NaNoWriMo 2009 - Chapter 1/Prologue

Well, for what it's worth, here is Chapter 1, which I think is actually the prologue. Depends on what I decide to write next. Honestly, I like the first paragraph and not much else, but just go with it for now. It'll get better. I got a good middle, just no good beginning as of yet. Comments always welcome! :3

Also, I'm thinking about making "The Dark Side of the Sun" the working title until I figure something more suiting. Whatcha think of it? Let me know :D

Word Count = 1237

Total Word Count = 1237

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CHAPTER I/PROLOGUE?

He had never seen the sun so bright as it was now, bursting out of a pure black sky through five inches of the clearest glass in the world. From here all other stars fell away at its touch and disappeared into swarming specks at his back, like scattered paint on ink-dense canvas. For what seemed like hours, but what registered as mere minutes to his internal clock, he stood and watched the galaxy creep imperceptibly by, taking in the unique sight like any human would.

“Fascinating, isn't it?”

He turned to the source of the interruption, not flinching at the intrusion, holding no embarrassment or malice. The voice was not unlike his own—in fact, the body too was not so different, both metallic and ever artificial, but varying just slightly. He was made a man, she a woman. Their makers wished it so.

He turned back to the picture window of the world, the wiring of his positronics humming pleasantly under the fine silver-blue finish of his flesh.

“It is,” he toned, appreciative. “It's been some time since I last joined a crew on such a mission as this one. I recall the view well, but I find it interesting nonetheless to remind myself of it from time to time.” He turned on the titanium base of his heel to face her. “Has Base transmitted yet, PAXL?”

“No, we aren't receiving any more information from them yet. I don't suppose we will for a few hours yet,” PAXL answered dutifully. She came closer, bathing herself in the thin orange glow of the sunlight. They stood in silence for while yet again.

“You should call me Pax, as the humans do, Captain.”

His eyes whirred right briefly before shifting back into position. He didn't seem to deem the comment worthy of an answer. Monotonously, she tried again.

“The name is easier to say, I've found, just as Sync is for you. It would save us the trivial mannerisms.”

Something like a chuckle bubbled in Sync's chest like a tennis ball thudding against a chain-link fence. It didn't suit his appearance at all, this daunting figure of an android made by and in the likeness of man in his purest form. Pale blue silicone flesh took the place of skin and muscle, which rippled with ease over hollow titanium framework. Wire and cable twined within him, visibly looping through his flesh back and forth, humming just loud enough to be heard over the dim and distant roar of engines. Human-like responses were programmed into nearly all androids their age—how to speak to Generals, when to interrupt, how to seem angered--but most had been carefully extracted for the sake of official duty and service. This was nothing but a remnant intuition, an ancestral trait of sorts that had yet to be totally weeded out.

“That would be more than a little unconventional,” he said

“Yet PAXL is already shorter than my given designation. Hardly a stretch. And you yourself go by Sync rather than CINQ-1701 to our superiors.”

“Our superiors are humans, of course. Their need to shorten their speech tends to precede any other, unlike ourselves.”

“Then why not utilized the same mechanisms by which they operate?” Pax was looking at him now, the lenses of her optic eyes widening just so as she turned from the sun. “We were made as they were, weren't we? And for the same reasons?”

“Your postulating an opinion.”

“Not an opinion. A fact, proven and admitted.”

“Perhaps...” Sync paused, his brain chewing at the thought, processing it. “Perhaps you're right. There is no need for useless formalities here with the human population so far away. And the others?”

“Trill, and Zent. They tend to agree. They asked that I pass the suggestion to you.”

Sync nodded in understanding. Pax acted as second in command here regardless of her relatively humble standing on Earth, and though none of the androids were to be intimidated or inhibited by each other, the passage of command stayed true. Protocol still dictated most of their actions, even as they circled the planet miles above the surface. Such a question to the Captain by another would have been ill-advised, he knew. Sync admittedly despised the restrictions, and in fact tended to ignore them altogether on a regular basis to the uproar of many. His calculations never failed, however, and he had earned his place aboard the Arian near-countless times. The United States military would never give up on such a reliable asset to them, an artificial being that could not guess, but predict the outcome of nearly any situation. Sync was a military genius, constructed and taught for just such a purpose and none other.

“Do you think we'll make it?” Pax interrupted the silence again.

“You have just as much knowledge as I do.”

“But none of the wisdom.”

“Yes, I think we will. We were trained for it, and we'll manage one way or another. For their sakes.”

“You sound fond of them. I didn't take you for a lover of the biological.”

Sync almost seemed surprised except that his face made no movement of expression. Only the faint whirring within him led on to anything that could be labeled emotion.

“Not fond, no,” he corrected, making a slow about-face away from the window, as if not wanting it to leave his sight for too long for fear it might misbehave. “But friendly, perhaps. They seem to approve of my decisions on the whole and enjoy my presence.” He started an easy pace that Pax followed closely, just a step behind him through the narrow passageways of the ship. As they exited the Viewing Room, Pax could watch the few struggling stars that had managed to shine through the sun's oppression before the solar screen drifted smoothly across the glass and shrouded them in black again. The room went dark, but the connecting hallways were well lit and quiet.

Sync seemed to be in the mood for conversation, a rarity. “Were you 'fond', as you say, of your patients, Pax?”

“No.”

“Then you were merely friendly.”

“I suppose they would call it such, yes. I tended to them well. Though they were not my patients, Captain. I was hardly more than a scientist giving aid when needed.”

“I understand that they think you're the best. Are you?”

“Captain?” Pax's voice toned upwards, inquisitive though she felt nothing.

“You must be to be here,” Sync said simply. “You should remember it. There's no shame left here when we are alone. Not anymore.”

A soft sound thrummed around them, felt more in their heads than through their senses. They both stopped and stood fast, as if suddenly paralyzed.

“Attention: All personnel required on deck. Incoming transmission from UN Delta Base 5. Repeat--all personnel required on deck. Incoming transmission from UN Delta Base 5.”

The message rang smoothly around them from the intercom system, floating off the padded walls of the passage like running water and vapor. Without speaking, the two androids hurried through the corridors in stride with one another, feet padding to the beat of a preordained rhythm. Their orders awaited them and they would not keep them waiting.