Rumors of War

by Cynus 

War of Hell

Chapter 4

         I awoke feeling better than I ever had in my life. Despite my new healthy demeanor, I found the small chamber I woke up in to be quite claustrophobic. My space was no larger than the inside of a coffin. The tightness of my confines started getting to me quickly, and I started to panic. Twisting around as best I could, I felt for any exit I could find, but in my growing agitation I failed to locate one. Everything was solid, and I couldn’t find any latches that would indicate that one side was a door.

         The next thing I realized was my nudity. Whatever had happened to me, I had been left unclothed, though I hadn’t been particularly well dressed before I had gone unconscious. A hospital gown was not the most modest forms of attire, but at that moment I would have given anything for that most basic garment. I was naked and vulnerable, and I didn’t like that combination at all.

As my anxiety increased, I began shouting. At first I yelled unintelligibly as I pounded mercilessly on my surroundings, but after a few moments I managed to gain control of myself after taking a few deep breaths. With my heart still pounding, I retook stock of my surroundings.

From what I knew, I was supposed to be on an alien space ship, what I didn’t know was where I was inside the ship. That meant that the technology was already far beyond what I had previously had experience with. From how I felt versus how I had felt before I blacked out, I figured that I was most likely in some kind of medical chamber, though the lack of equipment on the smooth walls made that seem unlikely to my understanding.

Once more I reminded myself that my understanding was not what was important. I didn’t know how angel technology worked, or if such chambers were common for them. For all I knew, I was in some form of stasis pod. I hoped not. I was already sick of waking up months after I slipped into unconsciousness, and I had only been through that experience once.

As I started to panic again, I once again started yelling, but I was more in control than the previous time. “Let me out of here!” I shouted, hoping that someone could hear me. I repeated the phrase three more times before I realized that a young female voice was responding to me, and it appeared to be getting agitated.

“Let me out!” I said one more time, and then waited for a response. I got it a short moment later, and the tone was less than pleased.

“I am sorry, was that a request, or a demand?” came a chirp of a reply. It seemed evident that I had annoyed whoever was there. I did the best I could to calm myself to avoid antagonizing the person further.

“That was a request,” I replied, keeping my voice smooth.

“It did not sound like a request. It sounded like a demand,” replied the voice.

I was starting to get annoyed, and it was compounded by the fact that I was still trapped in a box. Nevertheless, I wanted more than anything to be removed from my confinement, and so I bit down on my pride and apologized. “I’m sorry. I meant it as a request.”

“Please restate your request.”

With a sigh, I said in a steady voice, “Let me out.”

“That did not sound like a request. It sounded like a demand. If you continue to make demands of me, I will not comply.”

“Dammit! What am I doing wrong?” I asked angrily as I punched the side of my prison. I was beyond frustrated, and whoever I was speaking to was going to get an earful from me when I was finally released.

“You have failed to appropriately form your request. Until the proper protocols are met, I will be unable to comply,” was the reply. Once again I found myself searching every section I could reach of my confines for a way out. I was getting very sick of the game.

And then I realized something; it was not just any alien ship, it was Lucifel’s ship. “I’m sorry. Would you please let me out,” I stated calmly.

“Certainly. Thank you for forming your request appropriately. Did you have a nice rest, sir?” The voice replied, and suddenly the walls of my prison split in two, horizontally. The upper portion pulled away and again split in two as the two halves of the lid pulled off and settled to either side of my now open coffin. I could now see the brightly lit room that my “pod” was situated in, and I quickly saw that there were other similar pods on either side of me. I could not see the source of the voice who had let me out, but that didn’t stop me from getting out of the pod as quickly as I could.

“Thank you for releasing me,” I said quickly, as soon as my bare feet were solidly on the floor. Once again I was made aware of my nakedness, as the cold metal touched my skin and reminded me that I had nothing to protect me from the elements. Knowing that there was someone else in the room who had spoken to me before, I quickly covered my privates with my hands in an attempt to preserve some modesty.

“You are very welcome,” said the voice from nowhere, yet seemingly everywhere at the same time. I looked around but once again could not identify the source, and so I tried my next best tactic. I reached out with my mind and searched for my benefactor telepathically. There was no one in the room with me at all.

“Where are you? Who are you?” I asked in a rush, confused by what was happening. I was hoping that it wasn’t another person like Lucifel who I couldn’t read telepathically.

“I am everywhere. I am Eve, the computer of Hell. I operate this vessel.” As I heard the response, I realized why the voice sounded so strange to me. It was avoiding contractions and was almost in monotone, though it did have a perky feminine inflection to it. The voice was also slightly familiar, though I couldn’t quite place where I had heard it before, but I knew now that it didn’t matter. It was the voice of a computer.

I reminded myself again that I was on Lucifel’s ship, and knew that politeness was going to get me further than not. So I prefaced my next question with another show of gratitude. “Once again, thank you for releasing me Eve. Is there a place where I can get some clothing? It is slightly cold in here.”

“I am sorry, would you like me to increase the temperature? I can notify an attendant to bring you some clothing, would that please you?” replied the computer. Being polite apparently worked, and I was glad I had followed through on that train of thought.

“Yes to both, please. It’s a little chilly in here. Could you tell me how long I’ve been here?” and then with only a short pause I added, “please?”

The computer replied almost as soon as I finished my sentence. It was nothing if not prompt. “I have notified the attendant that has been assigned to the medical chamber. They will be here shortly with some clothing for you. Please wait patiently. Is your question in reference to the amount of time you have spent in this room, or some other parameter?”

“Yes, let’s start there, please. How long have I been in this room?” I asked in the calmest voice I could. I was strangely at ease conversing with Eve, even though she did have a robotic quality to her voice. I suddenly realized that there was little reason to continue covering myself when I was only in the presence of machinery, and so I dropped my hands to my sides and started wandering around the room while I continued the conversation.

Once again, I did not have to wait long to receive an answer. “You were in the treatment chamber for sixteen hours, where I repaired all of the damage you had incurred. Then you were transferred to the stasis chamber to give you proper rest for the following eight hours. Would you like a list of the damage that was repaired?”

I had not realized that it was an option, but my curiosity had been piqued, and I found myself agreeing. “Yes please. Thank you, Eve.”

“Certainly. I repaired scar tissue that had accumulated in various places inside your body. I started with the earliest occurrence, and then worked my way to the most recent. Starting with your penis, I repaired scar tissue that was formed in your infancy,” Eve began, and in my embarrassment at having had my penis be the first thing mentioned, I had a hard time hearing the rest of the list as I inspected my member. Sure enough, my circumcision scar was gone, though I was intrigued by the fact that my penis remained cut. I had not regained any foreskin, but my shaft was simply smooth as if it had grown that way naturally.

 Eve had just finished recounting the last of my scar tissue repairs when I finished my inspection and interrupted as politely as I could. “I’m sorry, but could you stop there to answer a question for me please? If you repaired the scar tissue, why didn’t you re-grow the lost tissue?”

“I cannot create new tissue out of nothing. If you have the tissue, I could re-attach it, if it is still active. How recently was the tissue in question severed from the host? Was it within the last one hundred earth hours?”

I shook my head, now knowing the answer I was looking for. “No, it was in my infancy. I’m sorry, please continue with the explanation.”

Eve went on to relate what she had fixed in my brain chemistry, and I was shocked to find that she had even removed a brain tumor that no one knew I had. I was about to ask her the details on it when the door to the chamber slid open, and I turned casually to regard my new visitor, a smile spread wide on my face.

The smile faded quickly as Verina stepped into the room, carrying a stack of clothing folded neatly in her arms. She stopped and stared at me, smiling a sly smile. It wasn’t until she whistled and her eyes dropped to my groin that I once again was reminded of my nakedness. I lowered my hands quickly to cover myself again and said angrily, “Oh come on you perv. What’s wrong with you? Are you here to give me my clothes? Just drop them there and turn around.”

“Are you referring to me, sir? That sounded like a demand. I do not answer to demands, only requests. Please restate your request or I cannot comply,” Eve replied while Verina’s eyes twinkled in amusement. She rolled her eyes and approached me, handing me the stack of clothes which I quickly held in front of myself to better conceal what I was trying to hide.

“No, Eve, I was not referring to you. Thank you for giving me my status report. I am speaking to Verina now. Verina, seriously, what the hell? Turn around and give a man his privacy!” I demanded as I looked her in the eye, trying to show how serious I was.

“You heard the lady, make it a request and I’ll think about it. I rather enjoy this view. We never got to this point before. Would you like me to take my clothes off and join you? Eve can make the chamber quite comfortable for us,” Verina teased and she reached out and touched my chest. I recoiled quickly and glared at her. In response she pouted and finally turned around. “You’re no fun anymore, Damien. We would have made a great couple. You sure seemed interested when we first met. I would have never thought you’d end up gay.”

“Hey, you lost your chance when you tried to kill me, remember? All your angel buddies trying to slice my throat didn’t exactly make me want you. I’m taken now, so you can go throw yourself at someone else. Do you have a problem with Marc and me?” I replied as I started dressing quickly. The clothes were quite soft, and fit me perfectly. They were made entirely of some white cloth that was smooth like silk, and I wondered if that was what it was made of, or just something similar.

 Verina’s reply did little to endear me to her further. “I’ve always had a problem with homosexuals. What a perversion of the natural order. Did you realize that it’s one of the main reasons Michael thought of you as lower life forms? Lady Lucifel feels the same way, but she is willing to overlook some things in order to accomplish her goals. I admit that I have been able to do the same thing, but now that I’ve seen what you’ve got down there, I think it’s a terrible shame that you’re wasting it on a relationship that can’t even produce offspring.”

“What a shame then, because I base my relationships off of how I feel about the other person as an individual, not what gender they are. That’s probably the worst thing about your character that I’ve learned so far, that you’re so concerned about what other people choose to do in their bedrooms. You really are a perv. Trust me, if I had known that was a part of your personality, you would have never gotten that date with me. Well, this has been a wonderful get-to-know-you experience. Are we done now? Because I want to go throw up now that I’ve spoken to you about this.” I replied coldly, as I slipped the shirt over my head, once again amazed at how well it fit me.

“Really, Damien? There are a lot of people in your race who share my opinion. Don’t you think that there’s a possibility you might be wrong, and I’m right? Don’t you think that there’s a possibility that it really is unnatural? I didn’t think you were the type to hate someone for their opinion.” She replied as she turned back around, sensing that I was done.

“I don’t hate you, I hate what you believe. And no, I don’t think that there’s a possibility that you’re correct. Because all the people who believe like that do so because of religion, which I’ve learned is a byproduct of your people tampering with mine. It’s your people who have convinced some of mine that what we feel naturally is wrong. You’re the perversion, Verina, not me. You’ve been eating what’s been put in front of you for a long time, and I’m sorry that you can’t tell that it’s horseshit. Now, would you please lead me to my boyfriend? I am quite overdue on some real love.”

Verina led the way from the room without another word. This time when I activated my telepathy I didn’t even come close to passing out, and I could read her thoughts easily. Once I got past the anger and the resentment, I found what I had hoped to find. At the center of it all was a seed of doubt, slowly beginning to form. She was questioning her beliefs, and I was glad to see that at least one thing was starting to change for the better.