Across the Galaxy

Vastulja Sata Menton

Chapter Twelve: More Surprises

Duo watched as his lover stepped into the room that separated them fro the void of space. He fought back tears that he so desperately wanted to let go. The door hissed closed, and Duo caught Heero's eyes through the tiny window. There was reassurance there, but those eyes were gone when he blinked. Now all that he could do was wait. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to find Trowa.

"I'll stay here and watch for them. You go with Quatre. He needs your help." Duo nodded and reluctantly left, making his way to the main control room. He found Quatre sitting in the navigation chair, watching out the window and jotting down notes. He sat down next to the blond and too looked out of the window. It was going to be a long thirty minutes.

(…)

Heero and Zechs slowly made their way about the ship, checking for damage. Staying alert, they made sure that everything was in place. Heero motioned Zechs towards the middle of the ship to point something out after roughly ten minutes of checking. There seemed to be a large gash along one of the panels, which needed to be fixed immediately. Heero signed for Zechs to go and get the supplies. He waited until the tall blond came back with the necessary tools to fix the damage. While the ex-Wing pilot worked on repairing the rip, Zechs watched his back. It was unknown what was in the cloud, and they couldn't afford to loose anyone. The repair took but ten minutes, and once it was done they checked the rest of the vessel. All looked well, so they made their way back. Trowa helped them out of their suits once they were in and waited for a report.

"There was a tear in one of the center panels. We fixed it, but that is the least of our problems. Something had to have caused that, and it wasn't a scratch like a meteorite would make." Heero informed.

"So, you think that something's out there?" Trowa inquired, placing the space suits in their proper places.

Heero ran a hand though his messy hair. "I don't know. We need to talk about this though. All of us." Trowa nodded and headed out to fetch the other three men. They all met up in the dining area to discuss this unknown 'thing'.

"So, what's the deal?" Wufei questioned.

"Well, there was some damage, but we were able to fix it."

"That's good. So what's the problem?"

"Well, there is no way a meteorite could have caused a gash that big. So…" Heero left the statement open. He wasn't sure what to make of it. Maybe the others would be able to.

"So, like what are you implying Heero? That something is out there?" Duo asked with skeptical eyes.

"Hell if I know. I mean, it could be possible. No one has ever traveled this far, and we don't really know what the galaxy holds other than stars. There is no real explanation to all of this," Heero admitted. There was an eerie silence as everyone looked at each other. No one dared to say what they were thinking (though it was all the same thing). Quatre took the step out and spoke though.

"So. There is something out there? That's…" dare he say it? "alive?"

"It's possible. I don't know though. All I know is that we need to get out of this thing because I don't want to find out." Everyone nodded in agreement. But at about thirty-two kilometers per hour, they were unsure as to when that would be. They were in a cloud of an unknown substance with the possibility of an unknown creature. Great. Horrible scenarios ran though everyone's minds, accept for Heero's. He was trying to organize and plan everything out.

"Okay, so we'll just make sure that two people are keeping watch on our course and speed. Two of us will rest for a time, and the other two of us will work on a plan just in case the worse scenario occurs. Trowa, Quatre; you've been watching our course for some time now so you two rest first. Zechs and Wufei, you work on the plan. Duo and I will watch our course. We'll work in eight hour shifts."

Everyone nodded in agreement before splitting up to do as they were told. IT was defiantly going to be an interesting night (er, day?…)

End Chapter Twelve

AN: I lied. Oh well. It just came to me today, so I wrote it. Maybe the next chapter will be up this week too? I don't know. Need to work on When Nothing Goes Right…which I have writers block for. Go figure, ne? And yes I should know the time of day at the end of this chapter, but do you? Okay, so there.