One For the Road

It was a clear day with a soft sun shining down on a beautiful Cabin on the Lake as Ness and KITT were just standing on the shoreline looking at the still water "So are you sure you don't want me to go with you?" he asks the Artificial Cybertronian "Going to see Vira in person is a big step for you. After all, she Might not take too kindly to you being a giant robot." he points out as he tosses a stone across the water.

KITT picks up rock as well "I already told her that I was a giant robot. She did not seem to care. At least, what was the impression I got from my facial recognition software." he says to his friend "And while I appreciate your offer to join me, I will be fine on my own." he says as he tosses his rock across the lake as well.

Ness nods as he picks up another stone "Then I wish you the very best of luck out there and with meeting Vira." he says as he starts thinking of how the media would react to the once famous pop singer Vira Nakeen dating a robot. He tosses his own stone across the lake once more.

KITT picks up another rock "So, are you really going to leave?" he asks "People have gotten use to your presents being close by." he points out as he throws his rock across the lake.

Ness nods "Yeah. I have some loose ends to tie up before I head out. I also have to finish my new ship, the Andromeda. I'll assure Calvine and Cedrick that I'll be here for their wedding. I wouldn't miss it. But other than that, I don't have anything else to do here." he says as he tosses another stone across the lake.

KITT was handling his rock, thinking "So, nothing keeping you here or driving you away?" he asks "Nothing like says, a young woman who has her own dating business?" he asks, tossing his rock across the lake.

Ness frowns "I suppose..." he says slowly "I guess I Still have a thing for Monica. Being the 'One That Got Away'." he says as he tosses his stone, watching it skip across the lake again.

KITT was also silent for a bit "Why do you not go and settle things with her?" he asks as he throws his rock across the water.

Ness shakes his head "I tried that already. It got erased from history and I'm the only one who remembers it. And the beautiful planet that I had bought to be our own privet retreat? It now has my mortal enemy trapped on it." he says as he frowns "And the Last time I was alone with her, I was practically completely naked in front of her and I'm Very easy on the eyes to women, and she said, did, and thought Nothing about it and simply went to bed." he says as he throws his stone across the water with considerable power behind it "That was when I decided to stop chasing after her." he grumbles.

KITT nods slowly "Then, I will miss you when you leave, my friend." he says as he drops his rock "And I wish I was coming with you. When you are on your own, you tend to get into untold amounts of trouble." he points out.

Ness nods "That Is true. But you have your own life to live and no matter how it turns out with Vira, I'm rooting for you, Buddy." he says to his robotic friend and pats KITT on the leg "Come on, man. Let's get back to the others. We both have work we need to get back to." he says to KITT.

The Artificial Cybertronian nods "I will see you back at the lab." he says and taps something on his forearm as he was suddenly transported away, leaving Ness in the idyllic location.

Ness heaves a sigh that had the weight of the world on it "Computer: End Program." he says as the world blurs, then disappears, revealing the Holodeck background as Ness walks to the bay doors as he heads out and back to work. There was still much to get done.

He heads to his workshop. KITT was there, getting ready for his trip to New York "I believe I have everything I need for my journey." he says.

Ness nods "Stay safe out there my friend." he says as he holds his fist out to KITT.

The autobot moves his own fist down and lightly bumps Ness's "You as well, Ness. I guess I will see you when I see you." he says as he taps something on his wrist and is transported away.

Ness stares at where his friend was seconds ago and sighs as he moves to sit at hia desk and look over what needs to be done. He suddenly puts everything into his backpack and heads out of his workshop that he build in the Paragon Corp company lot.

He needed fresh air and what better place than a good ol outdoor cafe. He sits down and orders an iced coffee while he pulls out his data padds and looks them over.

Skylar along with her close friend and maid Zara had been on earth doing their own thing. While they had come looking for Ness, Skylar at least had business related to earth and Noreal. It was mildly annoying have guards or Hunters shadow them but understandable considering she was a political figure. Not to mention earth was supposedly some crazy place with constant strife. So far though she hadn't seen much of it.

While on their way to try out one of the cafe's, Zara got her attention. "Isn't that master Ness?"

Skylar peered in the direction her friend had indicated to and sure enough the young man was there. That was a surprise, but a good one since they had been looking for them originally. "Well then, let's not keep them waiting shall we?"

Skylar made her way over with her friend in toe. "This is a pleasant surprise. It's good to see you again. Hope we aren't coming at a bad time, you seemed pre occupied."

Ness looks up from his work "Well hello there, Skylar, Zara. What brings you two here to Earth?" he asks as he puta his data padds away and motions for them to join him "I wasn't doing anything that can't wait. Care to join me?"

"Of course. I'd be happy too." Skylar said with a smile as she went to sit down, It was quite the contrast of how their first meeting went and when she was no longer under the pressure made to her real personality. "As for us being here, mostly business and doing things here. They were considering having me as a diplomat for Noreal, in which case I'd be living here mostly. I am considering though not sure." What she Didn't say was one of the nudges towards that was how things with Ness went. She wasn't going to Just for them obviously but it definitely be another reason to.

"Indeed." Zara said, adjusting her glasses a bit and being a bit coy at the end. "And mistress Skylar and myself wanted to spend time with you so its a good thing we ran into you as we did."

Ness nods "I can't say that I wasn't feeling a little lonely, not with all my friends having the need to live their own lives and all so I gladly welcome your company both of you." he says as he motions for a waitress to bring some drink menus "Order what you want. On me." he offers "So, if I may ask, how's Noreal's space program coming along after it's purchase from Paragon Corp?" he asks. He knew it couldn't be Too far along, as there was still Much work that needed doing.

"It's been going rather well. It'll be years before all the ships and fleet is off the ground but its a start." Skylar was proud of her people working together to get started on such things. Been on the council long enough that getting them all together at times was like herding children. "There is also a joint effort to make the biggest space station Noreal has ever seen. It'll sever as a central hub to various things. Of course that is far off and away."

"It's difficult at times to get the leaders to all agree on something so this was a pleasant surprise." Zara knew it wasn't going to happen every day and it was a big step for Noreal so she was happy for it.  "However, on a less pleasant note there is a matter that is important to us, but you don't need to rush into it."

Skylar knew what her friend was talking about. It may of been even more sensitive considering Zara's past, people being used by others no matter for what end was a trigger for her. "After you had left, we have found what some of others behind the scenes had been planning. In a lab, they were creating something called Heartless. We found children there they had created, apparently they were going to slowly grow them into adulthood when enough mental programming was done. We stopped them long before then."


"They're safe and haven't shown any signs of anything so far after all this time." Zara added in. "But me and Skylar would both feel better if perhaps when you get the chance you can see if anything is left over. It would put us both at ease those children get to live their best lives as people rather then tools."

"..Unlike some small amount of idiots..." Skylar mumbled under her breath.

Ness nods "I have no problem with helping them out, so long as they agree to the scan and it would have to be a deep dive scan to make sure I canvas every hidden part of their mind." he tells Skylar "If they agree to that, I'd be more than happy to help."

Skylar smiled, relieved at this. Not she expected Ness to say no really but still. "That's wonderful news. And of course. Once we do stop by Noreal it'll be their choice or not. We certainly won't make them do anything they aren't comfortable with or don't want to do."

"Agreed." The other Veeden weighed in. "In the mean time, do have any suggestions what to order here for something sweet? We, still are a bit on the new side here."

Ness shakes his head with a chuckle "If you're looking for sweets, Japan isn't really the place you want to go. America is. About 90% of it's population Thrives on eating sugary treats. But for here? A chocolate parfait would be a good first try." he suggests.

Zara deflated on the news a bit. "Pity. I was looking forward to this worlds sweets. Maybe some other time if I visit there."

"She has a rather bad sweet tooth." Skylar added amused. "But honestly? She makes better sweets then many places I've been to. I told her she start something but she shot it down."

"Cooking for a select few and a larger audience is different." Zara countered. "And to be honest, doing so makes me more nervous then anything."

Ness mentally shrugged "So, what do you plan to do with these Heartless?" he asks "I mean, not all of them are gonna agree to someone poking around in their head and if they don't, what then?"

"That is indeed the question." Skylar admitted. "I don't know exactly what the people on top plan. From what I heard, the ideal is for them to be able to live as much as their lives as possible, but still keep a eye on them if there are changes so they aren't a potential threat to themselves or others. They're still figuring out the best place for them to live and where they feel the most comfortable."

Ness thinks for a bit, then puts two fingers to his forehead and for a few seconds, he was silent "I think, I might know a place where others like them can be safe." he says slowly "They'll be safe and looked after. I just need to talk to a man who can blow up a planet with one finger..." he mumbles

Skylar found the idea of someone blowing up a planet that easily a bit on the disturbing side of things. She had never heard of anything like that. Someone capable of wrecking a city? Still hard to wrap her head around but she heard of it before, even in Noreal. And even Ness had somehow strengthened such a strong barrier with the Terdis Tree so she was willing to believe them.

"..I see.." Skylar composed herself, keeping her thoughts to herself. "If I may ask then, whom are you talking about you need to get into contact with?"

Ness didn't see any harm in telling Skylar "His name is Leekan. He's a member of a warrior race called Saiyan and he's Incredibly powerful." he tells her "He helps a colony of artificially created people who were failed weapons. He's touch to get along with, but fair. I just need to prove to Lee why your Artificial Heartless are worth his time.or effort to allow into said colony." he says simply.

"We trust you." Zara said sincerely. "You've done more then you ever needed for us in general. The very least we can do is give you the benefit of the doubt."

"I agree. But I'll admit the idea of someone blowing up a planet much less with their pinky is hard to wrap my head around." Skylar mumbled. "I hope such power isn't a common thing in the universe at large. It sounds like a disaster waiting to happen."

Ness didn't want to tell them that there was a whole Culture based around such people and that Lee, for as strong as he is, Wasn't the strongest Ness had met.

Ness shrugs "At the least, there's a planet full of them." he says "But I wouldn't worry about them. Let me worry about them." he tells them as he puts his data padds away and stands "Come on, let me show you two what I'm working." he offers.

Skylar was more then then happy to change the subject about such things, plus she was more then curious. "I am very curious of what you have to make. If the ships and technology you sent us is any indication I'm sure it'll be wonderous."

Almost as wonderous as his body.

Not that She was going to say that out loud like that to embarrass herself. She was a dignified lady she..had to have some standards how she let people know she was attracted to them.

Zara wasn't as interested in technology but some of it was intriguing and Skylar seemed happy, and Ness must of enjoyed working on it to want to show them. So for those two it was more then enough.

Ness takes them both back to his workshop at Paragon Corp and escorts them to a transporter pad "Hold on to your butts." he says as he initiates the transporter cycle, then once it's complete, he sets a ten second timer and gets onto the transporter pad and once it cycles, Ness was on the pad to a Runabout "This may be jarring to you, but right now we're in space and we're going to head to one of the planets in my solar system." he tells them.

Ness puts in a short burst of warp two, which would take them Less than a second to get from Earth to Jupiter "And away we go." he taps the control panel, and they take off! A second later, they were in Jupiter's orbit "Here we are ladies, the Jupiter shipyards and there's my ship, the USS Andromeda!" he says with a Huge touch of pride in his voice "It's still a work in progress, but once it's finished, it'll be the Most advanced ship in This universe!" he boasts.

Space ship traveling was something Skylar wasn't going to get used to anytime soon. Just the idea made the little girl in her that wanted to see everything there was to see and explore everything back to life for a few brief moments.

The ship was clearly incomplete but it was impressive. And to also be fair if asked Skylar was rather ignorant of space at large. She only had information of Noreal before their newest things, a bit of current and what little she knew of Trojan ships. Which..wasn't much more then what some looked like.

Zara caught something while Skylar was silently soaking the whole thing in. "It's impressive, but what did you mean by this universe? There's more then one or am I reading far too much into that statement?"

Ness realized his slip up as Soon as he said it and realized it was too late to put the Genie back in its bottle "Yeah. I suppose that statement needs a bit of explaining." he says as he picks up a data padd and taps a few things on it "Okay, so imagine this, there are multiple universes out there in what is known as the Multi-Verse, but each universe occupies the same space, but they all vibrate at different frequencies and thus are separate from each other. If a person could match this frequency they could travel to that different universe." he explains "I have the distinct advantage of being able to match the frequency of any universe out there and can freely travel from one to another..." he says "In fact, This universe, isn't even My universe of origin." he tells them. He decided to leave out that he was a time traveler as well and that multiple versions of himself, from different timelines, could inhabit the same universe at the same time.

"So..Multiverse theory IS real." Skylar mumbled to herself. "That is interesting and certainly better then simulation theory."

Zara tilted her head slightly. "What is that?" She found this sort of thing interesting, but she wasn't really well read in the subject or anything.

The other woman waved her hand. "Nothing concrete. But short of it is a advanced enough civilization could simulate a entire universe with complex A.I. and such and the people inside would never know. It's interesting because its theoretically possible, just no proof."

She turned back to Ness. "Still, you much have so many stories and things you have seen. I admit the explorer in me finds that very intriguing. It also be fascinating seeing different versions of other people and worlds."

Ness thinks for a moment "Simulation theory is Also real as well." he tells her "But that's a topic for another day." he says "But to answer your question: Yes. I have been to a number of universes and yes, I have so many stories to tell." he says.

"That's why Earth's space program and technological curve has taken such a sharp upwards climb. Because I know a great Many extremely advanced forms of technologies." he tells them as he plots a course home "I trust you both can keep this a secret? I'd rather Not want others to know I can advance their world over four-hundred years in a single week." he says.

"Of course." Zara said without a second thought. "As I said we owe you more then we could ever repay. Even if we didn't, we aren't the people to just blab someone's personal information."

"Exactly." Still Skylar Really had to hold herself back from asking a million questions but she had so many questions! "While I am very curious about great many things, I'll try to avoid pestering you about everything that comes to mind."

Ness nods "I appreciate it, both of you." he says as they take orbit over Japan "Okay, let's head back to the cafe, or wherever you wish to go." he says. Transporter technology Was still new, but it was now being more widely used, so it wasn't a secret to the general public.