Chapter seven: Onboard the Andromeda Ascendant
My stories will be on hold for awhile, partly because I'm busy and partly because I like to be a chapter or two ahead of what I post. I might put more on in a few weeks, until then, God bless!
Beka had sent out a distress call to an enormous warship called the Andromeda. We'd only to wait in a *very* awkward silence while Trance set to work on Scarecrowmon. At the time, I didn't know why, but it looked like he was trying to escape from her in his sleep. After twenty minutes, the alien threw up her hands in confused dismay and the Andromeda picked us up, naturally with guns pointed at us from a dark-skinned man and a lighter one. They lead us to a small golden room and the one who identified himself as Captain Dylan Hunt started interrogating.
He wasn't sure where we'd come from, but you could smell his fear and apprehension in the air. He didn't trust us, but he hadn't given us a reason *not* to. He was simply being a "High Guard" captain, as he was trained.
The captain, a big, brown-haired man, listened to our story with neutral disbelief. When we were finished, the ship's holographic A.I. gave him a readout on our status.
"They appear to be telling the truth. However, the cat and the worm, while having vital signs, cause minor disruptions in my sensors, as does the boy in the infirmary. This would be understandable if the two 21st century Japanese humans really mean that they are sentient data," she, Andromeda, reported.
"What about him?" Dylan asked. "Does he pass out often?"
My three companions looked at me and I answered, "No. That's a recent thing, as far as I know. It seems to occur when he senses severe psychic energy."
Andromeda muttered, "Yes. And where would we find that?"
Dylan climbed to his feet and called, "Trance?"
"So they believe us?" Ken asked.
"Seems that way," Wormmon answered.
We'd been on the ship for a few hours and I could feel the apprehension and hostility. These people were clearly used to abuse and we showed the classic signs of an oncoming inter-dimensional battle.
Dylan left the golden-yellow room and the sliding doors shut behind him. I made a motion to follow, but the ship wouldn't open her doors for me.
"You three are confined to quarters for now," she said.
Kari stood up, "But we want to see our friend!"
A stressed, cynical Ken laughed, "Who is 'we'? That little brat has been nothing but rude and sarcastic to me since yesterday!"
My, only yesterday?
"Do you blame him, Ken?" Kari answered. "From the sound of it Gennaii and Sailor Pluto were really paranoid about Sarabi's existence being known! I think that no one has ever come between them before and you have an infatuation with her and he doesn't know how to respond to jealousy!"
Ken glared sharply, "A crush? On a tiger-alien that eats Digidestined with our résumés for lunch? I don't think so."
"You did have plans to make her your empress!"
"That was then, this is now!"
From outside the small room, I heard, "The boy, if that's what he is, woke up as why was getting ready to remove those stitches. He bit me!"
I flung myself at the door, "You tried to--! You didn't--!"
The door opened and I fell flat on my face at the feet of the golden girl, Trance.
"No, I didn't. He bit me and then wouldn't let me come any closer. Here, take a look."
She held her hand out for me to see. I could see quite clearly a ring of red flesh outlined by bleeding teeth-marks. At least nine stripes ran across her hand as if someone tried to tie a bow around it too tight.
"He doesn't like them touched," I explained. "They are part of him."
She almost raised an eyebrow with confusion, "Part of him? Then what are they for?"
I shrugged, "I think just decoration."
Ken laughed, "Ha! Knowing Sarabi, she thinks they're cute."
Wormmon giggled, "See what she means by 'an infatuation'?"
Trance and Dylan led us down the hall to the med deck while Ken had a nice, long nap. The alien (Dylan was more or less human by their time's standards) filled us in on my friend's status.
"I tried to make nice with him, but I couldn't get him to talk. He looked scared and kept his back to me. He never made a sound. Not even squealing to get away. He might have been trying, but I couldn't tell."
The sliding door opened and revealed Scarecrowmon sprawled on the floor with some type of marker, rapidly drawing a complex series of 1's and 0's on the floor.
"Where did he get that?" Dylan hissed.
Trance shrugged, "He's smart, I'll give him that. What's he writing?"
I didn't know, but the numbers looked familiar to me. I had seen something similar before.
It looked like he wrote in the last sequence, because the childlike magic master threw down the marker and ran to the nearest panel where Andromeda makes her presence known. He ripped off the cover and jammed his fingers into the wiring system.
"Dylan?" the ship reported. "I am noticing something strange. It's like someone else is in here with me."
"I am here."
"That was Scarecrowmon?" Kari whispered curiously.
"Get the ship's engineer to translate that code on the floor," my friend ordered via the ship's communications system.
As soon as Harper saw the code on the floor he knew what it was.
"That is a binary code similar to the one that manifests itself as Romm- doll," the young human from the other ship noted.
"My version of a genetic code," Scarecrwomon replied. "Notice something strange?"
"Yeah, the part for communicating is all weird."
"How so?" Kari asked worriedly.
"It's like part is missing to make room for something else."
"In other words, when Gennaii altered me for Digidestined use and improved my fighting ability he messed with something he shouldn't have and permanently damaged me?" my friend asked as if he hadn't known it before.
His body was still jammed into the wall and he looked dead, even though he was breathing and showed all lower brain activity.
Harper scratched his head, "Yeah, kind of. If you could talk before I don't see why it's a problem now, but I don't know anything about your mechanics. But Gatomon said something about you had blackouts before and it came from too much psychic energy."
He spoke to Scarecrowmon like one might a timid child. The boy was brilliant. Scarecrwomon was shy, and seemed especially so then.
"Listen, kiddo, is there something you are trying to tell us?" he asked.
"I can't *hear* anyone. I can't read their minds."
My stories will be on hold for awhile, partly because I'm busy and partly because I like to be a chapter or two ahead of what I post. I might put more on in a few weeks, until then, God bless!
Beka had sent out a distress call to an enormous warship called the Andromeda. We'd only to wait in a *very* awkward silence while Trance set to work on Scarecrowmon. At the time, I didn't know why, but it looked like he was trying to escape from her in his sleep. After twenty minutes, the alien threw up her hands in confused dismay and the Andromeda picked us up, naturally with guns pointed at us from a dark-skinned man and a lighter one. They lead us to a small golden room and the one who identified himself as Captain Dylan Hunt started interrogating.
He wasn't sure where we'd come from, but you could smell his fear and apprehension in the air. He didn't trust us, but he hadn't given us a reason *not* to. He was simply being a "High Guard" captain, as he was trained.
The captain, a big, brown-haired man, listened to our story with neutral disbelief. When we were finished, the ship's holographic A.I. gave him a readout on our status.
"They appear to be telling the truth. However, the cat and the worm, while having vital signs, cause minor disruptions in my sensors, as does the boy in the infirmary. This would be understandable if the two 21st century Japanese humans really mean that they are sentient data," she, Andromeda, reported.
"What about him?" Dylan asked. "Does he pass out often?"
My three companions looked at me and I answered, "No. That's a recent thing, as far as I know. It seems to occur when he senses severe psychic energy."
Andromeda muttered, "Yes. And where would we find that?"
Dylan climbed to his feet and called, "Trance?"
"So they believe us?" Ken asked.
"Seems that way," Wormmon answered.
We'd been on the ship for a few hours and I could feel the apprehension and hostility. These people were clearly used to abuse and we showed the classic signs of an oncoming inter-dimensional battle.
Dylan left the golden-yellow room and the sliding doors shut behind him. I made a motion to follow, but the ship wouldn't open her doors for me.
"You three are confined to quarters for now," she said.
Kari stood up, "But we want to see our friend!"
A stressed, cynical Ken laughed, "Who is 'we'? That little brat has been nothing but rude and sarcastic to me since yesterday!"
My, only yesterday?
"Do you blame him, Ken?" Kari answered. "From the sound of it Gennaii and Sailor Pluto were really paranoid about Sarabi's existence being known! I think that no one has ever come between them before and you have an infatuation with her and he doesn't know how to respond to jealousy!"
Ken glared sharply, "A crush? On a tiger-alien that eats Digidestined with our résumés for lunch? I don't think so."
"You did have plans to make her your empress!"
"That was then, this is now!"
From outside the small room, I heard, "The boy, if that's what he is, woke up as why was getting ready to remove those stitches. He bit me!"
I flung myself at the door, "You tried to--! You didn't--!"
The door opened and I fell flat on my face at the feet of the golden girl, Trance.
"No, I didn't. He bit me and then wouldn't let me come any closer. Here, take a look."
She held her hand out for me to see. I could see quite clearly a ring of red flesh outlined by bleeding teeth-marks. At least nine stripes ran across her hand as if someone tried to tie a bow around it too tight.
"He doesn't like them touched," I explained. "They are part of him."
She almost raised an eyebrow with confusion, "Part of him? Then what are they for?"
I shrugged, "I think just decoration."
Ken laughed, "Ha! Knowing Sarabi, she thinks they're cute."
Wormmon giggled, "See what she means by 'an infatuation'?"
Trance and Dylan led us down the hall to the med deck while Ken had a nice, long nap. The alien (Dylan was more or less human by their time's standards) filled us in on my friend's status.
"I tried to make nice with him, but I couldn't get him to talk. He looked scared and kept his back to me. He never made a sound. Not even squealing to get away. He might have been trying, but I couldn't tell."
The sliding door opened and revealed Scarecrowmon sprawled on the floor with some type of marker, rapidly drawing a complex series of 1's and 0's on the floor.
"Where did he get that?" Dylan hissed.
Trance shrugged, "He's smart, I'll give him that. What's he writing?"
I didn't know, but the numbers looked familiar to me. I had seen something similar before.
It looked like he wrote in the last sequence, because the childlike magic master threw down the marker and ran to the nearest panel where Andromeda makes her presence known. He ripped off the cover and jammed his fingers into the wiring system.
"Dylan?" the ship reported. "I am noticing something strange. It's like someone else is in here with me."
"I am here."
"That was Scarecrowmon?" Kari whispered curiously.
"Get the ship's engineer to translate that code on the floor," my friend ordered via the ship's communications system.
As soon as Harper saw the code on the floor he knew what it was.
"That is a binary code similar to the one that manifests itself as Romm- doll," the young human from the other ship noted.
"My version of a genetic code," Scarecrwomon replied. "Notice something strange?"
"Yeah, the part for communicating is all weird."
"How so?" Kari asked worriedly.
"It's like part is missing to make room for something else."
"In other words, when Gennaii altered me for Digidestined use and improved my fighting ability he messed with something he shouldn't have and permanently damaged me?" my friend asked as if he hadn't known it before.
His body was still jammed into the wall and he looked dead, even though he was breathing and showed all lower brain activity.
Harper scratched his head, "Yeah, kind of. If you could talk before I don't see why it's a problem now, but I don't know anything about your mechanics. But Gatomon said something about you had blackouts before and it came from too much psychic energy."
He spoke to Scarecrowmon like one might a timid child. The boy was brilliant. Scarecrwomon was shy, and seemed especially so then.
"Listen, kiddo, is there something you are trying to tell us?" he asked.
"I can't *hear* anyone. I can't read their minds."
