The Forgotten

Chapter 3

As the Gundam’s moved away from the area, a small shuttle watched from the asteroid field. As soon as they were out of range, the pilot powered up the engines and began to move. She waited patiently for what she knew would come. Her console beeped and she activated the view screen. An angry face appeared on it.

“What just happened?” the face demanded.

“The base exploded, Mr. Randell,” the pilot calmly replied.

“I know that you idiot,” Randell snapped. “Why?”

She smiled. She enjoyed taunting the arrogant man. “The Preventers were about to board it. I activated the self-destruct sequence.”

Randell’s eyes narrowed. “You should have checked with me first.”

She shrugged. “You would have approved. We couldn’t let Ramirez be captured. He had to big a mouth. Now we don‘t have to worry about that.”

“That’s not the point,” Randell said angrily. “Besides, Ramirez was still valuable. Our plans have been set back.”

She just smiled.

Randell sighed. “How did they get past the patrols?”

“They somehow got the defense perimeter down, and attacked with seven Gundams,” she stated.

“Seven?” he said incredulously.

“Yes sir,” she replied.

“Let me see it,” he ordered.

She punched up the image she’d taken of the massive dark green Gundam. Randell’s eye’s widened. “Then he’s...”

“Yes,” she said.

He sneered. “Then you have all you need to access his chip.”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Then get to it. Just download the information I asked for.”

“But if we could get control of his Gundam...”

“You know just as well as I do that we couldn’t do that,” Randell snapped. “And if we tried, he’d be able to trace the signal. Just get the information and disconnect. Randell out.”

The screen blinked off. She looked at the image of the Gundam and sighed. She began to type at a keyboard, singing softly to herself. “Rock-a-bye baby, on the treetop. When the wind blows, the cradle will rock...”

Calder, still in his Gundam, looked up from the book he was reading. The strangest sensation had just come over him. He paused and waited for it to come back. Suddenly an intense wave of nausea hit him. He double over and groaned. He tried to access Wraith’s internal sensors to see what was wrong. He couldn’t get through. Something was jamming his interface.

“When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall...”

The pain intensified and Calder gasped. Through the pain, he felt the chip in his head automatically cycle frequencies to try and lock out whoever was accessing it.

Suddenly the screen to his right came to life and began running rapidly through images and schematics. He stared at it in horror. That was what they were after. Then...

“And down will come baby, cradle and all.” She finished typing and smiled grimly.

Calder sat on the floor of the cockpit, shaking uncontrollably. He looked up at the last image left on the screen. It was the sun. But it wasn’t like any sun he knew. Instead of yellow, it was a sickening fluoresant green, pulsing with an eerie life. The image faded. Calder pulled himself back into his seat and accessed his communications.

“Colonel Une?”

“Go ahead,” she replied.

“We have another problem.”

“The Transgenetic Particle Beam was a theory developed by my father before he died,” Calder began. “The theory stated that the sun could be turned into a Kalansky Furnace, offering an inexhaustible power source.”

The others sat silently around the conference table. “What is a Kalansky Furnace?” Quatre asked.

Trowa answered for him. “A physicist named Edward Kalansky theorized that a controlled baradian reaction could provide an inexhaustible power source. Baradian particles had been discovered in the sun’s chromosphere, but no ever thought seriously about trying to make one.”

“Until your father,” Arys finished.

“Right. He had discovered another property of gundanium alloy that allowed a baradian reaction to be controlled. He spent several years designing a beam that could be fired into the sun, creating a chain reaction. Then using gundanium alloy, the energy created could be harnessed.”

“And the Forgotten have been gathering up large amounts of gundanium alloy,” Quatre said.

“Maybe it’s just me, but that doesn’t sound incredibly good for the sun,” Duo stated.

“It wouldn’t be good for the Earth,” Heero said. “If the sun was turned into a Kalansky furnace, the Earth, and the colonies, since they depend on solar power, would die.”

Duo looked at him. “Bummer.”

“My father didn’t even tell my mother about this. He used the chip that’s in my head to store all the information on the Transgenetic Particle Beam. He did tell one other person though. A man named Eric Randell.”

“So Eric Randell is going to try and create a Kalansky Furnace?” Duo said. “Why?”

Wufei answered. “He would be the only one who could harness the energy. And without the sun, the Earth and colonies will need that energy to survive.”

Colonel Une nodded. “So if Randell knew that your father had stored the information on your chip, why did he wait till now to access it?”

“Because it would take very precise information, including knowing my exact position. He saw my Gundam today and knew where I was. But you know what the scary thing is?” Calder said, smiling slightly.

“What?”

“My parents are the only one’s who could have accessed the chip.”

Arys sat at her computer, searching for any information on the Slandovich family. There wasn’t much. Nicholi Slandovich had married Alexia Borishnikov in A.C. 179. They were both scientists at Gorbechev University, majoring in quantum mechanics. They had a laboratory baby in A.C. 181, named Nicalder. The moved to Colony L-31169 (New California) in A.C. 187. They worked in research for Relic Industries from then until their deaths in A.C. 195 from a laboratory accident triggered by a battle in close proximity of the colony. There was no record on their son after they moved to New California.

Arys read it through a second time, then typed in ‘Relic Industries’. After a few seconds, the record appeared on the screen. She skimmed through the unimportant things until something caught her eye. She magnified a picture of the CEO and read the short profile. Eric Randell was CEO of Relic Industries from A.C. 190 until his death in A.C. 195. He was killed in a laboratory accident triggered by battle in close proximity of the colony along with several co-workers.

Arys frowned and looked closely at the picture, committing it to memory. The door behind her suddenly opened. “Hey,” Heero said.

She glanced up and smiled as he leaned over her shoulder to look at the screen. “Hi.”

“What’s this,” he asked.

“That’s Eric Randell. He was supposedly killed in an accident along with Calder’s parents.” She closed the window and read further about the Relic Industries. “The company he did research and development and such.”

“So the company might have been tied to what Randell is doing now. Because Randell and at least one of Calder’s parents are alive. Do you think they staged the accident?” Heero asked.

She shrugged. “It’s possible. But why? Wouldn’t they be able to do just what they are doing now whether they were thought dead or not?”

“Maybe, maybe not. And there might be another reason they could have done it.”

“What other reason?”

He smiled slightly. “I don’t know. There just might be.”

She sighed. “It would be a lot easier if we knew about this,” she said. She shut off the computer and turned to face Heero.

“Calder says he can trace the signal if his parents try to access his chip again. That would give us a lead.”

“But they know that as well as he does,” Heero said, frowning. “They got what they wanted, so they probably won’t try again.”

“Yeah.” She leaned against him. “I guess it’s their move.”

Alexia Slandovich settled her shuttle gently onto the pad. She grabbed the disk she had made and stepped out into the docking bay. A young man stood there, waiting for her.

“He wants to see you now,” he said nervously.

She smiled. “Very well.”

The young man shuddered at her cold smile. He’d heard about this woman who had used her son a guinea pig. He hadn’t thought it was possible for someone to be so cruel. And she had detonated the mining facility, killing hundreds, without a second thought. He knew Mr. Randell didn’t support such actions, and he put up with this woman because he needed her. He walked her through the corridors, then stepped into a secretarial office and indicated the closed door across the room. She stepped in.

Randell looked up as she entered. “Alexia, please sit down.”

She wasn’t fooled by his demeanor. She knew he furious that she had destroyed the facility. But she knew that he wouldn’t reprimand her. She sat down and handed the disk across the desk. He took it and inserted it into his computer.

He smiled as he looked the information over. “Excellent. When can you begin construction of the beam?”

“Just as soon as I set everything up.”

“And we have enough gundanium to control the reaction?”

“Initially, yes. But we don’t know how long it will last before we have to replace it.”

He sighed. “We shouldn’t have wasted so much on the Gemini’s. A lot of good they did.”

She smiled. “The secondary mining station is still running. It’s most likely that the Preventers discovered the first one by chance, so it’s not likely they will find this one anytime soon. As for the Gemini’s, less than half of them were destroyed, and we have eighty more nearing completion.”

He looked up. “Maybe we should scrap them and make sure we have enough gundanium to keep the reaction going.”

“Don’t worry about it Eric,” she said patting his arm reassuringly. “Everything will work out fine.”

He didn’t look convinced. “Dismissed,” he said with a wave of his hand.

The seven Gundam pilots combed the streets of Oakland, looking for anything that might have been overlooked. Duo met up with Trowa at an intersection.

“I can’t find anything!” he said, frustrated. “They have to have someway to get in!”

Trowa nodded in agreement. “They’ve hidden it really well.

Calder stepped up, looking at a map. “Any luck?”

Trowa shook his head. He showed Calder his map. “I’ve been concentrating my search in the areas that the theta radiation is lowest, assuming they would have their entrance away from the refining areas. These three houses are cleared, this entire apartment building and those two houses are empty. I’ll get a warrant to search all three. I could use some help with the apartment building.”

Calder nodded. “I’ll help. I still can’t figure out why we’re getting anomaless hologram readings, but we can’t seem to pinpoint them.”

Duo shrugged. “Maybe they’re just trying to throw us off. Or maybe the people here have bad gas.”

Calder laughed. “What?”

“I’ve always associated anomoless smells with that,” he said, shrugging again.

“Somehow I doubt that’s it,” Trowa said dryly. “Come on. It’s time to meet up with the others.”

They walked for awhile, then suddenly Calder stopped and looked around carefully.

“What is it?” Duo asked.

“Shh,” Calder said. He began to walk slowly away.

Duo looked questioningly at Trowa, who shrugged.

Calder stopped at a large tree and put his ear against it. He then took out his scanner and ran the instrument along the trunk. He grinned, dropped to his knees, then depressed a section of the ground. The tree suddenly disappeared and the ground in front of him slid open.

Duo’s jaw dropped as he and Trowa approached. “What was that?” he asked.

“It was where our hologram readings were coming from. It wasn’t just any hologram though. It was a force field made to feel like a solid tree.”

Trowa frowned at the door. “But the readings weren't any stronger here than anywhere else.”

Calder shrugged. “Somehow the hologram just sent out readings without them being stronger where the hologram actually was.”

“What did you hear though? And why didn’t we hear it?” Duo asked.

“I heard the actual humming of the hologram. It was extremely high frequency, so most humans couldn’t hear it. I have enhanced hearing from some of the experiments my parents did. As well as enhanced sight and smell.”

“Whoa,” Duo remarked. “Glad I showered. I guess you did benefit from having parents like that.”

Calder just shook his head. “I had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving each of the procedures. And I was in a lot of pain after each one. I’m not particularly grateful.”

Duo looked down. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right. Now, how about we check this thing out?”

Trowa nodded and took out his walkie-talkie. “Noin. We found an entrance.”

Alexia Slandovich watched as the freighter was loaded. The Gundam pilots had been sighted above the facility, so they were evacuating it. Slandovich thought they ought to destroy the facility once the pilots infiltrated it, and she knew they would eventually, but Randell wanted to save the base for later use. Besides, she wanted to see Calder one last time before she killed him. She had been tempted to access his chip again, to see if she could talk to him directly that way, but had restrained herself.

She had spent a long time studying the information her husband had hidden from her. She had to admire it. The man really had been a genius. To bad he had kept such a secret from her. They could have done this without Randell. But she would take what she could. A warning sounded on the P.A. system telling all personnel to evacuate the hanger for the freighter launch. She went to the control room the supervise.

“Bay is cleared,” the flight controller said. “Open bay doors.”

Warning lights blinked and the doors slowly began to slide open. The freighter was pulled into position by small trucks. Slandovich watched the engines ignite.

“Traffic control, this is freighter Sullivan, reporting go for launch,” the captain reported.

“Roger that Sullivan. Force field has been dropped. You are clear to launch.”

The freighter’s engines fired, sending the freighter forward. Before it left the docking bay, it activated its cloak and shimmered out of visibility. Slandovich watched its progress on sensors. It cleared the bay and set coarse for the laboratory.

“Well done gentlemen,” Slandovich said.

The flight controller turned around in surprise and suppressed a gasp as he saw her. He coughed nervously. “Thank you ma’am.” Why hadn’t anyone warned him she was there?

Unseen to the Forgotten, the Gundam Deathscythe turned to follow the sensor shadow that told him a ship had just left the hidden bay. They had found camera’s covering a lot of Oakland, so they had decided not to enter the base. But they had suspected they would evacuate the base, and had been right. Duo grinned. This was his second favorite thing to do, besides blowing things up. His cloak had been modified so they couldn’t detect it, and now they would lead him right to their base.

Hope you’re enjoying the story so far. Sorry if I’ve been getting bogged down in technical details. Some exciting parts are coming up, so stay tuned!