THE TENTH DISK
By blackhart
copyright MM Abacus Fiction, revised 6/26/2001

Chapter Four

Zero

I really needed time at my meadow to think about what I'd just been through. I had just completely lost it when Pi had mentioned my past... I sighed. I knew why I'd done it...Pi reminded me so much of a friend of mine who turned Maverick just as her life was beginning to blossom. I remembered Iris, my friend, my... good friend. So many memories of her are still stored inside my head, many happy memories from the short time I knew her, never to die, as she had.
Anyone will tell you that I am so totally not a being prone to blowing up at people, but if you test my bad side...be afraid, be very afraid.
I laid back on the long grass in the meadow, thinking again how lucky I had been to find this place. I had made this my bastion, my place to come to get away from it all for just a few minutes. I had crashed for a nap in the grass, slept a few hours, and had definitely gotten what I wanted out of it: relaxation.
All this aside, I still wondered why Sigma had wished X good luck in that vision, or whatever it was. Why had a Maverick wished my friend luck against fighting another of his own kind? Time held the answer, I knew; Time, that god of everything known and unknown. After waiting a while, Sigma's true motives would surface. I confided that to myself.
Until then, however, I would go back to HQ and talk with X. Our mission had been accomplished, and that I was glad for. We had acquired the disks, X had defeated the Wily-Bot, and Pi had been incapacitated. I knew that once I returned, organizers would set their sights higher: Delta's fortress would be next.

* * *

I returned to base shortly after my cogitating in the meadow. X and the others had been waiting eagerly for my return: I remembered, only after they told me, that I had the disks with me. I handed them over to be destroyed, and asked how Pi was coming along.
Dr. Cain and X gave no response, only gestured for me to follow them into one of the labs there. After walking in, I expected to see her dead, honestly. However, there she was, very much alive, standing up and with a glad twinkle to her eyes to see me.
Running up to me, she hugged me to her and kissed my cheek. I gave her a look that said: Kindly lay off. I'm not that touchy-feely. She complied with my gaze, and stepped down. "Sorry. I'm just so grateful to you and X for freeing me."
"Think nothing of it," I said. "Doc Cain here saved you. We just brought you here. In all fairness, you should be thanking him."
She smiled sweetly. "Yes, thank you, Doctor," she said, swirling around to look at Cain. "I owe you my life."
He now smiled and nodded at her politely. I had only heard the old guy speak a few times; however, he had his own way of expressing himself.
"So what is your real name, Pi? I mean, I hate calling you by any name Sigma gave you," X said.
She closed her eyes. "Now, it's foggy to me. When Sigma infested me and my sister, Delta, we were both young. I have almost no memory of who I used to be."
I spoke up. "Would you mind if I suggested a name?"
X smiled. He knew what I would say.
"I owe you so much. I suppose the least I can do is to let you name me," she replied.
I grinned. "Then call yourself Iris," I said. "It suits you well."
She paused, as if thinking. "Iris..." she mused. "It does sound good for me. Did you just now think of it?"
"It's in memory of an old friend," I said, quieter now.
"Oh," she said simply. "I didn't know..."
"I'm okay with talking about her," I said. "She's been gone over five years now."
She lowered her head. "Iris," she muttered again. "I like it."
"If you still feel as if you need some time to yourself, I know of a meadow where I go to think every now and then. You should go there."
She nodded. "I have some time here. I'll do that."
It was suddenly painfully obvious that conversation had become difficult to establish. You could've heard a pin drop, the silence was so deafening.
"So we're hitting Delta next, I hear?"
"Yes," X said in response. "And, as Iris mentioned, Delta's host is her sister."
My eyes panned back to Iris. "Yes, although I can't remember her name either. Epsilon's host was not related to us, though; that I do remember."
"So plan on giving Delta a new name when we get back here too," X told me with a smile.
I smiled back. Briefings were given in fifteen minutes, after the dropships would land at Delta's. Our neural nets would receive the info we needed, while we cleaned up major security.
Netrix, a fellow Hunter, suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Time to go guys," he announced. "Even the dropships won't wait for our two star Hunters."
I smiled back at him. "We're there, Trix." Turning back to my newly named companion, I allowed her a smile as well. "We'll be back soon with your sister."
She returned the grin with a small sparkle in her eyes. "I think I'll take a trip to that meadow while you're gone. I look forward to your return, Zero."
I left the room with X in tow. Suddenly, a wave of some strange feeling swept over me. No way, I thought. I can't like her already!