The Way The Wheels Turn Chapter 2: Frank
Hello, well this is chapter 2 of The Way The Wheels Turn. I am still hoping that this story is god enough. And you'll understand why I wrote this soon, if you work in construction you'll be able to tell the difference between sheetrock and many builder materials. Oh and the voice's name is Frank, and I'll be doing something special soon.
I do not own Halo.
Ghost entered the large Phantom and looked at the inside with awe. The inside was set up as an apartment; there was a living room, a kitchen, and more. He now knew what the Elite meant when she said that the ship was meant for living. All the rooms appeared to be separated by thin walls that he could tell were sheetrock. When he looked around a corner he saw a set of stairs that went to the second floor.
Damn, nice place, said the AI.Ghost grunted under his helmet in agreement.
"Make yourself comfortable," said the mistress. She then preceded sit down on a couch in what was more than likely the living room, when she sat down she picked up what seemed like a magazine written in Sangheili. Ghost cocked his head in a confused gesture. The female looked up at Ghost, she recognized the gesture.
"What, what are you confused about?" she asked, Ghost simply continued looking at her. After a few moments of no response the female looked at the magazine. "Oh, I see. If you're thinking of the question I believe you are, the answer is yes, we do still use paper," she said in a playfully mocking tone, having some trouble speaking due to her having four jaws and unable to say certain words in the English dialect.
As the elite went back to reading, Ghost took off towards the bridge and went to the controls, he hovered his hand over them and electrical sparks shot out. The controls started flashing on and off for a few seconds. Once that was over he hurriedly back to the living room and stood beside the couch that the mistress was sitting on and stood there at attention, battle rifle ready and just stood there, not moving.
After about ten minutes of this, the mistress took notice of Ghost and looked up at him with a confused look on her face.
"Why are you just standing there," she asked. "You can sit down if you'd like. Hello? Oh that's right, you don't talk," she said with a disappointed look on her face.
"But I do," said an enthusiastic male voice. A split second afterwards, a glowing blue image of a bald man in a business suit appeared. The mistress, out of shock, jumped in her seat and had one of her arms behind the couch as if searching for a hidden gun. There was a look of a shock on her face with a hint of curiosity. She then turned to look at Ghost, wondering why he wasn't doing anything but standing there, facing forward not even acknowledging the blue man. After looking at Ghost for a moment she turned to look back at the blue man.
"Who are you?" asked the mistress. "And how did you get on my ship?"
"Yes, how rude of me," The little blue man said. "My name is Frank, and I'm Ghost's Artificial Intelligence program."
The mistress looked at Ghost then back to Frank again. "Hello, Frank," she said with a bow of her head. Frank returned the bow.
When Frank raised his head he looked right at Ghost, who was still standing there with his rifle at ready. He crossed his arms and flashed about two feet from Ghost's faceplate and started glaring.
"Ghost, can't you see that you're making the poor girl uncomfortable, ease up. You're on a ship in UNSC controlled space, there's barley anywhere else that's safer," said Frank looking at Ghost still with the angry look on his face. Ghost didn't even move a muscle.
"Are all Spartans like that," she asked looking towards Frank.
"Kind of, to be honest. Spartans on guard are like him right now, but they usually are in conversation while they are standing and even during combat. But even then they would move every now and again when they're standing, usually to keep their muscles from falling asleep or to keep their bones from locking. But him, he won't even move an inch. Even the other Spartans have some human traits left, though they keep it under wraps, but not him, not anymore," Frank said the last part with sadness in his voice. The mistress looked at Ghost, a look of sadness was starting to spread on her face when Frank had tried to change the subject.
"So… what all do you have to do here?" asked Frank in a happy tone.
"Not much, to be perfectly honest. I got some books, magazines, and a few movies for myself, but that's really it. I don't know what you guys like to do, but just try and have fun. I hate to say it, but it's a very long trip to Sangheilios. I hope you two can find something to keep yourselves occupied," said the mistress obviously looking embarrassed about the fact that she didn't think about them.
"It's ok, we'll find something to do," said Frank in an enthusiastic tone. "Well I think I'll let you get back to your reading, it was nice to meet you, Mistress," said Frank. "You too, Frank," the mistress said after crossing her legs as she sat on the couch.
Many, many hours had passed since the Elite and Frank met, and the mistress had gone through a small stack of magazines and a couple of books. Ghost's HUD had said that it was close to 10:00 pm. He could tell that the Elite mistress was starting to get tired, most obviously because she made a deep yawn.
"I'm going to go get ready for bed," said the mistress, stretching and getting up from the couch, Ghost remained still. As she started to walk towards the upstairs area of the ship, Ghost started to follow her from behind. The mistress blushed a deep purple a bit as she heard Ghost's footsteps behind her as she walked towards a door. As they reached the door, the mistress turned around and put a hand out in front of him.
"I don't know how guarding works on your planet, but on mine, the guard stands outside the bathroom," she said, a stern look on her face. Ghost didn't even move. The mistress opened the door, walked in, and then closed it behind her. Ghost, almost instantly, turned around and stood beside the door, ready for anything. About a minute had passed then Ghost heard the sound of running water, the mistress was showering.
"Would it kill you to show any sign of emotion anymore?" asked Frank, popping up in front of Ghost, a stern look on his face as he stared into his visor. "I mean, come on man. You used to be so happy and social, sure you were never the best looking individual, God knows that's for sure." No response. "I'm lucky if I even get a flinch from you. What are we going to do if you're ever ordered to guard someone and they go to an art museum, you'll have people complimenting how well their sculpture did when they look between you and them." There was still no response from Ghost for he just stood there, by the door, ready for anything hostile to show. "Why do I even try anymore?" Frank asked before disappearing.
About fifteen minutes passed until Ghost heard the water shut off. It was another five minutes until heard the door slide open and the mistress walked out wearing a fresh, clean robe. Ghost watched her with one eye while the other kept surveying their surroundings- a trick he taught himself over the years- as she passed, he noticed a few bits of water drop from her Elite equivalent of a chin as she walked out. She was walking down the hallway, Ghost immediately on her tail, when she stopped at another door, Ghost's shadow covering her significantly smaller frame. She moved her hand to a button to open the door, turned to Ghost and blushed. Unlike humans who blush red, her skin turned a dark purple. Ghost tilted his head a bit, then finally got the hint and went to stand by the door with his rifle at ready.
"See you in the morning," she said before opening the door and then heading inside to go to bed.
The next morning came by and the mistress had awoken and was about to get up to get dressed when she turned her head to look at her clock and saw that it was close to four in the morning. She tried to go back to sleep but after ten minutes of trying, she gave up and got dressed, taking her time to make sure everything looked well. When she finished patting down the few wrinkles in her robe she stretched her arms out, yawning in the process. She went towards the door but hesitated before exiting her room, she had just remembered that she never told her guard where to sleep, she didn't know if he had walked around and found a spare room to sleep or if he might have fallen asleep on the sofa. She was preparing her apology as she opened the door.
Ghost had never left the door's side. He had stood still by the door while he waited for morning. When one o'clock rolled around he decided to take a cat nap. The thing most people didn't know is that when Spartans took a cat nap they were still aware of their surroundings. They kept their senses high and kept one eye open as they remained ready to attack. Ghost's sleep was uneventful and he was able to regain most of his strength and energy. While Ghost was still sleeping he heard the familiar whoosh of an automated door opening. Ghost immediately woke up just as the mistress exited the room, his armor clinked a bit as he went back to attention. What he wasn't expecting was the sound of the mistress' shrieking. At the sound of her seemingly in danger he quickly moved his arm towards her to get her behind him. Once she was pushed behind him, Ghost backed up to pin her to the wall so that he was the only thing between her and what seemed to be the danger was him, unknowingly forcing the scabbard of his katana between her breast. Ghost had his rifle raised and was ready to shoot whatever had scared the mistress.
"Whoa, calm down Ghost! Nothing's wrong," she exclaimed once she got her nerves together. Ghost looked around to confirm that she was right. When he finished scanning his surrounding and was sure that there was no danger, he moved out of the way so that she could move. Though once he tried to move he realized his scabbard seemed to be stuck. Confused, Ghost turned his head and saw that the scabbard had gotten wedged between the mistress breasts, without thinking, Ghost reached behind his shoulder and grabbed the hilt of his katana and pulled it and the scabbard free of their trap.
"What's wrong, I heard a scream," Frank said just as he appeared. He then noticed that the mistress was still against the wall as well as seeing Ghost take his final step then standing back into attention, this time beside her.
"God dammit, Ghost," Frank exclaimed, obviously enraged. The mistress took a few deep breaths then looked at Frank. She really couldn't tell why Frank seemed so enraged by Ghost's actions because all he did was his job, protect her.
"Calm down Frank everything's okay," said the mistress in a soothing voice, moving her arms in the "calm down" gesture. "Ghost just thought I was in trouble, he did what he though was best to protect me."
"I know but… ugh," Frank hissed, disappearing.
"What just happened," said the mistress after a moment of silence. Ghost said nothing, just stood there with his rifle at ready.
"Well I can tell that this will be a fun trip," said in a happy tone voice. At that moment Ghost looked at her and cocked his head, receiving a smile from her, he just shrugged slightly and stood back at attention.
