I had to reboot my computer. I had finished writing chapter five, and BLOOWEY. And everything's gone and now the color is at 16 and apparently is staying there until... Auhh, who cares. It's gone and my screen sucks, I'd better get used to it...
I'll just try to rewrite this as best I can in notepad, and hope I can get the Microsoft Word to work... Not for readers, even. Just because I want to complete this story because I like it. That makes it nice for me.. Not that I don't want reviews! I love reviews! I TREASURE YOU REVIEWS AND KEEP THEM TUCKED AWAY IN MY PANTS.
AND THESE ARE MY GIANT PIMPIN' PANTS SO YOU CAN ALWAYS GIVE MORE REVIEWS.
Fer leaned up against one of the posts that connected the electric fence that enclosed the buildings. Normally, at this time, he would be breaking it open to reveal the control panel, hacking into it, and forcing a small section of the fence to short while he snuck out to his hill, but the workers already there, mapping out the site.
They are taking his hill.
They weren't Irken workers, but a conquered slave race. They were odd things, with six arms, spiked tails, and jet packs attached under their bellies. They way they hovered around made them look like insects.
Parasites.
"They can't be here... it's illegal..." Fer mumbled. Some part of his brain was trying to point out that it wasn't illegal for them to be here, but he couldn't focus on it.
'Because it's not my brain, but the Pak.'
Fer grabbed his antennae and pulled down. He wanted out of here, away from these people, he wanted them off his Irk, he wanted these gates gone, this Pak destroyed. He collapsed on the ground, curling up on the concrete.
He wanted to feel sand...
"This... isn't fair... I want out of.. here..."
His eyes closed, and he remained on the concrete.
It seemed hours passed before Nyon came to look for his partner and found him curled up on the ground. Nyon thought Fer only resting, roused him, and began to lead him back to their quarters. Fer tried to stay in pace, but failed, his body cold and unresponsive to what he was trying to tell it to do. Nyon began talking, but the words echoed in and out of his head. Fer caught something about Stek, and tried to force himself to listen.
"...She said you had been kinda out of it lately, and I thought it'd be refreshing if the three of us snuck up the hill to catch a puppet show-"
Before he could react, Nyon was grabbed and pinned painfully against the outside factory wall. He opened his eyes only to see Fer's right before him, wide and crazed, a hazy pink color. Nyon moved his eyes down to Fer's lips as they began to move with hardly any sound, Fer keeping him pinned to the wall.
"The... hill... it's mine.. you can't... It's mine... you are just like..."
A look of shock splashed across Fer's face, and he released Nyon, taking a few steps back and looking ashamed. "I.. you.. th... Y-You came to look for me, right? Am I in trouble?"
Nyon didn't know what to say. His partner had been acting weird lately, but he didn't expect him to suddenly be assulting him and then behaving like some infant trainee, wringing his hands nervously and avoiding eye contact. "If we don't make it back soon, we'll both be in trouble." Fer once again followed Nyon, snaking between clusters of factory buildings along simple concrete sidewalks.
There was a gap of silence after they resumed walking before Fer broke it. "You know they have tracking devices."
"What?"
"The Paks. You could have easily hacked into a basic computer system to find me. Did you?"
"No, it would have been a waste of energy. Besides, wandering around while trying to find you is something I don't do very often, so it's fun. Work's been so hectic lately! Hey, I really think you, me and Stek should go see that puppet show. We'll try and go at a time when not everyone will be crowed at the windows, okay?" Nyon turned to look back at Fer with a smile, but he saw only Fer on his hands and knees, panting.
"Fer!" Nyon cried, hurrying over anxiously. He wasn't sure what exactly he should do. "Hey, Fer, can you make it back? Um, if there's some problem with your Pak, I might be able to do some minor repairs.."
"The Pak is the problem..." Fer panted out, not looking up.
Nyon became nervous. If there was somehow a total malfunction with Fer's Pak, there was little Nyon could do. It would certainly explain all of Fer's odd conduct. "C'mon, Fer, you can do it... Think puppets, Fer. Puppets."
Fer laughed. It was only a second before his stopped and let his face become slack and stoic. He looked up at Nyon with vacant eyes. "Hold hands with me, Nyon."
There was a pause. "What?"
"I want you to take my hand."
"I... No."
"Why not?"
"I don't want to," Nyon said defiantly. Fer's actions were unpredictable and it was making him... scared.
"I'm your superior, right? This is an order."
"You're barely my superior," Nyon said, rolling his eyes.
"That's okay. If you took my hand for that reason, anyway..." Fer looked down, and Nyon stared, confused. He had never seen someone looking so depressed. Nyon had felt disappointment in the time he had lived, but Fer looked genuinely... sad.
"Oh.. L.. Go. Right now." Nyon held out his hand, not knowing if what he had said had been appropriate. Fer beamed as he stood up and linked his fingers with Nyon's, and the two of them continued.
There was another gap of silence as they resumed walking that was also broken by Fer.
"Do you like Stek?"
"What?" Nyon was stupefied. He had never held hands before, and had never seen someone look so happy, either. He couldn't grasp the question.
"Do you prefer her," Fer asked again, "Do you want to see her more than the other workers?"
Nyon refused to answer, becoming all too conscious of Fer's hand in his.
Fer's actions were so strange, Nyon wasn't sure how to process them. Beginning with his search for his partner, these were all things he had never even thought about. He had never taken someone's hand for no reason, and Fer's touch was sending odd tingles up his arm through his glove. The questions Fer was asking were cutting straight to a part of Nyon that he didn't even know existed. Why had he even gone to look for Fer, anyway?
"I like you, and I like Stek. Each of you has your own, unique reactions. You are different from everyone else."
"All the mechanics are the same."
"We have different heads."
"None of us are different." Nyon felt like shouting, but he didn't know why.
"But you keep partnering with me," Fer began to point out. "You partner with me lately more than other workers, and I partner with you often too. To each other, we are different."
"None of us are different!" Nyon wanted to let go of Fer's hand more than anything else, but a part of him wouldn't allow it.
"I am different," Fer said, squeezing Nyon's hand. "I am different, so to me, my favorites are different. But you and Stek are still puppets. I am the only one who is not a puppet."
Nyon didn't know what to say. He couldn't wrap his head around the things Fer was saying to him.
Fer's strange behavior, to Nyon, was obviously caused by a Pak malfunction. The Pak was fine, but in essence, it was Fer who was malfunctioning. His mental despise for the Pak had grown until he began to physically reject the Pak, even as it was attached to his body and brain. The strain had begun to push Fer towards insanity, Fer completely unknowing.
"So I think going to see a puppet show with Stek and you would be nice."
Thank god for document manager! My Microsoft still isn't working right.