The long awaited update has arrived!
I apologise for taking a few months over it, but this is a big school year for me so I haven't had the time I once had, and I've been exceptionally busy as well as uninspired. So I had no time and no inspiration until I started drawing Yugi's Aibou form, then I managed to add to it, like a paragraph or two a day until it was done.
I'll make a few points before letting you get right to the story.
1) I'm so glad that everyone took Atem's reading of Yugioh so well. I tried to find a way for Yugi's name to be given, since it is just too much 'luck' if Atem merely comes up with it. So after banging my head against the wall, I, in the words of Mana's Madness, broke the fourth wall and came up with something a little insane. But I'm so happy it was so well received.
2) Many people think that Seto Kaiba will be M.O.E (or M.O). I'll say right now, I've got a role reserved for him that's a little original and it's not going to be one easily guessed - I hope. Let me surprise you!
3) Animesaki has correctly guessed that I named the robot dog Scraps as a tribute to Tim Burtons Corpse Bride. But also because I imagine it is a little walking junk pile too - its survived about 700 plus years in one piece so I think it would have a few dents and scratches.
4) Kaoru-Yuki, Kearitona Sjachraelgil, xfallenangel13x, lolita2088 and Animesaki: Thank you for all your heavy compliments, I am so happy that you are looking forwards to later chapters already. I think you guys are so nice, and deserve your own little spot of fame: So here it is.
5) ThatGirlWhoWantsToBeAwesome Thank you for your song, it made me smile.
6) Finally! A huge thank you to winged sapphire wolf who's been the beta for this story. You are a star sister!
Aibou 224 saluted the R-EX who marched past him, relaying their mission out loud.
"Each of you Aibou's will be dropped in a different section of Planet Earth. Your placements will be random, and the rocket will stay in planet Earth's orbit for exactly a week. You have that long to search for on-going Photosynthesis Bio matter. You all have your weapons, you're fully charged, and will be in danger, so keep alive, but keep to your Directive."
The rocket groaned as it was lifted by gigantic robotic arms into the space where it would be cast out from the Axiom into the abyss. The pods in which the Aibous would rest in opened with a hiss.
The R-EX nodded at the team of eleven. "See you in a month," he snapped and turned to leave.
The Aibous climbed into their pods and tried to relax as the pods sealed and began to fill with a foam that would put them all in frozen animation until they reached Earth, freezing their bodies and their minds, even their aging, until they reached their destination.
Aibou 224 didn't care for the foam. It was cold and when he inhaled the bubbles it made his lungs feel heavy. He closed his eyes and drifted off into unconsciousness. It wasn't sleep, because sleep was restful, and you were doing something, this unconsciousness was just a period of nothingness inside ones' head and body.
In fact, it only felt like a split second before the foam was liquidising and evaporating inside Aibou 224's pod. Again this wasn't something he looked forwards to. It felt like steam was in his lungs. It was highly uncomfortable, but it was over quickly. He exhaled as much as he could to get rid of the vapours.
With another hiss the airlock doors to his pod opened and the harsh light of day penetrated his sealed darkness, even with closed eyes he winced. Aibou held an arm above his head to block out the light.
He forgot that it was the 'help' sign for the robotic nurse his pod actually was.
The arms grabbed him uncomfortably and pulled his limp and stiff body – the only sign that time had actually passed for him – out of the pod and dropped him on the ground.
The tiny rocks, the uneven edges and roughs of the ground bumped against his suit. His suit was like a second skin over his torso, and he had just as fitting fingerless gloves from his elbows made of the same material. He wore shorts for modesty, and for uniform. On his belt there were two plasma guns strapped on the sides, they could only be used by him. He had two armour bands on his upper arms, they were part of his uniform, but also stored information such as medical data and his rank in their computer chips. Finally he had knee high heavy duty boots that had the ability to hover when charged.
Aibou breathed in the dusty air and coughed once before opening his eyes.
The light made them sting!
He kept blinking, remembering that if he stayed where he was for more than three minutes the robot 'brain' in his pod would assume he had died due to bad reaction to the foam.
Aibou shook his head at the unpleasant thought and carefully put one foot under his body, then the other, and finally stood to his full height. He grunted as his bones clicked and his muscles stretched. The stiffness was leaving him now, but it was still a little jerky, like he'd woken up after a case of old-time flu or something.
Aibou turned to face the waiting robot arms and saw the screen it was offering him. He would have to pass some tests to show that he was completely unaffected by the journey. On the screen was some simple Math.
Aibou reached out and quickly inputted the answer and his workings.
Q: [(3x^2-27)divided by 4)] times[ 8x^2) divided by(9-3x)]divided by [(x^2+3x) divided by 6]i
Workings: Invert the third fraction then multiply straight across
(3x^2-27)(8x^2) 6 Over 4(9-3x) (x^2+3x)
Then factor and cross cancel
(3(x-3)(x+3)(8x^2) 6 Over -12(x-3) x (x+3)
Resulting with= -12x
A: -12x
The screen flashed a green light when it checked his answer.
Aibou straightened up as the next arm reached for him. He had given evidence of good cognitive and problem solving functioning, now it was time to scan his brain and test his reactions. The metal pads resting on his scalp vibrated slightly as they read the electricity inside his head. A light shone into his left eye, quite suddenly. Aibou raised his left hand, showing that he had acknowledged it. He repeated the exercise with the right.
The arm took in his reaction time, brain activity to the test, and retina sensitivity.
Aibou was getting bored with these tests, he knew they were necessary as a check-up, if something was wrong with him he didn't want to go and get himself killed. But why must he do it every time?
Surely after the sixth time of performing this task, training and field both counting, it was clear he wasn't going to be affected by the foam or space travel? Yet here he was; his Directive not letting him disobey his orders, having a check-up was part of his objective.
The robot arm offered him a thermometer. Aibou put it into his mouth and under his tongue quickly and reached out to the next screen to see where he was:
Location: New York City.
Days in space: 16.
Report of health: Nothing out of the ordinary.
Test of Equipment: Unchanged and orderly.
Aibou handed back the thermometer, and the pod gave him the all clear.
Aibou 224's shoulders relaxed as he competed part of his mental conditioning. Part of his Directive. Whenever he did that he felt a swell of satisfaction and achievement, like he was one step closer to his lifetime goal. He also felt relaxed once he had taken such a step, refusing would make him anxious and unstable until he had completed his compulsion or Directive.
Aibou reached up to touch the scanner that rested on one ear, like a hearing aid modified with a headphone, and the blue light shot out at his feet. The hash of blue beams analysed what was under them, and reported back as many layers of soil components, but finished with a negative beep when no Photosynthesis was found in the search spot.
Aibou started his hover boots, the energy stored in his suit acting to his will. His suit was the tank top over his torso with fingerless gloves going up to his elbows, both were white with blue technology patterns and a white circle with a blue ring around it. The suit could draw energy directly from his cells, but normally it just took it from waste energy around him, from something as big as vibrations to as small as atoms undergoing reactions. Shame he wasn't in the space ship, he constantly got energy from the many footsteps and engines that moved in the Axiom. The suit also allowed him to transfer energy to things that run on electricity. Such as his hover boots, he mentally sent them energy to turn them on, and channelled it away to turn them off.
He had been doing this so long that it was entirely instinctive.
Aibou carefully drifted away from the ship and scanned a new patch of ground, he knew the pod nurse robot was still watching him and checking his behaviour. But he ignored the giant ship, he had a Directive to achieve!
This patch of dirt looked a little more promising, there were many metal cans in a pile here, maybe one of these- *Nerr!*
Or maybe not.
Aibou moved on without blinking, not paying attention to the analysis results; Cans, tin and aluminium, plastic, dried sugar molecules. Purpose, to hold a 'fizzy' drink of 500 calories, 1g of- the list went on.
He repeated the scan again and again, the robot watching him to make sure he was fine.
Aibou felt a little nettled that he was treated like a child or rookie. He was a veteran of Planet Earth. True his only other mission three years ago had to be cut short because of a malfunction in his pod, but he knew how dangerous Earth could be and didn't need to be treated like a Humanoid fresh out of the factory, or breeder-bot if you were a lucky specialist bred Humanoid. Anyway, being monitored made him tense and edgy.
But finally the sound of the engines fired. The ground rumbled as the rocket took off and left to orbit the planet and charge up for the return flight.
Aibou counted to twenty in his head before risking a glance up at the shrinking spaceship. It was too far away to watch him now.
Aibou relaxed and let a rare smile turn his lips.
Free.
That's what this was. He wasn't stuck in a ship full of routine, carefully cleaned and safe corridors, cushioned rooms, but most of all he wasn't stuck under a camera. Now he didn't have to act tough, show no emotion, keep restrained and focused.
He was Free! For just five minutes, he wanted to leave the Axiom, his Directive, and the burden of finding life on his shoulders behind him.
He raised his arms and spun up into the air, imagining the weightlessness as a side effect of the absent chains of his role. At the peak of his rise he opened his eyes and shot forwards, soaring through the sky like a superhero of a forgotten age.
He saw the valleys of old rivers, the coating of litter all over the earth, so much that the soil patches were rare. But he forced himself not to focus on them, just the five minutes of freedom he had allowed himself. He focused on the dropping sensation in his stomach during a fast climb, and again after a steep dive.
He looped around a rock, pushed past a sound barrier, kicked up a trailing dust in his wake. He focused on the wind pushing his hair back, and the sand stinging his skin. Then he slowly sank back to earth, ready to get back to the daily grind until he allowed himself another five minutes.
*Click-clack*
Aibou froze, then snatched his plasma guns and fired once, very powerfully in the direction of the noise. He had thrown a lot of energy into the guns from his gloves, a side effect of his surprise.
Although his gaze was icy and emotionless, inside he was panicking. Had the ship left behind a probe to watch him? What if it had seen him slacking? He'd be laid off and remodelled as a dishwasher or laundry cleaner! Or worse! They'd label him a degenerate-rogue!
Aibou forced himself to breathe when the dust cleared. His sharp eyes and enhanced eyesight scanned the area where the sound had come from. There was nothing there, no tracks or left over energy signatures of a probe. Nothing but his own.
Aibou relaxed and sheathed his plasma guns, his suit already re-absorbing the energy from the heat of the blast – it took a lot to energy from his suit to make a blast like that. Aibou reasoned that his flight must have disturbed some rocks. He turned and flew over to the city, wanting to get on with his Directive just encase he was wrong. He wasn't going to risk being remodelled or being caught flying for pleasure.
Aibou scanned many things on his way into the city; anything that resembled the badly preserved plant pictures from his training, and anything that honestly made him curious. But all ended in a negative anyway. Aibou mentally sighed and let out a small groan, he steeled himself for the day; no doubt it was going to drag.
Atem cautiously watched as the angel flew around the city, scanning posters, odd bits of metal, items, old-time cars, dead bodies, everything it seemed. Sometimes even the bare earth.
Atem tilted his head curiously, why was he doing this? What was it for? Was he staying? How would he introduce himself?
The angel scanned over a pile of tyres when Atem decided to try and approach again. He steeled his nerve and took a step into the sunlight, having his shield ready to take any of those blue destroying blasts if he should startle Yugi again. Yugi was the perfect name, he wondered if his real name was anymore perfect.
Atem jumped when the familiar sound of metal hitting metal sounded to the left.
The angel turned and drew his weapons again. His eyes sharp and the blue screen over his eye throwing a strange light over his face, making it look futuristically savage; Cold and calculating. Atem hesitated, this didn't look like the smiling, flying angel he had seen before … he looked dangerous.
The metallic sound turned into a familiar tumble and before their eyes, Scraps fell into the clearing, a dead rat next to him.
The angel fired on sight.
Atem gasped. His heart jumped at the thought of his only companion in pieces. And at the hands of his angel!
When the smoke cleared Scraps lay on its side with a hissing flashing hole in its flank, the dead rat was half fried.
The angel approached and nudged the dead metal with his foot. Scraps lay motionless, its eye lights off and the only think lively about it was the sparking live wires.
Atem let out a small whimper and slunk back to the pile of tyres.
The angel, who Atem was going to call Yugi until he learned his real name, scanned the carcass of broken metal and computing with those strange blue lines and then let out a gasp of his own. Atem watched with curious and slightly pained eyes as Yugi knelt next to his broken companion and pulled out some of his wires.
Aibou stared down at the metal junk-bot with hard eyes.
So there was a probe! Well it wasn't going to bother him anymore. And it couldn't tell anyone about his progress. Aibou had thought that probes checking on professionalism and progress were only rumours! It didn't look like any probe Aibou 224 had ever seen. In fact it looked a lot like an extinct canine of sorts.
Curious, Aibou scanned the metal lump to see what kind of mechanic it was.
Analysis result: Canine pet/Companion. Serial number: #2014. Purpose: to company a human. Power: Fully charged. Quality: Functioning. Material: Steel, plastic, Copper, Silver. Error! Glitch detected! Hacked code, secondary purpose: fetch food for surviving companion-
What!
Aibou gasped as he looked further into the code that had been altered. It was recent, the charge was manual and recent; someone was alive here on Earth and possibly dependant on this robot! He had just destroyed someone's life support!
All emergency programing in his brain came into action, whenever life, pure human or suspected pure human, was in danger some underlying conditioning allowed him to override his Directive to do what he could to save it, if Aibou so choose. But it was more than that to Aibou 224, it was life, and life was precious.
Aibou fell to his knees and set the scanner to analyse the damage. Wires were fired, some mechanics were broken. No joints were bent luckily, no binary damage, no code damage. Some battery damage, charge was gone.
Aibou pulled out the wires and stuck them onto his glove, letting the battery charge from him. Then he brought his hand up to his mouth, steeled himself, and bit through the skin on his knuckle. He cut his skin and let the nanos out onto the robot. They scurried around repairing and rebuilding the broken metal, fixing all the dents, even repairing the colour loss. All the wires were reconnected with excess metals and the plastic was rewrapped around the copper. But even when the internal mechanics were fixed the robot was unresponsive.
Aibou willed it to react, he had to fix it. Someone was alive on Earth! Someone needed this robot!
With a splutter and a bang as a dent was fixed the robot jerked. Aibou let out a gasp of delight when the robot's eyes lit up with energy again. The eyes focused and as the hole from the blast resealed itself, and the nanos returned to Aibou's blood – healing his cut as they did so. Aibou took a step back, still crouching, and smiled when the robotic dog stood up, stretched, and moved all its joints, then let its tongue loll out of his mouth in a dopy way.
Aibou smiled and reached out a hand.
Atem stared in amazement! Scraps had come back to life! The angel had repaired it!
Yugi had one hand reached out, and Scraps, due to its programing, tilted its head and approached letting out sniffing noises through its speaker. Yugi tilted his head to the side, as if he had never seen a dog or knew how to act. Eventually Scraps pressed its metal muzzle into Yugi's hands and its tail wagged while it let out delighted dog noises.
Yugi laughed and began to unsurely pat the dog's metallic hide. He looked at the nametag and blinked "Scraps." The said dog barked at its name. Yugi grinned and kept patting the robot with an aura of ease. "Where's your owner?"
Atem leaned against the tyres with a dreamy expression. He hadn't caught what Yugi was saying to his pet, but Yugi's voice was beautiful, Atem was suddenly intensely jealous of Scraps. He had never felt jealous before, so stayed in place while he tried to figure out what this strange new feeling meant.
"Where's your owner?" Aibou asked.
He heard the mechanics in the dog's brain whirring in response to his query, and then the metallic animal turned to a shadowy part of the tyre clearing. Its tail wagged again and it ran into the shadows barking in welcome. In the shadows a figure reached down to pat the robot.
Aibou picked up his weapons and put one away, keeping the other out just encase the dog's owner wasn't as friendly as the robotic dog. "Who's there? Come out!" he ordered, pointing one plasma gun into the shadows.
Atem gulped when the gun was pointed at him. He hadn't expected this! Scraps stood by his side with its tail wagging at full speed, the fried rat in its mouth. Yugi spoke again and used one hand to beacon, then pointed sternly at the ground.
Atem glance down at Scraps then took a few hesitant steps forwards, into the sunlight.
Aibou's eyes widened. A human! An actual surviving human!
The robot dog was staying by his side, meaning that this was its owner, and the person's hand was gently patting the hard skull of the dog.
But this person was strange. He had tri coloured hair, that had only been found in himself so far on his ship, red eyes that made Aibou wary, and skin bronzed and dirtied by Earth's hostile elements.
He was dressed in a tank top with sleeveless arms, solar bands on his arms and one shoulder, there was a device strapped to one band and one hand had a glove of burgundy and gold while the other had a metal clasp along his wrist that looked like it extended into a wing. He had thickly soled boots, trousers that were torn at the edges, and his body showed many scars.
Then Aibou saw the metal elbow.
He blinked.
That wasn't very human. He pressed his scanner and let the light hover over the being before him.
Atem cringed under the blue light, he held up one arm to shield his eyes. When the negative tone sounded the light faded. He looked over his arm at Yugi and saw Yugi looking incredibly disappointed and confused in equal measures.
Atem fiddled with his hands awkwardly "Er …" he mumbled, trying to think of something to say with his barely used voice. But whenever he looked at Yugi his tongue felt thick and heavy, he couldn't remember how to speak.
Yugi looked at Scraps and back at Atem with one eyebrow raised "Is the dog yours?" was the curt question, gun still raised, though now he doubted this ... survivor was savage. If anything this being was scared of him and was trying to be 'friendly'.
Atem jumped and then frowned as he tried to process the words. Is … the … dog …yours … his brain scrambled for meanings, then for the answer.
Aibou raised his already raised brow higher when the human before him frowned at his words and mumbled under his breath, hands fiddling together nervously. Maybe he was a savage after all. Illiterate, neglected and stupid to all around him but his basic needs and his Directive.
Aibou sighed in exasperation.
He wasn't a human, not a pure one anyway. He was a humanoid like himself, part robotic and born to serve the survival of the pure humans. Aibou 224 had been born out of a test tube, had no parents he knew of – he had biological ones of course, but they didn't raise him, the nanny-bots did, and the many computers- he had only one purpose, and no rights above a human. This he had in common with this lost and forgotten being.
But this humanoid was useless! He couldn't even answer a basic question. No wonder he was forgotten about!
Aibou snapped away his gun with an aggravated sigh, and turned away and promised to forget about the wild humanoid. He hoped that was the last he saw of him.
Atem opened his mouth to answer when Yugi snapped his gun away and took flight, his boots flying him up over the block of old flats and deeper into the city.
Atem let out a disappointed noise and weakly hit his temple. Why had he acted so stupid? It was only a question, and he couldn't even do that. He couldn't even say 'hello' … "Nice to meet you," he mumbled too late.
Scraps picked up the half roasted rat and put the meat back at Atem's feet with its tail wagging with pride, drawing Atem's attention back to his robotic pet.
Atem gently patted his robot's shiny head. The robot was now shiny, its paint new as the day it was made, newer and cleaner than Atem had ever seen him. Its joins were clean and newly oiled, even the lights in its lights seemed to shine lighter. After examining his companion for evidence of the blast, he found none and he felt a surge of gratitude that his angel had given back his companion.
Atem looked after where Yugi had gone and smiled. He had to thank him, that's what he would do. But what could he offer?
Atem looked down at himself. He had some food at home, he couldn't give up Scraps, there was always some of his treasures … but what could an angel want?
Aibou looked over his shoulder as he heard another clutter of falling trash. He sighed and flew up to the top of a block of flats and glanced around at the lower surroundings.
That wild humanoid and his pet were following him around like an old-time stalker. Although both were barely a threat to him, and his modern technology, it was a little irritating, and slightly unnerving. Aibou hadn't thought that life could survive here. No person or animal anyway.
Aibou looked around in the fading light. Having been born and raised in a brightly lit, artificial environment his eyesight wasn't good in the dark. From about dusk he was practically blind, only his computer scanner and torch could navigate him in the dark. He would have to set up a base of some sort to sleep tonight, and let the suit recharge. It wasn't wise to wander around in the dark when you couldn't see.
But where was safe?
Aibou scanned his surroundings and saw an old metal vent that had once air conditioned this ancient block of flats. Aibou was silently wondered how this building was still standing. It was grey, probably built in a time when there were slums in big cities. The walls were covered in cracked plaster and the rest in dust from sand and said plaster. It was buried in trash, with the streets surrounding it unable to be seen because of rubbish a meter deep in every direction. Aibou wondered if this building was a museum or monument to a past age, there wasn't much point in keeping it around otherwise. It was like a stain on the modern-ish and once sleek buildings around it.
Aibou approached the vent with caution, he shone his light down it and winced when he saw the blade sitting waiting for him. Aibou charged the plasma gun to a low power and aimed it to knock off the rotating blade.
Luckily it happened with minimal noise and exactly the right amount of damage.
Aibou smirked; his calculations had been perfect as normal. After another glance around to make sure that his surroundings were safe, he slipped down into the vent feet first. He stretched and turned off all of his technology and set his suit to recharge fully before dawn. Hopefully he'd have a nice night's sleep tonight.
Aibou closed his amethyst eyes and relaxed against the cold hard metal, he curled up and felt exhaustion take over him … more so now the suit wasn't keeping his energy levels and biological rhythms constant.
Atem watched as Yugi flew up into the sky, landing on top of one of this city's oldest buildings. He had been following him all day. He kept waiting for a chance to approach him, but every time today he lost his nerve, or Yugi moved away too quickly to approach.
Atem absently rubbed an arm, the metal joint had been banged a bit when he was crushed under a pile of shopping trollies. Luckily his joint wasn't damaged, but the bump vibrated all up his arm, along actual bone, and paralysed him in pain for a while.
He had been watching Yugi aiming his blue light bars at some plastic-spiny-things; he had a few at his house in a box somewhere. They were in a supermarket, the isles held all sorts of old items, most broken and others empty due to looting.
Atem tried to approach again, but Yugi had sharply turned and glared at him. Atem had jumped, and accidently sent Scraps back into the stacks of trollies, abandoned when Earth was, and that had started a stampede of them.
The next thing Atem knew he was under twenty of them by the entrance, that had refused to open for his panicked run. Ironically it opened when the final trolly rolled into the back of the group. Atem escaped through the open doors with gratitude, and then moved away to nurse the growing number of bruises, and his aching arm.
No doubt he looked stupid right now in Yugi's eyes.
Next Atem had simply followed from a distance, hoping to leave a gift for his angel when he settled down to sleep; in his arms was a blanket. It was patchwork, something his Mother Atem had made and given to him as a child, made of thick scraps of fabric and woven together with messy bits of string, thread and sometimes surgical or fishing wire. It was brown and faded, but it was warm and comfortable, and Atem felt that Yugi would need it in the colder nights.
Atem pulled himself up the last of the rusty ladder, Scraps was waiting below, and looked around the roof for signs of Yugi. He had seen him go up to this building, and night had fallen. But couldn't see anything, even with his enhancing contact lenses, maybe he had already moved onto a different rooftop?
Atem sighed and turned to head back down, only to notice footprints. Since there weren't very many of those in the city due to the sand and wind it meant recent movement. He followed them to the vent, and quickly found where Yugi had taken refuge.
Atem smiled slightly, Yugi was very smart, air vents were perfect for hiding from storms. There was little chance of being trapped or buried under rubbish, and you'd always have fresh air. Atem saw how Yugi was curled into the corner of the vent and very slowly lowered the blanket until it was draped over Yugi's sleeping body.
Atem retreated, and hoped Yugi wouldn't wake while he was there. But Yugi didn't stir
Atem re-joined Scraps on the ground floor to find shelter of their own. They were going to follow this angel until he could speak to him, and that meant not losing him.
Atem opened the door of a car, pulled Scraps into the front where it could recharge from old Engine batteries, and curled up himself in the backseat. Hopefully Yugi would speak to him tomorrow.
Aibou 224 slowly woke up, blinking his eyes as his suit began to charge him with extra energy. Aibou looked around as his eyesight sharpened from sleepy to sharp. He felt very warm here in this vent. He absently stretched all his muscles and cracked a few stiff joints in the limited space. His suit warmed his skin with extra energy, and his stomach pains vanished as it controlled his pain receptors. He had to put up with a week of no food and limited water, he could manage.
As he moved he felt fabric slide against his skin and his suit-
Wait, fabric?
Aibou looked down, on alert for the first time that morning, and saw a clumsily made blanket, sewn together from all types of fabrics and rags. There was even a sock or two and a napkin and umbrella fabric. To add to this there were many types of threats holding it together. String, thread, wires, staples, and leather.
Curious, Aibou scanned it. He was right, it was a mismatch of items put together, about five hundred years ago originally, and had been recently added to on all edges. Aibou deduced that this item must have grown with its owner since it was originally a smaller piece. And speaking of owner, where had it come from, and how had it ended up across his sleeping body?
That thought unnerved him. He thought he was safe in this vent.
He quickly got out, half flying half climbing, and looked around for traces of whoever owned this item. His sharp eyes eventually picked up the tracks that went from the unsafe iron ladder to the vent.
He scanned the footprints, negative for bio-matter, positive for recent disturbance. Aibou smirked as he realised who this must belong to. It should have come to him instantly, only a wild person could own something so desperately made. The wild humanoid must suffer in severe cold weather sometimes, he reasoned.
Aibou folded the blanket and flew down to the ground.
Why had the wild humanoid given him this? The obvious answer was to keep him warm. But he couldn't have done that consciously. He was feral, therefore had no understanding of human kindness and looked out for his own survival. Basic instincts, it wasn't like there was anyone around to teach him these things, and since it had been made five hundred years ago then he had probably just found the main bulk of it and used it to keep himself alive. Not that Aibou could blame him. Earth wasn't a nice place to meet your end.
But why had he been given this? Perhaps out of gratitude for healing his robot pet? Again that required other human contact, and empathy teachings. Perhaps it was to get his attention? Or maybe he was trying to hide or store it and Aibou had just gotten in the way?
Aibou decided that the final option was most likely, followed by the other two.
When he reached the ground he saw the wild humanoid sleeping in an old time transportation device.
Aibou tilted his head and watched him for a moment, he seemed younger when he was asleep. Maybe they were around the same age? Aibou was in his thirtieth year, though he hardly looked it thanks to genetics and time enduring engineering – Humanoids lasted longer than robots, and they were smarter and more useful in the long run, but they took forever to grow and condition, so when a humanoid was 'born' they had to last. Aibou would last a good century or five if he was lucky, just one if he wasn't. Anyway, the humanoid's face held a certain innocence while he slept. Like he didn't know of lies, cruelty, pain, or other daily troubles. Aibou silently envied his ignorance, it seemed it was bliss in this case.
Aibou placed the blanket on the ground beside the car and quietly took off back the way he had come the day before; he couldn't afford to wander too far from his base, or where his ship had landed. Getting lost was not on his list of things to do.
Now back to his Directive.
*boop* *boop* *boop* *Nerr!*
Atem woke up when his life support started shrieking for solar energy. He groaned and kicked open the car door and dragged himself from the vehicle. His body had used up all his energy healing and restoring him in the night, the bruises were yellow and old now.
He needed the sun. Luckily a sun patch was only a few feet away. He sat down and let the rays warm him up, and energise him. He felt himself wake up as his solar bands absorbed the light, like rising out of a murky fog.
Atem looked around, a little confused as to why he wasn't in his home, and took in his surroundings. When he recognised where he was he stiffened nervously. He rarely entered this area of the city. He hadn't cleared the other areas, first and foremost, but lots of fires tended to break out about a mile north. Some kind of solar powered heat device hadn't been shut off successfully, it kept setting toxic gasses on fire and it spread to the surrounding rubbish, making even more toxic gas.
In short, Atem didn't come here. His chest and shoulder burn had taught him that lesson.
Then he remembered why he was close to a dangerous part of the abandoned city. The Yugi angel had been heading this way. Atem looked up at the building where Yugi had been sleeping, was he still there?
His life support signalled that it was fully charged, and Atem got to his feet and pulled Scraps out of the front of the car. Scraps systematically stretched all its joints, then sat and waited for instructions.
Atem was just about to head over to the ladder when his foot landed on something soft. It wasn't the normal crunch or crushing sounds of trash underfoot, or the firm press of stone, sand or concrete.
Atem looked down and found the blanket he had given to Yugi.
Atem picked it up and looked around in confusion. How had this gotten here? It was folded as best it could be for its shape, and had been placed in the clearest spot on the ground. It had been moved.
Atem realised Yugi must have put it there. Had Yugi not liked his gift?
Atem felt a welling sensation inside him. It felt bad, but his life support wasn't showing anything dangerously wrong. What Atem was slightly ignorant over was that he was feeling rejection. He didn't understand why the gift wouldn't be kept. It was warm and useful and clean, and it had been special to him making it a hard to give it up, so why hadn't Yugi kept it?
Atem hugged the blanket to his chest and pressed his face into the multi-fabric item. This was one of the few comforts he had in this environment. It was soft, and warm, and reminded him heavily of his Mother – who had also been soft and warm to him. His Mother's smell was long gone, centuries gone, but Yugi's wasn't. He smelt clean, not exactly fragrant, but there was a certain scent that clung to the blanket that was uniquely Yugi.
Atem withdrew from his musings and decided to head home. He needed to eat and his nose and eye filters needed a clean, they weren't meant to last days on end. He tucked the blanket under his arm and absently filled his glove compartments with the vitamin supplements he needed. Atem then motioned to Scraps to follow him and they made their way back to safer areas of the city.
Once in a safer area Atem sent Scraps ahead to get home, the fastest route for him would be difficult for Scraps' physical capabilities. It wouldn't be able to climb and get off of high jumps and ledges. It was just easier to let the robot find its own way home. Scraps bounded ahead on command.
Atem, meanwhile, trudged on with the blanket now transferred to his backpack, he was feeling too down to play his music, which was the reason he heard Yugi's distant scanning device sounding another negative.
Atem perked up at the sound. He had just finished climbing over a blockade of old-time cars.
They were about half a mile from his home, it was just about to turn noon, although you would have thought it was dusk by the dull clouds. They were heavy and blocked out the sun, Atem was very lucky he had managed to get a few minutes sunlight that dawn before the heavy blanket of clouds moved in.
They were by the old harbours, it was the easiest way to not get lost; follow the river of silt and sand. The harbour was grey and many shades of brown, because of the desert this planet had become, with large dark grey or black, rusty ships half buried in the sand. They lay where they were moored when the ocean dried up, ghosts of the past waiting forever until they rusted away.
It was over these giant steel shells that Atem saw Yugi flying about; he stared with wide eyes once again. Yugi slammed a door shut and began to fly again, his shoulders hunched and his head hanging slightly. Atem's face morphed into sympathetic curiosity before his eyes widened in surprise, and a little fear.
Aibou 224 heard the negative blaring noise and sighed. He shut the fridge door and moved somewhere else.
He had judged that the open air was too hostile for plant life, so had started searching for more sheltered areas where plants could take root. So far his spark of genius hadn't been too fruitful.
The fridge had been negative.
And so had the car hood.
And the cupboard.
And the mobile toilet.
And the oven.
And the desk.
The safe.
The freezer.
The plastic box.
The fiberglass box.
The shop till.
The tool box.
The shelves.
Under the dock.
Under a rock.
Under the protective ship-hull covering.
*Nerr!*
Aibou growled in frustration and slammed the hull's trap door closed. Negative! Negative! Negative! Why couldn't he find anything!
The noise from his slam echoed throughout the ship as his extra strength fuelled his anger.
*Nerr!*
"I didn't even scan that time!" he screamed at his headset, pulling at his harshly, having accidently set it off. The machine squealed as if it was in pain, but Aibou knew it was only warning him that it was being bent in a position it wasn't meant to be in – meaning Aibou had to treat it carefully like part of his own body.
He was fed up.
The noise was repetitive and doing his head in, there was nothing interesting around here, he was lonely and he still had another five or six days before his ship returned from orbit! Another six days of this beep would drive him crazy!
At least on the Axiom he had more interesting pastimes, such as reading, exercising and … reporting for duty and drills. Aibou grumbled, even on the ship he found himself bored. He recalled how he was trained to be indifferent to all and everything, he didn't have many acquaintances because he was a higher class of humanoid, he had been heavily invested in and he wasn't going to live like a common humanoid encase the higher commands thought he was devolving into one of them. It had happened in the past, some humanoid had become a little too interested in another role and so had been kicked off his own program for slacking. He had been rewired to become a VV.O.N.G after that. A mere cleaning robot.
At least being an Aibou meant he could do anything he wanted while he was off duty, and he got to explore Earth, and finally his responsibility was prestigious. He wanted to be the one to bring humanity back to Earth. Then everyone would remember at least one Aibou: number 224.
Aibou pulled at his bangs in irritation and flew up to look at the next identical ship. His shoulders sagged, this would take all day, and he would have nothing to show for it. He already knew this but his Directive forced him to keep looking even though it was pointless – and pointless things make people angry and frustrated.
Aibou drifted gloomily over to the next ship, the great crane above him creaking and screaming with rust as it moved, and glanced around to pick out his next target.
But his thoughts were suddenly cut short.
Aibou cried out in surprise as he was suddenly pulled upwards by a strong force. With a clang he was stuck to a round flat something that clung to him like superglue.
Aibou looked around in shock and tried to pull away, only for his suit and gloves to snap him back. He grunted as he was sucked back against that object and glared at it angrily. He had a temper when pushed, and he was already riled enough as it was.
Aibou pushed himself away again and managed to twist his head enough to see it. It was a magnet!
He groaned. His shirt, boots, gloves, belt, everything! Even parts of his bone structure and blood, was made of metallic fibres and particles that were clearly vulnerable to magnets.
His temper snapped when his head was bashed back against the metal-attractor. Aibou pulled out a plasma gun and pressed the barrel into the magnet. His eyes burned as all his frustration and anger built up into one huge power surge into the gun and it's destructive purpose.
The first shot was powerful enough to send the magnet and its arm flying, and himself in the opposite direction. The next shots were left over rage that stemmed from his frustration and boredom. Before he knew it the entire row of ships were ablaze, on their sides, and burning from the inside out.
He couldn't stop shooting!
He just wanted something to change! Something to happen! Something to be achieved! Something! Something!
Finally his red vision faded, and his body felt drained as his suit used up all his energy, and all its stored energy too.
Aibou's boots slowly lowered him to the bank of the old river. He was now empty of rage, but full of negative aftermath emotions from his destructive outburst.
He sank to the floor and wrapped his arms around his knees as he watched the ships burn into metal shells and ashes. He felt no better from releasing his anger. He felt worse because nothing had been achieved, destroying things wouldn't make the frustration of his job any less rage-inducing. He'd eventually have to go back to the negative bleeping noise and the endless, pointless search.
At least the fire was recharging his suit …
Aibou rested his head on his knees, the desert dust and sand hard under him and grainy, as it was throughout the planet. But that didn't stop him hearing the hesitant footsteps approaching.
Atem hid the second Yugi started shooting. He ducked behind a wall and cringed at the loud booms and the screams of metal buckling under incredible force. It reminded him of the screams of his fellow Atems from his distant childhood, and the loud booms were just so unusual he jumped anyway.
When the noise had stopped Atem felt brave enough to peek over the top of the wall – a wall of rubbish cubes and collected dust. The old-time harbour was ablaze with burning ships. Atem gulped at all the destruction and fire, and prepared to move away. Fire scared him. And meeting Yugi after a show like that was suddenly a little less appealing.
He only took one step when he saw something white ahead of him. It didn't match its surroundings at all, and Atem had never seen something pure white before; hardly anything was that clean in this dusty, dirty world.
He picked it up and stared. It was one of Yugi's blasting devices. He turned it over and over in his hands before coming to the conclusion that he had to return it. It was too dangerous to keep, and at least it matched Yugi's appearance. It even had the same blue lightning bolt and blue ring-spot design that ran down the side of almost every item Yugi had; his belt, shoes, fingerless gloves, shirt, gun holders and arm bands.
Atem climbed back over the wall and saw Yugi sitting watching the fire on the sandy bank of the parched river. Atem licked his lips uncertainly and began a stealthy approach until he was two meters away.
The glow of the fire kept drawing his gaze, because so much of it so close was making him nervous. He didn't want another burn. Often he felt the urge to turn and get away try to overpower him.
He steeled his resolve and inched closer.
Yugi was also transfixed on the blaze. The orange light made his face look strange in the dancing light. The fire was reflected in his eyes, and made them seem unearthly. His skin looked rosy and his shadow flickered like the flames behind him.
Atem took another step towards him.
Yugi's head snapped around to look directly at him, he was not as hypnotised by the fire as Atem thought.
Atem gasped and cringed backwards, retreating a few steps.
Yugi looked at him in an expressionless way, but didn't move.
Atem trembled under the intense look. His instincts told him to move, to get away from this person before he ended up like the harbour. But at the same time his heart was in his dry mouth in excitement, he had never been so close to him before!
Finally he held out his quivering arms, his hand shook the worst, as he slowly put his hands forward with Yugi's alien item in his grasp.
Yugi glanced down at his belt, realising that he was indeed missing one, and looked up with awe in his eyes. He reached a hand out and took the gun as slowly as Atem had held it out. He ran his hands over it, as if he was making sure it wasn't broken before glancing at Atem, making the humanoid tense again.
"Thank you."
Atem blinked. He thanked him? He wasn't mad?
A small smile turned up the corners of his mouth, making Yugi smile in return. Atem felt warm, the fire wasn't as scary now, he had finally done something right. Atem smiled wider before stuttering through an unpractised mouth "Y-y-you're … wel-welcome …"
Yugi's violet eyes flew wide "You can talk!"
Aibou looked up when the wild humanoid came too close for comfort. He knew his gaze was enough to scare most humanoids back on the Axiom into leaving him alone – otherwise the strength, speed, and weapons of his model made up the rest of the unspoken threat, not to mention his intellect that rivalled a computer and several professors put together. As expected the feral thing stopped in his tracks and cringed away.
Aibou kept watching him, hoping he'd just go. He was a nuisance, and he wanted to be alone.
But the humanoid just swallowed and carefully extended his arms towards him, both hands shaking in fear. Aibou looked at his hands and his eyes widened when he saw a plasma gun in his hold! He looked down at his pair- only to find that one was missing.
Had this wild, lonely creature come to return it? Was it his?
He turned back to the nervous and hesitant humanoid with wonder. Was there humanity in him after all?
Not wanting the skittish being to turn and run he returned the slow and steady gesture of extending his hand. As soon as he touched the metal of the gun he knew it belonged to him. The familiar hum of energy through it as it touched his gloves was unmistakeable. He ran his hands over the gun absently.
Aibou turned to the humanoid that stood awkwardly watching him. The moment they made eye contact the wild humanoid tensed defensively.
Aibou felt a little bad for scaring him and smiled slightly "Thank you." He owed that to the lonely creature at least.
The humanoid's eyes widened a little before a small smile turned up his lips. Aibou couldn't help smiling in return, the lonely one's smile was so innocent and childish that he couldn't help it, he wondered if he even knew what he was doing, or what it meant. The poor thing. Toughing it out in this environment probably beat out most of his nicer tendencies.
The humanoid's smile broadened, as if seeing Aibou smile had made his Christmas, Easter and Birthday come early at once. Then he fiddled nervously with his hands and opened his mouth uncertainly "Y-" he tried once, making Aibou stare.
"Y-you're … wel-welcome …"
The phrase was hoarse, dry, terribly stuttered, mispronounced on the 'come' so it sounded like com, as in , but it was still unmistakable. 'You're welcome'.
Aibou's jaw dropped "You can talk!" he exclaimed.
The humanoid just yelped and jumped back so suddenly he toppled onto his back. His arms rose to defend his face, with both eyes tightly closed. Aibou gasped when he realised that he had probably just given the poor thing a heart attack.
"H-hey," he said in a quieter volume, trying to sound calming and approachable "Sorry. Um, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Aibou raised both hands towards the fallen humanoid, trying to appear less threatening.
The humanoid opened his eyes after a few more seconds and looked around, almost as if he was surprised he was okay, and hesitantly sat up again.
Aibou smiled at him "Hey, it's okay."
The humanoid's forehead creased slightly as he focused and concentrated, then understanding flashed in his eyes. "Okay?" he repeated slowly, again his voice was scratchy and raw, and the sound was slightly off as he struggled to form the correct shapes with his lips and tongue, and it was rather quiet.
But Aibou nodded anyway.
He realised that this humanoid wasn't stupid or ignorant, he was just unsure when it came to language barriers. What this meant, what he should say; so he needed a little more time to process and come up with a response.
Aibou looked him over again and tilted his head. He was injured, repaired, dirty and had been following him around with no purpose, he wondered what purpose this humanoid was created to serve. "So … what do you do?" he asked.
The humanoid tilted his head, pure confusion in his face.
Aibou blinked. Maybe this'll be harder than I thought. Try something simpler. "Your task?"
His attempt met with more confusion than before.
Aibou sighed "You know, your job? Your purpose? Directive?"
The humanoid jumped, his eyes flashing in recognition and a 'oh' escaping his lips when he heard Aibou's final question.
Aibou blinked too "Directive? You know that word?"
The humanoid nodded and smiled "Yes …" he rasped.
Aibou smiled, it's pretty basic, but it's a start. "What's your Directive?" he asked.
The humanoid opened his mouth to answer, only to frown as no words came out. Aibou's smile faded. Even if he could understand him there was the issue of knowing enough language to answer back.
But luckily his companion seemed to have realised that.
The wild humanoid jumped to his feet, showing how graceful and spritely the clumsy and rough looking person was, and pointed at one of the large machines that were just standing around. Aibou had seen several in his exploration, and his scans told him that they weren't in any of his available databases - it either didn't exist or he didn't have high enough clearance to access the information.
Aibou followed the wild humanoid to the machine and watched as he started it up. He pulled a shovel out from under it and began to move the piles of rubbish from the surrounding area into the top funnel, the machine was whirring and processing all the while. After the tenth shovel full the machine beeped. The humanoid put the shovel down and grabbed the simply enormous handle and heaved it down, using first his arms then his body weight when it was low enough. When it nearly touched the ground there was a crunching sound and he let it go back up into the air for next time. Then he opened a door and pulled out a metal and plastic cube made of crushed rubbish.
Aibou watched with fascinated eyes. The machine hummed and scattered soil around it and spat out several capsules. And the humanoid added the cube to a wall of trash-cubes.
Aibou scanned the soil, the cube, and the capsules as the humanoid worked, and his eyes widened. "You're cleaning the pollution!" he realised.
The humanoid tilted his head in confusion and shrugged "I … clean the … city," he smiled "For life to live here." He seemed quite pleased with himself.
Aibou looked at the huge city and felt slightly awed that this person was taking on such a colossal task. Then he felt pity. Because it was unlikely to be achieved, and even less for life to come back to live in this city, he should know because all his searches – and his fellow Aibou's searches – came up empty. But, Aibou amended as the humanoid picked up the capsules, it was for the humanoid's survival as much as earth's. Those supplements were highly nutritious his results said.
The humanoid smiled at Aibou and licked his lips before rasping out a question "What's your Directive?"
Aibou's lips twitched slightly as he tried to keep the smile off his face, the miss-sayings of this being were rather cute. 'What's' was not pronounced with a 'z', and 'your' was missing the deep throat sound of 'ou-r'. But he was trying, and the speech impressed Aibou over how little he must know and how hard he was trying to communicate.
Then the question registered in his mind and he blinked before pointing at himself "My Directive?"
The humanoid nodded, taking a step forwards eagerly.
Aibou's expression went flat and defensive. "Classified." he snapped.
The humanoid's eyes widened and he looked at the ground sadly. Aibou blinked, he understood that? Or was it his tone?
"Sorry … I … didn't know … that it was secret," was the hesitant response.
Aibou was shocked again, he softened his expression and took another step forwards. "Hey, sorry for snapping," he tried to sooth. The humanoid looked up with a relieved expression. Aibou tilted his head curiously "Do you have a name?"
The humanoid pointed at himself "Name?"
Aibou nodded encouragingly.
The humanoid's brow creased as he thought about it. His mouth and throat moved mutely as he tried to call the sounds out. Aibou waited patiently. Finally the humanoid looked up and said "Atem."
It was the clearest word he had spoken.
"Atem," Aibou repeated, the word was strange, almost as if it was missing its accent. But the old, odd word fit this humanoid perfectly. Atem's face lit up as he spoke his name and put out his hand – slightly more confidently – expecting a handshake, and making Aibou laugh at his old-time ways. But he thought he could humour him. "Okay Atem," he smiled, taking the out stretched hand "I'm Aibou 224."
Atem smiled and tried to say his title. "Aii-ooo," was the response.
Aibou chuckled and shook his head, releasing Atem's hand after a few ups and downs, "Ai-b-ou," he spelled out slowly.
Atem frowned and tried, the strain testimony to his effort, once again "Aiee-uu."
Aibou laughed again, it sounded ridiculous, and his strange accent made it sound worse. "Aii-boo, Aii-boo!" he corrected.
Atem pouted and tried again, only to give up halfway "Aii … Yugi."
Aibou laughed again "Where did you get that from? It's Aibou," he said, wagging a finger. His cheeks hurt from smiling, he hadn't done so much before, and it felt nice. It was strange how relaxed and normal he felt right now, it's a good thing this wasn't home on his ship.
Atem grinned and was about to say something else when an alarm started sounding. Aibou looked around for the source, only to see that it came from the Atem. He raised a wrist and a wing-like shape extended out from each segment.
Atem looked at it with fear in his eyes and then began to glance around as if looking for something.
His eyes settled on Aibou. "Yugi!" he gasped out, reaching out for him urgently.
Aibou jumped back and kept both guns trained on him, the sudden movement of the humanoid reminding him that he was stronger and smarter than he appeared; no matter how friendly he was he had to remember that he was wild, and he was unknown.
Atem cringed back at the threat, and made several babbling noises and mad hand gestures before turning his body to the side and holding up the wing as if bracing himself for a punch.
Aibou put away his guns at his defensive-submissive pose and only then took in the howling wind. He looked around, then behind him when movement out of the corner of his eyes caught his attention. There was a wall of sand, dust, rubbish and high winds rushing at him.
He barely registered it when he was swept up into its grip and thrown around. He cried out in horror and raised both arms to protect his face. He powered his shoes, but he couldn't see, and all his hover-boots did was kept him airborne and vulnerable to be thrown around like the litter in the city. It made him dizzy and he lost his sense of up and down within the first few seconds.
Aibou cut the power, and cried out in pain when he was thrown into a hard concrete building.
He held his shoulder and felt the wetness run over his fingers. The nanos in his blood tried to heal him, but the dust and sand kept getting in the wound, rendering them useless until the wound was clean.
The wind howled and screamed in his ears, even when he covered them the sound went right through his head as if it originated from inside. Aibou looked around, sand quickly blinding him, and gave up seeing and covering his ears in return for covering his nose to breathe.
He needed shelter!
He had to move, was there a door inside this building?
He took one step and was knocked over to the floor in the gale, his light form was no match for the pushes and shoves of hurricane force winds.
Aibou braced himself on the floor, ready to accept his fate and wait out the storm, when a strange smell tickled his nose. He inhaled again, then felt the ice cold hand of feat grip him. Toxic gas! Made from burning pollution, metal, degraded radio-active particles-
Aibou's analysis cut short when he involuntarily gasped and coughed, he couldn't breathe!
Help!
Aibou squinted and coughed out "A-Atem! Atem!" over the howling storm. "Atem!"
A hand closed over his shoulder. Aibou gripped at it and kept coughing, he couldn't control his body, everything hurt or stung because of the whipping sand. Odd projectiles of rubbish flew out of nowhere and hit him. He still couldn't draw enough air, and began to hyperventilate in his panic.
Two tan arms lifted him off the floor and a sudden calm was around his head.
Aibou pried his dry and sandy eyes open and caught a glimpse of his saviour.
There was a web of purple electricity around his head in a sphere, Atem's head was just within it. His face was a mask of determination, a half snarl and half grimace that spoke of experience and drive as he began to plough his way through the gale. His posture was pretty much a sturdy crouch with his weight thrown forwards to actually get anywhere. Aibou's feet dragged, Atem was holding him up with one arm over his shoulder and the other was under Aibou's arms to keep him upright. The sphere kept the air clear of dust, but the wind kept whipping them in the face as they staggered on.
Aibou hoped that Atem knew where a safe place was. He inhaled again, only to smell the same toxic scent of poison gas, he covered his nose and mouth and coughed and wheezed again as his lungs started to blister inside, and his throat skin became irritated and his nose and mouth burned.
Aibou closed his eyes and knew that his immune system wasn't built for these toxins, he wasn't going to make it. He was too weak to say it, but he felt a small smile as Atem pulled him onwards. So you do have humanity, nice to have met you Atem.
Why are you all glaring at me? I wouldn't kill off Yugi so early! That's outrageous!
My god I hope that this was good, it took bloody long enough didn't it?
A few points: There is a special reason why I didn't name Yugi 'Yugi' in the first place, he's just a number, but that'll only become clear in later chapters. No spoilers!
I hope that you can see how hard it is for them to communicate but still understand what's going through their heads, and what they can gather from the other. Atem has no one to talk to so he doesn't have too many speaking skills, which is why I had to think about which words would be easy and which would be hard for him to say, and how they would sound. But most of his words, the well formed ones, probably come form listening to 'Hello Dolly'
~Put on your Sunday clothes ... (you get the idea).
So please review! And I hope to see you very soon. Love and hugs! Amme-chan.
~Amme-chan signed off~