![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Title: Celestial Being Origins Book One - Tieria Erde (2/8)
Author: Aethra-Caelis/![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
piyomon
Rating: PG
Characters: Tieria Erde, Ribbons Almark
Author's Notes : Thank you very much to the lovely people at the Mechaphiles Forum for proofreading this piece.
Disclaimer : Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 characters, names and related indicia © Sunrise, Bandai; fiction and its contents © Aethra-Caelis, 2008.
Chapter two elaborates on chapter one, as we look through the personality of Tieria's creator... and her "antithesis." ^_^
Author: Aethra-Caelis/
piyomonRating: PG
Characters: Tieria Erde, Ribbons Almark
Author's Notes : Thank you very much to the lovely people at the Mechaphiles Forum for proofreading this piece.
Disclaimer : Mobile Suit Gundam 00/Kidou Senshi Gundam 00 characters, names and related indicia © Sunrise, Bandai; fiction and its contents © Aethra-Caelis, 2008.
Chapter two elaborates on chapter one, as we look through the personality of Tieria's creator... and her "antithesis." ^_^
CHAPTER 2
“The Womb of Veda”
“The Womb of Veda”
Celestial Being Orbital Laboratory, Jupiter
“Project Specimen 001-Y” room, “Womb”
Véronique entered a meditative state, a skill she had taught herself since the first time she had been caught in such an activity. She closed her eyes,and through the skin of her eyelids she was able to make out a few bits of data she could recognize. They were minute, but she was very familiar with them:
Celestial Being
Veda
Ptolemaios
Aeolia Schenberg
Union
Human Reform League
A.E.U.
For some reason other words kept on popping up, but for the life of her she could not understand them:
Exia
Gundam
Nadleeh
Dynames
Trans-Am
Kyrios
Virtue
'It must be some software', she concluded. Then names began to come up:
Tieria Erde
Setsuna F. Seiei
Lockon Stratos
Allelujah Haptism
Sumeragi Lee Noriega
“Am I ever to meet all of them?'
Véronique did not fall asleep that night. Her thoughts constantly swam around these curious names and pieces of software.
She had been practically born into Celestial Being, her parents being part of the organization that had been built to bring about world peace. She was educated to carry out the will of Aeolia Schenberg, and his plan would be set into motion once her job was done.
Once she had finished her education, she had been signed up for this particular project. The prospect had excited her, and the trip to Jupiter had seemed too good to be true. Celestial Being’s technology allowed for the trip to take only two weeks, compared to the earlier attempts that had taken several years. She had then introduced to "Veda", the brainchild of Dr. Schenberg and his colleagues, which had taken almost two centuries to complete. A supercomputer that put all previous supercomputers to the deepest shame, that had been created - no - that had practically been born to carry out Schenberg's will. The man might have been dead for two hundred years, but she felt as if he were constantly monitoring her every move, as if every breath and step she took were preconceived since the dawn of time.
Of course, she was a genius. But there was only so much she knew, or was allowed to know.
The Celestial Being Orbital Laboratory and all the activities within were carefully planned out; the personnel were meticulously hand-picked. Nobody knew how this laboratory was built, but she had been told that the laboratory's optimum performance relied on Jupiter's incomparable gravity.
In the last twenty-three Earth years of her life on the secret space station, she had yet to see the real Veda. Its location was undisclosed and she figured that her accessing the real deal was not part of Schenberg's plan.
Meister
Seven Swords
G.N. Drives
Solar furnace
The words she was able to decipher made her recall that she was practically inside a small branch of Veda, and her project, "Specimen 001-Y" was supposed to be able to interact with this supercomputer. No need for laptops or hand-helds with a risk of being stolen. The project was supposed to aid in carrying out Aeolia's will, which was personified in Veda. At least, that was what she understood.
Or what she was allowed to understand.
----------
"Good Lord! That took longer than the last time!" Adele complained as she sat down next to her colleague at the staff lounge. Véronique was met with the very welcome aroma of onion cream soup, served in a deep bowl which she gratefully sipped from. It was immediately followed by a long sip of Cabernet Sauvignon.
"My baby's a grown man. He can take a whole lot more information compared to ten years ago." Véronique cupped the sides of the hot bowl with her hands, setting her face down as the vapor relaxed her tired eyes., strained by thehe red glow of the womb her "baby" slumbered in.
"I think you should stop going inside." Adele said, pouring herself her own glass, brushing a rebellious lock of blond fringe from her face. "Do you know how long it will take him to absorb and process data the next time around?"
Véronique thoughtfully chewed on her bread. "According to the plan --"
"Forty-eight hours." Adele finished the sentence for her friend. "As long as he can stay in that waking state. Furthermore! Once an outsider is caught inside, he or she cannot move, lest the connection between the Specimen and Veda be disturbed."
Véronique wiped a piece of baguette on her plate, absorbing the Burgundy sauce, and popped it into her mouth. 'You wouldn't understand...' she wanted to say, but she was just too tired to speak; too tired to even note the bouquet garni lovingly made by the laboratory chef to make the coq au vin she so loved suit her taste.
"Look at it this way," Adele said as she refilled her colleague's glass, "If you carry on like this you’ll screw up your biometrics -- less muscle, less fat, different body structure. If that happens, all your twenty years on your 'baby' would have been for nothing. Nul. Nichts."
Véronique drained her glass, and waved it in front of Adele, asking her to refill it once more. "Nein. Your biometrics, remember?"
"La ferme, et remplie-moi ça."
"Ich verstehe dein betrunkenes Franzöesisch nicht..."
Adele jokingly raised her eyebrows with a smile as Veronique sighed in defeat. "You have to rest, Véro. I'll take care of the lab."
The older lady got up, "You're right. Thanks, Adele."
----------
The Orbital Laboratory was in a constant buzz as chemists, physicists, biologists, doctors and other micro-specialists took their turns in shifts, to make sure the plan worked out well. They were extravagantly compensated to make up for their lack of daily Earth contact. They were given a leave for Earth once a year- a total of four months off, including the trip to and from the lab. Talk among colleagues, however, was limited to what they could hear, see and feel in the facility.
There was no dead time in the laboratory, so any activity was deemed normal. Passing a large door labeled "Project Specimen 001-X", Adele accessed one of the wings she was privileged to enter. If humans were prone to human errors, then machines could be just as easily manipulated. It would seem that a part of the plan was undisclosed to her colleague- that the project did not confine itself to developing one Specimen per gender, but several. Adele accessed another wing, hardly visited by her colleagues as it was not being used. This contained four more "wombs"- and she had just decided to use another one.
She punched a preset alphanumeric code onto an unlabeled door, musing to herself. 'If security was deemed useless two hundred years ago, then I’d say it hasn’t changed much.'
Her high-heeled steps echoed inside a dimly lit control room, its source a fully activated womb and its "baby."
'Besides, the technology presented here was conceived two hundred years ago.' Adele smirked to herself as she scanned the data presented to her by the touch screen. "Glad to see you're doing fine, boy." She brushed her hair aside as she comfortably sat down on a leather swivel chair, placing carefully manicured fingers underneath her chin.
If Véronique was a no-nonsense person, then Adele was the type who was not easily impressed. She was one of the few who questioned Veda's reliability. Was it able to adapt to any situation? Incorruptible? The perfect supercomputer? She shook slightly, holding back a guffaw, just as she did eighteen years ago when Veda was introduced to her. Her blue eyes were aching as tears of hilarity threatened to ruin her mascara. Veda's strengths were practically its own weaknesses.
"Just a little more, 002-Y. Just a little more..."
Notes:
Translations :
Navigation:
“Project Specimen 001-Y” room, “Womb”
Véronique entered a meditative state, a skill she had taught herself since the first time she had been caught in such an activity. She closed her eyes,and through the skin of her eyelids she was able to make out a few bits of data she could recognize. They were minute, but she was very familiar with them:
Celestial Being
Veda
Ptolemaios
Aeolia Schenberg
Union
Human Reform League
A.E.U.
For some reason other words kept on popping up, but for the life of her she could not understand them:
Exia
Gundam
Nadleeh
Dynames
Trans-Am
Kyrios
Virtue
'It must be some software', she concluded. Then names began to come up:
Tieria Erde
Setsuna F. Seiei
Lockon Stratos
Allelujah Haptism
Sumeragi Lee Noriega
“Am I ever to meet all of them?'
Véronique did not fall asleep that night. Her thoughts constantly swam around these curious names and pieces of software.
She had been practically born into Celestial Being, her parents being part of the organization that had been built to bring about world peace. She was educated to carry out the will of Aeolia Schenberg, and his plan would be set into motion once her job was done.
Once she had finished her education, she had been signed up for this particular project. The prospect had excited her, and the trip to Jupiter had seemed too good to be true. Celestial Being’s technology allowed for the trip to take only two weeks, compared to the earlier attempts that had taken several years. She had then introduced to "Veda", the brainchild of Dr. Schenberg and his colleagues, which had taken almost two centuries to complete. A supercomputer that put all previous supercomputers to the deepest shame, that had been created - no - that had practically been born to carry out Schenberg's will. The man might have been dead for two hundred years, but she felt as if he were constantly monitoring her every move, as if every breath and step she took were preconceived since the dawn of time.
Of course, she was a genius. But there was only so much she knew, or was allowed to know.
The Celestial Being Orbital Laboratory and all the activities within were carefully planned out; the personnel were meticulously hand-picked. Nobody knew how this laboratory was built, but she had been told that the laboratory's optimum performance relied on Jupiter's incomparable gravity.
In the last twenty-three Earth years of her life on the secret space station, she had yet to see the real Veda. Its location was undisclosed and she figured that her accessing the real deal was not part of Schenberg's plan.
Meister
Seven Swords
G.N. Drives
Solar furnace
The words she was able to decipher made her recall that she was practically inside a small branch of Veda, and her project, "Specimen 001-Y" was supposed to be able to interact with this supercomputer. No need for laptops or hand-helds with a risk of being stolen. The project was supposed to aid in carrying out Aeolia's will, which was personified in Veda. At least, that was what she understood.
Or what she was allowed to understand.
----------
"Good Lord! That took longer than the last time!" Adele complained as she sat down next to her colleague at the staff lounge. Véronique was met with the very welcome aroma of onion cream soup, served in a deep bowl which she gratefully sipped from. It was immediately followed by a long sip of Cabernet Sauvignon.
"My baby's a grown man. He can take a whole lot more information compared to ten years ago." Véronique cupped the sides of the hot bowl with her hands, setting her face down as the vapor relaxed her tired eyes., strained by thehe red glow of the womb her "baby" slumbered in.
"I think you should stop going inside." Adele said, pouring herself her own glass, brushing a rebellious lock of blond fringe from her face. "Do you know how long it will take him to absorb and process data the next time around?"
Véronique thoughtfully chewed on her bread. "According to the plan --"
"Forty-eight hours." Adele finished the sentence for her friend. "As long as he can stay in that waking state. Furthermore! Once an outsider is caught inside, he or she cannot move, lest the connection between the Specimen and Veda be disturbed."
Véronique wiped a piece of baguette on her plate, absorbing the Burgundy sauce, and popped it into her mouth. 'You wouldn't understand...' she wanted to say, but she was just too tired to speak; too tired to even note the bouquet garni lovingly made by the laboratory chef to make the coq au vin she so loved suit her taste.
"Look at it this way," Adele said as she refilled her colleague's glass, "If you carry on like this you’ll screw up your biometrics -- less muscle, less fat, different body structure. If that happens, all your twenty years on your 'baby' would have been for nothing. Nul. Nichts."
Véronique drained her glass, and waved it in front of Adele, asking her to refill it once more. "Nein. Your biometrics, remember?"
"La ferme, et remplie-moi ça."
"Ich verstehe dein betrunkenes Franzöesisch nicht..."
Adele jokingly raised her eyebrows with a smile as Veronique sighed in defeat. "You have to rest, Véro. I'll take care of the lab."
The older lady got up, "You're right. Thanks, Adele."
----------
The Orbital Laboratory was in a constant buzz as chemists, physicists, biologists, doctors and other micro-specialists took their turns in shifts, to make sure the plan worked out well. They were extravagantly compensated to make up for their lack of daily Earth contact. They were given a leave for Earth once a year- a total of four months off, including the trip to and from the lab. Talk among colleagues, however, was limited to what they could hear, see and feel in the facility.
There was no dead time in the laboratory, so any activity was deemed normal. Passing a large door labeled "Project Specimen 001-X", Adele accessed one of the wings she was privileged to enter. If humans were prone to human errors, then machines could be just as easily manipulated. It would seem that a part of the plan was undisclosed to her colleague- that the project did not confine itself to developing one Specimen per gender, but several. Adele accessed another wing, hardly visited by her colleagues as it was not being used. This contained four more "wombs"- and she had just decided to use another one.
She punched a preset alphanumeric code onto an unlabeled door, musing to herself. 'If security was deemed useless two hundred years ago, then I’d say it hasn’t changed much.'
Her high-heeled steps echoed inside a dimly lit control room, its source a fully activated womb and its "baby."
'Besides, the technology presented here was conceived two hundred years ago.' Adele smirked to herself as she scanned the data presented to her by the touch screen. "Glad to see you're doing fine, boy." She brushed her hair aside as she comfortably sat down on a leather swivel chair, placing carefully manicured fingers underneath her chin.
If Véronique was a no-nonsense person, then Adele was the type who was not easily impressed. She was one of the few who questioned Veda's reliability. Was it able to adapt to any situation? Incorruptible? The perfect supercomputer? She shook slightly, holding back a guffaw, just as she did eighteen years ago when Veda was introduced to her. Her blue eyes were aching as tears of hilarity threatened to ruin her mascara. Veda's strengths were practically its own weaknesses.
"Just a little more, 002-Y. Just a little more..."
Notes:
- In case you're wondering, red light has a certain effect when you close your eyes – it matches the blood flowing under the skin, and sometimes makes one think that your eyes are actually open. I've experienced this first hand, and “sleeping” with a red-hued light is not a good idea.
- Yes, Adele is slightly mad and a bit full of herself, while Véronique is disillusioned in her perfectionist ways. What do you expect? They're human. ^_^
Translations :
Cabernet Sauvignon (French) – a popular type of red wine, made with a breed of grapes with the same name.
Bouquet Garni (Fr.; literally: “Garnished Bouquet”) – a combination of fresh herbs tied in a string and used to flavor soups, stock and stews. Some prefer to wrap it in thin porous fabric as it would behave like a tea bag in hot water.
Coq au Vin (Fr.; lit.: “Rooster in Wine”) – of course, we're talking about a chicken here, as roosters aren't eaten XD. This is chicken cooked in red wine, preferably Bordelais or Burgundy.
Nul (German) : zero
Nichts (Ger.) : nothing
Nein (Ger.) : no
"La ferme, et remplie-moi ça." (Fr.) : “Shut up, and fill it up.”
"Ich verstehe dein betrunkenes Franzöesisch nicht..." (Ger.) : “I don't understand your drunken French...” =P
Bouquet Garni (Fr.; literally: “Garnished Bouquet”) – a combination of fresh herbs tied in a string and used to flavor soups, stock and stews. Some prefer to wrap it in thin porous fabric as it would behave like a tea bag in hot water.
Coq au Vin (Fr.; lit.: “Rooster in Wine”) – of course, we're talking about a chicken here, as roosters aren't eaten XD. This is chicken cooked in red wine, preferably Bordelais or Burgundy.
Nul (German) : zero
Nichts (Ger.) : nothing
Nein (Ger.) : no
"La ferme, et remplie-moi ça." (Fr.) : “Shut up, and fill it up.”
"Ich verstehe dein betrunkenes Franzöesisch nicht..." (Ger.) : “I don't understand your drunken French...” =P
Navigation:
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}