41 Even The Dead Forget

Cannon Falls National Laboratory - July 25, 1982 - 5:00 P.M.

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"You might be wondering where you are. There's no need for you to panic. I'm only keeping you in here so that you will answer my questions, and in turn, that you won't try to kill me in the process. Think of it as an examination."

The Music Man found himself inside of a confined room, with no windows, and the only exit door was locked, so he was not escaping. It was a testing room, somewhat like that of an interrogation room, with a black security camera keeping watch on him in the corner of the room. Below was a large speaker, through which Phineas was speaking to him through. He was determined not to let his new test subject escape so easily. He was preparing something very special for the Music Man.

Dave told me a bit more about what exactly possesses this animatronic, but he doesn't fully understand it. That's why I have made it my goal to figure out what exactly the poor, unfortunate soul trapped inside that abomination knows. Agonized energy is one thing, but this is something brand new. I didn't think haunted objects were actually possessed by spirits of the dead, but maybe this might be an exception to that theory. Maybe haunted objects can even be possessed by both, for all I know.

He was in a separate room, with the screen monitor recording Music Man's movement, with a small microphone speaker in front of him. It was his way of talking to the animatronic. Now, let's go on with my little test. I have been wondering, if this thing is actually possessed, then what does it feel? What does it remember? Those kinds of questions. And maybe this will prove beneficial in my findings.

Phineas asked his first question on the board.

"Alright, I need you to answer my questions the best you can. So please try to cooperate, because if you don't, I can always find ways to...persuade you to talk."

The animatronic did not like that, and started banging its symbols together loudly, stomping around. "Ha! Here's a little thought: how about you let me out of this messy cell, then I will?" the Music Man said. To be honest, I was expecting this kind of reaction. I'd better get things clear with him.

"Listen, if you help me with these questions, I guarantee I can try to help you with your current situation. Now, what exactly would you want me to do once you fulfill my needs?"

"What do you think?! I want to be set free of this metal prison!"

I see. It hates being trapped inside of that abomination, and honestly, I can't blame it. I would want to be set free, too. I was intrigued by what it was feeling, so I began my interrogation.

"Prison, huh? Would you like to explain it to me? Tell me: what is it like for you to be trapped inside of that robot?"

Music Man became much angrier, bashing his cymbals even louder than before before answering back.

"IT'S A LIVING HELL!! Being torn away from resting in peace, being stuck in this stupid thing, it's pure torture!"

"How so?"

The animatronic seemed to calm down, trying to focus.

"When I first found myself in this thing, I could barely remember a thing about myself. My memories were fuzzy. Very fuzzy. But I do remember wanting to get back at the one who hurt me."

"Hurt you, you say? How much, would you say?"

"He's the reason I'm in this thing to begin with! He murdered me, stabbed me to death with a knife, and let me just say this, it hurt like bloody hell! Next thing I know I'm in this spider robot. There were only two things about the man that I can remember: those dead, lifeless glassy eyes he had, and that he was wearing purple. Other than that, I don't know. Remember that other man that was with you when he brought me here? I think he might've had something to do with me."

Phineas made sure to write all of this down, and considered it for a moment before answering back. It's probably confused with Dave's uniform.

"Are you sure that's just a coincidence? I mean, come on, a purple outfit isn't too much evidence to come to a solid conclusion. Let me ask you this, then: was that man's face the same as the one you remembered?"

Music Man tried focusing very hard before answering.

"No, I'm not sure. I think I remember the one who hurt me was much more pale, but other than that, I felt like he looked very familiar."

"That reminds me, spirit, do you have a name or a nickname I can call you by, in case you get tired of 'Music Man'? I want to know more about you, where you came from, what you remember."

"Ugh...ugh...I-I can't remember my name! It's just--it's just not there!"

"Strange. You can remember the oddly specific details of the man who you claim killed you, but you can't even remember your own name?"

Music Man started to get much more aggressive, and started bashing his cymbals so loudly that it started to hurt Phineas's ears. Ugh...this is going to be much more difficult than I thought.

"Don't mock me! It's been so long since the last I've been out of this thing! I can barely even remember my family, or my own friends! Every day, my memories of them start to fade away, little by little. All I want is to go back to them, to see their happy faces and smiles that I know, but I feel like I haven't seem them in years! That's how long I've been trapped in this goddamn suit!!!"

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Meanwhile, elsewhere in the laboratory, in the chemical lab, Dave was working on his new project. He and Phineas had been working together much more often now. While Phineas gave him his current research on his new findings, he also gave Dave the very thing he needed: synthetic materials. Dave already had some of the technical willpower and engineering skills to come up with the current designs for his new androids, but there were many crucial things he was lacking that Phineas generously provided him with.

Coming up with the endoskeleton design and the programming system is the somewhat easy part, he thought. The hard part is finding a way to create synthetic skin and blood for my project. Although Dr. Taggart isn't exactly too experienced in this particular field, he is associated with other scientists here who are a bit more experienced with this. And if the laboratory approves of this little project, we'll be moving forward much quicker.

Dave saw that another scientist entered the chemical lab. He was the other scientist Phineas mentioned to him, the one that could provide him with the things he needed. The other scientist was wearing a white lab coat, similar to Taggart. He seemed to have an oval jawline, with a crew cut hairstyle and dark black hair, with aqua blue eyes, with a pair of sharp eyeglasses. He seemed to be one of those nerdy-type people. "So, you must be Miller, I suppose," he said to Dave.

"The one and only, sir. And who might you be?", Dave asked him. The scientist pushed his glasses up before answering. "I am Dr. Tobias Cage, but you can just call me Toby for now." He seemed to be in a charismatic and charming mood. He stretched out his hand to greet Dave and they shared a brief handshake. "Dr. Taggart's told me about you," Toby said, "that you're an...animatronic technician, right? What brings someone like you of all people here to this place?"

"First of all, I have an important reason being here," Dave replied, "and that reason is providing Phineas with some research on his work. I told him I had a 'possessed' animatronic in my possession. He's told me a lot about his theories with agony and how it can create unstable energy or something like that. I don't know, it's complicated to explain." Toby chuckled a bit before replying back. "That's Phineas for you. I'll admit, I thought his ideas were a bit more paranormal than scientific, but I just couldn't see how we could mix the paranormal and physical sciences together. But apparently, he thinks we can. It's interesting, I'll give him that."

Dave was getting tired of waiting and decided to skip to the point. "Alright, Toby, so you can help me create artificial skin and blood, correct?" Toby just looked at Dave confused and not sure what to make of his request. "I have several questions," Toby said. "What do you even need these things for, exactly? Artificial skin is one thing, but artificial blood is another. Just explain it to me, Miller." Dave then showed him the blueprints to Toby for his android designs.

The blueprints looked similar to that of a human skeleton than a normal animatronic endoskeleton. The other blueprints were even stranger, with one of them showing the outline for what appeared to be some kind of suit that looked very humanoid in shape. Is that why he needs artificial skin, then? To build whatever this is, Toby thought. There were many other things included in these blueprints that made him intrigued. "So you're telling me you want me to create an entire suit of synthetic tissue for this new endoskeleton?"

"Precisely," Dave said, "and I want it to look as humanoid as physically possible. This is my new project for a human android, you see. I want it to have the appearance and behavior of a human, yet still being an animatronic. Do you understand what I'm saying?" Toby looked very confused, as if he was wondering whether or not Dave had any idea what he was talking about.

"I have several questions," Toby said before continuing. "One, I need an actual outlook for what you want this artificial skin suit to look like. I can't just create willy-nilly, you know, Dave. I need a template. Second, why the hell do you even need artificial blood for an android?? In case you haven't noticed, the main purpose of blood is to carry nutrients to all parts of the body to keep it working and fights infections across the human body. Why would you even NEED that if you're building a freaking inanimate robot of all things, Dave? It just doesn't make any sense to me at all."

Dave just gave him a tired look. "Don't worry, Toby, I promise, I've got the perfect template of what and how I want my android to look like. I'll show you the photo in just a moment. Oh, and I need that artificial blood for a very...distinct purpose. You see, I want this in case any synthetic skin is scrapped or damaged. If in that case it does happen, then having artificial blood would eventually restore any scrapped areas of skin, much like how our own blood acts. That's why I want it."

Toby was getting very irritated now. "And that's another thing, Dave. How the hell do you expect me to figure out how to get enough artificial blood, much less find a way to put it inside of your android, for God's sake?! I mean, do you have any idea how complicated all of this sounds? Do you have any idea how much effort it would take to build-"

At that moment, Dave gave him a dead serious expression. "Do you really think I would've come to you with my design plans without thinking about all of that first? Trust me, Toby, I've thought about everything. It's taken me years to think of these designs, so I know exactly what I am talking about. Just take a closer look at them and I'll show you how this will work. But first, let me show you want I want this first skin suit to look like."

Dave then pulled out a photo from his back pocket and handed it to Toby. The picture seemed to be that of a beautiful woman, with long, silky, blonde hair with longs bangs and eyes as blue as sapphire. Don't worry, Angelica, Dave thought to himself. I promise, I will make things right between both the two of us and Elizabeth. I just need to find out the best way of rebuilding you two, so that we can bring our family back together again, like it used to be.