A Different Place

Chapter 9 - Don't Throw That Away

Teisel's breath rushed out his bared teeth as he held MegaMan pinned against the wall. "I was going to use the Colossus to take over Mar...I mean, to terrorize and pillage dozens of islands! How dare you destroy it!"

"Teisel!" Tron hollered, climbing out of the Gustaff's cockpit. "What are you doing?"

"Your boyfriend here just destroyed the Colossus," growled Teisel, inclining his head slightly.

Tron's face reddened. "What?" she asked, putting a hand to her cheek. "My...boyfriend?"

Seeing Tron's apparent inability to help, MegaMan shivered, his eyes wide as dinner plates. Gulping, he said, "I don't suppose a simple apology would make this any better?"

Teisel's eyes narrowed. "What do you think?"

"Uh, I'm sorry?"

Teisel smiled broadly and released MegaMan, patting him proudly on the back. "That's all I needed to hear!" He strode over to the Gustaff and gave his sister a tight hug. "Now that we're all back together, I know we can do anything, Colossus or no! Right, Bon?"

"Babu!" Bon agreed. The Servbots chimed in as well, doing cartwheels and backflips behind the biggest Bonne.

"Let's get out of here!" Teisel said. "Call in the Draches, Tron."

"Send two Draches down immediately!" Tron ordered into her radio.

The Draches came, and everyone boarded. As the small flying ships headed back for the Gesellschaft, Teisel told MegaMan, "Once we get back to the ship, we'll have a huge celebration." He thought about that for a minute. "Hmm, now that I think about it, we'd better rest up first. So, first, we'll all head to our rooms and sleep, then we'll have our party tomorrow!"

"I don't have a room," said MegaMan.

"What?"

"I don't have a room," MegaMan repeated. "I've been sleeping on Cafe Table Number Four."

"That just won't do," said Teisel. "We'll have to see what we can work out."

After the party had returned to the Gesellschaft, Teisel made good on his promise and set all forty Servbots to helping MegaMan build himself a bedroom. Since there was no space left on the residence level, the room had to be constructed on the Storage Level. Luckily, there were still a few construction materials left from when the Gesellschaft had been built. Despite the usual amount of horseplay one might expect from a large gathering of Servbots, the project was actually completed fairly quickly, in only three days. MegaMan had to make do with a spare cot that Bon had found in a nearby closet until a suitable bed could be stolen for him, but he found that it was far preferable to sleeping on a dining room table.

Yes, it was in the cargo bay again, but at least he had a space of his own. It was a different place from where he'd thought he might end up, but it was pleasant nonetheless. They'd offered to build him his own bathroom, even, but he'd told them since the Servbot bathroom was on the same floor, he'd just use that one. He wasn't positive that the Servbots actually needed a bathroom, anyway.

The first night he went in to the Servbot bathroom, he was astounded at just how packed it was. No less than fifteen Servbots were taking showers, brushing their teeth, exfoliating, and trying to climb up the doors of the toilet stalls. MegaMan hoped they were not attempting to spy on other Servbots within the stalls, but the whole idea was so ridiculous he drove it as far out of his mind as possible.

MegaMan removed his new toothbrush out of the wrapper, but realized he'd have to brush dry unless he asked one of the bathroom's other occupants for help. He looked down at the Servbot using the sink nearest him, one he thought he recognized. "Hey, Number Twenty-Eight, can I borrow your toothpaste?"

"Oh, I'm not Twenty-Eight," the Servbot assured him, "I'm Number Thirty-Nine. Everyone says we look a lot alike. Here," he continued, handing him his tube of dentifrice, "you can use it. Go ahead."

"Uh, thanks," said MegaMan, squeezing a little onto his brush. He watched Thirty-Nine brush his teeth and nearly laughed aloud at the absurdity of the action. Imagine, a robot brushing its teeth. Nothing could have been more ludicrous, MegaMan thought as he began brushing his own teeth.

The next morning, the day of the celebration, MegaMan was awoken in his cot by an odd mechanical noise. He leaped up, threw on his trousers, and rushed outside to see what was going on. One of the Servbots was operating a control panel, opening the storage bay doors. A bunch of random items were piled in front of them.

"Hold it!" MegaMan yelled, running towards the panel. "What's going on?"

"I'm throwing away all of the garbage, just like Miss Tron told me to," the Servbot said, grabbing a broom.

"I don't think that's all garbage," MegaMan told him, inspecting the pile more closely. "See? This is a small generator, a couple cans of corn---what's this? Hey! It's the Golden Refractor!" MegaMan drew the three-pointed golden energy source out from in between a old saxophone and a floor lamp.

"Uh-oh..." said the Servbot.

MegaMan stared accusingly at him. "You were going to throw away the Golden Refractor?"

"I didn't know it was in there," the Servbot wailed. "Please don't tell Miss Tron!"

"Shut the doors," MegaMan ordered. "We'll sort out all this stuff and see what really needs to be thrown away."

After the pile had been sorted, they found that only about half of the items that were going to be tossed out of the ship were actually trash. MegaMan helped the Servbot throw the rest away, then just barely had time to shower before the celebration took place.

"Here," MegaMan said to Tron as he entered the cafeteria, presenting her with the Golden Refractor. "I think you'd better hold onto this. I found...I found it just lying around down in storage. Someone could have just thrown it away or something."

"Um, thank you," Tron said, shuffling her feet a little. MegaMan thought she looked a little nervous, but he had no idea why. "I'll just...put it in my room for safekeeping."

MegaMan shrugged as she darted away. What had that been all about? He gave up on trying to figure out girls as he looked around the lavishly-decorated cafeteria. A big banner that screamed, "Welcome back, Teisel and Bon," adorned the area just above the kitchen, while pastel-colored balloons could be found in every corner of the room. Bon and a Servbot were playing volleyball over a table with one of them. Several other Servbots were playing Burple Bowling in the long, empty area to the side of the coffee maker. Maybe MegaMan would join them in a few minutes. The boy picked out a bottle of Berry Burple out of the cooler, popped it open, and began the process of making another bowling pin.

"Well, my boy," Teisel's voice came from behind him, "it looks like we can close the books on another grand adventure for the Bonne family."

"Mmm-hmm," MegaMan said, his mouth full of Berry Burple.

"Still," Teisel said, scratching his chin, "I wonder what use Tron will find for the Golden Refractor. Most refractors have only two points, you know, and it has three. It must be very difficult to spin properly."

"Yup," MegaMan said, opening another bottle of Berry Burple and proceeding to chug it.

Teisel was still expounding on his thought. "If we use it correctly, the Golden Refractor's power is limitless!" Teisel laughed maniacally. Abruptly his face sobered. "I hope she can figure it out," he mumbled.

"MegaMan!" Tron barked, storming back into the cafeteria. "Did you get this out of the trash?!" she demanded, holding up an ancient saxophone, one which looked very familiar to MegaMan.

"Yes," said MegaMan shortly, trying to keep his gullet closed.

"Do you know where I found it?!" Tron ranted. After MegaMan shook his head, she continued, "I found it in the Training Room, where Number Twelve was playing it!" Apparently, Tron's rage at Number Twelve's squeaky, out-of-tune saxophone playing was spilling over onto him, but he hadn't actually intended to offend Tron personally when he took the instrument out of the trash. "...I programmed him, and I STILL don't know why he can't play an A-flat!" Teisel was actually taking shelter behind Bon at this point.

MegaMan actually had begun to formulate an answer and was opening his mouth to speak when the largest belch anyone in the room had ever heard emerged from it. Everyone started laughing, which made Tron even angrier. She began an even louder tirade against him.

MegaMan didn't care. Tron was still the nicest girl he'd ever known.