~Starling

Arys strolled down the main street of downtown, looking for the Looking-Glass Insurance Company building. Perhaps this Infinity was a person if she wanted to meet Arys in a building. Still, that would not explain why Infinity would have chosen an online persona that matched Arys' appearance. Arys sighed as she came up on a small building wedged between two tall skyscrapers. She would have missed it if she had not been looking at the address numbers. She stopped in front of the small building and looked up at the sign over the door.

"Looking-Glass Insurance Company," Arys whispered. "Guess this is it." She stood at the front door for a few moments, studying the building thoughtfully. It looked... dead. She heard no movements within, saw no lights in the windows above her.

Arys reached for the door and turned the handle. It opened outward and Arys stepped into a dark hallway. There was not even any emergency lighting. She groped for her pistol and aimed it in front of her. The only light came from outside the open door.

"Hello?" Arys called out, trying to keep fear from turning her stomach.

The front door slammed shut behind her and the lights came on, revealing a sterile hallway lined with at least ten doors on each side. All of them hung open. At the end of the hallway stood one closed door.

Arys whirled around. She jiggled the handle on the door, but it had been locked. She turned back around, gun still in hand.

As soon as she turned around, the doors on either side of the hallway began to shut two by two. Arys jumped slightly at the sound. Like dominoes falling, they slammed closed in sequence. Then, they simultaneously locked. The click of the automatic locks made Arys smile wryly. So, Infinity did not want her entering those rooms. But then, where was she supposed to go?

As if in answer to her mental question, the closed door at the end of the hallway creaked open on rusty hinges. Arys strode forward, passing the locked doors on either side of her with some wariness. She made it to the end of the hallway without incident and walked through the open door. As soon as she entered, that door too closed and locked behind her.

Heero sat in the conference room with the other pilots. Even Quatre and Trowa were there. Quatre looked slightly worried, but Trowa had his ever-present neutral expression on his face. Wufei sat back in his usual chair, arms crossed over his chest in his usual manner. Duo was on Heero's other side and he was already fighting sleep. Heero resisted the urge to elbow the second Gundam pilot. Heero glanced at the empty chair beside him and felt a pang of sadness. Arys always sat next to him during meetings like this, but this time she was the reason for the meeting. He pushed the emotion away as Colonel Une stepped to the front of the room. Sally Po came in at the last minute and took the chair beside him. She nodded to him in greeting. Heero nodded back and then focused his attention on the chief Preventer officer.

"Thank you all for coming." Colonel Une greeted them. "I know this is a bit unusual during peacetime, but something has come up that needs to be dealt with." She picked up a projector remote and flicked a button on it.

An image of a colony showed up on the screen at the front of the room. "This is Colony X-000001 in the L-1 colony cluster. The colonists have been experiencing strange weather changes, power outages, and computer problems for the past week." The projector played a few video clips of a freak storm happening on the colony. Duo leaned forward, sleep forgotten.

"Whoa..." He muttered.

Heero rolled his eyes and Colonel Une continued.

"We've already sent one Preventer agent to the colony. Arys Walker." Colonel Une looked at her audience, her gaze taking them all in. "You all know who she is and what she is capable of. We've gotten one status report from her so far." She flicked the button again and a black screen came up. But Arys' voice filled the room.

"I believe the situtation here may be bigger than we thought. I just talked to Chase O' Connor, a boy who actually met the AI that is supposedly plaguing the colony. The AI calls itself Infinity and takes the appearance of a woman. I have not yet determined Infinity's motives for its actions. I will search for Infinity in a cyber community called CityTech tonight. Perhaps then, we'll be able to get some answers." There was a slight pause and then Arys began to speak again. "There is one more thing but I am hesitant to mention it until I find out more about this Infinity. This is Arys Walker." The recording ended in static and Colonel Une turned it off.

The room was quiet for a few moments while those present digested the report.

Heero spoke up. "Did she send in a written report?" He and Arys had developed a way of writing to each other via written reports when on different missions. He wondered if she had anymore information for him.

Colonel Une nodded. She handed him a printout. "Yes, she did. We're expecting another report from her tonight. I'd like to have another meeting tomorrow morning at 1000 hours." While Heero read the report, Colonel Une walked back to the front of the room, sweeping her gaze across the rest of the group. "Are there any questions?"

Quatre leaned forward, steepling his fingers underneath his chin. "Has Infinity killed anyone yet?"

Colonel Une shook her head. "It seems to be docile at the moment." Quatre looked relieved at her reply.

"It's playing with us," Trowa spoke up in his quiet voice. "Frightening us."

"Trowa's right." Wufei uncrossed his arms and glared at the projector screen as if Infinity were pictured there. "Infinity is a computer program so it would more than likely look down on humans, consider itself superior."

Heero nodded as he handed the report to Sally. She skimmed it over quickly, as if she had already read it, and handed it to Wufei. "From the way it spoke to the boy, Infinity does think it has the upper hand."

"Arys needs more information before we send anyone else to back her up. Be here at 1000 hours tomorrow morning. We'll have more information then and we can decide who should go. Dismissed."

The pilots began filing out of the room, silent. Colonel Une put a hand on Heero's shoulder. "I'd like to speak to you privately, Heero."

Heero waited expectantly as the room emptied. Colonel Une shut the door behind Wufei and Sally. Then, she turned to Heero, professionalism put aside for the moment.

"What did she say?"

Heero stared at the projector screen. "She's worried. I can tell from the way the report was written. There's something she isn't telling us."

"Did she tell you?"

Heero shook his head. "No. She said to keep monitoring the news broadcasts. She did mention that Infinity may be a person masquerading as an AI."

"An interesting suggestion." Colonel Une gazed off into space for a few moments. "I wish she had told us what was worrying her."

"Arys won't reveal her inner worries if it will burden others. It's her way."

Colonel Une nodded. "You're right. Thank you, Heero."

Heero took that as his dismissal and headed for the door. Colonel Une's voice stopped him again.

"Did she say anything else to you, Heero?"

Heero opened the door before replying. He glanced back at the colonel over his shoulder. "I love you." The door closed behind him.

Colonel Une smiled at the closed door. She loved subtly teasing Heero about Arys. He did not seem to mind it so much anymore though. "Heero, just when do you plan on marrying the girl?"

L-1 Colony Cluster
Colony X-000001
Looking-Glass Insurance Company

Arys stepped into a large chamber full of computer equipment. It looked like the control room of any military base. In fact, all the equipment in the room was military issue. She briefly wondered how it had gotten into an insurance company building. Her attention was caught by the large screen above the main computer console and the words blinking on it.

Please sit down, Arys...

Arys stepped forward, wary of the command. She gazed around the room, trying to see if there were an exit door. In reply to her movements, a new message came on the screen.

There are no exits from this room, Arys, other than the door you came in. And that one is locked. So please sit down.

Arys sighed and holstered her gun. She hated the fear roiling through her mind. She had not felt such fear in a long time. She walked forward and sat in the chair in front of the console. The chair suddenly came to life and metal bands whooshed from hidden compartments to imprison her in the chair. Arys stiffened as the bands closed around her.

"Stupid, Arys. That was stupid." She chided herself as she tested the strength of the bands. It was useless. She was held fast with no hope of escape unless Infinity decided to let her go. She looked up at the screen again.

Thank you.

"What do you want, Infinity?" Arys shouted angrily. The situation had gone out of her control too far, too fast.

Humans are the perfect puppets, Arys.

Arys jerked back in her chair as a face replaced the words on the screen. That face. It was her face. Same dark hair, gray eyes, dusky skin tone. The image's lips moved as a voice, her voice, poured from the console speakers.

"Arys, welcome to Wonderland."