Misty Defect 9

After a few hours, a woman nurse came walking out over to Michael, “Mister Hishi?”

Michael stood up, Marlia shifting to stretch. “Yeah? Is he okay?”

“He’s fine. A bruise on his side, cut on the forehead and his ankle’s sprained.” She said with a nod. “He’s unconscious now… Would you like to go see him?”

Michael shook his head, pointing over to Letty, “No, but let him stay with my brother please.”

“Sir, if it’s not friends or family I’m afraid I can’t allow-”

“Please. He’s the best medicine for him right now.” Michael insisted. The nurse nodded after a minute and walked over to Letty. Michael smiled a bit, taking Marlia’s hand. “Let’s go home.”

“Sir?” the nurse asked Letty. “Would you like to go see Mister Hishi now?” Letty nodded quickly and followed the nurse down the hall to the patient’s room.

After the nurse left Letty, he quietly sat himself next to Sao’s bedside, waiting quietly. He just sat there listening to the heart beat coming from the machine next to him.

After a bit, Letty sighed and laid his head down on the mattress, and took a gentle hold of Sao’s hand. “Wake up soon please and forgive me… I’m so sorry… So sorry…” He closed his red eyes sadly and waited.

Hours later, in the morning, a soft beeping was heard coming from Letty. It was the kind of strange noise that woke Sao up.

Sao woke up with a yawn, sitting up. He sniffed, rubbed his eyes and looked to his hand that felt oddly warm. He stared in shock, mouth going open, for a good five minutes. “Heh.. Who would’ve thought that you’d come?”

He frowned after a moment, hearing the beeping and leaned down to hear it better.

Just as he did the room door slammed open and in rushed eight men clad in camo suits holding guns. Behind them walked a blond dressed in a white suit.

Sao’s rude nature came out shiningly, “And who the hell are you?”

“Professor B.” the man said with a nod. “I’m in charge of In-Dream Inc., the corporation that brought you Dream Machines.”

“So?” Sao asked, raising a brow.

“So.” He said, walking up to Sao, “I regret to inform you that your Dream Machine is malfunctioning and that we have to take him back. Don’t worry,” he waved his arm up, “We’ll send you a new one right away.”

Sao frowned, “The hell? No. Letty isn’t malfunctioning!”

“I believe he is,” B. said with a stern nod. He reached over, pulling Letty’s head up by his hair and took a look at his face. “Yup, the emergency shut-down process has already been started.”

“Shut down what?” Sao, shifted up, yanking the IV and other cords from him. “What’d you do to him?”

“Signaled it to start before he could do you any harm of course.” B. said with a nod, dropping Letty’s head, as the machine fell back onto the bed. “We’ll be taking him off your hands now.” He snapped his fingers.

Sao grew intensely angry and his face made no sign to hide it as he reached over and yanked Letty into his lap and held him close. “Maybe you don’t understand – You aren’t taking him.”

B. turned to Sao, looking at him with surprise. “Then let me ask you something, Mister Hishi… Who put you into the hospital? I’m sure if you narrow it down far enough, the one responsible was this one machine.”

“Like I care! You can’t have him!”

B. huffed, “You aren’t understanding me, boy! This machine has the potential to kill you. We have to take him back and run diagnostics, then shut him down completely before he-”

“Before he what?” Sao asked with a glare hardened on the professor.

“Before he shuts himself down.” B. explained. “The 900-Series were our first series. Only nine were made; magnificent great machines with the abilities to learn and act just like humans but bound by the laws of Difference Engines… Their capabilities seemed to match that of humans… But when they were made, they were made with a fatal defect to themselves and others.”

“Like what?”

“They have the ability to learn just like humans, right?” B. asked, Sao only nodding a bit. “Well that means that they can learn things right down to greed and anger. At the first sign of a Dream Machine showing the counts of confusion, and depression, they have the ability to feel anger and greed.”

“What’s that got to do with Letty?”

B. sighed, waving his arms. “According to our charts, he’s shown the counts for confusion and depression. And when a 900-Series experiences a high level of depression, they terminate themselves.”

“Ter… Terminate?” Sao gasped, looking slowly to the machine in his arms.

“They shut themselves down to a level of such high intensity, that it fries their Memory Disc and the machine becomes mere trash.”

Sao shook his head, glaring to the blond. “Letty is not trash.”

“’Letty’ is 9-1-3, a machine from the 900-Series, and called for emergency disposal.” B. answered strictly, glaring right back at Sao.

“Turn him back on and let’s ask him.”

“No.”

“Turn him back on.”

“You figure out how to yourself.” B. answered, walking out of the room. “I’ll be back for him in two hours. If you don’t hand him over willingly, then we’ll just shut down his Memory Disc from the plant.”

Sao glared after as B. left the room followed by his guards. Slowly Sao looked down to Letty, rolling him over a bit to see his face.

“Turn him back on? How the heck would I do that?!”