the PDC. It continues making unhealthy souning noises, though less annoying now.
The Message wrote:
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ gϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛauϛϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛ ffϛϛϛϛϛ ϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛ ϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛ
ϛϛ uaruϛϛϛ ϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛshϛϛaϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛ
ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛeϛϛϛϛϛϛ ϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛϛ
Zat sighs.
"okay, sir, what should I do?"
"Alrighty then... put your hands on the console, and think happy thoughts. Then the antennae come out. Bend them towards you and then... well, you'll see."
"Okay, sir..."
She puts out her hands and places them on the console.
Im serving loyally! :)
nothing happens
the computer is my freind? =)
nothing happens.
In this sector ill probebly get promoted soon? =D
The antennae pop out, and zat bends them towards herself.
"There we go... now just relax and... oh. Yeah, you got the hang of it quick."
Gee, that really isn't very pretty...
Zat looks surprised for a moment then slumps. The antenae, firmly planted in her temples, follow her down with a zwwwwlip noise.
--------------------
Desire...Desire...desire...
What?
Exactly, what? What do... do you desire?
Nothing/loyalty only/something?
Nevermind.... Come deeper.
Zat follows, swimming after a small undefined shadowy figure down a well that gets darker the further they go. Oddly the figure gets brighter and more defined in the darkness.
What did you desire?
I don't know?
the dream scene changes, Zat is back in NIK sector, speaking to the computer.
Freind Computer... I don't know what to do.
The big eye slides across the screen, it's pupil contracting questioningly.
Well, it's just... the don't really need me here, and I think I would be able to serve you better elsewhere.
Possibly.
"I was watching that vid sho-"
I know
"er, of course... Well I was thinking-"
I know that too.
"right, well can I?"
Yes.
"thankyou, freind computer!"
Transfering you to PLN sector - May you live in interesting times. Report to CPU, tardiness is treason
The door opens and Zat leaves through it, heading back into the tunnel. It is simultaneosly brighter and darker than before.
What did you learn?
I... What do you mean? That was just a memory...
I suppose...
...what did you desire?
I don't know.
come deeper.
As they move deeper the surroundings make less and less sence. They float downwards through a vast cavern, falling and flying as the walls press in around them. The figure can now be seen to be a junior clone with black hair, though the detail are still vaugue.
White tendrils on the girl in a black dress enfold Zat,the void dissolves and she is standing on sand. She if surrounded by a huge croud of the child. None of them are exactly the same, and they do not glow like the main incarnation. They whisper in the darkness.
Do you remember us?
Do you- Do you remember?
no
when? how far?
do you rem- do you remember?
Do you? tell us?
Well?
NO!
She doesnt remember
dosn't she care?
What did we do wrong
How could you? You're PATHETIC
YOU ARNT REALLY LOYAL! ITS JUST A FARSE
YOU DONT EVEN KNOW YOURSELF!
The whispering rises to an angry pitch, the figures rushing towards her, bacoming ghostly, menacing and distorted; Mouths gaping and clawed hands evtended they decend, and Zat cowers.
What did you Learn?
Zat lies sobbing, sprawled on a vast white surface. She opens her eyes blearily. The girl points upward. Above them a scene of the crowd rushing at Zat suddenly unfreezes. The mob swarms in and she cannot see her self. She hears herself scream, and a single drop of bood falls to land on her unturned face, mingling with the tears. The scene fades away, leaving only the spot of blood. The girl stands before her, leaving no shadow. She raises her head and looks directly in Zats eyes. Both pairs are the same startling green.
That is all that is left, do you understand?
Why?
Do you know what you desire?
...please...
They are the present, did you know? Is this the future?
The spot of blood dissolves, and the area grows cold. It is dark once more, and the girl is some distance away.
----------------
WHITE smoke begins to come out of the CCC Lab door
"Uh oh! Uh, HOU Sector, we have a problem! Random! Help me get this vat out of the door so we can close it! HURRY!!"
Bill-O starts pushing the vat back away from the CCC Lab door.
He helps as best he can, straining with the effort
"At least... it's not...quite as heavy... as before...there!!! phew... that wasn't such a chore then."
"We could probably carry it to Power Services fairly easily now with just three clones, don't you think? Although I don't think any of us should hang around after we dump this stuff onto the affected area..."
Lying on the floor as she fell, Zat had tenced up after a time. She had broken out in a sweat, and was breathing heavily. For a moment her whole body goes rigid.
----------------
Hehehhahaha! Come and play with me!
..........Play! ................Come and play! .....................Hehhehehahaha!
Mist rises in the darkness.
Huh? Whats going on.... Wait!
The girl doesn't seem to hear. She runs off into the mist after something only she can see. Time passes and Zat takes a tentative srep forwards. With each movement the mist grows thicker. After a time the mist is so thick that Zat cant even see her own nose.
.....................Hehehahaha!...........
Zat follows the sound of the laughter. The mist thins to reveal the girl playing with another junior clone in a sand pit. The two seem quite happy an content, though Zat feels immediate, though underfined anxiety that borders on panic at the sight.
No...
She starts rushing towards the pair, but can make no progress fowards. The girl whispers something to her playmate, who blushes.
You can't change it.
What?
Zat whirls around. The girl is standing behind her, chewing on a finger.
You just can't
No... I know.
You remeber now, don't you?
I... Yes... Well, a little.
Zat kneels down and looks into the identical green eyes.
You're me, arn't you? As I was... before?
Behind Zat, the same little girl, Lucy, is being carried off by the teachbot, to the distress of the young Bee. The girl takes the finger out of her mouth, looks at it, then speaks.
Sort of... Let me see if I can explain.
Lucy's eyes close. When se opens them they are white. Superimposed over the young girl is the same seven foot tall INFRARED that Bee had seen in his dreams. Their two voices intermingle as they speaak.
We are a part of all things.
.....................................of all things.
All that ends, and all that begins.
.............ends..............begins.
All you see and hear.
......hear.
And every thought and dream.
..........every dream.
It all comes to us.
....................will come to us.
She is of you.
.......you.
As you are of us.
..............will come to us.
But not now.
You don't belong here yet.
The cloaked figure vanishes, and Lucy and Zat are once more alone. Lucy wipes her finger and smiles, taking Zats hand, and starting to lead her back the way they came.
It is you who are you, whoever you decide to be.
I am you, yes, but I am so much more, and so much less.
You may even find the truth in PLN. Is that what you desire?
Zat pauses.
What do you mean, Won't I remeber?
No, the block in your mind is stong, that you must come this deep to see me...
But...
You should come.
As they drift slowly up the tunnel of the well, the walls grow brighter, and Lucy grows fainter, once again a mere shadow. Zat stops, looking confused.
Who did you say you were?
There is the sound of distnt laughter. As it dies away Only the echoe of one word can be heard.
Desire...desire...desire....
-----------------
As the dream fades away. The last of the tension drains out of her body and she smils slightly, sucking on a finger and sleeping normally.
"Er, guys?" Says Bee, "I have a volunteer here who isn't able to move by herself... and I'm not sure when she's going to wake up..."
Bee looks down and scratches his head.
I hope I don't look like that when I'm in there. I wonder what she's doing?
Random, resting from the exertion of moving the vat, sees Zat asleep on floor.
"Oh...good, she was looking a little stressed out earlier. I'm glad she finally got a chance to get some rest."
"I just wonder how long she'll be out...oh well, it's not like that mess in Power Services is going anywhere..."
Random slumps to the floor.
"I'm not ready to sleep myself, but I can rest here till she comes to."
"Ohh, you mean in Power Services?"
Bee thinks for a moment.
"What the heck are you guys trying to clean up in there that is so bad you can't be in the same room as the stuff?"
"Citizen Bee-G, were so preoccupied with your own actions with Zat that you failed to notice what just happened with the mess we just cleaned up over there?"
Random points in the direction of door.
"I'm not particularly enthused with the idea of hanging around here any longer than necessary, but we need Zat in order to move this vat to Power Services, sir."
"Oh. Yeah, whatever. I just thought no one would be silly enough to create a dangerous situation here without prior approval, that's all."
Bee watches Zat sleep peacefully. He notices her clothes are ripped somewhat, with patches of skin showing here and there. He shakes his head, as if to clear it.
I wonder what those hormone suppressants I flushed down the toilet actually suppressed? It's not like I'm not allowed to alter my pharmaceutical intake at my rank... plus I'm a scientist, I should know these things...
He drums his fingers hurriedly, waves in Random-R's direction irritably.
"Just so long as you closed the door. Or you'll have to clean it up before you leave, and that might take a while."
Bee mutters under his breath.
"yeah...without proper cleaning it would take an inordinately long time...which is why we are in this mess in the first place."
Random remembers where he is and to whom he is speaking.
"Oh... sir yes sir!"
Bee jumps at the loudness.
"Yes. Er, thank you. What IS that stuff, anyway? Not above your clearance, is it?"
Random stands to attention.
"Don't know, don't care, sir! Just trying to do my bit, sir! I know nothink...nooothiinnkk."
he drops to knees pleading and snivelling.
"Please sir *sniff* I'm just a simple clone trying to serve friend computer any way I can...*waaaa*" He begins the serious bootlicking, "I'm new to this sector, sir... unaware and ignorant of its protocols," looks over at Bill-O, "Besides which, I was acting under orders from Bill-O... it was all his idea."
"Ignorance is treason, citizen. You do realise that, right? ... Sigh ... I'm not accusing you, but I'd keep an eye out in future. We have no traitors here in R&D, ok?"
Aratos wanders in, lookign rather quesy.
"Ach, yer still here? Ah was wondering if ye'd got it tae Poower services whilst ah was away being kilt by a docbot. Oh aye. and a msitake in the clonebats with me voval cords has left me speaking wi a NED sector accent tae boot. Ach. Anywho, we gonnae shift this thing or whit?"
Randomjumps to his feet.
"Yeah, now we have three clones for the lifting... That's the ticket!"
He rushes over to help lift the vat.
"wella ctually laddie, ah wis plannin' own supervisin' you lot, ya ken?"
"Excuse me..." Bee reads the name tag, "Aratos-O? Why don't you help lift as well? Bill-O is lifting, and they need three to carry it all the way there. Why don't I supervise, until you get out the door, at least?"
Hmm. Power is fun. No wonder all the capitalists abuse it.
Random looks dejected. He shuffles his toe around on the floor in small circles with hands behind his back.
"Oh, yeah I see... It was just that when we needed four clones for the job you seemed more willing to pitch in is all... and what with Bill-O generously giving of his time and energy to help out... I just figured...naw, you're right... a high clearance clone like yerself, probably would'nt want to put hisself out to get a necessary job like this done for Friend Computer and all... "
He looks up expectantly with big puppy dog eyes.
"ach aye, I see yer point. Ah mean, if there aren't enough tae do tha job then of course ah'll have tae help. A bit of exercise ne'er did onybody any harm efter all. So, where's the vat goan tae?"
"Hmm.... help the common worker to carry out a task regardless of rank or station? I'd love to, really I would... sounds a bit commie though. Plus I'm still waiting for results on this device Zat is testing."
Zat continues sleeping... For the moment there are no dreams. Some would think that lying on a pdc in a puddle, drenched with sweat wouldn't help you sleep... But it would seem that reviving memories lost by brainscrub isnt particularly good for you, and that the stress on the mind translates itself to the body.
"oh aye? This is the same Zat who was assigned to cleaning up at Power Services? Can I assume we're expected tae find oorselves a new cleaner on top ae moving this cleaning stuff?"
"If this stuff works as expected...we won't need to do much else beyond getting it there... then running like HEL sector."
"oh, that's braw that is. Jings, it's amazing what R&D comes up wih, isn't it?"
"yup."
"I know I'm just a lowly R&D scientist," interupts Gee-G, "or perhaps one might say a "boffin" (although I really should have white hair sticking out at odd angles and spectacles), it might be a good idea to weld that thing shut, in case the lid comes off. Accidents to happen, and are treason. Unless of course there is anything volatile in there, in which case I'd forego the welding and leave notes for your next clone. Lucky we have six, huh? ..... Hmm. That is a puzzle... a conundrum, if you will. I wonder how many citizens are on their first clone still? I know a nice CPU collator who might help... "
Bee begins typing a PDC message to CPUeaucrat, and after a time gets a reply.
-----------
cMail wrote:
From: CPUreaucrat-G
To: Bee-G
Subject: Re: URGENT! URGENT! URGENT!
Congratulated on making GREEN you too. I have taken up GREEN appartment #3. I really like the space, but it looks like I got stuck with the surly bot again. If he sticks to that attitude for long, I might even start to miss Scrubby.
As for your request, you haven't even picked up the new Service Group Employment Charts you requested before. That makes sense because they are not finished yet. And that would be due to figures lacking from... yes, R&D! I'm confident that you will make sure I receive those figures soon.
Don't worry too much about clone numbers. It seems to me like you are just overly anxious about losing your priminity. That's only natural and you will get used to it soon enough. As they say, once bitten twice cloned.
----------
Bill looks up from over near the door to the CCC lab.
"Ah, good! Aratos! I was starting to wonder... Anyway, yeah, we just did a little test of the... stuff... in here. It seems to be working REALLY well... in fact, so well, that we didn't even need to scrub anything... everything in that room is clean as a whistle... "
He looks doubtfully at the door a moment.
" think the ventalation system should've taken care of the smoke by now... let's have a look at how well it worked, hmm"
He opens the door to an utterly SPOTLESS room... everything in the room is a gleaming WHITE, and the only contents are the bits of metal and very hard materials that the stuff couldn't eat, and a few wisps of WHITE smoke still lingering.
" Hmm... looks like we'll have to get some VIOLET (or maybe ULTRAVIOLET, since that's the color of the room now) citizen to authorize a re-painting of that room... but it's quite clean, though... Now then, shall we head over to Power Services? There should be enough left to take care of whatever needs cleaning there... "
Random resecures the lid.
" I think the lid should be sufficient to keep it in. We don't have any welding equipment even if we wanted to weld it shut... besides... I don't know how flamable this stuff is... it seemed pretty chemically active when we used it on the CCC lab, though... I'm sure the lid will be good enough... Zat? What happened to her? Oh well... I guess we can try it with just 3, I suppose... Going to be tougher that way, though..."
He positions himself with his back to the vat in preparation for lifting.
"Ok, ready everyclone? Aratos, you'd better lead the way, since you know where the mess is."
Bee glances at the message, and makes a note for jumpyip to do some work once in a while. A flash of white and a strongly chemical smell catches his attention. He gets up and looks in the door.
"Hey guys, is that rooooooo... " His eyes goggle, "WHAT THE VAT-LOVING CRAPSTINIAN GOOGAJOO HAVE YOU DONE?!?!?"
"Cleaned the room, like you asked..."
"Ach, ah take it there'll be a wee bit less structural damage when we use it at poower services? Ach."
Aratos grabs the other side of the the vat.
"...my... my... my lab... Ultraviolet clearance..."
Bee sways, and feels a little faint.
"My... it was my... I loved that place... the brains... the smell of polypromokaliphectilin dioxin... I'm speechless..."
Bily stares at Bee-G for a while.
"I think he likes it... well, let's get this vat over to your mess, hmm?"
"ach, off we go then. "
Aratos leads the carrying of the vat off to A corridor"
"Fine, leave me. I can't get into my favourite lab in the whole wide complex, Armed Forces blowing it up, you guys bleaching it a clearance way above me... damn it. All my favourite brain jars were in there too! Maybe I can focus on something other than brains for a while. Weaponry is fun, but everyone does that these days. Pharmatherapy, perhaps. With a smattering of biology. And gravitational physics throw in for good measure. Octal note arts? With a little mega-culture engineering... can't forget that... what was I supposed to be doing again...? Oh right. Zat. Still asleep. Better wake her up before someone comes in and finds her. They might think she's slacking off or something."
Bee bends down and gently shakes her.
"Time to wake up now. Time for breakfast. Or lunch, I'm not sure. Dinner, maybe. Oh well, you'll get whatever you desire."
Zat wakes up slowly, just catching the end of Bee's sentence.
Er, Desire?
Neko waks dow the hall and right before he gets to the door, starts to speak,
"Sir, so far I have... Oh, wait, he's not here. Oh, hi Bee! I haven't seen you for a while, is everything going well?"
Greymist strolls in casually.
"Ahh! Mandatory Vacation is wonderful at Violet Clearance! So, what has happened since I've been gone? Is Neko here? If he is, I want a report. If he isn't, he's fined 10 credits, and I still want a report from whoever is here. And I want a full report, not what CPU gets. Nothing is too small to be left out. What projects have been worked on? How's Rinzai? How's the docbot?"
"Greymist sir! I tried to do as you ordered, however I did not get even halfway through, but that is because of the other service groups."
***The following section (in italics) is not relevant to the Bee/Zat storyline***
"Immediatly after waking up I headed off to PLC, and tried to find someone there, however I was accosted by a monitor which tried to transfer me to PLC, and I returned here quickly to try to get you to prevent it. I wasn't transfered, but Bill stalled me a little bit trying to get me to light myself on fire so he could melt a clone shaped chunk of plastic. He then left to find something to start the fire, and I returned to PLC, finally managing to find somebody, who said that he was the only person he had seen there. I briefed him on what we wanted, and he said he would do it. Due to the fact that nobody was there except for one person, who was apparently hiding and waited for a while to come out, thus costing me time, I was late.
"I headed to the main lab to see if you were here, so I could inform you that I had completed that first step, but you weren't here. I saw Rinzai, bopping a lazy clone, and the DocBot was humming happily to itself in the corner, or buzzing happily, or just doing something happily in the corner. I then left to continue with my job.
"I hurried over to CPU, to find somebody there. Fortunatly no one tried to convert me there, but there was also no one there. I searched the premises, during which I saw a report on a vidscreen within my clearance that said something, which although I am not trained in CPU jargon it seemed to me to say that no one working for CPU had reported in for an overly long time.
"I then made my way quickly to HPD&MC, and to my surprise, there was nobody there either! I searched there also, but to no avail. I sensed a patter, and was about to leave to go to the next place, The searching of course set me back even further, then I got the report from Friend Computer, hail him, to spend money so as to not be communist horders!
"I, a loyal citizen, rushed over to the PLC mall, and attempted to purchase items, however there were many other citizens in line, and when I got to the counter there were only two things I could afford, Inner Happiness pills and a PDC. I made sure that those were the only things I could purchase, then acquired a couple packs of the pills, then returned here, looking for you so I could give you a status report, then you showed up, and so I am giving to you this report."
Neko releases a sigh, finally able to take a breath after unleashing all those words.
"Anything else, sir? Shall I continue with my duty where I left off or shall I head to those places which were previously vacant, and try to find somebody again."
"Yes, Neko, continue on your way. Good job, Bee, on keeping the place from imploding or exploding at the same time. It's almost a record."
"Ah. Professor Greymist, sir," Bee straightens up, "Welcome back. I hope you enjoyed yourself on your time off. I understand there was some sort of disturbance here, and the CCC labs got trashed. Well, I asked Bill-O to give it a quick clean and... well... he used some kind of experimental cleaning agent. Let's just say no one can go in right now, unless you get promoted of course... I think we'll have to arrange a repainting. Until then we're left without a specialty lab, so I'm just finishing up my brain research now."
Disire... hmmm The word reminds her of something, but she cant quite think what.
"huh? Oh, s'you, Sir." She sits up slowly. Sudden nausea driving all thoughts pertainnig ti the word 'desire' quickly from her mind. She holds her head in her hands for a moment. "Uhg..."
Zat looks up at Bee, wincing as she pulls out the probes. Her face is still slightly moist and she is shaking slightly.
"Er, Zat? Zat? Are you ok? You really don't look so good. I think we should go get some breakfast. Er... lunch. Whatever."
Bee glances at Zat's slightly ripped uniform, and swallows hard.
"...And a new uniform, I think. Got any credits?"
Greymist glances at Zat.
"You know, Zat, you seem to go through more uniforms... Perhaps we should look into more durable fabrics..."
...Greymist?
Zat finally notices the VIOLET. She stands up too quickly and swoons, leaning on something while Bee speaks to Geymist and her vision returns to normal. She notices Bee asking her a question.
"Erm, yes, sir..." She pauses a moment. "At least I think so... Yes I have some credits..."
Hmm, he looks a little uncomfortable... Must be because of the VIOLET.
"Right. We'll pick up some HotFun at PLC, you can get a new uniform and you can tell me if the machine worked. I hope Vinnie has some left, I hear supplies are getting a little scarce..."
Zat nods and follows Bee out.
posted by Zatnik | 11:42 PM
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