Chapter 4 – X0000
"Dear Duo,
What made you decide to live close to the mansion? I am so happy that you
are close by. Sorry that it took me so long to answer but for the past three
weeks since I got your letter I have been getting my strength back. I have a new
friend called rachel and I have discovered that she lived most of her life on a
space colony called X0000. It seems like a really cruel colony where they treat
everyone badly. Its like for the "lower life" or something. I was wondering if
you guys could check it out. It seems suspicious and I might want to go there
and fix things up. Well, I have nothing else to say right now.
See you soon!"
Relena paused flicking her blue pen. She didn't want to tell Duo about
Heero. It was going to be her secret for now. Relena paced herself across the
hallway. She didn't want to be early for breakfast. It had been three weeks
since she met Rachel and they were coming good friends very quickly. Relena
quickened her pace realising Rachel would be downstairs. Relena rushed into the
dining room noticing only Milliardo sitting at the table slowly eating his
breakfast.
"Milliardo, where is Rachel?" asked Relena.
Milliardo put a chunk of food in his mouth. Any time he did that she knew
he didn't want to answer the question and wanted to change the subject.
"Milliardo," said Relena with a little desperation in her voice.
"She went back to her space colony. She was called back for important
buisness and it meant a lot more money than what she is getting paid now. She
was very sorry about it and she didn't want to disturb you so she just left,"
said Milliardo.
"But brother, how could you let her go there. It's a horrible place that
colony X0000!" screamed Relena.
Milliardo lifted his eyesbrows and put his fork down quickly wiping away
bits of food on his lips.
"How do you know about X0000?" asked Milliardo.
"Rachel told me about it. Milliardo, you know about it don't you?" asked
Relena.
Milliardo stuffed a piece of food in his mouth again. Relena tapped her
foot in frustration. She couldn't stand her brother's stubbourness sometimes.
"Relena, it is a horrible place. I know, but there is nothing you can do.
The governer of the colony is rich and has very good lawyers. I don't suggest
you go there," barked Milliardo.
"Well too late, I am going on the next plane out," said Relena angrily
storming out of the room. She ignored her brother's screams and went to her
bedroom to pack.
She had to find Rachel and get her out of there. She would give money to
Rachel if she wanted but she needed to get her out of there.
Relena rushed to her suitcase and filled it up. It was too late to wait
for Duo's reply. She would go there and find out herself why this colony was so
horrible. She grabbed her suitcase not closing it properly so that her clothes
dropped out at all sides and rushed out the room brushing past a maid and
tripping over a servant.
Her hands trembled as she rushed into the first taxi she saw and ordered
to go to the spaceport. She sat on her seat watching as the roads and houses
quickly flashed infront of her. She wondered what it was like on the colony. Did
they have houses like she had?
A little driplet fell on the window blurring Relena's view. A few more
droplets fell colouring the window with seethrough water. Relena wished Heero
was there to protect her but he wasn't and when she came to think of it she
didn't know where he was.
"Please take your seats again because we will be landing shortly," said
someone through the loud speaker.
Relena dragged her jelly feet towards her seat. She had been on the
shuttle for almost 17 hours and her legs were feeling strange and uncomfortable
from the
lack of space. She had taken the first shuttle and it wasn't very pleasant. She
felt the shuttle speed up quickly and head towards the colony. Relena dropped in
her seat pressing her dizzy head backwards as the speed increased sending her
head in a whirl.
She didn't like this shuttle at all and its landing wasn't very
comfortable either. Finally the shuttle landed onto solid ground very obviously
because of the huge thump it made making everyone on the shuttle jump up in
fright.
The flashing lights slowly slowed to plain yellow lines directing the
shuttle where to go. It wouldn't be long now before Relena could actually see
how this colony was living.
The shuttle came to a halt and the passengers got up stretching their
worn out legs. Relena made her way to the front of the shuttle holding only her
little suitcase which she had fixed up after entering the shuttle.
The shuttle door opened and Relena found herself walking in a long hall
white hall. She must have walked for at least 2 minutes before she actually
arrived at a door and slowly approached it wondering what she would see. The
person behind her broke the anxiousness by flinging the door open and walking
outside. Relena walked through the door half heartedly and almost screamed at
the sight. The whole colony seemed gray. The people wore dirty clothes just like
Rachel and the buliding were old and gray. It seemed as if everyone lived in
poverty and as Relena walked across the street she gasped at the dozens of
homeless people lying on the ground looking at her with such sadness in their
eyes.
Relena wanted to go help every single person but she could never do that
without the governer's permission. She may be queen of earth but in space there
was no official ruler and each had to respect eachother's rules.
Relena noticed a huge white clean building close by. It was obvious by
the richness of it that it was the governer's house and Relena held her head up
high walking straight towards the building. She had her crown with her and
carefully placed it on her head. The poor people who passed by quickly cowered
away from her and gave a little bow before running out of her sight.
"They must be really scared of rulers! What has this governer done?"
thought Relena.
Relena stared at the crowd. How could she possibly find Rachel when
everyone looked so alike? Even though she bought Rachel new clothes she would
have changed into the old ones right now.
The guards at the house bowed and opened the door for her questioning why
she was there. They didn't look to good themselves.
The inside of the mansion was just as beautiful as the outside and there
were fountains and house plants in the huge rooms. A guard approached Relena and
gestured for her to follow him. It seemed like they didn't like to talk too
much.
Relena found the governer sitting on a couch chewing on a bunch of chips.
He was looked fat and chubby. His selfishness was shown through the way he was
eating. Relena turned away not to look at the pig in front of her.
The governer suddenly realised she was there and quickly threw his food
in the nearest bin. She looked at him in disgust as he gave a huge smile thowing
all his rotten teeth.
"Relena, what a pleasant surprise... what brings you here?" asked the
governer nervously.
"I came here for my friend, but I also want to talk to you about your
colony. I want to know why it is so grusome!" screamed Relena.
"Calm down Relena. It was decided a while ago that there would be a
colony where people would be punished or taken away from other colonies to avoid
crimes. There is nothing you can do about it and all these people are criminals.
This colony is like a jail and everyone gets to leave sooner or later. Feel free
to look about. We have plenty of tourists, now if you won't find I wish to
finish my lunch."
Relena turned on her heel and walked out without even thanking him. She
was so angry at this colony. Why were such horrid places made in the first
place? She didn't see what Rachel could have done that was wrong. She seemed
like such a nice person when she met her. Was there something Rachel had not
told her about?
Relena walked out onto the filthy streets breathing in the polluted air.
She coughed weezing from the unfarmiliarity of the place.
She watched the sad faces watch her as they slowly crawled along the
streets looking in dumps for food. There was a stench coming from every person
she got close to. How could they ever live like this without being driven
insane?
Suddenly a man fell at her feet clutching onto her as hard as he could.
He had tears in his eyes and she panicked as he looked at her with such a
strange expression in her face.
"Please, hospital," he begged falling on the ground clutching his chest.
Relena looked around for help. The man's arms were still wrapped around
her legs and she had to peel him off her.
"Please, can someone help? I will give you 20 dollars!" screamed Relena.
Suddenly the whole crowd looked up and ran to her as fast as they could
each stomping over eachother to get through.
Relena felt so horrible. Each one of these people would do anything for
20 dollars. How poor could these people be to think 20 dollars was like heaven.
Relena picked out the strongest looking man to help her take this man to
a hospital. He picked him up quickly and started walking towards the direction
of the hospital as fast as he could. He seemed so eager to get the money he
didn't even pay attention to his limping foot.
He walked up the stairs quickly breathing fast from nausea. The doors
swung open and they walked into a fresh air conditioned room. Even the man
seemed to be taking advantage of the fresh air breathing it in strongly.
"Please help us. This man is hurt," said Relena.
A few nurses rushed up to the man and took him away before Relena could
even blink an eye. She turned to get to her wallet and the man's eyes widened in
excitement. She took out a 50 dollar note and handed it to him pretending she
didn't know she had given him too much. The man took one look at the note and
quickly put it behind him clutching it to him.
"Thankyou Relena. With this money I will be able to get out of here
finally!" said the man rushing out of the door.
Relena sat down on one of the chairs. It was such a relief to be in a
nice place for a change. She didn't want to go out onto the filthy street again.
Suddenly she noticed a sad looking nurse cleaning the floor. Her face was so
farmiliar. Suddenly Relena realised who it was and jumped up scaring the man
behind her.
"Rachel!" she screamed.
The girl looked up quickly and ran up to Relena hugging her tightly.
"Why did you go back?" asked Relena.
"I didn't want to trouble you any more. I was being such a burden to
you," said Rachel sadly.
"That is not true! You helped me recover from a slight depression which
could have gotten much worse if it weren't for you! Please come back and be my
friend. You were never a burden just a friend."
Rachel's eyes shone at the wonderful compliment but quickly put her head
down in sadness.
"Relena, I belong here, and I can't leave without paying a certain amount
of money to the hospital who own me and," Rachel began.
"I'll pay! How much?" said Relena breaking Rachel's sentence.
"Its 34 dollars. It is too much for you to pay for a person like me,"
said Rachel.
Relena laughed and walked straight to the counter ignoring Rachel's
pleads to forget about her.
"I'd like to pay for this girl's release," said Relena to the secretary.
The secretary lifted her eyebrows as she turned to Rachel.
"You want that girl?" asked the secretary.
"Yes, I do" said Relena firmly throwing 34 dollars on the desk.
The secretary nodded in approval and started typing away on her computer.
Rachel hugged Relena and held her hand.
"Thankyou Relena. You are so kind. How will I ever repay you?" asked
Rachel.
"I owed you a lot Rachel, you don't need to repay me!" exclaimed Relena
walking out onto the street.
She felt a hunger go through her as she realised she hadn't eaten the
whole day. She found a bench and quickly sat down relaxing under the warm sun.
Rachel sighed and looked out to the sky.
"You know, they brought in some new boy just a few days ago," said Rachel
dreamily. "It was so horrible watching him getting pushed around by the guards.
He didn't even fight back one bit. He just looked down and stared at the ground.
Usually when we get new people here they are always screaming and fighting but
this one didn't even have a will to live. He turned his head and stared in my
direction for a little while sending shivers down my spine. His blue eyes shone
of nothing but sadness and self hate. I couldn't bare look at him anymore. He
looked so thin and pale. They took him to the special hospital around the corner
from here. I feel so sorry for him," said Rachel.
"Let's go find him. I know that I can't help everyone in this colony but
it seems like the person you are describing must be in a really bad position and
we should get him out of here," said Relena suddenly jumping up full of energy
again.
Rachel looked at her strangely but shrugged and followed her. She didn't
really want to look at the boy again but something about Relena wanted her to do
everything she did.
"You do have the strangest ideas sometimes," said Rachel turning the
corner facing the huge hospital.
When they walked in it didn't have that pleasant feeling there was in the
other hospital. This one was gloomy and sad. It was very unwelcoming and the air
was just as bad as outside.
Relena walked across the hallways ignoring the strange looks she got from
passing by nurses. Rachel stayed close to her scared of the place.
Relana turned another corner and looked into a window. A sad looking man
was kicking the wall and having fits of coughing. Relena quickly turned and kept
walking. She was wondering how long it would take to find a boy who fitted
Rachel's description.
Finally they reached the last room and Relena peered in.
"That's him," exclaimed Rachel.
Before Relena could take a close look at the boy a guard walked past. He
stopped seeing Relena was standing close to the room.
"I suggest you don't have anything to do with that person. He is the
worst
of our case Ms Relena. I know you had tried taking other people out of here but
I don't suggest you take this one out, but just for your safety I will stay
here," said the guard.
Relena looked at him strangely wondering what on earth he was talking
about. She peered into the room and looked at the boy carefully. She gasped
walking back into the wall. He face was drained of colour and she slid slowly
down to the ground. Her face was wide with fear and shock.
"Relena, what is wrong?" exclaimed Rachel shaking Relena.
Relena stared at the ceiling. It couldn't be true. It wasn't supposed to
be true. It didn't make sense. Why was he in there?
"Dear Duo,
What made you decide to live close to the mansion? I am so happy that you
are close by. Sorry that it took me so long to answer but for the past three
weeks since I got your letter I have been getting my strength back. I have a new
friend called rachel and I have discovered that she lived most of her life on a
space colony called X0000. It seems like a really cruel colony where they treat
everyone badly. Its like for the "lower life" or something. I was wondering if
you guys could check it out. It seems suspicious and I might want to go there
and fix things up. Well, I have nothing else to say right now.
See you soon!"
Relena paused flicking her blue pen. She didn't want to tell Duo about
Heero. It was going to be her secret for now. Relena paced herself across the
hallway. She didn't want to be early for breakfast. It had been three weeks
since she met Rachel and they were coming good friends very quickly. Relena
quickened her pace realising Rachel would be downstairs. Relena rushed into the
dining room noticing only Milliardo sitting at the table slowly eating his
breakfast.
"Milliardo, where is Rachel?" asked Relena.
Milliardo put a chunk of food in his mouth. Any time he did that she knew
he didn't want to answer the question and wanted to change the subject.
"Milliardo," said Relena with a little desperation in her voice.
"She went back to her space colony. She was called back for important
buisness and it meant a lot more money than what she is getting paid now. She
was very sorry about it and she didn't want to disturb you so she just left,"
said Milliardo.
"But brother, how could you let her go there. It's a horrible place that
colony X0000!" screamed Relena.
Milliardo lifted his eyesbrows and put his fork down quickly wiping away
bits of food on his lips.
"How do you know about X0000?" asked Milliardo.
"Rachel told me about it. Milliardo, you know about it don't you?" asked
Relena.
Milliardo stuffed a piece of food in his mouth again. Relena tapped her
foot in frustration. She couldn't stand her brother's stubbourness sometimes.
"Relena, it is a horrible place. I know, but there is nothing you can do.
The governer of the colony is rich and has very good lawyers. I don't suggest
you go there," barked Milliardo.
"Well too late, I am going on the next plane out," said Relena angrily
storming out of the room. She ignored her brother's screams and went to her
bedroom to pack.
She had to find Rachel and get her out of there. She would give money to
Rachel if she wanted but she needed to get her out of there.
Relena rushed to her suitcase and filled it up. It was too late to wait
for Duo's reply. She would go there and find out herself why this colony was so
horrible. She grabbed her suitcase not closing it properly so that her clothes
dropped out at all sides and rushed out the room brushing past a maid and
tripping over a servant.
Her hands trembled as she rushed into the first taxi she saw and ordered
to go to the spaceport. She sat on her seat watching as the roads and houses
quickly flashed infront of her. She wondered what it was like on the colony. Did
they have houses like she had?
A little driplet fell on the window blurring Relena's view. A few more
droplets fell colouring the window with seethrough water. Relena wished Heero
was there to protect her but he wasn't and when she came to think of it she
didn't know where he was.
"Please take your seats again because we will be landing shortly," said
someone through the loud speaker.
Relena dragged her jelly feet towards her seat. She had been on the
shuttle for almost 17 hours and her legs were feeling strange and uncomfortable
from the
lack of space. She had taken the first shuttle and it wasn't very pleasant. She
felt the shuttle speed up quickly and head towards the colony. Relena dropped in
her seat pressing her dizzy head backwards as the speed increased sending her
head in a whirl.
She didn't like this shuttle at all and its landing wasn't very
comfortable either. Finally the shuttle landed onto solid ground very obviously
because of the huge thump it made making everyone on the shuttle jump up in
fright.
The flashing lights slowly slowed to plain yellow lines directing the
shuttle where to go. It wouldn't be long now before Relena could actually see
how this colony was living.
The shuttle came to a halt and the passengers got up stretching their
worn out legs. Relena made her way to the front of the shuttle holding only her
little suitcase which she had fixed up after entering the shuttle.
The shuttle door opened and Relena found herself walking in a long hall
white hall. She must have walked for at least 2 minutes before she actually
arrived at a door and slowly approached it wondering what she would see. The
person behind her broke the anxiousness by flinging the door open and walking
outside. Relena walked through the door half heartedly and almost screamed at
the sight. The whole colony seemed gray. The people wore dirty clothes just like
Rachel and the buliding were old and gray. It seemed as if everyone lived in
poverty and as Relena walked across the street she gasped at the dozens of
homeless people lying on the ground looking at her with such sadness in their
eyes.
Relena wanted to go help every single person but she could never do that
without the governer's permission. She may be queen of earth but in space there
was no official ruler and each had to respect eachother's rules.
Relena noticed a huge white clean building close by. It was obvious by
the richness of it that it was the governer's house and Relena held her head up
high walking straight towards the building. She had her crown with her and
carefully placed it on her head. The poor people who passed by quickly cowered
away from her and gave a little bow before running out of her sight.
"They must be really scared of rulers! What has this governer done?"
thought Relena.
Relena stared at the crowd. How could she possibly find Rachel when
everyone looked so alike? Even though she bought Rachel new clothes she would
have changed into the old ones right now.
The guards at the house bowed and opened the door for her questioning why
she was there. They didn't look to good themselves.
The inside of the mansion was just as beautiful as the outside and there
were fountains and house plants in the huge rooms. A guard approached Relena and
gestured for her to follow him. It seemed like they didn't like to talk too
much.
Relena found the governer sitting on a couch chewing on a bunch of chips.
He was looked fat and chubby. His selfishness was shown through the way he was
eating. Relena turned away not to look at the pig in front of her.
The governer suddenly realised she was there and quickly threw his food
in the nearest bin. She looked at him in disgust as he gave a huge smile thowing
all his rotten teeth.
"Relena, what a pleasant surprise... what brings you here?" asked the
governer nervously.
"I came here for my friend, but I also want to talk to you about your
colony. I want to know why it is so grusome!" screamed Relena.
"Calm down Relena. It was decided a while ago that there would be a
colony where people would be punished or taken away from other colonies to avoid
crimes. There is nothing you can do about it and all these people are criminals.
This colony is like a jail and everyone gets to leave sooner or later. Feel free
to look about. We have plenty of tourists, now if you won't find I wish to
finish my lunch."
Relena turned on her heel and walked out without even thanking him. She
was so angry at this colony. Why were such horrid places made in the first
place? She didn't see what Rachel could have done that was wrong. She seemed
like such a nice person when she met her. Was there something Rachel had not
told her about?
Relena walked out onto the filthy streets breathing in the polluted air.
She coughed weezing from the unfarmiliarity of the place.
She watched the sad faces watch her as they slowly crawled along the
streets looking in dumps for food. There was a stench coming from every person
she got close to. How could they ever live like this without being driven
insane?
Suddenly a man fell at her feet clutching onto her as hard as he could.
He had tears in his eyes and she panicked as he looked at her with such a
strange expression in her face.
"Please, hospital," he begged falling on the ground clutching his chest.
Relena looked around for help. The man's arms were still wrapped around
her legs and she had to peel him off her.
"Please, can someone help? I will give you 20 dollars!" screamed Relena.
Suddenly the whole crowd looked up and ran to her as fast as they could
each stomping over eachother to get through.
Relena felt so horrible. Each one of these people would do anything for
20 dollars. How poor could these people be to think 20 dollars was like heaven.
Relena picked out the strongest looking man to help her take this man to
a hospital. He picked him up quickly and started walking towards the direction
of the hospital as fast as he could. He seemed so eager to get the money he
didn't even pay attention to his limping foot.
He walked up the stairs quickly breathing fast from nausea. The doors
swung open and they walked into a fresh air conditioned room. Even the man
seemed to be taking advantage of the fresh air breathing it in strongly.
"Please help us. This man is hurt," said Relena.
A few nurses rushed up to the man and took him away before Relena could
even blink an eye. She turned to get to her wallet and the man's eyes widened in
excitement. She took out a 50 dollar note and handed it to him pretending she
didn't know she had given him too much. The man took one look at the note and
quickly put it behind him clutching it to him.
"Thankyou Relena. With this money I will be able to get out of here
finally!" said the man rushing out of the door.
Relena sat down on one of the chairs. It was such a relief to be in a
nice place for a change. She didn't want to go out onto the filthy street again.
Suddenly she noticed a sad looking nurse cleaning the floor. Her face was so
farmiliar. Suddenly Relena realised who it was and jumped up scaring the man
behind her.
"Rachel!" she screamed.
The girl looked up quickly and ran up to Relena hugging her tightly.
"Why did you go back?" asked Relena.
"I didn't want to trouble you any more. I was being such a burden to
you," said Rachel sadly.
"That is not true! You helped me recover from a slight depression which
could have gotten much worse if it weren't for you! Please come back and be my
friend. You were never a burden just a friend."
Rachel's eyes shone at the wonderful compliment but quickly put her head
down in sadness.
"Relena, I belong here, and I can't leave without paying a certain amount
of money to the hospital who own me and," Rachel began.
"I'll pay! How much?" said Relena breaking Rachel's sentence.
"Its 34 dollars. It is too much for you to pay for a person like me,"
said Rachel.
Relena laughed and walked straight to the counter ignoring Rachel's
pleads to forget about her.
"I'd like to pay for this girl's release," said Relena to the secretary.
The secretary lifted her eyebrows as she turned to Rachel.
"You want that girl?" asked the secretary.
"Yes, I do" said Relena firmly throwing 34 dollars on the desk.
The secretary nodded in approval and started typing away on her computer.
Rachel hugged Relena and held her hand.
"Thankyou Relena. You are so kind. How will I ever repay you?" asked
Rachel.
"I owed you a lot Rachel, you don't need to repay me!" exclaimed Relena
walking out onto the street.
She felt a hunger go through her as she realised she hadn't eaten the
whole day. She found a bench and quickly sat down relaxing under the warm sun.
Rachel sighed and looked out to the sky.
"You know, they brought in some new boy just a few days ago," said Rachel
dreamily. "It was so horrible watching him getting pushed around by the guards.
He didn't even fight back one bit. He just looked down and stared at the ground.
Usually when we get new people here they are always screaming and fighting but
this one didn't even have a will to live. He turned his head and stared in my
direction for a little while sending shivers down my spine. His blue eyes shone
of nothing but sadness and self hate. I couldn't bare look at him anymore. He
looked so thin and pale. They took him to the special hospital around the corner
from here. I feel so sorry for him," said Rachel.
"Let's go find him. I know that I can't help everyone in this colony but
it seems like the person you are describing must be in a really bad position and
we should get him out of here," said Relena suddenly jumping up full of energy
again.
Rachel looked at her strangely but shrugged and followed her. She didn't
really want to look at the boy again but something about Relena wanted her to do
everything she did.
"You do have the strangest ideas sometimes," said Rachel turning the
corner facing the huge hospital.
When they walked in it didn't have that pleasant feeling there was in the
other hospital. This one was gloomy and sad. It was very unwelcoming and the air
was just as bad as outside.
Relena walked across the hallways ignoring the strange looks she got from
passing by nurses. Rachel stayed close to her scared of the place.
Relana turned another corner and looked into a window. A sad looking man
was kicking the wall and having fits of coughing. Relena quickly turned and kept
walking. She was wondering how long it would take to find a boy who fitted
Rachel's description.
Finally they reached the last room and Relena peered in.
"That's him," exclaimed Rachel.
Before Relena could take a close look at the boy a guard walked past. He
stopped seeing Relena was standing close to the room.
"I suggest you don't have anything to do with that person. He is the
worst
of our case Ms Relena. I know you had tried taking other people out of here but
I don't suggest you take this one out, but just for your safety I will stay
here," said the guard.
Relena looked at him strangely wondering what on earth he was talking
about. She peered into the room and looked at the boy carefully. She gasped
walking back into the wall. He face was drained of colour and she slid slowly
down to the ground. Her face was wide with fear and shock.
"Relena, what is wrong?" exclaimed Rachel shaking Relena.
Relena stared at the ceiling. It couldn't be true. It wasn't supposed to
be true. It didn't make sense. Why was he in there?