A Different Place

Chapter 42 - Give Me That Key!

"You really handled yourself well down there," MegaMan said to Tron as they stepped out of the Drache and onto the Gesellschaft's hangar deck.

"Of course I did!" Tron declared proudly, strutting in her new, fashionable armor. "How else would I have handled myself?!"

"Whoa," said MegaMan, putting his hands up defensively. "There wasn't any question---I was just reinforcing my valid belief in your impressive skills." Managing Tron's fragile temper took some handling, but he was getting more and more accomplished at it.

"That's better," said Tron.

MegaMan smiled as they approached the lift. Quite a good haul on this trip, that was for certain. As he punched the button on the elevator, he nodded politely to the Birdbot waiting next to the elevator. Hold on a minute...

Tron beat him to the punch. "What do you think you're doing here?!"

"Keh-keh!" squawked the Birdbot. "The boss had some business with your brother, so we flew on up here. What's it to ya?"

"Teisel wouldn't...urrggh! Number Fourteen!" Tron hollered. "Get over here!"

The Servbot storage manager toddled over to his mistress. "Yes, Miss Tron?"

She pointed accusingly at the Birdbot. "I want you to keep a close eye on this guy, and don't let him touch anything! You hear me?!"

Number Fourteen saluted. "Yes, Miss Tron!"

As MegaMan, Tron, and Bon boarded the elevator, Tron cast a pointed glance at the Birdbot. "Don't try anything stupid, punk. We've got our eyes on you..." The door closed.

"What's her problem?" asked the Birdbot. "Errrerrrhhh!"

"Miss Tron isn't a very trusting person," Number Fourteen explained. "I think she has too much stress in her life. Could you try not to steal that, please?"

"Sorry," said the Birdbot, removing a large, ill-gotten aquamarine stone from his pocket. "Force of habit, you know."

"Yes," said Fourteen obligingly. "Ummm...I'd appreciate it if you didn't swipe the Golden Refractor, either."

The Birdbot sounded very put-upon as he handed the triple-pointed refractor to Fourteen. "All right---keh!"

Tron burst into the Meeting Room. "All right, Teisel, what's going on? Why is Glyde up here?"

Teisel and Glyde were both seated at the table, the Birdbot next to Glyde scratching furiously on a notepad with his pencil, while Teisel's attendant Servbot was punching up numbers on a hand calculator."It's nothing to worry about, Tron," Teisel said. "Glyde was just offering to sell out his share in the Kattleox Digging Contest."

"Sell out?!" demanded Tron as MegaMan and Bon entered the room, each taking a chair at the table. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't really care that much about what's inside the Main Gate," said Glyde, resting his feet on the tabletop, "so I've offered to let your dear brother pay me off to withdraw. I hate Digging, anyway---I'd rather steal my money."

"Oh." Tron removed her helmet and began scratching her head thoughtfully. Where was the catch in this? Glyde had to have some ulterior motive somewhere. Could he be trying to take over the Gesellschaft? No, there weren't enough Birdbots around for that.

Teisel spoke up. "Anyway, Glyde and I have settled on the figure of one-point-seven million zenny for his share, along with a certain...artifact he found in the Cardon Forest Ruins."

"One-point-seven million zenny!?!" Tron screeched just as MegaMan asked, "What artifact?"

"This!" said Glyde with a flourish, presenting a large, key-shaped object. "We found it in the deepest part of the Sub-Gate. I'm assuming you need it to open the Main Gate, or something, but I don't really care. It's probably not worth much on the open market."

"What does it say?" asked Servbot Number Eight.

"It says 'Dreamer,'" answered Teisel. "Did you find anything similar in the Lake Jyun Ruins? Supposedly the each of the three keys is hidden in one of the Sub-Gates."

"No," answered Tron, finally seating herself with the others. "We found a large, red refractor that's probably worth a lot of money, but no key." Glyde's eyes lit up as Tron mentioned the big refractor.

"Babu!" Bon crowed, holding his giant hand over the center of the table and opening it. Inside, a large key, much like the one in Glyde's possession, rested. It appeared much smaller, however, against Bon's massive hand.

"What does that one say?" asked Glyde.

"'Sleeper,'" said Teisel, after glancing at the ancient symbols.

"Wow!" said MegaMan. "When did you pick that up, Bon?"

"Buu. Baaa-bu, bu, babu, buuu!" Bon explained at length.

"Well, that makes sense, I suppose," said Teisel, "but how did you hold that two-ton brick over your head while you were trying to break through the wall?"

Bon gestured with his huge hand. "Buu, babu, baaaaabu."

Glyde coughed loudly. "If you don't mind, I'd like to get back to business."

"Babu."

"Thank you." Glyde stretched before continuing. "Anyway, I would be...er, more than happy to accept this large red refractor in place of the monies we agreed upon earlier, if that's acceptable to you, of course..."

"Yes," agreed Tron quickly, forcing Glyde up out of his seat, "that's fine." She thrust the red refractor into Glyde's hands. "Well, I'd say it was great having you around, but I hate to just blatantly lie to people."

"Really?" Glyde said, his feet dragging as Tron pushed him to the lift. "I don't have any problems with that."

"Of course you don't," Tron said, pressing the button for the hangar deck. "Have a nice trip. Number Fourteen will be sure to strip-search you before you leave."

Glyde looked a little intrigued.

"Don't say anything," Tron ordered him. Just before the doors closed, Tron reached in and grabbed the Dreamer Key. "Ooops---I don't want to forget this!" She gave Glyde a sarcastically friendly wave as the lift started descending.

"What do we do now?" MegaMan was asking as Tron re-entered the Meeting Room.

"Well, we have two of the keys now," said Teisel. "We only need the other one, and we'll have the Main Gate all to ourselves!!" He began laughing uncontrollably.

"And how do we get that other key?" asked Tron.

"Easy!" Teisel said. "We'll just TAKE it!" His laughter continued, loud, long, and unbalanced.

"We're back!" Dantz called as he and Barrel re-entered the Flutter. The skyship was parked right outside the Clozer Woods Ruins, and while Dantz and Quackard had jury-rigged a piece of sheet metal to serve as a temporary solution to the hole in the Flutter's wall, the two Diggers had now earned enough money to get the ship fully repaired.

Barrel volunteered to fly the Flutter back to town, so Dantz headed directly for Roll's room. He knocked on her door as a matter of rote, then immediately entered. "Look, Roll," he said, "I know you were listening in on that little conversation your Grandpa and I had earlier---"

"Go away,' she murmured. Roll was sitting on her bed, hiding her face in her knees.

Dantz crossed his arms. "Evidently, it's not something we can just ignore, is it?"

Roll turned away from him and stretched out on the bed. She sniffed, then said, "How could you think that you weren't good enough for me? I can't think of anyone who'd be better."

Dantz laughed sardonically. "If we were all characters in this universe, Roll, I'd be a bit player. My job is just to come on stage, make people laugh, and leave before anyone gets sick of me. If you want to compare it to your favorite storyline, you'd be Roll, and I'd be...Drill Man. At the end of the show, Roll the girl robot doesn't end up with Drill Man."

Roll giggled just a little, then sniffed again. "I love Drill Man."

"Love him or not, this Drill Man's just---hold on. I want you to understand. It's not that I couldn't ever---" Dantz was cut off as the Flutter was shaken roughly. "What's going on?"

"We're under attack by pirates!" came Barrel's voice over the speaker. "Dantz, I need you to get up top and see what you can do!"

"Right," Dantz answered unnecessarily, as there was no way Barrel could have heard. He raised the Dantz Blaster and charged it.

"Hold on," Roll said, jumping out of her bed. "I'm going with you."

"Are you sure?" Dantz asked. "It's gonna be a tough fight up there..."

"I don't care," said Roll. "You must think I'm some sort of kid, but I'm not going to let any pirates destroy my home." She picked up a large, conical gun that had been sitting on her large computer panel. "Let's go."