Chapter 6

The instant we were all safely back on the New God Phoenix, I stormed over to Jun.

"You had better tell me that you've got the device!" I threatened her, "Or I'm going to…"

"What are you going to do, Joe?" Jun asked, in a sickly sweet voice.

My angry retort died on my lips, as the Swan extricated a small black box from her belt, and waved it slowly in front of my face.

"Is this what's got you so excited, Mister Condor?" she purred.

"What is that, Jun?" Ken asked, physically placing himself between the two of us. "Is that what was in the space module?"

"Miss Swan here, got trigger happy, and decided to blast the space module to bits." I growled.

"Oh Joe, and here I thought that my being trigger happy was one of the things you loved about me." Jun flirted.

"That's enough, Jun." Ken gave the Swan a withering look, then turned around to face me. "Then what happened?" he asked.

"Well, I asked her what she was doing, and she implied that she had the device." I continued. "I didn't have time to confirm it then, because the rock mecha showed up and chased us off of the cliff."

"From what we overheard onboard the mecha, it was pretty clear that it wasn't the space module that was important." Jun sighed. "I was thinking that if Galactor thought the entire thing had been destroyed, then they wouldn't realize…" she paused, waving the black box under both of our noses again, "that I had taken this out."

"Are you sure that's the device they were talking about?" I questioned her angrily.

"Pretty sure." she shrugged. "There wasn't anything else inside the module."

"So… what is this thing supposed to do, anyhow?" Ken asked.

"We don't know." I answered. "Even the Officer briefing the Galactor search party wasn't sure. All we know is that it was sent to Leader X by his people."

"Other beings from Selectro?" the Eagle asked, astonished.

"Apparently." I nodded. "And it's somehow supposed to help X control the Earth."

"If anyone can figure out what it does, Hakase can!" Jinpei piped up.

"And as long as it's not in X's hands, then it can't be used against us, right?" Jun offered.

"Does X even have hands?" Ryu put in.

"You know what I mean, Ryu." Jun replied, rolling her eyes.

"Well, it's definitely worth taking back to Dr. Nambu." Ken stated. "Between him and Dr. Pandora, I'm sure the ISO will be able to figure it out."

When no one protested his statement, Ken walked back to his station, and sat down.

Jun smirked at me, then sat down at her station to examine the device. I leaned on her chair, bending over to see what she was doing.

"So, what do you think it is?" I asked her.

"I thought you didn't appreciate my opinion." she huffed.

I sighed heavily. I wasn't really ready to deal with Jun in a mood like this. I stood up, and turned to go.

"Wait, Joe." she said, placing a soft hand on my arm. I turned to look back at her.

"I'm sorry." Jun said. "This whole thing is stupid. We obviously work well together: this mission proved that. I'd appreciate your help in figuring this out."

"Sure." I smiled, accepting her apology. "I'm sorry for snapping at you." I said, offering one of my own.

"It's okay." she shrugged. "I probably should have just answered the question, without giving you all of the attitude."

"Usually, I like your attitude." I grinned. "Just not when I'm already irritated."

Jun flashed me a brilliant grin, making my knees turn to water. I covered it by quickly sitting down in the Swallow's chair, seeing as Jinpei was chatting with Ryu up at the front of the Bridge.

"So…" I repeated my earlier question, "What do you think it is?"

"I'm not entirely sure…" Jun mused, "But given what little we know about X, it seems that it would somehow relate to his mental powers. Perhaps this device is meant to expand, or enhance them somehow?"

"That's not a bad hypothesis." I replied, "Problem is, how do we go about proving or disproving it?"

"Well, I'll leave that one to Hakase and Dr. Pandora." Jun said. "I'd hate the be the guinea pig for those experiments!"

"What do you think that is?" I asked her, indicating a recessed panel on the device.

"I don't know…" As Jun spoke, the New God Phoenix jerked and bounced.

"Sorry guys, we just hit some unexpected turbulence." Ryu called out. "I think it's done, now…"

But as he spoke, the ship jolted again, pushing me out of my seat. Jinpei fell to the floor. Ryu, Ken and Jun, who were all wearing seatbelts, were just fine.

But the turbulence had knocked the device from Jun's hand. I saw it flying up in the air, and then abruptly change direction and begin falling to the ground. Quickly, I rolled across the Bridge, holding my hand out to catch the box, a fraction of a second before it would have impacted the floor.

As I caught the device, the recessed panel snapped open, emitting a beam of light, which caught me full in the face. For a brief moment, it almost seemed like that light was invading my brain, working its way through my neural pathways.

And then the panel snapped shut, and the light ceased.

"Are you okay, Joe?" Jun cried, jumping out of her seat.

"Yeah…" I muttered, rubbing my eyes with my free hand. "It was weird, but I'm fine."

Carefully, I raised myself to a standing position, handed the device to Jun, and made my way to my own station. Somehow, it seemed to take a little more effort than it should.

I closed my eyes, and leaned back in my chair. I was so tired. I just needed to rest.

I must have fallen asleep, because it seemed like only a few seconds later when I heard Ryu announce that we were approaching G-Town. As soon as we landed, the exit hatch opened, and everyone got up to disembark the New God Phoenix.

I stood up to follow them, only I didn't quite manage to stand.

My legs weren't working. Instead, I had managed to push myself out of my seat and land, face-first, on the floor.

"Joe!" Ken shouted, rushing to my position, just as I blacked out.

88888

I awoke in a hospital bed. This place was all too familiar. I was instantly reminded of the days I had spent in a similar medical facility, when I had been having headaches, dizziness and blackouts. That had been nearly three years ago, but the memories were as fresh as if it had been only a week before.

So much had happened since then. I had gone through a multitude of changes… not just the physical ones, but emotional changes as well. And yet, the more things changed, the more they stayed the same. I was still hiding things, hiding my true self, from my teammates… my family.

But it was only to protect them. What they didn't know couldn't hurt them. Only one person had been able to see through my carefully constructed façade, and I had sworn to stay away from her.

But how could I stay away from Jun when I worked with her every day? Today, we had ended up together, and succeeded in our mission. Without me, she might never have located the module. Without her, we might never have recovered the device.

The device… what had it done to me? I blinked slowly, moaning softly as full consciousness returned.

"Joe!" Ken was standing next to my bed, looking at me with that concerned Commander look that he often wore. I had to smile. The Eagle was so predictable.

"I'm awake." I mumbled. "Now, can I get the hell out of here?" I had always hated hospitals, and I had spent a lifetime's worth of days in them, despite being only twenty-one years old.

"Not so fast." Ken placed a hand on my shoulder, although I hadn't yet made any attempts to leave the bed. "We don't really know what happened to you. Dr. Pandora wants you to stay here for a while, so she can run some tests. And now that you're awake, she'll want to talk to you." Ken reached for a call button, but my arm shot out of the bed and grabbed his wrist.

"No." I said. "Not yet…"

Ken looked at me for a long moment.

"Okay." he sighed. I guess it can wait a few more minutes."

"Thanks." I replied.

Ken didn't respond, and neither did I. The silence was suffocating. There had been a time when Ken and I had been closer than brothers; when we had told each other everything. Despite our conversation a couple of days before, things were still awkward between us.

I knew that was entirely my fault. Inside, Ken was still hurt that I hadn't contacted the team during the two years I had been gone. And then, when I had returned, I had kept my cybernetic enhancements a secret from him, and from the rest of the team. Even now, I hid the secret of my true purpose from him. Shutting myself off had become a habit. Ken knew this, and resented it.

But then, it cut both ways. Ever since we had gone into active duty at sixteen years old, Ken had shut himself off from me more and more. At first, I had thought it was just the burden of command, but I eventually came to realize that Ken was much more like his father than he would ever admit to himself. In order to lead the team, he had taken his feelings and locked them deep inside, where no one could see them… not even himself. Every so often, they came exploding to the surface, as they had after his father had died.

Of late, Ken had been having problems with that. Irrational bursts of anger were becoming more and more the norm for him. Odd… that used to be my area of expertise. In a way, we had almost switched roles.

Still, there were times, like the other night, when I almost felt like we had connected again. Were those times of mutual weakness, or mutual strength?

I didn't know.

"So… is everyone else okay?" I asked, more to break the silence than because I actually thought that they had been injured by the device.

"Everyone else is fine." Ken replied, turning his head to look away from the marine life outside the window, and toward me. "Well, except Jun."

"Jun?" I asked, concerned. "What's wrong with Jun?" I couldn't hide a note of fear from my voice.

"She's okay." Ken replied quickly, his eyes narrowing. "But completely exhausted. She spent the last thirty-six hours here, waiting for you to wake up. I sent her to her room, for some rest, just a couple of hours ago."

Jun had been here, with me, for a day and a half? I found myself glowing with unexpected pleasure at the thought. But Ken's scowl quickly erased any happiness.

"I hope she gets some sleep, then." I said calmly. "I'd hate for her to run herself down, over me."

"I'm in agreement with that." Ken said quietly.

There was another thirty seconds or so of silence, and then Ken spoke again.

"So, what happened to you, Joe?" he asked. "I just saw you fall onto the floor and black out. No one has told us anything."

I struggled to remember.

"Everyone was disembarking the New God Phoenix," I recalled, "and I stood up to follow you, but my legs didn't work. They stayed sitting in the chair, but my body was trying to stand up."

"Do you legs work now?" Ken asked.

"I don't know." I answered. Cautiously, I pulled my legs over to the side of the bed, and tried to pull up to a sitting position.

Only, my legs remained where they were. And while I could move my arms, my torso was proving to be a dead weight.

I must have allowed the panic I felt to show on my face, because Ken looked suddenly concerned.

"It's okay, Joe." he said softly, "Hakase and Dr. Pandora can figure this out. And now that you're awake, you can help them."

Silently, I nodded, watching Ken as he turned to press the call button.

Almost immediately, Dr. Pandora walked into the room.

"He's awake?" she asked Ken, who nodded at her.

"Hello, Joe." she said to me, "I'm glad you're back with us."

"Why won't my legs work?" I asked her, cutting to the chase.

"We're not entirely sure." she replied calmly, as if she had been expecting the question and preparing for it. "There appears to be no physical reason why your legs won't work…"

"But…" I prompted her.

"But, we suspect there might be a mental reason." Pandora finished.

Ken appeared startled.

"Are you saying that you think this is psychosomatic?" he asked, concerned.

"Oh, no!" Pandora replied, "Not at all! Only that we think that there is some disruption in Joe's mental processes. It's as if his spinal cord were broken: the brain sends messages, but they don't get to his legs."

"Only, my spinal cord is fine." I said.

"Yes." the Doctor confirmed. "We suspect that there has been a malfunction in the cybernetic enhancements to your brain. I detected some strange readings while you were unconscious, and now that you're awake, I'd like to run a few more tests."

"Do you think you can reverse whatever is going on?" I asked.

"I'm going to do my best." Pandora promised, "I've already been in contact with Dr. Rafael, and he's going to send me whatever data I require."

Rafael had talked to Pandora? This must be serious. I couldn't see that wily old doctor discussing his techniques with her, otherwise. A thin thread of panic began to emerge inside of me.

I squashed it hard.

"I need working legs, in order to do my job." I said to Pandora. "Let's get started as soon as possible."

"I was hoping that you would say that." she grinned. "As it happens, I am ready to begin immediately."