Human Hospitality
by pureleaf
Chapter 24
A Long Dark Feeling
For seven days and seven nights, Vegeta fought the infections and with the help of good medicine and rest his wounds healed and fever subsided. After the harsh antibiotics, which had made him vomit and need the restroom so frequently that he felt as though he were passing stomach acid, he took small doses of strong-smelling liquid that returned his gut flora to its normal state and effectively reset his body.
Restored, Vegeta dedicated his time to intensive training and did not visit any planet or station for six weeks. When he wasn't training, Vegeta listened in on conversations, ate, and slept. He never spoke and even his thoughts grew simpler; he thought of Kakkarot and ways to defeat him, old battles he'd participated in, and occasionally thought of sex- more the concept of it than with an actual partner.
He stopped at stations and small planets for food, a greater percentage of it consisting of vacuum-packed rations than fresh food every time he was forced to make a landing, and made an effort not to draw attention to himself. On arid, warm planets he wore a scarf around his face and on cold planets he wore his hair pushed down underneath a hooded sweatshirt and the coat he'd been given on Earth.
Months passed. Occasionally Vegeta overheard soldiers openly wondering where Frieza had gone, and just twice had his name been mentioned- and both times the speakers were unsure about his status and health. He heard nothing about any other Saiyans, nor did he hear the name "Goku" or "Kakkarot" uttered by any PTO soldier.
Vegeta went so long without speaking to anybody that he started to wonder if his voice would still work. He felt uncomfortable talking out loud to himself, considering it a sure sign that he'd gone completely insane, and instead scrawled his thoughts on scraps of paper, using any writing utensil he could scavenge from the ship.
He kept to a strict schedule, training up to nine hours every day and sleeping for at least ten hours every night. Combined with close monitoring of his food intake, his body grew sinewy and face became sharp and angular, his high cheekbones and jaw were so defined that the human-like qualities in his face diminished. When he looked in the mirror, he felt good about his appearance.
Every once in a while, he thought about Bulma.
At one point, after close to seven months of continuous travel, the lights suddenly went out during one of his designated eating periods. Vegeta finished his meal in the dark before he went up to the pilot's seat to check the main computer and power situation. The computer was slow to respond to his command and when he checked the status on the fuel cells, the blue ring had turned red and was flashing.
Finally, he spoke again: "looks like I need to call Bulma."
He found a flashlight in the kitchen and kept it on-hand in case he needed to show her something on the ship. Clearing his throat and humming to confirm his voice really did work, he dialled her contact number for the first time in many months and sat at the edge of his seat as the connection tone pulsed through the speakers. The screen occasionally flickered.
After fifteen tones, Vegeta was ready to give up when the call was finally accepted and a sleepy Bulma peered at the camera. Her hair had grown very long and she'd teased it so it appeared extra voluminous and messy from sleep. "Vegeta? Do you have any idea what time it is? I can barely see you in the dark..." she croaked, squinting to make out his features.
"Were you sleeping?" He turned on the flashlight and shone it on his face, highlighting the sharpness of his facial features in the process. Bulma gasped when she saw how different he looked- how warlike and wild he appeared once again.
She just stared at him for several seconds. "Vegeta, it's three twenty in the morning here," her voice had dropped to a whisper and she looked behind her shoulder before looking back at Vegeta. He swore that he heard a low voice muttering something in the background. "I'll need to put you on hold for a few minutes," Bulma looked back at the monitor, "let me go to the lab so I can access all the ship's information on my work computer."
When she returned, Bulma was in the bright lab, dressed in a blue plaid housecoat and her hair put up with a hair stick. "I'm going to take a wild guess and guess you're having some electrical problems."
The the bright environment of Bulma's lab illuminated Vegeta's face as he looked at his screen. "Correct. I was in my living area when all the lights and appliances cut out. The computer works, obviously, and the gravity hasn't changed since it went dark."
"What do you have the gravity control set to?" Bulma accessed the ship's files on her computer, leaned back in her chair, and lit a cigarette. She had a bad feeling about the situation aboard the ship.
"Ten times Earth's normal gravity, or the equivalent of the normal gravity on planet Vegeta. I've had it like that for months now."
"Uh-huh. Have you already looked at the settings on the ship's computer?"
"Yes," he nodded and briefly switched back to the window displaying all electrical information, "but that blue ring has turned red and is flashing. Rest assured that even I understand that something red and flashing signifies this situation needs to be remedied immediately." His crooked, wry smile appeared and he studied the woman's image in the monitor.
Bulma set her cigarette down in a glass ashtray and looked at Vegeta very strangely. "Just how long have you been travelling?"
The Saiyan shrugged and calculated the time in terms of Earth months. "About seven of your months, I'd say."
"What?! Vegeta, are you insane?" Bulma shrieked, "when I advised you to take breaks, I meant at least every four to six months! Your power supply is running dangerously low, Vegeta. You're consuming a lot of power by running the gravity machine all the time, too!" She paused to take a long drag off her cigarette and shook her head in disbelief. After many seconds, Bulma looked back up at the monitor and narrowed her eyes at Vegeta. "Look, set the gravity to one and keep it there. If you lose power to the central computer, you're screwed. Find somewhere to stop now. You have maybe two weeks left, and you'll be spending them in a cold, dark ship. You probably don't have water pressure either."
"Ugh," Vegeta groaned, "is there any emergency lighting I can use?"
"Mmm, if you lower the gravity, some of the recessed lights in the ceiling may turn back on. Make sure you keep them low and use your power as sparingly as possible."
"Understood. I'm looking at my coordinates now," Vegeta referred to the huge screen showing his position in the galaxy, "this is a pretty lonely area. I'm still in PTO territory, but there's not a lot of action where I am right now. I'm maybe about sixty hours away from a collection small planets that have remained largely unspoiled. Frieza used them as vacation spots."
"Do you know anything about the conditions?" Bulma took a small drag on her cigarette and tried not the let the good news get her hopes up too quickly. Without much power left on-board, the ship's temperature would start to plunge, possibly to below freezing.
"Temperate. Fairly bright. Primarily vegetation. No stations or major metropolitan areas."
"It'll have to do in a pinch. Expect to spend two days recharging the ship's fuel cells. The longer you spend, the better. Please call me when you land and the power's restored on your ship, alright? Don't take off without contacting me first."
The Saiyan gave her a noncommittal shrug. Of course he would call her, but he just didn't want to disconnect at that moment.
"Oh, one more thing," Bulma set her cigarette back in the ashtray, "there's a dish heater in the storage area above your bed. Once you've lowered the gravity simulator to its lowest setting, wait until the lights start turning back on- turn all of them off- and then plug in that heater. It's going to get awfully cold on that ship..."
"Great," Vegeta sneered, "I'd better get to it, then. Um, thank you, Bulma."
Bulma smiled at Vegeta. "No problem, Vegeta. You take care of yourself, okay? You can call us in another eight hours if you need to talk to somebody."
"I'll keep that in mind," Vegeta rolled his eyes and his finger hovered over the disconnect button, "uh... and hope you can fall back asleep. Good bye."
He disconnected and the ship was sent back into darkness. Vegeta sat in the pilot's chair for several minutes before he finally felt ready to return to feeling a gravity level comparable to Earth's. He lowered the gravity slowly, taking two full minutes to push the settings back to that single little number.
Vegeta felt so lightweight, so petite. So terribly insignificant.
He set the coordinates to one of the unspoiled planets Frieza used as vacation spots. The closest one was forty hours away.
After three hours, many of the lights switched back on and he hurried around shutting them off. Cautiously checking his taps, he discovered the water pressure had all but disappeared. Even the toilet didn't flush. Vegeta made a point of unplugging several appliances and kept a single light above the stove on. He plugged the dish heater in and turned it to its lowest setting.
After ten hours, Vegeta felt it was cool enough that he put on a pair of thick socks, sweatpants, and a heavy sweatshirt.
After sixteen hours, it was so cold that a thin layer of frost had formed on the port windows. The warmest places within the ship were at the central computer and Vegeta's sleeping area, his bed now supplemented with all the blankets available. Vegeta dressed in multiple layers and raised his ki enough to feel a little warmer without sweating through his clothing.
He fell asleep, wrapped in a duvet and with the heater switched off to conserve power. He watched as his breath turned to steam and wondered how cold it would be when he woke up. Twenty four hours remained.
To Be Continued