-1Ch 2
It was a strange feeling floating in nothing at least nothing but a thick white aura that enveloped anything else that he may have been able to see otherwise
Is he ok? I think that's the most violent reaction I've seen yet…
He looked around quickly, peering in the whiteness, searching for where the woman's voice could be coming from.
Well, its his first time you know…
A male voice.
"Hello?"
Do they all behave like that for their first time?
"Behave like what? Where are you?" He asked, growing increasingly frustrated.
Not all, they're reactions vary. Some are just stunned in to shock, some enjoy it, others react realistically.
Realistically?
"What are---" he yelled, suddenly finding himself sitting up from laying back in on a fold back chair and finding himself staring in to dark, forest green eyes that were highlighted nicely by a pair of exquisite red eyebrows. "…you talking about…
….hi?" He said, now very puzzled.
"…and sometimes we get reactions like that too." an older, gray haired man said in what had slowly dawned on him as being a 'British' accent. "Hello chap, quite a yelp you gave there."
Confused once again, he raised an eyebrow in question.
"Am I dead?"
The old man laughed a deep laugh.
"No, no. Well, you did die, but you're not dead," he looked at the young redheaded woman. "That makes sense, doesn't it?"
"No, it really doesn't," she said, also with the a touch of the accent.
"What's your name, chap?"
"Cronian… what do you mean I died but am not dead?'
The older man, and young woman looked at each other.
"He needs to go back," the older man said.
"That wasn't the answer you're supposed to get, is it?"
"No, he's still fully integrated in to the system still. Usually they come back normally, but a bit shaken."
"Why --"
"Uh guys," Cronian said, waving a hand in front of both individuals. "I am right here."
The old man looked at him.
"Lay back down."
"Huh, why?"
"You need to go back."
"Go back? I thought you said I died…"
"You did. But you'll wake up and this should all be an obscure dream."
Suddenly he felt two strong hands pushing down on his shoulders, and he laid back down on to the lean-back chair and was quickly surrounded by the same white nothingness that he had encountered beforehand, except this time, he found trouble breathing, as if slime was moving in to his mouth and down his throat, causing him to reflexively gag. His limbs moved sluggishly as if the density of the empty space around him suddenly swelled and now had turned in to a transparent form of jello…
----
Cronian gagged, searching for oxygen that didn't exist.
In a panic, he thrust his hands out to reach for something, anything that would help him get to much needed air, and in that moment of panic his hands came in contact with a smooth curved wall on both sides of his flailing form and on instinct and the need to survive he thrust his body upwards, propelling himself through and out of the white, sticky substance that had nearly killed him.
Then he was in the welcome, cool air for a mere moment before he landed hard on a rough metal surface that he could not see as his eyes were covered in some sort of thick residue that obscured the little light that was in front of him. More concerned about being able to breath then see, Cronian coughed and hacked violently, ejecting a large amount of the substance he had just emerged from, forming a puddle of clear goop that lay on the floor directly below his mouth until he could finally breath with little to no effort. In disgust, Cronian wiped the slimy, filmy residue away from his eyes and once again peered around the room he had suddenly found himself in.
The room was dark, with most of the lighting that dimly illuminated the walls coming from the pool of luminescent, white 'jello' he had just surfaced from. Where am I? How did I get here? He thought, bringing up a violent memory of his Flight of Independence shattering around him and being consumed by an incredibly hot ball fire. But there was another memory, one after he had died, but try as he might, it remained obscure and sat out of reach every time he reached for it. Its like a dream that I was suddenly interrupted from, and now am having trouble recalling…
Shaking his head in frustration, he looked down at his bare knees and suddenly realized how naked he was, and that there seemed to a cold draft being gently pushed down from the ceiling. Shivering, he stood and peered in to the darkness that hugged the corners where steal supports met curved wall, and once his eyes adjusted the seam of a door could barely be made out by his focusing eyes.
Walking up to the door, he pounded a fist up against its smooth surface.
"Hello? Is anybody out there?"
"Hello, Cronian," a woman's voice came from his left, eminating from the wall.
Startled, Cronian nearly jumped out of his cold skin. Looking to his left, a holographic projector that had silently slid out in to existence, illuminated and a brilliantly luminescent a miniature feminine figure stood dressed in what looked like to be a silk sheet that barely did little to hide anything from his imagination; which wasn't necessarily bad for him, he figured, sense the resulting blushing slightly warmed his cold wet skin. Even with that surpsrise, his mind raced as he began to try to make sense of what was going on.
"Uh, hi," he blushed a little more then before and quickly covered his groin with his hands. "You must be…"
"This installations AI?" she smiled at him, amused by his embarrassment she pulled a strand of bright white air behind her ear. "Yes, I am Jessibelle, I facilitate the cloning and memory placement of the Ajaxian Legions pilots after they have been killed in combat so that they can return to the front lines as soon as they are able."
"C-clones?" Cronian stammered through chattering teeth. "I'm a clone?"
"Yes, of yourself. So you are still you. Just in a body that is in much better condition then your last," she paused. "And judging from your battle records, there's a good chance your former body no longer exists."
"So, I did die…"
"Yes, but your memories are constantly backed up here deep under Ajaxus' crust, in the eventuality you may need them again. Which for you, the time you needed them began three hours ago."
"T-three, three hours? Its only been m-minutes!"
"That you recall, yes. This reintegration of memories in to a pilots clone does take some time," she said with a smile, shaking her head at his apparent shock. "Now that the process is complete, how are you feeling?
"G-great. H-happy to be alive, but can I ask you a f-favor?"
"Certainly."
"C-caan you let me out of here, a-and possibly get me a towel and some dry clothes? I-I'm freezing here."
"Oh!" she said, slightly embarrassed. "Certainly, just follow the passageway and I'll lead you to your clothing."
"Thanks…" he mumbled, and the door ahead of him swooshed open in the blink of an eye, leading in to a dimly lit passageway that he hastily slid in to.
"Just follow the blue lights on the floor and you'll get to where you need to be."
Complying, Cronian followed the blue lights that were pulsating on the sides of the floor, leading him down the hallway until he came up against another door that swooshed open as he approached it. Inside lay a single bed, draped in blue and white blankets. Laying on top of the bed was a stack of clothes and a folded towel that Cronian quickly grabbed, but as he was about to wipe himself down, he spotted an open door where a shower gleamed, as if telling him it may be a good idea to shower before using the towel to wipe the goop away. Shower it is!
A half an hour later, Cronian emerged out of the shower, drying himself off, relieved to be clean and warm for the first time since his 'rebirth'. Once dry, he climbed in to a one of the blue jump suits that he instantly recognized as an Ajaxian flight suit; identical to the one he had been wearing when he was vaporized somewhere in the Asteroid Fields. Satisfied that the jump suit fit, he drew his attention to the screen that appeared on the wall next the bed, illuminating to show the face of Jessibelle and her, barely clothed, upper torso visible on the screen, a view that inexplicably caused Cronians face to heat up by several degrees yet again. An artificial intelligence should never be allowed to look that good, he thought before collecting himself.
"Yes…" he asked the AI.
"I just thought you would like to know you're Flight of Independence is nearly ready, but won't be complete until the morning, since its now late in the evening," she said, looking him over with a slight nod. "Good, they fit you well."
"Thanks…" he said, raising an eyebrow in response. "Anything else?
"No, that is all. Sleep well," she said and vanished.
"Thanks, you too, I think," he said with a slight frown. "I guess I could use a little sleep," he said and slid the jumpsuit off so that it would be ready for the morning and then slipped in to bed to energize his new body for the next day.
--------
Several hours later, Cronian woke from a night of deep slumber as the lights in the room automatically turned on, slid out of the single bed, and placed his bare feet on the carpeted floor. Running his hand over the dark, short hair on his head, he yawned mightily as he slowly woke up. Who knew that being cloned could be so exhausting, he thought as he stood and stretched. Stomach growling, he looked towards the wall where an opening had appeared and on a tray stood a healthy stack of pancakes covered in syrup with a side of bacon and a tall glass of orange juice; and of course eating utensils sat ready on the tray.
"Well, that sure is nice," he said to himself and walked over to the wall where the tray sat, picked it up and brought it over to small table that stood near the entrance to the shower. Sitting down, he quickly dug in to the meal and before he realized it, he was finishing off the orange juice and dropping a fork on the empty tray. "That was good."
"Why thank you."
Cronian nearly fell out of his chair in surprise.
"Sorry, did I surprise you?"
Cronian sputtered at Jessibelle who's holographic figure was being transmitted out of a seam in the wall.
"A little warning would have been nice, at least," he said, staring at her in mild anger. "I mean, like send a signal that your about to pop up or something."
"Sorry," she said without sounding all to ashamed. "I thought I'd stop by and let you know that your fighter is ready, and now would be a good time to pack up and go inspect it before heading back out to the front."
"It would be, huh? Why is that?"
"Well, for one the LC--"
"LC?"
"The Legion Commander…"
"Oh yeah…"
"…has issued orders for all pilots currently not engaged in other pressing matters to make haste to the asteroid fields. It seems he feels that the battle there must be won, and the Fields must be secured by our fleet. And since you've had a full nights rest and are still here on Ajaxus, then I thought it might be a good idea for you to get back as soon as possible."
"Right…"he said. "Alright, I'll be out of here in a few minutes since I don't really have much here to pack."
"Excellent," Jessibelle grinned. "Good luck, Cronian. Fly safe."
Then she vanished.
Several minutes later Cronian was riding a turbo lift with a black duffle bag in his hand, going up to the surface, where he assumed a military base lay in wait for him. Otherwise if there wasn't, he surmised that it would be hard to explain to a few surprised passerby's why he had just walked out of a turbo lift car that had just broke through the ground on some old back alley somewhere. To his relief however, the door opened to the innards of what seemed to be something that could have been military, a thought that was soon confirmed as a technician in a blue coveralls walked by while looking over a few things on a data pad.
Stepping out of the turbo lift, with the doors swooshing closed behind him, Cronian looked left then right down the hallway that he just stepped in to, looking for a sign on the sheer black walls or something pointing him in the direction of the hangar bay. Making a guess decision, he took a left and walked alongside the reflective, sheer black wall looking for anything he may have missed from where he was standing in front of the turbo-lift. After he walked for awhile, the hallway he was traveling down came to an end at an intersection where a plaque on the wall read:
HANGARS LEFT
EXIT TO CITY RIGHT
Well that answers that question, he thought and turned left, walking down the eerily empty passageway, his boots clapping loudly on the smooth black metal surface. After a few minutes of walking, Cronian stopped and found himself looking down at a yellow holding line that warned him from falling over a tall steel cliff. Down below, lay nothing but a completely flat surface that appeared as if something large had been sliding over it at a rather quick speed.
A high pitched sound caught his ear, and he looked up to the left where two massive door flashed open, revealing a dark tunnel on the other side, and as if waiting for the cue from the first door an identical door on the right flashed open, momentarily forcing a gust of wind past Cronian and down in to the newly opened door. So surprised by the gust of wind, Cronian immediately was forced to correct his stance so as not to fall over from the sudden push from behind. As if that sudden surprise wasn't enough, Cronian quickly found himself falling backwards as line of passenger cars came shooting out of the tunnel before he could blink, and slowed to a halt only a little slower then it had arrived.
"You alright there?" a voice with a thick accent drifted towards his surprised form. Standing in an open door to the car that rested in front of him was a tall, middle aged man smiling down at Cronian who, in all the excitement had falled on to his rear.
"Huh," Cronian blinked, snapping himself out of the stunned silence he currently found himself occupied with, and got back to his feet. "Yeah, I'm fine. This….thing just shocked the hell out of me is all."
The man laughed.
"Ja, it'll shock the hell out of you if you don't know its coming. I take it, this is your first time respawning."
Cronian looked a little taken aback by that term.
"Respawning? That's a crude way to put it…"
"Hm, that it is. You going to the hangar then?"
"Uhm, yeah, I am."
"Then climb aboard, this takes us straight there."
Cronian looked at the what was to transport him to the hangar and shrugged.
"Ok then," he said and climbed in to the passenger car, and shook the mans hand. "Name's Cronian."
The man cheerfully shook Cronians hand.
"Lysander, pleasure to meet you."