AN This is the part where you figure out what's going on. I've been told it's confusing, and I agree, kind of. If you have any questions on what's going on, please contact me and I'll answer them as best I can without confusing you more.
_____________________
Ghosts and Constructs
By Areku
Chapter Three
Problem of the Past
_____________________
Shortly after the failed attempt to leave, Gene ripped through the station management, complaining, fighting, and all the usual stuff. Despite enjoying the time spent with Melfina, he didn't like the ship getting shut down, or not being able to leave the station.
He acted accordingly. His hand was enwrapped in a man's shirt (the desk jockey in charge of the docking bay) and was quite content with rambling on in his face. The man being yelled at, despite his great patience, got sick of it. So one of his free hands reached around to hit the security button. In a few moments a security officer, in a uniform of red on white, barged in, pulled Gene up by the hair, and stuck a gun to the back of his head. Mr. Redhead was then dragged off to the office of the resident security forces officer.
*****
He was shuffled into the head hocho's office.
"Lieutenant Setsuna, this man was apprehended at the port."
(AN Setsuna- moment, instant)
Lieutenant of the moment's head was buried behind some paperwork. All that could be seen was his short hair.
"He appeared to be holding up one of the offices. It's odd he chose that office, there wasn't anything worth steeling in there."
There came a sigh from behind all the papers, a feminine sounding sigh. (Please keep in mind who Gene is, let's just assume he can tell these kinds of things.) He peeked out from behind his work, and he wasn't a he at all. He was a she.
"Oh, it's you." She said looking closer at Gene.
"Who?" Young officers never quite have it together these days.
She gazed at the younger officer and shook her head slowly. "Just a playboy, who likes causing trouble in bars. You may leave now."
As true an analogy as that might have been, Gene wasn't exactly comfortable with it being placed on him at that moment. The junior officer left and Setsuna pushed away her things.
"So," she said quite casually, "what did you do?"
*****
It was made very clear to Gene very fast that he was no longer in the bar- neutral territory, or on his spaceship- his territory, he was in her territory. Oh yes, and she had all his statistics sitting in front of her. So she knew all about the Outlaw Star etc. Which did give her quite an advantage over the disarmed outlaw.
She was now leaning over her desk. Her nose a few inches from Gene's, with a much different intent from before. "So you're telling me that you weren't trying to hold the place up?" She had been saying that, in that sarcastic 'I'll never believe you' voice, for the past half-hour.
"I told you before, the station didn't let us out when we requested permission to leave."
"Were all your bills paid." Now she housed a twisted smile, happy at inflicting any injuries on the helpless victim.
Gene sighed, and angry sigh, not your typical 'I'm so exhausted' sigh. She was queen for the moment, but he would get what he wanted. An idea slithered into his head, and he smiled, a twisted smile. "I thought that if I harassed that paper pusher enough I would be taken to see you. I couldn't just let you walk out of my life without some answers." Those weren't his true intention, but oh well. If she was flattered, she would cool down and be easier to work with.
"Mr. Starwind, I have written here that you hate pirates. I hate liars and playboys. Well not so much hate but strongly dislike the leading character traits of..."
"Ah, but I'm not lying."
"So your telling me that you weren't trying to hold the place up?"
She wasn't biting. Even worse, there was quite a bit of cleavage showing through her 'oh so open' uniform. It was too close. Gene felt that familiar tugging, but he refused to let go just yet. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. "No, I came to see you."
She finally laughed, and sat back down. "Gene Starwind you are the biggest liar."
Phew, she finally backed off. Good. Now on to the main plan. He considered several approaches quickly. He could do the 'I was so enraptured by your beauty' but she would see through that. The poetic approach wouldn't work with the reputation he established. He could always do the 'we never got our drink together', but that was just stupid. He finally chose one totally off base, "I was wondering what you meant about this station not being safe for constructs." That wasn't what he wanted to know at all, but if she started talking about that maybe she would forget him.
She raised an eyebrow; "Well the people around here have bad memories about constructs."
He also raised an eyebrow, and tried to sound enraptured, "Really?"
Now she was more irritated, "Everyone knows about the construct building and experimentation."
"I guess I'm not apart of that 'everyone.' Why don't you enlighten me?"
"That's getting off topic."
His head dropped forward, he started rubbing his temples. She was so difficult. "So I got myself arrested for nothing?"
"Yes, I guess you did. I'll just have to put you on record for being caught in the act of theft." She started to write in her book again.
Gene was getting worried again. This didn't look good. Not good at all.
She noticed this, and smiled a little, "Have I struck a nerve Starwind." She looked up at him, "If you tell me what I want to know, I'll tell you what you want to know."
Gene smiled, a real one, not one of those fake ones he had before. At last, she was coming around. "That suits me just fine." He leaned forward
*****
"...That brings us up to date."
"How does this all tie in with wanting to see me?" She had an amused smile on her face.
"Well, ah," he scratched his head.
She laughed, "Quite impressive Starwind. I don't think your history recitation abilities are as advanced as your lying and exaggerating abilities, but we will let that rest, at present. Now you said you wanted to know about the construct building, is that right?"
"Yes." Well what did he have to lose? He could loosen her up some more, or he could walk out and possibly get the whole affair written up. Besides, maybe this whole construct thing was related to Melfina.
"This was not the main, or most important, of all the construct building sites, but it has a history like all others. Quite a while ago there were several scientists in the area. They were experimenting on artificial lifeforms. The ground work for this technology had already been established, they were just refining some of it's finer points.
"Every night, it seems, there were awful noises coming from their research centers. Screaming, ripping... Several times a test subject got out and would run ramped through the streets until someone put it out of it's misery. All of this was perfectly legal, and was protected by the police forces. The research was being done for us, why should we oppose it.
"Then there was one construct, that's what they decided to call them, being built that would top all others. All the past experimental data was used to make the perfect being. She would be programmed to navigate a spaceship that was being built at another site.
"This was the construct built for the space forces. It was shipped off, with a large escort, to be met by the space police forces. Before it reached it's destination pirates attacked, then there was a great battle. In the middle of all of that, a civilian shuttle slipped in and stole the construct. After that the spaceship was also stolen.
This, then, was Melfina?
"I read about all that when I was first stationed here. You should always know the local history of your work place."
Gene indicated agreement.
"Anyway, I came across some other articles, when studying all this. Something about a program being set up, incase the construct was ever detected in this area. A virus that would shut down her system and any other systems that came in contact with her. Then the appropriate authority could retrieve her. I think it was something like that, but it's been awhile since I read that article..."
The ship, the virus, Jim said...
"The main scientist that developed all this has disappeared, assumed dead. The others have all died. You'd think that with their deaths the program would have shut down, but I don't know..." She looked over at Gene. He was looking much too serious for the occasion. "So it's just a ghost. Since it's owner died, it's more like a reminder of the past tragedy." With that last statement she brightened considerably, "So Mr. Starwind, did I tell you everything you wanted to know?"
"Yeah," his mouth was dry, cracked, "thanks."
"No problem, just come down here sometime and we'll have to go for a drink or something."
He left her office. The door to the building shut and he was out on the street again. "But we can't leave here without destroying that ghost." Gene returned to the Outlaw Star.
To be continued
AN This chapter reminds me of 'Big O'.
Setsuna is mine, and you can't use her unless you ask. I don't see why you'd want to use her; she's not that great a character.
Disclaimer- Outlaw Star is owned by Sunrise, Bandai, Anime Village and the edited version- Toonami. I'm not making any money off this (unfortunately) so please don't sue me.
_____________________
Ghosts and Constructs
By Areku
Chapter Three
Problem of the Past
_____________________
Shortly after the failed attempt to leave, Gene ripped through the station management, complaining, fighting, and all the usual stuff. Despite enjoying the time spent with Melfina, he didn't like the ship getting shut down, or not being able to leave the station.
He acted accordingly. His hand was enwrapped in a man's shirt (the desk jockey in charge of the docking bay) and was quite content with rambling on in his face. The man being yelled at, despite his great patience, got sick of it. So one of his free hands reached around to hit the security button. In a few moments a security officer, in a uniform of red on white, barged in, pulled Gene up by the hair, and stuck a gun to the back of his head. Mr. Redhead was then dragged off to the office of the resident security forces officer.
*****
He was shuffled into the head hocho's office.
"Lieutenant Setsuna, this man was apprehended at the port."
(AN Setsuna- moment, instant)
Lieutenant of the moment's head was buried behind some paperwork. All that could be seen was his short hair.
"He appeared to be holding up one of the offices. It's odd he chose that office, there wasn't anything worth steeling in there."
There came a sigh from behind all the papers, a feminine sounding sigh. (Please keep in mind who Gene is, let's just assume he can tell these kinds of things.) He peeked out from behind his work, and he wasn't a he at all. He was a she.
"Oh, it's you." She said looking closer at Gene.
"Who?" Young officers never quite have it together these days.
She gazed at the younger officer and shook her head slowly. "Just a playboy, who likes causing trouble in bars. You may leave now."
As true an analogy as that might have been, Gene wasn't exactly comfortable with it being placed on him at that moment. The junior officer left and Setsuna pushed away her things.
"So," she said quite casually, "what did you do?"
*****
It was made very clear to Gene very fast that he was no longer in the bar- neutral territory, or on his spaceship- his territory, he was in her territory. Oh yes, and she had all his statistics sitting in front of her. So she knew all about the Outlaw Star etc. Which did give her quite an advantage over the disarmed outlaw.
She was now leaning over her desk. Her nose a few inches from Gene's, with a much different intent from before. "So you're telling me that you weren't trying to hold the place up?" She had been saying that, in that sarcastic 'I'll never believe you' voice, for the past half-hour.
"I told you before, the station didn't let us out when we requested permission to leave."
"Were all your bills paid." Now she housed a twisted smile, happy at inflicting any injuries on the helpless victim.
Gene sighed, and angry sigh, not your typical 'I'm so exhausted' sigh. She was queen for the moment, but he would get what he wanted. An idea slithered into his head, and he smiled, a twisted smile. "I thought that if I harassed that paper pusher enough I would be taken to see you. I couldn't just let you walk out of my life without some answers." Those weren't his true intention, but oh well. If she was flattered, she would cool down and be easier to work with.
"Mr. Starwind, I have written here that you hate pirates. I hate liars and playboys. Well not so much hate but strongly dislike the leading character traits of..."
"Ah, but I'm not lying."
"So your telling me that you weren't trying to hold the place up?"
She wasn't biting. Even worse, there was quite a bit of cleavage showing through her 'oh so open' uniform. It was too close. Gene felt that familiar tugging, but he refused to let go just yet. He closed his eyes and turned his head to the side. "No, I came to see you."
She finally laughed, and sat back down. "Gene Starwind you are the biggest liar."
Phew, she finally backed off. Good. Now on to the main plan. He considered several approaches quickly. He could do the 'I was so enraptured by your beauty' but she would see through that. The poetic approach wouldn't work with the reputation he established. He could always do the 'we never got our drink together', but that was just stupid. He finally chose one totally off base, "I was wondering what you meant about this station not being safe for constructs." That wasn't what he wanted to know at all, but if she started talking about that maybe she would forget him.
She raised an eyebrow; "Well the people around here have bad memories about constructs."
He also raised an eyebrow, and tried to sound enraptured, "Really?"
Now she was more irritated, "Everyone knows about the construct building and experimentation."
"I guess I'm not apart of that 'everyone.' Why don't you enlighten me?"
"That's getting off topic."
His head dropped forward, he started rubbing his temples. She was so difficult. "So I got myself arrested for nothing?"
"Yes, I guess you did. I'll just have to put you on record for being caught in the act of theft." She started to write in her book again.
Gene was getting worried again. This didn't look good. Not good at all.
She noticed this, and smiled a little, "Have I struck a nerve Starwind." She looked up at him, "If you tell me what I want to know, I'll tell you what you want to know."
Gene smiled, a real one, not one of those fake ones he had before. At last, she was coming around. "That suits me just fine." He leaned forward
*****
"...That brings us up to date."
"How does this all tie in with wanting to see me?" She had an amused smile on her face.
"Well, ah," he scratched his head.
She laughed, "Quite impressive Starwind. I don't think your history recitation abilities are as advanced as your lying and exaggerating abilities, but we will let that rest, at present. Now you said you wanted to know about the construct building, is that right?"
"Yes." Well what did he have to lose? He could loosen her up some more, or he could walk out and possibly get the whole affair written up. Besides, maybe this whole construct thing was related to Melfina.
"This was not the main, or most important, of all the construct building sites, but it has a history like all others. Quite a while ago there were several scientists in the area. They were experimenting on artificial lifeforms. The ground work for this technology had already been established, they were just refining some of it's finer points.
"Every night, it seems, there were awful noises coming from their research centers. Screaming, ripping... Several times a test subject got out and would run ramped through the streets until someone put it out of it's misery. All of this was perfectly legal, and was protected by the police forces. The research was being done for us, why should we oppose it.
"Then there was one construct, that's what they decided to call them, being built that would top all others. All the past experimental data was used to make the perfect being. She would be programmed to navigate a spaceship that was being built at another site.
"This was the construct built for the space forces. It was shipped off, with a large escort, to be met by the space police forces. Before it reached it's destination pirates attacked, then there was a great battle. In the middle of all of that, a civilian shuttle slipped in and stole the construct. After that the spaceship was also stolen.
This, then, was Melfina?
"I read about all that when I was first stationed here. You should always know the local history of your work place."
Gene indicated agreement.
"Anyway, I came across some other articles, when studying all this. Something about a program being set up, incase the construct was ever detected in this area. A virus that would shut down her system and any other systems that came in contact with her. Then the appropriate authority could retrieve her. I think it was something like that, but it's been awhile since I read that article..."
The ship, the virus, Jim said...
"The main scientist that developed all this has disappeared, assumed dead. The others have all died. You'd think that with their deaths the program would have shut down, but I don't know..." She looked over at Gene. He was looking much too serious for the occasion. "So it's just a ghost. Since it's owner died, it's more like a reminder of the past tragedy." With that last statement she brightened considerably, "So Mr. Starwind, did I tell you everything you wanted to know?"
"Yeah," his mouth was dry, cracked, "thanks."
"No problem, just come down here sometime and we'll have to go for a drink or something."
He left her office. The door to the building shut and he was out on the street again. "But we can't leave here without destroying that ghost." Gene returned to the Outlaw Star.
To be continued
AN This chapter reminds me of 'Big O'.
Setsuna is mine, and you can't use her unless you ask. I don't see why you'd want to use her; she's not that great a character.
Disclaimer- Outlaw Star is owned by Sunrise, Bandai, Anime Village and the edited version- Toonami. I'm not making any money off this (unfortunately) so please don't sue me.