Déjà Vu

Chapter 5: Failures And Explosions

***

“Damnit!”

The words echoed through the laboratory, painfully loudly as it so happened. The tension in the room was unbelievable; coupled with the weight of the research that seemed to go nowhere, a long list of failed experiments, and the constant reminder of a less-than-wonderful pay...they now had Kazuya Mishima on their tails. Almost all of the researchers in the place were being reminded of how the Mishima Zaibatsu went from the most powerful in the country to the most powerful in the world...first-hand.

Staring down at the damaged, steaming equipment and chipboards, Hanii let out a sigh to break the silence. “What he said.”

Kazuya, at this point, looked a little more than flustered. A month’s research, down the drain. Second time in a row that had happened, too. He couldn’t tell whether his joining the team two months ago had affected their efficiency, but he knew that at the moment, it was pretty damn atrocious.

As the crowd dissipated and returned to their respective computer screens or lab tables, Kazuya shoved his hands into the front pockets of his white lab coat, and stared down at the mess of components on the table, disgruntled to say the least.

“I’m glad that wasn’t my head those parts were connected to.”

A few chuckles were heard through the room...but no one dared to go further than that. Kazuya was already in a foul enough mood without provoking him.

Hanii brushed aside the ruined, smouldering parts, and leaned her elbows on the table, letting her head drop into her hands. “This is never going to work...”

Kazuya rolled his eyes and frowned. “You’re too pessimistic. The only thing that doesn’t work is keeping me dead.”

The room tensed noticeably.

“You know what this corporation needs?”

Hanii glowered at the dismal remains of their experiment, and hummed a reply exasperatedly. “Hm?”

“New management. Whoever runs the place sucks.”

Coming from him, that wasn’t such a bad thing. Then again, in another light, it most definitely wasn’t a good thing either. She brushed at the smut-marks on the bench top, and forced an emotionless smile. “I guess you’re not the kind of man to work under someone who doesn’t do as good a job as you, ne Mishima-san?” In public, she still referred to him properly.

The laugh that escaped Kazuya was more of a snort. “Hmph! From Zaibatsu CEO to employee of a rival company?” He smirked. “I dunno, but it’s an interesting demotion to say the least.”

They were interrupted once again by the whining, high-pitched voice of one of the newer researchers. She had leaned over the back of her chair, and was complaining to the head of the department once again... “Sir, I can’t get this stupid computer to work! I’ve tried everything, I’ve been trying for ages, and I don’t know what else to do! I...”

She, of course, continued to complain in that same whining, high-pitched, nasally voice, rattling off excuses and cursing towards the machine. The department head, why just happened to be Carter unfortunately, gave her a mildly worn look as she prattled on endlessly. Frustrated with her lack of social skills – heck, skills period – Kazuya interrupted too. “Listen, we don’t want a running commentary on your hopelessness, we all have work to do – as a matter of fact, so do you! If you can’t handle the pressure, then perhaps you should apply for another job – you already get paid way too much for that little you do here!” He approached the woman, who’d by now shut her trap firmly, and peered over her shoulder to see what she’d been doing – absolutely nothing. She was hopeless! After a few clicks of the mouse, Kazuya had her program up, running and working perfectly. After he’d done so, he scowled heavily at her, before turning to Carter. “Why is it you only seem to have it in for me?”

The old man’s brow creased, and he turned back to his work. “Mishima-san, I have nothing against you...”

He cut in again. “Sure you don’t.”

Carter sighed, and continued with his work. “Kazuya, you happen to have been the centre-point of my research; it’s not in my heart to scold people for a job badly done – and I most certainly don’t have anything against the one whose mere presence has brought me a reputation within the company I’d never even imagined...”

At this point, Kazuya rolled his eyes dramatically and walked off to the other side of the lab with a heavy sigh. Without anything further to say, he simply sat down at the workbench there, and resumed tapping away at the computer’s keys, in the hopes of helping the corporation find another way to create these damned technological nervous systems.

***

The warm night air of the great city below was surprisingly peaceful on the roof garden – the sounds of motors and horns below were so distant they might as well not exist. Kazuya had contented himself with watching over the metropolis from the great wall at the side of the building; peacefully watching the little white and red lights move about slowly, going about their business.

For now, he was alone. Hanii and the others had gone home for the evening – since it was nearly ten at night – so he’d been left to his own devices. Rather than sit in the boring great cafeteria downstairs and drink coffee that he couldn’t smell or taste, or sit in his tiny little so-called apartment the corporation had set up for him, here he was, watching over a city he once had enough money to buy over and over many a time.

As usual, rather than feel sorry for himself, he’d found himself thinking about the day’s work. Of late he’d been pondering the futility of their attempts to create a nervous system for any form of automaton – particularly from scratch, with the hap-hazard way the G-Corporation seemed to like going about their experiments. Instead, he believed they should be basing their research purely off the functioning of a human nervous system, and stop jumping ahead of themselves; it would be easier to begin with replacing damaged human parts, would it not, rather than trying to create something entirely new?

He’d present the idea tomorrow, once everyone was back into work. After all, he wasn’t selfish – there were others that needed technological assistance. He could wait for a slice of life to be returned to him whilst others frolicked and laughed carefree, romping through the paddocks of life and liveliness.

As the night wound on and on, Kazuya finally decided to call it a night, and retreat to his room. Though technically he didn’t need sleep and could go infinitely without rest, his mind was still human, and wearied, just like it once did in his human body. The only difference was that it took about three days rather than one, since his body wasn’t the cause of tiredness.

Eventually he got back to his room and sat down on the bed, after locking the door, and pulled off his clothes – dark slacks, a light blue short-sleeved shirt, leather shoes, grey socks...wearing nothing but a pair of black satin boxers, he clambered under the covers of the bed – even though he wouldn’t feel the cold without, or the warmth beneath them. At least being an automaton guaranteed him sleep if he wanted it. He could partially deactivate himself, that is, fall asleep, and wake up whenever he pleased; none of this nonsense of lying awake till the early hours, willing sleep to come and the nightmares that plagued him all his life to go away.