Dilandau was sitting in his quarters. He was puzzling over something. He eventually walked over to the computer terminal near the corner of his room. He flicked it on. "Voice control and operation." He said it. He didn't feel like typing in everything.
"Computer. Define the emotion called 'love.' Tell me how one can figure out if one has... 'fallen' in love, as they put it. Can you do that?" He asked it in a calm, casual voice. Yes, I can. Computing... It said. He could wait. Processed. It said finally.
The love felt between a boy and girl, or man and woman, respectively, can be described in many different contextual ways. Philosophically, simply one example cannot be found. Scientifically, it is classified as a chemical reaction, that occurs when two or more chemicals mix in a certain part of the brain, like all other emotions are. This is still a theory. Biologically, it can be described as the process of reproduction. Basically, it can be described as when one feels an intense positive feeling towards another. The computer explained as Dilandau listened attentively.
"So... How does one find out if one is in love with another?" Dilandau asked the console, as he commanded it to print the paragraph. It computated his question. Dilandau was now sitting right in front of the screen, staring at it as it's words formed on the screen, and as it spoke them.
Question successfully computated, but there was an error. File not found. It said, and Dilandau grew so angry with it that he drew back his fist and punched in the screen. Sparks flew. Now how was he supposed to find out if he was in love with Gabrielle? He read the computer's printout over and over again. He was going to need a new computer. Again. But, he needed one now. He thought rapidly of where there was another computer. Gatti had one. But, he didn't want to be in Gatti's room. He'd probably end up busting his computer, and Gatti needed his computer. His had the most sophisticated technology on it, things that he had made himself.
He pondered for a moment more. He then got up and left his quarters, headed for Gabrielle's. The he realized he couldn't use hers if she was there. The Oreides. It had a central computer that could be connected to the mother computer, and what was more, he could make the connection scrambled so that nobody save himself could view or intercept what he was doing. He had the authority to do it. So, he changed direction and headed towards the docking bay.
Gabrielle was sitting in her quarters. There was a beep on the panel on the wall. Someone was calling her. She pressed the button. "Gabrielle, here," She said to it. Dr. Jerrick's sharp, crisp voice spoke. "Good. Gabrielle, come down here. You must test you on your fighting skills outside of a mech." He said to her. "That's all, sir?" She asked, nervously. She didn't want any more needles. "Yes, Gabrielle. That is all. Come immediately." He said, and disconnected the 'Com line. She stood.
She got dressed again, and pressed the door release, locking it behind her, and walking down the hall. She wondered what training she'd have to do. She wasn't looking where she was going, just following the path that Dilandau had shown her to the battle grounds. She bumped into somebody.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm clumsy. Are you alright?" She asked rapidly, and she saw Dilandau looking back at her, calm and collected. "It's okay." He said. "Where are you going?" He asked. "I was called down for training." She said. "Oh, I see. Well, you're going the wrong way. It's in the direction of the docking bay. I'll show you." He said. "Okay." She said, and she followed him.
"What kind of training am I going to do, do you know?" She asked. "Hand to hand." He said flatly, looking straight ahead. "Oh," She said. She got the impression he didn't really want to talk. Either that, or he was thinking of something else.
They came to a hallway. "This is where the girls enter." He said. She looked at the door. It hadn't been used in a long time. "Doesn't anybody clean this?" She asked. "Well, you're the only girl here in years." He shrugged. "No one saw to it to clean something no one used." He said. "Best not to keep the Scientists waiting. Good luck, Gabrielle." He said. and when he turned away he added very very quietly, "My love." He didn't even realized he'd said it. What? He asked himself. I don't even know yet! What is up with that?
"Did you say something?" She asked. "Oh? I said... 'Buy gloves.' I was just reminding myself. This pair is old. Hard to hold a sword with them." He said. "Oh," She said with a smile. "I'll see you later." She added, and she clicked off down the hall towards the battle grounds.
She opened the doors to the room, and Dr. Jerrick was standing there, along with several other associates of his. "Gabrielle, stand outside, in the arena. Your opponent will be with you in a moment." He said, and he pointed to a door. She stepped outside.
It was a massive room, and it reminded Gabrielle of a colosseum. She stood in the middle, the dust swirling all around from the breeze. She looked up. The arena was outside. It was on one side of the massive floating city. She watched the sky, feeling the breeze stir her hair. It had been a long time since she'd actually stopped and looked at the sky. She used to do it all the time. Back home...
"Have you chosen her opponent?" Dr. Jerrick asked another scientist, who sat in front of a console. "Yes." Replied the other, and he reached over and punched in a few programming lines. "What level?" He asked Dr. Jerrick. Dr. Jerrick half smiled. "Full." He said. "Sir?" The other asked. "Confirm it. I said 'Full.' What I say is what I mean. Do it." He said. "Okay." The other said, and pressed a button.
A door opened all the way across the arena. Gabrielle turned and faced the opening door, drawing her sword. She peered across the long distance to the door, inside the gloom. A figure emerged from inside. It put one foot into the light. She could see the toe of a red boot. She heard the sing of metal being drawn out of a sheath. A low laugh floated across the distance between them.
She was puzzled. The voice was familiar, but the tone of the laugh was not. It was a maniacal, insane laugh, that seemed to come from someone who had completely lost their mind. The figure emerged from the shadows, and she was confused. It was Dilandau. He gave a menacing, dark grin and lunged forward, swinging his sword high up above him as his long strides chewed up the distance between them in a matter of seconds. She blocked his blow, and watched several sparks fly from the clang of the two metal blades. He faked to slash down to her legs, and then thrust upwards, slashing her across the right cheek of her face. The cut wasn't deep, but it was bleeding a lot. The blood dripped down from the left side of her face. It stung.
She was shocked, but continued to block his parries and slashes. He laughed insanely and tried to cut her from the belly all the way up, like a fish getting gutted. She continued to block him. He aimed a punch, and she stopped his fist with the flat of her blade. His blade nicked her on her hand. She leapt back from him, her hand beginning to bleed. He'd cut her left hand, and it was bleeding a lot more than her face. "Dilandau, why are you hitting me?" She asked him in a frightened voice as she blocked yet another of his slashes.
"Moero!" Was all he answered. Burn? She translated. He cut at her again. He suddenly stopped in midair. He hung there, suspended, it seemed, by some invisible thread. Nothing on him moved. The image of him flickered, and she moved out of the way. The image restabilized itself, and motion continued. His blade dug into the earth. This is a computer! She realized. He's an image! He's not alive! Her mind clicked into high gear. Time to kick some binary-code butt. Serious digital ass. She said in her mind, and she smiled just as insanely as he had, and thrust forward, catching him off-guard.
She cut him on either arm, rammed him in the stomach and kicked him between the legs. His eyes crossed and he fell to the ground, hunched over. He lay on the ground for a moment. She had her sword to his neck, pointed in the base of the throat near the collar bone. She stood there for a moment, and then turned quickly on her heel and marched back to the scientists.
"Okay, that's enough. We see that you could have killed him had the need arisen. Why did you not act offensively near the beginning of the battle?" He asked. Gabrielle looked back at him. "Because I did not know it was a fabrication of reality. I didn't want to hurt my commander. His life is more valuable than mine to the Empire. If anyone were to die, it should be me instead, for I am worth nothing." She said flatly, betraying none of the other emotions or other reasons she felt. "It is good you think that way. That's the way we try to get our soldiers to think. Like a machine." Dr. Jerrick said, half to himself. "You may go back to your quarters." He said, and showed her the door. "We'll be seeing you soon." He said, belying a dark tone in his voice. She almost shuddered, but caught herself as she left.
While this was all happening, Dilandau was in the Oreides, typing and talking to the computer, which did it's best to help him. It came up with something eventually, but it looked foreign to Dilandau. H elooked it over. There were plenty of bright columns and the lettering was different colours in parts. At the top of the page, was a small logo that read "Bliss."
The title was supposedly a quiz on how to find if you really liked someone a lot. He began to read the awkwardly phrased questions, wrinkling his brows when he didn't understand the language. It said it came from someplace called 'London.' Dilandau figured this must be somewhere in Fanelia. That would make up for all the strange abbreviations and language words that he didn't understand.
"Computer, what does 'Gissa snog' mean?" He asked, completely lost. Term unknown, The computer replied. Perhaps it is some form of expression. It suggested, and Dilandau continued to read. "This is absolutely hopeless. I don't understand this. The language is confusing, and the context is unfamiliar. Why me!?" He cried, and the computer, taking this as a question, replied, I don't know. You are an officer. Maybe this is one of your missions. "What?" Snapped Dilandau, and the computer repeated itself. He lifted his fist to bash in the monitor and rip out a few cords, when he stopped himself mere inches before the screen. "Damn. I've already done this today. History repeats itself, and if I bust this one, it will be a lot more expensive. Damn you. I'll spare you, you piece of crap." He snarled at it, and as he got up to leave, the computer said, as the doors were closing, Thank you. In a flat tone that somehow managed to sound mocking. He made a face and a rude gesture at the machine, and turned and left.
He ran his thoughts over in his head. I'm just going to have to find out myself. But that's impossible. I don't understand emotions. He sighed as he walked. Fine. He didn't concentrate on where he was going, and and ended up standing in front of Gabrielle's door. I wonder when we can do that ... Thing... That I like... What was that word she used? ... Oh yes. 'Kissing.' Yeah. That was the word. I wonder when I can do that again... He thought boyishly to himself as he pressed the button on the door that gave Gabrielle an alert at his prescence.
She released the door, and he stepped in. She sat at her desk, busily wrapping her arm with something. He noticed a few drops of blood on the shining, polished black surface of the desk. The dark red was illuminated by a single, dim light to the side.
"What happened?" He asked, betraying only a fraction of the concern that he actually felt. He knew they were being watched. "Oh, I was hurt in training. I thought it was you, so I only blocked the blows. I missed a few. I eventually noticed that it was only a program, and ... Well let's just say I beat it." She said. He nodded. "Good job." He said. He noticed the cut on her face. He hadn't seen it before. It was on the opposite side of his scar. "Let me see the cut on your face." He said. "... Okay." She said and she turned towards him. He looked at it a bit closer. "It might leave a very faint scar, but chances are it'll go without a mark." He said. "That's good." She replied, and her attention wavered to the blood on the desk and on her arm, and the tears in the arms of her uniform.
"Damn, I need to clean this place up. I need to clean myself up." She said, resting her hands on her hips as she surveyed heself and the room. "I feel filthy." She added. "Where are the showers?" She asked. "You do have showers, don't you?" She asked. "Of course," He replied. "Just because we're boys doesn't make us dirty." He said. "Your showers are down the hall to the left. But, they're only two minutes long, and with cold water." He explained grimly. "What!? Two minutes? How am I supposed to clean myself with cold water in two minutes?" She exclaimed. She sighed in frustration. She grasped the towel that had been given to her and started to make her way down the hall.
"Wait," He said just as she was about to turn the corner. "My showers have warm water, and I can use them as much as I want. You could use mine this time." He said. "Oh, thanks so much for that!" She said. She grabbed her towel, and doubled back for the housecoat. "Do you have stuff to wash hair?" She asked him. "Yeah," He replied. "Great, let's go." She said, and they walked down the hall towards his quarters.
They went inside the quarters, and he showed her the bathroom, standing there for a moment. "Well, are you going to watch or what?" She said sarcastically. "Um, well... I, uh..." He stamered, with lack of a comeback. "I was sarcastic. Go away." She said and kissed him on the cheek. He turned stiffly and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
"Finally." She said to herself quietly. It was the only time she'd been alone since she'd gone out in the mech or was asleep. It was nice to have some time to herself. She disrobed and placed her clothes in a near pile by the outside of the door. She turned the knob for the water and stepped into the shower, adjusting the heat.
Dilandau sat on his bed for a moment, his hand on his cheek. I got kissed again, He realized. Wow, that took a minute. He thought as he smiled to himself. The strange sensation had returned, but he had suppressed it. He couldn't have piles of black feathers all over his quarters. What would he say?
"Computer. Define the emotion called 'love.' Tell me how one can figure out if one has... 'fallen' in love, as they put it. Can you do that?" He asked it in a calm, casual voice. Yes, I can. Computing... It said. He could wait. Processed. It said finally.
The love felt between a boy and girl, or man and woman, respectively, can be described in many different contextual ways. Philosophically, simply one example cannot be found. Scientifically, it is classified as a chemical reaction, that occurs when two or more chemicals mix in a certain part of the brain, like all other emotions are. This is still a theory. Biologically, it can be described as the process of reproduction. Basically, it can be described as when one feels an intense positive feeling towards another. The computer explained as Dilandau listened attentively.
"So... How does one find out if one is in love with another?" Dilandau asked the console, as he commanded it to print the paragraph. It computated his question. Dilandau was now sitting right in front of the screen, staring at it as it's words formed on the screen, and as it spoke them.
Question successfully computated, but there was an error. File not found. It said, and Dilandau grew so angry with it that he drew back his fist and punched in the screen. Sparks flew. Now how was he supposed to find out if he was in love with Gabrielle? He read the computer's printout over and over again. He was going to need a new computer. Again. But, he needed one now. He thought rapidly of where there was another computer. Gatti had one. But, he didn't want to be in Gatti's room. He'd probably end up busting his computer, and Gatti needed his computer. His had the most sophisticated technology on it, things that he had made himself.
He pondered for a moment more. He then got up and left his quarters, headed for Gabrielle's. The he realized he couldn't use hers if she was there. The Oreides. It had a central computer that could be connected to the mother computer, and what was more, he could make the connection scrambled so that nobody save himself could view or intercept what he was doing. He had the authority to do it. So, he changed direction and headed towards the docking bay.
Gabrielle was sitting in her quarters. There was a beep on the panel on the wall. Someone was calling her. She pressed the button. "Gabrielle, here," She said to it. Dr. Jerrick's sharp, crisp voice spoke. "Good. Gabrielle, come down here. You must test you on your fighting skills outside of a mech." He said to her. "That's all, sir?" She asked, nervously. She didn't want any more needles. "Yes, Gabrielle. That is all. Come immediately." He said, and disconnected the 'Com line. She stood.
She got dressed again, and pressed the door release, locking it behind her, and walking down the hall. She wondered what training she'd have to do. She wasn't looking where she was going, just following the path that Dilandau had shown her to the battle grounds. She bumped into somebody.
"Oh, I'm so sorry, I'm clumsy. Are you alright?" She asked rapidly, and she saw Dilandau looking back at her, calm and collected. "It's okay." He said. "Where are you going?" He asked. "I was called down for training." She said. "Oh, I see. Well, you're going the wrong way. It's in the direction of the docking bay. I'll show you." He said. "Okay." She said, and she followed him.
"What kind of training am I going to do, do you know?" She asked. "Hand to hand." He said flatly, looking straight ahead. "Oh," She said. She got the impression he didn't really want to talk. Either that, or he was thinking of something else.
They came to a hallway. "This is where the girls enter." He said. She looked at the door. It hadn't been used in a long time. "Doesn't anybody clean this?" She asked. "Well, you're the only girl here in years." He shrugged. "No one saw to it to clean something no one used." He said. "Best not to keep the Scientists waiting. Good luck, Gabrielle." He said. and when he turned away he added very very quietly, "My love." He didn't even realized he'd said it. What? He asked himself. I don't even know yet! What is up with that?
"Did you say something?" She asked. "Oh? I said... 'Buy gloves.' I was just reminding myself. This pair is old. Hard to hold a sword with them." He said. "Oh," She said with a smile. "I'll see you later." She added, and she clicked off down the hall towards the battle grounds.
She opened the doors to the room, and Dr. Jerrick was standing there, along with several other associates of his. "Gabrielle, stand outside, in the arena. Your opponent will be with you in a moment." He said, and he pointed to a door. She stepped outside.
It was a massive room, and it reminded Gabrielle of a colosseum. She stood in the middle, the dust swirling all around from the breeze. She looked up. The arena was outside. It was on one side of the massive floating city. She watched the sky, feeling the breeze stir her hair. It had been a long time since she'd actually stopped and looked at the sky. She used to do it all the time. Back home...
"Have you chosen her opponent?" Dr. Jerrick asked another scientist, who sat in front of a console. "Yes." Replied the other, and he reached over and punched in a few programming lines. "What level?" He asked Dr. Jerrick. Dr. Jerrick half smiled. "Full." He said. "Sir?" The other asked. "Confirm it. I said 'Full.' What I say is what I mean. Do it." He said. "Okay." The other said, and pressed a button.
A door opened all the way across the arena. Gabrielle turned and faced the opening door, drawing her sword. She peered across the long distance to the door, inside the gloom. A figure emerged from inside. It put one foot into the light. She could see the toe of a red boot. She heard the sing of metal being drawn out of a sheath. A low laugh floated across the distance between them.
She was puzzled. The voice was familiar, but the tone of the laugh was not. It was a maniacal, insane laugh, that seemed to come from someone who had completely lost their mind. The figure emerged from the shadows, and she was confused. It was Dilandau. He gave a menacing, dark grin and lunged forward, swinging his sword high up above him as his long strides chewed up the distance between them in a matter of seconds. She blocked his blow, and watched several sparks fly from the clang of the two metal blades. He faked to slash down to her legs, and then thrust upwards, slashing her across the right cheek of her face. The cut wasn't deep, but it was bleeding a lot. The blood dripped down from the left side of her face. It stung.
She was shocked, but continued to block his parries and slashes. He laughed insanely and tried to cut her from the belly all the way up, like a fish getting gutted. She continued to block him. He aimed a punch, and she stopped his fist with the flat of her blade. His blade nicked her on her hand. She leapt back from him, her hand beginning to bleed. He'd cut her left hand, and it was bleeding a lot more than her face. "Dilandau, why are you hitting me?" She asked him in a frightened voice as she blocked yet another of his slashes.
"Moero!" Was all he answered. Burn? She translated. He cut at her again. He suddenly stopped in midair. He hung there, suspended, it seemed, by some invisible thread. Nothing on him moved. The image of him flickered, and she moved out of the way. The image restabilized itself, and motion continued. His blade dug into the earth. This is a computer! She realized. He's an image! He's not alive! Her mind clicked into high gear. Time to kick some binary-code butt. Serious digital ass. She said in her mind, and she smiled just as insanely as he had, and thrust forward, catching him off-guard.
She cut him on either arm, rammed him in the stomach and kicked him between the legs. His eyes crossed and he fell to the ground, hunched over. He lay on the ground for a moment. She had her sword to his neck, pointed in the base of the throat near the collar bone. She stood there for a moment, and then turned quickly on her heel and marched back to the scientists.
"Okay, that's enough. We see that you could have killed him had the need arisen. Why did you not act offensively near the beginning of the battle?" He asked. Gabrielle looked back at him. "Because I did not know it was a fabrication of reality. I didn't want to hurt my commander. His life is more valuable than mine to the Empire. If anyone were to die, it should be me instead, for I am worth nothing." She said flatly, betraying none of the other emotions or other reasons she felt. "It is good you think that way. That's the way we try to get our soldiers to think. Like a machine." Dr. Jerrick said, half to himself. "You may go back to your quarters." He said, and showed her the door. "We'll be seeing you soon." He said, belying a dark tone in his voice. She almost shuddered, but caught herself as she left.
While this was all happening, Dilandau was in the Oreides, typing and talking to the computer, which did it's best to help him. It came up with something eventually, but it looked foreign to Dilandau. H elooked it over. There were plenty of bright columns and the lettering was different colours in parts. At the top of the page, was a small logo that read "Bliss."
The title was supposedly a quiz on how to find if you really liked someone a lot. He began to read the awkwardly phrased questions, wrinkling his brows when he didn't understand the language. It said it came from someplace called 'London.' Dilandau figured this must be somewhere in Fanelia. That would make up for all the strange abbreviations and language words that he didn't understand.
"Computer, what does 'Gissa snog' mean?" He asked, completely lost. Term unknown, The computer replied. Perhaps it is some form of expression. It suggested, and Dilandau continued to read. "This is absolutely hopeless. I don't understand this. The language is confusing, and the context is unfamiliar. Why me!?" He cried, and the computer, taking this as a question, replied, I don't know. You are an officer. Maybe this is one of your missions. "What?" Snapped Dilandau, and the computer repeated itself. He lifted his fist to bash in the monitor and rip out a few cords, when he stopped himself mere inches before the screen. "Damn. I've already done this today. History repeats itself, and if I bust this one, it will be a lot more expensive. Damn you. I'll spare you, you piece of crap." He snarled at it, and as he got up to leave, the computer said, as the doors were closing, Thank you. In a flat tone that somehow managed to sound mocking. He made a face and a rude gesture at the machine, and turned and left.
He ran his thoughts over in his head. I'm just going to have to find out myself. But that's impossible. I don't understand emotions. He sighed as he walked. Fine. He didn't concentrate on where he was going, and and ended up standing in front of Gabrielle's door. I wonder when we can do that ... Thing... That I like... What was that word she used? ... Oh yes. 'Kissing.' Yeah. That was the word. I wonder when I can do that again... He thought boyishly to himself as he pressed the button on the door that gave Gabrielle an alert at his prescence.
She released the door, and he stepped in. She sat at her desk, busily wrapping her arm with something. He noticed a few drops of blood on the shining, polished black surface of the desk. The dark red was illuminated by a single, dim light to the side.
"What happened?" He asked, betraying only a fraction of the concern that he actually felt. He knew they were being watched. "Oh, I was hurt in training. I thought it was you, so I only blocked the blows. I missed a few. I eventually noticed that it was only a program, and ... Well let's just say I beat it." She said. He nodded. "Good job." He said. He noticed the cut on her face. He hadn't seen it before. It was on the opposite side of his scar. "Let me see the cut on your face." He said. "... Okay." She said and she turned towards him. He looked at it a bit closer. "It might leave a very faint scar, but chances are it'll go without a mark." He said. "That's good." She replied, and her attention wavered to the blood on the desk and on her arm, and the tears in the arms of her uniform.
"Damn, I need to clean this place up. I need to clean myself up." She said, resting her hands on her hips as she surveyed heself and the room. "I feel filthy." She added. "Where are the showers?" She asked. "You do have showers, don't you?" She asked. "Of course," He replied. "Just because we're boys doesn't make us dirty." He said. "Your showers are down the hall to the left. But, they're only two minutes long, and with cold water." He explained grimly. "What!? Two minutes? How am I supposed to clean myself with cold water in two minutes?" She exclaimed. She sighed in frustration. She grasped the towel that had been given to her and started to make her way down the hall.
"Wait," He said just as she was about to turn the corner. "My showers have warm water, and I can use them as much as I want. You could use mine this time." He said. "Oh, thanks so much for that!" She said. She grabbed her towel, and doubled back for the housecoat. "Do you have stuff to wash hair?" She asked him. "Yeah," He replied. "Great, let's go." She said, and they walked down the hall towards his quarters.
They went inside the quarters, and he showed her the bathroom, standing there for a moment. "Well, are you going to watch or what?" She said sarcastically. "Um, well... I, uh..." He stamered, with lack of a comeback. "I was sarcastic. Go away." She said and kissed him on the cheek. He turned stiffly and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him.
"Finally." She said to herself quietly. It was the only time she'd been alone since she'd gone out in the mech or was asleep. It was nice to have some time to herself. She disrobed and placed her clothes in a near pile by the outside of the door. She turned the knob for the water and stepped into the shower, adjusting the heat.
Dilandau sat on his bed for a moment, his hand on his cheek. I got kissed again, He realized. Wow, that took a minute. He thought as he smiled to himself. The strange sensation had returned, but he had suppressed it. He couldn't have piles of black feathers all over his quarters. What would he say?