Ah, no reviews. Oh well, I've been through that before. For those of you who do read my story, which I think is going pretty well, here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer: see chapter 1
Chapter 3 Mind"So, how're we going to get in it?" asked Rioroute.
"We could pry the hatch open," suggested Gareas.
"Or we could just crack it open," stated Rioroute. "Like an egg."
"We can't afford to destroy it," replied Gareas. "No matter how much we want to."
"There has to be SOME way in," said Rioroute tilting his head to side as if hoping to find a sideways door to help him.
"Well there's no report on this thing," said Leena sighing over the keyboard.
"What do you mean there's no report!" exclaimed Rioroute. "You must have some information from poking at that thing for the past hour!"
"Well would you like to try?" Leena yelled back angrily.
"Now's not the time to fight amongst ourselves," said Yuu. He glanced up at the goddess. "We have other matters to deal with."
"Well so do I," said Rioroute with his stomach growling. "I'm off to lunch!"
"Hey! How can you be running off in a time like this?" yelled Gareas chasing after him. They both started running down the white track.
Somehow the goddess pilots had found an extra walkway to post up the copy goddess. They had tubes, wires, and all sorts of components attached to the arms, legs, head, and chest to find out as much as they could about the internal and external anatomy. So far the radiation readouts, electronic x-rays, nervous CAT scans, and energy levels had told them nothing. The entrance to the goddess, in the chest like the regular ones, was locked up tight. The goddess hadn't moved, and the Goddess Crew had taken a big risk taking it inside. The repairers were doing all that they could, but even Dr. Crawford couldn't jar open the door or find anything out of the ordinary about the goddess. The readouts came out normal, but he knew there was something wrong about that.
Yuu sighed, and walked off after Gareas and Rioroute. Erts and Teela looked up at the goddess; so alike and familiar, yet strange and scary at the same time. Teela drew her expressionless eyes up, and gave the face a long stare. Erts kept having flashbacks of the goddess pilot, of the pilot's mind. . .
"Who are you?" Erts breathed out. "What are you?" The goddess remained silent, as if brooding over his question.
"It's a strange feeling, isn't it?" asked Teela without turning her head. Erts broke his gaze and turned to face her with a look of surprise.
"The feeling of reverence, and fear. . ."
"You guys can be so stubborn!" yelled Gareas as he dragged Yuu and Rioroute by their necks. Rioroute frantically flailed his arms about and tried to fight against Gareas.
"Lemme go! Food!" Rioroute screamed out as if the food walk right out and help him in his time of need.
Yuu, on the other hand, remained silent. The pilot was annoyed, more than annoyed, he was pissed and just about to floor both Rioroute and Gareas as soon as his vein bulged enough to pop.
"Listen, we gotta figure out who or what pilots this thing!" Gareas scolded the two finally letting go of their collars.
"But, uh, what about lunch?" Rioroute asked innocently.
Yuu's teeth had been grinding so long they were now sanded down. The vein popped. "SO WHO'S GOING IN THEN?"
The crew was taken back by Yuu's break of silence. Yuu calmly stopped panting and regained composure; all in a fluent and professional manner. Rioroute and Gareas looked at each other.
"His is," they said at the same time pointing at each other. Yuu could feel that vein bulging again.
"Why me?"
"Don't you wanna go in?"
"You're the one who wants to get in. You go."
"But you're the braver one."
"Uh. . ."
"What's the matter, scared?"
"Yes, and that's why you should go in."
"Me?"
"Yes you."
"Well. . .I can't."
"And why not?"
"Well. . .because. . ."
As the argument continued Erts slowly zoned out. The goddess loomed ahead of him, a formidable foe and a vision of beauty as the other goddess. But there was something about this goddess that made it different. It wasn't an original, so it held a mystery the other goddess didn't have. Nobody really knew where the goddesses came from, but they could control them. This was an opposing force. They couldn't control this one.
"I wish you would open," Erts whispered in despair. He was tiring of this mystery and wanted to unearth the copy's secrets. He knew the goddess must have some clue related to Victim, or maybe to the origin of the original goddesses. Deeper still was the pilot he knew was there. He had to prove to himself that he hadn't just imagined what happened. But he just couldn't believe that a human could do such things. He was afraid of being wrong, but he was even more afraid of not knowing.
Why do you wish so?
Erts gasped, but nobody could hear over Rioroute's and Gareas's yelling. There was no use searching the room, he was sure the voice came from inside his head. His telepathic powers gave him a sense of knowing what was thought and what were spoken words. He knew to tell the difference, and he knew what that voice was. The problem was, that though it made sense, he didn't want to believe it. Erts shook his head rubbing his temple as nonchalantly as he could not to attract attention. How was he supposed to reply?
"Are you the goddess or the pilot" Erts asked using his telepathy at the goddess.
It matters not. . .I wish to know whyErts was surprised it answered back. "Why are you asking me?"
Because you seem worthy. . .
(pause)"I-I wish to see the pilot. I believe she's human. I believe I can help her. Please?"
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
"What's going on?"
I'm questioning the human.
"May I, may I talk to him?"
No, not yet.
"I want to talk to him."
Let me make sure he's all right first.
". . . Can you at least tell me what he's asking?"
He wishes to open the goddess
"Oh, I see. . ."
Now you know.
"Will you open for him?"
No, I cannot risk that.
"He seems well enough, he is asking you."
You know of the consequences. You know he cannot be trusted.
"But, I want to see him."
. . .Why?
"He's human, like. . .like me."
They cannot be trusted.
"They seemed well enough in the fight."
What they seem and what they are, are two different things. You don't understand creatures like them.
"I'm one of them."
But you have a chance. You can change and be different. You can change who you are, become better. Would you give all that up?
"I can't keep it unless I know what I could've had."
You don't want to join them.
"Then what is this need?"
Trust me. Have you ever heard of a story called 'A Tale of Two Cities'? It's a story in which a country mouse moves to city hoping to find glamour after all that he's heard about it. It turns out a horrible experience and he stays with his simple life instead. If you go it will seem joyful at first, but soon turn horrifying in the end.
"I heed your advice, but, I cannot deny myself this. I am entitled to know what it's like. I have to know."
I am not done questioning him.
"How is he able to answer?"
That I do not know.
"He must have some sort of power that is different. . .Open for him."
But. . .
"Please?"
. . .Are you sure you can trust him?
"That will be left up to you. I want to explore."
. . .You can trust him.
"Then let him in."
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Erts rubbed his sore temples. He had communicated with others via his telepathy, and more than one occasion he had even conversed with himself, but he had never talked to an inanimate object before. As a child he had a few cherished possessions, like a teddy bear and countless model planes. However he never talked to those creatures, at least not out loud. He mainly kept them around for comfort, for familiarity, for proof that his room was really his room and not a duplication he had been put in while he slept. Even as a child he had his EX ability, more reason he was promoted before hand to the upper class. Somehow Erts always considered talking to anything that wasn't living to be a sign of insanity. He needed to think he was sane, especially with all the activity going on with his mind. Of course he never considered talking to himself a sign of anything.
Of course he considered being interrogated by an inanimate object to be a sign of insanity.
Were the goddesses inanimate objects? Humanity really didn't have a clue where they came from, or at least it wasn't common knowledge. Some say that an eccentric scientist made blueprints for them a long time ago and they found the plans recently. Some say they fell from the stars and were from Victim themselves; a way for the human race to fight back since the other colonated planets had been obliterated. Some say the goddesses were alien beings that pretended to be robots. Of course the goddesses were mechas, but did they have AI's that made them seem human? Or was that just the pilot talking to him?
The pilot, he'd almost forgotten about him.
As if to answer his thoughts the pod door came down, lowering down like a drawbridge to the narrow walkway. Rioroute and Gareas immediately stopped arguing.
"Wha-?" started Rioroute. Gareas just ran up right next to Erts, no words uttered.
"Did you do this?" he asked the young pilot, knowing full well of Erts's true potential.
Erts, being unsure, merely shook his head. Of course, he wasn't entirely sure if he had committed a complete lie since he didn't know the answer.
Gareas nodded at Erts's answer, taking it as the absolute truth, and hurried in. It was a bit unlike him, to right into the unfamiliar goddess after he had loathed it so a while ago, then again Erts couldn't deny the curiosity he had as well.
"Hey! Wait for me!" yelled Rioroute. Using his telepathy, though not on purpose, Erts could hear countless curses coming from Rioroute.
"SHIT!" came a loud awed cry only seconds after Rioroute had disappeared into the darkness of the goddess; the belly of the beast where certainly its epicenter lurked. Anyone could guess that the curse came from sight of the entity, though it wasn't a cry. Rioroute wasn't in any real danger, but in a gawking awe.
Erts wanted to go in right after them, but he just couldn't muster up enough to go until Rioroute's exclamation. The goddess had spoken to him. In his own goddess Erts could feel strong hands helping him through every battle, but never a voice within the goddess itself! To think that such a being could communicate to him, and he wasn't even in the cockpit either! He was outside, and the thing had talked to him telepathically. Erts had never much used his power in such a way, usually only to read thoughts or completely operate his goddess's capabilities. Erts was a bit frightened of the mecha. The questions it had asked him, were deep and vague yet with a sense of importance. Erts could only guess he answered them right, though open-ended questions have no definite answer. He could hear the voice still echoing in his head. It was emotionless, like emotion in its truest form had never touched the machine, and cold, like space itself, yet distant. Erts shook off those feelings with Rioroute's remark. Erts sucked in his breath, and hurried in after his two fellow pilots.
Teela watched on silently. Like her usual nature, her face showed little emotion when not on the battlefield. She watched her comrades venture off, though she had little will to go herself. She was sure they'd pull out the pilot, and there certainly couldn't be enough room for all five goddess pilots to fit inside. She waited calmly outside with Yuu, though her mind was perturbed and chaotic.
The pilot had spoken to her, Teela had made sure of that. There was no denying it, even though the others had no memory of it, but she was the only one conscious when it happened. The pilot had addressed her, asking her if she was human. Did the pilot think that only the machine was fighting back instead of the organic fists that only used metal as gloves? Or did the pilot just not know? From what was spoken, the pilot didn't know how the word was pronounced, yet knew the meaning. But the voice was so cold, distant. . .apathetic and a bit doubtful. It was like the pilot was questioning the words they themselves had spoken instead of Teela. Yet the word was forced off their tongue, it didn't come naturally. That scared Teela. How could anything human say 'human' in such a foreign tone. What kind of animal was in the darkness she had let the others run into? Yet Teela knew they had taken that risk on their own, and she was not one to stop them. Yet she felt a twinge of envy; envy that she had not gone in first.
Unlike the usual black mass that separates the cockpit from the outside like a curtain, the copy didn't have that safety measure. Instead there was a thick door, which had opened, and a looming blackness from inside. Of course the cockpit wasn't directly in view, but it was far enough back to escape from light. The main cockpit was situated left from the entrance, and that was the direction Gareas and Rioroute turned when they saw the sight. Erts found them as statues, then leaned over to see himself, only to become another statue.
It was a horror unimaginable. The cockpit looked so foreign from the normal ones. Instead of the translucent material that bordered everything, this cockpit lacked it and had only the bare walls of the machine. Situated on those walls, in front of the pilot, were screens that glowed florescent hues. They cast the only light in the room itself, though the readouts on them was not what attracted their attention. It was the figure in the screens' light that made everything seem more morbid than the copy was itself.
It was a human, or at least something that looked human, or at least a human body.
It wasn't for sure the gender, for the face was masked with glows and the hair cut short. But the body was in a pose like it was lying down, though there was nothing underneath it. Its body was arched, the head slightly back as the back curved, and the arms spread out back like wings; like a swan emerging out of water. Though still lying on its back, the body seemed to want to curve up into a sitting or standing position.
What was disturbing was what was holding the body up. Wires. Countless wires all tangled around the limbs loosely yet freakish enough to look like they covered everything. Some were thick, like the ones connected to the arms and back, which undoubtedly supported most of the body. Then there were small and thin ones that snaked around the body. The body wasn't constricted in the wires, but more slightly tangled in them and emerging out of the mess. The wires seemed to lie on the body, yet keeping it up somehow. The wires did not just tangle around and run back into the floor from hence they came. They led up to the body, and ended. That would only be possible if they led into the body, which was the conclusion of the trio. The wires somehow went into the body, yet shed no blood.
The clothing was a thin white suit that covered the torso and only the torso. It wasn't a full body cover, but more likely something stretchable only meant to provide a means of clothing but not much protection. It was letting the wires though into the back. Erts could not see the face very well, but he could tell it seemed peaceful in the small light. The person seemed to be sleeping, or in a state of unconsciousness.
Rioroute nervously gulped, Gareas elbowed Rioroute from anxiousness. Gareas gave Rioroute a glare, baring teeth from his paranoia.
"Because you might seem worthy. . ." The message from the goddess was still echoing in Erts's brain.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The humans are inside.
"I know."
I don't like them in here.
"They are not doing anything offensive?"
No, I don't trust them. . .and neither should you.
"Whether you trust them and I trust them are two different things."
. . .
"Let me go now."
Please! Don't do this! Think. . .
"I have, please let me go."
You will see; you will come back crying. But you must learn what you would come back crying for, is that it? Go. . .
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Erts's telepathy suddenly perked up. Why did he sense some telepathy going on? Could it be the pilot?
With a sudden slurp one of the wires retracted into the floor, a small one. Slowly a second one followed. Then a third. Erts could hear a define sound of the wires leaving the flesh.
'Get what you came for' came a voice in Erts head. Snapping out of the horror dream Erts realized that the pilot was going to fall onto the ground, or whatever. Erts quickly darted down, skidding to a halt as a thick wire pulled free. The body teetered without one of its support legs, then fell. Erts easily caught the body, but had a chilling fear he might be holding a corpse.
The last of the wires was sucked back into the floor, though Erts couldn't see them pile up anywhere; it was like they went into the floor. Almost simultaneously the screens stopped glowing and clicked off. This left Gareas and Rioroute peering into darkness, and Erts holding a body he didn't fully know was human or not-or even fully unconscious.
"Erts! You alright?" Rioroute called loudly, as if he was in a cave.
"Shut up moron, we're in a cockpit not space!" snapped Gareas covering his ears.
"I'm fine!" Erts yelled back. "I've got the pilot, I'm coming out. On cue Rioroute and Gareas scampered out of the cockpit, their shoes skittering across the walkway floor. It wasn't long until Erts emerged, with a wilted body in his arms.
Rioroute and Gareas seemed to cringe back in fear, Yuu narrowed its eyes at it, and while Teela usual gaze was replaced with one of interest. Erts looked neither scared nor curious. He seemed very solemn, almost shoving away his fears to the back of his mind. He walked slowly and carefully out of the goddess, fearing the slightest sway might awaken the power he had fought against. The body didn't move, didn't react at all. It felt too wilted to have nearly beaten Teela in battle. It was only the small feel of the chest rising against Erts's uniform that made sure the thing was alive at all.
Erts walked up to Teela. "What will I do with the pilot?"
"Bring it over to the research lab," indicated Teela. Erts felt a pang of remorse for the creature when Teela said 'it'. He silently nodded, obeying orders.
Taking it the to the lab Erts noticed a few things. First were the arms that didn't hang onto his neck, which a human instinctively should. The body was either in a coma, or in very deep sleep. Also, was the hair was cut short only stopping a little above the shoulders. He could tell the hair was brown, though hadn't been cared for by its pale color. The brown was close to being beige. The hair itself reflected the body's wilted appearance, it flopped around with every step Erts took. The skin was very pale also, seeming to match the hair. She seemed to blend in more with Erts's white uniform that with his skin color.
Third was a closer look at the face. It was still peaceful, yet a bit cold. It wasn't the normal face worn in sleep, but one when a person is knocked out and made to lie somewhere. A look of old pain hidden behind calm.
Last, though Erts could not deny the urge, was the need to find out who this person was. To find out if it was a female or male, Erts discreetly tried to glance at the chest. The tight white clothing had three thick patches sewn onto it, thankfully over the private areas. There were two across the chest, from which Erts could feel and sense a define bulge. A female. Erts didn't blush, for he didn't know a female what?
"What will you do with her?" Erts asked Teela who was following behind them.
"Observe for closer study," came Teela's monotone answer.
"Somehow, I think the answers we're looking for lie within the mind of the pilot, not the body," Erts answered.
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Well, this has been rotting away just waiting to be finished. I feel happy though, since unlike the other Pilot Candidate fics I've seen this one doesn't start with a new girl candidate entering GOA. Instead I put a bit of a twist on the usual OC's I guess. I'm really looking for criticism on this one, so any comments are welcome!