Atomsk's Heir

S-Michael

Chapter Three -- Rehara

Rehara stared at him for a moment more, and then started laughing. And laughing. Laughing until she was bent over and tears were running down the sides of her face. "That bitch always was the lucky one."

"I take it that you know her," Naota said dryly.

Rehara stopped laughing. "That depends. Are you spying for anybody?"

"I am only twelve local years old," Naota said. He hadn't known or cared that the local year was slightly longer than on Earth. (He had recently turned thirteen.) It was the knowledge that Atomsk put into his brain.

"Some of the greatest intel comes from pillow talk," Rehara said. She pulled a bottle and glasses from a place similar to a cupboard, and poured them both drinks. After seeing her drink it, he took a sip. It tasted funny, and burned as it went down his throat. Alcoholic.

"What are you talking about?" Naota said, truly not understanding her meaning.

Rehara snorted. "Cut the innocent crap. It's cute, but surely a beautiful boy such as yourself knows how to wean a woman's secrets from her once you're in her bed," Rehara said.

Naota, still confused, said nothing.

"Don't tell me that you're a virgin, beautiful boy!" Rehara said.

"The customs of your world seem to be different than mine," Naota said flatly, sipping at his beverage.

"I'll say they are! Damn!" Rehara swore. "Are you sure that you've never…"

"No," Naota said. He hadn't even drank all that much, but he was beginning to feel buzzed. He looked at the glass; it was only half empty.

"It's not fair. It's just not fair," Rehara said.

"What's not fair?" Naota asked, taking bigger gulps of his glass.

Virgin boys, especially ones as aesthetically pleasing as you, are in short supply here. There are those who would pay a fortune to have you in their bed, Atomsk said.

" 'What's not fair?' he asks! Juicy little thing like you shows up on my doorstep, nubile, virginal…and you're looking for Raharu!" Rehara said.

"Oh," Naota said, to both of them.

"So, Naota, was it, how do you know Raharu?" Rehara asked, refilling Naota's glass.

Naota sipped at it. The more he drank, the better he liked it. "She came to my world looking for Atomisk. No, it's Atomosk. No, A--"

"Atomsk?" Rehara's eyes widened.

"Yeah, that's the guy. Still don't know what's so great about him. Anyway, she came to my world looking for Atomis…Atomo…that guy, and then she hit me over the head with a guitar," Naota said.

She's plying you with drinks, Atomsk said.

"Yeah, I know she's plying me with drinks, okay?" Naota said. "Damn know-it-all."

"Um…Naota? What was, uh, that?" Rehara asked.

"Just some internal monologue," Naota said. "Yeah, let's go with that. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah, hitting me with the guitar. Well, then these things started popping out of my head."

Rehara gasped. "You have N.O. channels?"

"Sure, why not, let's go with that," Naota said. "I got this bump thing, and then Canti there came out of my head. It hurt."

"You channeled a whole robot?" Rehara asked, unbelieving.

"Robots. Two of them. And once each on two other occasions. The robots fought each other, Canti against a giant hand thing. Oh, and a guitar or three, I don't remember if it was one or two. Atomsk was involved at one point, so I don't know if it was really me, though. Anyway, the point is, Canti also took on the other robots. No wait, Haruko did. No wait, that wasn't the point --"

"Haruko?"

"Oh, yeah. That's what Raharu was calling herself when she was on my planet," Naota said, taking a big gulp from his glass. "Anyway --what was I saying? Oh, yeah. She moved in with us, and I fell in love with her, and then she flew away because Atomsk escaped."

"Escaped? She had captured him?" Rehara asked, unbelieving.

"No no no. Medical Mechanical did. But I freed him and used him to destroy it. Or maybe he used me. I don't know. That was one wild week," Naota said.

"A week! You channeled all that in a week?"

"You say that like it's hard. Anyway, the point is…what was the point?…oh, yeah, the point is, Haruko left, and I came here to find her."

"Why didn't she bring you with her?" Rehara asked. I mean, if you can channel like you say you can, you'd make a powerful weapon."

She doesn't know the half of it, Atomsk said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Naota said to both of them at once. Rehara refilled his glass.

"Think about it. If you were with Haruko, and got in a bit of a jam, say some planet's authorities had you surrounded. You could summon ammo, an escape vehicle, an army of robots if you're as strong as you say you are."

"Strong? What are you talking about?" Naota asked.

"Most people would be exhausted for weeks after summoning so much as a spare clip of pistol ammo. That you were able to do so much in so little time without ending up dead…smacks of the superhuman," Rehara said.

"Wow. I--"

Don't tell her that all that channeling didn't even slow you down. She finds your story hard enough to believe as it is, Atomsk said.

"But it's true," Naota said, very drunk.

"Okay, I believe you. Which brings me back to my first question, of why in the galaxy didn't she take you with her? You are the perfect weapon, the ideal body type for your age, and in love with her. The gods don't often give such bounty," Rehara said, refilling his glass.

"Apparently the universe is a dangerous place, and she didn't want me to get hurt," Naota said, drinking some more.

"She said that?" Rehara asked.

"Not in so many words," Naota said.

"Ah, I see," Rehara said.

"So, how do you know Haruko?" Naota asked.

"Raharu and I are cousins," Rehara said.

"I thought I saw a family resemblance," Naota said. "I didn't say anything because I could be wrong. You and Haruko are the only two people I have ever met with pink hair and yellow eyes. Is that common out here in the galaxy?"

"On this world," Rehara said.

"Oh. What is this world's name?"

Atomsk swore.

"You…don't know what planet you're on? How did you fly a ship here without knowing what planet you were flying to?"

"The ship flew itself. I had nothing to do with it, even if I did--"

If you tell her that you built the ship, I am going to hurt you!

"Why can't I tell her?"

Shut up, you drunken fool!

"Tell me what?"

"Tell you that I--"

Shut up!

"Maybe we should wait until I'm sober to talk about this," Naota said.

"You've been talking to yourself a lot. You're not wearing a wire, are you?" Rehara asked.

"Why would I be wearing a wire?" Naota asked.

"That wasn't an answer," Rehara said.

"Huh?"

"Yes or no: are you wearing a wire?" Rehara asked.

"No. You want me to prove it?" Naota started fumbling with his robes. "Whoa. I'm drunker than I thought."

"What are you doing?" Rehara demanded, embarrassed.

"Proving that I'm not wearing a wire," Naota said.

"Obviously if you were sent to seduce information out of Raharu or myself, the wire would be on the inside. Besides, I know you're not lying. I laced your drink with truth serum."

Truth serum? Do not say another word, you hear me? Not. Another. Word. I'll shut up, too: I think it's starting to affect me.

"Yeah, you should shut up. You're pretty bossy for a voice in my head, Atomsk," Naota said.

Rehara nearly dropped the bottle. "Atomsk!"

Gee, great, that's just perfect. Thanks a frickin' lot, Naota. I was hoping to keep my presence secret for a while, but you just had to open your big, fat mouth.

"Don't take that tone with me, Atomsk. This whole trip was your idea. I'm helping you to find your snot-nosed brat, remember?" Naota said. "Besides, you just said that you were going to shut up."

"Are you serious? Atomsk is here? On this planet? In my house? Inside of your head?" Rehara said with interest.

You see? This was exactly the kind of thing I want to avoid, Naota, Atomsk said.

"Oh, shut up. And you, stop acting like he is all that. He has kids, you know. Kids he doesn't even take care of, the irresponsible good-for-nothing."

That hurt! Atomsk protested.

"Why, Naota, sounds like you're jealous," Rehara said.

"I am not!" Naota said, blushing.

"Don't worry, sweet thing. Unlike with you, my interest in Atomsk is purely non-sexual," Rehara said.

"Great, now you're teasing me. Why do beautiful girls tease me? Mamimi, then Haruko, and now you. Perfect. Oh, why me?" Naota ranted.

"I'm not teasing. I would really like to have sex with you," Rehara said.

"Yeah? Prove it," Naota said.

A funny look crossed Rehara's face. Then she laughed. "Okay. C'mon."

Naota stood up and passed out.

"Excellent timing," Rehara said self-depreciatingly.

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Naota was half awake and didn't know or care where he was. He was warm, he was comfortable, and that was all that mattered. Naota snuggled against something warm and soft, and then realized that it was a person. Everything came back to him, and he opened his eyes wide. "Rehara?"

He heard a groan. "Don't move. You're comfy."

"What, you couldn't have given me my own room?" Naota asked.

"Yes, I could have," Rehara said nonchalantly. "What of it?"

Naota pulled himself out of bed.

"Hey! I was comfy!" Rehara complained.

"While I was asleep, you didn't…uh…did you? I mean…"

"Did I perv out on your unconscious body?" Rehara supplied "helpfully." "Is that what you mean?"

"Um, yeah. Well, did you?"

Rehara grinned evilly and turned so that her back was facing him, making snoring sounds.

"C'mon, I know that that's fake!" Naota said. The snoring didn't stop. Naota rolled his eyes. Was this a family thing, or (heaven forbid) a racial thing, or something? He went down stairs.

"Where's the kitchen?" He found his way to it, and then looked in the cupboards for something to eat. And then he realized that he didn't know what anything was. True, everything was written in a strange alien tongue, but when Atomsk had given Naota the ability to speak that language, he had also given him the ability to read in it. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that even though Naota knew what sounds those characters made, these words weren't registering any particular meaning in his head.

"Atomsk, why don't I know what these are?" Naota said.

They're food. I thought that was obvious, Atomsk said.

"But with everything else, I had at least some idea what was what, why is this a complete blank? Why don't I know what this stuff tastes like?"

Because I don't know what it tastes like. Come on, Naota, I'm a being of pure energy: what do I know about food?

"Solid enough to have a kid," Naota said.

It comes and goes at my whim, Atomsk said.

The door opened and someone came in. "Hey, Rehara, I don't know if you noticed, but there's quite a dust storm out--" the speaker noticed Naota and froze.

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Atomsk's Heir

S-Michael

Chapter 4 -- Haruko Arrives

The speaker noticed Naota and froze. "What are you doing here, Naota?" Haruko asked.

Naota's heart caught. "Haruko…I…I've missed you."

"I suppose so, but…well, how did you get here?"

Rehara came down the stairs. "Oh, hey, cousin. You've been holding out on me."

"How did you get here, Ta-kun?" Haruko demanded. Naota didn't remember her ever being this serious.

"Um, duh, he took a ship. Well, he crashed a ship, at least," Rehara said. "Caused a dust storm, don't know if you noticed. Hey--did she just call you 'Ta-kun?' You told me your name was 'Naota!'"

"Where on Earth did you get a ship, Ta-kun?" Haruko demanded (no pun intended, by the way). "You come from a primitive armpit of a world with no idea what waits for them out here."

"Earth. Is that your world, 'Naota?'" Rehara asked.

"I built one out of the refuse of the Medical Mechanical plant," Naota said.

"He's smarter than I though," Rehara said, and whistled.

"That's not possible, Naota."

"Wait, I'm confused: is he Ta-kun or Naota?"

"Well, Canti provided most of the muscle, and Atomsk told me what to do."

"Atomsk, what do you mean?"

Naota told the whole story.

"Hate to tell you this, but you've been tricked," Haruko said.

"What do you mean?" Naota asked.

"Ta-kun, part of the reason I didn't take you with me was to let you…heal. N.O. channels are not meant to be open indefinitely; it's not good for the brain to be outside of the body for that long. The longest recorded continuous N.O. channel was a week and a half, and that resulted in the death of the channeler. For Atomsk to really have been in your head for that long means that your N.O channels had to have been open for the better part of a year, Nao. That is simply…not possible."

"But…I talked to him."

"Some sort of psychicism. Telepathy," Haruko said.

"But why?" Naota said.

"To distract me with this fool's errand. I have never heard of Atomsk having children, Ta, and it would be hard to miss if he did: those kids would have the power of demigods," Haruko said.

Naota's skin glowed red and a strange voice issued from his mouth: "That's a plausible theory, but no. I am here, Raharu, and I need your help."

Haruko's mouth dropped open. "Atomsk…Your power will finally be mine!" She pulled a guitar out of somewhere and charged at Naota.

"Hey! Not in my house!" Rehara cried.

Atomsk waved Naota's right arm in the air and cast a force-shield. Haruko's guitar bounced off it harmlessly. "Not now, Raharu. If you do what I ask of you, though, you will find your heart's desire within reach, I promise you."

"You swear?" Haruko asked.

"I swear," Atomsk said.

"Hey, since when can you speak through me?" Naota demanded.

"Since forever. I just didn't want to freak you out," Atomsk said.

"Well, gee, thanks for the consideration," Naota said sarcastically. "I spent three months freaking my dad out talking to myself for nothing."

"Alright, I'll help," Haruko said, "but I swear to all that's good and holy, if this is a trick, Atomsk, you'll be sorry."

"Fair enough," Atomsk said. "You might want to get prepared for the trip, though."

"Why? Where are we going?"

"Pirate King's Keep," Atomsk said.

"Can I come?" Rehara asked.

"Why?" Haruko asked.

"Oh, gee, I don't know, maybe because it's the hangout of the most powerful being in the galaxy."

"Fine."

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Naota was watching a man with long, pink hair broadcast the news on the TV. It was still called a TV, even though in all the old sci-fi Naota had ever read, it would be called a holo-emitter or some such thing.

"The dust cloud that now covers a fourth of the planet seems to have been caused by a small spaceship which impacted the planet at close to the speed of light. There have been no fatalities as of yet cause by the aftermath of the impact, and it doesn't look like there's going to be any, thanks to the speedy work of our medical technicians. It was just fortunate that the ship hit a relatively uninhabited patch of desert, or the initial death toll upon impact could have been enormous.

"The police have the alien ship in custody and are searching for clues. Unconfirmed rumor says that the ship was built with MM parts, but further speculation on this matter would be useless. We do have an image of the passengers, however."

The man's image was replaced by one of Canti and Naota in the force-shield, which for some reason was totally visible from the outside. "Hey, I don't remember looking that scared," Naota murmured.

"If you see this boy or this robot, please report them to your local authorities," the man said.

A woman appeared. "Thank you for that important story, Ivstan. I'm confident that they will not evade capture for long. A boy that sexy is bound to draw somebody's notice."

"You're a sexist bitch, Koratu," Ivstan said.

"And proud of it, Ivstan. We'll be back after this."

"I have to admit, television is entertaining out here," Naota said.

"Ivstan and Koratu are quarrelling again?" Rehara asked, plopping down on the couch next to him.

"Koratu said I was sexy and Ivstan called her a sexist," Naota said.

"They know who you are?"

"They have my picture from before I crashed," Naota said. "That really must have been a good camera, since I was apparently going near light speed."

"We have that kind of tech out here," Rehara said.

"All I'm saying is, look at him," Koratu said. "Does he look like he could have orchestrated this?" She noticed the camera. "Oh, welcome back to the show."

"Face it, if you didn't think he was cute, you wouldn't be trying to get him off the hook," Ivstan said.

"Look at the picture, he's terrified. You're just jealous because he's hotter than you are," Koratu said.

"Stop being a chauvinistic cow, Koratu," Ivstan said.

"Stop being emotional, hormonal, and petty, like a typical male, first," Koratu said.

"It's funny 'cause it's true!" Rehara laughed.

"Uh, since when?" Naota asked.

Rehara groaned. "Don't tell me you're one of those tight-ass masculinists!" she exclaimed.

"Masculinist?" Naota asked. "What's that?"

"You don't know?" Rehara asked.

Haruko plopped down next to Naota and wrapped her arm around him, ruffling his hair affectionately with her other hand. "Cuddly Ta-kun's homeworld is a strange and backwards place."

"Hey! Stop that!" Naota protested weakly. She kissed him. Rehara stared wide-eyed.

"You just…"

"Yeah."

"And he's not…"

"No."

"Damn, I want to visit this Earth place," Rehara said.

"What are you two talking about?" Naota demanded.

"If Raharu had done that to a normal boy, he'd be screaming 'rape,'" Rehara said. "Gods, on Earth, can you really just go around randomly molesting males."

"Well, in the places I was, at least," Haruko said.

Rehara looked at Naota. "And yet you're a virgin?"

"A sexually frustrated virgin," Haruko said…was she bragging?

Rehara stared at her cousin over Naota's head.

"Gods, cousin, how did you manage such a thing?" Rehara said.

"Easy. They're all a bunch of sluts. Not at Ta-kun's age, but when they get older, the men of his race practically throw themselves at you."

"No way," Rehara said.

"Way. It helps that not many women there have a healthy sexual appetite. Honestly, they act like men, which causes their men to act like women."

"So you were alone on a planet of sex-starved males. That sounds like the premise of a bad porno," Rehara said.

"My hand to the gods, it's true," Haruko said. "Strange and erotic as it seems."

"I don't act like a girl!" Naota protested.

"Yes you do. You just don't know that you do because your world thinks that that's the way a boy is supposed to act," Haruko said.

"Isn't it?" Naota demanded.

"Stop being hormonal," Rehara chided.

"I'm not hormonal," Naota said sulkily.

"This just in," Koratu said on the TV. "An anonymous source has confirmed that at least ninety percent of the material in the spaceship can be traced back to ore from Medical Mechanical-controlled worlds. The remaining ten percent comes from an unknown source."

"Sounds like an attack by MM to me," Ivstan said.

"Eighty four percent of our net viewers agree with you, Ivstan. No word about any response our government may plan, though," Kowaru said.

"Thank you for the story, Kowaru," Ivstan said.

"Also, there's no word about that cute boy or his robot, but I, for one, am keeping my eyes peeled," Kowaru added.

Ivstan glared at her. "I hate you."

"I know you do," Kowaru said.

"Well, that's just peachy," Haruko said. "The authorities are after Ta-kun. How the heck are we going to smuggle him off the planet? I mean, Canti we can just dissemble, but Naota is a different matter."

"I know what you mean," Rehara said. "They've got to have his DNA from the crash site by now."

"Atomsk said that the junker burned itself out with white phosphorus," Naota said.

"If everything melted, it might explain why they haven't figured out that this thing is a piece of junk yet," Haruko said.

"So we could disguise him," Rehara said.

"No, the scanners would see through whatever disguise we had."

"What if we left on your vespa?" Naota asked.

"Um the scanners are in space, duh. How do you think they got your picture?" Haruko asked.

"Oh," Naota said.

"Alright, we can't just leave, a disguise won't work, and we've got to think of something before the dust dies down enough for police to go on a door-to-door hunt," Rehara said.

"Wait: What was that last part?" Naota asked. "No one mentioned that."

"I thought it was self-evident," Rehara said.

"Well, tell me what it's about, anyway," Naota said.

"Obviously, the police are going to want to talk to you about you blacking out half the planet and all," Haruko said. "We have to find a way out of here without being caught by the police."

"On the contrary," Atomsk said. "I have a plan."

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Commentary On Chapters 1-4 (As If You Care)

Don't worry, it's not done yet! There's at least three or four more chapters planned (two more documents). I did it two-chapters-to-a-document because neither of the first two chapters were long enough to be worthy of their own document, not even after I heavily edited it.

The original document was found at the same time I found Never Trust a Demon, but I didn't publish it at the same time because I got writer's block right at the end of what I had written originally, which is fifty paragraphs into chapter 3 if you count the edited version (which is the posted version). (Paragraph 48: "She said that?" Rehara asked. Paragraph 49: "Not in so many words," Naota said. Paragraph 50: "Ah, I see," Rehara said. Just so you know.)

All of that put together, plus some stupid little commentary that I put at the end of every chapter (not like this, it was something where I talked to the stars of my fanfic (you've seen its like before)…what was I thinking?), only came to 14 pages in the original (when set at 12 point font to be comparable to this) (the commentary took up two pages, so in essence the whole of what was finished of the original was shorter than the first two chapters of this).

Well, the point I'm trying to make here is that I wasn't sure that I'd be able to finish this, but now I am. Fear not, more is coming. I hoped you like what's there so far, please R&R.