Chapter 1

Utah Foundation Base in Yokohama

“I’m sure that you will find our facility accommodating, Ms. Mafune,” began Gordon Knight. “We are one of the most high tech bases in the world.”

“I’m sure of that, Mr. Knight,” Kiko Mafune nodded and smiled. “I’ve heard so much about Mechagodzilla and his systems. Its astonishing as to what you could do with a few billions of dollars and some Godzilla cells, not to mention Microsoft, Chrysler, the Japanese government and various medical companies behind you, funding this project. Though I am curious about what had happened a year ago. Are you sure the AI is now completely controllable?”

Gordon took in deep breath. Sure the AI was controllable, he would like to admit to himself, but it was not. Kiryuu was still a free thinking, and independent machine. He could easily just go AWOL at a drop of a hat. Kiryuu Mechagodzilla only ‘tolerates’ his human overseers. Lately, he has been tolerating a lot. Will keeps the AI entertained, and Katsura—Katsura…Gordon did not want to think of what Katsura was doing with the AI. It was almost a year ago when Katsura decided to shove a connector into the base of her head and become mentally linked with Kiryuu. Gordon was still trying to figure out what made her do it. He shook his head. The link was helping a bit in controlling Kiryuu. It gave him a bit of a conscience and that seems to help in some of his processing. Kiryuu has been rather reliable lately, but he was still a bit of a snobbish-know-it-all to Gordon.

“Oh, yes, the AI is controllable,” Gordon nodded. “Well, he’s not attacking any major cities. We were just going through some of the bugs in the system. But Kiryuu is now fully reliable. He’ll just about do anything we say.”

“I’ve seen the news reports on the Godzilla battles,” began Kiko. “Lately, every time Mechagodzilla shows up, Godzilla turns tail and runs.”

Gordon let out a hearty laugh: “That he does! He knows what’s coming to him when Kiryuu shows up! He knows that pain and a major ass kicking is coming. Godzilla is starting to learn too!” He caught himself for a moment. “Excuse my language, Ms. Mafune. I’ve been trying to watch it lately.”

“I was told about your rather hot temper, Mr. Knight,” she laughed. “Not to mention your habit for using ‘sailor’s talk’.”

“Been trying to control that, too,” Gordon cleared his throat. “Well, shall we continue?”

Gordon led her down the vast hallway, deep inside the underground base. The corridor was brightly lit with various florescent lamps and spotlights. Shadows cast by them gave the corridor and its segments an even deeper and slightly overpowering feeling. Though, she could easily shrug the feeling of overwhelming darkness from the corridor. It was just a base. Her mind was on Mechagodzilla. Gordon led her into the glass elevator and faced her towards the glass bay windowed walls.

“As the elevator goes down, you will be able to see Kiryuu,” he began.

“Kiryuu,” Kiko began. “You mean Mechagodzilla.”

“We did call him Mechagodzilla before,” Gordon said. “But Katsura wanted to literally give the AI a name. She said it made him seem more like a person you are referring to than a machine if you call him by a true name. Kiryuu just seemed fitting for Mechagodzilla.”

“It means machine dragon in Japanese, Mr. Knight,” her lip turned up into a small smile.

“I know, my Japanese isn’t that rusty!” Gordon’s face flushed for a moment. Then, he sank back down, forcing that spurt of anger to his stomach. “Sorry.” He pressed the button on the elevator. “Okay, down we go.”

The elevator jolted and they could hear it creak as it slowly made its way down to the bowels of the base itself. Gordon glanced out the window just to see the glistening form of Kiryuu Mechagodzilla come into view. His eyes became focused on Kiryuu’s head. The helm was off and the exposed Godzilla-like head made him shiver. Kiko’s eyes were wide when she saw it. It was an uncanny resemblance of Godzilla from 1954. The long strands of bio-syntech synaptic cords attached themselves to the walls and the ceiling of the bay itself. Gordon could only deduce that Mechagodzilla was running some system diagnostics. He could only hope that Kiryuu was, and not hacking into some government website. The synaptic cords extended out along side the walls as well, making the bay look like it was over grown by throbbing, pulsating vines. The vines twitched with a life of their own, and even coiled and snaked around to different places and spots along the walls and the floor. The bio-syntech, golden eyes seemed out of focus themselves. Kiryuu was up to something internally. Gordon flinched, trying to figure out what that was. Katsura was not here today, so, what else could Kiryuu be doing? Kiko’s mouth dropped as she saw the synaptic cords coil along the walls and up to the ceiling.

“Amazing!” she cried. “It looks like a jungle in here! And those cords grow out from his head?”

“Those are the synapse cords, the external ones,” began Gordon. “They link up to the various external weapons we mount on him. But as you can see, he does not have those external weapons right now. He did have a rocket launcher on his back when he was first launched, but we got rid of that. We found that Kiryuu relied on speed and those rocket launchers slowed him down. But he does have the forearm cannons mounted at his wrists. They were most useful.”

“And does he still have the twin Maser cannons inside his mouth?” Kiko asked.

“That he does,” he nodded.

“What about the Absolute Zero Cannon?”

“Got rid of it too,” Gordon chuckled. “We felt it was a bit too powerful for Kiryuu to control. And we didn’t like the idea of Kiryuu going insane again and turning the base into an ice cube. So, we had it dismantled. But we found out that Kiryuu could use his bio-syntech muscle system as a weapon as well.”

“So, I’ve heard,” Kiko began. “And I’ve seen. The blades. I’ve seen them in action. The amount of training Kiryuu must have taken to learn how to control them so effectively.”

“We had a feeling that the bio-syntech could be used in that matter, since its basically a morphic substance of tissue and circuitry. Once the right amount of energy emitted into the syntech matter, it can morph into all sorts of forms.”

“Those blades look like they could take someone’s head off,” Kiko giggled. “Has any human used any bio-syntech prostheses in a similar fashion to Kiryuu’s methods?”

“Yes,” Gordon nodded. “In fact we are being funded by the US government to build a bio-syntech armor that will go over a man’s body and be used in that fashion as well. The bio-synthech, we’ve discovered can be used as armor as well, and it can regenerate. That’s why when Godzilla blasts Kiryuu’s tentacles off, they just grow right back. The last fight took Kiryuu’s arm off, exposing the metallic skeleton underneath, but the syntech compensated. It grew right back over the exposed skeleton and then after that, literally diced Godzilla up. Again, the end result was Godzilla retreating.”

“So, his muscle texture can harden to protect him if the plating is exposed?” Kiko asked.

“That’s about it,” he said. “The plating adds extra protection. We don’t want any problems. And its mostly for the protection of some of the finely tuned sensors and delicate external and internal synaptic cords.”

Kiko glanced back towards Kiryuu: “I see. So, every bit of this is necessary for his protection.”

“Can’t let something like a broken arm put a damper on things,” Gordon sighed. “Mechagodzilla is an amazing machine.”

“And he has quite a personality from what I’ve read in the files that I received,” she said. “And a lovely voice.”

“The voice was sampled from my own,” began Gordon. “As for the personality, I’ll let you be the judge of that. He has his moods.”

“From the link between Katsura?”

“You read about that too, huh?” Gordon chuckled. “No, he started developing emotions before Katsura jacked into him. He—has yelled at me—once. We think it’s the bio-feedback from the syntech. At first they were primordial emotions, basically Kiryuu a few times thought he was still Godzilla from 1954, then the AI compensated and the emotions became more—human-like.”

“So, he can feel the emotions we feel?”

“You might say that,” Gordon turned his eyes back at Kiryuu. He felt the elevator begin to slow to a stop as they reached the corridor near the control room. “We ran tests a month after Kiryuu went AWOL. Psychological tests. I literally paid a shrink to come over and give Kiryuu Rorschach tests, set him down on the couch and allow him to talk about his ‘mother’ and what not. The sychiatrist said he needed more time with Kiryuu, but from the tests he ran, Kiryuu can emote. He said that Kiryuu just hides his emotions to make him appear more logical. The psychiatrist struck a chord with Kiryuu, and I believe I heard weeping sounds coming from the speakers. It was Kiryuu’s voice that was sobbing. That’s how he knew Kiryuu was capable of emotions.”

“The psychologist made Kiryuu weep?” she asked. “Can he laugh?”

“I’m sure he can, but he hasn’t,” he replied. “Kiryuu is a bit of a troublesome child though.”

“You refer to him as a child?” Kiko asked.

Gordon shrugged: “Wouldn’t you? He may be incredibly smart, but he has the experience of a nine year old.”

The doors opened and Gordon led Kiko Mafune out. Her eyes never left the enormous form of Kiryuu as they walked down the corridor. She felt her legs give way and she stumbled right into Gordon’s arms. Kiko glanced down, noticing a lock of the synaptic cords snaking over the rail and around the corridor.

“My God!” Kiko gulped. “Its—climbing through the corridor.”

“Need to tell Kiryuu not to let his ‘hair’ get too out of hand, or I’ll send him to the barber,” Gordon rumbled angrily underneath his breath. “Give him a flat top.”

“Is Mechagodzilla aware of this?” Kiko asked.

“You can ask him when we reach the control room,” Gordon smiled. “I know I will be giving him a bit of a scolding when we reach there.”

“Its safe for him to let it grow out like that?” she asked.

“Not one bit, that’s why I’m gonna have a talk with Kiryuu,” Gordon grabbed her arm and bolted down the corridor towards the control room. “Come on! May be Will can put a stop to all this growth.”

Gordon and Kiko leapt over the snaking cord. Gordon reached into his pocket and pulled out a touch pad and tapped it with his thumb. The doors in the control room opened wide at the command of the pad. When they were inside, Gordon sat at the control room’s console. He turned up the volume on the PA system and pulled the microphone to his mouth.

“Kiryuu! Retract your synaptic cords now!” he cried. “Or I’ll yank every single one of them out of your head!”

There was only silence and some giggling on the other side of the speaker. He recognized Will’s voice, laughing. Gordon grumbled, his eyes rolling. He knew what they were doing and it was the last thing he wanted to know.

“Good lord,” Knight growled. “Not again!”

“What’s happening?” Kiko asked.

Gordon heaved a long sigh as he placed his hand to his face in grief. He flipped a switch on the control consol and the nine monitors came to life. Each monitor displayed various pictures, each one a different view of Kiryuu. The one in the center displayed something else, a beaded man with a large smile on his face. He was inside a room. The walls were draped with all sorts of twitching, coiling vines, much like what the bay had became to look like. He seemed to be at ease with all the vines inside. In his hand was a control module with a large green ‘X’ painted at the center.

“Halo,” rumbled Gordon. “They are playing Halo on Kiryuu’s giant internal monitor.”

“Excuse me?” she asked in disbelief. “Halo?”

“You know, the X-box game from Microsoft,” Gordon sighed. “Will is a bit of a Halo fanatic and just recently, he’s managed to get Mechagodzilla hooked on it too.”

“They are playing a video game?” Kiko shook her head.

“That’s the ‘entertainment’ Will has been giving Kiryuu,” Gordon chuckled. “Wait, let’s listen for a moment, then I’ll turn up the volume inside the cockpit and see the look on Will’s face.”

They listened in closer.

“Aw, come on, Kiryuu!” Will cried out. “Not the sniper rifle again!”

“Your concealing methods need work, Will,” Kiryuu rumbled softly. Kiko gasped, hearing his voice.

“That voice!” she called. “It sounds—so real!”

“Listen,” Gordon smiled.

The chatter continued.

“Okay, that’s it, I’m going for the rocket launcher,” Will riled. “You are a dead robot, Mechagodzilla.”

“Have it your way,” Kiryuu sighed. “But you do realize that I can see you hiding from behind that bush.”

“Crap!” Will cried. “Take that!”

They could hear shooting sounds coming from inside the cockpit. Will’s expression seemed to shrink as he concentrated on the game. Gordon turned on a knob. His grin grew as he leaned to the microphone.

“Run for your lives!” Gordon cried. “The base is under attack by Godzilla!”

Will leapt out of his seat, throwing the X-box controller down to the floor. Then, the startled man fell face down to the floor, swearing as he went.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” he cried.

“Godzilla?” Kiryuu asked. “The alarms didn’t go off, Will. There is no sign of Godzilla or I have been alerted five hours in advance.”

“Well then, who the hell…” Will gasped as he grabbed hold of the cockpit’s consol.

“You bastard, Will,” Gordon laughed. “Got yah again!”

“And there’s your answer, Will,” Kiryuu inputted in a flat tone.

“Kiryuu, shut up!” Gordon grunted. “If you can’t play along in the joke, then don’t.”

“The joke was meant for the both of us, was it not, Gordon?” Kiryuu asked.

Gordon crossed his arms: “Like I could ever startle you.”

“I still await with eagerness for your successful attempt,” Kiryuu’s voice smiled.

“Whatever,” he snorted. “Will, get your ass in here! I want you to meet your new assistant.”

“Right, Gordon,” Will quickly scampered away from the camera.

“Kiryuu, do me a favor and do something about your ‘hair’,” Gordon sniffed. “Its all over the place. Nearly killed myself getting over here.”

“I have been accessing some files,” began Kiryuu.

Gordon’s fists clenched up: “Hacking again, I see? What have I told you?”

“I was not hacking, Mr. Knight,” Mechagodzilla began with a smooth and confident tone. “Merely browsing.”

“What’s with the cords all over the place?” he asked. “Looks like a damned bio-syntech jungle in the bay area.”

“We were just hacked into,” began Kiryuu. “I was setting up a firewall with my synaptic cords.”

Gordon’s eyes widened. Will came walking in through the door. Gordon’s head turned towards Will, his eyes flaring with shock and anger.

“Why wasn’t I notified?” Gordon asked, gritting his teeth.

“About the hacker?” Will asked.

“Yes,” he hefted. “About the hacker. What were you doing when we were attacked and why was I not notified about this earlier!?”

“Kiryuu fixed the problem,” Will shrugged. “I heard the alarms go off and rushed in to stop the hacker, then Mechagodzilla commanded the arms to take his helm off and the synaptic cords went all crazy—and well grew all over the place. After that, the attack stopped.”

“You were notified, Gordon,” began Kiryuu. “I left a message on your cell phone of the incident. It is not my fault that you don’t check your messages and you leave your cell phone off.”

Just then, Gordon grabbed his phone off of its case and looked at the screen. There was one message in his inbox. Gordon activated the message.

“Gordon Knight, this is Kiryuu,” began the message. “We were just attacked by a rather skilled hacker, but luckily he did not cause any damage or take anything. I have already stopped him from doing so. You needn’t worry about that. Do come as soon as you can.”

“Damn,” Gordon Knight sighed. “Okay, I’ll give you a benefit of a doubt this time, you over priced robotic monster. At least you called my cell phone. You’re right, it isn’t your fault. But when you’re done, clean your damned mess!”

“Of course, Gordon,” Kiryuu acknowledged. Kiko took a peak outside the large bay window where she saw the head of Mechagodzilla. The cords on his head began to rapidly shrink. She could hear the sounds of whips cracking and whirling as the cords shrank down. Soon, the cords were no longer than to his shoulders. They still twitched a bit, like tiny serpents on Medusa’s head. Robotic arms came down, holding the metallic helm and lower metallic jaw. The cords braided together, shrinking farther into his skull as the helm came down, covering his face. The lower jaw plating attached to his chin, concealing any remains of Kiryuu’s resemblance to Godzilla from 1954. The golden optics flashed on and the red tear lights on his metallic cheeks began to glow.

“Kiryuu, where is Katsura?” Gordon asked. “Since you two are mentally linked, didn’t she know of the hacker as well when you found out?”

“Though we are linked, I block out much of my thoughts from her to allow her privacy,” Kiryuu began, his voice rumbling and rolling softly and silkily off the speakers from within the control room. “So she was not informed. I do not require her assistance in a matter like this.”

“Okay,” Gordon sighed. “The situation has been resolved, do to quick thinking by Kiryuu. I’m not going to give you a party for this, though.”

“I did not ask for one,” Kiryuu said. “I expect nothing from you, Mr. Knight. I was only doing what I felt was needed to be done.”

Gordon flinched, the statement awakening a disturbing memory within him. Kiryuu said the same thing when he was attacking Tokyo. Gordon grumbled and glanced away.

“Is there something wrong, Gordon?” Kiryuu asked.

“No,” Gordon snapped. “Nothing.”

“Gordon?” Will asked, peering at him with concerned eyes.

“Nothing!” he shouted. “I’m fine. Leave me be!”

“Okay, sir,” Will shrugged. “Now about this assistant?”

Gordon’s eyes snapped open and turned to Kiko, who was still staring at Kiryuu.

“That’s right,” Gordon chuckled. “Kiko!”

“Yes?” Kiko’s head snapped around at the sound of her name being called.

“Will, this is Kiko Mafune,” Gordon began. “She’s from Berkeley. She is your new computer systems and security programmer and your assistant.”

“Hello,” Will said as he shook her hand. His eyes were captivated by her perfect face. Kiko smiled and tossed a dark lock away from her eyes.

“Nice to be working with you, Mr. Penter,” Kiko began.

“Call me Will,” he said.

“Call me Kiko,” she laughed.

“Kiko,” began Gordon. “And this is Kiryuu Mechagodzilla. Our greatest achievement in both the bio-syntech design and the most powerful AI in the world.”

She was silent for a moment, staring back at Kiryuu’s metallic face again.

“It’s okay,” began Will. “He won’t bite. You can talk to him.”

“Hello, Kiryuu,” Kiko swallowed nervously.

“Konituwa, Mafune-san,” Kiryuu’s head dipped politely.

“Wow, he knows Japanese?”

“He knows a lot of languages,” Gordon replied. “Most of them he downloaded himself from sites, but we programmed him with the knowledge of both English and Japanese. So far, he can speak about 10 different languages, including Latin. And he can read the languages as well.”

“That’s amazing!” she laughed. Kiko turned back to Mechagodzilla. “It’s nice to meet you, Kiryuu.”

“The feeling is mutual,” rumbled Kiryuu’s rich deep voice. “Welcome to the team, Ms. Mafune. I have no doubts that you will be an asset to us, and your talents will be used widely.”

“Thank you,” Kiko bowed. Again, Kiryuu returned the gesture with a slight dip of his metallic head.

“And now,” began Gordon. “After meeting the crown of our achievement, shall I escort you to our cafeteria?”

“I am a bit famished,” she smiled.

“Come on, Will,” said Gordon. “What better way to get to know your knew associate than by lunch?”

Will glanced back at Kiryuu: “Sorry, pal. I guess we’ll finish our game later.”

“That is quite alright,” began Mechagodzilla. “Getting to know Ms. Mafune better holds more weight than a Halo game. I shall shut down and run my usual simulations until you’re return.”

“Simulations?” Kiko asked.

“He keeps his mind sharp with simulated Godzilla battles,” Gordon shrugged. “It gives him something else to do beside being a backstabbing sneak with the Internet. Once he gets bored with that, he’ll no doubt go surfing the Web.”

Will and Gordon led Kiko out of the control room.

“Haven’t you built more powerful firewalls to keep Kiryuu from hacking?” she asked.

“To be very blunt,” began Will. “There isn’t a firewall made to keep his nosy CPU out of it. We’ve tried stronger firewalls, stacking them everywhere, encrypted codes, and well, nothing works. He breaks them down. He’s entertained by them. Breaking down firewalls and chasing after hackers and well, doing some un-authorized searching of his own is a game to him.”

“But the hacking has slowed down a bit,” Gordon sighed. “At least. He used to hack into government websites and well, download top-secret information. Then, when we finely catch him in the act, he has the files scattered all over the place—all over the Internet. He did that a year ago. He stole files on Godzilla that weren’t meant for the public. Then, when we were pegged for the blame, Kiryuu got rid of the files as fast as he downloaded them.”

“That’s just incredible,” Kiko shook her head in awe. “I’m amazed by what he can do. And that voice! What a sound! His voice is vary charming.”

Will pointed at Gordon: “Who’s voice did you think it came from?”

“Well, my voice use to entice the ladies back when I was a bit of a wolf,” Gordon chuckled. “In my younger years. I’ve broken so many hearts with this voice, its unreal.”

“I bet,” she giggled. “And it fits Kiryuu too. That’s exactly what I imagine someone his size should sound like. Just hearing it sends chills through my skin. It’s—very unique to hear a computer speak to you in such a rich sound.”

“It’s easy to think of Kiryuu as a computer when we’re not talking directly to him,” began Will. “But when we are…Kiryuu becomes much more than a mere computer. The word ‘computer’ looses its meaning when I think of Kiryuu. He’s not a computer, he’s a living being.”

“Don’t go that far in saying it, Will,” Gordon grumbled. “No matter how good he sounds, or the fact he can emote, he’s still hardware and wires.” He paused. “But you’re right, it is hard to think of him as anything less than a computer. Even I am just as entranced by it. We came a long way to create something like Mechagodzilla. A very long way.”

“You should be proud,” Kiko began, looking directly at Will. “And I should be honored to work for you on the most powerful AI in the world.”

Will chuckled: “He’s a handful. Wait till you meet Katsura Yugami. She can be quite a handful too.”

* * *

Katsura found the control room empty for the first time in weeks. It was silent, so silent she could hear her own heart beat. She sat down on the control panel and stared blankly at the screen. Then, she turned to the enormous bay window behind her. Mechagodzilla, his optics were dim. She sensed is processors from within her mind. They blocked her out. He must be running simulations, or entertaining himself with various web pages. She stared balefully at his helm-covered face. Katsura released a sigh. She could see right into his golden optics. His eyes were closed within the optics. She noticed some random twitching from underneath the lids. He was not browsing or running simulations, he was actually sleeping.

“Just like a cow,” Katsura smirked. “You can sleep standing up.”

She knew that he did not notice her in the control room. Most of the time, he keeps his mind out of hers. She still regretted ever putting that cord in her head, allowing Mechagodzilla to share a mental link between her. She knew his true thoughts now, and his true feelings. Kiryuu never hid any of that from her. Those thoughts, those emotions are what frightened Katsura the most. Then, she feared that she had the same feelings as he did. Often, she wanted to rip the port from her neck to free her from his grasp. Katsura turned away from the metallic face, letting a tear fall from her cheek. She lifted a hand up to her head and felt of the link port hidden from behind her hair. She thumbed it for a moment, remembering with regretted sorrow of the day she helped reactivate Kiryuu’s AI.

“Katsura,” Katsura’s eyes blinked. Kiryuu’s voice spoke to her. She lifted her head up and her eyes turned towards the window. Mechagodzilla’s eyes were still closed. “Katsura, I’m over here.”

She followed the deep, dark voice within her mind. Her head turned slightly and her eyes caught the sight of a ghostly figure standing in front of her. It was Kiryuu! He had done this before, project his image into her mind. Kiryuu looked like a human-sized version of himself, with out his helm. His metallic tail swayed softly over the carpeted floor.

“Kiryuu,” she gulped.

“I’ve missed you today, Katsura,” Kiryuu began. “I was getting worried that you would come. I tried not to meddle in your affairs. Is there something wrong?”

“No,” Katsura shook her head. “Nothing.”

“We have a new employee today,” he continued. “Her name is Ms. Kiko Mafune.”

“That’s good,” She nodded. “Will finally has a new assistant.”

“I am looking forwards to working with her,” Kiryuu said with a polite and pleasant smile. “Having someone new on the team is a pleasant feeling perceive.”

“You’re accepting your emotions, Kiryuu?” Katsura asked with an expectant tone. Kiryuu lowered his head and leaned against the wall.

“I can’t deny that I have them, can I?” he asked. “Though, you have helped me accept them. I am grateful to you. Without you, Katsura, I—I would have been lost forever in that void. Again, I say, even with the link, you still don’t know the amount of feelings I have for you.”

Katsura looked away from him. She did not want to hear that again from him. It was wrong for him to feel that way towards her, to have those emotions for her. She only thought of him as a companion, but he thought of her as more than that. It was not right, it would never be right. Once more, she had to remind herself that he is only a computer, he does not know what he is saying.

“Please, stop,” she breathed. “Kiryuu, you don’t know what you’re saying. You don’t even know what that kind of love is!” Katsura turned back to him, her eyes flashed with frustration over her own feelings and his. “How could you ever know what that kind of love is? You’re a—a…”

“Computer?” Kiryuu sank down to one of the chairs and placed his head in his claws. “Nothing more, nothing less. You didn’t think that way before. I’m sorry, Katsura, for forcing this burden on you. I still regret ever making you insert that driver cord into your skull. I did not mean for this to happen. But I had those feelings before it did!” He looked up at her, his eyes swelling up with tears. “I am not a computer anymore. You above all people should know that. Can a computer—weep? No…it can’t, but I can. Your link between me allowed me to accept the growing emotion that was already deep within me. Why can’t you accept my feelings?”

“Because they are not right,” Katsura sighed. She walked over and knelt down to him. “I don’t know how or why you developed these feelings for me, Mechagodzilla.” She placed his metallic claws into her hands. The link allowed her to touch his mental image as if he were standing in the room with her. “Kiryuu, they don’t feel right to me. They make me uncomfortable to even be around you. And I want to be around you. I want to help you grow. I love you, but not in the way that you love me. I love you like a son, not a lover. Now you have to accept that. You don’t love your mother the same way you love your mistress.”

“All right, Katsura,” Kiryuu slowly regained his cool and charismatic composure. “You are right, they are uncomfortable. I still love you though, even if you don’t love me the same way. But I won’t force you. That is the last thing I want to do.”

He slowly rose from his seat, his form fading away.

“Mecha…” Katsura breathed.

“Go to the cafeteria, Katsura,” he announced as his form disappeared. “Meet the newest member of our team.”

“Okay, I will,” she nodded. “Sleep well, Kiryuu.”

“Thank you,” his voice rumbled off. “I shall be here when you return.”

* * *

“So, then he asked: ‘What’s for dinner, Gordie?’“, began Gordon. “I told him: ‘Well, there’s the pot, that’s the stove, and there’s the pantry, you figure it out!’“

Kiko and Will chuckled at the end of his story. Gordon sipped his coffee and laughed. His eyes stared at Will and Kiko. They were hitting it off rather well. He was lucky to find her. The last assistant Will had was an incompetent fool. Gordon knew Will could do better with more efficient help. The other assistant became too much for Will to handle, even made Kiryuu complain a bit too much for Gordon to take. The last thing he wanted was for Kiryuu to complain about constant maintenance on his processors and voice. His eyes drifted away when he thought about his creation. The metallic automaton had mellowed over the months. He thanked Katsura’s help in that. Gordon settled down into a bit of silence, listening to Kiko and Will talk for a moment. His thoughts were still lost on Kiryuu. Then, his eyes spotted Katsura walking in.

“Katsura!” he cried, waving for her to come over. “Over here!”

Katsura rushed over towards him. Kiko glanced back, smiling. Will stood up, nodding in greeting.

“Katsura,” began Gordon. “This is Kiko Mafune.”

Kiko stood up, bowing slightly to Katsura.

“Hello,” Katsura smiled. “Welcome to the Utah Foundation of Bio-technologies.”

“Thank you, Dr. Yugami,” Kiko smiled.

“Have a seat, Katsura,” began Will. “We were just listening to another one of Gordon’s cavern fever stories.”

Katsura let loose a laugh, covering her mouth in the sudden spasm of her voice. She slowly sat down, placing her hands into her lap. Will reached for the coffee pitcher and poured her a fresh cup. Katsura sipped at it lightly, smelling the sweet aroma. She began to feel at ease again. Gordon glanced at her, recognizing her expression.

“You’ve spoke with him?” he asked.

“Who?” her eyes snapped up into his.

“Who?” he asked. “You know who! Our big mouthed, rust bucket we call our protector from Godzilla.”

“Please, Gordon,” Katsura’s eyes rolled. “Not now. Don’t poke at it now. Leave Kiryuu alone for once.”

Gordon shook his head and snorted, crossing his arms in frustration. His eyes roved over at Will and Kiko. The two had remained silent, listening to Gordon and Katsura. Will swallowed and looked back at Kiko, his lip curling to a smile. She followed his gesture.

“Oh, hell,” Gordon got up from the table. “Enough is enough. I’m going back to my office. Will and Katsura, you show her around the base. I hope you’ll enjoy working here, Miss Mafune.”

He bowed slightly as he grabbed his mug and quietly walked out of the cafeteria. Kiko glanced back at Katsura.

“Is he always like this?” she asked.

“No,” Katsura sighed. “This is one of his good days. Gordon has been going through some anger management programs.”

“Doesn’t sound like it’s working,” Kiko sighed.

“Actually,” began Will. “It is. He used be a little more flammable than this. Then, a few months ago, Gordon had a heart attack and Katsura suspected it was because of his hot temper. He’s now ordered to keep his cool.”

“Oh,” she sighed. “Didn’t know that.”

Katsura laughed: “It may not sound like he’s keeping his cool, but you never heard him before the attack. He swore at the end of each sentence. And Kiryuu was an escape goat for his anger.”

“He actually likes Kiryuu,” Will began. “When Gordon is away from Mechagodzilla, he speaks nothing but high praises of him. Calls Kiryuu his greatest accomplishment. But when he’s near Kiryuu, the attitude changes.”

“So I see,” Kiko began. “But he is proud though. I heard him myself before we entered the control room.”

“But then, right afterwards?” Will smirked.

“All the swearing comes right out,” Katsura sighed. “I wish that he’d admit that he likes Kiryuu. Might open Mechagodzilla up more.”

Kiko nodded: “The one person, he does not get admiration from, I see…is Gordon. But what about you? And the link, I’m curious about it. Does it change your attitude about Mechagodzilla, or does it give you a new perspective on how he views the world?”

Katsura shrank back, feeling the link port in her neck again. She took in a deep breath, trying to keep her mind out of Kiryuu’s and her eyes on Kiko. It did give her a new perspective. Kiryuu saw everything through the eyes of a child who is eager to learn. He was eager, and that could be both a good thing, and a scary one. She tried to fight her feelings for him. She could not help about what he said to her, his feelings for her. He knew that he could not force her to feel the same way. She knew that as well.

Katsura… The deep voice breathed softly into her mind, tickling her emotions and plucking at that dark place deep within her soul. Kiryuu knew that she was thinking about him. Katsura shook her head.

“Katsura?” Will asked.

“Perhaps I should not have asked that question,” Kiko caught herself. “Forgive me, Doctor.”

“No,” Katsura shivered. “It’s not your fault. Kiryuu and I share a private and vary special relationship. I can’t describe it. He needs my guidance, for he does not fully understand his emotions. We did not program the AI to have them, but they just started to show up anyways. It was the feed back from the bio-syntech. He’s trying hard to control the emotions, but…”

“Sometimes,” began Will. “They do come out. But not as violently as before. Again, Gordon might have told you that the link between Katsura and Kiryuu helps Kiryuu to control those emotions better. He imitates her actions.”

“He imitates my well mannered actions,” Katsura smiled. “I have taught him the difference.”

“So, the link helps you teach him how to control his emotions?” Kiko asked.

Katsura nodded. Will took another sip at his coffee, smiling at Kiko. She returned the gesture. Katsura rose from her chair and rubbed the back of her neck where the link was.

“Look, I’m going to my office, if anyone doesn’t mind,” she began. “Why don’t you show Kiko around the compound.”

“Sure,” Will nodded. “How much did Gordon show you?”

“Mostly the control room where I’ll be assisting you,” Kiko replied.

“Well, then, show her to her office, Will,” said Katsura. “I’m sure she wants to get settled in before she is ready to be assigned to her job at the control room. I’ll see both of you later. Sayonara.”

“Sayonara, Katsura-chan,” Kiko got up and bowed as Katsura left. Kiko turned back to Will who got up as well, picking up his Styrofoam coffee cup.

“Well, your office is this way, Ms. Kiko,” he began as he lead her out of the café.

“Will, I was wondering,” Kiko began. “About Kiryuu. Is he the original Godzilla?”

“In a way,” Will replied. “Actually, he’s the original Godzilla’s clone. But, it’s that age old question: If you clone yourself and you die, does that clone become you or just look like you, have your fingerprints, but be a totally different person? It’s hard to say if Kiryuu is in fact the reincarnation of the original Godzilla, or if he’s just a clone plain and simple. We do just refer to him as a bio-mechanical clone of the original because it’s the simpler way to view it instead of saying that he is the reincarnation of Godzilla. The reincarnation answer brings about all sorts of problems.”

“But what do you believe?” she asked him, prying more into the subject.

“Me?” Will asked. “Well, Kiryuu, in a way does believe that he is the reincarnation of the original Godzilla.”

“But do you believe that?” Kiko asked again.

“I don’t know what to believe,” Will sighed.

“They walked down the corridor and into an elevator. Will pressed for one of the higher floors and felt it jerk as it moved up.

“So, if Kiryuu believes that he’s the reincarnation of the original Godzilla,” began Kiko. “Does that make him the current Godzilla’s father?”

Will let loose a choked laugh, surprised by Kiko’s question. He was not expecting her to ask a question like that. Will sat in his mind silently, rolling the question over his head. Is Kiryuu Godzilla’s father? All of a sudden the image of Darth Vader came into his head. Darth Vader was part machine and part man, and he was the father of Luke Skywalker. Just thinking about Kiryuu looking at Godzilla and saying: “I am your father, Godzilla…” brought a chuckle to his lips.

“Will?” Kiko asked, breaking Will’s thoughts.

“Huh?” he asked, snapping back to reality. “Oh, is Kiryuu Godzilla’s father? Well, yes, I’d say that he is…Godzilla’s biological father. But to say that he is the father that raised Godzilla, then no. Of course I’m coming from my own experience. I was adopted when I was 3. So, the father who took care of me and raised me was to me…my real father, not the one who—well…knocked up my biological mother. Sorry to be so blunt. They say that blood is thicker than water, but I say that’s a bunch of BS. So, yes, Kiryuu is Godzilla’s father, and no, he is not Godzilla’s father.”

“I see,” Kiko nodded. “But does Kiryuu feel a paternal bond with Godzilla?”

“He feels a bond to him,” Will replied. “But is it paternal? I don’t think so. After all, Kiryuu did not raise Godzilla. He knows that there is a huge connection between himself and Godzilla, they are of the same blood. But I think that is so far the only connection Kiryuu feels. Though, when Kiryuu goes to fight Godzilla, Godzilla no longer wants to fight him. He just leaves after staring at Kiryuu for a brief moment. It’s really odd, but Kiryuu doesn’t say anything about it. We don’t ask him, feeling it’s his business and none of ours.”

“Gordon says that Godzilla turns tail and runs,” Kiko giggled.

“No, he doesn’t,” Will shook his head. “He just doesn’t want to fight Mechagodzilla. It’s not the how powerful Kiryuu’s weapons are, or anything like that. He just doesn’t want to fight Kiryuu. But Gordon likes to think it’s because Godzilla is scared of Kiryuu. It makes Gordon feel bigger than the monster. But I know that Godzilla is the least bit frighten of Kiryuu.”

Will took another sip of his coffee cup just as the elevator pulled into a stop.

“Well, here we are, Level B,” began Will. “This is the level where we all have our offices. And of course right out there as you can see is the bay and dock area and of course Kiryuu standing there.”

Kiko turned and saw the mechanized Godzilla standing silently, his optics dull. She saw several technicians, who were not there before, plodding around Mechagodzilla. They were taking notes and attaching various wires and cords along the head and neck area. Huge cherry pickers with workers and welders worked around Kiryuu’s knees.

“What are they doing?” she asked.

“Scheduled maintenance,” Will began. “It’s 4 P.M., so they are there to do their hourly check up on Kiryuu’s system.”

“Kiryuu requires hourly maintenance?” she asked.

“Well, we can never be too careful,” Will shrugged. “And it gives them something to do, as Gordon always says.”

“He’s a charming fellow,” Kiko laughed.

“Who? Gordon?” Will asked. “Yeah, he can be a handful himself. Arrogant, just like Kiryuu.”

“Will,” Kiko moved a little closer to him. “Where are you from? I mean I know you’re American.”

“You mean what state?”

“Yeah, what state?” she nodded.

“Believe it or not, I was born in Arkansas,” he said. “But I was adopted by a family who moved to West Virginia. It’s beautiful there, the mountains and the more down homely feeling. Not like here, where it’s concrete buildings all around you, and well, a little tighter and congested. I showed Kiryuu some pictures of West Virginia and the Blue Ridge Mountains. He said that he wouldn’t mind seeing it for himself, he could gather much information about the wildlife there. Kiryuu…he’s more of a scientist than a soldier. He just wants to learn and study, not fight. You should visit the mountains in the Eastern part of the United States. That place, where Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, and Tennessee all connect. The land is old, and you can feel it. I try to go back when I get a vacation.”

Kiko sighed. Hearing him speak of his home made her a bit homesick as well. She glanced around as he took down the corridor and to her office. Will got out the key and opened the office up, leading her inside.

“Well, here it is,” he began. “Your office. You can start moving all your stuff in as soon as you like. And that window will give you a view of Mechagodzilla as well, so that you can see what all goes on around the bay area. We all have windows that face the bay area from our offices. It helps us keep an eye on him, and it makes us feel better when we do.”

“I see,” Kiko nodded. Will started out the door.

“If you need anything, just call me,” he said, giving her a brown, small book. “This is a log of all of our extensions. Mine is 4459, under William Penter.”

“Thank you, Will,” Kiko smiled as she saw him walk back down the hallway. She walked out of her office and leaned over the walk way ramp that kept her in the corridor. She stared out to the bay area, watching the workers around Mechagodzilla. She began to ponder on the AI for a long while, amazed about the complexity of the personality of the computer controlling Mechagodzilla. She was amazed on how far in computer AI advancement they had come. She needed more information; she needed to learn more about the AI, his thoughts, and now his feelings. Though, her mind had begun to hold interests in the AI, she had to think of the other qualities of Mechagodzilla. The bio-syntech polymorphic muscle system, another achievement made by the Foundation. She never thought that it was possible to create techno-organic system capable of morphing into various simple objects, like the bladed tentacles. Kiko rested her head on the ramp, staring blanking at Mechagodzilla.

Kiryuu, she thought. You are an enigma.

“Ms. Mafune,” began a deep, subtle voice from her office. Kiko turned around, finding no one was in her office, but her computer had turned on automatically.

“Who’s there?” she asked.

“Do not be startled,” the voice said. “Come to the computer screen.”

“Kiryuu?” Kiko asked as she walked over to the computer screen. The screen flashed several times just as an image appeared on it. She saw the face of Mechagodzilla, without his helm.

“Welcome to your office, Ms. Mafune,” Kiryuu began. “I have access to all associate computers and offices from my comports links into the LAN system around this base. What you see on the screen is my virtual self, the form I take on inside cyberspace. I assist and guide all associates who help in maintenance upkeep, and warning systems.”

“Warning systems?” Kiko asked.

“G sightings,” he replied. “This base has two satellites in orbit around the Earth, about 100 miles above the atmosphere.” Kiryuu’s image disappeared just as several images of the two satellites appeared. “Their names are Lotus and Jewel. Gordon Knight named them.”

“Cute,” Kiko chuckled.

“Indeed,” Kiryuu amended. “These satellites are the most advanced warning system and web link in the world. They are more powerful than the system used by the Japanese government to monitor Godzilla’s movements. Which is why I declined the prime minister’s offer to use their system.”

“I understand,” she said as she sat down on her chair. “So, I am able to contact you from my office?”

“Yes,” Kiryuu said. “It is s simple system. Internal email. I have an account as well.”

Kiko let loose a shocked laugh. Now this was advancement. A computer with an his own email account.

“What is the matter, Ms Mafune?” he asked.

“I’m just shocked that you have a personal email account,” she said.

“I have several,” Kiryuu said. “One that is internal, and about 99 free email accounts, Hotmail, Yahoo, MSN, Geocities, on many servers around the world.”

“For your hacking habit, I see,” she grinned. Kiryuu’s image reappeared on the screen. She leaned closer to the screen. “You know you’re not suppose to hack, that’s what Gordon Knight says.”

“Gordon still refused to supply me with enough information that I require to become efficient,” Kiryuu explained in a deep voice.

“Well, sometimes there is information that you are no suppose to know about,” she said. “And it’s for your own protection that you don’t know.”

“If there is information out there on the web, then why do they not want me to know about it?” Kiryuu asked. “You humans make information too easy for me to obtain. Though, to respect your privacy, I have stopped most of my governmental viewings.”

“You don’t hack personal accounts do you?” she asked.

“Why, of course not, Ms. Mafune,” Kiryuu’s voice sounded shocked about her question to him. “I understand private accounts on the Internet. I understand that it holds the private information of an individual.”

“Well, sometimes there are accounts for governments and businesses that are also private, they don’t like it if you pry into their business,” Kiko said. “It’s not nice to be so nosy all the time, Kiryuu.”

“I understand, Ms. Mafune,” Kiryuu nodded. “Why are you asking me this?”

“I need to know,” she replied. “I need to know that you won’t pry into my private things that I might save in this computer.”

“Do not worry, I will not pry into your personal affairs,” he said. “But it is against company policy to have such information stored on our servers.”

“I know,” she said. “But I’m just saying.”

“I understand, Ms. Mafune,” Kiryuu amended. “Do you have any other questions for me?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Thank you, Kiryuu.”

“Of course,” Mechagodzilla nodded through the screen. “And welcome once more to the team.”

“Thank you,” Kiko smiled. The face faded away from the screen, leaving only a dark prompt. She sighed and took out her cell phone. She remembered when she first met Knight, he told her that she could use her phone inside the compound. The signal would not interfere with Kiryuu’s contact with the satellites or the monitoring around the compound. She began to make her call, one with quite a long distance charge.