TWENTY SEVEN
FLY, YOU FOOLS
Review Corner
mobmal: Wow, from I,Kerensky to this? Man, I am flattered! Really I do. Thank you for reading. I hope I don't disappoint you with this one. Nowadays I don't have the time and energy of a college student like the time I wrote I, Kerensky, so I feel this story is pale compared to I, Kerensky. But I'm trying.
Aspencade Fortress,
Helic Republic, Delpoi Continent,
Planet Zi,
November 10, ZAC 2121
Talking to something who didn't speak the same language was difficult. Talking to a stubborn animal who didn't speak the same language was nigh impossible.
Saskia knew that the Gilvader had enough intelligence to communicate with its pilot. History stated that the Helic Republic almost fell under Gilvader's onslaught, and that was not entirely subjected to the Gilvader's awesomeness, although it played a critical part. No, Gilvader were capable of understanding chains of command and executing strategy with collective minds. They were so much more than just animals with big guns. They were precision fighting machines.
However, the Gilvader in the cave acted anything but. It turned its head away anytime it saw Saskia. It understood that it was trapped inside the cave and the only way out was through the eyes of Saskia's, but it sheer stubbornness just wouldn't let Saskia came near it. It mellowed out from the first time, no more screaming and thrashing, but it still wouldn't let Saskia to pilot it.
That brought Saskia to question herself: what was it about her that didn't get along with zoids? Was it her authority? Her confidence? Her attitude? She posed the best attitude she could muster to coax the Gilvader to follow her direction but the big machine didn't let her do anything, which was frustrating and aggravating at the same time, considering everything she went through to revive it. Was it the way she piloted a zoid? Too dictatorial? Too timid? Not enough authority? Her father was a great zoid pilot, and it was almost inconceivable that she didn't inherit that gene. It made her think that it would probably better if she didn't try anything at all, and let the Gilvader rot in the cave. Or perhaps it would be better to just sell the big zoid to a junk dealer. At least she made money out of it.
Saskia decided to give it one more try. If it didn't work, then maybe piloting a zoid just was not her thing.
"I know you miss your pilot," she said without sounding that she was losing her patience. "But he is dead. He may have been dead for 60 years. That was the last time anybody ever saw or heard about your kind."
Saskia didn't know if the Gilvader could actually understand her, but her mentioning about other Gilvaders seemed to picqued the dragon's interest. It turned around and faced Saskia in a very threatening pose. Saskia was taken aback, but realized that the Gilvader was still living in the past, searching the companionship of other Gilvaders more than its pilot.
"What do you remember, Gilvy?" she asked carefully. "Do you remember fighting the Madthunders? Big, giant zoids with drills as horns? Do you remember those?"
The Gilvader replied with a set of unintelligible growls, but Saskia could sense a more agreeable tone in them.
"You do remember that, don't you? You remember that you destroyed the entire division of Madthunders at the Devil's Maze. Do you remember the meteor cataclysm after that? Huge burning rocks falling from the sky?"
The Gilvader snorted, taking a long break before puffing a sad purr, almost like calling out for the other Gilvaders.
"Look, that meteor cataclysm changed the world forever," Saskia found a new confidence. She felt, for the first time ever, she could connect with the zoid. "Hundreds of thousands of zoids were lost. Your friends were among those who perished under the meteor shower. You are the only one that survived… the only one that we know. There has never been an appearance of any other Gilvaders since the cataclysm. Nobody had seen or heard of your kind for more than 60 years. You are the last of your kind, Gilvy."
As if it understood, the big machine retreated, sulking at a corner. Saskia let it do whatever it wanted, thinking it might need some time to digest everything. It sounded frivolous, giving a time for a mechanical creature to grieve, but she saw something more than just animal instinct in it. Zoids were as human as any human beings, personality and all. There was even a report of a schizophrenic zoid, a Lightning Saix with dual personalities, but the story had never been confirmed.
The wait wasn't long. The Gilvader rose to its feet and came to Saskia's presence. Its voice was still gruff, but it didn't stand in an attacking mode anymore.
"You want to see the world outside?" Saskia said eagerly. "Do you want to see how Zi had became since the last time you saw it? Aside from a large Helic Republic firebase being built near this place, it doesn't change much. The brown sand is still there. Helic City is still there. If we fly north far enough, you'll see that Nyx is still there. You'll see newer zoids, though. But don't worry; only a few can fly as fast as you, and nobody – absolutely nobody – can fly as high as you. After all these years, the sky still belongs to you."
This time, the Gilvader lowered its head until it was leveled with the ledge where Saskia perched. The red canopy popped open and steam hissed from the seals. The canopy swiveled at the hinge until the entire cockpit was wide open, waiting for Saskia to claim her place.
Saskia thought she just died.
With trembling hands, and knees flopping as if made from jelly, Saskia grabbed the edge of the cockpit and groggiliy climbed inside. The cockpit was wide, 3 times roomier than that of the Demantis. A smorgasbord of panels spread opposite of the command couch. Monitors gave her 360-degree visuals on the world outside up. Since the command couch was situated lower than the Gilvader's head directly behind its eyes, Saskia would have to rely on the monitors to see her way. Half a dozen other screens showed the status of the Gilvader, including guns, which at this moment were just blank brackets except for the weapon pods on the Gilvader's neck. Those pods, as a matter of fact, were red hot.
Saskia sat on the command couch and closed her eyes, letting her turbulent mind sink into the cockpit. The harness bar descended gently, securing her in the command couch. The seat moved forward until the joysticks were under her comfortable reach. The red canopy swiveled back into place, and several hooks grabbed the flange of the canopy in a tight pressure seal. Saskia winced as an uncomfortable nick jabbed her eardrums. But her body regulated quickly under the pressured cabin, and she opened her eyes, watching the console blinked in green readiness.
The pressure seal meant only one thing: the Gilvader expected to fly to the extreme altitude.
"Alright, Gilvy, first thing is to get you out of here," Saskia grabbed the joysticks and gently pushed it forward. The Gilvader responded in a short growl, then walked slowly, exactly what Saskia wanted. Saskia let out a huge breath of relieve. No zoid had responed the way she wanted, except of course the Demantis, but the Demantis was such a simple zoid that anybody could pilot it with no sweat. To have a machine this magnitude follow her command was overwhelming, and if she were lying in her bunk, she would've bawled like a little girl.
"I need your Maser horns," Saskia said and activated the gleaming horns on the Gilvader's head. Although it was a sophisticated machine, the Gilvader was not a creature of sublety. It jammed its Maser horns into the wall of the cave in such a force that the cave started crumbling.
"Gentle! Gentle!" Saskia backed the zoid up, then ever so slightly pushed her left joystick forward. The big zoid responded like it could read Saskia's mind. The tip of the Maser horns grazed the cave wall, stripping layer after layer of rocks, until the head busted out of the cave, overlooking the ocean, right on the opposite side of Aspencade Fortress.
"Oh My God!" Saskia felt as if her head burst into smithereens. "We're out! We're actually out!" She quickly regained composure. "Alright, now, back up and make this hole larger so your whole self can crawl out." She manipulated her joystick, and the Gilvader swiveled its long neck left and right, up and down, carving the wall, until the hole turned into a zoid-size door.
The Gilvader charged forward, but its wingspan was so wide the wings got stuck in the wall. The big zoid emitted an angry roar and tried to push itself out, but the wall was too thick to get through without ripping the wings apart.
"No, no, no, calm down!" Saskia pulled the joystick behind. "Don't force it, Gilvy. You will lose your wings. Back up a little. Now tuck in your wings as tightly as you can." Saskia didn't know if there was actually a function to fold the wings, but the Gilvader followed her direction. Then, upon a very gentle tap on the joystick, the Gilvader marched forward. The tip of the wings still grazed the wall, but in a more manageable fashion. Saskia gave it a stronger nudge on the joystick, and the Gilvader pushed itself out of the cave.
"Sweet Mother…" Saskia mumbled in disbelief. All those zoid debacles led her to believe that she was no good inside a zoid cockpit. Why did she fail with typical zoids but succeed with the Demantis, among the smallest zoids of all, and the Gilvader, an ancient behemoth? She didn't know the answer.
But the answer was not important anymore.
"Ready to fly?" she chimed. "Alright, spread your wings and take us to the sky!"
With a gleeful roar, the Gilvader spread its wings, and the Magnesser effect levitated the giant zoid. It glided over the water like cloud, slowly, gracefully, but with absolute authority. Saskia had a hard time breathing, realizing that she was actually flying and not crashing.
"Reclaim your place, Gilvy!" she said and pulled the joystick backward. The Gilvader climbed without a sweat, deceiving its own body weight. The responsiveness of the console made Saskia think that she was actually piloting a Pteras. In fact, no Pteras was this responsive in her hands. All Pteras had been very uncooperative under her command.
"Feeling good? Ready for high speed?" Saskia jiggled the joystick, then slammed her foot on the pedal. The six rocket boosters on the Gilvader's rear screamed in high energy, propelling the zoid like a bullet just leaving its barrel. The sudden G-force pinned Saskia onto her command couch, and it actually hurt her when she tried to breathe. But Saskia missed that force since the centrifuge back in college. It was the force that drove her high with adrenaline, thinking that she was actually flying in a real zoid.
Only this time, it was not a simulation session.
Saskia held nothing back. She hammered the engines, connecting all power output to the six rocket boosters, and let the Gilvader defy gravity. The Gilvader liked it rough. It met Saskia's lack of finesse with necessary force. Saskia couldn't believe that the Gilvader had not once disobeyed her, even though she handled its control without respect. She knew the Gilvader had been dormant for a long time, and pushing it in extreme condition might break its engine. But she couldn't resist. She could fix it later on.
"How high can you actually go?" Saskia jerked her joysticks back, forcing the Gilvader to fly almost perpendicular to the ground. The zoid fired all engines, refusing to stall in front of its new master. Saskia's vision starterd to tunnel down from all the G-force sucking the life out of her. Blood streamed down her nostrils. But she was determined to live through everything. The inhuman climb into the edge of the atmosphere quickly turned into a survival game. Neither one wanted to back down. The cockpit shook so violently Saskia thought she would be thrown out into the open sky. But she kept her grips on the joystick. This was a ride of her lifetime, and she was determined to see the end of it... even if the end was bleak.
Soon enough, the blue sky turned dark, and the Gilvader knew it had reached the end of its ceiling. It leveled off at the edge of the atmosphere. Saskia's eyes dried up for forgetting to blink. The sky above her was pitched black, and the world underneath her – far underneath her – was cobalt blue. Saskia had seen the view from holographs and 2D pictures about human space exploits. But nothing prepared her to see it with her own eyes.
"Woowww…" she whispered breathlessly. "It's beautiful."
The Gilvader spent some time kissing the edge of the atmosphere, then took a nose dive back into the Zi surface. Saskia shut off the rockets completely and ran only on Magnesser effect. It took them a while until they reached the surface of the ocean, then back to the cave.
"You like that, don't you?" Saskia said as she wiped the dried blood on her nose.
The Gilvader let out a series of short growl that almost sounded like chuckles. But Saskia believed it.
"You have no idea how much flying means to me," Saskia continued. She inspected the console, and her eyes were glued on the weapon screen under the main console. The Needle Guns and Plasma Cannons were green, signaling their readiness. So were the Maser horns and tailblades. The Gilvader's main weapons, a quartet compact Gravity Cannons, were still missing.
A sinister grin sprung on Saskia's lips.
"We haven't tested your weapons yet, Gilvy," she chimed. "We'll do that tomorrow. And I know just the right place to do it!"
