In the year After Colony 200, humanity’s age long curiosity to discover life beyond the Earth was answered. Aelan Marcus and Kiron Gorrs came from the distant planet of Eden to observe humanity, and with the orders to destroy humans if they became a threat.
Their mission was to undertake several unexpected turns, as the people of Earth proved to be more cunning and resourceful than even the wisest of Eden had imagined. Now the battle to save humanity begins in earnest, a battle that could alter the course of the galaxy itself…
Heero slid down a short tunnel, with Relena hot on his heels. They then felt air as if they had emerged into another large area. From there, it was a short drop to the soft dirt below. The damp ground served to cushion the fall slightly for both of them. From there, he felt a pair of hands help him to his feet. Relena quickly found her way to Heero’s side, and the hands started to push them in a direction through the earthly dungeon.
"Hey, what’s going on? Who are you, and why are you pushing us?" Relena demanded.
All of a sudden, the hands stopped. "You… know Earth language?" A voice asked softly, "Are you two from Earth?"
Relena was definitely shocked, "I am Relena Peacecraft, from the Earth Sphere Unified Nation."
"You can call me Heero Yuy." Heero didn’t seem surprised, "I take it you are Julio Doran."
"How… did you…"
"How do you think we got here? We came via the same Fold generator that you used. Your daughter is STILL waiting for you."
"Amore?" Julio gasped, "She brought you here?"
"I’m assuming that she was hoping that we’d find you and bring you home while we were visiting the Tenant Council."
Julio laughed in the darkness, but it wasn’t a laugh that bode cheer, "Well, you aren’t getting out of here. The Edenites call this place, ‘Hell’. The only way in is through a Quantum Fold, and since there aren’t any generators here, it’s obvious that there isn’t any way out."
"This is just dirt. Wouldn’t it feasible to dig?"
"The Edenites surrounded this cavern with a mesh of Durium. There isn’t any way through it."
"Durium?" Heero asked. He had heard of that metal, but its hardness made it impossible to forge. "That stuff is 20 times harder than even Gundanium. It can’t even be forged in the heat of the Sun. How did the Edenites manage to do it?"
"I don’t know." Julio admitted, "There is so much I could learn from the Edenites, but they don’t appear to be willing to share their knowledge."
From above, they heard the sounds of anger. Julio quickly starting pushing them again. "Hurry, it looks like the natives have found my little trapdoor. We have to get out of here quickly."
"Do you even know where we are going?" Relena asked, unsure.
"I’ve walked these catacombs for 15 years. I’ve figured out where everything is by now."
It didn’t look any different (not that anything looked different in Hell), but when Julio finally stopped guiding them through the darkness, it was obvious he thought they were safe.
"Perhaps I should explain what goes on down here." Julio said, "There are two types of people in Hell. There are the native Edenites, and then there are the outsiders. The Edenites are usually here because they challenged the desires of Eden. They are either violent offenders, or political prisoners."
"Then there are people like us." Julio continued, "Through one reason or another, we found our ways to Eden, and we are banished here for the good of Eden and the galaxy."
"Yeah, we’ve heard that line." Relena answered, almost seething.
"This is a very bleak place. Food is scarce, water even scarcer, and light is valued as much as the air we all breathe. Some of these people were born in this hole, and have never seen the light of their sun. The people of Eden trapped down here blame the people like us. Had people like us never visited Eden, they wouldn’t be here, they claim."
"How do you know so much about the Edenites? Can you understand their language?"
Julio chuckled again, and answered, "Even the average Edenite is frighteningly intelligent. The few Edenites that are on our side of Hell learned the various languages of the prisoners here in a few days after arrival."
"Wow." Relena asked, just before a grumbling sound followed her words. Sheepishly, Relena added, "I guess I’m kinda hungry."
Julio seemed to instantly cheer, and said, "I can handle that! Take hold, and follow me."
Once again, the trio was on the move. When Julio stopped again, he said, "Here we are. I can’t say that we have much to eat, but Talor, here is one of the finest gatherers down here. He is also one of the few native Edenites on this side of Hell."
"I see we have some new visitors." Talor stated with a light regal tone, "Well, what can I do for you?"
"The young lady, Relena, here is a little hungry. What do we have for her?"
"A young lady, huh? There aren’t many of those down here. I have a nice selection of grubs that were unfortunate enough to crawl into my grasp." The Edenite said happily, "They appear to be quite large, and supply much needed nutrients."
Relena grabbed Heero’s arm, and whispered to him, "Is he serious?"
"Julio said that food was scarce." Heero whispered back, "What did you expect?"
Julio seemed to catch onto Relena’s disapproval, and asked, "Anything else?"
Talor seemed to sigh, then replied, "I have a few earthworms that I was saving for a special occasion, but I understand how the poor girl must feel. There yours if you want them, miss."
"Earthworms?" Relena moaned, "I don’t think I’m that hungry."
Talor didn’t seem insulted. He must have felt the same way when he had first appeared in this place. When he replied, it seemed more of a promise than a statement, "Don’t worry… soon you will be."
Julio pulled the pair away from the gatherer, and apologized, "I am sorry about that. I think that you need some time to adjust, after all, you might be here a while."
At that moment, Relena tripped over a person. "I’m so sorry. Are you alright?" When the person didn’t respond, Relena reached out to the person, and went right through the person’s decaying face.
Relena screamed, and Heero quickly rushed to her side, putting his arms around her. "That person’s dead! He’s dead, Heero!" Relena sobbed, burying her head into his shoulder.
Julio sighed sadly, "When people die here, we sometimes don’t know it for a long time. Thank you, Relena, I’ll find someone to clean it up. I know it sounds cold of me, but this happens on quite a routine basis."
An hour later, Julio finally got to what he considered the most important part of the tour. "Remember when I said that light is as valuable to the people of Hell as the air they breathe?" He asked.
"Yeah." Heero replied.
"I’m about to show you my light. Most of the people on this side of Hell don’t even come near this place, it shows them what they’ve become, and reminds them of what they once were. The other denizens however, would kill every person here to get this."
It was obvious there had been a wall in the way, for when Julio turned, leading Heero and Relena with him, there was suddenly a dim yellow light bathing a large tunnel ahead of them. For the first time, they saw Julio Doran in the dim light.
Relena gasped at the sight. He looked emancipated, half dead, with a yellowish puss underneath his eyes. They realized that he quivered involuntarily, most likely from his body trying to generate as much heat as it could. His face looked like it was about to cave in, his cheeks drawn, and his lips a very unhealthy shade of bluish-red.
There wasn’t an inch of fat on his body, and there were parts of skin that hung from his frame, the bone almost visible underneath. His ragged clothes, that probably fit at one time, hung from his frame, his tattered shorts held to his hips by a thin, sharpened bone stuck through the waistline.
"Can you believe that I am considered healthy?" Julio asked, his voice cheery, but his eyes were full of pain. "Come this way."
The three walked through the tunnel, and into a small cave, where in the center was a small fire. "I used all sorts of things to start this fire, and at one time it burned brightly. It represents my hope, and as time passes, my hope, along with this flame, continues to die."
Julio took a seat, and motioned for Relena and Heero to do so as well. When they sat, Julio continued, "Every waking hour here is a fight against despair. The friends you make here could very well be gone the next day. You could wake up, and he or she would be gone. The smell of death is only covered by the smell of terror and of despair."
Julio looked at him, his eyes pleading for something, anything that could take his mind off of where he was, "There were times where I wanted to let go of all my feelings, to turn into one of those crazed people on the other side of Hell. This place rapidly tears any sense of compassion and hope from you. But every time I am tempted to abandon my light, I am always brought back."
Even though he couldn’t be much older than 50 years, Julio moved like was closer to 100, reaching into his pocket, and pulling out a faded pink ribbon. His fingers moved, shaking across the silk.
"My Amore gave this to me when I left Earth to test the Quantum Fold generator. I promised that I would come back to her, and she gave me this ribbon as a symbol of my promise. This is the one thing that keeps my hope, my light, burning."
Julio then stood, saying, "You both must be tired. You can rest here if you want, I have some things of my own to do."
"How could a race do this to people?" Relena asked Heero.
"You’d be amazed what people are willing to do when they are filled with a self-righteous zeal." Heero replied, "It is no different here than on Earth."
Relena slid over right next to Heero, and leaned her head against his shoulder. She decided to change the subject, and asked, "Why do you put up with me? Why did you let me live all those times?"
Heero thought about the reasons…
"We’ve got to get moving." Heero said, almost in command. He stomped the small campfire out. "We need to use the cover of darkness to take a vessel across the Atlantic. We can’t risk being seen yet."
Relena nodded, and the pair quickly broke camp, but it was obvious that Relena had one question that was nagging her.
"Heero, why did you save me?" Relena asked, her voice seemed hopeful, as if she was waiting for an answer beyond what Heero was willing to give.
Heero stopped walking, dropping his head slightly, "If you were to die, it would most likely lead to another war that I am not very keen on fighting." He lied. Letting it stay at that, Heero started walking again, not letting himself admit the truth, still trying to keep his emotional armor intact…
‘Not this time.’ Heero said to himself. This time, he was going to be totally honest to Relena, and to himself.
He took Relena’s hand in his hand, and looked into her dirt-streaked face. "I was once like this. I was once trapped in Hell. I had eyes, but I couldn’t see anything. I stumbled through life, trying to find some purpose, some reason to exist."
He stared into his eyes, eyes that he could get lost in if he wasn’t careful. "When I met you, I could tell the difference. I could start to see again, even though I didn’t want to admit it. You gave me a reason to live, even all that long ago. Even when I was too stubborn to realize what you had given me, it was there. After meeting you, I was finally alive."
"Heero…" Relena gasped, but he quickly silenced any talk.
The kiss was short and innocent, but it carried more passion than even the most lustful meeting of mouths. Relena didn’t want this moment to end. During the kiss, she totally forgot where she was. Even the terrors and darkness of Hell was no match for the emotions she felt at that moment.
When he pulled his mouth away, Relena settled her head into his chest, and breathed out heavily, snuggling close to his body. She then sighed, and said, "Thank you, Heero… for everything." A few minutes later, she fell asleep.
Tenderly, Heero put his arms around her in a gentle embrace. He looked up, as if his eyes could burn through the earth above. ‘If there is a God anywhere, I want to thank him.’ Heero said in his mind, then he joined Relena in slumber, confident in his knowledge that despite all the evil and darkness that surrounded them, one thing was completely right…
Heero felt a hand shaking him, and Aelan’s voice calling out to him. At first he thought it was a dream, but when the hand slapped him, Heero was brought back to the conscious world.
Sure enough, Aelan was bent over in front of him, "Heero, you are a hard man to find, you know that? I had hack into Eden’s sensor array all the way from Earth to find you, then generate a fold here. Come on, it is time you two went home."
Relena slowly awoke, and she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. When she opened them again, she nearly screamed out in glee. "Aelan! How did you get here?"
"Kiron’s generated a fold right outside this cave. We have to get going. A Terran fold isn’t nearly as reliable as an Edenite one." Aelan insisted, dragging the pair to their feet. As he started to guide them outside, Relena suddenly stiffened.
"Julio! Aelan, Julio Doran is here somewhere! We have to find him!"
Aelan shook his head. "Maybe you didn’t understand me. The fold isn’t going to stay intact very long. We have to get out now. Don’t worry, I will do everything I can to insure that he doesn’t have to stay in this pit much longer."
Despite that, both Heero and Relena continued to protest, and Aelan had to nearly force them outside, and into the fold. Finally, Aelan jumped in himself, and the trip to Earth began.
The sudden surge and quelling of the gravity well from the fold caused an equally sudden eddy of movement in the normally stagnant air of Hell. The gust blew through the nearby area, and Julio’s small fire died out…
L1 Colony, Science Bay…
Heero and Relena emerged into the science bay of L1 colony, and they needed a few moments to get used to the sudden surge of light after nearly a day and a half in total darkness.
When their eyes finally adapted, they saw Aelan shake Kiron’s hand.
"Thank you, my friend." Aelan said, "We’ll show ourselves back to Earth. You need to get back under cover."
"I understand." Kiron replied, "I’m just glad I could be of help. If you need anything else from me, let me know."
"I will." Aelan promised. He escorted Heero and Relena out of the science bay. Checking to make sure that they were gone, Kiron made his way to his office. Plugging in his Edenite keyboard to his terminal, he waited a few minutes for a connection to be made.
Next Time…
Kiron’s plan moves into full swing, as he prepares to remove everything that could challenge his ambitious designs. Enlisting the help of an unexpected source, Kiron strikes out at Aelan, then at his own home of Eden.
Coming in Episode 9: To be as Gods