Time Crisis
CH 1: The Discovery
Dr. Cain had traveled all over the world in his
years, but he had never been to Alaska. The doctor remembered how impressed he
had felt at the sight of the Alaskan mountains. Flying over them in his
custom-made Quinjet was certainly an experience.
New findings had always excited the
archaeologist, and this was no exception. About three weeks ago, a team of
scientists found incased in ice what looked like a pair of ancient animals.
Since they couldn't identify the find, the scientist called upon the man who had
located the greatest archaeological discovery in the modern era: Mega Man X.
Yes, Dr. Cain found Dr. Light's lab, and along with it he uncovered X.
As Dr. Cain drove to the site in his rent-a-car,
he absorbed the beauty of the untouched landscape. Alaska hadn't changed much
since the 20th century, mainly because of the weather.
Just then, he saw a gate in the distance. It was
open, so the good doctor drove through. Seeing his old friend, Dr. Lockheart,
Cain pulled over and parked near one of the main research buildings. As Cain got
out of the car, Lockheart greeted him.
"Aurthur! Glad you could make it." Dr.
Lockheart said.
"Thank you. Now tell me, what is all the
hype about this new specimen?"
"Ahhh, yes. Let me show it to you. I'll
explain on the way."
"All right." Cain said.
"Follow me." Lockheart replied.
Dr. Lockheart led Dr. Cain through the building
to an elevator. After pressing the "down" button, Lockheart began to
explain.
"You see, two months ago we detected an
unusual amount of metallic compositions hundreds of meters below the surface. We
immediately built this site to study it. Just three weeks ago we found what
looked like preserved animals."
"This much I know." Cain remarked.
"True. But you don't know this. As we dug
through more and more ice, we began to see a more detailed picture. It was
strange-looking, for sure. There was a large, white, bipedal animal sitting
there, and on top of it stood what looked like a member of the feline
family."
"A bipedal cat as well? This is
interesting." Cain said.
" That's what I thought, at first. Until we
got a close look at the white one's arm. Get this. the skin had come off at some
point over the years, so we could see what was beneath. What we found was
amazing! Instead of muscle or bone, there was a mechanical joint!"
Dr. Cain's eyes lit up with wonder.
"A robot!?!" Cain said excitedly.
"Not just any robot, either. Through
radiation-dating, we determined that it was between fifteen and twenty thousand
years old!"
"My god! Do you know what this means?"
Cain said.
"Yes. Yes I do. This means that there was an
advanced civilization living on this planet long before modern man
evolved."
As Dr. Cain pondered the limitless amount of
possibilities, the elevator screeched to a stop. Stepping off of it, Cain
noticed that they had already extracted the specimens from the ice and were
studying it.
"We were just starting to check out it's
systems when I was informed you were at the airport. I'd say we got down here
just in time."
Just as Dr. Lockheart finished saying those
words, Dr. Cain started to walk towards the specimens. He recalled feeling the
same sense of excitement that he had felt when X was uncovered.
"Can you reactivate him?" Cain asked
quickly.
"Well, I'm not sure. We could give it a
shot. From what I saw, it uses some sort of regenerating power source, similar
to reploids."
"Let me guess. You're out of Reploid power
cells."
"You can say that, yes." Lockheart
replied.
Dr. Cain thought for a moment. He had plenty of
power cells at MHHQ, for sure. But they were very delicate. Transporting them
would be risky. The only other option was to ship the specimens to HQ. At least
it was warm there.
"David, could I possibly move these
specimens to MHHQ?"
Dr. David Lockheart had the same idea, but had
just as many concerns.
"Perhaps, but we would have to be careful.
Oh, and if you don't mind, I'd like to come along as well." Lockheart
replied.
"Of course." Cain said.
After those words, time seemed to fly by as the
ancient machine was loaded and transported to MHHQ. When Dr. Cain's Quinjet
arrived at HQ, several scientists and hunters were waiting near the helipad.
Amung them were Mega Man X and his best friend Zero, who had also heard of the
discovery. As soon as the container holding the specimens was unloaded, the
scientists hurried to get a glimpse of it. X and Zero, however, chose to help
Dr. Cain off the red and silver speed machine.
"So doc, what's the deal with bringing this
ancient machine to HQ?" Zero asked rather bluntly.
Dr. Cain could see that Zero was concerned, and
answered him in an assuring tone.
"We're going to try to reactivate him using
a Reploid power cel." Cain said. "But don't worry. His systems are
nothing like a Reploid's, so he shouldn't go maverick on us." he finished,
walking towards the entrance.
Neither X nor Zero spoke until they reached the
sci-lab. It took a few moments for the specimens to arrive, due to it's
tremendous size and weight. As some of the hunters began unloading the
mechanical beasts, X decided to ask his question.
"Doctor, do we know if these things have
emotions?" X asked.
The question caught Cain off-guard. The truth
was, he didn't know. Could the ancients have built a robot that could think and
feel for itself? If so, then they could have been even more advanced than his
own time. For now, it was best to just answer X.
"Anything's possible, X. You're proof of
that."
X seemed satisfied with that answer, even though
Dr. Cain himself wasn't.
Already removing an access panel from the white
one, Dr. Lockheart asked Dr. Cain for assistance. As the Hunters watched, Cain
and Lockheart started the complicated procedure of replacing a power source of
unknown origins with a more modern version. Hours passed, and failed attepts
became common. Then, as hope was almost lost, something sparked. And hummed. And
moved. At precisely the same time, the cat-bot and the white thing opened their
eyes. They got up off the table, as if they were one being. The cat tried to
speak, but only weird noises came from it's synthetic voice box. Knowing the
problem, Cain tried to speak to it.
"I can fix your voice. Can you understand
me?" Cain asked slowly.
The cat pointed to it's neck and nodded. It
allowed Dr. Cain to work on it's voice while it checked the rest of it's body.
Rust here, dents there. Nothing serious. Then, after Cain backed away, the robot
spoke for the first time in over twenty thousand years.
"Hey, there! Th' name's Cait Sith. Glad ta meecha!"