OK, OK, it was time to take a good long nap now, she got it, she got it...
But first she had to make sure all the things the scanners had shown her were tagged properly. the databanks of the Time Gate contained an utterly staggering amount of data, and things not properly tagged were a bloody pain to try to find again when needed...
She'll go to sleep right after that. Really.
She pro...
When the scanners started glimmered like starlight, several minutes after that, the control room of the Time Gate was quite silent.
All except for some soft snores of a sleeping Car-being, that is...
The wind was cold, the road was half iced over despite there best efforts to keep it as Car-worthy was possible, the sun had gone down and the stars had come out, and there was what seemed to be a small sedan trudging up the road to the birthing section.
Great. Attendant Komori Yuuta groaned. Another late parent... how could so many parents be late for their own child-or-children's birth, anyway?
Oh, well, he did know that some of them did have pretty good reasons, but -
"Excuse me, are you all ri..."
Yuuta trailed off and stared, then. The elegant silver and grey luxury sedan was much smaller then he had thought at first.
Much, much smaller.
The small shape turned tired window-eyes at him, and sighed audiably. Yuuta gulped, seeing the extremely intelligent-looking expression on the small figure's face, and then looking the two very small seats he could see in the small figure's front row.
What the hell was he?
"- I'm a kart, actually. Technically." The small - very small - sedan said, and Yuuta started to breath again.
"Ahhh - Excuse me - "
" - Never mind." The very small Car shook himself, brushing small specks of ice away. "Most people who see me for the first time without hearing about me in advance usually spend several minutes wondering if I'm a really small Car or a really big toycar or something, I think. If they can't hear me talking, that is, of course, but... I do have many things in common with those Cars who look like tractors, I suppose."
"Sorry, sir. It's just that..." Yuuta gulped. Major faux pas, here...
"I've never seen any Car like you before, I think. And..."
Yuuta sneaked a look at the very small Car's front seats again. The driver's seat was so tiny!
Just were do you keep your thought processors,, sir?? Normally, a Car's thought processors were mostly located in what was commonly know as the 'driver's seat', even he knew that, not-all-that-well-educated as he was...
Oh, no, no, he'd been rude enough already, he wasn't going to ask that...!...
"...My entire roof seems to function as some kind of seat, actually... Don't ask me how, or why, please."
Yuuta nearly bumped into the nearby wall. He hadn't said that aloud, had he?
"No, you didn't say anything, it's just that that's the second most common question most people do seem to get mired in, when they're thinking about me that is." The little sedan smiled, tiredly.
"- So, Attendant - I hear I have a child to pick up?"
Oh. Right. He had a job to do. Yuuta swallowed, bringing his attention back to the present. "May I have your number, sir?"
He wasn't going to ask where the mother was, that was for sure... He'd put his wheel in his mouth enough for one day, thank you very much!
The Master Mechanic on shift, an elderly small delivery truck, smiled at both of them as they came in to the inclosed Car-pool section.
"Ahh, you must be..." And then he blinked, staring.
The small sedan sighed, yet again. "I'm a kart, actually."
"- Oh! Where are my manners - sorry, mister. You must be one of those people with other things functioning as a driver's seat, then - hmm, let me guess, the roof?"
The small Car blinked at that. "Why, yes. My Master Mechanics say the little seats inside seem to function more like some kind of extra carpeting and ornametion, oddly enough..."
The elderly Master Mechanic smiled again at that. "Well, the most important thing for any Car is that he or she is functional as a whole, I think. And you do seem to be that, as far as I can tell!"
He looked at the number, humming.
"Well, there's only one child still left today, and the numbers match, so - " The elderly Master Mechanic stood at attention, then, though the tech on shift was still dozing at her post. Yuuta hurriedly followed his example.
"Congradulations, sir, it's a girl..."
Yuuta and the little sedan both craned there front parts at the Car-pool. Indeed, there was only one baby Car in there tonight, and...
A very small and round-looking Car with round little headlights , her color a very pretty deep purple fading into blue with some reddish highlights, looked up at Yuuta, blinking her eyes. And then she looked down at her father. Who looked back at her like a microtrike caught in the headlights.
" - Ahhh." The little sedan mumbled. "I've seen something like her before somewhere, I think - Let me guess, she's a - Toyota E-com?"
"Errm, wait a minute - " The MM looked through the specs, murmuring - "Ah, no, it seems not, though she strongly resembles one, to be sure. She doesn't seem to be a Toyota in the first place, actually, her sub-type marking didn't come up on any of the lists, so -" He hummed again, mumbling to himself.
"Ahh, you are an Electric Vehicle yourself, correct?"
" - Yes."
"Well, good, then - you have the know-how to take care of her already, after all... Hmmm, a small electrical vehicle, two seats in the front row and lugguage space in the back, quite comfortably outfitted - Ahh, her engines - well, electric motors? - seem a bit more powerful then the E-coms, though. And what's this, a 'black box'? Well, some people do have those things we can't seem to figure out, to be sure - Oh. She also seems to have born with many extra batteries and no less then 3 spare rechargers - you can just plug them in any household electric outlet, it seems. Oh, and extra connectors, too - you can just load the extra batteries into them and and plug them into her. They fit into her luggage section, it seems..."
The small Car blinked. "Oh. That's...nice, I suppose."
"Oh, and she also comes with a some kind of gas-powered electrical generator, in case she just can't get any electricity or batteries, I suppose. Those and the spare batteries and such are going to take up most of her luggage space, though, I'm afraid..."
The little EV looked down at her father, eyes solemn and wide. Her father did do his best to smile, Yuuta noticed.
"Natsumi would have loved to see you, child. Even if you are quite a big bigger she...was." The small sedan sighed, then. And blinked.
"Doctor...do you have any idea just why her plates are...light purple?"
The Master Mechanic blinked at that. "Eh? I thought they were yellow?"
Yuuta blinked at that. "Um...they look white to me, sir..."
All three of them looked at the little Car again, at that.
"...White. Right." The Master Mechanic said, busily crossing something out in a pad. "What kind of a mistake is that, anyway... Well OK, so she's not really a kei-class it seems, even though she is much smaller then most of the kei-cars born nowadays. Heavens, some of them are so big these days, the van-types especially... It's because she has so much motorpower, probably..."
The little sedan very gingerly when near his daughter, then, and gave her a very hesitant nudge.
Yuuta was gratified to see the baby Car smile at last.
The young female Toyota Corolla was waiting for the two of them outside the gates of the Factory Complex.
Well, waiting for the little sedan, anyhow...
"...Errr...um...Miss Kuromine? What are you doing here? It's late, you know..."
"Errr..." The Car fiddled her wheels. "I saw you call a taxi and run off, and then... I... Um...I'm sorry Professor Tomoe, but I got worried, and..."
Tomoe Souichirou sighed, then. Miss Kuromine was one of his best students, but she did tend to be a wee bit overprotective, sometimes... He wasn't that breakable, really.
"Hey, Professor, you OK?" The taxi he'd kept waiting called out to him. "You took an awful long time...hey, cute baby! What is she?"
Souichirou smiled. "Oh, I don't know. Like a Toyota E-com, but even better maybe..."
"Oh, a EV! Cute cute cuutiepiee...How are we gonna get her back to your place, though, Professor? She's bigger then we thought she would be...I don't think I could carry both you and her, y'know?"
Souichirou sighed, then. That was a problem, alright...
"Ahhh..." The female Car waved a wheel, then. "I could carry you, professor...I have a luggage-puller with me!"
Souichirou blinked at that. She routinely carted a luggage carrier about? It wasn't like she was a taxi...
So Tomoe Souichirou went home on luggage-carrier back, with his daughter on another luggage-carrier, trying to talk to her all the while, though it wasn't easy, as his student wasn't a professional taxi and wasn't that good at matching paces.
But they did arrive, at long last.
"Oh thank you, Miss Kuromine, you're a lifesaver, you are - "
Oh, just call me Kaori, Professor...
Not that Kuromine Kaori actually said that aloud, though.
Not yet.
"Mmmmm... Professor Tomoe, I'm sorry I was late..."
A soft mumble filled the air. Pluto slept on.
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(Posted Sun, 15 Oct 2006 19:39)
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