Lost In Time

Part V

Present Day

At six hundred hours, an Airman knocked on Heero's door – probably to wake him up, a bit useless since Heero had been already awake, but the Airmen couldn't know that. He then showed Zero's pilot the commissary, where Heero had some cornflakes for breakfast – along with the occasional glance from almost every single person that entered the room.

As soon as he'd finished the last of his cornflakes, he was motioned to follow yet another Airman, this time not back to his quarters, but to another large chamber – it looked like some sort of briefing room. It would've been more convincing, if it was not for the large steel plates covering all windows. The Gundam pilot did not need to think twice – something was behind those steel plates, something he wasn't allowed to see.

However, Heero didn't have much time to think about it some more, just as he sat down at the large table in the centre of the briefing room, another door opened and revealed the bald man, the Doctor and that Carter-woman from yesterday, along with two 'newbies' – another military man, with grayish hear, and a very tall brown man… with a stoic look on his face that could rival Heero's.

"No, please, sit down," the bald man said to Heero, as the Gundam pilot stood up respectfully, "Let me introduce myself, since we skipped the formalities yesterday – I'm General Hammond, leader of this facility. I believe you met Doctor Jackson and Major Carter yesterday?" As Heero gave a slight nod, he continued. "The man sitting next to you is Colonel O'Neill, my second in command. The man next to Colonel O'Neill is Ensign Murray."

As they were introduced, Jack gave a small wave and Teal'c bowed his head – on which he had a cap, of course.

"Right – now we're all properly introduced, we had some questions to ask you. Of course, you'll be able to ask us questions too, after we're done. Is that clear?"

Heero nodded, knowing there was no other way out – and becoming a fugitive wasn't an option. He wanted them helping him, not hunting him.

"Alright, first question…" the man known as 'Doctor Jackson' said, "What was your reason for… entering our solar system?"

"I don't know," Zero's pilot answered truthfully.

"That's an original one," he heard the man next to him – Colonel… O'Neill? – mutter.

"So…" Doctor Jackson continued, "How come you don't know?"

Heero now gave the Doctor an unnerving look, "I – don't – know."

"Alright, next question then – why did you come to Earth?"

"Earth is the only planet with a livable atmosphere in this solar system."

"Yes, we know – but surely there must be another reason?"

"I…" Heero started, wondering what would be the best way to explain his 'problem', "… need your help to get back home."

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Jack exclaimed, "Why do you need our help to get back home?"

"You didn't want to come here at all, did you?" Daniel suddenly asked, "You just ended up here, probably because of someone else's fault. Right?"

"Yes."

"How did it happen then? Were – are you lost?"

"I… don't know. I'm home, with a friend – next thing I know, I see this bright white light, and suddenly I'm at the edge of your solar system. Tell me how that can be."

"And you usually don't possess that kind of technology, for instant transportation?" Sam asked.

"No." And after a short silence, Heero added: "It's not exactly technology to be used for instant transportation."

"How can you know that?" the astrophysiologist exclaimed, "You just said you never encountered technology like that before…"

"I never said I traveled in distance," Zero's pilot interrupted, his voice cold as ice, "I traveled… in time."

"You did what?" the Major said, utterly confused – and although she knew first hand that time-travel was actually quite real, no one at the SGC ever encountered a time-traveler themselves.

"I traveled in time," Heero repeated.

"That's why you asked what date it was when you first contacted us," Daniel stated, "You probably saw something on Earth that wasn't there, or wasn't supposed to be there, and you realized that this wasn't the Earth you knew…"

"Yes," Heero acknowledged.

"… and that's why you know you're Japanese – because you're Japanese."

"Yes," Heero acknowledged – again.

"So, how many years did you travel into the past?" Sam asked curiously.

"Over two hundred years," the Japanese answered, "And a couple of months."

"And, in this distant future of yours, everybody just… rides these 'Mobile Suits'?" the Colonel asked – it looked like the interrogation was slowly but surely turning into an interview, with Heero as the popstar and the SGC-employees as the paparazzi.

"If you are referring to the amount of production, then indeed, Mobile Suits are being mass-produced…"

Meanwhile, many thousands kilometers up ahead – in a forest, next to a small forest in Germany – one could see a bright white light, and a squadron of Serpent Suits appeared out of nowhere.

"Eh, Commander?" one of the pilots asked confused, "Where are we? Weren't we send to salvage the Gundam out of the ocean? Then what are we doing in a forest?"

"I have no idea…" his CO answered, "… I really don't."

"Sir!" yet another soldier said, "I'm picking up almost no traces of Titanium, Neo-Titanium nor Gundanium… except for a small concentration of Titanium and something that closely resembles Gundanium, yet not completely – on the Northern American continent."

"The Northern American continent?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Let's move out then!"

"Those things are being mass-produced? But doesn't that take-" However, just as Sam was about to ask if they had enough resources, she was interrupted by an Airman, storming into the briefing room.

"I hope it's important, Airman," General Hammond said, "Because this is a highly classified meeting and I don't like to be interrupted."

"Yes, sir, it's important. SG-two just contacted us, saying that a weird sound is coming from… the Mobile Suit."

"A weird sound?"

"Yes, sir. They said they couldn't describe it, but maybe the pilot can identify it."

"Very well then. Make all necessary preparations for a transport to where the Mobile Suit is located."

"Yes, sir!"

Minutes later, the transportation had been arranged, and two Humvees – with General Hammond, SG-1, Heero and of course the usual dozen of Airmen as its passengers – were approaching the scene. Zero's pilot doubted if the ride would do them much good; even if he'd heard the sound via radio transmission, he probably would've been able to identify it – but, any trip to the outside world was welcome, any trip to Wing Zero even more.

"Well, son – you know what your 'Mobile Suit' is doing?" General Hammond said, as soon as they had stepped out of the Jeep – although they weren't in visual range of the Mobile Suit, the loud sound – George couldn't describe it… it kinda sounded like a falling… something – was more than audible.

"Yes," Heero said, even before he had laid eyes on his Gundam, "It's tracing amounts of Neo-Titanium in the near vicinity." Mariemeia's Army… probably got affected by Chang's weapon as well, as they tried to find out where we disappeared to.

"Neo-Titanium?" Colonel O'Neill said, "What the hell's that? And what does it mean?"

"It means that a number of Mobile Suits has entered scanning range. They probably detected my Mobile Suit… as well as the Titanium and unknown alloy at your base."

What… how did he know… Sam thought. Wait… the warhead. The warhead on the nuke we sent to him was made out of Naquadah…

"When you first contacted me, I did not only trace your radio signal, but also the faint traces of Titanium at your base. I figured that is was the best thing I could do… most Mobile Suits are made out of Titanium or Neo-Titanium."

"But, your Mobile Suit isn't made out of Titanium or Neo-Titanium, is it?" the Major asked, "That's why our scanners couldn't pick you up in the first place – because your Mobile Suit is made out of another alloy… it closely resembles one, but-"

"The alloy on the warhead," Heero interrupted, "I know. And that's odd… because the people of Earth won't discover the alloy my Mobile Suit is made of, until two hundred years into the future."

"That's all very nice and well," the Colonel interrupted, more or less trying to divert the topic, "But we still got those Mobile Suits closing in on this place… and what are we gonna do about it?"

"We try to communicate with it?" Daniel suggested, "It worked with Heero…"

"You can try," the young man in question replied, "But if they're Mariemeia's soldiers, and I think they are… you won't be able to get much out of them."

"Soldiers?" General Hammond now exclaimed, "Son, you never told us that these Mobile Suits are also being used for combat!"

"That's not true," Heero replied, again with the icy look in his eyes, "They are only used for combat."

"WHAT?" the General nearly screamed, as he looked up at Wing Zero.

"You fight each other with these things?" – Sam was having the time of her life – "That's…"

"General," Daniel interrupted, "Should we or should we not contact them? We're running out of time…"

"I don't know, Doctor Jackson," the General answered truthfully, "The situation's a lot more complicated now that we know there are two opposing parties. Tell me, son, why are the people of Earth fighting in the future? Short version, if you'd please."

"Mariemeia's Army wants to take control of the World."

"That all?"

"You wanted the short version, right?"

"Contact them, Doctor Jackson."