The Forgotten

Chapter 3

As the Gundams 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 station exploded, Eric,” the pilot calmly replied.

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

She smiled. She enjoyed provoking 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 too 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.

“Correct,” she replied, flipping the r’s of the word colorfully as she brought up an image of the massive dark green machine.

Randell’s eye’s glinted greedily as he looked at the image. “Then he’s here. You have all you need to access his chip.”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Then get to it.” He gave her a severe look “Just the information we need.”

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

“It’d be limited, temporary, and ultimately futile,” 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 doubled 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, realizing what was happening. Someone was accessing his chip and stimulating the nerves of his brain, causing the pain and nausea. 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. What had just happened was impossible. He knew it was, yet displayed on his screen was an image that until now, had been buried safely inside his chip’s memory. It was the sun. But it wasn’t like any sun he knew. Instead of yellow, it was a sickening florescent 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 a nearly 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. Before, no one had known how to get any kind of solar absorber close enough to the sun to absorb the power from the reaction.”

“There’s where the gundanium comes in,” Duo said.

Calder nodded. “My father had studied the Kalansky theory thoroughly and it was his first thought when gundanium alloy was invented. He spent several years designing a particle beam that could be fired into the sun, creating a chain reaction. Then using gundanium alloy in a large solar absorber, 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 incredulously. “Gee, what a shame.”

“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 must have seen my Gundam today and knew where I was. But he’s not the one who accessed it.” Calder said, stone faced.

“What?”

“The only ones who could have done that are my parents.”

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. 180, named Nicalder. The moved to Colony L3-1169 (New California) in A.C. 186. 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.

Arys stretched and yawned. “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 ran 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 nodded and sighed. “I’m going to hack Relic Industry’s servers, see what I can dig up, ” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Calder says he can trace the signal if his parents try to access his chip again. That could also give us a lead.”

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

“Yeah, probably,” Arys said, beginning her excursion into the protected server.

Heero kissed the top of her head. “Don’t stay up too late.”

Alexia Slandovich’s cloaked shuttle passed unharmed through the seemingly solid colony wall. Beyond lay a huge, busy hanger. Several small ships and mobile suits sat there and a huge freighter was docked at the far end, unloading its fill of raw gundanium directly to the refinery.

Alexia settled her shuttle gently onto an empty 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 destroyed 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. As he walked her through the narrow corridors, Alexia couldn’t help but admire the way Randell had hidden the Forgotten facility in the outer service areas of the old colony. The small service spaces had been shut down, and a great many components and even bulkheads had been removed to make room for the refinery.

A moment later, they stepped into a small 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 was furious that she had destroyed the facility. But she also 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 protect the collectors?”

“I believe so. But, keep in mind this is all theoretical. We don’t know exactly how long the collectors will last.”

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

She smiled. “The other mining station is still running. The Preventers probably discovered the first by chance, so it’s not likely they will find this one anytime soon. As for the Geminis, less than a third 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 collectors intact.”

“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, along with twenty Preventer agents, 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 some way to get in!”

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

Calder joined them from another direction, looking at a map on his PDA. “We finished scouting out the service tunnels. They’ve completely sealed themselves in that way.”

Duo nodded. “So the entrance must be at the surface. It’s amazing they could build a facility so big and hide it without anyone noticing.”

Calder smiled sardonically. “The right bribes were made in the right places. Even though they’re part of the Unified Nation now, this colony has its own set of rules.”

Trowa had to remind himself that Calder had already spent several weeks investigating the colony. “Any luck with the hologram readings?” he asked.

Calder shook his head, watching a gang of street kids standing on a corner, smoking and warily eyeing the pilots. “They’re too indistinct. It’s like trying to find the source of the wind.” He smiled. “On Earth, of coarse.” He looked at the screen of his PDA and frowned. “Come to think of it, the patterns are a lot like wind.” He showed Duo and Trowa. “They vary and move in spirals, see?”

Trowa raised on eyebrow. “Energy waves of this type couldn’t be carried on the wind.”

“No, definitely not, but there may be some connection.” Calder bit his lip, studying the patterns. Slowly it dawned on him. He went over it in his mind. Yes. He could very well be right. He glanced at his companions. “Ok, try this out: the wind generators of the colony are at the colonies axis. Meaning the living spaces rotate around them, giving the air flows a predictable pattern. Well, what else is at the colonies axis? Something that would influence energy particles?”

“The fusion reactors,” Trowa said, comprehension showing in his eyes. “The magnetic constriction coils would pull the energy particles towards them.”

“Right. Just the reverse of the wind. So if we can find the patterns, we can find the source,” Calder said. He pulled a schematic of the colony onto his PDA and he and Trowa quickly calculated the pulls each of the colonies four fusion reactors exerted and applied Oakland’s rotation relative to them. A few minutes later, they had the pattern.

Calder motioned to Duo, who was looking annoyed, and they started off.

“You, know, I could’ve helped,” Duo said. “I know everyone thinks I’m a idiot, but I know about energy particles too.”

Intent on their map, Calder and Trowa ignored him.

“And magnetic constricting coils,” Duo continued. “And graviton physics. And…”

Five minutes later, they stopped. The readings were within a few meters.

“…and quantum mechanics. I can write code for Deathscythe’s quantum processors. And…”

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

Duo looked questioningly at Trowa, who shrugged.

Calder walked onto the grass. He lowered himself to his hands and knees and started crawling forward, his ear to the ground. Even Trowa was now looking very perplexed.

Calder stopped suddenly and took out his PDA, running the instrument along the ground. He grinned, stood up and entered a few commands on the screen. A section of the grass depressed and the ground in front of Calder slid open.

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

“It was where our energy readings were coming from. It wasn’t a hologram though. It was some kind of sensor dampening field I’m not familiar with. My scanner wasn’t reading any kind of heat or pressure differences here, but on a hunch, I did a seismic scan and found space underneath the ground. Then I scanned for magnetic frequencies and found the locking mechanism.”

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

“I heard the actual humming of the field generator. 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. Alexia thought they ought to destroy the facility once the pilots infiltrated it, which 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. Alexia watched its progress on sensors. It cleared the bay and set coarse for the laboratory.

“Well done gentlemen,” she said.

The flight controller turned around in surprise and coughed as he saw her. “Thank you ma’am,” he said nervously. 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 cameras covering a lot of Oakland, so they had decided not to enter the base. But they had suspected they would evacuate, and had been right. Duo grinned. This was his second favorite thing to do, besides blowing things up. Outfitted with the latest cloaking technology, Deathscythe was a shadow within a shadow, stalking its prey. Where it would lead him, he didn’t know, but Duo was willing to bet they wouldn’t be happy to have him there.