Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Above You ❯ Chapter 9

Nine

"You're on blue-deck!" some major ordered, pointing toward a ship.

Duo knew he wasn't the only one to ignore the man.

"Soldier!"

Duo flipped the guy off, turning into the gate that had the food supply. If he had his rank, that man would have been cow towing to him like a good little groveler.

"Hey!" the man snapped in annoyance.

"Drop it," another major muttered, wide-eyed as he moved closer to them.

"They just..."

"Leave it, Ronning," the second man snapped. "I think we need to forget we saw them at all."

"What?" Ronning asked blankly.

"Those were the Gundam pilots," the second man whispered, looking around the area to be sure no one could hear him. "I didn't hear anyone saying they were coming, so they probably don't have the clearance..."

"Then we should stop them!" Ronning started.

"If you pursue this, I'm going to put you on leave," the second man snapped. "If they're involved, then shit's hit the fan. Just pretend nothing happened."

Ronning narrowed his eyes at the other.

"Trust me, if we make a noise, we'll wish we hadn't."

"He flipped me off," the guy snapped.

"Yeah, if they hadn't left office, you'd be on your knees. We're nothing but peons to them...and we don't want to be aware of them being here."

Ronning stared at him.

"Blue deck!" the second man snapped at the soldiers who came running up the isle much like the former pilots had. "Let's move, people!"

"Sir!"

Ronning looked from the soldiers back to his friend, then nodded slightly.

He had a feeling he'd regret it...but really, that just made it a lose-lose situation. He was fucked if he did and fucked if he didn't...but at least if he didn't he'd make it out without physical injury.

That had to count for something.

- -

"I want to be understanding," Ranger purred, pacing around where Matty was sitting.

"I thought you weren't supposed to keep me separate from the group," Matty muttered, wishing the throbbing along his forearm would stop. He kept thinking a bruise would show up, but the initial red mark was already gone.

"Don't start making that noise," Ranger muttered, rounding on him.

Matty flinched back, waiting for the pain.

"He has a point," Jaden noted, studying him.

"He doesn't even talk to anyone when he's out there," Ranger returned, still eyeing the nineteen year old. "He sits there and stares at his phone."

"I'm trying to figure it out!" Matty snapped back, glad no one was around who mattered when tears filled his eyes. He wiped at them irritably, then looked back down to his arm. It still ached, and he was pretty sure it was the bone.

Jaden nodded slightly, looking up to Ranger.

"You're not serious," Ranger protested. "You let him get off like he's..."

"You looked him up yourself," Jaden snapped back. "He's only had pax on the phone about a week...if that. I believe him."

"Well, I believe his boyfriend would have told him how to add us by now," Ranger noted, still studying Matty's face.

Matty looked up to him, wiping the tears away again. He hated that Max wasn't on anymore. Max'd said they'd come save him, then talked a little more to him before going quiet...no explanation on why, either. He just...wasn't on. None of them were... "He's not on," Matty noted, looking between them both. "I don't know where he is...he's just not..." he wiped at the tears again.

"It's all right," Jaden noted reassuringly. He liked the good-cop bad-cop routine. He'd send Ranger away now and start trying to sweet talk Matty into cooperating again...

As if Matty had a choice.

"Well?" the leader, Rab, muttered, moving over to look in on them. They were in a small office off the main room. The door had been left open, but Matty was pretty sure the only one anyone could see was Jaden.

"Nothing," Ranger snapped, pacing behind Matty.

"Come on, son," Rab muttered, moving into the room. "I'm sure Ranger's made himself clear by now...and according to the conventions we'll have to replace anything we break."

"Even my bones?" Matty snapped back, wiping at his eyes again.

"Eh?" Rab muttered.

"He's got an attitude, Sir," Ranger snapped.

Jaden didn't respond, considering Matty's face.

Matty raised his left arm—it was shaking, and he was trying very much to hold it still, meeting the man's eyes.

"What'd you do?" Rab demanded, moving forward and grabbing the arm.

Matty flinched back from the touch, hissing and trying to yank the arm away.

"Just pressure," Ranger snapped, glaring accusingly at Matty.

"He's not faking this," Rab snapped, a look of annoyance crossing his face. "Haven't you touched him?"

Ranger moved forward with that same uncoiled motion that usually accompanied the pain, and Matty tried to dodge backwards. It knocked the chair over under him so his pained arm was caught in the leader's hands...and that really hurt.

"Ow..." Matty tried to find his feet, but the chair foiled him...and cooperatively twisted under his foot so one of the legs hit him hard in the back of his thigh.

Rab yanked him away from the chair—lifting him easily, like he was a small child—and set him down beside Jaden's legs...letting him go.

Matty curled down as the pain seared his nerves, knowing one thing and one thing only. Jaden didn't hurt him, Jaden seemed to understand...and Jaden hadn't moved.

"What the hell are you thinking!?" Rab exploded at Ranger, turning and slamming the door to the room closed. "He's nineteen years old!"

"That's old enough to join the army!" Ranger snapped back. "That's old enough to go to war!"

"So if he were a soldier," Rab snarled, "I wouldn't turn a hair...but he's not. He's a damn civilian...he works at a home-repairs shop for Christ's sake!"

"He's lying to us! Something's up with his damn phone!" Ranger turned and kicked the chair Matty'd been sitting in across the room. "He's got pax-pro! He said his boyfriend bought it for him!"

Rab focused down on Matty.

"Why do you even give a damn about my phone?" Matty demanded of the man. He was curled up and leaning against Jaden's leg with his arm crossed over his chest. "You haven't bothered anyone else for theirs..."

"Honestly?" Rab asked carefully. "Honestly, we have everyone's phones monitored, but that program on your phone won't let us access it. We can't verify what you say. For all we know, you could be talking to your boyfriend...or you could be talking to police...or you could be talking to some war-rick bastard trained just as much as the Gundam pilots. We need to verify your contacts or we're going to have to make you turn it off...we don't want to do that, I hope you've gathered that much. I know this isn't an ideal situation," he kneeled down so they were eye to eye. "So I need you to cooperate."

"Don't hit me," Matty muttered, shifting back more against Jaden's leg.

Rab considered him a long moment, then looked up to Ranger.

Ranger paced of and kicked Matty's chair again...which made it fall to pieces.

Matty wished he could hide from the man...

"Leave, Ranger," Rab said evenly.

"But, Sir..."

"Leave," Rab spat, looking up at him.

Ranger drew himself up, glared down at Matty, then turned and stormed from the room, slamming the door closed behind him.

"There," Rab muttered, moving closer—it made Matty think of a skittish cat. Careful steps with a hand outstretched... "Let me see it..."

"Gene said we shouldn't touch it anymore," Jaden noted.

"Pro has the ability to synch to databases," Rab agreed. "But...come on, we looked at his profile. The only unknown is this boyfriend he keeps mentioning."

Matty set his phone in the man's hand.

'Tut tut, looks like rain...tut tut...it looks like rain...'

Jaden made an annoyed noise, looking away.

"What is your problem with that?" Rab demanded, focusing on the screen. "It's..."

"It's an old kid's song," Jaden retorted. "Some weird-ass remix, sure...but it's from some kid's show...my sister listens to that kind of weird shit."

"A kid's song?" Rab asked, then noticed the song was saying something about honey...and bees. He looked back to Matty.

"My boyfriend set it up," Matty shrugged, wiping the tears from his eyes before they could fall on their own. "I have no idea..."

"Who is your boyfriend?" Rab asked, passing the phone back over.

'Colonel Marshal Gerrange, 41st MS unit A.'

How did Rab come out of that?

'Ooh, baby,' Max's reply popped up. 'You just made my DAY.'

Matty didn't dare reply to that, meeting the man's eyes. "His name is Max Tsuyo," Matty explained, swallowing slightly.

"Ah," the man nodded slightly. "You been with him long?"

If they'd looked him up, Matty had a feeling they knew the answer already.

"Not really," he muttered, wiping his eyes again. "We started seeing each other a week or so before my trip out here."

"And he bought you pax-pro?" Rab raised his eyebrows.

Matty smiled slightly at him, then looked down again.

"You only got that program after you were in space," Rab added considerately. "You have to understand, we have to protect our interests...we looked into your phone history...and you've only had that on there a week at the most."

Matty nodded, wiping at his eyes again. "Max and his friends were doing a tour...and they were in the L-3 cluster...and me and my dad went to check out the set for Tainted...and I stayed the night with him."

"Your dad?" Rab asked blankly.

"No...with Max," Matty rubbed his eyes again. "He put it on my phone because I hadn't said which flight I was on or anything and he had no idea when to expect me or if I was running late..." he grinned slightly. It was true enough, Max had been bugged by it that day.

"Good night?" Rab asked, grinning slightly. "I imagine, if he dropped five-hundred on your phone."

Matty frowned up at him, not liking the way that sound.

"Ooh, sorry...bad phrasing..." Rab looked up to Jaden. "You really don't know how to add?" he asked, looking back down to Matty.

Matty nodded. "It doesn't make sense to me...where is the add function?"

"It's a customizable menu," Rab returned, smiling slightly at him. "If you can't find it, your boyfriend might have forgot to add it in...and I'd have to see the screen to help."

Matty frowned more, looking down.

That'd kick ass...have Max pop up some comment that they weren't supposed to see...

"That's what I thought," Rab returned with a slight grin. "You can't really add us?"

Matty met his eyes again, half-expecting to get hit.

"We're going to have to ask you to turn it off," Rab informed him, rising carefully to his feet. "I hate to inconvenience you..."

"But..." Matty started. "No one else..."

"We can't have you jeopardizing our integrity," Rab snapped, narrowing his eyes down at Matty. "If you refuse to turn it off for us, we'll take it from you."

And that was exactly what he Max had said for him not to let happen.

He nodded, swallowing slightly as he raised his phone...he stared longingly at Max's chat-screen, then opened the menu and hit the power button.

The phone chirped its little goodbye song, and Matty lowered it, looking up to Rab.

"Take him to the bathroom and let him wash his face," Rab suggested to Jaden. "Then let him join the others."

"Yes, sir," Jaden returned, twitching his leg slightly so Matty moved away from it.

Rab nodded once more at Matty, then turned and left the room with the door open again.

"What's the verdict?" Ranger asked, sliding back in.

Matty, who'd been halfway to his feet, stumbled backwards away from the man as panic surged through his system.

"Whoa!" Jaden muttered, catching his arm before he could fall. "It's all right..." he glanced back at Ranger, who was considering Matty with narrowed eyes. "Get out of here...he's turned it off."

Ranger considered Matty another moment, then turned and disappeared.

"I knew I let it go too long," Jaden hissed, helping Matty right himself. "You're not going to try anything with me, are you? Me and you can just run to the bathroom? Your eyes are all red and you can see tears all over."

Matty wiped at his face again, then nodded his consent. He didn't particularly care if anyone else seen he'd been crying...but he had a feeling Rab didn't want them to and didn't want it to show up on any camera—they'd set one up in the main room.

"I don't know about you," Jaden added as they started into the hall. "But I'm starving...we can go hit the buffet, huh?"

Matty nodded again, looking away. His arm was still throbbing and his leg, too, from the chair.

"You like chicken, don't you?" Jaden added. "I think there's some beef in it, but it was mostly chicken tonight...and they'll probably be getting the bedding out soon. You tired?"

Matty nodded again, still not meeting his eyes as they turned a corner.

"Well...they'll turn the lights down. Sucks that you don't have your music to listen to, though, huh? Would probably easier for you...if you could just add..."

"If I could just add I wouldn't be all alone," Matty snapped, wiping at the tears in his eyes again angrily.

"Yeah..." Jaden muttered, pulling a door open. "You can take your time in here."

"So kind of you," Matty muttered, looking at his reflection in the mirror.

"Don't be an ass," Jaden snapped. "You don't have any reason to be nice to all of us, I get that...but you don't have to try to make it difficult...I'm trying to help you."

"Sorry," Matty mumbled, turning the hot water on. "But I'm sure you can accept that I meant to be with my boyfriend by now."

"Oh?"

"Yeah...was going to take me to a nice dinner," Matty glanced at the guy in the reflection, smiling slightly. "Was gonna be our first real date."

"Ooh," Jaden flinched appreciatively. "That does suck."

"Suck...yeah," Matty laughed almost scathingly as he started rinsing his face off.

Jaden didn't say anything for a moment. He shook his head, though. "I've gotta piss...can I trust you not to run off?"

"And go where?" Matty retorted. "I have no idea where we are in this building...which means you'll all catch me...and probably leave me with Ranger," he shuddered at the notion.

Jaden made a vaguely amused noise and a face at that, then turned toward the urinals.

Matty shook his head, and went back to cleaning up his face.

- -

"It's off," Heero noted, still pacing. "Colonel Fucked took it...and it's off. He did it himself."

"Is he okay, you think?" Duo muttered, looking over Heero's shoulder at his screen.

"I hope so," Heero returned, staring at the name a long moment. "If not, I'm gonna have to go into hiding for what I'm gonna do."

Duo licked his lips, then moved back to the entrance of the room they were in. Quatre had taken control of the ship. It hadn't been hard, the pilot and co-pilot recognized them and had protested that their only goods were food-stuffs to be delivered on behalf of the prisoners. Quatre had pointed-out that they had no intentions of interfering with that, and the man had no further protests. Wufei and Trowa were securing the strapping to the large crate they were all going to be hanging onto to reach the colony's outer-wall.

"There," Duo muttered, moving back to his laptop. "You were right. A.C. 198, A0227 walls off port." He sat down in front of the thing, tucking his shirt down to start pulling his spacesuit up over his arms. He'd slid into the leggings, and'd had the arms tied around his waist. "I was getting worried, there...we could climb around the outer-shell like spiders until we found a vent...but being stuck there until another ship came close didn't sound appealing."

"Especially with only ninety minutes of oxygen," Heero agreed, grinning slightly, lowering his phone and moving to his own space suit. He licked his lips, glancing at his friend. "When...when you get mad...you don't stay mad, right?"

"What do you mean?" Duo asked, meeting his eyes.

"When I first saw the bruises on him on that camera-shot," Heero explained. "It made me pissed...I felt hot all over...that goes away, doesn't it?"

"It can...to an extent...depending on the situation."

"So...I still feel hot like that," Heero muttered, shifting slightly where he stood. "That's normal?"

"They have your boyfriend and we haven't been able to see him on the live feed for a half hour at least," Duo shrugged. "It's making me hot around the collar and I haven't even bedded him yet."

"Yet?" Heero asked sharply, meeting his eyes.

Duo gave him a look. "Let me know if you don't think you can control yourself, though."

Heero considered that a long moment. "Why?"

"So I can control you," Duo gave him another look and focused back on the computer screen. "Look, he's coming in a different door."

Heero darted forward, maximizing the screen that was rolling the video of the prisoners. Matty looked tired, and his left hand was shaking slightly.

"Knock it off," Duo snapped, minimizing the thing again. "I've got too much shit going for you to just come take over my screen...where's your laptop?"

"If I turn it on I won't get anything done," Heero retorted. He knew well enough that he'd be too nervous to quit watching the video. He was able to let Duo shoo him away from his machine, but if he gave in and watched his own...

"He's not bleeding, he looks okay," Duo noted reassuringly as he studied the dark-haired male. "You'll have to ask him where they took him, though."

"We got'em secured," Wufei noted, moving into the room and pulling his helmet off. "Trowa's getting our new oxygen tanks...Quatre said it should be another ten minutes before we hit the line. He's not sure how long it'll take to negotiate the crate inside, though. This wasn't something they asked for."

"But it is standard procedure," Duo muttered, looking back between them. "Their ship is still docked, right?"

"Should be," Heero returned. "If not we're going to make it a real war," he looked back to his phone and the note that said Matty's was turned off.

"What's up?" Wufei muttered. "You need to get your suit on, Yuy. It is standard, so things may start moving damn fast."

Duo looked back to the feed, noting that some of the men were starting to move around. "Looks like we've been spotted," he noted, rising to his feet. "Let's finish getting suited up...remember, Yuy, tell me if you don't think you can control yourself."

"Right," Heero agreed, dropping onto the bench to slide his feet into the bottom of his suit. He pulled it carefully on and tucked his phone into his pocket.

"I'm gonna go make sure Quatre's ready," Wufei muttered, messing with the end of his hair a moment.

"Shit," Duo muttered irritably, grabbing his braid and looking around. "Shit..."

"What?" Heero asked, zipping up his own suit to the waist.

"I didn't tuck my hair in," Duo explained in exasperation. He sighed after a moment, then moved over to the desk he'd been occupying and pulled out a pair of scissors. "Hey, look...a genuine need to hurry and a pair of scissors at hand." He offered them to Heero.

"Sounds like a good enough reason to me," Heero agreed, taking the things and grabbing the braid. "Short short?"

"Just up to here," Duo grabbed a bit closer to his shoulders. "Not too short, because I want to be able to pull it back still."

"Right," Heero agreed...and started to hack.

- -

"It's just a supply shuttle," Rab snapped at the men who were gathering in the corner. "Common procedure...they're going to see if we want the food and supplies they're offering."

"They think we can't handle it?" someone demanded.

Matty sighed and glanced at the camera. Even Jaden was distracted by the commotion. 'They told me if I didn't turn it off they'd take it from me,' he mouthed quickly. He wasn't sure if Max was watching or not, but he hadn't got the chance to do it before.

"We're going to accept it," Rab snapped. "We have the supplies, but if we refuse their help they'll take a hostile stance against us. You, boy," he pointed at Matty. "Come with me."

"What?" Matty asked blankly.

"Get up, let's go," Rab snapped, turning and starting away.

Evidently, however, Matty wasn't processing this command fast enough. Ranger stormed across the room and yanked him up by the scruff of his neck—which hurt—and hurled him after the other man.

"Damn it, Ranger!" Rab snapped, taking the few steps it required...and backhanding him. "That is not okay!"

Ranger looked away, focusing his glower on Matty.

"You okay?" Jaden demanded, jogging across the room to join them.

"Watch out, J," Ranger growled, "you don't want to go getting too attached to the prisoners."

"Rab told me to watch him," Jaden snapped back.

"Enough," Rab cut them both off. "Let's go."

Matty glanced back at the camera nervously. A few other of the men followed them, and he wasn't sure he was okay with that, either.

"You're not in trouble," Rab added to Matty as they moved at a fast walk that nearly made him run to keep up. "Nothing bad is going to happen here...you're just going to talk for me, all right?"

"Talk for you?" Matty repeated blankly.

"Well, they're going to want to ask you some questions about our treatment...and you are the one who's been the worst treated," he glared at Ranger a moment. "So I'll let you speak...we aren't so horrible, are we?"

"I'd rather he not be around when I answer that," Matty muttered, shying away from Ranger.

Ranger laughed coldly...and patted his back. Matty flinched hard under the touch, expecting pain...

"Ranger, go back to your post," Rab snapped at the guy. "You're just going to get him all shaken up again and he's only just calmed down."

"Fine," Ranger snapped, glaring at Matty again, then turned and stormed back down the hall.

"You okay?" Jaden muttered to Matty.

"J, you really do need to watch it," Rab noted clinically, looking back at him. "I know I told you to make sure he was okay...but there is a line."

Jaden looked away and shrugged as they entered a room.

"It's a commodity transport," a man noted from where he was sitting in front of a vid. "C.S. Timid. Its supplies from A0228. They want to know if we'll accept them."

"Main screen," Rab muttered, gesturing over his shoulder...as Matty caught sight of a very large window...and space beyond it.

There were so many stars...

He moved toward the thing quietly, realizing vaguely that this glass was all that separated them from a vacuum.

"C.S. Timid?" Rab asked.

Matty glanced back as an older looking man appeared on the screen.

"This is the C.S. Timid...visual recognized," he added off to the side.

"I understand you have supplies for me?" Rab asked curiously.

"If, as you have said, you're following the conventions."

"To the letter," Rab agreed, then turned and gestured at Matty. "Mr. Williams?"

Matty jumped slightly, pulling his eyes away from the window.

"Come on," Jaden muttered, indicating the man with his head pointedly.

"Oh...sorry," Matty turned and moved back to them, studying the man on the screen.

"State your name," the man muttered.

"Matty Williams," Matty returned.

"You are a prisoner?"

"Yes..."

"According to the summation of the conventions of war," the man said evenly, "your host has to stick to certain guidelines of humanitarian conduct. The code includes a stricture on violence, a refusal of humiliation, and a steady supply of food, water, and medication to fit the needs of the prisoners. Can you verify your conditions?"

"How do you mean?" Matty asked nervously.

"Have you had supper?"

"We ate, yeah...they had a buffet," Matty shifted slightly uncomfortably. Everyone in the room was watching him.

"And water?"

"There's a flat of bottles...they let everyone grab them."

"How about sanitation?"

"I was taken to the bathroom," Matty noted. "I guess you just have to say...they haven't explained that."

The man looked to Rab.

Rab blinked back at the screen, then looked around to another man. "Make the announcement...my apologies...and I'll apologize myself. I hadn't thought to clarify this. The bathrooms are down the hall from the room they're in. It was an oversight and I'm seeing to it."

"Treatment?" the man asked, looking pointedly at Matty's chin.

Matty shifted uncertainly.

"We have several Specials in our group," Rab noted, then indicated Matty. "The boy was being argumentative about his phone."

"Any misused or broken equipment will be replaced or aptly paid for," the man noted to him pointedly.

"I have pax-pro on my phone...and I don't know how to use it," Matty muttered, looking down.

"And this was stated and understood?" the pilot demanded.

"Unfortunately," Rab muttered smoothly, "the boy has an attitude...and Ranger took this to mean he was lying. Without being able to..."

"A civilian is not required to do anything with his or her own personal materials...aside from temporary seizure."

"To watch the integrity of our..."

"What manner of treatment were you put through?" the man asked Matty through gritted teeth.

Matty glanced at Rab a moment, then shifted and licked his lips. "Ranger...hit me a few times...and..."

"You were off camera for more than thirty minutes," the man noted, looking away from his camera briefly. "You were shown off camera for more than thirty minutes."

"He...hurt my arm," Matty noted, raising his left arm to show it. "He really didn't believe me and was trying to make me add them."

The man's eyes narrowed.

"The situation went beyond my approval," Rab snapped quickly. "I intend to reprimand Ranger fully for the over reaction. The boy has been assigned an escort," he indicated Jaden. "We're seeing to it that nothing more comes of these instances. Unfortunately, we had to make him turn the phone off."

"Matt?" the man asked, looking back to him.

Matty nodded questioningly.

"Is there a similar treatment going on with any other?"

"Not to my knowledge," Matty returned, shifting again. "Everyone seems okay."

"And you're not being kept from the others?"

"Not anymore."

"This information is marked as a minor infringement on the summation of the conventions," the man noted. "But not enough to require immediate action on our part. Mr. Wire," the man called back behind him. "Ready the cargo for shipment."

"Yes, Sir," Jason returned from off screen.

Matty's heart leapt.

That had been Jason, hadn't it? He'd said 'Wire'...

"Our ship will hold this position until we're sure of the cargo's delivery," the man added easily. "Please be ready to accept the shipment in a half-hour's time." He looked back to Matty. "Please be assured, Mr. Williams, that we are all intending to resolve this situation as quickly as we can manage. There should be no problem with your release."

Matty nodded.

"Please assure the other passengers," the man added. "You're not forgotten, just temporarily out of reach."

"We all have the greatest hope for the resolution," Rab noted pointedly, his tone dry.

The man nodded at Rab, then back at Matty...and the line disconnected.

Matty turned to look at Rab.

"I thought you were going to paint us as demons for sure," he noted, resting a hand briefly on Matty's shoulder. "I appreciate your honesty. You like that view?" he pointed at the window.

Matty shrugged slightly.

"Go ahead," Rab encouraged him. "Feel free to look out there...you might even see that ship launch its cargo if you look far enough to the left. I have a few things to do, then we can all go back to the rest of the guests...unless you'd like to go right away, of course."

"I'll...I'll look," Matty muttered, moving toward the window hesitantly. Jaden followed.

Had that really been Jason? Max had said he wouldn't be there more than a day, hadn't he? If he had access to whatever database the man Gene had been suggesting...it could be. But what could some commodity ship do? Why was Jason on a commodity ship? Just because Jason was there didn't mean all the others were.

What was going on?

"Look, there," Jaden had kneeled down by the edge, and pointed. "If you get down like this, you can see that ship."

Matty kneeled down himself, blinking a moment until his eyes made out those lights from the myriad stars.

"He said within a half hour," Jaden added, shifting to sit properly. "It might take them a while to do it...I don't suggest you squat like that the whole time or your legs will fall asleep."

"Yeah, huh?" Matty returned, dropping down himself and leaning forward to look out. "Which way is Earth?"

"We won't be able to see it from here," the guy noted. "It's off that way," he gestured vaguely behind.

"Oh..." Matty sighed. "I wish I stayed home."

"I bet you do," Jaden agreed in amusement. "I didn't realize how bad Ranger was being, huh? I should have stopped him before."

"If you're trying to apologize, just say the words," Matty retorted.

"Sorry," Jaden said quietly, looking around. "I'll try and keep Ranger away, but he's the only one who can make you cooperate anymore."

Matty met his eyes very pointedly. "I can not add people to my machine. I don't know the settings, I don't know what anything actually means...and I haven't been able to figure it out. I don't care if you think I'm lying, that's the truth. I'm no damn masochist, I don't like being hit, and I fail to see how it'd make me a hero to let some guy wail on me."

"Yeah, huh?" Jaden sighed, looking back out the window. "You're from Earth, huh? I've only been once."

"This is my first time to the colonies," Matty noted. "Probably my last, too."

"You won't get killed," the man snapped.

Matty focused on him in alarm.

"Oh...you meant...not...uh..." he grinned a bit. "Sorry, misunderstood you."

"Oh..." Matty blinked at him, then focused uneasily out the window.

"When I was on Earth, it stunk," the man noted after another moment. "Like...a bunch of cars when the vents on low, you know? We were in Cairo for a few days...and it was bad."

"Cairo?" Matty asked, blinking. "That's a weird place...and I suppose air pollution has gotten bad...was it cloudy?"

The guy nodded.

"Not much wind?"

Another nod.

"Yeah...you'll want to go somewhere that's not so main stream...maybe by the ocean, too. You can smell it, you know?" Matty sighed, looking back to the blackness out the window. "I'm going to the ocean as soon as I can after this."

"Get your boyfriend to take you," Jaden suggested.

"Yeah, huh?" Matty grinned at that. "That's a good idea."