Wrong Side of the Ocean
                          in association with
                    Smalltime Writers, International
                                presents
                    a tale of Undocumented Features

                         H A M M E R   T I M E

                                BOOK TWO

                             by Martin Rose
       (aka PCHammer, The High Diggy-Hoek of Chihuahua-Wala Land)

  Based on events and situations created by Gryphon, MegaZone, ReRob,
           and too many others than could be readily counted.
    They will all deny any connection with this work if questioned.

Dedicated to the gang at WPI, who've all worked far too hard on
Undocumented Features and deserve to have a part of it write itself.

A FAIR WARNING to the reader:  The following story contains many
references and concepts blatantly stolen from other sources.  If that
bothers you, feel free to ignore this entire tale.  If not, have a ball.


24 ---------- Learning to Fly

   "Ngaaarr, I hate this!"  Fists clenched, pulling punches against the
wall, Martin looked down at his bed in frustration.
   Much of his waking time was currently spent practicing transforming.
To this end, he had taken a medical leave from his normal duties as a
software tech, and used one of the larger fighter bays as a gymnasium.
He would work for hours at a time, doing nothing but transforming and
un-transforming, working out every possible mode transition.  His
particular concentration, however, was on going between Human mode and
any one of his three Rotofoil forms without needing to use Hover as an
intermediate.
   It was anything but easy.  Ninety-nine percent of the time, he would
end up clattering noisily to the floor, or falling gracelessly on his
bum, or flat on his face, or landing upside-down.  "Thinking through" a
Valkyrie reconfiguration was child's play compared to this.
   It was remarkably tiring, to boot.  Performing self-origami, as he
referred to it, put heavy demands on every single muscle in his body.
He ended his days with sore muscles he hadn't even known existed.  He
considered recommending it as The Ultimate Total Body Workout, but
decided he'd rather not make that many enemies at once.
   As if that weren't enough to deal with, the reconstructed body that
was now his home also possessed superhuman strength.  He'd always used a
velvet touch when handling most everything before, but even that proved
to be too harsh for many things.  Learning to eat without twisting the
flatware beyond recognition was a challenge.  Playing the keyboard
without mashing the keys into the console was harder still.  And he
didn't even want to think about how many Genesis controllers he went
through; he eventually had to build one that was virtually
indestructible.  Unfortunately, it was so heavy that he was the only one
who could use it.  (And he had to get someone else to plug it in for him.)
   Now, as he regarded the crushed remains of his bed, he wondered if he
was ever going to gain full control of himself.
   He'd transformed in his sleep.  Again.
   He sighed.  Maybe he would be better off getting a futon in a garage.
   Something in the wreckage caught his eye.  He knelt down on the head
of the mattress and reached over to the smashed nightstand.  He pushed
it aside, revealing fully the object he'd noticed.  He gingerly picked
it up and looked sadly at it.
   The picture of Noriko smiled back at him.  It was the same warm,
caring smile he'd instantly fallen for all those years ago.
   He ran a gentle finger down the image's beaming face.  Poor little
angel, he lamented.  We've "only" been good friends so far; looks like
we'll have to stay that way, now.  I'll write you as soon as I get my
terminal keyboard replaced again.
   He placed the picture on another nearby surface, carefully standing
it upright.  He then returned his attentions to the task at hand:
replacing the bed.  He lifted it effortlessly, carrying it out into the
corridor.  At least these new abilities have some good uses, he thought.

   Martin entered the sparring area with apprehension.  It was the first
time he'd been there in nearly two months.  He used to come with almost
habitual regularity; now, he wasn't so sure he should.  But how is a
superhuman supposed to sharpen his fighting skills?  Most of the time he
worked on the simulators, he'd been working on fighter combat programs.
The hand-to-hand sims went largely neglected, and were so predictable it
wasn't even fun to use them.  So, the sparring room it was.
   He went to the lists.  Here was another problem.  For which class
should he register?  The highest available classes were Super-
Heavyweight and Unlimited.  He'd seen the Unlim fighters before, if only
briefly.  They were quite a sight to behold; it wasn't uncommon to find
some teeny little runt taking on some enormous gorilla.  Outcomes of
fights in this class were nearly impossible to predict, or so he was
told.
   He stood and rubbed his chin, wondering if he should reconsider.
   "Excuse me..."
   "Hm?"  The voice from behind him almost startled him.  He whirled to
face its source.  There didn't seem to be anyone behind him.
   "Down here."
   He looked down, and there she was.  Her pretty face offered a defiant
look.  She was maybe five and a half feet tall, with blue eyes and
flaming red hair in a ponytail that came down nearly between her
shoulderblades.  She wore a loose-fitting, short-sleeved exercise top
matched with a tight-fitting pair of shorts, and, curiously, a pair of
metallic-looking armlets that covered her forearms entirely.
   "You here to keep people off the lists, or what?"
   "Oh.  Oh, no, I'm just trying to decide whether I should sign up at
all."
   She gave him a hint of a smile.  "Well, if you can't take the
heat..."  She waved her hand slightly.  He took the hint and moved
aside; she stepped forward, scribbled on the "Unlimited" roster, and
walked toward the locker rooms.
   He watched her retreating form.  She certainly didn't look like a
fighter, particularly not an Unlim-class fighter.  But then, he, better
than anyone, knew that things were rarely as they seemed.  He looked at
the list for the name she'd added.
   Eiko Magami.  Funny, she didn't look Japanese.  (But then, neither
does Noriko.  Where do all these names come from?)
   "Well, Ms. Magami, let's see if you know what you're doing."  He left
the lists untouched and walked to the stands.

   Today was a typical day of sparring practice, where fighters could
sharpen their skills against each other in preparation for the monthly
Champions' Tournaments.  Even so, the Wedge Arena's elevated spectator
stands could be counted on to be at about forty percent capacity, even
if the audience was mostly transient.
   On these days the Unlim fighters were considered to be the best
entertainment value in the entire WDF, coming to the mat in pairs to
test each others' mettle and courage.  Many of them were known to be
good friends, and shook hands with a smile before and after fighting;
others were acknowledged rivals who greeted each other with nothing more
than a scowl, and sometimes open threats.
   Martin sat patiently, watching the bouts with renewed fascination.
He'd never actually sat down to observe them like this, since he'd
always been down on the field as part of his ongoing physical training.
The low-level rounds were fun reminders of the way he had been before.
The higher levels were downright educational.
   Finally, his patience was rewarded as Eiko emerged into the arena
proper.  Her exercise outfit was gone; in its place, she wore a tight,
robin's-egg blue tunic which came snugly around her neck while leaving
her legs and arms completely free.  A pair of matching boots covered her
feet, and her hair was tied up into two buns atop her head.  Her armlets
were still present, and he noticed that they complemented her current
garb rather nicely.
   Her opponent entered from the opposite side.  He was significantly
taller than she, with short, dark hair, chiseled features and a slender,
muscular build, wearing a pair of shorts normally associated with a Thai
kick-boxer.  His forearms and forelegs were wrapped, and the wide white
band tied around his head bore a single red spot in the front.  A furry
second pair of ears identified him as a Salusian.
   They stood at opposite sides of the arena, sizing each other up with
determined looks.  He smiled at her; she returned it with a wink.
Obviously, they'd met before, but they probably hadn't sparred before.
   The first tone sounded softly.  Eiko dropped into a fighting stance,
arms akimbo, while her opponent ("Joe Higashi," according to the
scoreboard) shifted to his ready position, perfectly balanced on the
balls of his feet, legs slightly bent and arms before him.
   The second tone sounded, and the match began.
   They moved slowly out into the ring and circled cautiously clockwise,
each waiting for the other to make the first move.  When they were in
the positions opposite where they'd started, Eiko declared her
impatience by launching herself forward with two quick steps.  The move
wasn't very well planned, and she was rewarded with a knee to the
stomach as she sailed past Joe.  She hit the ground with a roll and was
instantly back on her feet, wincing slightly with a hand on her belly.
   Joe took the initiative this time, leaping forward just as she turned
to face him.  He feinted a high kick which suckered her completely, and
his leg had swept both of hers from the ground just as she'd realized
her error.  She fell flat on her back and scrambled to right herself.
   She was barely on her feet when she found herself taking the
defensive again, blocking a sudden blizzard of fists.  Two of the blows
found their way through, and she staggered backward.  Joe charged
forward to complete what he'd started.
   Eiko had no intention of giving up so soon, and Joe was immediately
besieged by a flurry of kicks in unbelievably rapid succession.  This
time, he was the one on the defensive, and he was propelled back a few
meters by hard blows to the chest and stomach.  He landed in a sitting
position and rolled backwards, ending up on his feet once more.  She was
grinning an I'm-not-such-a-pushover-now-am-I grin at him.
   They leapt into the air simultaneously, meeting halfway.  However,
only Joe landed on his feet.  Eiko landed head-first with a small yelp.
She quickly stood up, but swayed as she stood, trying to shake her mind
back to clarity.  Joe was behind her immediately, and she soon found
herself with a strong arm tightening around her neck.
   Martin sighed.  That's it for her, he wrongly decided.
   She put her hands on his arm, a gesture which would normally be
deemed futile.  This time, however, it was anything but; much to her
opponent's astonishment, she removed his arm from her neck with ease.
In fact, he soon found himself flying across the arena with a dislocated
shoulder.  He struck the wall on the far end a full two meters from the
ground, and fell gracelessly into a pained, bleeding heap.
   "WINNER - EIKO MAGAMI," the scoreboard declared to the stunned
audience.
   She didn't seem to be celebrating her victory as she stood with a
shocked expression on her face, emitting an audible "oops" with her hand
covering her mouth.  She ran over to the crumpled form and tried to
offer a helping hand.  He drew away from her as best he could, his eyes
regarding her with undisguised fear.  Their dialogue wasn't clear from
the stands, but the tones of voice exchanged told a sad tale indeed.
   A door slid open on the side of the arena opposite Martin, and two
medics entered at a jog with a hoverstretcher.  Carefully loading their
slightly bloodied human cargo onto the platform, they exited the silent
arena, leaving a victorious, defeated-looking Eiko by herself.
   As the board continued to brag of her victory, she shuffled slowly to
the locker room, wiping her eyes.
   Martin watched her sympathetically.  The way she tossed him so easily
... she must be as strong as me.
   The way he reacted to discovering it ... she must feel so alone.
   I wonder if I'll ever see her again.

25 ---------- Walking Away

   A supply shuttle emerged from hyperspace a few kilometers from the
Wayward Son in a violent spectacle of light and color.
   Not that the Son really needed supplies, mind you.  The occasional
times when ships from Utopia Planitia would visit the Son, or when the
Son itself would visit UP, were mostly social events.  These were times
when old friends and passing acquaintances would stop to chat about the
galaxy, the direction of the WDF, and life in general.  For many, this
was a chance to say hello to familiar faces.
   For an unfortunate few, it was a chance to say goodbye.

   Noriko Takaya waded impatiently through the crowd of people meeting
people just outside.  The gathering had become a human gridlock as the
deboarding crew found itself content to stand and chat with the Wayward
Son personnel already waiting near the entry ramp.  She found herself
using the phrase "Excuse me" quite a bit as she squeezed through the
mob, and quite loudly as well, since her diminutive stature didn't put
her in a prime position for capturing another person's ear.
   She looked around herself in frustration.  Her world was a jumble of
white uniform jackets, slacks and skirts, and the occasional face of a
person nearly as short as herself.  She released an exasperated sigh;
this wasn't making what she had to do any easier.
   She thought she saw something familiar to one side of her, and kept
her eyes to that side as she strode forward.  This prevented her from
noticing the jacket closing on her from the other direction until she
mashed into it at full steam.
   "Oof!" she breathed.  She turned nervously to face the person she'd
assaulted, looking him directly in the stomach.  "I'm sorry, I wasn't
paying attention."  She pushed past him, still searching.
   "No, it was my fault.  I should have been watching my feet," the man
replied with a gentle hand on her head.  "Lord knows I spend enough time
doing it."
   Noriko took another two steps before stopping in her tracks with a
gasp, eyes wide.  That voice...  She whirled and forced her view of him
up, and up, and up, until she finally reached his head.  He was still
looking at her, and smiling.
   It was all she could do to stand and stare, holding a nervous hand
before her gaping mouth.  He wasn't wearing glasses.  He looked young.
He had brown hair.  It covered his forehead.  And he was positively
titanic!  But it was definitely him.
   She opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind.
   "Hi, Riko."
   "Marty!"  Spreading her arms wide, she rushed toward him in a futile
attempt to administer a tackle-hug.  She ended up with her arms around
his waist, looking almost straight up.  How did he get so HUGE?
   "Jeez, it's been forever, little angel."  He put his hands down on
her shoulderblades; that's as far down as they would reach.
   She smiled a sad little smile up at him.  "Yeah..."
   "Here, wait a second."  He pulled her off of him, then got down on
his knees.  Now they were almost eye-to-eye, but he still had a slight
advantage.  "How's that?"
   "Better."  She grabbed him again, holding him tight.  He replied with
a warm, gentle embrace.  He handles me like a little china doll, she
thought to herself.  They remained so for several minutes, silent amid
the noise and chatter around them.
   She loosened her grip to look at him.  Her face was somber now.
"You've changed so much ... I had no idea."
   "The changes are all physical," he replied.  "It's still me in here."
   She looked around.  "Maybe we could continue this someplace more ...
quiet."
   He smiled.  "I know just the spot.  Relax and follow my lead."
   Placing one hand around her back and another behind her thighs, he
swept her easily off the floor.  She resisted the urge to shriek as she
sat on his hand, leaving the ground far behind.  As her ascent halted,
she steadied herself on his shoulder and turned her eyes to watch the
unusual panorama that surrounded her.  Instead of the imposing sea of
white jackets, she now saw people's faces, heads and shoulders.
   "So this is what it's like to be tall," she said quietly.
   "Hm?"
   "Oh ... nothing."
   He strode forward, moving toward the edge of the crowd.  Noriko
continued to look around with wonder.  Her high perch also gave her her
first good look at the inside of the Wedge Defense Force's flagship.
Her only cue so far that she was inside something smaller than Utopia
Planitia was the fact that her shuttle had been unable to enter a
docking bay.
   She also noticed that the strong hand that held her aloft wasn't
making any attempt to take advantage of its position.  Her smile
softened as she looked at her ride.  He was always so noble, so
honorable to her.  If chivalry was dead, he was a walking corpse.
   She sighed.  He didn't notice the sad look on her face.
   At last, they broke free of the crowd.  He tossed her lightly into
the air, caught her with both hands around her waist, and lowered her to
the ground.  She suddenly remembered that he wasn't that strong last
time they'd met.  If it had been anyone but him, she would have been
afraid.
   "Stand back a moment," he told her.
   Turning to face him, she took two steps away, wondering what he was
about to do.
   With a sound she'd never heard before, he turned into his Rotofoil
before her astonished eyes.
   She took another step backward in spite of herself.  Now, she WAS
afraid.
   The machine's front split open.  "Well?  Come on, get in."  He edged
forward slightly.
   She nearly tripped as she stepped backward again.  "No!  Get AWAY
from me!" she cried.
   He backed away slightly.  She stood trembling, wondering if perhaps
she'd reacted poorly.  After all, he had tried to describe what had
happened to him in his letters.  He just seemed so ... inhuman, now.
How could that thing be him?
   "You're ... afraid of me," he said.  The sadness in his voice was
unmistakable.  "Riko..."
   She repented immediately.  "Oh, Marty, I'm sorry," she whispered.
She stepped forward and climbed inside, kneeling on the seat and burying
her face in the back cushion.  "I was just ... I'm sorry..."
   He wished he had arms to put around her.  "Shhh, shhh, it's okay," he
consoled.  "It's okay.  Now be a good girl and sit up straight, please."
   She did as he asked.  Seat restraints came from the four corners of
the back, fastening snugly in front of her as the front end closed up.
His image appeared in a small inset window in front of her.  "Comfy?"
   She wrapped her arms around herself, stroking the shoulder belts
gently.  "Yeah ... I guess so.  I think I may be a little small for this
seat, though."  (Sitting upright against the back, her legs were forced
to stretch straight forward.  To be honest, it dwarfed her.)  She looked
down in front of her at the vacant space between her legs.  Her left
hand also lacked anything to latch onto.  "Where are the controls?"
   "Oh, I'm in charge of that, now," he said, "though I can put up a set
of controls if they're needed.  They come up automatically if I'm ever
knocked unconscious, for instance."
   "Unconscious?"
   "Hey, just because I look like a machine doesn't mean I'm infallible.
I can still feel pain, lose consciousness ... stuff like that."
   She smiled.  "In other words, you're still alive."
   "Precisely.  You can imagine how surprised I was."
   "I doubt it."  She looked dejectedly at her feet.
   "I don't know; you looked like you could just a second ago."
   "Well..."  She assumed an apologetic pose.
   "Please, don't worry about it.  Even I have no idea what my
limitations are, now."
   "...All right."
   His image grinned at her.  "Hang on!"  He charged forward, and she
felt herself sink into the back of the seat.  Yes, it's definitely still
him.

26 ---------- That'll Be the Day

   The Rotofoil came to a halt at the observation lounge.  The front
opened, and Noriko stepped out, looking around.  Good, she thought.
We're alone.
   Martin transformed to his human form.  "Well," he said with a smile
and a wave of his hand, "here we are."
   Noriko went to the window.  "Why did we come here, and not to your
room?"
   "My room doesn't have much of a view.  Besides, this place is very
important to me."  He was beside her now, hand on the glass.
   "How so?"
   He sighed.  "This is where I was when the Wayward Son left Earth."
   Her eyes absently scanned the stars as she nodded.
   "It all seems like yesterday," he continued quietly.  "Standing here,
watching the world pass before me ... thinking of my past, frightened of
my future ... remembering all the people I was leaving behind, friends,
family..."  He chuckled.  "Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only Earth-man
on board who hadn't had some sort of falling-out with his parents before
leaving.
   "Then, seeing my first two crewmembers -- Gryphon and Kei Morgan,
though I didn't know their names at the time.  I remember how surprised
I was to find out they were just people, like me..."  He put a hand on
her head.  "They found me here, you know.  Sleeping on that bench."
   She took his hand in hers, and led him back to the very place.  They
sat there, holding each other in silence for several minutes, before he
spoke again.
   "This is where my life was changed forever, Riko.  From then on ...
nothing could ever be the same."  He massaged her slowly.  "But I'm
glad.  If it weren't for that, I never would have met my best friend ...
the Lieutenant Commander."
   Here we go, she decided.  "No."
   "Huh?"
   "I'm not a Lieutenant Commander.  Not anymore."
   His hand stopped.  "What..."
   She looked up at him with an obviously forced smile.  "I'm a full
Commander, now."
   "A full Commander?"  He grinned.  "Riko, that's great!"  Then, he
noticed how forced her smile was.  "Isn't it?"
   Her eyes fell, along with her smile, as she loosened her grip on him.
"I've ... been made second-in-command of the WDF's newest battle
cruiser.  The Righteous Indignation."
   It was his turn to listen in understanding silence.
   "There's a sector that's been experiencing almost constant warfare.
I forget the name; it's right on the edge of Kilrathi space.  The WDF's
sent forces four times already, but every time we turn our backs on
them, it's the same old thing all over again.  There's no end in sight.
Lord Fahrvergnugen decided that we need some sort of lasting presence to
make a difference.  So ... our ship is going to be almost permanently
stationed there."
   "But ... that means..."
   "Yes, I know.  We'll probably never see each other again."
   He closed his eyes.  "This has to do with your 'unique
qualifications,' doesn't it?"
   She nodded, though he couldn't see it.  "Yes."
   He opened his eyes; she could see the tears filling them.  "Riko..."
   "Shhh."  She put a finger to his lips.  "Me too."  She rose, standing
on her knees on the bench, and moved so that she was straddling one of
his legs.  With a sad smile, she took his hands, kissed them, and placed
them on her hips.  It's time to reward your patience, she thought to
him as she leaned forward, kissing him gently.
   She proceeded to slowly remove her uniform jacket, revealing the
sweatshirt-style top underneath.  She smiled at him and gently laid it
beside them.  Bringing a hand to the side of her head, she carefully
undid the knot in her red headband.  It fell limply into her grasp, and
she laid it on top of her jacket.
   Closing her eyes, she took the neck of the top and stretched it up
over her nose, her ears, and over the back of her neck.  Then, reaching
around herself, she grabbed at the shoulders and began to pull the
sweatshirt over her head.  She could feel it slipping up from the
bottom, and cool air touched her waist and back.
   It stopped abruptly and refused to advance any farther.
   Slightly confused, she pulled at it harder.  It still wouldn't budge.
   One last try.  Nothing.
   (How embarrassing.)
   She opened her eyes and looked down to see if she could determine
what it was caught on.
   That wasn't hard to figure out.  It was caught on Martin's hand,
which kept the sweater pinched against her waist.
   She looked at him, now very confused.  He slowly, sadly shook his
head, his eyes closed.  She pulled the sweater's neck down under her
chin.  "Marty, what--?"
   "I'm sorry, Noriko ... I'm afraid I can't let you do that."
   Noriko was flabbergasted.  She knew several guys back at UP (and
assigned to the Righteous Indignation; her new CO numbered among them)
who would have killed to have her do exactly what Martin was preventing
her from doing.
   She decided to press the issue.  "Don't ... don't you like me?"
   He opened his eyes, looking directly into hers.  "You know the answer
to that."
   "You don't want me, then?  Is that it?"
   He averted his eyes, and she felt the hand on her waist quiver, as if
it were arguing with itself.  She knew the answer to that one, too.
   "But ... so why--"
   He met her gaze again, removing the hand from her waist to brush her
hair away from one ear.  "Poor, poor little angel..."  She took the hand
in her own, her romantic mood broken.  Martin sighed before continuing.
"There are two reasons, actually.  The first reason is the reason we've
never done it before now."
   She nodded slowly, comprehending.  "The way you believe."
   "Mm-hm.  It all has to do with what you think 'love' is.  Call me
old-fashioned, call me a prude if it makes you feel better, but it's
just the way I am.  Right now, though, there's also a second reason,
which is a bit more ... immediate."
   "And what's that?"
   "Watch."
   He reached over to one side and put his hand on the back of the
bench, while she continued to hold onto the other with both of hers.
She gasped in amazement as he crushed it with no visible sign of effort
or strain.
   Noriko swallowed hard.  Now I know why he's been handling me so
gently, she deduced.
   "Oh ... my ... God," she breathed instead.
   He looked at her, saddened by the fear he found in her eyes.  "I
can't do anything that could make me lose control of myself now that I'm
like this.  I could kill you in an instant.  You understand, don't you?"
   "Puh, puh, puh, perf, fectly."
   For a moment, she wanted to run, but her terror held her paralyzed.
She tried to scream, but her throat wouldn't work; she was so tense she
couldn't take enough of a breath.  She could only sit there, straddling
his leg, looking at him with her eyes wide, drawing her hands up to
cover her mouth.
   At that moment, Martin understood how that girl, Eiko, must have
felt, back in the arena with Joe.  Somehow, though he tried to hold it
back, his quick impression of Mr. Horse escaped to express his opinion:
   "No sir, I don't like it."
   The irony of it all struck Noriko like a brick.  How helpless she'd
felt when she'd read about him in the newspaper.  How she wanted to be
with him, to hold him, to love him.  Then, the news of his miraculous
recovery.  She was so happy, she thought she'd explode.  The emptiness
she felt because she couldn't share the moment with him.  And now, they
were together ... and all she could think to do was run away.
   Then she looked at her hands.  She was still holding his other hand.
She massaged it; it responded gently.  She held it against her cheek.
It was soft to the touch, and warm.
   "Hmmmmm," Martin responded with a smile, still Mr.-Horsing.  "Yes
sir, I like that."
   With a tearful giggle, she fell onto him and wrapped herself around
him.  (The rest of him was warm, too.)  As they watched the stars
together for the last time, she found herself smiling.
   So we can't make love, she sighed to herself, snuggling into him.
Right now, I don't think that's a problem.
   But I'll never give up on you, Marty.  Someday...

27 ---------- Cheeseburger Cheeseburger Pepsi Pepsi

   Usually, during lunch rush, the Wedge Wendy's, as it was known, did
brisk business through four cashier lines of smiling faces and friendly
service.
   Of course, that was before they got their newest cashier.  The store
manager had once thought that there wasn't anyone who wasn't suitable
for work behind the counter of a fast-food restaurant.  But this new
girl, a cute redhead by the name of Eiko Magami who insisted on wearing
a peculiar pair of armlets with her uniform, had been a difficult case
from the start.
   First, it had been the machines.  Somehow, things just seemed to
collapse, break off, or fall apart in her grasp.  Some of the other
workers claimed she actually did all these things herself, out of
frustration, but the manager didn't believe it.  She definitely didn't
look strong enough.
   Then it was the service itself.  Oh, she was cheerful enough.  She
smiled, she said thank you, she said come again.  But she just couldn't
assemble a presentable-looking tray if her life depended on it.  It put
her on the wrong end of jokes from the other counter girls, and she
rarely left work with a happy face.
   Now, she was getting absent-minded.  There'd been rumors of some kind
of nasty break-up with her last boyfriend.  Other rumors claimed he
hadn't been the first to dump her.  Still others claimed that these old
boyfriends said some pretty startling things about her -- about how she
was some kind of super-strong monster.  Whatever it was, her mind was
anywhere but on her job.  She would sometimes do nothing but lean over,
with her elbows on the counter, head in her hands, staring off into
nowhere.  People had to go to the other three registers to get any
service as she stood there, sighing.

   It was the lunch rush again.  And, right on cue, Eiko was leaning on
the counter, ignoring all comers, wistfully looking into some other
dimension.  One of the other girls had the foresight to put a "Next
Register Please" sign at her post.
   Today, however, the other cashiers took an occasional glance at her
and giggled slightly, as someone else had come to lighten up the
situation.
   He was tall.  Very tall.  About seven feet, they guessed.  He had
short brown hair, and at least one of them thought he was kind of cute,
in a wierd sort of way.  Another one claimed he was the leader of the
Clay Pigeons, but wasn't sure.
   He'd arrived about an hour ago, just as the rush was picking up.  He
looked at the other three lines for a moment, but his attention was
drawn by the forlorn little figure on the far right.
   He walked up to her position and bent over to gaze into her eyes.  He
was only met by a Thousand Mile Stare which blinked occasionally.  He
didn't wave, or make noises, or try anything obnoxious.  He just looked
quietly at her.
   Standing upright, with the full attention of the other cashiers'
sidelong glances, he rubbed his chin to consider a course of action.
Then, with a snap of his fingers, he did what they didn't expect.
   He leaned with his elbows on the counter, head in his hands,
returning Eiko's vacant stare as if waiting for Sleeping Beauty to
awaken from her slumber.  And there he'd stayed.
   The other girls continued to whisper among themselves.

   An hour after he'd begun, they were still locked, eye to eye.  Martin
was getting it down to a science.
   She blinked lazily.
   He blinked lazily.
   She yawned.
   He yawned.
   She scratched lightly at her cheek.
   He scratched lightly at his cheek.
   She sighed deeply.
   He sighed deeply.
   Suddenly, her eyes snapped fully open, as if someone had jabbed her
with a cattle-prod.
   He smiled.  "Hi."
   Her eyes darted around, taking in her surroundings.  She stood bolt
upright, her face turning nearly as red as her hair, as her coworkers
nearly collapsed with laughter.
   The laughter quieted soon enough, and business resumed.  Eiko
sheepishly turned to confront the man with his elbows on the counter,
still smiling at her.  "Uhhhh, may I, uhhh..."
   He pushed himself off the counter and stood to his full height.
   Her eyes followed him up.  Watching him stand almost made her dizzy.
Crom, he's tall!  "...I, I, ay-yi-yi..."
   He held his sympathetic smile as he looked down at her.  Her attempts
to stammer the traditional "may I help you" weren't going very well.
Alas, Prince Charming has awakened Sleeping Beauty a little too early in
the morning, he mused.
   She gave up, dropping her face into her hand.  "I'm sorry, I just
can't..."
   "Hey, hey ... don't be like that.  It's okay."  Having quietly gained
her attention, he extended a hand to her.
   Not sure what to expect, she accepted his gesture, putting her own
hand in his.  She was rewarded with a chivalrous bow, which managed to
bring a slightly embarrassed smile to her face.
   "And is there anything I can do to serve Milady?" he asked
grandiosely.
   "Well..." she began, then suddenly remembered where -- and who -- she
was.  Her expression quickly turned to the look of friendly defiance he
recognized from their first meeting.  "Hey, just a minute!  I'm the one
doing the serving here!"
   "Indeed you are," he replied with a smirk.  After a moment's silence,
they broke into laughter at the absurdity of what they'd just done.
   "Okay, okay, let's try this again," she said, finally regaining her
composure.  She made a show of clearing her throat, then batted her
eyes and asked pleasantly, "May I help you?"
   He made his order; she rang it up.  With the completed request, she
scampered around behind the counter gathering the necessary items.
Assembling them on a tray, she handed the finished product over with a
bright "thank you, come again" and a cheerful smile.
   The manager, who hadn't missed a moment, didn't quite believe what
was happening.  But it didn't matter, really; what did matter was that
Eiko was finally doing her job.
   Martin accepted the tray with a gracious nod, sought out a seat, and
devoured his meal.  (After all, he was eating an hour later than usual.)
Then, while moving to dispose of his litter, something on the tray
caught his eye.
   He picked up the receipt.  The front side was nothing unusual -- just
the list of what he'd eaten.  He turned it over, discovering a brief,
handwritten note:

            I'm off at 6

                  <heart>
                    Eiko

   It's starting again, he thought with a smile.
   He caught her eye on the way out and smiled, waving the receipt.  She
replied with a wink and a grin, then turned to greet her next customer.
   The "Next Register Please" sign was gone.

28 ---------- A Promise is a Promise

   It was only a few minutes after 6:00 when Eiko emerged from the main
entrance of the Wedge Wendy's.  Her counter-girl uniform was neatly
folded in her handbag.  She now wore a one-size-too-large tee-shirt with
the WDF logo visible across the chest, a loose-fitting button-down
blouse with rolled-up sleeves, tied together over her waist with none of
the buttons buttoned, a daring pair of athletic shorts, white running
shoes, and her trademark armlets.  Her long, feathery red hair fell
freely down her back.
   She opened the door apprehensively at first; then, reassured that her
date was, indeed, waiting outside, she strode out confidently to greet
him.
   Martin, for his part, had chosen a decidedly different look this
evening.  A plain white tee-shirt was mostly hidden by a loose violet
jacket with half-sleeves, completely open down the front.  He also
sported blue jeans, white tennis shoes, fingerless gloves and a violet
baseball cap with a Rotofoil emblem on the front.  He smiled when he saw
her, pitying the fact that his Fatal Fury look-alike contest entry would
never strike a chord with her.
   "So," she offered, "you must be related to Terry Bogard."
   He nearly jumped.  This is what I get for picking up Joe Higashi's
old girlfriend, he guessed.  "No, not really."
   "Well, you already know my name.  How about giving me yours?"
   "I have several, actually.  Here."  He reached into a pocket,
producing a folded sheet of paper, which he unfolded and handed to her.
"Pick one."
   At least he's flexible, she thought.  She stifled her laughter as she
looked over the sheet.  It included his given name (Martin Rose), his
primary WDF/IRC name (PCHammer), his old common-use name (Grey), and
several "punt" names such as Stupid and You With The Face.
   "What's this one here?" she asked, pointing about midway in the list.
   Martin moved beside her to look.  "Oh, that's a combination of two
old cartoons, 'Noozles' and 'The Ren & Stimpy Show'.  The second-to-last
word used to be Koala-Wala, but it almost works in this new form."
   A little clumsy to pronounce, though.  "Can I abbreviate?"
   "The only abbreviation I'll object to is 'PC'."  Shifting his voice
to a Worf impression, he growled, "I am NOT Politically Correct!"
   She giggled.  "Okay, okay.  I think I've decided."
   "Very well, then ... what is thy decision, Milady?"  He went down on
one knee and bowed before her.
   Clearing her throat and striking a regal pose, she announced,
"Forthwith and evermore, thou shalt be known to Her Majesty, Eiko the
Twenty-fifth, aaaaas ... DIGGY!"
   Martin laughed so hard he fell over.  His laughter eventually
subsided enough for him to speak.  "That's a cute one!  Why 'Diggy'?"
   "Easy," she replied nonchalantly.  "Too many people around here would
respond to 'Stupid'."
   He thought for a moment.  "Okay, I can see that."  He sprang to his
feet.  "I stand identified."
   "So, where do we go from here?"
   "Out there," he said quietly, dreamily.  Then, with a wave of his
hand in some randomly-chosen direction, he added, "thataway."  He took
her by the arm, and they walked forward at a leisurely pace.

   The door to Eiko's quarters slid open and she stepped in.  "See you
tomorrow, Diggy!"
   "Not if I see you first," Martin replied with a wink.
   Eiko chuckled as the door closed behind her.
   She took a deep breath, releasing it in a contented sigh as she
dropped herself onto the sofa.  She smiled as she looked around;
everything seemed so much better now that she had someone to talk to
again.
   She carefully removed the night's memento from atop her head -- a
wide-brimmed straw hat.  She'd tried the red one, but it didn't go well
with her hair.  Even Martin admitted that it almost blended into her
head.  This one was a better match for her.  She lazily tossed it toward
a table in the corner.
   Missed.  It dropped to the floor, landing upside-down.
   Leaning her head back, she sighed again.  Then, with a snap of her
fingers, she stood and walked quickly into the bedroom.  Reaching over
to her nightstand, she grabbed a small book with a lock across its open
edge.  She also remembered to grab a pen as she returned to the sofa.
Sitting more carefully this time, she opened first the lock, then the
book.  Taking the pen in hand and tapping it against her chin in
thought, she proceeded to write.

     Dear Diary,
        Hi.  Me again.  I'm sorry I haven't written in so long, but I've
     been in a pretty bad way lately.  Well, until now.
        I've told you before about the bad luck I've been having with
     guys around here.  Things seem to be going so well, and then I do
     something bad and scare them away -- crush their hands, break some
     little keepsake, maybe throw them across a room so that they make a
     dent in the far wall -- you know, stuff like that.
        You may remember that last way is how I lost Joe, in the arena.
     I was so sorry ... I nearly killed him.  He said things that shook
     me so badly that I couldn't think straight ever since.  That's when
     I stopped writing to you.
        Well, as you may have guessed, I just found a new guy.  He's ...
     I don't know how to express it.  There's something different about
     him.  How do I describe it?  Let me think.

   Eiko idly tapped her head, closing her eyes to collect her thoughts
and feelings.  It took a few minutes to decide what she was trying to
explain.  She sat forward and began writing again.

        Somehow, he just doesn't seem to be motivated the same way other
     guys are.  You know how it is; they're guys, you're a girl, they
     want to do the birds-and-bees thing, like that.  You can see it in
     their eyes whenever they look at you.  Diggy (that's what I call
     him; his real name's Martin Rose, but I call him Diggy, short for
     "The High Diggy-Hoek of Chihuahua-Wala Land" -- thank Mitra for
     those memory lessons I had to take to get this assignment!) is
     different.  Whenever he looks at me, he's looking INTO me.  He
     wants to know me as a person.  He has an innocence about him that
     makes me feel like a schoolgirl again.  When he reaches out to
     touch me, even just to take my hand, he doesn't take it for
     granted; it's as if he were handling fine crystal.  How anyone can
     be as sarcastic as him and still seem so innocent is something I
     think I'll enjoy discovering.
        Of course, I don't know much about him yet.  And he doesn't know
     much about me.  (Thank goodness!  What would he think of me if he
     knew?...)  Sometimes, when he smiles at me, I see something sad in
     his eyes ... some kind of loneliness.  He may not be as naive as he
     seems.  There must be some kind of dark secret in his past.  (Not
     unlike someone you know, hm?)  I hope we can make this thing
     between us last.  I guess I'll find out soon enough, when I tell
     him about my power.
        I think I'm in love, Diary.  (You've heard that before, right?
     Well, I mean it this time.)
        Talk to you later.
                                                   <heart>
                                                     Eiko

   Eiko started to close the book, then thought of something else.  She
scribbled a quick postscript.

     P.S.  I'm sending a report tonight.  He's not in it.

   Eiko closed the book, locked it and returned it to her nightstand.
While in her bedroom, she opened one of the lower drawers.  Lifting a
false bottom, she took out an object about the size of a sheet of paper,
but five centimeters thick, and went back to the sofa.
   The smile she'd worn only a minute ago was gone from her as she
connected one end of a cord she'd also retrieved to a jack on one end of
the object.  The other end she plugged into a nearby wall outlet.
   She laid the object down on the table, jack connection facing her,
and prepared to open it.  Any doubts she'd ever had about her mission
had only been amplified over the last four hours.   But a promise is a
promise.
   She swung the top half up, forming an obtuse angle and revealing a
keypad on the bottom half.  She tapped a few keys, slowly, meticulously.
It emitted a light beep with each tap.  After the last one, it began a
rhythmic pinging.
   A few seconds later, the top half came to life as a terminal display.

        CONNECTING...

        DECRYPTING...

        CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
        ACCESS PENDING
        VOICE IDENTIFY NOW

   "Agent A Kay Zero.  Password, Graviton."  Her voice rang hollowly.
"Access level, report entry."

        WAIT...

        INDENTITY CONFIRMED
        ACCESS GRANTED

          ###########       ############          ########
         ####               ####                    ####
         ####  ###### ENOM  ######## SPIONAGE  AND  #### NTELLIGENCE
         ####    ####       ####                    ####
          ###########       ############          ########

         READY TO RECEIVE REPORT FROM AGENT AK0
         ASSIGNMENT:  SDF-17 WAYWARD SON
         BEGIN TRANSMISSION

   Eiko looked across the room to where the straw hat still lay on the
floor.  She sighed.
   A promise is a promise.

29 ---------- Catch!

   Eiko exited from the Wedge Wendy's at a brisk jog.  Martin had left a
message for her to meet him at a nearby park, as part of their
celebration of their one-month anniversary, and she was wearing the
straw hat he'd given her on that first night.  Even as she ran, however,
her heart was heavy, for she'd decided that today was the day.
   Today, she would tell him about her power.
   The park wasn't far, and she found him easily enough, sitting on a
bench, not looking entirely cheerful.  He sat in the classic "Thinker"
pose, unmoving.
   Eiko approached him slowly, bending over slightly to look into his
eyes.  No reaction came from him.  She stood upright, rubbing her chin
in thought.
   She sat beside him, duplicating his pose as closely as possible.
   They lasted a full minute like that before falling over each other
with laughter.
   He gave her a gentle hug.  "Happy anniversary, Eiko."
   She hugged him back.  "Happy anniversary, Diggy."
   He stood.  "Come on, this scene is too mushy.  Let's do someth--"
   His monologue was interrupted by a gentle hand on his arm.  He looked
down into Eiko's unexpectedly sad eyes.
   "Diggy ... before we go on, there's ... something I have to tell
you."  She closed her eyes as he sat back down beside her, taking her
hands into his.  "I don't know how ... how you'll take this, but ... I
feel that you should know."  She fell into silence.
   "Eiko?"  He gave her hands a tender squeeze.
   "Maybe it's best if I just ... show you," she stated.
   Excusing herself from his grasp, she rose to her feet and walked
around to one end of the bench.  She closed her eyes, put one hand on
the top of the backrest, and gripped the base of the forward leg with
the other.
   Without making a sound, she easily lifted the bench, Martin and all.
   Her eyes remained closed as she spoke slowly, deliberately.  "I know
this may seem frightening to you.  But I was born with incredible
strength, and it's something I've had to live with.  Most of the people
I've met in my life can't deal with it, but it's a part of me, and I
felt you should know now, instead of finding out later, the hard way.  I
only pray that you can accept this, and accept meeYYYAAAIII!"
   That last word didn't quite come out the way she'd planned, because,
as she stood holding the bench, she suddenly found that the bench was
lifting her!  Feet dangling in the air, she looked across the bench to
see what could be happening.
   Her wondering eyes came upon Martin, standing at the other end of the
bench and smiling his sympathetic smile as he held it, and her, aloft.
Satisfied that he'd gotten his point across, he slowly and effortlessly
lowered his load to the ground.
   Eiko's face was a picture of unbounded glee as she regarded him
across the bench's length.
   "You know, it's funny you should mention that," he began.
   He didn't get to finish.  She flew headlong into him and whirled
around him, laughing and crying at the same time, wrapping her arms
tightly around him.
   "Owowowowow," Martin grunted.
   "Oops," she mumbled, immediately releasing her Death-Hug.  "Sorry."
   He put his hands on her arms as she stood in a meek, penitent pose.
Then, he lifted her up to look directly into her eyes.  "Don't ever
apologize for what you are," he said with a smile.  His words of comfort
were rewarded with a happy giggle, and he put her back down.
   "Now then," he continued, "as I was saying, let's go do something
fun, something only we could do.  I've got this idea..."

   ReRob entered Bay Three, not in any particular hurry.  He'd told Eve
to let him know whenever there was anyone around Thundergod Prime, the
original Flying Kludge From Hell.  It wasn't an uncommon occurrence, by
any means; the thing was a veritable historical monument.  People came
to see the original prototype of the most powerful strike plane in the
WDF.  Not often, mind you, and rarely more than once.  After all, the
thing was just plain ugly.  Couples would even come to visit at times,
like it was some kind of still-life horror movie.  Still, it was never
any real trouble, and the visitors might have some questions he could
supply smart-ass answers to.
   The open door greeted him with the sound of childlike laughter.
Someone sure has a sick sense of humor, he thought.  Must be shit-faced
stinking drunk.
   He entered the bay, took one look, and nearly had a stroke.
   There was nothing unusual in the bay, per se.  It was just some tall
guy, his redhead girlfriend, and Thundergod Prime.  That was fine.
   The guy and the girl were on opposite sides of the plane.  Again,
nothing out of the ordinary.
   The plane, however, was upside-down high in the air between them.
   That was unusual.
   It arced gracefully (sorry, that's not possible) through the bay,
coming back down to crush the girl.  This is where things got REALLY
strange.
   She caught it.
   No Fucking Way.
   Holding it over her head, she reared back a bit.  "Incoming!" she
called, sending the hapless vehicle airborne once more.  Its flight path
carried it over to the guy's position, and he caught it, too.
   Wait a minute.  He looks familiar.
   "Alley-up!"  He threw it to her.
   He looks DAMN familiar.
   "Think fast!"  She threw it to him.
   "HAMMER?!?"
   Rob's sudden outburst caught Martin completely by surprise as he was
preparing his return pitch, and he began to lose his balance.  "Whaaaa,
whaaaa, whaaaa!"
   "Diggy!"  The girl was across the bay in an instant.  Dashing under
the teetering mech, she pushed it back up into his grip.
   "Thanks, Eiko," Martin offered with a smile.  He then returned is
attention to their visitor.  "Hey, Rob.  Been a while."  He tossed the
enormous machine into the air, flipping it over.  When it returned to
his grasp, the landing gear was facing down.
   "Uh ... yeah.  Would you mind telling me just what the hell you're
doing?"  A look of cross determination failed to cross Rob's face.  He
just stood there looking stunned, instead.
   Martin gave Rob a frustrating smile.  "Oh, we were just playing
'Catch'."
   "'Catch'?"
   "Yeah, you know.  Most people play it with a baseball, or a
volleyball, or something like that.  When you're as ... physically
unique as the two of us, though, you need something a little bigger.
Otherwise, you end up making sonic booms by pitching fastballs."
   ".....Right."
   Martin put the plane gently on the ground.  "Oh, I'm sorry, I'm being
rude."  Walking toward ReRob, he waved Eiko to his side.  "Rob, this is
a good friend of mine, Eiko Magami.  Eiko, th--"
   "Commander Mandeville," Eiko said, cutting Martin off and extending
her hand to ReRob.  "It's a pleasure to meet a charter member of the
Wedge Defense Force, and the designer of this flying powerhouse."
   Rob and Martin looked at her, speechless, but for different reasons.
   "Uh ... likewise, I'm sure," Rob replied, cautiously taking her
offered hand.  "Call me ReRob, everyone else does."
   Martin continued to regard his red-haired companion curiously.  She
didn't know who _I_ was when we first met.  Everyone else does.  Even
people I've never met know who I am.  So how does she know him?
   Eiko gave Martin a sidelong glance, noticing his stare.  "What is it,
Diggy?"
   ReRob gave him a look of his own, and a knowing smile.  "'Diggy'?"
   The sudden attention thrown his way snapped Martin out of his
reverie.  With an embarrassed "Well", he put a hand behind his head,
scratching lightly.
   "Oh, no you don't!" Eiko interrupted, wrapping her arms around his
waist.  "He's MY Diggy.  You'll have to find your own.  C'mon, Diggy."
With that, Eiko and Martin strolled out of the bay together.
   Martin stopped them just outside the door.  "Oh, Rob, I'm sorry if we
were any trouble, I mean--"
   Rob dismissed the rest of the apology with a wave of his hand.  "Ah,
forget about it.  It's not like anyone flies the thing anymore.  Long as
you didn't break it, I don't mind."
   "Thanks, man.  We owe you."
   "If I ever need a power-lifter, I'll give you a call."
   "Make sure it's something heavy!" Eiko chimed in happily.
   Now alone in the bay, Rob gave the old Rick Allen a slow walk-around.
No damage, no dents, not a scratch on it.  Hammer even put the thing
back in the exact place it'd been before; he could see the marked wheel
positions under the tires.
   Just looking at it brought back memories.  Ah, the old days.  When
life was a new adventure every day, even when it was boring as hell.  He
stood undisturbed for quite a while.
   "Rob?" a soft voice called from the door.
   "C'mere, hon."
   Deedlit entered the bay, and they held each other, their eyes not
leaving the mechanical monster before them.  It stood, tall and proud,
proud that it was the damned ugliest machine in the Galaxy.  Its very
image took Rob back to the first time they'd flown together as Team
Thundergod.  Ah, the old days.
   Deedlit gave Rob a silent squeeze, and a kiss.
   The old days, Rob decided, are highly overrated.

   Martin and Eiko continued to walk in silence.  Sure, Deedlit'd asked
them where he was.  Martin told her; he knew Rob wouldn't mind the
company.  After all, he was still madly in love with her, and probably
always would be.
   Eiko had known her on sight, too.
   She was leaning against him as they walked.  He rubbed his hand down
her back, producing a shrug and a slight purr from her.
   Someday, I'll have to let you know ALL about me, he said silently.
You thought you had a pretty horrible secret, but you came out and told
me.  I can't keep you in the dark about my ability to transform.  I
nearly lost my best friend when she found out, but she accepted me.
Will you?  I hope so.
   Still, I can't help but think about how you know all these things
about the command staff, and the ship, and the history of the WDF.  You
know all about them as if you'd been on board since before I even
arrived.  But you haven't even been around for a half-year.  How can
that be?
   There's something you're not telling me, Little One.  But do I want
to know what it is?

30 ---------- Over the Edge

   The SDF-17, celebrating the successful completion of yet another
mission, was undertaking one of those rare events known as Shore Leave.
While not nearly so rare as the mythical Utopia Planitia Visit, it was
still an uncommon occurence, and greatly appreciated by all who could
participate.  This usually meant everyone, since the crew would go
planetside in shifts; leaving an untended superdimensional fortress in
orbit was widely considered to be a Bad Idea.
   This time, the entire musical group/fighter squadron known as the
Clay Pigeons, along with their friends, acquaintances and S.O.s, had
managed to get their leave all on the same shift, and had descended upon
the hapless world en masse.  The only people left out were accomplished
vocalist Deedlit Mandeville and her husband, who were unable to change
their leave shift.  Those Pigeons that could come were dressed in their
official uniform:  red jumpsuits with a large badge high on the left
side that bore the word "Gizmonics" on a yello field over a checkered
flag.  What their companions wore was their business.
   (By some bizarre coincidence, the world they were visiting was named
Wein-am-Rhein.  Martin could only scratch his head at how a world could
be named after the kingdom which served as the home of the fictional
composer P.D.Q. Bach; he eventually chalked it up to Cosmic Wierdness.
It was actually a pleasant little place, with a bustling metropolis of a
capitol city named Baden Baden Baden, which somehow made sense if you
accepted everything else.)
   Eiko was inseparably by his side, as usual.  Martin had found their
relationship to be very different, and more challenging in all respects,
than the friendship he shared with Noriko.  Whereas Noriko had opened up
to him from the very start -- he could only wonder how long she'd held
all that sadness within her, waiting for someone willing to listen --
Eiko's thoughts and feelings were more of a mystery to him, like a
buried prize to be unearthed.
   The fact that she remained so much an enigma was something for which
he blamed himself more than anyone else.  After all, he didn't really
put an overwhelming effort into pursuing her inner self; most of their
time together was spent being silly and having fun.  He was also trying
to teach her to play a musical instrument, since she was hopelessly
tone-deaf as a singer.  She was an excellent and energetic dancer,
though, and she had, in turn, been teaching him to dance, which he'd
never really picked up on before, even under Noriko's careful tutelage.
If he were given a choice between having a brain hemorrage and deciding
whether Eiko or Noriko was the better dancer, he'd take the hemorrage,
no question.
   Part of his unwillingness to dig for Eiko's soul was also rooted in
the basic guilt that plagued him.  You see, he'd never come around to
telling Eiko about his status as a Transformer; in fact, he went out of
his way at times to avoid having her find out.  It may not have been
common knowledge, but the Wayward Son's command staff was aware of it,
as were the Pigeons.  It only took a few polite requests, on his part,
to keep them from spilling the beans to her.  He still lived in silent
dread of what she'd think of him if she knew, even after they'd known
each other for nearly a year.  The initial reactions he remembered from
even his closest friends did little to inspire his confidence.

   Their first day in Baden Baden Baden was coming to a close, and the
Clay Pigeons Tourist Gaggle was making one final daylight visit before
their nocturnal activities began.  The sunsets of Wein-am-Rhein were
supposed to be quite beautiful, and they had come to the open rooftop of
Baden Tower, far and away the tallest building in the whole city, to
watch one in action.
   The sun wasn't setting yet, but Eiko was already leaning on the
railing that separated them from a half-mile drop, scanning the horizon.
She gripped it with her hands as she thought about her past and tried to
think of what would become of her future.  She was certain that Genom
had lied to her about why she should be one of their agents in the Wedge
Defense Force, but didn't dare say so to them, or anyone for that
matter.  She wondered if maybe, just maybe, that wasn't the only thing
they'd lied to her about.
   The thought of being duped so easily made her furious, and she
gritted her teeth, suppressing the urge to roar in frustration.
   "Picture time!"
   Eiko took in a sharp gasp, whirling her head around.  The sudden
shout had taken her by surprise.  She couldn't help but chuckle.  She'd
wound herself up so tightly, she'd forgotten that Danilia, the youngest
of the Pigeons -- a small girl with short, blond hair, enlarged canines
that looked slightly like tiny fangs, and a pair of rather prominent,
curly horns -- had wanted to take a group photo of them above the city.
   Eiko turned around, her hands still on the railing.  The group was
beginning to gather around her, and Martin was standing slightly behind
Danilia, ready to make some silly face, comment or hand gesture to get
everyone smiling.  He was also there to make sure that little Dani was
pointing the camera the right way this time; the last couple "group
photos" turned out to be startling close-ups of her eye, and she'd
blinded herself with the flash one of those times.
   She fumed as he scrutinized her grip on the camera.  "Oh, come on!
That was just an accident!  It could've happened to anyone!"
   "Suuuuuuure, Dani," the entire group responded, then broke out
laughing.
   Danilia stomped her foot in anger, then brightened up immediately.
"Oh, that's perfect!  Ready?"  She lifted the camera to her eye and took
aim.
   "Just a second," Martin called out, sprinting over to the group.  He
assumed a position next to Eiko.  He looked down at her; she was nearly
completely hidden behind the crowd.  "Want a lift, Little One?"
   She gave him a cocky smile.  "Nah, I can do for myself."  With a
twitch of her ankle, she sprang up onto the railing she'd been holding,
one hand against Martin's back for balance.  "Ready!"
   Dani considered the group unhappily.  "You're too spread out over to
the left!  Pack it in a bit!"  The crowd began to shift.  "No, no, the
other left!"
   Now completely baffled, the crowd closed in on itself.  A few gentle
nudges forced Martin a half-step back.  That was all it took.
   "Whoa, whoa, WHAAA!"
   "Eiko, stop moving!  Get back in the picture!" Dani called in
annoyance.
   Martin rather suddenly remembered where Eiko was.  "Eiko!"  He
whirled around, ready to grab her away from the edge.
   He grabbed at empty air.
   "EIKO!!!"  He started to lean out over the railing, then noticed the
part she was standing on had collapsed entirely.  A quick glance told
him why; one side of the collapsed section looked twisted, and slightly
crushed.  When he stepped back, she started losing her balance, it gave
way, and now gravity had taken control of the situation.
   His shout got the entire crowd's attention, resulting in a loud
cacophony of gasps and startled shouts.
   "Hey, come on, turn around!"  Dani still hadn't determined that
something was amiss.
   Martin watched her tumbling form in horror.  Her wide eyes pled with
him for help.  She's going to die!  What do I do?  What CAN I do?
   His eyes narrowed.  He knew what he had to do.
   So much for keeping secrets.
   "Hang on, Eiko," he muttered, launching himself into the air and away
from the building.  He transformed directly to Rotofoil Jet form in mid-
air, facing straight down; once in this form, his engines roared to life
and he raced after her.
   "You get back here!  I haven't taken the picture yet!"

   Eiko had tumbled to a face-down position, and spread her arms to
embrace the rushing winds.  She knew she would not survive, and was
saying her farewells.
   Biiko, Siiko ... I've failed you ... forgive me.
   Largo ... my debt to you remains unpaid.
   Diggy ... we never really knew each other ... I'm sorry.
   Mother ... Father ... I'll be with you, soon.
   Her eyes closed, tears streaming up her face, Eiko patiently awaited
her final rest.
   Something hit her.
   It couldn't be the ground.  It was too soft, and struck her from
behind.  It forced her into a sitting position.  She felt straps come
over her shoulders, tightening in front of her.  The wind in her face
stopped, but she was still pressed against the soft thing behind her.
   Curious, she opened her eyes.
   She was still falling, but she wasn't out in the open anymore.  She
looked around; it appeared to be some sort of cockpit, but not for any
kind of plane she'd ever seen.  There were no controls, and no readouts.
   A rectangular view window opened in front of her; someone's concerned
face was in it.  "Eiko!  Are you okay?"
   She wiped her eyes.  "Uh ... I don't know ... what's happening,
Diggy?"
   "I'm saving your life, I think."  Eiko felt the plane pull into a
climb.  The view of the ground below fell away, and the horizon was soon
in sight.  "And after we land ... we have to talk."
   "Hammer!  Hammer, you there?" Tom's voice called out frantically from
a speaker somewhere beside Eiko.  The Pigeons called him Tom; his full
name was rather complicated to pronounce.  Aside from his elven ears and
the fact that each of his hands only had three digits and a thumb, he
was just like everyone else.
   "Yeah, we're here, and we're safe.  You guys go on without us.  We'll
join you in a little while.  I hope."
   "What is everyone looking at?  Turn around!"  Dani's voice was
audible in the background.
   "Okay, whatever you say, Hammer.  Tom out."
   "Diggy?  Where are you?"  Eiko strained to look around herself.  Was
this the front seat or something?
   "All around you, Eiko."
   "What?  Diggy, this isn't funny!"
   Martin's image sighed.  "No, it's not.  Please, just relax.
Everything will be clear very soon."
   "Well ... okay," she resigned.  The window closed, and she could feel
the plane slowing down.  Then, there was the sudden feeling of change
outside the cockpit, and the bizarre sound that Cybertronians make when
they transform.  She heard the whirring of rotors overhead, and figured
that the plane must have reconfigured to a helicopter-like mode.  They
reached a nearby rooftop, and gently descended toward it; just as they
were about to touch down, that sound came again, and the rotors were
gone.  They settled to the roof.
   The front end of the cockpit split open, and the harnesses quickly
retreated.  "Step out, Eiko.  I have something to show you."
   She did as he asked, and turned around to face the vehicle, which
now appeared to be a small purple pyramid bearing an Autobot symbol just
above the nose.  "You can come out now, Diggy."
   The buzz-crunch sound occurred yet a third time, as the pyramid
folded, swiveled, pivoted, split and reformed.  In two seconds, the
vehicle was gone, and Martin, staring sadly at his feet, stood in its
place.
   Eiko clutched a hand to her heart.  "Crom..." she whispered.
   He chanced a look up at her.  The look of amazement and fear that met
his eyes told him that there was much to answer for.  He took a deep
breath.
   "Maybe ... I should start from the beginning," he offered.
   She just nodded.

31 ---------- What's On Your Mind

   Dusk was settling over Baden Baden Baden, smothering the daylight
with star-pierced ebony.  The lights of the city began to come to life,
lending the impressive metropolis a modicum of independence from the
rotational cycle of the planet.  Still, even with the lights, it was a
simple matter to tell daytime from nighttime, if only by the nature of
those you would meet as you strolled the main thoroughfares; the
businessfolk who dominated the day were replaced by the revelers who
celebrated the day's end.
   High above those very streets, the darkness pulled over two people on
a lonely rooftop, enveloping their souls like a black shroud.  One, a
pretty young girl with long, feathery red hair, stared pensively at the
fiery horizon.  Her back was to the other, a thin, youthful-looking man.
His stature would have been imposing if he hadn't been sitting in a
penitent pose, arms around his knees, facing away from the girl.
   Martin ended his narration with a deep sigh.  He'd just completed
relating the story of his life, such as it was, to Eiko, as a sort of
apology for what she'd just discovered about him.  "And that's about it,
Eiko.  If it weren't for this ... thing that I am, I'd be dead right
now.  I don't begrudge anyone for making me this way."  His voice
reduced to a whipser as he added, "I should have told you."  He fell
into silence.
   She stood with her arms around herself as the wind tossed her long
hair around her, her deep blue eyes focused somewhere beyond infinity.
She was quite a lovely sight to behold; it was a pity noone was looking
at her.
   Everything he'd told her sounded so familiar.  She knew exactly where
he was coming from.  Being something more than anyone around you could
suspect -- being paralyzed by how they might fear you, hate you, if they
knew what you truly were -- being suddenly separated from lifelong
friends.  Oh, yes.  She knew it all so well, and then some.
   So this is what he was hiding behind his jester's smile, she mused.
The more I know of him, the more he reminds me of myself.
   I remember when I wished I could say those things to someone ... to
anyone.  I eventually convinced myself that I was the only one who could
ever feel that way.  I spent my days laughing with a couple friends who
didn't ask questions about how I felt and didn't seem turned off by what
I could do.  I spent my nights feeling the loneliness closing in around
me, like a shrinking room whose door could be opened only from the
outside.  How I longed for someone to throw the door open, to tell me I
wasn't alone, to tell me how completely they understood.
   She turned slowly to look at him.  He was sitting on the ground,
looking very much like a frightened, lonely child.
   I'd sooner burn in Set's abyss than let him live like that.
   "My mother wanted to call me Diana, you know," she began quietly.
   His eyes opened, and he regarded her curiously.
   She continued.  "About once every one hundred years, on my world,
there is a child born with amazing gifts.  These gifts take on one of
three basic natures, and the child is given the name associated with
their gift.  Sometimes, two such children are born within the same year;
it's a rare occasion, and those two are brought together during their
childhood, growing up to be close friends, lovers, or life-mates.
   "Remember when I chose a name for you?"  Martin nodded.  "I called
myself Eiko the Twenty-fifth.  'Eiko' is the name attached to girls born
with the gift of physical strength; it means 'strong of arm'.  The other
two girls' names are 'Biiko', for 'strong of mind', and 'Siiko', for
'strong of heart'.  There are male versions of those names, too."
   I guess the name isn't really Japanese after all, Martin concluded.
   "Bii's are incredible geniuses and inventors from the day they're
born.  Some say it starts sooner, and that there have been Bii's born in
the past who were critiquing the doctor delivering them as they emerged.
Sii's are a little harder to describe ... somehow, it's just not
possible to be depressed or gloomy around a Sii.  They seem to have an
eternal happiness about them that's impossibly contagious."  Eiko
smiled.  Even the thought of Siiko cheered her up.
   "My generation was the first time in history that all three powers
entered the world at once -- all girls, as it would happen.  The other
two were pretty close together, geographically, and from well-to-do
families in the city of Graviton.  I was born into a small, middle-class
household, my parents' only child.  As soon as word got out that an Eiko
was born, they were forced to move over by the other two families.  It
was ... very hard on them.
   "My own life was pretty good, I guess.  My lower social status kept
me from being introduced to the other two girls, mostly because I was
constantly helping out around the house.  I took a job as a newspaper
deliverer when I was five.  My strength allowed me to carry the entire
city's newspapers for a day, and, since my strength also resulted in an
increased running speed, I could do the entire delivery in less than an
hour.
   "I was only introduced to Siiko Kotobuki by accident as I came home
from my paper route one day.  I heard someone crying, and went to see
why; I saw her there, screaming, terrified, backed against a fence by a
huge, rabid dog.  I beat it away from her easily, and we were friends
ever since.  My fondest memories of childhood are times I've been with
Siiko.
   "It was through Siiko that I met Biiko Daitokuji.  Biiko and I,
somehow, just didn't seem to click with each other.  It's something I
never understood ... we were both Siiko's friends, but ... I guess she
wanted to be Siiko's only friend.  That never made sense to me.  Still,
when Biiko and I worked together on something, we were unstoppable.
   "My world was also a pretty tumultous place.  It was a former colony
world that had declared its independence from an older world, but the
others never really gave up their claim on it.  So, once every century,
this other world would send an invasion force to try to take back our
world.  If it weren't for the Ei's fighting, the Bii's enhancement of
weapons technology, and the Sii's ability to keep morale high, there
are many times when the planet would have fallen.  People with powers
like mine have been the heroes and heroines of our world.
   "Even so, it's generally hard for one of us to find friends.  We're
revered among our people, but they're also afraid of us -- particularly
the Ei's.  We're valued as defenders of our land ... but not as people.
Even my own parents were afraid of me..."  She took a faltering breath.
"We save the day, we're treated like royalty.  But what does it matter,
when you can't share your feelings -- or even a simple embrace?"
   She turned to gaze once again at the silent crimson of the horizon,
but found it to be no more.  There was only the flecked blackness above,
and the busy, winking lights below.  There was comfort in neither.
   She shivered and rubbed her hands against her arms.  The wind had
picked up somewhat, and it bit cruelly through the short-sleeved white
blouse she was wearing.  The chill in the air, however, couldn't hold a
candle to her memories of young womanhood.
   The days at school.  There is no torture so heartless as the laughter
of your peers.  She wanted to lash out, but dared not.  She cried when
she was sure noone was looking.
   The birthday parties.  They were put on by Siiko's parents because
her own family couldn't afford one "good enough for an Eiko".  There was
noone even close to her own age at any of them.
   Her first boyfriend.  He was such a handsome young man -- or, at
least, she sure thought so.  Their third date got a little playful, and
he spent the next three months in traction.  She never saw his smile
again.  Just like the others.
   The fateful day of her Coming of Agelessness.  As she burned from
within, the invasion force struck, fiercer than ever, and the only two
friends she'd ever known were stolen from her.  To be so strong, and so
powerless...
   Gentle hands closed over hers, shielding them from the winds.
   She whirled, throwing herself into his patient arms.  He was on his
knees, a position he was getting quite accustomed to, and he carefully
gathered her into his embrace.  The warmth she needed was there for her,
at long last.  She wasn't sure of that until now.
   Smiling dreamily, she absently ran her fingers over the insignia on
his left breast.  Then, something struck her about it.
   "Diggy?"
   "Mm?"
   "Did you change your uniform?"
   "No."
   "This looks different."
   He looked down to see what she was referring to.  His eyes followed
her right arm up to where her hand was resting, by the emblem on his
left.
   It was a large Autobot symbol.
   He blinked.  How did that get there?  This is my Gizmonic Institute
jumpsuit!
   As he continued to stare at this anomaly, he felt something soft and
warm against the side of his face.  A tingle ran down his spine, and his
face flushed red.
   Eiko concluded her kiss on Martin's cheek with a smile.  "Let's get
going.  It's freezing up here."
   His face turned to a mischievous grin as he scooped her into his
arms.  "You're right.  Besides, who knows what trouble the rest of those
guys are causing."  Leaping into the air, he transformed to Rotofoil
Chopper mode around her.  Together, they flew into the heart of the
city.
   (No, a city doesn't REALLY have a heart.  It's a metaphor, for pity's
sake.)

32 ---------- Nothing Up My Sleeve

   The second tone sounded, signaling the start of the match.
   Martin and Eiko had arranged for a private sparring arena to be
constructed specifically for them.  It was pretty much like the public
arena, except for a few details.
   The most obvious difference was the absence of a spectators' area.
That's what made it a private arena.  The other differences were more
subtle.  It was longer, wider and taller, so they would have more room
to run and leap.  The floor, walls and ceiling were all Selecto-padded,
allowing them to throw each other around without serious injury.  And
all surfaces were reinforced, so they wouldn't accidentally go crashing
through a wall.  (Selecto-padding was one of the more unique inventions
to come from the WDF's labs; it essentially allowed you to choose
between a hard surface and a soft surface without physically swapping
panels.  It was also self-repairing, so any rips or cuts in the surface
would fix themselves, given a little time.)
   The Dynamic Duo, as they were becoming known, leapt into the air.
Martin flew forward and up, flipping himself over to plant his feet on
the ceiling.  Eiko bounded to her left, somersaulted, and resumed her
fighting stance.  She watched Martin closely, suspiciously.  They'd been
sparring like this for years, and he'd yet to completely repeat any
strategy or tactic.  She believed him to be a clever strategist.  He
never told her that his ever-varying method was due mostly to the fact
that he forgot which strategies worked and which ones didn't.  Still, he
repeatedly told her that if you can be anticipated, you can be beaten,
which seemed to satisfy her.
   She continued to eye him as he rebounded off the ceiling, launching
himself in a trajectory that would take him nowhere near her.  Every
aspect of his fighting style reflected his off-guard philosophy.  For
instance, he had no fighting stance.  He just stood, sometimes with his
arms straight, sometimes folded over his chest, sometimes behind his
back.  He was equally likely to pounce on her as he was to just walk
toward her.
   The way he dressed for combat was wildly varied as well.  Anything
from a karate outfit to a loose tee-shirt and jeans were fine to him.
His wardrobe had become especially wild, she noticed, when he discovered
how much control he had over his clothes when he transformed, something
she'd pointed out to him in Baden Baden Baden.  These days, she honestly
had no idea what his next shirt would have printed or illustrated on it.
Thanks to a lot of practice (and an equally great deal of coaching from
the ever fashion-conscious Eiko), he was eventually able to conjure any
costume he could imagine.
   Right now, he was wearing a peculiar costume in red and blue; the
pants, completely blue, were not especially tight around his legs,
ending in red boots with chrome legbands almost completely covering his
shins.  His shirt was mostly red, with a blue triangle rising from his
metal-belted waist, and an equally blue rectangle over his shoulders and
neck, both bordered in white.  His full sleeves tucked into chrome
armlets which appeared thicker than her own.  He'd called it the "Space
Harrier Look" when she asked, referring to an ancient video game she'd
played on his Genesis.  She didn't bother asking why.
   He struck the ground with his hands, launching himself into the air
yet again.  This time, he arced gracefully in what she judged to be a
collision course with her.  She jumped skyward, bringing her foot
forward in hopes of planting it on him.
   She was rather disappointed when the foot failed to catch him by
surprise.  Indeed, he was the one doing the catching.  With her
outstretched ankle firmly in his grasp, he swung her around like a rag
doll and cast her down to the floormat.
   Her acrobatic ability came in very handy at times like these, as she
twisted herself around, landing on her hands and flipping back into her
fighting pose.
   He'd landed with his feet against one wall, and was now flying
straight at her.  She bounced off the floor, whipping her legs over her
head and bringing them down square on Martin's back as he flew past.  He
hit the ground rolling and came to a stop only by flattening himself
against the far wall.
   The sight of Eiko charging at him encouraged him to scramble to his
feet.  She immediately began her "Lightning Kick", a veritable hailstorm
of high-velocity feet that attempted to land a blow by brute force and
volume where skill could not.  Martin blocked every kick with his
armlets.
   Eiko paused, breathing heavily.  She may have landed the first blow,
but if he'd lasted this long, chances were greatly in his favor.
   Martin saw his opening and stepped forward.  Eiko immediately began
her lightning kick again, just as he'd thought she would; instead of
blocking the blows, however, he slid under them, knocking her anchored
foot out from under her.
   Startled and off-balance, Eiko fell helplessly into Martin's waiting
arms, a position she wouldn't have minded in any other context.  Holding
her over his head, he bounded forward and threw her to the ground.  She
landed flat on her back, knocking the breath completely from her lungs
with a loud "OOF!"
   Groaning, she closed her eyes in an attemt to dispel the stars that
were flying around her field of vision.  She barely noticed the sound of
Martin's feet next to her as she began to sit up, shaking her head.
   There was a sudden ring of metal moving against metal.  Eiko blinked
her eyes back to clarity, and suddenly found herself looking at the
wrong end of a well-polished sword.
   She swallowed hard as her eyes slowly followed the blade back to its
owner.  She discovered a rather peculiar arrangement; it extended from
the back of Martin's right arm, protruding out of the wrist-end of his
armlet.  Her gaze rose higher, and was met by his viciously smiling
face.
   "What have I told you about being predictable?"
   "Uhhhhhhh ... don't do it?"
   He chuckled.  "Oh, good.  I was afraid I wasn't getting across."  The
metal sang out again as the blade retreated into his armlet.  He offered
his hand to her, which she hesitantly accepted.
   Back on her feet, she gently fingered his armlet.  "Where did this
come from?"
   "You like it?  It's something I've been working on.  I got the idea
from you, actually."
   She removed her hand from his arm, and rubbed her own.  "Well, mine
are hardly that functional."
   He nodded.  "So I noticed.  Just why do you wear them, anyway?  You
almost never take them off, no matter what you're wearing."
   She hesitated.  "They -- they're reminders.  Of home."  Well, that's
true enough, she reasoned.
   "I see."  He decided to let the subject drop.  "By the way, have you
taken Omega-2 or something?"
   "No."  She shook her head.  "Yes.  Well ... I guess I should say, 'or
something'."
   "Well, I've noticed that you aren't getting any older.  Does you race
have a reduced aging rate, like the Salusians?"
   "No, definitely not.  From what I know of your race, I'd say our
lifespans are about equal.  This is part of something that the 'powered
people' go through on our world.  See, our powers don't last for our
entire lives; they kind of fade out at the age of twenty-seven, after
peaking around eighteen.  So, on our eighteenth birthday, they hold this
ceremony they call the Coming of Agelessness.  We drink some terrible-
tasting concoction that freezes our aging process after putting us
through one night of burning agony, so we're eighteen for the rest of
our lives."
   "An Omega-2 substitute?"
   "Not really.  It only works on the ones like me; it's lethal to the
rest of our race.  All it does is stop our aging, and gives us slightly
accelerated healing.  We can't restore lost limbs, or anything that
severe, and we can't age forward and backward.  Even with this, there
has never been an Ei, Bii or Sii who lived longer than fifty years.
Being a hero is a dangerous line of work."
   Martin snorted.  "Tell me about it."
   She squeezed his hand with a grin.  "Why should I?  You're the
expert."
   He returned the squeeze.  "But if these powers made your life such a
drag, why bother?"
   "Yeah, right," she sneered.  "It's bad enough to just be feared.  But
the power is treated like a sacred duty.  If you don't accept the
Agelessness, everyone treats you like a traitor to the entire planet.
That, I can live without."
   "I see," he muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.  "There's just
one question left with me, though."
   "What's that?"
   "Well..."  He hesitated.  It seemed almost rude to ask.  "If you're
supposed to be the hero to your people ... what are you doing here, so
far from them?"
   Her gaze fell as she continued massaging his hand.  "They ... don't
need me anymore."
   He regarded her curiously.  "So they finally made peace with that
other planet?"
   "No ... not exactly," she half-whispered.
   Martin got it.  He may have been a bit thick at times, but there was
no mistaking the signals this time.  He brought his free hand around her
back.  "I'm sorry."
   "Don't be," she said softly.  "There was no way you could know."  She
sighed, pulling Martin closer and wrapping her arms around his waist.
"The more I think about it, the more I miss them all.  Mom ... Dad ...
everyone."
   Martin gently rubbed her back.  Sometimes, all she really needed was
something warm to hold, and he was happy to oblige.
   After a moment, she took a deep breath, pushed away from him and
looked up into his eyes with a bright smile.  "Well, now that that's
over with ... is that a sword in your arm, or are you just happy to see
me?"
   He chuckled as he ruffled her hair.  "Don't ever change, Little One."

33 ---------- I Have the Power

   The Rotofoil came to a halt in one of the lesser-travelled recesses
of the Wayward Son.  The front split open, and Eiko stepped out, looking
around.
   "Boy, you weren't kidding when you said you got a secluded workshop.
I don't think I've ever been this far aft in the ship."
   The Rotofoil transformed, and Martin walked over to the wall.  His
Sweater-du-Jour bore the legend "The Limbaugh Institute for Advanced
Conservative Studies - WDF division" in gothic print.
   "Most of the more mainstream areas were already in use by the time I
started doing any serious technical work.  And I wanted something with a
lot of room, and outside access.  The only places large enough were way
back here, where most people never go.  This way, I can be a mad
scientist and a hermit at the same time."
   "Convenient."
   "Hey, I built my Rotofoil here.  In that respect, part of me was
actually born here."
   She smirked at him.  "So, have you developed any kind of Oedipus
complex toward blowlamps or Allen wrenches?"
   "Heh heh heeeh, why you little..." he sneered, rearing one hand back
in a jestfully threatening position, which didn't last long.  He decided
to go for sarcasm instead.  "Nope, sorry.  I've been working on a Lolita
complex for warp coils, though."
   She put a hand to her stomach and stuck out her tongue in an I'm-
Gonna-Be-Sick pose.
   "Hey, you started it," he reminded.
   He put his hand against a small square etched in the wall.  It glowed
green under his touch.  When he removed it, a section of wall ten meters
wide retreated to either side.
   The two strode into Martin's private workshop, and the wall closed
behind them.
   Eiko let out a low whistle.  It was even bigger than she thought it'd
be.  Her eyes scanned around the room.  It was pretty stark, for the
most part, except for a well-stocked workbench of various powered tools.
Well, that and the big thing in the center.
   She approached it slowly.  It was obviously intended to be a fighter,
probably capable of both atmosphere and vacuum operation.  Its basic
design was strongly reminiscent of the Dralthi, with the basic discus
shape split down the middle.  The differences were a bit subtle.  The
front tips bore short, protruding spires.  The fuselage wasn't as
completely connected to the wings, and bore twin forward spires of its
own.  The cockpit wasn't mounted at the very front of the fuselage, and
there was an utterly useless fin at the rear, both of which gave a more
conventional appearance to an otherwise unconventional craft.
   The other thing she noticed was how black the thing was.  It may have
been a glossy black, but it was one full grade of black blacker than the
Lovely Angels' infamous WOW That's Black CVR armor.  This black was so
black, you could almost see small, loose objects in the room being drawn
to it.  She imagined that it may actually fail as deep space camouflage
by being TOO black.
   She ran a hand along the surface.  "It's quite a beauty, Diggy."
   He considered the tool rack, then chose a likely-looking implement.
"Thanks.  I call it 'Batwing'."
   "Really?  It doesn't look like the one from that movie."
   "It isn't the one from the movie.  It's from the animated TV series."
   "Oh, yeah.  I think the Joker was better in that series."
   "Mm.  Pity they shipped most of those episodes to Akom for the grunt
work.  They could've been so much better if TMS or Spectrum did 'em."
He hopped up onto the wing, opening a panel on the fuselage.  "It'll be
a while before this thing flies, though."
   She wandered over to the workbench.  "Why's that?"
   "I can't find a power source that'll suit my output needs for it."
   "The usual fusion generator isn't enough?"
   "Not hardly.  I'd like this thing to be warp-capable, and I have
really insane plans for a completely energy-based weapon and shield
array.  There isn't a power plant that can drive my intentions for more
than five minutes that'll actually fit in the thing."  He looked toward
her with a smirk.  "And it wouldn't look very cool to have to tow a
Reflex furnace around behind."  He returned to his task.
   Eiko hummed a response, and picked up an object that looked a little
out of place; a personal cassette player.  She stifled a giggle when she
saw the title written on the tape:  "Kraftwerk - Man Machine".  How
appropriate.
   "Hey, Diggy, mind if I listen to this tape?"
   "Go ahead," Martin called over his shoulder.  "It can't be any more
monotonous than watching me tinker."
   Eiko carefully placed the headphones over her ears, examined the
controls, and pressed the long button marked "Play".  It went down and
stayed with a satisfying click.
   That was about all that was satisfying about it.  No music was
produced.
   She looked the device over, shook it lightly, played with the volume
knob, pressed "Stop", "Play", "Rewind".  Nothing.  She looked through
the tape window.  Though the "Play" button was definitely pressed now,
the tape wasn't moving.  Another look around the device made her notice
a small Battery indicator, which was currently dark.
   "The battery in this thing's dead, Diggy."
   He looked up.  "What?  It worked fine for me last time I used it.
Just a second."  He hopped down off the wing and strode over to her.
   She held the player up for his examination.  "See?  Tapie no movie."
   "Hm.  Let me see that."  He took the player from her hand.
   "HYAAIIGH!"  Eiko yelped as a sudden rhythmic roar came from the
phones.  With a quick motion, she pulled them from her ears.
   "Oh, there it goes," Martin said matter-of-factly.  "You may have
turned it up a little too far, though."
   "Give me that, you," Eiko said, snatching the player from his grasp.
She thumbed the volume down, mounting the phones back on her head.  She
watched the tape reels spin as the music played, tapping her foot to the
rhythm.  Not really her style of music, but it had a decent beat.
   "Well, if you're all set, that's okay, then."  Martin looked over the
tool selection to pick out something he'd need soon.
   Eiko's foot stopped.  "Diggy..."
   "What?"
   "It stopped again."
   He looked at it.  Sure enough, the tape had stopped, and the Battery
light was out.
   "Jeez Louise, flake-o-rama.  Wonder what the deal is."  He reached
over, putting his hand around it to take it again.
   The Battery light came on, and the player returned to life.
   He looked at the player, his eyes even wider than Eiko's.  "What
the...?"
   Snapping the tape player off, Eiko removed the headphones and took
the tool nearest to her in hand.  She pressed the thumb trigger.  No
response.
   She handed it to Martin.  "Here, Diggy.  Try this."
   He accepted it from her, and, pointing it away from both of them,
squeezed the thumb trigger.  Blue fire instantly flared to life.
   "Now give it back to me."
   He did so.  She thumbed it on; it sputtered and died.
   Eiko gave Martin a You-Know-What-This-Means-Don't-You look.  Martin,
for his part, just stood staring at his own hands.
   She put the torch down.  "Well ... I think we've solved your power
problem."
   Martin nodded slowly.  "Nn."

34 ---------- Test Drive

   "Like you're clear to take off, Batwing.  Break a leg."
   "Thanks, q.  Batwing away.  Pull!"
   The Batwing burst from Martin's hangar/lab near the tail of the
Wayward Son, roaring energetically through the environment containment
field and into open space.  Even for this small boon, Martin was
thankful; this was his creation's first real outside run.
   He'd dressed snappily for the occasion, too.  His grey, wide-brimmed
fedora kept most of his face in shadow, and his deep purple suit coat,
pants and cape only added to his Dark Avenger image.  It also put Eiko
into a giggle-fit she nearly didn't recover from.
   His eyes scanned what readouts he had available to him from the
pilot's seat.  "All systems check out fine that I can see.  How's it
look from your view, Little One?"
   "All systems green, Darkwing Diggy," she snickered.  She was in the
navigator's seat immediately behind Martin's, and had chosen to wear a
standard WDF flight suit.  The displays and gauges available to her were
more extensive than Martin had up front; as with the Rotofoil, this was
an intentional move to keep his mind on flying the plane.
   "Cute, Red.  Real cute."  He only called her 'Red' to express mock
annoyance.  He rolled the Batwing belly-up and pulled back on the stick,
coming around the bottom side of the Son.  He would have done an
Immelman if he knew what it was.  "Ready for warp system test."
   "Roger, Diggy."
   "Okay, here goes nothing."  Martin took a breath, knit his brow and
commanded verbally,  "Warp Factor One, engage."
   The edges of the plane's wings glowed blue, and the Batwing leaped
forward with the thunder of time and space being broken.

   "Hm.  Not bad.  Hey, Zoner!"
   Megazone looked up from his magazine at the command chair.  "What is
it, Rob?"
   "Hammer's new plane just went to Warp Three."
   Zoner blinked.  "Really?  That doesn't sound right.  Yuri, did he
give us a test-flight plan?"
   Yuri punched a few buttons on her console, then looked worriedly at
the display.  "Yes, he did.  He said he'd only be testing it at Warp
One."  She turned to face him.  "He's always stuck to his posted plans
whenever he flies."
   "Yeah, I know.  He's too neurotic to do something spontaneous once
he's set a plan."  Zoner smiled at Yuri.  "Maybe he's taking therapy for
that."
   "I doubt it," Yuri replied, returning his smile.  "He enjoys being
uptight.  He knows how much it annoys us."
   ReRob ignored the bridge banter as his eyes widened at the Batwing's
power output curve.  "Shit!  Q, get Hammer on the horn, now!  His warp
coil's about to--"

   A sudden flash erupted from somewhere within the Batwing's fuselage,
sending bits of its outer armor spinning away.  The blue glow at the
wings' edges dimmed, and the plane reentered normal space, tumbling
slowly with darkened engines.
   "Bat-piss!  What the hoek--?  Eiko, what happened?"
   She groaned in response.
   "Eiko?  Eiko!  Are you all right?"
   "I ... I'm fine," she lied.  "Just a second."  She reached her hand
behind her back to where she felt a sharp sting, pulling a piece of
metal from just below her rib cage with a pained yelp.  She looked at
it; it was stained crimson.  Her lower back felt soaked.  Damn.
   "Eiko, what's going on back there?"
   "I'm ... uh ... I'm not fine.  I think I'm losing blood.  My head's
starting to spin."
   "We're heading back.  We can forget the weapons test until I get this
warp problem sorted out.  Can you see if the backup generator's still
okay?"
   She touched a few keys and shook her head to try to bring herself
back from La-La Land, then squinted at her display.  "N-no breach," she
said weakly.
   "Good.  You just rest back there, Little One.  Thrusters on main."
At his verbal command, the maneuvering engines flared to life, and he
swung the craft around to face the distant speck which was the Wayward
Son, pushing the throttle as far forward as it would go.  "I'll have us
back home in three shakes of a FEETAL'S GIZZ!"
   Martin's metaphor was cut short by the sudden violent fireball that
appeared in front of him.  He brought his plane to a full stop to avoid
flying directly into it.  It quicky settled into the form of a nasty-
looking ship, standing between him and the haven of the Son.

   "Where the fuck did THAT come from?!"
   "How should I know?" Kei complained.  "It just folded in!"
   "Like no response from Hammer," Q added.  "That ship must be jamming
him."
   Ben cursed as he pushed himself off his chair.  Whoever they were,
they couldn't have had friendly intentions.  And they were within
spitting distance of the helpless-looking Batwing.  "Q, scramble Eight-
Ball, now!"  He was off the bridge before anyone could object.
   "You can't help him!" Yuri yelled after him, unheard.  "If he can't
fight, that plane'll be dust by the time you get there!"
   Zoner sat pensively, watching the viewscreen intently.  The carrier
had already disgorged six fighters which maliciously closed on the
Batwing, and looked like it was just getting started.
   Does he live just to give me ulcers, or what?

   "Batwing to Wayward Son!  Come on, q, say something!"
   Martin's pleas were greeted with nothing more than dead silence, not
unlike the responses he was getting from his red-haired copilot.
   Great.  Warp system goes up in a blaze of glory, and takes my copilot
with it.  And now some twit folds into striking range and starts jamming
communications.  "The end of a perfect day," Martin muttered aloud.  "I
guess the weapons get their test earlier than expected."
   Martin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, releasing it through
his nose as he pushed the throttle forward again, banking hard to the
right.  "Weapon/shield on main.  Shield up."
   Instantly, the black ship jumped into action.  Its main thrust vent
flared back to life, pushing it out of the path of a hail of high-
velocity slugs.  A flickering, glowing sphere surrounded the ship as
well, and five incoming missiles exploded against it to no effect.
   Martin watched his shield gauge as the missiles detonated, shaking
his plane.  He frowned.  Eighty-five percent.  "This isn't gonna last
too long."  He thought about Eiko for a moment, wishing he had one less
thing to worry about as the ship shuddered under a volley of particle-
beam fire.
   "Well," he mumbled, looping the fighter around to face his
adversaries, "let's see if I can dish it out."
   His heads-up crosshair came to rest on a likely-looking pigeon.  It
was a peculiar, nasty-looking design, with a highly compact and angular
forward profile.  Small target, he thought.  Good design choice.  He
squeezed the trigger on his control stick.
   Nothing happened.
   He maneuvered past his ex-target and checked his displays.  Power,
fine; form subber, okay -- ah, that was it.  He'd forgotten to select a
mode.  Duh.
   "Blade," he announced, and the mode selector displayed his choice.
He brought another one into his sights and tried again.
   This time, the space before him came to life with a storm of whirling
shivs of energy.  His weapons system operated by actually creating
shaped discharges of energy and propelling them from the outer perimeter
of his shield.
    The blades raced ahead of him, slicing through his unfortunate
target in several places; most of its systems failed simultaneously, and
it made a rather spectacular exit from this mortal coil.  Several of the
blades continued onward past the first ship, performing an emergency
appendectomy on the second, with similar results.
   "Ah, it DOES work.  Time to try some other modes, I suppose.  Rear
view."  A rectangular window opened in front of him, displaying the
front end of yet another fighter with a crosshair dead in its center.
"Bogey on my six.  How convenient.  Rail gun."
   He fired again.  This time, long beams shot out from the back end of
his plane, colliding head-on with the pursuer.  The formerly sleek craft
looked like it had been the loser of a demolition derby before it
detonated.
   Ships above and below him gained his attention.  "Snake."  Small,
dense pods were emitted from his top and bottom, violently pulverizing
their targets.
   He checked his shield indicator.  Fifty-five percent.  His evasive
abilities definitely weren't up to par.  A quick check of the radar
showed another bogey preparing to pepper him from his left.
   "Free-way," he said, rolling a small trackball with his left hand.  A
spread of bolts issued from the port side of his shield-bubble,
expressing his displeasure to the ship moving in from that direction.
It took almost a half-dozen of these weak hits before limping away.
   "Hm.  Well, I'm not looking for a fatality every time, anyway.
Hunter."  This time, glowing blue spheres rushed outward, arcing toward
and impacting with the three nearest enemies.  These were even weaker
than the Free-way shots, but they didn't need to be aimed, and they got
his point across; after seven or eight strikes apiece, the enemies beat
a quick retreat for their carrier, which turned menacingly toward him.
   "Blade," Martin said, summoning his most effective weapon once more.
Heavy beam fire rocked the Batwing as it charged toward the ship,
hurling its whirling orange knives.  Well-aimed shots severed the
barrels of the beam cannons, rendering the carrier defenseless, and it
vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.
   Martin checked his shield gauge one last time.  Fifteen percent.
"Boy, am I pathetic."
   "Eight-Ball One to Batwing, do you read?"
   Martin was startled by the sudden sound over his comm system.
"Gryph!  That you?  Hey, where you guys been?"
   "We got here as fast as we could.  You all right?"
   "I'm fine, but Eiko was injured when my warp coil blew.  I can't see
how badly she's hurt.  I'm heading for the Son at best speed."
   "Need a warp tow?"
   "Thanks, but it'd take too long to set up.  I'll meet you back in Bay
One.  Batwing out."  Martin took a breath.  "Shield down, weapon/shield
off," he commanded.  He forced his thrust control to fully open and
pointed his ship at the Wayward Son, praying this little skirmish
wouldn't cost Eiko her life.

   Martin leaned into the door, poking only his head through and looking
around.  His gaze fell on the bed, where Eiko was lying in a sort of
sitting position (nice reclining bed, he thought), apparently asleep.
   He stepped quietly into the room with a large bouquet, closing the
door with equal stealth.  He tiptoed to her bedside, never letting his
eyes off of her.  He gently took her hand and massaged it, whispering
her name.  "Eiko..."
   She opened an eye curiously, then smiled and opened the other one,
giving his hand a playful squeeze.
   He returned her smile.  "Faker."
   "Tell that to the hole in my back."
   He put a hand behind his head, looking embarassed.  "Sorry 'bout
that.  Apparently, I pushed too much power through the warp coil and it
overloaded.  I'm adding heavier shielding around the cockpit area, and a
heavier-duty warp coil.  You'll be happy to hear that the weapons system
worked flawlessly."
   "Oh, so you took a little extra time while I was bleeding in the back
seat to check the weapons systems?"  Eiko started to look a little
angry.
   "The ship that folded in between us and the Son was quite insistant."
   Eiko's anger melted.  "An attack?"
   "Yeah.  No design I recognize.  But I managed to beat off about eight
fighters and their carrier."  He suddenly remembered something in his
hand.  "And these are for you, before I forget."
   She smiled, accepting the flowers and putting them in her lap.  She
gestured for him to come closer, and he obliged.  She planted a tender
kiss on his cheek.
   He blushed slightly.  "I don't deserve that.  I mean, I almost killed
you in the first place..."
   "No, no," she chided quietly.  "That was for the flowers.  THIS is
for saving my life."  She threw her arms around him before he could
move, kissing him full on the lips and arching her back to press as much
of herself against him as she could.
   She caught him by surprise at first, but he soon returned her
spirited osculation in kind, being careful to keep his hands away from
her lower back so as not to aggravate her wound.  She lifted the rest of
herself from the bed, and soon had him in a four-limbed lip-locked hug.
   The sound of a throat being forcibly cleared startled them, and
Martin turned to find Terri, the SDF-17's current head nurse, standing
impatiently behind them.  She was a feisty, no-nonsense, short-haired
brunette whose sole purpose in life was to see to it that her patients
recovered even if it killed them.
   Martin and Eiko made for quite a sight.  Martin had involuntarily
stood himself partially upright, and Eiko was still clinging to him
rather tightly, her legs mostly covered by bedding as she wrapped them
around his waist; the end result looked like a failed attempt to
levitate while making love, except that he was still fully clothed.
   "And just what do you think you're doing with my patient, mister?"
   Martin grinned.  "Physical therapy."
   "Funny guy," Terri smirked, jabbing her thumb toward the door.  "Take
a hike."
   He returned his gaze to the beautiful redhead in his arms, smiling
wordlessly.
   "We can pick up where we left off next time," Eiko said in a breathy
whisper.
   "You can 'pick up where you left off' when she's not wearing a
bandage around her waist," Terri reprimanded sternly.
   Martin gently lowered Eiko back into her bed, pried her off of
himself (and he from she), and, with a tip of an imaginary hat to Terri,
walked briskly from the room to return to his usual, oft-neglected
duties as a software tech.
   Eiko folded her arms and stuck out a pouting lip, giving the nurse
the Hairy Eyeball and all sorts of mean nasty ugly things.
   "Rotten spoilsport," she muttered.

   "Make this quick.  I am a busy man."
   "Yes, Lord Largo."  The flight commander of the fighter carrier GWS
Blitzkrieg bowed before the Genom president.  "We discovered a lone
fightercraft leaving the SDF-17 twenty-four hours ago.  It was drifting
and damaged from within; we decided it must be a prototype vehicle, and
attempted to weaken it for capture."
   "You were not successful."
   "No, Lord Largo."  The screen behind the commander lit up with images
and diagrams of the black Dralthi-like mystery fighter.  Due to the
sheer blackness of the ship, the images had to be computer-enhanced to
clarify its sleek lines.  "But we were able to gather a good deal of
information about it before it escaped us.  Our findings have proven
most ... confusing."
   "Explain."
   "Our primary difficulty lies here," he said, pointing to a
highlighted mass near the tail of a transparent overhead diagram of the
plane.  "This spot represents the only internal power source we detected
aboard the ship.  However, the ship was equipped with a formed-energy
weapon and shield system which, during the period of time it was engaged
in combat, discharged over ten times the energy this power plant could
ever produce."
   Largo raised an eyebrow.  "You are certain of this?"
   "Very certain, Lord Largo.  In addition, the internal damage appeared
to be the result of an overloaded warpspeed system; this generator could
barely support warp at all.  Our best hypothesis is that it must be
drawing energy from a dimensional rift of some sort, making this
generator little more than a backup power supply for control systems and
life support.  We could find no evidence of such a rift in our analyses,
however."
   "Interesting concept.  Most likely, such an experimental device would
be flown by its creator; these Wedge imbeciles are proprietary and cocky
to a fault."
   A man next to the commander mumbled something into his ear, and he
nodded.  "We were able to secure images of the pilot and co-pilot, Lord
Largo."
   Largo leaned forward in his chair.  "Excellent.  Let me see them."
   "Yes, Lord Largo."
   After flipping through several more still images of the black
fighter, the screen presented a split-screen image; a man in a most
unusual costume, like some kind of comic-book superhero, and a red-
haired young woman, who appeared to be unconscious.  The man was not
familiar at all, and the wide-brimmed hat he wore concealed much of his
face in shadow.  The girl, however, was very familiar indeed.
   "Agent A-K0," Largo muttered with a smile that sent chills through
the commander.  "Why, you fiery little minx.  You never told me about
this..."
   Largo's Right-Hand-Man-du-Jour picked up on his thought.  "Shall I
have one of our other Wayward Son agents deal with her, Lord Largo?"
   Largo waved his hand passively.  "No.  Let her think her treason is
undiscovered, for now."  He stared icily at her slumbering image.  "She
shall learn her folly in due time.  Continue surveillance."
   The image fluttered slightly due to some sort of internal glitch,
giving it the appearance of shivering under his merciless gaze.

35 ---------- Days of Whine and Roses

   The remainder of Martin's tour of duty aboard the Wayward Son went
without incident, more or less.  He remained a software tech by
profession, never exceeding the rank of Lieutenant Commander.
   A good deal of his time and effort was spent perfecting the various
types of simulators on board, with particular emphasis on the hand-to-
hand sims he'd neglected before; the fighter sims were already running
well beyond anyone's expectations, and he'd added a Simulated Squadron
Versus mode, where anyone could fly with any simulated squadron against
any other simulated squadron, possibly led by a live pilot.  Eventually,
the hand-combat sims were at an equivalent state of perfection, but
never quite achieved the same level of popularity.  Martin chalked this
up to the "Top Gun mentality" that he claimed permeated the WDF.
   The Clay Pigeons didn't really see much action as a squadron; at any
time, they were more likely to be in concert than in combat, and they
mostly flew for exhibitions.  This suited Martin fine, as he really had
no romantic misconceptions of the glorious life of a fighter jockey.
The Pigeons' emphasis had always been primarily musical, anyway,
although most members were at least Valkyrie-certified.  (Eiko became
their second non-pilot member, their first being Dund, a mute, hulking
man who was an accomplished bassist and who taught them all sign
language.)
   Of course, the fact that he didn't want to be a dedicated pilot
didn't keep him from constantly testing his own simulators, or from
tweaking the Batwing in his free time.  He only flew it occasionally for
test runs and shakedowns; it never became an official WDF vehicle,
though it was listed in the SDF-17's manifest.  He wasn't really sure
why he kept it so secret, but attributed it to his ongoing desire to
keep at least one aspect of himself unpredictable.
   In a similar vein, he continued to work on an assortment of gadgets
and devices for his "Darkwing Diggy" guise.  The "Darkwing" persona
became a second pet project for him; he spent a great deal of time
playing with the cape, perfecting various maneuvers and effects, mostly
just for show.  (He called this exercise "Stupid Cape Tricks".)  He also
prevailed upon Gordo, the WDF's Predator-in-residence, to teach him the
arts of stealth, forsaking the ever-useful Predator cloak; he was a
diligent student, and reached the point where he could plant sticky-pad
notes on anyone on the Wayward Son without them knowing he'd ever been
there, including Gordo himself.
   The relationship between Martin and Eiko became a case of deja-vu for
those who remembered when he and Noriko were an item back at Utopia
Planitia.  Many people believed him to be afraid of physical intimacy,
which was true; both he and Eiko were afraid of what they could do to
each other involuntarily if they tried.  After all, even with the
playful, childlike romance they currently shared, they left plenty of
broken items in their wake.
   One thing continued to plague Martin, though -- the memory of Noriko.
Over a century went by and he never so much as received a letter from
her.  It worried him a great deal; she'd been his best friend for so
long, and the thought of losing someone so close was unpleasant, to say
the least.  He had so many things he wanted to tell her, and so many
things he wanted to ask her -- but her e-mail account, while indicating
she was still alive, gave him no reply.  He stopped writing to her,
deciding that she would respond when she was good and ready.
   He wondered if perhaps -- just perhaps -- he may have wronged her by
not acceeding to her desires, all those years ago.  He wondered what
kind of person he'd've been if he had, or if it would have affected him
at all.
   For someone who'd always been so open to him, she'd sure left him
with a lot of unanswered questions.

   The newest face aboard the SDF-17 was charming enough.  Actually,
Eiko admitted to herself, she was positively gorgeous -- long, luxurious
hair, beautiful features, and a body that just wouldn't quit.  Just
seeing her made Eiko feel insignificant, unless Martin was nearby to
buoy her spirits.  And the lady was already on friendly terms with
Commander Mandeville.  (Sorry, she corrected herself; make that ReRob.)
   Deep down, in the pit of her stomach, something about this new woman,
who seemed to be known as "the Vixen", made Eiko uneasy.  It wasn't
anything she could put her finger on.  It was little more than a
feeling, an instinct ... and the way the woman seemed to shoot icicles
at her from her eyes whenever they saw each other.
   Why does she frighten me so...?
   The sound of her doorchime brought Eiko back to reality with a start.
She'd been preparing for another night out with Martin, cleaning up from
"the salt mines", as she called her position down in Ship's Stores.
Tossing around sacks of replicator "fuel" during inventory did little to
make a body smell dainty, and Eiko was presently wearing no more than a
large towel.
   "Just a moment," she called, replacing her towel with a terrycloth
bathrobe.  (Terrycloth wasn't very futuristic, but she preferred its
thick, reassuring feel.)  Tying the thin sash around her waist, she
tapped the door button.
   Well, speak of the devil, she mused, looking up the tall, well-
endowed frame of the Vixen to meet her frosty gaze.
   "Good afternoon, Eiko," her voice lilted, quite in contrast to the
I'd-Love-To-Be-Your-Executioner look in her eyes.
   Eiko swallowed.  How does she know my name?  We've never met!  "Um
... h-hello.  Would you, ah, care to--"
   "Oh, I'm afraid I can't stay," she sang in a frustratingly gleeful
voice.  "But this is for you."  She produced a long, white envelope from
a satchel slung over her shoulder and handed it to Eiko.  "Bye!"  She
smiled and bounced away down the corridor.
   Eiko stood, blinking in confusion at the envelope.  With a shrug of
her shoulders, she closed the door and paced slowly toward the couch,
opening the unmarked envelope.  She liberated the single folded sheet of
paper from its prison and straighened it, scanning its handwritten
contents.
   She sucked in a sharp breath as her heart faltered.

            Dear A-K0,

                   How are you?  Largo sends his
              kindest regards.  Get ready to say
              your good-byes, 'cause it'll all be
              over soon.  See you!

                                             <heart>

                                              Shasti

   Eiko's breath came in stunned pants as she read over the note again
and again.  Mitra, she's a Genom agent, too!  Why is she here?  They
don't think I'm turning on them, do they?  Is she here to put me back in
line?  Is Largo making his move?
   She let the note fall from her shaking hands.  She stood silently for
several minutes, still gasping in shock, then dropped to her knees,
covering her face with her hands.  Calling her a "nervous wreck" at this
point would only begin to scratch the surface.
   Her hands went to her armlets, the "little reminders" Largo had given
her to make certain she never forgot why she was on the Son.  Her mind
raced and argued with itself.
   I've got to warn Diggy.  We've got to get out of here.
   No, no, I couldn't.  What would he think of me?
   "Diggy, I can't explain right now, but I've been a Genom agent all
this time and I just got word that he's going to make his move against
the Son, so we have to get out now!"  Right.
   Besides, he's too damned loyal.  He'd rather stand firm than run and
hide.
   So what do I do?  Sit still and watch him executed with everyone
else?  I can't!
   I can't!
   I can't...
   I...
   Eiko slumped to the floor, passing out from hyperventilation.

   She came to with a gentle voice calling her name.
   "Eiko ... Eeeeikoooo..."
   Her eyes fluttered open and she blinked the image into focus.  It was
a very concerned-looking Martin.
   "What happened, Little One?"
   "I..." she began, then stopped herself.  No.  I can't tell him.  He'd
hate me.  "...I don't know.  I just ... passed out, I guess."
   "Come on," he said, gathering her up.  "Let's go see the medics.  You
might be hurt--"
   "No, no, no, I'm fine, I'm fine."
   "Really?"
   "Really."
   "You're sure?"
   "I'm sure."
   "REEEEEally sure?"
   She giggled.  He did it to me again, she thought, finally shaking the
feeling of dread.  "Yes, I'm REEEEEally sure."  She kissed him for
emphasis.
   He flushed lightly, as he always did when she kissed him.  "Well,
can't argue with that."  He began massaging her thigh.
   She pushed at him, giggling all the more.  "Stop that, you pervert!
Put me down!"
   "Whatever," he shrugged, dumping her unceremoniously on the sofa.  He
went quickly to the door, turning to face her when it was opened and he
was halfway through it.  "I'll, uh, wait out here while you finish
getting dressed.  'Kay?"
   Eiko looked down at herself, surprised and somewhat embarrassed.
"Oh, yeah, that.  Okay."
   Martin smiled and waved as he exited, and the door closed behind him.
   Eiko sprang to her feet, snatching the note from where she'd dropped
it and tossing it in the wastebasket before scampering for the bedroom.
Good thing he didn't spot it, she thought with relief.

   Once the door closed behind him, Martin's smile was gone.  He paced
slowly to the wall opposite Eiko's door, leaning himself against it with
a despairing sigh.
   Just goes to show how little you can know about someone, he griped
silently.

36 ---------- Everything's Coming Up Sunshine and Lollipops

   The following week, Eiko seemed to have a visible cloud hanging over
her head wherever she went.  Wherever she looked, she only saw things
she knew she'd never see again.  Every glance offered a new view of life
-- life that she knew she would have a hand in snuffing out, any day
now.  She nearly broke down and cried in the middle of a band rehearsal.
Even Martin found her unreachable during this time.
   Martin felt this was just as well, since, if he'd ever found himself
alone with her, he knew he'd have to confront her with what he'd seen on
the floor of her room; the telltale note that accused her of conspiring
with Genom to undermine the WDF.
   Still, it all seemed so wrong to him, note or no note.  In all his
dealing with her, he'd found her to be brazenly honest and without
guile.  Part of a cover, perhaps?  If so, the cover was heavily
indoctrinated and well-conceived.  And what of the stories of her past?
Was she just a synthetic person with false memories, planted among them?
That might explain her strength.
   It wouldn't even begin to explain the heavy emotion attached to the
tales of her history, though, or her current, moping behavior.  If she
really was "made to order", as it were, the promise of fulfillment
certainly wouldn't turn her into Little Miss Gloom-and-Doom.  Martin
decided that Largo must have been holding something over her to make her
do this.  But what?

   The Wayward Son's overt operation to liberate the planet Musashi
hadn't been declared officially successful for more than an hour before
word began spreading about some kind of top secret hostage rescue
operation planetside.  Martin knew it must have involved the non-
existant Shadow Security Squad (he jokingly referred to it as "The
Worst-Kept Secret of the WDF" -- it had been Eiko who first told him of
its existence, and its most prominent members).
   Soon enough, the away team returned with the Daedelus.  Martin,
curious beyond his ability to cope, began keeping a covert eye on the
command staff.  He immediately saw that everything was terribly,
terribly wrong.
   Most notable was Kei.  He'd seen her angry before -- indeed, he was
the creator of the simulator that made her angry all of those times --
but suddenly, she was a walking time bomb.  Any door she went through
that wasn't self-closing got slammed at maximum force.  A rather
unpleasant note was attached to the door to the quarters she usually
shared with Gryphon.  People who stood between her and where she was
going didn't remain standing.
   Next came Gryphon himself.  Once he was out of the infirmary, his
gait held all the confidence of a deer in a shooting range.  He glanced
over his shoulder frequently, but never discovered Martin, of course --
Gordo had taught him too well for that to happen.  He seemed confused,
angry and frightened, looking for answers and getting none, and
expecting quick death to leap at him from every corner.
   Not long afterward, Megazone seemed to have added several years to
his age, as well, though he'd stayed at the command chair for the whole
operation.  Martin wondered what kind of a burden the upper eschelon
must have been passing among themselves to warrant such an abrupt lack
of happiness.  Come to that, ReRob was more than just a little out of
sorts, and sporting an obviously false arm to boot.
   As he stood alone in a hallway, trying to sort out what could be
going on with the command staff, his concentration was broken by the
sound of hurried footsteps.  Turning a corner and walking in his
direction, he spotted a heavy-set, bearded man accompanying a lovely
young woman with long, dark hair.  He smiled, recognizing the pair as
Captain Megazone and Yuri Daniels.  He began to utter a greeting, but
checked himself as they came closer.
   Seeing Zoner and Yuri together was about as unusual as seeing flies
at a compost heap.  When they were together, it was obvious to everyone
around that they were very much in love.  They always walked slowly, arm
in arm, hand in hand, looking into each other's eyes and smiling.
   Right now, they strode quickly, purposefully, not even touching each
other.  It was almost as if they didn't know each other at all, and just
happened to be going to the same place at the same time.  The only
indication that this was not the case was from Yuri, as she would give
Zoner a concerned glance from time to time.
   They walked past Martin without so much as a "hey, Hammer".
   He stared after them, wide-eyed.
   What in flaming Hell is going on?

   "Agent A Kay Zero.  Password, Graviton.  Access level, report entry."
   The sudden turn of events had not failed to impress itself upon Eiko,
and she decided to file a report on them, and possibly ask for
instructions.  Not that she would follow them, however, but perhaps they
would give her a clue as to how she could prevent something horrible
from taking place.  She intently watched the display, gathering her
thoughts.

        WAIT...

        INDENTITY CONFIRMED
        ACCESS GRANTED

          ###########       ############          ########
         ####               ####                    ####
         ####  ###### ENOM  ######## SPIONAGE  AND  #### NTELLIGENCE
         ####    ####       ####                    ####
          ###########       ############          ########

         REPORT RECEPTION CANCELLED
         STAND BY FOR MESSAGE FROM NUMBER ONE

         PRESS A KEY WHEN READY

   Eiko blinked.  "Number One" was their agreed-upon code for Largo
himself.  She reached slowly toward the keypad, and gave the nearest one
a quick tap.  The screen cleared, and text scrolled up from the bottom
in no great hurry.

         GOOD AFTERNOON, AK0.

         THE CULMINATION OF MY GRAND SCHEME IS AT HAND.
         WITHIN THE HOUR, THE SDF-17 WILL BE NO MORE.
         PREPARE TO BE REUNITED WITH YOUR FRIENDS...

   Reunited?  I'm going to see Biiko and Siiko again!  Her mouth curled
a weak smile, and she giggled, slowly building to full laughter.  He
hadn't lied to me at all!  He's keeping his promise!  She eventually
brought her laughter under control to see what other good news there
could be for her as she re-read the message.

         GOOD AFTERNOON, AK0.

         THE CULMINATION OF MY GRAND SCHEME IS AT HAND.
         WITHIN THE HOUR, THE SDF-17 WILL BE NO MORE.
         PREPARE TO BE REUNITED WITH YOUR FRIENDS...
         ...IN HELL.

         FAREWELL.

         CONNECTION CLOSED

   Eiko was silent for several minutes.  Then, she took the terminal in
her hands, stood up, and snapped the damnable thing in two, grunting
more from anger than anything else.  She threw the halves against the
far wall with such force that they became embedded in it.
   Simultaneously roaring and crying, she ripped the armlets from her
forearms.  They were symbols of his promise, and she finally, certainly
knew that he'd never had any intention of keeping his word.  They
contianed several dozen tiny needles which fed a constant stream of
special electrical impulses to her body, allowing her to keep her
amazing strength in check; now, these spines ripped the flesh from her
arms as punishment for her defiance.  The pain made her scream, but she
didn't care.  The pain of his betrayal had already hurt her more deeply
than these puny prickers ever could.
   With her reason drowning in a sea of flame and torment, she battered
down the door to her room with her bare fists.  She stumbled out into
the corridor in a red haze, ready to demolish anything in her path.  The
noises she'd made in her room had brought a small crowd, which now
backed nervously away from her as she advanced on it, teeth clenched in
hate.
   Something approached her from the side.
   "Eiko?!?  What--"
   The voice, the words -- nothing registered.  She was in a blind rage,
and lashed out, leaping at the voice's source with a roar.
   Her prey caught her in mid-air, throwing her to the ground.  "Eiko,
what the frag are you doing?" he shouted, but she didn't comprehend.
She grabbed at his legs, hauling him down.  He continued to plead with
her as she grabbed at him, pulling him closer; his pleading stopped when
her hands were wrapped around his throat.  She tightened her grip,
intending to keep doing so until she heard a snap.
   With a quick motion, he threw her arms off of him.  Whirling quickly
to get on top of her, he pounded her against the floor three times.
Getting only a growl in return, he reared back an open hand and slapped
her hard; the blow was just short of sending her head flying.  "EIKO!
WAKE UP, DAMN IT!"
   Slowly bringing a hand to cover what would certainly be a humdinger
of a facial bruise, Eiko blinked her eyes back to clarity, looking up
for the first time at the enraged face of her assailant.
   "D-- ... Diggy..."
   Martin sighed with relief, standing her up.  "Eiko ... what's going
on here?"
   She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.  Unable to even begin to
answer his question, she collapsed onto him, weeping bitterly.
   Cradling her quaking form in his arms, ignoring the curious stares of
the gathered crowd, he carried her to his room.  One thought continued
to echo in his mind:
   It's all coming apart ... and I'm powerless to stop it!

37 ---------- Sonrise, Sonset

   Martin stepped into his room with Eiko still in his arms.  Her
mournful wail had diminished somewhat, and she now cried softly into his
bosom.  The door closed behind them.
   "Ssshhhhhhhh.  It's all right," he whispered.  "It's all right.
We're alone now.  It's all right."  He softly worked to comfort her, as
much for his own sake as for hers -- hearing her cry was tearing him up
inside.
   He carried her into the bathroom, turning the shower on to a warm
setting.  She continued to cry as he washed the blood off of her arms,
then wrapped them in soft bandages.  He tried not to show his surprise
at seeing her without her armlets, but she wouldn't have seen it if he
had.  Once he'd finished -- the task took nearly a half-hour -- he took
her to the sofa, sitting down with her in his lap.
   He took his arm out from under her legs, and they stretched out over
the cushions as he brought the now-free hand to her head, gently
stroking her hair.  He tightened the arm around her waist and back and
rocked her slowly, back and forth.
   Her soft crying had turned to choking sobs, and she brought an arm up
around his neck.  She pulled herself up, and his gaze met her tear-
filled eyes.  He noticed that her face was pretty badly swollen where
he'd slapped her before.  She still seemed to be on the verge of
speaking, and he decided that something needed to be said.
   "Eikmmm -- mmmm," was all he could say as she pressed her lips into
his so hard that he thought his incisors would cave in.  She brought her
other arm behind his head and kissed him with a fierce, almost desperate
passion he'd never thought he'd feel in his life.  She kicked her shoes
off onto the floor and pushed him down to lie on the sofa; he tried to
mumble in protest, but her lips held his fast.
   His will to resist was losing pretty badly against his desire to let
her do what she wanted.  He heard the sound of rending cloth and felt
cool air on his chest, as well as something warm and smooth rubbing
against it.  He guessed that she was literally tearing his shirt off.
Her hand gently fumbled its way around his exposed torso, tugging the
lingering material away from wherever her body made contact with his.
   Her hand lifted, and he could feel her back and arm muscles tighten
as she took a hold of the back of the collar of her own blouse.  The
slow ripping sound began again.
   No!  Don't!
   His hand was around her wrist in an instant, holding it still.  He
squeezed, gently at first, gradually increasing the pressure until he
could feel her grip loosen.  He then guided her hand up to his face,
pressing it against his cheek as he massaged hers.
   Her tears continued to flow as all this transpired, washing Martin's
face in a gentle, salty rain.  To this he added tears of his own, hoping
she would understand why he didn't want that thing to happen between
them -- not now, not yet -- not like this.
   Slowly, ever so slowly, he felt her tensed, trembling body relax in
his embrace.  After a time, even her kiss softened, the fire of her
passion having run its course.  Her lips slowly slid onto his cheek,
then fell completely from his face as her head dropped.  The only sound
she made now was a quiet, regular sniffing of breath.
   She'd fallen asleep.
   He decided that wasn't such a bad idea, and joined her.

   They both awoke abruptly when a sudden jolt of the ship threw them
onto the floor.
   "Nnn ... Diggy?"  Eiko shook her head, trying to dispel the fatigue
of waking so suddenly.
   Martin was already getting to his feet.  All the loose items in the
room had been tossed from their perches, and he heard something in the
hall.  It sounded faintly familiar, like ... music?  Singing?  The song
filled him with dread, but he couldn't quite place it.
   He offered a hand to Eiko, who accepted it without hesitation,
pulling herself to her feet.  "What's going on?"
   "Let's find out."  He tapped the door button.
   Nothing happened.
   "What the hoek?!"  He pressed it again, this time noticing that it
didn't light up.  In fact, the entire room was a lot darker than he'd
left it.
   "I don't have time for this," he growled.  He reared back a fist and
slammed it into the door, sending it flying.
   The light and sounds of the hallway flooded their senses as they ran
out to find their answers.  Martin looked at the nearest wall monitor,
and whimpered in shock.
   EVE - Final Protection Mode, it read in large, bold letters.
   "What does it mean, Diggy?"
   "It means we missed the call to abandon ship," he said quietly, but
loud enough to be heard over Eve's singing.  He remembered the song now.
It was the song Eve sang in Megazone 23 Part 2, while the Megazone ship
was being demolished by ADAM.
   "A-abandon ship?!?"
   "Eve!" Martin shouted at the monitor.  The singing continued.
   He pounded insistantly against the wall, producing a large dent.
"EVE!  STOP THAT DAMNED SINGING AND ANSWER ME!"
   The music from the monitor's speaker was abruptly silenced, and the
message was replaced by the head-and-shoulders image of the silver-
haired, golden-eyed beauty.  "Hammer!  What are you doing here?  The
abandon-ship order was given almost ten minutes ago!"
   "Never mind, Eve.  Where's the nearest escape ship?"
   Eve's eyes glanced to one side for a moment, then returned to his,
looking suddenly panicked.  "They've all been taken, Hammer!  There
isn't a spaceworthy ship left aboard!  And the Wedge just launched!"
   Martin closed his eyes and thought.  After a moment, his gaze met
Eve's evenly.  "Eve, check the status of the Batwing.  Hangar access
code, Happy Happy Joy Joy.  Batwing access code, Jitatting Dingamorph."
   Eve looked to one side again, then back.  "All systems report green,
Hammer.  The place is a mess, and the doors won't open, but the Batwing
is fine."
   "Best news I've heard all day.  Thanks, Eve."
   "It never hurts to help, Hammer."  The image vanished, replaced by
the Final Protection Mode message once more.
   Martin grabbed Eiko's hand.  "Come on, Little One.  We're getting out
of heeEEEEEEEERE!"  His last word was interrupted as Eiko sprang
forward, running at a speed that could have been measured in Mach
numbers and letting him flap in the breeze behind her.
   He added a second hand to his grip on hers.

   Eiko stumbled to a halt beside the unmarked bit of wall that was the
entrance to Martin's secret hangar/lab.  Once she'd stopped, she dropped
to her hands and knees and gasped for breath.  She'd left her shoes back
in Martin's room, and her footing wasn't as sure as it would have
normally been.  In addition, she'd just run faster than she ever had in
her life, and felt totally exhausted.
   Martin put his hand against the pressure plate that would have made
the wall open.  Just as Eve had warned him, nothing happened.  He put
down the stereo he'd snatched while sailing through the halls with Eiko
and took deep, slow breaths, gathering his strength.
   Eiko regarded the item he'd snatched curiously.  It was colored in a
rather odd combination of red and yellow, with grey for the speaker
housings as well as the sturdy carrying handle.  (It had to be sturdy
for him to be able to grab it without her slowing down.)  The strangest
thing about it was the large Autobot symbol on the tape door.  Since it
didn't belong to Martin, she guessed it must have belonged to one of the
other Cybertronians on board.
   Taking another deep breath, she rose to her feet and stood beside
him.
   Martin raised a fist and faced the offending door-wall, and Eiko
followed suit.  "On three, Little One.  One.  Two.  THREE!"
   They charged forward, punching the wall simultaneously.  It whined in
protest, but caved in to their persuasive argument.  Eiko quickly ran to
the sleek, black ship parked in the middle of the hangar, ignoring the
tools scattered all around the room and leaping into the cockpit.
   Martin quickly transformed and un-transformed; he was now wearing his
Darkwing suit.  He snatched the stereo and ran to join Eiko in the
Batwing.  She wondered why a portable stereo was so important.
   The canopy sealed itself shut just as the entire SDF abruptly lurched
from what must have been an impact against a massive object.  The
Batwing began to slide toward the forward wall.
   "Thrust on main!" Martin shrieked, activating the side maneuvering
boosters.  The engines flared to life, halting the ship only inches from
a wing-crushing impact.
   Eiko released a sigh of relief.  "That was close.  But how do we get
out?  The outside door's still shut tight!"
   Martin grinned.  "Sometimes, it pays to be over-prepared."
   "What's that supposed to mean?"
   He produced a small remote control from under his seat which looked
like a simple garage-door opener.  "Trust me.  What do the sensors say
it looks like outside?"
   "Huh?  Oh, right."  Eiko quickly brought up a multi-sensor display.
"Uh-oh."
   "What?"
   "We're trapped."
   "Come again?"
   "The SDF is embedded in another, larger ship.  It looks like someone
fired the engines and we rammed.  We're jammed in, even back to here.  I
also see a whole mess of smaller contacts outside.  Probably other
escaping ships.  Power readings-- the Reflex cannon is charging!"
Eiko's voice suddenly filled with panic.  "Mother of Mitra, it's going
to fire any second!"
   "I hope that does it," Martin muttered.
   "What?"
   "Tell me when we're clear of the other ship!"
   Martin fired the side boosters again, pushing the Batwing
preemptively away from the forward wall.  With a sudden lurch, the wall
began to follow them.
   "There goes the big gun!" Eiko reported.  "We're moving ... almost
... there!  We're clear!"
   "That's my cue," Martin said.  Pressing the button on his door
opener, he announced, "Open Says Me!"
   Explosions went off all around the perimeter of the outside door, and
it was thrown away as the air within rushed past it and into the hard
vacuum of space.
   Wasting no time, Martin cut the side boosters and forced the main
thrust control forward, maneuvering around the tumbling metal plate,
eager to put distance between himself and the Wayward Son.
   "Crom," Eiko breathed reverently.  "Diggy, look!"
   Martin chanced a glance behind himself.  The sight made him bring his
ship to a full stop and swing it around to face where he'd come from.
   "A day that will live in infamy."  That's how Franklin Delano
Roosevelt described the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7,
1941.  And Martin could think of no better way to describe what was
happening now.
   The two metal behemoths continued to separate, twisted and pitted
nearly beyond the point of recognition.  The other ship was truly
enormous; Martin guessed that the Son could have likely flown into one
of its docking bays, but had chosen not to.  Seeing what was once the
flagship of the Wedge Defense Force, and his home for nearly two
centuries, brought on a wave of despair.
   He and Eiko drifted in silence as they watched the two hulks, never
intended to be capable of planetfall, tumble to the surface of the
hapless world Musashi.  There was no telling how many of the innocent
populace of that world would lose their lives in the aftermath of this
tragedy.
   "All those people," Eiko mumbled solemnly.  "What can we do?"
   Martin answered her in a hoarse whisper, "Absolutely nothing, Little
One.  Absolutely nothing..."
   Martin squeezed his eyes shut.  It was a sight he'd rather not watch.
He felt tears stinging at them, and wondered whether he was weeping for
them ... or for himself.
   Many long minutes passed in silence.

   The bridge crew of the original Wedge, which was now one of many,
many ships escaping the Wayward Son's fate, was held tightly in a
similar, brooding silence.  Noone said anything, because noone had
anything to say.  They could only sit in silence, observing in mute
horror as the former mightiest ship in the galaxy, along with the one
that had mastered her, tumbled toward certain catastrophe.
   Suddenly, the silence was broken by a sound over the communications
channel.
   "Calling any surviving Wayward Son personnel.  Please respond."
   Noone moved.  Deedlit started toward the comm controls, but stopped
when her husband, ReRob, held her back.
   "This is PCHammer, calling any surviving Wayward Son personnel.  I
repeat, please respond."
   Still no reply.
   "Oh, come on, I know you're out there, you schmucks!"
   "Maybe they can't answer."  This was spoken by a second voice,
obviously female.
   "Maybe they won't, you mean," he growled.
   "You're being cynical."
   "After the past few hours, that's hard to avoid.  Don't you think?"
   "I see your point."  She sighed.  "So, what do we do now?"
   "We get out of here and look for someone who WILL respond.  Batwing
to all surviving Wayward Son personnel -- and I know you can hear me,
you're not fooling anyone -- I'm heading back to U.P.  Anyone who gives
a shit can come whenever they get the urge.  Batwing out."
   Logan looked over at q, who just shook his head.  Returning his
attention to the local sensor readout, he kept an eye on the ebony
fighter, and nearly said something when it leaped away at something
close to warp factor seven.

38 ---------- Documentary

   The Batwing dropped out of warpspace at a polite distance from Utopia
Planitia.  Martin was looking forward to seeing the "old homestead"
again.  The ride with Eiko, which had taken a few hours, went pretty
much in silence, as they were somewhat reluctant to discuss what hadn't
happened back in his room on the Son.  In addition, Eiko was still
trying to determine how to tell Martin she'd been working as a spy for
Genom all the time he'd known her, and Martin was wondering if he should
ask her why she had been doing that very thing.
   The upshot of all this is that neither of them said anything since
leaving Musashi.  Martin had to clear his throat before opening a comm
channel.
   "Batwing to Utopia Planitia control.  Come in."  He waited for a
response.
   None came.
   "What the bloody..." he muttered in confusion before continuing.  "I
repeat, Batwing to UP control.  Please, come in."
   Still nothing.
   He shrugged.  "Jeez, was it something I said?  Eiko."
   She nearly jumped at the mention of her name.  "What?"
   "Can you scan UP for me?  See if you can tell why noone answers the
phone."
   "Okay."  Eiko played with her controls.  She gave the displays a
worried look.  "Huh."
   "What's up?"
   "Not UP's power output levels, that's for sure.  Looks like most of
the internal systems have been shut down.  Life support's still on, but
not much else.  Looks like even most of the lights are off."
   "Huh."
   "That's what I said."
   "What about life signs?"
   She tapped a few keys, then smirked.  "Your sensors aren't set up for
that, Diggy."
   Martin thought for a moment.  "Oh yeah.  I forgot.  How about doing a
temperature sweep?"
   "I could try that."  Tap tap tap.  "Well, away from the main power
core and the auxiliaries, temperature is pretty much uniform throughout
the base.  I don't see much in the way of warm bodies."
   Martin was incredulous.  "Really?"
   "Would I lie to you?"  Any more than I already have, that is.
   "It's just that UP's more than just a military base or a central
office.  It's as much civilian as anything else.  I've never been there
when there were less than two thousand people there, not counting the
Son's crew."
   "Yeah, I know.  Don't forget, I've been there, too."
   "Is the main docking bay open?"
   Tap tap tap.  "Yeah."
   "Then we go in anyway.  I wanna get out and stretch, and I'd like to
see if anyone left a good-bye note."  He chanced a moment's grin.
"Besides, if noone's around to collect rent, the price is right."
   Eiko shook her head and sighed with a faint smile.
   The Batwing raced toward Utopia Planitia as fast as its sublight
drive could carry it.
   They only went a few minutes before Eiko broke the renewed silence.
   "Diggy?"
   "Yeah?"
   "I ... I want to thank you.  I could have killed someone back there,
if you hadn't stopped me.  I was completely out of control."
   "As your friend, Eiko, I could do no less.  You're welcome."
   "I also want to say..."  She released a deep sigh.  "...I'm sorry.
For what I tried to do.  You've been the best friend I ever had.  I was
afraid..."
   As Eiko hesitated, Martin made his decision.  "Eiko."
   "Yes?"
   "Since you seem about to tell me anyway, I just want you to know ...
I saw the note."
   Eiko's heart leaped into her throat.  "Y-you did?"
   "I did."  His voice remained even.
   She swallowed hard.  "And...?"
   "And, sometime soon, I'd like to know why."
   Her eyes fell.  "I see."
   "Until that time, your All-Purpose Teddy Bear and Crying Towel will
remain in service."
   Her eyes shot back open.  "What?"
   He looked back at her with a sad smile.  "If you think a little spy
work on the side is going to come between the century and a half of our
friendship, I'm insulted."
   She didn't think she had any tears left in her, but learning that he
didn't hate her for what she'd been brought them out joyfully.  She
climbed over his shoulder, dropping herself in his lap and laying
herself on him.
   "Oh, Diggy -- what did I ever do to deserve you?"
   Martin released the controls to hug her gently.  "Noone could do
anything that bad, Little One."
   She kissed him gently this time.

   "Hellooooo-ooooooo!"
   Martin and Eiko walked slowly through the darkened corridors of
Utopia Planitia.  The galaxy-reknowned shipyards, which had been a
veritable hive of activity every other time they'd visited, were now
silent and deserted.  The hangars and storage bays were anything but
empty; fighters, transports and frigates in various states of repair and
disrepair were all around.  Fully-operational mecha, however, were quite
scarce.
   Martin had long since concluded that the starbase had either been
hurriedly evacuated, or had experienced a mass exodus of astonishing
proportions.  Either way, even a call over the base-wide intercom for
any kind of response culled no response whatsoever.  He'd plugged the
stereo into a wall outlet, telling Eiko it was low on power.  She
wondered again why it was so important.
   The dim lighting allowed them to move freely, if carefully.  Martin,
with his dark-avenger getup, felt right at home.  Eiko needed a change
of clothes, however, since she had still been wearing the blouse she'd
torn significantly back on the SDF-17.  Martin took her to the uniform
fitting rooms -- his memory of the base's layout surprised even him --
and soon Eiko was resplendant in a full WDF uniform, perfectly sized.
   Their next stop had been the medical center, where they replaced the
wrappings on Eiko's forearms.  She told Martin about the armlets she'd
once worn, how they were a "gift" from Largo that allowed her to keep
her strength in check without a great deal of conscious effort.  (She'd
already managed to break a few more things than usual.)
   From there, they went to the UP control room and communications
center.  They were able to use the transmission log to determine that
the suggestion to leave the base had come from none other than Lord
Fahrvergnugen himself.  This troubled Martin a great deal; the WDF had
been Lord F's vision, his "baby", as it were, from the day he'd added
himself to their ranks.  What could possibly make the man turn his back
on everything he'd fought for?
   Hoping to find an answer, he and Eiko were presently en route to Lord
F's office.  Martin walked at a leisurely, relaxed pace.  His training
allowed him to move without making a sound, and he kept all his senses
keen for any possible indication that they might not be alone on the
base.  It was Eiko who nervously called out from time to time, praying
for a friendly answer while staying as close as she could to Martin.
   She shivered and touched a hand to him.  "I never knew this place
could be so creepy."
   "We're just about there, Little One.  Stay close."
   "Where am I gonna go?" she muttered, her eyes darting around,
scanning the shadows.
   She hugged herself, turning to look at another shadow almost behind
her.  As a result, she didn't realize Martin had stopped moving until
she'd walked completely into him, knocking them both to the ground.
   "Ow."
   "Whoops ... sorry."  She stood first, getting herself off of him, and
helped him back to his feet.
   He looked at a darkened doorway.  "We're here."
   "Uh ... okay."
   Martin took one step into the room.  "Lights on."
   At his verbal command, the room was instantly flooded with bright
light.  Eiko, a mere half-step behind him, had to squint her eyes while
her vision adjusted itself.  She stepped to one side of him and scanned
the room; everything seemed in order, nothing obviously out of place.
   Except for the blood stains all over the walls, that is, and the
decapitated body lying on the floor.
   Eiko choked back her initial reaction and moved quickly back behind
Martin.  "Yuggck."
   "I'm goeeng to be SEECK," Martin hissed in a voice not unlike a
hispanic Peter Lorre.
   "I guess Lord Fahrvergnugen won't be answering any questions, huh?"
   "It's not him."
   "Hm?"  Eiko peeked curiously out from behind him.
   "That's Decker.  Well, that WAS Decker.  One of Lord F's most trusted
generals.  Judging by the way the corpse is still packin' a gun, he
didn't quite succeed in his attempt to assassinate Lord F."
   "Oh."
   "Come on, let's look around.  This still doesn't answer our
question.  Try not to make a mess."  They began moving papers around and
opening drawers.  After a while, they started using the nearby computer
terminal to look through a small stack of diskettes they'd accumulated
in their search, still to no avail.
   Martin snorted.  "Well, that's just peachy.  Looks like we'd need
Lord F's password to get anywhere."
   Eiko swatted her hand against the desk, cracking it.  "Oops.  Hey,
what's this?"
   "A gender-neutral pronoun, indicating an object in very close
proximity of the speaker."
   "Ha ha, very funny."  She picked up a small disc from the desk.  Its
coloration made them think it was just part of the desk itself, but the
crack that she'd just made went under it, revealing otherwise.
   "Well, let's find out."  Martin accepted it from her, gently placing
it in a nearby player.  He started it up, and they sat down to watch the
screens on the other side of the room.

   Eiko and Martin stared at the WDF logo on the center screen in
silence.
   The two of them had just witnessed a recording of the piecewise
decimation of the Wayward Son, complete with a communications
transcript.  To put it lightly, it wasn't a pretty sight.  (Which is
quite a statement when your room's decor includes a headless corpse.)
   The playback began with a fierce exchange over the audio-only tac-net
between ReRob and "the Vixen", who he now called Shasti.  This was
synchronized with external footage of the Son as their fight broke
outside of the ship's barriers and culminated in Shasti's grisly
execution.
   The playback ID for the next segment showed that it was acquired from
Kei Morgan's account, and it was by far the most disturbing part.  It
showed a security camera's view of Ben "Gryphon" Hutchins merrily
executing a roomful of elementary-school children before Kei herself
blew three holes in his chest.
   All this had occurred before the Daedelus had returned from Musashi's
surface.
   Some time later -- the playback was in chronological order, but
didn't adhere to real-time in its replay of events -- a Hyper-Valkyrie
exited the SDF.  It was accompanied by a rather angry exchange between
its pilot, former XO Gryphon, and Captain Megazone.  It warped away in
some random direction after Gryph threatened the fortress.  Later, the
Lovely Angel also left, with Kei its sole occupant and pilot.  It hit
warp, taking the same heading as Gryphon had earlier.
   As Kei was leaving on her manhunt, Megazone resigned his Captaincy,
turning command of the Wayward Son over to q, having been turned down by
ReRob.  Then he and Yuri left, but not together; Yuri was in another
Hyper-Valkyrie, and left some time after Zoner sped away in his personal
ship, the WarpZone.
   The playback included several inter-person communications that were
probably believed to be strictly confidential by those communicating;
the tearful farewell between Yuri and Zoner saddened Martin
considerably, particularly due to the lack of tearfulness on Zoner's
part.  For two people who had been so close for so long, he'd certainly
become cold in a hurry.
   Finally, after even Yuri was far away and out of reach, a truly
enormous ship appeared behind the inexplicably crippled Wayward Son,
battering it with fire.  Largo's sneering face appeared, the SDF was
evacuated, and ... well, Martin and Eiko already knew the rest.  Martin
noticed that his own exit from the Son's remains was quite difficult to
spot.
   They sat for several minutes, too stunned to speak; then, wordlessly,
they held each other close and tight, silently reassuring themselves
that they would never leave each other.
   No matter what.

39 ---------- Guest Room

   Watching the circle of close friends that held the WDF together tear
itself apart did little to reassure Martin and Eiko of their future.
For now, Martin decided, they would stay in Utopia Planitia and wait to
see if anyone else cared enough to join them.
   They spent some time going around, turning on lights in the pathways
they would be using most frequently and searching more thoroughly for
stragglers.  They found several more corpses, but little else -- they
couldn't tell whether the dead were slain conspirators or victims.
There were probably many of each.
   They set up camp in one of UP's larger guest suites.  It was a much
larger setup than either of them was used to, with two enormous bedrooms
each with an equally oversized bed.  They resigned themselves to
replicator food for the duration, since neither was in the mood to cook
and the restaurants were closed.
   Martin worked for a while in the communications room that first day,
and connected the comm system so that they could receive and send
incoming transmissions from anywhere in the complex, eliminating the
need to keep someone in the comm center at all times.  With that done,
the two of them retired for the evening.

   Martin flopped over again.
   It's no use, he sighed.  My first night in a new bed is always a
disaster.
   He checked the clock nearby.  Three hours had passed since he'd
started trying to sleep.  Frustrated, he checked to make sure he was
centered in the matress again, then let his mind drift.
   As before, his thoughts returned to his immediate memories and
problems.  The playback of what he was calling "Sonset" still nagged at
him.  He'd known Gryph to be ruthless and tempermental at times -- quite
a match for his lover, Kei -- but never capable of anything like that.
They were just children, for God's sake!  How could he even think it?
And why would he feign ignorance of the deed?  That was more unlike him
than the deed itself.
   Something was very rotten in Denmark, and he resolved to get to the
bottom of it, somehow.  Perhaps a more thorough study is in order, once
everything was straightened out here on UP.
   As always, his thoughts turned to his uncertainty with his own
future, as well as that of his relationship with Eiko.  The Wayward Son
was no more, and so, it seemed, was the Wedge Defense Force.  Where do I
-- no, scratch that -- where do WE go from here? he mused repeatedly.
Maybe the WWWA has an opening for people with our unique qualifications.
   The phrase "unique qualifications" reminded him abruptly of Noriko.
He thought fondly of her for a moment, glad that she didn't have to go
through the hellstorm that had been the WDF's downfall.  Then his happy
thought faded.  They hadn't heard from the Righteous Indignation,
either.  Was she dead, or worse?  Poor little angel...
   The quiet sound of someone walking barefoot on the thick carpet broke
his chain of thought and worry.  The footsteps entered his room, walking
to the side of his bed.  There was a new indentation on the matress as
someone sat, then laid down.  A soft hand discovered him, working its
way across him as its owner moved closer to lean partially on him.
   He stroked her hair with his closest hand.  "You too, huh?"
   Eiko breathed softly.  "Yeah.  Too much to think about."
   Putting a hand under each of her arms, he pulled her up so that their
eyes were on the level with each other, even though they had no
intention of looking at each other in the darkness.  He let his hands
rest around her waist, while she put hers around his shoulders.  They
massaged each other gently.
   "Little One?"
   "Mm?"
   "Can you tell me now?"
   "Tell you wha-- ... Oh."  She didn't sound very happy to hear that.
   "Please?"
   She sighed, and spoke in a low near-whisper of a voice.  "It all
started around my Coming of Agelessness.  Remember when I told you about
that?"
   "Mm.  You said it wasn't exactly pleasant."
   "Well, that's an understatement.  I was the last of the three powered
people to go through this ceremony, since my birthday was the last in
the year.  The potion tastes positively repugnant, and the pain it
causes is beyond intense.  I felt like every part of me was being burned
up and torn apart at the same time; I spent about seven or eight hours
screaming in agony.  Biiko and Siiko had warned me about it, but no
preparation can ready you for such an experience.
   "Anyway, while I was busy doing that, the other world that I told you
about attacked the planet again.  Even for a hundred years of
development, their tech was a lot more advanced, and a lot more lethal,
than anyone could have expected -- we never stood a chance.  There
wasn't much left to conquer by the time their first troops landed.
   "Actually, 'conquer' is too kind of a word.  'Slaughter' is more
appropriate.  Their action was little more than genocide.  I was nearing
the end of my time when I heard something outside of my room.  I managed
to get to my feet and open my door ... just in time to see my mom and
dad get blasted apart by some guys with full body armor and heavy guns.
   "I tried to make a dive at the assholes, but I was still in the
process and couldn't move or think very fast.  One of them smacked me in
the head, and I fell and couldn't get up.  They just left, and I was
alone ... more alone than I'd ever been in my life."
   Martin rolled onto his side and held her close.  Her warm embrace in
return thanked him.
   He released her and returned to lying on his back, and she continued.
"Well, I came to some time later, and the pain was over.  So was the
attack.  I ran over to Biiko and Siiko's houses to see if they were
okay.  I found their parents dead, like mine, but neither of them were
there.  So I ran across the planet looking for them.  By the day's end I
hadn't found anything living, or either of them.
   "Then I saw some dropship falling from the sky; fair-sized, maybe
able to hold a dozen people.  I ran to it, ready to rip it to shreds.
Instead, this guy stepped out of it.  He just stood there, like there
was nothing in the galaxy he was afraid of.  I asked him who he was.
Largo, he said, president of the Genom Corporation.  I asked him what he
wanted.  He said he saw the attack, and that the other side had some
outside help, which was why they trounced us so bad.  Then he said that
he could help me avenge my people, and maybe locate my missing friends.
   "I agreed, and went with him.  What else could I do?  He trained me
in a few areas, especially memory training, and gave me the armlets.
Then he showed me my 'target', and I recognized the WDF logo from the
armor of the guys that killed mom and dad.  He planted me in a
recruitment drive for the SDF-17 and told me to report regularly -- not
on capabilities or technology, but on personalities, rumors and gossip.
He briefed me on the ship's staff, and soon, there I was, rubbing elbows
with the Wedge Defense Force."
   Martin gently tickled her, forcing her to giggle in spite of herself.
"So, after a century and a half, what do you think?"
   She took a deep breath and released it before speaking.  "I don't
think -- I know.  I know the Wedge never could have had a hand in that
attack.  I know Largo and Genom were behind the whole thing.  I know
they tricked me, I know they used me.  And I know they have Biiko and
Siiko, somewhere."
   Martin stroked her hair again.  "We'll find them, Eiko.  Somehow,
someday ... we'll find them."
   "Thank you," she whispered quietly, relaxing onto him.
   How is it I keep finding people who put my problems in perspective?
Martin mused, his consciousness fading.
   They fell asleep together.

   Martin was awakened when he fell off the bed.  He stood up to find
Eiko lying on her back, spread-eagled and snoring like a poorly-tuned
Harley-Davidson.  He carried her back to her own bed and returned to
sleep.

40 ---------- Fly United

   After breakfast the next morning, Martin and Eiko headed back to the
main docking bay.  Eiko'd left her uniform jacket and skirt back in the
room, choosing to wear a pair of tight jeans with the bright yellow
uniform sweater.  What Martin had chosen was currently irrelevant, as
she was riding in his deep violet Rotofoil form.
   "We're going to look for usable ships, right?"
   "Yeah, that too.  I also need to unplug that stereo."
   Eiko huffed.  "I still don't see what the hangup you have with that
thing is."
   "Trust me."
   She let her head fall backward onto his seat.  "Whatever."
   The Rotofoil soon reached the bay.  Coming to nearly a halt, Martin
transformed to his human form wearing a heavy, unmarked t-shirt and grey
slacks, and set Eiko gently on the ground.  "I want to walk around the
Batwing, see if there's any external damage.  Go pull the plug on that
thing, okay?"
   Eiko shrugged.  "Whatever."  She walked over to the wall where the
stereo was connected to a power outlet.  With a gentle tug the plug came
out of the wall socket.
   "Is that better?" she asked sarcastically.
   "Loads better.  Thanks, girl," the stereo responded, reeling the
power cord back into itself.
   Eiko gaped at the thing.
   The stereo launched itself into the air, flipping as its carrying
handle separated while the side speaker housings folded first outward
from, then underneath the central section.  The sides of the central
unit rotated and extended, and a new protrusion rose from its top side.
All this happened while the thing grew to enormous proportions.
   Only a second later, Eiko was stood beside an enormous red, yellow
and grey robot, much, much taller than herself.  It looked down at her
and smiled, extending a hand.
   "How ya doin'?"
   Eiko was too scared to answer.  She started to fall backwards, but
gentle hands caught her, pulling her to her feet.
   She pointed a nervous finger at the mechanoid and tilted her head
slightly toward Martin as he smiled bemusedly.  "Uh ... friend of
yours?"
   "Oh, you don't know?  Some spy YOU are, Little One."  He gently
soothed her nerves, stepping between her and the metal monster.  "Eiko
Magami, this is an old pal of mine from Cybertron, Blaster.  He's a
communications specialist.  Blaster, this is Eiko, a very dear friend."
   "Hey, any friend of the Hero of 2036 is a friend of mine.  Good
t'meet you, Eiko."  He took Eiko's hand with two of his fingers, nodding
it gently.  He couldn't help but notice the swollen bruise on her face,
but decided not to say anything about it.
   "Uhhh ... likewise, I'm sure."  She tried to smile.
   Martin gave her a playful squeeze.  "Come on, Little One, lighten up!
Blaster's a cool guy.  He's so cool you could keep a side of beef in him
for a month."
   Blaster grinned.  "Yeah, I'm so hip I can't see past my pelvis."
   Eiko was starting to recover herself.  "You don't HAVE a pelvis."
   "Details.  Don't bother me with details."
   She giggled lightly.  This big metal man had obviously spent some
time around Martin -- the sense of humor was easy to recognize.
   "Well, now that you two can co-exist," Martin opened, "we'd better
get moving.  We need to spend a little time cleaning up this base, and
to see what we can salvage from these wrecks."
   The three of them proceeded with the task of taking the WDF's closing
inventory.

   Definitely the least pleasant of the items on the "Things To Do" list
was the cleanup of dead personnel.  None of the deceased left this
mortal coil cleanly, and they couldn't just leave the bodies lying
around to stink up the base.  Well, not unless they wanted to seal off
over half of the complex.
   Martin and Eiko were shuffling the last bodies into the morgue when
something most unexpected occurred.
   "Utopia Planitia control, come in, please."
   The sound froze them with amazement.  They'd been alone in the
deserted UP for two nights, and had yet to hear a word from anyone.
   "Utopia Planitia control here.  Go ahead."  Blaster answered the call
in his usual, professional fashion; he was manning the command center.
   Something not entirely unlike a sigh of relief came across the
connection.  "UP control, this is Pigeon Two.  Pigeon Three and myself
request permission to dock."
   Martin smirked.  Tom's voice was a sound for sore ears, indeed.
   "Roger, Pigeon Two.  The door's open, come on in.  UP control, out."
   "Thanks, UP control.  Pigeon Two, out."
   Martin slapped the intercom on.  "UP control to Pigeon Two -- one
question before you come in, please."
   Tom hesitated.  "Uh, go ahead."
   "Is that a banana in your ear, or are you just happy to see us?"
   Martin heard the high-pitched giggle that was Danilia's trademark,
followed by Tom's incredulous stammering.  "H-HAMMER?!"
   "Hey Tom, how's the wife, I mean life?"
   "You talk to me too, you creep!" the still-giggling voice added.
   "I'd never think of leaving you out, Dani.  You two alone?"
   "Actually, no.  Dund is in Dani's back seat."
   "Well, now I'm sorry I don't have a video link set up here.  Eiko and
I'll meet you in the main bay.  Hammer out."
   He hadn't even shut off the intercom before Eiko'd bolted down the
corridor.  Martin transformed to Rotofoil mode and hurried after her.

   When Martin reached the bay, Eiko was already standing, catching her
breath, watching two Valkyries with warp boosters make their landing
approach.  He transformed to his human form on the fly, now wearing his
Gizmonic jumpsuit, and skidded to a halt next to her.
   He looked out the spaceward entrance, following Eiko's gaze as the
fighters came into view.  There were a few laser burns on the sides of
the lead plane, indicating that its voyage hadn't been uneventful.  He
could ask about that some other time; for now, he felt it was great just
to see some friendly faces.  The smile on Eiko's face said exactly the
same thing.
   The two craft touched down without much ado, save for one last barrel
roll by the second one.  (Danilia could be such a show-off at times.)
Both of them slowed, then stopped and shut down near where the Dynamic
Duo waited.
   Tom's canopy was open first, and he leaped confidently to the ground,
landing gently on his feet.  Any judge of gymnastics would have given
him a 10.0.  He went over to Dani's plane, where Dund had the little
blonde by the scruff of her collar, dangling her over the side as she
protested loudly.
   "Put me down, you big bully!"
   Tom put his arms out with a shit-eating grin.  "You heard the lady,
Dund."
   Dani's eyes widened.  "Waitwaitnotlikethatnononononoooo!"
   Smiling ear to ear with a silent laugh, Dund let her fall into Tom's
waiting arms.  At times like this, he was glad noone expected him to say
anything.
   Dani continued to kick and flail in Tom's grasp, beating uselessly on
his chest with a smile that told everyone she didn't mean a word.
"Meanie meanie meanie!  You're so cruel!"
   Tom continued to grin.  "You know you love it.  That's why you said
'yes' when I proposed, remember?"
   She immediately stopped squirming and threw her arms around him,
giving him a kiss that made his ears flap briskly.  Eiko broke into
giggles at the sight, as she always did.
   Dani jumped down from Tom's arms and bounded into Martin's embrace.
He whirled her around as she giggled with glee.  "Hammer, it's so great
to see you!"
   "I'm glad to see you too, Dani.  I was starting to wonder if anyone
else cared."
   "Oh, Hammer!  We'll never give up on you!"  She planted a big wet one
on his cheek and jumped down, hopping over to give Eiko a hug.
   Eiko smiled, returning Dani's hug.  "Hi, Dani."
   Danilia pulled herself away from Eiko, holding her at arm's length.
She was about to say something Barney-like when her smile faded with a
gasp.  "Eiko ... your face--!  What happened?"
   Eiko's eyes fell as she tenderly put a hand over the still-swollen
bruise.  "I ... kinda lost control of myself, and Diggy had to snap me
out of it ... he didn't mean for it to be so bad."  She chanced a
sidelong glance at Martin, who gave her a look of renewed apology.  She
smiled back at him, readily accepting it.
   A hand on his shoulder gained Martin's attention, and he looked into
Tom's smiling countenance.  "Sometimes the actions you regret most are
those that are most necessary, Hammer."
   He smiled in return, shaking Tom's other hand.  "Tell me about it.
Glad you guys could make it."
   "Hey, after your little pep talk, Dani wouldn't let me sit around and
mope.  We Pigeons have to stick together."  They embraced in silence.
   Eiko put her arms around Dund as best she could.  He was a truly
enormous man, even taller than Martin and built like a tank with tree-
trunk arms and a barrel chest.  She wondered how Dani ever managed to
cram him into the back seat of her Valkyrie.
   "Hey, big guy," she smiled up at him.  "How's tricks?"
   The ride was terrible, he signed.
   Eiko laughed.  "I can imagine."
   I doubt that, he replied with a smile.
   "How did they ever get you into that thing?"
   Shoehorn.
   Dani fumed at the giant.  "Hey, be nice!"
   Wrapping his hands around their waists, he picked up both of the
girls, putting one on each of his shoulders as they laughed.  Eiko
watched bemusedly as Dani toyed with Dund's short hair, making his face
turn bright red.  Eiko gave him a kiss on the cheek and hopped down.
   Tom finally looked around.  "Where is everybody, anyway?"
   "They were gone before we got here," Martin replied.
   Why? Dund signed.
   "I'm not entirely sure, myself.  We found a little documentary-disc
in Lord F's office that showed the entire Wayward Son command staff
falling apart piece by piece.  We also found Decker's beheaded corpse,
still holding a rifle.  He'd probably tried to assassinate Lord F.
Apparently, the WDF has been dissolved, for the duration."
   Tom and Dund just gaped at him.
   "No way!" Danilia squealed, climbing down Dund's arm.
   "There's no other explanation," Eiko replied.  "As of two days ago,
we're all unemployed."
   "But, but, but," Dani sputtered, searching for the words to express
her confused outrage, "but the WDF did so much good!  They can't just
let it die like that!"
   "The point's moot, Dani," Martin said quietly.  "We're the only ones
here.  It's already been done."
   "But it CAN'T be over!  It just CAN'T!"
   Everyone present agreed with her, but didn't know what could be done
about it.
   Martin sighed.  "Come on, you guys.  Let's get you settled in."  He
walked out of the bay, and the group followed him.

41 ---------- I'm Crushing Your Head

   After getting Tom, Dani and Dund set up in another pair of suites,
Martin and Eiko played the Sonset video for the whole group.  Their
reaction was pretty much the same:  shock.  It was the first time Martin
had ever known Danilia to be at a loss for words.
   One of the quickest decisions they came to was the most obvious to
them all -- they couldn't stay at Utopia Planitia forever.  Not that it
couldn't support them.  It had remaining supplies to keep them going for
several centuries, and the power core would last far longer.  But Lord
Fahrvergnugen had suggested that the base be left until the WDF could be
re-formed, and they wanted to respect his wish.
   They also knew there was no way they could keep Dund cooped up in the
back seat of a fighter while they searched for a new home and new jobs.
To this end, they searched every nook and cranny of the base for some
kind of warp- or fold-capable transport they could use as a home base.
They found nothing in fully-working order, and only one that would
likely require a mere month's work by a full crew of skilled
technicians.
   With nothing better to do with their time, they set to work on it.

   "There.  Can you get to it now?"
   Danilia smiled at the space under the immense piece of machinery.
"That'll be no problem.  Thanks!"  She laid herself on the hover-
platform and slid under the huge contraption, tools in hand.
   Eiko took slow, measured breaths.  Being incapable of using delicate
tools and incompetent at fold systems repair, Eiko found herself
relegated to the position of Human Forklift, a sort of high-tech, heavy-
lifting gofer.
   Right now, Dani was merrily putting the finishing touches on one of
the regulatory systems for the Reflex furnace.  She had a cute way of
saying "if we can't get this fixed, we're all gonna go Booooommm!" that
failed to reassure Eiko of her capabilities in the slightest, but she
was their best technician as well as their best fighter pilot.
   "Oh, pooh.  Eiko?"
   "What is it, Dani?"
   "I can't get this panel open.  Is there anything in reach you could
prop the thing up with so you could give me a hand with this?"
   Eiko looked around herself.  She couldn't stretch very far, or hold
it up with one hand for too long; this was one of the larger sections of
the furnace itself, and was enough of a strain to lift with two hands
and good leverage.
   In the corner of her eye, she spotted something.   She reached back
with one leg, kicking it down and rolling it into view.  It was a piece
of thick tritanium pipe.  Really thick, too; probably a spare part from
the main Reflex power conduit.  It looked like Dund could actually fit
one of his legs into it without getting stuck.
   "Just a second, Dani."  Grunting, Eiko worked the pipe into an
upright position.  It was only slightly taller than she was holding the
furnace at, so she gritted her teeth and hauled it higher, shoving the
pipe under it with her foot.  She lowered the furnace apprehensively,
then slowly released it.
   It held fast.
   Eiko breathed a deep sigh of relief, mopping her brow.  She got down
on her stomach and crawled underneath to where Dani waited.  "Where is
it?"
   Dani pointed to a clearly-visible panel cover.  "It's stuck shut.  I
took the screws off, so it should fall right in my lap, but it won't."
   "Let me try."  Eiko rolled onto her back and slid under the offending
panel.  She grasped the recessed handle and pulled on it.  It refused to
budge.  She continued pulling on it until she'd lifted herself from the
floor.  She relaxed her arms and dropped back down.
   Dani regarded the panel with amazement.  "Wow, that's stuck tight."
   Changing tactics, Eiko put one hand in the handle and the other
against the area outside the panel cover.  She pulled on the handle
while pushing against the bottom of the furnace.  Soon, there was a
sound of bending metal, followed by the loud PLONGGK of the panel cover
popping out.
   "There you go," Eiko smiled to Dani, handing her the metal plate.
   Their smiles faded when they realized that the sound of bending metal
hadn't stopped yet.
   Eiko glanced down at the pipe.  As she'd feared, it was developing a
severe crimp on the side facing her.  It was probably left out of the
assembly due to a structural flaw, rather than a mere counting problem.
Her mind raced.  There was no way she could crawl out in time; even if
she did, Dani would be crushed before she could help.
   Before Dani could protest, Eiko grabbed the hover-platform and threw
it, Dani and all, out from under the furnace.  She started to turn
herself around to crawl for safety when the wrenching sound intensified,
followed by a loud clunk.
   "It's giving way!" Dani cried.
   Eiko threw her hands and knees up just in time to catch the falling
machine.  She pushed against it with all her might, but found herself in
a bad position in more ways than one -- she didn't have enough leverage
to lift it.  Despite her struggles, it continued to advance on her.
   "Eiko!  EIKO!"  Danilia was starting to panic.
   Eiko took a deep breath, and did the only thing she could think to do
that might help.
   "DIIIIIIIIGGYYYYYYYYYY!"
   Grimacing with effort, her eyes squeezed shut, Eiko braced herself
for the end.  Cold metal came down on every part of her like a desperate
lover.  It pressed against the side of her face, and she drew her last
breath.
   Then, slowly, it lifted.
   Eiko dared to open her eyes.  "Wha--?"
   "GET ... HER ... OUT," a voice grated.
   There was a sound of someone crawling as fast as they could.  A hand
grabbed her ankle, and she was dragged feet-first several yards.  She
looked up thankfully, and gasped in surprise.
   The fact that Martin was holding up the Reflex furnace wasn't what
surprised her.  She knew he was the only other person capable of doing
so, though he wasn't quite as strong as she herself, and she'd wondered
whether he could do it at all.  Apparently, he could.
   As she looked up at him, his face was twisted with strain with his
eyes nearly squeezed shut.  But through the open slits that remained,
she could see dazzling white light escaping.
   He looked down at her, opening his eyes a bit wider.  They shone from
within, a pair of burning coals.  She tried to say something, but her
voice failed her.
   "MOVE ... AWAY," he said, his voice ringing with a metallic snarl.
   She did as he commanded.  Slowly, carefully, he lowered the furnace
to the ground.  He slipped his fingers out at the last moment, and the
huge machine landed with a clap of thunder.
   Martin dropped to his knees, leaning against the machine with his
head, taking his breath in long, fatigued heaves.  Tom and Dani watched,
silently holding each other, as Eiko tiptoed apprehensively toward him.
She touched a hand to his shoulder, almost afraid to see his face.
   He turned toward her, still gasping, and opened an eye.  It gave off
no light of its own, save for the usual glimmer she always found there.
   "Don't ... dothat ... again ... LittleOne."
   She smiled, bringing a hand to his face and drawing close.
   "Why not?  You would've done the same thing."
   Her reply made him laugh weakly, because it was so true.
   She silenced his laughter with a kiss.

   The entire group was gathered in UP's primary situation room, and not
entirely happy about their situation.  They'd just discovered that an
entire subsystem of the power relay in the ship they'd been working on
needed parts they couldn't get anywhere on the base, and couldn't
manufacture on their own.
   Blaster shook his head slowly.  "Man, what a let-down."
   Dund signed a few choice obscenities.  Dani flushed; she'd never
thought she'd see him say THAT.
   Tom's ears drooped.  "Some years it just doesn't pay to get out of
bed."
   Martin sat in brooding silence.  He had no appropriate verbal way to
express how he felt about two weeks of hard work going down the tubes.
   Eiko didn't bother verbalizing.  She just put her fist through the
wall.  She pulled her arm out slowly, though; she'd only gotten the
bandages off her arms a few days ago, and had no desire to have them put
back on.
   The group sulk was interrupted by a small winking light on the
subspace sensor panel.  Blaster analyzed the display, then turned to the
group with a smile.  "Hey, someone's folding in!"
   He definitely had Martin's attention.  "Any ID yet?"
   "Not yet ... but it looks big!"
   "Maybe we can hitch a ride.  Blaster, get in the comm center and
invite 'em in.  The rest of us'll make like a reception party."
Everyone went where they were bid, glad to finally break the monotony.

   Martin watched with trepidation as the ship, not so large as the
Wayward Son once was but still much bigger than anything they'd seen in
weeks, coasted into the shipyards.  Like Tom's Valkyrie, it bore the
scars of an eventful past ... but it also had sections of plating that
looked like they were exploded from within.
   Dani let out a low whistle.  "Sure hope that's just body damage."
   The ship slowed as it passed the group of five, and the large, proud
lettering on the side of the bow finally came past them, nearly putting
Martin into shock as he read it:

                    W.D.S. RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION

   Suddenly, every burn, every pock-mark on the hull came alive with the
threat of injury and death for a close friend.  Martin closed his eyes
and clenched a tight fist, working to calm himself.
   This didn't escape Eiko's notice, and she massaged his hand gently.
He relaxed under her quiet reassurance, but still worried.  Could she
still be...?
   Every minute of the landing procedure dragged into multiple
eternities in Martin's perception.  Finally, the gangplank came down,
and Martin led his small band onto it.  At the airlock, they were met by
four people.
   Bringing up the rear was the tallest member, a thin woman with long,
dark hair.  Before her and to her left was a male Salusian, still
bearing the native furry complexion of his race; to her right, a hefty
man with shoulder-length hair, thick and dyed blue.  The Salusian was
slightly taller than Tom, while the other was slightly shorter.
   Leading them all was their shortest member, a beautiful, fair-skinned
girl with shoulder-length auburn hair and large, brown eyes.  She raised
her hand in a sharp salute, almost touching the thin, crimson band tied
about her forehead.
   "Acting Captain Noriko Takaya, requesting permission to deboard,
sir."
   Martin went pale.  "Riko?"
   Lowering himself to him knees, he met her hollow gaze with concern.
Her eyes, always so warm and full of life, just glared at him, past him,
dull and lifeless.  He reached forward and touched her.  She didn't
react.
   "Acting Captain Noriko Takaya, requesting permission to deboard,
sir."
   Martin looked to her companions.  He tried to meet their gazes, but
they all averted their eyes as he considered them in turn.  He
remembered what Noriko had told him, that first night, about how she'd
always played the Brave Little Soldier to prop up her friends and
companions in bad situations.
   He returned his sad gaze to the small woman, now little more than a
military automoton, standing before him in a stiff salute.  She'd buried
herself in her role, and now refused to come out.
   "Acting Capt--"
   Martin put a finger over her lips, silencing her.  He waved his hands
over her eyes, closing them.  Then, he lowered her saluting hand and
held her arms, pulling her forward.
   "Open your eyes, Little Angel."
   Her eyes came open slowly, and she looked into his gaze once more.
This time, they were alive with shock and surprise, as if she'd just
been awakened from a nightmare.
   "M ... Marty?" she whispered, praying that this wasn't simply another
dream.
   He smiled and nodded, giving her arms a squeeze.  "Hi, Riko."
   She regarded him as he watched tears form in her eyes.  He reached up
to wipe them away, and she threw herself at him, pushing her face into
his chest and releasing her grief in a gut-wrenching wail.
   The other three members of the Righteous Indignation's crew, along
with the rest of the Clay Pigeons, wordlessly excused themselves to
anyplace where Noriko's cry couldn't haunt them.
   Martin held her, rocking her softly and adding his own tears to hers
as she screamed inconsolably.

   There was a time, Largo, when I was ready to blindly join your
forces.  Now that I know what you are, what you do ... I'm glad that
never happened.
   Everyone I love, everything I care about, has been hurt or destroyed
because of you.  And when you see it ... you laugh.
   You laugh!
   Damn you, Largo.  Damn you to Hell!

-- 
  The High Diggy-Hoek of Chihuahua-Wala Land (Martin Rose) - mfrose@ais.org
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Truth is stranger than Fiction ---------------- Stupid is a boundless concept
The Limbaugh Institute for Advanced Conservative Studies:  Ann Arbor Division