Chapter 3.
After a short explanation to the waiting Dutch Airforce Colonel, Miranda Postma, the Cougar had been brought to the exercise field with. And off course, like a spreading bush-fire, a large crowd had gathered to watch the labor's performance. Apparently the Dutch Airforce Colonel also had brought some friends because there were several officers talking to her, and even a pilot and some mechanics of the JSDF Helldiver unit were present. As he climbed the ladder to the cockpit entry hatch he also noticed a camera crew moving in a bit closer.
Great! If I go down, at least I got the certainty that everybody will know it in the morning. I must be have been a complete idiot to tell I've piloted a labor before! Harry thought as he lowered himself down into the driving section of the Cougar. The Cougar's cockpit was brand new and smelled fresh and crispy. Which was pure logic as the Cougar was brand new and barely tested! Harry thought putting his hand through his hair straightening it a bit before putting on the helmet. A sleek military helmet with infrared sensors and various other options added to it.
Wiping some sweat from his fore- head he flipped some switches and various screens lit up with a low buzzing tone. A message appeared on the front screen.
--Fujima Mechanised Technologies--
--Mark II, Cougar Labor prototype A--
--Please enter HOS disk--
"Better get this over with" Harry mumbled feeling still some regret being in this situation he put himself into. After entering the HOS disk Takahira, the younger mechanic, had given him into the waiting disk reader a single line of two words appeared on the front screen.
--Enter Password:
He briefly looked skywards thinking of a password and quickly typed in: DRAGON. It wasn't very original but it was at least something.
The main computer only hummed lightly as his password was accepted and function screens came online. Flipping a last switch so the auto-balance was on he slowly moved the Cougar forward accelerating as he cleared the docking bay.
** Colonel Postma looked with some excitement at the Cougar, which now was slowly moving to the centre of the field. It's powerful legs thumping as the large machine stepped up the pace. It was her first actual active military labor she had seen, and even if the Cougar was unarmed it was clearly a powerful labor. But not everyone was so impressed as Henrich, who had joined her after a short introduction, swore that a four legged labor was probably much faster. So the girl at the stand earlier on had really convinced him! she thought with a smile.
** Harry felt excited, the feeling of regret earlier when starting up the slumbering Cougar was completely gone. The Cougar performed really well, not that he had expected anything less considering they had re- retested it before finally going to the Expo in Tokyo's Ginza district. Looking at the various screens he made a mental note to mention that an additional H.U.D. (Head Up Display), just like those newer American Military Labors, should be added. Just as he was reaching the end of the field a glimpse on his left camera viewscreen caught his attention. Zooming in with the left side camera the glimpse appeared to be a yellow package standing on his of support column, so it was unnoticed by the Expo security personnel on the other side. "What the..." he mumbled as he moved the Cougar in closer to take a closer look.
A white flash temporally blinded his view. Blinking only a few times the view reappeared, the camera filter had blurred most of the flash (as it was designed to do), and he saw that the support column had broken into two pieces, better said it was ripped in two.
The ceiling it had been supporting was giving away under the lost support and added stress and like in slow-motion started caving in onto a stunned school-class (probably on a excursion to the Labor Expo) While being unable to move an inch the teachers and children only were able to look in horror as the ceiling moved in closer and closer.
The Cougar dived in planting it's right leg behind the small group while bending its left one as Harry moved the Cougar's back to turn to the debris. Using it one arm to support the massive hulk of the Cougar and the other one keep the group under the torso of the Cougar as the metal and concrete came crashing down. Harry hoped the added armour plating would hold this onslaught.
** Shuki Fujima looked in amazement as they the Cougar launched itself into a protecting pose over the stunned school class. She already had been impressed by Harry's skills with handling a labor, even after being a mechanic for about 2 years he still could handle a labor like a pro.
Her dad had offered him a job 2 years ago, and in a report she had recently looked into, it appeared Harry had been once a great labor pilot but after a unknown incident refused to pilot a labor. She was also surprised as he had offered the Cougar when the Dutch Royal Airforce colonel, Miranda, had wanted to see a live demonstration.
And now his skills were really helpful! The falling debris hit the Cougar's torso hard and a cloud of dust obscured the view of the Cougar.
"Harry!" someone screamed. Shuki looked around to look for the one who had yelled, then it hit her that it was herself! She jumped over the field wall onto the exercise field and started moved towards the crash site. Several other persons also were following her towards the Cougar's crash site. With a brief look over her shoulders she caught a glimpse of the Dutch Airforce colonel, the second mechanic Takahira and a few other people she didn't know but looking at there faces they must be policemen. "Damn you Harry! Don't be dead now! You hear me!" She mumbled under her breath while turning her head towards back and raised her hands to her mouth as she moved into the dense cloud of dust.
** Where was he? Harry groaned it felt like his head was about to explode. Touching his forehead briefly a sharp pain shot through his spine, a nasty cut, luckily the helmet had taking the brunt of the hit.
Suddenly everything came back; the explosion and the cave-in, he quickly checked if his body was still in one piece but except the cut on his forehead everything seemed still to be in order. Then he remembered why he had plunged the Cougar towards the cave in and quickly used the periscope. The front viewscreen was smashed (as he had smashed his head in to it when the debris hit the labor) Using the intercom he asked if eveything was okay. With a sigh of relieve he noticed that everyone seemed to be okay as some of the teachers were waving to him mentioning that everything was in order. Probably a bit shocked but no serious injuries.
He then checked the operating systems of the Cougar. The Cougar even when it had taking a heavy pounding seemed only to have taken light damage as some of its cameras didn't respond, also the armour seemed to have taking a heavy beating but except that everything seemed to be in order.
Still feeling dizzy he tried to open the hatch only achieving that his sight turned red as his head seemed to protest the abuse, the cut was worse then he thought as he felt that he was losing consciousness. "Ow man... what a day"
After a short explanation to the waiting Dutch Airforce Colonel, Miranda Postma, the Cougar had been brought to the exercise field with. And off course, like a spreading bush-fire, a large crowd had gathered to watch the labor's performance. Apparently the Dutch Airforce Colonel also had brought some friends because there were several officers talking to her, and even a pilot and some mechanics of the JSDF Helldiver unit were present. As he climbed the ladder to the cockpit entry hatch he also noticed a camera crew moving in a bit closer.
Great! If I go down, at least I got the certainty that everybody will know it in the morning. I must be have been a complete idiot to tell I've piloted a labor before! Harry thought as he lowered himself down into the driving section of the Cougar. The Cougar's cockpit was brand new and smelled fresh and crispy. Which was pure logic as the Cougar was brand new and barely tested! Harry thought putting his hand through his hair straightening it a bit before putting on the helmet. A sleek military helmet with infrared sensors and various other options added to it.
Wiping some sweat from his fore- head he flipped some switches and various screens lit up with a low buzzing tone. A message appeared on the front screen.
--Fujima Mechanised Technologies--
--Mark II, Cougar Labor prototype A--
--Please enter HOS disk--
"Better get this over with" Harry mumbled feeling still some regret being in this situation he put himself into. After entering the HOS disk Takahira, the younger mechanic, had given him into the waiting disk reader a single line of two words appeared on the front screen.
--Enter Password:
He briefly looked skywards thinking of a password and quickly typed in: DRAGON. It wasn't very original but it was at least something.
The main computer only hummed lightly as his password was accepted and function screens came online. Flipping a last switch so the auto-balance was on he slowly moved the Cougar forward accelerating as he cleared the docking bay.
** Colonel Postma looked with some excitement at the Cougar, which now was slowly moving to the centre of the field. It's powerful legs thumping as the large machine stepped up the pace. It was her first actual active military labor she had seen, and even if the Cougar was unarmed it was clearly a powerful labor. But not everyone was so impressed as Henrich, who had joined her after a short introduction, swore that a four legged labor was probably much faster. So the girl at the stand earlier on had really convinced him! she thought with a smile.
** Harry felt excited, the feeling of regret earlier when starting up the slumbering Cougar was completely gone. The Cougar performed really well, not that he had expected anything less considering they had re- retested it before finally going to the Expo in Tokyo's Ginza district. Looking at the various screens he made a mental note to mention that an additional H.U.D. (Head Up Display), just like those newer American Military Labors, should be added. Just as he was reaching the end of the field a glimpse on his left camera viewscreen caught his attention. Zooming in with the left side camera the glimpse appeared to be a yellow package standing on his of support column, so it was unnoticed by the Expo security personnel on the other side. "What the..." he mumbled as he moved the Cougar in closer to take a closer look.
A white flash temporally blinded his view. Blinking only a few times the view reappeared, the camera filter had blurred most of the flash (as it was designed to do), and he saw that the support column had broken into two pieces, better said it was ripped in two.
The ceiling it had been supporting was giving away under the lost support and added stress and like in slow-motion started caving in onto a stunned school-class (probably on a excursion to the Labor Expo) While being unable to move an inch the teachers and children only were able to look in horror as the ceiling moved in closer and closer.
The Cougar dived in planting it's right leg behind the small group while bending its left one as Harry moved the Cougar's back to turn to the debris. Using it one arm to support the massive hulk of the Cougar and the other one keep the group under the torso of the Cougar as the metal and concrete came crashing down. Harry hoped the added armour plating would hold this onslaught.
** Shuki Fujima looked in amazement as they the Cougar launched itself into a protecting pose over the stunned school class. She already had been impressed by Harry's skills with handling a labor, even after being a mechanic for about 2 years he still could handle a labor like a pro.
Her dad had offered him a job 2 years ago, and in a report she had recently looked into, it appeared Harry had been once a great labor pilot but after a unknown incident refused to pilot a labor. She was also surprised as he had offered the Cougar when the Dutch Royal Airforce colonel, Miranda, had wanted to see a live demonstration.
And now his skills were really helpful! The falling debris hit the Cougar's torso hard and a cloud of dust obscured the view of the Cougar.
"Harry!" someone screamed. Shuki looked around to look for the one who had yelled, then it hit her that it was herself! She jumped over the field wall onto the exercise field and started moved towards the crash site. Several other persons also were following her towards the Cougar's crash site. With a brief look over her shoulders she caught a glimpse of the Dutch Airforce colonel, the second mechanic Takahira and a few other people she didn't know but looking at there faces they must be policemen. "Damn you Harry! Don't be dead now! You hear me!" She mumbled under her breath while turning her head towards back and raised her hands to her mouth as she moved into the dense cloud of dust.
** Where was he? Harry groaned it felt like his head was about to explode. Touching his forehead briefly a sharp pain shot through his spine, a nasty cut, luckily the helmet had taking the brunt of the hit.
Suddenly everything came back; the explosion and the cave-in, he quickly checked if his body was still in one piece but except the cut on his forehead everything seemed still to be in order. Then he remembered why he had plunged the Cougar towards the cave in and quickly used the periscope. The front viewscreen was smashed (as he had smashed his head in to it when the debris hit the labor) Using the intercom he asked if eveything was okay. With a sigh of relieve he noticed that everyone seemed to be okay as some of the teachers were waving to him mentioning that everything was in order. Probably a bit shocked but no serious injuries.
He then checked the operating systems of the Cougar. The Cougar even when it had taking a heavy pounding seemed only to have taken light damage as some of its cameras didn't respond, also the armour seemed to have taking a heavy beating but except that everything seemed to be in order.
Still feeling dizzy he tried to open the hatch only achieving that his sight turned red as his head seemed to protest the abuse, the cut was worse then he thought as he felt that he was losing consciousness. "Ow man... what a day"