Wonderful Things

Written by Sailor Fere

"You find the most interesting things when you look through old files," the young woman in white stated, placing a thick folder in front of her sister. "It's like finding a new toy in a garbage can."

The other woman, identical to the first with the exception of prim gray clothing to her sister's white, glanced down to the folder now laying on her important paperwork. "'Project Fere'?" She raised an eyebrow, casting her wary glance back to her sister. "What, exactly, is this, Ren?"

"Read it, Lian," Alexandren insisted, a somewhat feral grin slowly spreading across her lips. Her cold blue eyes glinted with intent. "It appears we have a very nice gift, and they say gifts that were made especially for you are the best kind. Whatever you were doing can wait."

Carnelian shook her head slightly in resignation, and picked up the folder. The annoyed look in her dark blue eyes quickly disappeared, replaced by a keen interest, as she flipped through the pages. She murmured, "I can't believe it. They genetically engineered a girl? No, not just a girl." She narrowed her eyes at a particular passage of text and continued, "They created a potential senshi? How did those people manage to make one, from an extinct race no less?"

"It seems the senshi aptitude is simply a delightful serendipity, but the details to her creation are all in the project information. It's just amazing what you can do with a few strands of preserved DNA these days." Ren crossed her arms. "I'll be setting out to pick up our little present in a few days' time."

"Fine," Lian agreed, still reading the project's contents. "Just don't take this one like you did our first." She looked up from the file to give Ren a cold, warning glare. "You know how I disapprove of that method."

Ren narrowed her eyes. "I won't. You really think I'm not imaginitive enough to come up with a different plan? Honestly, Lian, my heart aches," Ren finished sarcastically, clutching her chest in a faux wounded pose. Wiping the look away, she gave a curt nod to her sister and left.

After watching Ren leave, Lian sighed and looked back down at the folder, which was opened on a page with a picture of a fair haired toddler, no older than four, rummaging through the wiring of a computer. "It was rather considerate of them," she said to nobody in particular.

Lega Toblue had lived alone since the age of six.

Actually, that depends on your definition of "alone". If you consider the idea of a large computer and other electronics as the friends of a young girl wholly wrong, then she had been truly alone and suffering delusional madness for nearly seven years. However, if you stated this opinion to Lega, you'd probably find hammers and wrenches flying towards you. No hypothetical entity talked that way about her.

Lega wasn't the pretty sort. In her quest to be able to fix anything and everything, she had mastered the art of getting more grease on herself than any other creature in any given universe, perhaps outside the vicious and viscous Betelgeusian Grease Weasel or a particularly strange Earth creature known simply as the Fry Cook. She also had the tendency to slouch, stretch, slink, and generally behave in a manner that would make even the most jaded Professor of Posture weep openly. These traits weren't from her upbringing, no, it was all natural and unchanging. Let's put it this way: in a parallel universe where Lega was the third child in a loving, fairly well-to-do family of seven, she still snubbed frills and lace for a nice pair of stained and worn-in trousers, an equally world-weary baggy shirt, and optional action socks. She was also very gangly for her age and gender, though something about her implied that, after a few more years in this awkward stage, she might shape up to be a very handsome young man. Or something to that general effect.

Right now, this girl was tinkering with decrepit personal ship. At least, that's what it it might have been, many years, voyages, and abuses ago. It was very small, so small in fact that it would comfortably house, or ship as the case may be, a single pilot and maybe a cup and a half of co-pilot. She tsk-ed to herself and stated, "I really don't think there's much I can do for ya, Pe." She knealt down near a mass of terribly tangled wires, running her hands over and through the impossible knot. She grimaced, and continued, "You're in awful shape, but ya don't need me to tell ya that. In fact, if you didn't sound so honest and upright, I probably never would've believed that you were a personal ship." She stood, placing her six-fingered hands on her hips. "Maybe a really big computer...", she nudged the wire knot with her bare right foot. "... that happened to explode in a wire factory, but most definitely not a ship."

Oddly, a few barely audible gentle clicks and whirrs issued forth from somewhere within the twisted remains of the ship called 'Pe'. Lega's light green eyes softened a bit. "I know one more flight is your dream," she said calmly, petting a hunk of Pe's hull. "I won't make any guarantees, but I'll do my best to fix ya up. After all, I'll have to get out of this godsforsaken lab one day, right? It'll be an advantage for the both of us, if I can do it. So, don't worry, Pe!" Another series of soft whirrs made Lega grin lop- sidedly. "Yeah, yeah, fine. Don't worry, MISTER Pe."

A sudden loud, electric squeal snapped Lega from her little conversation. She glanced up to a large monitor dangling from the ceiling. A little red light on its top left was flashing madly. "Intruder?" she murmured to herself. "Kaba!" she addressed the monitor. "On. Show me this intruder, and if it's just another squirrel, I'll alter you to only pick up holovision soap operas again."

Kaba the monitor did its duty, and flickered to life. There, in grainy black and white quality, was a young woman. Her exceedingly long hair was pulled back in a braid, finally ending around her ankles. Though there were no colors in the feed, it was quite obvious she was dressed to the nines, perhaps even the tens, in resplendent white. She waited patiently, eerily so.

"Huh. So it's not a squirrel," Lega mumbled. "Kaba, prepare for a two-way communications broadcast. Let's chat a bit with our guest."

Alexandren stood, staring at the door in front of her. This was the only thing in the way of claiming her prize. It wouldn't be long now. She smiled, yet her bluish gray eyes remained as cold as granite. A sharp crackle of static zipped through the air. Her eyes flickered over to a small monitor embedded to the right of the door. Her smile widened. "Why, hello." An image of Lega stared back at her through the monitor, examining Ren carefully. Ren continued, "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I'm afraid that my ship has broken down. I was wondering..."

"That it?" Lega asked, pointing past Ren to her nearby ship.

Ren scowled inwardly. She hated when she was interrupted, particularly by obnoxious children who had yet to learn their place. However, she shoved that sentiment away, and politely said, "You're correct. It was pefectly functional earlier; I have no idea what's the matter with it."

"Ah," Lega said. "Maybe, just maybe, that's because there's nothing wrong with her at all. Your ship's a vision of health. In fact, she's even humming a little tune while she waits for you to return." The extremely pale girl crossed her arms. "She sings off-key."

"There must be a reason our paths have crossed in this vast, turbulent universe of ours. The gods work in mysterious ways, and everything happens for a reason. That must be what caused my ship to malfunction, even though it may be 'healthy', like you say. Call it an act of divine providence," Ren said cheerfully. "Wouldn't you agree?"

"Nah, don't believe in any gods, and I'm not that interested in looking to start now," Lega admitted. "Now, I have a promise to keep, and I'm very busy. Bye," she waved at Ren.

"Wait! Wait," Ren exclaimed. Awe and happiness danced a slow, lilting waltz across her countenance. "That's it. It's a miracle!"

Lega raised a barely visible eyebrow, and reguarded Ren as though the young woman had spontaneously sprouted a few dozen additional heads. "What the non-existant hell are you rambling about, lady?"

"Your hands. You have six fingers on each hand," Ren whispered, still in awe. She looked down, refusing to look at the monitor. "I've been looking for a girl around your age. Physical description: exceptionally pale of skintone, six fingers on each hand, and a tall skeletal structure."

Lega leaned forward, her flippant mask completely gone, replaced by a look of genuine dread. "Why?" she asked roughly. "If you're here to arrest me for some stupid reason, you can't prove that I've done a single-"

"No, no, it's not like that at all. I'm not here to arrest you," Ren said gently, looking back up to the monitor. Her eyes shone with triumph as she coninued, "Your parents have been looking for you, Lega. They've been looking for a very long time."

Lega inched away from the monitor, shocked. "Parents?" she murmured. "I can't believe it. Who, where, why..." She shook her head and glared at Ren harshly. "Why should I trust you? I don't even know who you are!"

Ren smiled softly. "Sometimes, you just have to have faith; you have to trust people. If you don't, there are all kinds of things, wonderful things, you can miss." She frowned and continued sadly, "Think of all the time with your loving, worried family, that you've had stolen from you." She paused for a moment. "And then know, that I can return you to them. Please, let me in, and I'll tell you the entire story."

Lega bit her lip, her eyes darting side to side. She fidgited slightly for a few seconds, and finally calmed to a surprising stillness. The monitor shut off. Ren waited. With a prolonged creak, the door standing before Ren slowly rose. The white-clad woman grinned coldly. "Wonderful things, indeed."

Alexandren Sing was making tea. Normally, she would find a strong sense of delight in this. Making tea was practically an art form if handled properly, and Ren took pride in herself on the fact that her tea was a genre of beverage unto itself. However, in this instance, her soon-to-be masterpeice would simply be poured into ugly, dinted tin mugs. 'How barbaric,' she thought as she glanced at these mugs. 'Though, I suppose the hideousness complements the rest of it.'

The 'it' in question was a drab little kitchen. The decor, or lack thereof, consisted entirely of a cold, steel circular table with three chairs in its general vicinity, walls and floor constructed of a tile that might have been astonishingly sterile in its heyday but had let itself go like an aging and jaded former beauty queen, and dozens of what could best be described as "electronic thingies". There were, of course, the required kitchen basics like a sink that very likely housed intelligent life in the danker recesses of its piping, and a surprising number of pantries filled with canned or dehydrated food, but those were hardly of interest.

No, it was the "thingies", or perhaps "worthless junk" if one had thought processes simliar to Ren's, that were intriguing. They covered every nook and a fair share of crannies in the kitchen and, as Ren had previously noted when the now jumpy and agitated Lega Toblue pulled her rather uncerimoniously through several rooms to get to this shabby kitchen, it was a very safe guess to say they covered everything else in the rundown former laboratory. The most unnerving part about these omnipresent doodads was the fact that they stared down, up, sideways, or sometimes even upside-down at the young white-clad woman. Ren shrugged the feeling off. She wasn't afraid, not in the least. In fact, she had a distinct feeling that, if any of these items were suddenly graced with physical eyes, she would poke them out one by one. She stirred her nearly completed tea and smiled at such a delightful thought.

Upon finishing her preparations, the dark skinned young woman turned and handed a mug to the very shaken Lega Toblue. "Drink it, it will calm the nerves," Ren ordered, sitting down at the side of the table opposite that of the pale youth. She calmly sipped her tea and settled herself. "You'll need it."

Lega looked down at the contents of the cup sourly. She had never been very fond of tea, but if drinking this meant answered questions, so be it. She gingerly sipped at the very unappealing green tea, and was a little surprised at the taste. When the hot liquid first entered the mouth, it was sweet, in a strange sort of way. The sort of sweet that, if it was bestowed with the gift of speech, would vehemently deny its very saccharine nature. However, this somewhat off sweetness quickly vanished into a strong, bitter aftertaste upon swallowing. It was definitely peculiar. She took another drink, more out of duty than desire. "I want answers," she said, trying to make her voice come off more like a powerful Amazonian than a confused young girl who almost felt faint. The result was less than satisfactory. "Now."

"Of course," Ren cooed. She set down her mug and folded her hands daintily. "I might not necessarily look the part, but I, Alexandren Sing, am a fairly renowned private investigator."

Lega stopped mid-drink, and furrowed her brow. "That name's familiar. Alexandren Sing... isn't she a senator on Coruscant?"

"Both names are rather common. The Senator and I happen to share them," Ren stated tersely. Her blue-steel eyes bored into Lega, slightly pleased to see that Lega's own light green eyes were slowly taking on a glazed look. "How do you know of the Senator? This place is probably the most isolated planetoid I've ever visited."

Lega coughed to clear her throat and stated, "I have computers. When you have computers, you have information. When you have no people nearby to learn about, you use the computers to learn about what people are like, even if they never realize you exist." Lega looked down at her half finished tea. It had grown on her, most likely due to the fact that it did calm the nerves quite efficiently. She felt a slight tingling sensation that started deep in the pit of her belly, sending slight chills through the rest of her body. It was a strangely nice feeling. "Go on."

Ren nodded. "You belong to a very rare race of humanoids. They're a very poor people, who live in a few tribes on a small planet here, in the Outer Rim. You're still a very long distance from them, though." The dark skinned young woman sighed with a slight shudder, and rubbed her temples. She continued, "It seems you were kidnapped from your mother and father when you were still a very young toddler. You showed remarkable talents for machinery and electronics early in life, and a few scientists who were investigating the social habits of the tribes and the physical properties of the planetoid they inhabit had noticed this. One night, they just... upped and left." Ren shook her head. "And they took you with them. I remember your mother telling me this story like it was yesterday. She was... absolutely devastated by having to relive the experience of losing you. I can still hear her cries, her screams."

Lega was leaning forward towards Ren. Her eyes were wide, pupils slightly constricted, and her breath was coming in short, heavy pants. "Why," she croaked. "Why did it take them so long to look for me?"

"As I told you earlier, you come from a very poor, out of the way people. Even with almost all of your tribe chipping in, it took them years to raise enough acceptible money to hire an investigator. And even then," she paused, her voice becoming slightly raw. Her left hand clenched into a fist, while her right hand trembled slightly as it held her mug. "Even then, it took them a long time to find somebody who cared enough to take on a case which had grown so cold." She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself. "As you can see, I have some problems with the questionable morals of my fellow private investigators."

Lega nodded distractedly, and slumped against the back of her chair heavily. Her heart was beating a mile a minute, and the weird tingling feeling had completely engulfed her. Her hands trembled as she lifted her mug to finish off her tea. She was still breathing hard when she looked back to Ren, and smiled nervously. "I'll see them... soon."

Ren smiled dazzlingly. "Yes," she said simply. Her mannerisms relaxed visibly, and she watched Lega smugly. "Soon."

To Lega's surprise, she began to laugh. It started out as a little snicker at first, but then, like a ball of snow rolling downhill, it quickly gained momentum. Soon she was laughing to the point where tears rolled down her cheeks. A tiny bit of her mind was screaming at her that something was dreadfully wrong, that she had absolutely no reason to laugh. It shrieked and begged for her to come to her senses. "I can't believe it," she managed to say between gasps of laughter.

Ren, who had been watching this sudden attack of laughter with some amusement, allowed her lips to curl into a slight sneer. "That's very good, actually. Would you like to know why? I'm sure you would," she said smoothly as she leaned against the back of her chair. "You see, the story I just told you, my reasons for finding you, everything... was an interesting fabrication." She watched as Lega continued to laugh, the seemingly uncontrolled giggles taking on an edge of desperation. "I do hope you have a nice nap, genetic project 042, Lega Toblue." Ren waved pleasantly and concluded, "See you on Coruscant."

Lega's shrieking inner voice had gone silent. Inside, she was numb and blank, while her outside continued to shake with incredibly inappropriate chuckles. Thousands of tiny lights began to appear in her vision, twirling and dancing in a somewhat drunken manner, until they exploded simultaneously in a blinding flash. As the light receeded, her now hazy vision could just barely decipher that everything was blurred around the edges and wobbly, as though the entire room had suddenly been submerged in a murky liquid. Lega focused on the white and burnt chocolate colored blob sitting across from her, before she collapsed from the waist up onto her little table with a thump and the clatter of tin mugs.

Ren stood, walking purposefully to the fallen girl's side. The woman lifted Lega's pale, limp wrist, and felt for a pulse. After a few moments, her lips stretched into a satisfied smile, and she bent slightly to pat Lega's unkempt nearly white blonde hair. Leaning furthur still until her lips hovered slightly over an inch away from Lega's ear, she whispered, "You've learned some very valuable lessons today. Lesson one: strangers who claim to know your oh-so ludicrously tragic past are still strangers. Lesson two: never let anyone prepare your tea. You never know what delightful little drugs they'll add. Lesson three: sweet, ethical people are rarely that. You smile the kindest when you have the most to hide. Finally, lesson four: you have so very much left to learn."

Alexandren Sing moved gracefully away from the unconscious Lega Toblue, and surveyed the room, giving each little electronic bauble a furtive glance. She had many, many metaphorical eyes to poke out.

Lega was floating, weightless and without a care, through what could best be described as nothing. The odd thing was that she felt strangely at peace with this turn of events. Nine out of ten sentient beings agree that suddenly finding yourself in an endless, silent void is a truly horrible thing. The tenth, and disagreeable, sentient being was the void itself, and couldn't figure out for the unlife of it what all the fuss was about.

The last thing she remembered before finding herself here was tea. She couldn't remember the context, just that it was involved in some way. In fact, at this moment, she couldn't remember much of anything recent. It was as if all of her more recent memories were hidden in a dense, rolling fog, and she could only just make out their outlines through the haze. Lega felt a sinking feeling in her stomach when she realized this, and tried desperately to think of something other than fact that certain bits of her memory might be lost in the fog. So, she opted to think of absolutely nothing and succeeded brilliantly.

She was just starting to feel carefree again when the voices started.

At first, they sounded very little like voices. Rather, it was as if a hive of hundreds of invisible bees had been angered suddenly and, with a hellish buzz, were now swarming the sensorially challenged young girl. Very often, large portions of the buzz would vanish, leaving the remaining voices with a bit more clarity. This trend continued until there were only around a dozen or two voices left. At this point, Lega's steadily dulling mind realized most were simply calling out her name, whimpering, or screaming.

Unfortunately, the numbers continued to decrease. Eventually, only a handful remained. The worst thing of all was that each voice was vaguely familiar. Lega's tired mind tried to place where she had heard them before, but the answer remained stealthily out of reach.

"I see her! She's here! INTRU-," a male voice called, cut off abruptly mid-scream.

"Illogical," a young female voice whispered. She whimpered, and was gone.

"She stole my memory," a matronly female muttered dazedly. "Who stole my memory? What is memory? Failure to-to-to..." The wise- sounding voice stuttered a bit, and with a somewhat choked sound, became silent.

One voice remained. It was the voice of a proud elderly man who had lived a long life of interest. It was the voice of someone who was now facing the inevitable, after years of pushing aside the concept of death as a scenario that would only happen to the weak. He sighed heavily, and said in a low tone, "So that's how it is. I guess I won't see the stars one more time after all."

As suddenly as the voices had come, they were all gone. Lega barely managed to register the dull ache in her heart, though she wasn't sure why it was there anymore. It might have had something to do with the voices, or perhaps not. At the moment, all she could fathom was that she did not like any of this in the least anymore. It was a terrible dream, and she wanted to end it.

So, the void oozed away, replaced by a field covered in blooming flowers. She had never seen one personally, just images of them through computers or holovision. Plants were lovely, in a way she had never been able to put into words. In a peculiar way, they were not unlike the electronics she so loved. Both were made up of delicate parts that, if taken seperately, would be confusing and ugly; but all the pieces put together produced something beautiful, be it floral or mechanical. Lega smiled as the flowers danced a lazy waltz with the wind.

As Lega Toblue dreamed happily, Alexandren Sing pulled an axe out of the utterly mangled remains of something that had once been a ship. She made a small contented noise as she surveyed the other examples of electronic carnage scattered about her. With a slight spring in her step, she made her out of the lab, and back to her awaiting ship and unconscious soon-to-be underling. They were Coruscant bound.

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