"Baby Cynder's vital signs… Within acceptable parameters. His life is out of danger at present. He will make full recovery."
"Thanks, Novem." I patted the black bowl cut attached to the androgynous child's head as he informed Tater, Cynthia, and I of Cynder's condition.
Apparently, Cynder had collapsed. Lack of food had done him in after three days unable to fish. As such, I was glad that I'd sent Novem to watch out for him.
Novem's real name was 'Android Nine'. I'd named it Novem because it felt better than something rigid like that.
Despite the fact that he was a terrible, nasty old man, Gero's research was the real deal. I'd considered naming it 'Unus' for 'one', but I'd figured that, since I'd never have been able to make my android without his research, I'd start where he left off.
Not that I actually had any plans to make more androids. Novem was more of a one-off deal, built entirely out of curiosity.
Doctor Hyperion and I had coded the personality basically from scratch, using Gero's own programming as a basis.
As for the power source, I'd left all of that to Zeck. Apparently, he'd used three, just in case.
The main one was a basic electrochemical battery. Basically, this would serve the same function as a car battery. During normal operation, the other two sources would actually passively charge it. By itself, it'd only have around enough power to keep Novem's base functions running for around six hours or so, but using any ki at all would be cutting into that, which meant that Novem mainly relied on its other two power sources to function.
That is, atmospheric energy. Ambient electricity, ambient ki.
Inside the village, Novem's only limit to its power output was the battery capacity. Rough estimates: around a power level of 2,500, technically infinite stamina, and a few other cool little tricks that'd come about as a happy little accident due to the body that I'd designed and built for it.
As an aside, most anywhere outside of this village, Novem's battery required anywhere from seconds to minutes to fully charge externally, meaning that its infinite stamina didn't hold up too well. I was pretty certain that there were two major reasons for that: poor electricity-to-ki conversion capabilities and low natural ki concentration in the atmosphere.
Still, flying and looking after Cynder while he was in Yanzubit Heights for his test wasn't a problem for Novem, despite the low atmospheric ki concentration. In fact, the androgynous android was perfect for the job, since it was more analytical than humans, and was completely immune to water, electricity, hunger, cold, sympathy, and fatigue.
Plus, having Novem nearby served as motivation for Cynder. Novem's AI was still rudimentary, so it had a few weird tics that'd only be smoothed out by time (hopefully).
For example, its speech patterns. It hesitated at weird intervals, sometimes skipped words that it deemed 'unnecessary', making its syntax hit or miss sometimes. It also called Tater 'Ogre Potato' and anyone under the age of five was 'Baby', which Cynder just hated, even though it wasn't an inaccurate description for the boy's age.
As such, if Cynder had tried to give up on his own, he would have had to answer 'yes' to some variation of 'Baby Cynder wants to go home?'
Yeah, he didn't do that. Instead, he just collapsed. If he'd been left alone after that, though, he would've just died, so he failed the test. I didn't have to teach him a thing now, and nobody would be bugging me about it.
I considered this the best outcome, even though it'd probably scarred the poor boy for life. He'd probably never forget the way the cold, starvation, thirst, weather, and a thousand other stressors all worked together to completely overpower his incredibly powerful half-Saiyan physique.
And the next time he tried to pass the test, he definitely wouldn't be taking it lightly.
Combat wasn't just about having enough power to punch Novem into oblivion. Even though a child not even three years old had nearly died, I was actually pretty glad that things had turned out this way.
But as I patted Novem's head, telling him that he did a good job saving Cynder, I sensed another one of those weird chills down my spine.
Weird.
As I got back to the apartment, Pepper and Lynn were already there, talking on the couch in the living room in hushed tones. Though they stopped talking when I opened the door, I caught a few words with my SSJP hearing.
"...Cynder and No…-"
"...Baby too…"
"...Tarble…"
…It's nothing, right? They definitely weren't planning something terrifying.
…Right?
This was entirely my fault for falling for two Saiyan women. They were mad at me, and I was going to die without ever learning why. I'd been noticing signs of something boiling over ever since Cynder pestered me into letting him take that stupid trial.
Were they mad because I let the half-Saiyan take the test, even though he was basically a toddler? It's not like I'd wanted to let him take it. I'd been hounded for weeks! If I'd kept holding out, then Tater would've gotten impatient and started teaching the half-Saiyan without me, which would've turned into a long-term disaster.