Chapter 7: Conclusion
-Hikaru-
I glanced down at Ryo and sighed, wishing I hadn't shoved him back when we were up on the cliff. I mean, even though he hadn't said anything about it, he was being downright nasty to me. And it had been an accident! Sighing, I glanced out and saw the Iron condors turning around and flying in the direction of the Golden City. "Retrieval team," I muttered. "Come on, you'd better make it." I glanced down at Ryo and wished I knew what to do, to apologize, that is. I mean, we weren't the best of friends to begin with, and it just seemed this whole thing made communication even more tense between the two of us.
Sighing, I leaned against the wall and waited… and waited…and waited…
My head jerked up, and I realized I'd fallen asleep. Had someone called my name?
"Hikaru!"
I crawled to the edge of the tunnel and jumped out. "Yeah?" I yelled, glancing around.
"There you are!" Takeshi shouted, running over. "Where's Ryo?"
"In there," I answered, pointing.
Takeshi nodded. "I'll help you get him out."
Together the two of us carried him out and over to where the medics were waiting, where we set him down a lot more gently than I had when we'd retreated to the tunnel for cover.
As the medics checked him out, I asked Takeshi what happened back at the Golden City. Takeshi shrugged. "Sensei Keiken said he'd explain when you and Ryo got back- as to what he's explaining about, I haven't a clue," he said, shaking his head.
"Okay then," I said. "Are we going?"
"Well, since the medics have already loaded Ryo into the Hybrid Rescue Tank, and they're only waiting for you to get in, I'd say yes," Takeshi snorted.
"Ha, very funny," I grinned, jogging over and hopping into the battle machine. Very soon, I would be back at the Golden City, and I would figure out what had happened to communications and stuff.
If everything went well.
Fortunately, everything did go well, and we got to the Golden City without incident. Then, however, I had to wait for what seemed like centuries until Ryo was up and running, to use technician-talk. Seriously, the guys might as well be saying 'we rebooted his systems'! It's almost funny, except that it's just a little too nerdy for that.
Anyway, Ryo was bouncing around and itching to get working on some battle machine or new weapon or something, and I was itching to find out what Sensei Keiken knew that we didn't. And so we walked into the briefing room together.
Sensei Keiken was standing in front of just about every person who was in Exo-Force. Except, maybe, the people who were on perimeter defense or security. The room was packed. In fact, it was so packed that Ryo started to back out of the room. "Hikaru?" he whispered, "I really wanna go check on my lab. Could you just tell me what he says whenever we see each other next? I'm almost at a breakthrough for the slip-stream epicenter translation on the newest machine, and I just thought of something that should make the-"
Just then, Sensei Keiken glanced at us, and motioned for the two of us to come up.
Ryo sighed, his shoulders slumping. "Drat," he whispered.
"I suppose, out of all of the pilots here, you two deserve the most heartfelt apology," Sensei Keiken said.
I was confused, and from the looks of it, so was Ryo.
-Ryo-
"A heartfelt apology?" Hikaru asked, sounding baffled.
I wished Sensei would get his 'heartfelt apology' over with so I could make sure my files were still accurate. Someone had said something about all the files being okay while I was getting checked on in the sickroom, but he was just a medic- WHAT WOULD HE KNOW? These equations and specs had to be exactly perfect or else we'd waste tons of work, and time, and tools and equipment, and… Well, basically, I didn't trust anyone but myself (or Sensei Keiken) to know exactly what these 'okay' files would look like.
"There was never a real emergency," Sensei Keiken said. "I planned a worst-case scenario in which the computer systems would be shut down by the robots. However, should a real threat present itself, the computer would return to normal."
Hikaru frowned. "So… we didn't need the code after all?"
Sensei Keiken frowned. "Well, the code could have caused a reboot of the computer in real life, but in the scenario, no, it would have no effect."
That was interesting. I'd have to remember that- those codes could cause a reboot for an overrun and pretty well broken-down computer. "So what you're saying is if we'd waited for the robots to attack, like everyone else did, the Golden City would have been fine, right?"
Sensei Keiken nodded.
"That's a relief!" I exclaimed, glad that the existence of the human race hadn't really rested on the shoulders of an Exo-Force pilot and engineer.
"I second that," Hikaru agreed. Then he frowned. "Why didn't you come and get us right away then?" he asked.
"We didn't know where you were, remember?" Hitomi snapped. "And because those battle machines were supposed to be scrapped-" here she tossed me a cold glare, "they didn't have a tracking chip."
"Sorry about that," I said, not really meaning it. I mean, it was Uplink! Even if I did have the Hybrid Rescue Tank to work with now, that battle machine would always be my favorite.
Sensei keiken glanced at Hikaru and I. "I hope you two learned a little something about teamwork while you were out there. Then at least it wasn't a total waste."
I thought back to the shouting match, the robot sabotage, the penlight laser, the cliffhanging disaster and the Iron Condor freak-out. "Yes, Sensei." I said, a smile starting.
Hikaru's eyes kind of bugged out, then he figured it out too. "Yes, we did learn a lot about teamwork!" he agreed.
I turned and grinned at Hikaru. "I think we learned that people don't think, work, or act in the same way- and that's what makes them a valuable member of the team."
Hikaru shrugged. "That… and sometimes you should humor the techie."
I couldn't help laughing.
A/N: The end! Sorry for the long wait...
