Iia Disera Part 1
The first thought was that his head hurt. The next was that his wrist hurt.
He panicked for a moment when he opened his eyes and saw nothing. Then, his pupils dilated slightly and he realized he was in some bed, and there was a small light above his head to the left, a reading light of sorts turned away and shaded by a dark cover.
Heero shifted. Where was he? Concentrating hard, he could hear the hum of some engine; he knew he was on a spacecraft of sorts. But the hum was quiet, so quiet that he had to strain to hear it.
There was a knock on the door, or what he assumed was a door. It opened with a faint hiss and a person was silhouetted at the door.
"You're awake," a male voice stated.
Heero nodded and swallowed before pushing himself up so he was sitting. In moments the other person had crossed the room to help him up.
"Thank you," Heero rasped before a water bulb was pressed into his hands. As he slowly drank from it, the male reached over him to the light, fiddling with it for a moment before removing the dark cover; now Heero saw that it was a dark jacket. The dim light let him see better as the male straightened once more.
"How are you feeling?"
"Where am I?" Heero countered the question with one of his own.
"Your escape pod entered my radar and I pulled you in. You've been out for a long time. How are you feeling?"
"My head hurts, and my wrist," Heero answered. "Thank you for saving me."
"No need. The name is Duo, by the way. Duo Maxwell."
"Heero Yuy," Heero said. "Can you turn up the lights a little more, it's still hard to see." It really was hard to see more than a shadow of Duo, even if Heero was grateful that he was given the chance to slowly adjust to the light.
Duo turned the light up a little more. "I'll get you something for the pain, okay?"
"Thank you," Heero said again. Duo left the room, leaving Heero the chance to look around. It was definitely an interesting craft he was in. The walls seemed to be metal. There was really nothing else in the room but another door, other than the one Duo had entered and left through, and the bed. The bed itself was odd. The blanket was very warm, but very light. It was smooth and comfortable, almost like a mix of fleece and silk. It was fairly large for a spacecraft, almost the size of a double bed. Reaching up, Heero rubbed at his face, then looked at his hurting right wrist. Lifting it against the light, he tried to examine the bandage wrapped around it; it felt like gauze, but was almost transparent. It looked like a glove too, unlike gauze wrapped around a wound. Then, he noticed that he couldn't feel the heat from the light. The bulb was round, but when he touched it, the surface was cool.
"Here."
Heero jerked around; he hadn't heard Duo enter.
"Sorry." Duo produced a small vial of clear liquid. "Drink that."
"What is it?"
"Something for the pain."
Heero frowned at the vial.
"If I wanted to hurt you, I wouldn't have saved you," Duo said with a roll of his eyes.
"How do I drink it without getting it everywhere?"
Duo blinked, then pointed at the cover. "The cover will melt from the amylase on your tongue. Then you can drink it." Duo popped off the cap protecting the cover. Heero complied with the instructions; sure enough the press of his tongue against the vial was rewarded with the flow of cool liquid. Moments after he had swallowed it, he could feel as if the cool flow had gone into his stomach and evaporated. Instantly, the pain in his head and wrist were dulled.
"Where are you from? Where were you headed?"
"From? Earth. America. I was going to Star X296."
"America." Duo scratched his nose for a moment. "Star X296," he added softly.
"How about you?" Heero asked. "Where are you headed? And where from?"
Duo regarded Heero, then offered a smile. "I travel," he answered. "No particular starting point, or destination."
Heero nodded, feeling sleepy. "The medicine...causes drowsiness?"
Duo nodded. "For some time. When you wake, you will feel better." He reached over to help Heero lie down again before pulling the soft covers up once more.
"Thank you again," Heero murmured quietly.
"You're welcome."
Heero found himself looking into amethyst eyes for a moment before he drifted off to sleep.
~*~
Duo stepped into the control center of his craft and sat down in the captain's seat. Reaching forward, he keyed in a sequence and made himself comfortable as the screen in front of him flickered, changing from a window overlooking the endless black of space to a map. The door opened again, but he didn't look away from the screen.
"How is he?"
"Sleeping off the medicine."
"Is he better?"
"What is America?" he asked idly, searching the map with a frown. "You know, don't you, Quatre?"
"America?" Quatre moved forward to stand next to Duo. Silence lasted several seconds before Quatre made a sound of recognition. "That would be something on Hydro."
"Hydro?" Duo cast a glance to his blond companion. "Where?"
"That one." Quatre pointed to the top left of the map. "System zoom to quadrant two." The map vanished, bringing the top left square to a bigger, more detailed image. "The place with lots of water and land. Water...grows there. Some of the land is lost."
"You mean ice melts, not water grows," Duo said absently. "So what is America?"
"Some land there, presumably." Quatre furrowed his eyebrows. "So they are advanced enough to leave Hydro."
"If he isn't lying about being from there."
"Why would he need to?" Quatre blinked. "We don't seem very different. He has no reason, given the short time he spent with you, to believe you are not one of Hydro."
"What is Star X296?" Duo asked, studying the images on the screen.
"Unknown."
"Aren't you all knowing?" Duo muttered.
Quatre tsked. "I may be programmed with complete knowledge of our kind but I don't know all of the information of other species." He rubbed his nose thoughtfully. "It would be interesting to learn from him. You utilized the language deciphering system so you could understand each other?"
Duo chuckled. "First time for everything. Didn't think I'd be picking up anything else that could speak."
"But you are able to understand him now."
"And he can understand me. The system works remarkably well; as soon as I speak the mic automatically translates to something he understands. When he speaks, the feedback is easy to understand." Duo fixed the button by his collar and tapped the earpiece hidden by his hair as he spoke.
"So what will you do?"
Duo looked up at Quatre. "Keep him."
~*~
Heero stirred and came awake. It took a moment to recognize his surroundings, and another few moments to recall what had happened.
"You're awake."
He looked over and blinked at the blond man by his bed. "Who --"
Quatre offered him a water bulb. "My name is Quatre. I'm one of the systems on Leo."
"Leo?"
"The name of this craft," Quatre clarified. "How do you feel, Heero?"
"How do you know my name?"
"Duo mentioned it. Are you feeling better?"
"Somewhat." Heero sat up and lifted his hand. "What is this? I have never seen this sort of brace or bandage."
"It is a bandage, you have nothing to worry about." Quatre smiled.
Heero furrowed his eyebrows. "Where is Leo headed? Duo said he was traveling with no destination. Will he be able to get clearance to land in America sometime soon?"
Quatre tilted his head. "You'll have to ask him. He's the captain. I'm just system."
"You're system? You mean you're an engineer on the craft?" Heero tried to clarify.
Quatre shook his head with a smile. "No. I'm a system on Leo. I'm the database. The knowledge on Leo."
"So you're the systems tech?" Heero frowned.
Quatre chuckled. "No. I am the system."
"You're a system." Heero mulled over the statement then nodded. "You're a robot."
Quatre frowned. "Robots don't have minds. I'm a system with a mind."
"Artificial intelligence?"
"Is that an insult? My intelligence came from programming but my ability to retain knowledge is certainly not...artificial."
Heero shook his head. "That's not what I meant. I wasn't aware that anyone was able to program such a technologically advanced...system." Heero didn't want to offend Quatre.
"You don't know Duo," Quatre said in way of explanation. "Come, he is in the control center. Can you walk?"
"I think so." Heero shifted slowly and was surprised that he couldn't feel his head hurting. "May I use the bathroom first?"
"Of course." Quatre led Heero to the bathroom and waited for him to relieve himself and wash up a little. Heero looked about himself, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do with the various machines in the room. The one closest to the door looked like a sink with a black screen above it at about eye level. The next one looked like a urinal. The last one had a robotic arm over it. Across from this wall was something more familiar; a bath of sorts with a lot of nozzles and robotic arms. Heero walked to the urinal-like machine then relieved himself. He jumped when a bodiless voice thanked him and reminded him to wash his hands. Going to the sink, he stuck his hands under the faucet and waited. Nothing happened.
"How do I wash when --" Water flowed once he said the word 'wash', allowing Heero to figure out that somewhere, perhaps the black screen was a microphone of sorts. Exiting, he found Quatre waiting outside, and the blond led him to the control center, keying in a sequence to enter.
"Are you feeling better, Heero?" Duo asked without turning from the screen he was staring at.
"Much. The medicine worked wonders. What was it?"
"Pain reliever."
"Liquid ibuprofen?"
"Ibuprofen?" Duo asked under his breath. "Have a seat. Welcome aboard Leo." Heero sat down.
"I haven't thanked you for saving me," Heero said. "Thank you."
"Actually, we almost killed you." Duo turned to Heero at last. "We weren't expecting to run into anything. We almost hit you, and Leo would have broken you if it had been a direct collision."
"How big is Leo?"
Duo keyed up an external plan of the craft, and pulled up an image of Heero's escape pod, fitting the both to a certain scale. Heero blinked to see that Leo was almost ten times the size of his pod. He swallowed at the nearness of his death.
"Where were you headed?" Duo pulled up the map he had again. "From...America to Star X296. How far is that?"
"About thirty-eight days by regulated speed." Heero answered.
Duo glanced at Quatre, who shrugged. "Can you point that out on the map?" Duo asked.
Heero turned to the map, then frowned. "I've never seen a map like this." He studied it carefully. "Where did you get something like this?"
"I made it myself." Duo replied.
"Duo can make many things." Quatre added.
"Thank you, Quatre."
Quatre smiled. "Maybe you should point out to Heero where we are?"
"That would be helpful." Heero nodded gratefully at Quatre before turning his attention to Duo.
"You started off here at America." Duo keyed in something and was able to use an on-screen pointer to show Heero where he was making reference to. "We found you here." He pointed to an empty spot. "You've been sleeping for a long time. We're here now, just past Zelus." He pointed to another dot which, on the map, appeared to be much further to the lower right of Earth.
"How long was I out for?"
"A long time."
"How many hours? Days?" Heero tried to get more clarification.
"How long is a day?" Duo asked Quatre. Quatre shrugged. "You don't know?"
"I told you not too long ago that I don't know all of the information of others that aren't our own," Quatre huffed. "You're forgetful. Fix that."
Duo snorted. "I can be forgetful. You are the one who can't."
"A day." Heero spoke up. "Twenty four hours. A cycle of the sun and moon?"
Duo blinked, then tilted his head. "Sun. The light of Hy-- America?"
"Yes." Heero nodded. "Have you been in space too long? Too long to remember what a day is?" It wasn't uncommon to lose track of a day in space, this Heero knew.
Duo frowned. "A light and a dark. Ah!" He snapped his fingers. "Rotation, Quatre! Okay. So you've been sleeping for...how long, Quatre?"
"Three rotations." Quatre supplied the answer easily. "Forgetful," he said again to Duo.
"Say that again and I'll tell Trowa to short-circuit you. Then you can tell me about being forgetful."
"Trowa short-circuits me at least twice a rotation," Quatre retorted.
"I'll tell Wufei you're leaving him out," Duo snickered.
"He participates, thank you for your concern," Quatre huffed. Duo opened his mouth to retort but was interrupted by a confused voice.
"Excuse me?"
The two turned back to Heero.
"There are more people on this ship? On Leo?" Heero asked.
"People," Duo mulled. "Hydrans?"
"Probably." Quatre nodded.
"Hydrans?" Heero wondered if he had hit his head too hard. Or maybe space travelers had their own language and he didn't understand it.
"You are the only Hydran here." Quatre informed him. "Including me, there are three systems on Leo. And there is Duo."
"Only Hydran?" Heero blinked. "Three systems. And Duo." He tried to sort out the terms.
"We are not from America." Duo clarified.
"No?" Heero asked. "What's your nationality?"
"You mean, what am I?" Duo asked in reply. Heero nodded and Duo smiled.
"I am a traveler from Adua. I'm Arian."
"Adua?" Heero began to wonder what he had gotten himself into. "Arian? I thought your name was Duo."
Duo directed Heero's attention back to the screen. "Adua." He pointed to a spot far away from the Earth he had pointed out earlier. "Arians from Adua can walk on two feet."
Heero blinked at that explanation and his eyes widened. "You're...an alien? Not from Earth?"
"Not alien. Arian." Duo corrected.
"In other words, we're not from your America. Not from your Earth." Quatre clarified. "We know your home as Hydro because of the water there. So we call you Hydran."
"I'm on an alien ship." Heero wondered again if he had hit his head too hard. Or maybe the people there were playing a joke on him.
"You're on an Arian's ship." Duo clarified with a frown. "Do you not listen well?"
"That can't be true!" Heero said loudly. "You look human! Are you playing a joke on me?"
"No." Duo shook his head. "Arian's don't lie. If we do, we lose hair." He pulled his braid from behind him, showing it off proudly. "This is my proof that I don't lie."
"You want me to believe that you're not a human." Heero wanted to laugh. "How did you gain access to a ship? You're obviously insane."
"Quatre, your language system is faulty." Duo muttered. "I don't understand completely."
"I'll work on it," Quatre scratched his head. "Heero's saying that we're...not lying, but believing something that isn't true."
"Ah." Duo nodded, turning back to Heero with understanding in his eyes. "You thought you're the only one able to walk on two legs."
"You look as human as I do!" Heero snapped. "Stop playing games. Get rid of this map and show me where we really are!"
"Games?" Duo asked. "But I'm not. We haven't started to play yet."
"This is absurd." Heero muttered. "You should have left me in my pod."
"What don't you get?" Duo was confused. "I'm an Arian from Adua. You're a Hydran from Hydro. So what if we both walk on two legs? Doesn't mean we are the same."
"You're saying that I'm on a spacecraft without any humans! No men, no women!"
"Hey!" Duo stood suddenly, eyes gleaming. "Take that back!"
"What?" Heero asked, surprised at the sudden change in tone. He was the one who should be angry at these games!
Duo was suddenly fumbling with the belt around his waist. Before Heero could speak, he had pulled his bottoms down, displaying his crown jewels to the room. "I am male!"
Heero stared. Duo looked every inch like a human, and yet, was denying that he was human. Why would someone do such a thing?
"Take a look at his eyes."
Heero's head whipped around to look towards the door where two more...two-leggers stood. The one with black hair spoke again, and Heero recognized the voice to know that this...Arian? System? Had spoken first. "His eyes are different from yours."
Heero turned back and instinctively tried to lean back to see Duo leaning extremely close to him. Duo seemed to be studying his eyes as much as Heero was studying Duo's. Heero suddenly remembered that his last thought before falling asleep was that he had been looking into odd, amethyst-colored eyes. The eyes seemed bluer now, but when Heero blinked, the amethyst was back. As he stared, Duo's eyes seemed to change color yet again, and they began to darken as Duo leaned closer. Heero tried to lean away, but he found himself unable to remove his eyes from Duo's. His head was now against the headrest; he couldn't go further.
"Duo!"
Duo pulled back with something akin to a growl; a completely inhuman sound. Quatre had stepped forward, his hand snatching something from Duo's collar while his other hand covered another something at his own collar. When he opened his mouth again, Heero stared at the two, realizing that the voices still sounded familiar, but the language was no longer something he could understand. Duo growled again, but the other two at the door had moved closer to Quatre. Duo gave each of them a stare, the growl quieter in his throat. Then, he spoke sharply and left the control center abruptly.
Quatre removed his own hand from his collar, startling Heero again when he spoke and Heero could suddenly understand again.
"Sorry about that. It's...an Arian thing," the blond said by way of explanation.
"How...?" Heero asked. "I couldn't understand then --"
"This." Quatre showed his other hand to Heero, letting him see the button-like device sitting on his palm. "A microphone. When we speak, you hear the language you understand. When you speak, we hear it back by this." He pointed to his ear where another black device could be seen.
"You're telling the truth, then?" Heero asked, bewildered. "You're another species?"
"Duo and you are two different species, you could say." The being with black hair spoke. "You may look similar but there are vast differences if you look carefully enough."
"This is Wufei. He's the server system; the mainframe of Leo. And that's Trowa." He gestured to the other being that had remained silent. "He is the engineering system. He knows anything and everything ongoing with Leo. He fixes Leo, changes Leo."
"You three aren't...human. Aren't Arian," Heero stated.
"We're system. Partially created by Duo."
"Duo's eyes." Heero turned his eyes to Wufei. "His eyes changed color. Quickly."
"That's the easiest way to identify an Arian," Wufei answered. "Their moods change fast. They cannot hide their personalities, cannot...deceive, like a human can." Heero bristled at that statement but Wufei went on. "For example, Arians are born with hair. Their hair does not grow back ones it falls out, but it will grow long, from the ends, not the head, like a human. If they lie, deceive, they lose their hair."
"So why did he have dark eyes?" Heero asked. "What mood was that?"
Wufei looked at Quatre, who sighed.
"It will be difficult to explain to you each of Duo's moods, his personality. You will learn, over time."
"Time?" Heero asked. "You're...not bringing me home?"
"This is your new home." Trowa spoke for the first time.
"You're keeping me captive?!" Heero exclaimed.
Wufei shook his head with a slight smile. "Stupid Hydran. You think your home, your 'Earth' as you call it, will allow an...alien ship to land, even with you on board?"
TBC...
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