Futuristic Scrapmetal Circus: Wayfinder

[Inufandom]

"I'm not surprised you don't know about her, the last time she was brought out was almost twenty years ago. A bit before I hired you, if I'm not mistaken." Xen stood, pressing an electronic relief of a soaring angel and then standing next to the coffin. "Come see Sleeping Beauty here for yourself." He said, and guestured to the empty shell now being fully revealed as it opened and released the white mist along the floor. "This is no mere girl, and this is no box. You're looking at a coffin and the corpse it houses. Be mindful of yourself and show respect for a dear friend of mine, gone for almost a century now..." Xen's smile became somewhat sad. "Meet Celeste Dijio."

Jade gingerly approached the body, looking down upon a stunningly beautiful woman. Indeed, 'Sleeping Beauty" was a bit of an understatement. Her sharp features and waist length raven black hair gave an air of aristocracy. Faint rouge was on her cheeks, and her lips were painted a deep crimson. Her eyelids held a deep purpleish smokey haze about them. But as Jade looked down at the pristine body swathed in an elegant ruffled red dress, he appeared confused and placed his fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Would you please tell me why you're keeping a corpse just laying around? Seriously, that's really creepy, Boss." Jade peered at the body again. "And if she's been dead for a century, why does she look that damn good?" He demanded.

Xen chuckled. "Celeste here, may she rest in peace, passed away because her brain began to harden, and eventually ceased function. This body was the final body I built just for her after she had an accident leaving her human body unable to move. As fate would have it, this accident led her to me and we became dear friends outside of buisness." Xen sighed. "But saddly, it was not meant for her to live past the age of fourty. She passed on from this plane only ten years before there was any hope of combating such conditions with syrums and medical nanites." Xen's eyes faintly watered, and his smile could not mask his sorrow. "The sheer irony of that is not lost on me."

Jade sighed. "That still doesn't tell me why you have her body." His face curled up sightly in disgust. "Is... is her brain... still in there...?" He was visibly repulsed by the idea as he stared at Xen.

Xen calmed his fears with a wave of his hand. "No, she's been laid to rest. Her genetics are in this body, but not any of her. She left this body to me and forced me into agreeing to dusting her off once in awhile." Jade sighed in relief as Xen spoke. "It's nice to hear her again when this body is active, but it's only a hollow echo of who she was."

Xen looked down upon his long gone friend. "This particular body was designed with her condition in mind, while taking every chance to strive to make this body as close as I possibly could to her original human one." Xen moved to touch the face of his friend, her skin as cold as ice from storage and disuse, and engraving it deeper into his mind that she herself was long gone. "Because of every last chance she had here in this body failing her, this was her body for only a few years. She gave everything to keep her fans as happy as she could with her voice till the very end. One night she fell asleep, and never woke up."

"I'm sorry, Xen. But I've seen she's dead. How is she performing?" Jade asked, his arms crossed. Xen's smile became genuine, relishing the memories. "She wasn't just a talented performer, she was a brilliant programmer. She designed the program these little performances she gives now operate on."

Jade took a seat. "Program? Are these more or less body recordings? That's the only way I see that working."

Xen was surprised, but only smiled. "Correct. Each of her songs is a different recording of her every movement. Unfortunately, while thrilling for a crowd, its kind of boring for the operator."

Jade again stared blankly at Xen. "Operator?" He said., and it dawned on him. "Wait... someone has to pilot her body?" He recoiled in abject horror. "Someone has to go into her cyber-brain remotely?"

"Yes. After removal of her biological brain, a Magitek CPU was installed, as per her final wishes." Xen shrugged. "Naturally, it was me who had to run her software once she was gone." Xen's face twitched at memories long gone, and his smile became somewhat sardonic. "Believe me, I creeped my self into putting her away for quite awhile after her first performance after death."

Xen stood from the coffin, sealing it once more. The mist returned, and Jade pointed to it. "And that must be why she's still fresh."

"Indeed. A high moisture environment with low temperature completely pressurized and sealed. There are also nanite machines programmed to maintain a poly-metaloid carbon within the mist as well, due to the delicate nature of this particular body. Otherwise she'd simply rot."

 

[sDoyle1223]

As J sat and spoke with Vivienne, he could feel himself become less cautious and calm than ever before. With a cough, he straightened up blushing a little in embarrassment. J's tablet flashed as new information came to him. Every time they went somewhere new, he had his system collect information about the area so they could be prepared. The different amusement areas seemed very interesting in that region, but the biggest thing he picked up information on was the Hotel Moscow. The shops seemed to be full of goodies that J would love to get his hands on.

"This Hotel Moscow seems to be a hot spot for the area. I can't wait to get into those stores though. I think I have just enough money to get a new chip for upgrading my tablet." He smiles happily and sees his mother sip awkwardly at her drink. She seemed distant and flustered, something he had not seen in a very long time. It left an unsettling feeling in his gut. If started getting the hots for that other bot, it might be a repeat of the past. Something he did not want to go through ever again. J's arm twinged in pain as he remembered the crushing hand on it.

"Hey mom, would you want me to try and fix up your leg once we get enough money to upgrade it? That way we don't have to break your leg to use the gun," J said shifting in his seat. Yuriko smiled at her son and nodded softly.

"Yes that would be nice, but we don't have to do that right away. Get your arm worked on first hunny." Yuriko smiled at the two and went back to sipping at her drink quietly. She turned down her auditory volume and turned on an old video she had saved of before J was born. He was still wiggling around in her belly, and his father was talking to him excitedly about all of the fun things they would do when he got older. She could feel her heart racing in excitement and in pain at that memory. She wished she could have seen her creator there. Could feel a shred of intimacy from another being, but that was a hope that was dead a long time ago. So she sat there in her memories as she waited for this long ship ride to come to an end.

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke crumpled the empty wrapper, his hunger sated. The empty dining area had a few monitors, and he directly connected to it wirelessly. He could feel the counterfeit there, and he really did feel like a lot more was going on here than at first glance. Regardless, another scene didn't need to pan out. He decided to retreat to his private quarters, assigned by e-mail by the mysterious assistant, Jade, along with directions to the Hotel from the spaceport. Transportation for his vehicle were being handled as well, though separately.

Just what kind of man served directly under Xen? And just how ferocious was the dog in comparison to the master? Zeke flopped onto his bed, resigned. He felt something activate within the ship, though he was too tired to peer into it. Seconds later, he was forwarded a digital invitation to see the performance being held at The Hotel Moscow. Apparently, the 'Legendary' Celeste Dijio was giving a special performance. This invitation included his stay at the Hotel, and with in this also an employee stage pass for a 'show hosted by Seraphim.' Zeke's brow wrinkled as his wristband identification/wallet was updated with the information. The invitation also held an attached notice directed to Zeke personally from Jade, informing Zeke he was to be fitted for a new suit upon arrival to the Hotel, and to be 'prepared for anything Xen will say, as per contract.'

Just what was that old cyborg coot planning? Zeke thought to himself. These kinds of questions plagued him. After awhile, Zeke put on some movies from the selection available and drifted off to sleep. Seminol was still nearly ten hours away...

 

[AnnaVale]

Jade shook his head, trying to wrap his mind around this dead woman. "This is honestly the craziest thing I have ever seen boss. But, it is rather interesting while being creepy." Jade yawned as he looked at the time. "Maybe it's time that we get some shut eye?" Jade said yawning again.

On the transport vessel, Vivienne smiled big as she blushed and her heart was racing as she feels like she was falling for J. She just found him so intelligent and sweet. She didn't think she would ever fine love, let alone on this trip of all places. She yawned as she drank the last of her tea.

 

[AnnaVale]

Rust laid there on his bed in the other shuttle. He occupied his time by reading a book. He wondered who was on the other shuttle. He slowly drifted off to sleep

 

[sDoyle1223]

J watched his mother go into her own world seeming to harden. She was looking on the past and he knew it. However, no matter how many times he tried to hack his mother’s system to see what she was looking at, he would get shut out. What was the point now.

“Maybe it is time to get some rest. There is still a decent amount of time left on the trip. Mom, wanna go to our rooms?” Yuriko could read his lips to understand the just of what he was saying before turning her audio back on.

“Yeah let’s go. I guess see you in the morning Vivienne.” She waved to the Osc then headed to her room. J was hesitant to go to his own room, but figured it would be for the best. He curled into the blankets and sighed softly as he fell asleep thinking of the happy feeling the Osc girl gave him. Yuriko laid there in her room and quickly fell asleep to soft music she turned on from her audio files.

 

[AnnaVale]

Vivienne went to her room and said night to J and Yuriko. She laid down in the bed and stripped down to a bra and undies and covered herself up and passed out.

 

[Inufandom]

Xen nodded to his assistant. "I think you may be right, it is bed time. We have a busy day tomorrow, our new employees will be arriving." His smile became somewhat mischievous. "I do hope they don't mind hard work..."

Jade smiled."I can see you already have something in mind for them. Does this have anything to do with the clothing we're having prepared for them?"

Xen smiled. "So astute. Yes, indeed it does." Xen smiled. "And don't think you're getting off lightly, you'll be joining them once Celeste has performed." Xen stretched and walked over to the door to head to his own room, thinking of the product reveal he was planning. "Order yourself a new suit, and make sure it has all the frills. Good night, Jade. Once our newbies arrive, we'll have much to do." With that, Xen bowed out of the room.

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke opened his eyes, seeing the plush room around him. His eyes fell on the shower, and he peeled his clothes off to jump inside.

Once his shower was complete, he dressed himself again and began looking into where the ship was in terms of its journey through the stars. They were early, surprisingly. The shuttle was only two hours or so away from docking. More than enough time to eat breakfast.

Zeke left his quarters, noting no one else appeared to have woken up yet. He couldn't resist looking through a porthole, seeing the sunrise on yet again another mortal-made object and remarkable in sheer magnitude in its own right. This particular colony was not given a number, making it unique but not alone. It took him a moment to realize this was a recording, playing due to a time loop.

The nearby star was coming over the shadow of the colony, revealing a massive assortment of solar panels, domed planes, collected asteroids, planetoids, and more, shining in a far more organically hewn mass. It appeared as more of an almost pudgey arrowhead as more was revealed.

Zeke left the porthole smiling. The real thing would be happening soon enough. He proceeded to the dining room, looking again at the preserved foods. While he found no cooked foods, there was a kitchenette and raw food products for breakfast. There were prepared sausages, but the eggs were seemingly individually hand selected, labeled, and packaged, ready to be cooked. There were roughly a dozen different types of eggs, labeled down to the planet the species came from. One or two he recognized as some rather pricey goods. He had never even heard of half of them though. After a moment he proceeded to the kitchenette with all of them balanced in one hand and holding butter, coffee, tea, and orange juice.

As he approached, burners on the stove lit up as he operated the computerized interfaces, preparing all the stations he needed going. Tea and coffee were ready to go in a moment. He needed one or two to learn their rather complex mechanisms. The stove top was buisness as usual once he sat things down on the countertops and then grabbed a pan and knife. He deftly worked with the knife, slicing apart packages and cartons while he learned the tea and coffee makers. Apparently, it was some pretty high quality stuff he was using. Harvested on Earth, no less. Once he had butter sizzling away, he quickly moved and had the tea leaves brewing.

Back at his pan he got a few eggs going, having kept the label to keep the others informed of what they were eating, though they were dealing with them all being scrambled. So much faster. As his eggs cooked, he then began preparing the coffee. He wasn't surprised the eccentricities of being wealthy were being shown off at having to grind the beans just before brewing. Zeke found that while coffee was universal, taste and preparation were certainly not. The rich certainly had theirs, and for good reason.

Once he had things going nicely, he quickly whipped the eggs around in the pan, and cooking them to perfection.Quickly, he plated them, turned around, and threw in more butter, some eggs of a new variety, and quickly began whipping them as well to cooked perfection. He then repeated the process, cooking most of the eggs and having the sides of sausage and bacon prepared as well, all lightly salted and peppered.

He hoped his new co-workers didn't miss out on his niceties, though if asked why he was being so kind, he could simply reply because he was being paid to be nice.

Zeke poured himself the herbal tea, heavily perfumed by Jasmine. He took a sip, and smiled. It was beyond the most divine cup of tea he'd ever had. "Oh. Oh, my." He looked at the machine he'd just used, and skook his head. "I have got to get me one of these things." He looked over to the coffee machine. "I have to have a cup of that, too. Where's the sugar?"

 

[AnnaVale]

Vivienne awoke a she stretched. She forgot where she was for a moment then remembered they we're headed to their job. She put her hair in a poinytail and walked out. She sniffed the air and smelt something delicious. She followed the scent and found Zeke cooking.

"Now isn't this a wierd site." She said sitting down and crossing her arms. "What made you want to make all of us breakfast?"

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke smiled, the perfect ray of sunshine. "Because I'm being paid to be nice. You heard the boss." He moved a sign, showing off the many types off eggs. In his other hand he happened to be holding a serving tray laden with the coffee and the tea with some sugar and creamer. He held the tray balanced in one hand as he held it for the woman to see. "May I offer you coffee?"

"No, thank you. I don't do coffee." Her tone was incredibly distrustful, to say the least. Zeke adjusted the tray. "Tea?" He asked, still wearing that same smile. "I promise nothings poisoned, there wasn't any to find."

 

[AnnaVale]

Vivienne giggles "Tea please." She said looking around and her stomach growling from all the food scent

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke's ears perked up at the sound of her stomach. "By all means, help yourself. I may have been a little excited about all these different types of eggs." He deftly and quickly poured a cup for her and then placed it and a place setting for her to get food from the many available dishes.

 

[sDoyle1223]

Yuriko had a hard time sleeping that night, having tossed and turned from her reoccuring nightmares. As she slowly pulled herself out of bed, she slipped out of her nightgown and stepped into the shower. She hoped that the warm water on her skin would help her perk up a little more. The last thing she wanted was to worry her son.

By the time she got out of the shower, the smell of food wafted into the room. It automatically made her mouth water.

“That smells good. A cup of coffee is definitely needed.” She quickly got dressed in an old skin tight suit that made her feel a little uncomfortable about the chest area. The black leather-like suit cut off at the mid thigh then continued with white stretchy fabric down her legs. The same went for the arms. The back of the suitwas open leaving her bare skin exposed, and the front dipped down to the center of her rib cage. It was her sexiest outfit. However, she just shrugged it off and hoped nobody cared enough to ask about it. It was the best to look best for her new employer.

The android slowly made her way to the dining area, pulling her hair into a loose ponytail. The Osc and other android were already awake. All that was left was for J to come join.

 

[sDoyle1223]

J yawned and stretched in his bed before hopping out of bed. He nearly fell over himself as he scrambled to the shower. Today was the day he was going to meet the guy in charge. The inventor behind it all. His heart nearly beat out of his chest as he pulled on a new set of clothes and made his way to the dining area.

“Good morning!” He said to the group excitedly, then blushed deep red as he saw the Osc sitting there in her bra and underwear. Perhaps she did not realize it, or cared about it, but whatever it was, it flustered him. With a cough, he approached the girl.

“Uhm good morning Vivienne. Do you...always dress like this in the morning?” He blushed not making eye contact trying not to look. His stomach rumbled at the smell of food and looked at the food that was prepared.

 

[AnnaVale]

Vivienne blushed at J seeing her almost naked. "I always dress like this in the morning. I don't really own any pajamas or very many clothes for that matter so I've gotten use to people seeing me like this." She said smiling as she got up and put some food on her plate from the many dishes to choose from.

 

[Inufandom]

"Uh-huh. So that's the reason." Zeke's tone was aloof, his brow raised. "I see. Well, enjoy the meal, everyone. Some of these eggs are something to behold. The rich really do know how to impress, our boss it seems is no exception."

Zeke proceeded to lay place settings down for his co-workers before pouring himself another cup of tea and placing the tea urn back on the central platter. "Did you get your invitations and stage passes by e-mail as well? What do you think that sly old coot has planned for us?"

 

[sDoyle1223]

J grabbed a plate of food that was closest to him, not really caring what all was in it. He just knew it was going to taste really good. His eyes stayed to the front of him, staying careful to not look at the girl sitting beside him.

“It’s probably just a back stage pass kind of thing to where we can see all of the models in the new industry designs.” He looked a bit excited at the thought of having access to material that would not even be on the market yet. After grabbing a cup of water, he began to chow down on the mouth watering meal.

Yuriko carefully poured herself some coffee yawning softly. “Maybe he wants us to dress well while we are on our mission.” She did not know as much about the Industry as her son did, but after doing some research before going to bed, she began to understand why her son was so fascinated by it. Her main search was on the ZX-type, but only a select few files were available to read. They contained general information about how they began and what they were designed for, but nothing about current whereabouts of other bots except that the program was discontinued so there were a limited amount of bots out there.

 

[Inufandom]

"We'll be headed to a death planet with an exposed mantle, I don't think such occasions are suit-and-tie affairs." Zeke commented. He picked up a plate for himself and started selecting eggs from various plates, including some that were a rather intriguing green color, and another batch that were red in color. These two he knew by name, and they cost roughly $100 in Earth currency per egg. Of course he was going to try them.

Zeke considered other possibilities as to why they had recieved employee stage passes. "Do you think we'll be moving products?" Zeke sat himself down, and held his fork to prod the eggs and sausage he had gotten. "Maybe we'll be guinea pigs for new products..."

 

[AnnaVale]

Vivienne smiled at J. She loved the taste of the food. It was the best meal she's ever had in all honesty. "I just hope he can fix whatever is wrong with my arm. It's been on the fritz as of lately and everything I do just doesn't work." She said continuing to chow down.

She stopped for a moment and looked around her. Tears started running down her face as her fork landed with a "cling" onto her plate. She tried to hide her face as tears rolled down.

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke cocked his head, not understanding why this woman was crying so suddenly. "Is the food that bad? I was aware it was quite basic..." He was visibly hesitant to make any moves. "I am afraid I must have missed something. Whatever is the matter, Ms...?" Zeke faltered, having not even discovered the woman's name yet.

 

[AnnaVale]

"No. The food is perfect." She said wiping her face. "It's just, I've never had a real family before and seeing this image in front of me, I feel like I belong here and that makes me happy. Also, I'm Vivienne" she said moving her hair out of her face.

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke's mouth spread into a smile. He lifted his hand to his heart and bowed in formality. "These days I go by Zeke." His smile didn't change as he spoke, reaching now for the tea urn once more to fill his cup. Zeke stood now, eyeing the teenager. "In yesterday's excitement I didn't catch your name, either."

 

[sDoyle1223]

J looked concerned as he saw the tears run down the girl's face. He understood her to a degree, and wiped her face gently free of tears. It broke his heart seeing anyone cry.

"My name is J. The android you almost killed is my mother Yuriko." J hugged Vivienne gently then gave her a hopeful smile. Yuriko just sat there sipping at her coffee. She too wished that something of hers could be fixed. She was surprised to see the Osc cry, but did not feel the need to comfort her, as her son was already on it.

 

[Inufandom]

Zeke raised his head, one hand on his hip and the other his tea cup. "And you, too, if we're bringing that up." Zeke smiled cheerfully as he spoke. "After tailing me you're lucky twice now I didn't manage to kill you." He held his tea cup to them. "Congratulations, there's a first for everything. Cheers!" His smile didn't change in the slightest, and he took a drink again from his cup. "This tea is simply wonderful, isn't it?"