Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Stolen Memories ❯ Chapter 13 ( Chapter 13 )

Chapter Thirteen

Quatre leaned back and folded his arms, looking at the blank screen. He looked up at Sally and Dr J, then back at the screen.

"….So…." Sally tried to prompt him, "She believed you…." No response from Quatre "...She didn't believe you……?"

Quatre frowned and looked back up at Sally. "She said she believed me." He said.

"Which is good." Sally nodded.

"I don't believe that she believed me." Quatre said quietly looking troubled.

"Which is bad." Sally now frowned. "Why don't you believe that she believed you?"

"Don't know." Quatre said honestly "I guess it's just a feeling."

"Soooo…you believe that she doesn't believe you even though she said she did believe you." Sally said. "I don't believe this! Why would she want you make you believe that she believes you when she doesn't."

Quatre held his hands up "Please, Sally." He protested "It's like having a conversation with Duo." Sally's eyes narrowed dangerously. "I just have these feelings sometimes, and they are normally accurate." He continued. He looked at Doctor J for support.

"Yes, well, its true." Dr J nodded. "One of the reasons Quatre was selected as a Gundam pilot was his empathic ability. I think you should belie- trust him on this. The thing that concerns me is why Lady Une is playing along with our deception."

"Yes, that worries me greatly." Quatre nodded. "How would she know that I was no longer being controlled by her."

"Perhaps we should have another look at the nanobot, Dr J." Sally said.

"Agreed." Said Dr J.

"I shall contact Wufei and advise him that the mission could be compromised." Quatre said, opening a communications channel.

Wufei had just finished the pre-flight checks on the shuttle when Quatre's call came through. He listened silently to Quatre and nodded grimly. He knew that when Quatre had a hunch it was usually right.

"Understood." He said, "We will be taking off in the next fifteen minutes. Do you still want to meet at the arranged point?" Quatre nodded his affirmation. "See you there." Wufei ended the call and walked back to the cabin of the shuttle.

Relena had been carried to a chair, strapped in and wrapped in blankets. She had not stirred. Trowa and Duo were keeping watch for signs of pursuit, Trowa checking the radar and Duo was visually surveying the surrounding countryside with night vision glasses. Heero was working on his ever-present laptop sitting next to Relena.

"The shuttle is ready to leave." Wufei said, "Quatre has just called in. His communication with Lady Une seemed successful, but he is having doubts as to whether she is deliberately letting us take the minister."

"Hnn…" Heero nodded in agreement with this, "There is no indication on any of the Preventors systems that Relena is missing. If that is true, I would say their security is extremely slack."

"Gee, you've managed to hack into the Preventors?" Duo asked, shutting the shuttle door, and twisting a lock to seal it.

"He designed the system Duo." Trowa pointed out "Of course he left a back door in."

"We will proceed as planned." Heero said shutting his laptop and stowing it under his chair. "There is little else we can do at this point. However our rendezvous point will be different."

"Where?" Wufei asked.

"The place where I go when I do not want to be found." Heero said quietly "I will send the co-ordinates to Sally, she can meet us there with the equipment she needs. Time to go" he pulled the blankets away from Relena, checked her belt was tight, then gently tucked her in the blankets again. "Soon…" he whispered in her ear, but she didn't stir.

"There is nothing here" Sally said in disgust, surveying the area again. "Dam it, Heero, you sent the wrong co-ordinates." Heero smirked at her from the Coms screen. "What's so funny, we are on a tight agenda here!"

Quatre laid a restraining hand on her arm "Calm down Sally." He said softly, "Look, there is Heero's shuttle now."

They could see Heero's shuttle glide gracefully into view, slowing as it drew closer. Duo's voice could be heard over the coms link "Wow, what a load of junk - could make a fortune salvaging this lot."

"It's not junk." Heero said dryly, using the boosters to come closer to several large cylindrical objects.

"Yea it is." Duo protested his face now visible to Quatre and Sally, standing behind Heero. "Those are old fuel tanks from the first shuttle flights from earth, they are almost antiques - predate the colonies."

"Not exactly." Heero said.

"Heero, what are you doing?" Sally demanded clearly irritated. Heero was concentrating in manoeuvring the shuttle closer to the tanks.

"I'm docking." He replied.

"Docking!" Wufei had joined the other two pilots. "Docking where? To what?"

"To my home." Heero said blandly.

The others now looked more closely at the tanks.

"Good heavens!" Quatre suddenly said excitedly "You have salvaged one of the original colonies, haven't you."

Wufei frowned as Heero completed the docking procedure. "Explain." He said.

"The first manned flights into space were very wasteful." Quatre said enthusiastically "They launched huge rockets, 90 percent of which didn't return to the earth. Then they designed the space shuttles which were launched by the same principal as the original rockets, with huge tanks attached filled with fuel. These tanks were jettisoned when empty and either burnt up in the atmosphere or orbited the earth. Then the people of earth found they didn't have the resources to continue waste at this level and so began to recycle the tanks. They reclaimed them, and converted them into living quarters in space."

"Ah, so in effect they were the first colonies." Sally nodded, remembering her history. "Sort of like a caravan in space, compact but liveable for small family groups."

"So, buddy, every time you have disappeared you went to live in a junk yard." Duo laughed, "Seems we have more in common than I thought!"

Heero frowned "Docking complete." He said, undoing his restraints "Quatre, there is another docking port on the other side. I suggest you use it and meet us inside. It's small, so don't bring too much inside."

"Only the essentials." Sally smiled "I think that I would prefer to sleep on the shuttle, an antique tube in space is not my idea of safe." She terminated the call before Heero could reply.

Heero floated back to the passenger area of the shuttle. Relena was still asleep, and looked like she hadn't moved for the duration of the journey. Trowa was sitting beside her and nodded to Heero confirming that she was alright. Heero moved to the air lock door and opened it. Trowa peered through the door.

"Cosy." He commented.

"It's going to get cosier." Heero replied, picking up Relena in his arms and moving through the air lock into the tank. He nudged a panel as he went in and lights came on. The interior was sparse.

"Once Quatre has finished docking I will start the station on its gravity spin." Heero said, letting Relena go so she floated gently. He moved to a wall and pushed another panel, the wall tipped forward revealing a narrow bed, which Heero clipped into a d ring on the floor.

Duo and Wufei had by this time joined them. "Luxurious" Duo commented.

"I never intended it for entertaining" Heero growled "This is the sleeping area, through that hatch there is a training area, and through another hatch is the command room."

"No living area, eh?" Duo asked.

"I said, it's not for entertaining. Don't make me repeat myself." He nodded at Trowa "Keep an eye on her." Trowa nodded his understanding, and Heero made his way through to the computer area, through which Sally and Quatre would board.

As he floated toward the area he surveyed his sometime home. It was sparse, but it was in deep space. Not the sort of place you would expect to see soft furnishings and curtains. The training area had gym equipment bolted to the floor and a punch bag floating awkwardly to one side. When he was living here he spent a good deal of time in this room, building up his strength, toning muscles that had been damaged in missions.

On to the command room, the heart of the station, he pushed off the wall to float to the opposite wall and unlocked the air lock. He then moved towards the computers and started running the program that would start spinning the station to replicate gravity. Sally and Quatre entered and he nodded over his shoulder at them.

"Steady yourselves." He warned as he initiated the spin. He felt his body become heavy as the spin started and increased, then felt himself dropping. He landed gracefully in a crouch, Quatre supported Sally's arms as they both landed.

"Shit, Heero!" came a yell, and Heero smirked. He led Sally and Quatre back to the sleeping area. Trowa was laying Relena on the bed, whilst Duo and Wufei were both rubbing their posteriors. "A little warning next time Heero." Wufei complained.

"Yeah" agreed Duo "Trowa seemed to be in the know and had no trouble catching Relena, shame you didn't warn us as well."

Sally smiled and gave Wufei a hug. Wufei looked a little embarrassed then hugged her back. "I'll rub it better later." Sally murmured in his ear. Wufei went pink and pulled away scowling at her. Sally grinned then moved to Relena, looking at her closely, pulling her eyelids up and looking at her eyes, feeling her pulse and counting her breaths.

"How long has she been like this?" She asked business like.

"Since we took off, a day or so." Wufei answered

"Where's the machine?" Heero asked, "The sooner that thing is turned off the better."

Sally looked at Quatre, then left the room to go and get her equipment. Quatre put his hand on Heero's shoulder, and Heero sensing a problem looked at him questioningly.

"Sally and Dr J both agree that we should look at the bot a little more carefully before we rush in and turn it off." He explained "They did some extra work on mine and found that it was sending a signal, feeding out of copy of what it was doing, presumably to the good doctor. He was conducting an experiment and needed to know what was happening."

"So, if that's true, then they know that you are no longer under their control." Duo said, looking nervous. "So why did they swallow that line about us being captured?"

"Why indeed." Heero sat on the bed next to Relena, and stroked her hair away from her face. She was pale, and looked very fragile. "They are herding us somewhere, to where and why is the question."

Sally wheeled in a trolley from her shuttle, loaded with equipment. "We will find out soon." She reassured Heero, "Just be patient."