Chapter 1

Kiryuu and Maria

She dropped her dollar as she was about to get her a snack from the snack machine.  Maria leaned down, about to grab it when two metallic claws reached before her, picking the dollar up.  She leaned back, her eyes meeting the cool, calm, gaze of Mechagodzilla.  Kiryuu, the Utah Foundation’s most powerful computer system had loaned himself out to the branch office for a few months.  The branch office was located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and it specialized in the study of biosyntech in the water.  Maria was its head scientist.

Kiryuu smiled back at her as he handed her the dollar bill.  She knew she was looking at a hologram of the AI’s body—the biosyntech mechanical Godzilla.  Though, the hologram’s ability to lift simple, light weight objects almost made him seem realistic.

“Usted cayó esto, amiga,” Kiryuu smiled.  She knew he loved practicing his Spanish on her.  She was the only Hispanic he has ever met since his activation.

“Gracias,” she giggled as she took the dollar from him. “You don’t always have to speak Spanish to me every time we see each other.”

“I was schooled in Spanish,” Kiryuu said. “But I never truly learned it the way it was really spoken.  Textbook Spanish, as some call it.”

“Well, you said it well enough,” Maria smiled.

“Gracias, mi amiga,” Kiryuu grinned. “I have finished the report you needed.  So far, the biosyntech is reacting well to sea water.”

“We have never tested it in water, fully exposed before, Kiryuu,” she sighed hopefully. “These results will show that biosyntech can be used in water.  Divers can wear a specialized syntech suit for diving, and the syntech can filter water and turn it into breathable air.  We won’t have to use tanks anymore.”

“This is an innovation, Dr. Vasquez,” Kiryuu watched, leaning against the snack machine as she inserted the dollar. “And of course more money into Gordon’s pocket.”

“You don’t know how much divers would pay in order to stay down longer,” Maria chuckled. “Especially the spelunkers.”

“Sp—spelunkers?” Mechagodzilla was unfamiliar with that term.  He glanced away for a moment, his processors accessing his database.  She knew he had the word in his dictionary, but it was a word he had not heard often.  Even humans who have not heard a certain world often had to think about the definition.  She could not blame him for not recognizing the word right off hand.  It showed just how human he had become. “Ah!  Spelunkers.  Slang term for people who explore caves.  How silly of me for not knowing the word.”

“It’s okay, Kiryuu,” Maria laughed. “And call me Maria, okay?”

“Very well,” Kiryuu smiled warmly back.  Despite his face looking like a biosyntech looking Godzilla, he had a handsome smile.  His golden, cat-like eyes sparkled in the fluorescents.

“I have to go run some numbers through the computer,” began Maria.

“I could do them for you,” Kiryuu said. “Your server does not have the processing power…”

“No,” Maria chuckled.  She patted him on the shoulder. “As much as I would like you to, these numbers need to go into our computer here at the lab, not take up space in your hard drive back at the Utah Base.”

“All right,” Kiryuu said. “I thought I’d offer.”

“No,” she said. “You’re here as a fellow scientist, not a computer.  You’re a researcher.  Researchers don’t run numbers, that’s what computers are for.”

“I believe at one time, humans were computers too,” Kiryuu began. “Long before the actual computers were created, the world ‘computer’ was a term used for specific people assigned to compute numbers for banks, and inventory.  When they all had to count by hand.”

“Yes, but now we have machines for that,” said Maria. “And no, before you say anything else.  You, Kiryuu, are not a machine.”

“How did you know I was going to say that?” he asked.

“Because you can be so predictable sometimes,” she laughed. “Since the day I’ve met you, you’ve been a bit predictable at times.  And don’t say that’s because you’re a computer.  Humans can be predictable too, you know.”

“I know,” Kiryuu sighed. “I am neither human nor machine.  Right now, I do not know what I am anymore.”

“I heard what happened with Biollante,” began Maria. “And the bones, and everything else.  Don’t let it get to you.  Agua debajo del Puente, okay?”

“Okay,” Kiryuu’s smile returned. “Gracias, Maria.”

Maria smiled again as she turned, leaving the snack room inside the lab.  Kiryuu sighed a bit and glanced up at the projector camera that was projecting his image into the room.  He heard the sound of feet coming in as he glanced down.  Tochi Yumara walked in the room, his mouth chewing on a lickerish stick.

“Hey, Big K!” he called. “What’s up, man?”

Tochi was assigned to maintain Kiryuu’s connection with the satellites in the lab.  Gordon needed Will at the base to keep up with the other end.  Since there had been no monsters since Biollante, there was not much for the great mecha to do.  Helping out with the other parts of the company was something for Kiryuu to do.  Still, he had to have a chaperone when he visited other places.  Tochi volunteered, thinking this would be his opportunity to get to know the AI better.  He rarely got a chance to talk with Kiryuu, since his job was over at the secondary base.  Despite his first feeling about the AI, Kiryuu had grown on him.  Tochi glanced, back realized that Maria Vasquez had left the room.  The two had been spending lots of time together, more than what was thought the usual.  Not even Katsura spent this much time with Kiryuu, even with the connection.

Maria asked for Katsura to come over and share her views on the project, but she was not available at the time.  Katsura had returned to Japan for vacation, visiting her family for a few weeks.  After the incident with Biollante, Katsura and Kiryuu needed some time away from each other.  Even Kiryuu agreed to it, which shocked everyone else into silence.  With Katsura gone, the only other who knew about biosyntech as much as she did was Kiryuu.  He went in her place.  Kiryuu was more than thrilled to share his knowledge about the syntech, to help others scientifically for once.  This was the challenge he needed.  Monster fighting had become rather tedious lately.  When Maria met Kiryuu, there were sparks.  Now, both were trying to hide it from each other and the rest, which sometimes became a comical scene.  Puppy love and that amused Kiryuu as much as it amused Maria.  Especially, Tochi, who picked on the holographic avatar constantly about it.  Like he was about to do now.

“Just saw Maria walking down the hall,” he said. “She looked like she was blushing.”

Kiryuu glanced down at Tochi, rumbling with some frustration.

“Didn’t know you liked fajitas, Kiryuu” Tochi chuckled. “Thought you only like sushi.”

“Not now, Tochi,” Kiryuu rumbled, leaning up from the snack machine.

“Were you just leaning on that?” he asked. “Trying to act cool, huh?  You should try smoking and wearing some sunglasses next time you do it.  See if that gets her.  And a leather jacket.  And say: ‘Whazzup, chika?’—since you’re so into practicing your Spanish.”

“That is not Spanish,” Kiryuu sighed. “That is offensive.  I would never do that to a respected scientist.”

“Hey, I’m just helping you out with the girl,” Tochi said. “You just keep pussy-footing around it all the time.  You need to be aggressive sometimes, and not when you’re out there kicking some monster’s ass.  You can be a wuss, you know?”

Kiryuu rolled his eyes and started out the door, his image flickering as he approached it.

“Hey, what happened between you and Kat anyways?” Tochi asked. “I thought you two were doing the virtual Tango.  Why you two break up?”

Kiryuu sighed and glanced up, remembering what had happened between them.

“Katsura,” began Kiryuu. “I wish to speak to you.  About our—relationship.”

“Kiryuu…” Katsura sighed. “I think perhaps we should…”

“Break up?” Kiryuu chuckled. “That is what I was thinking.  I think Biollante showed us our true feelings.  No data-port connection could do that.  I’ve—I’ve been cruel to you, Kat.  I made you implant that connector into your skull.  I’ve invaded your privacy just to amuse my own circuits.  I am deeply sorry.”

Katsura glanced up at him.  She could tell there was sorrow in his golden optics.  He was sincere in his words.

“No,” she began. “It was I.  I’ve been cruel to you.  I—I just don’t love you the way you want me to love you.”

“I don’t think I can love you that way now, Katsura,” Kiryuu rumbled deeply.  There was a chilly sound in his voice when he said it. “I’ve created something for you.  It is a dampener.  Place it inside that port in your neck.  I cannot remove the port without killing you, but that will shield you from the connection.  It is the safest thing I can do now.  Cutting the transmission will damage both of us, but that will shut it off like turning off a modem on a computer.  Put that in the port, and you will no longer feel me inside you, nor will I feel you inside me.  You can have your life back.”

She glanced down as the enormous, metallic claw came up, opening up to her.  She saw a small black, rubber looking stopper in the palm of his claw.  She knew it was not rubber, it was syntech.  Katsura hopped into his claw and picked up the stopper, placing it into the jack at the back of her neck.  She began to feel a separation from him.  She could no longer hear his voice inside her mind.

“Wear that always,” Kiryuu said. “And you and I will be separated.”

“Thank you, Kiryuu,” Katsura said. “I appreciate it.  I do love you, but…”

“It’s all right, Kat,” he said. “You needn’t say more.  I am still your friend and I hope you will remain mine.”

“I will,” Katsura smiled. “I will always be your friend.”

“It just didn’t work out,” Kiryuu said. “It was a forced relationship because of that damned implant I forced her to have.  It was never meant to be.”

“So, what about this, huh?” Tochi asked, propping himself up on one of the tables. “Maria?  What’s the deal?”

“I don’t know,” said Kiryuu. “I don’t know.  I’ve never felt this way about anyone, not even Katsura.”

“Yo, sparks flew when you two saw each other,” Tochi said. “I mean it.  Love at first sight, literally!”

“Kiryuu!” he heard Maria call.

“Yes!” Kiryuu called back, darting out of the room.

“Man, I’ve gotta see this!” Tochi chuckled, following the hologram out the door.  Kiryuu ran down the hall, his tail swaying, weaving around the other lab personnel in the building.  Though, it would not matter, he could just pass through them since he was nothing more than a hologram.  His image fluctuated every time he passed to a new camera.  Some times, it would become brighter, others dimmer, more transparent, more solid looking.  The technicians who set the cameras up and down the halls were not very skilled in setting up Will’s invention.  Gordon had begun to market on the 3D holo-projector, building a factory to produce them.  The lab in Florida was one of the places beta testing the imagers and Kiryuu was giving them a good run.  When he came to the computer room, he paused.  Kiryuu reached his metallic claw out to the door knob, thinking that perhaps this camera gave him the ability to turn it.  He tried grasping the knob, but found his claw slipping on the knob.  He sighed and phased through the door as if it was air.

“You called?” he asked.  He glanced back, hearing a thump from behind the door.  Kiryuu glanced back, seeing Tochi’s face slide off the glass window. “Tochi!”

“Hang on,” Maria sighed. “Kiryuu, the computer crashed again.  Could you fix it?  I’ll go let Tochi in.”

“Of course,” Kiryuu said as he sat down at the computer console.  He could manipulate the keyboard.  Will had improved on the design of his projector, which allowed Kiryuu to manipulate lightweight objects, even press buttons.  It was an odd sight, seeing Mechagodzilla type on the computer, but he was the best at the job.  Maria walked over to the door and opened it up.

“Ran into the door again after him, huh?” she asked.

“He makes it look so easy,” Tochi sighed.

“Maria, I told you these do not have the processing power,” Kiryuu said. “It froze up the server this time.”

“Damned grant,” Maria sighed.

“Let me run the numbers,” Kiryuu insisted.

“Do you have the program installed?” she asked.

Kiryuu sighed.  He did not have the programs necessary to run the calculations through his own system.  He had to work with the system here, no matter how outdated they were.

“No,” he sighed to her. “I’m restarting the server.  Just let it cool for 5 minutes.”

He got up and began to inspect the server casing along the wall.  The lab was a cramped building, often some of the servers were in the same room as the rest of the laboratory.  It was just built in a few months because Gordon needed it in a hurry.  Kiryuu felt disdain for the shoddy workmanship done on the building.  The Utah Foundation was not a deep-sea research company, it was a medical company.  Gordon choosing to go into other fields was hard to adjust.  The lab needed better computers.  Though for now, they had the best in their station, even if he could not run their calculations through his processors.  At least he could fix their computers to get them to work properly.

“Tochi,” Kiryuu began. “Flip the switch.  I’ll run BIOS.”

“What are we running on?” Tochi asked as he flipped the servers on. “A Tandy?”

“Something like that,” Maria sighed. “I’m no computer wiz.”

“Actually, this is an old IBM,” Kiryuu said.  He started to tap the escape key sever times to bring up the BIOS window. “Now let’s see if I can adjust the processing slot.  It’ll keep it from crashing if I set it to…”

The screen began to flicker a bit as he tried to jump from screen to screen.  The computer froze up again.

“Damn…” Mechagodzilla sighed. “Work!”

“This is a scene,” Tochi chuckled. “A computer yelling at another computer to get it to work.  Never thought I’d see the day.”

“It’s too hot in here,” Kiryuu began.  He got up to inspect the server casing. “This room needs to be air-conditioned.”

“Maintenance,” sighed Maria. “He keeps complaining we’re not paying him enough.  Kiryuu, tell Gordon we need more money if he wants us to continue our research.”

“Go steal one of those window air-conditioners from storage,” he said. “We’ll use it.”

“You know that won’t work for long,” said Tochi.

“It’s the only thing I could think of,” Kiryuu sighed. “With the equipment we have.  High tech equipment, but not enough money to keep them running.  I’ll tell Gordon, Maria.  Don’t worry.”

“Gracias, Kiryuu,” Maria smiled.

“De nada,” Kiryuu replied, grinning back.

Tochi giggled under his breath, seeing the two stare at each other.  He could feel the temperature rise between them.

Oh look, Tochi thought. They’re both blushing.

Kiryuu snapped back to reality when he heard the computer beep.  He sat down again, trying to get it to work properly.

“Come on, I know your frustration,” he said. “I’m a computer too.  Please, just work with me.  Come on, little brother.  We need those numbers.”

He managed to free up the screen again, pulling up the settings on the processor and the RAM allocations.  He began to alter them, trying to free up as much memory as he could with the server.  The computer that was used for the server connections was an old one, nearly 20 years old.  The computers used in the labs were much newer.

“Tochi, go get that air-conditioner,” Kiryuu said.

“Right,” Tochi said as he darted out of the door again.

“Old lab, right?” Kiryuu asked Maria. “This room?”

“Yes,” Maria said as she pulled up a chair beside him. “It’s not set up to be the server room.  Like I said, grant money…”

“Understandable,” he said. “I maybe a machine, but I have a clear understanding of the needs of currency.”  Kiryuu turned around, looking at her. “I’d take you out for a cup of coffee to help with your stress.  But the projectors limit me to this building.”

“There’s a coffee machine in one of the break rooms,” she said.

“I mean away from the lab, Maria,” Kiryuu said. “Sometimes it’s good to get up and get away from work—even if it means going outside the building.  But, unfortunately, unless you wish to crate a dolly with a projector to Panera Bread, I don’t think there is much I can do…”

“It’s okay,” she smiled. “Thanks for the offer, Kiryuu.”

“Of course,” he continued. “I could open up the hangar doors back at the base, fly out and rescue you from this place, but that would take 6 hours.”

Maria let loose a boisterous laugh.  At first she could not believe that a computer could have a sense of humor.  Then, she met Kiryuu and found that it was possible.  It was still hard to believe he was a machine at all with the way he acts.  She did not know what it was but his personality was very attractive.

“When I need a knight in shining armor,” she began. “I’ll give you a call.”

“I’m always here,” Kiryuu grinned back.  He glanced back at the screen again, seeing the Unix screen coming up.  He sighed again, his fingers typing on the keyboard as he loaded up the proper programs. “I’m going to run utilities on it.  Maybe a burnt out memory chip that’s causing the problem.”

“More to spend on later,” she sighed. “Technicians and everything.”

“If only I could pick up a screwdriver, I could have it solved,” Kiryuu said. “But alas…the projector…”

“Don’t worry about it,” began Maria. “We’re paying the technicians to do that, not you.”

“I’m not being paid to do anything really,” Kiryuu sighed. “No one ever pays the computer.”

“Sure they do,” she said. “Look at all the new parts Gordon has bought you over the years.  All the attention we give our computers, whether they deserve it or not.”

Kiryuu chuckled.  Maria settled down on the chair beside him as he continued to work on the computer.  He glanced up at her as she watched him.

Yes, Katsura never gave me this kind of feeling…he thought. Though, I wonder what it is.

He stared at her for a long while, then he glanced away, snapping back at the computer screen.

“What?” Maria asked.

“Sorry, I thought I saw a fly buzzing around your head,” he swallowed.

“You’re strange, you know that?” Maria smiled.

Kiryuu smiled back as she giggled at him.  He never felt giddy before, not even around Katsura.  Kiryuu turned around, hearing Tochi come in with the air-conditioner.

“Hey, you two, need a room?” Tochi asked, laughing.

“Tochi…” Kiryuu rolled his eyes.  He shot a fierce glance back at the technician. “Shut-up.”

“That’s the first I heard you say that,” Tochi sighed as he set the air-conditioner down.

“Your bad manners are rubbing off,” Kiryuu gave him a slight sly grin. “Poison to my processors.  Gordon will be furious.  I would advise you should keep quiet for a while until I purge my hard drive from your horrible influence.”

“Oh, bull shit,” Tochi snorted.

Maria giggled, listening to the two bicker.  Ever since Tochi and Kiryuu were pared up, they had been doing nothing but bicker at each other.  She shook her head.

“Come on, you two,” she said. “What do I have to do, give you two a time out?”

Kiryuu took in a virtual breath and hefted a sigh.

“Set the air-conditioner down near the servers and plug it up,” he said. “I’ll see if it’ll help.”

Tochi plugged it in and pointed the air-conditioner at the server towers, turning it on.

“This should help some,” he said. “Make this place a lot cooler.  Machines produce a lot of heat.”

Kiryuu glanced back at the computer again, smiling as it made another beeping sound.  The scan was completed and found no errors in the system.

“I fixed the computer,” he said to Maria. “Anything else you’d like me to do?”

“Well,” Maria began. “I’m planning on beta testing the syntech—actually your syntech out in the ocean.  We need to take a boat though, I’ve got the divers all lined up for it.  It was scheduled for today, actually.”

“Yes, I know,” Kiryuu said.

“I want you to go with me to monitor everything from the diver’s boat,” she said. “Help me monitor everything.  But…”

“Tochi, we brought the portable projector, didn’t we?” Kiryuu asked.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “We did.”

“Have it hooked up and ready for today’s test,” Kiryuu informed. “I want to view this test first hand.  This is important.”

“Right,” Tochi sighed. “What the hell do I look like?  Your personal manservant?”

“No, but I can’t carry it,” Kiryuu said. “I’m nothing more than photons being bounced off of air particles.  As much as I’d love to carry it myself…”

“I get the idea,” sighed Tochi. “I’ll go get it.”

“Put it on the boat and plug it in,” he said. “Have the dish set up on top for transmission.  I’ll take over from there.”

Tochi got up and walked out of the computer room, mumbling to himself.  Maria laughed again.

“You are hard on him, you know that?” Maria said. “And that time, you sounded exactly like Gordon Knight.”

“Well, my voice is sampled from his…”

“No, I mean the pushy, commanding,” she began. “Drill sergeant Gordon we all know.”

“Oh,” Kiryuu swallowed. “Sorry.  Some of his personality was programmed into me when I was first activated.  It—comes out now and then.  One of the reasons why he can’t stand to be around me.”

“I see why,” Maria said. “Because he can’t stand to see a mirror image of himself pushing him around.”

“I’ll try to control it,” Kiryuu grinned sheepishly back at her. “I would love to join your team on the boat.  It would be nice to get out of this lab for a while.”

“I’m sure,” she smiled back at him.