Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Resistance is Futile ❯ Hope and Fear ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5 - Hope and Fear

Duo's mind froze. To hear of Heero's injuries earlier on had been bad enough but to be told that Heero wouldn't survive transportation to the nearest hospital was so much worse.

Duo swallowed hard. He didn't trust his voice entirely as he addressed the older man almost begging. "Please, we have to do something for him! Isn't there any possibility to rescue Heero?"

"There is one, but the operation mustn't be postponed any further. If you want to come along then accompany us but don't hold us back," with these words the man turned around and left the hangar, followed by the tall woman. Duo threw a concerned look back to the others then he hurried after the strangers.

When he left the hangar his eyes almost dropped out of his head. In the middle of the former well-groomed lawn stood a kind of small spaceship. Never before had he seen such a design. If that was OZ technology then Duo would willingly eat Deathscythe. Despite his enormous worries about Heero Duo was asking himself who those strangers probably could be. Could there be a third party participating in this war that no one has ever heard of before? Were they on their side? Were they sympathising with OZ? Or were they pursuing their own goals? Could they really be trusted? They had only the word of those strangers so far, perhaps they were responsible for Heero's condition after all. But why had they been to destroy those strange Leos and help Duo and the others?

Duo shook his head annoyed, he didn't want to think about all this at the moment. Everything that counted now was for Heero to get well again. And therefore he would trust those two - had to trust them.

Suddenly a ramp folded soundlessly out of the strange spaceship. The man and the woman walked briskly inside. Duo and the others followed them. While Duo entered the ship he asked himself again how the man and this ship had been able to land here undetected. Sure, they had been distracted by the female surprise inside of Wing but their security system should never have let such a big missile come near the hangar without roaring every siren. How did the man accomplish it?

Duo looked around the interior ship. Had the outer design already been completely unfamiliar, the interior design was it even more. Everywhere were devices that Duo didn't know and they sparkled and flashed. On one side Duo could see two seats in front of a large console and a huge window. He concluded that it had to be the cockpit - although none of the displays made any sense to him.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see that the strangers were hurrying towards the rear end of the ship. Immediately Duo thought of Heero again and ran after them. Out of breath he entered the second room. His heart almost stopped when he recognised the small shape lying on some kind of bed. Heero! Duo had to swallow hard. Heero looked terrible even if Duo couldn't make out any details from this distance. But what he could see was bad enough. Heero's whole body was covered with bruises. One arm was bent in an unnatural angle below the elbow. Grazing wounds seemed to be everywhere and on the back of the head he could see a big wound crusted with blood. And Heero's chest rose only flatly.

Just on command Duo could once again hear in his mind the disastrous words of the strange man "... punctured lungs... spine is partially fractured on several places..." It had sounded terrible enough earlier on but to see Heero lying here like a broken doll... Duo shook his head with horror. He could feel tears welling in his eyes. Somehow he noticed the also horrified reaction of the other pilots. Quatre gasped quite audible for air then he laid his hand soothingly on Duo's arm. But Duo didn't want to be soothed right now and shook it off.

Meanwhile the strangers had been standing at Heero's bed for a while and seemed to do something. Duo could see the woman fixing two small metal plates to Heero's temple. The man was fetching an unknown tool off one of the desks nearby. Duo really didn't know anything about this sort of medical science, but it hardly looked like preparations for an operation to him. Had the strangers by any chance already given up?

Duo stepped closer to the treatment table, wanted to see everything, was even considering to simply take Heero away. But the warning that the Wing pilot wouldn't survive transportation to the hospital was ringing still too horrible in his ears. He could do nothing than trust these strangers - and he hated it.

Meanwhile the woman had also taken one of the tools. She was running it with a steady movement over Heero's body without touching him. It looked slightly like a scanner in a supermarket. What could that only be? After she had scanned every part of the body she raised the tool and seemed to read the display.

"Your diagnosis was correct, Doctor. The most dangerous injuries are the punctured lungs and the on four places partially fractured spine. The other broken bones are no acute danger to him. It is a miracle that he was able to keep up that long against the Borg anyhow."

Heero's spine was injured that badly? For a short moment Duo closed his eyes dazed. Hopefully Heero's spine cord was still intact. Hopefully he wouldn't be paraplegic. Heero wouldn't survive it. Not to be able to fight against OZ would kill the Wing pilot. Then Duo clenched determined his fists. As long as Heero would survive this, they would find a solution for any resulting imponderableness. Should Heero really be paralysed they would just rebuild Wing in a way that he would still be able to destroy OZ with it. Duo swore this right in this moment.

Duo stepped again closer to Heero but was stopped by a gesture of the man. "You can stay in this room during the operation but keep this distance. I don't want you to disturb Seven and me in the most disadvantageous moment. You stay right there and let us work here in peace."

Duo didn't like it one bit but he could understand the man. Therefore he nodded his agreement. But he couldn't apprehend why the two didn't do anything to prepare themselves and Heero for the operation. Damned, the Wing pilot was still wearing his torn and dirty clothes, no way could this be good for an operation! Duo tried unsuccessfully to convince himself that now wasn't the time for such inanities and that the strangers were certainly knowing what they had to do.

Nevertheless, this time he was almost glad when once more a soothing hand was laid on his shoulder. He looked sideways and noticed that it was again Quatre who knew how desperately he needed support right now. Duo decided to ask the question that had been controlling his mind for quite some time now.

"Will he... will Heero make it?"

The man looked up from the display he was currently studying and gave him a fleeting smile. "We'll do what we can for your friend, my boy."

Although this sentence was obviously meant to calm Duo down it failed its effect. Meanwhile Quatre was standing very close and had slung his arm around him. And Duo was very thankful for this support. He didn't know how the other pilots were feeling in this moment, surely they all were shocked and hoping for Heero to get well again. But he was almost totally despairing, he really needed something to give him strength, and Quatre's friendly hug was more than welcome.

Duo's eyes gazed towards Heero's shape. Suddenly two metallic plates glided out of the sides of the bed and closed around Heero's upper body. The Wing pilot was now lying inside some kind of tube. What was that for a device and how could it help Heero? While Duo still was musing confusedly, some kind of X-ray of a body - Heero's body as Duo could only suppose - appeared on a big monitor that was fixed sloping on the ceiling. But it was totally different from all X-rays Duo had ever seen. The bones were recognisable though (and on too many places the display was pulsating - probably to show the fractions) but at the same time they could see the movements of the organs and the pulsing veins. Unbelievable.

Magnetised Duo stared on the display, trying to find out what technology this could be. Meanwhile the strangers were finally acting again. But different to every operation Duo knew of they didn't seem to be interested in taking a scalpel and cutting Heero open - and how should they have been able with him inside of this tube? Instead of all this the man - the doctor - was handling again the control pads of the metallic plates while the woman was reading data off some displays and gliding the scanner up and down Heero's body.

Duo got more and more desperate. Why weren't they doing anything? They were too calm for this important task they had. Damned, meanwhile they certainly would have been able to take Heero to a hospital to real doctors!

"I can't stand it any more, why aren't they doing anything?" escaped silently his lips.

Quatre tightened his grasp and said, "Shhhhh... I'm sure they know what they're doing. Look at all those instruments. They can certainly help him, keep your spirit up."

Duo swallowed again strongly. "But what am I to do if they can't?" he asked desperately. Even Quatre didn't know what to answer.

Meanwhile the strangers were going on `working'. They were only seldom speaking with each other and seemed to be a well-rehearsed team. And when they spoke Duo didn't even understand a quarter of the words. Most of them were plain medical terms - and could also have been Chinese as long as Duo was concerned.

After a while a strange squeaking tone sounded and the woman said, "Look out Doctor, we are loosing him." Duo groaned at these words.

The man tapped a quick sequence on one of the displays and said then - in Duo's opinion much too calm - "Yes, I noticed, Seven. Recalibrate to 3.47 that should be enough." Whereupon the woman stepped beside Heero's head and altered something on the probes on his temples.

Duo was really desperate. Why couldn't he hear a heart sound? Where was the respirator? And why did more and more body parts on the display above Heero change their colour into red? This couldn't probably mean anything good!

"Damnit, start doing something!" he scolded the strangers.

The man looked only shortly up from his instruments and said, "We are working on it, so don't disturb us." Duo stiffened after this request. He didn't understand what those two were doing there but he couldn't risk his interference dangering Heero. He swore to himself to stay calm and stared again magnetised on the scene in front of him.

Duo didn't know how long this "operation" lasted but to him it seemed like an eternity. After approximately on hour they all had been exhaustedly sliding down the wall onto the floor. No one dared to leave the room. With every passing minute Duo grew more and more worried. Nervously he played with his braid while leaning against Quatre.

After some time - meanwhile every body part on the display was red - the strangers suddenly looked up from their activity.

"That's it," said the man and closed the tool he was still holding in his hand. The woman tapped something on one of the control panels and the tube separated again and disappeared inside the bed. Simultaneously the strange X-ray turned off, too. Calm, almost slow both of them laid their tools aside and turned then towards the Gundam pilots.

Seeing the expressionless face of the woman Duo nearly broke down. Only with great effort he had lasted till this moment. But now, as everything was obviously over, he hadn't left any energy.

With a painfully repressed tremble in his voice he turned resigned to them. "He is... Heero is dead, am I right?"