Beyond - Legends A Man is an Island to Himself ~ 2013 Diary ~ Up 3/4/13

Title: A Man is an Island to Himself.
Author: Lea-El, Jei-El's character is graciously on loan (my daughter)
Disclaimer: Thanks to Master Lucus and Mickey
Subject: 2013 diary challenge


Day One:

He floated in the cloning tank gently swaying in the warm water, his hair and beard swishing back and forth. He heard his own breathing for the first time, the bubbling and gurgling of the liquid around him.

Words would not form to describe his sensations all was new with him. He felt alone yet shadows moved around the tank, movement but not people, not like him.

Something pale and soft floated past his face, he felt sensations from it. Its movements brushed against the hard thing covering the bottom of his face.

Faint beeping came from outside the tank becoming more excited as he tried to turn to see what it was. A strange fuzziness fill his head as the sounds faded.


Day Three:

The warmness of the cloning tank vanished. Something from the shadows cold and hard pulled at him, pulling him out of his warm secure world onto a hard flat surface.

Something over head hurt him but he closed the lids and it became bearable.

He tried to pull away to go back to his warm fluid world but his head filled with the fuzziness again.



Day Seven:

“Soft?” A new sensation under his body not hard and cold like before, not warm and liquid like his world before. “Soft, yes soft.” The fuzziness slowly vanished now words filled his mind, words forming thoughts.

Memories collected together, the warmth of the sun, the feel of a woman's hair tickling his face, her strong arms lifting him up and blowing on his belly, uncontrollable laughter, love, mother.

“Sand?” Small hard rocks that sting his face, shift under his feet, cover his world, chip away everything around him, penetrate his clothes, annoying, hated, “Sand.”

“Wind?” Movement where there is nothing, curtains move, grass moves, smells travel, trees sway, hair flutters on his head, on his arm, against his face, brings love. Moves sand pelts your face, stings your eyes, confusing. “Wind.”

“Breath?” Air moving in and out of his body, life sustaining, smells good and bad, hard heaving air from running or fighting. “Breath.”

Slowly memories one by one formed, grew into another, swirling. His thought turned to movements walking, running, fighting not deadly fighting but fun, friendly camaraderie, pain, agony. The fuzziness filled his head, this time a relief.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Very intriguing beginning. There's a palapable sense of disconnection and mystery here that is disorienting for the reader and the clone. That's good because it forces the reader to try and figure out what is going on. Great work.

 

AN: Thanks leiamoody that's what I was hoping for.



Day Nine

“biss – blat – wwooow”

“It's almost through, relax. How did I understand that?” He felt things being removed from his head but no one there, something moved back and forth from his head to a table nearby.

“blat – brooo – wwooowoo”

“Relax, let it come together slowly.” He felt confused, jumbled thoughts swirling them coming into focus. “Robots, robots, R2 style, yet not familiar. Why not familiar? Why should it be familiar?”

“broo - braaa – wwoo”

“Open my eyes... what are? Oh!” He opened his eyes and saw the ceiling of a med-center, old dilapidated … run by R2 units? “Usually R2s aren't used for this kind of work.” Moving his head to look around hurt not like the fluid movements in the cloning tank.

“Cloning tank... why was I in a cloning tank? Who am I?”

“baaa - a - bloot – bloot”

“Clone 00156? Who is that? What is my name?”

“waaa – blarrr”

“You don't know? Who does? Hey! Come back! I need to kno...” His head swam then the fuzziness came back, all went black.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Interesting. Who is he?

 

An: earlybird-obiwan Thanks You have the right question?





Day Ten

A loud crash woke him up causing him to jump. “Oh! That hurts! I don't remember moving hurting this bad. Well, I don't remember it hurting him this bad. This is going to be a problem I can see it now.”

The R2 unit ackwardly came through the doorway carrying a glass.

“blattt – brooo – woob - waaa”

“According to the de-tanking schedule I need to eat. 'snicker' You're wearing my breakfast.”

He slowly spin his heavy legs over the side of the bed, sat up and took the glass from the droid's pincers and the towel from over his arm and wiped the drink from off its dome. “Is this from the noise I heard a while ago?”

“bluuu – wo”

“I swear you almost sound embarrassed.” He took a sip of the oddly colored liquid and his face puckered. “This taste like your oil bath.”

“woo – biss”

“Not a lot of choices. From the looks of this place I gather there hasn't been a lot of supply shipments lately. Is there any one here?”

“blaa – woo”

“No one at all? How did that happen?”

“ blatt – woob – braaa”

“You were in the repair shop and when everyone just vanished.And the holo-net device?”

“woob – blaat”

“Destroyed! This is exausting.” The fuzziness came back, filling his head. He drooped back on the bed “Is this normaaa...?”

~~~~~~~~~~

 

An: No one to thank, well, thanks to the lurkers.



Day Eleven

He opened his eyes to total darkness the only sound was his heart beating, his stomach growling and an unknown insect singing in the upper corner of the ceiling. Memories of someone else's lifetime flowed in and out of his mind.

~ A woman's hair floating over his face ~the sun shining on his face sometime comforting, sometimes terrifying ~ A small green annoying creature, Yoda, (he laughed) Yoda, the most mysterious and educational creat... person he ever meet ~ Obi-Wan Kenobi, the one person he knew would have his back, prankster yet toe the line to extremes ~flying through space, ultimate joy ~ pain, pain, pain ~

“my hand”

The fuzziness came back with a vengeance …


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Interesting update with the memories

 

Excellent work, Lea! I love the mystery; the strangeness about the story. More! More!

 

An: earlybird obi-wan Thanks for coming back.

Rainbow Knight Star Madame President a...a I'll be back in the Yoda fanclub a right now. Strange is my favorite adjective.




Day Twelve

“My hand? His hand, there was a fight with … with … with...

who … who …

on a … ? … ? … ?

%$&@* ~ he mumbled something in a language he didn't recognize ~

I remember arms and legs moving efficiently, swiftly, fast.

Why am I talking to myself?

Who else is going to talk to me?”

“broo – woo”

“basic ”

“blaaaaaat”

“R2, a raspberry, how disrespectful!”

“ woooo – woo”

“I was just kidding, you're not in trouble.

We really need to find you a different name. R2 is just too ... familiar. What is your full designation?”

“broo – blis”

“R2A6 … Hummm? … A6 ... A6 … How does A6 sound to you?”

“bls – woo”

“A6 it is?”

“A6, can you find me some clothes?”

~~~~~~~~~~~

 

An: Minor name change in Day Twelve to A6.




Day Thirteen

The light coming in the window woke him up, for a minute he forgot he was a clone, a copy, a thief of someone else's life. He looked around the ceiling as the brain does when you are looking for something deep in your memory. He knew his favorite foods, places and even his least favorites but no matter how long he looked he couldn't find his name. “I don't remember this being a part of what I...he learned about clones.”

He sat up in bed and his stomach growled. “I know I'll search for memories of him being introduced there has to be thousands of those. And this is... I'd like to introduce my friend... This isn't right. Something must have gone wrong with the memory implant.”

He swung his legs the edge of the bed, wondering where A6 was with his clothes. He pulled the sheet loose, wrapped it around his waist and walked with less difficulty across to the window. “Humm. Modesty was never one of my, his more endearing qualities.”

The landscape not only unfamiliar but was strange. “Where is this place? Maybe on one of the outer worlds but not out towards Tatooine maybe more over toward … ? No, I don't have a clue.”

In a short space he could see mountains and the ocean, lush greenery and a grassy plain but no roads or other buildings. He heard and felt a rumbling growl. “I'm glad that didn't come from outside.” He put his hand on his stomach. “I think I'm ready for solid foods.”

He walked over to the door and looked out into the hall to find many other doors just like his and his was in the middle with halls turned to the right on either end.”No way am I up for a long search.”

He tried to use the Force to tell him which way to go. “Nothing is that a clone thing or just …?”

He heard a familiar servo running at full speed and A6 came around the corner to the right with a tray in his claws and a pile of oddly colored articles
of clothing over his arm. “This is going to be interesting.”

A6 was unintelligible with all the clothes on his speaker and the food looked to good to to worry about it. “Slow down, don't gobble, your stomach will tell you about it later.”

“Lets save the rest until that has time to settle. Now what can or will I be able to wear in that wonderful new color palette.”

Day Fourteen

It took a while but he came to, hopefully a temporary out fit. There were some strange people working in this lab, mostly women or large men with multiple arms, legs or parts that he couldn't identify. His reluctant choice was a pair of dark green pants to long in the legs and a dark purple robe with a pinkish shirt to go under it. “No boots? Of any kind?”

'woo – bluu'

“Well at least the temperature here is mild. I want to go for a walk, to look around the compound.”

'woo – bliss'

“Yes, I feel like it. I'm going crazy sitting in here.”

'wo- blat' A6 spun around and took off down the hall, murmuring something he couldn't understand.

“Hey! Was it something I said?”

~~~~~~~~

Day Fifteen


A6 had followed him around the rest of the previous day, peeking around the corners, 'wooing' to himself.

Finally, he figured it out. “A6, it was just an expression, I'm not really going crazy.”

A6 'woo - -wooed' again. “I promise I'm safe, your safe with me.”

He walked around the compound, sat, then walked again. He finally gave up and slept on the couch in a lounge not far from the cloning lab. “Today, I'm going to search the computers for answers. Today?”

He saw blaster burns on the panels but still tried to pull up the computer. Nothing. “bantha poo doo”

“Have you tried to fix...?”

A6 raspberried him.

“Sorry I just had to ask.” All the energy left him and he went back to the couch. “I think I over did it yesterday. I'm going to sleep for a while.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Day Nineteen

His while stretched into days. The computer's destruction meant no answers, no answers meant no hope, no hope meant more time on the couch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The struggle to remember who you are is always confusing, but trying to remember or discover who you are when you're another version of someone else is disorienting.

 

Fascinating A6 has as much personality as R2 D2. This place he's in sounds beautiful but isolated. So is A6 a warden or a guardian? He knows something of the Force apparently and 2 Jedi in particular. I have a strong suspicion who it is ... I'll wait for his aha! moment to know if I was right.

 

Day Twenty One

A6 beeped, wooed, and blatted but couldn't get him to move. Finally, he pinched him with his claws.

“Ouch, what?” He turned and glared at A6. “Why did you pinch me?”

“woo – bliss - bluu”

“Time for me to get up? And do what? I'm out here all alone, no name, no life of my own?” He wailed heart broken.

“blat – woo – broo”

“Live, find something to do? Like what? … What? ... I could search for other computers, or data pads. Maybe even personal journals somewhere someone has to mention his name. A6 where's my breakfast?” He got up and started searching.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Priority #1 is always food Then you're fueled to find info.

 

An: Jade eyes – Delicious pookie bear laugh rub chin I love the ST reset too. I have great hopes for SW. Yes, food is always first priority.



Day Twenty Two

He searched the med-techs rooms for data-pads, most had been ransacked even before A6 did his clothes search.

“At least I've found some less colorful clothing, white and black, a clone or Darth Vader. Humm... Both are my least favorite colors, well.” He looked down at his purple, green and pink outfit.

“Yah. I could mix the two and hope for something else in another room. The black pants look my size, the black tunic, a little large but...” He slipped the tunic over his head.

“I can live with it for now. The white robe a little short but it will do. At least it's longer that the kid's.”

“blee – ploo – woo”

“You found the head med-techs quarters. Was there anything in them?”

“bloo – blat”

“You can't climb stairs, all your attachments and you can't climb stairs.”

“blee - bluu – woo”

“No all stairs. Ok. That's better. Which way?”

A6 led him to a spiral staircase leading up to a metal and glass second floor overlooking the compound. “Nice, needs some paint and fixing up but I think I found my new quarters.”

“woo- wooo”

“I'm sorry, we'll find a way for you to get up there or I'll come down. Now let's see if they left anything in tact here like maybe a secondary command system.”

He slowly climbed the stairs remembering the days when 'he' once ran up stairs two at a time. “I am going to start walking around outside and climb that mountain, maybe go for a swim. Can, could 'he' swim? … I can swim even if I have to learn how... I wonder if A6 has a flotation attachment in case I need rescuing.”

He opened the door and the smell of old blaster burns and musty lack of fresh air on furniture and old food. Worst of all the computer console was shot up and so were his hopes.

“Humm!” He sat up an overturned chair and sat in front of the console. “Maybe... maybe … just maybe... something survived.”

He pushed the start button and waited what seemed forever, then a light flashed on. “Yes, please, yes...”

“Oh! No! computer code.”

“A6!”

“Oh! No! He can't get up here.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Now to get some more clues. Mentioned Darth Vader -- hmmm. Who is this dude if not ...

 

An: Jade Eyes - DV? I can't tell you. I have eleven more months to write.


Day Twenty Three

After a through search for an elevator or ramp or anything to get A6 up on the second floor. They, finally, found a pulley system over hanging a balcony with sliding doors, probably used to move furniture.

“Hey! A6 I found a way to get you up!” He called out to the droid waiting by the stairs.

A6 turned the corner and saw him lowering the chain to attach to the 'cargo'. He started backing up, raspberrying and woo, no way was he going to be hauled up like a sleep couch.

“A6, watch I'll show you it's safe.” He rode the chain down as it lowered to the floor. “See I promise I won't let you get damaged, I'll even ride with you.”

After much pleading, begging and teasing, he got A6 on a platform set up for this purpose, hooked the chains and pressed the button to raise him to the second floor.

Half way up A6 remembered he had jet packs to fly.

“You can fly, why didn't you say that before?”

“woo – blat – bliss”

“An unfortunate malfunction that hurt the head med-tech.I can see why you would want to store that piece of information in a locked file.”

Much to A6's relief they made the trip undamaged, once shown the computer console he plugged into the computer port, light flashed and computer code streamed.

“woo – bluu – bliss'

“This is going to take a while, a long while?”

A6 turned his dome and look at him.

“All right! I'll work on cleaning my new quarters.” He started setting things upright, put the cushions back on the sleep couch, collected the former occupants dirty cloths. “Orange? What is it with these people?”

Anything he didn't want, he threw over the balcony, occasionally with a loud clang, band or thud.

Eventually everything was clean organized to his liking, he'd napped and A6 was still working.

He rubbed his growling stomach and asked. “Which way to the kitchen?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Enjoy A6 and his /her central role.

 

Day Twenty Four

An: Jade_eyes - Everyone needs someone to talk to even if it's a droid. Smile face

He paced the floor most of the night, ran errands for A6 andretrieving parts from the other computer console. Now scraped knuckles and exhausted all he could do was wait and watch and hope.

“Why is it so important to find out who 'he' is or was? Jedi clones were not recommended to be brought on line as long as the original was alive, other wise the Force's confusion over two identical Force signatures drove the clone crazy.” He search his memory for any kind of answers.

“Why can I remember technical aspects of cloning but not 'his' name? This doesn't make sense to me.”

“I remember some Jedi med-tech pounding that into my head. An assignment, training to deal with clones gone crazy or an undercover mission.

Ke... Ke … I feel as if I can almost say a name. Who's? … I don't know.”

“woo – bluu – bliss”

“I know... there are still damaged areas and you can't guarantee what I'm looking for will be available. Just show me what you do have.”

He looked over A6 at the screen as A6 pulled up the file on clone 00156.

“Name missing, date memories retrieved missing, place retrieved missing, birth place of original missing, death date of original - not at this time. Well, at least we have something.”

“How about letting me in their and see if I can find something.”

“woo – broo”

“I don't mean repair it better than you, just search the memory files for information about 'him'.”

A6 backed out of the way and went to the balcony, reluctantly taking the chain hoist down to the first floor then the kitchen. He hoped his deception wasn't discovered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Oooh, A6 is hiding something crucial. Hmmm.

 

An: Jade_ eyes - A6 is a complex droid.


Day Twenty Five

The blaster burn reached havoc on the memory files, Chunks were missing and not just hit-or-miss chunks. The blaster burns made it seem random but there was a complete wipe of personal information starting with date of birth, place of birth, master's name, no official assignments listed, only vague pieces of memories.

He turned off the computer after thirty six hours of non stop searching. A6 had even come back up the hoist with another tray which was still sitting uneaten. 'I know this wasn't random but who? Why do a partial memory wipe then shoot up the computer?' He thought. “I'm to tired to think. I'll work on it tomorrow.” He stumbled over to the sleep couch and fell asleep before he landed on it.


Day Twenty Six

He woke up with the sun shining through a window that the curtain had previously been drawn. “A6, must have been up here again.” He looked around and a fresh tray of food was waiting for him to wake up but no A6.”


He ate spent an hour in the shower, found some clothes that A6 had apparently laid out for him. “Humm... What's gotten into him using the hoist now? Guilty conscience...” He joked to himself.

He walked over to the outside door and down the path to the breach. “Wet sand, not bad.”

He sat and listened to the waves, allowing the information from the last few weeks to sink in. “I can sit and wonder who and what 'he' was or I can start my own life from here. First, I need a name.”

He looked up at the clouds floating by. “There was a name I was trying to remember the other day. What was it, something like Ke... Ken... Kenan...Kenan That was it but what was the last name?”

“Hey! A first name is a good start? It's not 'his' it's mine. Hello, I am Kenan...Kenan, who is for another day."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Cool name. Best thing is to move on from here and hope more memories will come.

 

An: Jade_eyes - Thanks I borrowed it for my daughter's story.



Day Thirty

Kenan arrived back at the compound cold, tired and hungry. He'd decided to learn more about the place he now called home. Where was it and were they alone?

He had come to see A6 as a companion, it was him or the lizard outside his window and watching Slurp clean his eyes was entertaining for a few minutes but there wasn't a lot of interaction.

After four days of hiking, resting and more hiking, he had come to the devastating realization it was an island. There were no boat docks along the shores and the only landing pad had a tree growing in the middle of it so the fight and abandonment of the cloning compound had take place over several years ago.

There had been a holo-net receiving tower on the mountain he had seen from his first room but it was broken in half, beyond repair. “Well, I have no assignments here so I can see what I can get to work. Maybe 'he' was a fix-it person and if some of those memories are lost in this confusion who knows?”

As he came around the corner A6 saw him he started swinging his arms and wooo – wooing him.

“I'm sorry, I wasn't aware I needed to tell you I was going for a walk.” Kenan apologized profusely.

“Woo - blat”

“Yes, Dear, I promise, I will tell you from now on when I go for a long walk.”

A6 calmed down and stopped beeping and flashing.

“Now, I'm starved, what's for dinner?” Kenan asked, innocently.

“woo – bluu – blat – bliss” then he raspberried Kenan and headed off to the docking station to recharge.

“I guess I'm cooking for myself tonight. Who knew that A6 could be so emotional?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Wow, this place is desolate if the holonet receiver is totally broke and the landing pad has a tree growing in it :shock: A6 takes his charge seriously, reminds me of R2 with the intenseness and the "raspberry"

 

Jade_eyes - Yes they have a unique relationship.
I love lurkers if you want say Hi? I don't bite.




Day Thirty Five

“Ok! I can't get off this island and I can't call for help or even find out what's going on out in the galaxy. None of these problems are going to be fixed lying here in bed.”

“There has to be someway of communicating, some spare parts in a cabinet somewhere. It looks like A6 would have fixed it by now but then droids don't see the need to do things without being told to.”

“Should I ask about the parts replacement storage of just look for myself?”

“He doesn't seem happy when I talk about getting off of here. I think I'll do my own research. Maybe I could start with an inventory and quietly go from there.”

He got up showered and dressed then wandered toward the kitchen to find A6 cooking bird eggs, unique fruits sliced and crackers from a tin that looked well out of date.

“Thank you, A6. It looks like a lovely breakfast. I appreciate you making it. Today, I think I'm going to become more familiar with the compound.”

After breakfast he started with the rooms nearest the clone tanks neatening as he went. “You never know when what you are looking for is going to be under an overturned chair or desk.”

He searched desk drawers, cabinet drawers, closets and former employes personal bags. He inspected everything including holo-vid communications stored in peoples secret slots in drawers.
There was a war going on out in the galaxy and Jedi had become unpopular even hunted down but that was an old dated holo-vid compared to the dates on more personal vids. Children being born, when are you coming home, friends getting married, even deaths of parents didn't draw the employes away from there work.

Later new fears, new enemies, no names though.

Occasionally, he would see A6 peeking around a corner looking worried.

Finally, the light from the windows grew faint and Kenan grew tired.

“Another day to look for more, for now I'm getting sleepy.”

He headed to his new quarters and crashed. “A new enemy, who?” Then he fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~