Disclaimer: Gundam 00 characters and related indicia © Bandai Entertainment, Sunrise.

Written back in October 28, 2008, this is a one-shot in response to a prompt at the Mechaphiles Forum, "Pool."

Just Like Space
a Gundam 00 fanfic by Cielo

Wang Residence, location classified.

"Chris-chan," Sumeragi poured herself a margarita, as she and the crew watched the sunset from Wang Liumin's large living room, "where's Tieria?"

"Shouldn't he be in the basement?" Chris got herself her own glass.

"No -- I just checked and he wasn't there," the tactical forecaster sipped her chilled drink and sat back, "never mind. He shouldn't be far."

***

It was known by all of Celestial Being that Gundam Meister Tieria Erde had some form of dislike for Earth -- may it be pollution, the masses of busybodies, and most of all, gravity.

There was something unsettling about this force pulling you down -- you want to move upward and forward, fly and reach for the stars and do something beyond yourself and yet you stay, "grounded." Nothing to do but pick one foot up and down, followed by the other foot, moving the body into a redundant cycle.

Objects fall under the pressure of this Gravity -- solids break, liquids spill, and even gases succumb to its power. Trees and plants, express their longing for the infinite heights and yet their roots run deep into the soil. Humans find beauty in their being "grounded" -- perhaps because they do not have a choice.

Space -- now that's a different thing. Tieria, being the neat person that he his, finds order in the scattered stars and planets; colors, shapes and figures on a vast and deep canvas. And being inside Veda, space, and the mess called Humanity, are put into order.

The trips to Wang Liumin's home are a pain, but necessary. His only comfort was the Veda terminal in the basement, which gives him a semblance of order -- but gravity and all that atmospheric noise was still a bit of a dilemma...

***

The warm reds of the sky gradually gave in to the cooler shades of the night. Feldt sat on a couch, watching a documentary on the body's conditioning for space travel. Seeing men and women submerged in gallons of water -- floating, to get used to weightlessness.

"Tieria..." she got up and walked to the sliding glass window, looking out into the pool area. Only a few lamps around the lawn were lit and the pool's diving end suddenly seemed deeper than 10 feet. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness was startled as she saw a pale body emerge from the dark water, topped with a mop of wet purple hair. She heard a minute intake of breath, as the Meister dove back in.

***

Water had an uncanny ability of maintaining the atmosphere's temperature. The warm rivulets brought in by the afternoon sun, mixing with the cool tendrils kissed by the night air makes one think that water is alive.

The pool water may be held down by gravity, but Tieria found comfort in the weightlessness he was in -- no noise, nothing to pull him down: he goes up and gets air, he sinks back in and he finds himself in space. Never mind the pruny fingers and lingering smell of chlorine afterwards, but the pool is enough until he gets out of Earth's grasp.

-- END --

I've always had this image of Tieria under water to simulate weightlessness – and it was also what triggered me to write my other Tieria-centric fic, "Celestial Being Origins – Book One."