Author's Note: This is the second episode in the two-parter. It is only to have X start his new life in *my* world. Unfortunately, I am so tired right now. I just finished some pretty major surgery, so I have pain. Also, I'm on five different *heavy* medications right now, so this story will be simplistic and not up to my usual parr. I didn't proof it either, I'm just so damn groggy and tired that I can't possibly do it. So expect very little of this episode.

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   "Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die, life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly." - Langston Hughes.

Petersen Apartments, Penthouse Suite
Cluster One, Australia
November 3rd, 2093
The Present

   The bird sat there in the light blue fields of short grass. She pecked around, looking for anything she could find, knowing that food was scarce in these reflective places. Unfortunately, it looked as if she wasn't going to find food here today. She began hopping toward the white tiles on the floor which were marked off with a gold line. This looked like the way out of this place, but she wasn't quite sure. Suddenly, a large white wall came out of the white frame, straight towards her! She tried to get out of the way, but it was too small in this place to try and fly away from the oncoming wall of death!

   The door closed, knocking the bird in the side and into a sprawl across the bathroom floor.

   'How could I forget to shave?' wondered X. Although he already knew the answer quite well. He had forgotten on purpose, just so he didn't have to deal with it. It reminded him too much of the humanity he strived for, and for a few weeks now, he didn't feel like being human. He used to have an interest, but it was waning with the death of Dr. Caine. Maybe because the funeral reminded him that he'll never have mortality. The only unattainable aspect of humanity. But what kind of sane android wishes to fear Death? X looked at his clear face in the mirror. It was true that he was staring at a synthetic mask, but it felt alive to him.

   ...especially now with the hair.

   X plugged the black razor into the socket underneath the small set of mirrors and turned it on. Immediately, blue bolts of electricity shot between the two prongs near the teeth of the razor, magnetizing the elements. X brought the razor up to exactly .468 centimetres to let the electricity dance across the hairs on his face. The hairs fell down into the sink, caught into the drain by the filtered running water. X could only imagine what the original colour of the water was before it got to him.

   "Chirp!"

   'chirp? What chirp?'

   "Chirp!"

   'What the heck is that?' thought X. He turned down towards the noise and saw a little bluebird hopping across the marble tiles.

   "Chirp!"

   "Um...hi?" responded X.

   "Hey X! Hurry up, I've got a cab waiting downstairs!" came the voice from outside.

   X shut off the water and bent down towards the little bluebird to get a closer look.

   "Well, I'll have to talk to you later, little guy."

   "Chirp!"

   'That's funny, why doesn't the bird just fly off?' thought X. Come to think of it, he thought the door was a little slow in closing, but didn't worry about the source of it at the time. He called up his database records to determine the amount of Newtonian force required to close that particular door. He then calculated an estimated mass of the bluebird.

   'Oh.'

   "Chirp!"

   The little bluebird flailed it's one working wing, the other just hanging limp. It looked very distraught. 'Well, of course, so would I if my arm just went dead,' thought X.

   "Chirp!"

   "Okay, okay, let me take a look at you."

   X called up his infrared scanner, and began bouncing x-ray signals to pinpoint the location. It was definitely a large bruise, but he wasn't sure if the wing was broken. Unfortunately, that meant X wasn't too sure if the bluebird would be better before he left.

   "Hey X, what's taking you so--"

   Zero walked into the bathroom, but the bird made him stop in his tracks. He looked up at X, who had just finished the scan.

   "What happened, X?" asked Zero.

   "I think I bruised this little guy's wing," replied X.

   "How did he get in here?" asked Zero?

   "I have one of my windows open, he came in this morning looking for food."

   X gently picked up the little bird, brought him from the bathroom, and out into the large livingroom with the skylight roof. He put the bird down on one of the couches and went back to his refrigeration unit. Before he even opened it, he knew he didn't have anything for the bird.

   "I can't feed him right now, can you?" asked X.

   "What, now I carry birdseed with me? Look, X, I hate to leave him without food too, but we have to go now," replied Zero.

   "Yeah, I guess you're right. It won't take long to get back anyway," replied X.

   He was still trying to figure out how a bird could get out of a high security habitat.

   ***

Sydney Main Street
Cluster One, Australia
November 3rd, 2093
The Present

   The ride to the University of Cluster One was long and slow. Zero was busy watching the HV, which was just a small disk connected to the dashboard. X knew that Zero didn't care much for human politics, but Zero watched the early morning news every day just the same. The words from the Holo-Viewer cascaded on sound waves through X, pushing him back into the seat with a slump. Early morning streetlights began to turn off, only to be replaced by the lights in all the buildings which were coming on for workers. X focused on the lights, causing his vision to blurr. The smell of steel arose from the street, filling X with a familiar but indescribable sense.

   Maybe he was gonna need a few more days for his life to return to normal after all.

   ***

University of Cluster One - Astronomy Department
Cluster One, Australia
November 3rd, 2093
The Present

   The sign said: 'Closed - Moved to Room 03.'

   "Bullshit!" exclaimed Zero.

   He kicked the door, but not nearly hard enough to break it. Zero was mad, not stupid. The musty smell of the dark green hallway was causing X to forget the smell of the city. Now the professors and students replaced the lights. The brown linoleum below was probably better than steel anyway. X came over and opened the door to look at what was left inside the old laboratory. Immediately, an old wooden scent passed through X; all the computer equipment was gone. Even the light fixtures were taken out, giving it the appearance of a very large, dark storage room.

   "I think they'll be converting it to a classroom, by the looks of it," said Zero.

   "So how are we going to get the capsules back?" asked X.

   "I don't know, I thought we covered it in the will." replied Zero.

   "That was nearly two weeks ago!"

   "Yeah, they delayed that damn funeral for way too long, now who knows where our stuff is."

   "But wasn't everything in the will?" asked X.

   "I don't think so, because most of Dr. Caine's equipment was from the University. I guess they moved it around. Who knows where our capsules are right now; they probably took them apart to make a few more desks," answered Zero.

   X went over to the wall opposite the now empty room to take a look at the small paper map taped onto the green wall.

   "Well, I suggest we go downstairs and take a right." said X.

   Zero looked up at X. X just shrugged.

   "We might as well find that Room 03 while we're here, maybe they have the capsules," said X.

   The anger in Zero's face disappeared, to be replaced with a smile. He started laughing, getting X started as well.

   "Welcome to the Machine," exclaimed Zero with a smile.

   X reached over to grab the doorknob, pulling the door to close another part of his old life.

   ***

University of Cluster One - Physics Department
Cluster One, Australia
November 3rd, 2093
The Present

   This hallway was vastly different. Once they got away from the staircase, the ceiling came down near the heads of the two onlookers, with cemented walls and floor greeting them at every turn. Yellow caution tape marked off branching hallways, warning of radioactive experiments. Gradually, the hallway lost light, resembling that of a tunnel through a military bunker, instead of a University. Finally, they reached a brown metal door with broken glass in the window frame. A small yellow note was pasted underneath, stating the room number in pencil. The white blinds on the other side of the door prevented further inspection.

   "You have got to be kidding," frowned Zero.

   "Come on, let's just get this over with."

   X reached for the doorknob, only to have it come off with a metallic springing sound.

   X looked up at Zero with an incredulous face. Zero answered him with a grim smile. X dropped the doorknob and went to push the door, which creaked painfully loud before it opened slowly. X could see the rust crinkling on the hinges.

   "Hi! Welcome to Room #3!" yelled a pert voice.

   No wait, that voice is cute...and an old Australian accent. 'Oh no' thought X to himself. The door opened the rest of the way, revealing the woman from last night. This time, she was wearing a yellow blouse with high heels to match. A large white coat definitely gave him the impression she was a scientist. She smiled when she looked up at X.

   "Hello 'X', I was wondering when you two were gonna show up!" said the woman.

   She smiled at the looks of surprise she got from both of them.

   "Uh...who are you?" asked Zero.

   "I'm Dr. Anyi Solieu! I'll be taking over Dr. Caine's position!"

   "But you're so young..." X didn't know how to finish that sentence.

   "I think you're just used to old men running your systems for you! Well, now I'm here," replied Anyi.

   X took a look back at Zero. Zero was too busy looking at the room. X turned to see what was so amazing, and then realized that he was looking directly at a wall of capsule systems.

   "Yeah, I managed to salvage some of Dr. Caine's equipment!" exclaimed Anyi.

   X turned to see the rest. Four computer terminals and a small grid lay against the far wall. The capsules lined the wall on the left, and the wall on the right had a small bed with a lamp and a fridge. A few couches were in the middle, as well as a layer of spare pieces of computer cards. The ceiling was a series of pipes painted black, insulation hanging off the parts of the walls which were bare. The cold cement floor didn't accentuate the furniture very well.

   "I managed to salvage the systems check, as well as the radar grid system and a few capsules. Most of it's broken-down junk though, so I'm trying to fix it all up!"

   "What's the bed for?" asked Zero.

   "Silly, I've been living here for two weeks now! Ever since I got back from the USE, I've been down here," replied Anyi.

   "What were you doing in Europe?" asked X.

   "Just researching an alternate method to instant transportation, or teleportation."

   X remembered what had happened a little over three years ago. Some scientists in Southern Canada were testing it in a desert. Apparently, teleportation caused an electromagnetic shift in the atmosphere, severely affecting the weather on the planet. It was even lethal on the Egyptian continent, as well as a few other areas. Ever since, import/exports has suffered because the method of transportation was illegal and banned across the solar system. Now it was only used in extreme military emergencies. Zero didn't seem to care at the time, and truth be told, it didn't bother X either. Walking was a much better alternative.

   "Find anything?" asked Zero.

   "Well, we were still trying to find a way to convert Higg's particles, but there might be something by the end of next year. Maybe even sooner," replied Dr. Solieu.

   "Did you manage converting the boson field into any available neutrino fields?" asked X.

   "Well, I can show you my thesis paper later. That's how I got my degree in Quantum Mechanics."

   "Hmmm, so I guess now we work for you," said Zero.

   "On the contrary, I'm going to be working for you. I've also been taking the time out of the last two weeks to study Dr. Caine's notes and to go over his calculations," said Anyi.

   "...And?" asked X.

   "Well, I'm pretty sure there's one capsule left."

   "What? We found them all over five years ago!" said Zero.

   "All the one's with both X's signature and Dr. Light's signature. But when I looked through the records, I found that there may still be one with only Dr. Light's signature," she exclaimed.

   "So, there's a capsule out there for someone else? What for?" asked X.

   "I don't know, but I suggest we get to the excavation site that was started." said Anyi.

   "You found Dr. Light's laboratory?" asked Zero.

   "Actually, Dr. Caine did. He started the excavation site before he died," replied the Doctor.

   "Took long enough," said Zero.

   "Yeah, well, it's been a long time, and this world is pretty big. I doubt that Dr. Caine was expecting the fact that the old lab would be in an arctic region."

   "What?" exclaimed X in surprise.

   ***

   Author's Comment: Writing on heavy medication with pain should not be done, kids. Stay *away* from drugs. Drugs are bad. Okay, I'm gonna go sleep this off. Meanwhile, it's up to you readers to tell the author just how bad he writes when he's tripping out. That's a good plan. Yep. Oh...hi bed, I'm gonna come and see you now. Goodbye everyone, this comment was brought to you by the letter J.

Michael Raymond Vendittelli (LimousineDriver)