Chasing Impossibilities
Part Four: Trowa Gets Involved
Heero sat in the back of the police car as it drove down to the
station. No lawyer would help him now, he was sure of it. There was no
way he could win with all the evidence against him, and if he told his
story they would think he was crazy.
"I didn't do it."
"I wouldn't say anything that would incriminate yourself, Mr. Lowe."
The detective seemed familiar to Heero, but he couldn't place it. He
debated his options inside his head, a little depressed when he didn't
come up with that many. "I was set up."
"Really." The man seemed disinterested, almost patronizing even. "And
who would do that?"
"I don't know. I think maybe J."
Triton looked up into the rearview mirror, staring at Heero. The guy
didn't look crazy, but that didn't mean he wasn't a murderer. In fact,
according to the evidence, it was almost certain that he was. "Yeah?"
Heero looked back at Triton through the mirror, moving his hands
slightly in the cuffs. "I went to him this morning because I was having
problems remembering things. He gave me a prescription. When I was
going home my car was rammed into, I blacked out, and when I woke up I
was in the bath tub in the motel, with the gun in my hand."
"And why would J do all that?"
Heero sat back, then remembered the pieces of paper in his pockets. He
reached in with his fingers, pulling out two crumpled sheets. One of
them was Cat's notes, the other J's prescription. "Cat found out
something, and was about to tell me. But I was about to remember
myself."
Triton looked back at the papers Heero was holding, making a note to
take them for evidence. They drove on for a little longer in silence.
Triton focused on driving while Heero contemplated what to do next.
Really, he didn't have anything to lose now, and he was almost grateful
for this officer's disinterest. At least this way he got a way to speak.
"Haven't you..." Heero swallowed, wondering if he should go through
with this. "Haven't you ever gotten the feeling that there was
something off about your life?"
Triton raised an eyebrow. "I heard you've been having mental problems
lately, Mr. Lowe."
"Have you ever been to X-00198?"
Triton frowned slightly at the subject change, wondering what Heero was
playing at. "Of course."
"Do you remember how you got there?"
"I took a shuttle. How else would you get there?"
"It's impossible. There are no shuttles going there. I don't think
there ever were. I think some one's been tempering with our memories,
and J knows what's going on. And I think the secret is on X-00198."
"Do you realize how crazy you sound?" Triton swerved, exasperated, into
the police station. But for some inexplicable reason, he didn't
outright dismiss Heero's ramblings.
"I'll prove it, if you take me to the colony."
Triton scoffed at that. "Now I know you're crazy."
Triton watched as other officers approached the car, pulling Heero out.
He would be put into the cell until trial, probably without bail.
Something was still unsettling Triton, though, and he stepped into his
office. Some other officer had confiscated those papers Odin had been
playing with and had left them on his desk, and Triton took a moment to
look at them.
The first one was full of nonsensical scribbling, but it looked
familiar. Triton ruffled through the papers on his desk, coming up with
something they had taken from Cat's office. The handwritings matched.
Triton looked at the five letters at the top: J, G, O, H, S. The guy
mentioned machines, lies, some person named Heero, and the colony Odin
had bought up earlier. Triton looked at the other paper. A
prescription. J's small signature was at the bottom, and it had express
instructions to go to Dr. G's pharmaceuticals. G.
Triton held one paper in each hand. Cat had mentioned G. J obviously
knew a G. On a hunch, Triton called the station's medical department.
"Allo."
Triton rolled his eyes at the department head's casual nature. He had
never really gotten used to it, though he had a good rapport with the
man himself. "Milly. I have prescription here, for tri-oxyl
dynamine. Know what it does?"
"Oh, no." Triton could imagine Milly tossing back his excessively long
platinum hair. "You can't get a prescription for that."
"You can't?"
"Most people don't even know what it is. Pharmacists wouldn't be able
to stock it, and doctors can't prescribe it. It's an experimental drug
gone bad. Nasty stuff."
"What does it do?"
"It messes up your head. You'd probably wake not knowing your own name."
"Like amnesia."
"Exactly. Except permanent, like."
"Thanks."
Triton hung up the phone, processing this new information. Odin had
gone to get help for his memory problems, and J had given him an
illegal prescription that would wipe his memory out completely. He ran
a check through his computers on the other letters in Cat's note, and
each one matched up with a doctor. And according to the records, J had
never had any professional ties with G whatsoever, yet he had
recommended him to Odin. It obviously didn't match up.
His mind wondered back to Cat Winner and his note. Lies. And what had
Odin said... they had been playing with their memories. Triton wondered
why he was pursuing this train of thought at all... it was so
ludicrous. Most people wouldn't even have considered it, wouldn't be
investigating it. But there was something about the whole thing that he
couldn't shake off.
Triton turned back to his computer, typing in a few things. He
remembered the time he had gone to X-00198. Strangely, he couldn't
remember how he got there. He had assumed it was by shuttle... there
was no other way, but he couldn't remember buying the tickets and he
couldn't remember the ride. And he wondered, if he had had such a good
time there, why he never felt to desire to go back. He called up the
records of all the spaceports that served X-00198, surprised when he
found none. He picked up the telephone, calling the port even as his
fingers ran across the keyboard.
"Hello, L2 spaceport."
"Hi, I was wondering about the shuttles going into X-00198."
Their was a pause, and Triton could hear the click clack of a keyboard.
"Our shuttles don't go there. You'll have to take one out to L1, then
to X-00198 from there."
"Could you transfer my call to an L1 port?"
"Oh. Okay."
Triton waited as music came on, then he heard a click and a voice.
"L1 spaceport, colony X-30004."
"Hi, I wanted to know about the shuttles you have going to X-00198."
"Um... it seems we don't have any."
"Where can I find a shuttle going there?"
There was more keyboard clicking before the voice came back. "All
travel to that colony has been temporarily suspended."
"Do you know why?"
"Mmm... no idea, sir."
"Do you know when the block out started, or when it will end?"
"I'm sorry, the records don't say."
Triton hung up even as his eyes stayed in his computer screen. He had
managed to get into the spaceport records for all of the tri colony
area, and there had been never been any records of a flight into the
colony.
* * *
Heero was jostled out of his cell, wondering where they were leading
him. The handcuffs were slapped back on as he walked through the prison
cells. Some of the other inmates watched, half interested, as the
newbie left the area. He passed through drab gray corridors, finally
being pushed into a seat. After shifting slightly in the hard metal
chair, Odin looked up, surprised to see Max on the other side of a
piece of glass.
Max gestured at the telephone at the side of the glass, and Heero
picked it up and held it to his ear.
"Hey."
"Hi."
"You know, this is probably for the best."
Heero nodded. He could see why Max felt that way. He wondered of Max
would believe him when he told him what had been happening, what he had
been discovering throughout the day. "You know I didn't do it."
"I know. Our lawyer will be here soon, you don't need to worry."
"Max, they won't believe me." Heero shifted again, preparing to
explain. He lowered his voice so that the prison guards couldn't hear
him. "J and some others have been changing our memories. Cat found out,
so they killed him, then I was about to find out, so they set me up for
his murder. But Max, everything we've known is a lie. Our memories, our
lives, our marriage, it's all a lie."
Max didn't know whether to be angry or depressed. He was silent for a
little, and Odin wondered what he was going to say. He was staring off
into the side of the glass as if something there was immensely
fascinating, and then he reached out as if he could touch his spouse,
fingers splayed against cool glass.
"Odin. That time I met you, I can't believe that was a lie. I know that
what I felt was not a lie. Emotions can't be implanted into your
psyche." Max paused, drawing in a shuddering breath as he raised his
eyes to meet Heero's. "You can't lie about love."
Heero was lost. He subconsciously raised his hand to meet Max's, before
he was jerked away by the guards, telephone falling onto the countertop.