Blue Drop: Angel's Home: Chapter 2

Testing

The next day, Mari'il's door slid open and two new Arume walked in. The short haircut and firm lines of her shoulders beneath her white lab-coat served to strengthen the severe expression on the face of the first one. The second carried a helmet which the first took and slammed onto Mari'il's head.

She looked Mari'il in the eye. ``So you say you are Commander Ekaril?'' were her first words.

``Yes,'' answered a confused Mari'il, ``In part. I'm also—'' But she was cut off before she can say more.

``Good. So you have all of her memories?''

Mari'il nodded in response, not wishing to be cut off again.

``I wish we had a recording of her brain waves before she left,'' the Arume commented to her assistant. ``It would be good to be able to compare them.'' Turning back to Mari'il, she asked, ``And who is this Forime you also claim to be?''

``Wakatake Mari,'' answered Mari'il.

The Arume continued asking a few more curt questions of a confused Mari'il. She also made several disparaging comments about Forime in general and finished by poking Mari'il painfully in the ribs. She then got up and headed out the door, telling her assistant, ``Bring the neuro-sensor helmet with you. I think we have the data we need.''

``Yes, Doctor Zephrael,'' replied her assistant, who removed the helmet from Mari'il more gently than Zephrael had put it on her. She then followed her out the door.

[[ It seems she doesn't like us, ]] Mari silently commented to Ekaril.

[[ No ]] agreed Ekaril, [[ It certainly seems like she doesn't. ]]

.

A couple days later, Zephrael, accompanied by a pair of assistants this time, came into Mari'il's room once more. Turning to one of them, she said, ``We need to get these samples for the genetic testing.'' She then turned back to Mari'il and imperiously held out her hand. ``Here,'' she ordered, demanding Mari'il stretch out her arm.

When Mari'il did not act fast enough, one of the assistants grabbed her arm and held it out, steady. Zephrael then took a device and used it to draw a sample of Mari'il's blood. Or at least that's what Mari'il took it to be, as it hurt similarly and when Zephrael removed the device, several drops of blood oozed out of the puncture it left.

While the assistant applies a styptic to this, Zephrael commented, ``look, it's staying red. She bleeds like an animal.''

[[ I'm sorry, ]] Ekaril told Mari, [[ I never expected that you would be subjected to treatment like this by my fellow Arume. I'm so sorry. ]]

ooo OOO ooo

That evening Mari'il sat down at the terminal in her room. [[ I wonder if we can find out anything about Zephrael, ]] mused Ekaril.

[[ I'm certainly curious, ]] replied Mari.

[[ Then let's see what we can find. If you'd let me? ]]

Mari gives over her hands and eyes to Ekaril who begins entering queries into the computer. After a bit of searching and reading, she comments, [[ Oh ho! Well, isn't that interesting. ]]

[[ What is this you found? ]]

[[ Look. It says Zephrael's teacher back in school was Sariel. And they've published several articles together since then, which shows they've continued cooperating. The curious point of this is that Sariel was known for her isolationist views, or at least she was back when I was in school. She said that we shouldn't be wasting our effort exploring other brane-worlds: they had nothing to teach us. Rather, we should be spending our effort trying to improve the Arume race. ]]

[[ She sounds like she wouldn't like either of us then, and she also sounds a bit arrogant. ]]

[[ Arrogant is an understatement. And if Zephrael shares her attitude, then we'll never get a fair treatment from her either. I only hope she isn't monitoring this terminal closely to see exactly what we were looking up. I think I looked up enough other stuff to cover our tracks. ]]

[[ I hope so too, ]] replied Mari, [[ and I also think you're right. ]]

[[ Yes. I also think her arrogance may help us there. ]]

.

As she got ready for bed that night, Mari'il continued to worry about Zephrael and her situation on Arume. It was obvious, starting with their first encounter, that Zephrael didn't like Mari'il, or more precisely that she put no value on Mari and looked down on Ekaril for associating with such a low-level life form, much less consenting to share a body with her.

Mari'il drifted off to sleep, her mind still churning over these worries. So it was not surprising that they showed up in her dreams.

.

Zephrael appeared in the dream, grabbed one of Mari'il's arms and with a swift, painful jerk, pulled Ekaril out of Mari'il's body. The stunned, slightly transparent Ekaril could only float there, helpless as Zephrael had her two assistants took Mari and locked her up in a cage next to the other experimental animals.

``Mari!'' screamed Ekaril as Zephrael dragged her off. ``No! Let me stay with you.'' At this, she was able to move again and resist the pull, which she did.

``Enough,'' said Zephrael. ``I leave you with the traitors,'' at which two of Shivariel's guards appeared on either side of her an pushed her into a jail cell across from Mari.

Shivariel appeared in the corridor between them. ``You will pay,'' she laughed coldly. ``You will pay for attacking me and thwarting my plans to rule Forime. And you,'' she turned to Mari. ``You will show us why you could resist my power and how you could seduce a formerly loyal officer to treason.''

``But I...'' said Mari.

``Yes,'' said Loriel, appearing beside Shivariel. ``How could you do that?''

Zephrael appeared again with her two assistants, jerked Mari from her cage, and pinned her down on an operating table. ``Now we will find out,'' she declared as an instrument cluster descended towards Mari's head and began extending tendrils toward her.

``No!'' Mari and Ekaril cried out at the same time. Ekaril suddenly appeared in her combat suit and destroyed the instrument cluster with her gun, just as she had the probe that attacked Mari back on Earth.

She freed Mari from her restraints and the two embraced. Then they turned to the others and together recited, ``No matter what blade you possess, it is impossible to cut the single flower that blooms in the wilderness that has become my heart.'' And with that, the two disappeared into a blaze of white energy.

The light dimmed and Mari and Ekaril find that they were now alone, still holding hands. They tightened their hold on each other, seeking reassurance.

[[ Are you all right? ]]

[[ I think so. And you? ]]

They both agreed that they seemed safe for the moment, and the glow faded further to show them standing together on a beach. After holding each other a bit longer they let go of their tight embrace but continued to hold hands as they turned to walk down the beach.

``Thank you for being here and saving me again, my dear.''

``There's nothing that can tear us apart,'' said Ekaril. ``Not Zephrael, nor Shivariel, nor anyone else.''

``And since I have you here with me, I can face anything,'' concluded Mari, tightening her grip on Ekaril's hand. The two stopped and moved to embrace each other with another tight hug and kiss, and as they did, the two flowed back together into their shared body.

``Yes,'' they said together as Mari'il. ``As long as we're together, we can face anything.'' And with that Mari'il dropped back into a deep contented sleep.

.

The next morning, Mari'il awakened. She remembered the dream but was less worried now than the night before. Even if Loriel turned against her, Mari and Ekaril knew they still had each other, even if they had no other friends here, though such a loss of an old friend would hurt. Of course, the possibility of a trial and punishment for Ekaril's actions on Forime was not appealing, but Mari and Ekaril could each accept that, though they didn't share their reasons with each other: Ekaril because she felt it may well be deserved, and Mari because it was another way to support and stay with Ekaril.

All they could do now was wait. And even such a trial was not definite. Loriel had left for Fleet maneuvers immediately after interviewing Mari'il, and they didn't know how she would proceed with things upon her return.

This train of thought led Mari'il to reminisce about shipboard life. [[ Even though I was only aboard Blue once, ]] remarked Mari, [[ I still miss her, ...and I'll bet you miss her even more. ]]

Ekaril sighed, or gave the mental equivalent. [[ Yes, I do too. I feel a bit adrift here without a ship. Blue was the best ship I've known. Myrdal was nice, but she didn't have a real personality like Blue, though we only knew her for a short time. ]]

[[ True. We only knew her for a little, but I miss her too. She did all we asked and brought us here together. ]]

[[ True. Myrdal was a good and faithful ship, though ordinary. I think the real difference was that Blue was an actual ``living ship'' with the ``P-Brain'' system giving her something close to sentience. Tsubael and I both thought that really worked well. I hope they continue to build more like her. ]] Ekaril paused, then mused, [[ I wonder if we'll ever serve aboard ship again, I guess a lot of that depends on what they decide about my actions on Forime. ]]

[[ Yeah. We can only wait, ]] replied Mari. [[ Though you know I'm not so good at that ...but I'm better now that you've taught me. ]]

Ekaril laughed in agreement and hugged her chest in thanks. This had become the way they figured out to give each other a hug. It was as close as they could manage in this shared body.

[[ I hope we can get you back aboard ship someday, or at least find something you enjoy as much, ]] concluded Mari.

[[ Thank you. I'm sure that we can find something enjoyable, since we will be together. ]]

Now it was Mari's turn to return the hug.