So I just watched the movie Belfast, and I report that it's really good. Very heartfelt story, especially since it's basically the director's childhood. Def worth a watch
Jaune pushed the bullhead as fast as possible. He ignored the blaring warnings that the engines were overheating. This was the time for desperation, not caution. The aircraft climbed up and up through the sky until eventually breaching some light clouds.
If he had had a heart, it would have been hammering. As it were, he stared intently at the green digital map of Remnant on the bullhead's dashboard.
He arced around and headed in the opposite direction that he had originally gone in, now set south-east and towards continental Vale. He just needed to get to solid land, then dump the bullhead in some forest or lake or something and continue on foot to Vacuo. He could just hitch-hike or something, right?
"Ah man…" He sighed and let himself relax a little once he stabilized the flight and set himself on a straight course. He even morphed back into his default form, enjoying the more comfortable blonde hair, blue eyes and facial features that felt like a familiar and favorite set of clothes.
He let out a breath he had been holding.
"Man, this spy stuff is really stressful…"
I don't know if I want to do it.
"I don't have a choice though…"
Don't I?
"I guess I could just go off on my own now…"
I could just land in Vale, dump the bullhead and live out my life.
"I could find some little town somewhere and just blend in…"
A town like Boggindorf.
"Yeah, a town like Boggindorf."
All I would have to do is just change my face to something random and boom.
"I'd be good."
They could try to hunt for as long as they want, but if I want to disappear, then I'm gone.
"I'm gone."
Jaune tapped the control stick he held. His eyes glided over the buttons and dials, and he instinctively knew them all. He had so many skills like this and more; it would just take some testing on his part to uncover them. He could do any number of things for a job, or just find something he liked doing and learn it. He could find one of the many frontier towns that don't ask questions and don't need an ID.
"That would be nice…"
But doesn't my dad need me?
"I haven't even met him yet…"
Exactly.
Jaune slumped back in his seat and rubbed his forehead. He became aware of just how uncomfortable the bulky fake leather chair was, but no amount of fidgeting assuaged his unease.
"No…" He shook his head.
Even if I find some frontier place and settle down, then I'm not just letting down my dad, right? Omsk, Tyrian, Hazel. But more than them.
"A lot more…"
Like, what if I'd decided to give up earlier? Then Boggindorf would be in ruins. And the people who made me… well, I don't really know a lot about them. But they're evil, right?
"Don't I want to keep doing good? Good like at Boggindorf…"
I can be a hero.
"Yeah," Jaune said, "I like the sound of that."
No more second thoughts.
"And besides, I've still got so many questions for my dad."
Only answers. Action and answer.
Jaune sat back up, now feeling comfortable in the seat, eager to get to work. He looked over the map again and zoomed in, figuring out where would be a good place to land the bullhead and how to traverse from there. He started framing his upcoming journey in his mind, memorizing the route. He was resolute and ready.
Typical of his fashion, however, he forgot to check the fuel gauge.
The rickety crabbing ship now sailed far off the coast of Atlas. To compete with other fisheries, this captain and crew had taken to going further and further out into sea.
The shattered moon shone brightly above them; night had stained the ocean nearly black.
"Come on, get it up!" the captain shouted. It was the last net of the day. The hauls of silvery fish that they had gotten thus far was disappointing, so he offered a few silent prayers that this last batch would fill up his hold.
"Come on!" He shouted at the workers over a particularly splashy wave.
His men spun the gears of a crane and winched up a tough cable. It quickly became taut, then jammed.
"It's stuck sir!" said one man.
"Like hell it is! Give it some more strength!" He licked his lips, nervously hoping that the net wasn't snagged on rock or wood. "It's a big load of fish. Feel it in my bones."
He scratched his scraggly old beard, hoping that his old bones weren't lying to him.
They set the crane to its highest power. Its gears squealed concerningly, then began to turn again. Slowly, they hauled up the exceptionally heavy catch.
The cable creaked ominously as bubbles rose from the black sea. The water rippled and the net finally broke the surface. The crew all shivered as an especially cold wind swept across the ship, burning their skin and prickling their flesh.
"What the…" the captain muttered as he squinted. There was the tell-tale squirming of fish, he could see, but there was something else, a dark and clumpy shape that weighed down the net.
Two arms stretched out from the shape and ripped through the net's thick chords easily. It fell onto the ship's deck with a heavy thwump! Fish flopped and flipped and splattered all around the figure as it got to its feet.
A person. A big, stocky person clad in sopping clothes and draped with soaked seaweed. The night suddenly became quiet, as even the wind cautiously held its breath and the waves ceased their ceaseless slopping. The only thing to be heard was the desperate slapping of the loose fish against the deck.
"This ship is going to Vacuo," the person said.
If someone who knew agent Sundown was aboard that ship, they would have sworn it to have been his voice. The cool candor that seemed to border on contemptuous even as it bordered on sympathetic. Only, this was Sundown after a few drinks, maybe, for each syllable was slower and clipped.
The other crew remained awestruck, wondering just how in the world they had pulled up a man from the middle of the sea. The hearty captain, however, pulled his belt up over his pot-belly and summoned the toughness he had developed from his days in the navy. "Like hell it is! We're heading back to the shoreline, where you can pay for the net you just broken and the fish you helped get away!
"We're not going to Vacuo!"
The Pursuer glared him down.
"Yes. We are." This time, it refined Sundown's voice and perfected the sneer of cold command that the man used to make others' skin crawl.
The captain, however, was made of stern stuff, and he didn't budge. "No. We ain't!"
A nearby crewmate ripped a wrench out of a toolbox and brandished it in front of the Purser. "Whatever you are, you can just—"
The Pursuer lashed out and grabbed the wrench before the crewmate could so much as blink.
The android took the wrench in either hand and—effortlessly—twisted the stolid steel in its hand as if it were a plastic spoon in a kid's lunch box.
"Well," the captain said, "maybe we're going to Vacuo."
Crashing a bullhead into the ocean wasn't fun. It also wasn't as unpleasant as it sounded, at least for Jaune. Advanced androids generally don't abide by the same standards that regular flesh creatures do.
This included sleep, food and aircraft disasters.
"Hope this doesn't hurt!" Jaune shouted as he closed his eyes and grit his jaw. Many screens and beeps all joined together to warn him of impending doom, as if the sight of the ocean fast approaching didn't tell him that already.
He smashed straight down into the water, and the cockpit window cracked and caved in as it did, submerging him instantly.
It wasn't the best experience, but it could have been worse.
As it were, Jaune had re-tuned his vision to let him see well from his current position on the dark ocean floor. Thankfully, he wasn't so deep that the water pressure was crushing him. He had certainly needed to quickly adjust his pressure levels, but aside from that, he was okay.
Now he trudged along through the sand. He looked curiously at the schools of fish, most silvery and some even pretty shads of orange, that swam past him. He occasionally stopped to examine things on the ocean floor.
That actually made him a bit sad. He found some broken bottles, a loose tire and a few plastic bags.
Man, he thought, how could people litter so much?
Then he turned around, suddenly becoming quite guilty. He couldn't see the bullhead anymore, but that was quite a big piece of waste he'd left behind. He looked down at himself. Could he count as litter, too? What separated him from the plastic bag drifting along the ocean floor? Just a couple of synthetic creations that were clogging up the place…
No, he assured himself with a frustrated shake of his head. No, I'm worth more than a plastic bag. And besides, I'm going to be getting out of here soon. Let's see a plastic bag do that!
He kept marching through the sand, grimacing as he felt the muddy stuff get into his sneakers. He pushed his way through a kelp forest. More than once, he looked over his shoulder out of worry for a shark coming up behind him. The ceiling of fresh air hung high above him.
He frowned and put his hands on his hips. If only there was a way for this to go faster—
Jaune suddenly remembered that he was underwater.
He jumped and swam, and boy could he swim. His arms and legs pumped quickly, easily fast enough and strong enough to drive his heavier robotic body.
Jaune made good time now, but then he stopped when something tugged on his shirt. He looked at his shoulder, thinking it would be a bold fish that was trying to take a bite out of him.
It was not.
The sisters had not exactly been "stoked" when their father insisted on taking them for an afternoon fishing trip. They had gone on such "adventures" a few times, and each time they were extraordinarily boring. They never even caught anything; nevertheless, Taiyang always savored the family bonding time.
The trio shared a large dinghy that they paddled out from the island of Patch, which now rested on the horizon. Ruby and Yang wore lights coats that protected from the chilly air. Ruby herself still had a streak of white sunscreen on her nose.
Ruby gripped a fishing pole that was as long as she was tall. "I think I got something!" she said as she reeled back the line.
Yang yawned "That's what you said the last five times."
"Hey now, maybe your sister really has something this time," their dad said. He did not, however, bother looking over.
"I felt a tug for real!" Ruby insisted. She grinned excitedly; she felt something pulling at the line—
Then nothing. There was no longer anything caught on the hook, at least it didn't feel like there was.
"Aw man…" she mumbled to herself. Nevertheless, she continued to steadily reel back the line.
When the hook finally came back out of the water, she scrunched her brow. It was nothing but a little piece of black fabric. She grabbed it off the hook and looked closer, squishing it between her fingers. She wondered what it could have been connected to—
The ocean surface bubbled. Out popped a guy's head. All of a sudden, a blonde boy with bright blue eyes peered at her curiously. He opened his mouth as if to say something—
"AHHH!" Ruby screeched and brought her fishing pole crashing down, snapping it in half on the kid's skull. He re-submerged.
Both Yang and Tai jumped up at her sudden scream, quickly coming to her side.
"What's wrong?" her dad said.
"Th-there was"– she pointed incredulously at the water –"some guy! Some guy just poked his head out!"
"Some guy?" Yang asked with a dose of skepticism in her voice. "Some guy, way out here? This far from shore?"
"Shush!" Tai said as he wrapped an arm around his still thoroughly shocked and disbelieving younger daughter.
"Sure you didn't just see some driftwood?" Yang asked with a laugh. Then she turned her attention around to her own fishing pole resting against the dinghy's edge—
She saw a blue-eyed kid with a timid smile hanging onto their boat. He opened his mouth as if to say something—
"AAAH!" Yang screeched and instinctively lashed out with her fist, jamming a knuckle-sandwich straight into his mouth and sending him crashing back into the water.
Tai rounded again as his other daughter screamed. "What's wrong?"
"A guy!" Yang said. "There's a guy! Really, a guy in the water!"
"A guy in the water?" he asked. He was willing to disbelieve Ruby or Yang separately, but together…?
He felt for the utility knife in his pocket, then shrugged away his worry. There couldn't be someone this far out, right? No way. They must be seeing a magazine or something that—
"Um, hello?"
Tai whipped around as he heard the new voice. He saw a kid hanging onto the dinghy with a cautious attempt at a smile.
"AHHH!" Tai screeched and planted his boot firmly into the kid's forehead, sending him reeling back into the ocean.
Jaune was starting to regret his decision to follow the little hook.