Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! was created by Kazuki Takahashi

Author's Notes: This prequel ficlet takes place in my "Chariots of the Gods" universe, before the start of that story. This ficlet is complete. Any follow ups will be posted separately. See my profile for a complete list of the ficlets in this series.

First Contact
by Lucidscreamer

"Okay, Yami, just relax. Are you comfortable?" Doctor Korone's voice was soothing over the comm.

"Yeah, I guess so." The helmet and leads pressing against his scalp were a distraction. He tried to ignore them. "This pod isn't exactly a luxury lounger, Doctor."

Korone chuckled. "Just get as comfortable as you can. Tell me when you're ready."

Yami squirmed a bit, attempting to ease the pressure points on his back and skull. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"All right. Now, I want you to close your eyes--" He waited a beat for Yami to comply. "What do you see?"

"Nothing." His eyes were closed; what was he supposed to see? Then, much to Yami's surprise, he did see something. "No, wait-- I think I see something -- A ribbon?"

The lab had gone still around them, though Yami was only peripherally aware of it. Korone's voice, when he spoke, was hushed. "Describe what you're seeing."

"It's…" Yami mentally squinted at the thing glimmering in the distance. How he could tell it was "distant" when it was a mere mental projection, he didn't know. "Well, it's this… ribbon or streamer, I guess. Only, it sort of looks like it's made of light or energy or something." In an attempt to be helpful, he added, "It's purple."

Hushed laughter, then Korone said, "That's very good. Can you see the 'ribbon' clearly?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now, I want you to reach out to it with your thoughts -- try to touch it."

"Okay." Cautiously, Yami projected his thoughts outward. The 'ribbon' shimmered and danced in the distance, coming no closer, but not retreating, either. Yami imagined his thoughts were a second ribbon, reaching for the first. After what seemed like an eternity, he realized that the two ribbons -- one purple, one gold -- were almost touching. Holding his breath, he carefully stretched his 'ribbon' until one end just brushed the tip of the purple light.

Yami gasped as something like electricity shot through him. The jolt shattered his concentration and threw him out of contact with the purple light. He blinked up at the eyeshield on his helmet and realized that Korone was peering down at him with a mixture of awe and concern on his face.

"Yami? Can you hear me? Are you all right?" Korone asked, reaching down to untangle the leads and disconnect Yami from the interface pod.

"Yeah…" Yami sat up with a groan and scrubbed his hands over his face as Korone lifted the helmet free. "What was that?!"

Korone looked at him for a second, then broke into a grin. "That was one for the history books."

"Huh?"

"You just became the first person to successfully initiate direct mind-to-AI contact."

"Which lasted all of two seconds, if that." Yami frowned. He wasn't going to be of much use to the project if that was the best he could do.

Korone scoffed. "Yami… Until today, no one's been able to get that damned thing to work for even one second -- hell, one half-second!"

"He's right." A tall blond man, taller even than Seto, suddenly loomed at Korone's shoulder. "I'd have to say you've just single-handedly saved our project from early termination, young man. Of course, now it will be necessary to see if your success can be duplicated -- and extended. And we will also need to conduct tests to set a baseline for recruiting possible candidates for the gestalt interface…"

"Otto means we want to see if you can do it again, for longer next time," Korone translated. "And we'll want to create a test based on your results for screening future interface users."

"All right." Taking a calming breath, Yami settled back into the pod. "Okay, let's try this again..."

This time, when he "reached" for the A.I.'s ribbon, the A.I. reached back.

(The End)