Gundam Wing: Purple Grass
Babel
V. 1.1
06/24/01
Author's note: Babel is just a tentative title. I'll probably change it unless I get lazy. And yes, there's a reason I cut the explanation so short. It's because I'm going to explain it in detail at a later point, and I didn't want to bore you twice.
It was several hours later when Hittori and Noin entered the rec room. Duo noticed that Noin had changed her clothes, liking the way her dress accented her natural lines. Duo's eyes hardened momentarily when he saw Hittori's eyes on Noin.
"What's with the new threads?" Duo asked, trying to keep his voice even. Heero cast a side long glance at him.
"Oh, the girl kind of bled on my traveling clothes. Hittori was kind enough to loan me this dress.
"Oh keep it." Hittori absently waved his hand. "It looks better on you anyway."
For a moment everyone in the room just stared at him. The silence was broken by Trowa's disturbing laugh.
"Finally! Someone who gets my jokes." Hittori flopped down in a chair, gesturing to the rest to set around the table his chair was at. "Let's play the information sharing game. You ask, I'll answer. Who's first?"
"How do you know about us? Who are you?" Duo demanded. Heero placed his hand on Duo's shoulder, forcing him back into his chair while the rest took their spots.
"Tell us about the new mobile suits. I'm assuming you've encountered them before."
"Well, I'm no expert on mobile suits-" Duo interrupted Hittori with a snort, though Hittori continued smoothly, "But I'll tell you what I know. Marix, bring up the Zidane MS." A television screen behind Hittori lit up. On it a three dimensional cutaway image of the new MS was displayed. "As you can see, while it's outward appearance is like the old space Taurus, it's actually based off of the Serpent suits. But it's build in strategy engine is the key to it's power. Along with an actual human pilot is an advanced version of the mobile doll system built into each suit. This system has no actual control over the mobile suit. The mobile doll system even has a separate power pack.
"So how does the system work then?" Noin asked.
"Actually, it's a pretty simple system, amazing someone hadn't thought of it before. As I'm sure you've noticed about my eyes and our comatose guest here, our eyes are different from yours.
"Yes," Trowa steepled his fingers in front of him., elbows resting on the table. "you have three yellow triangles, while she has three green circles."
"I think they might be octagons." Duo had gotten almost nose to nose with the girl, their breath intermingling. Noin's left eye twitched as she absently tugged on her one white lock of hair. Heero glanced between the two before speaking up.
"I assume they relay what you see to the system."
"Yep. Mine are just contacts, but hers might not be."
"What do you mean?" Noin asked.
"These two enemy pilots are identical."
"Yeah, so?" Duo absently stretched. "Twins aren't all that odd."
"The other two I killed also looked like this one."
"Quadruplets?"
"Not hardly." Hittori sighed. "Cloning was perfected a while back, but the technology was never really applicable in war because it would take years before the benefits could be reaped. Genetic engineering has to be done before birth, so again it takes years. Even then, it's expensive to the point that all you've really done is create a high priced assassin, a 'perfect soldier'." Hittori's eyes bored into Heero's impassive face.
"But it was only expensive at any particular point in the chain." Trowa rubbed his chin. "If one were to control the whole process, manufacturing doctors, donors, etc., it would be relatively inexpensive."
"That's true." Noin looked down the table at the girl. "But it would still take years to have fully matured results."
"True, true." Hittori nodded. "But a process by which a human being can be safely, artificially aged was stumbled across. Ms. Noin, you were actually the person who discovered this technology."
"I- what?"
"That white lock of hair is a nice accent to your face, but answer me this. Is it normal for people in your family to gray in their mid-thirties?"
"No. No it isn't." Noin frowned, narrowing her eyes. Then understanding dawned on her features. "The old Aries power coils."
"Exactly. They were retired because of an odd radiation they emitted. You had your own personal Aries, didn't you?"
"Yes I did. But after one of my annual physicals, they ordered me to change it, citing medical concerns."
"Bet they never cited the fact that you were prematurely aging."
"God..." Noin leaned back in her chair, a dazed look on her face. "Years of my life..."
"Moving on." Hittori callously ended the silence. "I'm never going to be able to accurately describe what the Zidane MS' can do. What really needs to be done is this; we repair the least damaged suit with parts from the other, then you guys take it for a spin on our way to the Skyhook."
Heero folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes, leaning his head forward. "I've already completed the repairs."
"You what?" Hittori looked started for the first time. "How? When?"
"The how was with Marix's help, the when is while you were playing doctor."
"Heh." Hittori shook his head. "Should have expected such from a super human like you. So who's going to be the first to test drive our new toy?"
"I went all over that thing, I know what it can do." Heero's eyes opened, staring directly at Trowa. "Why don't you take it for a spin first." It wasn't a question.
"Sure, why not?"
Heero slid a small purple box across the table to Trowa. Opening it, Trowa found two contact lenses soaking in solution. Three purple triangles, nearly identical to Hittori's yellow ones, marked each of the lenses.
"I found them in the cockpit, probably a spare set. You still have the headset you pulled off the girl?"
"Of course."
We'll watch you from the observation deck." Hittori stood up, Heero and Trowa following suit.
"Umm, you guys go ahead without me." Duo absently chewed on his thumbnail. Trowa and Hittori looked to Heero. Heero nodded and the three left.
After a few moments of silence, Noin stood up and walked over to a window that looked out on space.
"Living in the colonies, we're surrounded by stars, so I never really stopped to look at them. It's a beautiful sight though, isn't it?"
"Yes it is." Duo didn't mean the stars. That dress really did fit Noin well.
"I can't stop thinking about him, Duo. Milliarodo's been dead for so long now and I still think about him."
"Tell me about..." Duo hesitated and Noin turned to him. "Tell me about the day he died." Noin turned away from him again. For a moment, Noin just stood their, her head hanging forward and a lost look in her eyes. Then she felt an arm across her shoulders. Snapping her head up, she could see Duo's reflection in the glass. He had grown to be a good six inches taller than her as he matured, but it had never hit her till now how much taller he really was. "It's ok, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to."
"No, I need to. I've got to tell someone." Noin sighed and took a deep breath. "We were working on a system where we could melt the ice burried deep inside of mars, to give it an atmosphere. With rain, we could easily grow plants that'd make oxygen. But to get all that steam from under the surface we had to drill huge holes through the crust of the planet. Milliardo was helping with the dig when there was an earth quake. It was a stable area, not supposed to be any earthquakes, but it happened. Milliardo was buried under two kilometers of solid rock. We might have been able to get to him while the rock was still lose, but these religious protestors rushed the site. They were saying that it was 'against God's will' that we were trying to colonize mars, and that the earthquake was a sign from God."
"Religious protestors on mars?" Duo suddenly turned Noin around to face him. "Did they really say 'God' or did they say another name? Are you sure they said God?"
"Actually, thinking back on it, they said something like Zeos or Zanth."
"Could it have been Zidane?"
"Oh dear God..."
Trowa slid into the command chair like it was made for him. He let a slight chuckle escape his lips, left over from his initial laugh at seeing the new color scheme Heero had given the MS. Tomato red, street rod purple and a yellow lighting bolt running down each side.
"Odd console configurations." Trowa frowned.
Yes, the standard pilot for this type of MS is left handed. You will have to adapt. A neutral sounding, feminine voice spoke inside his mind.
"How... how do you-"
Communicate in this way? I use the same system to relay data as the old ZERO system used. While my system is not nearly as advanced, I will have to do.
"You know, you sound kind of like Dorothy Catalonia."
That is understandable as my original designs and prototypes were taken from what remained of the mobile dolls in the final battle of AC 195. Since the ZERO system was being used to control the MD, and Dorothy Catalonia was plugged into the ZERO system, it is understandable if not logical that I would have attributes of all three.
"All three?" Trowa shifted from mild surprise to mild amusement.
Yes, the mobile dolls, the ZERO system and Dorothy Catalonia. Shall we go now? I am eager to test my new upgrades.
New upgrades? Trowa wondered to himself. Shrugging it off, he reached for the ignition, hesitating for a moment when he realized he wasn't sure where it was. Instantly an image of the ignition switch and it's location came to mind. He puched it, starting up the the MS's systems. "You did that, didn't you?"
Show you where the ignition is? Yes. It is how I would normally work, conveying images to the pilot, who may choose to use or ignore those suggestions.
"So it's not normal for you to talk to me?"
No, it is not. My ability to speak was an upgrade by Engineer Heero Yuy.
"Engineer Heero Yuy, eh? So why are you using the upgrade?"
I am utilizing my newly installed upgrade because I was curious as to how well it would operate.
"You're 'eager' to test your new systems. You're 'curious' about how well they'll work. You refer to yourself in first person. I take it these are all new?"
Yes. And now I am very EAGER to sate the CURIOSITY that I have. So could we please go?
"Who am I to deny a Goddess like you?"
That's Ms. Goddess to you, buddy.
I'm going to enjoy this. Trowa thought to himself.
How to fly the MS, even which ways to maneuver and how much thrust to give came in shortly to his mind. The blanks Marix was firing gave Trowa an exceptional chance to familiarize himself with the system. Within a few minutes Trowa had pretty much mastered the suit. The Mobile Doll system, though Trowa now just thought of it as 'her,' sensed this and stopped sending operational images.
"Shall we really test this suit out, Ms. Goddess?" Trowa allowed a slight hint of sarcasm to creep into his voice, along with the challenge that coated the surface.
Here and I thought you were going to play "dodge the flashing light thingy" all day. There was a light laugh in Trowa's mind, way too much like Dorothy's for Trowa's liking. Yes, let us see how much it can handle.
The MS dived straight for the Marix.
"Something about watching a Mobile Suit fight a stationary object in space
always reminded me of a fly buzzing around a person's head while they try to
swat it." Hittori watched Trowa from the observation deck with a thus far
silent Heero. "Well, Trowa seems to be enjoying himself at least."
"He should. I altered the MD system slightly."
"Altered it? Punk. We're trying to give him an accurate view of how a normal Zidane MS will work, not your supped up version of it." Hittori glared at Heero, who shrugged and turned back to Trowa's dance. Hittori sighed. "So what did you do to his MS anyway?"
"'His' mobile suit?"
"Any weapons like this are banned on earth, unless they belong to the Preventers. With Noin knowing I have them, she'd confiscate them anyway."
"But if you give them away first, you look better."
"Yeah, pretty much. So what did you do to his MS?"
"I took the MD system out of the other suit and hard wired it to the one in his. With both systems working, it greatly expanded it's abilities. Seems it had some preinstalled subroutines that activated once it's available memory and processors had been expanded."
"Yeah, the programmer must have been a genius."
"Marix told me the Seraphim had a triple system."
"Yeah and I stripped the base personality from it, allowing it to create it's own. Odd backup to put in, isn't it? The base personality grates on my nerves anyway."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"I'll be sure to let Dorothy know that the next time I see her."
"Dorothy Catalonia?" Hittori's face went a little pale. "Doesn't even act like her anyway, just sounds like her. Wonder why that is..."
"It's Dorothy Winner, now."
"That's right, I remember reading about it. He proposed to her on the day she was elected to Earth's senate. I met her once. She was very... vigorous."
"She's mellowed a bit since she married Quatre." An uneasy silence followed. The two had been talking about everything but what was on their minds. "How'd you get the scar on your hand?"
"Well, you know those coils on the bottom of an oven? The ones that get hot?"
"Yeah."
"Did you know they had those on the top of the oven too?"
Heero looked directly at Hittori for maybe the third time ever. "You're kidding."
"Nope."
Heero let a light chuckle escape his lips. "So what's on your mind?"
"I'm thinking about how this war could have been avoided."
"Thinking of what would, could or should have happened is a waste of time and energy."
"True, true." Hittori nodded. "But you see, I keep coming back to this one point in history where none of this would have happened."
"Oh?"
"Yes. You see, a great hero was approached and asked to run in an election. Had he won, which was guaranteed given his war hero status, it would have been him who was the representative of the colonies instead of Cavalier. What's worse is that he wouldn't have been just some blood soaked war hero with no heart or brains. Because, you see, he has a strong heart, one that could sympathize with the people of space."
"Sounds like a dream to me." Heero retorted. They hadn't looked at each other for a while, both of them watching Trowa, but now Hittori turned to Heero, his fingers flexing. The yellow triangles on his eyes spun so fast they seemed to glow.
"Why didn't you take the job, Heero?"
"I was busy." Heero barely glanced at Hittori.
"Thousands, potentially millions of people are about to die because you were busy?!?"
"The new version of Final Fantasy came out."
"Why you little... ARGH!" For a moment Hittori looked ready to strangle Heero. Blood started dripping down from his left nostril. And then, all his anger was gone, drained away with the blood that Hittori wiped from his top lip. "You've been around Duo too long."
"Perhaps."
"I'm done with the test." Trowa's voice crackled over the communication link.
"Yeah, do you not have anything harder? I am bored!" the MD system piped up.
"You just had to upgrade it so it could talk, didn't you?" Hittori glared at Heero.
"Seemed like the thing to do."
"Hey guys!" Duo bounded into the room, his arm still around Noin's shoulder. "Guess what we just figured out!"
"Looks like our new test just walked through the door, Trowa. Give us a few minutes to set everything up."
Apparently their test is to see how long they can make us float here in space.
"Stay calm. All good things come to those who wait."
Bite me, amnesia boy!
"If you two are done," Hittori's face popped up on the MS's monitor, "your new test is ready. Brace yourselves, it should really push you to the limit."
The hangar bay doors opened, emitting the smoothly designed Seraphim. Being able to focus on it now, Trowa noted that each feather on the six wings had a tiny maneuvering thruster.
"So that's what makes it so agile."
Yes, the Seraphim's physical abilities far exceed my own. But I am still cuter.
"You haven't seen Heero's new paint job have you?"
SOMEONE PAINTED ME?!? Quick! What do I look like? Somebody's gonna pay for this!
"Incoming." Trowa smoothly pulled the MS's beam saber, igniting it just in time to deflect the Seraphim's opening stab. The next few moves were an intricate dance between the Seraphim and Trowa. "This is Duo, it has to be. The fighting style is his. He's going to hack straight at me now and I'll-" Trowa lifted the beam saber over his head to block the expected overhand chop. Instead, he found the Seraphim's blade tip almost touching the door to his cockpit. Noin's face behind a spacesuit's glass plate appeared.
"Gotcha."
In the rec room, the loan figure of the defeated female MS pilot shakily got to her feet. She then did something she had never done before in her thus far short life. She spoke.
"I... lost."
Noin closed the connection to Trowa's MS and leaned back in her chair. She lifted her shaking hands to her face and dropped them again.
"God, it's getting worse. I'm losing control." Noin had watched her own grandmother slowly degenerate from this new strain of Parkinson's disease, and had been fearful of the day she would succumb to it too. She knew the symptoms, the doctors had repeated them often enough. First twitches, either voluntary or involuntary, even if twitching wasn't something you normally did. Than other odd behaviors, like chewing the inside of the cheek, or grinding her teeth in her sleep. But most of those would go unnoticed except by those who knew her best. Duo had once pointed out her eye twitch when she was angry, that it seemed out of character. She'd dismissed it at the time, but now... The final symptoms had started in. Shaking hands eventually she'd lose all muscle control. Her muscles would then stiffen and weaken, her face locked in a mask-like expression. She could still hear the last doctors words echoing in her mind. He'd just shrugged and turned away.
"There isn't a cure. Hell, we're not even really sure what causes the loss of certain chemicals in the brain."
"Maybe... maybe I should talk to Quatre." Noin sighed and lifted her hands up again. Oddly, the shaking had stopped. It could have been her imagination but the blue veins that had begun to stand out on her hands seemed to have receded a little as well. "Just wishful thinking, gotta be." Despite her words she continued to stare at her right hand, using her left to pilot Seraphim in.
As soon as the doors were shut she popped her helmet off. The hatch opened, revealing Duo floating upside down.
"Hey good lookin', fancy meeting you here."
Hittori stared out of the glass like material that served as the ships "windshield." Trowa sat beside him, observing the mysterious MS pilot. He'd been watching Hittori for a little over six hours now while they waited for clearance to dock at earth's great Skyhook. In that entire time, Hittori had not blinked once. All color had drained from his face, leaving him looking like some ghastly corpse taken fresh from a morgue and propped up in a pilots chair. A joke that someone was not going to find funny. Trowa considered himself to be a bit antisocial, but it was nothing compared to the waves coming off of Hittori. It was an almost tangible field around him that tried to repulse any and all life. Heero had left earlier. Even he looked unnerved.
"The Skyhook's amazing isn't it?" Trowa tried to start a conversation. "Every major computer network in the world is wired through it, almost all physical transportation, either from one country to another or from space to earth and back again goes through it. Think about it. A tower built so high, it's top is outside the atmosphere."
"Sounds like the tower of Babel to me." Hittori's words were garbled, only coming from the left side of his mouth. Looking like he was about to pull his eye out, he took out the contact lenses that hid their color. Trowa couldn't get a good look at his eyes.
"Interplanetary shuttle Marix, you are clear to land on pad 42. Welcome home, Hittori!" A sweet sounding woman with red hair appeared on a screen. "Now that you're back, I was wondering if you'd like too..."
Hittori's eyes had slowly twisted in their sockets. Trowa could have sword he heard the sound of something grating on concrete.
"Oh... Oh God!" The woman's breathing started to come in jerky burst. "James, it's happening again. How long has it been since you took your medication? I'm going to call Doctor Win-"
"No doctors." Hittori intoned, then smoothly cut off the communication link... by smashing his fist through it's panel. As Hittori closed his eyes, Trowa again thought he heard a sound, like sandpaper on glass. Hittori blindly opened a drawer and pulled out a pair of strawberry colored glasses, sliding them up his nose. Turning to Trowa, his smile and ambient air had returned.
"Your nose is bleeding." Trowa smoothly hid his unsettled feelings.
"Oh damn." Hittori pulled an expensive looking handkerchief from his back pocket and quickly wiped the blood away. "Did I get it all?"
"Got all of what?" Duo stuck his head through the door. "Hey man, nice shades!"
"Thanks, thanks. We just got clearance to land. Marix knows the way so we can wait by the main hatch."
"About time, let's go!" Duo walked out of the room with Hittori. Trowa paused in the doorway, looking back at the smashed console.
"He didn't hurt his hand."
A woman with a long brown pony tail that might have rivaled Duo's, tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for the air in and outside the shuttle to equalize. As soon as it had, the hatch on the black shuttle popped open.
"Lucrezia Noin, Duo Maxwell, Heero Yuy, Trowa Barton and James Hittori. I would like you to follow me now. We have a special tram waiting to take you to the meeting hall."
"Well hello to you too, Lady Une." Duo was the first to step out, wrapping her in a warm hug that she quickly returned. Trowa and Heero were the next out, Une nodding to both. When Noin stepped out, Une caught her hand in a friendly clasp. Lady Une turned away from Hittori as he stumbled down the walk way, not used to earth's gravity yet. Oddly, Hittori refused to look at her as well.
"Where's Mariemaia?" Trowa asked, glancing around.
"Your niece is with Relena, arguing in the meeting hall."
"Arguing?" Noin frowned and tagged on her white lock of hair.
"Yes. During your trip, the president resigned. The senate is calling for one three women to take his place. Relena, Mariemaia, and you."