A/N: Wow...it's been sometime since last update...I've been meaning to get this out sooner, but circumstances kept coming up...thankfully, it's summer break now, and time to get some R&R (rest and relaxation).

Shout-outs!

Godzilla2 – Nice to see ya again! I'm glad you think the story's coming along nicely :-) I'll try to get the next chap out sooner than later...keep hoping. No promises, though. See ya too next time :-)

And...that's it. Enjoy the continuation! And please R&R (read and review) :-)

CHAPTER 8

New Things

"...and that is all I could recall up to this point."

Jai felt like he had been under interrogation by federal agents. He had just finished narrating all he knew that had happened to him. A rather unbelievable tale, even he himself considered after having told it, but he knew that it was all truth.

Unfortunately, most of the others didn't see it that way. It wasn't that hard to tell that they were not at all convinced; amused, or maybe a little confused and irritated, perhaps, but definitely not convinced.

"Do you expect us to believe all that crap?" Jura demanded, at the same time banging the conference table angrily.

"Jura!" It was Gascogne who silenced her. "A little less violence, please. We're not here to fight...that's been finished already."

Barnette joined in. "I can't believe that you'd even listen to this Tarak idiot! And his stupid..."

Hibiki, who had been very uncharacteristically quietly listening at a corner along with Duero and Bart during the whole episode, spoke, "Hey, we don't even know him! I've seen him only now and..."

"Ah, now there's the way to act civilized, not just spouting harshly. Go ahead, got anything to say?" he was cut off by Gascogne, who had noticed Jai raising his hand, as if wanting to say something.

"Well...yeah. Why do you keep calling me 'tarak'...? What is that anyway?"

The entire room fell quiet.

"You mean..." Parfet said a few moments later, breaking the silence, "you don't know what Tarak is?"

Jai shook his head. "Sorry...I don't."

"How about Mejale?"

Again, the same response, "No idea..."

Barnette's brows furrowed. "He's lying. He's trying to bluff his way out."

"I don't believe so..." Magno finally responded. "Call me an old hag who relies too much on hunches, but my gut tells me that he's telling the truth."

Jai let out a small sigh of relief. This old lady seemed to be the boss around here...either that, or she was the voice of reason and wisdom. Either way, she seemed to be getting a lot of respect.

"That is, of course, just my feeling. He will therefore be placed under very close observation until anything can be objectively proven. We can't be too careful..." she continued, giving a rather sly smile. Jai got the feeling that he wasn't totally out of the woods yet

"How about if we asked you about those objects we found in the safe-pod?" Parfet asked, again directing her words to Jai. "I've been able to figure out some things about them on the archives, but the details are really fuzzy."

He figured the 'safe-pod' was where he was found, and that she was referring to the vintage collection he had seen earlier. "Uh, sure...I believe I can help with those."

"It's settled then," Magno concluded, getting up from her seat, "we first inspect those strange things. Guards, bring the prisoners back to their cell..."

Bart and Hibiki, and even Dita, complained. "What! But...!"

"Be quiet!" B.C. retorted loudly. "That may be true, but you still are the real Tarak! All the more should we be cautious."

"It figures...well, we did prove that we're not exactly enemies during that last battle, though..." Duero said coolly.

Magno thought for a while. "Very well. Be more lenient with them. And give them full rations this time instead of half."

When the three had been escorted out of the conference room, Meia asked Parfet, "One of them...that...Hibiki...helped us out in the battle. How did the other two...?"

"Well, in a rather uncertain turn of events, the calm one began helping to tend to the wounded at the infirmary. He's quite skilled too...and none of our crew seems poisoned yet."

Meia nodded. "And the other?"

"He barged into the bridge, and promptly fell into the glowing sphere at the center of the room. I'm not really sure how, but he was somehow able to control the ship's movements more accurately even than Amarone from there. The communications went down maybe also because of that...heh, I'm not also sure. It was really remarkable, though..."

"Then that confirms that those really are parts of their own ship. The question now is..."

"...that strange fellow? Well, the riddle will solve itself soon, I hope," the mechanic said, motioning towards the small group of their crew that accompanied Jai towards the hangar area. She and Meia followed.

"Wow...this place is bigger than I first thought..." Jai whispered to himself.

Parfet, Meia, Ezra, Magno, Gascogne, and Jai were all inside the safe-pod, which was roomy enough to accommodate them all. Some other members of the crew simply stood outside, able to see and hear enough of the interior to know what was going on.

"Care to start? We're ready when you are." Gascogne said to Jai as she picked one of the figurines up.

"W-ell, most are just figurines...for decorative purposes. There are books, some furniture, some clothes..."

"Those are easy to figure out, though they might look rather different; how about this?" Ezra asked, standing in front of the piano.

"That's a piano, a musical instrument. It's..."

Parfet cut him off, reading something from her portable palm-computer. "...an obsolete instrument, used to make beautiful melodies..." she stopped when she noticed the others looking at her, "Oh, sorry...it's from the archives. Well, other than that, nothing else is written. There isn't even a picture. I got the info only through the definition...so now's also the first time I've ever seen one."

"I don't remember you relaying any of this information to us before, Parfet..." Magno said, with a hint of surprise in her tone.

"You see, they aren't really that complete...in fact, there's little to go round as it is, even with all the sources I've gathered, some even from the Tarak database I was able to hack into one time. All the info supposedly describes the culture of our distant ancestors, but, as I've said, there's very little of it. There are only one- or two-sentence definitions at the most usually for a given topic. Besides, I figured they'd be of trivial use."

"Then if this...piano...really is what everyone says it is, the kid might really be telling the truth." Magno replied, now looking at Jai. "Then, Jai, could you give a demonstration? It could also serve as proof for what you say."

"All right...I might be a little rusty after two thousand years, though..." Jai said with a slight laugh. 'This is no time to make jokes...' he thought, but then heard Ezra laughing silently as well.

He sat at the piano and began playing Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata'. The crew, who had been whispering among themselves, grew quiet and listened.

Meia, who had moved right next to the instrument, watched intently as Jai's hands glided across the ivory keys. 'Each strike seems individual, and yet, so harmonious with the others at the same time...' she thought, almost losing herself in the soothing, though somewhat melancholic piece. The other pirates seemed in a similar state of trance as well.

When the song had ended only a minute later, the room was filled with silence, as if time had stopped. Jai looked around and noticed this. Frankly, it made him a little uncomfortable.

"Well, that was just the first part of 'Moonlight Sonata', composed by someone named Ludwig Van Beethoven. It's actually my favorite, though music like this is called 'classical', as compared to contemporary..."

Magno began an applause; slowly, then growing in volume and grandeur as more and more joined in clapping. It lasted for a few seconds, and when it finally died down, the Boss spoke, "Very well done. That was remarkable indeed."

Jai grew a little red. "Thank you. But might I ask; how is music being made in this time?"

Parfet answered. "You see, everything's done with machines nowadays. There are those who, as their line of work, program computers to come up with music...though rather different from what you just played. Rock, techno, and some slow songs are pretty popular now...at least in Mejale."

Jai nodded. "Yeah, those are also contemporary during my time. Something I'd like to ask, though..."

Just then, one of the side doors of the hangar opened, and a small, floating robot hovered out quickly. A few mechanics ran out after it. "What was that music?" It asked aloud.

"Hey, that's the NAVI robot we found after the battle with the Tarak recently," Parfet exclaimed, "How were you able to get it to work?"

One of the scientists answered, "We didn't, ma'am. It just up and moved on its own right after that fight with the unknown enemy just recently. It seems to be...uh...malfunctioning."

"In what way?"

"Uh...how do you put this...? Well, it acts...rather...casually. Not at all like an ordinary droid."

The robot, surprisingly, answered the mechanic. "Hey! My name is Pyoro! And I can assure you I'm not malfunc...!"

Parfet plucked it out of the air in mid-sentence. "That is so amazing! But odd, though. Anyways, let's see what makes this thing work like this! Well, be seeing you all later! Gotta get to work!" She was like a giddy child, and she scooted out into the research lab to 'get to work'.

"She's always like that when something interesting about machines pops up," Magno said to nobody in particular. She then turned to Jai. "Ah, you were saying?"

"Well, yeah...what exactly is...uh, Mejale...and Tarak?"

Another short stillness, but this time it was Meia who replied. "Mejale is our planet. We, women, are also referred to as Mejale. Tarak, on the other hand, is what we call the men and their planet..."

Jai looked surprised. "Men and women live on different planets!"

"That is correct. It's been that way for since time immemorial. How other way could it be? "

"Since time immemorial! No way! This wasn't in the history lesson those androids gave me...what the heck has happened to people...to the human race!"

Now even the others looked confused. "Human race? People? What are you talking about?" Meia asked.

Jai was almost in a panic already. "People! Homo sapiens! Man and woman! How could they not coexist?"

"Hey, calm down!" boomed Gascogne's voice over his own. "So you are saying that in the time you come from, Tara...I mean, men and women live together, in peace and harmony, and they are called people, or the human race?"

"Absolutely! In the time I come from, everyone lives on the same planet! Outer space had only been recently explored!"

Gascogne paused for awhile before speaking. "Yep...I truly believe he's from another time. It's either that, or he's gone really loony. But the second reason won't explain how he knows to work that instrument, so it has to be the first."

Jai was totally confused at this point. 'How did this happen? How could men and women not coexist...and for ages already? And now they're acting like total enemies! No wonder this ship had only women...' He didn't notice his eyes were glazed over and his breathing was ragged. Still, he was somehow able to calm himself down reasonably, a mental trick he developed while awaiting stressful tests in medicine school.

"Okay, that's enough for now. I don't know how much more excitement our guest could take. I believe a little rest is in order; this will be continued another time." Magno stated finally, heading out of the hangar. "Meia, show him to his quarters. We've had enough gallivanting for today."

Meanwhile, at the prison cell, Bart and Duero had fallen asleep. It was only Hibiki who was awake when Dita entered.

He watched as she walked towards the cell bars. It was amazing how much the Mejale actually looked like them, the Tarak...very much different from what he had imagined before.

He gave a start when she spoke; she had gotten close to the bars without him noticing, it made him silently curse himself for being so careless. "Uh, I'm really sorry I couldn't do anything to help you..."

Hibiki faltered awhile. 'Is this really...' He then remembered that he could speak, though his words came out weakly. "Uh...that's alright..."

"Anyway, I was hoping we'd get the others to understand that you're not really bad aliens...but it's hard to..." she said, brightening up a little, "but I believe you're actually good aliens."

"We're not actually aliens in the first place, you know..." Hibiki started.

Dita didn't seem to notice, as she kept on talking. "But I'm going to talk to Boss again...maybe I could at least get you better rooms. Thanks, Mr. Alien! See you again soon!" she said, before giving him a sweet smile and skipping out of the room.

Hibiki was stunned for a moment, but then shook his head and arched an eyebrow. "Now what was that all about? Crazy woman..."

"So...you still don't believe me, then...?"

Jai finally broke the silence as he and Meia traversed the hallways of the ship. Before they had left the hangar, Jai took his own personal things, to be kept in his quarters. Of course, Meia had him assure her that none of them were weapons of any kind. He was still shaken up a bit over the revelation, but to a lesser extent than before.

"Well, the story itself is already hard to believe, so you shouldn't be so surprised."

Jai sighed. "True, but what really surprised me was..."

"The existence of Mejale and Tarak? What could be so hard to understand about that? Everyone knows that the Tarak are evil and disrupt the balance of this entire universe..."

"Yeah, and that's also what the Tarak say, I presume..."

"That is their excuse."

He sighed again. Then he noticed Meia had stopped walking, and was standing in front of a doorway. "Here is where you will be staying." She said before turning to leave.

She turned to leave, when Jai spoke, sounding sheepishly. "Uh, how exactly do these doors open...?"

Meia wasn't sure if she was going to laugh or feel irritated. Instead, she did neither, and just showed Jai how to open the door. "Anything else?" she asked, rather coldly.

Jai laughed nervously. "I'm really sorry...I think I'll be able to manage from here on. Thank you very much, Miss Meia."

"Just Meia will do..." she replied, stepping into his room and turning on the lights.

"Uh...you don't have to..." Jai stuttered, stepping in after her. The room wasn't all that big; a bed, table, closet, a few shelves, and the light above were the only furnishings. A door was to the left wall from the entrance, and almost the entire right wall was a window, showing the outside space. He wasn't able to finish the sentence, but rather ended with a very awed "...whoa..."

"That door leads to the shower," she said, pointing to the aforementioned on the left side of the room, "...the room looks rather tidy. One of the girls must have cleaned it up recently."

He put his stuff at the foot of the bed. "Whose room is this, anyway?"

"...it used to be mine, but it hasn't been used for a long time. It's yours...for now."

"You mean...I'll be moving somewhere else?"

She looked towards the outside. "None of us knows whether your being sent here is temporary or not, or even whether you will be kept on the ship for long, even. Just understand that this will be your room for now."

"Okay..." he replied, as he began taking out his belongings and arranging them in piles on the bed.

Meia took the opportunity to examine his things more carefully. While they were not really things that were totally alien to their own way of life, any of them could tell that there was something...different about them. Perhaps it was how they looked, or, in the case of the music earlier, sounded.

"...I'm not going to bring out a gun and shoot, I can assure you," Jai said when he realized that he was being observed.

"Huh...? That's not...I'm just keeping an eye on you."

"Well, in any case, you're more than welcome to stay...just let me get my things in order. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes...not that there's a lot of them anyway..."

He placed the clothes neatly inside the cabinet, while his books and a few of the decorations he had taken from the safe-pod went on the shelves; the guitar was let to rest beside the cabinet. Meia observed intently, her curiosity getting the better of her logical side, enough to persuade her to stay instead of leaving. Finally, after only a short time, the only things that hadn't been put away were the medical supplies he had 'recently' bought.

"So...what do you think? Everything looks good?" He asked her, referring to the job he had done so far.

Meia just shrugged, closing her eyes for emphasis...or so that they wouldn't unexpectedly betray her. "Makes no difference to me; it's your room."

Jai looked somehow disappointed, but then suddenly asked, without any hint of negative emotion in his words, "Oh yeah, you suppose these could be put in the infirmary? I don't really need them here, and they can really help." He was referring to the supplies he had.

Meia raised an eyebrow. "How did you know we had an infirmary?"

"Well, it's really not hard to conclude..."

She figured it out as well, and simply nodded. "Now I presume you want me to show you the way there?"

"That would be fine, unless you'd like someone else to bring them instead..."

Meia rolled her eyes. "I'll show you there. It isn't a long way, besides," she said, leaving the room with Jai following closely after.

As they walked, Meia, rather uncharacteristically, began the conversation. "How come you have those supplies with you?" She was looking downwards, as if in thought as she spoke.

"You see, I was on my way home from medicine school. These things were supposed to be for my duty work for the next week."

"You are in training to become a physician?"

"Well, you make it sound so formal, but that's right. Perhaps 'were' would be a more appropriate term, even though it isn't...er, wasn't finished yet. I still have...had about three more months to go."

She nodded and let out a slight laugh, though still looking down at the floor as they continued to make their way to the infirmary. The rest of the walk went by in silence, save for the occasional greeting they both gave to other crew members they passed. Jai somehow suspected that he was being talked about by them, but brushed the feeling aside.

Dita stomped through the halls on her way to the bridge. She was going to have a talk with either the boss, or with the sub-commander at least about the aliens. She just had to convince them that these weren't bad aliens.

'Why would they have helped us if they were all that bad?' Dita thought, her resolve growing stronger with each step.

However, she paused when she reached the big passageway to the bridge. Could she alone be able to convince those who were smarter, who were more powerful than she was? She knew she wasn't really dumb, but she wasn't also the brightest.

For just a moment, she faltered.

'But I can't give up now...' she thought, trying to cheer herself on.

She was about to open the door, when it opened all by itself.

"Oh, Dita. What brings you here?" It was Ezra who had opened the mechanical gate moments before Dita did.

"Oh, hi Ezra...well, I was about to ask the boss or sub-commander..."

"...about those Tarak being in the prison, right?" Ezra finished for her.

"Uh...yeah. How did you know?"

Ezra giggled. "Well, I heard the boss and sub-commander talking about it just now. I believe that they're going to go easier on them and to the other guest too. They did help out after all. I'm sure Meia and the others have been told as well..."

Not waiting for the rest of the statement, Dita burst into the bridge and at once looked for the boss, who sat in her usual place.

"Boss! Thank you!" Dita shouted, happiness filling her tone.

Magno nodded in understanding. "And thank you also, Dita. It was you who had the most contribution to our decision. Just look out for them, okay? I'm counting on you," she also said in response.

Dita smiled back. Still looking around, she then thought something was amiss. 'Hey, where's the sub-commander? I should thank her also...'

Again...he was seeing it again. There was nothing but blue, and black, and chaos.

'Hibiki...'

"Not you again! Who are you anyway!"

'...your proof...'

"Huh?"

'...your existence...'

"You're not making any sense!"

'...your power...'

"My...my...power...?"

A loud clanging woke him from his dream. "Hey Tarak!"

Also Bart and Duero were roused by the noise. "Get up, all of you."

The bars of the cell were drawn, and two Mejale stood in front. One of them was the one the others earlier referred to as the 'sub-commander'.

"Are we needed to fight again?" Duero asked nonchalantly.

"Actually," the sub-commander said just as coolly, "we're here to escort you to your proper living quarters on this ship."

Bart and Hibiki both got up at once. "What did you say?"

In the infirmary, Pai was still working on fixing up the place. She almost screamed when Meia entered and said, "Pai..."

"Don't scare me like that! I thought you were Gasco again...!" the young nurse yelled, but suddenly stopped when she noticed the other person enter.

"Anything wrong...?" Jai asked.

Pai shook her head, too surprised to speak.

"Wow...cool!" he exclaimed, looking around. Most of the things were already neatly arranged; only a corner seemed to still need organizing.

"Why's he here?" Pai whispered to Meia.

Jai spoke, as if in answer to her question. "Well, you seem to be cleaning up here...very sorry for the intrusion, but I thought I'd bring these medical supplies here for keeping, and for use as well should the need arise. Would that be okay?" he asked, flashing a smile. Meia simply looked at Pai and pointed towards Jai as her own reply.

"Uh, okay, I think," the nurse replied, "just be sure not to disturb anything else, alright? It took me a looooong time to get all these things orderly."

"No problem. Just say where these need to go."

Meia blinked, and then sighed. "I guess I'll help as well..."

Soon, with the three working, the infirmary was all organized. "Finally!" Pai exclaimed, beaming at the work done. "Thanks a lot, you two. Hah! I'd like to see Gasco still complain about this place! And now..." she said slyly, taking out what looked like a camera, "...on to more important things!" She dashed out of the room, leaving her companions.

Jai let out a chuckle. "Isn't she a little young to be in a place like this?"

"It's not like anybody had much of a choice. Circumstances led her to be here, like many, if not all, of us," Meia said, stepping outside the door, "in any case, it's better than her being a Dread pilot."

"I guess..." Jai sighed, also leaving the room. "Anything the matter?" He asked as he noticed Meia just standing outside.

"I'm keeping an eye on you, remember?"

"Oh yeah..." Jai smiled, and then began walking back towards his room, Meia following closely.

When they neared the destination, Meia asked, "No other agenda?"

Jai opened the door. "Maybe later, or more likely tomorrow...I'm bushed! I guess I'm going to bed after a shower."

"Oh, okay..." she sounded almost disappointed, though Jai thought he was giving groundless implications to her tone.

"Well, thanks lots for your company, Meia. I really appreciate it," he added, smiling genuinely.

She just nodded, and as the door closed fully, she began towards her own room, not even bothering to notice that the lock on Jai's room wasn't activated.