Ah, chapter two! And now to address some of my reviewers:
IcemanX: Sorry buddy! No porn in this one! Unless you like cell mitosis...
einootspork: Hmm...I guess this does show shades of 'A Space Odyssey' I didn't really notice that..
Anyhow, on with the story!
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Osaka sat at the table and had not moved for what seemed like hours. Even for her, who never became bored, not knowing where she was was escpecially distressing. A myriad of conclusions swamped her brain.
'Aliens...molemen...pickled beets...', needless to say, exploring her psyche would be like a trip on LSD, without the lingering side effects.
The air in front of the table shimmered and a man popped into existance. He was tall, slick hair, black eyes. The same man she had encountered in her yard before she fell unconcious and had awoken where she was now.
"Greetings to you.", the man said.
"Ah! Are you an alien!?", she questioned.
"Alien to Earth, yes.", the man responded.
"You finally come to take mah brains!?", Osaka was quickly becoming hysterical.
The man smiled. "No, we simply need your genetic code."
"You can't have it! It's mine!", she screamed.
"The choice is not yours to make. We will accomodate you in any way possible until the process has completed though.", the man explained, shuffling his feet in apparent nervousness.
Osaka shied away from the man. She wanted to run, but with no exit in sight she decided to stay put.
"But first, we must form a strong bond. Please wait a moment.", after speaking these words he disappeared into nothingness.
Osaka sat and stared into the space the man was but moments before, wondering what exactly she might be called to do.
"Mah genetic code...", she whispered. "Is that like...a game or summin'?"
Barely five seconds after the man had disappeared he returned to the room. This time though, another person stood beside him. And that person looked none too happy.
"Kagura?", Osaka spoke up.
"Osaka!", the athlete shouted. "They got you too!?"
"They wanna do summin' with my genetic code!", Osaka responded.
"Yea! That's what he told me too!", the athlete shot daggers at the alien man with a glance.
"Please, allow me to explain. Have a seat.", he motioned outward with his hand and a white chair coalesced next to the one Osaka was sitting in.
"Ok, Dagon. Tell us.", Kagura rolled her eyes and propped her feet on the table. She didn't feel escpecially threatened by the alien but she certainly did want to get home as quickly as possible.
Dagon went on to explain the nuances of his race's discovery of human somatic cell reproduction in exactly the same way it was explained to Tomo. Yet, he said one additional thing.
"With the two of you we must first forge a bond. Thus your progeny may take longer to form."
Kagura covered her face with her hands and sighed.
"You want me", she pointed to herself then to Osaka. "To make a kid with Osaka?"
"If you wish the human race to survive, then yes, you do.", Dagon nodded.
"Let's do it, Kagura. Might be fun. I mean, like, maybe our kid will have like six legs...or two heads..or..", Osaka mused.
"That's enough, Osaka.", Kagura said. "What's this bonding thing you keep talking about?", she addressed Dagon.
"Two participants must be receptive to the emotions of the other before the reproduction can begin."
"How we gonna do that?", Osaka asked.
"An integral part of the process. It begins now.", upon speaking the last syallable he was once more gone. The white walls were quickly replaced by meadows of waving grass, spread in all directions. Small hump hills, sparse trees, birds flitting through the air; all these made up their new surroundings.
"What the hell is going on!?", Kagura exclaimed, rushing about as if she would find an exit.
"This must be tha bondin' thingy he was talkin' about.", Osaka droned.
"Like a test or something?", the tanned girl asked.
"I dunno...", Osaka shook her head.
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Kaorin and Chihiro fell to a similar predicament. Instead of beautiful fields of grass, they recieved a damp, dark cavern. Kaorin was on the verge of hysterics and Chihiro was none to content either.
"What is he doing to us?", Kaorin weeped.
"He wants us to...reproduce..", Chihiro said the words with confusion heavy on her voice.
"I just don't get it...", Kaorin wrapped herself into a fetal position and lay there, crying on the cold rock floor.
"Dagon said we were close to the bond necessary to begin the process...I'm just not sure where to begin.", Chihiro droned, scuffing her feet on the ground.
Kaorin got to her feet, her anger rising within. "How? How the hell do you think we can do that!? Two women cannot reproduce! End of story!", she screamed.
"And what do you suggest doing?", Chihiro countered, her own anger aroused.
"Walk! We walk and find the exit from this cave or whatever this is!"
"How do you know there even is an exit? It's not like we walked in.", Chihiro said.
"Do you have any better ideas!?", Kaorin shouted.
Chihiro sighed. Admittedly, she had no better suggestions.
"Fine. Let's go."
They placed their hands on the wall and began to follow it. The damp stone beneath their fingers was unnerving but they had the feeling that they would have to get used to it.
"Stay close.", Kaorin said, grabbing Chihiro's hand in her own. "We have to stick together."
Chihiro nodded, her hopelessness suddenly and strangely abandoned.
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Sakaki slammed her fists on the table, shedding her normally quiet facade in the face of this new threat.
"Reproduce!? Do you know what you're saying? Chiyo-chan is a little kid!"
Indeed, Chiyo sat beside Sakaki, clutching her shirt and trying her best not to cry.
"Even to save the human race?", spoke the man.
"I have no reason to believe what you say, Dagon!", Sakaki threatened.
Dagon just sighed.
"You are already bonded well. When the time comes you will see the error of your ways."
With that he stood and disappeared. The chair he had been sitting in dissapated as well.
"Chiyo-chan, we have to leave.", she said, putting her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders.
"But...we don't even know where we are! We might get hurt if we try to leave!", Chiyo sniffled. "Maybe we should just do what he says...Maybe it is to save mankind..."
"Chiyo-chan.", Sakaki squatted to get eye-to-eye with her friend. "If it truly was to save humanity, why do you think he would have to abduct us?"
"I don't know...maybe..", Chiyo had no answers, only tears.
"We have to find a way out.", Sakaki took Chiyo's hand and they walked away from the table and into the bright room.
"I don't see any exit!", Chiyo whined.
"A door...", Sakaki whispered. "Any sort of door..." Repeating the words helped her concentrate on tasks. She was on the lookout now for anything that remotely resembled a door. She flashed images through her head of what an alien doorway might look like. She found herself imagining a sliding door made from the white material that the room was composed of. It seemed to make sense to her.
Suddenly, Chiyo shouted.
"Look, Sakaki-san! A door!"
Lo and behold a door that was the spitting image of what Sakaki had imagined seemed to form effortlessly before them.
"What do you think happened?", Chiyo asked.
"Don't worry.", Sakai said as she pushed lightly against the white doorway that seemed to float on its own.
Peeking through the crack she saw hope. It led to a hallway with discernable walls of a gunmetal colour. Plain black floors that shined so bright reflections could be seen led the way to a crossroads. One way left. The other, right.
Sakaki scanned down the passage one way, then the other. No sign of life. She stepped from the doorway with such stealth Lupin would be proud. Pulling Chiyo behind her, they both watched as the doorway they had gone through faded into the air.
Sakaki held her finger to her lips to signify silence and quietly tiptoed with Chiyo in tow to the intersection of the halls. Glancing down them, each was empty, yet they were lined with high windows halfway down the corridor. They would truly have to be careful.
Sakaki followed her gut instinct and took the path to the right, hoping it would not lead her wrong. Because, well, that would be very ironic.
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"I am not asking a question.", Dagon stated calmly, his expression, his tone, never changed.
"I'm not going to reproduce with Tomo!", Yomi raged.
"Our perfect specimens cannot go to waste. You must reproduce.", Dagon said.
"How the fuck do we do that!?", Yomi had truly snapped and was now shouting at the man.
"With your altered genetic code, it comes as a natural process to ones as bonded as you are. It is a pure emotional state that initiates the process.", Dagon answered.
"Yomi's pretty emotional now.", Tomo said, pointing at her angered friend. "Can't we just get this over with?"
Dagon shook his head sadly. "Anger is not a pure emotion. It is convoluted. Passion and love are pure emotions."
"But I don't love Tomo!", Yomi screamed, her voice cracking from the strain.
"Denial is a sign of truth.", Dagon smiled as the room and Dagon himself disappeared.
It was replaced by a pyramidal room made of carved stone. Upon the tapered ceiling was a cap of translucent material that looked to be either glass or crystal. Two open arches led from the room. One before them. One behind them.
Yomi finally broke. She fell to her knees, screaming in anger and despair.
"Why!? Why does this happen!?", she shouted, her voice full of tears.
Tomo grabbed her friend by the collar of her shirt and lifted her into a standing position.
"Get a hold of yourself!", Tomo shouted, frustrated at Yomi's lack of will.
Yomi stopped her weeping, gazing back at her best friend through her thick glasses.
"What do you want, Tomo?", she asked weakly.
"I want you to stop whining and help me find the way out of here.", she said as she released the grip she had on Yomi's collar.
"Which way?", Yomi asked.
Tomo pointed to the passage behind Yomi.
"Let's go that way."
Together they trudged through the archway and into a hallway of sandstone walls and ceiling. The passage continued to become darker and darker until neither could see even a few centimetres in front of them.
"I don't think this is the way out.", Yomi said.
"Mmmm...", Tomo grunted and they both turned and made their way towards the room they had started from.
Upon moving into the light again, Yomi noticed streaks of tears running down Tomo's face. Something had to be desperately wrong. Tomo never cried. Ever.
"Tomo, what's wrong?", Yomi asked her friend.
Tomo gritted her teeth and hissed. "This is stupid..."
"What?", Yomi questioned, seeing the desperation in the girl's eyes.
"All this effort! There's no way out! We were put here for a reason! No puzzles! No answers!", Tomo's anger quickly faded to a hopeless cast of her normal persona.
Yomi wrapped her right arm around Tomo and pulled her close. Together they stood, staring up at the crystalline cap of the pyramid.
"Maybe if we wait long enough, someone will help us escape."
A barely noticable shiver passed through each girl. Above, the crystal cap began to write in a gaseous light. They took a step back as a plume of energy connected the center of the room to the cap. From this pylon a small figure emerged.
It was a young, nude girl. Seemingly aged no older than eight. Her chestnut hair hung to her waist and ended in a small puff of spiked hair, not unlike Tomo's. She smiled happily at them from below two large, brown eyes.
"Mama!", she called, rushing to them. Only as she approached did the girls notice she was slightly transparent, as the ground was visable through her.
"Mama!?", Tomo and Yomi recoiled.
"Don't you know me?", the little girl questioned.
Yomi shook her head in negative.
"Never seen you before.", Tomo said.
The girl's eyes began to shine with tears before she erupted into a full-blown bawl.
"Mommy's don't know Koyomiko!", she whined.
"Koyomiko?!", Yomi's eyes flew open in an emotion caught between terror and confusion.
"Like...a little Yomi?", Tomo asked no one in particular.
"Your daughter Koyomiko.", the girl sniffled as she wiped tears from her see-through eyes.
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Koyomiko is NOT my character. She is Funakounasoul's. I was granted permission to use her in this fic. All rights and privilages belong to Funakounasoul.
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Dagon stood before the large screens and smiled.
"Those two are truly amazing.", Dagon stated, indicating the screen the showed Tomo and Yomi standing desperate in the large room.
"How so?", said another alien, who looked no different, looking up from his writing.
"They have already entered into S Phase.", Dagon stated.
The other man got up from his seat to take a closer look at the screen.
"So there was already materialization?", he asked.
Dagon nodded. "It won't be long before we have our first quadriribo."
"Should I inform command?", the other asked.
"No. I wish to see how this plays out first"
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I shall return tomorrow with another installment of "Azumanga Help Desk" , so be on the lookout for that.
-peace