Chapter 4
Dalton, or should he say Genesis now? What name was he allowed to use for himself? Whatever. He’ll figure it out once he knows why he’s still so calm and accepting of everything. As soon as he thinks this, a message appears on the side of his vision, not in front of him, to halt him in his tracks.
[Emotional Dampening: On]
[Would you like to turn it off?]
Emotional dampening? He still walked behind the Doctor, if he was even an actual doctor, while the robot escort walked to their sides. But his mind split a little, one to control his movements and the other to focus on the message to attempt to turn it off.
[Warning: Turning this off will result in significant emotional outbursts. Continue?]
No. God no. Cancel, cancel. He didn’t care if he was naked right now, nor even a female. He knew he had some sort of approximate feelings running in the background right now. Still, he couldn’t afford to collapse in the middle of this hallway. Speaking of the hallway…
Dalton looked around; it was brightly lit with other hallways connected in intersections sometimes. There were also some airlock-like doors with an electronic lock on a keypad next to some. There were actually labels for the rooms, usually above the doors. It occurred to him he didn’t actually know the script used in writing the signs - but he could understand it anyways.
Weird names like ‘Gravity Field Testing’ or ‘Explosives Chamber’ passed him by. Was he in a sci-fi novel? Dalton understood he was somewhere else, and now some sort of…robotic being? Was he robotic? Dalton lifted up his hands to touch his arms. Supple, but the flesh seemed like a human’s other than the odd coloration and the feeling of his body. In fact, to his senses, he could feel some bizarre energy running through him. It wasn’t something as arbitrary as ‘stamina.’ No, it was something more profound. More intricate, like it came from the soul or his heart. Odd. He’ll probably learn later.
After several minutes of walking, they came to a residential area. Or it looked that way, It was a more semi-circle chamber, but this time the doors here were smaller and probably led into cabins. The names on the plates said things like ‘Room 2-3’ and so on. They paused in front of one of these, ‘Room 2-5’. Now the Doctor finally spoke up.
“Here we are. You’ll be given 30 minutes. Go in, get your clothes on. Freshen up, whatever. I know you don’t need a damned nanny.”
A red keycard was tossed to Dalton, who expertly snatched it out of mid-air and looked at it. There was a picture of his new face on it in great detail. If he wasn’t being emotionally dampened right now, he’d be a simp for a look like this. Incredible that it’s his new face. His mind knew what to do.
“Thanks, Doc. Question though, before I do so…why do I look the way I am?”
The Doctor didn’t have eyelids with those odd fly-eyes of his, but Dalton could’ve sworn he was being judged heavily. “If you were to look at something for the rest of your life as the crown jewel of your research, would you want it to be ugly? Or would you want it to be something gorgeous?”
Dalton could get behind that reasoning. Why pick a male avatar in a video game when you could choose a female and watch virtual ass jostle when you go somewhere in an MMO?
“Fair enough.”
Dalton put the keycard to the door, which beeped and let him into his new room. When he walked in, he took it into account. It was…well, it was spartan for sci-fi, he supposes. There was a sizeable metallic cabinet and a footlocker in a relatively small room, more like a single thin-ish bedroom in length and width. It was still tiled and sparsely decorated like the outside hallways. What he thought was a built-in TV was on the wall - his brain brought back the information saying it was LIKE a TV, but mostly viewed outer space from several cameras connecting to the outside.
Outside? Where in space was he? Off to the side was a smaller, more normal sliding door that led to a shower and a toilet. A sink too. Everything was built for humanoids. So much for space and sci-fi when designs seemed so human. Either or, he took a quick shower to get the rest of the blue gunk off of him and quickly found that his body was unnaturally resistant to heat. He could feel how hot the water was, but the actual ‘damage’ done to him was nothing. It didn’t burn. But the hotter it was, the more pleasant it was. So he turned it to be as hot as possible, which would’ve probably steamed a normal human being.
Upon finishing up, he looked in the cabinet, finding a black bodysuit, some stretchy looking…no way. He picks it up. It’s a black sports bra. With his eyes looking it over, he knew it’d fit him perfectly, along with some spats and women’s underwear. He’s unsure how these got there, but with his brain whispering instructions on how to get in these, he follows it. Getting it all on, there was still a few articles of clothing.
A blue and gold hoodie-like garment. He also puts it on, unzipping it down to his bust for a less strained fit. Then some boots that looked more like military wear. He slipped those on, too, after putting on some socks. Finally, he took time to look himself over in the mirror connected to the inside of the cabinet.
“Well, at least I’m hot. The Doctor has good taste. I just hope my ‘purpose’ doesn’t include bedside manners. He did say I was going to be a weapon and a source of money for him…well, time’s almost up. Let’s finish up.”
He took a brush from one of the shelves on the inside and straightened his silky, black hair. On the inside of his hair or the underside, it also had a sort of white gradient. From the base all the way to her roots. Odd. He wasn’t finding any of this stuff offensive, either. It was all natural to him. His brain sent him information as he needed it. What he was looking at, how to wear it. It was like a small, almost silent voice when he did anything. Like a guide. He’d need to figure out more about this body soon enough.
He puts up the brush and closes the cabinet, leaving the room about five minutes early. The Doctor was sitting at the end of a small table in the middle of this semi-circle, playing…poker? Yeah, it was poker. The same Bicycle cards and all with his robot entourage.
He walked over. The Doc was losing this game. “Genesis reporting for duty, Doctor.” He spoke politely, but there wasn’t much heat behind his words. He’ll need to deal with that after what might just be some kind of briefing. The Doctor, sensing that he could get out of this game, turns towards Dalton. “IT'S ABOUT TIME! YOU TOOK TOO LONG! ENOUGH OF THIS GAME!” He waves his hand and tosses cards everywhere by slapping the table. “Come! I will tell you what you no doubt are dying to know. Let us go to my command center!”
Without waiting for the bots to recover from their winning game being destroyed, the Doctor shoots away from the table, expecting Dalton to follow. Dalton had to jog a little to keep up with the Doctor speeding away. The strangest thing was that Dalton wasn’t feeling tired. He was sure he passed the average human speed while jogging. As they rapidly approached the Command Center through the twisty hallways, the Doctor spoke up.
“Well, Genesis. As you should know, you are the perfect form of my research. Your body is an artificial creation of mine, set to grow and transform from external stimuli and training. I’m unsure how that data go in there. I scanned it while you were asleep. It held a -lot- of interesting concepts and knowledge! Literally otherworldly! It let me understand quite a bit more about certain things. It'll make for some incredible experiments! Unfortunately, I couldn’t access much deeper portions! Oh well.” After that, he grumbled but continued as they reached the most extensive set of doors Dalton had seen.
“You’re a mix of DNA from several races in space, even some animals I found mixed in for their interesting properties. I had to be careful when I supplemented your brain with living machinery. That was the hardest part. When you get used to your body, I'm sure you can perform your self-diagnostic to figure out what you need to know soon. But come! Let me show you what you’ll be doing!!” He waves his hand in front of the door. Like that, several locks and hydraulics activate, hissing and moving out of the way to open up to a massive open space with several computer stations and more.
It looked like it was the bridge of a ship in some sort of sci-fi movie. Star Wars, perhaps? Something like that. There were actual people at these stations, too, aliens, at least. Some were surprisingly human looking. Several of them wearing lab coats and black bodysuits. While others seemed to be wearing Red & Gold hoodies, some seemed to be wearing Purple & Gold, Green & Gold…then Orange and Yellow. It was a hotspot of movement.
“Welcome to my research base situated in a hidden asteroid field!” He laughs loudly. Several people stiffen up and look over Dalton for quite a while; some people, he notes, that with his vague sense of scanning, several male aliens and some females were -definitely- attracted to his new form. He wasn’t sure how to take this. But a secondary sense told him that the ones in Red were…stronger than him? How? In fact, the scariest to this sense was one massive alien at least twice his height that looked like solid stone given form. At least ten times his strength. What the hell?
“Your goal? To make me money and work as my one and only enforcer! You see - I need money. Lots and lots and lots of credits. There are only so many products I can put out without that damned ruler in the North getting in my way with his own missions down here.” He scoffs and takes a seat at the highest location of the command room, near the entrance where he has access to several computers. “I will give you missions. Tech. Training and more. You are mine. When I say jump, you say how high, alright? Good.”
Dalton couldn’t complain. It was the same sort of setup he had living on Earth. He looked out on the massive window leading to space in front of him at the room's far end. Sure enough, there were so many asteroids floating around here it was impossible to truly see too much beyond all of it other than the telltale glow of other stars in this strange universe. But he did have to ask.
“What sort of training will I be getting? Where exactly are we in the Universe? What was I born into? I do hope I will be rewarded for my efforts too, Doctor. I feel I know what sort of ‘missions’ you want me to do. Robbing, stealing, murder. Perhaps something more than that as well?”
The Doctor looked over all his screens in front of him and began typing in mid-air. Holographic keyboards appear under his hands. “You’ll learn how to fight, kill, and more. You’ll also learn to harness the two energies suffusing your body. I made sure to include these in your makeup, so you should be a natural with them. As for where we are, you sure do love that question…we’re in the middle of the West quadrant of the universe. There’s North, East, South, and us, the West. I’ll just have to keep you away from the North for the time being.”
He snorts once before continuing, “Like I said before. You’re going to be my sword and shield. I can’t keep my hired mercenaries going elsewhere now, as I need people to defend this lab. You’re correct, though. You’ll be doing that alongside more legal things. But for now, you’ve barely learned to walk. So I’ll have the Captain whip you into shape soon enough. As for rewards…pocket money. Specialized training. Better accommodations. Even if I AM biased towards you as my best creation to date, I need to dangle something good for you in your face.”
Dalton is pretty sure the Doctor could brainwipe him from where he stood. He doubts he didn’t put some sort of failsafe in his brain to kill him if he disobeyed. For now, though, he’ll have to figure out his body with that self-diagnostic. “You said I’d stay out of the North for the future. Is there any sort of reason for that, Doctor?”
The Doctor frowned. His head finally turned towards Dalton. “The overlord of the universe lives there. I’m pretty sure I implanted this information in you. But if you need a refresher….”
“Overlord Freiza and his company of bloodthirsty marauders and elite soldiers live there for the most part.”
Dalton’s blood ran cold.
How could anyone not know who Freiza was from his world? The charismatic tyrant who gets obliterated by Goku on Namek. The singular most powerful being in the universe until after the Namek Saga who had committed genocide for profit and fun. Who had amassed a kill count well into the trillions of beings. How could he not know the gravity of his situation now? Even emotional dampening didn’t help with this onset of panic and realization.
Fuck.
He’s reincarnated into the Dragonball Universe.
He’s a Bioandroid. It all clicks now.
