Pain. Excruciating pain. He couldn’t move. He could hardly see. Everything felt tight, bonded, wrapped. It smelled like gauze, and medicinal ointment. He heard soft clicking. What was going on? Where was he? He tried to get up, but something was restraining him. It took him a while to register that he was all bandaged up. He heard noises, coming from a radio or a TV set. Slowly, he turned his head to the side and saw someone sitting in a green chair.
“Relena?” It was the first name that popped up in his mind. He didn’t know why, but the person seemed female and Relena was the only female he knew. Slowly he tried to raise his head; but the woman in the chair turned around and smiled at him. She wasn’t Relena.
“So, you’re awake? Well, I suppose I better get Trowa, then.” She quickly rose and left her knitting work on the chair. A woman on TV was babbling about OZ. He felt an immense headache and swallowing was difficult. Trowa? The name vaguely rang a bell. He couldn’t remember a face. What’s going on?
He managed to sit up without any support. Hearing footsteps, he looked up and saw the slender young man for the first time, clad in tight jeans and a green turtle neck. His green eyes were on one side of his face covered with long auburn bangs.
“I’m glad to see you’re awake,” he simply said and his voice put the pieces of the puzzle together. The pilot of 03, HeavyArms, Trowa Barton. How the hell had he ended up here?
The unknown woman coughed and politely excused herself, under the pretense to go make some soup. Trowa turned off the TV set and turned his attention to Heero.
“It’s quite remarkable that you’re still alive.”
“Why did you save me?” Heero didn’t mean to sound ungrateful, but he wasn’t really in the mood to sugar coat his words. Something told him that Trowa didn’t mind, either.
“I was supposed to die,” he continued. Trowa crossed his arms and frowned at him.
“You died a long time ago. As far as OZ is concerned, you’re dead. As far as the colonies are concerned, you’re dead. You have no ties with them anymore. You were more than a month out of it.”
“A month?” He fairly screamed. He immediately wanted to get out of bed, but the pain stopped him and he winced.
“There’s no need to panic, Heero,” he said. A slight irritation gulfed through Heero. How did he know his name? He hadn’t introduced himself. Quatre must’ve blabbed – he knew Heero’s name from the New Edwards debacle. Pilot 04 was sometimes too easy with his trust and his words. Trowa didn’t elaborate, and Heero tried to pick up the conversation.
“You must tell me what’s happened.”
“Nothing, really.” Trowa shrugged. “There haven’t been any new orders. OZ hasn’t touched the colonies; the only thing they’re doing is roaming through the land and taking care of what remains of the Alliance.”
“Why aren’t they touching the colonies?”
Trowa shrugged again. “I’m not sure. I don’t know what’s going on. Communication from the colonies is scarce, but if there was a battle going on, we should’ve known. At least you’re no longer tied to the colonies. I’m afraid to make a move; OZ can hold the colonies hostage any time again.”
“Yeah...” The loud growling of his stomach embarrassed Heero. At the same moment, the woman came back with two bowls of soup. She introduced herself as Catherine and after she put the bowls and the spoons down, she left.
“Where are we, anyway?”
“You’re at a traveling circus,” Trowa answered, and chuckled when he saw the surprised look on Heero’s face. “It’s ideal for hiding, since we’re traveling around all the time. HeavyArms is perfectly covered on my truck and I get to work with animals.”
Heero picked up a bowl of soup and started stirring. It was scorching hot.
“Any word on the others?”
“Quatre left for the desert, as usual. You wouldn’t say it when you see him, but he really is of Arabian descent. He was talking about visiting his father in outer space. The Winner family has a lot of resources satellites there.”
“He’s from that Winner family?” Heero was impressed. A billionaire boy fighting in this war?
“How many Winner families do you think there are?” Trowa snorted. “He disinherited himself by fighting,” he continued, guessing Heero’s thoughts. “His father supports total pacifism. I don’t know much about it.”
Silence fell. The soup wasn’t bad. Heero was about to spoon another mouthful, when Trowa said: “05, Chang, never showed up. I wonder what’s up with him. He was supposed to go to the land route, so we had everything equally covered.”
“He’s a loner,” Heero mumbled.
“Yeah, okay. I didn’t think however he’d abandon us. He went with me after the New Edwards... fiasco and he challenged that Khushrenada guy. He didn’t want to talk about it afterwards, but something happened. Chang should’ve been glad he made it out alive, yet he kept sulking the few days he was here, talking about not being strong enough. I haven’t seen him since.”
Heero made a choking noise. Chang Wufei was the last of his troubles.
“So, what are we going to do?” Trowa put down his bowl. Heero swallowed a thick slice of something that was in the soup.
“I guess I’ll still be out for awhile,” he murmured. His left arm and chest gave him the most pain, the rest of his body seemed to adapt rather quickly to the bruises and scratches. “When I’m more up to strength, I’m going to search for the Noventa family.”
“Why?” Trowa changed his position. “What would you gain by that?”
“I don’t know. Someone… someone told me a long time ago that the only way to live a good life is to act upon your emotions.”
Trowa didn’t answer, but the look on his face spoke of disbelief.
“You’re going to search for the Noventa family because of your emotions?”
“Even though Treize Khushrenada tricked me into killing the Marshall, I want to take full responsibility.”
Trowa crossed his arms anew and leaned against the windowsill. “At least you’ve got a goal to live up to. Like I’ve said, you don’t have a single tie left with the colonies. Sometimes I think the only thing I can do, is to do the same thing as you did.”
“Let me tell you one thing, then,” Heero, answered, rather grumpily. “It hurts like hell.”
He was as surprised as Catherine, who came checking up on him, that Trowa started to chuckle, followed by a full-fledged laugh.
Heero felt tired and he was administered some painkillers. He took them without any gruff; he was yearning for some sleep. He would now have plenty of time to recover. The drugs acted quickly and he felt himself dozing away. I have no Gundam. I have no mobile suit. How I am going to fight against OZ if I have nothing to fight with?
Heero smiled drowsily to himself, a feral grin that darkened his features. He didn’t need a Gundam to fight. He would fight with everything he had.
-------------
Duo patiently waited until he was granted permission to enter.
“Enter!”
“Lieutenant Maxwell to see you, Your Excellency,” a private announced and then closed the door behind him.
Treize Khushrenada rose from his chair, fully dressed and with a rose in the upper button of his uniform.
“Duo, I’m so glad to see you safe. I heard about your encounter with the Gundam. You have the same luck as Zechs – both of you survived an encounter with a Gundam.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency.”
“No need for official titles, Duo.” The ginger haired man shifted; his midnight blue half cape rippled around his shoulders. “I’m afraid I don’t have much time. I’ve just instructed Lady Une to visit some of the colonies.”
“Ah, about Colonel Une,” Duo said. He had met her on his way to Treize and he was a bit distracted; the longhaired, beautiful woman was totally not what he had envisioned when he heard about her threatening the Gundams, holding the colonies hostage as to extort a victory.
“What about her, Duo?”
“I joined the Specials and OZ to rid the colonies of the Alliance’s oppression, not to hear that fellow officers are using them as shields.”
“Rest assured, I’ve talked to Lady Une about that. She’s very talented, but also a bit zealous. I’ve instructed her to study more the way of OZ.”
“And which way is that, if I may ask?”
“There’s a time for audacity, and sometimes not. Now is clearly not one of those times.” Treize looked sternly at Duo, who forced himself to look him right back in the eyes.
“I haven’t thanked you in person for your help in Nairobi. I’ve seen that you’ve arrived here with Nichol.”
“As your orders stated,” Duo said, sounding sourly. He didn’t like it when his questions remained unanswered, but he was smart enough not to push it – at least, not with Treize Khushrenada. He noticed Treize was looking at him, as if he expected him more to say.
“It’ll be awhile before we meet again, Duo. I’m returning to Earth. Meanwhile, the remains of the Alliance space forces are cluttered throughout the universe and they have left space mines to be cleaned up. I know how you love space, Duo. One day, you’ll be able to return to L2. For now, I want you and Nichol to work at the Lunar Base. Nichol will assist Une, and you will take up the instruction of the pilots upon you.”
“Instruction? Your Excellency, with your permission, I want to resign from the Specials.”
Treize picked up his rose and smelled it. “Resign? What are you planning to do, Duo? You’re not as strong as before; you’ve taken quite a hit and you’re not in a position now to go out in the field.”
“I... I want to return to L2,” Duo forced himself to stand upright.
“You want to go back to your church? The one that was leveled in an Alliance attack? What’s there left for you, Duo? Don’t expect them to welcome you with open arms- they’ve all seen you leave with the Specials. Do you want to look for the professor?”
“The professor was good to me,” Duo replied, sounding irritated.
“Why did you leave him, then? You didn’t look back one time.”
“I thought... think he died in the raid.” He clenched his fists. And I thought he couldn’t help me get my revenge. I thought I made the right choice back then, but everything I decided since has turned around and slapped me in the face My revenge certainly didn’t bring me what I was hoping for.
“I’m counting on you to help me, Duo.” Treize continued voice smooth and void of earlier annoyance, as if nothing happened. “I want you to study the new Taurus suits, the ones you accompanied to Siberia. They’re equipped with a new system and they’re called Mobile Dolls.”
“Mobile Dolls?” Duo felt like a parrot. He flicked his braid over his shoulder. He was very curious as what Treize was about to say.
“I want you to keep me informed about the progress on those mobile dolls. Romefeller has sent chief engineer Tubarov to the Lunar Base to develop the system. Its artificial intelligence is supposed to replace human pilots on the battlefield.” He snorted. “The only use I see for them is to take care of the space mines. I think that OZ will take another direction if the humanity is removed from warfare.”
“There is no humanity in warfare,” Duo said. “What’s there to remove?”
“Wars are started by humans. We haven’t evolved much in all those years. We’re capable of sending people into space, but the only difference is that we use beam cannons instead of wooden clubs to kill each other. Just imagine, Duo, what would happen if wars are fought with Mobile Dolls.”
“It would at least cut down the number of casualties,” Duo answered. “However, Your Excellency, I was convinced that the production of mobile suits would come to a halt, now that OZ is at the helm.”
“We still have to get rid of members of the old Alliance. This will take time and effort. How else do you think we can remove them? By talking to them?”
Duo gritted his teeth. “I saw the chu... my home being destroyed because of violence. If we keep answering with violence, nothing will be resolved.”
“I see. Maybe the pacifistic ideas of the Peacecrafts are more to your liking. I didn’t think you felt that way.”
Silence.
“I won’t give you permission to resign from the Specials. You’re in no shape to go wherever but the Lunar Base. The medical staff there can help you with your recovery, and in the meantime, you can instruct the pilots and keep an eye on the production of the Mobile Dolls.” Treize put the rose back in the button.
Dismissed. Duo saluted. “I will stay in touch.”
“Thank you. Oh, look after Nichol and Lady Une as well. I don’t have any doubt that Nichol is a good soldier, but sometimes his fanaticism goes a bit overboard. And Lady Une... well, she needs protection as well.”
“Anything about Zechs?”
Treize looked up, something wild and bitter flared in his eyes. “I’m afraid Zechs has chosen a path that doesn’t seem clear to me. I don’t expect him to be much longer with us.”
Duo hid his shock well. Treize was telling him in no uncertain words that he was having doubts about OZ and its future, and Zechs was acting on his own, probably burning every bridge behind him. What was happening here?
“Don’t worry, Duo. I trust you to do good work at the Lunar Base. Keep me informed of the Mobile Dolls.”
He saluted. “Sir!”
Duo opened the door to leave, but turned around the last moment. He felt Treize calmly watching him.
“You promised me revenge on the Alliance, and I got it, Treize. Don’t make me want to take revenge on OZ as well.”
He closed the door and went to search for Nichol.
------------
The next morning Duo was dressing in front of his mirror. His quarters were hardly any different from the one he had on Earth. Even at the Lunar Base, a former amusement park on the moon, his reputation had preceded him. Or did they want to suck up to Khushrenada’s favorite soldier? After his arrival on the Lunar Base, chief engineer Tubarov had welcomed him and Nichol with a festive banquet, but Duo felt the hypocrisy oozing from the elder man. He knew the chief engineer wasn’t pleased with him and the orders to share the progress of his work. Duo hadn’t eaten much, tired as he was and allowed Nichol to do all the talking.
He checked himself in the mirror. For the first time, his cap stood at the right angle and he didn’t know whether to smile about it or to let it pass. In the last second, he bumped it more backwards and stepped out of his room.
He was walking through the corridors, when he heard: “Move it, old geezer!”
Curiosity piqued, he looked around the corner. OZ soldiers surrounded a couple of elderly men, clad in laboratory white coats. Duo couldn’t distinguish them, as more soldiers rushed to the scene and surrounded the elder men, apparently prisoners. He shrugged. Before he could talk to one of the soldiers, a little skirmish broke out. One of the elder men had fallen and was injured; soldiers were shouting different orders.
“What’s going on here?” Duo asked.
The soldier saluted and said: “Lieutenant, these are the engineers who were captured at the colonies.”
“Ah, the Gundam engineers!” Duo looked over his shoulders, but the men were out of his sight. Two OZ soldiers helped the fallen engineer up on his feet, but his face was hidden from view.
“Officer-“ he quickly peeked at the nametag, “Barton, make sure they stay behind bars, okay?”
“Yes, Lieutenant Maxwell. You’ll be surprised to know that there is also a Gundam pilot heading this way.”
“A Gundam pilot? To the Lunar Base?”
“Yes, with his Gundam as well. He was floating around in a space pod, almost like he wanted to be caught.”
“Well, as long as you make sure he’s not going anywhere,” Duo admonished. The man saluted and Duo continued to walk to his class. So, one of the Gundam pilots was captured and brought to the Lunar Base. What could be their purpose? What are they trying to achieve, fighting against OZ, risking their lives? The colonies have turned against them, so what’s the purpose?
He certainly wouldn’t mind trying to pilot a Gundam. Duo had always felt that his Aries limited his piloting capacities; a Gundam would be the ultimate challenge. He always thought that his piloting career would be over after the declaration of peace; but OZ hadn’t declared peace at all. It’s just replacement, he thought bitterly. OZ or the Alliance, it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who’s at the helm- the colonies still aren’t free. Why do I still feel like I’ve been betrayed… or have I betrayed myself?
-----------
The space shuttle docked smoothly according to procedures. Heero loosened his seat belt and got up to retrieve his laptop case out of the luggage compartment. He had arrived at the Lunar Base without a hitch; with fake papers, the general lack of control and confusion had made it easy for him to slip through customs. He was dressed in the uniform of an OZ private, and after filling out an application, he was sent to the Lunar Base. For any other officers stationed here, he would be nothing more but an annoying private running around, a mere errand boy.
He didn’t mind. He had to blend in, and this way he could go whenever and wherever he wanted. His primary reason to arrive at the Lunar Base was to execute the Gundam engineers.
Their capture had made headlines in the world news and OZ had announced their execution.
Heero severely doubted that OZ would carry out these plans. The engineers would prove to be too valuable in current warfare. The colonies are so used to being controlled, they don’t even see through OZ’s facade. Instead of military force, OZ’ is using the cunning guise of cooperation and assistance, cooing the colonies with false sense of security and peace sentiments. In the end, it doesn’t matter and the colonies will find out that they’re not better off with Khushrenada as their leader- with an army of advanced mobile suits, because he’ll probably have the engineers work in secret for him.
Marquise and Khushrenada. Both ranked high on his hit list. Heero suddenly noticed people were looking funny at him, and he reminded himself to relax his features. Every time he thought about those two, his face automatically took on a very grim expression. He followed the other privates, and he entered the main hall of the spaceport with the noisy luggage belts.
It took him some time to pick up his duffle bag from the belt and he hurried toward the admittance desks. Speeding up, he tripped over the long leg of another private and slammed into the person approaching him from the right.
“Hey, watch it!”
“Take it easy, take it easy.”
Heero had dropped his duffle bag and reached to pick it up. When he looked up to apologize, he stared into incredibly huge eyes. Incredibly blue eyes. Incredibly beautiful eyes. He realized his mouth was still open and snapped it tightly shut.
“Private, apologize immediately to Lieutenant Maxwell!” A tall man, with short, brown hair and a harsh looking face, poked Heero in the shoulder. “Hurry up!”
Before Heero stood a boy... no, a young man his age, clad in the standard dark green uniform, exactly the same as the OZ officers around him. His heart-shaped face was radiating... exuberance and he was looking expectantly at Heero. The most striking thing about him was the long brown bangs covering his brow and, if Heero wasn’t mistaken, he saw a dangling, thick braid.
He quickly saluted. “My apologies, sir! I didn’t see you coming.”
“It’s alright,” a baritone voice sang to him, “I believe you were tripping over something, it’s okay.”
“Sir!” He still stood in his rigid position, hand upheld in salute.
“At ease, private. You must be looking for the admittance desk?”
“Yes, sir.” He moved his hand downwards. It suddenly clicked in his mind. The silver, wing-shaped insignia on his uniform.
“You’re a ranking officer of the Specials?”
The young man obviously mistook Heero’s amazement for awe, and patted himself on the chest. “I may look young, but I’ve got all it takes to be in the Specials.”
“Lieutenant Maxwell comes highly recommended for his bravery,” the other man addressed him. “You’re not the one to speak to him so freely, private. Go to the admittance desk and stop bothering us, or you’ll be sweeping floors for the rest of your tour!”
Heero saluted again, seething with anger.
“The admittance desk is on your left, three blocks away,” the young officer said to him and Heero could’ve sworn he winked at him. Lieutenant Maxwell, wasn’t it? He looked at him walking away and indeed, a thick braid was dangling behind him.
“You’d better be careful,” a familiar voice spoke up. Heero turned around and saluted again, if only for the one speaking to him was an officer... and no one less than Trowa Barton. So that’s what he had been up to. He hadn’t seen Trowa since they parted from the traveling circus. It seemed pilot 03 had been busy infiltrating and working his way up in OZ’ ranks.
“As you’ll soon find out, Lieutenant Maxwell holds high esteem here. If you can’t follow rules, I’ll see to it that you’ll learn them fast. We’re on our way to a board meeting, so don’t bother us.”
He walked away without acknowledging Heero. He quickly swung the duffel bag over his shoulder and proceeded hastily to the left side of the main hall. He closed the line of the admittance desk. So Trowa made it to the Lunar Base too. Is he here for the engineers, or for something else?
------------
“Lowe, Odin?” An elder soldier, supervising the admittance, peered over the heads of the young soldiers in front of him. Heero raised his hand. It wouldn’t be wise to use his original name. He received a map of the Lunar Base, a stack of papers describing every rule and regulation and his room number. He had to bunk with someone else; having a room for his own would’ve been too obvious. He first wanted to hack the OZ computers for it, but dismissed the thought. He was undercover now, no need to draw attention. Think of the mission.
He spent the rest of the day acquainting himself with the structure and layout of the Lunar Base and he attended a welcome meeting for the newly arrived privates where he had to listen to some boring speeches. Finally, it was time to have something to eat, and after dinner he retreated to his room. He hadn’t met his roommate yet and was on his way when an officer approached him.
“You there.”
Heero stood still. It was unmistakably Trowa’s voice. “Sir?”
“I have a chore for you, private. Come with me.”
Heero followed him without hesitation. They went down corridors, escalators and floors until Heero was sure he’d never find his way back. Finally, they walked into a long hall with rooms which were obviously used for confinement. With a cat-like grace, Trowa ducked every camera in sight and they reached a gray door.
He motioned Heero to approach. He hadn’t asked when it would be safe to speak and when he saw Trowa move his hand, he said: “Safe?”
“Safe,” Trowa answered. Heero heard noises behind the barred window.
“Heero? Is that you?”
“Dr. J?”
Trowa moved to the right and Heero stepped forward. His mentor grinned at him behind the bars. “So, have you come to kill us, lad?”
“Why haven’t you done it yet?” Heero addressed Trowa, sounding irritated. He had hoped he could dispose easily of this problem. He heard some noise in the background of the cell, but he ignored it.
“I can’t, not at this moment. Colonel Une’s using them to build another set of Gundams, the Vayeate and Mercurius. Their death would be too obvious now.”
“OZ’s going to regret keeping us alive,” Dr. J said, grinning again. “In a few cell blocks from here, they’re keeping your fellow pilot, Chang Wufei.”
“Chang? They got him? But how?”
“He let himself get captured,” a booming voice came from within the cell. Heero assumed it was Wufei’s mentor, but he didn’t know his name.
“He’s brought his Shenlong Gundam with him, to upgrade it.”
“I left my HeavyArms back on Earth,” Trowa spoke softly. “It’s about to be upgraded also, but I couldn’t bring it here.”
Heero heard again the ruckus back in the cell. Someone spoke up, rather gruff, but was smothered by the comment of the others. J heaved a sigh.
“02 is here also,” he finally said.
“The Gundam? How?”
“Howard and his Sweepers were ratted out,” J explained. “He had to sacrifice his ship to get out alive, but failed to blow up Deathscythe in the progress. OZ brought it here for public display at the Lunar Base. They had Trowa destroy it; to make sure he was loyal to OZ.”
“You destroyed a perfectly good Gundam?” Heero hissed.
J shook his head. “No, Heero. It was already considerably damaged in the fight and if Trowa had refused or hesitated, OZ would know something was wrong. He couldn’t take that risk.”
“It wasn’t easy.” Trowa’s voice faltered a little.
“It’s now being upgraded,” J said, looking behind him and sighed again. “Don’t mind G. He’s a bit upset.”
“I’m not upset,” the gruff voice croaked. “I keep telling you that 02 is here.”
Heero didn’t understand the man. “The Gundam is...”
J disappeared from the window and the professor took his place.
“No, I’m talking about the pilot 02. He’s here, on the Lunar Base! I saw him when they were bringing us to the cell blocks.”
“Give it a rest, G.,” J said, not too friendly.
“Who is it?” Heero whispered. “I can look him up and...”
“It’s not worth your time, Heero,” J answered, rather harsh. “From what we saw, the kid’s an OZ officer. We can’t deal with him. He’s probably too much emerged in OZ politics anyway. He’s lost for the cause and we have to find someone else. If time permits.”
“No one is piloting Deathscythe but 02,” the gray man huffed. J shrugged.
“Never mind, Heero. It’s not one of your mission parameters. It’ll take us at least another month or so to upgrade the Gundams properly.”
“We can’t stay here much longer,” Trowa interjected. “We’d better go.”
“Stay alive, Heero. There’s still much work to be done.”
Heero and Trowa left the cellblocks. They hadn’t much time to catch up, Trowa told him sparsely about how he’d worked himself up into OZ’s officers ranks and that he hadn’t heard from Quatre, besides his impending visit to his father. He didn’t know why or how Chang Wufei would’ve let himself captured; he couldn’t believe he would be only doing that for the upgrade of his Gundam. They had to split up before they reached the mess hall and Heero searched for a place to sit down. He had much to think about.
------------
“Chief Engineer Tubarov?”
Duo squinted his eyes. The laboratory was sparsely lit, despite the impressing number of blinking control panels. He carefully moved forward.
“Ah, there you are.” The voice that greeted him didn’t sound pleasant. Tubarov turned around and eyed him – he was an ugly man, with a displeased look on his face and a strong, malicious look in his eyes. The chief engineer was dressed in one of those pompous outfits the Romefeller Foundation seemed to be so fond of. Duo had learned that this Foundation had its roots in old European aristocracy and clung on to almost forgotten traditions and rules. No one in his right mind would dress like a medieval clown, Duo thought, but he wisely kept those thoughts private.
“You’re here to brief everything over to Khushrenada, aren’t you?” The man asked.
“I’m ordered to report any progress on the Mobile Dolls to His Excellency,” Duo answered.
“Very well,” Tubarov said, motioning with his hand. “Come closer so you can see.”
Duo eyed the command console. “This is where the Mobile Dolls receive their commands?”
“I’m working on a remote control procedure, but the system is yet too unstable to perform actions. We’re deploying the dolls first for sweeping mines, so we can test how their artificial intelligence responds.”
“Only the Taurus suits are suitable?”
“At this moment, yes. We have plans for more sophisticated models, but we’re far ahead of where our technology is capable of.”
Duo pointed at another control. “Do you operate the Taurus with this?”
He reached to take it. Tubarov was faster and grabbed it away from him.
“No! I mean, no, not with this console.”
“Chief engineer, I’m going to work with the Taurus. I need to know everything about it.”
Tubarov pocketed the control. “Yes, yes, I know. I’ll make sure you’ll learn about the Mobile Dolls. But don’t forget that I’m the supervisor here, Mister Maxwell. No matter how favored you are, your privileges can be revoked at any time.”
“I wasn’t overstepping boundaries, sir,” Duo answered and he forced himself to look the man right in the eye. Tubarov wasn’t impressed.
“And I was only reminding you of the boundaries, Lieutenant. There’s no need to get upset. Come back tomorrow, and then I’ll teach you how to deal with the controls. They’ll be custom built in your new suit.”
Duo thanked Tubarov with all the politeness he could muster, and made sure he left the room calm and composed. Outside, he released the breath he was holding. He was glad one of his students came up to him to invite him to have lunch together, so he could forget about the chief engineer.
Chapter 3 | Chapter 5 |