Chapter 6: Discoveries
Topaz was interupted from her thoughts by the sound of footsteps behind her. Whirling around to face whomever was there, she then saw Hammer, the navigator from before, staring up at her AGWS with a look of sheer amazment on his face. Topaz wondered what it was that he found so amazing about her busted-up mech.
"Um... what's wrong, Hammer? It's just an AGWS, I'm sure you've seen one... right?". She asked him, concerned.
"Amazing! This is a VX-4000! How in the world did you get the money to buy this! It's one of the most expensive models on the market!". He exclaimed, still awestruck.
Topaz responded, "What? Buy this...? ...Oh yeah! I forgot it was mass produced! Hehe. Duh! Silly me!"
"What do you mean 'you forgot it was mass produced'? Hasn't it always been that way, he asked Topaz.
"Uh... Um... You probably won't believe me, but I was the person who originally built this... It was given to Vector so they could mass produce it after I showed it off to one of my buddies, who was so impressed that he showed it to Vector Industries and they payed us cash to begin mass producing it as their own.", she informed Hammer.
For another hour or so, she spent her time repairing the mech and having a nice chat with Hammer. She learned that he was the one who built the other AGWS unit in the area, that was apparently piloted by chaos. They were joined later by Tony, the pilot of the Elsa, whom was informed about the situation with Topaz's mech. Is it really so amazing that an original AGWS unit was built by a woman? Oh... I know what it is. They don't need to know that, though. It's more fun to watch them gaze in amazement, anyway! They also told her she could stay in Cabin number two, which was closest to the restaurant, with Shion.
After telling them that she needed to rest, she left the hangar and began to make her way to the cabin. On her way there, she ran into chaos, who seemed to be wandering around for no apparent reason. She didn't know why, but she felt nervous about being face to face with him.
"H-hey chaos! What's u-up?", she asked him while trying to make sure that he wouldn't see her nervousness. It didn't seem to work, though, as he had a look of general concern on his face.
"Topaz? You look nervous. Is something bothering you?". He asked her, still having the face that he had when he first saw her. She just knew she'd seen him before. She vaguely remembered the voice, too. Ugh... I know I've met this guy before! I just can't remember where... but I need to get away from him, I just get nervous when I see his face... I feel like he sees right through me...
Without thinking, she put up her left hand to quickly say good-bye. She then froze, realizing what she had done. She quickly pulled her hand behind her back and weakly told him good-bye, praying that he didn't see her left palm. Like everything else she tried to hide from him, it didn't work. He saw what was printed on her palm. Three numbers, a six, a seven, and a zero. By the time he was able to process what he saw, Topaz was walking at an unusually fast pace down the hallway. Now he knew for sure what he had been wondering.Topaz on the other hand, merely thought that someone had learned the secret that she spent so long trying to hide.
As she walked, Topaz's mind was clouded with thoughts. He saw it, I know he did. And the way he looked at it... he knows. How could he, though? For all he should know, I just got it tatooed on for military reasons... Hopefully, I'm just hallucinating and that sleep will cure all of this. As she entered the cabin, she saw what she didn't want to see, someone sitting at the table. To her relief though, it was only Shion, engrossed in her work on KOS-MOS' data. At least it's only Shion, she doesn't know about any of this. I don't think chaos told her anything, so I should be fine. Ya know... I wish you could be here, too. Even though I've met all of them, I still feel like they're all strangers...
After exchanging a quick 'hello' with Shion, Topaz got into her bed and tried drifting into sleep.