21-Sep-2000
"I'll try to explain everything."
<That's great, Yuy. But how am I supposed to explain all of this when I don't even know the whole story myself?> Heero stared at the screen for a moment, hesitating. Then he felt a soft hand on his shoulder. Odin. Offering the other chair, from Duo's desk.
"You should sit down too, Heero. Let me handle this. Just sit back and learn." Heero nodded slowly, seating himself next to Duo. Their eyes met, feeling a spark of kinship; they were both completely confused, and were about to learn some things that might change their lives and their relationship forever.
Odin pressed a key, and the disk drive whirred, and a video capture appeared on the screen. It was the laboratory they had destroyed on their last mission, the one that had housed Odin. The tank was there, but the mass of tissue within it was much smaller, approximately human-sized. Several lab assistants, three male, one female, were moving around the room, taking readings and reviewing charts. Then Dr. J's voice began speaking.
"AC 180, 01-02, 0602. The discovery of an apparently biological specimen on the asteroid which struck our orbiting satellite months ago has brought about some interesting data."
The camera zoomed in on the tank, where a lab assistant was lowering a bar of metal toward the small, pulsing mass of tissue. As soon as it touched, the mass wrapped around it, and the metal was slowly transmuted into more of the alien tissue. The procedure was repeated with wood, plastic, and flesh, all with the same results.
"As this demonstration shows, the creature is capable of absorbing matter into itself, reconfiguring it at the molecular level to add to its own substance." Chemical formulas flashed across the screen for a few moments.
"Exposing the material to high temperature, radiation, and physical damage has no effect whatsoever. Tests have shown its resilience to be very similar to that of gundanium. Trials are being run to examine the feasability of incorporating the substance into our mobile suits."
The tissue in the tank was pressing against the glass, pounding against it. The female lab assistant was standing near it with a clipboard, measuring its activity. Heero's eyes widened as he got a good look at the young woman. Her features were quite similar to his own; the same tousled dark-brown hair, only slightly longer, held back in a ponytail; the same facial structure, and eye shape, although hers were dark brown, more typically Japanese.
Duo seemed to be noticing the same thing. "Heero, she looks just like.... you, with boobs!" Heero snorted, his eyes never moving from her face. "Baka."
As they watched, she lowered an arm into the tank to gently stroke the mass of tissue. It almost seemed to arch into the caress, like a cat. The doctor harumphed softly. "My junior assistant, Fuyuka Yuy-Lowe, believes the alien matter is in fact a sentient organism, and has been measuring its responses to stimuli, as well as attempting various methods of communication."
A taller man came into view of the camera, speaking to Fuyuka, though the video did not pick up the sounds. Heero focused in on the man. <He looks almost like Odin Lowe,> he noticed. <Except thinner, and taller. And his eyes...> Behind his glasses, the man's eyes were a bright, intense cobalt blue, the same shade as Heero's.
Duo stared, still confused, but with a growing sense of amazement. <Those two look like they could be Heero's parents! But what does that weird alien stuff have to do with them?>
Odin pressed a key, and the recording jumped ahead. "AC 180, 04-16, 0928. Fuyuka and Randall have been working with the creature for the past few months, and believe it capable of at least rudimentary intelligence. Though they are a long way from actual communication, they believe that given enough time, they can establish some type of interaction with the creature."
Fuyuka was still standing by the tank, but was now obviously pregnant, her swollen belly protruding through the labcoat. The blue-eyed man, apparently Randall, was walking away, off the screen. At that point, however, the creature, now half-again as large as a human being, pulsed once, and then suddenly extended a pseudopod out of the tank, grasping Fuyuka.
She had time for only a small gasp of alarm, before she was pulled into the tank and enveloped by the tissue. Chaos ensued. Dr. J and the other assistants were rushing toward the tank, some recording the event on notepads. Randall rushed to the tank, his face contorted into an expression of disbelief and horror. He climbed into the tank itself, trying to pull apart the mass, clawing at it to try and find his wife again.
The tape flickered, and jumped forward again.
"AC 180, 09-08, 1245. Shortly after... ingesting my lab assistant, the creature reconfigured itself into a shape vaguely analogous to the human womb, and ever since, has been quiescent. Readings indicate occasional movement within the mass, and there is a measurable life sign within. Whether or not this is Fuyuka is uncertain. Due to its seemingly impervious nature, retrieval continues to be impossible."
"AC 180, 09-23, 0736. Amazing as this may sound, the creature has just given birth... to an apparently human child. The mass opened for approximately two minutes, during which time it expelled the fluid it had been storing for the past nine months into the rest of the tank. At that time, this child was seen swimming around the tank by one of the lab assistants. The theory has been put forth that perhaps this is in fact the creature's attempt at communication with humans."
The screen showed a shot of a tiny baby, its head covered with dark hair, paddling through the fluid of the tank. It turned toward the camera as it zoomed in, smiled delightedly, then swam back into the alien womb, which closed instantly.
"H-heero..." Duo whispered, awed, "That's.... that's you...?" Heero stared, reaching out to place his fingertips against the screen.
After that, Odin flashed through the scenes more quickly; the child rapidly matured, coming out of its protective shell for a brief period each day, swimming around to stretch its growing limbs, before retreating. Dr. J measured its stats, took blood and DNA samples, tested its capabilities.
"This child is more than human," the doctor explained. "Apparently, the substance of the creature has been integrated into his; his DNA is like none I have ever seen before. And his reflexes, strength, and agility, both physical and mental, are amazing. This child could be exactly the breakthrough we need to finally win freedom for the colonies."
"AC 183, 04-15, 1455. Randall Lowe has apparently disappeared, and taken the child, now aged three, with him. For the past several months, he had been disagreeing with my plan to use this child to create my Perfect Soldier. I had informed him not to consider the subject his son any longer, but instead to think of the good of the colonies. However, he appears to have let emotion override his thinking. I have instigated a search for Randall and the boy, but with no success so far."
"Three years old," Heero mused. "That's about when I met up with Odin Lowe..." <Randall Lowe, Odin Lowe... they must be connected-- same name, same approximate appearance. Brothers? Cousins? Is that why I ended up with him?>
"AC 188, 09-05, 1303. After five years, I have finally found the subject once more. Still on X18999 colony, wandering the streets. He accepted my offer to pilot the Gundam 01, one of my other creations, and one of which I am quite proud. The Wing Zero would have been superior, considering its enhanced targeting system, which incorporated approximations of the intelligence of the organism which originally spawned him. Unfortunately, production was never completed. Still, I can continue the programming I began five years ago."
<That was when the training began. The alterations, the chemicals, the needles...> Heero shuddered, watching the events unfold, his memories returning clearly. <I'd forgotten all of this... forgotten how bad it was... but I remember now.> He repressed the tears he felt building behind his eyes, and instead looked at Duo. Duo's face was caught in an expression of horror, sadness, and disbelief, as he watched the atrocities performed on his friend and beloved.
<God, Heero... now I understand where you got it from. How they closed you off, made you forget your emotions; how could they do that to a child..?!> Duo winced with every inflicted hurt, a sob catching in his throat every time the child that was Heero cried.
Heero closed his eyes, not wanting to watch anymore. <I don't want him to pity me. But more, I don't want him to see me as some alien monster. What if he thinks I'm something horrible, unnatural? I was raised in a tank. Through genetics, and through training, I became something that's certainly not human. But at least now we know where I come from.>
Duo finally dried his eyes and glanced over at Heero. "H-Hee-chan? You okay?" Heero glanced swiftly at him, startled. "I... h-hai. I'm fine. Duo, you... does this... change anything...? How you think of me, I mean....?"
"No way, Heero!" Duo glomped him tightly, burying his head in Heero's shoulder. "You're you. It doesn't matter where you came from. You still had a mom and a dad, you're still human, just with a little... extra. Heck, anyone who'll set his own broken leg and walk on it can't be all human, ne?" He winked teasingly.
<I can accept you, whatever you are, Heero... if only because I hope it means you'll accept me, if you find out the truth about me, about Shinigami...> He shuddered inwardly, clutching Heero tighter.
End Part 12
(:./madcat/separate12)
