Inheritance of Giants

The Chain

Her legs kicked absently against the base of the chair. Back. Forth. Back.

She didn't care if it scuffed the floor. Didn't care if the squeaking annoyed the Ood. In fact, she hoped it did.

But the Ood didn't react. It simply observed.

"You think," it said carefully, "that the boy is safe in there?"

"I think he's safer in there than out here," Toga replied, tapping a finger against her temple. "At least in there, the ghosts are honest."

"Ghosts?" the Ood asked.

"I don't really know what's in there, but I overheard some guys talking about how the songs inside that thing are, like, really old or something? Something that old probably has a ghost or two haunting the circuits."

The Ood made a soft, processing sound. "And you believe he will emerge unchanged?"

Toga tilted her head. "Nah. That sounds boring. If I'm gonna die, I at least want to see something interesting happen, you know?"

The Ood made a robotic sigh, a hiss of an exhale made of metal. "But does that mean he will emerge unchanged?"

"Uh... I don't know," Toga finally answered with a shrug.

The Ood's orb dimmed, as if marking her words in a mental ledger.

"Then we are both uncertain," it said.

Toga hummed. "Isn't that the point? If you're certain, it's not a revelation."

Her legs stilled.

For the first time since she entered the lab, she was completely still.

"Revelation... huh," Toga muttered with a blink.

"Is everything alright, Himiko Toga?"

"Yeah, I just was remembering how I patched into some heroes' equipment like weeks ago. Was it their neck brace or something? I don't know, but man, yesterday morning, they were talking about some guy in the SSSP that went missing from both the mortal plane and the existence of the mind or something, I think it was, who, uh...

"Commander Shin? I this that's the name. Eh, I could be wrong. You know anything about that, Squidy?"

"Please don't call me that, Himiko Toga," the Ood began. "And no, I don't know of any Commander Shin."

"Huh. Oh well, worth a try."

Toga shrugged, twirling a lock of hair around her finger like she hadn't just dropped a depth charge into the conversation.

"Well, if he didn't exist, I guess I didn't hear about him either," she said breezily.

The Ood said nothing at first. Its neural orb flickered in a long, low pulse—more like a heartbeat than light.

"...You are certain they said 'Commander Shin'?"

Toga raised an eyebrow. "You're not supposed to be curious, Squidy. That's not your brand."

"I am not curious," the Ood replied. "I am... resolving contradiction."

"Sounds like curiosity with extra steps."

Again, the Ood paused.

Then: "I have no record of any Commander Shin in current or former SSSP rosters, personnel matrices, or classified memory banks."

Toga tapped her chin. "See, now that's weird. 'Cause the guy on the comms said Shin was their only reason for remembering how to breathe that day. Real hero moment stuff. Made it sound like he was the glue that kept their sanity from flaking off."

She smiled faintly, but didn't laugh.

"And now no one remembers him? Damn. That's messed up."

"... There may be one thing," the Ood muttered, voice dilating. "There was a document I was told to sort through a few months ago by Ide, but..."

The robotic sigh came for a second time. "I couldn't read its contents. I had used several different language filters from the galaxy and beyond, and yet..."

"You couldn't read them? Well, did you, like get a picture or anything?"

"No, Ide only sighed and left with the papers after I told him they were completely illegible. I felt rather... shameful after that experience."

Toga blinked.

"You? Feeling shame? That's rare. I thought you guys were all hive-brained and ego-sterilized."

The Ood's orb dimmed. "That is a stereotype. And incorrect. Emotions are felt by the hive, just as thoughts are. If I were to feel shame, so would the rest."

"Sorry," she said, clearly not sorry. "Still... that's wild. Even Ide couldn't crack it?"

"No, I don't think so at least. He only said, 'It wasn't meant for us.' Then he left. I have not seen the document since."

Toga sat back, her fingers tightening faintly against the chair's frame.

"So... when you failed to read that paper..."

The Ood nodded, slow and heavy.

"Thousands of us across the stars paused. Briefly. Not understanding why. Just a hollow silence in the net. Like... a memory we never had. Failing."

For a moment, neither of them spoke.

Not Toga. Not the Ood.

Even the MP3 player seemed to hold its breath.

"Well, that's enough of the silence," the Ood said in response to the silence. "I think we're going to be here for a lot longer than the boy realizes."

"Oh, right, the medical documents said that the last coma he went into lasted, like, half a day, right?"

"... You were reading his medical documents?" the Ood questioned. "That is highly classified information for most humans. I don't understand why you would with the amount of trouble you'd be in?"

"Found it fun to break in, to be honest," Toge remarked. "Plus, I don't know, he got my interest, might as well do a little research, right?"

"Mmm," was the only answer the Ood could muster.

"Anyways, since were gonna be here for a while, could you, like, order us some dango or something?"

~

To be Continued...