GRM Reaper Productions, Uninc. in association with British-AnimeTech Limited presents A PsychoMental Production A Virtual Non-Film Benjamin D. Hutchins Brian D. Bikowicz Rob Mandeville Out In The Cold Undocumented Features Volume Three THE CAST Benjamin D. Hutchins Gryphon/Ben Brian D. Bikowicz MegaZone Rob Mandeville ReRob Kei Morgan Kei Yuri Daniels Yuri Deedlit Satori Deedlit John Todd Macquivr/q Adam Johnson Pfloyd/Adam Andrew Petrarca Android Kevin Tefft Kevin Largo Largo Jennifer Steen Jenna John Trussell John/Truss David Ritchie Daver Vaughn Gross Vaughn/Paladin/Reality Paul Heaton Paul Erik Swimm Erik/easwimm/Saurian Fritz Koopman Fritz Mark Luchini Mark/Haywire Patricia Currier Tricia/Trish Mike Callaghan Mike/Archon Chris Sprague Chris/Phantom Derek Bacon Lightnin Rich Parker Rich Gary Mayer Gary Cheryl Zukowsky Cheryl/Cheryl.Z Mike Wheeler Wheels/MWheeler Charles Schletzbaum Schletz Edison Bell Edison Teleute Teleute/Death Lord Fahrvergnugen Wolfgang Decker Decker Shasti Shasti/Vixen Enhanced Video Emulation Eve The Wedge Rats The Wedge Defense Force Special Visual Effects by Your Brain On Drugs, Inc. Destruction by Joe Martin Destruction Systems International Sub-Zero Neo-TechTronic Things by British-AnimeTech, Limited In Cooperation With Virtual Labs, Inc. with the exception of The Mann Systems Series 1001E BioSculptTM Tank by Larry Mann Detians Created by Joe Martin. Background Music Performed by Jim Tyrell From an Original Story by Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D. Bikowicz, and Rob Mandeville Kei and Yuri Created by Haruka Takachiho Additional Editing by Vaughn Gross, Tricia, and Cheryl.Z Counselors for Zoner, Jenna and Cheryl.Z Counselors for Gryphon, Vaughn and Kei EVE Shamelessly Stolen from MegaZone23 Catering by the Kenmore Diner Inspiration by D-Term, Nirvana, Weird Al, and Tesla Extra Special Letter Bomb for the Creators of the NFS "No Files Served" "Nightmare File Server." Mr. Bikowicz's Wardrobe by Blackbird Intl. Mr. Hutchins' Wardrobe by "Optical Illusions 'R' Us" GmbH. Mr. Mandeville's Wardrobe by K-Mart Entertainment by Mystery Science Theater 3000. Role Models Provided by Joel, Crow, Gypsy, and Tom Servo. Publishing by Eyrie Publishing Co., NotEvenCloseToInc. Copyright (c) 1992 Benjamin D. Hutchins, Brian D. Bikowicz, and Rob Mandeville Once again this is for all the people out there who love SF, anime, and the marvelous concept known as "write yer own". But more than that: For Kei and Yuri Ben: For Zoner and the returning ReRob, who came up with some of the more creatively impossible solutions to this distance problem. Some actually worked. For General Motors, the only reason I'm able to type this at all. For my father...too bad the RealMen(tm) got him. For my mom...midlife paranoia sucks, doesn't it? For the guys back home, who haven't the faintest clue what's going on, but are there to help me deal naetheless. For Randy, who is yet still comfortably numb--even more so now that he finally has a dog bed. In commemoration of the return of the ice cream truck, this line is for Helene... *snicker* For They MIGHT BE Giants. Too weird to be depressed to. And last but never least, for what was and wasn't and could've been and did and didn't; for Cheryl. Zoner: For Ben, I wish things had worked out differently. I hope the future is brighter. For ReRob, I'm glad to have you back writing with us. For Jenna, who will always remain close to my heart, no matter the physical distance. Merry meet, merry part. For the Internet, thanks for keeping me in touch and making the world a little smaller. For Joe, thanks for understanding, listening, and taking the damn knife away from me. For Cheryl.Z, thank you for supporting me when I needed it. For loves lost and gained, loves that never were or never will be. It's all a part of living, though not always very enjoyable. Life goes on. (a-fucking-men. --G.) ReRob: For Julia, who taught me never to give up on love. For Daver, who flattened only one testicle. For Jesses, who let me blow off a metric buttload of steam. For John Cowles, a Pratt & Whitney engineer with a sense of humor. (I never dreamed that mentioning UF would help me land a co-op job!) For Trish, for being the Cookie Goddess. For Ajay, who let me reconfigure my wetware without interfering. For Michael 'fmeyer' O'Malley, who showed us what a beautiful and precious thing life is. (You shall be remembered fondly Mike. Rest well. -Zoner) For Def Leppard, who showed us how to pickup the pieces. For Sto and Denny's, for being open. ----------------------------------------------------------ONE "It ain't over 'til it's over." --The Alarm The sky above Worcester was a gentle golden panorama. Below, in the crater, the city was rebuilding itself around the vast GENOM complex. Vehicles and people shuttled back and forth and here and there on their business, slowly bringing a warm, thriving vitality to Neo-Worcester. In his newly redecorated office at the top of the tower, Largo seethed. Before his desk, Professor Ian Astbury stood, trembling so hard he made the plastic sheeting under his feet rustle. Nearby, on the large leather sofa, Iczer-2 lounged. "So...you allowed Iczer-1 to escape," Largo hissed. "You cost me my victory over the Wedge Rats. You cost me an eighteen-trillion-dollar space cruiser and very nearly a six- billion-dollar I.C.Z.E.R. prototype. Give me a good reason why I should not kill you right now." "I...I cannot," Astbury replied. "I couldn't let my work be destroyed so casually. She had a good, kind soul, and she was to die for just that reason...I could not conscience it. If I'm to die for that...then so be it." He lowered his head and awaited the end. "Then so be it," Largo repeated. "Iczer-2: kill him." "No." "No?!" "No." "Am I to understand that you are refusing to obey my order?" "I am." "For what reason?" "I do not wish to destroy my creator. Call it a character flaw." "You will not obey me?!" "No. And there is nothing you can do about it." She smiled, seeing Largo's rising rage. "It frustrates you, doesn't it? The great and mighty Largo, powerless in the face of a mere woman." "Do not push me--" "Or what? You will destroy me? Bah. I am so frightened I simply can't control my terror." "My patience is at its end, Iczer-2. Cease this foolishness now or face my wrath. There are failsafes installed in your makeup to ensure against such disobedience. Do not force me to use them!" "Do you mean these?" Iczer-2 asked coolly, holding up a handful of what appeared to be computer chips. Largo's eyes widened. "Your technicians should not have implanted them so close to the skin," she continued, dropping them to the floor and crushing them under a boot. When broken, they sizzled and melted into the floor. "I could destroy you, Largo. You and all your empire, here, now, and finish the job the Wedge Rats began on New Year's Day. I choose not to. Consider it payment of whatever debts I still owe you for my inception." "You cannot do this," Largo hissed. "I created you--and this is how you repay me." "Then you wish me to end your life?" Iczer-2 asked. Largo had no answer. He simply sat and seethed. "Then be happy with what you have," Iczer-2 said. "Come, Professor...I will not leave you to the tender mercies of Largo, after all." Before Largo could protest or do anything, they were gone. Snarling, he reached for his desk intercom, about to order a full mobilization of all GENOM resources to seek and destroy Iczer-2, but before he could reach it, alarms went off. He grabbed his phone and punched 911. "This is Largo. What in hell's going on?" "Security station D reporting, sir," a random security guard's voice replied. "It's kind of hard to describe-- you'll just have to see it for yourself!" "What the--" Largo turned his chair so he was facing out across the city of Neo-Worcester. Above the city, surrounded by the crackling distortion of a recently- completed and very well-done spacefold operation, was the huge blue and white ship which had so recently humiliated him, its every battlescar repaired. The ship looked mean and ready for action. Across its hull just below the huge bridge window, the words SDF-17 WAYWARD SON blazed in deep black. The Wedge Defense Force had arrived. ----------------------------------------------------------TWO "These people are completely ignorant of space war tactics." --Commander Breetai Tul FIVE MINUTES EARLIER Commander Benjamin D. Hutchins, Wedge Defense Force, Acting Captain of the SDF-17 (WDF Wayward Son) in the comatose absence of Captain Brian D. Bikowicz, sat uneasily in the seat of power on that ship's bridge, planning the assault on the GENOM complex in what had once been Worcester. "Okay. Let's do it. Yuri, are the calculations for our last fold complete?" "Affirmative," Yuri replied from the Operations station, her cool professionalism hiding her worry for Zoner. "Coordinates are set and locked. Fold drive is fully charged and awaiting your order for execution. We will defold five kilometers northeast of the GENOM tower at an altitude of two thousand feet." "Perfect. Stand by. Tactical, your summary?" "All weapons systems fully primed and ready," Kei replied from her position next to Yuri at the Tactical station. "Automated point-defense system is engaged and standing by on all antiaircraft weapons. All missile launchers and autocannons report ready on automatic; railguns and micro-Reflex cannons ready and reporting positive fire control from this station. Main gun at standby status and also responding to this station's fire control command protocol. Full-ship deflector field ready." "Excellent. q, fighter status?" "Jolly Roger is like ready and waiting on Armor Two," q answered. "Eight-Ball is reporting ready on Armor One, with Daver in command. There are like four unassigned pilots, though." "Great. We'll need all the support we can get. Fighter type and pilot?" "A Legios, Rich and Gary, but they don't like seem too happy about the assignment." "So they can change it after this battle. Stick them with Fritz. The others?" "Two Valkyrie-A's," q reported. "Tricia and Paul." "Ard?" "No. Like Paulheat T. Bonehead." "Shit. Okay, tag them as Eight-Ball Five and Six." "You mean Four and Five." "No, I don't." Gryphon got up from his seat. "ReRob, take the conn. I have no intention of leaving my squadron to fight without me." "You can't go out there," ReRob protested. "The captain can't enter combat!" "I'm not the captain!" Gryphon replied, his expression darkening. "How many times to I have to tell you people this? Zoner's the captain, and he's not going anywhere. Now take the conn, dammit! I am not leaving the Eight-Ball!" Yuri tightly gripped the edges of her console at the mention of Zoner's name. She was still very concerned about him, he was still in a deep coma. ReRob looked taken aback by this outburst, but said simply, "Okay, okay," and took the command station. Gryphon started for the elevator, already opening the flap of his uniform jacket. "Ben?" Kei called after him. He turned. "Yeah?" "Be careful." "Watch yourself, Kei--people might think you're going soft or something," Gryph replied with a grin. "I'll be fine." He winked and vanished into the turbolift. "You are going soft," Yuri whispered. "Shut up, Yuri," Kei growled. "So are you." Yuri snapped her head around so that Kei wouldn't see her fight back her tears. "Hmm. Well. I'm more or less a figurehead, I guess... I'd probably do more good with the engines. Oh well...q, are the fighters ready yet?" "Eight-Ball has just finished reorganizing--they're like almost ready now, just waiting for Gryph to get suited up. And like Jolly Roger's been ready for five minutes now." "Okay. Begin countdown for fold operation on my mark... mark. Five. Four. Three. Two. One. Execute." "Executing fold operation," Yuri replied in a wavering voice, and engaged the SDF-17's mighty fold engines. The ship's surface flared white light, the crew experienced the now-familiar twisting sensation of hyperspace transposition, and they were off. --------------------------------------------------------THREE "Alia jacta est." --Julius Caesar BACK TO THE PRESENT "So they've come back to torment me yet again," Largo said to himself. "Fools. I'm ready for them this time." He picked up his desk phone. "Orbital control, this is Largo. Mobilize the fleet for home base. We are under attack." "Sir?! I mean, confirm attack on home base and go for fleet atmospheric operations." "Confirmed. Code six. Now move it!" Largo barked, slamming down the phone. Regaining his composure, he picked it up and dialed again. "Section twelve. This is Largo. All defense systems have already been activated, I assume?" "Yes, sir," the chief of defense, one Markus-05 (a Super Buma), replied. "All systems are on standby awaiting positive identification of the vessel." "You idiot! That's the Wedge Defense Force--those accursed Wedge Rats all over again! Destroy them!" "Yes, my lord. All fighters are away. Ground defenses opening fire." The complex began to shake with the discharge of massive weapons. Beams of energy reached for the sky, searching for the SDF-17. In the fighter bay of A.R.M.D.-01, Gryphon checked the controls of his VF-1FS Hyper Valkyrie for the eighteenth time, making sure all ordnance was secure and ready, his fusion turbines were running right, etc., etc., ad infinitum. Behind him were the three grey, black, and blue fighters of his squadron, and two generic beige VF-1A Supers with temporary markings stuck on with contact plastic. The Eight-Ball Squadron. The left hand comm screen on his panel blipped into the view of a pretty silver-haired woman with deep gold eyes. "Follow Kei's advice," she cautioned him, a note of concern in her voice. "Be careful." "Don't worry about me, Eve," Gryphon replied. "I'll be fine. You watch yourself--they'll all be gunning for the ship, not me." "I can take care of myself," Eve (or, more properly, Enhanced Video Emulation) replied. "You should know my capabilities--you wrote me." Gryphon grinned. Eve was the replacement he had written in CLULESS to replace the idiotic AI that ran the SDF-17 (the one who talked like a combination of an '88 Buick Regal and KITT). Not counting Kei and Yuri, and he didn't, because he preferred to think of them as completely autonomous people now--which indeed they were--Eve was the crowning achievement of his gweeping career. He took considerable pride in her. The light above the bay doors turned green. "Back to the salt mines," Gryphon said with a smile. "All Eight-Ball fighters, report status," he ordered. "Eight-Ball One, okay." "Eight-Ball Two, okay," Daver reported from the cockpit of his VF-1J Super. "Eight-Ball Three, okay," Erik Swimm echoed from his -1A. "Eight-Ball Four, okay," Mark "Haywire" Luchini reported, for once not shouting something like "KILL! KILL!" "Eight-Ball Five, okay," Tricia Currier called from her generically beige fighter. She had only recently finished Veritech training, having been held up by some foolish snag in her vision-correction program, but was already fitting into the squadron as if she belonged. "Eight-Ball Six, respond," Gryphon ordered after a second or so. "Huh?" Paul Heaton replied from his fighter. Paul had been held up in training deliberately, as the WDF and the personnel of Utopia Planitia tried excuse after excuse before running out of reasons not to make him a Veritech pilot. They had at least kept him from becoming a Beta driver... "Respond, asshole, this is a preflight check!" "Okay, okay, jeez, calm down," Paul replied in his arrogant way. "Christ, you act like you own the squadron." "I do," Gryphon replied. "That's what my commander's bar means. Got it? You follow my orders or so help me I'll blow you out of the sky myself." "You're welcome to try," Paul replied with a sneer. "You guys--cut it out!" Trish shouted. "You sound like our old calc class." "Right. I'm watching you, Heaton. Fuck up and you're mine. I don't want you in my squadron, I didn't have a choice. So just shut up and do your job." Paul had nothing to say to that. "Eight-Ball Squadron ready for launch," Gryphon reported. "You are like cleared," q replied from the bridge. "Like intercept enemy fighters in sector seven, they're the most immediate concern." "Will do. Eight-Ball Squadron--launch on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark." He slammed his throttles all the way to afterburner, at the same time thumbing the catapult switch. With a surge of acceleration he was thrown out of the bay, across the deck of Armor-One, and out into the golden sky above Worcester. Around him and behind him his squadron did the same, with nearly perfect precision. Nearly perfect, except that Paul was a second late. The fighters were in a relatively clean configuration, since inside an atmosphere, their snap-on supplemental armor and missile pods degraded performance too much to be worth the trouble of carrying them. They were running in pure, original Valkyrie mode. The six Valkyries screamed into the sky above Neo-Worcester. Ahead of them, to the Wayward Son's port, was their immediate target: a large group of GENOM fightercraft. Gryphon muttered a curse as he saw and recognized them. Unlike the starfighters encountered in the last battle, similar to the Lancer I space fighter, these craft were quite deadly-looking and very effective at their jobs. They were small, red, and crablike, mounting twin plasma projectors on the top of their shells and sporting articulated and almost insectoid limbs. "Invid Armored Scouts. GENOM builds Invid Armored Scouts," Gryphon muttered to himself. "Why am I somehow not very surprised at this?" He keyed his radio for a squadron broadcast. "Eight-Ball Squadron, this is Eight-Ball One. Engage and destroy. Break formation, they're thick up here, but keep it as tight as you can, we don't want anyone getting lost." He pulled away from the formation, reaching up to key the cool shades in his helmet down, Rick Hunter-style. Rick was a schmuck, but he had his cool moments. "Hey, Gryph," Tricia called, "aren't those--" "Aw, no way!" Mark shouted. "Armored Scouts! GENOM's ripping off the Invid! DIE!!" He threw himself furiously into the fight, ripping into a pack of the scouts with a missile spread and a furious GU-11 strafing run. Gryphon ducked to the left and down as one of the Scouts ripped a burst of annihilation discs over his cockpit bubble. Kicking his fighter over and down, he pulled the nose up and performed a quick spiral. The hexagonal targeting reticules on his HUD quickly locked on three of the GENOM craft and pulsed as a lock tone sang in his ears; he flipped the cover off his thumb trigger, selected the appropriate missiles from among the switches to his right with the fingertips of his throttle hand, and let fly. From the pylons under his wings, three medium range fighter-to-fighter missiles (designated in "official" Wedge Defense Force documentation as the AIM-6-XL Reaper) roared free on thick white vapor trails, Roboteching picturesquely before ripping into their targets and blowing them to little red flinders. "Eight-Ball One, check six," a calm voice rang in his earphones. Gryphon tossed a look over his shoulder while pulling up and boosting, in time to see Erik's Valkyrie chop a quintet of Scouts off his tail with an impressive spread of missiles. "Thanks, Erik," Gryphon replied. "No problem, Gryph," Erik replied, streaking off toward another corner of the battle. "These things are maneuverable as all hell," Daver observed. "They're actually outmaneuvering us up here." "It's because they're so damn small," Gryphon replied. "Take this battle down into the streets--we can get the edge on them down there." "Roger, Eight-Ball One," Daver acknowledged. "Gerwalk?" "Yup." "I like." "I thought you would. All Eight-Balls, this is Eight-Ball One. Descend to street level and engage configuration G. Try to keep the collateral damage somewhere below the standard Lovely Angel level, okay?" Back on the bridge of the Wayward Son, Kei glanced at Yuri, who glanced at Kei. They both shrugged and resolved to kill him later. "Take us lower too," ReRob ordered. "Hovering up here is making us a hell of a target for whatever they have. Make for the tower at the lowest altitude possible." "Right," Yuri replied, and guided the massive ship down almost to the tops of the buildings. "Gravity control drive is functioning at optimum." "Good. I was wondering if the structural members would hold the grav pods in or not..." Gryphon dove his VF-1FS into the streets of Neo-Worcester, pulling down the lever on his control panel which was labeled with the big "G". Immediately, the aerodynamics of the fighter changed. Its V-tail folded down into the storage position, then flipped up onto the fuselage to expose three small jet thrusters. The vector-thrust nozzles on the twin engines split into two sections, widening out and forming a V. The engines hinged down, articulated and looking suspiciously like legs, as sections of the underbelly unfolded and extended, ending with retractable, fully articulated hands, the left one of which was now holding the GU-11 gunpod. A fighter jet with humanoid limbs sped down Main Street, getting a ground effect from the thrust of the main jets being directed downward and speeding at nearly Mach 1 a scant few meters above the ground, dodging traffic with relative ease. Behind Gryphon, the other five members of the squadron dropped their craft into gerwalk configuration as well and descended into the street. "Sir, their fighters have entered the city. They appear to have variable geometry technology. Our aeroforces are unable to pursue them effectively without great risk of collateral damage," Markus-05 reported on the main screen of Largo's desk. Largo's office had transformed into an armored command bunker. The windows had been covered by huge armor plates upon which were projected the image of what would've been visible through the windows had the shields been open; the desk had rotated on its dais to face said windows. The chair and desk themselves had changed, the sides of the desk folding around to meet the sides of the chair and locking together into a single armored unit, as the desk folded in the center and various screens and other apparati rose from the top. With the high back of the chair bending down over and out around him, Largo looked almost as though he were at the controls of some small space cruiser. "Deploy the shock troopers, then, and call general curfew again. Most of the civilians should be in their shelters by now anyway--forget the collateral damage! We rebuilt Worcester from a radioactive crater fifty miles across--we can rebuild it again if we have to!" "Yes, sir!" Markus replied, saluting and vanishing. Largo went about his other business, reaching down to press a key on the top of his desk marked "AIR DEFENSE". It glowed and the master screen in the center of the console reported AIR DEFENSE SYSTEMS ENGAGED--DEFAULTING TO MASTER CONTROL. T-joysticks arose from his chair's arms, and before them, perfectly banked for his long, thin fingers, were banks of fingertip selector switches. A HUD-like projection appeared on the window view, bracketing the SDF-17 in a big triangular reticule. "Now, Wedge Rats," Largo growled. "Feel the wrath of GENOM." He smiled and began selecting and firing weapons. ---------------------------------------------------------FOUR "A.D.A.M. stands for Absolute Disintegration of Available Mass." --Eve All over the GENOM complex, and indeed all over the city of Neo-Worcester, small shacks and what looked like minor maintenance buildings and abandoned apartment houses collapsed, huge weapon turrets rising from them. Multi-tube missile launchers, double and quad-barrelled laser turrets, unidentifiable energy weapon emplacements, and other large instruments of destruction rose from the city's unassuming profile, aiming at the Wayward Son. "Oop," said ReRob as blip after hostile blip appeared on the tactical display on Screen 3. "I think we have a problem." "Like understatement?" q offered. "Kei?" "Yeah?" "Shoot whatever you think should die first." "Heh." Kei grinned and began targeting and firing. SDF-17 began firing first, the heavy repeating laser and autocannon emplacements raining destruction on the city. Gryphon skated his Valkyrie around a corner just as a micro- Reflex bolt obliterated the missile launcher that had once been the Wesleyan Church, two blocks back. And then GENOM opened up as Largo finished refining his targeting. Lasers, heavy plasma cannons, particle projector guns, railguns, autocannons, and every conceivable form of missile launcher began firing back up at the Wayward Son. Gryphon and company were too busy to admire the pretty view, though; dozens of grey Invid Shock Troopers had appeared in the streets, and the Eight-Ball Squadron was running dangerously low on ammunition. Gryphon, Daver, Mark, and Paul had exhausted their missiles, and Tricia and Erik had three between the two of them. GU-11 ammo wasn't being a problem yet, but it was only a matter of time. With five Scouts on his six and none of his wingmates in sight, Gryphon figured he had a problem. He was screaming down Main Street at nearly Mach 1 when a sudden inspiration hit him. He had been in a situation like this once before, and since Neo-Worcester was a city reconstituted from the plans of the original Worcester-- Yes! There it was, dead ahead--the Main Street tunnel! And it was still, he noted with a grin, illegal to go through it in his direction. Well, too bad. He tucked the arms as far back as they could go, put the legs almost back to fighter-mode position, and racked the wings back to oversweep, blasting into the tunnel and very narrowly fitting. Behind him, three Scouts impacted various parts of the tunnel mouth and exploded as the other two veered hard and followed him in. It was a short tunnel; Gryphon came exploding out of the other end of it in mere seconds, popping his wings back to full open and dropping the legs to boost himself back into the air. His belly lasers had almost been scraping toward the end there--a Valkyrie in gerwalk mode couldn't quite do ballistic, just a good impression for a few seconds. Just as he dropped the legs he got a quick glimpse of a Saab 900 Turbo which had been entering the tunnel, before the downswinging leg inadvertently punted it back across Salisbury Street. "Oop," Gryphon muttered as he pulled the Valkyrie back into fighter configuration and screamed into the skies. With all the troopers about, the streets were becoming decidedly dangerous places. Better to chance it in the sky. "Eight-Ball Squadron from Eight-Ball One. Pull out and return to fighter mode--there're too many Shock Troopers to fuck around down there anymore." "We're getting ripped apart!" ReRob cried as another impact almost knocked him out of his seat. "Damage isn't that bad yet," Yuri replied. "A lot of dented and burned armor, and we're getting knocked around, but they haven't breached the hull in anyplace important yet." "How reassuring," Rob muttered. "Still, we can't take this too much longer." On the other side of the battle, out Westboro way, the ten fighters of Lieutenant Commander Fritz Koopman's Jolly Roger Squadron were having their own fight for their lives. The five Alpha and five Beta fighters, all separated for better mobility, were scattered throughout the city, alternately dodging and vaping Troopers and Scouts and destroying the odd anti-aircraft emplacement, to help out the Wayward Son. Being second-generation Veritechnology fighters, they had a lot more missile ammunition, but the Legios series weren't quite as fast as the Valkyrie, nor quite as tough. Still, Fritz and his people loved them, and would no more think of flying anything else than Gryphon and his Valkyrie pilots. Fritz leaped his battroid-mode Alpha over Spags, landing on the roof of the Sport Shop and raking a two-fisted GU-XX attack on a couple of hapless troopers; then, as his alarms howled missile lock, he pivoted left, ducked, dove, rolled, came up to one knee, and let off a spread of missiles from his arm pods to bring down a flight of Scouts. Two things drove him as he battled on: loyalty to his ship, of course, and the great desire to redeem himself for the fool he made of himself by attacking Iczer-2 with a Legios. Well...those and the fact that he simply loved what he was doing. "This is not a healthy neighborhood to be in," Gryphon observed to q on one of his comm screens. The Scouts had vacated the skies, and for good reason; there was so much energy and explosives flying around up there as to make any attempt at flying very dangerous. The Eight-Balls were struggling valiantly just to make it back to the ship for resupply. "Like, tell me about it," q replied as the Wayward Son took another heavy hit. "And it's about to get worse," Kei called. "I have incoming hostiles. From orbit, no less. I count one, two, three, four, five, six...shit! Seven hostiles. Big ones." "Oh, shit," ReRob said, looking with horror as the seven big blips blossomed on the tac screen. "Ikazuchis." GENOM's newly-completed starfleet descended from their orbital construction bays, primed and ready to defend the mother corporation to the death. Their pods opened up and each single one of them spewed out its entire complement of Armored Scouts and Shock Troopers. Then they began to add their firepower to the carnage below. "This is very bad!" Rob observed. "Kei! Forget the ground shit for now--go for the Ikazuchis. Try and kill as many as you can." "Aye aye, sir," Kei replied with a grin. "Yuri--turn this pig around so I can get the main gun on them." "Eight-Ball Squadron, like permission to dock is denied," q was calling. "Sorry. Like hope you understand." "Oh believe me, q, I understand," Gryphon said, the lump in his throat growing as he saw the seven Ikazuchis rumble over the city on their own grav drives, weapons opening up. "Eight-Ball Squadron, this is One. Nothing for it, I guess-- kill anything that moves!" "All right!" Mark hollered. "Fire main laser!" the Super Buma captain of GENOM's lead ship, the Quincy, shouted. "And order the others to do the same!" The main laser cannon of the Quincy spoke, followed by all the others. The seven ships' Buma crews, coordinated by the master computer in the GENOM center, seemed to strike as one, with uncanny accuracy and precision--far superior to the disorganized and inexperienced human crew of the original Ikazuchi. The seven mega-laser beams converged just behind the port railguns and blew A.R.M.D.-01 completely off the ship. "Fuck!" said Erik as he watched the entire battle platform crash into and destroy a large section of Neo-Worcester. "Fuck!" said Fritz as he watched the entire battle platform crash into and destroy a large section of Neo-Worcester. "Fuck!" said Kei as she watched the entire battle platform crash into and destroy a large section of Neo-Worcester. "Yeah? Eat this!" SDF-17's foredeck split and cammed open again, the tips remaining at a constant orientation as the rear sections rotated up and apart. The main gun charged with its standard orange lightning show, and then-- FOOOOOOOOOOM! The huge energy bolt whiplashed out, boiling away and utterly annihilating the Quincy and three of the closest Ikazuchis to it (the Mason, Stingray, and Asagiri). The remaining three ships scattered, one gaining altitude to make an attack from above as the others broke right and left around the battle fortress. "Sir! They have annihilated over half our fleet!" Markus-05 reported. "I am well aware of that," Largo replied. "I expected as much. Who ordered those idiots to make a frontal assault in such close formation? Activate Sol." "As you command." It only took fourteen seconds for SOL ACTIVE-- COORDINATING ORBITAL FIRE CONTROL to appear on Largo's main screen. He immediately shifted the main viewer to God's-eye view and attempted to target the bridge. They were beaten, dead already--they just didn't know it yet. He smiled and pulled the trigger. The fifth Ikazuchi (the Gibson), which had broken to the Wayward Son's starboard side, took advantage of Kei's decision to go after the Romanov on her port side first by firing her main laser again. The energy bolt was aimed low, missing the bridge module and blasting a hole clean through the foredecks of A.R.M.D.-02, almost severing it as well. The impact and explosion actually moved the vast battle fortress in the air, shifting it several yards to port. Not much--but enough. And then...several things happened at once. Kei targeted the Romanov and issued the main gun firing order again. A huge bolt of azure energy howled out of the sky without any warning at all, smashing into the SDF-17 on the starboard side, just missing the starboard bridge module to strike just forward of it and to the starboard--ripping right through the back of the starboard main gun boom. The main gun went off--it was already charged and ready--and the resulting blast vaporized the Romanov before ripping into Neo-Worcester and exterminating another large tract of it. The starboard main gun breech exploded where the bolt from the sky had struck, blowing the entire starboard boom off. A.R.M.D.-02 was blown clear as well. Pouring smoke from her hideous injury, the Wayward Son heeled to starboard and dipped like a wounded bird. "My God," Gryphon whispered to himself. He wasn't religious--far from it--but the phrase was part of his language anyway, just because he had grown up an American. "My fucking God." There was a moment of dead silence, as if the entire battle had gone on hold. "Christ on a crutch!" Kei shouted as the entire ship heaved. The damage report on Screen 4 strobed red in an alarmingly large area. "What the fuck was that?!" "Sol!" ReRob cried. "Shit! Kei--activate the full-ship shield. NOW!" "Full-ship shield on--I hope we have enough of a ship left to power it..." A green globe of energy hummed into existence around the grievously wounded ship as it struggled to remain airborne. Fritz looked, shocked, into the sky as the three great energy beams went off; his eyes widened with dread as most of the SDF-17's starboard forequarter was blown off. In his moment of distraction, he didn't see the Scout that charged at his right side until it was too late. He felt the impact as a stream of annihilation discs plowed into his Alpha, felt a ripping pain in his right side as freefall overtook him, and felt the shock as the battroid slammed into the pavement, crumpled on its left side and smoking. Thinking him destroyed, the Scout moved on. Fritz got his damaged machine to its feet, then looked down to assess his wound. There was a hole torn in the side of the cockpit--freak shot, shouldn't have happened--and his CVR-3 was shattered. Blood was soaking the side of the cockpit. With a growing sense of horror, Fritz Koopman realized he was dying. He saw the shield appear around the Wayward Son; he saw the two remaining Ikazuchis and ground forces open fire with everything they had on it. And--in his peripheral vision, almost unnoticed--he saw the dish antenna at the top of the GENOM tower shift slightly. Another of those incredible bolts of energy from space ripped through the cloud to slam against the shield. Fritz could see the SDF-17 shudder with the impact, even insulated inside the sphere of the shield. "Shit! That beam almost punctured the energy shield," Kei reported. "We can't take very many more of those hits." The dish shifted. The beam slammed against the shield. This happened twice more in the space of a couple of seconds. Fritz knew what he had to do. He faced his impending oblivion, stared it down, and accepted it. If he was to die, he would die saving his friends. He transformed his battered Alpha to fighter mode and started for the tower. GENOM defense forces saw him, of course, and converged on him; he could've cared less. He destroyed some, ignored most. Let them hit him, they couldn't stop him. What were they going to do--kill him? He smiled sardonically under his helmet and aimed the black-and-white fighter right at the dish, kicking the throttles all the way open. "Fritz, what the hell are you doing?" Gryphon's voice rang in his ears. "Pull out, you're gonna hit the tower! Fritz! FRIIIIIIIIIITZ!" Fritz fired all his remaining missiles, slammed in the afterburners, and said a silent goodbye to everyone. The Alpha plowed into the Sol command dish antenna moving at 1,700 miles per hour. There was a blossom of orange fire at the top of the GENOM tower as most of the top four stories of the building was annihilated. Largo screamed despite himself as his office exploded around him. "Fritz!" Mark screamed. "Fritz!" The psychotic gleam appeared in his eyes. "The bastards! They killed Fritz! They killed Fritz! Those stinking little yellow-bellied fairies--they killed Fritz! AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUGGGGGHHHH!!!!!" Shifting his Valkyrie to gerwalk mode, Mark dove into the streets again, popping into battroid mode as soon as his feet touched ground and sprinting the machine through the streets, destroying everything in his path. "YOU KILLED FRITZ, YOU FUCKING BASTARDS! DIIIIEEEEE!!" he screamed, side-kicking a Shock Trooper, punching aside a Scout, and emptying his GU-11 into a heavy missile launcher. "DIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" "Mark!" Gryphon shouted, swooping into the streets after him. "Mark, come on, come out of it! It won't do Fritz any good for you to get yourself killed too!" Erik and Tricia's fighters got there first; converting to battroid mode, they tackled Mark as Gryphon and Daver covered them. "Where the fuck is Paul?" Gryphon wondered as he hosed down a street corner with suppressive fire. "Eight-Ball Six, this is Eight-Ball One. Where the fuck are you?" "Over by Becker," Paul replied lackadaisically. "Couple of Troopers to take care of. Why, do you need me for something?" "Oh, I dunno--I get the distinct feeling we'll be evacuating soon," Gryphon replied acidly. "I ordered you to stay with the squadron." "Well it's not like I flew to Washington or something. Gotta go--there's a Scout. I just need two more and I'll be an ace." The channel went dead. "What a fuckhead," Daver observed. "Tell me about it. If we get out of this, he's never flying in my squadron again. If I have anything to say about it he'll never fly anything again." "I'm ok, I'm ok--I just lost it," Haywire declared, struggling to get up as Tricia and Erik held him down. "I'm ok, I said, lemme up!" Slowly, carefully, they did. He dropped his empty GU-11; mirroring its pilot, the VF-1A looked dejectedly at the ground. "They killed Fritz." "I know," Trish replied. "They'll pay for it." "Talk later, people, we're being overrun!" Gryphon cried. "Gerwalk, and let's get out of here!" The squadron did so, falling into formation around their leader perfectly (as always). "SDF-17, this is Eight-Ball One. Any chance we'll be able to dock sometime soon?" "Like negative, Eight-Ball One...or at least like not any time soonish," q replied. "You probably oughtta try and get like as far away as possible." "No way, q--we're sticking close. You may need us." "Like thanks, Eight-Ball One. Like, stand by, ok?" "Shield status?" ReRob inquired. "Failing, and failing fast," Kei replied. "I think we're screwed, Rob." "There has to be a way. Yuri--can we fold out of here?" "Not with the ship in the shape it's in...if we tried to fold out of a gravity well in this shape, we'd break up. Besides, with our fold radius, we'd just take those two assholes with us anyway, and what would that help us?" Yuri replied, gesturing to the two remaining Ikazuchis. "There has to be a way," Rob repeated. "Shield integrity at seventeen percent," Kei said softly. "We're fucked." "Their shield is weakening," cried the captain of the Romanov. "Double the attack! DESTROY THEM! For Largo!" "For Largo!" the bridge crew chorused. "The shield's falling," Gryphon said, his voice hollow. "Kei..." "Shield integrity at two percent." "Overload warning!" Yuri called as lights sprang up all over her engineering subpanel. "The shield generators are overheating--Christ! They've been storing all the energy the shield's been absorbing." "Rob!" Android's voice rang out of the intercom. "We've got a problem down here--the shield generators are overloading. I think the whole thing's gonna blow!" "Shit!" ReRob said. "q! Call the fighters! Order them to evacuate." "All fighters, this is like control," q announced calmly. "The shield's like overloading. 'Droid thinks we're gonna blow soon. You are ordered to evacuate." "What?!" Gryphon shouted. "Like get the fuck away from the ship," q replied. "We're gonna explode." "No!" Gryphon shouted. "I won't leave you to die--I can't--" "You can't do anything, Ben," Kei cut him off, switching her station to his comm frequency. "Get away. Save yourself. That's an order." "But--" "Get away!" Kei shouted at him. "Someone needs to survive this battle. Just because you love me doesn't mean you have to die with me, now get the fuck away! I love you." "I love you too, Kei..." Gryphon choked, coughed it down. Now was not the time, and here was definitely not the place. "Eight-Ball Squadron, this is Eight-Ball One. Evacuate. Fighter mode, burner on. Get away from the ship." Without a word the entire squadron turned and began to streak away. The shield generator display redlined and began to flash "DETONATION IMMINENT". Yuri and Kei looked at each other. "Been nice working with you, partner," said Kei quietly. "And you," Yuri replied. She looked wistfully out the bridge window at the burning top of the GENOM tower, and whispered, "Zoner..." The shield exploded outward, a brilliant green globe of ever-expanding energy, rushing after the fleeing fighters and engulfing Neo-Worcester in a boiling firestorm. The wave of energy slammed into, engulfed, and ravenously devoured both remaining Ikazuchis, the GENOM tower, and everything else in its path. "Eight-Ball Six! Paul! Transform, you idiot, full burner, get outta there!" Gryphon screamed into his helmet mike as Paulheat dawdled behind in gerwalk mode, right in the face of the explosion. "No, hang on a sec--I can make it, I just gotta kill one more and I can be an ace--I'll make it, I--AAAAAAAA--*" He was too late; the explosion engulfed him. The fighter was destroyed layer by layer, disintegrated and ripped apart at the same time. It broke up and vaporized around Paul, and then his frail flesh form, CVR-3 or not, was annihilated just as easily. "YOU STUPID FUCKHEAD!" Gryphon screamed to the dead man as the last molecules wafted free into the atmosphere. The other five planes of the Eight-Ball Squadron streaked away, free and clear ahead of the wave, as on the other side, the remaining three Legios and one lone Beta of Jolly Roger booted it out at max speed. The explosion receded, faded away, and, just as suddenly as it had roared over the landscape, it was gone, leaving behind a blasted and desolate wasteland, a crater within a crater, reaching almost to the outer edge of the original twenty-five-mile blast radius. In the center was a huge depression where the explosion's epicenter had burrowed half a mile into the ground. The Wayward Son was nowhere to be seen. Then, battered, nearly destroyed, but wearily triumphant, the shattered battle cruiser lifted itself out of the crater. The SDF-17 had survived the explosion by being on the inside of it. The shield's spherical radius was unaffected by the explosion. "We're alive," ReRob remarked, looking around. "Now there's a pleasant surprise." "The Reflex furnace is failing," Yuri warned as a light strobed on her panel. "Gravity control at 40% and falling." "Shit--looks like we've got some work to do if we're ever going to take off again. Yuri...engage landing cycle. Put us down on the outside of the crater." "Landing cycle engaged," Yuri replied. From the underbelly of the huge fortress, three great hatches opened, and from within, huge double-tired landing gear extended. The wheels were the size of largish houses, arranged in a tricycle pattern; as the battered vessel eased itself down onto the fused stone and glass that had once been Neo-Worcester, they impressed twelve-foot marks into it. Within a minute the SDF-17 was down. "Great. Shut down all systems, recall the Veritechs, and I'll go down and get repair work started on the engines." ---------------------------------------------------------FIVE "Trust is the province of fools." --Anonymous Gryphon entered the bridge, buttoning down the flap of his uniform jacket. He had paused to wash his face and the like, but didn't feel particularly comfortable, even so. He wouldn't again, until he had the chance to take a shower and get some sleep. If he ever had time to do that again in his life. "Casualties?" he asked as he took his seat from a gratefully fleeing ReRob. "None reported on board," Yuri replied. "Lucky for us the crew is too small to have crews on all the substations, and the deck crews were off the Armor platforms because of our airspace lockout." "That's good news, anyway. How's the ship, besides FUBAR?" "Drive and propulsion systems are still working, kind of--I think we can make it back to Planitia for repairs if we sit here for a while and do some on-site kludging," ReRob replied. "Of course, our shield generators are fucked, and the main gun is gone, and the fighters are running out of cargo holds for the time being, but if we aren't attacked again, I think we should be okay. We won't be moving for a couple of days, though." "Okay...get everyone together in the Lower Wedge, those who don't want to go back to space with us. We'll find some place quiet to set down and let them off, or ferry them down with Betas, or something." "Like yo, there's a message for us," q called, snapping his fingers. "From the Air Force. Says we have to leave. Now. Or they start like dropping nuclear bombs on us." "What?" Kei cried. "That's not right--they can't stop us from coming home!" "They can and they are," Gryphon said wearily. "Life imitates art. Shit. I was hoping this wouldn't happen." "Why don't we fight? It's not right!" "Fight? We can't fight our own homeworld. It isn't what we were given this kind of power to do. The Wedge Defense Force exists to protect places like Earth, not blow them up. We've already done a lot more damage than we should have." He sighed. "q, ask them if we can at least deboard civilian personnel before leaving." "Like will do." q began encoding the request on his keyboard immediately. Moments later, his screen lit up with the response. "Like they won't do it," he replied. "They're like expressly forbidding us to deboard anyone. We're to leave the solar system immediately and like never come back." "Never come back, eh? We'll see about that. Tell them we have uninvolved civilian personnel on board who wish to deboard. All they want to do is go home. The military personnel and the starship itself will depart the system as ordered. And see if you can get us a little more time." "Right." Again the brief span of typing time and the pause. "They're not going for it. They say we have to leave now, and take everyone with us, or they're gonna hose down the entire blast zone." "Fine. I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this...tell them we can't leave until we fix our engines. Probably be about a week." "A week?" ReRob said. "I can get us off the ground in a couple of--" "A week," Gryphon replied. "We need more time than your repairs will actually take us. Trust me." "Like coding..." Once more, the typing and the wait. "They say they'll give us four days. No more. And no one is to leave the ship." "Great. Just like getting money from Dad...if you need fifty dollars, ask him for a hundred. You'll get fifty and he'll think he shorted you." Gryphon grinned. "Now we have some time. Rob, I'm reeeeally hoping here--did any Shadow Fighters happen to not be on the A.R.M.D. platforms?" "I dunno," ReRob replied. "I can find out easy enough, though. Probably be a few minutes." "No big rush--if you can round up a Shadow Legios within a day or so it would be most helpful. I have a few errands to run." Well, why don't you take the Daytona and its beta unit? It does have Minovski particle shielding. No one would detect you." "I can't find the keys." "Well, I'm sure we could hotwire it." "ReRob, the Daytona isn't moving until Zoner recovers. It's his baby, no one is to touch it." "Ok, I understand." "Right, now see about the Shadow Legios." "Ok, I'll get right on it." Gryphon left the bridge and went directly to sickbay. Yuri was there by Zoner's bedside as usual, and as usual, he was worried about her. She spent all of her off-duty time keeping watch over him. What would happen to her if Zoner never recovered, or if he died? Yuri seemed to be denying those possibilities; she insisted that he would fully recover. For his part, Ben was prepared for all eventualities. He had said his goodbyes and done his share of screaming at the moon. If the worst came to pass, he was ready. Or so he told himself. Gryphon walked up behind Yuri and crossed his arms around in front of her, resting his head on her shoulder. She gently placed her hands on his arms. "No change in his condition, huh?" Gryphon asked softly. "None. He's still the same," Yuri answered in a small voice. "You've got to stop worrying so much. Zoner's in a coma. Only time will tell if he'll ever recover. In the meantime, you're still up and about, and you've got your own life to live. You spend all of your time here. People are starting to worry about you. Come on, let's go up to the Wedge for a while." "No. You go, I'm going to be here when he wakes up." "You know, Yuri, that's what I love about you," said Gryphon wearily. "You're just as fucking stubborn as I am." A voice called out from the vidscreen on the bulkhead. "Yuri, you needn't worry so much. I will call you if his condition changes in the slightest." "Thanks, Eve, but I know he knows I'm here. I can feel it. I want him to know that I'm out here waiting for his return." "That's not very logical. You need to take care of yourself." "It's an emotional thing, Eve, it's hard to understand sometimes," Gryphon interjected. "I'm still trying to fully understand human emotions. Just when I think I understand them all, something new pops up. Humans are so unpredictable." "That's usually how it works. Don't worry, I took that into account when I designed your response parameters. Give yourself time to evolve." Then, to Yuri, "But Eve's right, sure he may know you're out here. But he's probably pissed that you're not taking care of yourself." "It's not that he may know I'm here, he does know. With my ESP and his empathy we're linked. I can feel that he wants to come back, but he's lost in his own mind. Once he let his walls down we made contact and we've never really separated. I felt his pain when he was injured, and I can feel his fear and loneliness now. But he has a strong will, he's stubborn enough that he'll recover." Then, quietly, so that Ben could barely hear her, "He has to." Ben hugged her tighter. "Hmmmm. I really don't...know what to say." "That's ok, I understand. It hasn't been easy on you either. What are you going to do about getting people off of the ship?" "Not sure yet, I've got a plan. I'm just waiting to see if it works. Now...I'm going to head up to the Wedge. You're coming with me." "Sorry, but no. I'm staying right here. Until he wakes up or I go back on duty." "You've been sleeping down here, for God's sake! You are incorrigible, aren't you?" He smiled tiredly. "Do try and get some rest. I don't want to relieve you of duty, but if you keep running yourself into the ground like this, I will." "I will. Say hi to Kei for me." "Ok. I'd say have fun, but it doesn't seem to apply." With that, and a tender kiss to Yuri's cheek, Gryphon left sickbay and headed for the Wedge. Yuri leaned over and kissed Zoner gently. "You will recover, I can feel it." "So can I. He's got a strong will." Yuri spun and faced the door to the medical office. "Jenna! I didn't hear you back there." "I've been working on some paperwork. I just thought I'd check on him." "He hasn't changed." Yuri said, looking back at Zoner. "Want to talk about it?" "I don't know..." "Sometimes it helps to dump your problems on someone else. I'm offering my services as a dumping ground." "I'm just so worried. Part of me knows he'll recover, but a part of me is worried that he won't. Maybe I'm just fooling myself." "No, I feel it too. Zoner's talked to me a lot about his past, and his present too. We have a lot in common, I can tell what he's feeling sometimes. Not as close of a link as you have, but it's there. He's fighting to come back, but it's going to be hard. Any help we can give him would be appreciated, I'm sure." "Help? How can we help him?" "Are you willing to learn a few things about energies?" "Well, Zoner's been trying to teach me some stuff as he worked on it himself. I guess it wouldn't hurt." "Well, we can start now if you want." "Ok." Gryphon was, as he was accustomed to being when off-duty these days, slumped into the corner of a Wedge booth, letting the wall on either side of him hold him up so he could concentrate on that incredibly complex task called breathing. It had been a day. A great many things were annoying him. The stress of command he had almost dealt with; it was the kind of thing that had to be done, and he was best qualified to do it. Better to do it himself than worry about how well person x was doing it. Besides, it was easier to tell himself how bad he had fucked up than someone else. There was the fact that he wasn't sure if he could get up out of the Wedgebooth to go to bed. There was the fact that he had lost a pilot. Sure, it was Paul, but still, it would be a mark on the record of his squadron, and whatever his faults, Paul had still been a human being. There was the fact that Fritz had died. Fritz could be annoying sometimes, but Gryphon had genuinely liked the man, and was quite sad that he was gone. There was the imminent threat of nuclear bombardment by the United States Air Force. Enough said. There was the ever-so-polite-and-well-meaning blow off Yuri had given him. Ah well, she was stressed. No news. There was the fact that no one seemed to know where Kei was, and he wanted to talk to her, like a lot. There was the fact that, although he wanted to go to sleep, he had been foolish enough to pour himself into this Wedgebooth and now feared himself incapable of standing. There was the fact that this mental list of his had become redundantly recursive. He gave a small whimper and got to his feet. "Hey, Gryph--good flying out there today," Pfloyd called from the nosh machinery. "Guess we don't have to listen to Fritz anymore, huh?" Gryphon walked right up to Floyd, looked up into the taller man's face, and said in a tone of soft menace, "Pfloyd? I liked Fritz. A lot, in fact. I have two daver-sharp Moraknives, a Buck Lancer 003, and an ElectroMagnum .451 on me right now. I'm in a very, very bad mood. The only reason I don't kill you right now is because I like you, too. And I'm very tired." He shouldered past Pfloyd, opened the big double door to his room, stepped through, and slammed it closed without saying a word, nor looking back. Pfloyd stood by the candy machine for quite some time, staring after Gryphon, before wandering toward the Wedgeterms, shaking his head. "Stress," he said. Gryphon didn't bother with the lights in his room. He evaded the desk chair by reflex, stepped on some randomly unimportant kipple, and allowed himself to drop onto his bed, still in uniform. Sleep quickly attacked and subdued him. ----------------------------------------------------------SIX "Very few things are as they seem." --Anonymous "Ben? Are you asleep?" Gryphon opened his eyes. Kei was leaning over him in the dark of the room, her face marked with sharp shadows in the pink light of the lava lamp. Night, then. "Not any more," he replied, smacking the scattered bits of his consciousness back together. "Why?" "Good." She kissed him. Hard. "Hm," said Ben when she was done. "What was that for?" "Just because," she replied, getting into bed beside him. "It's been a rough day. It seemed like a good thing to do. Besides, you looked like you needed one, and I know I did." Gryphon chuckled. "Tell me about it...what a shitty day. Which reminds me, Yuri says hi." "Oh she does, does she?" "Oop--I detect a note of annoyance." "Just a little. She's really upset over MegaZone--she blew me off when I went down and tried to get her to eat something. Me! Her own partner, her best friend. She's too busy with Jenna, talking about all of that mysticism shit." "Hmm...yeah. I dunno about that sometimes. I mean, I know there's something to it. You know full well that you and Yuri are psionically active. I've experienced enough of empathy and the like to give it some credence...and Jen seems more reasonable on the subject than some...but I always thought of Yuri as being more concrete than that. Empathy and your powers are tangible, they can be easily identified and shown for what they are. What Jenna talks about...I dunno." "She's desperate to save Zoner." "Well...so am I...but I think the answer can be found in slightly more mundane circles. Lord Fahrvergnugen has connections in almost every branch of science--I'm sure his people can come up with something. They'll probably have something ready for us when we get back to Planitia. I thought Wolfgang was going to have a cow when Yuri insisted we bring Zoner along with us instead of leaving him in the base hospital." "I wish I had your confidence," Kei replied, toying idly with a bit of his long hair. "I worry about what'll happen to Yuri if Zoner dies." "I don't know," Gryphon said softly. "I hope we don't have to find out. I'm running out of friends as it is...I don't want to lose Zoner and Yuri." "We may lose Yuri anyway, before this is over," Kei told him. "She won't eat, she won't sleep...she's going to slowly kill herself before he even wakes up. I can't look her in the face anymore, I want to scream at her and shake her. I used to know her." "Hmm...maybe we should go down together and kidnap her." "And do what with her?" "Drag her to Denny's and make her eat something. Just the color of Key Lime pie should cheer her up." "And if Zoner were to wake up while we were at Denny's? She'd never forgive us." Are you going to be able to forgive yourself if she drives herself to an early grave? Gryphon asked himself, the thought directed toward Kei as well. He decided to let the question go unspoken; Kei was upset enough as it was. They lay for some time in silence, holding each other and taking strength from the embrace. Neither could think of anything more to say; both lay silent, turning over plan after plan in their minds, and rejecting them all. There was a soft ping and the monitor on Gryphon's PC showed the EVE logo. "Am I intruding?" Eve's voice asked, the symbol still on the screen. "No, Eve," Gryphon said, getting up and going to the terminal. "Go ahead." The screen changed to Eve's standard head-and-shoulders projection. "I hate to be the messenger of bad news, especially at a time like this, but MegaZone's condition is worsening." "Oh, no." Gryphon put his face in his hand. "What happened?" "Unknown," Eve replied. "His core temperature has dropped by three degrees, with a corresponding drop in heart rate, respiration, and blood pressure." Eve looked downcast and said softly, "He seems to be dying." "Fuck," Gryphon said softly; then, loudly, "Fuck!" He turned, seized by a sudden rage, and backhanded a Pepsi can off his desk, sending it crashing against the far wall and bouncing into the corner. "Ben, stop it!" Kei cried, jumping up and seizing his arm before he could punch something solid and hurt himself. "I'm sorry," Eve said. "Is there anything I can do?" "Yes," Gryphon replied, struggling to maintain control. "Yes, there is." "Name it." "Sing `Tell Me the Secret'. Please." "If you wish." Eve paused, loading something into memory, and then as background music appeared behind her, sang a hauntingly beautiful and slightly mournful song, dancing to it as the viewpoint of the monitor pulled back to a full-body simulation. The song was in Japanese, and Gryphon wasn't sure entirely what it meant, but he loved it, and hearing it sung soothed him. In a moment he no longer wished to put his fist through a cinderblock wall. "Thank you," he said quietly when the song was over. "You're welcome," Eve replied. "Can you do me one more favor?" he asked. "Of course." "Contact ReRob and find out if he found that Shadow Legios for me yet." "What are you going to do?" Kei asked. "Run the Air Force blockade and take people home now? What about Zoner? And Yuri--God, she must be beside herself." "I can't deal with that right now. Trust me on this--I need to get rid of some of this stress and angst and sheer black anger that's building up inside me before I can deal with Zoner or Yuri. You go down and see to Yuri--she's your partner, your best friend, you can help her more than I can anyway. That's been shown already." "ReRob reports success," Eve announced. "A Shadow Legios is ready and waiting in cargo hold six." "Great. Kei," Gryphon said, turning to face her and taking her hands, "take care of Yuri. She'll need you. I love you." He gave her a kiss. "And remind Yuri I love her too." And, throwing open the doors, he was gone, off at a dead run for cargo hold six. Kei stood looking after him for a minute or two, then ran to sick bay. --------------------------------------------------------SEVEN "A fighting man needs all of his courage." --Lt. Cmdr. Roy Fokker When Gryphon arrived in the makeshift flight deck that was hold six, locking down the last piece of his white and black CVR-3, he found a fully fitted Shadow Legios, a small group of suited people, and ReRob, also suited up in full armor, waiting for him. "ReRob! What're you doing suited up?" Gryphon asked as he ran to the boarding ladder. "Figured you might need a Beta driver," ReRob replied. "D'you mind?" "No, by all means," Gryphon replied. "Aren't you going, Matt?" "Nah...I'm staying with Jen. She won't leave until Zoner recovers. Besides, I don't want to leave before I find out what's going to happen to Zoner either, you know?" "Yeah, I understand. I should be back in a few hours... watch the shop for us, 'Droid." Gryphon closed the Alpha's cockpit and signaled everyone clear. They cleared the bay, getting back behind doors; the launch officer opened the doors, and, lacking catapult or even any real launch equipment at all, Gryphon simply punched the Beta's boosters wide open and blew out through the hatch. His radar immediately showed a half-dozen targets, all of them moving barely subsonically and in a patrol pattern around the SDF-17's position--the Air Force blockade, no doubt. Off to the north was a large aircraft emitting a large amount of radar waves, undoubtedly a Sentry. No big deal; in the night, they would never be able to see the black, grey, and dark blue Shadow Fighter, and they couldn't pick it up on any radar thanks to its cloaking device, and since only the Navy's Tomcats had an IR sensor he was safe. Hopefully he wouldn't have to fight--he wasn't too keen on fighting his own homeland's air force--but if he had to, in order to get his friends back home, then he would. Back on board the SDF-17 Jenna, Kei, and Yuri watched over Zoner as he lay listlessly in sickbay. His vital signs were still dropping, not as quickly as they had, but still dropping. In his mind Zoner was tiring, part of him wanted to keep up the fight, to return to the land of the living, but more and more of his mind just wanted to rest, to enter the lands of Morpheus to stay. What was worth returning for? Yuri, Yuri was there, but she was so far away, such a distant goal. And there were his friends, Jenna, Gryph, Matt, Daver, Helene, et al, but they were further away than Yuri. Tired, so damn weary, he'd been journeying through the labyrinths of his mind for so long. Rest, I want to rest, just for a while, forever. To enter the comforting arms of Death, to hear the flapping of her mighty wings, that would be so easy. No! No, I must try to make it back, I owe it to the others. I'll keep trying, for now. On the monitors Zoner's vitals jumped momentarily, then returned to their decline. Jenna noticed it first, "He's fighting, but he's losing the battle. I don't think he'll be able to do it alone. If we're going to help we'd better do it now." "Honestly, what do you think his chances are?" Yuri asked, choking back tears as she gazed at Zoner's comatose form. "He's a fighter, but even all of this hi-tech gadgetry doesn't seem to make a difference. This sick bay is better equipped than the best hospitals on Earth, and we can't help him. Maybe, just maybe, with our help he'll be able to win the fight, but if not we'd better hope that Wolfgang has something else to try," Jenna answered quietly. "Tell me what to do," Yuri said calmly. "Well, I think I'd better be going now," Kei said as she turned to leave. "Please stay, Kei," Yuri asked her. "Together we're more powerful, maybe it will make the difference." "I don't really believe in this stuff...but I won't stop you from doing it if you think it will help." "Please, Kei. Please," Yuri pleaded with her partner. "If it means that much to you I'll stay. I won't take an active role in this, but I'll stay out of the way." "Thank you, Kei, thank you. Please, just hold my hand." "Ok." "Alright, Yuri, remember what I showed you. Just follow your feelings," Jenna counseled. "I'll try," Yuri said, sounding unsure. "Just relax, let it flow, let your feelings guide you. Don't try to force it," Jenna said in a soothing voice. "Ok, I'll do my best." "That's all anyone can ask." Jenna and Yuri closed their eyes in concentration and began trying to help Zoner win his private war. Meanwhile, Kei looked on in a rather bemused fashion. She thought it was all a bunch of rubbish, but if it helped Yuri deal with the situation she wasn't going to start a fight over in now. Besides, she'd have plenty of time later to straighten Yuri out. For now, she could just sit and stew over how amazingly helpless she felt. For someone like Kei, that was a fate worse than death itself. Oh, Yuri, she thought. You used to be my best friend... what's happened? Ben raced towards Boston, the eight passengers in the Beta's bombbay clinging to the handholds as the Legios flew NOE to avoid detection. As he approached the outskirts of the city his sensors picked up something odd. His radiation indicators picked up a hot spot just to the left of his flight path. Ben shifted to VTOL mode and hovered while his sensors zoomed in on it. The image came in clearly, but been couldn't believe his eyes. It was an '84 Colt Turbo, plastered against the wall of an abandoned warehouse. Gryphon hovered closer to check it out. On closer examination Ben noticed a white Festiva crushed into the wall by the Colt. A Colt and a Festiva? No, it couldn't be. But they were slightly radioactive, maybe they could be. Ben zoomed in on the Colt's windows. Judging by the kipple factor, it quite possibly was. It appeared to be Tess, Daver's Colt. How'd she get all the way out here? Nah, it couldn't be. Was she blown all the way here by the blast from the reactor? He'd have to come back and check it closer later. For now he had to drop off his passengers. Gryphon decided to put it down in a parking lot next to Northeastern University. What better a place to let a bunch of college students loose than right across the street from Taco Bell and a campus? ReRob popped the bombbay door and the eight passengers deplaned. "See you later guys, best of luck!" ReRob called out over the external speakers. "Yeah, take it easy...have fun," Gryphon added. The assorted deplanees waved and scattered to avoid being quick fried as Gryphon boosted the Legios into the sky, tucked the legs back in, and shot away. "Well, one more run and we should have all of them off," said ReRob from the back." "Yeah, not too many people wanted off. Just a few who really needed to get back to their lives. I guess flying around in space with a good possibility of dying horribly appeals to the Wedge mentality. What a surprise." "Everyone else is going to need to tell their families what's going on, though." "I guess so...we'll figure that one out later." Ben raced across the barren terrain, hugging the earth in an attempt to use the hills as a shield from visual detection. He couldn't have known about the observation post the Army had established on one of the ridges. And if he had, would he have much cared, really? "God's-eye, this is Recon-one." "God's-eye here, go ahead Recon-one." "We just had a fast-mover blow by in the valley just south of our position. Travelling west sub-mach. Never seen anything quite like it. It must be from that ship." "Recon-one, we have nothing on radar. Confirm you're reporting one fast-mover west bound." "God's-eye, we know what we saw. One fucking large fixed-wing jet. Black and blue coloration." "Roger Recon-one, we'll send a couple of fifteens your way to check it out." "Thanks, Recon-one out." "Viper flight, this is God's eye. New course bearing 193 degrees." "Viper flight, roger." The two F-15C Eagles of Viper flight left the racetrack orbit they had been flying and headed for Recon-one's position. Gryphon flared the Legios and did a perfect VTOL landing; he might be a Valkyrie pilot by choice, but he had passed all the VT training courses quite handily. Call it a natural aptitude. Handling crews ran up to ready the Legios for a quick turn-around. While they were working Gryphon and ReRob deplaned. Gryphon walked to the nearest comm screen. "Eve, can you get Daver to come down here ASAP?" "Of course Ben, right away." Eve's image answered from the screen. Ben and ReRob watched the crews work as they waited for them to finish. Just as the crews finished their checks Daver jogged into the hanger bay. "What's up?" "I wanted you to ride along in the Beta's cockpit with ReRob. There's something I want you to see." "Such as?" "It's a surprise." The next eight passengers boarded the Beta while ReRob, Daver, and Gryphon strapped into the cockpits. Once they were all aboard Gryphon lifted off and blasted clear of the bay. "God's-eye, this is Viper flight. We're in position. Any contacts?" "Negative, Viper-flight. God's-eye shows zero contacts." "Roger tha--holy shit! Viper-two, did you see that?" "Roger, Viper-lead." "What was that? All I saw was a blur and three blue glowing dots. God's-eye do you show any contacts bearing 093 degrees from our present position?" "Negative, Viper-lead. We show no contacts other than yourselves." "Well we just saw something race by about ten miles south, flying low and heading east." "God's-eye still shows nothing, Viper-lead." "God's-eye, this is Recon-one. That fast-mover just blew by again, heading east this time." "Recon-one, are you sure? We don't have anything!" "Yes, we're fucking sure!" "Ok! Ok! Viper-flight, did you copy that?" "Roger." "Recon-one, keep an eye open. Report in the instant that aircraft appears again." "Roger." "Viper-flight, fly an oval along the craft's last known flight path." "Roger." The mission controller onboard the Sentry looked up from his screen. "We'll get that bastard next time!" Ben flew directly to the parking lot at Northeastern and ReRob let out their passengers. "Well Ben, that's all of 'em." "Ok, let's get back to the ship." "Where's this thing you wanted me to see?" Daver asked. "I'll show you on the way back." Ben lifted off and sped back in the direction they had come. As he approached the warehouse he flared and spun the Legios around to face the west facing wall. Gryph zoomed the optical sensors in on the Colt. "ReRob, slave the Beta's monitor to my sensors and switch it on." "Will do." The main monitor of the Beta came to life and displayed a close zoom of the Colt stuck in the wall. Tess was missing her paint, license plate, and the plastic bits on the ends of her bumpers, but otherwise apparently undamaged. "Oh why look, it's Tess," Daver quipped. "Apparently so. I spotted her on the way in the first time. Thought you might be interested," Gryphon answered. "Shit yeah! Can we get her out of there? It's rather undignified." "Sure. ReRob, prepare to disengage." "I'm ready when you are." Gryphon disengaged his Alpha from the Beta and transformed to battroid mode. He gently pried Tess from the crater she'd created when she impacted and put her down in a parking space nearby, pausing briefly to wipe off bits of Festiva. "Mr. Ritchie, your car," Gryphon said in his best valet voice while gesturing with the Alpha. "Now...what to do with her? Shall we stuff her into the bomb bay? Shall we lug her back to the ship in hand? Shall we buy a new guitar? Shall we drive a more powerful car?" "Tess with fusion power! I like this plan," Dave began. "I'm excited to be a part of it," Gryphon echoed. "Let's do it," they stereoed. "You guys have spent far too much time watching that movie," said ReRob. "But for now...what do we do with her?" "Well...ReRob, let me out, I'll drive her back." "You sure that's a good idea?" Rob asked. "Of course not. It's a terrible idea! But Tess looks restless." "Oh, I see." Dave climbed down from the cockpit of the Beta, climbed into Tess, inserted the key, and turned. The faithful little car started right up. Daver grinned and zoomed off down the street. "He's nuts," said ReRob as Gryphon reattached the Alpha. "So?" "..." "Let's book," Gryphon said, converting back to fighter mode and lifting the Legios off the ground. Again tucking the legs back under, they streaked back for the SDF-17. "There it is again," PFC Gen Ericson muttered. "God's-eye, this is recon-one. Guess whaaaaaat?" "It's back?" "Roger, heading west again, going like a bat out of hell." "Viper-lead, did you copy that?" "Roger...I don't see anything--wait! There he is. Bastard's almost invisible. Pursuing." "Hey, Gryph?" "Yeah?" "I hate to break this to you, but we've got company." "Huh?" Gryphon looked back, out over the rear deck and the Beta's tail. "Oh, jet fighters. How quaint." "What're we gonna do?" "Ignore them, maybe they'll go away." "I've got something weird here, God's-eye." "Go ahead, Viper-lead." "Hostile is invisible to radar." "As in stealth, Viper-lead?" "No, as in my acquisition radar doesn't paint him. At all." "Confirm this is not a technical problem, Viper-lead." "It's not a technical problem, God's-eye; Viper-two shows up just fine. This thing is invisible, whatever it is." "It is behaving in a hostile manner?" "Negative...it seems to be...well...ignoring us." "Hmm...Rob, the F-15 is the fastest fighter the Air Force has, right?" "Ahh...I believe so...why?" "Just wondering." Gryphon grinned evilly, shut off the shadow cloak, and began opening his throttles. "Shit!" Viper-lead shouted as the target suddenly surged forward. "God's-eye, the target is visible to radar--and accelerating." "We noticed, Viper-lead. Pursue him." "Hey look, they're following us," said Gryphon. "Heh." "Gryph? Are you feeling okay?" "Juuust fine, Rob, don't worry about me." Gryphon smiled an evil and not altogether sane smile and pulled back on the joystick. The Legios' nose came up and he began to climb. "God's-eye, bandit is climbing, do you read?" "Roger, Viper-lead. From his course, it looks like he's heading back toward the hot zone--probably to rendezvous with his ship. Watch yourselves--I'd bet that monster has some serious AA." "Roger, God's-eye." "Hey, cool, they're still following us," Gryphon said. He started pushing the throttles open a bit more. He and his pursuers were both approaching Mach 2 in a rather steep climb. "God's-eye, do we have permission to fire, over?" "Negative, Viper-flight. Permission to fire is denied." "Roger, permission to fire denied--what the fuck?! Viper-two, stand down! Permission to fire is denied!" "Hey! They _shot_ at us!" ReRob announced as an incoming-fire warning wailed. On his rear-view scope, Gryphon saw the second F-15 launch a missile. "Hmm, how 'bout that," Gryphon replied. The AIM-9L Sidewinder missile homed on the heat of the Legios' huge thrusters, diving for the engine cores. Gryphon gritted his teeth angrily and slammed the throttles open, pulling back on the stick. The Legios stood on its tail and clawed for the stars. Even directly vertical, it only took the Beta's mighty engines a few seconds to push the whole craft to Mach 8. "FUCK! God's-eye--" "We see it, we see it." "God's-eye, this is insane! Estimate bandit's speed to be at least Mach 6 and still accelerating. Straight up!" Gryphon tabbed the control that turned the shadow cloak back on. "God's-eye, target is gone. Last estimate puts him at Mach 8 and straight up. Could be transatmospheric." "Yeah, we saw it. Return to base, Viper flight... there's nothing you can do." "Shit," Viper-lead muttered, and ordered his flight to peel off. "Viper-two, when we get back, your ass is mine." Gryphon climbed down from the Alpha's cockpit, shook ReRob's hand, and said with a grin, "Well, there's another triumph for clean hands, a pure heart, a good soul...and vastly superior technology." "I wish I could've seen those guys' faces," Rob replied. "You guys, that was priceless!" Daver shouted from across the hold as he climbed out of Tess. "Daver?! How the hell did you beat us back?" "It's a secret," Daver replied with a cryptic grin. Gryphon shrugged and went to the nearest phone. "Eve, anything new on Zoner's condition?" "No," Eve replied. "Everything's still dropping. I fear he hasn't got much time left." "What? Well, what in hell is our medical staff doing about it?" "Um..." Eve hesitated. "I don't know a lot about medical procedures, but...it doesn't appear to me that she's doing much of anything." The screen switched from a view of Eve to a securicam perspective of sick bay, showing Zoner comatose, Yuri and Jenna appearing decidedly inactive, and Kei looking very uneasy. "What the fuck...?" Gryphon muttered. "Gryph, good news!" ReRob called from his consultation with Android across the bay. "Truss got the engines working--we can get outta here!" "I'll deal with this later," Gryphon told Eve as she took the screen back. "Right now, try and get everything you can locked down for an emergency fold." "I will," Eve replied. "Don't worry, I'm sure there's a point to whatever they're doing." "Oh yeah," Gryphon muttered to himself as he ran toward the bridge. "Yeah, there's a point all right." --------------------------------------------------------EIGHT "Don't think of it as retreating...think of it as a strategic advance to the rear." --Rich Parker "All hands prepare for emergency launch," Gryphon ordered as he once again took the captain's station. "ReRob, take the Ops station. Engage Reflex furnace. Activate gravity control and lift off immediately." "Right, hang on a second--okay, there it is." The SDF-17 shivered, as if shaking itself out of sleep, as the Reflex furnace rumbled back to operation. Down in Engineering, John Trussell and Andrew Petrarca shook hands. "Gravity control on line," ReRob reported. "Lifting off now." The Wayward Son, tattered and wrecked though she was, lifted from the ground, rising majestically into the air, as her landing gear retracted upward. "Yo, like the Air Force doesn't want us to leave now," q called out. "Something about some big black fighter." "Tell them we don't know what they mean and we're complying with their order to depart a bit early, repairs are completed. And tell them to do have a nice day..." Every Air Force unit in the area began to converge on the SDF-17 as it rose toward the stars. "They say no dice," q reported. "They want us to land immediately so they can carry on an investigation into the plane they say we sent out." "Plane? I saw no plane," Gryphon said with a twisted grin. "Shut them off, then--they can't stop us." "All units, this is God's-eye. You have permission to fire. All units, repeat, you have permission to fire." Every Air Force unit in the area began firing on the SDF-17, with entirely no effect. "Idiots," Gryphon remarked. "Don't shoot back, there's no point in killing anyone we don't have to. Time to suitable fold position?" "Three minutes...mark," ReRob replied. "Begin calculations for fold." "Beginning calculations now." "This is hopeless," Viper-lead commented as he released his last missile into the vast armored side of the battle fortress. "They expect us to be able to bring this thing down?" "All units, this is God's-eye. Break off pursuit." "Shit," Viper-lead muttered for the second time today, and peeled off. The bastard got away again. Damn aliens. "Air Force units have retreated," ReRob said. "We must've reached their ceiling." "Good. Eve, alert all decks to prepare for fold operation. Rob, time to fold position?" "Thirty seconds...mark." "Fold calculations?" "Almost complete." "All decks, all decks, prepare for fold operation, repeat, prepare for immediate fold operation. This is not a drill," Eve announced from every working monitor on board. "We're in position," Rob announced. "Fold calculations complete." "Execute fold on my mark. Three. Two. One. Mark." Once again, the Wayward Son launched herself into a fold. Back on Earth, the collective defense organizations of the world heaved a sigh of relief and stood down their nuclear arsenals. They just hoped it would never be back. And in Tokyo, a man with pale skin and a burning in the back of his eyes rented an office downtown and began to scheme... ---------------------------------------------------------NINE "I seem to have the talent for fucking up every personal relationship I'm involved in." --Zoner The SDF-17 defolded in the midst of the Cygnus Beta system. The once proud fortress was battered and bruised, but it was still functional. The broken prow turned towards Planitia and the vessel began limping home, like a wounded beast. Gryphon sat on the bridge, his mind racing. "q, how long 'til we reach the shipyards?" Gryphon asked. "Like, two hours or so I think. The ship's beat up pretty badly," q answered. "ReRob, are we going to make it there in one piece?" "Well, as long as you don't plan on any more violent encounters, I think we can make it ok." "I try not to plan anything anymore. Plans never seem to work out," Gryphon replied bitterly. "Eve, what's the latest on Zoner?" "His vitals are still dropping. I fear that the disruption of the fold maneuver didn't help his condition any," Eve replied sadly. "Great! So I made it worse by folding, just great!" "Don't get down on yourself, Ben. The fold was necessary, he needs attention he can only get on Planitia. His condition is serious, but not yet grave." "Will he make it back to the shipyards?" "As long as his condition continues to decline at its current rate we will make it with time to spare." "Ok...thank you, Eve. Keep an eye on him and let me know if there are any changes." "Ok, Ben. Please, take care of yourself too. Don't worry, he'll recover," Eve tried to comfort Ben, and then was gone. "q, connect me to the Utopia Planitia shipyards. I need to talk to Lord Fahrvergnugen." "Like, will do Gryph." q worked the controls on the comm panel in front of him. In a few moments he had made contact with the communications officer at the shipyards. The connection was transferred to Lord Fahrvergnugen's office. "Like, I've got Wolfgang on line one." "Put him up on the main screen." "Like done." Lord Fahrvergnugen's image appeared on the large viewscreen on the front wall of the bridge. He sat in a chair behind a large crescent shaped desk. His bright orange hair contrasted with his deep black armor and cloak. "Ah, Gryphon. The fact that I am speaking to you tells me that Zoner has not yet recovered," Wolfgang noted sadly. Then he expectantly asked, "How did operations on Earth go?" "The mission's goals were accomplished. Whether or not it was a success, I'm not sure yet," Gryphon replied. "Something troubles you my son, what is it?" "Well, the ship was nearly destroyed. We lost half of the main gun, a large chunk of midships, both A.R.M.D. platforms, and our engines were damaged. Worse than that, we lost several of the crew in the line of duty. There were numerous injuries amongst the crew on the Wayward Son. If we had had a full complement there probably would have been a lot of deaths. But most of the ship was empty. On the other hand, with a full crew we may have been able to fight rather more effectively." "Damages can be repaired! What is important is that you took the battle to the enemy and emerged victorious. I am saddened to hear of your losses. We will prepare to hold proper military services upon your return. We must also prepare a victory celebration, of course." "A party, yeah, right...there is one more thing..." "That is?" "We're losing Zoner." "What do you mean?" "His vital signs are dropping and the medical equipment onboard ship can't maintain him. We were sorta hoping you might have some tricks left up your sleeve." "This is most distressing. I do have one option left. I'll have to call in some old favors. Just get him back here as soon as you can. I'll do what I can." "We'd all appreciate that. We should be back in a couple of hours." "We'll be expecting you. Wolfgang out." "Well, ReRob, get us there as fast as you can without blowing out the engines again." "Will do Gryph. Don't worry, he'll pull through. He's too stubborn to die." "That's too stupid to die. And will people please stop saying that?" Gryphon snapped. ReRob and q slouched in their chairs. Ben was really stressed out. It was probably better to just leave him alone for now. Zoner had better recover or Gryph might just go over the edge. .. Down in sickbay Yuri and Jenna directed all the energy they could into Zoner to help him in his fight to stay alive. But it was failing, he was still fading fast. Kei couldn't understand what the other two were doing, but she understood what the biomonitors told her. Zoner was slipping away and it didn't seem like what they were doing was helping him any. She had always thought she understood Yuri, but why she was doing this was beyond her. Everything had changed so much since they had met the Wedge Rats. But nothing that happened before that was real anyway was it. Aurgh! This was no time to start that mental argument again. She was real, and that was all that mattered now. Kei looked at Yuri, her eyes focused intently on Zoner. What would happen to her if Zoner didn't pull through? She wasn't sure; Yuri had never gotten so close to anyone else. Even herself...was that a hint of jealousy? No, they were different relationships. She and Yuri were best friends, Yuri and Zoner were lovers. But Yuri was so attached to Zoner--would his death break her? She just couldn't tell. What would happen to her if Ben were to die? She didn't want to think about that. It was too painful to consider, and Yuri was facing it. She wished she could shield Yuri from the pain, but she knew that there was nothing she could do. She could only be there when Yuri needed her for comfort and support. Yuri would have to face events as they happened. The Wayward Son cruised silently through space, carrying its precious cargo, the hopes and dreams of its crew. Many of the crew were suffering from various forms of shell shock. The stress of combat had given way to the excitement of victory, and now to the realization of the extent of what had transpired. They were happy to have survived, yet they felt a guilt that comes from losing one's friends in battle. Why them, why not me? And the condition of their friend and captain, Zoner, was known to all. It didn't help. And the ship travelled silently on. ----------------------------------------------------------TEN "Don't fear the reaper." --Blue Oyster Cult "Ben! I'm afraid that Zoner's condition has taken a turn for the worse," Eve called from the bridge comm system. "What? What now?" "His vital signs are dropping rapidly. At the present rate he won't make it back to the shipyards." "How long does he have?" Eve glanced away. "I estimate fifteen minutes," she said quietly. "Maybe twenty, but..." "Rob?" Rob shook his head slowly. "At least an hour. If I push her any harder she'll blow." Gryphon had no reply. He just sat there, looking at nothing. A minute dragged by. "Gryph?" asked Rob. "You have the conn," Gryphon whispered, his voice barely audible. He got up and ran from the bridge. In sickbay Jenna and Yuri redoubled their efforts. In his mind Zoner could feel their pull. He wanted badly to return to them, to Yuri, but they seemed to be so far away, too far. He had been fighting forever, running through the labyrinth of his mind. Opening the doors to his memories, hoping that one would lead him back to the land of the waking. How long had he been unconscious, it seemed like years. He had no way to keep track of time. Tired, he was so tired. Maybe if he rested for a little while he would be able to start fresh. Yeah, rest. Just a little, stop fighting for a while. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. In his mind he stopped running, lay down and closed his eyes. The monitors in sickbay flatlined. "ZONER!" Yuri screamed. "NO! YOU CAN'T DIE!" Oh no, thought Kei. Oh fucking no. She hadn't been very close to Zoner, not nearly as close as Yuri was to Gryphon, but that had a lot to do with the fact that she and Zoner were in many respect quite similar people, and thus didn't get along sometimes. Neither opened up easily, and both were given to mistrust. Seeing so much of herself in him had given him some special significance, and they had been friends. Pain welled up inside her, but she slammed it back down and closed a heavy steel hatch over it. Now was not the time; she was needed. She could cry later. If she could even cry at all. She hadn't tried lately. Jenna jumped into action, adjusting the life support system. All of this technology, and she still felt helpless. Yuri began sobbing and calling out to Zoner repeatedly. Kei gathered her up and carried her sobbing form to a chair in the corner. All of the worry and pain which had built up in Yuri for the preceding weeks poured out as sobs wracked her body. Kei hugged Yuri to her and tried to ease her pain as she watch Jenna desperately trying to save Zoner. Zoner stood up, he felt refreshed and energetic. That nap had really helped. But something seemed different, the pain that had been in the background for so long was gone. He realized then that he wasn't alone. He turned to face his companion; he knew who she was. She was stunningly beautiful, dressed in a halter and slacks - all black, with a silver ankh hanging around her neck. "How do you do Teleute? I've been waiting for a chance to meet you," Zoner said in greeting. "I'm doing ok, Zoner, my job sort of keeps me busy." "I can imagine, it must get tiring. Do you have time to talk for a bit? I've been interested in you for a while. You're very intriguing." Death thought it over for a moment. "I suppose so, let's go for a walk." With a gesture of her hand they were in a park in the spring. They strolled along the path and chatted with each other. "It's no use. I can't bring him back," Jenna called out from her position at Zoner's side. "NO!" Yuri cried out in anguish. "Shhhh!! Yuri, I'm so sorry..." Kei whispered. She didn't know what to say. She had never seen Yuri this torn up, not even when Billy died. "Jenna, may I make a suggestion?" Eve inquired from the comm screen. "Anything if it will help save him." "Put him in a chill down unit, the ones used for severe trauma cases." "Why?" "It will give him more time before brain damage sets in. Maybe Lord Fahrvergnugen can do something in that time." "I understand. Thank you, Eve." Jenna entered the commands to transfer Zoner's body to a chill down unit. The cold would slow the onset of organ damage, stretching the normal five minutes to an hour or more. It took but a few moments for sickbay to complete the transfer. "Bridge, this is Jenna. How long until we reach Planitia?" "Umm, like just under an hour," q replied. "How's Zoner doing?" "I... I couldn't save him I'm afraid. But there is still a chance. I've chilled the body down. If we can get him to the shipyards soon maybe they can do something. But an hour is cutting it close." "Where's Ben?" Kei asked, noticing his absence. "Like, I don't know. When we got the news about Zoner he gave the conn to ReRob and ran off. Sorry." "It's ok, I can understand how he feels." Kei wanted so much to be with Ben, but she couldn't leave Yuri. She hoped that Ben would understand. "Right now our main concern is getting Zoner to Utopia Planitia ASAP. What do we have that's fast and can carry the chill down unit?" Jenna asked. "Not much, I'm not sure if it will fit in a Beta. I think our best bet is the Daytona from Hell and its beta. It should fit in there no problem, and that thing can do warp. I say we try it," ReRob answered. "Ben said not to touch it..." Kei interjected. "I think he'll understand us using it in this case, he didn't want it used until Zoner woke up. But if we don't use it that may not ha---," Jenna caught herself as Yuri's sobs increased in intensity. "I'm sorry Yuri, I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm sure Wolfgang will be able to do something," she added, but even she remained unconvinced. "Ok, ReRob. Have the Daytona prepped and ready ASAP. And get some people down here to help move the chill down unit." "Will do. Who's going to fly it?" "I will," Kei called out from the corner. "And Yuri is going too." "Fine, you know what you're doing. Jenna's going along too, right? Anyone else?" "I'm going to try and find Ben. How long until the Daytona is ready?" Kei asked. "Give me about ten minutes." "Ok, I'll be in the bay in ten minutes, with or without him." Then, to Yuri, "Are you going to be ok?" After receiving a nod in reply Kei ran from sickbay to find Ben. Find him she did; he was standing in the upper observation deck, leaning slackly against the thick armor glass, his face pressed to the cool surface, looking out of the corner of his eye at the stars. "Ben?" she asked. "Are you all right?" "He died, didn't he?" Ben replied, his voice empty. "The bastard went and died. Didn't he?!" The last was an intense, ringing, almost accusatory shout. "Yes," Kei replied. "He died." For a long moment Gryphon was silent. Then, as the muscles in his arms and back knotted, he began to quiver silently. His lips peeled back from clenched teeth; with a scream of primal rage, he whirled around and slammed his fist with all his strength into the glass. "BASTARD!" Nothing happened, of course, because the glass was molecularly aligned crystalline armor. Apart from a dull thud and the echo of his scream, there was no real effect. Snarling with rage, he drew back his arm and hit it again. And again. "Son of a bitch," he snarled, smashing his hand into the glass. "Son of a bitch." He began chanting it, like a mantra, his voice rising. There was nothing in the room for him to break but himself; it would have to do. He drew back his arm to deliver another punch. "Ben, stop it!" Kei shouted, at him, grabbing his arm and wrenching him around to face her. "You're going to smash your hand. Stop it!" "Leave me alone!" he cried, trying to push her away. "Just leave me alone." "No," she replied, throwing her arms around her and pulling him close. "Listen to me. I need you. Yuri needs you. Do you understand?" "I..." He slumped in her arms, the sudden rage draining away as fast as it had filled him. "I'm sorry...I just can't believe it. After all the son of a bitch put us through...he goes and dies." He laughed bitterly through the tears that ran down his face. "You know, he went into that coma on Yuri's birthday. How pleasant." He shook his head weakly. "Son of a bitch." "Stop it," Kei said firmly. "There may still be a chance. Jenna has him in a chill unit; there may be time to get him to the shipyards if we use his Daytona. Maybe there's something Wolfgang can do. I volunteered to fly it myself...but I can't think of anyone he'd rather have flying it than you." There was a long pause. Gryphon drew in a deep, shuddering breath and let it out as a long, exhausted sigh. He raised his arms, putting them around Kei, and hugged her tight. Then: "Okay. Let's go." The Daytona from Hell, Beta unit attached, blasted out of Cargo Hold Eighteen with Gryphon at its controls and Kei riding shotgun as copilot. In back, Yuri and Jenna watched over the chill unit and each other as the pilots of the Eight-Ball Squadron stood as a combination honor guard and moving crew. Gryphon thumbed the side of the throttle and pushed it forward; the Beta's warp drive flared, and they were superluminal. His eyes were narrow and clear as they watched the starfield warp and flicked over the instruments; his hands on steering wheel and throttle were white-knuckled. The muscles in the corners of his mouth and eyes twitched. Kei put a soothing hand on his, feeling it quiver. In four minutes, they dropped back out of warp and docked with the shipyard control unit; not a single word had been said onboard the entire time. As they disembarked and a medical crew from the shipyard unloaded the chill chamber, Lord Fahrvergnugen and his entourage entered the docking bay. The medical crew quickly moved Zoner down the hallway, apparently towards the infirmary. With them was a tall, thin man no one recognized; late twenties, clear blue eyes behind round spectacles, disorganized and pale brown hair, and somewhat archaic dress. "Welcome back, my children," said Lord Wolfgang Amadeus Fahrvergnugen. "Allow me to introduce you to a friend of mine. Commander Benjamin D. Hutchins and company, I present you Mr. Edison Bell, Esquire." -------------------------------------------------------ELEVEN "Just think what we could accomplish without all the idiots of the world to slow us down!" --Ralken Abegius "Greetings. Lord Fahrvergnugen told me that I may be of some assistance. I understand that you have an injured companion. Please allow me to examine him," Edison greeted the incoming personnel. "If there is anything you can do to help, we would greatly appreciate it," Jenna replied. "Just revive the asshole so I can kill him," Gryph snarled. Kei rested her hand on Ben's arm. "Please forgive him, he's been a little stressed by all of this." "I understand. No offense taken," Edison replied. "Can you save him?" Yuri asked timidly. "I can only try, milady," Edison replied, bowing. "However, the odds are rather good. Do not fret." Yuri tried to smile but she was obviously unsure about trusting this stranger. She replied quietly, "Thank you." "Well, I must began my work immediately. No sense in delaying any longer. Lord Fahrvergnugen, if I may have my leave?" "Certainly. I know you will do your best. Good luck." Edison nodded to Wolfgang and strode off down the hallway in the direction Zoner had been taken. "Come. Let us relax in the lounge. There is no need to worry. Edison is an old friend of mine. He has technology and skills that even I fail to understand. If anyone can save Zoner, it is he." Wolfgang swept his arm in an arc in a gesture for those assembled to lead the way. Edison began examining Zoner with various and sundry devices. His instruments registered some low level brain activity, not much more than some electrochemical residue, but it was there. Good. He wouldn't have to attempt to totally reconstruct the neural network. That was always a pain in the ass. Anyway, he was definitely dead. Hmmm. There was a small amount of damaged cerebral tissue. Could mean some memory loss. Well, I'll do what I can later. The organs were pretty much okay, the brain just stopped running them. Hmmm. But the life support system should have been able to support them. Aha, the nervous system had been sending out scrambled signals. Well, that could be solved. Edison fitted Zoner with a collar. Dozens of small needle-like electrodes extended from the collar into Zoner's neck. Some of them electronically jammed any signals the spinal column might generate as he continued his work. The others began emitting the correct signals to control the organs. He then strapped a metallic belt across Zoner's chest and entered a few numbers on the touch pad on the front of the belt. It began emitting electrical pulses into Zoner's body. Edison watched as the display began to show an irregular heartbeat. He entered a few more figures and the heartbeat began to stabilize. Once that was accomplished he turned on the rest of the circuits and restarted Zoner's lungs. Once he was satisfied that the body could maintain steady life support, albeit with electronic assistance, he turned the chill down unit to the defrost setting. Now, for the interesting part. He fitted yet another band on Zoner. This one was around his head. The headband began emitting low level signals to the brain to stimulate activity. Edison watch the display with some consternation; Zoner wasn't responding as he expected. Zoner walked through the garden with Death discussing the life and times of the universe. She had a great sense of humor and Zoner was enjoying himself immensely. She told him about her "family" and how they all played their roles. Zoner discussed philosophies, beliefs, and religions with her. She had some very interesting views, well, she had been around forever so she certainly had time to form them. Zoner admired her, she was so carefree for someone in her position. The garden was so beautiful, he wished he could stay there forever, but he knew that was impossible. Suddenly Zoner doubled over in pain, holding his head. "ARGH!! What is that?! Fuck this hurts!" Death wrapped her arms around him in a comforting manner. "Do not worry. It's your body, they're not giving up on you yet." "But... I thought I was dead?" "You are, but there are those who try and avoid me. This may not be your time. Not just yet. Only Destiny knows for sure." "But then why are you here?" "I know all about you, all about your fascination with me. And you are dead at the moment." "So what's going on? What was that pain all about?" "Well, they're dragging you away from me. You might say it's the pain of birth." "The pain of birth? I don't remember anything like this." "Of course not, you were far too young. The pain was great enough for your mind to erase its memory. Not many people get to remember it." "So, will I remember any of this?" "Well, in your subconscious, your emotions, and in your dreams I will always be there. However, your conscious mind will try to forget what you have seen." "Too bad, I really enjoyed meeting you. It must not be too often that a mort takes the time to talk with you. Unless of course they're pleading for another chance. How much longer do I have here?" "Life is dynamic, only change is constant, you may yet stay here. But it appears that you will most likely return to your friends soon." "But I will see you again, right?" "Of course, every living thing meets me eventually." "Soon?" "No, not for a very long time." "The pain seems to have dissipated." "Yes...for now. Let's continue our walk. You're pretty interesting yourself." Edison decided that there was only one alternative left. But Omega-2 was a major step; maybe he should talk to the others first. No, just go ahead and do it. Well, maybe he might anger Lord Fahrvergnugen. Yes, better to talk to the others. Edison strode into the lounge. Before he could address the others Yuri leapt up. "Did you save him?!" "I have revived the body, but the brain is a bit more complicated. He's not responding to treatment as I would expect." "Damn bastard's even stubborn dead!" Gryphon snapped, punching the wall. Kei drew him closer. "But, there is one alternative left to me. It will almost definitely work. However, there are some major side effects," Edison continued. "What kind of side effects?" Yuri asked concernedly. "Well, it gets a bit tangled. Let me explain. We have time." "First off, what is this option anyway?" Kei asked. "Omega-2." "Omega-2? What is that?" "A retro-virus." "I think you'd better start from the beginning," Jenna suggested. "Well, duh. That's what I've been trying to do. If everyone would be so kind as to quiet down. Thank you." Edison paused for a minute, seemingly to organize his thoughts. Then he began to speak. "I am a Detian. Simple fact. We're a race of dimensional travelers from Earth, in an alternate time--I assume you're familiar with alternate time--where the Earth was engulfed by nuclear war in the late 1980s. "The population was basically destroyed. By a happy coincidence, one of the largest groups of survivors happened to be a group of college students. Among them was a brilliant biotech engineering major by the name of Abegius-- Ralken Winthrop Abegius. Abegius built a society from the ashes, using the intellectual power of the surviving community to create greatness within a few decades. "One of his first achievements was Omega-2. Simply put, because being a dimensional engineer I'm not too sharp on the particulars myself, Omega-2 is a retroviral treatment that re-encodes the subject's DNA. Ralken liked to call it `immunization against death'. Everyone in the community of survivors was effectively rendered immortal, under the agreement that they would sign the Detian Constitution and agree to abide by the laws." "'Scuse me...just how immortal are we talking here?" Gryphon asked, his curiosity piqued. "Let me put it this way. I'm one of the original Detians. The war happened in 1987. I came here from the year AD 14,375,512." "Gaaah?!" "That's what I said. But that's another story entirely. I'm almost certain Omega-2 can save your captain...but it's not something I want to do to someone against his will. One tends to think that immortality blurs one's distinction between life and death; not true. There is a great deal of pain involved in being deathless; I would not hand that to someone unwilling. So, unable to ask him, I'm asking you: would he object?" Gryphon merely uttered a well-executed Drummeybird call. "Is...oh shit, how do I ask this...is there any way he could die later, if he wanted to?" asked Kei. "Well..." Edison considered. "That's a tough one. It is doable, I suppose...atomization tends to work...cortex bombs are fairly effective...nothing that isn't messy." "But it can be done." "You seem awfully...I dunno, keen on this subject..." "It has to be asked...it gives him an option out, if he doesn't want immortality." "I see your point..." "fnord," said Gryphon, and left the room. He had something to do. "Where's he going?" Yuri asked, looking after him. "Probably to go somewhere and have an attack of the willies in private." "Then...I take it it's agreed? I'm to try whatever I must?" "Yes," Yuri replied. "At least to give me a chance to say goodbye...if that's what he really wants." "I understand...I think..." Edison turned and left the room, slightly confused. Ephemerals always tended to confuse him; it had been so long since he had been one. Edison returned to Zoner. He checked the indicators one last time for any signs of change; there was none. The body was still running fine, but the higher functions of the brain weren't responding to the stimulus. He could never quite understand the mind; by all rights the brain should have been responding to his technology. But it wasn't. Odd. Oh well, not that it mattered much. Edison reached into his waistcoat and pulled out a small black box. He placed the box on the medical tray, released the latch, and slowly opened it. Inside were some of the most highly illegal objects one could possess, according to the Detian constitution: three bottles of Omega-2 and an injector gun. Edison carefully lifted the gun and one of the bottles out of the case. As he fitted the bottle into the butt of the gun he pondered the meaning of what he was about to do. This little bottle held the power over life and death. It continued to amaze him. He snapped back to reality and dialed in a small dosage. It didn't really matter, a couple units would do it. The only thing dosage affected was time of action. He leaned over Zoner and pressed the gun to his arm. He muttered, "I hope I don't regret this, friend," and pulled the trigger. It was done. It would most likely take a couple of days for the virus to propagate and begin repairing the damage. All that was needed now was time. Zoner suddenly stopped in mid-sentence. "What's wrong?" Death asked. "I'm not sure. I think something just happened to my body. I'm not sure exactly what. It feels like something alien entered me or something. It's a strange feeling." Death looked almost saddened. "I think I may know what it is, but it's nothing to worry about. Go on with what you were saying." Zoner had the feeling that it was definitely something to worry about, judging from her reaction. But he decided not to press the point and he continued where he had left off. Edison rejoined the others in the lounge. They all turned to him expectantly, but no one spoke. Edison broke the strained silence himself. "I did it. Give the virus a couple of days to work through his system. After that we should start seeing results." "Is it ok if we check in on him?" Jenna asked. "Certainly, but do not disturb any of the equipment I have placed on him." "Of course. And thank you." With that Jenna left to look in on Zoner. She was also curious about the type of equipment Edison used. She felt a little jealous that he had succeeded where she had failed. As Edison watched her depart he mumbled, "Don't thank me yet." "What was that?" Yuri asked. "Oh, nothing." "So he'll be okay now?" "He should be. But be prepared, not everyone adjusts to immortality well." Edison thought back to his own experience. "Who wants to live forever?" Gryphon asked from the doorway. "Ben! How are you dealing?" Kei asked, concerned. "I'm alive." Kei seemed a little upset at Ben's terse reply, but she understood. It wasn't everyday a close friend became an immortal. "So, Zoner's immortal now..." Yuri said, her voice trailing off. It sounded like a mixture of joy and sadness. She stood and turned to leave the room. "Thank you for bringing him back, Mr. Bell." "Please, call me Edison. Everything does." "Ok...thank you, Edison." And she left the room. "Well, there's not much else for me to do at the moment. I believe I'll get some rest. Good day." Edison turned to leave. "See you, and thanks," Kei called after him. "Yeah, thanks a lot," Gryphon added. Edison detected the slight bitterness in his voice and understood. He just hoped he wouldn't have reason to regret his actions in the future. -------------------------------------------------------TWELVE "We can rebuild him. We have the technology." --The Six Million Dollar Man Over the next two days the remaining crew of the Wayward Son watched as the skilled workers at the shipyards began the task of reconstruction. They first removed the charred stubs where the A.R.M.D. platforms had been. Next to go was the wrecked root of the starboard bow main gun boom. As these tasks were performed hundreds of workers swarmed over the hull, patching the smaller wounds. Of course, removing the damaged sections was the easy part. Installing the new components was much more delicate work and would take much longer. While the work was being done, the crew of the Wayward Son had the time to mentally review the battles on Earth. The severity of what had transpired began to sink in. They were fugitives from their home world. What the hell was their purpose? They had defeated GENOM, what was there to do now? It had seemed like a good idea when it started. Travel around the cosmos and be heroes, great. But reality was a stark contrast to their dreams. They had lost friends and seen death first hand. For many the first sentient creatures they had killed were the agents of GENOM. Many tried to rationalize that they were all Buma, but they knew the truth. Many of those they had killed were humans, same as they. That was the hardest thing to accept. They had the chance to leave the ship before returning to the shipyards, and some of their friends had, but they had stayed. Why? Was it loyalty to the others who stayed, the chance for adventure, the chance to make a name for themselves, or were they trying to leave Earth, and their deeds, behind? Their reasons varied, but one thing was constant: they were here now and planned to stay for the duration. No matter what. In addition to all their own problems, the crew was waiting to hear about the Captain. When the SDF-17 had docked Gryphon had returned and made a speech to the crew. He told them that Zoner was indeed still alive and that the chances for his recovery were pretty good. But he seemed upset by something, and the crew picked up on it. Rumors began circulating almost immediately. Zoner was dead, he had been dead, he was a cyborg, he had a new body, he was an AI now, he needed constant life support. The rumors were many and varied. It didn't help matters that after the initial speech Ben, Kei, Yuri, and Jenna seemed to be avoiding the rest of the crew. The Rats were convinced that they were hiding something. Since his initial speech to the crew Ben had been avoiding contact with nearly everyone. He spent most of his time in his room at the shipyards. Occasionally he would venture out to check on Zoner or the reconstruction work. Zoner, immortal, how the hell did all this happen? And what the hell was Zoner going to do when he woke up? Maybe they all went through this so Zoner could wake up and kill himself. And Yuri seemed pretty distant lately. She was happy that Zoner was still alive, but something else was bothering her. Gee, wonder what that could be hmmmm? Her goddamn lover was immortal! Kei was stressed out too, since both her best friend and her lover were so upset. This whole situation was lousy--why couldn't Zoner just wake up and get it over with? Ben hated being stressed. Jenna spent most of her time with Matt. They had a lot of talking to do. With the stress of combat behind them they wanted to make up for lost time. They spent a lot of their time walking around the shipyards and watching the stars as they traveled through the endless night. Occasionally Jenna dropped in to check on Zoner; she felt a little irrational guilt for not being able to save him. She tried to get Edison to discuss his technology with her, but he continuously put her off. He said that it wasn't time for the technology he used to be spread across the universe. Jenna thought that he seemed to have a god complex. He had all the knowledge and technology, and he would decide who got what. In spite of this, she still was grateful to him for saving Zoner. (In fact, it was no such thing; Edison had seen the effects of spreading Detian technology among races not yet prepared to deal with it. Such intervention had led to the annihilation of at least four sentient races, dozens of worlds, and eventually the backbone of the entire Detian civilization in the Patron Wars. He felt uneasy enough as it was just sharing the secret of Detian immortality with these people, and had he not felt such a deep kinship with them he wouldn't've considered it, but...) Yuri spent a good deal of her time staring longingly at Zoner. Ever since Edison had presented them with the chance to bring him back she had been second guessing their decision. What if Zoner was supposed to die? What if being immortal somehow changed him? She couldn't answer these questions and the unknown future troubled her. She went for long solitary strolls around the shipyards to think. At the end of the second day she sought Edison out. She found him in his room. Knock knock knock "Edison? Can I speak with you?" "Yes, of course, Yuri. Please come in." Yuri opened the door and entered. Edison gestured towards a chair and Yuri sat down. "What did you wish to speak about?" Edison asked. "Well, I wanted to talk to you about Zoner." Yuri paused. "And Omega-2." "What do you wish to know?" "Will Omega-2 change Zoner?" "Yes, it will restructure his genetic makeup. His body will change a bit. He'll actually end up healthier than before, of course. I thought I had made all that clear before." "Yes, yes you did. But that's not what I mean. I mean, will it change Zoner as a person? He'll still be the person he used to be right?" "For the most part, yes. As long as the damage to his brain wasn't too severe he will have all of the same memories as he used to--and it is your memories, both conscious and subconscious, that make you who you are. The real wildcard is how he will deal with being immortal. A lot of people have trouble dealing with it at first." "How serious is it?" Yuri asked, leaning forward. "I won't lie to you. Some people simply can't deal with it at all. I have seen people go mad, I have seen suicides, I have seen people develop psychosis, but many people pull through just fine. Let me share something with you--back in the beginning, after the Third World War on our Earth, the original Detians were nonconformist college students." He grinned. "And we came through just fine." "Since he's infected with the virus he won't age, right?" "That is correct. He will remain 21 forever, unless he wishes to age. He can wish to...if he so desires he can age at a normal rate. Of course, he can always age backwards at the same rate until he's 21 again. He can die of old age if he so desires." "So he can remain young forever," Yuri said, staring at nothing, a sadness in her voice. "What troubles you, my dear?" "I've just been thinking. You saved him from death, and now I'll be the one to die first. Ironic." "You are troubled by this?" "Well, yes, I guess so. I mean what happens when I get old and he is still young? Or even if he ages with me, he can always go back. Will he still want me? I can't ask him to die for me and I don't want him to have to go through life waiting for the day that I'll die." "Highlander syndrome," Edison mumbled. "What was that?" "Oh, nothing. I was just thinking. If he really does love you he will stand by you. Of course there is another alternative." "Really? What do you have in mind?" "You can accept the Omega-2 virus yourself." "I... I don't know. Would I have to die first?" "No, of course not. I can inject you at any time." "What's it like? I mean being infected by the virus." "It's not too bad. At first you may feel a little ill, slight fever, et cetera. But you will begin to feel better than you ever had before. All of the changes take place on the genetic level, so you won't notice much of anything, until the genetic changes begin reworking your metabolic processes--and your body seems to be in good enough condition that it won't have to do much in that department." "I'm not sure. Can I think it over?" "Sure. Take your time. Big decisions shouldn't be rushed." "Ok. I guess I'll talk to you later." "It's always a pleasure." With that Yuri left Edison and returned to her room. She had a lot of thinking to do. -----------------------------------------------------THIRTEEN "Who wants to live forever?" --Queen Edison was awakened by a loud knocking sound. He thought for a moment to figure out what it was. He finally decided it was the sound of someone knocking loudly on his door. He squinted at his chronometer. 4:38AM. Gaaah. Who would be knocking on his door at 4:38, well, 4:39, in the morning? Well, only one way to find out. Edison rolled out of bed and wrapped himself in his robe. Knock knock knock. Sheesh. Whoever it was, they were sure impatient. Edison shuffled to the door and opened it. Standing there was an apparently distressed Yuri. "What is it, Yuri? Is something wrong? Did Zoner wake up? What do you need at.." glance "...4:40 in the morning?" "I couldn't wait any longer. I've made my decision and I want to do it before I have time to change my mind again." "What? I'm afraid I'm not following you here." "Omega-2. I want you to inject me right away." "What?! You wake me up at four something in the morning so that I can give you a shot?! Couldn't this wait until morning?" "Well, actually yes," Yuri replied, shrinking back. "But it's sort of important to me. I've been thinking since I talked to you and I finally made my decision. I want to do it. I love Zoner and I want to be able to share eternity with him." "Ok, ok. You know the facts, you're a big girl, you can do what you want with your life. Come in. But don't expect eternity; one of you is bound to get killed eventually." "That's a pretty pessimistic attitude." "It's the voice of experience. After the Patron Wars I've very few friends left. Are you sure you want to do this?" "Yes, positive." "Very well." Edison opened his cabinet and fished about for a moment. He withdrew the same black box he had used earlier on Zoner. Placing it on his night table, he released the latch and opened it. "One last time. Are...you...sure?" Yuri's reply was a solemn nod. Edison withdrew the injection gun and the serum bottle from the case. As he approached Yuri he loaded the bottle into the gun and prepped it. He placed the gun to her arm and looked directly into her eyes, searching for any uncertainty. Finding none, he pulled the trigger. "That's it?" Yuri asked. "That's all. It's done now. There's no turning back. You have the rest of your life to think about your decision, and that's a long time. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get some more sleep." "Oh, sorry. Thank you." "I'm here to help." Yuri left the room and Edison closed the door and returned to bed. 4:47. Hmmm. In less than ten minutes he had totally changed the course of Yuri's life. The universe was really quite interesting sometimes. After leaving Edison's room Yuri went to sickbay to see Zoner again. She looked down at his unconscious form and prayed that he was at peace. Before turning to leave she leaned down and kissed him and whispered, "Now we have all the time in the world, my love." Zoner was lying in a field next to Death. They weren't talking at all, just lying there enjoying the peaceful scene. The sky was incredibly blue, the clouds incredibly white, and the grass was incredibly green. He had never seen anything quite like it while he was still living. Living. He had a bad feeling that his time here was growing short. As of late he was beginning to lose the feeling of freedom he had felt at first. Something was pulling on him, weighting him down. He was being pulled back to the land of the living. The worst part was that he wasn't sure if