Chapter One
"Hostile-Gear, destroyed. Primary mission objective: complete." The low monotonous voice of the DREL computer system droned on to the injured girl, filling her waking subconscious with purposeless noise that rattled on and turned her memory into a nightmare. The cold metal beneath her head stung, as did the blood trickling down her left temple and on her arms. Hot burning cloth stuck needlessly but painfully into her scorched flesh, spreading the brown and red gel everywhere around the cockpit area of the Gear. It was obvious there would be permanent injury to the limp lying slender creature in the corner nearly underneath the pilot's chair.
"In here!" More noise filed into the emptiness of the small room, metal clanging and the surge of fire melting away at the walls and people entering. "Don't move her. Get me an IV. Have a stretcher ready, this one's bad," Lynn heard without listening. Reality was slipping away into what was merely an illusion, filled with humans in dark colored outfits and with white paper masks covering their noses and mouths. Lynn's eyes shifted back and forth attempting to focus on the dreary part of whatever she'd manage to handle at the moment, but to no avail. Horrible pains jutted through her as she was lifted gently into strong arms and set into a bed of softness, eyes being opened then shut again by persons unknown. Simple, but irritating lights stared her in the face as more flashing red and white ones disappeared. Lynn whimpered angrily as she was taken slowly away from the DREL System cockpit and sent away in an ambulance which was not familiar. "Take it easy, Hun," one of the medical team officers said, holding
nother needle into her skin and injecting the same fluid he had before. Suddenly, her eyelids felt heavy and the scene before her became distorted and unfriendly. Just before she fell back asleep, Lynn felt a blanket being wrapped around her frail shivering shoulders and someone yelled, "She's going into shock!"
* * *
Christopher stepped into the dull light of the hospital room with high expectations. He didn't let his emotion drop even when he saw the figure lying on the bed unmoving and almost completely disfigured to the point beyond recovery. Her legs, small and fragile, had both been bent the wrong way in the accident, and broken instantly just below the kneecaps. Lynn will be lucky, the doctor had said, if she ever walks again. Christopher thought about the awful accident, and what she'd probably gone through. She didn't breath for quite a while, then as if triggered by an outside impulse; she took in a single breath and slowly let it escape her feeble lungs. One lung was probably collapsed, he thought as he stepped forward and searched for a place to sit down. The chair beside the bed was vacant, and he sat with a welcoming sigh. Lights above glared down on him harshly and warmed him up quite a bit, yet the chair remained the same cold temperature it had been at first. A sweet smell of violets lingered in the air
round Lynn, as she had always smelled even before the accident. She smelled the same now; he thought that was a good thing.
"Lynn," he said in a dry, low-toned English accent. "I know you can hear me right now, and I just want you to know…" He hesitated, then stood up again, picking her tiny hand up in his. "Everything's going to be all right, the doctor said. You're going to live, same as William. If you didn't know, his accident was much less severe." He bit his lip and held away tears, staring down at her hand and her little fingernails painted black. Lynn was just too young to be in that accident-it wasn't right that they let her lead the DREL team. She was the best, yes, but she was so young. Mistakes were made. "The bill won't be a problem for anyone, there're some important people from the government to take care of that." He sighed. "You got more flowers. Daniel sent you flowers, and so did Mamma. You'll see them if-" He shook his head, forcing his optimistic attitude to take over. "When you wake up, you'll see them." Christopher gave Lynn's hand a dainty squeeze and then let go, turned on his heel and walked out.
The hall was brighter than the room for the nurse's sakes, things out in the narrow walk space lying idly and waiting for a storage room to be freed. Christopher patted down the white jacket he wore around his broad shoulders and took the stethoscope from around his neck announcing to the night-assistant behind the counter that it was time to go home. "It's too late to be visiting! I'm going to go home and soak in a hot bath…" He dreamed on, bringing a chuckle from the woman with blond hair.
"Good luck. You'll need it. If I get any more information on Lynn, I'll let you know. I'm sorry," she said, after a moment's hesitation. Christopher stopped and turned around to glance at her oddly. "I'm sorry that they won't let you care for her."
"It's all for the better. Doc Niles thinks if I'm too emotionally involved, something might not go wrong and I'd never forgive myself… Don't ask. Thanks anyway, but it doesn't matter. Really, it doesn't." Christopher smiled and sauntered out of the hospital, to call a cab and ride home.
Lynn sat in the wheelchair at the end of the hallway, listening to the pathetic whimpers of the dog in the next room. He wouldn't come out, convinced Lynn wasn't herself. She sat crookedly with a chenille blanket strewn haphazardly over her shoulders and her stringy black hair in shambles, drooping around her pale face that held sleepy equally black eyes. The aching in her back hadn't gone away for the four days she'd been out of the hospital, and it showed no signs of lessening even by then. Hopefully, though, soon Daniel would come home and get her another aspirin. It wasn't likely, but even she could have her dreams. Lynn sat with the book in her lap, not picking it up with the broken hand, just staring at it with her neck bent at an awkward angle. Last night's sleep clothes were still on, for she lacked the ability to stand and change them, but she didn't pity herself because of that; it would only lead to a deeper depression than it was worth. Even now her career was most likely over, because who would
hire someone who couldn't walk to do their job?
The light on the porch turned on, and the doorbell rang. Lynn used her only capable hand to wheel herself out to the foyer and manage the doorknob between her three unbroken fingers, the Velcro of the black glove scratching against the polished metal. John Linkley stood outside the door, holding a box of Lynn's things from her mother's house. Lynn smiled and whispered, "Hi," with what little air she had remaining in her.
"Hey Lynn! How are ye?" Lynn's ears welcomed the scratchy hoarse voice of the New Yorker as she moved aside so he could come in. "How is everything? Are you doing okay without Daniel?" He asked obtrusively, bringing the box to the living room and setting it down on the large white couch.
"I'm fine, yeah. Daniel shouldn't be gone long," she whispered, nodding her head and wheeling back into the hall to silence the still persistently barking dog. Lynn closed the door and he instantly ceased all loud activity and resorted to his previous activity: sleep. John had made himself comfortable with unpacking the remaining items out of the box and settling them onto the coffee table in the near middle of the living room when Lynn came back. "That is, if you want to talk to Daniel." Lynn stripped the ponytail holder from her right arm and wrapped it around her raven black hair casually, pulling it all out of her face so she would look presentable.
"I did. Do you mind if I wait for him here? I've got nowhere else to go; no people to see." John watched as Lynn rolled into the kitchen and proceeded to make herself have the image of a capable busy person. She nodded, humming an acceptance, and going on to put the dishes away from last night's meal. "Lynn," John followed her into the kitchen and leaned on the fridge, acquiring a concerned look. "Are you sure everything's okay? You don't need any extra help around here?"
"No, I'm fine! Doctor Niles says I'll be up and about in a matter of weeks. It's just time, that's all. I'm going to start looking for another job as soon as I can-as soon as I get my voice back." Lynn laughed quietly, softly echoing in the empty walls of the new house. She slouched and put away yet another plate and carried past John a bowl that needed a place in the lowest cupboard.
"You're positive." John refused to accept the true answer that his help was not needed here.
"Yes. I can still cook, clean, unpack and stuff like that; it just has to be a bit lower for a while! All I need help with is getting up out of this blasted chair, and that Daniel can help me with. I dress myself, you know." Lynn nodded with the finality that meant she'd hear no more of this conversation. John took the signal and instantly and obediently changed the subject.
"Did you hear about William?" John asked, shaking his head.
"Dead as a doorknob. Cadaver-like this very instant. Sorry to hear; he was my co-pilot. My favorite one." Lynn's ears jumped up into a listening position as the door opened with the latching of a key in the hole. Daniel had come home.
"Hello, dear… s," Daniel said as he walked into the house, nodding to John and bending down to hug the recently arrived Lynn. "I missed you, much," he admitted, setting his keys down on the bar and striding into the living room. "Hey John. Long time, no see; what've you been up to?"
"The usual: Operating manuals, piloting… nothing new since the big thing. It's been our daily prayers." John nodded, sitting down on the couch with a heavy sigh. "We really miss Lynn."
"I know ye do. I've only just gotten over the fear of leaving her here alone." Daniel walked in behind Lynn, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Don't slouch, Lynn, it's bad for you," he whispered rubbing her shoulders lovingly.
"I think I'm going to go take a nap. Good… night, you two." Lynn nodded at Daniel and then at John, leaving the room rather quickly.
"Let me know if you need anything," Daniel said behind Lynn, chuckling at something John said.
Inside her room, Lynn resorted to sulking once again, being lonely as ever in this New World she'd just recently discovered. She wished she could pull other people down into it so she wouldn't be so alone and frightened, but that wouldn't be fair. It wasn't even fair for her to have to go through this. The sun was slowly going down into a beautiful pale orange sunset that was almost the prettiest that Lynn had ever seen and she wished she and Daniel were alone to watch it. John was the most of annoying people, bad timing, he had.
As she stripped off the shirt she'd worn all day, Lynn examined the bandaged cut on her side. It didn't hurt as much now; the sharp excruciating pain subsided into a dull ache throughout the day. She couldn't even bring herself to look into the mirror to see her bruised face that used to be so perfect. That was the shame as she lifted herself into her bed and slipped out of the pajama shorts she'd been wearing. The blinds that were left open let in the little amount of sunlight that was left as it turned into a dark sky, and Lynn closed her eyes and let herself be carried away by the silence and nothing more.
* * *
"Light Tracking: Enabled. Sensory objective: Complete. Negative Entry. Negative Entry." The machine's giant legs pounded against the ground of the vast plain out in the Sahara desert, in the middle of nowhere. Its huge arms trilled out far too many bullets than needed, destroying everything in its path and more even. Lynn clicked on the sensory double lights and shifted further down into the pilot's seat with a disgruntled complaint under her already soft breath. "Hostile-Gear, Destroyed. Light Tracking: Engaged." The Mech once again turned around to defeat yet another opponent and blow whatever stood beyond the horizon into smithereens. Explosions were fantastic as the machines fought each other, Lynn's own finding it's way towards the South Shipping Department. Sending a final missile over the last opponent's Mech, Lynn heard the computer note: "Hostile-Gear, Destroyed. Way Point: Reached. Internal Malfunction, green zone. Negative Command error. Host-Target: Negative Entry. Negative Command Error. Intern
l Malfunction."
"No, dammit! No!" Lynn slammed her hand against the keys of the entire system, pushing off into jump mode. "Not now you useless piece of shit!" Lynn growled and unhooked the belt that kept her lodged in the seat herself. "William!" she shouted standing up and creeping out to the communications device at the back wall. "Get me out-" The whole machine came to a cluttering stop as Lynn was thrown across the cockpit into the window and then jolted back again after a few remaining seconds of life from the Way Point. Sparks began to fly as a fire caught in the main engine, and the whole operation came to a screaming crash for Lynn. She lay there silent and unable to move, as she slowly slipped away feeling nothing but the pain in her head. Her legs, she couldn't feel, but had landed her underneath the pilot's seat. "No!" she felt she was screaming, but nothing came out of her mouth. "I'm going to die! God, I don't want to die!" The only replies she heard to her please was the computer's voice: "Hostile-Gear, Dest
oyed. Primary Mission Objective: Complete." Her mind lost its grip on reality as she hit her head one last time on the floor of the small room.
The people in dark colored outfits crowded in, one after the other, each one set on handling her with the greatest care possible. She couldn't see a thing as she was pried away from the ground, metal bars poking into her flesh and burnt clothes peeling away, along with some of her skin. "Let me go! I don't want to die! I'm not dead!" No matter how loud she screamed at the strangers, they couldn't hear her.
* * *
"Lynn! Get up, it's just a dream!" Lynn's eyes opened wide and full of tears as she felt someone's arms around her shoulders and soft hands touching her face. "You're not going to die, wake up!" She looked up, crying, and clutching to Daniel, who was sitting on the bed next to her. Freezing cold sweat drizzled down her forehead and arms as she struggled to control her breathing and listen to Daniel's soothing voice. "It's okay Lynn. It's okay. Shhh…" He tried his best to comfort her, stroking her hair out of her darkened cloudy eyes that gazed innocently up at him. "What happened?" he asked, after a few moments of silence for the both of them.
"I… I… It was horrible," Lynn cried, shaking with awful tremors and clinging to Daniel's shirt. "William wouldn't answer me. He just wouldn't… couldn't, I don't think. I died!" Lynn stared frantically up at Daniel, searching for explanations that simply weren't there. "Just don't let me go," she whispered, letting her head fall gently onto his lap and releasing his shirt from between her fingers. "I don't want to go." Her breathing calmed after a while, and Daniel thought she could go back to sleep; but he knew he couldn't. He wondered how long she'd be like this, how long he'd have to live with her paranoia.
Chapter Two
"Welcome back, captain!" The six troopers stood in order, saluting the fragile woman who walked slowly down the hall leaning on the poor Daniel. Coming into the room, Lynn was greeted with a wild assortment of gifts and surprises, the best being the warm, welcoming smiles on her troop's faces. "We missed you, Lynn." The shortest of the Gear-pilots stepped forward some and gave Lynn a light hug, careful not to topple the feeble woman. Her hair hung loosely now, dangling freely over her petite shoulders and creating somewhat of a frame for her darkening skin. Lynn slowly put her arms around Lt. Farro, tears coming back to her eyes.
"Thank you," she said, pulling herself away so she could stand right."
"Hey, I didn't know we all got a hug," one of Lynn's favorite scouts put his hand up and waved. "That'll have to do; Daniel doesn't want anybody," he pretended to cry. "To take Lynn away." Daniel nodded with a chuckle, and most of the fore team laughed. "Welcome back, captain." Michael got his hug anyway, a brief friendly hug, and then went back to his position at the side.
"Now," Lynn said, taking a seat at the head of the table inside the tiny boardroom. "Down to business. The best possible way to carry on our missions after this recent accident is to go in pairs. There will be teams of two Gears on each row, seven pairs in all. Like grade school, you can choose your own partner for this activity, or I can stick you with the person you're least likely to know and the two of you can do a little getting-to-know-you worksheet. The first three teams will be assigned to Way Point One, with the special conditioning of the Gears set for Auto on the first run. The next five teams won't be so lucky as to have Auto, because they're going into North Drone territory: Category Green. Most of the Gears have been checked beforehand, with the green incomplete zone absolutely in order. Unfortunately, the Gear I decided to pilot that morning was one of the very few not checked. Now I'm ordering an issue of all Heavy Gears to be placed into ward order if they aren't checked; it should be on record somewhere. That puts us down to six Gears left, and an urgent need for volunteers at the Post-Command center. There're enemy bases on several of those locations, and the Way Points are within those target bases. You can take one of these missions if you'd like; it'd be extremely helpful. Any questions?" Lynn tapped her pencil against the wired notebook, leaning heavily on the table for support. She looked instantly to Jennifer, who had her hand up. "Hmm?"
"Who's going to be your co-pilot?" Jennifer couldn't stop herself from giggling at her silly question.
((Note to self: Chapter Two is about the government undergoing a very thorough search of William's operation. The general (whatever-his-name-is) will discover that William aborted the mission long before the Grace period, and was unable to respond to Lynn's call because he wasn't
"Hostile-Gear, destroyed. Primary mission objective: complete." The low monotonous voice of the DREL computer system droned on to the injured girl, filling her waking subconscious with purposeless noise that rattled on and turned her memory into a nightmare. The cold metal beneath her head stung, as did the blood trickling down her left temple and on her arms. Hot burning cloth stuck needlessly but painfully into her scorched flesh, spreading the brown and red gel everywhere around the cockpit area of the Gear. It was obvious there would be permanent injury to the limp lying slender creature in the corner nearly underneath the pilot's chair.
"In here!" More noise filed into the emptiness of the small room, metal clanging and the surge of fire melting away at the walls and people entering. "Don't move her. Get me an IV. Have a stretcher ready, this one's bad," Lynn heard without listening. Reality was slipping away into what was merely an illusion, filled with humans in dark colored outfits and with white paper masks covering their noses and mouths. Lynn's eyes shifted back and forth attempting to focus on the dreary part of whatever she'd manage to handle at the moment, but to no avail. Horrible pains jutted through her as she was lifted gently into strong arms and set into a bed of softness, eyes being opened then shut again by persons unknown. Simple, but irritating lights stared her in the face as more flashing red and white ones disappeared. Lynn whimpered angrily as she was taken slowly away from the DREL System cockpit and sent away in an ambulance which was not familiar. "Take it easy, Hun," one of the medical team officers said, holding
nother needle into her skin and injecting the same fluid he had before. Suddenly, her eyelids felt heavy and the scene before her became distorted and unfriendly. Just before she fell back asleep, Lynn felt a blanket being wrapped around her frail shivering shoulders and someone yelled, "She's going into shock!"
* * *
Christopher stepped into the dull light of the hospital room with high expectations. He didn't let his emotion drop even when he saw the figure lying on the bed unmoving and almost completely disfigured to the point beyond recovery. Her legs, small and fragile, had both been bent the wrong way in the accident, and broken instantly just below the kneecaps. Lynn will be lucky, the doctor had said, if she ever walks again. Christopher thought about the awful accident, and what she'd probably gone through. She didn't breath for quite a while, then as if triggered by an outside impulse; she took in a single breath and slowly let it escape her feeble lungs. One lung was probably collapsed, he thought as he stepped forward and searched for a place to sit down. The chair beside the bed was vacant, and he sat with a welcoming sigh. Lights above glared down on him harshly and warmed him up quite a bit, yet the chair remained the same cold temperature it had been at first. A sweet smell of violets lingered in the air
round Lynn, as she had always smelled even before the accident. She smelled the same now; he thought that was a good thing.
"Lynn," he said in a dry, low-toned English accent. "I know you can hear me right now, and I just want you to know…" He hesitated, then stood up again, picking her tiny hand up in his. "Everything's going to be all right, the doctor said. You're going to live, same as William. If you didn't know, his accident was much less severe." He bit his lip and held away tears, staring down at her hand and her little fingernails painted black. Lynn was just too young to be in that accident-it wasn't right that they let her lead the DREL team. She was the best, yes, but she was so young. Mistakes were made. "The bill won't be a problem for anyone, there're some important people from the government to take care of that." He sighed. "You got more flowers. Daniel sent you flowers, and so did Mamma. You'll see them if-" He shook his head, forcing his optimistic attitude to take over. "When you wake up, you'll see them." Christopher gave Lynn's hand a dainty squeeze and then let go, turned on his heel and walked out.
The hall was brighter than the room for the nurse's sakes, things out in the narrow walk space lying idly and waiting for a storage room to be freed. Christopher patted down the white jacket he wore around his broad shoulders and took the stethoscope from around his neck announcing to the night-assistant behind the counter that it was time to go home. "It's too late to be visiting! I'm going to go home and soak in a hot bath…" He dreamed on, bringing a chuckle from the woman with blond hair.
"Good luck. You'll need it. If I get any more information on Lynn, I'll let you know. I'm sorry," she said, after a moment's hesitation. Christopher stopped and turned around to glance at her oddly. "I'm sorry that they won't let you care for her."
"It's all for the better. Doc Niles thinks if I'm too emotionally involved, something might not go wrong and I'd never forgive myself… Don't ask. Thanks anyway, but it doesn't matter. Really, it doesn't." Christopher smiled and sauntered out of the hospital, to call a cab and ride home.
Lynn sat in the wheelchair at the end of the hallway, listening to the pathetic whimpers of the dog in the next room. He wouldn't come out, convinced Lynn wasn't herself. She sat crookedly with a chenille blanket strewn haphazardly over her shoulders and her stringy black hair in shambles, drooping around her pale face that held sleepy equally black eyes. The aching in her back hadn't gone away for the four days she'd been out of the hospital, and it showed no signs of lessening even by then. Hopefully, though, soon Daniel would come home and get her another aspirin. It wasn't likely, but even she could have her dreams. Lynn sat with the book in her lap, not picking it up with the broken hand, just staring at it with her neck bent at an awkward angle. Last night's sleep clothes were still on, for she lacked the ability to stand and change them, but she didn't pity herself because of that; it would only lead to a deeper depression than it was worth. Even now her career was most likely over, because who would
hire someone who couldn't walk to do their job?
The light on the porch turned on, and the doorbell rang. Lynn used her only capable hand to wheel herself out to the foyer and manage the doorknob between her three unbroken fingers, the Velcro of the black glove scratching against the polished metal. John Linkley stood outside the door, holding a box of Lynn's things from her mother's house. Lynn smiled and whispered, "Hi," with what little air she had remaining in her.
"Hey Lynn! How are ye?" Lynn's ears welcomed the scratchy hoarse voice of the New Yorker as she moved aside so he could come in. "How is everything? Are you doing okay without Daniel?" He asked obtrusively, bringing the box to the living room and setting it down on the large white couch.
"I'm fine, yeah. Daniel shouldn't be gone long," she whispered, nodding her head and wheeling back into the hall to silence the still persistently barking dog. Lynn closed the door and he instantly ceased all loud activity and resorted to his previous activity: sleep. John had made himself comfortable with unpacking the remaining items out of the box and settling them onto the coffee table in the near middle of the living room when Lynn came back. "That is, if you want to talk to Daniel." Lynn stripped the ponytail holder from her right arm and wrapped it around her raven black hair casually, pulling it all out of her face so she would look presentable.
"I did. Do you mind if I wait for him here? I've got nowhere else to go; no people to see." John watched as Lynn rolled into the kitchen and proceeded to make herself have the image of a capable busy person. She nodded, humming an acceptance, and going on to put the dishes away from last night's meal. "Lynn," John followed her into the kitchen and leaned on the fridge, acquiring a concerned look. "Are you sure everything's okay? You don't need any extra help around here?"
"No, I'm fine! Doctor Niles says I'll be up and about in a matter of weeks. It's just time, that's all. I'm going to start looking for another job as soon as I can-as soon as I get my voice back." Lynn laughed quietly, softly echoing in the empty walls of the new house. She slouched and put away yet another plate and carried past John a bowl that needed a place in the lowest cupboard.
"You're positive." John refused to accept the true answer that his help was not needed here.
"Yes. I can still cook, clean, unpack and stuff like that; it just has to be a bit lower for a while! All I need help with is getting up out of this blasted chair, and that Daniel can help me with. I dress myself, you know." Lynn nodded with the finality that meant she'd hear no more of this conversation. John took the signal and instantly and obediently changed the subject.
"Did you hear about William?" John asked, shaking his head.
"Dead as a doorknob. Cadaver-like this very instant. Sorry to hear; he was my co-pilot. My favorite one." Lynn's ears jumped up into a listening position as the door opened with the latching of a key in the hole. Daniel had come home.
"Hello, dear… s," Daniel said as he walked into the house, nodding to John and bending down to hug the recently arrived Lynn. "I missed you, much," he admitted, setting his keys down on the bar and striding into the living room. "Hey John. Long time, no see; what've you been up to?"
"The usual: Operating manuals, piloting… nothing new since the big thing. It's been our daily prayers." John nodded, sitting down on the couch with a heavy sigh. "We really miss Lynn."
"I know ye do. I've only just gotten over the fear of leaving her here alone." Daniel walked in behind Lynn, resting his hands on her shoulders. "Don't slouch, Lynn, it's bad for you," he whispered rubbing her shoulders lovingly.
"I think I'm going to go take a nap. Good… night, you two." Lynn nodded at Daniel and then at John, leaving the room rather quickly.
"Let me know if you need anything," Daniel said behind Lynn, chuckling at something John said.
Inside her room, Lynn resorted to sulking once again, being lonely as ever in this New World she'd just recently discovered. She wished she could pull other people down into it so she wouldn't be so alone and frightened, but that wouldn't be fair. It wasn't even fair for her to have to go through this. The sun was slowly going down into a beautiful pale orange sunset that was almost the prettiest that Lynn had ever seen and she wished she and Daniel were alone to watch it. John was the most of annoying people, bad timing, he had.
As she stripped off the shirt she'd worn all day, Lynn examined the bandaged cut on her side. It didn't hurt as much now; the sharp excruciating pain subsided into a dull ache throughout the day. She couldn't even bring herself to look into the mirror to see her bruised face that used to be so perfect. That was the shame as she lifted herself into her bed and slipped out of the pajama shorts she'd been wearing. The blinds that were left open let in the little amount of sunlight that was left as it turned into a dark sky, and Lynn closed her eyes and let herself be carried away by the silence and nothing more.
* * *
"Light Tracking: Enabled. Sensory objective: Complete. Negative Entry. Negative Entry." The machine's giant legs pounded against the ground of the vast plain out in the Sahara desert, in the middle of nowhere. Its huge arms trilled out far too many bullets than needed, destroying everything in its path and more even. Lynn clicked on the sensory double lights and shifted further down into the pilot's seat with a disgruntled complaint under her already soft breath. "Hostile-Gear, Destroyed. Light Tracking: Engaged." The Mech once again turned around to defeat yet another opponent and blow whatever stood beyond the horizon into smithereens. Explosions were fantastic as the machines fought each other, Lynn's own finding it's way towards the South Shipping Department. Sending a final missile over the last opponent's Mech, Lynn heard the computer note: "Hostile-Gear, Destroyed. Way Point: Reached. Internal Malfunction, green zone. Negative Command error. Host-Target: Negative Entry. Negative Command Error. Intern
l Malfunction."
"No, dammit! No!" Lynn slammed her hand against the keys of the entire system, pushing off into jump mode. "Not now you useless piece of shit!" Lynn growled and unhooked the belt that kept her lodged in the seat herself. "William!" she shouted standing up and creeping out to the communications device at the back wall. "Get me out-" The whole machine came to a cluttering stop as Lynn was thrown across the cockpit into the window and then jolted back again after a few remaining seconds of life from the Way Point. Sparks began to fly as a fire caught in the main engine, and the whole operation came to a screaming crash for Lynn. She lay there silent and unable to move, as she slowly slipped away feeling nothing but the pain in her head. Her legs, she couldn't feel, but had landed her underneath the pilot's seat. "No!" she felt she was screaming, but nothing came out of her mouth. "I'm going to die! God, I don't want to die!" The only replies she heard to her please was the computer's voice: "Hostile-Gear, Dest
oyed. Primary Mission Objective: Complete." Her mind lost its grip on reality as she hit her head one last time on the floor of the small room.
The people in dark colored outfits crowded in, one after the other, each one set on handling her with the greatest care possible. She couldn't see a thing as she was pried away from the ground, metal bars poking into her flesh and burnt clothes peeling away, along with some of her skin. "Let me go! I don't want to die! I'm not dead!" No matter how loud she screamed at the strangers, they couldn't hear her.
* * *
"Lynn! Get up, it's just a dream!" Lynn's eyes opened wide and full of tears as she felt someone's arms around her shoulders and soft hands touching her face. "You're not going to die, wake up!" She looked up, crying, and clutching to Daniel, who was sitting on the bed next to her. Freezing cold sweat drizzled down her forehead and arms as she struggled to control her breathing and listen to Daniel's soothing voice. "It's okay Lynn. It's okay. Shhh…" He tried his best to comfort her, stroking her hair out of her darkened cloudy eyes that gazed innocently up at him. "What happened?" he asked, after a few moments of silence for the both of them.
"I… I… It was horrible," Lynn cried, shaking with awful tremors and clinging to Daniel's shirt. "William wouldn't answer me. He just wouldn't… couldn't, I don't think. I died!" Lynn stared frantically up at Daniel, searching for explanations that simply weren't there. "Just don't let me go," she whispered, letting her head fall gently onto his lap and releasing his shirt from between her fingers. "I don't want to go." Her breathing calmed after a while, and Daniel thought she could go back to sleep; but he knew he couldn't. He wondered how long she'd be like this, how long he'd have to live with her paranoia.
Chapter Two
"Welcome back, captain!" The six troopers stood in order, saluting the fragile woman who walked slowly down the hall leaning on the poor Daniel. Coming into the room, Lynn was greeted with a wild assortment of gifts and surprises, the best being the warm, welcoming smiles on her troop's faces. "We missed you, Lynn." The shortest of the Gear-pilots stepped forward some and gave Lynn a light hug, careful not to topple the feeble woman. Her hair hung loosely now, dangling freely over her petite shoulders and creating somewhat of a frame for her darkening skin. Lynn slowly put her arms around Lt. Farro, tears coming back to her eyes.
"Thank you," she said, pulling herself away so she could stand right."
"Hey, I didn't know we all got a hug," one of Lynn's favorite scouts put his hand up and waved. "That'll have to do; Daniel doesn't want anybody," he pretended to cry. "To take Lynn away." Daniel nodded with a chuckle, and most of the fore team laughed. "Welcome back, captain." Michael got his hug anyway, a brief friendly hug, and then went back to his position at the side.
"Now," Lynn said, taking a seat at the head of the table inside the tiny boardroom. "Down to business. The best possible way to carry on our missions after this recent accident is to go in pairs. There will be teams of two Gears on each row, seven pairs in all. Like grade school, you can choose your own partner for this activity, or I can stick you with the person you're least likely to know and the two of you can do a little getting-to-know-you worksheet. The first three teams will be assigned to Way Point One, with the special conditioning of the Gears set for Auto on the first run. The next five teams won't be so lucky as to have Auto, because they're going into North Drone territory: Category Green. Most of the Gears have been checked beforehand, with the green incomplete zone absolutely in order. Unfortunately, the Gear I decided to pilot that morning was one of the very few not checked. Now I'm ordering an issue of all Heavy Gears to be placed into ward order if they aren't checked; it should be on record somewhere. That puts us down to six Gears left, and an urgent need for volunteers at the Post-Command center. There're enemy bases on several of those locations, and the Way Points are within those target bases. You can take one of these missions if you'd like; it'd be extremely helpful. Any questions?" Lynn tapped her pencil against the wired notebook, leaning heavily on the table for support. She looked instantly to Jennifer, who had her hand up. "Hmm?"
"Who's going to be your co-pilot?" Jennifer couldn't stop herself from giggling at her silly question.
((Note to self: Chapter Two is about the government undergoing a very thorough search of William's operation. The general (whatever-his-name-is) will discover that William aborted the mission long before the Grace period, and was unable to respond to Lynn's call because he wasn't