Chapter 1 - Departure

[Beep! Beep! Beep!

Power system failure — Please vacate immediately!]

[Beep! Beep! Beep!

Power system failure — Please vacate immediately!]

'Huh? What's going on? It's so dark... Where am I?'

Victor, a 25-year-old, ordinary military doctor who was just crossing the road while playing with his mobile phone, suddenly found himself in this weird situation.

[Beep! Beep! Beep!

Power system failure — Please vacate immediately!]

A robotic voice kept narrating loudly.

'So loud... My head hurts...'

'Lights... No... I got hit... and...'

'Am I dying? Is this a hospital?'

Victor's head felt dizzy.

[Beep! Beep! Beep!

Power system failure — Please vacate immediately!]

'UGH!... That damn voice again... I can hear it but... I can't see...'

Just as he tried to get familiar with everything around him, a depressed, female voice called.

"Jaya, please disable the alarm."

[Alarm disabled, Lady Victoria.]

Another unfamiliar voice answered.

"Husband, have you… finished?"

The voices started to feel it's getting closer.

'Huh... Who's there?... Help...'

"Very nearly, my love... the upload is almost complete." Answered a tired, male voice.

'HELLO!!!' Victor screamed in his head, 'can anybody hear me?'

"He has your eyes, Michael." The feminine voice, named Victoria, spoke in a sad tone.

"But your everything else, my dear..." The tired male voice, now named Michael, responded in the very same tone.

Michael carried a baby boy in his arms, swaddled in a furry blanket. And as he looked at him with his sorrowful eyes, a beautiful lady wrapped in white clothes came from behind him. The already saddened look on her face deepened as she stopped.

'I feel... Warm... Huh? Light!'

The baby — Victor — slowly opened his eyes.

"Uwayu Uwayu…" Victor cried subconsciously.

'Uncle, and… This beautiful lady... Help... Where am...

Huh?'

Victor tried to talk but all that came out of his mouth was the sound of a baby crying.

'My hands, are so small... Am I hallucinating...? No! This feel... Too real...'

"Uwayu Uwayu…"

'Am I, a baby?

'Is this reincarnation?... Could these people be this body's parents?'

Question after question burst into Victor's head. By now, he had some conjecture about his situation, but still felt a little unbelievable.

The first thing that caught his eyes were the old man and lady. As his eyes moved, he saw lights blinking all around him. There were sparks of electricity coming from giant computer-like machines, all around, and he could vaguely guess that he had transmigrated into the body of an infant in a futuristic world.

Victor slowly turned his baby head then gazed up. It wasn't a big room and had a glasslike roof that you could observe the clear sky.

'Huh?

Am I being put to bed?' he questioned, feeling the softness on his buttocks.

"My son."

"My baby boy."

Michael and Victoria called as they glanced down at Victor who was tucked inside of what appeared to be a space pod.

"You will travel far, my little El-Dirao." Victoria said gently, her gaze now completely immersed in her son's eyes. "But we will never leave you. All that we have learned, everything we feel, all of this and more we have bequeathed to you, our son. You shall carry us inside you, in all your days. See our life through your eyes, as your life would be seen through ours."

"We may not be there to watch you grow, but know that, if there was another way for our people, we would not have sent you so far away. You may not understand us now, but in time we will answer your questions." Michael added as he caressed the baby's head.

'Strange… Why do I feel… sad…? I just met them, and yet, I feel… longing…' feeling something he believed he should not, Victor's subconscious dwelled into his past life.

He was an orphan. They left the world when he was just one year old. Fortunately, he had very good luck. A kind old couple took him under their care and raised him like their own son. But as he grew up, he became curious. Curious about his biological parents, what they had looked like and what kind of people they were.

But to his disappointment, he could not even find a picture of them. It's as if they did not exist. All he knew was that they were a very kind and gentle couple, that, unfortunately met an unfair end.

He was not someone who grew up without love. His adopted parents took care of him like their own. It's just, deep down in his heart, he would always feel this sense of loss.

Therefore, seeking to fill the missing piece in his heart, he would always try to find clues that may lead to any information regarding his biological parents. His days at the medical college, his days at the army, not a single day passed without him feeling the same Dèjàvu.

'Am I… finally finding what my heart has longed for the past 25 years? But… why do I feel… I'm about to lose it again?'

As the middle-aged couple, and the baby Victor, got lost ruminating about their own emotional memorials, the abrupt robotic female voice rang through the room.

[I must interrupt you, Lady Victoria, Sir Michael. But my sensors detect seven individuals with large power levels of over 11,000 advancing quickly from the west.]

"How long do we have, Jaya?" Asked Michael, quickly back on focus.

[23 minutes, sir.] Replied the mechanical voice, now named Jaya.

"Has the upload been completed?" Asked Michael.

[Just finished, sir. But I must remind you, it will take a minimum of five years for my code strands to be completely synchronized with his genetic code.]

"Doesn't matter Jaya. He will be safe in the quietness of space while that happens." He responded to the robotic voice named Jaya.

"You take care of our boy, Jaya." Victoria spoke into the room, and unlike her husband, her gaze had never left her baby. "As he grows up, he needs answers so he can understand why we could not accompany him in his life." She continued.

[I will, Lady Victoria.]

"Michael… husband… I… I want to spend some more time with our son." Victoria hesitated, turned, and walked behind him.

It took everything out of Victoria to take her eyes away from her son, and yet she did it. She knows more than anything that her selfishness does not compare to her son's life. No matter how much she wanted to be a mother to him, she had to say goodbye now.

But planning and living the moment were too different things. She had expected to be heartbroken, but her state now was simply tormenting.

"I'm sorry, dear. We must haste the plan before Otamot's men arrive." She heard him say as he waved his fingers over some 3D freestanding holograms.

Biting her lips, her eyes moved from her busy husband to the 3D hologram.

"Are we sure about this world?" She asked.

The hologram showed a blue looking sphere.

"Yes. A mid-size planet with a single moon, orbiting a main-sequence yellow star.

There are many kinds of creatures there, and most of them seems to have intelligence." Michael replied.

"What if they kill him? —" She lamented — "he will be an outcast. A freak."

"How? With Jaya's support, he will conquer them!" Michael responded with firmness.

Their eyes confronted. One with resolve, the other wavering.

After a moment — "What if the ship doesn't make it? He'll die out there, alone— "Victoria babbled.

"Victoria!" Michael bawled, interrupting his wife.

There was no response from Victoria, but by looking at her eyes full of unwillingness, Michael sighed deeply. He understands her feelings better than anyone, all while feeling the same.

They both new what was at stake, and that there were no other options.

Their hearts were filled with emotions. Parting ways with their newborn son — just minutes after birth — was not something they were looking forward to. They would rather fight a million life-and-death battles than experience the pain they were feeling right at that moment.

Michael walked over to her side. He hugged her gently as she silently wept tears.

No words were spoken. There was no need to.

"Planet Plant's days are numbered, Victoria. Just like how our ancestors' home Sadala got destroyed by the cosmic monster called Galactus." He gently parted from the hug. "Only this time, it is us, the Saiyans, who will bring our own destruction. You have seen Freeza's plan when we infiltrated his database." Michael said, holding her shoulders.

Her gaze was down. Perhaps afraid, to look into his eyes.

"Maybe we can try to convince King Otamot once more —" She tried to reason, but Michael has had enough. There was not much time left.

"No! We tried Victoria. We tried. That madman actually believes he could negotiate with Freeza, a monster just like those cosmic beings, who has the power to eradicate entire planets with a wave of his hands.

Otamot and his pride will become the doom of us. What he's really after is our ancestor's knowledge. He wants Jaya.

I wouldn't have mind if he was going to use it for the good of our people. But no. He wants to handover Jaya to Freeza. And for what? A safe haven?" Michael spoke, clenching his jaw.

Pausing for a moment — as his eyes glowed with resolution — he continued, "NO! Freeza is a monster. A paranoid monster. He fears what he thinks is a myth.

He is so afraid of a future that where he might encounter the warrior from legend, he would annihilate us completely. Whether he gets evidence of his existence or not.

While Freeza continues his hunt for the truth, at least, we would delay our destruction. And it will give time for our son to grow. I firmly believe our boy would bring us salvation."

"But we would become slaves under him. Barbaric slaves with no freedom, barking like dogs waiting for death." Victoria said, dejectedly.

*Sigh*

"It's better than extinction," Michael responded, shaking his head.

"But…" Victoria tried to argue.

"No! Victoria. We don't have time for this and once Otamot's men arrive, it's over. They will take Jaya and kill our son. It's his only chance now. He's our peoples only hope." Michael said resolutely and walked towards the spaceship.

"Wait Michael…"

"Victoria!"

"I…" She paused for a moment, "I know, Michael." She whispered with her eyes full of sadness. She walked pass him and stood in front of the space pod and looked at Victor while gently caressing his head one last time.

"I understand completely what we're about to do and what's at stake here. It's just, our boy… Michael. Our baby boy. We'll never get to see him walk." She cried. "Never get to hear him say our names."

"He will not be alone. He will never... be alone." Michael responded firmly.

"Out there, Victoria, our son will live." Michael whispered as he gave her compassionate hug.

As if a bell rang inside her head, when she heard those words, her eyes which were full of sorrow, slowly became resolute.

She gently raised Victor from the ship and kissed him on the forehead, then Michael followed giving a kiss on the forehead as well.

He then took the baby from the hands of Victoria and placed him back inside the space pod.

As Michael and Victoria stepped back the lid of the space pod slowly closed with a "click" sound.

By now, their minds were solid as a rock. Their thoughts were perfectly synchronized, and they both had only one goal.

The small space pod levitated slowly as the window roof opened. A larger, spherical looking ship came down from the sky while its bottom slowly opened, then the small space pod levitated inside it. There was another "click" sound and the bottom of the larger spaceship also closed.

[The phantom drives are online. Neutron cores are stable.] Jaya's mechanical voice called once again inside the room.

"Proceed to ignition." Michael and Victoria said unanimously.

[Goodbye sir. Goodbye my lady.] Jaya's mechanical voice rang one last time.

There were invisible ripples that came from the bottom of the ship. It rose slowly then accelerated towards the sky and in less than a few seconds it was completely out of sight from the two people who had their head held high with tears flowing from their eyes.