Crossing-Over

Chapter Two

By SilvyrWing

            "I can't take off yet, he's still connected."

Bova looked up, realizing for the first time that there were wires and cables twined about his legs and arms, and that, somehow, inexplicably, they were connected to him. Through the gel that dripped into his eyes, he could see someone else… A couple someone elses… sitting in front of what looked to be some sort of control console. Then, there was the unidentified whomever that was still standing over him.

The man kneeled down, and Bova felt some sort of heavy sheet draped over his shoulders. Sputtering slightly as he considered panicking, he froze when he realized it was a blanket. A moment passed, and he pulled it closer, though he couldn't seem to wrap it completely around him. The cables that were affixed to his back saw to that. It was such a shock, that he couldn't think of anything to say… No comments, no questions, nothing. He couldn't even see very clearly, and as he looked into the face of his rescuer, Bova found that he was incredibly frustrated that he couldn't read any sort of expression.

"I keep forgettin' that they're givin' us more and more liberties lately. Still, it'd be nice if they were disconnected when they woke up."

"And possibly drown?" A female voice spoke for the first time. She was the one sitting at the command console with the other man. "They ain't gonna take that chance. 'Specially since we're practically on speakin' terms now. Well. S'much as you can speak with a machine."

Bova felt his rescuer grasp one of the cables attached to his back and pull it free. The wrenching was uncomfortable, but not painful. One by one, the connections were severed, until the blanket draped over his shoulders actually rested comfortably around him. The crew was silent throughout the whole process, even as he whimpered when the two wires embedded into his wrists were removed. Lastly, the cable that was connected to his head – one he hardly even realized was there until it was touched – was twisted and removed. It should have hurt… In fact, he got the distinct impression that it did. But by that point, the boy was so numb that he hardly felt anything at all.

Except the cold. And the fact that he was so tired that he could barely move. His actions were so slow and lethargic that he barely registered he was moving at all except for the fact that he could feel the texture of the floor move against his skin. The numbness was giving way to hypersensitivity as his half-awakened mind decided once and for all that he was not on the Christa. Neither was he anywhere where he could access the Christa. The cold floor, the damp atmosphere, and even the rough texture of the blanket were starting to feel decidedly uncomfortable. When the needle of a hypoderm pressed against his neck, he barely had time to register how painful it was before he fell into a very welcome sleep.

---

To Bova, it seemed like no time at all. He was awake one moment, and asleep the next… Before miraculously, he was awake again, and comfortable. There was a blanket pulled up to his chin, and he was definitely wearing clothes – finally. Nothing really fancy - just a hooded sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. He threw his legs over the edge of the bed, tentatively touching the floor with his bare feet. As he expected, the textured metallic surface was cold. After steeling himself for the shock in temperature, he placed both feet on the floor and stood, finding that his muscles ached as if he'd been working out for several hours. They didn't feel weak, though; not like they'd been the first time he awakened. And instead of longing to curl up and sleep again, he felt the distinct need to stretch his muscles and to walk off the pain.

The door on one side of the cubicle in which he found himself was slightly open, and as he stepped in front of it, it remained that way. Used to the doors opening themselves, he was almost aggravated that he actually had to push it the rest of the way before he could step out. As he did so, he remembered the cables, and reaching to touch the back of his head, Bova was surprised to find that his hair was gone… All except for a little bit of fuzz. They'd shaved his head? Why?

"So, what were you?"

Bova turned, blinking toward the voice. His eyes were still photosensitive, but he could at least focus them. He found he was in some sort of common room… There was a table set up, and a couch off to one side. It was on the couch that the speaker was sitting. He was an older man… Probably the one that had been piloting the shuttle, the boy realized.

He didn't seem dangerous. Ignoring the pain, Bova took a step forward.

"It's okay. You can sit down." The man indicated the couch.

"…I'd…" Bova cleared his throat. "I'd rather stand." He paused, taking in the features of the vessel. Computers everywhere. Pristine, metallic surfaces. It was beautiful, but dead. Nothing at all like the Christa.

"The Malachi is a new ship," the man stated. "Now that we've access to the Machine City, we have the ability to create them without having to resort to scrap." He stood, heading toward Bova… When the boy took a step back, the man stopped, continuing his explanation from across the room. "The peace between Zion and the Machine City is nice. It's mutually beneficial. But neither side can forget… So it's tentative at best. I'm Ark. My engineer, Lucifer, was responsible for finding you. You can thank him later… He's having a little private time with his wife at the moment."

"You say that like… You don't get a lot of time to yourself."

Ark shook his head. "We don't. We're a patrol ship."

"Patrol."

"We hang out around the Machine City, waiting for people to wake up. Don't get a lot… But it's best to be around pretty fast when they come to. I wager you were confused as hell when you opened your eyes."

Bova didn't remember if he answered the statement or not. Instead, he wandered further into the area, disappointed almost at the predictability of it. It was too symmetrical. Not what he was used to. Then again, there was a whole wealth of information that he seemed to have access to, and he could open it within his mind as if he was unlocking computer files. Machine City actually meant something to him… It didn't mean a whole lot until he concentrated on it. Then he seemed to remember something. The machines used to be enemies, and now they weren't. They lived in a city made entirely of other machines. He looked at Ark, eyes wide.

"Ah, you're realizing now that you know things that you shouldn't. We've uploaded the information into your mind… You can unlock it as you see fit. It makes things easier." Bova started to protest, but Ark raised a hand to stop him. "…There's a few things you won't know. We did that on purpose. It would be too much to learn all at once.

"But, back to the question I asked you right off. What were you?"

He ran the question through his mind, coming to the vague recollection that in this place, nothing but humans existed and thrived. He reached up to his forehead and realized that his antennae were gone.

"Uranusian, then," Ark surmised as he studied Bova's shocked expression. "You'll get used to it."

"Wh… Why? What's going on?"

"You're human now," Ark said. "In fact, you always were."

Bova shook his head. "No… No, I wasn't. I was a student, back at the… No. The Christa… It was the Christa." He paused, looking through his memories for an explanation, before finally registering the fact that Ark told him they'd uploaded said memories into his mind. It seemed okay, though. It seemed like something he could just accept.

But he couldn't.

"You uploaded memories into my mind," Bova wondered outloud.

Ark nodded. "That's right. There's a lot of history there for you. Thousands of years. Of course, you'll never be able to remember all of it. Your mind will open the important parts to you. Whatever else you need to know, you can ask. And like I said before, you can sit down. In fact, you probably should."

Without arguing, Bova took a seat on the couch. Ark sat next to him. "You existed in a place called the Matrix," the man began, leaning back against the arm. "It was a place the machines built years and years ago to… harvest… human energy. As the legend goes… One human traveled there. Convinced the bastards that humanity wasn't quite so bad anymore, and… the machines decided to leave humanity alone.

"Thing was, we couldn't just unplug them all. Even though the sun was back, and the machines didn't need us for energy anymore, waking them all up would have done so much damage to the minds of most that… They would have died. Waking them up would have been murder. So the machines agreed to keep taking care of 'em… Feeding 'em these dreams and lies… It was what they wanted to see."

"Children. Why didn't you take the children?" Bova tried to find the memory, but it was vague.

"We did at first. The young minds… The machines allowed them to be birthed without connection to the Matrix, which meant that no humans ever got pregnant. There was a panic… Wars, riots… You name it." Ark laughed a bit. "Humanity ain't graceful. Everyone blamed everyone else for releasin' this plague. Almost wiped themselves out without our help. No… We couldn't take the infants. Don't you see how perfect it is? A cycle that self-perpetuates itself over and over. There's no way out of it… There'll always be…"

Ark paced across the common room to one of the red-tented windows. With some difficulty, Bova stood and followed. He was drawn to the sight, but repulsed by it at the same time. Out the window, slowly passing them by as the ship moved, were rows and rows of pods, billions of them. And each one contained an unconscious human being.

Ark looked down at him. "You don't seem too surprised."

Bova glanced up at him, face indifferent. "I expected it would be something horrible."

"Uranusian. Right." Leaving the window, Ark took a seat on the couch again. "But you never were Uranusian, were you? In fact, Uranusians have never existed, ever. And they never will. They were made up. Same with Saturnians, Lumanians… Spung."

Bova watched him silently. He knew if he waited long enough, Ark would tell him what he wanted to know. Already, he knew the man liked to hear himself talk. There was an egotistical property to his voice, and Bova didn't like it. Sure enough, Ark continued.

"See, after a while, Humanity got bored with the same thing over and over. They were allowed to discover interstellar travel, and that was the first time they came across the Rigelians. And the Andromedans, et al. The Matrix made them up… A product of the bored human mind."

"There's no reason for you to lie," Bova stated matter-of-factly.

Ark chuckled. "I'm not."

Bova turned toward him. "You are. You might not know it."

Ark shrugged. "Believe what you want. You'll learn the truth sooner or later. Everyone does." He stood up again, heading through one of the midship portals. "Do you have a name, by the way?"

"It's Bova."

"Bova. I guess that works." Ark pointed aftward. "There's a kitchen back there. I imagine you're hungry."

Actually, for once, Bova wasn't starving. It was unnerving. Still, if it would get him away from Ark, he'd be happy. Without a word, or even a smile, the now-human boy headed in the opposite direction from the pilot.

---

"Hey there."

Between bites of a sandwich, Bova looked up toward the sandy-haired man that had just entered the galley. He was younger than Ark by maybe twenty years, judging by the lack of lines in his face. Somehow, he looked familiar, though Bova couldn't place it. The man filled a glass with water before sitting down at the table across from him.

"How's the brain?" the man asked.

Bova allowed the slightest smile. "There's a lot of information to sort through."

"Yeah, I felt that way, too. I'm Lucifer… I'm the one that pulled you out of the pod."

Bova blinked at him, looked as if he was about to say something, then went back to eating his sandwich. When he noted the fact that Lucifer looked disappointed, he quipped, "Lucifer isn't your name."

The man laughed. "…Uh, I guess you'd be right. But I don't… go by my other name anymore. I prefer it that way."

"Hey, whatever. I'm Bova."

There was an almost imperceptible pause before Lucifer replied, "Yes, I know."

Bova paused in mid-bite, and stared. Not exactly shocked… There wasn't much that shocked him.

"I'm one of the engineers," Lucifer clarified. "I can read the Matrix."

It sounded like a good explanation. Bova shrugged, nodded. Lucifer was suspicious, but at least he wasn't Ark. "So how long have you been here?"

"Not long. A year."

"And you're already an engineer on a ship?" Bova questioned.

"There's a lot of ships…" Lucifer gestured toward the hull of the ship. "Lots of people out there. 'Course, they still pick the best, and I had experience in the Matrix."

"Yeah? I did, too. A little bit. What were you?"

"Part of a small crew. Independent vessel. Just kinda traveled around and picked up odd jobs wherever we could."

A more curious person would have asked more, but Bova already figured out that "Lucifer" didn't really seem to want to talk about his past, judging by the way he danced around the questions. All his replies seemed prefabricated, as if he had practiced this possible question and answer session earlier. Of course, it might have been his pessimism shining through, but Bova had the feeling that Lucifer was hiding something.

His thoughts were interrupted when a tall woman entered the galley. Her hair was dyed red and blue in various intervals, and for a moment, Bova thought she could have been Yensidian… Then he remembered. Puzzled, he turned to Lucifer for an explanation, even as the woman sat down at the table.

Lucifer smiled, taking the woman's hand. "Mary's a historian. She studies the cultures that the Matrix created. She took a liking to those you'd call Yensidians… But…" He turned over Mary's wrist to reveal that there were no cable ports. "She's actually the only one on the ship that's free-born."

Bova nodded, and picked up his second sandwich. It was odd… It almost felt as if he couldn't possibly finish it. Thinking twice about continuing the meal, he set the food back down on his plate. "Nice to meet you. I guess."

Lucifer leaned over and whispered something into the woman's ear. She smiled, before saying, "It's nice to meet you, Bova."

The boy made a slight show as if tipping an imaginary hat. "I'm gonna go look around a bit. You don't have any objection, do you?"

Lucifer shook his head.

"Good," Bova mumbled, before heading off.

When he was gone, Mary turned to her husband. "So…?"

Lucifer watched the door for a while before nodding. "Yeah, that's him."

---

Even though he would have expected something like this, it was still hard to believe. If it was true – if he actually was human, it was logical that his normal anticipation of the strange and unreal would have broken down a bit in the translation… That, and that alone, kept him from panicking. Sure, Bova had learned to expect the unexpected, but his mind wasn't quite prepared for this.

If it was true… If he'd been living in a dream world this whole time… Did that mean his friends were still there? Still on the Christa? And was he still there, only asleep? Or had he left the Christa entirely?

Perhaps those were questions he should have asked before he so hastily left the galley. Then again, he needed time to think, and he still seemed to prefer being alone instead of being in the company of others. Perhaps, he wondered, this was the dream, and he really was just asleep on the Christa.

And probably really late for Command Post duty. That hardly seemed relevant now, though.

To make matters even more confusing, Lucifer seemed familiar in a way. Maybe it was the eyes… Bova couldn't recall ever seeing him before, though. He rested against one of the pillars, looking into the open engine room, and wondering what the others were doing without him.

---

"It's been a week," Suzee said, placing her hand on Rosie's shoulder. "We've checked the Christa up and down, and we… can't find any sign of him. Either he's hiding really good, or… He left the ship."

"But the Starlings are all there!" she countered, turning toward her friend.

She nodded. "And Thelma said she couldn't locate him on the Christa… The last she sensed him, he was in the bunk room. It's possible that he… Well. I…"

"No, I don't think he's dead," Rosie said. "D'ya ever know how you can't see someone… But you can sense they're around?"

Suzee chuckled a bit. "…Yeah. When we were on that planet, I couldn't see Catalina, but I knew she was there."

"Well, I know Bova's there. Maybe… Maybe he's just invisible! You know, like…"

Suzee shook her head. "Well, I hope we find 'im, Rosie." She stood, giving the Mercurian one last reassuring smile, before heading out of the bunkroom. She met Harlan just outside, where she allowed the tears to fall that she'd been holding back until she could get away from Rosie.

"Still hopin', huh?" Harlan asked. Suzee looked at the Earther. His eyes were red.

"Yeah, she is. I just don't know, Harlan…"

He pushed off the wall. "Well, it's been a week… It doesn't look good. Thelma's said there hasn't been any… You know… Accidents, though. In fact, nothing adds up. According to her, he was on the Christa, then he wasn't."

"So you still think… he could be okay?"

Harlan paused before answering. "I don't think we should write Bova off just yet."