....."REMEMBERANCE" (sequel to "MOTIVE".)... by Tblue.


(This is intended as a piece of fiction written only for fun. The characters of Cleopatra2525 are acknowledged as being copyright of the show's producers.)

(The name of "Wagstaff" is attributed to LMRS)
Peter Odin is the name I chose to use for Hel's father's name (from 'MOTIVE').


*********

The two figures moved carefully along the disused tunnel, picking their way gingerly between the piles of rubble, and the puddles of fetid water that dripped down from above. One of them paused a moment, and tilted his head quizzically.
"Shh, Snake, d'ya hearr something?"
"Thsss?"
They waited.

The cat-man grimaced. "Neverrmind. Shaft noise I guess - so where is that nest of lava-rats you prromised me?"
"Sss..."
"Whaddaya mean you're not sure? I'm starvin' here! Am I doomed to eat packet food again? You KNOW how much I hate the stuff... - shh! Listen!."
A faint scraping noise drifted down the tunnel.

Quincey Wagstaff furrowed his brows. "Damn my curiosity. Let's check it out".
They made their way cautiously along the tunnel, until they got to the point where it opened into the shaft.
The scraping noise was coming from the midde of a large bundle of tangled aerials wedged in the far corner of the ledge they were standing on.

"These are your Lava-rats?" he whispered.
Snake shrugged non-committally.
"Very well. Let's take a look-see.".
They carefully approached the thick snarl of twisted rubbish.


With a tiny laser, Wagstaff began to shear away portions of metal.
"I sure hope these are fat ones, because I'm starving enough to feed all nine of me!"
He pocketed the laser as the mass began to shudder violently.
"Snake, hold that net-gun ready, I think they're about to make a break for it...!"
He leaned forward, hands poised and ready, licking his lips with anticipation...
"Hello Dinnerrr", he purred, "I can't wait to - Gak!" A blood smeared hand burst through and caught him by the scruff of his neck. He yowled in fright, quickly breaking free of the grasp.

Leaping back, eyes wide, he rummaged through his pockets. "Snake! The zapper! Where is it??"
"SS!" Snake threw a small cylinder to him.
Wagstaff caught it in mid-air, and swung around, shakily aiming it at the heaving pile.
"C - come out with your hands where I can see 'em!", he shouted " No tricky moves, and no fast business - or you'll never move again!"
The pile broke apart and a figure lurched forward..
He panicked and jammed his thumb on the touchpad. A beam of light illuminated the person, who had collapsed in front of him.

Slowly turning, he glared at Snake with narrowed eyes. "Some zapper," he grated, "I'm glad I didn't ask you for your TORCH."
The beam revealed a badly injured man of medium age. He was tall and dark, with short black and grey hair. Blood slowly leaked from a wound in the side of his head.

"Hell, man, what happened to you?"
"Hel...", the man breathed.
"You got that straight - you could sure use a patch-up, buddy. Got any cash?.. nevermind," he muttered as the man lapsed into unconsciousness."We'll sort that out back at the slab - er - the 'surgery'. Snake, help me out."

**********

The man was slowly woken by a beam of light sliding repeatedly across his eyelids.
Opening them, he squinted at the distorted view. It appeared to be through a clear polymer tunnel of sorts. He started with surprise as a furry face pressed itself against the exterior. A hatch popped and he was rolled out into the room..
"Awake, hey? About time too. - Careful! You'll feel a bit sore to start with"
"Where am I? Who - what are you?"
"Professor Q.A.Wagstaff, at your service. And you are...?"
"...I...don't... know."
"You don't know."
"My head..."

"Seems to me you had a rough night under the town, buddy. You're lucky to be alive!
I've seen the results of drunk flying accidents before - messy!" He clicked his tongue.
The man shook his head slowly. "No. I don't think I..."
"Sure buddy, whatever. Look, we brought you in, fixed you up - kinda hoping for a bit of recompense here!"
"But I can't..."
Wagstaff grimaced."We're no charity house, Mister. It's all Snake and I can do, to keep ourselves fed."
"..Snake?"
"Sthh."
"Oh."

Red hair. Screaming. Pain. Something... his head ached.
Fiddling with the ring on his finger, he looked closer at it and frowned. Lightly engraved on it was the fierce bearded face of an old man wearing a horned helmet. The sound of a woman's laughter flickered through his mind.
"Dammit. I can't remember."

"Ahh pisswhiskers! Look, if you ain't payin' , you ain't stayin'!"...Wagstaff stomped away, then stopped. He sighed. 'Look. There's a welfare grid about two layers below. Used it a couple of times myself."
"Thankyou"
"Don't. The food's disgusting. Oh and one other thing,"
"Yes?"
"Take the stairs this time."

**************

{2 Weeks later.}

The sensor bleeped as she entered the workshop. "Who runs this joint?" the woman demanded briskly.
"Professor Q.A. Wagstaff at your service. What can I do for you lady?"
"You may call me Katherine. I'm looking for an augmented body. What have you got?"

Wagstaff eyed her up and down. She looked to be a lady in her middle ages.
"Why surely such a fine lady as yourself should stay just as nature intended.."
"I don't want to augment myself you fool, - I need a augmented body, to work with."
"Well we have a bunch of recycled clones in that hangar over there - ... and over here, a fresh mutant - sorry - "biologically inaccurate" - corpse ..."

"I was looking for a more 'biotech' orientated specimen."
"Ah then! This one over here, why, he's just perrfect for your programming needs!" Wagstaff winked slyly.
"Don't be disgusting".
Wagstaff raised his hands. "Hey hey, I meant no offence!But it's a fairly common request, y'know. He's an 'M.A.U. 60.' I call him "Mouse", ha ha. - are you interested?"

She looked at the vacantly staring head lying on the gurney. "Perhaps.What else can you tell me?"
" He's an early model betrayer - maybe even one of their prototypes - in a few parts at the moment, but easy to put together again. I tinkered with his works a little - these things can be dangerous when fully assembled, y'know."

"I can handle it. Where did he come from?"
"We found him in the bay of one of the crushing stations on the upper levels"
"How did you gain access to - ?"
"Look lady, I don't ask you your business - you understand. Are you interested or not?"
"He'll do."
"It'll cost you"
"I'm not surprised".

They completed the transaction.
As Katherine turned to go, her attention was caught by a small device nestled among the clutter on a workbench nearby. She walked over and picked it up.

"Where did you get this?"
"That old thing? We removed it from the head of a guy we found out in the shaft."
The Shaft..."Really... Did you bring the body back here?"
"Well, no. He didn't have much of usefulness - damaged goods frankly. Besides, he was still alive - ethics and all that,..." Wagstaff waggled his hands. "He owed us. We figured he wasn't going to miss a broken bunch of wiring that much."

"Can you describe him for me?"
"Sure - about yea high, and yea wide, short blackish hair, of a dark skintype. He seemed a little lost..."
It couldn't be. "Peter..."she whispered.

"Sayyy, that's just what the voice said!"
"I'm sorry?"
"Me and Snake here rigged it up to an amp - figured it was some kind of transmitter/receiver - very fiddly stuff - several components were badly damaged. I nearly wet my fur, when the voice spoke through the amplifier, it was quite loud. But I think we overloaded it - hasn't made a sound since. Pity."
"Thankyou Mr Wagstaff. I think you and I need to have a little talk..."


************

The man held his ring up to the old scanner. When it had registered the image, he typed 'Viking' on the pad below and hit the symbol for 'enter'.
Hundreds of data packets flashed past quickly - he selected one at random.
There was a list of names. Thor. Loki. Balder. Odin....
Odin. He knew it was Odin.

But why?
Scrolling further down, he came across another name on the list.
He shook his head slowly
- if only it made sense...
Hel.



The End! ...for now...

:)

C2525 - Tblue