Astral Machine
Chapter Three: First Impressions
Zelgadis wakes with Eris shooting something into his arm. Grumbling, he shifts uncomfortably and blinks at Eris. "Now what?" he asks glaring hard at the woman.
"I'm sorry Zelgadis, but you need to get up," Eris says with some remorse. Reaching behind his shoulders the surprisingly strong woman lifts him up and helps him sit back on the bed frame and pillows. "You need to practice piloting the Gamma Unit before the demonstration and we're cutting it close as it is."
"Why did you schedule it so soon?" Zelgadis asks feeling the drug take effect quickly. It is a drug meant to keep him awake despite the numbness he feels in his limbs. The pain isn't as bad as earlier, but he still hurts and isn't keen on the idea of walking.
"You think Rezo had a choice?" Eris grunts as she moves him to sit on the edge. "Come on you can do this Zelgadis, you need to make them believe what they want to see." Working off his shirt, Eris puts a robe on him before helping him remove the rest of his clothes. "That means pretending you don't feel like you just survived hell, even though you did."
"Life deals me the best cards doesn't it," Zelgadis forces himself up with a raspy laugh. Using Eris's shoulder to steady himself, he dresses into a body conforming suit with holes exposing the implants on his body, but disguised by decorative pockets and flaps, covering the otherwise airy holes. Zelgadis feels like he's wearing hardly anything and becomes self conscious.
"Looks good on you," Eris smiles haughtily. Knowing that grin she probably designed the suits herself. "Why don't you take a look?" She nods towards the mirror at the far side of the dimly lit room.
Removing his hand from Eris, Zelgadis stands as tall as he can and walks towards the mirror. He only stumbles once before he reaches his destination, but upon seeing his reflection he nearly stumbles again as he leans into the reflective surface. When Rezo explained what he needed from Zelgadis, the young man expected changes, but he is still shocked at the stranger standing in front of him.
His features are more angular, like an elf, but unlike an elf his skin is so pale it appears nearly blue. The skin is also as hard and smooth as stone, the now blue hair on his head is as sharp as wires, and his azure eyes are minutely slit like one of the astral races. The Mazoku and Ryzoku. "That's . . . more than I was expecting," he says aloud, moving a hand through his wiry hair. As he does he discovers his tapered ears hidden in his wild locks. They look more like goblin's ears than an elf's.
"You look fine," Eris says placing her hands on her hips. "In fact I rather like the tight muscles and slim frame," she says looking him up and down. "Before you were just lanky."
Zelgadis rolls his eyes. "You're the worst," he grumbles. He always had tight muscles but it wasn't like you could ever tell with the baggy clothing he typically wore.
"Well you look exotic. And if you're worried about people thinking you're a Mazoku, you appear elf enough not to rouse suspicions," Eris slaps the back of her hand against Zelgadis's forearm.
"Don't you think it will be a little strange that the old Zelgadis Greywords looks nothing like the new one?" he points out.
"Your cover story is that you were cursed by the elves when you wandered off the main road on your last mission." She says this with such ease, no one would have reason to question the logic of her statement, but Zelgadis knows her better than most.
" . . . And they believe that?"
"They'll believe anything as long as the mecha's work," Eris grins mischievously, which is more befitting on her face.
"Of course they will," Zelgadis sighs. Another example of how desperate and foolish the higher-up's can be.
"Come on, time for you to meet Gamma," Eris directs Zelgadis out of the room and down the hall always a hands reach away if he needs it. He stubbornly refuses to depend on it, but isn't foolish enough to fall flat on his face when he becomes off balanced every now and again.
Eris makes a point of leading him down halls rarely used by others. The early morning hour also helps. Hardly anyone is up at three in the morning, except the mech team running the operative tests on Gamma. His team consists of only one person, Vrumugun, Eris's brother. They have worked together in the past and Zelgadis actually prefers the silent Vrumugun over his domineering sister. After that Eris shows him Gamma, his mechanical partner.
All of the mecha units are in a row, hugged tight by the scaffolding and arms used for maintenance. First is the Red Alpha unit, which is the front line soldier and most rounded of the machines. Next is the blue Beta unit, which specializes in attack and close range combat.
The unit in the middle is Gamma, the unit he will be driving. It is a silver and grey unit meant to appear as bland as possible next to the others. While this unit is not the smallest, it is slim and angular in comparison to the others. The main features are the sensor equipment, speed, endurance, and energy converter. Most of the equipment is experimental, but this doesn't bother Zelgadis much. He is confident in Rezo's construction and doesn't doubt the stability of the unit.
After his mecha comes the green Delta unit built for defense and emergency repair for both the machines and their pilots. The unit next to her is the purple Epsilon which specializes in far range assault and support fire. After that comes the petite but bulky Pink Zeta unit, which is meant for mid range attack, defense, and support.
Just looking at the units Zelgadis can imagine which pilots will be driving each unit based on Gourry's descriptions the other day.
After learning the operation procedures and repeating them back, Zelgadis is assisted into the unit and literally plugged into it. Vrumugun is the only one besides Eris, Gourry and Rezo who know the full extent of Zelgadis's abilities. If they didn't it could get Zelgadis killed.
As soon as his body is attached to the machine Zelgadis experiences a tingle of adrenaline racing through him. Easily working through the starter procedures and safeties he feels his mind meld into the computing system and software as they flip on the main power. Zelgadis does his best to remain calm as his normal body is partially overshadowed by the machine.
"How are you feeling?" Eris's voice says crystal clear into his ear; it's as if she's right there.
"I hardly feel anything actually," Zelgadis says both mentally and verbally. It sounds like an echo to him.
"You don't need to speak out loud," Eris explains. "You can project your thoughts through Gamma."
"Impressive, saves time," Zelgadis thinks.
"Not too quickly or I can't understand you," Eris reprimands him. "It's meant for communicating with the other mecha's, to relay information simultaneously and efficiently. You can reveal where the enemy is hiding and recommend tactics. For the other pilots it will usually come out as a mechanical voice from their machine rather than your own. They'll think it's the guidance system, not you."
Reaching out with his mind, Zelgadis can easily see hundreds of parsecs away. He can read what ships are close by, where they are going and what they carry. At the same time he switches on the memory of each of the machines beside him, which are never completely powered off, and glances over their data. Using this information, he can garner an understanding of the pilots that drive them and how many hours they have practiced.
Zelgadis also finds that he can do approximately ten tasks a second and be understood. If Zelgadis does more the information he transmits is not as coherent. With more practice he'll improve, but the man assumes that if he is stressed it will be harder. The fact that Zelgadis cannot feel his body suggests it is meant to prevent distraction and worry.
"Not bad," Eris says but doesn't sound impressed, she is all business. "We're going to move you out into space, but will keep you tethered."
Verifying that he is ready with a green light that flashes in front of her, Vrumugun releases the tube that Gamma is standing in and shoots it upwards. The movement is fast, but for Zelgadis it feels slower than it really is.
Once in space, Zelgadis is given the task of moving which is easier said than done. Running the multiple scans and program is a walk in the park in comparison to walking on top of the station. The reason is simple. He can't feel the metal surface of the ground since he can't feel anything at all and he isn't using a normal neural system. In space movement is slow, but Zelgadis's brain is working much faster and he over compensates the difference.
"Zelgadis you look like a two year old trying to walk," Eris sighs as she watches Zelgadis crawl on his hands and knees.
"Well I feel like one," Zelgadis directs towards her while he tries to fix his error while running scans and everything else.
"Your unit is capable of going faster than a normal mecha because of the alloy Rezo used. It has more mythril than any of the other units.
Zelgadis is shocked. "That's expensive, how on earth did the government allow it?"
"If you can't move that thing properly they'll take it back," Eris threatens, but even she realizes that such a comment is not helpful. "Try to think of Gamma as your own body rather than a machine you're trapped inside of. Forget you're in space where movements are impeded, think of yourself as swimming in air . . . like you did as a child." The woman smiles knowingly.
"I never did that," Zelgadis lies blushing. In conjunction with his embarrassment his unit responds by becoming rigid, hunching forward defensively as if it is human. Curious at this phenomenon he realizes that the machine is him.
After discovering this, Zelgadis easily stands and walks across the metal platform as Vrumugun politely claps at his accomplishment. Rather than depend on feeling the ground, he uses the innate sensor ability built into the machine to deduce where the ground is. "See, was that so hard?" Eris scoffs.
"Yes and No," Zelgadis admits. He really doesn't feel human doing this. It's an out of body experience depending on senses and abilities he didn't have before today. It will take some getting used to. Gently he tips his metal toes up and floats just above the station, turning and propelling himself while mindful of the tether.
"During the presentation focus on your capabilities as the sensor unit and try not to draw to much attention to yourself," Eris instructs.
"In other words don't do a perfect back stroke which shouldn't be possible with a machine," Zelgadis comments as he demonstrates.
Vrumugun snorts discreetly as Eris rolls her eyes. "Yes, that's exactly what I mean." Turning to Vrumugun, Eris instructs him to bring Zelgadis back on board and get some rest.
When the time for the presentation comes around Zelgadis is sleeping soundly in his private infirmary chamber. Sleeping soundly that is until Eris shoots his arm again with medication. "Hope you're ready for this," Eris huffs as she helps him up.
Grumbling Zelgadis does what he must and follows Eris and Vrumugun. When they reach the hanger they leave Zelgadis to stand in front of his unit as the other pilots appear one by one to stand in front of theirs.
"Hey, looks like sleeping beauty woke up. Get a kiss from Eris?" a young red head woman comments as she passes. Zelgadis can only assume that this cheeky woman is Lina. He involuntarily blushes and does his best to quickly suppress it. Honestly the thought of simply going out with someone like Eris disturbs him immensely.
Gourry is the last to show up not bothering to hide his yawn as the executives and generals stride in front of them. Each pilot stands erect with their hands at their side for the most part which is the proper salute in their culture. Each pilot though, with the exception of Zelgadis, is barely executing this salute properly.
While the redhead's arms are straight at her sides, Lina is casually leaning on one hip clearly bored. Gourry is trying his best to be respectful, but his head sags to the left and he mumbles something about being hungry. Beside Zelgadis, Sylphiel is looking through him at Gourry rather than straight ahead as she should and is blushing. Xellos doesn't owe anything to this government and simply stands their smiling with his hands clasped behind his back as if finding the whole thing comical.
But by far the worst of them is Amelia when she goes running forward and hugs the prince of Seyruun. "Daddy, you made it!" Amelia cries as the large bulky man twirls his precious little girl around.
Zelgadis goes pale. He hoped there were more Amelia's in the world, but there is a reason her last name is omitted from the roster. Zelgadis can hardly believe that they have a princess on the team. First a monster, now this!
The poor cyber man can feel his stress levels rising. He's the strategist of the team, making it his job to keep these people alive to the best of his planning ability, but one of them is royalty. If something happens to her there goes the future of Seyruun.
Oh L-sama help him. The descriptions Gourry gave and the read outs he received from his partner completely contradicts the impression his fellow pilots are giving him now.
"I'm awake!" Gourry says much too loudly as he breaks his thoughts.
What is Rezo thinking!? Zelgadis mentally screams.
Author's Note:
I really have no excuse for hording this chapter for months and months, but her it is. It's been a while since I've read this myself and I'll be the first to say it isn't great, but that last line still brings a smile to my face.