The Fifth Star
Part One
Preventers Headquarters, Outer Space, January AC 196
Duo would be back in fifteen minutes.
Quick fingers ran over a keyboard, deftly erasing information from the computer mainframe. Prussian blue eyes only half focused on the information running over the screen; but then again, Heero Yuy could do this kind of thing in his sleep.
"Heero. Everything coming along well, I trust?"
The boy didn't need to turn towards the door to know whose voice that was. "J. Everything's going as expected."
"No less from my protégé."
"Former protégé." Heero inwardly groaned, if only shortly, at the annoyance the good doctor presented. He wondered how the five scientists that had built the gundams made it out of the war alive. He also wondered if any one would prosecute him if he did the job the war couldn't. The scientists were, after all, war liabilities... but that thought just bought him back to the task at hand. "In roughly five minutes I'll have erased all data on the gundam mobile suits. No one will be able to build one again, at least not from your designs."
J snorted indignantly, more so than he usually would given the fact that he realized Heero took pleasure in taunting him. "What a waste."
"I can't say I'm not impressed, though. How G developed such an advanced stealth system and a thermal weapon that can actually function underwater is beyond me."
"You know, G's not the only genius around." J huffed away, no doubt insulted by the unsaid dismissal.
Heero almost smiled, again left alone to his own devices. But he couldn't help but sneak a glance at the clock in the corner of the computer screen.
Ten more minutes.
Heero leaned back in the wooden chair, letting the computer take care of the last details. He wondered how he would approach Duo. Wondered how the cobalt eyed boy would receive his proposal. During the first war... well, then it had been stress relief, as Duo had called it, and Heero had never protested. Then between Treize and Mariemeia's respective plays for power it had been casual sex, whenever they were in the same area. The significance wasn't lost on Heero that Duo had been the only person he trusted enough to give his address to. He had explained it before by saying some one would need it, in case he was needed again, but... he realized he held Duo in higher regard than any one else he had encountered during the war.
Five minutes until Duo would arrive at headquarters.
Heero stood up from the computer, finished now, and made his way to the port. Duo and Quatre should be back from destroying the gundams soon. He ran through multiple possible tactics in his head, analyzing to see which one had the greatest chance of actually convincing Duo to move in with him.
Flattering. Duo. I respect your cheerful joie de vivre in most situations and your determination, focus, and intelligence on the battlefield. I'd like to be able to enjoy that personality all the time.
Financial. At the economy's current rate of inflation rent on a single bedroom studio apartment will become impossible to pay. It might be easier if we were paying it together.
Strategic. If a war breaks out, it will be easier for the Preventers to locate us if some of us were living together.
Boyishly honest and endearingly insecure. I think that you know that I think you're cute, and, well, I was wondering if you might want to live with me for awhile.
Heero realized Duo might not buy the last one, though, especially since he wouldn't be able to summon the obligatory pout and wide eyes that could make it work. It would probably be best if he was curt... just ask and see what happened from there.
"Heero, man, you okay?" Duo blinked huge eyes at his peer, slightly disturbed as Heero looked back at him with a confused expression. The stoic pilot had been standing in the entrance ever since he and Quatre had gotten out of their car, looking completely dazed.
"Is there something we can do for you?"
Heero looked over at Quatre, reading the worried expression there, before turning back to stare at Duo. An awkward silence passed between the three, and Heero could swear he heard crickets in the background. But then, it was the middle of the day.
"No." He said, almost hastily, before turning around to leave the room. "There's nothing."
Duo scratched his head as Heero left. "Weird guy."
Quatre only nodded in agreement.
Just a few yards down the hall Heero had stopped to lean against a wall, evaluating the situation to see where he had gone wrong. Why hadn't he asked? True, Duo had caught him off guard, but that was no reason for mission failure. Could he be... nervous? Hearing approaching footsteps from the port, he decided to drop the issue for now, running back to his room for further assessment.
Duo stared down the empty corridor before turning to Quatre. "Why did Heero just run away from us?"
Quatre shrugged. "He's your boyfriend."
* * *
Trowa Barton stared at the screen, awe written in his eyes. Space was beautiful, but easily taken for granted in their situation. Now, though, images of space surrounded him in the Preventer's lab, displaying gorgeous star clusters and black holes.
"What's that?" He pointed something out to Wufei, a small light on the screen that looked akin to an explosion. His training had left him bereft in areas like astrology, but Wufei, as a scholar, might be able to tell him.
Wufei looked over at the almost non-discernable dot, growing smaller by the minute. He motioned at a nearby technician, a man who was obviously annoyed by their presence. "Could you zoom in on that blue light?"
Trowa watched as the light grew bigger, than faded altogether. "It's gone."
"Odd." By now the technician had joined them, intrigued at the strange object. "I've never seen anything like that before."
The man pressed some buttons on the control panel, and the two teenagers were treated to the sight of the explosion in reverse, when they felt two hands on their shoulders.
"I think you boys should go now, we have research to do. This is quite an exciting find."
Wufei nodded up at the affable scientist, even while walking with Trowa to the exit. They turned towards each other as they were all but pushed through the door.
"So," Trowa said, "I take it you don't know."
* * *
Heero pretended to be reading the latest news reports on his computer even as he tracked Duo's movements on the other side of their room. The other boy was packing. They'd have a celebratory dinner, then Duo would be gone, unless he asked him soon. Well, actually, it wasn't as if he would never see Duo ever again. He did know where the braided boy lived.
"Duo?"
Duo looked up from his suitcase, smiling in a distracted manner. "Yeah?"
"I-"
"Heero! Duo!" The door to the two's room popped open, an enthusiastic Quatre appearing on the other side. "You have to come and see this. It might be the find of the century."
Quatre raced back out into the hallway, leaving the other two boys to scramble to catch up.
"They're sending some one to pick it up now. It's amazing, really, we're all dying to know it's history."
"Quat, wait up." Duo ran to the blond boy's side, wondering why he was being so hasty. "We don't even know what you're talking about."
The three boys skidded around a corner, almost crashing into the automatic door there before it opened and they fell into a large room. Quatre stopped them, catching his breath even as he pointed at a large screen.
"That. That is what I'm talking about."
Heero walked through the crowd of people assembled at the room, staring up at the video playing in front of them. It was a five second shot, on loop, of outer space. He vaguely registered the excited voices around him, and Duo's presence to his right. He deduced that the object of all the turmoil was in the middle of the video shot: a very intricate, very black hulk of metal.
"It's a mor... a mobile suit."
Heero turned at Duo's voice, then looked back at the screen. Sure enough, he could see it, embedded it the center of the massive thing, a mechanical figure. He realized then that the rest of it resembled smooth wings, stretched out domes that were bigger even than the main body.
"That's right, boy." Heero's head snapped around at G's voice. The old man was standing next to that scientist, the doctor working at the Preventer's space lookout station. Technically, the place was used to look out for any unusual political activity, but the technology they had was so advanced it wasn't unusual for independent scientists to ask to use the equipment as well. "We think it's from another world."
Duo was staring at the shot with an intent look on his face, something Heero recognized from battles and school. "Do you?"
"It's not from our world, that's for sure. You see, there are lots of star systems out there like ours, with planets that could very well contain civilization. When a star is born, its light travels at the... well, the speed of light, to reach us. The problem is that by the time that light reaches us, and we can actually see the star and planets on our equipment, the star and any civilizations rotating around it are long burnt out and dead. That's why the idea of meeting alien life forms is impossible. There's nothing that can travel faster than the speed of light, after all.
"Of course, there's a theory that space travel on that scale is possible, except it would require the manipulation of tens of dimensions. Humans are only familiar with three: length, width, and height. The explosion that resulted in that mecha being here leads us to believe that the people who built it are indeed familiar with other multiple dimensions. It was unlike anything any one here has ever seen."
Heero frowned, wondering if the scientists weren't making to many assumptions. But then again, this was their field, not his. "Do you believe this, Duo?"
Duo turned at the question, an unreadable expression on his face, but didn't answer. "Is some one going to pick it up?"
G nodded. "A troop of Preventers, along with Wufei and Sally, are on their way now."
Duo nodded, then smiled, the lopsided grin Heero was so familiar with making its way onto his face. "I guess we can talk about it later, then. Right now, I'm starving. Is the big celebration still on?"
"Sorry, Duo." Quatre smiled in apology. "The government's cancelled it in light of this commotion. The mess hall's still serving dinner, though. Care to join me?"
"Yummy." Duo wrinkled his nose, an action belying his comment. "Heero, you coming?"
Heero nodded, joining his two comrades as they made their way out of the room. He had just stepped out of the door when a hand clapped his shoulder, and he turned around to stare into J's mechanical eyes. "Yes?"
"I'd just like to talk to you a moment."
Heero turned back to address his friends, waiting for him a few feet away. "I'll catch up with you guys later."
Duo nodded. "See you there."
Heero stepped back into the room, waiting for whatever J had to say.
"So, Heero, what do you make of the situation?"
Heero shrugged. "It doesn't seem as though I have the expertise to make anything of it."
"That may be, but if that is a mobile suit, and it is from another world, there's no guarantee that it will be empty. Just watch out, Heero, and if it's needed I still remember how to construct Wing Zero."
Heero's eyes narrowed, just a little annoyed at his ex-mentor's instructions. "Duly noted. I trust G remembers how to build Deathscythe as well?"
Heero stepped past J to the other scientist, effectively dismissing the older man. "The cloaking device, underwater thermal weapons, now those are truly strokes of genius."
G turned toward the boy, smiling, even as J bristled. "Thank you, my boy, but I sorry to say I've never developed a thermal weapon that could work underwater. That's a feat of impossibility that probably won't be conquered for a few dozen years."
Heero blinked. If G didn't do it, how did Duo manage to... shaking his head, he decided it wasn't that big a deal any way. The black market had always been ahead of conventional science, Duo could have gotten the technology any where. He left the scientists, then, leaving the room and following the path Duo and Quatre had taken.
The Preventers headquarter was strangely beautiful, and even Heero Yuy wasn't going to take it for granted. The outer hallways weren't lined with metal, but with a special glass polymer, meters thick and stronger than most any material. It offered a beautiful view of space, and it was the path Heero took that day. Blue lights lit up the corridor, a counterpoint to the black and white of the world outside.
Heero enjoyed the scene from the corner of his eyes, more focused on getting to his destination. He wasn't entirely prepared, then, when something that felt like an earthquake or a huge crash jolted him off of his feet. He landed with his back against the glass, his head hitting on the hard pane. Trying to shake off the distinct pain, he got to his feet and gripped onto the railing. The lights had gone out... everything was so black... his vision returned to him momentarily, however, when he happened to look out the glass walls.
Black metal was stretched along the exterior of the ship, running the length of the hallway and effectively blocking the light of any stars. But it wasn't the metal that stunned Heero, but the sight directly in front of him, as he found himself staring into massive glowing green eyes. The alien mobile suit.
Visit My Site
To find out more about Five Star Stories, check out The Eastern Star.
