Macross Fan Fiction ❯ Legend of Megaroad -- Book One ❯ Looking Forward ( Chapter 10 )

Chapter 10: Looking Forward

--April 1, 2016--

--04:20--

Megaroad-01 had become the center of attention for the Zentradi. At least a hundred of their soldiers and archivists were either entering or leaving the ship at any given time, and always under escort by a team of UN Spacey officers with notebooks and clipboards. All of them who came on or left the ship did so for one purpose: restore the factory satellite. The first thing they worked on was the smaller production lines, which were being modified to manufacture VF-4 Lighting-III's on the Zentradi assembly line, while an alternate team went to work restoring the proto-culture cloning chambers that would be used to produce pilots for the new mecha once they left the assembly line.

In the mean time, two new missions were deployed from low the factory satellite. The first was a small armada of shuttles bound for the largest ancient city on the planet, and the second was a group of 3 destroyers and 9 pickets, stuffed with electronic equipment and deployed on a short fold route to system HJ-95B. In order to overcome the interference from the gravity anomalies in the Arturo sector, the group would set up a communications beacon at every waypoint that would relay the hyperspace signal from system to system until it was finally clear of any interference and could be transmitted directly to Earth. Misa was certain the brass of the UN spacey would not be pleased about her going ahead without their consent, but she recognized that any complaints they could have would be all too easy to ignore. This was simple protocol; "After a break in communications, inform your base of operations what you have already done in case they want to help you."

On the first morning after the Megaroad arrived at Gallaron, Captain Misa stood on the bridge of the Megaroad, watching the ships she'd selected maneuver their way out of the huge docking port of the factory satellite and into open space. She wished each of the captains the best of luck and thanked them for their cooperation, and the ships powered up their fold engines for the first leg of the mission. Under the optimistic gaze of the Megaroad crew, the doomed expedition folded out of the Gallaron system on it's mission, heading for it's ultimate destination of Star System HJ-95B.

--20:18--

She was furious at her best friend Misa Ichijo for a thousand reasons at once; for stealing Hikaru away from her, for getting married and living her dream, for finding the happiness she'd always desired, for not warning her about Miko's bottomless energy supply the first time she baby-sat for the girl. And now she had one more reason: for getting her singing again. This was the reason that overwhelmed all the others these days, since Minmei had come to view her own music as a dangerous narcotic that degraded the very fabric of her soul. She knew now that by becoming a pop star, she had inadvertently fed herself to the public bit by bit until there was nothing left for herself... or was it Kaifun who had whored her to the mass media to satisfy his own needs? In any case, she had since vowed to become a real person, to start a new life where no one cared about her except the people she cared about herself, and above all to never set foot on stage again. When Misa convinced her... rather tricked her... into singing again at that nightclub for General Karga, Minmei fell off the wagon and crashed back to reality like a grand piano, and in no time flat she was back on stage where deep down she knew she truly belonged.

Even so, the Minmei was no fool. For her to come out with a full blown album for the first time in almost 5 years would be a disaster for her relationship with Richard, and it would end up with almost the same result as her last boom when her popularity grew to almost nauseating proportions. Instead of exploding back to the silver screen or throwing a huge concert like a glamorous diva back from vacation, she quietly took a seat at the officer's club every other night and listened to Corina's band play two of their opening songs, at which point she would slink backstage, change into a moderately fancy party dress and sing any four songs the band wanted to play. Very rarely did she ever sing one of her own songs, which was far more satisfying than she would have suspected. Normally, she sang old classic songs from the 20th century, or one of the splendid lyrical concoctions written (and butchered in performance) by Lieutenant Sara Douglass. No matter what the case may be, the result was always the same: the glowing satisfaction that she had missed so much, flowing over her like a warm blanket.

On this particular Saturday, she returned home from the Officer's Club after "swing night", an occasion arranged for the benefit of the visiting Zentradi commanders of the Gallaron fleet, which for some reason was a great deal more fun that she thought it would be. A number of the officers actually attended the occasion in what appeared to be flapper dresses and tap shoes, and even Corina appeared on stage with an archaic looking garment strait out of a speakeasy. One would think that the scores of newly micronized Zentradi would be out of place in an atmosphere like this, but oddly enough they fit right in. They all knew a party when they saw one, and they were so exhausted from years of endless battle they no longer cared about the fabled consequences of exposure to females. It was a wild night that she would remember as some of the most fun she'd ever had in any club, but even so she was very glad to be back home with Richard where the floor didn't move to the beat of Corina's guitar.

"I'm home Rich!" Minmei chimed as she joyously skipped into their apartment and kissed him hello. "How was your day?"

Richard was reclined in an armchair half asleep when she kissed him, but at the realization of her presence the man almost exploded with his excitement. "It was great! I got that new job I told you about!"

Minmei laughed with joy. "Carson Advertising?! That's wonderful! I'm so proud of you Richard!"

Richard chuckled a bit. "What? You didn't think I could do it?"

Minmei sat on his lap and he held her in place there. "Not with your pauper's luck! In the three weeks I've been living here, you have NEVER won a bet with me!"

Richard shrugged defensively. "Okay, so I make bad bets! That doesn't mean I'm unlucky!"

"Are you kidding me? Four days ago you bet me 50 bucks that the bus driver was really a man!"

"Minmei, I SWEAR she looked like a guy! How was I to know?!"

Minmei tugged at his ear teasingly. "Anyway, now that you've scored this fantastic new job and we are fabulously wealthy and powerful, what should we do to celebrate?"

"I would go out, but thanks to our beloved captain the streets are now crawling with Zentradi and I worry for your safety."

Minmei ignored the remark and followed the subject at hand. She considered ways to celebrate their sudden good fortune with Richard landing that high paying job at last, when she seemed to notice suddenly that she was sitting just a bit higher on his lap than she probably should have. Not to give Richard any ideas, she nonchalantly stood up and thought of an idea. "I know! I'll cook for you!"

"You'll what?" Richard tried to picture Minmei working over a stove with a little chef's hat, but it just didn't seem natural. "You?! YOU'RE gonna cook?!"

"Yup." Minmei moved off into the kitchen space to gather ingredients.

"A-Are you sure?"

"Did I forget to tell you I work at a Chinese restaurant or were just not paying attention?" He mentally kicked himself for missing that and followed her into the kitchen, but she stopped him with a glance. "This is MY treat Richard, don't ruin this for me."

--21:10--

In the officer's club, at a table next to the stage that had only a few hours ago hosted Minmei and Corina's band, a nest of almost 50 officers had Sara Douglass boxed into a corner, unable to escape the harsh injustice they knew she had been selected for. She was certain that if she didn't cooperate there would be trouble, but she knew that if her friends didn't kill her, Misa almost certainly would, so she decided to choose what she was sure would be a less painful demise. "Look you guys, shouldn't we have someone with a higher rank talk to her about this?"

Corina shook her head. "You're perfect for this. You're silly and you're ignorant but you always speak your mind and the Captain knows that."

Lieutenant Harper nodded in agreement with the others. "And besides, your rank is just low enough that maybe she'll let you off light if you can't persuade her. And you've got less to loose than all of us."

"I don't want to!"

"You don't have a choice. We're gonna make you do it anyway, so you might as well suck it up and get to it!" Sara was close to tears. She could just imagine Misa transforming into a big green monster and screwing her head into the deck like a human light bulb. "C'mon! This isn't fair! You KNOW how the captain feels about this kind of thing, she'll break me in half just for thinking about it!"

"Sara you HAVE to!"

"NO!" She screeched, nearing hysteria. "Get somebody else, cause I'm not gonna do it!"

Hikaru put his hands on her shoulders and tried to calm her down. "Sara, we don't need you to totally convince her, just try and get her mind open to knew possibilities…"

"Why don't YOU do it?! You're her damn husband for crying out loud!"

Hikaru tried desperately to think of an excuse. He didn't want to have to tell her that the only reason they had picked her for this mission was because they considered her expendable. "Well…well I have other things to consider..."

Sara almost seemed to read his mind. "Oh I get it! Take one for the team, right Colonel?"

"Sara, we need you to do this! Just break the ice a bit so the rest of us can sort of... lead up to it or something."

"Do it yourself!" she shouted defiantly, folding her arms in resolution. All at once, the other officers started closing in around her, staring her down. Sara could feel them drawing closer every second to the point where some of them were actually breathing down her neck. "Stop that!" She said. They closed in a bit more and then remained there, glaring at her without emotion. She struggled to maintain control, but her palms were sweating and her head started to throb. "You can stand there looking at me all night if you want, but I'm not doing it!" Still they waited, staring her down with blank expressions as they watched her growing increasingly uncomfortable. Lieutenant Douglass, besides being fiercely claustrophobic, had carried a very deep seeded fear of crowds since she was a very small child, and this psychological torture was well known as her one true weakness. After only 4 minutes, which was a new record for her, she gave in to their insidious plot. "Okay okay! I'll do it, just get away from me PLEASE!" They all backed off, and Sara burst up from the table and ran out of the club for the perceived safety of the outdoors. "I hate you guys!"

--21:55--

In the Powel apartment, Minmei was only just setting food on the table for Richard, who seemed someone apprehensive about eating her cooking. "Minmei, I love you very much but I really don't know if..."

"Shut up and eat it." She said crossly. "You need to open your mind some times."

"But..."

"No, don't talk. EAT!"

Richard swallowed and looked over the spread of food on the table to pick what he would try first. At random, he started with sweat-and-sour chicken and a small bowl of shrimp chaomein. "Here goes nothing..." He took a bite of the chicken, then another, and then tasting the shrimp chaomein, looked up at Minmei in surprise. "It's GOOD!"

"I told you so. Were you expecting dog food?"

Richard knew better than to answer the question honestly, but even if he did wish to do so he was far too busy eating. Minmei smiled at him and sat down across from him at the table and joined in. For a change, she took her time, eating in what could be construed as a generally civilized manner. She began to realize, once again, how much someone else valued the things she took for granted, and how little the things she created even mattered to her unless someone else seemed to approve.

Richard, on the other hand, appreciated the more mundane irony of the situation. Minmei routinely pigged out on his cooking, now he was finding himself doing much the same. Despite his best efforts to make conversation, despite all the things he thought to say about her cooking and all the things he wanted to tell her, the only thing that came to mind was "Good rice."

"Thanks." The night went on with very little conversation exchanged. After a while, she noticed he seemed to be slowing down, which was understandable considering how he had managed to put away almost two bowls of noodles and three bowls of chicken and rice in under 30 minutes. She decided to slow him down for good before he injured himself. "You read the news lately?"

Richard stopped and thought about it. He started to speak, then swallowed all the food in his cheeks and went on. "That research team went down to the ancient city this morning. They should be doing a report on it tonight."

"Really? What channel?"

"Lemme check..." Richard leaned over from the table and retrieved a newspaper from the window ledge. He opened it up to look for the channel listings, but Minmei noticed something on the back page by the classified adds. "Actually, I think it's on right now but it doesn't say what channel..."

"Let me see." Minmei snatched the paper from his hands and discretely folded over part of the page to the classifieds. There, standing out on the paper in a black and white frame that almost seemed to be aimed right at her, was an add from the Galaxy Boulevard Opera Theatre. She had never heard of the production, but the name she knew the names "Gilbert and Sullivan" from her childhood, when she sang the Modern Major General in the 7th grade school play.
"What's it say?" Richard asked after a minute.

"You're right, it doesn't say what channel. Doesn't matter though, we'll just get the paper tomorrow morning on the way to work."

Richard went back to eating when something crossed his mind. "Which reminds me, now that I've got this management job, you don't have to work at King Lao's anymore."

Minmei laughed out loud. "HAVE to work?! I never HAVE to work at King Lao's to begin with!"

Richard looked confused. "Just how much money have you stashed up anyway?"

Minmei stopped laughing as she realized she was about to give herself away. "Well... yeah I have some saved up but if I didn't love working there that much there are a million different things I could do instead."

"That's what I'm talking about. You don't have to do anything now!"

Minmei looked at the add again. If she quit her job now, it would be next to impossible to get out without him knowing about it. "You're being silly Richard. I'm no housewife. Hell, I'm not even your wife!"

Richard blushed. "Well... m-maybe you should be..." he said lamely.

Minmei laughed again, and Richard suddenly looked very embarrassed. She realized suddenly that he had meant it in a serious way, and that she had literally laughed in his face. In the blink of an eye, she now felt as embarrassed as he looked. "Maybe if we got married I'd think about it, but for now I'll keep my job. Either way, I'm worried about the restaurant."

"What are you worried about?"

"Fei Chan is having money problems. He might have to cut my pay. I mean, I still pay half the rent here don't I?"

Richard nodded. "That's true. Anyway, I can cover you if you're a bit light..."

"I like to be independent. It has nothing to do with you, it's just the way I am."

"I understand." Minmei noticed at this point that he was done eating, her first clue to this fact being that he had apparently eaten all of the food. In some kind of over-fed stupor the two of them wandered off to the couch and planted themselves on what had become "their cushion" on the far left side. They curled up together, each elated at the other's company, while Richard channel surfed to find the news reports about the city. He stopped on one of the premium channels where a movie was showing, and watched ot for a few minutes to identify it. "Isn't this Fokker's Fate? I heard this was a really good movie but I never got to see it. How bout you?"

Her reaction was delayed by several seconds, but when she suddenly remembered that she had done a cameo in the movie her soul filled with dread. "I don't want to see a war movie now." She said, trying her best to keep the desperation out of her voice.

Richard looked at his watch and yawned. "It's almost over anyway. Let's just watch the end."

The end of the movie was exactly the part she did not want to see. The third to last scene depicted Roy Fokker walking onto the set of Small White Dragon during production and getting into a very flamboyant and high-flying fist fight with Kaifun, which he wins in heroic style and then drives Minmei over to see her boyfriend, played by some kid who looked absolutely nothing like Hikaru Ichijo. The fact that the scene was a horrendous inflation of reality didn't matter to her, it was the simple image of her appearing on screen that filled her with dread as the movie dragged on. She watched the body-builder/actor who played Roy Fokker climb into a jeep running an errand for Hikaru and she knew she had about 2 minutes before her brief appearance in the film. She tried to think of some way to either distract him or change the channel, but she drew a blank every time she tried. As the moment came very closer, only one thing came to mind, and though it seemed like a very bad idea she could not think of anything better. Calling up years of acting school and all of her feelings for Richard, she leaned over and kissed him as if the world were coming to an end.

Surprised, Richard pulled away and looked at her as if seeing her for the first time. "Hi there!" He said. Out of the corner of her eye, Minmei saw Roy getting out of the jeep and walking across the set of the movie where the trailers were parked. She kissed him again, this time taking the opportunity to grab his hands and pull his arms around her. At the last instant before Roy stepped around the corner to talk to her, Minmei managed to "accidentally" change the channel, and Richard chuckled. "Oh I get it. You just don't wanna see the movie, is that it?"

"No, I..." Richard grabbed the remote and changed back, and Minmei was determined to keep him distracted. Taking a deep breath, she leaned forward slightly and started to unbutton her shirt. "Let's do something different." She said slowly.

Richard guessed the hidden meaning of her words and turned off the TV, not noticing the image of a slightly younger Lynn Minmei speaking to a very large actor in a major motion picture. She was relieved that he hadn't seen her on screen, but now she was faced with a bigger problem. Her fingers seemed to be possessed, and for some unknown reason she completely removed her shirt and launched into Richard's arms. Whatever gremlin had take control of her hands now went to work on removing Richard's clothes, and he was making no effort whatsoever to stop her. In the confines of her own brain, she was panicking, but she could not stop herself. Even as she unbuckled his belt, she found herself wishing on a million stars she could snap out of whatever trance she had fallen into and put a stop to this before they went too far. A million stars smiled on her that night, but she did not get her wish.

After the longest two minutes of her life, Minmei had discarded all of her clothes in a small pile next to the couch. Richard followed her lead, and then carried her down the hall into their bedroom. "You sure you want this?" He said gently.

Minmei's first instinct was to scream and run. She wanted to shout "NO!" as loud as she could and run to the opposite end of the ship where no one could find her. But for some reason, she simply nodded slightly and kissed him again. "I'm all yours."

--22:30--

Misa was half asleep on the bridge, staring at the featureless bulkhead of a Zentradi factory satellite. Much of the crew was on leave to be with their families, but she was expecting Corina to report in at any minute. She was watching the news broadcast from the surface with a certain detachment, knowing better than most that the only real information of value would be place on her desk in 3 days with the preliminary report. The only thing that really interested her so far was the layout of the city, deliberate and organized, yet random and scattered at the same time. In that way, it was very much like the Megaroad, a medium sized city with the predictable patterns of a big city and the neighborly, personal structure of a small town.

At 11:30 that night, the door slid open and Sara Douglass walked quietly onto the bridge. "Evening Captain."

"Evening Sara, but aren't you about 6 hours early for your watch?"

"Yes. As if I have anything better to do." Sara walked up to her station, reading the evening edition of the daily newspaper.

Misa nodded. Sara had broken up with yet another boyfriend only two days earlier, and now she was spending almost all of her spare time either on duty or performing at the club. Misa stood up to go home, leaving the bridge in Sara's less than capable hands. "I guess not. But I think I should be getting back to my home before my daughter kills my husband..."

"Read this." Sara shoved the newspaper into Misa's hands as she stood, and Misa looked at the article on the page Sara had been reading.

"Public opinion polls for March, 2016..."

"Read the bottom." Sara said.

Misa looked to the bottom of the article where a new section had been added to the polls. Public Opinion Polls, or POPs as they were known, was some bizarre thing the newspapers had thought up two years earlier as a way of letting politicians in on the most recent trends of public opinion on the ship, but the new section was quite a mystery and very unwelcome. "The Future of Megaroad-01..." She read the headline, "... in previous editions Megaroad Post has asked around about the future directions this ship may be headed, particularly in hypothetical situations and contexts as..." Misa skipped to the end of the article. "...in summary, we found that out of the people interviewed, almost 1 in 8 seemed to favor some form of autonomous government or independent state after the ship eventually lands. Two weeks ago, with the encounter of General Karga's fleet and his willingness to cooperate with us, that number has jumped to 1 in 5 people. Now, after enlisting the support of the Gallaron fleet and two factory satellites, interviewers from the Megaroad Post have found that on average more than 88% of citizens of Meg..." Misa didn't even read the rest of the article, but looked up at Sara in disbelief.

"I know." Sara said, responding to words that did not need to be spoken. "It's wild isn't it? They're really serious about this."

"They're insane!" Misa gasped, her voice laden with anxiety and the horror of her suddenly perilous position. "They can't be serious! It's gotta be some kind of yellow journalism..."

"Captain, a week ago a pair of drunken marines started up this huge discussion in the officers club about what it would be like if the Megaroad formed it's own nation. Five nights ago, they talked about it sober, and for the last four nights the conversation has involved at least 40 different people, all of them senor officers."

Misa sat down heavily in her chair. "Why the hell haven't I been told about this?! This is... I can't believe this kind of bullshit is going on MY ship!"

"That's what they figured you'd say. That's why I came here."

Misa looked up at Sara as if she had suddenly transformed into some kind of mutant creature. "Oh no you don't...!"

"Captain, just think about it for one minute, will you? What good is the UN Spacey except to get in the way? You said it yourself that any time you ask them anything, it takes weeks to get a reply and the answer is always no! What's the point in asking at all?"

Misa growled and stood up from her chair. "You have the con, Sara!" She hissed as she turned to storm off the bridge.

Sara followed her to the door and put her hand on her shoulder. "Captain please..."

Misa whirled around and pushed Sara against the wall, enraged by the sudden onset of a situation that was rapidly spiraling out of control. "If I hear any more of this independence bullshit on my bridge, I'll have you all court-martialed! UNDERSTAND?!"

Sara gulped and nodded meekly, and Misa turned and stormed off the bridge.

--April 2, 2016--

--07:25--

Minmei awoke the following morning same way she did every morning, to the exact same alarm clock, in the exact same bed next to the exact same Richard. She clicked off the alarm and climbed out of bed to get dressed for work, but the instant she drew back the covers she became confused. "Richard... Richard where are my clothes?"

Richard awoke to the sound of her voice and started to sit up drowsily. "Hmmm?"

"Where's my..." Minmei eyed her nightgown folded across a chair where she had left it the previous morning, and noticed the rest of her clothes strewn about the bedroom in a trail leading out the door. And then she remembered. "Oh no! We... we just..."

"Are you okay?" Richard sat up and kissed the back of her neck. "What's the matter?"

"We shouldn't have done this. It's... this is all wrong! What am I doing here?!"

Richard grabbed her and turned her to face him. "You know exactly what you're doing here. I love you, and we're together in this."

Minmei started to speak, but the words wouldn't come out. For some reason, whenever she looked at his face she could not seem to remember anything else. For the first time since Hikaru left her for Misa, she felt the wonder of being lost and found at the same time. "You're right Richard." She smiled at him. "It's just... well this was my first time. With anyone."

"Really?" He seemed to be thinking of something, but did not continue the subject. "C'mon Minmei. We'll be late for work."

"Oh that's right!" Both of them rolled out of bed in opposite directions and started their normal morning procedures. But this time it was different; they did everything at the same time. They each brushed their teeth, showered, got dressed and combed their hair and ate breakfast at the same time, before kissing each other goodbye and going off to work. For Richard, it seemed just like any other day, but for Minmei, it was like a dress rehearsal for a life with her new husband. On this day, she made up her mind once and for all that she would be his wife.