Wake Up

Yamato savoured every drop of sweet, cool juice when he took his first bite of the rosy apple. It was the first taste of fresh fruit that he'd had in months. The markets on Hallard had been extravagant beyond belief and rich in cultures that he'd never met before. He'd sampled sweet Avarian spices, indulged himself in buying a Jarbar hide blanket for his cot and bartered his last trade of meat for a song from a Catarish gypsy. But, of all pleasures, the food of earth was what he was most weak to. It had been so long since he'd had a true taste of his native culture and something so simple as an apple offered a world of comfort for him. He ran his tongue along his wrist and fingers where the sugary fruit's nectar had escaped and sighed in bliss. It had cost him a week's worth of trade for a single basket, so he was certain to ensure that none of it would go to waste.

The nostalgic sweetness that washed over his tongue brought him back to a different time where more than a silent void lay beyond the walls of his small craft. He remembered trickling streams, grassy fields split by dusty paths and warm faces that seemed to be always smiling. What he'd seen on his once great home planet vastly differed from the way it was seen by the rest of the universe. What remained of Earth had been blemished by great expanses of barren desert and deep, rocky craters that had once held water. As the temperature of its surface had risen the life that had existed on it had slowly boiled and died, unable to adapt quickly enough to survive. Instead humanity had divided into contained settlements; domed cities and villages that served to preserve what remained of its glory. Every small detail of the environment was controlled to maintain the surviving plant life and species.

Yamato's birthplace, Odaiba, was a small town in comparison to most of the others. The people there lived simple lives, preferring to support themselves through farming and independent business to avoid dependency on the larger industrial cities. Those cities had always struggled to maintain stable living environments and often suffered from overcrowding due to tourism. Those cities were the ones more likely to perish and leave homeless more humans than the planet could support. Most people born in Odaiba remained there until they were buried behind the houses they had lived in for nearly all of their lives. Yamato's desire to leave had shocked nearly everyone and tears had been shed upon his departure. But he knew that it would still be waiting for him when he decided to return.

With a smile, tinged with longing, he reached over to the trinkets that hung from the bottom of the ship's screen in front of him. There were no two pieces that came from the same place. The particular one that he reached for was the only one that wasn't tangled with the rest of them. It was an official medal to certify graduation from the Earthian Academy. With it he remained in Earth's care while on his travels and represented his planet as a tradesman. The simple act of wearing it kept him safe from thieves and prevented unlawful arrest on planets that didn't appreciate his presence. However, this particular medal didn't have his name engraved onto it. Instead it had the name of someone else; someone that owned a similar medal with his name on it. Yamato stroked his thumb over the smooth silver face and engraving.

"I'll be home soon, okay?"

He whispered in a sorrowful tone and released the object to let it swing and rattle amongst the other hanging souvenirs. The sound was soothing and musical, reminding him of the wind chimes that hung on the tree outside of his childhood home.

His thoughts were jarred by a dull shock from the small computer attached to his arm. He'd grown tired of the beeping noise it usually emitted and so had set it to give off a small electric shock to alert him. However, the numbness of his arm that came as a result proved equally as irritating. Biting down into the apple he held it between his teeth while he checked the small screen on his forearm. He'd picked up a distress signal. It was odd considering he was so close to the edge of the galactic grid, so far away from any kind of civilisation or restock port. But, being the reckless type himself, he knew how easy it was to get into such situations and so thought that it wouldn't do much harm to investigate.

With a swipe of his finger across the screen, the information on his arm transferred to his ship's computer for him to look at on a much larger scale. The ship that had sent the signal had a licence, meaning that they likely weren't bandits or criminals, and there was only one registered passenger - the captain. Yamato finished his bite of the apple and chewed it slowly while he worked to open communication with the ship. Although he still had mild suspicions the information he had received gave him enough confidence to respond to the signal. He had a weapon to bring with and had more than enough fighting experience if things turned ugly. He knew that he would've regretted more ignoring someone in need than getting himself into trouble.

He rested the apple in his lap when his communication request was accepted and hastily swallowed his mouthful. No visual came up on the screen. Only a bar with the words 'Communication open' was shown to him and his wariness flared at the sight of it. At least the passenger registry offered a crude representation of the captain's image. From what Yamato could discern from the picture he could tell that the captain wasn't human.

"This is GABU, responding to signal AJ9. What's the situation?"

"This is MYOTIS. We have an unresponsive engine. Requesting engineering assistance and a tow."

The captains voice was deep and filled the cabin. Luckily it sounded as though his English was quite strong. Likely this person knew about Earth culture and the protective protocol of the Earthian military over human travellers. A registered human traveller would be dangerous to mess with on an illegal basis. Feeling that bit more confident Yamato replied to Myotis's request.

"I've got you. I'm on my way."

"Roger. Our dock is starboard and we're all set for you."

The line was dropped and Yamato updated the set coordinates to accommodate his detour. He'd been planning on heading straight to Lai to trade the goods he'd bought from the last port. Because it was quite an isolated station he knew that he would get good prices for his stock, especially the more exotic articles like the spices and fabrics. A half a day's delay wouldn't cause too much trouble, though. Maybe Miyotis would even feel fit to reward him for his help. As his ship set in motion the trinkets hung around the cabin clacked together and jingled, victims of the artificial gravity of the ship.

The distressed ship came into view on Yamato's screen and he steered his ship to the starboard side where the docking clamp was awaiting his ship. It was much larger than he'd expected. A cargo ship, by the looks of it, with a bulbous rear to hold a vast load of large items. His own ship was miniscule in comparison. He'd built it when he was a teenager - only big enough to comfortably hold a crew of two. But, since it was only him aboard, he was able to use the extra space for trade items, leaving him only the cabin and a portion of a living space to occupy. He had no thoughts about changing it, though. It was perfect for his humble, solitary lifestyle. While the docking mechanism attached to his ship he regrettably wolfed down the rest of his apple and dropped the core into the waste chute next to his seat. His ship was safely carried into the bay and parked while he gathered his gun and basic engineering tools, preparing to leave. He tucked his gun into his waist strap and covered it with the blue cotton T-shirt that he wore over his second skin. From toe to neck he was almost entirely covered in the black, skin tight protective fabric of the latest model of life suit, so his ratty shirt and styled blond hair were the only personal details he had to his image.

Yamato made a combination of motions across the ship's screen and pulled out his key to turn off the engine.s The light in the cabin died as the screen went blank, leaving only the navigation strip to mark his way to the door. He ran his fingers across the rough, raw metal of his ship's wall as he left. A touch of his key to the scanner and the door opened, revealing the empty landing bay of the ship he'd encountered. The drop to the floor from his ship was quite large, but after practice he'd mastered the technique of properly bending his knees when he landed. There were no people that he could see, but three vastly different ships were docked next to his own. None were branded as trading stock and seemed oddly personal in comparison to the bland and cold bay, like children's toys dropped in a hospital ward. His own ship fit so well among them.

"GABU!"

Yamato spun around at the call of his alias to see a man entering the far side of the bay through a door that was as small as a freckle on a wall that represented the face. As he approached he got taller. He was much taller than the average human could reach, so Yamato could easily assume that he wasn't so. His face that held a bluish pallor and his pointed ears were additional traits of a different race from his own. Yamato felt quite small and weak once the towering, broad shouldered male finally reached him. He held out a hand with long, pointed fingers for Yamato to shake.

"Thank you for your help. I'm completely isolated here. I've had that signal online for two days."

His voice was just as deep as it had sounded in Yamato's ship. The slight growl of his speech seemed to rumble the air around him. When Yamato placed his hand into the other's he felt uncomfortably small and weak but he hid it well with his polite smile.

"It's no problem. Do you know what's wrong with the engine, then?"

The strange man raised one sharp eyebrow and pulled the corner of his lips into a smile, revealing a pair of teeth that resembled those of the vampires from the old fairytales he was read as a child.

"Hmm. Straight to the point. I like that. I'm not sure, to be quite frank. It's not particularly my area of expertise."

Yamato nodded, doing his best to conceal his suspicions. With every moment a stabbing feeling seem to twist deeper into him, warning him of the dangers he sensed. Pressing his arm against the gun at his hip in reassurance that it was still there, he withdrew his hand from the other's and took a subtle step back.

"Alright, then. If I can use the engine control station I should be able to find out the problem. I've got some parts for a quick fix if need be and I've got straight communication to Lai, so they can send a tow out for you. I was heading there myself."

"Perfect. Allow me to show you to the control room."

Myotis crossed one long leg over the other and turned to walk away. Yamato followed in step behind him and relaxed slightly if only to maintain an air of ignorance. His gun was a reassuring weight on his hip. So far he had yet to find any strong evidence that this man had hidden intentions but his intuition persistently warned him not to trust so quickly. It hadn't failed him in the past. As he trailed behind the captain he consciously remained at a two foot distance and was prepared to drop his tools in an instant to defend himself.

The hallway he was lead down was uncomfortably narrow and likely designed with only efficiency in mind. The metal of the walls was stained black and lined with doors similar to the one that they entered by with windows revealing many other large storage spaces. The inside of the ship was equally as stunning as the outside. Yamato couldn't help but look through each window and marvel at the colossal vessel.

"Is it really just you on this ship? I've never seen one so big with a single man crew."

"There's not much necessity for a crew. The larger portion of my ship is purely storage. As you can see, it is empty space."

Miyotis halted at the end of the hallway in front of an open entryway to the smallest room aboard the ship. Yamato shifted his bag of tools off of his arm when he entered the room, still continuing the conversation as Miyotis lead him past several control stations.

"Still, it must get pretty lonely being the only person in such a big place."

"Surely a solitary traveller such as yourself understands the appeal of being independent."

Yamato shrugged his shoulders.

"True. But even I miss having someone to talk to sometimes. My computer's not much of a conversationalist."

Yamato laughed but stopped himself with an awkward cough when he realised that Miyotis had not been as amused as he'd hoped. The tall creature tilted his head and looked down at Yamato, offering a strange, inhuman smile and tapping his fingers against his hip.

"How witty you are."

He commented in a patronising tone. Yamato, confused by the insult, quickly angered and prepared to offer a defensive retort. Before he could speak Miyotis redirected his attention by pulling out a chair in front of a large screen.

"Here. This is the main engine control station. It should give you some information about what the problem is."

"Right."

Yamato dropped his toolkit where he stood and slipped into the seat. Once he was seated Miyotis took a step back and retreated to a comfortable distance. Immediately Yamato set to work, checking the status of the engine components and analysing the faults. He worked quickly and skilfully, easily picking out the smallest defect out of several pages of data.

"It seems like I have come across great fortune to stumble upon someone so able."

Miyotis spoke, his voice sounding slightly further away than Yamato could recall the man standing. He made a note of it, but remained working, or at least pretended to. He listened carefully to detect any shuffling of Miyotis's boots against the floor.

"Yeah, you're pretty lucky I came along. Another day of drifting and you'd end up in void territory. You did drift out here, right?"

He spoke in his previous nonchalant tone but all the while discreetly lowered one of his hands to his hip, only working on the computer with one hand from then on.

"Yes. I must admit that I have been rather...helpless."

Miyotis sounded much closer this time. His breath even seemed to brush over Yamato's shoulder, carrying the stench of raw meat. Yamato wrapped his fingers around his gun slowly, hoping that the broad back of the chair would hide his movements. He could feel Miyotis at his back. He'd moved completely silently and now he seemed to loom over the chair, pressing his torso into the back of it.

Yamato didn't hesitate any longer. In a fluid motion he pulled the gun from its holster and spun around in the chair. As he turned he raised his arm and prepared the angle to aim at Miyotis's head. Before he could pull the trigger a large, blue hand shot out and grabbed his head, smothering his nose into a cold palm. He heard his gun go off but he didn't hear any cries of pain and the hand that gripped his head only tightened. With ease he was picked up from the chair and slammed into the solid floor. The pain of his head slamming into the metal was so intense that it forced him to slacken his hold on his gun, resulting in it skidding away from him and his hand that desperately clawed to retrieve. For a moment he gave up all attempts at resisting. Consciousness had left him for only a second, but it was more than enough time for Miyotis to easily command his body. The hand on his head forced it to the side to expose his neck. Then, a bony finger buried itself beneath the collar of his life suit and ripped a long line down to the edge of his shoulder. When Yamato felt a needle penetrate the flesh of his neck he immediately jumped back to life, clawing at Miyotis's wrist and kicking viciously at the body on top of him. Miyotis was like rock. His skin was impossible to tear and Yamato's kicks made no indentation in his stomach. The needle was withdrawn and Yamato released a roar of anger, using every ounce of energy to escape the monster that restrained him.

It didn't take much time for his legs to flop to the floor and his arms to slide down and sleep at his sides. After his final, persistent twitch Miyotis finally released Yamato's head from his grip and revealed two blue eyes that were dull and lifeless, staring beyond the walls of the ship into a place beyond consciousness.

Yamato groaned in discomfort when a deep shiver coursed through him. For some reason everything seemed to hurt. He felt a solid, cold surface against his bare back and something tightly wrapped over his neck. He opened his eyes but saw only a fog of dark colours. He blinked groggily but his vision hardly seemed to change. He lifted his hands to try and rub his eyes but it wouldn't obey him. It stubbornly remained at his hip and any attempt to move the other arm proved that it was in a similar situation. Now that his senses were slowly returning he could feel the padded straps that trapped his wrists as well as the one that forced his head against the surface behind him , applying a choking pressure onto his neck.

After rolling his eyes around in his sockets his vision began to return to him slowly. Looking down he found his suspicions to be confirmed. His arms were restrained at his sides and his clothes were nowhere to be found. He couldn't move his head to look any closer. All he could do was look forward to stare out of a large transparent window on the surface in front of him. Through it he saw a dark room with the metal walls stained black. He could see a desk with a computer in front of it. Someone was swiping at the screen and pressing buttons. He couldn't quite see their face when they were at that distance.

Suddenly a strange noise seemed to surround him. After he heard several clicks and beeps there came a soft gurgling. His feet began to feel cold and when he shifted them within their restraints he heard quiet splashing. Desperately he tried to look down, but the collar pressing into his chin and compressing his windpipe didn't allow it. He could feel the cold liquid rise up over his ankles and up to his shins, forcing another shiver through him.

He looked forward again, analysing the blurry figure before him and attempting to recall his last memory. He couldn't remember how he ended up in this state but there was something very familiar about the blue skinned man in front of him. The liquid reached up to his navel and when it covered the more sensitive areas of his skin he realised just how cold it was. He couldn't feel his toes and icy needles stabbed into his thighs. His gasp was stifled by the restraint around his neck. He thrashed every limb but none could move beyond their fastenings. He tried to shout out but all he could squeeze through his throat were croaks and squeaks.

Looking back out of the window he discovered that the stranger was now looking at him, approaching the prison that caged him. As he got closer Yamato was able to decipher more of his features and with every step Yamato remembered more of what had happened to him. Rage and humiliation consumed all fear and without care he lurched forward in his restraints and screamed against the pressure across his neck.

"You bottom feeder! You coward! You couldn't even fight me properly!"

Miyotis showed no hint of acknowledgement and continued to silently observe Yamato. The liquid had travelled past his ribs and over his nipples. Ignoring it he spat at the man that stood before him that remained entirely stoic.

"Hey! I'm talking to you, Bastard! Just wait until I get my hands on you! I'll make you regret this!"

Miyotis's lips were pulled across his face and an awful smile took over his features. His two long teeth hung over his bottom lips and his indigo eyes widened in amusement. Yamato forced himself to remain strong even when the liquid travelled up his neck. He gritted his teeth, refusing to break eye contact as the icy liquid covered his lips. After a deep breath through his nostrils he allowed it to cover his face. Through the liquid everything seemed to have a slightly bluish tint to it. Miyotis's face seemed to look darker and the distortion from the liquid's motion pulled his head into menacing shapes.

Yamato forced his tongue into the roof of his mouth. His chest ached as though he was being crushed and his throat was constricted with bruising strength. His lungs spasmed in desperate want for air. On reflex his mouth snapped open and his body automatically inhaled, filling his lungs with the freezing blue liquid. It numbed his gums and oesophagus but inside he could still feel it filling him. When his body made to try and flush the liquid out of him he only took in more.

He had never experienced true panic in his life until that moment. His pride was no match for the terror that filled him. Everything was silent. His lungs burned and he could feel bruises form beneath his restraints as he fought against them. Two dark, smiling eyes watched him until the very last moment before everything went black.

This is what he thought death might feel like.

So, this is the prologue. The event that starts off everything. I have never been so excited to start a story. You have no idea ow much I have planned for this thing! I can't wait to write the rest!

I hope you enjoyed reading what I enjoyed writing and please leave a review.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this fic. I hope you stick around for the main event.

Bed. Of. Nails. And. Sandpaper

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