The Mistakes of the Past
Author's Notes: Hey all my readers. I'm back in Canada, nice and comfortable. Anyway, I see that we have a lot of Sophia haters out there. nudge nudge Don't worry about it and enjoy the story.
Chapter Four: Mist on the Horizon
It was already drawing close to night. Fayt, Sophia and Maria were exhausted, but they continued on. As they climbed to the top of the peak, there was a sight for sore eyes. The capital city, Kluyos, they had finally arrived. They took a huge sigh of relief.
"Guys, I'll lead the rest of the way. I know where Mirage is."
Fayt and Sophia smiled. Maria led them to an attractive little house illuminated with many lights that made the house stand out. Mirage walked out the door and saw Maria, Fayt and Sophia approaching outside her gate.
"Mirage! Hello!"
"Well, if this isn't a surprise! Come in! We don't want you catching a cold out there."
Mirage opened the gates for them. She politely led them inside her home and offered them a seat. She went to get some tea and served it to them.
"So, what brings you all the way here?"
"Well, we were wondering if we could get your help in deciphering this information about the experiments Dr. Leingod performed."
"Oh? Is that so? Why don't you let me take a look?"
Maria handed her the papers. Mirage looked at it and seemed deep in thought. They watched her actions carefully as she continued to read through the papers at an amazing pace. They were amazed as they watched. She put down the papers and put her finger on her chin. Fayt spoke:
"So, Mirage, got any ideas?"
"Well, the first time we found information about your gene alteration was at Moonbase, correct? So, I believe we should go back there. That is where it all started. We can get there fairly quickly if we take a detour at Gemity."
Sophia smiled.
"That's a great idea! Great thinking Mirage!"
Fayt and Maria looked at each other.
"That just might be the best thing we can do right now."
Fayt began to think.
"But, I know we looked thoroughly through everything…How could there still be something we overlooked there. I find it hard to swallow."
"Come on, Fayt, we don't have any other leads. If you want to find something out, we have to start somewhere…What better place to do that then at Moonbase?"
"You could be right."
They were in agreement. They would head out for Moonbase in the morning and they would spend the night at Mirage's place. Maria sat down to have a conversation with Mirage. Fayt went off with Sophia as they looked over a few papers.
"How's Cliff, Mirage?"
"I haven't heard from him in a week, but he was at Quark Headquarters with Lancar the last time he contacted me."
"Is that so? Is he going to take the lead at Quark again?"
"I'm not sure, but that seems like a real possibility."
"I was thinking of dissolving Quark myself too, but looks like Cliff wants to keep it going."
"Well, you know how he can be; he doesn't want something like Quark just to go to waste."
Maria nodded.
"How have you been Mirage?"
"Ah, I've been doing just fine. It's been peaceful I'm enjoying myself quite a bit."
"That sounds nice. It's exactly what I want, you know, just to settle down and live a life in peace. But, every time I try to do that, these experiments by Dr. Leingod always get to me. I just want to get to the bottom of it so I can calm the constant discomfort in my mind."
"I see. Well, get some rest. We'll do our best alright?"
Maria smiled. "Thanks for your help Mirage."
Mirage shook her head and smiled.
"Think nothing of it, I'm your friend, Maria, this is what friends do."
Maria went up to her room. Mirage sat at her table quietly and studied the information Maria gave her almost through the entire night.
"Well, this is new…"
The Next Day…
The sun rose with the call of the rooster. Maria stood up. She opened the door to only see Fayt in front of her door. She was startled and they looked each other in the eyes.
"Uh…G-good morning, Fayt…"
"M-m-morning, Maria…"
She tried to divert herself from any constant eye contact with Fayt. Sophia opened the door to her room and noticed the awkward situation between Fayt and Maria. She walked up to them without them noticing.
"Hey guys! Sleep well?"
They were both quite taken aback by Sophia's sudden appearance. Fayt smiled.
"Yeah, I did. How about you Sophia?"
"Yeah, I'm feeling quite good today. Let's go downstairs, Mirage might be waiting for us."
Fayt nodded. Sophia and Fayt went down the stairs. Maria took a deep breath and then sighed. She followed them down the stairs. There was Mirage asleep at her table.
"Wow, she must have been working all night."
They walked up to her. Fayt gave her a little nudge to wake her. She woke up a little groggy.
"Rise and shine, Mirage!"
Fayt smiled and Mirage moaned.
"Man, I've now seen it all, Mirage in the morning!"
Fayt chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah."
Mirage waved her hand. She sat up straight. Sophia was busy putting together a breakfast with what was available. Maria and Fayt sat at the table.
"You shouldn't overwork yourself, Mirage." Said Maria.
"Yeah, don't push yourself on our behalf." Added Fayt.
"Well, I decided to put in all-nighter in this case. From what a gather, there is a room at Moonbase used for this secret project. But, how to enter that room seems to have been lost. Well, it couldn't hurt to look."
"That's interesting. I can't believe how much my Father never told me."
Sophia entered the picture with some toast bread and eggs that were sunny side-up. Mirage, Fayt and Maria were surprised at Sophia's speedy breakfast. She smiled.
"I think I've grown to be quite the cook…"
"Thanks a bundle, Sophia."
They sat down to a breakfast and decided they would leave right away. They needed the entire day they figured. After breakfast, Mirage told them to leave the plates, as they would clean up when they returned. They changed quickly and Mirage led them to the nearest teleporter to Gemity. They arrived at Gemity instantly. They had returned to the 4-D world that was all too familiar to them. Then the greeting came.
"Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed your stay in the Eternal Sphere. Is there anywhere else you want to go?"
Fayt punched in that they wanted to go to Sol III, Moonbase. The computer accepted the request and before they knew it, they were inside Moonbase.
"Boy, doesn't the Eternal Sphere terminal make things so much easier?"
Fayt laughed. Then turned to Mirage.
"Well, Mirage, where do we start?"
"Well, we should return to the elevator the led us to the original laboratory where we found out about your gene alterations."
Fayt nodded and motioned for all of them to follow him. As they were walking they began to be caught up in a conversation.
"What are we exactly looking for? I still think we're just going to be revisiting the same old stuff."
Mirage shook her head.
"There is something else behind it all; I just don't know how to get there."
"Well, alright then."
It was quite a long walk. They arrived at the old elevator. They returned to the room where they saw Dr. Leingod's video. They looked around; everything looked the same as the last time they were there. Mirage didn't know where to start. There was really nothing new.
"Ahh! There's nothing!"
Fayt shouted. He looked over at Sophia who was looking at something in the corner.
"Something the matter, Sophia?"
Fayt and Maria approached her. Sophia mumbled to herself.
"Was this always here?"
In curiosity, Sophia flicked the switch that was in the dark corner behind a bookcase. Before Maria and Fayt could get to her, the floor below her opened up and Sophia fell through the hole. A screamed left her and Fayt chased after her.
"Sophia! Can you hear me!? Are you alright!?"
Maria looked down as well.
"Don't worry, we'll get you out!"
Sophia rubbed her back.
"O-ouch…"
She looked up and saw a huge door before. She shouted from the bottom.
"You guys have to come down here!"
Fayt heard this and without a second thought, he jumped. Maria and Mirage followed. They all landed on top of Fayt.
"Ow, you guys are heavy, would you get off of me please!"
"Well, excuse me! Fayt!"
Maria stood up and dusted herself off. She helped Mirage and Sophia get up. Fayt stood up. They looked at the huge door.
"What the heck?"
Mirage pulled out her flashlight and pointed it towards the door. There was large writing on the door. Mirage scanned it with her light. It read:
Mixed Intelligent Superhuman Tactician
Alpha Version 1
Alpha Mist
"What is this…?"
End Chapter 4
Author's Notes: Well, this chapter is definitely longer than the other ones. I wanted to get a little farther in less time. I didn't really know where to stop, but I thought this was a good place. I look forward to your comments. I hope you enjoyed reading; Chapter 5 is already in production.