Prequel 9: Lark

"There seem to be three of me next to me… They look a little different but our faces… Why aren't their eyes open?" Lark thought to himself. Suddenly, he felt something grab his hand. He looked down, seeing pale, dainty fingers curling around his. He looked over and saw that Melfina was smiling. She slowly opened her eyes. "Who… are you?"

"I don't know. Who are you?"

"I don't know. Why aren't the other two moving?" Lark asked. She looked over at the two other bodies, frowning.

"I don't know. Where are we?" Melfina asked. Lark looked around, seeing that the world around them was basically orange. They were in some kind of fluid. There was a window in front of them, showing a world of white. Lark and Melfina swam towards the window, looking out. They saw other people, who did not look like them, watching them and taking notes. "What are they?"

"I don't know. They look like us and don't look like us. Let's try to talk to them!" Lark said, smiling. Lark began to speak in some kind of strange language, which sounded nothing like the scientists had heard before. When Lark noticed they weren't talking back, he frowned. "I don't think they hear me."

"I'll try!" Melfina then began to shout in the same language that Lark had spoken—or at least something similar. The scientists were silent. Melfina frowned.

"Maybe if we can go to the white room, they can hear us!" Lark suggested. He then tried to push the window, but it wasn't budging. He stopped, looking confused. He tried again, Melfina helping him this time, but nothing happened. Lark looked over at Melfina, who appeared panicked. She was frowning.

"I don't think we can go to the white room…" Melfina said in a soft, somber voice. Lark then began to pound his fists against the glass.

"Let us out! Let us out! Please! We want to talk to you!" Lark cried. Suddenly, a glass wall came down inside the tank, separating Lark and Melfina from the other two bodies. Then, there was a sound of a fan. The other two bodies began to disintegrate. Lark and Melfina instantly began to scream, horrified. When the bodies were gone, Melfina clung to Lark, sobbing. Lark held her close. "What just happened?"

"I don't know! I'm scared!" Melfina said into his chest. Lark closed his eyes.

"Me too… Why are they doing this to us?..." Lark whispered…

Suddenly, Lark woke up inside a bright room, completely white, with a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling, building blocks, a red ball, and a plush of a penguin. Lark stood up, looking down at his body. He was wearing some kind of pale yellow gown. He then looked down at his feet. He took a step and then another. He looked like he was a bit confused, but then he began to head over to the red ball. He sat down again and picked it up. He felt it, his hands sliding across the surface. He then put it back on the floor and began to roll it. Lark smiled and began to roll it back and forth between his hands.

He did that for a while, and then stood up again, looking up at the light bulb. He reached up to touch it, and instantly withdrew his hand. He had been burned. Lark's eyes teared up a bit. He looked at his hand, trying to understand what happened. The burning sensation went away and Lark decided he wouldn't touch it again. He then saw the building blocks. He sat on the floor and began to arrange them. Instead of putting them on top of each other, Lark constructed a complex maze. He ran his finger through the paths for a while until he spotted the penguin.

He was about to go over to the penguin, when someone entered the room. Lark froze. He looked up to see a scientist, staring at him. Lark scrambled to the corner, grabbing the plush and holding it close to his chest.

"Don't destroy me!" Lark screamed in some language foreign to the scientist. The scientist bent down and spoke softly.

"I am Dr. McLoughlin," he said, pointing to himself. "McLoughlin. And you are Lark." He pointed at him. "Lark." Lark looked at him and then held up the penguin. "And that is a penguin. Penguin."

"Mick-loh-lin. Lark. Pen-gin," Lark repeated, pointing at each object.

"Very good." He held his hands open. Lark handed over the penguin. Dr. McLoughlin hugged the penguin and then gave it back to Lark. Lark thought for a moment. He then rose to his feet and hugged Dr. McLoughlin. Lark was shaking a bit. Dr. McLoughlin blushed. "So innocent…" Dr. McLoughlin commented under his breath. Lark let go slowly.

"Lark. We're going to teach you a language both of us can understand," Dr. McLoughlin said, pointing to his own lips. Lark imitated him and spoke in the foreign tongue again.

"Lingua?" Lark said.

"Oh! Wait a moment! That was Latin! You speak some form of Latin!" Dr. McLoughlin said excitedly. "I wish I had studied more of it… Let's see if I can remember some things…" He pointed to his own eyes. "Oculos." Lark smiled. Dr. McLoughlin pointed to the lightbulb. "Calida." Lark frowned.

Dr. McLoughlin then noticed the maze he built.

"This is amazing…" Dr. McLoughlin said, pointing down at it. "Labyrinthos." Lark nodded. He then sat down and ran his finger through the maze, showing him the entrance to the exit. "Very good! Bene!"

"Bene!" Lark cried. He jumped to his feet and hugged Dr. McLoughlin again. Dr. McLoughlin then wrapped his arms around him. He fell silent and closed his eyes.

"Bene…" Dr. McLoughlin whispered. Suddenly, a door behind him opened. "Ah, it is my time to go." He said. He pulled out of Lark's embrace. Lark looked confused. He began to walk to the door. "And it's yours too. I'm sorry, Lark." Dr. McLoughlin said. Two men in white coats entered the room as Dr. McLoughlin exited. Lark looked alarmed. Lark began to speak quickly in his foreign tongue. Lark backed into a corner, looking scared now. He picked up the ball and threw it at them, but it missed...

The two men carried Lark out in a straitjacket. Lark was screaming. Dr. McLoughlin turned away, feeling ill. He went to his office and began to write his report.

"Name—Lark. Sex—Male. Blood type—Y. Age—Unknown; appears adolescent. Height—Five-foot-six. The usual…" he said, filling out the basic form. He then got down to the 'comments' section. "Lark possesses basic motor skills, however, is extremely intelligent; was able to construct complex maze with blocks. Is able to communicate; talks in Latin-like language; does not speak full sentences. Is scared easily. Is displaying signs of Autism. Is very sweet—I mean—is capable of expressing affection…" he sighed. "Subject ready."

Lark was brought to another white room, but this time, there was a toilet and sink in a corner and a screen on the wall. The two men from before freed him from the straitjacket. On the screen was some kind of language program…

Lark was kept in that room for a year until he could no longer speak in his native tongue. On the last day of him being in this language program, the scientists brought him a small chiffon cake. Lark ate it messily, enjoying it quite a bit compared to his practically liquid diet.

Lark was brought to Watao, once again, in a straitjacket. He was silent the entire trip from Rynext to Watao. He mostly slept. When he was on the actual planet, entering the lab, he rebelled, giving everyone a lot of trouble. Then, came the tests.

The first test was one for his mental condition. The temperature in his head was cold, indicating that he was experiencing some form of depression. Lark was tired of seeing all of these new faces with no names. He wanted to see Melfina or Dr. McLoughlin, the only ones who had been kind to him.

"Where is he?" he thought. "Why didn't he want me?"

The second test was to monitor his heart rate. Lark's heart had more chambers than the average heart. He had triple heartbeats, sounding like a waltz.

"This feels weird…" Lark said quietly to the nurse who was present. She made a face.

"You may be pretty, but I'm not getting paid enough to touch a 'fake.'" She muttered.

"'Fake?' What does that mean?" Lark asked.

"You're always built to be these perfect little people… But we all know what you really are," she continued.

"I am Lark," Lark replied.

"Just shut up," she snapped. Lark frowned.

The third test was to see if he could connect to the digital world, which he couldn't. This made the scientists very worried.

Lark had a visor of some kind over his eyes, remotely connecting him to the computer of the Aurum. His arms were restrained. Every time they tried to calm his mind, Lark would scream in order to keep himself fully conscious. He knew they were trying to put him into a different state—he just didn't know why and he didn't want to let them.

"I'm here! I'm here!" Lark would keep on crying out between screams.

After weeks of trying to get him to connect to the Aurum, the scientists gave up and deemed him as defective. They contacted the scientists on Rynex and asked them if they could take him and clone him…

Soon, Lark was brought to a lab on Rynex. He had to be restrained. They first ran a machine that ran a bar of light up and down his body over and over; this scared him. Then, they took blood from him, which wasn't easy since he was trying to escape.

"What are you taking from me?!" Lark cried as he watched the blood collect in a jar.

Lark was soon put into another container full of orange fluid. He pounded on the glass until he got tired and fell asleep…

One day, there was an explosion. He watched the chaos bloom as a bunch of pirates shot at the scientists who were present. A man with a large pompadour approached the glass Lark was behind.

"Hey there! We're here to get you out of that pickle jar!" he said, smiling. "Shu! Get to work!" Heihozu cried.

Lark, unconscious, rested in Heihozu's arms as they raced back to their ship.

"He's like a doll…" Heihozu thought.

Lark soon woke up to see Heihozu's entire crew looking at him. Lark slowly sat up.

"Who… are you? All of you?" Lark asked.

"I am Captain Heihozu! And this is my crew!" Heihozu said, pointing to each one of them. "Shu, Yan, Niyuu, and Jiyuu!"

"I am Lark."

"So that's what your name is! Well, welcome aboard! Now, I know you might be tired, but we need you to get to work right away!" Heihozu said.

"'Work?' Doing what?" Lark asked, standing up.

"Well, you see, my ship needs your help. You're a navigator and regardless of my two great pilots, Niyuu and Jiyuu, we need someone like you to get us places!" Heihozu said.

"Isn't that what Galaxy Positioning Systems are for?" Lark asked.

"Wow! A sense of humor, huh? Well, I like that. I too like to tell jokes. Maybe I'll be a comedian one day! Anyway! We're being serious here! So why don't you come over here and give it a try?" Heihozu said, as a navigation tube rose from behind the captains seat. Lark's eyes widened. He shook his head.

"No, no! No more!" Lark cried. "I don't want to do this anymore!" Lark said, backing away. He began to run when suddenly, Huo snatched him and carried him over his back. Lark was kicking him and shouting. "No! No!"

"Great. You know, we saved you back there. You know they were just going to take you apart, right? And now you're doing this to us? Well, sorry, Lark, but this time, no one is going to save ya," Heihozu said, sounding a little colder than he meant to. Huo dropped Lark into the tube and sealed it from the top. Lark pounded his fists on the glass as he felt himself slowly connecting to the digital world.

"Alright, Lark! Let's start off easy! Get us over to Watao!" The ship began to move, but it was slow. Also, the screen did not display any coordinates. "Lark! Are you serious?"

"I-is he g-giving you trouble, captain?" Shu asked.

"Yeah, a bit…" Heihozu sighed.

"Alright. I c-can help," Shu said, beginning to connect himself to a machine.

"What are you planning to do?" Heihozu asked, curious. He had never seen Shu hack into the ship's digital world before.

"Don't w-worry. I'll take c-care of it," Shu said, eyes closing. Heihozu looked nervous. All that could be heard was Lark's screams through the speakers…