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"Alternative Directions: Options "Written By: Karina Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing or the lovely
boys and their girls in the series. Wish I did. Please don't sue me.
I haven't even got a brass razoo to give you. Rating: Deffinately PG in Australia, at the moment,
but probably safer to say R for later chapters. Not sure about international
ratings Warnings: It will be 6x2, even though it does
not start out that way. After all, Zechs and Duo never met in Gundam
Wing and only spoke briefly over a com line in Endless Waltz. I've
tried to keep them in character as I saw them in the series. A bit
of language creeping in under stressful conditions. Pairings: eventual 6x2, past 2xH, 2+H,6x9, 1+R
Summary: Directions is set post Endless Waltz
and roughly 2 years have passed. Zechs and Noin are on Mars and Duo,
after spending some time with Hilde in a relationship leaves L2 to
join Preventers. Hilde was not happy about his decision. I guess enough
said. Here t'is, and I hope you like it. This is also AU for the standard
setting, as well as the series and Endless Waltz. Spoilers: Gundam Wing Series and Endless Waltz Many thanks to Dulin for volunteering to beta this. //... // thoughts
"Alternative Directions: Options"
Mars Colony 2nd March AC 198 Mars Noin Darkness. Silence. Profound. Restful. Silence. The resounding depth of the silence that surrounded and enfolded, at first so restful and welcome gradually developed. The quality of it changed in some subtle and at first unidentifiable way. Gradually the silence and the darkness too, had became something different. An annoyance. With time and exposure that too underwent modification and became something more. Annoyance faded as the darkness deepened and awareness became immersed within its embrace, all aggravation, big or small, real or imagined … forgotten. Darkness. Silence. Awareness. Comforting, enfolding darkness. With its peaceful isolation a warmth that drew awareness deeper and deeper into comfort. The deep solitude, all encompassing comfort and a sense of belonging and welcome isolation. It enfolded the awareness, offering a comfort rarely known. Awareness floated within it teased by something that might have been known before, something that had not been deep comforting darkness and treasured warmth but desired and luxuriated in regardless. This darkness, like that other 'something' offered comfort and protection to a psyche sorely in need of such reassurance. It surrounded, enfolded, caressed the awareness like a lover's hand, always knowing just where to touch, always knowing when to touch and always knowing how to touch. A lover's hand. A lover's warmth. A lover's protection. Darkness and comfort. Luxurious, caressing comfort. It surrounded, it blended into the silence and within its secure embrace there was no need to seek out more. With the comfort found within the darkness there was no need for any awareness of more, no memory of anything beyond the welcoming embrace. It was all encompassing compassion, love and protection and it was delightfully never ending. Darkness. Silence. Darkness. Protection. Something … Darkness. Something … Something disturbed the darkness. Some 'thing' … Some 'thing' that disrupted the flow of peace and security that surrounded awareness. This 'thing' that entered into the world … What was this? It was no sound as the thought suggested sound should be. Silence remained undisturbed, surrounding and comforting. No, sound was not the explanation for this 'thing'. Disturbed from the pleasure awareness considered solutions and determined that it should seek elsewhere for a solution to what caused the ripple that disturbed the stillness. Whatever It was it moved through the darkness that protected, a small and insignificant 'something' but it was a 'thing' that stubbornly remained within the safe cocoon of stability and with its refusal to fade from awareness it gave birth to something else. Ripple. Discord within harmony was born. Ripple. Disturbing movement within the majesty of safety. A gentle wave of awareness, disturbing in its presence. A ripple, single and solitary that disturbed the wondrous silence of the deepest pond in which awareness floated, suspended, isolated from all woes. Awareness tried to ignore it, refusing to see anything other than the darkness that should be here, protective and safe but It returned, persistent, to wash over and around awareness, minute and gentle in itself but still a discordant murmur of something best left forgotten. A caress of something that might be. A fleeting awareness of more than the darkness, of something more than the warmth, of something other than the comfort to be found here. What was this thing that would not go? What was this thing that was just a ripple, a single ripple that grew in frequency until it seemed that awareness rocked as though she lay suspended in a gentle tide? She? Awareness possessed designation, change rippled through the darkness and became She. Ripple. Floating within darkness, disturbed by the return of something to be feared. Change. Change had returned and given identity to awareness. She was born into darkness and safety and within darkness was peace. Darkness. Peace. Safety. Change. No. No, she did not wish to notice it. She wished to remain, lingering, luxuriating within the warm and safety of the darkness that welcomed her. There was no need for more. There was no need to seek more than what there was. There was no need for … Tiny, suggestive movement. Discord within the harmony of the universe. Heartbreaking discord. The welcoming depths that held her secure were moving, rippling, a slow and steady rocking motion but with the movement that was Change there was hope. With this gentle rocking she discovered a new comfort. The clinging and flowing of the darkness and the familiar comfort lingered despite the discordant motion that disturbed the ocean in which she floated. She found its rhythm. Ocean? Budding awareness of that stubborn 'thing' refused to leave her. It grew more insistent, less gentle. The awareness of it flickered to life at the rocking of her world and with the rocking the caress of that flowing wave circulating within the ocean became a ripple within a pool. Some 'thing' changed. Some 'thing' moved. The warmth that surrounded her remained, enfolding and comforting. The darkness that surrounded her now seemed to seek out that odd awareness that the 'thing' had become, drawn to it. It differed from the darkness but in one thing it remained the same and that stability was comforting. The spark that had stirred and set motion into awareness still offered comfort, rest and protection. The 'thing', the spark that suddenly was surrounding her made itself felt, insisted that she acknowledge its presence and with her surrender to change and acknowledgement that It was there, suddenly it was gone. There was awareness, no understanding. Discord within harmony. Discord brought change. Shift in awareness, shift in darkness, shift in comfort, shift in everything, the gentle rocking stilled and started again... and stilled. Discord. Change sparked within the discord and that unease within her changed with it, caught up on the indomitable tide. New awareness. Other. Familiarity became discord which became … 'other'. Not warmth. Not darkness. Not comfort. Not protection. Other birthed and was opposite to and yet a part of all awareness and being and was immeasurably beyond all. Other became real. It was. It demanded. It demanded recognition. It demanded to be recognized. It insisted on being named. Name. Other becomes Name. Awareness becomes Name. Comfort becomes Name. Safety becomes Name. Name becomes … Other. Darkness was. Darkness existed. Darkness was comfort, all encompassing, real. Safe. Darkness was the be all and the end all and it was … Right. Ripple in the pond. Other. Discordant ripple of Other returned. Other flowed and surrounded and encompassed and disrupted the darkness. Other returned again and yet again. Perpetual annoyance of Other. Other would not be ignored. Other would not be refused. Other demanded recognition. Awareness. Surrender. Other was intense. Discordant intensity that demanded. Persistent. // ? // Change. Cling to familiarity. Safety in things familiar. Gather the familiar. Darkness. Darkness was familiar. Safe. Silence was familiar. Safe. Safe was protection and promises of … promises of … promises of … Ripple in the pond. // ? // Ripple through the pool of content bringing discontent. // ? // Darkness. Safety. Silence. Safety. Darkness was safe, warm comfortable, familiar. Darkness was … Something there, on the edge of recognition. Reach, strive to grasp, to understand … Darkness was … // ? // Freedom. Darkness was freedom. Disturbance. Discontent. Discord in harmony. Freedom? Annoyance. Darkness was freedom? Darkness was annoyance? Darkness was harmony? Disharmony? Tidal change disturbing the swell of the ocean. Flicker of emotion, something from within. Some awareness from within that was not satisfied with darkness and safety and looked for the current within the movement. Something sought to seek beyond. // ? // Darkness was desired. // No. // Darkness was … disharmony? Order was darkness? Darkness was disharmony, chaos, war. War was … memory. // Memory? // Other was … peace? Darkness was disharmony … run from disharmony … run to safety … run to … peace? // No. // Peace was desired. // Yes. // Darkness was desired. // ? // Silence was desired. // ? // Rest was desired. // Yes. // Awareness awakening. Darkness within. Darkness, enfolding with gentle arms, welcoming and sweet and lulling with the gentlest of caresses. Safe. // Sweet. Safe … A lover's promise. // Other returned. Disturbing ripple in the silence. Other demanding attention by its very presence. Overpowering. Intimidating. Demanding notice be taken of its presence. Demanding attention be paid to its message. Change. Other demanding that action be taken. Change. Action. Inescapable change. // What? // Stirred from sweetest oblivion, disturbed by the suggestion that there was a demand for attention … Inescapable. Staring into the protective darkness. Watching darkness. Confusion. Ripple. Wave in a pond, reaching wider and wider from a central point and lapping eventually against the shore. Such darkness. Absolute darkness. No light. Nothing. Just … nothingness. ------------------------- * “Why is it so dark, mama?” “Because there is no moon tonight and the clouds cover the stars. We will have rain.” “Rain? I don't like the rain. It makes the stars go away.” Caress of a loving hand. Gentle smile in the darkness and the sweet voice that meant all was safe and well with the world. “No, child. The stars never go away. They are always there, just beyond the clouds, never changing. Waiting for you. Always.” “I want to see the stars.” Heart felt longing. Desire, fierce and true and innocent. “You will, Lucrezia. You will. When the storm is over, when the clouds have watered the flowers and everything is made new the clouds will go away and you can gaze upon the stars again.” “Mama, I want to go to where you can always see the stars. I want to go where there are no clouds to cover them up and hide them from me. I want to go to where I can look at the stars all the time.” “For that my daughter, you would have to leave our home. You would have to leave the Earth and go out to live in space with the colonies. There you always can see the stars. I think that this will have to wait, Sweetling. You are a little too young for that, Lucrezia.” “I want to go. I will go where the stars are always shining. I will.” * ---------------------- Darkness. Stars. Seek stars. Lucrezia? Darkness. The darkness of night should be velvet soft with the beauty of a thousand twinkling points of light for her to gaze upon. The night should have the beauty of the stars, alluring, calling her to walk amid their beauty. Velvet darkness sparkling with silver like priceless jewels. Ripple. Change. She knew it now. Change. Inescapable, indomitable. Relentless driving change. The ripple swept through the darkness and this time she reached for it, knowing it now for what it was even as some deep part of her wondered what it was and why it disturbed the peace. She reached, thinking fingers should be reaching out to touch … Touching, just for the briefest instant of time … Touching that ripple and with that fleeting caress she found herself plunging within its depth, riding the wave and plummeting free. Floating, floundering … staring at the darkness, staring into the familiar friend that was safety and … Knowing that it was wrong. ------------------------ * “I will go to the stars. When I am older and no one can tell me what I can and can't do. I will find the stars. I will be a deep space explorer and I will go where no one has ever gone before.”* ------------------------ Change. Snatches of something. Something familiar. Memory. ------------------------ * “Truly, my dear? I think you do not understand what it would mean. It would be lonely and you have never liked being alone, have you? Months, years on end with no place to run, no place to hide from yourself or your crew mates, no place to even hide from yourself.” “Why would I want to hide from anyone? How can I hide from myself? They always find me in hide and seek.” “There is no place in space to play hide and seek. I think you might need to reconsider your choice of future careers.” Fond amusement and the gentlest caress of finger to cheek. “Deep space explorer, daughter? I do not know about that as being a suitable choice for my little angel, but perhaps when you are older we will take you out to the stars, to the colonies. Would you like that, Lucrezia? From the colonies you could look at your stars to your hearts content.” * ------------------------- Stars? Darkness should be lit by stars. There were no stars here. There should be stars. ------------------------- * “I will never tire of looking at the Stars, Zechs.” Darkness, velvet soft, untouched by any hint of cloud. It was wonderful. Beautiful. It would be hers. “Why do you come here so often? Just to look at the stars?” “Of course, and to dream. I look at the stars and I dream of the day when I will graduate and join the space agency. If I study hard and time it just right I could make the first of the deep space exploration probes to go beyond Saturn. I'll be just the right age for consideration by then, you know. You could come with me. Imagine it. We could see the wonders of space together.” A quiet sigh in the darkness. “I will think of you when you leave for your great adventure. Don't look at me like that, Noin. It's not for me, I think, exploring the stars. I have too much to do.” “You have no imagination, Zechs Merquise. No sense of adventure.” “I have imagination, Noin. I also have a sense of adventure but I have things to do that will demand all of my attention and dreaming about the stars will not get what I must do done.” Something wistful crept into his voice, something that clearly said he was not giving her the entire story. “Oh, come on, Zechs. Live a little. Dream a little. Let yourself go for once and look up at the sky and see the mystery and the beauty that can be found out there.” “All I see there are memories best forgotten. I think I need to keep my head firmly on my shoulders, Noin and my feet on the Earth. Send me a post card from Saturn when you get there.” //Boys are such strange creatures. They make no sense half the time. What did he mean about memories? It does not matter. Only the stars matter and the dream. // Velvet darkness and shining starlight. The moon was on the rise and the stars near it faded beneath its glow. Almost full. Her eyes sought out the pin point of light that was Saturn and her smile grew wide and dreamy. // I will go there and no matter what you say, you will be there with me. You are a strange boy, Zechs. I intend to find out what it is about you that is so different.// * -------------------- Change. Progression of changes, one after the other, moving on that rippling tide that was growing stronger. It stirred something within that ached. No comfort there but something suggestive of importance to her. Something that needed to be attended to. If she could understand she could restore harmony. Name. // Name? // The movement shifted around her and brought change closer. The touch of each ripple was stronger now, a caress she sought and did not now flee. Zechs. Name. // Zechs? // Darkness surrounded her, warm and silent and encompassing her entire world and she rocked within it, currents of darkness swirling her into gentle rocking though she felt she did not actually move. Something there. Something that should interest her but there was something more important and it was tied up with that recognition. Recognition? Of what? Zechs. What … no. No, not what but who. Who was Zechs? A name from … from somewhere of importance. Something that needed to be recognized. Memory? Yes, memory. Someone she had known then. Zechs. Zechs … Zechs … Zechs. Yes. Such a silly boy to have failed to look at the stars and see their alluring beauty and feel their gentle magic. Zechs. Strange how the ripple in the darkness swelled at the thought of his name. Swollen, pregnant with importance and she could not see it. Why it was so important. Zechs. It made no sense. What did it mean? Zechs. Six? How strange and unusual. She knew that was right. Zechs. Six. Now why would someone call their child Six? How odd. She knew people with unusual names. Their names if not their faces spun out of the darkness on a wave of awareness that rocked her gently within her protective cocoon. Skye and Freedom from the academy and Stella after the stars she adored and there had been Hope … Zechs. A boy named Zechs. How inconceivable that a parent would give a child such a strange … Something in the darkness, riding the ripple that rocked her. Zechs. Six. Zechs … Six … Zechs … Six … Ripple. Darkness swelling about her, carrying her high, lifting beneath her, surging below her, supporting her body and lifting her, taking her … Taking her … where? Zechs. // What a strange name. Six. // Something … Something … touched. Some 'thing' touched her. Some 'thing' that was other than the surge within the dark pool. Some 'thing' which was more demanding of her compliance. Some 'thing' that was not so pleasant and was rather demanding. Disturbing. Change. Up. Higher. The surge was beneath her and could not be ignored, could not be resisted. It was … It was … Irresistible. The darkness surrounding her was changing, altering… metamorphosis … It was inescapable that she ride the wave higher and higher. She was carried aloft through the stretching, thinning, reforming darkness … Fear. Emotion awakening. Change in a tidal surge that was indomitable. // No. // The pitch darkness in which there was only sensation of movement and dawning awareness and fleeting glimpses of memory belonging to … someone … Change. She emerged from absolute comforting darkness into a frightening beauty. The beauty of this new darkness that surrounded her was all encompassing, overpowering and that other darkness in which she had sheltered faded to become something that was a pale imitation of what she had seen. Velvet darkness, deep and wide and thrilling in its vastness and shot through with starlight. //No.// Starlight. // No. // Darkness and starlight surrounding her. All that she could see, all that she could breathe, all that she could touch was darkness and starlight. // No? Yes? // The celestial dance spread before her, revolving before her befuddled gaze. With light came vision and with vision came … Wonder. It revolved around her, drawing her in, drawing her up into the dance. Carrying her away with its beauty and wonder, the music of motion surrounding her. A siren song she was helpless to ignore. // Beautiful. // The wonder of it, the beauty of it. The magnificence of her dream surrounded her and she bathed within it. There was no thought other than to allow it to touch every part of her body and soul. To fill her entire being with the breathtaking beauty of it. The beauty of the stars. The raw primordial glory of it, unsullied by man. Man could not reach those far away pin points of light within the velvet darkness. They were safe in their silver glory, untouched by the bloodstained hands of humankind. Safe. Unpolluted, unsullied, untouched, unspoiled, un … // Dream. Wonderful. // The star field that surrounded her revolved about her, darkness and light in glorious unsullied beauty. It rolled before her and her eyes drank it in, her senses thrummed with content and … Darkness and starlight became something else. The darkness and the light she could still feel surrounding her but it was being eclipsed, filled with great clouds of rust red. //NO! No … Come back … come … // Change. Discord in the wondrous harmony of the dance. The great hulk of it filled her vision, blotting out the long sought after dark velvet shot through with silver that was her dream. Her goal had been before her and now … Now … Her disappointment was shown in a low throated growl that seemed to thrum through every fiber of her being. She was awareness, returning memory and something other that she had not as yet placed a name to. This rust colour, this redness that was not red was disturbing and she did not wish it to continue. //NO! Bring it back. // Impatient she reached out through the swirling mists, through the mass that insisted despite her every effort to push it away and … It became solid. It became more than mist. Dust … It had been dust, not mist that had enveloped her and against its solidity she pushed, seeking again the purity of the darkness and the stars. // Yes! // Darkness and starlight swirling around her, beautiful and wondrous and … It was there, crowding into her vision, revolving below her in a majestic beauty that rivaled the velvet star field. // No. // Impatience reared and she reached out to push the disturbing mass away. Tiny and insignificant. That was what she was shown to be. Her hand, her entire self was tiny and insignificant against the mass of the planet. //Mars.// Recognition. Mars. More. She had a … hand. A body. She was more than awareness. That was what had been disturbing her for so long. She was incomplete. She had forgotten something of immeasurable importance. She had a solidity that was missing. Mars revolved regally below her, huge and inescapable and calling to her. Calling of things she could not recall, did not wish to remember and blocking from her sight the wonder that she so long had sought. Mars. The recognition of the planet revolving before her sent that disturbing ripple within her rising once again. It rose in a gentle swell that steadily grew, sweeping her along with it, a vast ocean of current that was dominant. It swirled about her, carrying her away with it. Her content with the darkness that had been her friend, her companion and her lover and had ended with reminding her of what she wished to forget… faded. She did not wish to be reminded that she had given up her dream. She did not need to be reminded of the promise she had made to herself so long ago … // NO! // Reminded of a promise that she had never fulfilled. //I came to the stars! // Denial. Anger. Little girl dreams. Little girl dreams were not the same dreams that grown girls dreamed. Little girl dreams could change so easily. Little girls were not supposed to dream of going out into the stars to dream of seeing great planets. Little girls were supposed to dream of fairytale princes and a kingdom of glass that was broken and needed mending. Little girls dreamed of being the dream of Princes who sought to mend those broken kingdoms. Little girls became big girls. Little girls grew up and their dreams grew up with them. Lost princes and fairy tale kingdoms gave way to dreams of wild love and flaming passion experienced within the arms of a Prince who had found himself and such was their passion, such was their love that it was enough to make the very stars weep with its beauty. Little girl dreams. Little girl dreaming. When had Her little girl stopped dreaming of the stars and become that little girl that was every little girl dreaming of princes and castles in the clouds and kingdoms of glass? When? Her little girl. Her. She. She had lost that dream of the stars and never realized it. When? Why had she forgotten? Why had she turned to what everyone said little girls were supposed to dream of? When had she lost her individuality? Why had she never realized before that that little girl who dreamed of the stars and going out into their depths had somehow been lost in the darkness and only now had been found. She had never before permitted herself to look at what her dreams had become and reassess them. When had marrying a man, any man, taken precedence over that long standing love affair with the stars? When had simply caring about Him and the burden that He carried … He. Him. When had the need, the decision changed? Dreams of stars and strange and beautiful places had become …become … lost. Her dream had become secondary and it was no fault of his. It was her. Her. She had made the mistake. She had lost the little girl and grown up and failed to keep her hand on the little girl. When had the need come to claim him solely as her own? Six. Zechs. Sixth … Marquis. Milliardo Peacecraft. Milliardo Peacecraft and the glass kingdom … the glass kingdom of Sanc that had been shattered, broken and ruined. She had dreamed of the stars, promised herself that she would go where none had gone before her and … She had set aside her dream. For a man. // No. // A boy who had captured her attention. A boy who had grown into a man. A man like no other who had not been afraid to do the unthinkable. A man who had done the unthinkable and in the doing had changed the world. //I don't understand. // Mars revolved before her, gigantic, reds and browns and yellows. A great ball of rock that seemed to be closer to her now that before. She was too close to see the ice caps, too far away to see surface details but she had not been this close before. Zechs. Milliardo. Sixth Marquis. He had known the shattering of his world and so had she. Her world had shattered. Her family had fallen to … Chaos. Chaos had reigned. Chaos had become reality and it had a name. It's name was War. There had been war for as long as she could remember. Even in the days with her parents there had been war. A distant horrible thing that worried her mother. It had been a distant thing but it had come closer and one day it had taken everything that she held dear. Her mother and her father and the only stability a small child had ever known had been taken from her in that chaos that was called war. Out of every disaster there could be found something good. Something worthwhile. For her that something worthwhile, that obscure compensation for the end of her world had been a future in which she had the chance to cling to that little girl dream. War had provided her with an exemplary education within the Specials Lake Victoria Academy. War had taken her past life but had provided her with the chance to excel and to train and to ultimately gain the very opportunity she had long dreamed of. She had been given the chance to go into space. It had done more. It … War … had provided her with a man of heart stopping magnificence who repeatedly turned aside from a personal life of individuality and who gave over time more and more of himself for the needs of others. He gave it all, everything that was that child who had survived massacre until there was nothing left that she recognized of the shy boy who had determined to be the best so that he might do the best …for the future. For the future. He had lived in the here and now but always saw the future in everything that he did. Chaos. War. He had determined to take away war by giving them a war that they would never forget. Chaos. War. For Peace. He had given them a lesson in horror and he had dreamed it would be enough to teach them to live with each other with a greater understanding. Or at the very least a healthy fear of there ever being another war. War. Chaos. The end of the world. //I don't … understand.// Milliardo Peacecraft. Libra. Epyon. Memory bringing with it the suggestion of harmony and chaos unbounded. Contradiction. Memory. Despair. Despair that she had not believed him or believed in him. Despair that she had failed to understand. That she had turned aside from her faith in him after so many years of loving him with all the fire that had once been directed at her dream of going out amid the stars. Not his fault that she had taken away her dream of the stars to focus on loving him and making him understand that she wanted him above all else. Chaos. War. The beast. Epyon. She had not understood his reasoning. She had been unable to understand why he would do such terrible things. She had in her misunderstanding and ignorance even fought against him. She had not understood … about anything. Change was inevitable and with it, it brought the opportunity to look again at what one had experienced and who one had loved along the way and the mistakes that she had made. She had not understood. Despite her love for him she had not understood and she had not … until something … She loved him. She loved the stars too. Her love for him? Her love for the stars? Confusion. Circling around and around, the questions that she did not understand and had no answers to until she understood what it was she was asking herself. Memory. Great white suit, small and insignificant against the behemoth of Libra. Red horror in the darkness of the space she loved. Red horror, the demon form. The Beast. Epyon. Was it love that had sent her from the Peacemillion to chase him down and tell him that she … she … PAIN Searing, all consuming PAIN. Nerves on fire. Nerves that rippled agony along her body. She was falling, plummeting toward the distant surface of the planet that grew massive before her befuddled eyes. She fell endlessly in a fall that she knew would, must, leave her a darker red smear on the rust coloured ground of a planet so far from her home. Panic flared, rising, overpowering her. All encompassing. She was plummeting through the atmosphere of Mars and she was a fire ball of pain. She would burn up, perish, become a crisp fall of ash before she would impact in the soil of Mars. She would not even leave the legacy to the planet of a crater. Mars. Even a tiny one. Mars. Just a burned up scattering of ash that would not even darken the colour of old blood that was the soil. Mars … Base Dome. Flash of brilliant gold. A golden cord shimmered against the growing blur of red that filled her vision. Red of fire. Red of dirt. Red of blood. Red of … Golden cord? Her fingers clutched at the cord, awakening to desperation. Her fingers sought out the thin brilliant gleam and closed around the golden rope and there was instantly a warmth and comfort that filled her awareness and plunged her abruptly into a blinding illumination … And into indomitable darkness. ----------------------- 2nd March AC 198 Mars Colony Base Dome Emergency Medical Shuttle Time: 01: 34 [approx Sanc time 23:24 1st March AC 198]
The rhythmic beeping of the monitors filled the shuttle, shattering the silence. High pitched screaming in alarm for a life at risk. The automatic alarms seeking to draw the attention of the monitoring medic, demanding that attention be paid to the patient. No medic came to attend to the alert. The medical computer monitoring the patient contained within the life capsule continued to sound the alert for all of ten seconds and when no manual override was activated the fail safe systems incorporated into the medical systems activated. Through intravenous tubes medicines were injected in quick succession and following the medication sequence a mild electric shock jerked the slender form. The alert for the patient in cardiac arrest continued to sound as the system continued to await the intervention of a human agent. Again a shock, stronger this second time jerked the woman's body into a convulsion and the computer paused. Beep … Beep … Beep … The alert cut out with the renewed cardiac activity and a veritable explosion of printout shot out of a printer. The medical computer evaluated the patients condition and transferred an incident report to the monitoring med computers at the Base Dome and continued to wait for human intervention. More paper spilled from the printer. This information a protest to the humans onboard the shuttle at the inability of the computer to contact a signal from the main medical computers on the base. The printer fell silent, its report of failed attempts to contact the monitoring medical staff for human intervention lying in a mass of white sheets over the shuttle decking. Silence filled the shuttle broken only by the slow and steady double beat of the heart monitor.
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