(July 10, 2009)
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The contestants were gathering.
Another shudder ran through the ship making Brody grip his desk. It seemed every five minutes a new ship docked on the Warrior Dome. Remembering last season didn't help the spikes of anxiety that came with each reminder of a new contestant's arrival.
Mick continued with whatever he was working on, not paying attention to the rumblings. Though, Brody mused, after being stuck here eleven some Earth years he'd had a lot more time to become used to it. Or maybe he didn't notice since he had another deadline doled out by Galvanax.
After the last season Galvanax's show had somehow become even more popular. Brody credited that to the mystery of what the Prism offered. That and the dynamic view Mick's cameras provided. Mick believed a lot of the contestants just wanted to train to fight the newest power rangers (something about wild animal spirits?)- even if this group was more Earthbound than some of their predecessors. While Galvanax kept a tight lid on that info, even in the cells they'd heard whispers of heroes- or villains depending on who the information came from. Though it seemed the group had already hung up their morphers by the end of the last Galaxy Warriors season if some of the gossip was to be believed. Hard to know for sure though when floating in space light years away.
Still, Brody clung to those whispers. His dad had been a power ranger, however briefly. Power rangers were the heroes. Maybe that was why the Prism hadn't opened for Galvanax or his slew of contestants.
A snap came close to Brody's ear. He jumped and looked up to see Mick staring at him. The older man's brows were furrowed and his mouth drawn in a thin line. "Brody? You okay?"
"Yeah, just thinking." Brody didn't elaborate and Mick didn't push with Brody at least now responsive.
"Can you hand me the crescent wrench?"
Brody passed it over and turned his attention to the paper in his hands. A smattering of no-longer-quite-as-random symbols filled the page. Despite the business that came with prepping for a new season, Mick determined it was high time to start teaching Brody Karlec.
And Brody had thought English was bad.
The symbols were more like pictures than letters and the pronunciation did not come naturally. Brody decided to retaliate by teaching Mick English. Well, encouraging Mick to learn English since he didn't know many of the finer points himself. Getting kidnapped at eight made his education take an abrupt shift. The translators at least helped Brody retain his knowledge of the language and Mick had made a mental note to add grammar lessons to the list of what to download next for school.
Even in the craziness of their work, it turned out to be much easier to incorporate language studies into the day compared to Brody's other subjects. Mick's written instructions for his projects were usually in Karlec and, when they weren't exhausted, they talked pretty consistently when working together. It was just a matter of turning off the translators to stretch their language skills.
They started pointing at objects and naming them in their respective languages. By now Brody could put together simple sentences, though most included tools of some sort. Still Brody had a long way to go, in both languages if he was honest with himself. The paper in front of him taunted that point.
Brody sighed and passed it back to Mick. "I recognize the word for drawer, but not any of the other ones."
"What about this one?" Mick tapped the paper.
Brody looked at the characters and frowned. It was made of a few basic ones Mick had gone over, but in that particular combination one of them made a different sound . . . Brody tried to sound it out in his head and translate it.
"Nail?"
Mick grinned at his translation. "See kiddo you're getting this."
Slowly, slower than he wanted, but satisfaction rose within Brody anyway. With Mick's help he eventually managed to translate the whole document, and build the cabinet it depicted. The work kept him occupied. By the time dinner came Brody had forgotten about the other spaceships docking. That was until a kudabot shoved a pot of sludge in and Brody glimpsed an unfamiliar monster passing by their door. He shuddered, but at least all the rooms were ready before any of the contestants had arrived- this time. Shuddering slightly, Brody drew a bit closer to Mick when the door closed. Mick didn't comment on it.
Instead he pulled out another manual and slid it in front of Brody. "Now that you mastered the cabinet, how about tackling the finer points of how to use the computer."
Not that there was a ton for Brody to do on the computer, but it just gave him another topic to practice reading Karlec. Too bad the manuals were definitely not written for young readers and weren't very interesting. Mick wished for some of the children's books he had growing up, but that would most definitely flag in Galvanax's systems and they didn't need that kind of attention.
Brody grimaced at the paper. "Can we save it for tomorrow?"
"It's either this or write the alphabet six times." Mick hid a smirk as that made Brody freeze.
"Fiiiiiiiiiiiine. But just one paragraph."
But before Brody could start the workshop door swung open. Two kudabots strode in the room causing Mick to look at his watch.
"Bedtime already, how thoughtful."
The kudabots didn't respond, as usual, only ushered the two out of the room. Brody didn't think much of it until his guard began directing him toward the cells, while Mick's took him another way.
"Mick!" Brody's cry rang through the stainless steel halls.
"It's okay Brody, I'll catch up with you later."
Brody didn't have time to respond before the door to the cell block closed behind him. The kudabot pushed Brody into his cell and the heavy clink of the lock echoed in the room.
Brody wrapped his arms around his torso and slid to the ground. It wasn't like Mick didn't do things that didn't include Brody, but that didn't usually happen when they were both already in the workroom together. So what did Galvanax want this time? Brody's leg bounced with nervous energy until he had to get up and pace the small cell. His hands itched to beep Mick's watch. However if Mick hadn't called him yet, he wasn't going to break their radio silence. There was a reason Mick forbade him from calling in situations like this. Brody would honor that . . . for now.
Time dragged by. Eventually Brody lowered himself to his pallet, but he couldn't get rid of the knot in his stomach. And now there were more hot blooded warriors on board the ship . . . Sighing Brody rolled to face the wall. He couldn't do anything for Mick and keeping himself awake would only exhaust him further.
At some point Brody must have fallen asleep because the slam of a door nearby jolted him awake.
"Mick?" Brody called out cautiously.
The guards didn't exactly like Mick and Brody yelling at each other through the hallway, but it usually took several minutes for them to deal with it.
No answer.
Brody tried again but a blue face filled his cell window. The kudabot banged the door and Brody shrank backward- message received. So he kept his mouth shut and returned to his former spot on the floor. Hopefully when Brody awoke next he'd get some answers.
.
For the first time since Brody first came to the ship, no kudabot came for him the next waking cycle. Mick still didn't answer his verbal calls, so he probably wasn't back in his cell, and still no calls came on the comm. No one bothered to bring Brody breakfast, but by now he was used to hunger pangs. Those didn't compare to the anxiety gnawing at his stomach.
Brody tried to keep himself busy by performing his katas. However he only ran through them once since it seemed the kudabots weren't going to drop off water either. After he finished the forms he mentally ran through his most recent lessons. He quickly grew bored of that so Brody resorted to counting the tally marks he'd made.
Six hundred and eighty-six.
The number made Brody pause in his thoughts about Mick. He hadn't realized it had almost been two years. Or maybe he'd not been checking the Earth date on purpose. Frustrated tears welled in Brody's eyes. Why couldn't he do anything? He was helpless to his own fate, helpless to whatever was going on with Mick, and had no clue what had happened to Aiden after That Day.
'Aiden.' Brody froze. When was the last time he'd thought about his brother? A wave of dizziness hit Brody. He didn't know the last time he'd consciously thought about his brother. It had only been two years but Brody was already slipping further away from his family than the thousands of lightyears had taken him.
Stumbling to his feet, Brody managed to make it to his bucket before losing the remains of his stomach. His memories of home were all he had left- if he lost those . . . A few tears made their way down his cheeks. Brody wasn't sure what they were falling for, but everything suddenly hurt too much. He hadn't even felt this horrible when his mom died all those years ago. Maybe because he'd been so little. The memories of Elena were already dim when Galvanax kidnapped him. He didn't want that to happen to his memories of Dane and Aiden.
Several sets of footsteps echoed down the hall breaking Brody's revelation. Brody hastily wiped his face free of tears and bile. Without a mirror there was no way Brody could tell how effective that was, but it wasn't like anyone would care what he looked like anyway.
A couple kudabots passed Brody's door. He couldn't see Mick, but that didn't mean much when his window was barely the size of a bread box. Sure enough a door nearby opened and a thud came. Brody's stomach clenched at that . . . and the fact he didn't hear any other sound from the room. The kudabots tramped out leaving a cold silence in their wake. Cautiously Brody crept to the door.
"Mick?" Nothing. Brody called again, this time a little louder. A low groan met his plea. "Mick?"
"Sho'dn't you be 'sleep by no'?"
Brody's winced. Mick sounded horrible. "Sorry, you were gone all day, and you didn't call-"
"I's fine B'ody. Work needed b' done in the Dome."
"You-you don't sound fine."
A snort came, quickly broken off by coughing. "Jus' some orn'ry conte'ants. Go ta sleep B'ody."
Brody worked his jaw up and down before closing his mouth. No matter what happened, Mick definitely needed sleep even if Brody didn't feel like it. He hadn't even realized that the wake cycle had reached its ending.
"I'm glad you're back Mick."
Soft snores met Brody's words, but Brody didn't mind. He'd take the reminder that Mick was just down the hall. Still, Brody hung by the door for a few more minutes before wrapping himself in his blanket and settling on the floor. He tossed and turned for the next several hours.
The long sleep cycle was broken by heavy footsteps echoing down the hall. Brody rolled to a sitting position, his head protesting the movement. Whatever the robots wanted Brody didn't care as long as they brought water. His door opened, shrieking on its hinges. Wincing at the sound, Brody looked up to see a kudabot waiting for him at the door.
Brody unsteadily rose to his feet before the bot decided to make him move. The robot led Brody away from the cell block and, to Brody's growing dread, toward the Warrior Dome. A steady stream of beings moved past Brody and his escort. Something in the Dome must have just ended. Brody hunched his shoulder and tried to make himself appear as small as he could. Maybe if he tried hard enough he'd disappear completely.
All too soon they reached the amphitheater. The kudabot directed Brody to a spot behind the stage and indicated for him to stay put. Brody froze, trying to blend in with the wall. Chattering sounded near Brody and he jerked his head up to see the kudabot returning pulling a cleaning cart. It pulled a water bottle from the cart and passed it to Brody. Eagerly Brody downed the water. His empty stomach still complained, but at least it didn't anymore hurt to swallow.
The kudabot waited until Brody was finished then gestured from the cart to the stage. Though the fights took place on whatever planets they were moored at, or in a holographic chamber, the beasts that fought brought back very real mud, sweat and whatever else they tracked onto the stage. Still, it beat cleaning the bedrooms.
The stadium had been mostly cleared of sentient life. A few creatures lingered in groups scattered about the large room, but thankfully they didn't seem to care about the small human pushing around a broom. Brody kept his head down, his knuckles white around the broom handle. The last time he'd been this close to the Galaxy Warriors . . . a shiver ran through Brody. He never wanted to see Galvanax's true dungeon again.
Funny how now his cell almost seemed like a penthouse compared to some of the places on this ship. That thought took him back to Mick. The older man had never seemed so snappish to Brody as he had last wake cycle. Brody bit his lip. Maybe Mick just needed sleep, he could get a little grouchy when Galvanax kept him working through their sleep cycle.
The kudabots continued to find things to keep Brody busy for half the cycle before finally leading Brody to the workshop. Brody cautiously poked his head in the room. Mick was sitting at his desk working on something Brody couldn't see from the door. Shoving Brody into the room, the kudabot slammed and locked the door behind him.
Brody winced at the sound. He stood awkwardly in the doorway, not wanting to make Mick more upset.
"I've go' more cam'ras to put toge'er if yo're up for it." Mick's voice was subdued, but he didn't sound mad.
Hesitantly Brody crept to the table. He kept his gaze fixed downward until Mick gently placed a few metal pieces in front of Brody. Brody looked up and let out a startled gasp. Half of Mick's face was black and blue.
Mick grimaced, "Yeah, I can only ima'ine wha' it looks like."
"What-?"
Mick waved a hand. "Gal'anax had thome complain's about the 'ech I've made for him la'ely."
"Are- are you okay?"
"I'll live. Le' me thow you some changes I'm makin' to the cam'ras' hull."
Brody watched intently but the churning in his gut made it difficult to remember all the details. Everything was so wrong, but there wasn't anything he could do about it.
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A/n- Since I'm using 'real world' dates the year corresponds with just after the Jungle Fury team (though RPM is actually what came out in 2009, canonically it takes place in a different dimension so those on the Warrior Dome don't know about them)