Future of the Past
folder
Gundam Wing/AC › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
4
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983
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Category:
Gundam Wing/AC › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
4
Views:
983
Reviews:
9
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Gundam Wing/AC, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Phanuel
Title: Future of the Past
Author: CeeDee (charlizedoe @ hotmail.com)
Archive: raygunworks.net and calic0cat.freeservers.com
Pairing: 1x2, 4+3, eventually
Rating: NC-17 (eventually)
Warnings: Angst, Language, Lemon, and Violence, sort of Sci-Fi
Spoilers: this takes place after EW
Feedback: yes, please, any comments welcome.
Disclaimer: Don't own them, used characters are borrowed, only. Promise to
give them back. For fun purposes, only; no profit made.
Notes: Several years after the wars, the pilots have grown apart. When they
meet again under unusual circumstances and an impending new war, will they be
able to fight again, together?
As before, many thanks for Ellimaru and also Sakusha for most helpful,
throughout and work intensive betaing and take pity of my weird wording.
+++++
Future of the Past
# 4 Phanuel
[(Raguel)(Hope) Archangel
of penance, prince of the presence, angel of hope,
and holds the devil in his power. Hope is a feeling of trust & a desire
for good,
accompanied by the assumption that your desire is attainable.]
+++++
I sat in the cantina eating a
sandwich. I was waiting for the arrival of the shuttles. They were due any
time now. I was nervous, okay. I had hoped that Howard would be here before
they had arrived. But Howard would be delayed two days time, gathering the
right personnel. I loved my former comrades like brothers, but I was
apprehensive. It's been a long time since we've been together. Time changes
things, people. Howard and the gang were closer now.
I wandered about the ship and was
astonished at how familiar it was to me. I never once got lost. I investigated
every room but two. I was unwilling to enter the captains' private quarters
and the stasis chamber room, opposite medical. I avoided them for a whole
week, before I could find myself daring enough to enter the room that held the
last of the crew members.
Reluctantly, I'd made my way into
the stasis room, drifting along the line of unknown dead. At last, I found
myself staring at two of the glass-covered stases chambers... at my parents. I
learned that my mother was one of the last to die. Her body next to my
fathers. He had been tall; a strong, masculine appearance. And handsome,
despite the pale phenomenon. She had been beautiful. The color of hair was
exactly like mine and, although her eyes were closed, I knew from the logs she
had the same cobalt blue eyes as mine. I knelt in front of the chambers and
bawled like a baby for hours. All my life I had wondered why I had been alone
in the world, and now I knew. I had found and lost them at the same time.
After the first few times, it
began to get easier to enter this room. The grief was somewhat easier, no
longer this gut clawing pain, but a deep-rooted, but bearable sadness. I came
here often to mourn. I wish I could remember the first five years of my life
here on this ship. I accessed the private logs of my parents. There are a few
vid recordings with the three of us. I copied them down on a disk and put them
with my personal belongings.
I also began to question this
whole time-lapse concept. I debated with Bethor what would happen if we could
prevent the invasion of the aliens, so that there would have been no need for
the ship and its crew to come back in time. Bethor had a wide range of
theories, but no real answers to that.
The worst theory was that the
ship just would vanish, as if it never had been there. That raised the
question of my existence. I had been born in this time, but my parents were
not. Would I also cease to exist? What would happen to all the people from
this present, staying on this ship if it ceased to exist? I pondered it over
in my head repeatedly. In the end, I decided it wouldn't matter. We all had to
be prepared to lose our lives in battle. I was. I hoped the others were as
well.
I also discussed with Bethor the
use of the enhancement serum. The AI was determined that only with the
enhancement, would we be able to withstand the mental attacks of the Xetoins.
I questioned it, as all five of us were already improved. We had been given
nanites, which were now circulating in our bloodstream. Bethor informed me
that, as a matter of fact, I had been given this serum as a child, and if
there would be complications, they would have shown after Dr. G had `pepped'
me up.
I wondered why it had no effect
on me. During the war I had been injured often enough. My healing processes
had not been advanced beyond that of the others. Bethor made it clear that the
genetic effects, except for the viral immunity, were dormant until adulthood.
That would explain why I hadn't been ill so far, why I survived the plague on
L2. Even while I had been exposed to the sickness, had held Solo in my arms as
he died.
Pondering all that over, I sat
there and ate my sandwich. I swallowed the last bit and took a sip from the
soda as Bethor announced the immediate arrival of the first two shuttles at
hangar two.
I wandered down to the hanger and
waited, leaning against the wall, while playing nervously with the tuft of my
braid. The first shuttle touched down and taxied in its parking position, then
the next.
A hatch slid open and Wufei
stepped out. He had grown up. Not as tall as I was, but he also was an adult
now and a well built one, too. His hair still was pulled back in a short
ponytail as he turned back to help someone out. Heero. He also had grown up.
They almost were the same height. But he looked… frail, pale and sunken in.
Slowly, they stepped down the stairway into the hangar. While Wufei studied
his new surroundings, Heero leaned on him heavily, and concentrated on just
walking.
I was shocked, but determined to
hide it. The grip on my braid tightened and I tugged, hard. My God. Of course,
I knew about his illness, but to see him this way… I almost missed Trowa and
Quatre leaving the shuttle, too. Only the excited shout of my name from Quatre
tore my eyes from Heero. I straightened, pushed away from the wall and strode
towards them. We nodded brief greetings and there was a short, awkward pause
as we all stood in the middle of the hangar facing each other. That was, until
I cleared my throat and donned my best smile, "Well, welcome to my humble
home." I almost missed the amused raise of one of Trowa's eyebrows and
huffed. "Now, you will see," mumbling, I turned around and observed
the hangar, now humming with life. Mananacs' were all over the place.
"You want the grand tour, or would you like to settle in first?" I
inquired.
"Actually," a familiar
voice came from behind, "I'd like to see the medical equipment first.
Heero here needs attention."
I whirled around.
"Sally!" I excitedly called out. "What a nice surprise."
Then a thought came to me and I narrowed my eyes as I took in her appearance.
She was wearing a uniform. "You're working with the Preventers. How
come…" I turned back. "Quatre…"
"It was my idea." Wufei
interrupted. "Actually, as Quatre showed the disk to me, I was a
little… worried. I confess, you seemed slightly…"
"…insane?" I offered.
He nodded. "To be honest
with you, I'm still not fully convinced that you're not, Maxwell. You always
were a little… eccentric. I need to confirm you haven't broken several
laws."
I tilted my head, waved with my
hand, "Go on."
He declared, "It was my duty
to show the disc to Une. We decided we would be somewhat covert…"
I snorted at that, but he ignored
me and went on, "… Investigate. We're," he motioned to Sally,
"partners in this investigation. This is an official covert mission, on
the Preventers' behalf."
"Okay," I nodded,
"I can live with that if you can."
He looked flabbergasted at my
lack of protest.
"It's not that I'm hiding
something. You'll see." I looked over the rest of the now gathered people
and announced loudly: "Bethor will show you to your quarters. There are
enough rooms for singles. Of course, you can bunk together if you want to.
Please follow the signs to sector three."
"Understood, captain."
The AI replied and the hangar doors slid open.
This got another raised eyebrow
from Trowa, and Quatre looked openly surprised. I shrugged and replied,
"I forgot to mention that. Bethor is an AI, the soul of this ship so to
say. It's much more advanced than the one on my ship. So, we six will bunk at
section two, in the officers' quarters. And I'm the captain, it seems."
I eyed Heero and decided to
address the problem head-on. "You able to walk to medical?"
It earned me an icy glare and a
grunt.
I had to smirk. "Some things
never change. Guess that means yes. Medical it is, then." I lead the way
and we trooped through the corridors to our destination. I heard Sally's sharp
intake at the futuristic looking medical bay as the doors slid open.
"This, my dear, is your domain for making it all better, if it goes
nasty. And for healing Heero."
"Duo…," she began,
"there isn't…"
I didn't let her finish. "I
know. Incurable in A.C.201. But curable in A.C 257. And that's where we are
standing right now. Correct, Bethor?"
The AI's voice responded,
"Literally incorrect, captain. Technically correct."
"Told you," I grinned
at Sally's puzzled expression and turned to Heero, seeing a slightly confused
expression on his face and a slim glint of hope shining in his eyes. I felt
warmth spreading through my gut at the sight and at the same time regret. Was
I really saving his life, only to put it at risk again sometime later? Yes.
Yes, I was. Because there still was a chance he might survive a battle. We all
might survive. But only if we could fight first. "Come on, Heero, lie
down," I gestured to one of the sickbeds. "Let's get you up and
about again."
"But… I don't know how to
use all this," Sally made a wide spread gesture at the medical stations.
"Oh, you will," I waved
to the others to step nearer as I walked to one of the control consoles.
Picking up one of the special hypodermics I had prepared earlier I held it up,
while Wufei helped Heero lie down on the nearest bed. "This," I
announced, "holds an organic com unit. It enables communication with
everyone wearing one, also with the ship's AI. It is similar to the wireless
com units you wear at Preventers, only permanent." I grinned. "You
can't lose it or misplace it and it can't be taken away from you if you fall
in enemy hands. So, who's first?" I looked around.
"Duo, you can't expect us
to…," Quatre started, "without explanation…," he huffed,
unsure. "We need to know…"
"Quat, have I ever lied to
you?" I interrupted him. It seemed like this was becoming a habit.
"Look. This," I gestured with the hypodermic in my hand,
"enables you to access the databases. It's way faster than asking me
everything. You can go through the databases manually, if you want too. But it
could take weeks, maybe months. We don't have that kind of time. With the com
you will know your way around the ship. You will know about the Xetoins. You
will know everything there is to know. You," I pointed to Sally
"will know how to use all this here, how to treat Heero. You," I
pointed to the rest of them, "you will know that I don't lie nor am I
insane, either. And…"
"Me first," Heero
interrupted my rant.
I stopped short and then nodded,
perfectly understanding. Made sense. He thought he would die anyway, and it
made no difference to him if what I did to him now would do harm. I was a
little sad about this reason. "Okay. Thanks for trusting me." I
approached him and injected the tiny unit under his left ear. "Bethor,
acknowledge, activate and calibrate new implanted com unit. Full access.
Standard greeting."
Heero's eyes went wide; the only
sign that he, too, could now hear Bethor in his head. "Understood."
He said out loud.
I snorted, smirking.
"Okay?"
"I'm fine," he replied
and never taking his eyes from me, confirmed for the others, "It's a com
unit. The ship was communicating with me."
"Said so." I rolled my
eyes and hold up an other hypodermic. "Next?"
After I repeated the procedure
with the remaining four, I fished two headsets out of the console and handed
one to Sally, who ogled it suspicious and one to Heero. "This is
education 101 in history… no, future and medical. When you are finished, you
will know everything and then we will talk, if you wish. Put it on your left
ear, so that the contact's pressing against your com. Sally, you might want to
sit down. It's a little overwhelming."
I instructed Bethor to merge with
them and show them the details of the ship, its technology, the facts of its
history and the war with the Xetoins. I also instructed Bethor to educate
Sally on all the new medical knowledge she would need.
When I was done with Heero and
Sally, I waved for the others to follow me.
"Where are we going?"
Wufei inquired.
"I'll take you to the
bridge. There are more of these units to merge with the ship…"
I was interrupted with Quatre's
gasp. "Merge?"
"Don't worry, Quat. It's
nothing like Zero. It's communication only. I Promise," I said, flashing
him a reassuring smile.
Trowa asked, "How come this
ship's AI accepted you, let you in?"
I stopped cold. "It's…
complicated."
He heaved one eyebrow.
"Well… I'll tell you,
okay? But I'd rather Heero…" I paused, thinking, "and Sally is
there as well, if I do. Can we please wait for when he is better? Sally will
start his treatment as soon as she comes out of merging, I'm sure." I
walked in front of them, towards the bridge. "Look, it all makes more
sense if you have all the knowledge, anyway. And you have to look after your
people and direct them through the ship. You can do that after merging. Right
now, I think they're sitting in their quarters, quite forlorn."
"Of course," Quatre
cried out, "the Maganacs. I almost forgot about them!"
I chuckled as I mentally pinged
him and thought, `you're a bad daddy', then laughed aloud as he jumped and
looked ashamed and indignant at the same time. "I am nothing like a daddy
to them," he said aloud. I laughed harder.
"How did you do
that?" he asked and blushed at the flabbergasted looks on Trowa's and
Wufei's faces.
"Do what?" Trowa and
Wufei asked at the same time.
I felt good. I hadn't laughed
this hard in a long time. I pinged them all, thought `that', and fell to my
knees, clutching my sides in laugher at their faces. I was breathless and
gulped in air as I finally came to again. "God, that was priceless,"
I giggled. "I can't wait to do that to Howard."
Sitting on the floor, clutching
my sides I must have looked ridiculous, but to see the grins on their faces
was worth it. I looked up at them, smiling. "It's good to be together,
again."
+++++
We sat in medical, waiting for
the others. I was nervous.
I had brought them to the bridge
and after they sat down, I handed them each a headset. I had instructed Bethor
to merge and give them the same information as Heero. Quatre had cried, as he
came out of it, Trowa looked expressionless and Wufei looked as if he would
like to kill something.
"This ship comes from the
future. There will be a war," Trowa sounded matter of fact.
"Again."
I took a deep breath. "Not
if we can prevent it."
"We will have to
fight." Wufei said.
"Yes," I toyed with my
braid, "if you decide to join, that is."
They were quiet for a long time,
all of us lost in our own thoughts. What if they said no?
Wufei looked at Quatre as he
spoke up, but the question was directed at me. "We can walk away if we
don't, can't we?"
I nodded, solemn. "If you
decide to go, I won't stand in your way." I stood up. "Can we
discuss this with all parties together, please? You certainly have some
thinking to do. You know your way around now. See to the Mananacs', to your
people. Bethor will show you to your quarters. Freshen up. Rest. We'll talk
tomorrow." I turned on my heel and marched from the bridge straight into
the hangar and into my Ezgadi.
I slept the whole night cycle,
rolled out of bed, shaved and showered. Looking in the mirror before dressing,
I made a decision. While I had a cup of replicated coffee in my galley, I
inquired Bethor of the status of Sally Po. Bethor informed me that she was in
medical. I pinged her and asked of a moment of her time and the use of the
gene test unit.
As I entered medical, my eyes
fell on Heero's sleeping form. "How is he?"
She shrugged, but her eyes
sparkled with enthusiasm. "He had a high fever, but it's broken now. This
serum is working." She shook her head, not believing her own words.
"He's rapidly building up massive immune bodies against this virus. I
predict a week until he's completely cured."
I smiled at that. "Make that
three days," I chuckled dryly. "He's had a tendency to astonish
every doc so far." I remembered all the times Heero had been injured, and
the self-destruction of Wing. "That would be the second time he cheated
sure death."
"Right," she said and
stuffed her hands in the pockets of the doctors' coat she wore over her
Preventers uniform. "What can I do for you? You're not ill, are
you?"
"Nah," I said. "I
want you to take a gene sample from me." As she raised an eyebrow, I
continued, "I need you to confirm something." I slumped in
the seat in front of one if the stations.
"Okay." She opened a
box and came up with the unit, "Put your finger in here." It stung a
bit, and there was a drop of blood on the pad. She typed a few commands and
looked up expectantly as the apparatus beeped finally. "And now?"
I exhaled slowly.
"Now," I inhaled, "I need you to go to the next room and look
up a genetic sample marked `Nemamiah'. Compare them. Let me know what you
find. I'll wait. "
I closed my eyes and let my head
fall back as she left the room. After a while, my old soldier senses told me I
was being watched. I opened my eyes and slowly turned my head. Heero stared at
me, eyes glazed with fever. "Hey," I said softly, "how are
you?"
He regarded me a moment.
"Fine," he said eventually.
"Right," I forced a
smile, "fine, he says. I don't believe it. You are a liar, Yuy."
"And you aren't," he
said earnestly. "Nobody believed in your story. Including me." There
was a long pause, as we stared at each other. "I'm really going to be ok,
aren't I?"
"Yeah," I nodded
thoughtfully, taking a deep breath. "I knew nobody would believe. Hell, I
wouldn't have believed me! I'm just glad there's still a little trust in you
all for me, y'know. When in doubt…" I stopped as his eyes
strayed to the doorway through which Sally had disappeared. I turned my head
and saw her, leaning against the doorframe, a thoughtful expression on her
face.
"It's a match," she
said, "one hundred percent."
I pursed my lips. It was true.
Okay, I'd still had small doubts being this child. They were gone now.
"Thanks," I said quietly.
"This…," she waved
behind her, "genetic sample bank only contains original crew
members."
"Yeah," I nodded
slowly, "I know."
"Duo?" She looked
puzzled.
I took a deep breath.
"Bethor, can you call Wufei, Trowa and Quatre to medical, please?" I
grimaced. I had to tell them, now. It wouldn't help their trust in me if they
found out by chance. Besides, Sally suspected something, I could tell.
"I'll explain. Just wait for the others, okay? I don't think I can got
through this twice." I gave her a small, sad smile and turned back to
Heero, who looked suspicious, too, in his own way.
I took a few deep breaths as we
waited in silence and steeled myself for the walk into the stasis room. Wufei
was the first to arrive. He looked disheveled, as if he just had woken up, but
relieved as he saw Heero awake and Sally okay. Trowa and Quatre followed
shortly after. I didn't want to do this. Internally, I squared up to the
inevitable while I addressed Heero. "You up to a little walk, just across
the corridor? I have to show you all something."
"Duo?" Sally asked,
"what are you up…," she halted, frowning. "That's where the
stasis chambers are."
I ignored her and the others,
who looked fairly puzzled, stood and held out a hand as I walked up to Heero's
bed. "You coming?" I really didn't want to do this.
He nodded and reached for my hand
as he sat up, gingerly tested his strength by standing and promptly swayed. I
hurriedly caught him around the waist and steadied him. Wufei came up on his
other side and lent an arm. "'Kay," I breathed. "Let's get this
show on the road." I had to do this.
+++++
"It is time for you to learn
the one thing Bethor revealed only to me." I paused and gathered my wits.
I noticed their sudden uneasiness. "It's nothing relevant to you. It's
personal."
I stared at Trowa. "You
asked why the AI of this ship accepted me, let me in. The truth is the ship
has been calling to me for the last four years."
Wufei made a disbelieving sound
as I punched the pad and the door opened.
"These," I made an arch
with my arm after we had entered the room, "are the last of the original
crew of Bethor, Defender and Battleship, launched in A.C. 257. They died while
trying to fulfill their duty. Please, pay them your respect." I paused
for a proper amount of time. While Trowa had taken my place in supporting
Heero, I had slowly walked up to the last one in line. I stated the name and
rank of the one in the chamber and walked to the next, repeating the ritual. I
stopped at the last two chambers and stepped up between them, turned to face
the others and swallowed hard. Despite that my voice sounded hoarse as I said,
"this was Hope, Warrior, Suit pilot." I laid my left hand on her
chamber as I said it. "And this, Ambriel, Warrior and Captain." I
laid my right hand on his chamber, staring straight ahead at the wall, seeing
nothing as I whispered, "My parents."
I think Quatre clutched his hand
up to his chest. I'm not sure. There was no sound for a long while.
I think Bethor had confirmed this
to them, or it was Sally's nod, because finally Quatre stepped up to me and
looked down to my left into my mother's chamber. He stammered, "You…
look just like her."
I blinked rapidly and choked back
a weak laugh. "I do, do I?" I fought against the familiar sting in
my eyes and the lump in my throat. "And…" I swallowed, glanced
down at the corpse of my father, the pale face, the white hair, forgotten
already what I had wanted to say. The silence was gnawing at me. "He…
he was an albino," I stated matter of factly, as if it were the
most important thing. I had to get out of here. I had to run. I had to hide. I
think Quatre was going to hug me, but I shoved him out of the way as I fled
the room. I ran down the hallways heedlessly. I ran and ran, until I stood in
front of the captain's quarters. The one room I had not dared to enter. Until
now.
I tentatively touched the pad and
the door slid open and revealed the cabin, a cabin like the other ones. The
other cabins had been cleaned. I had cleared out the few ones that weren't.
However, in here, there were still things scattered all over the place, as if
the resident would return any time. It looked a little… messy. It looked…
lived in.
I stepped in and absently picked
up a t-shirt from the floor, depositing it on the unmade bed. A hairclip lay
on the nightstand beside the bed. My mother's? I picked it up and slid my
fingers over the cool metal. A hairbrush. I looked around and noticed an open
connecting door. I stepped in the next room and gasped. A child's room. A few
toys lay on the floor, a model ship. A teddy bear sat on the bed. Small
pajamas. I sank down on the bed and picked up the teddy. One ear was ripped,
the fur on the right arm worn. Mine?
I sat there a long time and
stared at the toy. I looked up, startled by a pair of green eyes. Trowa knelt
in front of me, his hands on my knees. I hadn't noticed him enter, or touching
me. "I can't remember, Tro." I picked at the teddy's ripped ear.
"You'd think I would. I was five, for Christ's sake. Bethor told me. I
didn't believe, at first. But… I had the com unit. All my life, Tro. And,
I… I read their logs, saw their vids. Saw… myself, as a kid. I…, God
Tro, I look just like her. She laughed a lot, y'know? She knew she was dying
yet she still laughed. Do you think that was, … just like I do? Cover up…
everything bad with a laugh?" I took in a shuddering breath.
"He shuttled me to Earth and
put me in an escape pod, as my mother had died. There were only four of them
left. He knew that I couldn't survive at that age, alone on the ship. As he
was the last one, he ordered Bethor to contact me. Then he put himself in
stasis. Bethor sent me dreams, the last years. So that I was able to build
that ship and come here. To finish his mission." I slid down the edge of
the bed and knelt in front of him. "My life is just… One. Big.
Mission."
He put his arms around me and
pulled me to his chest. I clung to him for all I was worth and sobbed in his
shirt. God. Was that all I could do nowadays was cry? We sat there and he held
me, rubbed my back until all I could cry no more. It felt good, somehow.
Someone holding me, comforting me. I hadn't known Trowa could be this
comforting.
"Okay?" he murmured in
my ear, as my tears subsided.
I nodded and leaned back, wiping
my face with my hands. "Yeah, thanks," I whispered, "I'm
sorry." I figured we'd better get our asses out of here. I was startled
to realize we'd been there for over an hour. I stood and took a last look
around. "Come on," I said, "we need to find the others."
He nodded and looked earnestly at
me. "I'm sorry."
I started to walk out and he
followed. "What for?" I looked back over my shoulder.
"For doubting you. For
ignoring your attempts at friendship."
I shrugged, but inwardly I was
feeling a wave of longing. I smashed the feeling. "Maybe you weren't
ready for that. We were young. It's okay." I couldn't let them in too
close, now. God knows what would happen to me if we were successful.
A dart of panic shot through me.
If my worst suspicions were true, I only had four months left to exist. Was
this what Heero had been feeling? Knowing your time was limited? I took a few
deep breaths. Would there be something left of me? Would they remember? I
stopped cold in my tracks at the thought. Would there be anything left of what
I did in our past? Or would it be as if I never had existed? Never piloted
Deathscythe? Then… then everything would have turned out like my parents had
known it. No. I shuddered.
"Duo?" Trowa took hold
of my elbow, "What is it?" I didn't realize I'd stopped walking
until he almost ran into me.
I gave him a wan little smile and
shook my head. "Nothing, Tro. Everything's fine."
I was relieved as Bethor
announced the arrival of the other shuttles, and turned on my heel,
almost running to the hangars, leaving a bewildered Trowa behind.
I greeted Howard enthusiastically
and answered a bombardment of questions as well as I could. I took him to
medical where he, too, received a com unit. After merging with Bethor on the
bridge, he sat, stunned. "Whew."
"Yeah, whew."
He nodded slowly. "We need
to repair this ship."
"There's more." And I
told him about my parents, the rest of the story.
"Holy shit," was all he
had to say to that. "You sure, kid?"
"Uh-huh. As sure as I can be. Sally took a gene
test."
"Okay," He stood and
stretched. "I need to unpack. Where can I crash?"
I was glad he made no fuss about
that whole mess. Boy was I thankful. "Take one of the free quarters in
section two," I told him absently.
He was silent as we walked down
the hallways.
I cleared my throat. "You
think the men are able to do the repairs?"
He laughed. "You kidding? After what they
did from all you came up with, they should be able to."
Fiddling with my braid, I took a
deep breath. "I didn't come up with anything. It was all Bethor. Nothing
of it was me." I was a little disappointed. My pride had been shot to
hell as I had learned that all my inventions I had been so proud of had been
just suggestions Bethor had planted in my head.
"Bullshit," Howard
said, "No one I know could have realized all that. Even with the help of
the AI." He turned and stepped in front of me, hands on my
shoulders." It takes an extremely sharp mind to detail a few dreams to
working schematics, figure out the connections, the details. Do you remember
how much trouble you had pointing out the particulars to the technicians, to
make them understand? Okay, the AI planted the idea. But you realized
it."
+++++
The next couple of days flew.
There were things to organize, people to direct and equipment to sort. Most of
my time was spent with the techs. I avoided the other pilots. I finally packed
my things and moved in to one of the empty quarters when Wufei caught me.
"We need to talk, Maxwell. You've been avoiding us."
I plastered a grin on my face.
"Why do you think that," I asked, "there just was so much to
do, people to meet…"
He snorted and grabbed me by the
elbow. "And the Pope is a Buddist. Come on, let's have lunch." He
steered me towards the cantina and I stopped in my tracks. All the pilots were
gathered, even Heero, around a table with two empty seats. Wonderful. At least
Wufei let go of my elbow as we approached.
"Hey, guys," I offered
weakly, and took a seat between Quatre and Heero. "So, what's up?" I
looked around and took in their serious expressions.
"First," Quatre spoke
up, "we need to know how much you will pay us."
"Pay… you?" I almost
choked on that.
"Yes," Trowa went on,
"you hired us to be soldiers for you. Soldiers are paid. We each have a
life you interrupted. We have expenses to pay."
"Hire…," I sputtered,
"… for me." I looked around the table, opened and closed my mouth
a few times, speechless. Then the anger rose. I clenched my fists and spat
furiously, "you all can go to hell. I thought you understood. This
fuckin' isn't for me, you assholes…"
Wufei spoke up, calmly. "And
we'll be putting our lives at risk if we fight for you. How do you plan to
compensate us for that?"
I was stunned, at first. Then I
exploded.
"What's wron with you? We're the only hope! These
fucking bastards endanger *all* life on earth. People will die. They can't
defend themselves. For God's sake! We fought a war for a better world, to make
lives better, so that people could live in peace and have a good life. You
would endanger all we sacrificed, all we fought for out of… of…
greediness? This situation is worse than when Zechs tried to drop Libra on
Earth." I had shouted the last sentences and clenched my teeth, took a
few deep breaths in effort to calm down.
They were quiet.
I felt empty, cold with
disappointment. "Okay. I'll ship you back."
I felt betrayed, and you could
hear it in my voice. "I'm sorry I bothered you." I came to my feet
so fiercely, the chair behind me clattered as it fell, I took a step
backwards. "Take your people and go." I spat at the floor. "You
disgust me. Asking for lousy payment. I thought you still were willing to
fight for the good, to try and stop the evil. I'm sorry I was wrong. Don't
come running to me when it is too late. If they reach Earth, then that means I
couldn't stop them. But I'll die trying. I'll give my life if I
have to. Alone if need be." I sucked in a deep breath. It hurt.
I was so mad, I was trembling. Finally, I
whispered, "I don't want to see you fuckers again, ever."
I turned
and ran full into Sally, who had crept up behind me, causing us both to
stumble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
tbc