Chapter Two: Woodstock, Heart-Surgery, or No Electricity?

*“Hey Quatre!”

“Yeah Hilde?” Quatre grunted beneath the weight of a giant beam of steal he, Trowa and Duo were lifting.

“I thought you said this was Hiiro’s idea.”

“Well, in a way. He told me to do it even though you all thought it was a lame idea, so I suppose so. Why?”

“Then where is he? Shouldn’t God-boy be helping with something he was so interested in doing? Ouch!” Hilde, and Catherine who was beside her, flinched as she cut a wrong wire and sparks flew.

“Yeah, that’s a pretty good question. Hiiro’s better with the electronics than any of us. If he wanted this time machine so badly, why didn’t he show up to do his fair share of work on it?” Sally asked as she swung down from the catwalk above the beginnings of the machine.

“Maybe he’s busy?” Catherine asked meekly. The other stared blankly at her, and Wufei let out a low chuckle.

“Dare to dream. Yui’s always busy. But if he wanted this enough, he would have come out to see it through.”

“Well, even if he’s what pushed us into making it and he’s not here, we’re still making it, so we might as well stop worrying about him.” Trowa finally remarked.

“Sure Trowa.” Quatre nodded, not really believing the words. Hiiro had reasons. He just hadn’t said why. Hiiro always had reasons.

“So Quatre. Tell me how this thing is supposed to work again?” Dorothy asked him as she strapped a rope around another heavy piece of metal and began tugging at it.

“Well, the theory is the same as a black hole. In a black hole, the collapsing space puts so much pressure on a person that they actually begin to see time backwards. It goes so fast, though, that in the blink of an eye it’s all over. This machine is built to drop a person into a simulated black hole that puts so much pressure on them and goes so fast that it pushes them back in time.”

“Did anyone understand that?” Duo scratched his head.

“Not a word. But let’s do this anyway.” Sally laughed. The others laughed too, and soon they were hard at work again, creating the masterpiece that would be their time machine.

From the shadows up above them, a silent figure watched, azure eyes intensely focused on the scraps of metal that would become the machine. And then his thin lips unturned in an unusual and uncanny smirk. A time machine. Then he closed his eyes and let the sweet feeling of warmth rush over him. A time machine to travel back in time. Back.

Then he swiftly strode away from the hanger and towards the garage. J would be displeased if he were not on schedule as expected.

>>>)(<<<

Nearly four weeks later, the group of eight sat laughing and chatting over dinner. Everyone was in a good mood, and everyone felt a strong sense of accomplishment and achievement. Then Quatre stood, holding his glass of red wine high in the air.

“I would like to propose a toast.” He cleared his throat. “To the best time machine builders the ESUN has ever seen!”

“Here here!” Duo cheered. They clinked their glasses, but Quatre remained standing.

“Today we finished a machine that has only been dreamt of for so long in history. We have created a machine that will take us back in time, that will take us back to the past so that we may visit times and eras that have been lost to us throughout the years as we progressed and developed. Now… now we just need one more thing: a test pilot. Who of us is brave enough to try the first trip to the past?”

“Let me do it Quatre! I want to go back to the 2030’s and witness Woodstock 2030!” Duo yelled, holding his arms up and screaming wildly.

“Quatre, let’s go back to the early pioneer days- before electricity.” Trowa suggested.

“I would rather observe the first open heart surgery.” Sally intervened.

“The 1950’s.” A clear, deep voice rang out. Sometime during their loud talking, Hiiro had joined them at the far end of the large dining table. None of them had even seen the boy slip into his seat.

“Hiiro, the 1950’s?” Quatre asked, eyes widening.

“Yes.”

“What happened in the fifties? Nothing fun!” Duo whined. “Now in the sixties they had the original Woodstock… that might be fun to watch…”

“No. The fifties.”

“Yui, let me get this straight. You show up the same night Quatre tells us he wants to build a time machine, and when we tell him no, you convince him to do it anyway. Then you don’t show up for four weeks to help build the machine itself, and then you have the nerve to tell us that you want to go, and go to the 1950’s?” Wufei spoke levelly, but with great feeling in his voice.

“Yes.”

“What gives you the right?” Wufei asked. “We’re the ones that worked hard, not you.”

“I was gone after the first day. J sent me on assignment.” Hiiro clipped, his eyes narrowing at Wufei.

“J?” Trowa asked. Hiiro now turned his glare towards him.

“Yes.”

“I didn’t know you still worked for the Doctors.” Duo blurted out.

“Hnn.”

“Hiiro, why the 1950’s?” Quatre asked. But before he had even asked the question, he knew what the answer would be:

“Hnn.” Hiiro answered, in sync with Quatre’s thoughts.

“Well, unless we get a reason, I still want to see the surgery.” Sally looked wistful.

“Now remember everyone, There’s no rush. Once we know it works, we’ll be able to send everyone. But we don’t know that it will work, or for that matter, if it does work, that it’s safe.” Quatre mediated.

“Safe?” Hilde gulped. “Duo, there is no way in hell I am letting you go first. I want to know it’s safe before you go rioting in Woodstock 2030.”

“Woman, don’t think you’re going to watch that surgery of yours until I know the machine is trustworthy.”

“Trowa…” Trowa sighed.

“Yes Catherine, I understand.” He told her resigned.

“Well Hiiro, I guess that means you do get to go. Unless you don’t want to anymore. Then I can understand, but…”

“No. The fifties.” The occupants of the table stared openly at the dark boy who had become such an intangible enigma to them all. Was he still on his rocker? He wanted to be the test pilot of a potentially dangerous machine? A life-threatening machine? God only knew what would happen once they actually tried the thing out. It might do nothing, simply sputter gas… or it might burst into flames and incinerate anyone near it… or it might drop them into a black hole… or it might crush them alive… or… it might just send someone back in time.

“Hiiro, it’s a rather dangerous trial. If you’re still working for the Doctors, they might not be pleased with our decision to be part of this little science experiment.” Trowa slowly spoke. Heads around the table began to nod.

“My choice.”

“Yes, but doesn’t the mission always come before personal choices?” Trowa argued.

“I have no missions at the moment. It is my free time to do with as I see fit. If I decide to endanger my life, that’s their problem. My choice. The 1950’s.”

“Hiiro, we can’t let you go alone. There’s no way you would ever be able to get along without letting on that you’re from a different time. Everything about you screams ‘future assassin’.” Sally smirked. Wufei chuckled.

“She has a point Yui. No person in the 1950’s would believe that you were one of them.” He added dryly.

“Not to mention you’ll have no background on what is currently going on in that time period. Very few data disks were ever created on the 1950’s, and what little we information we had left in books was burned in the fire of AC 15. No one knows much about anything other than they had just finished a massive world war. How are you going to know what to do, how to dress, what to say, what they know, etcetera?” Dorothy chimed in.

“The 1950’s.” Hiiro stated plainly, his vacant expression not changing an iota. Quatre looked hard at his comrade.

“Alright Hiiro, the 1950’s it is. On one condition.”

“State condition.” Hiiro robotically answered.

“You take with you a historian- someone who knows more about the 1950’s and can help you to adjust to the era.”

“That would be placing the secrecy of this mission in jeopardy.” Hiiro narrowed his eyes to tiny slits. The deep azure glints that caught Quatre’s eye made the blonde gulp and swallow hard.

“This isn’t a mission, and it isn’t necessarily a secret. It’s just a science experiment.”

“It would also be placing this person in danger. We don’t know if the machine works or not. Two lives versus one?”

“We’ll find someone willing to take the risk.”

“Yeah, there are some people out there just as suicidally loony as you are Hiiro! It won’t be too hard to find one that happens to be an expert on the fifties!” Duo laughed. Hilde joined him, but they were soon silenced by the glares they received around the table.

“Fine. Find me a suicidal loon willing to travel to the fifties by noon tomorrow, or I leave without him.” Hiiro pushed his chair back, scrapping it hard against the wooden floor below it, then stood and silently moved out of the room and disappeared into the darkened hallway.

“He, he agreed?” Quatre sputtered.

“He did indeed Quat dear heart. Who would have thought Yui would be coerced so easily?”

“Well, he did give us quite a restricting time limit. Where are we going to find someone to meet our requirements by noon tomorrow? It’s almost an impossible request.” Sally grumbled.

“Hey, we’re the ex-Gundam pilots, and the saviors of the world! If anyone can do it, we can!” Duo exclaimed loudly. Hilde took the opportunity to pinch his side, and he stood up with a painful yelp. “What was that for?” He whined. Then she slapped his rump.

“I just saw the perfect opportunity and couldn’t let it go to waste, that’s all!” She laughed evilly. Soon the rest of the table joined her, and their problem was momentarily set aside. *

~~~Well, here it is guys! This is the last GW/SM fic I’ll ever write, so enjoy it while it lasts! So far it’s gotten off to a boring start, I’ll openly admit it… but wait until I introduce Serena! Sparks, as usual, are going to fly! Please be patient with me, I’m graduating in three and a half weeks, so I’m under a little stress. On the bright side, I did get asked to the prom! Yey! (Not by my crush though, darn it!) Well, beggars can’t be choosers! Lol! Much love and please review, Vixen~~~