Chapter 11: A Fork in the Road of Time

[nanocerancowboy]

[One choice can make all the difference of a lifetime.]

[Gat might still be an android, but the change Friday brought to the minds within Mayfield have tampered with him considerably. He doesn't remember a thing about his life in the Gurhal system, or serving aboard Pioneer 2 and exploring the haunted world of Ragol. In fact, he doesn't remember Coral at all, either.]

[Gat's memories come from a life that might have been, had he never chosen to join the Pioneer colonization project. Instead he continued his work as a freelance Ranger for the various warring nations of the dying planet. Decades, maybe centuries passed—Gat will never know for sure, for the Great Blank forced all of Coral's androids offline, sent the Numans seemingly into extinction, and left humanity on the verge of following their child races into oblivion.]

[All Gat remembers is being recovered by an expedition party in the remains of the city of Paru, roughly a hundred years agter the Great Blank, with no memories left to him save for his name and what had survived in his body's sub-memory systems. By then, Coral was a very different place—most of the planet was now inhospitable, with toxins of unknown origin threatening to kill any human who wandered too far from the safer areas on the planet. Most of the wildlife that competed for space in these havens were openly hostile to sentient creatures, making both travel and communication between human settlements difficult—and life was difficult enough, with the once high-tech civilization of Coral reduced to something akin to the American Wild West, imbued with fragments of the previous age.]

[So, since Friday, Gat's been coping with the awkwardness of this CAST body built with technology very different from those from Coral at the time of the Great Blank. Dakki Sigal was never a co-worker or friend—and given her own memory corruption, they only barely manage to get along. Gat's personality has changed some, too—he's a little more blunt and serious than usual, and more of a loner.]

[ACTION - A (In and Around 458 Stone, Morning, HOUSEMATES)]

[Gat's busy taking care of house chores. Much as he'd rather be outside the house doing things other than being here with this woman who sees him as an arch-nemesis, this house was a shared living space. There's Chen to think about, and the drone human kids, too. He's got some responsibility to keep house.]

[ACTION - B (Mayfield Firehouse, Afternoon, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Where the technology of Mayfield's era once left Gat a little awkward due to its relative primitiveness compared to that of Gurhal and Coral's, he's now more confounded by it because much if it is actually more advanced than the technology Coralian civilization is capable of producing after the Great Blank.]

[This isn't exactly a good switch-up when you're trying to check the fire engine's ... engine ... for problems.]

[Are you a fellow firefighter? Or just passing by the firehouse? Feel free to bug the RAcast!]

[ACTION - C (Shooting Range, Evening, OPEN TO ALL)]

[When you're living with a woman who thinks you're her arch-nemesis and is more than ready to kill you to satisfy her deep-seated grudges, it pays to keep your own fighting skills at top notch. Which is why, while Dakki's out spending time training or exercising her skills as a Hunter, Gat's doing the same as a Ranger. Even though he has a strange mechgun that was sent to him for Christmas last year, Gat's preferring to train with whatever weapons are at hand—mostly shotguns and hunting rifles. As might be expected of an android, he's not a bad shot—but it looks like he's working on his timing and speed more than his aim.]

[ACTION - D (Anywhere in Mayfield, Evening/Night, OPEN TO ALL)]

[Rather than go home, Gat's decided to take some time to explore the town. Not necessarily to get a feel for the lay of the land—he'd already done that a few times, especially after he got this strange non-Coralian CAST body. It's mostly exploring for the sake of exploring—and the closest thing he'll get in a town such as this to the lifestyle he led in the post-Great Blank world, drifting from one town to the next.]

[Given the increase in violence in the town recently, though (to say nothing of Dakki's behavior), he's not letting his guard down.]

Comments

[1st_superhero]

Your mo--

[He stops himself in the middle of his sentence.]

Sorry, that's a horrible joke.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat just stares. He looks rather dumbfounded, by his body language.]

My what now?

[1st_superhero]

[Oh crap. Now he feels awkward.]

Your mom. I was...well...going to make a joke about your mother and the lubricant.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat slooowly tilts his head.]

I'm pretty sure I never had a mother. Even if I can't remember how I came to be.

[1st_superhero]

Oh. Uh...forget it. It's a human thing.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat crosses his arms.]

Well, I know organic folk have mothers.

[If you're not a Newman at least.]

[1st_superhero]

Yeah. You're...what, mechanical? A robot? And it's not just organic folks. Gods have parents too and they're nowhere near organic.

[nanocerancowboy]

Android, specifically. They call us CASTs back where I'm from.

[Gat glances down at himself.]

This body ... it ain't th' one I oughta have, though. Mine ain't nothin' like this'n.

[Though, now that Gat thinks about it, what was this about gods?]

What would you call them gods, then, if they ain't th' organic type?

[1st_superhero]

Oh? Then what type was it?

Hm...well, it's not something I can describe simply. I guess you can just say that they're beings beyond our understanding and are made from nothing from this plane of existence.

[nanocerancowboy]

Huh. I reckon that makes sense ...

[He looks down at himself, as if sensing what's different about this body compared to the one he's "supposed" to have.]

For starters, though, I can't detach my head. An' if I tried, I'd prolly die.

[He taps the side of his helmeted head.]

Where I'm from, th' head's all that really matters to a CAST. We can jettison 'em an' attach to other unused CAST bodies at will.

[1st_superhero]

A robot that can take its head off does sound more useful. Maybe you're just in an older model?

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat shakes his head.]

I remember havin' that ability on hand before th' town took me. An' this body feels more like th' human one I had temporarily, besides.

[1st_superhero]

Huh. Didn't know Mayfield could mess up its regains like this.

[nanocerancowboy]

Neither did I. Though, it's given folks back things they don't want, an' I think I recall hearin' some of th' incidents in town were caused by somebody gettin' somethin' back that wasn't necessarily theirs.

[1st_superhero]

I guess I'll have to watch my regains carefully then. I've got lots of stuff that could possibly go haywire.

[nanocerancowboy]

Even worse, they could jus' send you somethin' from where you lived, if'n what I've heard is any indication.

[A beat.]

Were you around for them poisonous mushrooms?

[1st_superhero]

Nope. What were the mushrooms?

[nanocerancowboy]

Happened back in th' middle of November. Somethin' that was causin' folks to lose their minds when they ate 'em. Th' woman livin' with me ... she lost her mind completely. Mentioned things an' places I ain't never heard of.

There was a phone call about where they came from—this girl said they're found on an island where she lives. An' I don't reckon she kept a garden of 'em somewhere.

[1st_superhero]

Oh.

[That meant that anything he encountered during his lifetime had a fair chance of being sent as a regain.]

Well, that means there's the potential for a lot of shit to end up in this town. Hope they don't start mailing me my current day subjects.

[nanocerancowboy]

Y'never know with this place ...

[Gat tilts his head inquisitively after a beat.]

Whaddya mean by "current day subjects," though?

[1st_superhero]

Ghosts. Lots of them. Kinda happens when you're judge of the dead.

[nanocerancowboy]

[Gat pulls his head back in surprise.]

Really now? Don't think you've ever mentioned that before.

[1st_superhero]

Not really a job to be proud of. All you get is the doom and gloom of the underworld. And lots and lots of paperwork. Oh, and watching through hours and hours of human depravity hoping to find some sort of goodness or meaning between it all.

[nanocerancowboy]

... Huh. Never thought I'd meet someone with a metaphysical job such as that.

[On the other hand, if Gat's memories weren't corrupted, he'd be less surprised, given his dealings with the SEED and D-Cell creatures.]

[1st_superhero]

And I never expected to meet an intelligent automaton before.

[Hell, he had been surprised that something could pluck him from his office and deposit him here.]