Day 59: Library

[gald_digger]

Anise couldn't get out of the Cafeteria fast enough. The stench of rotted food was overwhelming, and she was starting to feel sick. Most of her nausea came from seeing the people around her eating it, though. Even her friends! Anise didn't know what to do... What if lunch ended up being the same

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[believein0]

Zero nodded his head, listening to the boy's answer with interest. The way he talked about killing the spiders (there had been two? Where had the second one come from?) like it was yesterday's news was surprising, especially coming from a child, but it all became much clearer when the boy continued on to correct him.

"You weren't human before coming here either?" the once-Reploid asked, tilting his head slightly to the side to express mild surprise. Well, that explained quite a few things about the boy. He may look like a child, but he certainly didn't seem to behave like any child Zero had met before. For one, he spoke like an adult; for another, he talked about a battle against two gigantic spiders in a nonchalant way - and Zero remembered at least one of those spiders enough to know that they weren't to be messed around with if one couldn't fight. That alone suggested the boy had combat experience, or at least a good amount of experience with this place. Nothing an ordinary human child would have. (Then again, Zero was ignoring the fact that his overall knowledge of humanity was...lacking.)

Next came an obvious question. "What were you, then?" Possibly another Reploid? Or something else? There had been that 'giant mutant turtle' over the bulletin board, assuming whoever that person was had been telling the truth. What else could there be?

[purpletaint]

Ah, and here they would diverge, for the other would offer information on himself without following Albedo. Hardly the other's fault, in the end; Albedo hadn't clarified absolutely, after all. Still, the other had allowed that this body was not his own, if he was to be believed, and so the other became more interesting. And what did his form look like, then?~ All metallic or human in nothing but form?~

The boy leaned against the bookcase casually, watching with idle interest. No need to move to enlighten unless it became burdensome, he supposed. "A biological weapon. Created as an accelerated retrovirus to combat the universe's ills. Something to harness energy to use it to disrupt other forms of it." A simplified explanation, but in essence, utterly true. All that was left out was that Albedo had been transformed by what that man had feared, was touched by god, and was a higher existence than any other right now.

Or so it was currently at least. The boy beamed again suddenly, a stark switch. "You can call me Albedo if you like. And you are?"

A name, for such a delightful game?

[believein0]

"Zero." The once-Reploid blinked and crossed his arms, a little stunned at what he was hearing. So the boy - Albedo - was a...living biological weapon? A retrovirus? Able to use energy to combat other types of energy... So something similar to a Cyber-Elf, except made of organic matter from the way he was describing it. How in the world was he created? True, current technology was able to harness similar power to combat (or spread) computer viruses, so it made sense that humans could apply the same methods to the organic viruses that plagued their species. But Zero had been so used to seeing humans rely on machinery and the digital for so long that he had never heard of organic biological weapons being used before.

Curiouser and curiouser.

"A living virus," he remarked, "like an organic Cyber-Elf? I don't think I've heard of humans creating something like you before..." Of course, just because he hadn't heard of it didn't mean it was impossible for something like Albedo to exist. Zero was getting a strong suspicion that he'd been asleep for some lengthy amount of time between the destruction of Ragnarok and his awakening in this place. If that was true, then it made sense that world would evolve and advance significantly in his absence. Things like living biological weapons would be in existence, or at least more common if the once-Reploid had simply been unaware of their existence before now.

[purpletaint]

Oh, how cute. Zero, was it? A technical term or a unit of production? Perhaps Albedo should have identified himself as unit 667, but alas, that was kept for business now. He watched Zero brightly, looking every inch an interested child.

Which was half-true at the least.

"Retrovirus," he corrected with a smile. Which were basically the same in the end, but let's keep to distinctions, shall we? "I don't believe I've ever been called an elf before, but I guess that's something you have?" It grated partially against him, the comparison, but it wasn't enough to spark his temper. He picked and chose his battles, and he'd prefer to play more. "Depending on your time period, you likely wouldn't," the boy said in a show of understanding. "In this part of space-time, it's around 2006 AD, I was told. I'm from four thousand years past that."

[believein0]

Zero nodded his head in confirmation at the elf question, but then he quietly stared at Albedo for a good few seconds as he took in what the boy said after that.

He's from...four thousand years in the future? And it's only 2006 AD here? But he's from four thousand years ahead of that - roughly 6000 AD? How....what? How was that even possible? Time travel technology? Did the Institute somehow have the capability to do that, or was there something else? And how did Albedo know what year it was here, anyway? If he was right, then that meant Zero had actually gone back into the past? Then how did they have the technology to...huh...

"You're...? What?" The once-Reploid was almost speechless at first, although the reaction showed poorly through his otherwise stony expression. (As it was with almost any reaction, really.) He took another second to get over his initial surprise and then made a somewhat brusque request. "Explain what you mean."

[purpletaint]

Perhaps if Albedo didn't have a regularly stoic little brother, the expression might not have shown, but as things were, the surprise was nearly blatant. And where to go now?~

The boy tilted his head down slightly, looking up through his eyelashes and smiling coyly. Such a simple question to answer. "I'm from four thousand years in the future," he repeated innocently. Zero was new, wasn't he? If things like this were still catching him up. "TC 4753, to be exact." If it mattered at this point. His grin widened. "All of this is ancient to me, really. Flashlights caught me up for a good few nights. Such an old artifact to work with."

[believein0]

The flashlight issue was actually mutual for Zero; at least, they used much different - more advanced - flashlights in his time period than they did here. But regardless. "Yeah, a lot of this is old to me, too," the once-Reploid replied. It was all fairly out of date by 24th century standards, but it must be completely obsolete by Albedo's time.

Yes, this boy - this living retrovirus - was from 4753... TC. Most likely not the same as AD, he was guessing. So what did TC mean? And, once again, just how was it possible for Albedo to be here, in this time? So many questions...

"So then, the institute's capable of...time travel?" It was a concept that, even by 23XX, was only dreamed about. They had ways of teleporting people around, but not teleporting them through time. Could it be true? Did Aguilar really have the power to do that? Zero felt almost doubtful of it, but considering everything else that didn't make sense around here...

[purpletaint]

The boy rocked back on his heels again, looking at the apparent android pleasantly. "So it would seem. You're new, aren't you?" Albedo smiled again. It was nothing against this one in particular. Many didn't gather the nuances of the institute for a while, and yet still, he found it necessary to point this out to him. "If you ask around, you'll find the the majority of individuals here are from different time periods--or different worlds, if you can find it in you to believe it."

The game here was already reforming, but Albedo would continue by the original rules for a while. He tipped his head in apparent interest, blinking idly. "What are your capabilities here? Have you been completely locked down or do you have access to some of your previous potential?"

[believein0]

"It's my second day." Which was considered new, doubtlessly, but this now made Zero curious. How long had other prisoners been kept here? How long did one have to be here to no longer be 'new', and who were considered 'veterans' among the prisoner population?

...And did Albedo really just say different worlds? That phrase was rewarded with another look of (stoic) surprise from the once-Reploid. Time travel could be believed with the right argument, but different worlds altogether, different dimensions? The ideas were starting to leave the territory of plausible and skirt the edges of impossible...

But before he should overload Albedo with more questions, he would answer the child about his capabilities. Or lack thereof. "Obviously, they took me out of my original body and put me into this weakened one, so I'm just a regular human now." The frown on his face grew a little deeper than usual when he said that, which, to someone good at reading expressions, would convey just how displeased Zero was with the whole thing. Being human was inconvenient in more ways than simply being able to defend himself. For the lack of a better description, it sucked.

[purpletaint]

...Oho. So this person really was new. If this was his second day, then Albedo had the pleasure of seeing him on his first night, more than likely. How adorable. Well, he seemed to have survived fine enough. And that was what mattered in the end. He was reminded, however, of the similarity present. His first night here, Albedo had seen a group fighting a giant spider. Oh, that was irony at its finest perhaps.

He pushed off the bookshelf as Zero spoke, twirling around to press a finger to the spines instead, moving along the edges in supposed curiosity. Half the titles were known instantly, the rest either perked or laid dead to his senses, and it was a mystery in itself which were which. He tilted his head to catch a glimpse of the now-human. A bit disgruntled, that one. And why wouldn't he be? If he had had a superior body, why would he not be displeased? Albedo himself had been in a fury enough at finding himself cut off from his abilities and power. And... other things.

"A pity," he said congenially. "It seems there's a few here in that circumstance."

[believein0]

The once-Reploid unfolded his arms and watched Albedo with unwavering curiosity. Such an odd one, the boy was. "Like you?" he asked, since Albedo had said that he used to be a retrovirus. Whatever that looked like. Even if Albedo answered no, the once-Reploid knew that he wasn't the only one with this problem of being stuck in a human body. He had actually posted something related to this topic on the bulletin board yesterday (more specifically asking about Reploids, but still related), although only two people had responded to it. Namely, one had been a Fizziroy-model cyborg, and another...a giant mutant turtle. The latter seemed even more believable now that Zero was meeting someone who used to be a living biological weapon. How could he believe one without believing the other?

...Well, he could easily disregard both as lies, but that wouldn't be very wise, would it? He'd heard crazier things, anyway.

[purpletaint]

Well, now. It wasn't as if Albedo was a liar, after all. "Unlike me," the child said with a magnanimous smile. "I was bred and engineered to be what I am." At this he spread his arms slightly. "This form has the capability to use every aspect of my abilities flawlessly. When not hindered by this building, that is."

A difference from the apparent man in front of him. If this place was ever destroyed and abilities were regained, Albedo could continue as he once was. Those in different forms would be a bit more put out.... He was pretty certain transferring another's consciousness to a human vessel wasn't something the average doctor in this timeline knew how to negate. And aside from that--where were the original bodies? There was a chance they were disposed of altogether. It'd be such a depressing thought to share.~ Albedo would hold off for another time.