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Ghosts and Constructs
By Areku

Chapter two
Wet and Dry
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Gene continued to propel Melfina forward till they entered the Outlaw Star, and were greeted by Gillium and Jim. There he released her, and marched to the bridge.

Jim ran beside him trying to keep up, "Back so soon. I wasn't expecting you till tomorrow morning."

To remind Gene of his disgrace and all past grievances, especially when he was in this state of mind was not good. The friendly joke was not well received. Gene kept on walking, and growled, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Jim was abashed, and fell behind. He looked to Melfina, who was also running behind. "Did something happen?"

Melfina, smiling, "Oh, well you know Mr. Hothead."

"Oh wait, don't tell me... Did someone insult his hair."

"Not quite."

Jim had his eyes closed and was rubbing his temples; "Did they say anything about..."

He couldn't finish, Gene was yelling for them all to come to the bridge. "Hurry up, I wanna get out of this dump!"

**********************

They were all seated on the bridge.

"Gillium, it's time to take off." Gene just couldn't fix his attitude right now, like anyone who had been through a scare, no matter how small.

"Alright Gene, starting unlocking procedures now."

The ship hummed and vibrated, but the docking mechanism did not release them. The humming stopped. Gene's face was plastered with that sullen, grouchy look. Couldn't anything go right?

"I'm sorry Gene, but the station seems to be having some trouble."

Gene started to growl about the incompetents at the station.

Jim looked over his shoulder at the captain. He seemed so touchy, so easily set off. Setting him off was a bad thing, so it must not happen. "One of us better go down to see if the exit/entrance ramp is functional. That may be the problem."

Before Gene could growl in response Melfina spoke up, "I'll go check and see if I can find what's wrong."

Gene started to reply but was cut off by Jim, "Why don't you go down to the engine room, and see if anything's overheating. I'll stay here and try and isolate the problem."

******************

Gene went to the engine room, and allot of help it did! The tangle of wires, pipes, and panels wasn't exactly his area of expertise. This he would have readily pointed out to anyone who would listen. Unfortunately for him, no one was there to listen. Fortunately for everyone else, no one was there to listen.

Gene didn't brood for too long, because Jim called him (on his earring thingy), "Hey Gene, everything alright?"

Out of the reply, very little could be deciphered. He was really trying to say yes, but wouldn't come out and say it. He kept jumping over it with remarks like- "This isn't my line of work anyway"- and- "Why aren't you down here"- all that sort of things. It would be remarkable to note, while listening to him talk, the many different ways he had of saying the same thing.

Luckily, Jim got the picture relatively soon into the game. "Okay, why don't you come back to the bridge. I could use your help up here."

"Fine, I wanna get out of this dump anyway. It's way to cramped in here, and too hot..."

"Oh, and, Gene? Could you get a hold of Mel on your way up? I need her too."

********************

Outside, if anyone cared to look, a dog could be seen walking through the crowded streets.

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Gene walked to the docking room (where Mel was). Long walks are good when your in a bad mood, they tend to give you time to cool down. It is ideal, when at your destination of choice you are received into a calm, peaceful atmosphere. Nothing is ideal in this fic, so get that thought out of your head.

As soon as Gene entered the room all the lights went off. The door shut and locked. Some crashing ensued after the lighting failure. After that, Gene's voice rang out over the ship- "GILLIUM! Get the lights on NOW!"

As responding to orders like any good spaceship does, the emergency lighting came on. But the doors remained shut and locked.

Gene not knowing the doors were locked tried to open them. He tried, and tried, and tried. He had Melfina's full attention by the time he started slamming his body into them.

"Uh, Gene, is it really a good idea to break the door down? Won't Jim just make you fix it?" She hosted that concerned expression now.

He looked at her. He looked at the door. He thought of Jim's reaction, "Gene you idiot, I could have gotten you out of there if you gave me some time." He hated good logic.

He sat down, slumped forward, resting his head in his hands, with his elbows balanced on his knees. She sat across the room, looking out a window. Lets just say there were windows there, near the main hatch, and, while we're at it, we'll say there was something to sit on, I don't know what.

They didn't talk. Melfina was busy looking out the window, and Gene was busy being bored. Every couple minutes he would shoot a glance over at her. Come on! There was nothing else to do! Why shouldn't he be watching Mel?

Eventually he started tracing her outline with his finger. *Lovely traces I can sense you in everything...* She shifted her weight and he quickly lowered his hand. *The way that you move me takes me far away I feel no escape. *

Sweat trickled down the side of his face running into his gloved hand. When the ship shut down the coolant must have stopped running. He brushed his forehead off with the back of his hand. That didn't help much, because not only was it dripping from his nose, but also his shirt was starting to feel damp. Wet, he was wet...

She was dry. She seemed cool and composed. She wasn't suffering from a little uncomfortable situation like he was. Her skin seemed so smooth, soft, and like so many other things seem to say- touch me.

Where was Jim when you really needed him? Gene turned his back to her, and crossed his arms. I won't do it this time.

"But Mel's just another girl." His other half told him.

"No, I won't do it."

"Don't you love her?"

That made him look up, he twisted around to see her. "More than anything."

"Then TAKE her." That seemed like the natural conclusion. Wasn't that what everybody did? Hey, he was no exception.

He lifted his hand, a little. It started wandering Mel's way, faltering, failing. He wasn't resisting right now, that last argument was too strong.

But then that little voice inside his head said, "You've already seen her. There's nothing left to hide."

That insulted his pride. He had not taken advantage of her. He had not willingly uncovered her; it was the ship's fault. He had not done anything! Well, not really, nothing noteworthy... but still, who was that stupid voice to tell him what he should be doing? His hand stopped, "No."

"But Melfina is jut another girl."

Didn't it say that already? Oh well, "I can't just do that, she's different... somehow."

"Just do it." The voice screamed on.

Gene could handle himself now; "I respect her." He proclaimed this defiantly and out-loud.

Melfina looked over at him, questioning "Are you okay Gene?"

"Yes!" He waved her away, and turned his back to her again. Back to face the voice.

Mel smiled and whispered; "I could feel your eyes on me just now. Feel, just think me saying that! Did you know, I have mine on you."

The voice went on, "If you won't do it, I will!"

Gene was angry and nervous. A stupid voice having it out with Mel! But still what could that voice do?

************

Jim was playing around with the circuits behind some of the panels on the bridge. "This is so weird. The ship isn't malfunctioning, and no one's trying to hack into it from outside. It's more like a virus." He laughed, "That's crazy, a virus shutting down a technological whiz like this. But still... Maybe..."

************

Gene's body was propelled toward Mel (who is looking away). He stumbles and falters, trying to hold back. Till he stood directly behind her. The moment dragged on. Gene couldn't control it anymore. Instincts taking over.

The door opened, both heads turned, and Jim's silhouette appears. "You guys okay? I fixed the problem as best I could. But I need you both on the bridge."


To be continued



AN I couldn't make Gene do it. Sorry if that's what you've been waiting for. I refuse to write a lemon, or lime. It just goes against my religion, upbringing, and all that nice stuff. I'm not condemning you if you have written or read that stuff, I'm just saying why I can't. I would be happy to give more details via email, if you care.

In 'Anime Companion' I read that the Japanese consider themselves wet- emotional- while we westerners are dry- logical. Maybe they think that Mr. Spock is our ideal lifeform. Anyway, the book also said that a sweaty face, in shojo comics, was one indications of a 'lemon' scene. Those were my two thoughts while writing this.

Reading this over I seem to have allot of references to things that Toonami cut out. SORRY!!!Areku bows humbly If you don't get it just ask, I'll be more than happy to answer.

As soon as I get some reviews the next chapter will be up.

Oh, one more thing. I kinda took a couple parts from some songs. 'Consume me' by DC Talk, and the FF7 song 'Eyes on You'. I'm very unoriginal, can you tell? Well at least they aren't songs that everybody knows.

Disclaimer- Outlaw Star is owned by Sunrise, Bandi, Anime Village and the edited version- Toonami. I'm not making any money off this (unfortunately) so please don't sue me.