AN: Sorry for the amount of time it took me to get this chapter up. Much of it was do to procrastination but it also took me time to get the direct quotations from Relena’s speech. Hopefully you’ll enjoy it.
The Beehive
Chapter 7: The Honey of the Bees
DATE: February 18, 203 AC
LOCATION: An old hanger commandeered by the Preventers
~*~*~ TIME: 11:49 AM ~*~*~
It loomed over his head, 17.4 meters over his head to be precise. The old hanger in which WuFei stood were full of old suits that were taken out of museums - all of which had to be closed for ‘public safety’ - and were under restoration. This one however, seemed particularly ominous. Zechs was on Mars, so its not likely he’d get upset, but still, the idea of piloting Tallgeese 3 made WuFei feel uneasy, like he was stealing. He had no choice though, he was probably the best pilot in the Earth Sphere that wasn’t about seven years out of practice, and so he had to pilot it.
WuFei turned to look around at the many people and engineers that were refitting these old war machines with the few essential cockpit components that were taken out of all of them. Besides Tallgeese there were some Leo Suits, a few Aries, a couple of White Taurus, a Tragos and a Virgo that had no mobile doll computer or cockpit.
“I don’t think we’ll be able to get that one in working condition in time”, an approaching engineer, gesturing to the Virgo, reported.
“Hmph……… just as well”, replied the still somewhat distant Chinese man, “Just do what you can. As long as all the others are done I don’t think it will make too much of a difference.”
“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!” sounded the small communicator at WuFei’s waist.
Immediately, WuFei brought the small box-like device to his mouth and clicked it on, “Five hear.”
“WuFei”, Sally’s voice sounded through the communicator, “the guests have arrived.”
“I’ll be right there”, replied the younger Preventer. He turned to the engineer, “Get as much done as you can.”, he gestured at Tallgeese, “and be sure to restore the mega cannon; we’ll probably end up needing it.”
“Yes sir”, replied the engineer as the two men walked off in different directions.
~*~*~ TIME: 12:03 PM ~*~*~
WuFei entered the meeting room. It wasn’t a particularly large meeting room, it was more of a lounge really. It had dark blue carpeting and white walls – both of which had stains speckled about them – and a round table with a coffee pot in the center and chairs around it. In the chairs were five individuals, Sally Po, two other Preventers, and the former Gundam Pilot’s Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton. Off on a table in the corner, two other Preventers and the former Gundam Pilot Quatre Winner were intensely studying a mess of papers and photos.
“Hey, WuFei”, Duo turned around to greet the new arrival; superficially he sounded cheery but upon closer examination it was clear that he was just masking extreme anxiety, “glad you made it. Long time no see. Now when Heero gets here could someone please explain to me what the Hell is going on. You people only call us when something big is up, so let’s have it.”
“That’s the problem”, WuFei sighed, “Heero isn’t coming.”
With that, the heads of the two other pilots instantly snapped around upon hearing this news.
“But………”, Quatre began, somewhat worried “I thought that Miss Relena was taken hostage?”
“Yeah”, Duo cut in, “he’s always the first to step up to the plate whenever she’s in trouble. What’s up?”
“Heero was with President Darlian when she was abducted”, Sally answered coolly, “His current whereabouts are unknown though. He was either killed or taken hostage with the president.”
“Either way”, dryly-interjected WuFei, “It’s not likely that he’s made it this long.”
Trowa simply stared at WuFei silently, Quatre sunk his head while Duo looked into nothingness trying to fully soak in what WuFei just said. It was hard for any of them to believe that that guy could be killed but there seemed to be an element of truth to WuFei’s uncomfortable speculation.
“No………”, Quatre silently assured himself, “No, there’s no way he could have died so easily; I just know he made it, somehow. I can feel it.”
Duo gulped to try and force a deep sense of loss back down to his stomach, “You’re right Quatre”, Duo tried his best but it still wasn’t that convincing, “he’s gotta still be alive.” Realizing that he was acting completely out of character he found the strength to paste his patented smile back on and add one more thing, “I’m mean, near as I know he hasn’t even gotten laid yet.” The braided man hoped they’d buy into his optimism; the last thing he needed was for everyone to be depressed.
Trowa was still silent; he had accepted what WuFei had suggested as a complete and total possibility. He didn’t see a need to argue with the other two on this, though; there was nothing wrong with hope. His cold green eyes stared into WuFei’s, transmitting his conclusion to his Asian comrade.
Apparently WuFei got it. “Hn……… guess you’re right”
“Hopefully”, Sally interrupted, “But whether he’s alive or not we can’t expect any help from him.” Sally’s blue sphere’s turned up to WuFei just to reconfirm that he wasn’t deluding himself like the other two; his stern expression was all the answer she needed.
“So, it’s just a bunch of terrorists with mobile dolls?” Duo was back to Mr. Confident, “this’ll be a synch.”
“I wish it were that simple”, interrupted Quatre, “these appear to be a new model; we don’t have any idea what their capabilities are.”
“So, the Darter corporation was able to design a new weapon right under the Preventers’ noses”, Trowa assessed, “The question is, how?”
“We believe they may have used a government funded research program called The Beehive Project as a cover”, answered the blond Chinese woman.
“So wait a second”, Duo interrupted, “Since when are my tax dollars going to help make honey.”
A Preventer named Todd, sitting next to Duo but in, “It isn’t about honey bees, ya bloomin fool, it has to do with nano-bot.”
“Hey, chill out man”, Duo shot back, “I didn’t know, OK”
“Well maybe if you would have read the documents that………”
“That’s enough!”, Quatre cut Todd off, “We have enough to worry about right now.”
“Indeed”, WuFei agreed.
“You’ve all been brought here because you’re the best pilots we could find.” Sally informed, “We’re currently restoring a small force of mobile suits, which we commandeered from several museums. We wanted to ask you if you’d be willing to participate in our assault.”
Trowa nodded his head, silently agreeing, “So, is there anything else we should know?”
“Yeah”, Sally hesitantly answered, “Yeah, it’s about the Beehive.”
“The Beehive is a big supercomputer which was supposed to be used to direct the actions of specially made nano-bots called Bees.” WuFei cut in, knowing he was tactless enough to give it to them straight, “Apparently, they managed to make that too. It was supposed to be used for medical purposes but the Darter Corporation found a way to use it in mobile suits. What we know for sure is that these mobile suits are capable of self-repair on the battlefield but whether that’s the extent that the Bees can be used is not known. The terrorists have already threatened, that they can use the Beehive in other ways.”
“So?”, Duo inquired, “They’re just a bunch of microscopic machines; why are you so worried?”
“Have you ever upset a hornet’s nest, Duo?”, Trowa answered calmly before WuFei could get sound out, “It’s because they’re microscopic that makes them dangerous. It’s hard to fight something that’s too small to target.”
“I see………”, Duo trailed off as he began to realize what Trowa was getting at.
“So, are you in or out?”, WuFei asked, his arms folded across his chest as he seemed to almost glare at his braided companion.
“Hmm……… Well, Hilde is due in four months so I can’t go throwing my life away.” the chestnut haired man assessed.
“If you don’t want to, we don’t want you to feel like you have to”, Sally assured him, “but we could always use your help.”
“Well”, Duo’s mood was becoming less somber, “I guess that the God of Death could always make a comeback.”
“And you Quatre?” Sally’s head turned around to face the blonde Arab.
“You bet I’ll fight”, Quatre hastily replied, “If this continued it could throw the whole Earth Sphere into another war.”
“Speaking of which”, cut in the man of an exceptionally large, reddish brown bang, “Who is the Darter Corporation supporting?”
“We don’t know”, Sally reluctantly admitted.
Trowa, surprised by this, turned back around to face the blonde Chinese woman, “Didn’t they identify themselves or make any demands?”
“They made some demands”, a reluctant WuFei answered.
The heads of the three other former gundam pilots, along with several Preventers, turned to face WuFei in curiosity. They studied the way he wouldn’t look directly at him, he seemed to be struggling to reveal the answer.
“They’ve asked for three things”, continued the Chinese Preventer, “They want some raw materials delivered to them, they want the Beehive to be kept a secret from the public and they sent a list of people they want delivered to them.”
“Man, I can understand the raw materials but to keep it a secret from the public? I thought they were terrorists.” jumped in the braided pilot.
“It gets weirder”, commented Sally.
WuFei sighed and continued, “The people they want……… they’re nobodies.” He stopped himself and started over, “No, that’s not true. They’re all criminals.”
“Criminals?” repeated Quatre.
“Heinous criminals”, WuFei confirmed, “murderers and rapists mostly & a few war criminals and terrorists as well.”
“Is there any link between them”, Trowa’s piercing green eyes searched WuFei for an answer.
WuFei’s answer was quick and to the point, “Other than the fact that a more practical government executed the lot of them, no”
Even Trowa, with his well-oiled strategic mind was having trouble trying to figure this out. Everyone else was hopelessly lost.
“So, are they trying to test the limits of their power or something?” Trowa guessed; uncertainty saturated his tone.
“No”, Quatre replied shaking his head, “There would be much more productive ways to test their power then asking for criminals. They obviously need them for something or else they wouldn’t be demanding them.”
“It really doesn’t matter”, WuFei cut in, “We’ll bee attacking tomorrow morning at 0800.”
“Well, this everyone who’s going to be in the attack?” Duo questioned; his eyes darted back and forth examining the room of nine.
“There’ll be others”, Sally assured them, “We just haven’t picked them out yet.”
“Guess I better claim a suit then quick then”, a more cheerful looking Duo replied, “We don’t want the amateurs getting something they can’t handle.”
While several of the other Preventers suppressed the urge to punch Duo in the shoulder, WuFei led the party out of the meeting room. Most of the pilots were feeling a little better for some reason; Duo was always good at keeping morale, but all of them knew this wasn’t going to be simple. Trowa, in particular, was hesitant to give up to hope. Something was bothering him about this whole situation; the enemy wasn’t acting like any other he had ever encountered.
LOCATION: The Beehive’s Underground Facility
~*~*~ TIME: Unknown ~*~*~
There were no windows, no indication of what time it was, all they knew is when they were hungry, when they were thirsty, and when they needed rest. They’re cybernetic host had been more then hospitable in providing them with supplies. The food wasn’t the best but it was certainly palatable, there was a drinking fountain just outside the restroom and Tyler even went as far to provide them with two pillows and blankets. Neither of them felt comfortable letting both of their guards down at once so they decided to make sure at least one of them was awake at all times.
‘I never knew he could look so peaceful’, she thought as she stared at the man lying down next to her, “resting his eyes”. She felt sorry for him, he hadn’t slept the whole time they were there – he must have felt it was his responsibility to stay awake – so he eventually just passed out from exhaustion. But it felt good, seeing that even he could be human at times and she couldn’t resist the urge to hold his hand while he slept. She wanted to join him; even in their desperate situation she found fantasies of the two of them cuddling together comforting. The dim and eerie environment and chilling background noises made him look particularly inviting; she could swear she even herd blood curdling screams at times. She didn’t dare do more then hold his hand though; they were being watched and it would have been too awkward if he woke up.
“Oh don’t let that stop you”, this voice had become increasingly annoying as time went on, “Make it an executive order.” The form of a man fused with machines lowered down from above, a smug grin pasted on its face. “I’m terribly sorry that I haven’t had much time to chat”, he continued, “I’ve been busy with research and the like; that can be so very time consuming, you know.”
There was a stern glare of discontent coming from the young woman on the platform, “Stop it!”
Heero began to stir a bit; apparently Relena’s harsh words shook him out of sleep and without warning he snapped up onto his feat, dazed and ready for trouble. Then, after taking a moment’s pause to assess the padded platform, the endless expanses of mechanized vines and darkness, the pallid face of a not entirely impressed Tyler as well as the form of a remarkably stressed young woman, dressed in an unclean previously white suit (their cloths had dried out by now) he swiftly made the transition from confused Yuy to ready-to-kick-some-ass Yuy. Unfortunately, there was only one ass to kick and he knew he didn’t stand a chance against him so he had to restrain himself to an empty death glare.
“Oh really now, I think you two direct far too much anger in my direction” Tyler made a shrugging gesture, “I guess that’s what comes with the war being over and all, have to take it out on me.”
The mood of the young president went from bad to worse, “Stop invading our thoughts! Don’t you hold anything sacred? Can’t we at least have privacy in our own minds?”
“Don’t I hold anything sacred?” Tyler seemed legitimately surprised but they could never tell with him, “Of course I hold things sacred, I hold peace sacred. That’s why I’m doing this.”
“Peace? This is peace?” Relena had given many speeches and lectures similar to this – mostly during the war – but this was the most unusual case yet, “You’ve practically declared war on the Earth Sphere! How could this………”
“Correction”, interrupted a somewhat annoyed Tyler, “I prevented a war with the whole Earth Sphere. Now, I’m simply holding the world hostage until I’m finished with my research and in so doing, will have attained the peace that you were unable to.”
It seemed to Heero that it was finally his turn to say something; he wasn’t sure exactly what happened while he was out but he certainly knew what was happening then. “She achieved peace Tyler. You’re just like the Romerfeller Foundation; you try to conquer others under the pretense of peace.”
“Except”, interjected their captor, “this isn’t about peace by conquest. The goals of Relena Peacecraft and myself are exactly the same, total pacifism. The difference is, I haven’t deluded myself into believing that humanity is biologically able to maintain it.”
“No, You’re mist………”, Relena began.
“I know, ‘I’m mistaken; peace isn’t something that one achieves through battle and wars’”, mocked the overconfident mad scientist. He looked as Heero, “‘I’m the same a Milliardo Peacecraft, yada, yada, yada………’ Except, not really. The problem with The White Fang’s plan was that they failed to take into consideration that humanity forgets things as the generations die off. In fact, it only takes one generation to completely forget a way of life. Sure, everything is peaceful now, and for the first time in known history there’s a world nation which advocates peaceful solutions rather then aggressive ones, but you and I both know that true peace has yet to be realized; the Preventers department’s existence is proof of this. Heck, the Darter Corporation’s plan itself shows that this is an imperfect peace. I only plan to rectify that situation.”
The two prisoners simply continued to glare; they weren’t sure what to say. It was confusing, they’ve heard the speech before but the way he so adamantly denied association with that philosophy was puzzling.
They really didn’t have to say anything though, the main reason Tyler even gave them time to translate their thoughts into words was to humor them. “It’s quite simple, the problem is humanity itself; it’s self-centeredness, its primitive and inadequate methods of communication and most of all, its lack of a social consciousness. I simply desire to correct these errors; thus, making true peace possible. To do this though, humanity must be physically and mentally altered on mass; the question is, how. This”, Tyler gestured to his left, where numerous vines and tentacles began moving out of Heero and Relena’s line of sight, revealing three large roundish devices, “Is what will allow me to do it. I will turn all of humanity into a more perfect organism.”
“How in the world can you possibly believe that you can………”, Relena began but couldn’t think of the proper words to finish. She started over; more composed, more like a statesman, “This is a crime against nature”
“A crime? No, no, no, this is nature at its very best. It’s the ultimate evolution”
“You’re ideas about evolution are insane”, a clearly upset Heero Yuy criticized, “Evolution happens naturally.”
“Natural selection happens naturally”, Tyler corrected, “Modern day humans have effectively distanced themselves from natural selection, and thus humanity’s evolution has all but halted. And even then, what does nature really favor? And is that favorable? What nature favors are the individuals that are able to produce the most offspring, not necessarily evolution when you consider how many babies the stupid give birth to compared to those that can actually support themselves. It’s practically counter evolution. So I came to the conclusion that if humanity is going to progress in the direction that we generally deem as progress, we must take our evolution into our own hands.”
“Are you saying all of humanity should become………”, she wasn’t exactly sure what to say.
“Cyborgs?”, Tyler suggested. “Yes, that’s precisely what I suggest. A new future requires a new humanity. Not made solely of weak flesh, randomly occurring amino acids and proteins but fused with the strength, endurance, and precise logic of metal and machinery. Not only that, everyone’s mind will be united in a sort of collective social conscience, making war impossible. That’s my eventual goal; peace is the very honey which the Beehive will help produce.”
“That’s still nothing more the domination. You’re a dictator forcing your ideals on others”, Relena affirmed.
“Or a parent, forcing their toddler to eat their vegetables”, Tyler shot back, with absolute confidence and a tone that came off as uppity, “What the people want isn’t necessarily what the people need. Most people wouldn’t agree with my idea because they’re afraid of change and they’re self-serving, not because they actually understand our grandiose vision and disagree on respectable mental grounds.”
“Our?” Relena cocked her eyebrow a bit while her eyes narrowed; this was anything but her vision.
“Oh, I’m sorry”, Tyler mocked; “These were your words right?”
A slight clicking sound was herd followed by a flat screen being lowered into view. The screen displayed a fifteen-year-old Queen Relena Peacecraft – hair worn up and with a crown placed on top and wearing a long, white, fancy dress with a rose red sash – stepping up to the podium at the Romefeller Foundation’s Parliament Building. Relena’s speech resounded throughout the entire underground complex, “Everyone of you is a world leader. But in order to continue being the leaders of the world, the Romefeller Foundation must undergo some changes, in the same way that our times are currently changing. Why is there always confrontation? It’s natural that whenever more then one person is involved the second person will be a potential source of conflict. In order to eliminate this we must become unified as one. I once again make a declaration, in order to eliminate boundaries and created one peaceful consolidated nation, Oz –which holds the most power – must be the first to discard all of its weapons.
“When we talk of bringing the world together we must not limit it to the Earth alone. It only takes two the start a conflict; therefore we must become one with the space colonies. The Earth must learn to coexist with outer space and outer space must do the same. We must disarm Oz and appeal to the people in outer space. I ask each on of you as world leaders to accept these changes.”
Tyler simply beamed an unsettling smirk, his pale palms briefly colliding in slow steady rhythms, sending harsh snapping sound waves though the entire complex. “I couldn’t have said it better myself”
Heero and Relena both remembered her speech to the Romefeller Foundation quite distinctly; mainly because Heero had a gun pointed at her head throughout the entire speech, just in case the executives weren’t receptive to Relena’s ideas.
“That wasn’t what Relena meant!” exclaimed a particularly upset Heero.
“What’s the difference?” Tyler immediately replied.
Relena shook her head a bit, he frizzed golden ponytail violently shaking with her head motions, “You can’t force people to accept pacifism Tyler; they have to accept it themselves.”
“But that’s what I’m doing, you see. With the collective conscience that will be created, a collective will, will form. With a collective will, all of humanity will act as a single body rather then separate individuals, making conflict within the human race impossible.” Tyler seemed to be frustrated but it was hard to tell.
“And what about the people that don’t want to be turned into mindless machines; like us” demanded Heero.
“Cyborgs”, corrected an exasperated Tyler, “and people will only seem like mindless slaves to the casual viewer. I predict that the enhanced communication capabilities, coupled with the collective will of the rest of the human race would turn the most wily of rebels into an efficient, peaceful and productive member of society; or so my theory goes.”
“Tyler, you’re mistaken!” retorted the somewhat upset and reasonable intimidated politician. Though slightly cracked, she still maintained her strong political mask; “You’re going to throw away innocent lives on a theory? What happens if you find out you’re wrong.”
“If my memory reserves serve me correctly, Miss Relena Peacecraft”, began a smug, slightly angry Tyler – that last statement hit him pretty hard actually, “you risked the lives of everyone in the Sanc Kingdom on the futile theory that you could achieve pacifism by simply bitching a lot. Then, furthermore, betrayed those that fought to protect your glass kingdom by becoming Romefeller’s Chief Representative, including a certain enamoring individual who shall remain nameless”, One of Tyler’s circuit-filled eyes sent a wink her way, accompanied by a crooked smile. “I don’t suspect to many people will die. The first phase of my plan is to unleash clouds of Bees on the major population centers of the world, to immobilize the people and begin the assimilation processes. Humans can’t easily defend themselves against the microscopic so I predict that the loss of life will be minimal.”
Relena couldn’t help but let her eyes wonder to Heero for a moment just to see how he had reacted to Tyler’s comment.
His Expression was unaffected; the fact that Relena was infatuated with him wasn’t a new concept. “That’s not the same thing”, Heero affirmed defensively, “It was the Romefeller Foundation that was the threat, not her. This is just some ego trip for you isn’t it?” goaded the fearless Japanese bodyguard, “You’re worse then the Romefeller Foundation, you’re trying to conquer just so you can say you’re better then everyone else.” He tensed up, waiting for some kind of reaction.
For a moment, Tyler couldn’t help but consider sending a spiked tentacle through his adversary’s torso to silence him; the thought of seeing the look on his face as he realized just how useless and futile his pathetic acts of protection towards that little whore of his really were. Something happened though, pain, it wasn’t real pain, it was more the anticipation of pain; heart ache like none he had ever felt; for a millisecond, his entire world shattered leaving him in a tearfully void existence of depression. As soon as it had begun though, he was back, his face glaring at his intended victim. He decided to stay the attack and then the data flow from the computer showed him that Heero had intended him to loose his cool anyway, so it was better off this way.
“Relena single-handedly brought peace to this world and she’s going to keep it peaceful. If you really wanted peace you’d realize this”
Tyler couldn’t help but cackle out loud at this, “Oh really now soldier, you give the girl far to much credit. Tell me, what exactly did Relena do? What exactly does Relena do that no one else could? Promote total pacifism? A toddler could think of that, it wasn’t even her own idea. Ms. Darlian, I’m afraid, as pure in intent as she seems to be is merely a product of luck.”
“At least she has the courage to do it”, countered Heero.
“Touch?, my not entirely oriental friend. Guts she does have; it borders on being stupid, even.”
“I’m not your friend” dryly responded an endlessly annoyed and exhausted Heero.
“Oh be nice”, Tyler mocked, he even went as far to drop his hand in a feminine manner, half laughing at the reaction he was getting from Heero.
“Quit it!” snapped the overly aggravated young woman in question. “Tyler”, she paused a moment to organize her thoughts, “Tyler, I think I understand what you’re trying to do but please stop; this is total madness. I promise that if you end this now you won’t be jailed.”
“No, I can’t stop now, the Beehive’s conception demanded such a pinnacle change in humanity’s course of evolution. Unless humanity is able to truly achieve peace, I cannot in good conscience, allow the Beehive to exist”, Tyler Asserted.
The solution seemed simple to Relena, “Then just get rid of it.”
“But don’t you understand? This is the most significant technological advancement in modern history. This single advancement alone will alter destiny forever. You seem to not understand exactly what you’re telling me to destroy.”
“This isn’t worth it Tyler. You can’t………” Relena was cut off.
“Oh, and how were you’re peace plans meant to work?” snapped an impatient Tyler. “The only way for you’re total pacifism to work is if everyone whole-heartedly accepted the idea. What you propose is essentially the same thing as myself, except you’re under the delusion that humanity’s desire for peace will remain consolidated on its own. We’re after exactly the same thing, the difference; I actually have the aptitude to do it. And again, you don’t seem to understand what you’re giving up. The Beehive is capable of almost anything, its like having trillions of microscopic construction workers at your command; with this technology, humanity could remodel the Earth itself. Don’t you understand?”
He really didn’t need to wait for an answer, even if he couldn’t read their thoughts their faces would have been enough.
“No, I guess not. Pity.” He sighed and continued, “At any rate, we’ll continue this discussion later, I have things to do. I’d offer to upgrade the two of you but I already know you’ll refuse. It’s a shame too; we’d already be done with this argument if we could abandon this crude verbal communication.” The mechanical hands hoisting him up began carrying him away but then he stopped for a moment, “and by the way, Relena. Do try to figure out what you really want. Do you want true peace or do you just not want to fight? There’s a big difference.” With that last taunting remark, he soon disappeared into a sea of machinery.
After a moment of silence Heero felt it behooved him to say something comforting, “Don’t let that crack pot get to you.”
Relena, however, remained silent, lost in her own thoughts. Could Tyler really be right? Could this really be the way to attain true peace? No, Heero was right; she can’t let him get to her. It would be nothing but a new type of fake peace, one that no one could escape from. Now, all she had to do is figure out how to convince Tyler.
The Beehive: Ch 7 (The Honey of the Bees)
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