From the bridge of an Executor-class Star Destroyer, I couldn't help but feel empowered as the tunnel of hyperspace swirled past. Makoto and Nabiki were still in Science, and looking out at the various blues that flashed by, I frowned in thought, before turning to Blair.
"Are the Jump Points instantaneous?"
"You meant the jumps? Yeah. As far as we can tell they are. Or, really, if there's any delay between leaving one point and arriving at another, it's insignificant."
"Could a Jump drive be fitted on this ship?"
"It'd have to be a hell of a drive, but I don't see why not," he replied. I nodded, then looked out the window.
"Thinking of coupling one with the 'hyperdrives' you already have on this ship?" he asked, glancing out the window. Flint and Maniac moved a little closer, watching the blue fly by, but also listening in on our conversation.
"Something like that. System-to-system flights take a little longer than I'd prefer. But if I could hop from one point in a system to another, then jump from one system to the next, unless I was going around my ass to get to my elbow, I'd probably save a lot of time."
"Sounds reasonable," Blair muttered.
"Somethin' on your mind, Colonel?" Manic asked, noticing the faraway look in Blair's eye.
"Still feeling those female hormones, eh Maniac?" Flint teased.
"Shut up! That's not it at all!" Maniac snapped back.
"There is something on my mind, actually. If Kyle," He looked at me for a moment, before looking back out at Hyperspace, "can do what he proposes, then this war is as good as over."
"Just like that?" Maniac asked, sounding a little subdued himself.
"Just like that." Blair replied.
While the three of them contemplated that, staring out at the passing of Hyperspace, I took a step back, before turning to go.
Leaving the bridge, I frowned in thought while I made my way to hangar bay Makoto and I had used to spar in, a whole universe away. Pausing to dredge up the memory, I starter to do the beginner form my Tae-kwon-do instructor had drilled into me years and years ago.
If I was in for a fight, as Kami had hinted at, then I needed to work on my martial arts so I didn't loose what skills I'd gained when my wish was granted. Training would require something to help push myself and Makoto past our current level, which was, at the moment, probably one of the best in the universe.
Makoto, with her experience in the Supernatural, as well as her half-history growing up in Japan, would probably be able to learn Ranma's more flashy Ki-attacks. My upbringing and logical-to-a-fault philosophy on life (despite meeting Kami, getting wishes and meeting Anime characters) prevented me from fully believing in all that, though I knew I was using my Ki to make my gravity-defying leaps and over-powered punches.
Ranma had one move, however, that I could dissect from almost all angles and not find an impossibility with. The Chestnut fist, or Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Ranma had learned how to do it with both arms, but later had shown that he could do it with each arm seperately, if need be. If I could learn it, then apply it to my legs, I might be able to make some sort of separate, speed-based school out of it. So now all I needed was to start training.
Bringing my thoughts back to the present, I blinked as I realized I'd just launched myself into the air and done a series of kicks. The first form I'd been taught had no jumping. Or kicking. Just blocks and punches. However, Anything-Goes, which I'd wish to be trained in, more than likely had lots of Arial attacks.
Relaxing, I stood still for a moment, before experimenting and throwing a quick kick. Feeling an urge to punch after I'd lowered my foot, I did, and soon found myself working out a Kata from the Anything-Goes School. When it was all finished, I started it again, and kept repeating it while I closed my eyes and tried to work out what attacks this Kata was dodging, blocking, and countering.
Finally I stopped, pausing to wonder why I felt so tired. I hadn't been working out that long, had I?
"SHODAN, how long have I been in here?"
"You've been... dancing for four hours, Kyle. Makoto was somewhat upset you didn't ask her to join you, and is currently on her way there to discuss a new project with you."
"New project?" I asked, wiping the sweat off my face with my shirt.
"I'll let her explain," SHODAN said, right before the door opened.
Makoto walked in, frowning slightly as she stopped before me.
"Ehh... Hiya," I said, grinning nervously.
"You didn't even bother to ask." She said, sighing. I sighed as well, and took her hand in mine.
"You and Nabiki stayed behind and I thought you two were working on something, so I didn't want to interrupt you."
"Whatever you say, Kyle." I sighed again, and sat down on the floor.
"I'll make it up to you, I promise." Makoto raised a brow at that, but said nothing, and I smiled up at her, "you'll see. SHODAN said you had something you wanted to tell me?"
"Yeah. Nabiki and I came up with a weapon of sorts that would work around shielding. It's still just a concept, but should theoretically work on anything within range."
"Oh?" I said, standing up. Makoto nodded, and started following me as I made my way out the door.
"This way," Makoto said, before continuing, "Basically, it's using two tractor beams to tear a target apart. One holds part of the target stationary, while the other pulls it towards the ship."
"I thought Tractor beams couldn't catch fast-moving objects like fighters, unless they were heading almost straight towards the emitter."
"Landing tractors can't, but that's because they're designed to protect the contents of whatever they capture. Cantrell says a re-calibrated Tractor designed as a weapon could be employed to capture a fast-moving fighter."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I know it sounds like something you think someone would have tried, but most people think with their laser cannons, and not with their heads." I blinked at that, then shrugged, taking it at face-value instead of the innuendo. Looking around, I realized we'd re-entered the Science area, and one of the walls was now displaying a device that I assumed was a tractor beam array.
"Ah, Lord Kyle. Lady Makoto and Admiral Tendo have both proven their mental powress with this new weapon system." Cantrell said as I entered. Glancing over at Nabiki, I saw she was leaning over a smaller screen, conferring with a couple of officers in lab-coats.
"So Makoto has said. How come the original Empire never considered this as a possible weapon?"
"Well, in retrospect, It more than likey has been considered, but few ships would have the power to spare on such a weapon. Especially when most larger ships had a companion ship, if not an escort to help defend it."
"Ahh.. and without either, we seem to have more use for this." I said, nodding.
"Precisely. With 13 sublight thrusters, each with it's own reactor, the Jupiter's Thunder has more then enough power-output capacity to employ these weapons-grade tractor array."
"How do they work? Makoto explained how it causes damage, but I'm curious as to how they would snag fighters at high speeds."
"Admiral Tendo came up with the solution for that. Instead of a wide beam that would encompass the entire fighter, these new arrays fire very tight beams that are only centimeters in diameter. The effect on fighters flying at high speeds would be similar to flying through a gravity well in hyperspace."
"Can a ships inertial dampeners handle that?" I asked, frowning at the thought of a fighter going from kilometers a second to nothing in an instant.
"Some could. It's a bit moot, since this is a weapon, however. If the pilot does survive, the Dampeners, at least the ones from the Empire's universe, would shatter from the overload."
"Sounds... oh.. well.. weapons, right? Oh well. So they stop the ship in it's tracks. Then what?"
"As I'm sure Lady Makoto explained, a second beam of similar size and intensity proceeds to warp the target until it tears itself apart. Suffice to say, unless we beam the pilot aboard the moment the first beam stops the fighter, then the pilot is going to die."
"Unless their Inertial Dampener is up to the task of taking all that energy," I said quietly.
"Correct, my Lord. And even then, the warping will effect the less-rigid organic material nearby adversely. It'll be quick, but painful."
I nodded quietly, before looking at Makoto, "It's your call. Mount them if you want, and next time we get into a skirmish, we can give them a test."
Makoto nodded, before looking around and joining Nabiki. I made my way towards the wall of tubes, and glanced up at them with a small grin.
"So many choices for the Genocidal Emperor. And his bloodthirsty son."
"Ahh... my Lord, to approach the Tanks, you have to don one of these flight suits-" my frown cut his protest short, and I quirked a brow.
"It's safe now, right? Didn't you say you had some sort of forcefield up?"
"Well, yes, Lord Kyle, but..." I waved it off, and he nodded, before glancing at the wall, then back at me. "What sort of delivery method do you intend to use?" Cantrell asked, coming up to stand beside me. I shrugged, glancing at the tanks and noting that there were no labels on them.
"I'm not sure, yet. How do you know which tank is which?"
"They're all filed in the computer. There's a chart on the wall to your left, My Lord." Cantrell said, nodding his head in the direction mentioned. I walked over there, and reached out to take the clipboard when I felt a painful tingle in my fingertips. Jerking my hand back, Cantrell blushed, then moved over to a console.
"Terribly sorry, Lord Kyle. The Forcefield needs to be deactivated. We'll have to re-mount the board somewhere more accessable, now that I think about it."
I nodded absently, waiting for Cantrell to drop the field. My fingertip tingled, and I scratched at it with my thumbnail to see if was damaged. It felt a little numb, but the skin was still looking alive, so I didn't think it was permanently damaged. There was a subtle bass-y hum that died away to nothing, and Cantrell looked up at me from his board and nodded.
I grabbed the clipboard, and glanced at it's outline of the wall, reading the labels quickly. I paused at the Yeti-riding-a-bull-while-carrying-a-crane-and-an-eel tank, before shaking my head. Moving on, I realized I was reading by the light of one of the tanks of Nyanichuan, and looked into the water that bubbled inches away.
"My lord, there haven't been any.. uhh.. accidents since the forcefield was installed, and-" I stood up and frowned at him again.
"Why are you so adamant about that? I'm pretty sure I can dodge a squirt or two."
Throughout my life I'd always done little things to tempt fate. This was another subconcious taunt at the universe, nevermind the fact that this wasn't my universe to begin with. My only warning was a faint popping noise, and a stream of water shot out over my shoulder and splattered on the clipboard, wetting the papers immediately.
"AUGH!" I shouded, dropping the board before the water could drop down to the edge and onto my shirt. Another faint popping right behind my head, and I ducked a stronger squirt that hit the deck a yard away from the wall. I jumped towards Cantrell, intending to appologize, when I suddenly bounced off an invisible wall.
"SON OF A BITCH!" I shouted, rubbing my forehead as I fell back to the deck.
"There's an emergency forcefield, give us a second to shut it down!" Cantrell said, typing furiously at his keyboard.
"SHODAN, Shut it off!" I shouted, rolling to the side as another stream of water hit the deck where my head had just rested. My numb and throbbing forehead forgotten, I jumped to my feet and moved away from the area, hoping the failure was constrained to this end of the tanks.
"Unable to comply. The Field is controlled by a separate computer system I have no access to."
"Beam me out of here, then!" I shouted, watching the water splatter on the grill-like deck before sinking through the cracks.
"She can't, this deck is sealed from the teleporter system. It was done so that if the curses became airborne, they couldn't be beamed in or out!' Cantrell cried, typing some more, "I'm almost there!"
Suddenly a new stream, shooting from the top row, arched out towards Cantrell, impacting the forcefield right in front of him. Cantrell stumbled back, falling flat on his ass, and, had I not found myself on the wrong side of the invisible wall, I would have found the situation hilarious.
As it was, I heard another popping noise, and I jumped out of the way of a new stream of water that would have hit my arm. Cantrell got up and sighed, typing again.
"Shut the wall off Cantrell..." Makoto growled, her hands balled up into fists.
"I can't! If the field detects water, it can't be shut off untill the inner field is brought back up." Nabiki groaned at that, and I heard a sloshing noise below me. Apparently, the grill didn't extend down to a new deck, but a more solid-looking floor below. I could see the water beginning to rise between the cracks in the grill, and my eyes widened in horror. If the water rose much higher, I'd be up to my ankles in mixed water. Whatever I became would not be pretty.
There was a sudden thrum, followed by a shudder, and I blinked, looking around the room, wondering what had caused the noise.
"There appears to be an uncharted singularity along the hyperspace route we chose. Plotting a safe course around it," SHODAN announced. Glancing at the window, I saw that the blue of hyperspace had been replaced with stars, and sighed.
"What else could go wrong?" I asked, dodging another sudden leak. There was a higher pitched noise, and I looked at the nearest tank in horror, as a crack slowly grew in a small semi-circle. Two more cracks appeared above it, and my horror grew as I realized they made a crude smiley face.
"MAN WATER! WHERE IS IT?" I shouted, jumping back and getting ready to leap at the indicated tube.
"Two up, seven over!" a technicial shouted. I leapt at the tube and latched onto it like a Koala bear. There was a loud Snap, followed by a twisting sensation, and suddenly the entire tube fell off the wall, twisting as it tore away from the wires, pipes, and welded metal strips that held it in place.
Pushing awa from the tube as I fell, I watched it shatter, launching water everwhere. Fortunately, being a guy already, it had no effect on me. I quickly jumped back at the hole I'd made in the wall, and watched the water beneath the grill splash up where the tube had impacted.
"Whoever designed this fucking system is getting SPACED!" I shouted, cowering in the opening. Near Nabiki one of the Technician's eyes rolled up in his head, and he hit the floor in a heap.
"Floor-field activated." A recording said, suddenly. I looked down and watched as the water splashed up against an invisible wall. The leaks at the far end were all still going, however, and I watched as the water began spreading on the forcefield. Fortunately, the waters fell off an invisible edge near the wall of tubes, and the forcefield floor seemed to slant towards the wall just enough to keep the flow primarily in that direction.
"Almost there..." Cantrell said, typing furiously. I jumped down, not liking the way the tubes around me were groaning as if they were about to fall apart. Unfortunately, the forcefield was slicker than snot, and I fell back before sliding into the nearest tube. My hands and back were numb from the contact with the forcefield, but I ignored the loss of sensation, as I heard another faint pop, and had to roll to the side to avoid another stream.
"Jump away from the wall on three!" Cantrell shouted, still typing.
"One!" I started rolling with my feet against the wall below the lower tubes, and gritted my teeth as Cantrell counted.
"Two!" I paused, crouching against the wall, my hands braced against the floor to push me up and away from the wall.
"THREE!" Cantrell shouted. The lights flickered off, and I sprang, crossing my arms infront of me incase the forcefield infront fo me hadn't come down as planned. Fortunately, I passed the point the wall had been, and grinned, right before I planted my face in the much more substantial far wall.
"Kyle!"
"Kyle!"
"My Lord!"
"Human..."
Cantrell, Makoto, and Nabiki all glared at the camera SHODAN had in the corner. Cracking my eyes, I saw shapes moving in the semi-darkness, and realized that the only light was from the diodes and screens scattered throughout the room.
"Err... Kyle, are you allright?" SHODAN asked, sounding bored.
"Two legs, two arms, one head.. he's still Human," Nabiki muttered, sitting on a nearby chair. The room was still spinning rapidly, and I shook my head, only to moan as I made things a lot worse.
"You took a nasty bump, I'll call medical," Cantrell said, moving towards the intercom.
Makoto swept me up in a hug, and I winced in pain as my head was pulled rapidly off the wall, and flopped over her shoulder. Trying to hold onto conciousness, I felt Makoto's grip tighten suddenly, then loosen completely, causing me to fall back into the wall again. The darkness was filled with light for a moment, then stars, and I felt everything slipping away into blisful unconciousness.
"He's a she," and everything went black.
"Are the Jump Points instantaneous?"
"You meant the jumps? Yeah. As far as we can tell they are. Or, really, if there's any delay between leaving one point and arriving at another, it's insignificant."
"Could a Jump drive be fitted on this ship?"
"It'd have to be a hell of a drive, but I don't see why not," he replied. I nodded, then looked out the window.
"Thinking of coupling one with the 'hyperdrives' you already have on this ship?" he asked, glancing out the window. Flint and Maniac moved a little closer, watching the blue fly by, but also listening in on our conversation.
"Something like that. System-to-system flights take a little longer than I'd prefer. But if I could hop from one point in a system to another, then jump from one system to the next, unless I was going around my ass to get to my elbow, I'd probably save a lot of time."
"Sounds reasonable," Blair muttered.
"Somethin' on your mind, Colonel?" Manic asked, noticing the faraway look in Blair's eye.
"Still feeling those female hormones, eh Maniac?" Flint teased.
"Shut up! That's not it at all!" Maniac snapped back.
"There is something on my mind, actually. If Kyle," He looked at me for a moment, before looking back out at Hyperspace, "can do what he proposes, then this war is as good as over."
"Just like that?" Maniac asked, sounding a little subdued himself.
"Just like that." Blair replied.
While the three of them contemplated that, staring out at the passing of Hyperspace, I took a step back, before turning to go.
Leaving the bridge, I frowned in thought while I made my way to hangar bay Makoto and I had used to spar in, a whole universe away. Pausing to dredge up the memory, I starter to do the beginner form my Tae-kwon-do instructor had drilled into me years and years ago.
If I was in for a fight, as Kami had hinted at, then I needed to work on my martial arts so I didn't loose what skills I'd gained when my wish was granted. Training would require something to help push myself and Makoto past our current level, which was, at the moment, probably one of the best in the universe.
Makoto, with her experience in the Supernatural, as well as her half-history growing up in Japan, would probably be able to learn Ranma's more flashy Ki-attacks. My upbringing and logical-to-a-fault philosophy on life (despite meeting Kami, getting wishes and meeting Anime characters) prevented me from fully believing in all that, though I knew I was using my Ki to make my gravity-defying leaps and over-powered punches.
Ranma had one move, however, that I could dissect from almost all angles and not find an impossibility with. The Chestnut fist, or Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken. Ranma had learned how to do it with both arms, but later had shown that he could do it with each arm seperately, if need be. If I could learn it, then apply it to my legs, I might be able to make some sort of separate, speed-based school out of it. So now all I needed was to start training.
Bringing my thoughts back to the present, I blinked as I realized I'd just launched myself into the air and done a series of kicks. The first form I'd been taught had no jumping. Or kicking. Just blocks and punches. However, Anything-Goes, which I'd wish to be trained in, more than likely had lots of Arial attacks.
Relaxing, I stood still for a moment, before experimenting and throwing a quick kick. Feeling an urge to punch after I'd lowered my foot, I did, and soon found myself working out a Kata from the Anything-Goes School. When it was all finished, I started it again, and kept repeating it while I closed my eyes and tried to work out what attacks this Kata was dodging, blocking, and countering.
Finally I stopped, pausing to wonder why I felt so tired. I hadn't been working out that long, had I?
"SHODAN, how long have I been in here?"
"You've been... dancing for four hours, Kyle. Makoto was somewhat upset you didn't ask her to join you, and is currently on her way there to discuss a new project with you."
"New project?" I asked, wiping the sweat off my face with my shirt.
"I'll let her explain," SHODAN said, right before the door opened.
Makoto walked in, frowning slightly as she stopped before me.
"Ehh... Hiya," I said, grinning nervously.
"You didn't even bother to ask." She said, sighing. I sighed as well, and took her hand in mine.
"You and Nabiki stayed behind and I thought you two were working on something, so I didn't want to interrupt you."
"Whatever you say, Kyle." I sighed again, and sat down on the floor.
"I'll make it up to you, I promise." Makoto raised a brow at that, but said nothing, and I smiled up at her, "you'll see. SHODAN said you had something you wanted to tell me?"
"Yeah. Nabiki and I came up with a weapon of sorts that would work around shielding. It's still just a concept, but should theoretically work on anything within range."
"Oh?" I said, standing up. Makoto nodded, and started following me as I made my way out the door.
"This way," Makoto said, before continuing, "Basically, it's using two tractor beams to tear a target apart. One holds part of the target stationary, while the other pulls it towards the ship."
"I thought Tractor beams couldn't catch fast-moving objects like fighters, unless they were heading almost straight towards the emitter."
"Landing tractors can't, but that's because they're designed to protect the contents of whatever they capture. Cantrell says a re-calibrated Tractor designed as a weapon could be employed to capture a fast-moving fighter."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I know it sounds like something you think someone would have tried, but most people think with their laser cannons, and not with their heads." I blinked at that, then shrugged, taking it at face-value instead of the innuendo. Looking around, I realized we'd re-entered the Science area, and one of the walls was now displaying a device that I assumed was a tractor beam array.
"Ah, Lord Kyle. Lady Makoto and Admiral Tendo have both proven their mental powress with this new weapon system." Cantrell said as I entered. Glancing over at Nabiki, I saw she was leaning over a smaller screen, conferring with a couple of officers in lab-coats.
"So Makoto has said. How come the original Empire never considered this as a possible weapon?"
"Well, in retrospect, It more than likey has been considered, but few ships would have the power to spare on such a weapon. Especially when most larger ships had a companion ship, if not an escort to help defend it."
"Ahh.. and without either, we seem to have more use for this." I said, nodding.
"Precisely. With 13 sublight thrusters, each with it's own reactor, the Jupiter's Thunder has more then enough power-output capacity to employ these weapons-grade tractor array."
"How do they work? Makoto explained how it causes damage, but I'm curious as to how they would snag fighters at high speeds."
"Admiral Tendo came up with the solution for that. Instead of a wide beam that would encompass the entire fighter, these new arrays fire very tight beams that are only centimeters in diameter. The effect on fighters flying at high speeds would be similar to flying through a gravity well in hyperspace."
"Can a ships inertial dampeners handle that?" I asked, frowning at the thought of a fighter going from kilometers a second to nothing in an instant.
"Some could. It's a bit moot, since this is a weapon, however. If the pilot does survive, the Dampeners, at least the ones from the Empire's universe, would shatter from the overload."
"Sounds... oh.. well.. weapons, right? Oh well. So they stop the ship in it's tracks. Then what?"
"As I'm sure Lady Makoto explained, a second beam of similar size and intensity proceeds to warp the target until it tears itself apart. Suffice to say, unless we beam the pilot aboard the moment the first beam stops the fighter, then the pilot is going to die."
"Unless their Inertial Dampener is up to the task of taking all that energy," I said quietly.
"Correct, my Lord. And even then, the warping will effect the less-rigid organic material nearby adversely. It'll be quick, but painful."
I nodded quietly, before looking at Makoto, "It's your call. Mount them if you want, and next time we get into a skirmish, we can give them a test."
Makoto nodded, before looking around and joining Nabiki. I made my way towards the wall of tubes, and glanced up at them with a small grin.
"So many choices for the Genocidal Emperor. And his bloodthirsty son."
"Ahh... my Lord, to approach the Tanks, you have to don one of these flight suits-" my frown cut his protest short, and I quirked a brow.
"It's safe now, right? Didn't you say you had some sort of forcefield up?"
"Well, yes, Lord Kyle, but..." I waved it off, and he nodded, before glancing at the wall, then back at me. "What sort of delivery method do you intend to use?" Cantrell asked, coming up to stand beside me. I shrugged, glancing at the tanks and noting that there were no labels on them.
"I'm not sure, yet. How do you know which tank is which?"
"They're all filed in the computer. There's a chart on the wall to your left, My Lord." Cantrell said, nodding his head in the direction mentioned. I walked over there, and reached out to take the clipboard when I felt a painful tingle in my fingertips. Jerking my hand back, Cantrell blushed, then moved over to a console.
"Terribly sorry, Lord Kyle. The Forcefield needs to be deactivated. We'll have to re-mount the board somewhere more accessable, now that I think about it."
I nodded absently, waiting for Cantrell to drop the field. My fingertip tingled, and I scratched at it with my thumbnail to see if was damaged. It felt a little numb, but the skin was still looking alive, so I didn't think it was permanently damaged. There was a subtle bass-y hum that died away to nothing, and Cantrell looked up at me from his board and nodded.
I grabbed the clipboard, and glanced at it's outline of the wall, reading the labels quickly. I paused at the Yeti-riding-a-bull-while-carrying-a-crane-and-an-eel tank, before shaking my head. Moving on, I realized I was reading by the light of one of the tanks of Nyanichuan, and looked into the water that bubbled inches away.
"My lord, there haven't been any.. uhh.. accidents since the forcefield was installed, and-" I stood up and frowned at him again.
"Why are you so adamant about that? I'm pretty sure I can dodge a squirt or two."
Throughout my life I'd always done little things to tempt fate. This was another subconcious taunt at the universe, nevermind the fact that this wasn't my universe to begin with. My only warning was a faint popping noise, and a stream of water shot out over my shoulder and splattered on the clipboard, wetting the papers immediately.
"AUGH!" I shouded, dropping the board before the water could drop down to the edge and onto my shirt. Another faint popping right behind my head, and I ducked a stronger squirt that hit the deck a yard away from the wall. I jumped towards Cantrell, intending to appologize, when I suddenly bounced off an invisible wall.
"SON OF A BITCH!" I shouted, rubbing my forehead as I fell back to the deck.
"There's an emergency forcefield, give us a second to shut it down!" Cantrell said, typing furiously at his keyboard.
"SHODAN, Shut it off!" I shouted, rolling to the side as another stream of water hit the deck where my head had just rested. My numb and throbbing forehead forgotten, I jumped to my feet and moved away from the area, hoping the failure was constrained to this end of the tanks.
"Unable to comply. The Field is controlled by a separate computer system I have no access to."
"Beam me out of here, then!" I shouted, watching the water splatter on the grill-like deck before sinking through the cracks.
"She can't, this deck is sealed from the teleporter system. It was done so that if the curses became airborne, they couldn't be beamed in or out!' Cantrell cried, typing some more, "I'm almost there!"
Suddenly a new stream, shooting from the top row, arched out towards Cantrell, impacting the forcefield right in front of him. Cantrell stumbled back, falling flat on his ass, and, had I not found myself on the wrong side of the invisible wall, I would have found the situation hilarious.
As it was, I heard another popping noise, and I jumped out of the way of a new stream of water that would have hit my arm. Cantrell got up and sighed, typing again.
"Shut the wall off Cantrell..." Makoto growled, her hands balled up into fists.
"I can't! If the field detects water, it can't be shut off untill the inner field is brought back up." Nabiki groaned at that, and I heard a sloshing noise below me. Apparently, the grill didn't extend down to a new deck, but a more solid-looking floor below. I could see the water beginning to rise between the cracks in the grill, and my eyes widened in horror. If the water rose much higher, I'd be up to my ankles in mixed water. Whatever I became would not be pretty.
There was a sudden thrum, followed by a shudder, and I blinked, looking around the room, wondering what had caused the noise.
"There appears to be an uncharted singularity along the hyperspace route we chose. Plotting a safe course around it," SHODAN announced. Glancing at the window, I saw that the blue of hyperspace had been replaced with stars, and sighed.
"What else could go wrong?" I asked, dodging another sudden leak. There was a higher pitched noise, and I looked at the nearest tank in horror, as a crack slowly grew in a small semi-circle. Two more cracks appeared above it, and my horror grew as I realized they made a crude smiley face.
"MAN WATER! WHERE IS IT?" I shouted, jumping back and getting ready to leap at the indicated tube.
"Two up, seven over!" a technicial shouted. I leapt at the tube and latched onto it like a Koala bear. There was a loud Snap, followed by a twisting sensation, and suddenly the entire tube fell off the wall, twisting as it tore away from the wires, pipes, and welded metal strips that held it in place.
Pushing awa from the tube as I fell, I watched it shatter, launching water everwhere. Fortunately, being a guy already, it had no effect on me. I quickly jumped back at the hole I'd made in the wall, and watched the water beneath the grill splash up where the tube had impacted.
"Whoever designed this fucking system is getting SPACED!" I shouted, cowering in the opening. Near Nabiki one of the Technician's eyes rolled up in his head, and he hit the floor in a heap.
"Floor-field activated." A recording said, suddenly. I looked down and watched as the water splashed up against an invisible wall. The leaks at the far end were all still going, however, and I watched as the water began spreading on the forcefield. Fortunately, the waters fell off an invisible edge near the wall of tubes, and the forcefield floor seemed to slant towards the wall just enough to keep the flow primarily in that direction.
"Almost there..." Cantrell said, typing furiously. I jumped down, not liking the way the tubes around me were groaning as if they were about to fall apart. Unfortunately, the forcefield was slicker than snot, and I fell back before sliding into the nearest tube. My hands and back were numb from the contact with the forcefield, but I ignored the loss of sensation, as I heard another faint pop, and had to roll to the side to avoid another stream.
"Jump away from the wall on three!" Cantrell shouted, still typing.
"One!" I started rolling with my feet against the wall below the lower tubes, and gritted my teeth as Cantrell counted.
"Two!" I paused, crouching against the wall, my hands braced against the floor to push me up and away from the wall.
"THREE!" Cantrell shouted. The lights flickered off, and I sprang, crossing my arms infront of me incase the forcefield infront fo me hadn't come down as planned. Fortunately, I passed the point the wall had been, and grinned, right before I planted my face in the much more substantial far wall.
"Kyle!"
"Kyle!"
"My Lord!"
"Human..."
Cantrell, Makoto, and Nabiki all glared at the camera SHODAN had in the corner. Cracking my eyes, I saw shapes moving in the semi-darkness, and realized that the only light was from the diodes and screens scattered throughout the room.
"Err... Kyle, are you allright?" SHODAN asked, sounding bored.
"Two legs, two arms, one head.. he's still Human," Nabiki muttered, sitting on a nearby chair. The room was still spinning rapidly, and I shook my head, only to moan as I made things a lot worse.
"You took a nasty bump, I'll call medical," Cantrell said, moving towards the intercom.
Makoto swept me up in a hug, and I winced in pain as my head was pulled rapidly off the wall, and flopped over her shoulder. Trying to hold onto conciousness, I felt Makoto's grip tighten suddenly, then loosen completely, causing me to fall back into the wall again. The darkness was filled with light for a moment, then stars, and I felt everything slipping away into blisful unconciousness.
"He's a she," and everything went black.