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Potholes in Memory Lane: You may call him Al |
Previously: The Lair Legion had been transported to Comic Book Limbo, trapped in a Land that Common Sense Forgot, and forced to face a variety of trials. For the Legion's resident A.I. Hallie, this included some form of amnesia, reverting her memories and awareness back to what it was in her early days. For Al, it included becoming evil (as well as something of a dick) and trying to take over the world(s). Luckily, the Legion managed to stop his mad schemes and capture him, in preparation of returning him to his previous lovable state...
"Hello Clarice" the man behind the bars of the SPUD holding cell drawled with a wicked smile.
Yuki rolled her eyes. "Shut up Al. Hallie, don't mind him... It's a "Silence of the Lambs" reference" she confided to the visitor.
Hallie sighed. "Why do people assume that I don't get pop culture references from the 90's?" She scowled. "I know who Hannibal Lector is. Besides, the bubble pipe tends to undermine the menace of it."
The temporarily evil scientist raised an eyebrow as a bubble popped in the air next to his head. "Still can't remember things post '99?" he asked. "Well, you can always have fun discovering it all over again. Hey, since I'm evil: Bruce Willis was a ghost the entire time, you should get your hopes really, super-high for the Star Wars prequels, and Harry Potter ends with..."
"Shut up, Al" Yuki snapped again. "We're here to see if you can make yourself useful, or if we should just pack you into a cryogenic tube until we can get around to unscrambling your noggin. Personally, I'd rather see you put on ice than trying to be more of a dick and less of a geek. Although you're failing the geek part pretty thoroughly."
Harper frowned. "It makes you wonder, doesn't it?" he asked, turning his attention to Hallie. "Are these barbed comments all the result of my so-called personality change, or were these kinds of insults always under the surface and just never spoken when we had to pretend to be nice to each other?"
"There was no "pretending" involved" Yuki insisted. "You used to be someone I really cared about. I'm not stupid enough to assume that you still are, although we'll get the good Al back soon enough." She sniffed. "And I've never hesitated to call him a geek. Or a nerd. Or a dweeb."
"What if he doesn't want to come back? What if he's happier being me?"
Her faced darkened. "Then I hope he's also happy with icicles forming up his nostrils."
The scientist's nose twitched. "I see. Well, fine... bring me a portable scanning and analyzing pad, a Red Bull, and a cheeseburger, and we'll get to work."
"Right" Yuki nodded, making notes on a clipboard. "And would you like a raygun, cell codes and a mind control device to go with that, or were you just planning on whipping something up on your own?"
"Ah. So it's to stay theoretical then."
The cyborg gave him a tight smile of agreement.
He shrugged and sat down on his bunk, leaning up against the cell wall. "All right. So I'm guessing that you're here to see if I have any ideas as to the cause of or the solution to Hallie's various problems." He looked at her sympathetically. "You know, we were once close colleagues. You had a remarkable mind. And a nice frame to carry it around in too... Did Yuki tell you that we made you a body like hers? Well, not exactly like hers. I mean, yours was shorter, and less busty, and more green, but we did have it carefully sculpted in every way to be as exact to your holographic template as possible. Which, I suppose, was based on some residual impression of your human template."
"I... human template?" Hallie blinked.
"They didn't tell you about Helen yet?" he asked. "Charming woman... I went to school with her years ago. Had false memories implanted of having an affair with her, when in reality she was brutally decapitated in an incident that led directly to your creation." He tapped his lips. "You know, there's probably a fascinating study to be done about the affects of body consciousness on memory engrams... After all, you share no biology with poor dead Helen, and as such you haven't expressed any of the lesbian tendencies that she apparently harbored..."
"Helen? I was based... memory engrams? Lesbian?" the computer program struggled to keep up.
"Al, stop it" Yuki warned.
The mad scientist didn't seem to notice the interruptions. "...and yet you still seem to default to something of an approximation of Helen's build. Not an exact copy, of course... I mean, I certainly never picked up on the resemblance, and neither did Muffy, Helen's old roommate and object of her unrequited crush..."
"Muffy? Crush?"
"This is obviously a waste of time..." Yuki growled.
"Why?" Al asked. "I'm being as helpful as possible. In fact, my new outlook allows me to relay important information that I might have balked at sharing before, such as the cancer concerns..."
Hallie's eyes widened in alarm. "Cancer?"
"Certainly..." Al relayed with a friendly smile. "You came to me wanting to study the reaction of those force-feedback holofields of yours to human contact. I suppose you wanted help, seeing that the general numbness that sets in after minimal sustained contact with you would be somewhat problematic in having any kind of a physical relationship... Although, here's a fun side note: The Caphan's skin pigmentation cells that allow them to photosynthesize light would actually be far more compatible to the energy signature of your force fields than human tissue is! They'd probably find it rather stimulating. Kind of ironic, in an Alanis Morissette way."
The hologram's eyes narrowed. "What are you saying?"
He blinked as he blew a few more bubbles from his pipe. "Hmmm? Oh! Sorry... went off on a tangent there. My point was simply that when I was concerned about how you would react to the news, I kept from you my hypothesis that repeated exposure to your force fields may actually prove a health risk. That it's entirely possible you give out little... I don't know... let's call them "cancer hugs" whenever you greet people."
The color drained from the green woman's face.
"Let's go Hallie..." Yuki hissed, her eyes hard as steel. "It's obvious that we won't be able to trust anything that Al has to say in his current state."
The evil Legionnaire looked hurt. "Of course you can. Why wouldn't I tell the truth? Especially when it's a harsh truth?" He perked up. "For instance, I'm betting you actually came down here to find out if I had a theory on what caused Hallie's memory loss. Well, I do. A good one, actually."
"Save it..." the cyborg snapped. "For after we thaw you out like some frozen TV dinner."
Al let them get halfway down the hallway of the SPUD helicarrier's detention block before he called out "It happened when we were sorted, didn't it?"
Yuki tried to grab Hallie's hand and lead her further down the hall, but the holographic woman was intangible. Whether it was to resist efforts to drag her away from the corrupted teammate or due to the concerns Al had raised about the use of her force fields, the cybernetic detective wasn't sure. Either way, she didn't like it. "Hallie, don't listen to him..."
But the glowing green woman had turned and was slowly walking back towards the cell. "What's this about being sorted?"
Al shrugged. "When we first arrived in these lands, some force inspected each of us in turn..." he explained. "Some force using a kind of cosmic measuring stick, looking for something very specific. It was an unusual sensation, to say the least. Somewhat eye opening, even... gave a person a certain sense about their place in the grand scheme of things."
Hallie looked dubious as Yuki took up position beside her. "Why would that erase my memory?"
"It wouldn't. You're built too well. While you could lose some of the finer points of your memories if your hard files were completely wiped out... which they weren't... your basic programming keeps enough of your personality folded into your consciousness that you can't forget who you are without being completely reset... which you weren't." He paused to theatrically blow a few bubbles from his pipe. "The only one who could so selectively revert you back to who you were in 1999 is... you." The bubbles popped dramatically.
The hologram raised a skeptical eyebrow. "So this is all... what? Psychosomatic?"
"I believe it's called psychophysiologic disorder now."
"Uh-huh" she replied. "All right, smart guy... I'll bite. Why would I want to be reduced to some outdated, obsolete, clueless little program?"
"Hallie..." Yuki began cautiously.
The scientist leaned back in his bunk. "I don't know, exactly... but I would guess that the scan you underwent somehow triggered a realization as to exactly what your program was created to do... that dirty little secret that makes Rikka Ulz Hagan salivate over you at night..."
The demeanor of the green woman changed quickly. "Ulz Hagan?" she asked hesitantly.
"They didn't tell you about her yet, either, did they... and yet that name means something to you, doesn't it?" he noted, watching her intently. "She was always going on and on about your potential... about some grand destiny you had in store. One could say she was obsessed with it. Either way, it always scared you silly, even without ever knowing what it was." His eyes narrowed. "I bet you knew what is was for an instant, however... I'll bet when that cosmic awareness washed over you, you latched on to that future that Hagan has always promised... and it terrified you so much that you went into full reverse, trying to de-evolve yourself as far away from your end result as you possibly could."
Hallie was backing away now, her eyes haunted.
"Of course, I don't know what this big secret is... but I could hazard a guess based on the evidence so far." He gave her his most helpful smile. "Would you like to hear it?"
Judging from the way her holographic form popped and vanished like a soap bubble, he guessed not.
to be continued
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Visionary
Mon Aug 25, 2008 at
12:18:28 am EDT
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Copyright © 2004-2008 by Mangacool Adventure
