OIC (6)
MegaZone23
"Very few things are as they seem."
--Anonymous
"Ben? Are you asleep?"
Gryphon opened his eyes. Kei was leaning over him in
the dark of the room, her face marked with sharp shadows in
the pink light of the lava lamp. Night, then.
"Not any more," he replied, smacking the scattered bits
of his consciousness back together. "Why?"
"Good." She kissed him. Hard.
"Hm," said Ben when she was done. "What was that for?"
"Just because," she replied, getting into bed beside
him. "It's been a rough day. It seemed like a good thing to
do. Besides, you looked like you needed one, and I know I
did."
Gryphon chuckled. "Tell me about it...what a shitty
day. Which reminds me, Yuri says hi."
"Oh she does, does she?"
"Oop--I detect a note of annoyance."
"Just a little. She's really upset over MegaZone--she
blew me off when I went down and tried to get her to eat
something. Me! Her own partner, her best friend. She's
too busy with Jenna, talking about all of that mysticism
shit."
"Hmm...yeah. I dunno about that sometimes. I mean, I
know there's something to it. You know full well that you
and Yuri are psionically active. I've experienced enough of
empathy and the like to give it some credence...and Jen seems
more reasonable on the subject than some...but I always
thought of Yuri as being more concrete than that. Empathy
and your powers are tangible, they can be easily identified
and shown for what they are. What Jenna talks about...I
dunno."
"She's desperate to save Zoner."
"Well...so am I...but I think the answer can be found in
slightly more mundane circles. Lord Fahrvergnugen has
connections in almost every branch of science--I'm sure his
people can come up with something. They'll probably have
something ready for us when we get back to Planitia. I
thought Wolfgang was going to have a cow when Yuri insisted
we bring Zoner along with us instead of leaving him in the
base hospital."
"I wish I had your confidence," Kei replied, toying idly
with a bit of his long hair. "I worry about what'll happen
to Yuri if Zoner dies."
"I don't know," Gryphon said softly. "I hope we don't
have to find out. I'm running out of friends as it is...I
don't want to lose Zoner and Yuri."
"We may lose Yuri anyway, before this is over," Kei told
him. "She won't eat, she won't sleep...she's going to slowly
kill herself before he even wakes up. I can't look her in
the face anymore, I want to scream at her and shake her. I
used to know her."
"Hmm...maybe we should go down together and kidnap her."
"And do what with her?"
"Drag her to Denny's and make her eat something. Just
the color of Key Lime pie should cheer her up."
"And if Zoner were to wake up while we were at Denny's?
She'd never forgive us."
Are you going to be able to forgive yourself if she
drives herself to an early grave? Gryphon asked himself, the
thought directed toward Kei as well. He decided to let the
question go unspoken; Kei was upset enough as it was.
They lay for some time in silence, holding each other
and taking strength from the embrace. Neither could think of
anything more to say; both lay silent, turning over plan
after plan in their minds, and rejecting them all.
There was a soft ping and the monitor on Gryphon's PC
showed the EVE logo.
"Am I intruding?" Eve's voice asked, the symbol still on
the screen.
"No, Eve," Gryphon said, getting up and going to the
terminal. "Go ahead."
The screen changed to Eve's standard head-and-shoulders
projection. "I hate to be the messenger of bad news,
especially at a time like this, but MegaZone's condition is
worsening."
"Oh, no." Gryphon put his face in his hand. "What
happened?"
"Unknown," Eve replied. "His core temperature has
dropped by three degrees, with a corresponding drop in heart
rate, respiration, and blood pressure." Eve looked downcast
and said softly, "He seems to be dying."
"Fuck," Gryphon said softly; then, loudly, "Fuck!" He
turned, seized by a sudden rage, and backhanded a Pepsi can
off his desk, sending it crashing against the far wall and
bouncing into the corner.
"Ben, stop it!" Kei cried, jumping up and seizing his
arm before he could punch something solid and hurt himself.
"I'm sorry," Eve said. "Is there anything I can do?"
"Yes," Gryphon replied, struggling to maintain control.
"Yes, there is."
"Name it."
"Sing `Tell Me the Secret'. Please."
"If you wish." Eve paused, loading something into
memory, and then as background music appeared behind her,
sang a hauntingly beautiful and slightly mournful song,
dancing to it as the viewpoint of the monitor pulled back to
a full-body simulation. The song was in Japanese, and
Gryphon wasn't sure entirely what it meant, but he loved it,
and hearing it sung soothed him. In a moment he no longer
wished to put his fist through a cinderblock wall.
"Thank you," he said quietly when the song was over.
"You're welcome," Eve replied.
"Can you do me one more favor?" he asked.
"Of course."
"Contact ReRob and find out if he found that Shadow
Legios for me yet."
"What are you going to do?" Kei asked. "Run the Air
Force blockade and take people home now? What about Zoner?
And Yuri--God, she must be beside herself."
"I can't deal with that right now. Trust me on this--I
need to get rid of some of this stress and angst and sheer
black anger that's building up inside me before I can deal
with Zoner or Yuri. You go down and see to Yuri--she's your
partner, your best friend, you can help her more than I can
anyway. That's been shown already."
"ReRob reports success," Eve announced. "A Shadow
Legios is ready and waiting in cargo hold six."
"Great. Kei," Gryphon said, turning to face her and
taking her hands, "take care of Yuri. She'll need you. I
love you." He gave her a kiss. "And remind Yuri I love her
too." And, throwing open the doors, he was gone, off at a
dead run for cargo hold six.
Kei stood looking after him for a minute or two, then
ran to sick bay.