(no subject)

[estirose]

This is kind of a post for random comment-sized fics. I'll be putting them in the comments and indexing them as needed.

Note that most of the Garo entries take place in a kind of High School AU set in the world of Kamen Rider Fourze. Yes, it's complicated. Some others take place in the Go-Busters universe.

Comments

Kamen Rider Fourze, futurefic

[estirose]

Kind of a followup to "Delicate Good Castle". I'm making the assumption that Kengo either had DNA before he awakened/died/etc or that he now does.
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"Core child?" Maribeth pinched her nose. "What's that, and how essential is it?" They'd been working with the Japanese space agency and several others to facilitate the whole meeting-up-with-aliens thing.

"We don't know, so we're asking the Japanese." Jim looked at his paperwork. "As for how essential, I think we're going to have to find it and produce it if we plan to get further here."

"Great. Obviously, we need to make that high-priority. Though I think they'll cooperate."

* * *

Maribeth hadn't expected one of the Japanese techs to end up in her office. Kengo Utahoshi was a young man who had entered the program straight from high school. One of his colleagues sat nearby, just in case he needed a translator.

So far, he hadn't. "So, you know where to find the Core Child?" she asked him. The translator translated it for him automatically.

"I am the Core Child." Kengo was looking at her with an intense, almost annoyed expression. "Or I was, once."

"Can you convince them that you are, still?" If they needed a Core Child... well, if this young man was willing to fill the role, Maribeth wasn't going to complain.

He thought for a second, and then gave her a nod.

* * *

Kengo walked into the negotiations with the trepidation of someone who might be shot. Or in his case, having his recorded data taken from him and then finding himself discarded.

The aliens that were on the other side of the room would have looked at him, he was sure, if they'd had visible eyes. One of them flowed over immediately to where he was, reaching out with a pseudopod to touch him. There was an excited babble among the aliens, and Kengo had to wonder if he'd stopped being a Core Child after all.

He didn't want to be a Core Child, not anymore. But he forced himself to stand stiff as another alien came forward with a device, touching his forehead. It was like everything was being copied, before it let go.

"You are a Core Child," one of the aliens said finally. "Do you wish to stay, or return?"

"I'm staying. When you look at the data, you'll understand why." Those seemed to be the right words. The alien gave what his memories said was a nod, before continuing to chat with its fellows.

* * *

"So, what is a Core Child?" Maribeth asked.

"A living recorder, apparently. There's some change in Mr. Utahoshi's brain structure that allows him to retain memories more efficiently, though his memory's not photographic. It's more for their use than his."

As Jim finished up his report, she ran her hand through her hair. "And how much access has he had to things?"

"I believe that he specifically requested to be excluded from discussions deemed highly confidential." Jim was shuffling papers. "He knows fully well what he is. I'd say he did his best to keep them finding out what they shouldn't."

Maribeth had to admit, she liked the young man based on that. He knew that he was essentially a human data recorder and so he worked to make sure they weren't in danger from his memory. "Can he turn it off?"

"I think he made a request, via the Japanese portion of the team, to see if the aliens could turn that capability off in his brain. I don't blame him." Jim was looking at his papers again. "He's got a kid. She's three. He doesn't know if she inherited the recorder stuff."

"Probably not." Maribeth shook her head. "See what we can do to help him out in that request, will you? I'm a bit nervous knowing he records everything he sees."

"So's everybody else. Japanese government's paying the guy, but he's on sick leave and isolated until we can make sure he's not recording. Too bad, though, he's got a brilliant mind - I was really impressed - and the team could kind of use him, but he totally agrees with the isolation thing."

"Sounds like someone I'd hire in a heartbeat." He seemed to speak English pretty well.

"You and most everybody else. He's going to be having countries fight over him if we can get that recorder in his head shut down."

If not, it would probably be safer to send Kengo Utahoshi and his daughter - if she had that gene - back to the aliens. Let them record themselves all they wanted. But Maribeth hoped he would.