Patlabor: Personal Files
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 05: Birth of a New Millennium, Part 2
In this episode, {...} means speech in Russian
January 1, 2000
At an airport in Vladivostok, the passing of midnight went without
incident. Shortly after the arrival of the new millennium, a turboprop
aircraft belonging to Aeroflot Airlines left, bound for Manilla in the
Philippines. The one hundred thirty four passengers and crew settled
themselves in for a VERY long flight- their first stop- in Seoul, Korea-
wasn't for another twelve hours. They'd heard that a number of large
cities had been hit by the computer bug known as the 'Y2K Crisis,' but
midnight had come and gone, and the airports were still intact- even in
Tokyo, the hardest hit major city, the Airport had restored service in less
than a minute, and was experiencing no problems- it was even still
accepting incoming flights (though they weren't sending out any additional
flights). The autopilot was set after reaching ten thousand feet, and the
pilot leaned back. His only job for the next nine hours was to keep an eye
on the autopilot and make sure it didn't malfunction.
Sighing, the cabin crew of Aeroflot flight 201 sat back in their seats. It
was going to be a LOOONNG flight.
* * * * *
The three captains, Sakaki, and all the residents of SV2 Headquarters all
assembled in the labor hangers. "Okay," Shinobu began. "This is what we
know so far. The phone works, and we were able to get in touch with the
power company. Apparently, a serious computer problem- which they thought
they had taken care of but hadn't had time to test before this crisis
occurred- has crashed everything... including the backups... for the central
administrative office, which crashed all the computers at each individual
facility. They are manually restarting the plants, but so far they've only
gotten a few stations working- Tokyo won't have enough power to run even in
brownout conditions for another forty-eight hours. It'll be weeks before
they've restored every plant."
Gomioka stepped up. "That, believe it or not, is the good news- things
will be fixed before too long. However, the blackout has led to a severe
panic in the public. Riots are breaking out in the streets- mostly just
unarmed citizens, but there are too many of them for the regular police to
handle. They've asked us to go in and help with crowd control- and there's
also the possibility that the rioters may gain control of heavy vehicles
like labors, which would also be our jurisdiction. We were asked to go in
with tear gas guns, however, so the only anti-labor weapons we will have
will be our electromagnetic batons. We want ALL functioning labors in the
city- that includes the third labors of Units One and Three. Sakaki tells
me that Unit Two's third labor was cannibalized for spare parts, so it is
excused. The other two units will be needing manpower- and fortunately
we've got an extra labor pilot on base. However, assemble with your
captains for assignment- some of you will not be performing your usual
function."
The three captains ran off, and were followed by their units. Gotoh went
into his squad room, and was followed by Unit Two's people. "Okay, we're
the only unit which is going to have just two labors in the action. We're
also the first unit to get duty- Shinohara, your labor's got the patrol
around the Imperial Palace. Kumagami, your labor's to deal with the bridge
into the reclaimed land. Any questions?"
As usual, about everyone's hand went up.
Similar assignments were given out to the other units- Unit One, with
Kanuka Clancy piloting the third labor, Shige from the maintenance squad
driving the transport, and Shinobu taking the command car, managed to
outfit all three of its labors with full crews, and quickly placed
themselves into position.
The Third Unit, however, was in much worse shape, personnel-wise. Gomioka
almost took the third labor for himself, but looked at his assembled squad
and remembered his promise to the hopeful-looking Yamane Seiroku.
Remembering his promise to make Yamane the de-facto pilot of the third
labor, Gomioka took the position of command car operator for all three
labors. Akito was asked to drive the transport, and off they went. Their
was only one command car, so all three labors had to go to the same area-
for that reason, they were assigned to the area with the largest number of
rioters.
Just before getting into the cab of the third labor's transport, Seiroku
showed up in front of Captain Gomioka. "Sir, thank you sir!" he gushed.
"I promise not to let you down!"
Gomioka nodded. "Just don't disappoint me."
With that, the Third Unit went on its first assignment- riot control around
the newly-completed tallest building in Tokyo, the Tower City project,
Tower 1. The building which rose almost six thousand feet into the air.
* * * * *
Most of the rioters retreated at the sight of the three hulking Type 97's
that showed up around the Tower City project. Those few that remained ran
off when Ohta started shooting most of his tear gas cartridges into the
crowd, their eyes burning. Peace was restored for the moment.
It did not last long, however, as one of the retreating rioters got it into
his head to hot-wire a nearby construction labor that was supposed to be
used to begin construction on Tower 2 in a few days, and turn it against
the cops. Soon, that man's friends started to do the same to a couple of
other labors in the same lot, and soon five construction labors charged in
against the three Patlabors, an army of rioters behind them.
"Oh, god," was all Gomioka could say before Ohta started firing at them.
The tear gas did nothing to the labors, which continued charging.
"Stupid gas guns!" Ohta snarled, tossing the device he cursed at the
labors- and actually taking the knees out from one of them. "If we had
REAL guns, they'd show more respect for the law!" Pulling out his baton,
he charged in, followed by the other two patlabors (which lobbed gas
cartridges over the rioting labors and into the crowd behind them), and
engaged them hand to hand.
Unfortunately for Ohta, he'd completely forgotten how stiff and
unresponsive the Type 97s were compared to his old Ingram, and soon found
himself on the ground and at the mercy of the construction labors.
Or he would have been if Seiroku hadn't used his labor to pick up one of
the construction labors and toss it into the two others standing over the
fallen Ohta. Kenji Iguchi engaged the final labor, and managed to get it
into a standoff while Yamane helped Ohta up. Finally, all three labors
were up and ready, and surrounded the final labor. Without any support,
the last of the rioters surrendered.
* * * * *
A beloved Ingram stood sentry duty at the Imperial palace. The labor crew
had heard of a number of riots in other areas, and some looting in the
Ginza (which was supposed to be covered by Kanuka's labor), but so far
there was nothing happening in the area patrolled by the labor known as
Alphonse.
"Say, Noa," Shinohara began softly into his radio link, after having spent
a lot of time in thought. There were several questions he wanted to ask
her, but he wasn't sure if it was the appropriate time. Without anything
else to keep him busy, however, and not being able to concentrate on
anything but those questions, he couldn't ignore them. He just had to have
an answer.
"Yes, Asuma?" Noa replied, wondering why he wasn't using his normal voice.
"About the party..." he said, trailing off because he wasn't sure he knew
how to go on.
Suddenly, she realized what he was trying to ask her. Still, she would
wait for him to finish before she answered. "Yes, Asuma?"
"Were you... I mean did you try... I... oh, never mind. It wasn't
important," he said, unable to get it out. 'Chicken! I can't even ask her
if she was trying to kiss me or not!' he thought to himself spitefully.
'But it's probably for the better that I not know, anyway.... I mean, if
she WAS, then...'
"Um... okay," Noa replied, confused. 'Wasn't he going to ask me if I liked
him?' she wondered.
* * * * *
"Requesting permission to fire the gas gun!" Kanuka screamed into the
radio. Nearly fifty looters were still on the streets, stealing clothes,
televisions, anything they could get their hands on.
"Permission denied," Shinobu answered. "If you get tear gas on those
products, then they won't be recoverable. Save that option for the last
resort- try to cow them into submission first."
"Affirmative," Kanuka replied. She stormed into the middle of the melee,
and turned on her loudspeakers. "Attention- this is the police. Drop the
stolen goods and return home. If you fail to comply, you will be
arrested."
Some people did as Kanuka ordered, but several remained and continued
looting. With as much precision as possible, the Type 0 Labor began
picking people up with one hand and trapping them in the crook of its arm.
By the time the regular police had arrived, she had nearly a dozen people
so entrapped, and soon they were carted off to holding cells.
"Situation normal," Kanuka reported. "Anything I should be aware of?"
"Hmm... Riot police have stabilized most areas already. Unit Three may
require some help, however... I understand that their labors were somewhat
damaged- though still functional, they might have trouble if some more
labors show up. Why don't we head to assist them?"
"Affirmative."
* * * * *
By eight-fifty in the morning, the riots were over. A hard snow was
starting to fall throughout the area. Partial power had been restored to
some of the city, and the police were out in force. Unit Two, which had
been up for twenty-four hours, was sent home and given an extra shift off,
and things seemed to have finally calmed down.
That was when it started to hit midnight, Greenwich time.
* * * * *
"Um, sir," an air traffic controller said to his boss. "We seem to have a
serious problem. Suddenly most of the transponder codes disappeared from
the radar- I have no idea what caused it, but now we don't know which plane
is which."
"Odd," his chief said. "Well, get on the radio- ask all planes in the area
to send you their flight information and position- try to keep track of
them that way. And get them in here as soon as you can. Hopefully, we can
cut down on the confusion that way."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. While you do that, I'll find out from the runway crews if that snow
will force us to shut down the runway."
* * * * *
"{Dmitri!}" the pilot of Aeroflot flight 201 yelled at his navigator.
"{Why didn't you tell me we were off course?!}"
Dmitri blinked, looking at the old navigation console. The device was
obsolescent, but he maintained it fairly well and it never failed him. Oh,
sure, the new Global Positioning Systems were nice, but they required
connections to various new satellites which his system had no access to,
and it would cost too much money to replace the old system. It should
still be good until the old satellites died, after all.
"{Sorry, sir- didn't notice it.}"
The pilot nodded. "{That's okay- it was a malfunction of the autopilot,
apparently. Just keep an eye on that navigation system- visibility is
almost zero in this snowstorm.}"
"{Yes, sir,}" Dmitri answered.
About two and a half hours later, they went down to five thousand feet and
started looking for the Seoul airport's radio signal.
* * * * *
"Sir, I'm detecting another plane coming into the radar," the air traffic
controller said. "Coming in from the Northeast. IFF Transponder not
responding."
The chief sighed. "Very well. Let them know we've closed the airport-
direct them to Nagasaki."
* * * * *
"Attention, unidentified flight," the radio crackled. "This is Tokyo
International Airport. All airstrips in Tokyo are shut down due to snow-
please head to Nagasaki, instead. Repeat, unidentified flight- the Tokyo
International Airport is CLOSED. Divert to Nagasaki."
"{Heh... sounds like this snow storm is huge, to be effecting Tokyo as
well. Any luck contacting Seoul?}" the pilot asked, looking intently at
the altimeter to make sure they weren't going in too low. They were still
at five thousand feet.
Dmitri shook his head. "{Nope... doesn't appear we're on their radar
yet.}"
"{Odd, they should have picked us up by now.}"
"{Hmm... I wonder if- hey, what's that ahead of us?}"
* * * * *
"Hey, Madoka," a man said to his new wife as they stood at the observation
window on top of Tower 1 of the Tower City project. "How do you like the
view?"
"Lovely, Kyosuke. This has been a great second honeymoon, despite the
blackout," his wife said. She leaned in for a kiss.
They broke off the kiss a moment later, and turned to look out the window.
"Kyosuke, is that a PLANE heading for the window?"
Kyosuke looked out the window. "Oh, my god! Hold on!" he cried, grabbing
on to his wife.
Aeroflot Flight 201 crashed through the window moments later. Somehow- the
method of which some might think could only be magic- the young couple had
escaped seconds before it hit.
* * * * *
"What was that?" Ohta asked, looking up. He wasn't in his labor at the
moment- he and Shinshi were in the process of replacing the battery. Just
as they had finished securing the pack, a loud explosion came from above.
"Oh, my god! An airplane crashed into the tower! It's spinning out of
control!" Shinshi cried. Ohta glanced in the direction Shinshi was
pointing, and saw a passenger plane spiraling downwards, its nose and one
wing crumpled beyond recognition.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Shinobu cried. Ohta looked up directly above him, and
saw a piece of a wing descending upon him. Shortly before it would have
splattered him, Shinshi drove him under the cover that the trailer allowed.
Burning wreckage collapsed around them.
"That was close," Ohta gasped. "Thanks."
Shinshi nodded, breathing heavily. "Yeah... no problem."
They stepped out from behind the trailer as soon as they were certain that
the debris had finished falling, just in time to see Kanuka's Type Zero and
Seiroku's Type 97 running off towards the crash site.
Ohta turned to get into his labor and join them, when he saw the damage
that was inflicted by the falling debris. He growled.
"Bah... looks like I'm out of the action for a while." His Type 97 was
buried, and Kenji Iguchi's labor had already moved to dig it out.
* * * * *
The two labors tag teamed to rip open the wreckage and search for
survivors. The 97 was working effeciently, but from time to time it would
slow or a limb would tremble. As they sorted through the grisly remains,
Kanuka checked up on the rookie.
"How are you doing, so far?" she asked over the radio.
"Uh... well, ma'am, I think I'm able to handle it. I've never seen a dead
body before, though, and this...."
"Don't worry about it. I've never known a labor unit to be called in to a
situation like this before, and most of the situations where they ARE
called in rarely have any casualties- a labor can take a hell of a
pounding, and the pilot will still be safe. If you perform properly in
your rescue missions it's unlikely you'll ever encounter a body without a
labor fight first. Just keep your head for this situation, and I'd be
surprised if you needed to deal with another death for the rest of the
year."
"But what about now, ma'am?"
"Just realize that there was nothing you could do to save these people, and
keep working.
"Yes, ma'am," Seiroku replied. "Thank you, ma'am."
As they continued to work, Kanuka noticed a definite improvement in the
work of the young rookie, and smiled. 'So, I'm going to be teaching at the
Academy in a few months, eh? Well, maybe I can use this experience to help
me prepare for it...'
* * * * *
About a half hour into their clean up, shortly after the REAL rescue teams
got the message and arrived, a moaning was heard.
"{Dmitri... Dmitri, what's going on?}" the dazed voice said.
"We've got a live one!" came the enthusiastic shout of one of the rescue
workers. "He's buried here- in the COCKPIT area!"
Using the two labors, they dug the injured but alive pilot from the cockpit
assembly, and he was rushed to the hospital.
* * * * *
January 2, 2000
"...and so it turns out," Shinshi was saying, reading the paper in Unit 3's
work room, "That the airplane crash was caused by an obsolescent computer-
the same bug that led to the blackout that covered this city last night."
"The rescue," Seiroku read aloud from a different paragraph in the same
article. "Was accomplished with the aid of two members of the much
maligned SV2 Section 2, which also assisted successfully in crowd control
during the riot."
"Finally," Ohta bellowed. "We get a little respect! Who's the reporter
who wrote the article?"
Seiroku checked the top of the column. "Special correspondant Momoko
Sakurayama, based on interviews with Captains Nagumo, Gomioka, and Fujimoto
of the riot squad."
Shinshi sighed. "Of course- she ALWAYS supports us. You think one of
these days we could find ANOTHER reporter willing to tell our side of
things?"
Gomioka sighed, staring at Ohta. While he had done fairly well for this
assignment, he knew that much of the SV2's bad reputation was caused by
him. "I doubt it- not for a long time," he said, thinking 'As long as Ohta
was still a labor pilot, we never will find one.' He sighed. 'Maybe I'll
be able to get rid of him one of these days. Just maybe...'
--------------------------
Episode 05 Closing Notes: Just to let you all know what was going on here,
this was essentially a 'worst case scenario' for the Y2K bug- many utilities
were expecting to be able to get themselves Y2K compliant before the new
millennium, but they weren't sure they'd have time to do all the testing
they'd need. Airports should not have been effected- at worst, they'd have
to go to backups for power to the radars, etc, but airplane IFF Transcievers
might have been effected. Also, most modern Satellite Navigation systems (such
as modern Global Positioning Systems) could not be effected, but older,
obsolescent ones (like the ones used by many Aeroflot aircraft) that were
dependant on accurate dates could be, and such aircraft are likely to become
lost. I just came up with this idea, one day, when one of my teachers gave a
lecture on the horrors of Y2K. In fact, it was the first of the ideas I'd
started writing down that started Patlabor: Personal files, back in Jan. '99.
Next Episode: Follow Gomioka on a typical day in his life as Captain of
the Third Unit.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
desaix@sysnet.net
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm
An Episodic Patlabor Fanfic by David A. Tatum
Disclaimer: Insert legal junk here...
Episode 05: Birth of a New Millennium, Part 2
In this episode, {...} means speech in Russian
January 1, 2000
At an airport in Vladivostok, the passing of midnight went without
incident. Shortly after the arrival of the new millennium, a turboprop
aircraft belonging to Aeroflot Airlines left, bound for Manilla in the
Philippines. The one hundred thirty four passengers and crew settled
themselves in for a VERY long flight- their first stop- in Seoul, Korea-
wasn't for another twelve hours. They'd heard that a number of large
cities had been hit by the computer bug known as the 'Y2K Crisis,' but
midnight had come and gone, and the airports were still intact- even in
Tokyo, the hardest hit major city, the Airport had restored service in less
than a minute, and was experiencing no problems- it was even still
accepting incoming flights (though they weren't sending out any additional
flights). The autopilot was set after reaching ten thousand feet, and the
pilot leaned back. His only job for the next nine hours was to keep an eye
on the autopilot and make sure it didn't malfunction.
Sighing, the cabin crew of Aeroflot flight 201 sat back in their seats. It
was going to be a LOOONNG flight.
* * * * *
The three captains, Sakaki, and all the residents of SV2 Headquarters all
assembled in the labor hangers. "Okay," Shinobu began. "This is what we
know so far. The phone works, and we were able to get in touch with the
power company. Apparently, a serious computer problem- which they thought
they had taken care of but hadn't had time to test before this crisis
occurred- has crashed everything... including the backups... for the central
administrative office, which crashed all the computers at each individual
facility. They are manually restarting the plants, but so far they've only
gotten a few stations working- Tokyo won't have enough power to run even in
brownout conditions for another forty-eight hours. It'll be weeks before
they've restored every plant."
Gomioka stepped up. "That, believe it or not, is the good news- things
will be fixed before too long. However, the blackout has led to a severe
panic in the public. Riots are breaking out in the streets- mostly just
unarmed citizens, but there are too many of them for the regular police to
handle. They've asked us to go in and help with crowd control- and there's
also the possibility that the rioters may gain control of heavy vehicles
like labors, which would also be our jurisdiction. We were asked to go in
with tear gas guns, however, so the only anti-labor weapons we will have
will be our electromagnetic batons. We want ALL functioning labors in the
city- that includes the third labors of Units One and Three. Sakaki tells
me that Unit Two's third labor was cannibalized for spare parts, so it is
excused. The other two units will be needing manpower- and fortunately
we've got an extra labor pilot on base. However, assemble with your
captains for assignment- some of you will not be performing your usual
function."
The three captains ran off, and were followed by their units. Gotoh went
into his squad room, and was followed by Unit Two's people. "Okay, we're
the only unit which is going to have just two labors in the action. We're
also the first unit to get duty- Shinohara, your labor's got the patrol
around the Imperial Palace. Kumagami, your labor's to deal with the bridge
into the reclaimed land. Any questions?"
As usual, about everyone's hand went up.
Similar assignments were given out to the other units- Unit One, with
Kanuka Clancy piloting the third labor, Shige from the maintenance squad
driving the transport, and Shinobu taking the command car, managed to
outfit all three of its labors with full crews, and quickly placed
themselves into position.
The Third Unit, however, was in much worse shape, personnel-wise. Gomioka
almost took the third labor for himself, but looked at his assembled squad
and remembered his promise to the hopeful-looking Yamane Seiroku.
Remembering his promise to make Yamane the de-facto pilot of the third
labor, Gomioka took the position of command car operator for all three
labors. Akito was asked to drive the transport, and off they went. Their
was only one command car, so all three labors had to go to the same area-
for that reason, they were assigned to the area with the largest number of
rioters.
Just before getting into the cab of the third labor's transport, Seiroku
showed up in front of Captain Gomioka. "Sir, thank you sir!" he gushed.
"I promise not to let you down!"
Gomioka nodded. "Just don't disappoint me."
With that, the Third Unit went on its first assignment- riot control around
the newly-completed tallest building in Tokyo, the Tower City project,
Tower 1. The building which rose almost six thousand feet into the air.
* * * * *
Most of the rioters retreated at the sight of the three hulking Type 97's
that showed up around the Tower City project. Those few that remained ran
off when Ohta started shooting most of his tear gas cartridges into the
crowd, their eyes burning. Peace was restored for the moment.
It did not last long, however, as one of the retreating rioters got it into
his head to hot-wire a nearby construction labor that was supposed to be
used to begin construction on Tower 2 in a few days, and turn it against
the cops. Soon, that man's friends started to do the same to a couple of
other labors in the same lot, and soon five construction labors charged in
against the three Patlabors, an army of rioters behind them.
"Oh, god," was all Gomioka could say before Ohta started firing at them.
The tear gas did nothing to the labors, which continued charging.
"Stupid gas guns!" Ohta snarled, tossing the device he cursed at the
labors- and actually taking the knees out from one of them. "If we had
REAL guns, they'd show more respect for the law!" Pulling out his baton,
he charged in, followed by the other two patlabors (which lobbed gas
cartridges over the rioting labors and into the crowd behind them), and
engaged them hand to hand.
Unfortunately for Ohta, he'd completely forgotten how stiff and
unresponsive the Type 97s were compared to his old Ingram, and soon found
himself on the ground and at the mercy of the construction labors.
Or he would have been if Seiroku hadn't used his labor to pick up one of
the construction labors and toss it into the two others standing over the
fallen Ohta. Kenji Iguchi engaged the final labor, and managed to get it
into a standoff while Yamane helped Ohta up. Finally, all three labors
were up and ready, and surrounded the final labor. Without any support,
the last of the rioters surrendered.
* * * * *
A beloved Ingram stood sentry duty at the Imperial palace. The labor crew
had heard of a number of riots in other areas, and some looting in the
Ginza (which was supposed to be covered by Kanuka's labor), but so far
there was nothing happening in the area patrolled by the labor known as
Alphonse.
"Say, Noa," Shinohara began softly into his radio link, after having spent
a lot of time in thought. There were several questions he wanted to ask
her, but he wasn't sure if it was the appropriate time. Without anything
else to keep him busy, however, and not being able to concentrate on
anything but those questions, he couldn't ignore them. He just had to have
an answer.
"Yes, Asuma?" Noa replied, wondering why he wasn't using his normal voice.
"About the party..." he said, trailing off because he wasn't sure he knew
how to go on.
Suddenly, she realized what he was trying to ask her. Still, she would
wait for him to finish before she answered. "Yes, Asuma?"
"Were you... I mean did you try... I... oh, never mind. It wasn't
important," he said, unable to get it out. 'Chicken! I can't even ask her
if she was trying to kiss me or not!' he thought to himself spitefully.
'But it's probably for the better that I not know, anyway.... I mean, if
she WAS, then...'
"Um... okay," Noa replied, confused. 'Wasn't he going to ask me if I liked
him?' she wondered.
* * * * *
"Requesting permission to fire the gas gun!" Kanuka screamed into the
radio. Nearly fifty looters were still on the streets, stealing clothes,
televisions, anything they could get their hands on.
"Permission denied," Shinobu answered. "If you get tear gas on those
products, then they won't be recoverable. Save that option for the last
resort- try to cow them into submission first."
"Affirmative," Kanuka replied. She stormed into the middle of the melee,
and turned on her loudspeakers. "Attention- this is the police. Drop the
stolen goods and return home. If you fail to comply, you will be
arrested."
Some people did as Kanuka ordered, but several remained and continued
looting. With as much precision as possible, the Type 0 Labor began
picking people up with one hand and trapping them in the crook of its arm.
By the time the regular police had arrived, she had nearly a dozen people
so entrapped, and soon they were carted off to holding cells.
"Situation normal," Kanuka reported. "Anything I should be aware of?"
"Hmm... Riot police have stabilized most areas already. Unit Three may
require some help, however... I understand that their labors were somewhat
damaged- though still functional, they might have trouble if some more
labors show up. Why don't we head to assist them?"
"Affirmative."
* * * * *
By eight-fifty in the morning, the riots were over. A hard snow was
starting to fall throughout the area. Partial power had been restored to
some of the city, and the police were out in force. Unit Two, which had
been up for twenty-four hours, was sent home and given an extra shift off,
and things seemed to have finally calmed down.
That was when it started to hit midnight, Greenwich time.
* * * * *
"Um, sir," an air traffic controller said to his boss. "We seem to have a
serious problem. Suddenly most of the transponder codes disappeared from
the radar- I have no idea what caused it, but now we don't know which plane
is which."
"Odd," his chief said. "Well, get on the radio- ask all planes in the area
to send you their flight information and position- try to keep track of
them that way. And get them in here as soon as you can. Hopefully, we can
cut down on the confusion that way."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. While you do that, I'll find out from the runway crews if that snow
will force us to shut down the runway."
* * * * *
"{Dmitri!}" the pilot of Aeroflot flight 201 yelled at his navigator.
"{Why didn't you tell me we were off course?!}"
Dmitri blinked, looking at the old navigation console. The device was
obsolescent, but he maintained it fairly well and it never failed him. Oh,
sure, the new Global Positioning Systems were nice, but they required
connections to various new satellites which his system had no access to,
and it would cost too much money to replace the old system. It should
still be good until the old satellites died, after all.
"{Sorry, sir- didn't notice it.}"
The pilot nodded. "{That's okay- it was a malfunction of the autopilot,
apparently. Just keep an eye on that navigation system- visibility is
almost zero in this snowstorm.}"
"{Yes, sir,}" Dmitri answered.
About two and a half hours later, they went down to five thousand feet and
started looking for the Seoul airport's radio signal.
* * * * *
"Sir, I'm detecting another plane coming into the radar," the air traffic
controller said. "Coming in from the Northeast. IFF Transponder not
responding."
The chief sighed. "Very well. Let them know we've closed the airport-
direct them to Nagasaki."
* * * * *
"Attention, unidentified flight," the radio crackled. "This is Tokyo
International Airport. All airstrips in Tokyo are shut down due to snow-
please head to Nagasaki, instead. Repeat, unidentified flight- the Tokyo
International Airport is CLOSED. Divert to Nagasaki."
"{Heh... sounds like this snow storm is huge, to be effecting Tokyo as
well. Any luck contacting Seoul?}" the pilot asked, looking intently at
the altimeter to make sure they weren't going in too low. They were still
at five thousand feet.
Dmitri shook his head. "{Nope... doesn't appear we're on their radar
yet.}"
"{Odd, they should have picked us up by now.}"
"{Hmm... I wonder if- hey, what's that ahead of us?}"
* * * * *
"Hey, Madoka," a man said to his new wife as they stood at the observation
window on top of Tower 1 of the Tower City project. "How do you like the
view?"
"Lovely, Kyosuke. This has been a great second honeymoon, despite the
blackout," his wife said. She leaned in for a kiss.
They broke off the kiss a moment later, and turned to look out the window.
"Kyosuke, is that a PLANE heading for the window?"
Kyosuke looked out the window. "Oh, my god! Hold on!" he cried, grabbing
on to his wife.
Aeroflot Flight 201 crashed through the window moments later. Somehow- the
method of which some might think could only be magic- the young couple had
escaped seconds before it hit.
* * * * *
"What was that?" Ohta asked, looking up. He wasn't in his labor at the
moment- he and Shinshi were in the process of replacing the battery. Just
as they had finished securing the pack, a loud explosion came from above.
"Oh, my god! An airplane crashed into the tower! It's spinning out of
control!" Shinshi cried. Ohta glanced in the direction Shinshi was
pointing, and saw a passenger plane spiraling downwards, its nose and one
wing crumpled beyond recognition.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE!" Shinobu cried. Ohta looked up directly above him, and
saw a piece of a wing descending upon him. Shortly before it would have
splattered him, Shinshi drove him under the cover that the trailer allowed.
Burning wreckage collapsed around them.
"That was close," Ohta gasped. "Thanks."
Shinshi nodded, breathing heavily. "Yeah... no problem."
They stepped out from behind the trailer as soon as they were certain that
the debris had finished falling, just in time to see Kanuka's Type Zero and
Seiroku's Type 97 running off towards the crash site.
Ohta turned to get into his labor and join them, when he saw the damage
that was inflicted by the falling debris. He growled.
"Bah... looks like I'm out of the action for a while." His Type 97 was
buried, and Kenji Iguchi's labor had already moved to dig it out.
* * * * *
The two labors tag teamed to rip open the wreckage and search for
survivors. The 97 was working effeciently, but from time to time it would
slow or a limb would tremble. As they sorted through the grisly remains,
Kanuka checked up on the rookie.
"How are you doing, so far?" she asked over the radio.
"Uh... well, ma'am, I think I'm able to handle it. I've never seen a dead
body before, though, and this...."
"Don't worry about it. I've never known a labor unit to be called in to a
situation like this before, and most of the situations where they ARE
called in rarely have any casualties- a labor can take a hell of a
pounding, and the pilot will still be safe. If you perform properly in
your rescue missions it's unlikely you'll ever encounter a body without a
labor fight first. Just keep your head for this situation, and I'd be
surprised if you needed to deal with another death for the rest of the
year."
"But what about now, ma'am?"
"Just realize that there was nothing you could do to save these people, and
keep working.
"Yes, ma'am," Seiroku replied. "Thank you, ma'am."
As they continued to work, Kanuka noticed a definite improvement in the
work of the young rookie, and smiled. 'So, I'm going to be teaching at the
Academy in a few months, eh? Well, maybe I can use this experience to help
me prepare for it...'
* * * * *
About a half hour into their clean up, shortly after the REAL rescue teams
got the message and arrived, a moaning was heard.
"{Dmitri... Dmitri, what's going on?}" the dazed voice said.
"We've got a live one!" came the enthusiastic shout of one of the rescue
workers. "He's buried here- in the COCKPIT area!"
Using the two labors, they dug the injured but alive pilot from the cockpit
assembly, and he was rushed to the hospital.
* * * * *
January 2, 2000
"...and so it turns out," Shinshi was saying, reading the paper in Unit 3's
work room, "That the airplane crash was caused by an obsolescent computer-
the same bug that led to the blackout that covered this city last night."
"The rescue," Seiroku read aloud from a different paragraph in the same
article. "Was accomplished with the aid of two members of the much
maligned SV2 Section 2, which also assisted successfully in crowd control
during the riot."
"Finally," Ohta bellowed. "We get a little respect! Who's the reporter
who wrote the article?"
Seiroku checked the top of the column. "Special correspondant Momoko
Sakurayama, based on interviews with Captains Nagumo, Gomioka, and Fujimoto
of the riot squad."
Shinshi sighed. "Of course- she ALWAYS supports us. You think one of
these days we could find ANOTHER reporter willing to tell our side of
things?"
Gomioka sighed, staring at Ohta. While he had done fairly well for this
assignment, he knew that much of the SV2's bad reputation was caused by
him. "I doubt it- not for a long time," he said, thinking 'As long as Ohta
was still a labor pilot, we never will find one.' He sighed. 'Maybe I'll
be able to get rid of him one of these days. Just maybe...'
--------------------------
Episode 05 Closing Notes: Just to let you all know what was going on here,
this was essentially a 'worst case scenario' for the Y2K bug- many utilities
were expecting to be able to get themselves Y2K compliant before the new
millennium, but they weren't sure they'd have time to do all the testing
they'd need. Airports should not have been effected- at worst, they'd have
to go to backups for power to the radars, etc, but airplane IFF Transcievers
might have been effected. Also, most modern Satellite Navigation systems (such
as modern Global Positioning Systems) could not be effected, but older,
obsolescent ones (like the ones used by many Aeroflot aircraft) that were
dependant on accurate dates could be, and such aircraft are likely to become
lost. I just came up with this idea, one day, when one of my teachers gave a
lecture on the horrors of Y2K. In fact, it was the first of the ideas I'd
started writing down that started Patlabor: Personal files, back in Jan. '99.
Next Episode: Follow Gomioka on a typical day in his life as Captain of
the Third Unit.
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Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
desaix@sysnet.net
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm