As he had watched the child going about
his work, Fried’rich had come to appreciate Ingriam’s diligence:
the young Zoalord had been working almost without pause, and on
the few occasions that he’d stopped for a moment, it was only to
refresh himself with a drink of water or a stretch. Fried’rich
could understand the need to do such things, since he had done
the same thing almost as many times.
"There; all finished," Ingriam said,
leaning back in his chair with a particularly satisfied
expression.
"Well done then, Ingriam."
Fried’rich looked over the proposed
design for the Alvix model Zoanoid. It was a basic design, true,
but as Ingriam was still only a child, Fried’rich did not expect
too much of him—that he had even wanted to design a Zoanoid at
the onset spoke well of his dedication to Chronos’ glorious
cause.
The sense of another Zoalord’s
presence washed over him at that moment, and Fried’rich saw
Ingriam’s head lift up suddenly. Realizing just who he was
sensing, Fried’rich was about to greet his fellow Zoalord when
he saw Ingriam’s hands darting across the computer console,
though he did not want
Imakarum to see what he had
accomplished.
Fried’rich found that in and of itself
to be rather odd, since he had expected Ingriam would want his
father to see the work that he had done immediately. The boy had
always seemed to live for Imakarum’s praise.
"Hi Dad!" Ingriam called happily.
-What are you doing, little one?-
Fried’rich asked.
-You have your chance to show him
now.-
-I… I just want to keep it a secret for
a little while longer. You know; to make sure it works. Dad
always says that new Zoanoids need a lot of testing before they
get done.-
Seeing the logic in his desire to
present Imakarum with a fully realized Zoanoid model, rather
than simply a design for one, Fried’rich relented.
"Hello, Kenji-chan. I hope you weren’t
bored while you were here."
"No, I wasn’t. I kind of like it here,
Dad—it’s nice."
Imakarum chuckled softly, gently
brushing the top of Ingriam’s head with his fingertips. "I’m
sure it is, Kenji-chan. Now, why don’t we let Lord Fried’rich
go, and then you and I can go have lunch?"
"I’d like that," Ingriam said, smiling
like the child he was.
-Lord Fried’rich, was I interrupting
anything?-
-No, Imakarum. I was merely accompanying
your son while he was performing some research.-
-What kind of things was he
researching?- Imakarum asked
as he turned Ingriam around and began to lead the boy out of
Cloud Tower’s development division.
-He was researching Zoanoid
models,- Fried’rich said,
contenting himself with a half-truth.
–The boy seems very eager to learn;
perhaps there might be some way that you could help him.-
-Thank you, Lord Fried’rich. I will keep
that in mind.-
XxXxXxX
As he led Kenji out of Cloud Tower’s
Zoanoid Development division, an arm around his son’s broad
shoulders, Imakarum considered what Lord Fried’rich had said. If
Kenji had indeed expressed an interest in the Zoanoid models
that the Japan Section was creating, perhaps he would be of use
in designing new Zoanoid models. And maybe once Kenji had his
own duties within Chronos, the other Zoalords wouldn’t look down
on him quite so much.
Still, there was time to discuss such
arrangements at a later date. Right now, though, Imakarum simply
wanted to have quiet meal with his son. As Kenji leaned against
his left shoulder, Imakarum had a moment to be thankful for the
fact that he was not currently wearing his uniform—the
shoulder-guards in particular, since while they were very
impressive in their way, they would have been particularly
uncomfortable for Kenji in his current position.
As the pair of them made their way down
into the cafeteria of Cloud Tower, Imakarum wrapped his arm
around his son’s waist and felt Kenji lean further into his
embrace. These displays of dependence, along with the fact that
Kenji was basically a mere Proto-Zoalord that had been altered
mildly, were the main factors in Imakarum’s decision to find a
safe job for Kenji within Chronos itself.
However, with the potential threat of
the Fourth Guyver, Imakarum knew that Kenji could not truly be
safe even within the walls of Chronos, and after the incident
with Aptom, Imakarum had wanted nothing more than that—at least
for those times when he was unable to stay with his son. Kenji
was still very weak when compared to the other members of the
Council and had yet to learn how to control Zoanoids without
fully immersing himself in their minds. That was a problem,
since it left him completely helpless and disoriented when he
pulled out. It was so much worse if they died, of course, but
Imakarum shuddered, forcibly cutting off that line of thought
before he could start to remember.
"Is something wrong, Dad?"
"No, Kenji-chan," Imakarum said, gently
stroking Kenji’s neck with the fingers of his right hand. "I’m
fine. You haven’t told me what you want for lunch yet, you
know."
"I’m still thinking about that, Dad."
Patting Kenji’s head, Imakarum continued
to lead his son down to Cloud Tower’s main eating area. A few of
the Zoanoids they encountered on their way there stopped to
greet Imakarum with the expected deference. Imakarum
acknowledged them with a single nod of his head—the Zoanoids
might have been his underlings, but that was no reason to
overlook politeness.
XxXxXxX
The plane was just starting to land, and
Cadastal, Myumelzee, and Noskov – along with a fairly large
contingent of Standard Zoanoids, but none of the Hypers paid
them much attention – were waiting out at the landing strip to
welcome it. All three Hyper Zoanoids had been extremely
surprised when the orders from above had come in—they’d first
been told that all of the Guyvers had been dealt with, in one
way or another. Therefore, the news that another one had been
found hadn’t gone over well.
The fact that this one was unconscious
and being brought in for study by none other than Dr. Balkus
himself did kind of reassure them, though.
"It’s coming in now," Cadastal said
calmly.
"Don’t you mean ‘ze plane! Ze plane!’?"
Myumelzee asked, almost-innocently, but Cadastal didn’t buy the
act. "What the hell was that for?!" Myumelzee demanded a moment
later, rubbing the back of his head where he’d been slapped.
"If I hear one more short joke out of
either of you Bozo Brothers, you’re going to get worse than a
slap to the head!"
Noskov, Myumelzee’s counterpart,
turned and glared at Cadastal. "Well,
one
of us hasn’t managed to remove that flagpole from his ass yet, I
see."
Not standing close to Noskov as he was
to Myumelzee, Cadastal had to content himself with a ringing
glare in the other Hyper Zoanoid’s direction. Cadastal might
have been a full two inches shorter than any Hyper Zoanoid since
Zancrus, but he didn’t think that that was any reason for the
other Hypers to keep busting his ass about it, since he was at
least reasonably sure that Zancrus – even though he was just as
short as Cadastal, and pretty scrawny besides – had ever had to
deal with this kind of shit.
Then again, that guy had been a member
of Dr. Balkus’ vaunted Team Five, so the other Hypers had to
know they’d be dealing with his four teammates if they so much
as looked cross-eyed at ol’ Zancrus. But looking back at the
descending plane, Cadastal saw that it was just about to land,
and once it had, Cadastal, Noskov, and Myumelzee marched quickly
up to the waiting aircraft.
As the ramp lowered and the single
Standard Zoanoid that had been stationed aboard the plane –
probably to keep an eye on the Guyver kid – walked out, Cadastal
and his fellow Hyper Zoanoids went right out to meet him. From
the way he was built, Cadastal was sure that the guy was a
Ramochis.
"Nice to see you guys got out here so
fast," the Ramochis said, grinning and nodding at the three
Hypers.
"That the kid?" Noskov asked.
Cadastal, meanwhile, had to resist a
strong urge to smack his fellow Hyper Zoanoid upside the head.
How damn obvious was the answer to that question? Since when did
Zoanoid or Hyper Zoanoid candidates come to them strapped to
hospital gurneys?
"Yeah, this is the kid right here,"
Ramochis said, sounding more patient than Cadastal thought he
had a right to be.
"We’ll take care of it from here; leave
him to us. You go off and get debriefed," Myumelzee said.
Cadastal, grunting his agreement, turned
and followed his fellow Hyper Zoanoids into the Dead Sea plant.