Paradigm City - Fan Fiction - The Past of Tomorrow

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The Past of Tomorrow

CHAPTER FIVE

An undetermined amount of time later, the Smiths and Norman were watching the last few entries of the video diary.

By silent agreement, they dropped Norman from the list. He could have taken the disk away any time he wanted.

According to Dorothy Prime's updates, she had woken up from her drunk to find Major Smith sleeping on the floor next to her bed. They had talked at last. And they were officially Together.

Consummation happened not long afterward, a mere few weeks. Dorothy Prime went into considerable detail, most of which was fast-forwarded over. Dorothy made and compared notes quietly to herself.

In just the same amount of time, Dorothy Prime discovered she was pregnant. (Major Smith was in shock and kept saying 'Huh??' until Dorothy Prime finally said, 'You knocked me up, you think lump.')

'I don't know what to think,' she admits as she holds Pero and strokes his back. 'I've always known this, I've always had a knowing I was going to have his children ... and here I am, knocked up.' She giggles, smiling. 'Dad threw a fit, which kinda surprised me. He chased Roger all over the neighborhood with a pair of pliers, yelling about what he was going to remove. But Roger's happy about the pregnancy - once the shock wore off, he was more excited than I was. He asked me to marry him, so we set a date. Christmas Day. I'm scared and happy and anxious and elated and a thousand and one other emotions. If we have a girl, her name is going to be Renee Tamara Smith - my middle name and my mother's name. If we have a boy, his name is going to be Patrick Nicholas Smith - Roger's middle name and his father's name.' She inhales deeply. 'It's going to be wonderful and scary and a lot of hard work, but I know I can do it. I am the daughter of Timothy Wayneright and Tamara Solderno - I can do anything.' She pauses. 'God, I wish mom was here ... Well, good night.'

"Tamara Solderno?" Dorothy commented. "Miguel Solderno was her uncle?"

"A possibility," Roger commented. "We have no way of knowing how common the name Solderno was before the Event."

A few more entries dealt with the wedding (a small but elegant affair, even though Norman Burg and Jason Beck made faces and did stupid tricks in the background of the video while - strangely enough - Alex Rosewater stared daggers at the back of Roger's head). Then there was the farewell taping of Major Smith going off to War (a war never explained, which irked Roger to no end), with Dorothy Prime's belly beginning to bulge slightly and Major Smith being quite loving and affectionate. She pressed a photograph from their wedding to his chest and he placed it in his breast pocket.

Norman and Dorothy exchanged looks over Roger's head at that point, then the scene switched to Dorothy Prime halfway through her pregnancy and swelling up nicely, her face now more mature but also slightly sad.

'I haven't heard from Roger in two days,' she says, moving her hand over her belly. She is in the secret room under the house surrounded by the pillows. 'Millie said he was on mission fighting the ... oh, hell, it doesn't matter anymore ... he's fighting those serpent monsters, the Leviathans. I'm worried. I don't know what's going on. My feet hurt and I feel like I have gas all the time, too.' She sits on one of the bag chairs, Pero crawling up and trying to settle in her now nonexistent lap. 'Dad's designing another Megadeus ... and it scares me. This one has no clear purpose, it's not for any particular group or anything. He says he's compelled to make it, that something outside him is making it. He was drunk last night and went on about something called "the Power of God wielded by Man" and "apocatastasis" - I had to look up that last one. Something about a process of recreating and renewing.'
For a brief moment, her face was that of a frightened child. 'This is scaring me. I wonder if those monsters are able to dig into people's heads?' She caresses her belly again. 'I'm regretting the fact Renee is going to be born during the Apocalypse. She deserves better than this. Especially since I know I'm going to die. Why be surprised, I've known ever since the moment I pronounced my vows - I'm going to die before I see Roger again. I only hope Renee is born before I pass on.'
She closes her eyes then opens them and pulls out a notebook. 'I'm giving these to Dad ... they're plans for a life-like android, a more advanced model than what we have around here. I finally found something from my engineering and biology and A.I. thoery classes that I took. I know this sounds insane, but I want to be around for when Renee grows up, even if it's not "me". She can at least have someone with my memories and hopefully my love to raise her and take care of Roger.' She looks at the notebook. 'I don't know what I'm doing anymore. Maybe it really is insanity. Dad agreed to have my memories put on disk because he's not sure if the safeguards against the monsters will work or not. We did it this morning.'
The room rumbles and she looks up. 'They're here.'
'Dorothy!' her father's voice yells, muffled by walls.
She hugs the notebook to her chest and bites her lip. 'Whoever finds this, tell Roger I love him.'
'Dorothy! Where are you?!'
She moves to switch the camera off. 'Please, merciful God, allow us to be reunited once again, always and forever.'

The camera became staticky the last time.

Roger pulled Dorothy down on his lap, reaching up to wipe the yellow oil tears from her face.

She turned to him. "I think I know who wants the disk."

* * *

It was well past midnight in Dastun's apartment, and he and Angel were concentrating on a game of chess with a very old, ratty board with scratched up pieces.

Angel moved a piece. "Check."

Dastun attacked with his knight. "Nice try, Millie."

She smiled, brushing back a strand of blonde hair over her ear. "My mother taught me how to play."

Dastun stared at the board. "She must be more in touch with her memories than most."

"I don't know. It's a question that's been haunting me since I left ... home ... and joined the Union. I haven't spoken to her in ten years because of my mission." She also looked down at the board. "We thought we were doing good, Daniel. We thought we were doing good."

Dastun looked up at her. "I'm finding a lot of things are done because it was thought to be 'for the greater good'." He chuckled grimly. "I've found myself contemplating tossing my badge and telling Paradigm where to insert it. This afternoon's fiasco with the Commission only made it more tempting."

"Why didn't you?" she asked, sliding a piece across the board.

"Because I have a job to do - and my incompetent superiors aren't going to get in the way while I do it."

Angel leaned her chin against her fist, grinning. "You're a good guy, Daniel. That's why I like you."

Dastun felt his ears get hot. The unnatural comfort he had felt around her - a comfort he had never really experienced around a woman before - fled, replaced by a nervousness that was equally alien. "Um, your turn."

"No, it's yours."

A sharp knock came from the door.

Angel leapt up and dove into the bedroom. Dastun slammed the door behind her.

"Hold on!" he called.

He spotted her coat and threw it under the cushions of the couch, then answered the door. On the other side were Roger and Dorothy.

"Roger, good to see you," Dastun said. "Come in. I hope the guys didn't treat you too badly - "

Roger shrugged, grinning. "It's okay, Dastun, I know it had to be done. Belmont came to visit and go over old times." He and Dorothy entered. "Sorry to visit you so late, but we're trying to unravel a case involving that disk."

Dorothy sat on the couch and Dastun realized one of the arms of Angel's coat was poking out from under Dorothy's posterior. "Need my help?"

"Yes," Dorothy answered. "Would you happen to know where the Military Police's mainframe would be?"

Dastun shook his head. "We don't have a mainframe - we're connected up to Paradigm Corp's mainframe, like every other service in the city. Trying to locate that is near impossible."

"Think you'd be able to trace it from the Military Police Headquarters, Dora-girl?"

"I can attempt it," she answered.

Dastun looked between both of them. "Do you know who to look for?"

"Dorothy has an idea," Roger replied. "Can you get us into HQ?"

"Sure. Let me get ready."

Dorothy stood. "I'll wait in the Griffon, then."

She left the apartment and Roger turned to Dastun. "How long has Angel been here?"

Dastun's face hardened. "I don't know what - "

"Dan, her coat is hanging out of your sofa."

The bedroom door opened and Angel stepped out. "I'm still here, Roger Smith."

Roger's expression softened. "I didn't know - "

"Don't pity me, Roger," she said. "Daniel was kind enough to take me in for a few days."

Dastun cleared his throat. "Don't say anything, Smith."

Roger shook his head. "Nothing you already know and you know I won't talk."

Angel folded her arms over her chest. "Who else wants those memories?"

Roger shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. "There's no point in making money off of this - "

Angel stomped her foot down, her boot clacking against the floor. "This has nothing to do with money! I know it's the original Dorothy Wayneright's diary and I know my mother worked with Timothy Wayneright! I want to know what the hell happened!"

Roger leaned against the doorjamb and stared up at the ceiling. "A woman named Mildred Hathaway who looked a great deal like you was Major Roger Smith's assistant. And both did work with Timothy Wayneright on the Megadeuses."

Angel remained expressionless. "Do you see why I have to see it?"

Dastun pulled Angel's coat from under the couch cushions and handed it to her.

Roger closed his eyes in agreement, then opened them again. "That you'll have to discuss with my wife."

Angel nodded. "That I will do, Mr. Smith."

Roger turned to Dastun. "We'll go in my car. Be ready in two minutes."

Dastun nodded and Roger left. He looked at Angel.

She pulled her coat on. "Daniel ... "

He gazed at her, then placed a hand on her cheek. "We'll find some kind of answers, Millie, I promise."

She gripped his hand, turning her head so her lips touched the inside of his palm. "Some kind of answers are better than none."

* * *

Dorothy and Angel sat in the backseat in silent politeness as Roger raced the Griffon through the streets of Paradigm City towards Military Police headquarters.

Angel kept her eyes glued head. "I have questions only you can answer, Mrs. Smith."

Dorothy kept her own eyes focused to the front. "About Mildred Hathaway?"

"Yes, my mother. She's on that disk, isn't she?"

"She appears a few times."

Angel's eyes shifted to look at Dorothy. "What happens with her?"

Dorothy turned her head to fully face Angel. "She had an affair with Dorothy Prime's father."

Angel glared at her. Dorothy remained unfazed.

"You can see the section for yourself; both discuss the fact that Second-Lieutnant Hathaway does not wish to marry him."

Angel folded her arms and closed her eyes, grunting. "At least Mother had some sense."

"Agreed. Timothy Waynewright was a very trying person." Dorothy changed the subject away from the relationship between their parents. "She has been useful in unraveling some of the mysteries of the Megadeuses. The fact that all the Megadeuses have both a pilot and an engineer, for instance."

Angel blinked, then her mouth dropped open. "Oh, my God ... Vera ... "

"Who is Vera?" Dorothy inquired.

"The current leader of the Union ... it never occurred to me that she had kept Duo for some other reason than for the Union."

Roger's rearview mirror was adjusted, his eyes reflecting to the backseat. "What about Big Duo, Angel?"

"When I was still outside, one of the weapons Vera had mentioned using was Big Duo. She kept it in a hanger outside the city. I managed to sneak in and take a look at it before I moved here; she was like a ... rabid dog in keeping people away from it. When it appeared in the city several months back I thought the Union had started its attack - but it turned out that mad reporter had stolen it."

Dorothy looked at Angel. "Are you saying this Vera is the Machina of Big Duo?"

"Machina?"

"Engineer," Roger explained. "Like Norman's work on Big O."

"Yes ... that's what she is. Never piloted it but kept up on maintenance."

Dorothy narrowed her eyes. "Was Vera's full name Vera Ronstadt?"

Angel was genuinely surprised. "How did you know that?"

"Roger-dear," Dorothy intoned. "There was a Master Sergeant Ronstadt mentioned on the disk as Big Duo's Machina."

He nodded. "Yeah. Tall woman, masculine figure, hard face, pronounced lips. Looked like she had a terminal case of constipation."

"That's Vera," Angel confirmed. "Especially that last part. No one has seen her smile and lived."

Dastun turned in his seat to face her. "Was that a joke?"

Angel answered with much uncertainty, "I'm not sure. It might have been." She glanced at Dorothy. "So if all the Megadeuses have pilots and engineers, then that means - "

"Each Megadeus chooses its Dominus," Dorothy stated. "Each Megadeus also has its preferred Machina."

"But what about that Megadeus Alex has?" Angel asked. "It arrived here in Paradigm City in several pieces and was being put together by the time I left his employment."

"Somebody took it apart," Dorothy answered simply. "Very likely by its Machina."

"And who would that be?" Angel snapped.

"Jason Beck."

* * *

All four made their way into the computer room of the police station, Dastun intervening with his authority if anyone got in the way. Graveyard shift was quiet and a little lax since few things happened after two in the morning in Paradigm City. The passage of the Colonel and three other individuals virtually went unnoticed.

The main terminal of the Military Police was rather large, several shelves of equipment and datadisks lining the walls of the room with a central terminal taking up a large desk area.

Dorothy settled in the hard chair and slid her disk drive out, picking a cable from inside and snaking it down into the dataport of the computer.

Dastun stood at the door. "Is it all right for her to do that?"

Roger shrugged. "I've never seen it used before."

"It's merely a way of accessing the computer's information," Dorothy stated. After a moment, she added, "I'm in."

"Where are you at?" Angel asked.

Information code began scrolling down the screen before Dorothy. "Within the network. I found the address of Paradigm Corp's mainframe ... gaining access ... "

Dorothy began jerking uncontrollably, her eyes turning white and exposing the concentric circles within the 'irises' of her eyes.

"What's going on?!" Dastun demanded.

"Dora!" Roger cried, grabbing her.

Angel dove to the computer's keyboard and tried to find out what was going on. Dorothy's arm backhanded her across the room and into Dastun.

"Roger ... " Dorothy murmured in a mechanical manner, her words repeating on the screen in computer text. "Roger ... Roger ... " Her voice became clearer and warmer. "Roger, you've come back. It's been so long, I stopped counting." She embraced him.

"Dorothy?" he asked. "Are you all right?"

"Of course I am," she answered as she sat perfectly still. "I am nothing more than data now, but now that my project has been fulfilled I can finally hold you again."

"Dorothy, what the hell are you talking about??"

"Major Smith, have you forgotten your wife already?"

Roger's blood ran cold. "Dorothy Renee Wayneright?"

"Smith," she added. "This is what became of me after I died in childbirth, my love. I am Paradigm City's computer." She paused. "God, I'm only A.I. now, aren't I? And I failed my A.I. Design classes. I don't think Doctor Turing would have approved."

Dastun whispered a coarse word as he held Angel.

"Who's here?" Artificial Intelligence Dorothy asked. She turned around in the chair and gazed at Dastun and Angel. "Millie. Commander - excuse me - Colonel Dastun, you're here, too. As always." She cocked her head. "No, not Millie. You're the Wings of the Beast."

"Wings of the Beast?" Angel breathed.

"The Memory that was implanted in your mother. You've manifested at last." She frowned. "Where is the disk?"

"What disk?" she asked.

"My diary. I tried to take it back but somebody halted the raid."

"That was you?" Dastun asked. "Why? Why did you block information?"

"Because I cannot allow Roger to be executed by a pack of barbarian warlords who don't look ten feet in front of them. If I allowed that information to reach your superiors, Roger would be dead, Big Omega confiscated, and Paradigm City in ruins by those who have attempted to claim the world for themselves."

"Where's R. Dorothy?" Roger demanded.

"Her program is still here - we are exchanging information as I speak. I will return her to you ... Please, where is my diary? I want my diary back, Roger."

"Why?"

"Because it is part of my memories. It belongs to me."

"It belongs to Dora now."

She silently reached to him, caressing her fingertips down his cheek. "She and I are one and the same, haven't you figured that out, my love? She has the body while I have Paradigm City. It was decided long ago." She cupped his face in her hands. "She has you, all I have are memories of you when you were Major Roger Smith and I was your flesh-and-blood wife. Please ... give me the disk. Only the Domini and Machinae have any use for the few passages concerning the Megadeuses and this they already know in their genes and memories - the Bigs will assure it. The rest is my diary, which is no use to anyone save you and R. Dorothy and she's copied what she's seen."

Roger pulled the disk from his pocket, handing it to her. She slipped it into the terminal's disk drive and she hummed quietly for a few seconds.

"It's been ages, my love," she said softly. "I had forgotten much of that last year. We were going to be so happy ... our home, our children, each other. It will happen this time, though, I made sure of it."

"This time?"

A crunching sound was heard.

"There," she stated. "It now belongs to me." She kissed him, darting her tongue out and licking along his lips before she released him again. "Take care of Dora, Roger."

He nodded. "I have and I will."

She turned to look at Angel and Dastun. "Domini, the time is nigh. Rosewater is about to strike. The New God is a False One. And whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad."

Dorothy jerked again and fell to the floor, spasming as a string of robotic code screamed from her throat.

The room rumbled, causing Roger to fall to the floor next to her.

"What's going on??" Angel yelled.

Roger called into his watch, "Norman! What's going on?"

Norman's voice answered, 'Master Roger, sir, there appears to be a giant robot converging on your location.'

Dastun grunted, "Anyone else have a feeling of deja vu?"

"Another Megadeus?" Roger asked.

'Sort of ... Dorothy One. I have already dispatched the Prairie Dog to your coordinates.'

Everyone in the room looked at each other. Dorothy's cable snapped back into her headband which slid back down.

"Dastun, get Angel out of here and to safety."

Dastun nodded, picking Angel up and taking her out of the room.

Roger bodily picked Dorothy up in a fireman's carry. "BIG O - SHOWTIME!"

The rumbling multiplied as Roger dashed out of the building and leapt into the cockpit while Big O ascended above the street.

Roger deposited Dorothy on the floor, then spun into the control chair. He activated Big O's systems.

'CAST IN THE NAME OF GOD ... YE NOT GUILTY'

Roger peered at the monitor and stared at the apparition of the battered Megadeus.

"Your sister does not give up," Roger commented.

Dorothy pulled herself up next to him. "She was called back by accident," she gasped. "She is a ghost, she does not see anything around her."

Roger pressed Big O forward. "Whatever happened to her after the second battle?"

"According to A.I. Dorothy, Paradigm Corp had taken the remains for study. Dorothy One has been in an undisclosed hanger all this time."

Roger grunted. "I should start taking the remains home with me since we can't trust Paradigm to take care of it properly." He raised Big O's arm. "It's past your bedtime, Dottie!"

Dorothy One ignored the black Megadeus before her as she made her way down the street in what could only be described as a zombie-like state.

Roger slammed the fist out, crashing it into Dorothy One's face. The piston sucked in air, then was released with a powerful thrust.

The shockwaves shredded Dorothy One's head, turning the wild cables and wires into shards.

Down below, the shrapnel rained down on Dastun and Angel. Dastun shoved Angel under a cruiser just as a loose cable swung down and snapped against the back of his head.

"DANIEL!" Angel shrieked, crawling out to grab him and pull him under the cruiser with her.

Dastun held the back of his bleeding head, his eyes wide in both shock and pain. "Broke the skin," he said in a supernaturally calm voice. "Probably some tissue damage - doesn't feel broken. Maybe a concussion."

Angel pulled him close as debris fell to the street around them, the sleeve of her coat against Dastun's wound while she cradled his head against her chest.

The last pieces of metal clanged to the ground.

Back in the cockpit of Big O, Roger moved the controls around to have Big O grab Dorothy One's arm and drag her down the street to one of the tunnels.

"Norman, prepare the Prairie Dog," Roger ordered into the comm system. "I'm bringing another Megadeus home."

"Very well, sir. Should I prepare another place at the dinner table?"

"Not necessary this time." Roger sighed, switching off the comm. "What happened to cause that?"

Dorothy wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "When the connection with A.I. Dorothy was severed, the reboot sequence sent the wrong command out and called for an activation of Dorothy One."

He lay his head against her chest. "As R. Dorothy, you were supposed to be the Dominus of Dorothy One, huh?" he asked softly.

"In a sense. Father only lost his personal memories, not his technical ones. So it was natural for him to design a Megadeus needing a Dominus - my being an android made it slightly easier, he had said. In the end, Miguel Solderno attempted to change Dorothy One's programming for Jason Beck and you know what happened."

He squeezed her arm as Big O descended through the street again. "Come on, love, let's go home."

Dorothy Prime had her way in the end. Her one-in-a-million shot of a human-like android design was faithfully rendered by her father and uncle as a means of preserving the future.
All she asked for in return was her diary, a recording of a girl's first and true love and the world around her in that point in time.
There were still many mysteries surrounding the Megadei, the role of the Dominus, and the necessity of the Machina. They were mysteries that will be unraveled with time.

* * *

Angel and Dastun crawled out from under the cruiser, watching Big O disappear into the street.

"For the greater good," Angel breathed.

"I prefer it," Dastun concluded, holding a kerchief to the back of his head. He glanced back at her. "Are you all right?"

She looked at him tiredly. "I was too scared for you to care what I was going through." A startled look crossed her face.

"What?"

She looked at the ground, her mouth set in a thin line. "Nothing, Daniel. Let's get you home and dress your wound." She reached over and laced her fingers in his.

Dastun squeezed her hand.

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