Trigun Fan Fiction ❯ The Night's End ❯ A Mad Tea Party ( Chapter 8 )

Disclaimer: S'not like you can do anything about it anyway, even if I did claim that I owned it all. See...you can't find me...cuz I'm an enigma... Nyahh...nyah nyah nyah nyah... *gets hit by a meteor* The end.

z--------------------z

Sand whipped around her in blinding clouds, causing her to shield her eyes against the stinging rain. How could she ever hope to find anything in weather like this? She squinted, attempting to peer through the gray smudge that was the limits of her world.

Storms. He had said that there were increasingly bad storms all over the planet. According to the satellite, entire settlements were being buried- entire towns evacuating at the threat of the monstrous weather phenomena that were circling the globe. This world was going to hell, she thought, smiling bitterly at another thought. 'Of course Meryl, you know what the road to hell is paved with...' But that was just her brooding. Now was not the time to do this--

Rectify the situation at hand and then review her participation in it later. That was the order of business.

She rounded another dune, watching her thomas struggle against the growing wind. Grit was everywhere, in her hair, in her mouth, in her clothes... She felt like she was choking on it as she continued her trek across the desert. 'Now that would be ironic...' she added mentally as she stopped her thomas and dismounted.

"Time to walk," she muttered, hearing the wind toss her words into oblivion. Meryl couldn't see the ground below her from astride her thomas, much less find out where she was in relation to the ship.

Leaning into the wind, Meryl was glad she'd had the good sense to strap her cape onto her saddle. Even though she was far less protected from the elements dressed as she was, the cape would be a sail in weather like this. With her body build, she didn't doubt that a good gust could pick her off of the ground. She didn't doubt it at all.

Where was she? She thought she'd gone in the right direction but maybe she hadn't after all. This wind...this sand was limiting her normally compass-true sense of direction. After all, according to the map in her head, she figured she must be right about on top of where she had found the ship.

But there was no sign of it anywhere.

She paused, frustration and despair warring in alternating bouts. No ship...

Her fist clenched, knuckles whitening as her nails dug into her palms. No ship.

Meryl had been up for over thirty hours by now. Almost a day and a half of constant stress and frustration...she was near her limit. Therefore, it was no surprise that, at a time when she needed to be her sharpest, she could feel herself slipping. There was some factor she wasn't considering here.

No ship.

And then flash of memory hit her.

The door, rising like the cover to a book out of the earth....

Maybe it had buried itself again after she'd left... Some vague remembrances of this very thought flickered through her mind, coming and going as if blown by the wind itself. Of course, at the time of this memory, she'd been occupied. Her thoughts had been almost frantically focused on that idiotic man who at the time, had seemed almost hellbent on dying in front of her.

Of course, she DID have to give him some credit where credit was due... He had been trying to save her at the time, as misplaced an action as that was. She smiled slightly.

But those too were idle thoughts, doing nothing but wasting time. She had her answer now, the ship was underneath the sand. But how to find it? Especially since she couldn't see anything in this wind?

She was on the lee side of the dune, which due to the wind, was drifting over as the sand was blown over from the top of the windward side.

The windward side. The side of the wind.

If the ship was anywhere to be found in this chaos, the best bet in finding it was on the other side.

If she could brave the wind, that was.

Shielding her eyes with one arm, she fumbled around for the thomas' reins, finally tying them in a loose know around her wrist. The animal bleated once in a fearful protest, but after a few seconds of tugging and soothing whispers, she finally got it to reluctantly follow her.

It was time to enter the rabbit-hole once more. As she crested the dune, her eyes straining in the semi-dark, she thought she understood the White Rabbit's fear.

What if she was too late?

z----------------------z

Vash was in a different sort of trouble. He had left town following Meryl's tracks, praying silently that she was as good at tracking as he thought she was. However, after awhile he noticed a tickle in his mind.

Shaking his head slowly to rid himself of it, he wondered if this was a side effect of the dehydration or the splintering. There was nothing to be done about it though, so he ignored it as best he could, even though it refused to go away. He didn't have time to pay it much heed. As he raced along the dune-tops following the insurance girl's tracks, he noted that the tickle was coming from the direction he was aiming for. He didn't think it was coincidence.

Not long after, he realized that the tickle had grown, becoming more intense. It was now more of a buzz than anything else, an angry noise that was becoming harder to ignore. It was a noise that he was hearing in his mind, over the wind's howl.

And it was still in the general direction that he was heading for.

For a moment he debated. Tracking her would take more time, and was quite possibly impossible with this wind. All of her tracks might disappear in an instant with one good gust...

His instincts told him to follow the noise. Hoping his luck had taken a turn for the better and that his suspicions were right, he followed the mind-sound into the depths of the storm.

z----------------------z

Meryl paused a moment at the base of yet another dune, her eyes clouding over.

'I'm lost.' She thought she had known the way. She had thought that her skill at tracking would suffice. However, she was, every instinct telling her that the ship was right here...and it wasn't. She could feel the time slipping away, an avalanche of seconds waiting to fall... And there was nothing she could od about it. Nothing she could do... Her flash of inspiration all for naught.

'It should be right here,' she repeated, wondering vaguely if this was the end. Here she was, lost and alone, and Vash would more than likely die...all because of her. All of those settlements gone...because of her. With this hanging over her name, she might have a possibility of getting a reputation much like Vash's. The thought was a bitter taste in her mouth. Ironic, and yet oddly suiting.

Despite her earlier protests, it seemed as if reviewing her actions was the only thing she could do at this time. What had she done? Where had she gone wrong? And why did she have to be so helpless right now?

Deciding that action was the only way to erase these troubling thoughts, she turned slightly to get her face out of the wind's path, she took a step.

And her foot struck metal.

z-------------------z

What had begun as a buzz was now a dull roar. Vash climbed another dune, pulling his thomas up the slope. It was slowing him down, he knew, but he didn't want to let his only companion go just yet. There was only the storm, Vash, the thomas, and the roar. And he didn't want to listen to that just yet.

The roar was composed of many voices, all screaming wordlessly in varying tones. Vash recognized the voices. They were those of the 'ones who live outside of time.' The Plant Angels were screaming as they died.

Tilting his head as if to tip the noise out, he glanced back at his thomas once more. It quivered, swaying as gusts of wind caught it broadside. He had no right to haul it out on this night. Smiling sadly, he unlooped the reins from his hand and turned around, ignoring the sand that was finding it's way into his night clothes.

"Thanks, friend. I'm nearly to where I need to be. You go find shelter somewhere. I'll try to fix this." Tying the reins up on the saddlehorn, he slapped it on the rump. "Go on now, go."

The thomas didn't question this newfound freedom. After a single querying bleat, it took off like a shot the way it had come, heading back towards town. Vash watched it go with an unreadable expression for a moment until the sands covered it up. Then he turned back towards the screams of his kin, his jaw set in a firm line.

'Now it is time to see what this whole thing is all about.' As he forced himself into the wind, he tried not to let his mind wander from the task at hand. Best to stop the storms first...and find Meryl later. Where was she?

z--------------------z

Meryl clawed at the plating on the ship futilely. This WAS the door, she knew...but how to open it she did not know. "Dammit!!" she screamed, her words flying before her. "Dammit! Daaammmmiittt!!" Each curse was punctuated with a frustrated pound on the shell of the ship. Windswept tears streaked her face as she tried to gain entrance.

So close to her goal... Only to be stopped at the door?

The wind laughed at her cruelly as she let loose another anguished scream.

z--------------------z

Vash paused, collecting his thoughts. It was getting harder to think coherently over the din of the Plants, but this was nowhere near the problems he'd had in the simulated world of before. Nowhere near the problem he'd had engaging himself in battle...

During this pause he thought he heard a noise above the wind's shriek. What separated this one from the others that were already there, is that he could've sworn he heard this one as a physical sound...and not just an impression of torturous pain imprinted upon his mind. Although it had sounded distant, there was no way to tell in this wind-whipped maelstrom of sound. It had come from the direction of the voices.

His mouth went drier than the air around him and he tried to swallow nervously. Had the plants torn a hole in reality much like the one that his brother and himself had done? Was this even reality, or was it just another simulation? His hand involuntarily strayed to the revolver strapped around his waist. Wondering what else could possibly happen to him in the next couple of minutes, he put one foot in front of the other, hearing the voices in his mind approach a crescendo. Vash the Stampede was alert and ready as he followed the screams. This was it.

Around one more dune, he nearly tripped over the source of one of the noises. Meryl lay sprawled on the ground, pounding her fist into something metallic, spouting obscenities like a trucker. Her thomas stood to one side, it's reins dangling uselessly beside it. It looked at him sadly, as if to apologize for its mistress' behavior. He blinked and dropped his hand from the butt of his gun, where it had been resting nervously. He blinked again, and then, despite all of the problems of the last few days, despite all of the problems awaiting them in the next few minutes, he laughed. And laughed. Wiping surprised tears of merriment away, he stopped laughing long enough to tap Meryl on the shoulder, "You should hear yourself right now... You sound like Wolfwood." He smiled at her, happier at just seeing her fine and well, albeit a little angry, than he could remember being in a long time.

She had been too concentrated on her venomous hatred for the ship's hatch to hear him laughing behind her, but at his light touch, she whirled around, startling her thomas into running away, it's eyes rolling wildly as it raced for home.

Glancing back at her thomas' receding form, her head whipped around once more to the man opposite her. Her face went through several expressions, relief, anger, dismay, embarrassment, before finally settling on a combination of anger and something unidentifiable that he found strangely endearing. "What are you doing out of bed?! Are you crazy?! Do you have some sort of deathwish or something?! What---no, where-- ARGGHHH!! Do you realize that you're in the middle of a sandstorm, you idiot?!! You're going to get yourself killed one of these days, Vash the Stampede!!" She stopped her tirade suddenly, gasping for air, her eyes trained on a point somewhere near her feat. After a moment of awkward silence on her part, she started to turn an embarrassed pink.

He grinned cheekily at her, "Awww...were you worried about me?"

At this her head snapped up, her smoky eyes glaring at him with murderous intent. "You are lucky that I'm not armed right now," she growled.

He grinned back at her impishly and batted his eyes at her. She glared harder. After a few seconds of this, he burst out chuckling, followed closely by her surprised bell-like laughter. It was just more proof that sometimes hysteria is best controlled with humor.

After a minute or so, she calmed down enough to wipe the grit and tears from her eyes. "It's no use, Vash. It won't open," she said quietly, gesturing to the door below her. Around them, the wind screamed at their continued defiance of it.

After a moment he nodded. "Then we'll just have to make a door, won't we?" She looked up at him questioningly. "Stand back." She forced herself up and moved behind him as he uncased the gun hidden in his left arm. For a man so opposed to violence and death, he certainly was well equipped to deal it.

Aiming for the center of the hatch, he squeezed off a few shots in a rough semi-circle. An instant later he was dodging the ricochets and knocking Meryl out of their path as well.

"Coff--coff..." He breathed deeply. "I should've known it would be shielded. It's designed for deep-space. If it can take hits from interstellar matter moving at incredible speeds, what are the chances a bullet would've done anything." Meryl didn't answer to this as he'd answered himself already.

As he rolled over on his back, the wind whipping his night clothes to one side, he watched Meryl pick herself off of the ground and approach him. "I was wrong earlier," she looked at him. He blinked in surprise. "You're not suicidal, you're homicidal...you idiotic, bumbling--"

"We don't have time for this, Meryl." She stopped and nodded slowly as he continued, "How did you get in the last time?"

She paused, considering the question. "It just opened. The dune began to shake and it opened up--"

z---------------------z

Deep within the bowels of the ship, the timer clocked another second, settling for a time on 00:15:00.

A soft whirr of machinery greeted the time. As per regulations, a pop-up menu appeared next to the countdown, it's question flashing in red in the twilight of the room.

Power A unavailable/inadequate.

Resume Stage 2 with Power B? Yes/No

There was no one to choose for it, so it sat silently for exactly two minutes before choosing the default answer from it's databanks. 'Yes,' flashed brightly for a moment before dissolving into the background once more.

This simple 'yes,' caused a chain of reactions. Signal sent to signal port, routed through to the neural network, chased down as a command to the Transportation channel where, as per command, it switched three switches. One flipped on the lights in the corridor where Meryl had first entered the ship. One opened several panels lining the immense hatchway's walls. The last switch opened up the hatch.

Humming happily in mechanical bliss, the machine prepared to enter the last few minutes of Stage 2. All was well.

z-----------------------z

Vash and Meryl were thrown to the ground once more, their discussion about methods of opening the hatch interrupted rudely by the hatchway's opening.

After blinking stupidly at this strange turn of events, they helped each other up once more, ignoring the increasing ferocity of the wind as they darted in the doorway. A major concern for both of them was to get in before it shut once more. Once inside, they could ponder the 'whys and wherefores' of their situation to their hearts' content.

As they ran into the corridor, Vash looked up at the now-revealed panels covering the walls, his eyes widening in astonished recognition. "Solar panels? So this thing needs power... But why--and for what?"

Meryl had no answers for him...at least none that she could express coherently. Instead she led him deeper into the bowels of the ship, her feet unerringly retracing the path she had taken a day ago. She was heading straight for the machine with its countdown.

z-----------------------z

The clock now read 00:12:24.

z-----------------------z

"Here it is!" Meryl's voice bounced off of the far wall, echoing through the corridor. "This is the room."

Vash rounded the corner, eyeing the door that Meryl had pointed out. Above the door, in neatly printed letters, a sign informed him that this was indeed the control room to the ship. 'So this is where it's all been happening.'

As they ran up to it, sensors in the wall ahead of them opened the door before they reached it, allowing Vash a view he had doubted he'd ever see again, at least, not outside of Sky City. It was the headquarters to the ship, the consoles ranging throughout the room controlling everything on board, from the life support systems to the entertainment deck. Although the room was most definitely not in use at the time, most of the screens darkened shadows in the room, one screen glowed brightly, numbers flashing down the screen in rapid succession.

Meryl pointed at the lone screen, with its whirling hologram next to it. "There," she gasped, "That's what is causing this."

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the guilty look on her face that she was doing her best to hide. He felt sorry for her, knowing what she knew, knowing that she was probably responsible for this. There was nothing to be done about it now though, and so he tried to ignore it as they crossed the room. He was perhaps the only one on the planet who could fully understand the torture she must be experiencing. In a way, it was his duty, but there was more to it than that. 'You're getting distracted...focus, Vash,' he berated himself silently. He would try to help her through it later...if there was a later.

They reached the console, and all he could do for a moment was just stare at it in wonder. Silence reigned, before he broke it with a word.

z-----------------------z

Meryl watched Vash ponder something silently. His face was tinted with the red and green lights of the screen, the whirling globe of changing colors behind him. From this angle, it looked like a halo... Like a halo in one of the paintings at church back home.

She had never been very religious, figuring that if there was some all powerful deity out there, it wouldn't care so much about her church attendance so much as her deeds. However, at this moment, Vash looked like nothing other than an angel from one of those paintings...a messenger...a guardian... There was something, otherworldly about him. Something...beyond human. He spoke and she winced, startled out of her silent meditation.

"Terraforming."

"What?" She thought she had detected a note of--something in his voice. Something vaguely excited, but scared as well.

"This ship--this machine. Their sole purpose is to create a habitable world out of an uninhabitable one. See here--" he pointed at one corner of the screen, "This is an updated graph of the average planetary humidity. It shows an increase over the last twenty-five hours." He jabbed another finger at another part of the screen excitedly, "And this--this shows the temperatures for various parts of the world. They're dropping everywhere." His face turned towards Meryl's an expression of wonder and boyish excitement covering it. "Do you realize what this is? This is...everything...it's what she wanted."

"But what about the numbers over there?" Meryl pointed vaguely at the countdown, noting the time remaining. She knew what it was, deep down, but something in her mind was ringing an alarm bell. Surely it couldn't be that simple. Surely all this panic...all this pain and suffering couldn't be solved this easily?

"That--" he brought one finger to hover over it, "--is..." He paused, pushing up his sleeves and sitting down at the chair in front of him, "Is what I'm going to find out. It's obviously a countdown for something, but for what I don't know." Pressing a button to his left, a panel slid up, revealing a speaker.

*VOICE SYSTEM ACTIVATED*

Meryl jumped at the voice that seemed to come from out of nowhere. Vash grinned back at her, he had obviously been expecting it.

*Verifying identity. Two entities. One is unregistered. The other....Registered Level 2 user for SEED database. Welcome, Vash. What do you wish to do today?*

"What is this?"

*You are aboard the ship, the Jules Verne. The ship is currently in Stage 2, about to enter Stage 3.*

"How are you--doing this?" Meryl asked him, her eyes searching the room for the voice's source.

"I'm listed as a Level 1 SEEDs employee. It's the only reason I can even access the computer's files." He grinned sheepishly at her, before glancing back at the countdown with a quick explanation. "It's the only way Rem could get us out of her hair. We couldn't go anywhere or do anything without her there unless we had an access code for the mainframe." Meryl looked at him, uncomprehending and he shrugged. "Long story. Now is not the time."

00:09:03

"What are we going to do about this?" Meryl asked, her voice emotionless. Was this really it?

Vash's face darkened as he considered this. "It seems we have two options. One--shut it down--if we can. Two, leave it be." He looked over at her, his eyes glimmering in the semi-dark. "Much as I wish it weren't true, this 'Eden' it promises has a price."

"Which is?" her voice was hesitant but unyielding. She had come this far, for good or bad, it was her duty to see it to its end.

A whistling sigh in the dark marked his answer. "I don't know. I have a few guesses though." He directed his voice to the microphone once more. "Request data on Stages 1 and 2."

*I am afraid that at your SEED level, most of the data pertaining to Stages 1 and 2 are classified. Shall I continue?*

"Yes. Anything you can dig up, preferably timetables and general information on the process." They were running out of time, and Vash was beginning to feel the crunch.

*Processing request.* The computer whirred quietly.

"You said something about a price to be paid," Meryl said quietly. "Where is the line where the price is too high?" She watched him closely, knowing his likely answer and dreading it as well.

He opened his mouth to answer, before being interrupted by the ship's computer.

*Data ready. Three files found to match search criteria.* It went silent, but a corner of the screen before them began to flash at them with three files listed. Vash chose the first one, a broadcast news report from Old Earth.

A woman's face appeared on the screen, her features largely obscured by a mask covering her nose and mouth. Behind her, a squat gray building stood beneath a sky just as colorless. She began to speak at them.

"Here I am in front of the Pentagon, once the headquarters for the defense department in the United States, which is an ironically fitting site for another historic undertaking. This building is rumored to be the location for the almost mythical, Plant Project, where the technology designed to alter environments for life on another world is being developed." She smiled a patented 'reporter's smile,' largely hidden by the mask. "Although this project has been sanctioned, and indeed is being funded by the major powers, the governments in question refuse to answer questions on it. Some sources speculate that they are afraid of receiving the same terrorist attacks and public criticism as their much more public counterpart, Project SEEDs. This is Jay Hunter, reporting out." The screen went dark for a moment, leaving only the countdown.

00:07:15

"We're running out of time. Hurry--" Meryl hissed as Vash jabbed at one of the other files. This one was a paper from a scientific journal, entitled, 'Catalysts in the Plant Project Engine--A Study in a Living Power Supply,' by a Dr. Raymond Galloway.

Most of it was technical writing, which they had neither the time nor the background to understand. Sighing impatiently, Vash addressed the ship, "What are the catalysts mentioned here, and what is the Plant Project?"

"The catalysts in question are the two main power suppliers for the Plant Project. They are smaller, genetically-engineered versions of the larger Plants, whose whole purpose is to provide the power necessary to start Stage 3 of the Plant Project. The Plant Project is the terraforming project in operation right now."

At the part about the Catalysts, Meryl noticed that Vash had gone pale, his face as expressionless as she had ever seen it. After a moment, he asked the computer another question, his voice strangely uncertain.

"What happens to the Catalysts after Stage 2?"

The computer searched the available data for an answer before scrolling the paper they had been reading and highlighting a section for them.

'The Catalysts, hereafter referred to as A and B, are connected via genetic coding, to the main engine, so that at any point, once the Project's Stage 1 is begun, the power stored within A and B may be tapped to reach the critical level for Stage 3. This power is directed through the Plants, where it is converted from an unusable form to a form that is suitable for the Plant Engine. This process involves breaking it down into its component parts and rebuilding it. This power is directed through the planet-rendering engine, so as to match the power with the desired traits for the planet's new environment (see table 1-8).'

"Fragmenting?" Meryl asked, looking lost. Vash however, knew exactly what it was. "You never answer our question," she continued. There was no response, but Meryl could feel Vash stiffen next to her. And she was getting a vague understanding of what was at stake here. Please, don't...

"They die, don't they?"

The clock met the five minute mark with a small beep.

*If you mean the Catalysts mentioned in the report, then yes. The report speculates as to their fate, listing death as a possibility with a 75% probability of occurrence. These are just guesses though, as the Plant Project has never been tested.*

Vash nodded, and Meryl swallowed. "Then, that's fate." He tried to sound stoic, but Meryl could see the fear and despair hiding behind his eyes.

"Vash--no..." She grabbed his arm. "There's got to be another way. Ask it- Ask it about the solar panels." She grasped at anything that might help. It couldn't end like this...

He looked up at this, his eyes shining with a faint hope, a flicker so dim, but she was glad it was even there. That's it, don't give up just yet, she thought fiercely, but it was something she didn't have the nerve to voice out loud.

"Why ARE the solar panels near the entrance open?"

00:04:15

*This falls under Level 3 clearance. All requests for data above approved level are sent into the Captain, as per operating--*

"Nevermind that...tell me what you can."

In response, the third file popped into view, a recording made by the esteemed Dr. Galloway himself. It fast-forwarded through several minutes of him speaking and gesturing before stopping and playing normally.

"-d there be a problem with Power Source A, Power Source B will be implemented until there is enough power to re-connect with Power Source A." The recording stopped with the doctor looking very pleased with himself.

"Solar Power...but with the sandstorms, it's not getting much power, if any at all." Vash mused.

00:03:40

*This is indeed a problem.* The computer admitted. *It is a side effect that was not planned for. This ship was supposed to land before all of the other SEEDs, on bed-rock if possible. By the time of their landing, the world was supposed to be well through with Stage 3.*

"What happens in Stage 3?" Meryl asked, motioning for Vash to repeat the question, which he did.

*Stage 3, the final stage to the Plant Project, involves the renewing of planetary tectonics, resulting in increased volcanic energy. The volcanic energy will go into creating new earth, but the emissions from eruptions and such will be used to aid in the creation of Hydrogen hydroxide.*

"Hydrogen hydroxide?" Meryl whispered.

"Water." Vash's face was hard, but there was a cold light that had not been there before. "How long is Stage 3?" he quickly questioned, waiting impatiently for an answer.

00:02:20

No answer.

"How long is Stage 3?!" he asked again, watching the countdown.

*Estimated time for this planet is--roughly five to ten years.* The computer answered him, sounding reluctant.

z---------------------z

Vash gasped, his eyes widening at this new information. "Damn," he cursed quietly, "It's bad enough that they created us to be sacrificed...but how is everyone else expected to survive this?" In a way, he was guiltily relieved. He didn't know if there was a win/win scenario for this situation. "We've got to shut this down," he told Meryl, who nodded and searched for a way to turn the machine off.

*It can only be shut down at the end of a stage, and only then if it has the authorization of the Captain.*

"Wait...how did you start the process then?" Vash turned to Meryl, before the computer answered for her.

*Dr. Galloway, signed in at approximately 14:28 shipboard time, 122 years ago before checking into the medical lab. He never signed out. After she answered for him, it was verified she was not authorized personnel, but by then Stage 1 had begun and only authorized personnel are able to stop the process.*

00:01:30

'Don't panic, don't panic...' Vash repeated to himself, thinking of other ways out of this...

00:01:25

z--------------------z

Meryl watched Vash start to panic, before turning back to the console with its deceitfully green planet spinning to one side. A dreadful sense of finality had settled over them, a blanketing touch that sapped her of thought. This was the end, she realized, this was it. 'After all we've been through... We're killed because I wanted to help, like he does. After all--'

But that was defeat talking. Meryl never gave up, she prided herself on that fact. And like Vash, she believed deep down, that there always was a light on the other side. So, just as he was fading away, she flared to life once more.

"We have a third option--destroy it," she stated firmly, her eyes resting on Vash now. "There is no time to find it and manually take it apart, and bullets would not likely harm it anyway...but you have another way."

He shook his head vigorously, "I know what you're saying, Meryl...but I can't. I did cause July and August, it's true...but someone else forced my hand. I've never...I don't know how..."

"So have you tried?!" she challenged him. "Are you saying you can't because you know, or because you are afraid of failure?"

He glared at her but did not answer. If only she knew the pain that the Angel Arm caused him, just by its existence. She glared back. "I am afraid," he finally admitted. "It could...kill..."

"We're all dead if you don't! What difference does it make how we go?!" she shouted.

But it did make a difference, he knew this. If it killed, then even if his cause was just...he was no different than his brother.

00:00:30

But she was right as well. He was scared of the consequences, but to stand aside in times of need...that was the way of the coward. That was not the way that Rem had shown him. If he did nothing...then she was truly gone, and nothing he said, nothing he ever did would bring her back.

"Hold on," he whispered, "If this works, near me is the only safe place." She looked at him, eyes shining and complied, her arms wrapping tightly around his waist. A part of him noted how nice it felt, to be held. 'Focus,' he ordered himself, forcing that thought away. 'Focus.'

He didn't know how.

00:00:28

He didn't.

00:00:27

But he did, didn't he...or at least part of him did.

00:00:25

That one...the one whom he denied.

00:00:23

The splinter twin.

00:00:22

"Are you there?"

00:00:21

Nothing--

00:00:20

--a nd then, a shadowy reply, hurt and suppressed, rose up like a wave on his conscious. "I can do it. You...you lack the skills, but we are one. I will do it because you are me, not vice versa."

00:00:15

He was whole temporarily. Meryl looked at him frightenedly, her gaze alternating between the countdown and him. "Vash?"

"She looks like Rem." The voice chuckled softly, calling on the reserves necessary to enable the change. "How typical of me/you/us."

00:00:10

>>FLASH<<

The transformation was an exquisite pain, easily mistaken for pleasure, as extremes often are. Eyes burning, metal and flesh binding seamlessly with a harsh light at the center.

"Sorry, Rem," he/they whispered.

00:00:01

Light flashed, a glowing globe of destruction, arcing from ground zero out into a soundless white wave. The chaotic winds were pulled behind it, cooling the thin layer of molten sand into a fine glass crater, iles wide.

The ground shook angrily at the hole in the sky.

Darkness returned once more as clouds blotted out the faint morning light.

Silence returned, an end to the storms.

z-----------------z

z-----------------z

Author's notes: (Yep, there's a bunch of 'em this go round.)

1st--Meryl swearing like a trucker. No offense to any truckers out there... I just figured that it'd be more appropriate than say...swearing like a sailor.

2nd and 3rd--The scientific reports and the science contained within this chapter... Regarding the report-- Hey, any science buffs out there? This report is the biggest load of B.S. I've written lately. HOWEVER... I did glance at (read as: looked at pics in) Scientific American to write it in a somewhat similar format. Regarding the science *sheepish grin* Most if it's pretty decent. Some better than, some worse than. Some of it I was too lazy to get off my dead butt and research. I mean, c'mon, it's a fanfic...

Justifications...justifications...

Damn conscience.

4th-- I'm assuming that they have a similar length of day to Earth.

5th-- Sand and Light. Okay okay, I dunno if this'll be a major sticking point or what, but I figured I'd cover my ass while I'm at it. No, I did not 'steal,' or even 'borrow,' my idea from the Sand and Light. It is hinted at quite strongly from about chapter 2 or 3 on, which were up long before ep. 23 of S & L. Flame me all you want, but note that to the best of my beliefs, the similarities in technology are completely coincidental.

6th-- Happy b-day mirth! Toldja I'd get it up, sooner or later. Consider this a belated b-day card, seeing as it's original due date was last Thursday.

7th-- There's an epilogue, to be attached to this. More'n likely tomorrow. It's for everyone who wanted a tie-up chapter. Nothing big...just locations for Vash, Meryl, Millie...and maybe somebody else. Who knows?

Hope you enjoyed the story.

loki

Now it's really the end.:)