Chapter Five-The Only One who Cried

A.C. 195 December



Emiko sat at the console, her eyes glued to the telecast on the vid-screen. She'd been there all night. Lisa was not surprised to find her there that morning. Their lives hinged upon the Earth Sphere now.

"Professor A!" exclaimed the fifteen-year-old girl. "I think this is the final battle!"

"You've said that before," Lisa chided the young African-Asian girl.

"The White Fang and Treize, the leader of Romefeller, are actually fighting!"

"Wouldn't it be nice if those two boys just killed each other off and this really was the last battle?"

"I'm sure it is. The news is talking about rumors of the colonies' Gundams being in the fight as well."

"Those Gundams sure have lasted. I guess they decided they didn't need the spare."

"I still don't think they got your message. I don't think the Earth Sphere Resistance realizes we're out here."

"I hope you're wrong." Lisa had placed the sign of peace on the uniform of the actor who played in the ruse they'd sent the Earth Sphere three years ago. It wasn't much of a message, but it was all the M1 president would allow.

The Earth Sphere Resistance had been right. Lisa did have the best chance of building a Gundam. It was finished in A.C. 192. Lisa's Gundam piloted by the 12-year old Emiko, lead the battle. The Alliance and Specials forces stationed at M1 had been overcome in a smooth, deadly and quiet coup.

The colony voted in a very democratic manner, to go into hiding until the oppression, battles and wars stopped on the Earth Sphere. They stage a very elaborate ruse. In A.C. 192, the Earth Sphere was rocked by the news of the total destruction of M1. Rebellious factions fought the Alliance and the colony was caught in the crossfire. It was labeled one of the worst tragedies in centuries-sure to set back the terra formation of Mar at least twenty years!

Everything was acted out. The costumes were perfect. The special affects were stunning. As a result, M1 had lived in relative peace for the last three years waiting for the Earth Sphere to come around.

Emiko and Lisa were proclaimed heroes. They attended all banquets and formal occasions. The original Gundam was gutted and stands before the capital building as a monument.

The second Gundam Lisa built was used now to protect the colony. Emiko and Lisa lived in a small battleship and patrolled the nearby space. Should any forays from Earth show up, they were quickly captured and the secret of M1 was preserved.

"Do you really want to be there fighting Emiko?" Lisa asked the young girl.

"No," she said. "Not really. I feel obligated though, because I am a Gundam pilot. And I'd like to meet the other pilots, just so I could have someone to talk to who knows what I've gone through."

"You probably wouldn't have much in common with them. I know Doctor J talked about raising a boy to fight in his Gundam, but I doubt he did it. I met the boy my husband was going to use. Trowa Barton would be at least twenty-five by now. All those pilots are grown men, I'm sure."

"What was Trowa Barton like?"

"Cocky, arrogant, loud-mouthed, even as a kid. He reminded me of his father, Dekim. Couldn't stand the man. But Trowa was good at piloting, that's a fact. Born knowing how to do it."

"We'd have that in common," noted Emiko. Her attention was drawn back to the newscast. "Look they're evacuating Japan and China!"

"What? Why?"

"Something supposedly is going to fall to Earth. The newscasters are speculating it's either Peacemillion or Libra."

All of a sudden, Lisa was over come by a sense of impeding dread. She'd never reacted this way to the news before, why now?

"What's..." she began but her voice had no power behind it. She cleared her throat and tried again. "What's happening now?"

"I don't know. The broadcast now is not from the news media. It is two Gundams fighting. Here I'll put it up on the big screen." Emiko's finger flew across the keyboard and the images of Wing Gundam Zero and Gundam Epyon appeared on the bigger screen.

A female voice neither of them recognized started speaking. The voice was flat but clear--the woman talked of the meaninglessness of the battle. She said both were fighting for the colonies. She told them the fight was necessary for peace. She asked them to look beyond this fight. Everyone must want peace--that was the question she asked.

As her words died away, something happened to Lisa. She heard a gun shot.

"Did you hear that?" she asked.

"What?" asked Emiko.

"Turn off the sound."

The girl did.

"...changing orders...interfere...kill us." Voices seemed to float around Lisa like ghosts.

"There! Do you hear it?"

"I don't hear anything," said Emiko.

Lisa heard another gunshot. Then a cloud of fire engulfed her--sudden, quick and painless. She gasped at the vision. Painless, yes, but also empty. For some reason she felt empty, as if something that lived inside her had suddenly died.

"What is it, Professor?" asked a concerned Emiko. "You look like someone just walked over your grave."

"It's nothing," Lisa gasped out. "I think I'm just tired. I'm going back to my room."

"Sure." The young girl watched the old scientist leave the room. Strange, she thought and turned back to the news.



Lisa walked numbly down the hall. Why was she feeling this way? She opened her bedroom door and walked in.

"My soul."

Lisa clutched her head at the memory of his voice. "No. I don't believe that. What nonsense! What a silly romantic old woman I've turned out to be! Nothing but the working of an over-active imagination."

She balled her hands into fists at her sides. "It's nothing. I must be hungry or coming down with something. That's what this pain is," She pointed to her chest. "Perfectly explainable."

"Like the other half of my soul."

"No, stop that Lisa. It's not that," she told herself sternly. "He's just fine. We're going to grow old together."

She caught a glimpse of herself in her mirror. She looked pale and unhappy. Tears crested and spilled down her cheeks at the sight of herself. She squeezed them shut.

"No," she said in a broken voice. "Stop that. I don't believe it. I don't believe it."

But the tears did not stop. The emptiness in her heart did not fill up.

She turned away from the mirrored image of herself. She found herself facing her dresser. The wedding picture sat there.

"No, it's just silly foolish imagination. That's it...it has to be." Her words sounded less and less convincing to herself through the sobs.

"I love you Lisa...Remember that...I don't say it enough."

"I love you too Henry, and you're alive. And we've got a life time to look forward too," Lisa sobbed.

"Then, I'll have to work harder at convincing you."

"No," Lisa wailed. "I don't believe it!"

She moved forward in a violent action and swept the top of her dresser clean. Necklaces and earrings clattered against the wall. The crisp shatter of glass ripped the air.

Lisa gasped in horror and sank to her knees. Repeating the words "no...no...no" over and over again she crawled to the broken frame of her wedding portrait.

The glass was cracked in a spider web, which seemed to focus on her image. She picked it up like a lost child and held it to her chest.

The tears and sobs were beyond her control now and she rocked back and forth over the picture she clutched. Her tears splashed on the jewelry-littered floor.

"It hurts so much!" she moaned, repeating words said long ago.

"That's my proof."


The End