Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ Crossroads ❯ Experiment Results ( Chapter 1 )

Sorry it took so long to update, but I had my Bachelor of Arts exams until the start of March. But I passed them, even Spanish! *grins happily*

I want to thank all of you who left reviews, it means more to me than I could ever express with words :-)

Oh, and I want to add that this fic has nothing whatsoever to do with Britney Spears. Nothing!

Disclaimer: I don't own DBZ. If only I did…

But I own the characters appearing in this chapter (except Bulma).

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"Shut it down! Shut the power down! Now!" Bulma screamed in panic, lunging at the computer to abort the running program. The technician standing closest to the exit got her meaning at once, and with a last aghast look at the flickering images he punched the red emergency knob next to the door, shutting off the power effectively in the whole lab and leaving the room in the eerie illumination of the emergency lights.

The screeching noise ended abruptly and the different landscapes flickered once and then dissappeared, leaving the people attending the experiment staring in expressions ranging from confusion to alarm at the machine.

"Oh damn…" the blue-haired woman said shakily and slid to the floor, trying to figure out what the hell went wrong.

"Damn! Shit!" Zura yelled angrily as he beat his fist repeatedly against the ship's main console. Not the best way to get a piece of machinery to cooperate, but he had tried everything else without success. He had even resorted to begging, and that was a clear indication to his growing distress. He never talked to machinery. It was good that no one had witnessed it. Not that he gave a damn anyway about what anybody thought, but he had a repuation to uphold, and the picture of him pleading with the ship's main computer would not exactly go down well with his prospective employers. Hell, even he himself found it weird. And he would need money pretty soon, especially if he didn't think of something useful to stop his ship crashing on the planet and getting transformed into nice and handy little pieces of junk. Oh, wait, in that case he wouldn't need any money. Getting squashed and reduced to a red smear by the heavy bulk of a ship on impact usually has that effect.

He continued to deepen the indention his fist on the console had made, his tail squeezing his waist unconsciously, and thought furiously. There was absolutely no way this should have happened.

He had been on his way to another assignment after a rather messy but succesful job, enjoying the quiet and solitude after four weeks of sharing close quarters with people he didn't know but who he had to put up with for the time. The payment was good, but constantly being surrounded by strangers without an opportunity to be alone, really alone for some time, annoyed him. He'd been glad it was over.

Half an hour ago, while flying though an part of space uninhabited for some time, he had picked up some strange energy readings nearby. His curiosity, and the fact he had more than enough time to get to his next employer, made him change course to investigate. Not to mention the fact that the flight had been starting to get extremely boring.

The source of the energy readings had been on one of the planets a short distance away, Lokran according to the computer, one of those having been depopulated in the time people referred to as the 'Purging Period', a time not long ago, when entire planet populations had been wiped out by the orders of the tyrant Frieza.

"Odd…. there shouldn't be any energy readings at all." he had muttered and steered his craft closer, planning to set a low orbit to find out what he could with the ship's instruments. Who knew, maybe it was a kind of natural new energy source that could be exploited somehow. And since he'd be the one to discover it he could sell it to the highest bidder. It was a far-fetched theory, but more likely than the possibility of someone hiding out here from authorities. Even though this particular stretch of space wasn't a main traffic route it was frequented regularly, and people trying to hide tend to camouflage any energy outputs, no matter where they hide.

The ship had had other plans though. As he neared ther planet's outer atmosphere the instruments had suddenly stopped being responsive to his orders. The readings just hadn't made sense. According to them the energy output on the planet had been rising rapidly, and with growing alarm he had noticed his craft changing course slightly as if drawn by an invisible rope to the source of the energy.

He had tried to get his emergency program to kick in - designed for incidents just like this when the, after all you never know when someone tries to sabotage your ship - nothing. 'That just isn't possible!' his thoughts had screamed. The emergency program was separated from the normal ship's operations, able to overriding all usual working processes, and to 'reboot' the whole system. It had a well-maintained seperated power source and was completely independent, only tapping into the system when being ordered to do so by himself through a seperated console. And having costed a small fortune. By all means, it should have worked! How was that possible? He had stared for a long second unbelieving at the blank monitor and raced back to the main console.

He had tried every trick he knew, and almost no one knew his ship as well as he did, after all, he was the one to repair it most of the time - but to no avail.

As he expressed his feelings toward the ship, the emergency program, his situation and life in general in a more colorful variety of language he watched the planet's surface getting closer and closer as his ship plummeted towards the ground.

He'd never felt so helpless in a his life and he hated it with a vengeance. He'd done what he could but it hadn't helped even a bit. He realized he was going to die, right here, in just a minute. His mind went numb. It just wasn't fair! It was just plainly not possible. Not like this! Getting squished by the ship that had been his home and sanctuary for years now was absolutely NO way to die for a Saiyan!

"I won't to die like this!" he screamed in anger, futile rage filling him and erasing any sarcastic remark his mind would have come up with in answer to his stupid refusal of the inevitable. Intent on destroying the most obvious and near source of his predicament he raised his fist with a snarl to smash the main console, only to barely manage to stop it before intact when all of a sudden the traiterous instruments came back to normal life.

For a seemingly endless part of a second he stared, frozen, at the familiar display on the monitor, its lights blinking cheerily at him. Then instinct kicked in and he activated everything stopping or slowing his rapid descent.' Upwards thrusters, upwards thrusters…' his thoughts chanted in a frenzy. "Shit!" he screamed when only 2 of 4 thrusters started working, the ship rocking violently. It really had been stupid to damage the console. But two were still better than none, and with them he would probably survive the crash…probably…

He dived at his seat and fumbled with the safety straps, looking up involuntarily every second at the screen where the barren surface of Lokran came closer. After what seemd like an eternity he had strapped himself securedly in his seat and held on for dear life - literally…

The impact was enormous, he felt as if every bone in his body was getting twisted and folded into a new shape.

Then the security straps snapped as if they were made out of straw, the material yielding to the applied pressure only after cutting deeply into his flesh, and he was thrown out of his seat.

It happened too quickly for him to do anything more than twisting and instinctively curling into a ball when he more felt than saw himself being catapulted towards the console.

Zura screamed in agony, a white lance of incredible pain consuming body and mind. Oh Gods, his TAIL!

It had been between the edge of the console and himself on impact, and he had felt several bones snapping. He didn't even know if he had any bones left there, it felt as if someone had injected his tail with strong acid. He noticed distantly that he had several other injuries, but nothing that could compete with the agony radiating from his lower spine in angry hot waves.

Suppressing the pain enough to have coherent thoughts seemed completely impossible but he managed after a while, but he knew he could suppress it only a limited time span. Mind over matter was a nice principle, but when the particular matter was a severely damaged and sensitive limb the mind wouldn't stand a chance in the end. He had to use the time he had until his psyche lost the battle against his body.

The ship had stopped moving, the metal still groaning occasionally, and with a low whirring sound the power shut down, leaving him in complete darkness. Just perfect, the emergency power was gone, too.

Panting he struggled to his feet holding his damaged limb gingerly. He had to get out. Now. He could assess the damage later, right now he only wanted to escape the ship that had almost been his death trap, though it must be pretty bad if the stuff he stumbled over on his way out was any indication. After finding by touch the the compartment where he usually stored what he called 'useful stuff when dealing with a bunch of different species' that included his emergency medical supplies, he was relieved it was still intact and grabbed the pack on his way out.

The opening mechanism for the ramp didn't work since the power was off, so he had to open it manually. Fortunately the ramp hadn't been too damaged, else he'd be stuck here a little longer. He didn't like the idea of cutting his way out of the ship - he would, if he had to, the necessary tools were there - but he'd rather not damage it more than it already was. Not to mention the fact that he started to feel the nerve endings in his tail and various other body parts starting to scream bloody murder again.

With a protesting grinding noise the ramp lowered, light filtering in through the opening. He would get out of here. The ramp touched the ground with a metallic rasping sound and he staggered out, taking a few steps away from the ship. Finally free.

At a sound from his left he jerked his head around. It's never a good idea making sudden movements with your head after a crash, and Zura had to agree when his vision started to blurr. Blinking dazedly he looked up to the edge of the low crater where the noise had originated. The astonishment of what he saw was only short-lived, because his body chose this moment to declare in an uncertain and very painful manner it had enough of being ignored. The pack slipped from his hand as he dropped to his knees, and with a last conscious effort he twisted sideways a little so he wouldn't fall on his tail - and then the world turned black and blissfully free of pain…

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Svenja walked deep in thoughts down the street. The young woman shifted her bag to one arm for a moment to push some strands of black hair from her face.

She had been at a wedding party of some distant friends, and even though it was nice to see some of the people attending the party again after so much time she felt miserable.

It wasn't because of her ex. It hadn't bothered her as much as she'd thought it would to see him again. Really, she could care less if he was there at the party or not. Only the memories seeing him again surfacing weren't that pleasant, but she had just shoved them aside, as she always did. 'No use living in the past. You learned your lesson and never forget it. Deal with it. That's it.'

And it also wasn't because she almost lost her holiday job the day before. She had forgotten to set her alarm clock, overslept and after washing and dressing in a hurry she had stumbled while running down the stairs still not fully awake, which had resulted in her crashing against the wall of the hallway face first, sporting an ugly looking bruise above her left eye that felt like a horn and her head swimming and not being able to concentrate on her work for the whole time, and at noon when she left a rather unpleasant talk with her boss. The wobbly feeling in her head had vanished by that time with help of some cups of coffee, but the bruise was still there.

In fact she had felt miserable for some days now, and for the life of her she couldn't find out why. 'Must be a kind of spring depression. Spring, indeed…' she thought sourly and glared up to the sky, her face wet from the contant drizzle that had went on for hours now.

Her thoughts went back to the evening. She had been happy for the couple, they had been together for years, and she honestly admired their courage to make a commitment like that. But she couldn't have helped noticing that the other guests and she had clearly drifted apart. She had felt so distanced, so… seperated somehow. Was it her fault? Had she changed so much? Or them? Or everybody? People change all the time, so why did it bother her so much right now?

'Simple. Just try to be honest with yourself for once. They were the only ones left you still called friends without adding any restrictions to the word or the meaning. Gods, you're disgusting… Wallowing in self-pity again, are we? Get a life, idiot!' she scolded herself, shaking her head. That brought it to a point. She really should get a life, one clearly different from the one she had now, or she'd go crazy. "Or maybe I am already" she mused, at the same time cursing the alcohol still in her blood. She hadn't drunk that much, just a few glasses of wine, but enough to increase her present mood.

Once again she shifted her bag, filled with leftovers from dinner and a bottle of wine, and turned into another street. She had refused the offer of her host to drive her home, somehow needing fresh air. Now she regretted it, the prospect of walking another 30 minutes with a increasingly heavy and soaking bag of food, and getting drenched thoroughly not exactly appealing. Just in time she was able to prevent the bag's contents from falling to the ground after its material suddenly lost the battle against weight and pressure and ripped at the bottom. Trying to hold the bag together she heaved a defeated sigh and trudged onward. Life couldn't get any more fucked up, or could it?

Suddenly there was a feeling of nausea and something shifted. 'What the hell?!' she thought alarmed and squeezed her eyes shut. For a moment she had seen double, the street being in front of her and at the same time not. She grabbed the bag tightly and stopped, legs spread apart a bit to provide her with as much balance as possible. She didn't need another bruise to match the one she already had. 'Gods, you can't even stomach some wine. It really wasn't that much!' she told herself. After some seconds he sick feeling vanished and she opened her eyes.

She was … somewhere else. Definitley somewhere else. For once, it had stopped raining abruptly. And it wasn't dark anymore. Not to mention the fact that the street had vanished, the houses… everything. What she saw resembled some of the towns in war areas she'd seen on TV, having been bombed to rubble, only much worse. It was a scene of destruction, pieces of a yellowish material resembling stone in every size from pebble to a small car, lying around as if a giant had stomped on a settlement and decided to do a little tap dance. A violent and enthusiastic one.

It must have been a settlement once, there were still parts of houses discernable, though only small parts. And it was eerily silent. Not a sound except her own rapid breathing and the wind, nothing.

Her head started to swim, any alcohol in her system being washed away by an enormous adrenalin rush, and she felt her legs getting weak. She sat down heavily, the bag still clutched in her arms as if it was the last thing connecting her to sanity. Which it most likely was.

'Okay, deep breaths. Stop hyperventilating, it's nothing serious. Deep breaths, exhale long and slowly…' She shut her eyes again, trying to calm her body, but her thoughts raced. 'Gods, what's happening to me? I didn't hit my head that hard, right? And it can't be the wine. No way! And even if it was, I've never had any hallucinations! Oh shiiiiiiit….. I'm going to see a doctor. First thing in the morning! Promised! See? You're better now. Breathe normally. Now get up and go home!' Opening her eyes she noticed that the scenery hadn't changed a bit.

Numbly she stood up and fought the rising panic. Still ruins and rubble everywhere. She set down her bag reluctantly, trying to ignore the wine bottle rolling out and stopping with a 'clong' where it met a wall.

A wall? Taking in her surroundings she saw she was in a former building, with two and a half more or less intact walls and a small part of ceiling. The one in front of her was almost non-existant in the middle, a big part missing, and with its ragged edges the hole resembled a huge floor-to-ceiling window a mad designer had thought up in a frenzy of twisted modern art.

"Okay." she said, speaking aloud had always helped her in a crisis. "No need to be upset, Svenja. Okay, that's a lie. Don't freak out. No need for that. Anyway. I'm clearly hallucinating. Or dreaming. Yes, that's it! I'm dreaming! A weird and sick dream, and realistic. But still a dream. Right!" she said relieved. It was the only logical explanation. She experimentally pinched herself hard. Nothing changed, but that seldom worked in dreams.

"Okay. I only have to wait until I wake up. Just a matter of time. Can't be that long. Gods, what would Freud make out of that? Oh, forget that guy. He was sick in his own way…." she babbled on, just to hear something, but stopping after a while "I should wake up any minute now" she muttered hopefully, unconsciously rubbing her bruise

She started pacing. She needed to DO something. Anything. Even if it was only walking back and forth like a caged animal. She shoved that image aside violently and continued pacing when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Huh? Stepping over the… opening in the wall she walked some meters to see it better. Looking up the grey sky she saw something moving through the massive dark clouds, flashing in and out of view.

Whatever it was, it came closer. Very fast. And to be exact, coming closer very fast directly in her direction! She was rooted to the spot, watching the thing growing bigger by the second until she could make out its shape. Some kind of small… space ship??! Something ignited at the bottom of it, ripping her out of paralysis and she stumbled backwards.

'I swear, tomorrow morning after seeing the doctor I'm going to get a book about dream symbolism' she thought faintly, watching in growing panic the vessel speeding seemingly right at her.

"Oh shiiiit!" she yelled running back to the building and dove through the opening, scrambling away in fear. Dream or not - 'What do you mean, or not?' her mind yelled at her - she had absolutely no intentions getting tramsformed into a pancake shape by a flying object out of a science fiction movie.

"This isn't happening. This isn't happening. This is ridiculous!…. NO!…"

A deafening crashing noise washed over her, accompanied by a violent gust of dust and hot wind that slammed her into one of the still intact walls. Something seeemed to explode nearby, building pieces of various size were shooting around, and it was all she could do to huddle into a fetal position, protecting her head with her arms, all the while screaming out her fear and confusion and pain as she was showered by sharp pieces of rubble.

She couldn't say how long it was until it stopped, it seemd like years. But it did stop eventually.

Breathing in short sobbing gasps she tried to convince her cramped muscles to comply and lifted her face from the ground. As if pulled by invisible strings she got to her feet and stumbled through the opening that was now considerably larger. There was a long gash in the ground, ending about 20 meters away from her in a shallow crater, the dust settling slowly to reveal a metallic form, indented and deformed. She walked closer to it in a zombie-like state and stopped at the edge of the crater, eyes unblinking, her mind unable to comprehend what had happened just now. Detachedly she recognized the scrunched up metal thing for the ship she'd seen earlier plummeting to the ground. A sort of hatch opened slowly on the underside.

Normally that scenario would have made her running for cover as fast as she could, or take any action that got her away. (If you can use the word 'normal' when it comes to a space ship crashing almost on top of you in a place you don't know and have no idea how you got there.) She was a person able to adapt quickly to sudden changes in her environment, but it never had been that drastic.

Normally she would not stand there rooted to the spot watching stupidly as a kind of gangway was lowered to the ground. Her mind worked on autopilot right now, registering and filing information but not letting anything inside her, affecting her.

A pair of legs appeared, and … a man clattered unstedily down the gangway to come to a stop a short distance away from it. She must have made a sound, because he turned his head sharply to look at her. Only to collapse on his knees and then falling heavily to the ground, laying unmoving.

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Okay, that's it for now. Please leave a review or email me about it. Any comments, suggestions, criticism etc are very welcome. No flames please.