Warning: This chapter talks of evolution. I don't want to offend anyone who may believe in creationism.
TENDRILS OF DESTINY
CHAPTER SEVEN
A23 gazed at the computer before her. It sat on the stained mahogany wood of the large work-desk, glowing in the brightness of the room. The buzz it radiated plucked painfully at the woman's nerves, and her bright eyes narrowed as she gazed at the equipment. It was the only piece of machinery allowed inside the building, and it would soon be destroyed. So much destruction?though it was all needed to achieve the end of full-scale violence. Soft echoing laughter rolled and bounced through the woman's mind before she sighed, closed her eyes, and smoothed the soft material of her dress. Opening her eyes once again, the woman focused on the white coloration of the satin, though it filtered through her vision as sky blue.
Her two Amazons stood silent and respectful at the door, both ill at ease. Suddenly, the two women snapped into a sharp salute as another walked calmly through the door. A23 blinked, trying to distinguish them from one another??they appeared the same in her vision.
"The radio transmission equipment is set up, A23. Do you wish to make our statement now?"
Statement?? Ah, yes, her statement??to the people of Earth and Colonies. "Yes, I suppose."
* * * *
Drip, drip, drip. Heero gazed at the spigot of water. The drops fell at a steady pace, each separated by a fraction of a second. Slowly, the dark man reached forward to clench the handle of the faucet. He turned it, and the steady rhythm abruptly changed. The metronome suddenly transformed into a splatter, drip, drip, splatter, splatter, drip, splatter.
A white hand turned off the spigot. Heero's eyes snapped upward and he gazed at the soft features of a woman. Her face, drawn and disturbed, morphed a moment, first from one to another. Then she became Pilot 03's sister. He looked away, somehow disappointed.
His dark eyes flickered to Trowa, who sat hunched over a computer, looking out of place. Heero frowned. He had a reason for being here. Why?why was he not?why could he not remember? Something hovered near, something so close it was breathing on the back of his neck, and yet he could not turn to greet it. Perhaps it was nothing.
The television sputtered, causing the occupants of the room to twist to view the machinery. The crackling gray of static suddenly fused and swirled to form the shape of a face familiar to the two men in the trailer. Heero's heart stopped and his stomach turned nervously. Trowa simply sat, silent and unreadable as he gazed at the woman.
Her voice transmitted sweetly through the tiny box. "People of Earth and the Colonies. I, A23, along with the terrorist organization NATURE, am announcing war on the colonies of space as well as the establishments located on Mars and the moon. NATURE now has a powerful beam cannon aimed directly at the colony cluster of L1. An evacuation is recommended for all occupants residing in any of the stated locations. In half-an-hour, the beam cannon will be fired. In a succession of shots, each half-an-hour apart, all of the colony clusters shall be destroyed. The moon area shall be evacuated and destroyed in approximately two hours. Mars will be attacked at the same time. Remember, NATURE wishes not to destroy the people of space, only the colonies and structures themselves. Understand this and take heed of the message. This is not a bluff."
Her sunken and pale face disappeared into the fuzz of static once again before it flipped to the normal station. Heero's fists clenched and he strained forward, his face tight and restricted. The deep shadows beneath his eyes cast long smudged surfaces over his cheekbones, and streaks of gray tainted his tousled brown locks. A strong hand touched his shoulder and he jumped, his heart thudding painfully in his chest.
Trowa's green orbs met Heero's own and the Pilot of 03 spoke. "Where is your Gundam?"
He gazed up at the other man, not seeming to understand. Then his eyes closed, masking obsidian depths. "Close," Heero whispered ambivalently.
Catherine glanced between the men, her face sharp in lines of worry. She tucked the child in her arms closer to her body, burying her face in its soft chocolate locks. "Be careful, Trowa," she murmured. He only nodded.
Shakily, Heero rose, brushing a hand over his green tank top. He felt somehow broken and alone. Yet, his heart beat painfully fast in excitement. He wanted to do what was coming next, whatever it might have been.
Then, he turned to face the child in the woman's arms. Hesitantly, a hand reached out to touch the soft smooth skin of the girl's face. His eyes met her blue-within-blue gaze, and his fingers trailed gently over her hair, taking in the velvety texture. And he was complete. He left, his face drawn into a hard line of determination.
Trowa paused at the doorway. "Get her out of here. And you too."
"Alright, Trowa. Please, be careful." Her words clung to his ears. He nodded slowly before bounding out.
* * * *
Relena closed her eyes. "Gods, this isn't happening."
Une breathed a soft sigh and massaged her temples. "We need to get out of here. This colony will be destroyed soon, and reports prove the possession of a beam cannon."
"How was it that we lost our grip so easily?" Relena murmured. She shook her head. The two women sat in silence, in the office room in which they resided shrouded in the panicked cries of some and random laughter of other citizens of L1 moving outside. Relena shook her blonde head and raised her voice. "Leave, Une. Please."
"Relena, we need you. Don't think that because this colony may be destroyed, we won't win. The Gundam Pilots are dispatching, and??"
"Please Une! You?you have someone waiting for you on Earth. I do not." Relena clenched her fists and closed her eyes, praying desperately against tears or any sign of weakness.
Une's fierce gaze softened. She placed a hand on the younger woman's trembling shoulder. "You still have your family. We can let you visit now, I suppose??"
Relena tossed her head up and pulled away, shaking her head violently. "I'm not the same anymore, Lady Une." Then, her lips twisted to a bittersweet smile. "I'm?I'm her now, and I will never be myself again."
"But??"
"So I should stay." Relena tossed her head in determination. Artificial sunlight drafted through the window and played at the golden edges of her hair. "It's what she would have done."
Une sighed softly. "Alright." She deftly shuffled some papers and nodded to the woman. "Is there anything you wish to add to your will?"
Relena hesitated, her hand coming to clasp a tiny ring on a chain around her neck. Then she shook her head. "No. Nothing else."
"Well, good luck, then Miss Relena."
"Say 'hi' to your daughter for me."
Une nodded and gave a rare smile before turning away. Relena waited for her to shut the door before sinking to her knees in the middle of the room. Absolute terror clutched her being and she let out a panicked sob. She clutched at the ring and then remembered his face. Oddly, it was not Donald, but that strange, dark-haired man gazing with such a passionate and possessive light at her. And she was calm.
Carefully transferring herself to the high-backed chair at the head of the conference table, she now radiated assurance, though outside, the cries of fear and screams of children echoed even more loudly in the stillness of the colony's atmosphere. Slowly exhaling, the woman touched a button on the vid-link in front of her. Her heart beat loudly in her ears as a familiar face answered. It was the face of a woman, thin and red-haired, holding a wry smile. A dancing flame of merriment crackled in the background of the picture. Relena was transported to that beautiful place of her childhood, with large cabins, white snow, the smell of pine and Christmas trees and laughing men with thick beards and barking, panting dogs.
A soft smile cracked her lips. "Momma?"
The red-haired woman's face twisted in shock and perplexity. "Excuse me? I think you have the wrong??"
"No, Momma, please, there's no time!" Relena pulled her dyed blonde hair back, and her brown eyes filled with tears. Fear began to grip her chest again, and it was all she could do to keep her voice steady. "I?I just? I just want you to know that?I love you. Kiss Boston for me, please."
The woman's face froze in shock. "Susan?" A sob wracked her body. "They??they told me you were dead!"
Susan's face, now glittering with tears, broke into a hysteric laugh. The fear broke and was restored with sudden relaxation. "No, no, Momma. They had to for safety reasons. I?I just wanted you to know that I love you."
"I don't understand! Why did you???" The woman blinked in shock and leaned forward, her face drawing closer to that of her daughter's. Her eyes pleaded for a reason.
Susan closed her dark eyes, lowering her head a moment, thoughts racing behind her hidden eyes. "Lady Une," she began. "??she's the Commander of the Preventers??told me war would break out if someone didn't take Relena Darlian's place. My facial features were the closest match of the females in Preventers. So, I became her."
Tears trailed salty licks down the red-haired woman's face. Her face broke into that wry smile again as she raised pain-filled eyes to her daughter. "All this time?"
"Shh? Momma, I have to go now. I only have about a few minutes left."
The other woman nodded, biting her lip, unwilling to let go. "I love you, Susan."
"I love you too. Remember, kiss the dog for me!" Susan finished on a cheerful note. Her mother nodded again; she would not tell her daughter that the dog had died long before, just after Susan left. Hesitantly, the girl flipped off the switch, feeling everything that once was shatter into bright facets of red and white in her mind's eye. Slowly, she collected herself for that last call. She would meet her maker, literally.
A23 seemed to be waiting for the call because Susan was placed through immediately. "Relena?" she questioned.
A23 smiled gently. "That is what I used to be called. And you were?Private Susan Andrews."
"Yes, I was." Susan tried to bite down the bitterness at the last word as she gazed at the awe-inspiring woman before of her.
An ironic smile twisted A23's lips. Her unreadable blue-within-blue eyes narrowed as she spoke softly. "Shall we simply stick to our past titles, for old time's sake?"
Susan glanced at her hands, clenching them in pain and frustration. She was too tired for this. Too tired for dead, too tired for life. "Why are you doing this?"
A23 tossed her shaggy hair back, smoothing the material of her dress with one hand. Her bright blue eyes glowed in the light of the laptop. "It is not natural??the societies of space. Everything here is false, and the people are false as well. Drug addiction, suicide, dangerous stunts define life in space and on other celestial bodies."
"So you're going to kill them all?" Susan's question stuck in her throat before vomiting out all at once in a painful scream. A23's face suddenly relaxed to a look of pity. She then laughed, hearing the echoes of the noise rippling painfully through her mind. Carefully collecting herself, A23 sighed deeply, her voice coming out smooth and deep. "No, no. Only those who wish to die with their colony dies. No one else. The people have time to arrive on Earth before the colonies are destroyed."
"What difference does it make? If everyone from the colonies travels to Earth all at once, all the resources will be exhausted within a few weeks!" Susan gesticulated violently, knowing her attempts were in vain.
"And humans shall be forced out to the J curve of population density. Only the strong shall survive this natural selection, and evolution will begin again for our people. The race that evolves from us shall be even greater than those today." A23's words came out precise and alive, like thousands of tiny beings screaming them from her vocal cords with determination.
"This is mad."
A23's face fell into a mask of pain. "Someone had to do it."
Slowly, Susan shook her head, shocked beyond words. At long last, she spoke. "Mad? So that's?that's why you're playing God? To cause our species to go extinct?"
With a crinkling of the brow, A23 fought for words from the slush of ideas pounded out in her brain. "No? No, not at all. We will not go extinct; we, as a species, shall evolve. There will be no more sexism, racism, or any discrimination because only the strong survive. It's only the individual and the combined community that counts. And I am not playing God. Not at all." She hesitated. "Is Une still there?"
Susan blinked, her mind swirling with questions. "No," she answered forcefully. "She left to go to Earth to control the situation there."
A23 sighed softly. "Good."
With that, the two women nodded to one another with equal respect. A flick of the switch erased that odd, thin face from Susan's mind forever as she prepared herself for her own fate. She exhaled, raising her brown eyes upward, her hands clasped as if in prayer. She would die a martyr for the old Relena Darlian. The other woman at least deserved that. Then, the beam cannon engulfed the colony cluster of L1, and she went with it, breathing a last mournful sigh. Her soft form burned and disappeared, crackling beautifully in the brightness of hellish flames, forever washing away the name of Relena Peacecraft into sainthood.
To be continued?
Hopefully this was a little more taste full to readers. Thankyou for the advice, Elegant Destruction! There won't be any posts until the holiday break in a few weeks. I want to thank those reading for their patience.
The torture shall end in a few chapters! :razz: Please R&R 