Epilog
Maura came round at the sea surface in the blasted off capsule, sat up and took off her helmet. She looked for the second jettisonable capsule but it was nowhere to be seen. Panic grabbed her.
Tendo exhaled and nodded. as he discovered the jettisonable capsule. " Visuals on first pod. Tracking solid. Vital signs are good. "
Korsak looked frowning and waiting at the screen. " Okay, where's the second pod?"
Tendo pointed at the screen. " I'm tracking it, but I'm getting no vital signs."
Korsak closed his eyes and sighed.
The second jettisonable capsule popped up and Maura jumped into the water to swim to it as the door didn't blasted away. She climbed onto the capsule and tugged at the securing bolt till the door blasted away when she saw the lifeless body of Jane. Then she took off Jane's helmet but nothing happened.
" I can't find her pulse. I don't think she's breathing."
Korsak had a lump in his throat. " Can you read her pulse? Does she have a pulse. "
Tendo shook with a lump in his throat too his head. " No. "
Maura brushed a strand of hair that had slipped from the ponytail, of Jane's sweaty forehead. " Jane? JANE? "
" Maura, listen to me. ", Tendo said over the radio. " It could be the sensors are not working. We can't be sure. "
Maura pulled the lifeless Jane in her arms and began to sob. " No. No … Don't go. PLEASE. "
" Maura. "
Maura embraced her tight and sobbed. " Don't go. "
" Maura. "
" No. Don't go. Please."
" You're squeezing me too tight. ", Jane said with a strained voice and coughed. Then she frowned smiling as Maura let her go in disbelief. " I couldn't breathe. "
Maura looked at her and started to laugh.
Now everyone in the command center cheered and applaused more and louder.
Tendo took a few times a deep breath and nodded at Korsak.
Korsak went to the other microphone." This is Marshal Vince Korsak. The Breach is sealed … STOP THE CLOCK! "
Now the whole Yaeger base cheered loud as all war clocks counted to zero.
Jane looked at Maura softly and relieved as Tendo was to hear. " Maura, Jane. We have your position. The choppers are on their way. Just … just … just hang on. "
Jane looked up in the sky as she heard the sound of rotor blades. Then she looked at Maura.
" Are you okay? Do you copy? "
Maura beamed as Jane leaned in and captured her lips.
" Uh … guys? "
Jane smiled and leaned her forehead against Maura's as choppers flew over their heads and kissed Maura again.
Janes POV
When I was a kid, whenever I'd feel small or lonely I'd look up at the stars. Wondered if there was life up there. Turns out I was looking in the wrong direction. When alien life entered our world it was from deep beneath the Pacific Ocean. A fissure between two tectonic plates. A port between two dimensions. The Breach. I was 15 when the first Kaiju mad land in San Francisco. By the time tanks, jets and missles took it down six days and 35 miles later, three cities were destroyed. Tens of thousands of lives were lost. We mourned our dead, memorialized the attack and moved on. And then, only six months later, the second attack hit Manila. And then the third one hit Cabo. And then the forth. And then we learned this was not gonna stop. This was just the beginning. We needed a new weapon. The world came together, pooling its resources and throwing aside old rivalries for the sake of the greater good. To fight monsters we created monsters of our own. The Yaeger program was born. There were setbacks at first. The neural load to interface with a Yaeger proved too much for a single pilot. A two-pilot system was implemented. Left-hemisphere, right-hemisphere pilot control. We started winning. Yaegers stopped the Kaijus everywhere. But the Yaeger were only as good as their pilots. So Yaeger pilots turned into rock stars. Danger turned into propaganda. Kaijus into toys. We were really good at it. Winning. Then … Then it all changed …
Years before you wouldn't picked my best friend Barry Frost and I for heroes. No chance. We were star athletes. Never at the head of the class. But we could hold our own in a fight. And it turned out we had a unique skill: We were Drift compatiple.
Frost lost his life in the line of duty to protect Anchorage. I will always cherish him … and miss. I felt it when Frost died and thought I could never again let someone back into my head. Until … until I met Maura Isles in Hong Kong, in the headquarter of the resistance. I knew immediately that something bound us. I had no idea how strong our bond would be. I knew that we could change the world together, the war. And we did. Together we've sealed the Breach, saved mankind, with painful losses. Now only one thing remains for us to do, to give a new heart to our world.
I see, a slow, simple youngster by a busy street, with a begging bowl in his shaking hand. Trying to smile but hurting infinitely. Nobody notice. I do, but walk by. An old man gets naked and kisses a roll-model in his attic. It's half-light abd he's in tears. When he finally comes his eyes are cascading.
I see a beaten dog in a pungent alley. He tries to bite me. All pride has left his wild eyes. I wish I had ny leg to spare.
A mother visits her son, smiles to him through the bars. She never loved him more.
An obese girl enters an elevator with me. All dressed up fency, a green butterfly on her neck. Terribly sweet perfume I see,a deafens me. She's going to dinner alone. That make her more beautiful.
I see a model's face on a brick wall. A statue of porcelain perfection a violent city kill. A city that worships flesh.
The first thing I ever heard was a wandering man telling his story.' It was you, the grass under my bare feet. The campfire in the dead of night. The heavenly black of sky and was us. Roaming the rainy roads, combing the guided beaches. Walking up a new gallery of wonders every morn. Bathing in places no-one's seen before. Shipwrecked on some matt-painted island. Clad in nothing but surf-beauty's finest robe. '
Beyond all mortality we are, swinging in the breath of nature. In early air of the dawn of life. A sight to silence the heavens.
I want to travel where life travels, following its permanent lead. Where the air tastes like snow music. Where grass smells like fresh-born Eden. I would pass no man, no stranger, no tragedy or rapture. I would bathe in a world of sensation. Love, goodness and simplicity. While violated and imprisoned by technology.
The thought of my family's grave was the only moment I used to experience true love. That love remains infintie, as I'll never be the man my father was.
How can you ' Just be yourself ' when you don't know who you are?
Stop saying ' I know how you feel '. How could anyone know how another feels?
Who am I to judge a priest, beggar, whore, politican, wrongdoer? I am, all of them already.
Dear child, stop working, go play. Forget every rule. There's no fear in a dream.
' Is there a village inside this snowflake? ', a child asked me once. ' What's the colour of our lullaby? '
I've never been so close to truth as then I touched its silver linging.
Death is the winner in any war. Nothing noble in dying for your religion. For your country. For ideology, for faith. For another man, yes..
Paper is dead without words. Ink idle without poem. All the world dead without stories. Without love and disarming beauty.
Careless realism costs souls.
Ever seen the Lord smile? Allt he care for the world made Beautiful a sad man? Why do we still carry a device of torture around our necks? Oh, how rotten your pre-apocalypse is. All your bible-black fools living over nightmare ground.
I see all those empty c cradles and wonder if man will never change.
I, too, wish to be a decent manboy but all I am is smoke and mirrors. Still given everything, may I deserving.
And there forever remains the change from G to Em.
