Tolin Caruthers was a patient man. Not many could hide quietly for thirteen years while their plans to control the earth sphere took form. But right now his patience was wearing thin. He watched the miserable sobbing figure on the floor ruthlessly suppressing the urge to back away from the disgusting creature.

"You're making this much more difficult than it has to be. I know you know where they are and you know you're going to tell me so why put yourself through this?" Caruthers didn't bother to sound sympathetic. The miserable wretch would know it was a lie anyway. Even with his mind occupied with the suffering that he was clearly in, the man was still an augment and would probably detect the lie.

"I don't want to." The man was sweating heavily and tears were flowing freely from his eyes.

Caruthers' expression turned very hard. The little worm's sudden need to grow a spine was getting very irritating. He waved his hand and the twins ceased their stimulation of certain pain centers in his body. Once released said worm collapsed on the ground panting heavily. Caruthers gave him a moment to collect himself. Then when attention was focused back on him he pulled a small vial filled with a clear liquid out of his coat pocket. There was a collective gasp from the other three people in the room and Caruthers fought not to smile. Very deliberately he loaded the vile into a hypo spray gun.   

"It's full strength." He said nodding to the gun. "It's been at least half a day since any of you have had a dose and even then it was only a partial." He walked over to the augment that was visibly shaking now. "I'll make you a deal. If you tell me yourself, all three of you get a dose. If the twins get it from you and tell me they will still get one, but you won't. Either way you will tell me."

Caruthers waited crouched there next to him.  As much as he wanted to move away he had to keep the gun that all other eyes were locked on temptingly close. It was the key to controlling his pets. It was a derivative of the drug metazone or m-zone as it was called on the street. He'd specifically designed this one to maintain their addiction while not interfering with their mental capabilities. It also didn't have the hallucinogenic properties of m-zone. After all it wouldn't do to have delusional augments running loose. Again.

He watched the man's shoulder's slump in defeat. That was good. Caruthers was glad he didn't have to spend another hour watching the twins dig for the information themselves. They were his first test subjects after the old project compound was destroyed and there had been some complications. They'd suffered some brain damage. They weren't insane, but they also weren't long in the thinking department. If they became determined enough to get information out of the other augment's head, they might just open up his head literally.

"They're in the L4 area." Was a choked whisper.

"On one of the colonies?"

"No, I don't think so. There aren't enough minds around them to be on a colony."

"On a ship then?"

"They aren't moving."

"Hmm… on a space barge… or a resource satellite." A resource satellite would make a good hiding place. Belatedly he passed over the hypo gun. He ignored the near feeding frenzy as all three brain augments fought to get their own share while he checked all potential hiding spots in the L4 area. He looked disgustedly at the three figures near him in their various states of bliss. Soon he'd have his real test subjects back and he could get rid of these pathetic failures.

*************

Soren leaned back stretching her vertebrae and started to rub at the tingling on the back of her neck. She'd been bent over her computer all day compiling the results of her earlier testing and writing reports on her findings. Sally was sitting across from her double checking some of the results and noticed the move. "Tired?" she asked.

"A little. Homework was never high on my list of favorite activities. I always found this part of research boring."

"Why do you think I'm over here?" Sally quipped. In the past few weeks the two lady doctors had developed a strong rapport with one another. They were closer to each other than any of the other people on the resource satellite. A few of Quatre's sisters had also joined the project but being sisters they had that close knit family feel that always made the other two feel a little left out.

"I really should get this part done before the field tests tomorrow." Soren grumbled. Her report writing also had another purpose. It was distracting her from Wufei and Cole's imminent return.  She let out a mental sigh. She'd spent all week drumming up the courage to send her message to Trowa and after she did she was riddled with doubts about the wisdom of doing so. The whole thing was just so… juvenile. It was like sending a love letter to the boy you had a crush on then lamenting that you'd made a fool of yourself.

Thankfully she didn't make any proclamations of undying love to him. He'd never return if she did that, but perhaps she was still being too forward sending him a message when none of his friends did. There was nothing of real substance to the message anyway since she had to be careful about what she talked about. She just rambled on with little stories about what was happening on the satellite.

In her message Soren complained about how someone foolishly let Heero be in charge of the food supplies. Everyone else was horrified when they arrived to find a two months supply of protein bars and energy drinks. The doctor then gave Trowa a very detailed description of the showdown between Heero and Anna where she sent him out with a very detailed list of foodstuffs and threatened to lobotomize him if he missed even one item.

Having unofficially taken over anything pertaining to the kitchen and food, Anna was now trying to teach Soren how to cook. Last week Soren had actually made brownies (she'd heard that Trowa had a not so secret weakness for chocolate) that were reasonably edible. Her prior attempts tasted alarmingly close to Heero's protein bars.

No there was nothing significant in her message that would really put the man off but she was still anxious about the reply and if there was one. She rubbed at the tingling at the back of her neck again. At this rate she was going to rub the skin there raw. Still the tingling was getting stronger. Maybe she was getting a rash or something. Another mental sigh; she really needed to calm down. There were plenty of documented cases of stress and anxiety manifesting itself into physical symptoms.

At the other end of the room Sally hopped off her chair like she'd been burned. "I'm… uh… going to… get something I left in my room. Would you excuse me for a moment?" and with that the honey blonde bolted from the room.

Soren watched her go with only passing curiosity. Apparently Soren wasn't the only one feeling twitchy. Again she caught herself rubbing her neck and looking around the empty room. In an effort to distract herself she turned back to her computer and tried to refocus her attention on what she was writing. She'd typed three lines when the annoying tingling seemed to zip down her spine and made her almost leap from her chair.

Looking around the room again she was shocked to find it was no longer empty. There leaning against the doorway with his arms folded across his chest was her lover. He was staring at her with the same intense green gaze that caught her when they first met. "Trowa!" she had to calm the swarm of butterflies that had taken up residence in her belly. "You're back!" It was her intention to run up to him and embrace him in a warm hug like some heroine in a sappy novel, but her nerves caused her to overestimate her moves in the low gravity and nearly sent her careening into a wall. Thankfully Trowa intercepted her and caught her in his own embrace. "Well that was a terribly romantic welcome." She grumbled. It warmed her to hear the responding chuckle.

"As long as I'm welcome that's all I care about." He tightened his hold and proceeded to kiss her brainless. Deep in the very back of her consciousness she realized that he was definitely not put off by her message and he hadn't lost interest.

**************

A few hours later Trowa had come to one very certain conclusion. Making love in one quarter earth's gravity could be very hazardous to one's health. Shortly after their reunion Trowa had Soren direct them towards her quarters where they tried to pounce on each other and narrowly missed serious injury. Even the sleeping bunk/bag didn't allow a lot of room to maneuver and felt a tad claustrophobic. At one point Soren had started to laugh at the frustration that was clearly showing through on his face.

~* mini flashback*~

"I'm glad you're finding this entertaining." He said irritably. He was painfully hard, sheathed deep inside his lover's body and unable to do a damn thing about it. Those last few thrusts almost sent their heads into the wall.

"I'm sorry love." She said with a snicker. Against his firm wishes she separated their bodies and flipped over onto her belly. She then snaked her arms out of the bag and took a firm hold on the sides of the bunk. "How about I keep us still while you… keep us going?"

~*end flashback*~

Was it any wonder why he was so insane about her? He was distracted by his thoughts by her trying to wriggle out of the bag again. "Where do you think you're going?" he asked.

She let out a reluctant sigh "I've got to get back to my work. I've put it off… ahhhh!"  He cut off whatever she was about to say by taking a firm grip of her waist and yanking her back up against him.

"No you're not." He said firmly.

"Trowa believe me I'd much rather stay here, but I'm here to do a job I really need to get back to It." she made another attempt to break free from him and failed.

"I'm sorry love but unless there are any alarms signaling impending doom you are not setting one toe out that door tonight. And I can't be held responsible for my actions if you try." He said quite plainly. He meant it too. He'd spent the past four weeks with only that evil clock for company. It was going to take at least all night to ease the need that had built up during that time.

"Oh really?" she asked amused.

"Really."

"Trowa, sooner or later someone is going to be looking for me. I just up and left before I told Sally where I was going and who I was with."

"She already knows."

"She what?"

"Between Wufei, Cole, Duo and Shelby I made sure everyone knew you would not be available at all tonight." He didn't actually say that to anyone, but they were pretty quick to catch on when he cut short Duo's welcome and proceeded to ask where he could find Soren. He was awarded with a classic Duo grin and the information he wanted. He yelled in parting that he would catch up with him later. 

"YOU DID WHAT? Jesus! I'll never be able to show my face again!" she croaked burying her face in his shoulder. Letting out a big sigh "Aright you win, but I am not missing the field testing tomorrow!"