That awkward feeling came over him again as Otto walked into the hangar just a few steps behind Truman. That feeling you get when people stare at you, when you don't fit in, when you are not at all welcome somewhere. Nontheless Otto kept walking and again he was wondering why he was doing this. Helping Truman, he had no clue. Once they were done here, when the meteor has met his predicted end and exploded before the Zero line, they are going to arrest him. That fact Otto knew for sure, but what else was out there for him to do. He was still a wanted criminal, always on the run, always hiding, he would never be able to live a peaceful life, so maybe prison would not be that bad.

What are you thinking, father?
Prison is not a solution.
They are going to hurt you.
We don't want you to get hurt.

They were approaching several soldiers and one man in civil clothed who was obviously not part of the NASA, since he stood several meters away from the soldiers and the look he eyed the soldiers with made clear he wanted nothing to do with them.

Why Truman wanted them to meet in the middle of the hangar was not quite clear to Otto, but he probably thought it gave him some advantages.

They reached the men and Truman greeted them, starting to introduce them to each other.

***

"Did you see that one officer?"

"Oh yes!"

"She was hot."

"Hotter than hot!"

"Stop it right there, AJ, you're most certainly not her type."

"You're always ruining the fun, Chick!" Huffed the man adressed as AJ and the man called Chick just smiled. "That's what I do, man, better get used to it."

"Come on, you just want her for yourself." A small man who went my the name Rockhound joked. "Right, Bear?" "Right, little man." The colossus of a man replied.

The four of them continued joking around as they made their way over the catwalk that strechted over the huge hangar of the NASA facility. They had just arrived minutes ago and where now on their way to their first training unit. They didn't know exactly why they were here, but they were told it would be fun and that Harry Stamper had ordered them to come, so they didn't reject, also the men that asked so nicely had guns.

Suddenly AJ caught a glimpse of a familiar figure standing several yards in front of them on catwalk. They all recognized the woman leaning on the rail starring down into the space. AJ jogged the last few meters and greeted her with a warm smile. "Hey girl, what's up?" She slowly turned around and AJ noticed the sad look on her face. Dark streaks of run down mascara were smeared over her cheeks.

"Grace?"

The others had now caught up and were now standing behind AJ. Grace turned away again. "I don't want to talk about it." AJ shot a glance to his friends but they were as confused as him and shruged their shoulders one after the other. AJ didn't understand women very well, but one thing he knew for sure is that when a woman says she doesn't want to talk then she certainly does want to talk, so he put a hand on her shoulder and gently turned her around looking her in the eyes. "Grace, you know you can tell us everything." Grace sighed and looked away. "No, AJ, I'm sorry. I just need to get my head clear and think for a while, alone." She smiled a wearily smile at him and pushed past him on the catwalk making her way back where the four men hat come from, leaving them worried and puzzled behind and AJ's women understanding skills back at zero.

But before they could wonder about what just happened two soldiers came running down the catwalk from the opposite site. A man and a woman. The woman had naturally all eight eyes on her the four men had noticed her and Grace and her problem was submerged into deeper parts of the men's brains.

"We've been looking for you. Where have you been. You were sceduled 10 minutes ago." The man stated and the woman continued. "Are you ready to rock'n'roll?"

The four men exchanged looks and they all thought the same thing. With her? Always.

***

Grace wandered through the long hallways, the tears from the conversation with her dad hours ago have long dried. She just wanted to be alone, just to think a little about everything. The whole situation was complicated and she just needed some private time and walking had made her tired.
She continued walking through the almost empty corridors of the space center, workers hurrying past her occasionaly being the only other human life forms.
After a while she stopped in front of a door. It was the door to one of the conference room, here she had met Dan Truman the first time.
She opened the door, it was dark inside. Her hand slided along the wall next to the door searching the light switch.
"Don't switch the light on!"
Graces heart made a jump and she let out a small scream as she heard the deep voice from somewhere in the room. She had thought the room was empty.
She squinted into the dark, the light from outside the room did not much to illuminate the room, the only thing she could see was the vage shape of a human being sitting at the end of the table.
"Why?", she asked curiously.
"I don't like light!", the figure answered.
"Everybody likes light!", Grace said. Maybe a little conversation is just want I need.
"I don't!"
Grace stepped further in the room, closing the door. Her eyes were adjusting fast to the now pitch-black room and she still could make out the other person. He had not moved.
"I am Grace!", she introduced herself, "and you?"
"Otto."
"So, what are you doing alone in a dark room?"
"Thinking."
"You don't speak much, do you?" She walked farther into the room, her hands searching for the back of a chair.
She heard him smile amusedly.
"No."
She let herself fall into the chair, making it tip back a little. Although he did not speak very much it did not seem to bother him, that she had come into the room and disturbed his solitude.
"Do you work here?"
"I don't get paid, if you mean that."
"Oh! Why that? Do you work on the ...uhm...meteor problem thingy?"
"You could say that.", he chuckled, "And what about you? Do you work on the "meteor problem thingy"?"
"No, I don't, but my father."
"What's your fathers name?"
"Harry Stamper", she answered a little perplexed about the sudden curiousity.
"Do you know him?"
"'Met him once. He is an ignorant and stubborn man. I don't like him, but he knows what he's doing"
She fell silent for a moment. Thinking about loosing him brought the tears back to her eyes and it hurt her too much.
"Okay!", she suddenly said, "I want to see you! Can I turn on the lights? Just for a little while?"
He sighed.
"Very well, do what you have to do"', he finally said after several moment, which seemed like an eternity to Grace.
Happily she jumped off her chair and hurried to the light switch.
Pressing it, she immidiatly squeezed her eyes shut, she had forgotten how bright a single lamp could be. After several blinking moments she turned around and faced the man on the other end of the table.
"I know you!", she exclaimed. The man looked puzzled.
He wore sunglasses, although he had been sitting in a completly dark room and his trenchcoat had probably seen better days. He also wore a shirt that had once been white and his brown hair was a mess. He seemed to be in his mid-fifties.
He had turned the chair around to sit on it and his arms lay on the back of the chair.
"I have seen you with Truman just this morning, in the hangar."
"Oh.', was the only thing he said.
She tilted her head slightly and eyed him.
"What's bothering you?" She asked curiously.
He sighed and didn't meet her eyes, he stared that blank table in front of him instead and stayed silent
"Did I say anything wrong?", she asked a little concerned.
"No, it's just....it's complicated, okay? I don't want to talk about it!"
Grace leaned back in her chair looking at the man. He looked very sad how he just sat there and stared at the table. He obviously had a problem, but he did not want to tell her. It reminded her of herself. She had been in the same situation just a few hours ago, when AJ had asked her, although on second thought, she convinced herself, it was not exactly the same, therefore she decided that she could bother him a little more till he finally answered.
It seemed like she was searching desperatly for something to distract her of her own problems and problems of others seemed to be the solution.
She smiled.
"Maybe I can help you!", she offered enthusiastic.
"Nobody can help me!"
"Maybe they haven't tried hard enough!" She would not except a No an an answer.
"So, if you tell me your problem, I will try to help you!"
Now he looked up at her.
"If I tell you, you probably scream and run away in panic, tell your dad or Truman and I'm gonna be in trouble!'
A little startled she opened her mouth and then the emancipated woman in her took control and she snapped:
"What makes you say that?"
She folded her arms in front of her chest and his face became even sader.
"Everybody screams and runs!"
"Truman didn't and nor did my Dad."
"Your Dad has no idea."
"But Truman does?", she contered.
"uhm...yeah...", He said, a little taken aback.
"But that doesn't matter."
She opened her mouth again and closed it a moment later letting out a "hrmpf" sound, then a thought crossed her mind.
"Try me!", she challenged him.
He raised an eyebrow and thought about it for a moment.
"Okay, I guess you will find out on you own, anyway."
She smiled at him and slided her chair closer to the table, excited about what she was going to hear next.

***

Otto really did not want her to scream and run in panic, but that was what she was going to do after he told her who he really was. He did not want her to leave, she was nice, he wanted her to stay.
If anybody else would had come into the room and started talking, he would have kicked him out immidatly, but not her. She was different somehow, he did not know why, but she was. He had liked her the moment she opened the door and gave that little scream when he surprised her.
She was the total opposite of her father, whom he could not stand at all.
She had that curiousity in her eyes that he hadn't seen in a lot of peoples eyes, that was another thing that spoke for her.
He stood up and again he asked himself why he was doing it. That question seemed to cross his mind a lot in the last 24 hours. But this time he had the answer. There was hope. Hope that that girl might be different.

It was a small surprise scream that echoed through the large conference room, followed by a few seconds of looking in awe at the four metal arms that slowly rose from underneath his coat and then her eyes narrowed.
"What are those things?" She asked eyeing the actuators doubtfully.
Otto let out a sigh of relief. She didn't scream nor did she run... well, technically she did scream, but at least she didn't run. I guess the hardest part is over.
Although he wondered why she didn't recognize him, even here in Texas people would know him. He had been all over the news, not only in New York.
"Their were originally designed to assist me with my experiment, to obtain and maintain a fusion reaction. They can resist extreme heat and magnetism They were my lab assistants." Otto did not look at her instead his gaze was fixed on the floor.
"And now? Why are you still wearing them? Why don't you take them off?" Grace asked in disbelief.
He looked up. "They are fused to my spine."
It was then when Otto's world was turned upside down and Grace started yelling.
"What the Ffff...?!"
This was not something he was used to. A look of confusion started spreading over Otto's face, he did not understand what was going on right now.
"Why did you do that?"
No, definitly not something he was used to. What was that girl talking about? She was yelling, she was yelling loud, and he did not know why.
"Why would somebody do something like that to their body?"
Not at all...used to. He stared blankly at the girl in front of him. His thoughts swirling and twirling about.
"ARE YOU OUT OF YOU MIND?"
Otto's brain was one fuzzy mess now, it didn't make sense. Grace stood there, angry, no not only angry, furious and enraged. Her fists clinched, she stared directly into his sunglasses covered eyes.
And Otto, well, Otto stood there, mouth open, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to think and then suddenly his mind went into overdrive and his confusion was replaced by rage within a second.
"What the fuck are you talking about?!" He shouted, stepping forward towards Grace in livid motion. "How can you possibly think I did this on purpose to me?!" He gestured about him and then pointed directly at Grace, now only three feet away from him. "You are the one out of your mind here." He snarled and with this he stormed out of the room, actuators quickly hiding under his coat. How could he have possibly thought....

Nobody ever alleged that he did this on purpose. Never.

***

Grace stood there, dumbstruck. But what else had she expected? She was breathing hard, trying to keep her shaking hand under control. She stared at the opposite wall, where a moment ago Otto had been standing, her mind racing. What had she done? How could she have possibly assumed...

She was close to hyperventilating and suddenly there was only one thing to do.

Grace spun on her heels and started running, dashing through the door of the conference she quickly looked around in the dimly lit hallway. He hadn't gone far yet and she started off in his direction.

"Listen... Otto...". She reached him several moments later and meant to put her hand on his shoulder but he spun around so fast she didn't even have a change to get her arm up and suddenly she was face to face with four red lights, pointing at her. The metal arms were hovering over Otto's shoulders, dangerously and menacingly. His face was blank, deep shadows concealing his features.
"What?"
The coldness of his voice let a cold shiver run down Grace spine. She shivered and her whole body was shaking. What had she done? Tears where forming in her eyes. She didn't mean this to happen. How could she be so mean, so cruel, to a person who she had just met, who she didn't even know. Who was she to judge him like that?
Tears were forming in her eyes and suddenly everything came crushing down on her.
The asteroid, that freaking asteroid, that was the cause of everything.
Her father, who wants to fly up there, bringing himself in danger of his life, leaving her down here, alone and desperate.
And now this. She gulped, not holding back the tears any longer, and she threw herself forward embracing the man in front of her in a hug, sobbing a frantic Sorry into his trench coat, not caring about the hard metal she felt on the mans back, not caring about the red lights inside the metal claws, not caring about anything, just sobbing, letting everything out, letting all the problems fade away and after a while she felt soft strokes on her back and she smiled.