Ava stepped inside the familiar door and marble floors. If it evoked nostalgia no one could certainly tell for she went about the house unmindful of anything but her steps.
"Welcome home, Princess," a voice greeted from behind her as she turned towards the hallway to the left of the grand foyer.
"Is he here?" she asked over her shoulder.
"No, princess. Why would he be here?"
She nodded for a bit and continued on to the hallway that led to the basement - her father's lab.
She found it in the state in which she left it a few years ago, that time when she came back to live here on her own from Sybil before eventually leaving for university.
She did not believe she would find him here today - but she had hoped...a bit.
And no, he was never here. The lab is spanking bright, shiny and clean.
And no, she isn't one for nostalgia, but today is different....in light of everything that has happened recently.
Memories of the time many years ago when she first entered the present time came flooding in her mind. Her great escape.
She remembered the old man who came that tragic night. He took her under his wings and raised her like she is his own blood in exchange for the family he had lost. Even as a child she understood this. And she became the daughter he once had. And as a child she found security in him.
She looked to this man as her protector - like the Atlantean Guardians of old time.
And he treated her as that - the daughter he had to protect at all cost.
'Because of what you are, you cannot allow yourself to be weak and vulnerable. That is not what is required of you,' were his father's words.
Those words kept her alive all these years; kept her from being overcome by guilt and unneeded emotions.
She stood firm for the sake of Atlantis...
Ah her father - the only person who knew so much, knew the truth - but he didn't know all of the truth.
For he knew she is not of this world, but he never knew of Atlantis...or rather, he wouldn't want to believe. He had dismissed it as some planet. He is a scientist/ inventor after all, not a historian.
And as she came to know more of the myth that Atlantis has become in the new world, she decided to let him think the way he thinks.
With her arrival, her father was able to anticipate the oncoming invaders. He had vowed to himself that no one will take his daughter away from him again. Using his genius, he brought his ideas for a barrier system and super advanced space fighter systems to the World Government when the invasion became imminent to Earth; thus, subsequently returning to the world of the living.
However the crux of the matter is, the professor could care less about saving the world. Apart from satiating his own guilt and helplessness, the world genius invented his warfare technologies for her.
She remembered knowing nothing but the 4 wall corners of this quiet fortress for a long period of time as a child. She remembered incessant questioning by this man she had come to call her father. She remembered his most prize specimen - her and her crashed transport. She remembered his growing his fascination of the white crystal on her necklace. She remembered him spending long hours being in the lab and and her doing long hours of home self-studies. She remembered living in fear as a child - fear she had long vanquished.
Her father had worked so hard to keep her in a protective bubble, to keep up a very extravagant charade. He would not dare give her up now.... or can he?
That alien lady - is she lying?
Ava slowly retreated from the lab floor, turned about and quietly closed the door behind her.
*******
"I deduced that this is where Professor Kinksi hid himself from the world when he disappeared and went on recluse 15 years ago," Phil said his thoughts out loud to the boys as they crossed a lengthy cobblestone driveway surrounded by an expansive front yard filled with overgrown trees, shrubs, and bushes to get to the manor where Ava Kinski disappeared into - about a hundred metres away. The surroundings and the manor were illumined by moonlight which all the more gave it the desolate, lonely, and almost eery feeling of the place.
"Before showing up at the doorstep of the United Nations when the aliens came you mean?" Alec prodded.
Ahead the men could see that all of the windows of the manor were boarded shut so it looks like no light could penetrate in or out, except now for the light streaming out of the front door that Ava had kept ajar or rather did not bother to close.
Phil started narrating. "Ah - the Kinski's! They were a prominent family. They owned giant corporations and many other businesses. Each member had a hand in the businesses, well, except for the geeky Waldo Kinski whose only passion is science and invention. But it has often been said that the clan is cursed."
"Cursed? What curse?" asked Sanders.
"Throughout the family's history," Phil went on. "There have been a couple, if not many, instances when a whole family in one generation have passed away, natural and accidental causes, leaving only one surviving kin, always male. This is the unfortunate thing that happened to the Professor."
"Seriously?" chimed Alec with a disbelieving smirked.
Phil nodded. "Those were the rumours. Yet as luck would have it, the Kinski's still thrives up to this day after so many generations of this unfortunate curse. So it seems the surviving kin had always managed to carry over the clan to a whole new generation."
"That is quite an interesting tale there, lieutenant," said Sanders.
"You don't have to believe it," said Phil. "Anyway, as the surviving kin, Kinski was not interested in the family's wealth and prominence so he sold everything away...er...well, more like 'abandoned' everything the Kinski's own. Then he disappeared. Being a well-known genius then, the intellectual institutes in the world searched for him to no avail. He was even believed to have died. But today I think we just discovered where he hid himself all those years he was missing. What better place than here, a rural place in the Philippines. No one would think to look here. And a few years after that, we know that Kinski came back from the dead....and the rest is history," finished Phil.
"So Miss Kinski probably thinks her father is hiding out here again when we told her he is missing," Alec said.
"Explains why she seems to be in a hurry," said Sanders.
"But if he is here, which we know he is not, her actions would be like deliberately trying to lead us to him," Alec said.
"Well, it seems to me she could not care less, right, lieutenant?" said Sanders. Phil nodded to that.
"To prove us wrong may be," Alec said further before looking up with a thought. "So she grew up here as well...no worse than Sybil."
"Well, there was a rumour before that Kinski's daughter had supposedly died," Phil shared. "But now we know that is not true."
The boys made it to the front door a little while later.
The house was the exact character as its owner, Alec thought. Monotonous and lifeless. The spacious interiors are well provided with sleek and ornate but dated furniture, but nothing of it clamours for curiosity and attention. It was also very clean and trimmed, suggesting that someone is keeping the house. Alec had lived in a house like this one---a very well-kept house. Phil on the other hand was reminded of a five-star hotel---not that he's ever been in one.
A huge foyer graces the entry of the first floor. There was an exquisite piano at the far end. Huge siamese spiral staircases led to the second floor balcony.
The mansion's maintained look amazed them. "Who keeps the house?" Alec asked.
"I do,"
Came a mechanical voice—a feminine one at that.
They whirled around and saw it. It was life-size; wheels were its legs. It had metal arms and an apron is draped on its body. It's square metal head had eyes, nose and mouth - badly designed blocks of light that flashes and changes colour. Come to think of it, the whole 'thing' is badly put together.
Their jaws dropped in astonishment.
"Ooh...visitors! It's been a long time that we had visitors. Oh, come to think of it, we actually never had visitors before. This is great!"
The robot extended a 5-pronged hand. "Hello there! Welcome to the mansion!"
Phil hesitatingly took it, as well as Alec and Sanders, clutching just the tip of one of its extremities. The robot shook them gracefully. Its gloved hands soft and cushiony.
"Are you with Master Ava?"
"Ah..." Phil glanced at Alec. "Yes we are."
"Friends?"
Alec answered that one distastefully. "Ah, no, your master has no friends."
"Alec!" Phil barked.
The robot shook its head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk."
"What's wrong?" Sanders asked.
"So she still has no friends. Oh, the poor lass..."
They boys looked amazed. Is that a person talking or a robot programmed to make such quips?
The robot seemed to have noted their incredulous faces.
"Oh, you wonder about me. Don't be. I am a highly advance robot, the first and the only one of its kind."
"We can see that!" Sanders said, bemused.
Phil spoke. "You see we have advance robots back in Sybil. But they don't talk and think like you."
"You are the closest thing to a real cyborg," Sanders said further.
"Oh, don't compare me with those things. I'm different because I am not programmed. And I can carry intelligent conversations. Like I said, I'm the first and one of its kind."
Scenes from the 'Jetzones' were hanging in Alec's mind as this conversation went on. He remembered that robot maid the futuristic family had in that cartoon show.
"You keep the house?" Alec asked.
"Oh, for many years now and I'm still here to serve her now that she's returned."
Phil commented about the amazing technology that the robot is and how odd it is that Kinski did not make more, not even for Sybil.
"Oh, the professor wouldn't want another one of me. He doesn't like me."
Alec could have sworn that it said that with a grudge. The robot had such plausible speech mechanism.
"Doesn't like you?" Phil noted in question.
"He says I'm too noisy and babble too much. Not good for him and his daughter. And he hasn't got much of the material--"
"I see, Kinski hates anything that is capable of emotion even if it's artificial," Alec interjected.
The robot, upon hearing that, tilted its head towards Alec in a curious manner. "You saying..." the robot sounded teary-eyed, "that I have...feelings? That is so nice."
That wasn't exactly what he meant but, "Well," he shrugged, "you are programmed to have feelings, at least..."
"Metaphorically speaking," added Phil.
"Again, I am not programmed."
"Alec means to say that you act more humane than Miss Kinski," said Sanders.
Phil brushed them off. "You have a name?" he inquired.
"Well, I'd like to be called Sierra. But my masters insist that I be called S25. I was the 25th attempt."
The flyboys then introduced themselves.
"Now follow me to the dinner table! I'm sure you are all very hungry!" it said as it faced about abruptly, ushering them to follow.
It led them to a spacious dining hall with a feast of meals daintily arranged and waiting for them on the large dining table at the center of the room.
"Please help yourselves while I go get something to drink,' S25 told them before leaving the room.
They all stood agape, at a loss for words.
"I don't know about you guys but I am starving!" said Sanders as he ran, sat himself and helped himself with the food.
Alec followed suit.
"Lieutenant," Sanders called at Phil who was looking wary. "why are you just standing there? We haven't had anything all day."
"You boys need to practice some restraint. We don't know what is going on here. Right now we need to find a way to contact Sybil and tell them about this place and get them to fly in."
"But like we all know, lieutenant, the System doesn't have a public line. It was never anticipated to be a need. We are in the middle of nowhere..." said Sanders.
"I am all aware of that, Sanders. I didn't ask to be reminded," replied Phil.
S25 came into the room, with a tray of beer and wine bottles on hand.
"Hey Robot, what is going on here? What is with all these food?" Phil interrogated.
"I prepared them for all of you. Is there something wrong with the food? Sorry I actually didn't have time to cook. I only had 7 hours after sensing Ava's arrival so I just called up catering services. I hope the food is more than enough. I never knew what master Ava feels like eating so I just ordered everything."
Everyone, in response to that, was looking up at S25 unsure what to ask to clarify first.
"So...you...cook?" Sanders decidedly asked.
S25 explained that she was really made for house chores purposes and she is supposed to be an expert in maintaining the house and preparing meals, etc.
"So yes I cook. However, I am not a gardener," she tells them, which explained the untended front yard.
"You cook? Are you also made to eat?" Sanders prodded.
The robot laughed a happy digital laugh, remarking amusingly that a nutrition-needing robot is very ridiculous.
"You 'sensed' Ava's arrival?" Alec noted.
"Oh! it's a very complicated piece of technology that only the professor knows and I'm not allowed to tell anyone."
"Tell anyone about what?" Alec asked.
"About the 'white crystal'-----" the robot began but quickly caught himself. "Now there goes my mouth, well, not that I have one. Anyway, in short, I have a special component that makes me sense the princess' proximity. I could sense her from miles away...although the professor never actually knew this."
The flyboys could only gape speechless at what the robot was saying, unsure of what to think.
Alec broke the silence. "Princess?!"
"Sierra!" Ava had appeared at the door. Her clothing fresh but same style and manner.
"Oh, princess!" the robot almost gleefully exclaimed. "I was just about to come get you."
Sanders called Ava from the table as he forked his way into a piece of steak. "Hey Miss Kinski, come join us!"
She ignored him and everyone. "S25, activate the Commlink. General Dunreft."
S25 immediately straightened at that command. "Activating," it said in its digital voice, lights flashing all over her tin body, particularly her eyes.
Did they hear it right that she wants to contact the world president? The flyboys are looking at each other, unsure of what to think.
The bookcase wall in front of them suddenly split apart, unveiling a wide, flat screen and the WDF General's surprised face on it. The flyboys also gaped awkwardly in surprise.
"Well...there's how we contact Sybil, lieutenant," Sanders stated in his stunned state.
Phil was the most stunned he forgot the proper protocol. Alec had to nudge the stupefied Phil to remember his military ethics. Phil shook off the trance and commanded a sharp, "Ten-shun!"
But the general was also beside himself and could not immediately return the protocol to Phil.
"Ava..." he uttered.
"General," Ava simply called out calmly. "Where is my father?"
Dunreft finally collected himself, straightening his back.
"Ava...this is unexpected."
When Ava did not respond, the General proceeded to note.
"Your location is not registering on our system. Obviously a strong encryption...by your father, nonetheless. He has obviously set up a hidden network outside of Sybil...to your...hideout...or wherever you are."
He then shifted his attention to the saluting soldiers. "At ease,' he returned and the men's hands flew down to their sides.
"General - " Phil began to talk.
"I can see you successfully located her," Dunreft cut off. "Or subdued her, or perhaps the other way around."
"It's a long story, General. We -" Phil started but Dunreft wave him off again.
"It's been a long time coming, Ava. As always you don't do curtsies and greetings---"
"Where is my father, General?" she repeated.
"Now she cares?" Alec wondered aloud to Phil and Sanders.
"It is good to see you, Ava. Good to see you are alive and well. You have grown up so much..." The boys noted how he spoke gently to her, like a grandfather.
"We have been telling you all this while, Ms Kinski, that your father has gone missing," interjected Phil.
Dunreft leaned a bit forward on his seat. "Ava, it would be good for you to come back to Sybil. We will explain everything when you get back here."
"No," was Ava's blunt reply. "You will explain everything now."
The defiant stance threw Alec, Phil, and Sanders off a bit - surprise to hear irreverence directed towards the Commander General of the System. They realised they saw first hand a demonstration of the Kinski's place in the System as the 'untouchables' - always above and beyond any hierarchy, ranks, or societal order.
Dunreft sighed and leaned back on his seat. "It is best to show you," he said before waving a hand in command. The screen he was on flickered and cut to a video - the video of Professor Kinski unleashing the catastrophe on Earth.
Surprise registered on Ava's usually expressionless face but she watched the whole video in silence.
"Your father....he defected to the aliens. He defected," Dunreft's said as he appeared again on the screen when the video finished.
"Your father has not been well lately," Dunreft went on. "His mental health has been deteriorating all these years. I am sorry to say this, Ava, but he has lost his mind."
He continued on ruefully. "I know it's hard to believe. It was hard for us too. He deactivated the barrier system, sent the D3 bomb, his new creation, not to the enemy, but to us. It blew the pacific and murdered thousands!"
As Ava listened to the Generals' words, she was seeing Vondra in her mind, hearing what she had said.
She wasn't lying . My father is now with the enemy...on his own will....
"He made the WDF into what it is now so what he did there was unthinkable. We never imagined that he would turn his back against his pride. Nothing makes sense. Nothing but the fact that he had lost his mind, literally," she could hear the General go on faintly in the back of her head.
A slight tremor overtook her senses, struggling to process it all.
Her father would never give her up to the enemy, this much she knew. Deactivating the barrier system is the last thing her father would ever do. No - defecting is the last thing he would do. He would never do anything against....her.
But he did.
"Ava, all these began when we refused testing of your father's D3 bomb in the Pacific because it was foolish and dangerous. He just lost his mind over it. Now he used it against us. Who knows what else he is planning against Earth. Ava, the truth is, only you can help us help your father and save this planet," Dunreft went on.
She looked up at that. They know the truth now.
"Ava, you have to come back. The world is in great peril. We are under major red alert. A siege of invasion never stopped coming. Yet they're not demanding anything. Just as always, these invaders never made their intentions known."
They know about her.
"I am sure you understand now. I shall send out a unit to retrieve the four of you," he gestured towards Phil. "Lieutenant, confirm your location."
Phil looked up and stammered. "I-uh, our location....is...the Philippines..."
"Hacienda Mercado, Baguio City," Ava interjected before facing about and exiting the room, leaving all the men confounded.
"Looks like she has come to her senses....?" uttered Sanders.
"Lieutenant, expect retrieval unit at 0600," instructed the General. "In the meantime, you all get some sleep."