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by Copen on Sun Oct 16, 2005 2:31 am
Patricia clutched her husbandâs arm as they walked to their table, attempting to catch his attention. Turning towards her, Isaac saw her gaze and turned to follow it. Seated twenty feet from their own table was a pair of men obviously out of place with the rest of the restaurantâs well-dressed occupants, clothed in military garb. As soon as their gazes met, a stone fell in the engineerâs stomach. He could guess why they were here, and he wasnât pleased about it. It didnât matter though, he had protection. No matter what they wanted, he had protection.
âDonât worry about them,â Isaac reassured his wife, âWhatever they want doesnât affect us.â
As they sat down, Patriciaâs face revealed quite obviously that she was less than pleased with his reply. Her fearâs were escalated as the pair walked towards the table and leaned over to Isaacâs ear.
âI'd like to talk to you once your dinner is over Mr. Walker,â one of them whispered, âWe'll be waiting outside.â
âSo what is that about?â Patricia glowered across the table at her husband.
âNothing, donât worryâ he replied, âThatâs part of what I came here to tell you about.â
âThis better be good.â
âIt is, I assure you,â the spoke from behind the large embroidered menus brought to them as they pretended to gaze over the menus.
âAlmost a year ago I was confronted by⊠Well, letâs just say a rather influential government official. He informed me that he had need of my and Metal Stormâs special abilities. He had need of a weapon, something completely revolutionary, the next step in combat technology.â
âWhat did you doâŠ?â
âNothing quite on the scale of a weapon of mass destruction, my dear, donât worry.â
ââNothing quite on the scale?ââ
âItâs more of a tactical weapon, for specific goals.â
âAnd who exactly are you selling this technology to?â
âListen, if I didnât make it, someone else would, and he has our best interests in mind.â
âAnyone with war on their mind doesnât have my best interests in mind.â
âNo, this should make for a less bloody war. A swifter, more decisive victory.â
ââShould?â So they planned on using these things even before war officially broke out.â
âYes- I mean, no, of course not. They just wanted to be prepared.â
âIsaac, youâve always been too trusting.â
âBut this project, this contract, has us set for life. Weâve developed over fifty revolutionary new kinds of technology for this weapon alone. Hundreds of patents are in processing right now. Donât you see dear, weâll be set for life.â
âAt what expense? So our child can grow up in a war-stricken world? How long do you think it is before the opposing side carries the exact same technology to do the same damage to us?â
âIn the last few months itâs become even more apparent that this will actually prevent more bloodshed than cause it. Like a surgical knife this weapon can cripple the opposition and prevent a prolonged, messy war.â
âIsaac⊠I sure hope youâre right.â
âItâs still top-secret, but I wanted to tell you about it at least a bit.â
âSo what is it?â
Isaac turned his head, scoping the room out for anyone who may be monitoring their conversation. Remembering the military personnel that had approached him earlier, he decided not to speak it aloud, instead pulling a receipt out of his pocket and pen, scribbling his answer down on the back of the scrap of paper and sliding it over to his wife.
Taking the hint, Patricia discretely glanced at the writing. She was surprised to see it written in the secret language they had shared in college. Something was obviously dangerous about this information.
âI nim-cazob gymbin. Lowyrypaemilu voitemlu imb idarapaoc docpevob am i tiskigo pho cazo ef i ralgo tolcem.â
It took her a short while to decipher the message, but when she did her eyes grew wide. She knew her husband was a genius, but she never imagined he would be constructing something like this. It was like a device out of her sonâs anime videos. The world had certainly never seen anything like it, and after they did it would definitely have a large role in the outcome of this war with the colonies.
âIsaacâŠâ
âI know.â
âWhat have you doneâŠ?â
âBut sweetheart-â
âIsaac you have a son and you are going to raise him in a world built by this⊠this⊠these THINGS?â
âItâs not like that.â
âWhy do you think Earth outlawed mobile suits after the last war?â
âBut dear, desperate times-â
âI donât want to hear another word of it.â With that she stormed out of the restaurant, leaving the rest of the diners stunned at the scene. Isaac tried to follow her outside, but she hailed a cab and got in before he could reach her.
Turning around, defeated, he saw the figures of the two who had spoken to him inside.
âAlright, what do you two want?â
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