Hakusan Angel (6 page)

"Shut it down. Before you do more damage!"

"Is the machine damaged?"

"It's not the machine I'm worried about."

Mari did as he said and powered down, and behind her, she could hear Kaede starting to groan slightly as she came out of her source-trance.

"Ishigaki, explain what went wrong."

She tried to explain that it really wasn't her fault at all because it was Kaede's job to regulate the energy flow and she'd failed. Mari went through all the ways that the power failure had adversely affected her controls.

"You dolt, Ishigaki. You have three monitors dedicated to energy distribution. You could have checked the levels yourself
before
moving. Moreover, upon losing visual contact with the outside world, you should have stopped forward motion! Don't tell me you didn't hear the alarm from the navigation consoles indicating a proximity alert?"

She stopped to listen and found that actually, yes, there was a background alert going off. Fancy that.

Kaede was groggily looking around to see what was going on and Mari snapped at her in irritation. This was her fault. If she had just held up her end of the deal, they'd have been fine.

She was waiting for orders when she heard Kaede struggling to move behind her and remembered that she couldn't because she was still plugged in. Mari snorted in annoyance, stomping over to her, she reached back around the chair and unceremoniously yanked out the lowest plug.

It completely shocked her when Kaede let out a high-pitched whimper and flinched as the plug slid free from the port. She'd seen sources disconnecting from their machines hundreds of times, and not once had they reacted like that. Mari paused and frowned, plug still in hand. She rubbed at it thoughtfully with her thumb, trying to puzzle it out.

With slowly-dawning horror, she realized that the metal beneath her fingers was slick and sticky. Very carefully, she lowered her head down to look, and it was just as bad as she'd feared. The plug was coated in blood, and the other two were much the same. Her spine was dripping down congealing blood from underneath the ports.

Mari felt a tad ill, and she was glad that Kaede couldn't see her own back.

"I'm going to need source technicians on stand-by," Mari reported, voice flat. "Nomura is in a bad way. There's something wrong with her ports."

"Copy that. We're sending down a rescue crew. Open the hatch and we'll get you out."

Mari did, then went back to Kaede. She'd seemed alert when she'd first disengaged from the mainframe, but now that she was coming down off her power-high, she looked wrecked. Kaede was starting to shiver, and her entire body was grimy with sweat. Mari realized that there were tear-tracks down her face and that her eyelashes had clumped together.

"Can I remove the other two plugs?" she asked quietly.

Kaede jerked her head in a sharp nod, eyes unfocused. She closed them again and waited.

Mari knelt down behind the chair and placed her palm carefully against Kaede's lower back, bracing the area around the plug before slowly removing it. Kaede let out a sharp breath, but otherwise didn't make a sound. Mari removed the other one as well, and then drew back.

"Others," Kaede slurred, body slumped and eyes lidded.

It took Mari a moment before she realized that Kaede meant the rest of the plugs. Thankfully, the other plugs looked intact and undamaged. Even so, Mari was very gentle when removing them, not wanting to cause any more undue trauma and exacerbate Kaede's wounds.

By the time she was done, she heard a clanking noise and voices indicating that someone had come to rescue them. Kaede was next to naked, so Mari covered her with her bomber jacket before lifting her up in her arms, careful not to damage or jostle her injuries.

Someone in a metal suit poked their head in, their visor up so that she could see their eyes. It was a Level 9 Source in a power suit, one that had RESCUE stamped across the chest plate.

"All right?" the source asked them in concern. "We're going to have to lower you out in a harness. I've already got a magnetic clamp and safety line set up for you."

"I'm fine, but I'll need to be lowered down with her. She's not conscious enough to go down by herself, and she's got injuries."

They were set up in a harness quickly and efficiently and attached to a rescue line so that they could be lowered out to safety. Mari cradled Kaede close as best she could, hoping that she felt secure. Kaede was drifting in and out of unconsciousness, so Mari wasn't sure if she knew what was happening. She stood on the edge of the portal and looked down. The ground was very
very
far away. Someone on the ground waved up at them, waiting for them to arrive.

"Off you go," the rescue source gently pushed them away from the side of the machine so that they could start to be lowered down.

The two of them drifted downward lightly and smoothly. Kaede's head was cushioned on Mari's shoulder, and Mari found her nose buried in Kaede's hair. She breathed in, and Kaede's soft, warm smell filled her senses. She had a sweet aroma in spite of the sweat, and it was very potent, especially behind her ear. It was ... nice. Soothing.

It took the jolt of her feet touching the ground for her to realize that she'd spent the whole journey down smelling Kaede's hair.

She didn't have long to ponder this, because not a moment later she was swarmed by source technicians and Kaede was carried off to medical for a check-up. It was just as well, because Mari was pretty damn certain that for all that sources were annoyingly aloof and condescending, they weren't meant to suffer in their work.

This was a confusing set of emotions to deal with, but Mari was determined to sort them all out. Maybe she had judged Kaede a bit unfairly after all.

*~*~*

Kaede woke up facedown on a suspended medical bay table with her back exposed and her cheek pressed against soft padding. For a moment, she thought that she was fine, but then she shifted to try to turn on her side.

Her back erupted in burning pain.

She cried out and immediately stopped moving, trying to relax her back muscles, which had tensed at the sudden agony flooding her system. She breathed in deeply through her nose slowly and waited for the flaring pain to calm. Before it had entirely faded, a source technician rushed in.

"You're awake," she said in surprise. "You weren't supposed to gain consciousness for two hours. There, now give me a moment and we'll give you some pain medication."

Blessed relief came, and Kaede asked, "What happened to me?"

"We're not sure, but we think that reforging the energy pathways to include the new ports had more serious consequences than we anticipated."

"Did anyone come in to see me while I was asleep?"

"Only your pilot. Your CO was sent the report of your injuries and he knows that you can't work for the time being, at least not until we've had a look at your energy web to see if it's aligned properly."

"Will I be released soon?"

"Once your ports stop bleeding."

She shouldn't have been surprised that they hadn't allowed her parents to come see her. They probably hadn't told her parents anything at all, never mind that she'd been injured under her changed circumstances.

The really surprising thing was that Mariko had visited her. She wasn't sure what to make of that, because the last time they'd spoken they'd argued. Did pity negate anger in the world of pilots?

Of course, because she didn't know what was going on with Mariko, she chose that very moment to appear. At least, she thought it was Mariko, because the figure in front of her was wearing a pilot's combat pants along with a non-regulation belt and bomber jacket. She didn't feel like twisting her neck up in order to see whose face was above her. She'd settle with the view of the midriff and hips. With those hips, it was definitely a female pilot.

"You're awake."

"Yes," Kaede said, sighing as she was proven correct.

"Are you all right?"

"
No
," she grumbled pointedly. "My
spine
is
bleeding
."

"Right. Uh, so, you um, you going to be here awhile?"

"No idea."

"Okay. So ... did they tell you what happened?"

"No."

"Right. Okay. We ... kind of ran into the wall of the cavern."

"I hadn't noticed," Kaede replied scathingly.

"Yeah, well, that sort of caused part of the cavern to ... collapse. A bit." Mari sounded sheepish.

"A bit."

The hips in front of her face shifted guiltily. "Yes. Okay, fine, it collapsed a lot. Also, it caused a slight sink-hole on the surface of the base. People kind of noticed."

"Why do I have the feeling that the sink-hole was more of a big deal than you're letting on?"

The hips squirmed uncomfortably, and Mari's hands were twisted together. "Okay, so I know what you're going to say. It was a pretty big sink-hole, yes, I admit. And yes, a few buildings
might
have been slightly damaged in the aftermath ..."

"Mariko ..."

"Don't be mad!" Mariko visibly cringed. "We ... sort of destroyed the bar. And I mean that it sunk into the middle of the sink-hole and is completely non-salvageable."

Only a pilot would think that the bar was more important than the fact that all of the Level 3 Sources and pilots had solid evidence that there was something secret going on right under their feet.

"I knew you'd be angry."

Kaede sighed and closed her eyes. "So what you really mean by all that is that we are in even more trouble and that Commander Sano is going to yell at us when I'm better?"

"More or less. Yes."

"Great."

"Look on the bright side–"

"There is no bright side."

"–it's sort of their fault too, for trying to make us do everything right away and not considering the possibility that your new ports could be a problem."

That was true, but it wasn't as if High Command would see it that way. "Mariko, they don't care if their orders might injure me or that I might need time to adjust. They'll just keep poking at my limits, and it doesn't matter to them if they accidentally break me along the way. You said it yourself–I'm just a walking battery. I'm just an object, a part of their war machines that can be bought with money. I'm not a person."

"That's not true!"

"Disbelieve me all you want. I'm the one lying here bleeding."

Mariko didn't seem to have an answer for that one. Kaede could see her hands trembling, clenching slowly into fists. Mariko didn't say another word, turning on her heel and noisily marching out of the med bay.

Kaede waited for something to happen, but Mariko didn't come back. What did return was the throbbing pain in her back, although it had only been about fifteen minutes.

She summoned the tech and asked, "Can you just put me out again?"

Her countdown from one hundred trailed off into welcome, fuzzy darkness.

*~*~*

Mari was back to waiting around in their enormous, cushy suite alone and bored. She'd briefly considered tying the gauzy white curtains together to make an escape rope, but decided it would probably tear under her weight. She'd been training on the driving sim for hours and her eyes were starting to get dry from staring at the screen for so long.

Nothing ever happened in this place.

A knock on the door interrupted her gloomy train of thought, and she got up to answer it, lazily taking her time. The door had a stupid, ornate handle, and Mari was constantly afraid that she'd accidentally break it off and lock herself inside.

"Ishigaki, how are you holding up?" CO Sano was on the other side, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and a thin smile on this face.

Mari fought down the sudden, strong urge to slam the door in his face. "I'm bored," she said bluntly.

"Not much I can do about that, now, is there?" Sano arched his brows.

"You could let me have some visitors," Mari said. "You know, the other Level 3 Pilots already know something is going on. First the power surge thing with Sae and then the sink-hole situation are kind of telling. Someone is going to figure it out eventually."

"It's better that they speculate than pass on something that's true."

"If I ask them not to, they won't talk," Mari said confidently. She knew they'd agree to almost anything if it meant getting out of the compound they were being held in.

"You seem so sure of their loyalty to you," Sano said, clearly sceptical.

"Pilots are, generally. Especially to a fellow pilot; we're loyal to a fault. You're just used to sources needing to be bribed and cajoled into doing as you say."

Sano didn't say anything for a moment, ponderously scratching his chin. "If I let them in to see you, can you persuade them to keep things quiet?"

"Absolutely."

"You're right," Sano said, tone coloured with resignation. "The Level 3 Pilots and sources are both in an uproar over this. I don't know what to do about the sources, but if you can calm your former comrades down, that would be helpful."

"They're still my comrades."

"You're a Level 1 Pilot now. The only one. Your only comrade now is Nomura."

"All pilots are my comrades, sir. We're all in this together, after all."

"Well said, Ishigaki. We'll let your pilots in to see you."

Unsurprisingly, Matsura was the first one through the door of the suite, and rushed to meet her as soon as he saw her. He lifted her up off her feet in a hard embrace and twirled her around before setting her back down. Then he spared a look for the rest of the room and whistled.

"Wow, Mari, what did you do to get all this? Does this mean I can take over your bunk?"

Mari smacked his arm and grinned. "You're ridiculous. Shouldn't you be more worried about all the inexplicable things that have been happening?"

"I would if it was any great mystery," Matsura said with a shrug as he glanced around at their comrades. "We think we figured it out though, especially after they took you."

The rest of the pilots all nodded in agreement while Mari surveyed them in shock.