Marius dropped the chopper down carefully, until he was flying just under a hundred metres above the ground, and powered up to seventy five percent thrust. The engines responded sluggishly, and the temperatures were climbing worryingly fast – it looked like the avalanches of volcanic dust had put even more debris into the engines, causing them to strain and struggle even more.
With exaggerated care, he flew as gently as he could on an overall heading of two-eight-zero, heading across the islands in the general direction of Manila. Hunter had laid in a course that avoided as many settlements as possible and flew through valleys or remote areas where they were unlikely to be scanned or detected, weaving a snaking path across the islands. He watched the fuel gauge drop as they made their way westward, his frown deepening as the efficiency of the engines continued to drop. Across Ragay Gulf, over more land, then breaking onto Tayabas Bay, he kept low and slow, then flew in a shallow arc around the next part of the Philippines, navigating around Manila and keeping at least a hundred kilometres from the city at all times. Even at this range he could sense the bubble of sensor coverage that cloaked the city, almost certainly the centre of the Japanese occupation force – he certainly didn't want to get any closer than he had to.
Their course bent further northward, taking them past another pair of prominent volcanoes – Mount Mariveles and Mount Natib rising high above the coastal regions, a pair of sentinels watching the western approaches to the islands.
"Where am I heading Hunter? What's my landing spot?"
"I've found a quiet area, some place called Nagsasa Cove. It looks like it was a tourist area, but its reported closed since the occupation crackdown of a few months ago. Out of the summer season it should be quiet, and in the middle of the monsoon I think it'll be deserted. But while the main cove is built up and has a few resort buildings that might have caretakers or other staff, there's a second much smaller beach in a cove that's cut off from line of sight. It should be plenty big enough for us to set down on and out of the way."
They closed on the cover, flying through the persistent rain of the monsoon and found the cove exactly as Hunter had described it. The beach was narrow, only about thirty metres from the high water mark to the tree line, but that was plenty for Marius to bring the chopper in from the seaward side and bring them to a stop, the wheels sinking slightly into the soft golden sand. At least the monsoon rains had kept the beach wet, and much less sand than normal was thrown up by their propellers. It had taken them just over two hours to fly from Bulusan, less than five hundred kilometres away.
"Ok, we're powered down. Let's get started on the fuel transfer."
"Marius – if you can set it up and make sure we're doing it right, great – but then go for a walk up the beach and stretch off, then get some rest. We can handle this. We've had plenty of time to rest, and if I understand it right, we've got a long over-water flight next, and I'd rather you be well rested for that. Don't know about anyone else. That ok with you, Kai?"
"Absolutely, Aswon. Let's get set up, but then we can take our time. We're in no rush here, so let's just be steady. We've got four tokens dropped so far, that's a really good start. Now's not the time to make mistakes and throw that all away…"
Hunter, Aswon, Shimazu and Vadim started to unload the back of the chopper, moving supplies around so they could get the fuel barrels rolled down and around to the fuel hatch, while Marius checked the hand pump and got the tank opened. It took some fiddling to get the pump primed and the hoses set up, but once done it was a time-consuming and tiring act to keep the hand pump moving and the fuel slowly transferring over into the cavernous tanks.
After an hour of pumping, the fuel tanks were full, the barrels having been depleted significantly. Everyone had had a turn on the pump, and even the jokes about hand action and masturbation had long since lost their shine.
"First thing I do when I get a decent matrix connection is have a look for an electric pump. That just isn't a fun game, and not something I want to do again, especially if it might be under any kind of time pressure." Hunter announced, flexing his wrist and rubbing sore forearm muscles.
"Sounds like a plan, Hunter. Actually though, I've been thinking about what I said earlier. Is there any reason we need to push on hard today? I mean you made a good point, Kai. We've got fourteen volcanoes to cover, and we've done four. And yeah, we need some downtime to get the chopper fixed, but we've gone at a decent pace so far. Should we let Marius sleep – and everyone else – while we've got the chance and move on tomorrow? That'd give me chance to set things up with Spook and so on."
"You're right Aswon. Ok, we'll move on at dusk tomorrow – that's about fiveish, right? Ok, if we leave at that sort of time, we'll get to Hong Kong in a couple of hours, means we land at night and that might help us sneak past the border." With the decision made the team started to spread out a little, Aswon stretching out his hammock under one of the wings so he could stretch out, while Tads and Vadim slung a tarp under the other wing, leaving considerably more room inside for the rest. When he was done setting up, Aswon grabbed his phone and wandered away from the noise of the rest of the team and called Spook, advising her that they were leaving the Philippines tomorrow evening and should be in Hong Kong a few hours later. Spook in turn said she would reach out to her contact to advise him and make arrangements.
When he returned to the craft he found Shimazu sitting with his hand on his sword, sitting cross-legged and watching over the comatose forms of Tads and Vadim.
"Where they off to?"
"Said she was going off to sort out some business, but also teach Vadim a bit more about travel and stealth. Just asked me to keep an eye on the bodies for a while." Aswon nodded in understanding, checked that Shimazu had a drink and some food, and then returned to the chopper.
High above, two astral forms headed south east, heading for the peak of one of the last volcanoes they had passed.
"Ok Vadim – first of all, I want you to range ahead, go for about thirty seconds or so, then try to find a place to hide, but also somewhere you can spot for me coming. I'll give you a head start and then try to track you down… go!" Vadim leapt away, his astral form a blur as he disappeared into the distance. Tads counted slowly in her head, then concentrated and sped after him. She found him easily enough, her greater understanding and attunement to the astral plane making her nearly twice as fast as him, as well as considerably more likely to spot the faint astral wake he left or the signs of his passage. They repeated this several more times as they continued their journey, Tads explaining each time how she'd found him and what kind of signs he'd left of his passing or critiquing his hiding place. She was gratified to see him improving, and by the time they'd reached Arkan port, she was having to work harder to locate him. Onwards they sped, until they closed on Mount Giluwe, the second volcano they'd stopped at.
The journey was nearly four thousand kilometres, and took them about forty minutes - about as far as Tads wanted to push Vadim at the moment. The return journey would take the same time of course, and she wanted to spend a bit of time here… she floated through the air, hovering just above where they'd stopped on their first visit here, and clapped her hands together loudly, then bowed in the direction of the mountain as she paid her respects. A moment later, the spirit appeared before her.
"Oh, hello there! I didn't expect to see you so soon."
"Well, I wanted to come and tell you the other story I'd prepared, as you seemed to enjoy them. And I was wondering if I could perhaps bargain with you for it?"
"A bargain? Oooh, intriguing. What were you thinking of?"
"Well, if the story was good enough, I wondered if I might have a ride. I have to admit, I was a little jealous of Hunter, you see. That looked like so much fun!" Her voice had taken on a slightly wistful tone. "It might not be the same without being here physically, but our bodies are a long way away now."
"Tell your story then, and let's see." Tads nodded, and 'sat' cross-legged, floating in the air a metre above the radiant glow of the mountain, and began to tell her tale.
"Originally, I said I'd tell a story for Hunter, and so I will. Or about him, anyway." Vadim settled by her side, watching her carefully as her aura flickered with emotion as she began to tell the spirit her tale. The spirit perched on the same rock as before, drawing his knees up in front of him and clasping them to his chest while he listened avidly.
"See, in my view, he doesn't seem to like magic and the magical world very much. That might be my fault, or it might be from things that happened before we met, but I can understand why he doesn't have much of an opinion of magic. For starters, some of it is my fault. We were at a party, and a group of people with ill intent broke in, using guns to shoot indiscriminately at the people who were there. That's just wrong – they could have hurt or killed people. I'm one of Elk's, a protector and a defender, and I used my stunball spell to try and knock out the attackers. Which mainly worked and worked quite well, but Hunter had been in between me and them and he was less than impressed that it had worked on him as well. Really unimpressed. And he had a point and I have tried to be more careful since then. But you know, maybe if we'd been working together longer as well, he might have thought to duck?"
"Anyway, reason one – magic robbed him of a good fight. Reason two, I don't even remember why or when it was, it's just how it goes with these and Elk. Someone gets hurt, they use mundane means to patch themselves up as much as possible, then Elk and I step in as best we can to see what we can Heal. It's the right thing to do and it pays back for people injured and lives taken. Except no one had ever explained, I think, how healing magic works better the more …. Human there is to you. On that occasion, I was tired and the magic couldn't find enough of the person, the being behind the mechanics, so it didn't work on him. Understandably, he was a bit grouchy and the explanation didn't go down too well, though."
"On the other hand, he'll do the right thing, whether there is magic involved or not. Even if there is magic involved. There is a place – I'm not good with maps unless I've walked it and I didn't walk this one – that I think is to the west of here. Pretty far to the west. I'd like to hope it's the only place like it in the world, but I don't think it is, and I think there are other places which remain from before. With the connections and the strength of magics in them from before. I just hope none of the others have occupants like this one. "
"It was huge and gruesome and awful, and had trapped some people down in its place under the earth and had put something inside those people, and I really don't want to know what it was going to do to them. But we were asked to help get them back and I don't think anyone had a word to say against it. We went down and down again, deep into the earth and into an ancient place with it's ancient resident. It tried to force us away with a power of Fear, but we didn't know enough of what we faced to be afraid enough, and we worked together to help get past the chills and foreboding and negation that power engendered within us. Maybe it would have been better if we'd never seen it – I wish I had not, and yet I have agreed to go back and attempt to destroy this creature of pure malignant evil, and as a shaman of honour, that is what I will do."
"Anyway, that is for the future. It was huge – easily both taller and longer than the tallest of my group, with plates like insect carapaces covering most of its form, around the many eyes and tentacles longer than twice my height. I tell myself that it is not of this world, of our world, and sometimes that seems to help, but I know that our world and its world are coming closer to being one and eventually, it and any other like it will be free. Partially I tell you this so that you can be aware of the evils within and prepare to protect yourself and the peoples that look to you for when that day comes."
"But that's not his story. There were others with us, friends of those trapped in that nightmare, and one was somewhat like Hunter in form – no magics and big guns. This man had what I understand to be a bigger and more powerful gun, and the chitinous plates of the creature not only shrugged off the bullets, but pinged them around the room, making it even more hazardous for us until he stopped shooting."
"It was clearly a creature of magics, twisted magics to be sure, but still, not a being of mechanics and circuits and electricity. Those of us blessed with a connection to the magical world prepared to assault the creature with all the limited means at our disposal. Hunter realised his gun would do little to nothing and to sink his knife into the beast would require dodging several long, long tentacles and likely not penetrate, even with the strength of his prodigious muscles behind it – and it turns out that the blood of the creature was of acid, so he'd have lost his knife and likely some fingers too if he'd gotten in and penetrated anyway."
"But with shooting obviously useless, and stabbing unlikely, he did the right thing, the best thing to do. He helped get the people who had been trapped down there out. I'd hoped, I think all of us hoped, that we could kill it and then rescue the lost ones. He saw what was happening, and knew that the skills and weapons he had brought with him at that time were of limited use against the monster, so he ignored the magic and saved the people. If we killed it, great, but if not, then the people would, and were, still saved, thanks to him – and the two others who stayed back in our vehicle. Of our group, they were the most helpful in rescuing the trapped people, whilst the others, me with hopes of killing it initially, ended up feeling solely like a distraction."
"Still worthwhile – we had gone to save the people and that is what we did, but saving the people was his primary focus and he was willing to trust to us to distract it whilst he turned his back on it to get the helpless ones out. If he had not reacted as fast, seen the situation for what it was so fast, I suspect there would have been much greater injury, and possibly death. He saved the people, but he did it by turning his back on the magic and the creature and relying on those who could feel the magics, trusting others including I, who had hurt him, had failed him with magic before, to protect him and use those magics to hold the creature off for long enough that he could do the job of saving the people."
She fell silent, the spirit and Vadim both staring at her. Vadim gave a little shudder, trying to imagine the creature at the heart of her story, and suddenly very much aware of how little he knew about his new talents, and how hopelessly outmatched he might be if he met such a thing. The spirit was looking at her with open-mouthed amazement though, almost quivering with delight.
"That was superb! Amazing! Awesome! I LOVE IT!" The spirit transformed, turning from the young child into the large quoll, then hopped over to her. "Climb aboard! That was definitely worth a ride!" Grinning from ear to ear, Tads climbed on – the astral form of the spirit as solid to her own self image as the physical creature had been to Hunter. With a snort, the Quoll took off, a massive bound sending it ten metres across the hillside, heading up through the vibrant landscape. A scream of happiness burst from her lips and Vadim watched with a wry grin as his mentor was carried up the mountain in a zig-zag pattern, bouncing up and down with a manic smile plastered on her face.
A few minutes later, the spirit returned, and gently lowered Tads from its back. She stood, still floating a short distance above the landscape, her entire body quivering with the excitement.
"Thank you, that was FUN!"
"You are welcome. If that is the price for a story like that, I would be happy to listen to you at any time in the future."
"Unfortunately, our journey is taking us further and further away, so it will be harder to come back. But we will try." She glanced over at Vadim. "Perhaps when our training is further along, we will be able to travel much more swiftly, and that will make things easier. But for now, we should probably start to head back – unless you have anything you want to say or ask, Vadim?"
"I do actually. I am unsure of the other word you used. What is Yeet?"
The spirit looked at them, and then the broad head split open, lips pulling back to reveal a wide mouth full of teeth. Tads was a little taken aback for a moment, wondering if it was about to attack – until she realised it was the closest to a smile it could manage.
"Let me show you." Quick as a flash, the quoll reached over and grabbed Vadim by the legs, then bodily heaved him up into the air. He sailed through an arc, a scream of terror bursting from his lips. In theory, he could have just arrested his movement at any point – one of the great advantages a mage had in astral space was complete mastery of three-dimensional movement. But his inexperience and the surprise drove any sensible thought from his brain, and all he saw was the mountain looming closer to him as he sailed through the air.
Tads was equally shocked, but recovered much faster – and reached out a hand by instinct to cast her levitate spell, before the thought died in her mind. Not only was casting spells while purely an astral form much more demanding and taxing, and likely to cause serious physical injury rather than the normal headaches, but the spell was also firmly rooted in the physical world. It needed a tangible form to work upon, and Vadim was effectively just a ghost here. She was about to take a deep metaphysical breath and shout at him to stop, when the quoll accelerated away from her, positioning itself just at the spot where he was about to face plant into the mountain.
It reached up and grabbed at Vadim's flailing limbs, and like a discus-thrower at a sporting event suddenly whipped around into a turn, redirecting his momentum and then releasing him on a new trajectory. The noise stopped for a moment as Vadim drew breath and then another wail of terror echoed down the mountain. The quoll waited a second, then dashed again, catching him once more and spinning him round and back up into the air.
Seeing that he was not in any apparent danger – except to the state of his underwear, Tads giggled and muttered to herself.
"Next time, I'm going to try that. That looks even more fun."
A minute later, the quoll relented, and carried the shaking form of Vadim down the mountain, depositing the breathless astral form next to her. Vadim was wide-eyed, and she could see his skin throb at the neck as his pulse raced.
"Calm yourself Vadim – remember, your body here isn't real. It's a slave to your will, your intellect. There's no flesh and bone, no muscle, no fatigue or glands, no adrenaline. All you are feeling is a lifetime of conditioning, of expectation of what you should be feeling if you were physically here." She continued to talk to him, calming him down and using the experience as a training tool, showing him how to master his automatic reactions to what he perceived around him.
When he was calm, she thanked the quoll again, and then led off, Vadim trailing behind her as they raced across the landscape, retracing their path and heading back to the chopper. When they returned, it had just gone past dusk. Stirring slowly, they could see the dark form of Shimazu sitting and watching them patiently, making sure no other spirits invaded their bodies while they were away. Tads thanked him, and he nodded to them and rose gracefully from where he'd been sitting.
"Food is almost ready, if you want to head in to the chopper." He turned and headed to the open door, while they stretched and worked their muscles."
"I feel awful. Sort of drained, like I ran a long foot race or something."
"Ahh Vadim. That's one of the reasons I wanted you to do this. What you're feeling is a weakening of the ties between your soul, and your body. The longer they spend apart, the more strain is put on the link. If you spend too long apart, the link will snap – the body dies from the separation, leaving nothing but a deposed spirit, wandering the world until it's torn apart by the energies of astral space, or eaten by some predator."
"Oh. That sounds….bad." Vadim frowned as he heard himself, realising that the statement was just a little redundant.
"Yes. But your link will renew itself now you're reunited. In a couple of hours, you should be fine. But you should probably not spend more than a couple of hours apart, and try to spend at least as long back in your body afterwards as you were gone resting. And be wary – if you try to cast or summon after you've been out for a while, it's much harder and you're likely to hurt yourself. It's taxing…"
They headed into the chopper, chasing the smell of packet food mixed with boiling water. It wasn't great cuisine, but it was food and they were both famished. While she was eating, a smile kept forming on her lips as she remembered her ride, to the point that both Aswon and Shimazu stared at her, giving her a quick astral once-over to make sure she was ok.
They bedded down for the night, the beach quiet save for the sounds of the waves gently lapping back and forth against the sand, and a few birds circling overhead. Standing their normal watches, they got a decent night of sleep, and even managed to sleep in a little later than normal, the sun being slow to climb over the hills to the east, leaving the cove in shadow.
During the day they worked on training and maintenance. Aswon stripped his gun down and found a fine coating of ash coating the inside of all the parts, thrown up into the air during their fight with the Salamanders. Somewhat suspicious, he checked his monster sniper rifle, finding that too was dirty and partially clogged. He informed the rest of the team to check their own weapons, and then set too with cleaning, working his way through all of his own personal kit before starting to clean the inside of the chopper. The rest of the team pitched in, removing several loads of the fine ash as they wiped and washed everything down – the lightweight particles seemed to have stuck to everything, blown in though either the door Marius had been standing at or the gap by the rear ramp. Drones, motorbikes, first aid kit, spare underwear – it all had a fine coating and needed to be shaken down and cleaned.
Once they were done the team spent a while training – Shimazu got his lockpicks and practice locks out, while Kai set up a few bits of driftwood as a target and broke out his bow. Hunter checked the matrix, looking not only for an electric pump but also seeing how easy it would be to get a drop tank to fit onto the external mounting point Marius had fashioned a little while back. The signal in the cove was lousy though, his search painful and slow, and mostly seemed to confirm that he'd be better waiting until they got to Hong Kong, where it was almost certain they could find what they needed, including a more speedy connection.
The day wore on, and the team started to pack down, getting ready to depart. As dusk fell, Tads stood on the beach and called out to the spirits, bargaining for aid once more and asking the small flock of beings that answered her call to guard each of the team and keep them safe. With that complete, she climbed aboard, and they slid the door closed, signalling to Marius that they were all aboard. The engines started, the massive rotors turning faster and faster until they were a blur. In the dusk light, a faint green trail formed a halo, marking the edge of the rotors as they span. Slowly the tilt-wing climbed into the air and then pointed in the direction of Hong Kong and started to accelerate.
Half an hour short of their landing spot, Kai grabbed the contact details from Aswon and gave the number a call. "Hello? Heeeyyyaaa!"
"Um. Hello, this is Kai. A mutual friend of ours has put us in touch, and we just wanted to let you know we're nearly with you."
"Oh, yes yes. Heeeyyyaaa! "THUD." You're flying in, right?"
"Yes, we are." Kai heard another shout and thud coming from near the person he was chatting to.
"Well, if you come in to the beach, and turn left, then fly to the end of the beach and look for the big wooden training hall." Kai put two and two together – it was a martial arts place, or perhaps boxing – but he could hear the sounds of training in the background. "When you get there, go up and over the top, and look for the courtyard. You should be able to put down there, I'll have it cleared. Just watch out for the wind coming off the mountain!"
"Ok, will do. See you in about thirty minutes." Kai folded the phone away, and passed on the information to the rest of the team, then settled back to wait. Marius flew them in, approaching the island from the east and heading towards the spot on his map marked 'Shek-O', a small town that was clustered on the shore including a large spit of land that thrust straight out into the sea.
They flew in towards the beach, then made a hard left as instructed, Marius transitioning from plane to helicopter mode to give him better control. The beach was wide and even, and looked artificial to him – it was a perfect arc, far too consistent and regular to be naturally occurring. As he slid down the beach, the image of a large wooden structure appeared before him, showing up dimly on the low-light cameras. Beyond the house the hill rose steeply, becoming a cliff in several places, sheets of rock ten metres high or more punctuated with outcroppings of lush vegetation. As he got closer he could see that the house was U-shaped, the front facing the beach and two large wings that stretched back to the hillside, forming an enclosed courtyard in the middle. He drifted closer, gaining a little height so he could size up the opening.
"Kai. KAI? Are you kidding me? Are you seriously telling me that you want me to set down in THAT?"
"What's the problem, Marius?" Marius shunted the video feed through into the back, letting the rest of the team see what he and Hunter were looking at.
"What am I looking at here. Is it because it's not lit? I thought you could see in the dark?"
"No Kai, look at the bottom – at the size information."
"Um… is that twenty five metres? So?"
"So do you know what our wingspan is, including the rotors? Let me tell you. Twenty five metres."
"So you're saying we can't do it?"
"It would be crazy to try. We should find somewhere else."
"All I'm seeing is the beach, and roads. Very little open space, no clear land. Nothing showing on the map, Marius, sorry." Hunter spoke quietly, his attention focussed on his map as he scrolled around looking for somewhere else they could set down.
"Look, we cannot hang around here like this. The engines are under enough stress as it is. Hunter, double check my maths. Our disc area is a five point five metre radius on both ends of a fourteen metre wingspan, with a seventeen point five metre overall length. If my maths is right, if I rotate us by forty nine degrees, our chord should drop to twenty two metres, giving us approximately one and a half metres of clearance on each side. But only if we remain perfectly aligned…"
There was a pause as Hunter quickly entered the dimensions into his modelling software and rotated it, checking the maths and drawing up the results.
"Confirmed. But you have got very little margin of error here."
"Well, either find me a better place to land, or strap in tight. We are putting down." True to his word, Marius started to lower the power, and the chopper dropped, adjusting to face one of the corners of the courtyard. As Marius got lower he started to feel the wind shear coming off the cliff behind the house, further complicating the landing. They bucked and wobbled as he fought the power controls against the wind, waiting for just the right moment – and as the wind died for a moment, he dropped the chopper down quickly, the walls of the building sliding past quickly as they descended into the tiny space. He threw power back to the engines again, and they touched down firmly, dipping the shock absorbers a good way. Just as quickly he removed the power, making sure they didn't bounce and move, and shut down the engines, wanting to stop the propellers spinning as quickly as possible.
A figure appeared at a doorway, a human of average height, wearing a baggy sweatshirt and trousers. As the rotors slowed, he lowered the hand shielding his face to peer out at them. Light glinted off of the top of his head, and his dark eyes studied the chopper, waiting for someone to appear.
"Come on, let's hope that's our contact." Kai unbuckled and led the way to the right-hand door, sliding it open. "Hello there!" he called out in Mandarin, as he dropped down to the ground.
"Hello!" the figure replied, then moved on to say something else rapidly. Kai looked confused as he tried to decipher what had been said – but he wasn't sure on the dialect. "Would you prefer English?" the man called over a moment later.
"Ahh yes, thank you, that would be great. Good evening. I'm Kai, and this is my team. We were put in touch by a friend, Spook?"
"Yes! Good, good. Please, come this way."
The team disembarked, walking over the paved courtyard towards the man who now stood with a large smile on his face, welcoming them in turn as Aswon introduced them. Now that they were closer they could see that his head was shaved bald, his skin smooth and unblemished, reflecting the overhead light. Clean shaven, his face had strong features and a pleasant smile, and seemed to be relaxed and genuinely pleased to meet them all.
"Do you want to come in, and I'll show you around?"
"Kai – we should get the nets up over the chopper." Marius said. "I'm not sure anyone is actually looking for us, but I'd rather not take any chances."
"Oh – you have nets? To hide your plane?" the man asked.
"Yes, we do. If you could give us a few minutes, they're quite heavy and a bit of a pain to manage. Always get stuck on something."
"Ahh, let me see if I can help you." He turned away and raised his voice, shouting surprisingly loudly for such a slender man. "Simi! Rudi! I need half a dozen people and two ropes from the gym!" He lowered his voice again to speak to them. "If you give me a minute, we should have this taken care of."
A gaggle of people appeared, all wearing either loose fitting martial arts style gear or casual clothing. There were a mix of men and women, a variety of ethnicities, and a variety of heights and metatypes – but every single one of them looked trim, muscular and fit.
"Right – time to work on some balance and co-ordination. I need two people spread out on the base of the courtyard, and these people will bring over a camo net for you to stretch out. Two of you up to the middle floor, and you'll need to hang over the balcony or dangle by your legs, so you can reach down for the nets. Last two on the top floor, so the middle can pass up the netting. Hand over hand and then tie them off to the sides. Ok? Then, we use the ropes to haul up the other sides, over the top of the courtyard. Let's go, clock is running!"
The students and trainers sprang into action, getting into position and working out where the ropes were going, and who was pulling what, quickly sorting themselves out to manage the task. From the chatter it was clear that they'd not done this before, but they attacked the task with gusto, and soon were hauling the heavy nets up and over the chopper, obscuring the courtyard with the large nets and securing them to the three sides of the building.
"There, excellent. Good work everyone. Nice. Nice bit of cardio, yes? Practical muscle exercise. Good, well done." The man complimented his students as they left, clapping several of the on the shoulder as they wandered back inside. "Spook said you might need to stay a while, so I've prepared a couple of rooms. If you want to grab your bags and follow me?"
Kai shrugged and grabbed his backpack containing his personal kit and slung it over a shoulder, then hoisted up the medkit into his other hand, before going to stand by the man.
"Sorry, I didn't catch your name by the way?"
"Chun Fu. Chun to my friends, or coach. Sometimes they call me other names, generally when I tell them what exercise is next. But let's start with Chun, shall we?" He smiled and Kai, and Kai returned the grin, examining the man carefully. He wasn't sure how much of it was an act, but Chun certainly seemed to be pretty charismatic and friendly. Kai decided to take him at face value for the moment, and waited for the rest of the team.
Seeing that Kai had grabbed the medkit, the others grabbed their 'mission' kit as well, making sure that as well as personal clothing and supplies, they had their bags or rucksacks with weapons and armour in to take indoors with them. Marius was the last out of the chopper and slid the door shut, locking it behind him, just in case.
They followed Chun inside, through the building. It appeared to be a large martial arts academy or training centre combined with a very large house or hostel of some kind. The two wings that reached back to the cliff face contained large training gyms: padded floor mats, weights, kicking dummies, racks of padded headguards and boxing gloves, along with smaller bits of equipment that were no doubt used for some particularly fiendish exercises. The front of the house was made up of meeting rooms, work rooms, accommodation and offices, and Chun led them up to the third floor and a series of rooms all leading onto a shared corridor.
"Here we go. I'm afraid they're quite basic, but hopefully they should be ok for you. You'll have to share, but I guess you're used to that if you travel a lot?"
"I'm sure they'll be fine – thank you very much."
"Great – well, when you're settled, I'll be down on the veranda at the front." Chun smiled at them and then started to head down the corridor, leaving them to examine the rooms. Each was a moderate size, containing two or three beds laid out along the outer edges. Polished wooden floorboards butted up to strips of wood that rose to waist level, with a decorative shelf running along the top. Above that the plaster walls were painted in a warm but pale orange, giving the rooms a friendly feeling. The rooms were clean and smelt fresh, but as they looked around, they could see signs of…not neglect, but perhaps a lack of maintenance. Some of the light fittings were missing bulbs, while wall sockets were taped over with a bit of hazard tape. Some of the furniture was taped together – temporary measures that appeared to have become somewhat more permanent than they should have been.
A cry of pain made them stop and turn, sticking their heads out of their rooms to identify the source. Through the door at the other end of the corridor they could see a wiry looking woman standing cradling her arm, which had a most unnatural bend halfway along the forearm.
"Nicole? What happened?" Chun turned and started to head back down the corridor, passing the team to get to the woman.
"I was padding Mikey, and he went a bit full bore. Just caught me wrong, didn't mean to do it. But I think it's a bit broken. Look." She wobbled her arm, and the bottom half moved in a disturbing way, making her wince a little.
"You daft bugger. Ok, well, we should get you to a hospital, I suppose." Chun looked round as Kai coughed to attract his attention.
"It just so happens that we've got a couple of qualified doctors and some supplies, we'd be happy to take a look for you, if you wish?"
"You can? That's great!" Chun beamed a smile at them, and the Nicole seemed to relax a little as well.
"And, well, this might be a delicate question. But how do people feel about magic?"
"Ohh, you've got a mage? That's great, really good. I mean, as long as nobody dies, I don't think people are too bothered around here. What kind of spells can they cast?" Chun glanced over at the team, his eyes flitting from one to another as he tried to work out who Kai was talking about.
"Well, let's get sat down and have a look at this arm, and then we'll show you." Kai ushered Nicole into one of the rooms and got her to sit down on the bed, then he and Shimazu carefully examined her arm, asking a few questions about what exactly had happened, and determining the level of pain. From their examination it appeared that she'd taken a pretty hefty kick to the forearm, snapping both the bones and tearing the muscles for good measure.
They set to work, injecting some painkillers and anti-inflammatory agents, then carefully pulled and manipulated the arm back into position, watching the medical scanner carefully and twisting until the bones were perfectly aligned inside the flesh. A quick splint and some pressure bandages were applied over the top to try and immobilise the arm for a short while.
"OK Tads, you're up." Nicole had been poking at her hand, pinching the flesh next to her thumb and giggling at the lack of sensation, but looked up as Tads approached her, squatting down by the side of the bed.
"With your permission, I'll use some magic on you to try and heal the wound, and restore some use of the limb back to you."
"Sure!" Nicole watched with fascination, blue eyes intent as Tads spread her hands to either side of the wound. Golden light built up, enveloping the arm as she manipulated the spell, and both Nicole and Chun watched with rapt attention as the glowing orb of light wandered through the arm, back and forth several times. The rest of the team got on with unpacking – they'd seen this enough times now that it wasn't in any way remarkable, and besides – they needed to grab the best beds if they were going to be staying here for a few days.
Only twenty seconds later and the glow faded, Tads pushing herself up to her feet and taking a deep breath. She felt pretty confident about the spell – Nicole seemed to have only the smallest amount of cyberware present, making her aura easy to manipulate, and there was something positive and wholesome about the gym. It just felt nice in some way… She reached over and started to undo the splints and remove the bandages.
"What are you doing? He's only just put those on!" Nicole said in surprise.
"Well, you can keep them on if you want, but your arm's not broken any more. With any luck, you won't even have a bruise." Tads continued to work, stripping off the dressing until she could examine the arm. Sure enough, there was no sign of injury at all, and Nicole gasped with amazement.
"That is pretty spectacular!" Chun seemed genuinely impressed, and gave Tads a small bow. "How does it feel, Nicole?"
"Like nothing happened. That's amazing. Thank you!" She prodded and poked at the arm with increasing levels of force, checking to see just what she could do with it.
"Come on, let's let these people get settled. We'll go and see Mikey, and I'll show you how to hold that pad so this doesn't happen again…" Chun escorted Nicole down the hallway, leaving the team to get settled into their rooms. Tads, Vadim and Kai ended up in one room, Marius and Shimazu in the second while Hunter and Aswon took the third, piling up a pile of the general team kit on the third bed in their room.
Marius and Aswon were the first to get settled, and they wandered downstairs looking for their host. As they went, Marius found himself staring at the construction of the building, and stopped to examine it.
"Look here, Aswon. See – these walls look to be constructed from planks rebated into these upright posts. But, note the tolerances. And look here – two short planks are linked together by this joint that has a complex interlink between them. Once they're under load, they are forced to bind onto each other by the weight of their neighbours. No nails or bolts, or screws of any kind. Precision workmanship."
"Everything looks old, too. Like hundreds of years old. This place just seems to exude history…"
They found Chun on the veranda, stripped down to a pair of shorts and a vest, concentrating on doing push-ups, rising and falling behind a low coffee table between the handful of woven wicker chairs lining the edge of the wooden area. His arms wobbled as he slowly descended, and they heard a shallow grunt as he pushed back up. Both were a little surprised at the apparent effort involved – at least until they stepped further forward and could see over the table and spotted the true circumstances.
Balanced under each hand and foot was a medicine ball, rolling and rocking back and forth as Chun made small adjustments in his position to maintain his balance. Muscles flexed as he struggled to maintain balance on the constantly shifting balls, and they saw his skin ripple over tendons as they shifted his weight about. They watched in silence as he finished his set, holding for a moment in the upright position before stepping down off his tenuous supports, one limb at a time. As he stood up, they could see that both arms and legs were heavily tattooed, covered in symbols and lettering rather than pictorial designs.
Shimazu came in, and caught sight of the tattoos, and quickly scanned over his body, absorbing the wording inked there. 'Courage', 'Integrity', 'Strength', 'Honour'. They all seemed to follow a theme, being desirable virtues, each over a muscle group or area of the body, a distinct area assigned to the concept. Aswon cleared his throat as he saw Shimazu studying Chun, and moved around to the other side of the table, drawing his attention away from the bodyguard.
"Very impressive. I imagine that works your core muscles very hard?" Chun nodded and smiled at him grabbing a bottled water from the side and sipping at it, before wiping himself down with a towel quickly. He sauntered over to the far end of the veranda to recover his trousers and sweater, and quickly pulled them on as more of the team turned up.
"I'd quite like to have a go at that," Aswon ventured, wondering what his reaction would be.
"Let's get you in the gym tomorrow, and see how you go then. A bit of practice first of all, on something all the same size to start you off." Chun smiled at him and kicked the medicine balls over to the corner, pushing them out of the way. As they rolled, Aswon could see the different colour markings on the top and bottom of each one, showing them to be different sizes and weights. "So, would you like something to eat? Drink? I'm sure we can get you something thrown together. It won't be fancy, but we can get you some nice traditional food?"
"Thank you, that would be great. It's been a long day, and your hospitality is very kind. I'm sure we can make some contributions and help out with things like catering once we've settled in a little," Kai answered, raising a questioning eyebrow at Tads and getting a subtle nod in return. Chun excused himself and left the room, and they heard him enter the next room over. A woman's voice greeted him, and they heard him asking if there was any chance of some food for their guests. The voice agreed, but then informed Chun that if she was making food for his friends, he had to hold the baby…followed a moment later by some wailing as someone very small was disturbed from their comfy and warm position on a shoulder.
"Listen to that Marius. That's your future, that is…" Hunter quipped.
"Nein. Unfortunately, I will be very busy doing things for Kai, and unable to deal with such mundane issues. Is that not right, Kai?"
"Oh, you can leave me out of this, I'm not getting involved in babysitting disputes between you and Nadia."
"I didn't have you down as Kai's personal chauffeur, Marius. Do we have to get you a little uniform and a cap to go with the job?" Marius sent Aswon a poisonous glare, but decided that he was outnumbered and unlikely to win this argument, lapsing into silence instead. They sat on the veranda looking out over the beach, seeing stars in the night sky, visible past the light pollution from the town, listening to the sound of the waves lapping against the beach, and the occasional shout from one of the students as a punching bag was intimidated into submission.
Chun returned a few minutes later holding a newborn to his shoulder, bouncing up and down as he gentled him back to sleep. A moment later what looked to be his wife entered with a large platter, setting it down on the coffee table and then diving back out of the room to go and fetch in a small pallet of bottled water. Kai stood quickly and moved to assist her, but she waved him back to his seat with a smile.
"Here we go. Please, help yourselves." She lifted the lid on the platter, revealing a large stack of sandwiches – some cheese, some ham, some with a mix of both, along with several bags of potato crisps in a variety of flavours. Several of the team blinked in surprise – this wasn't the communal bowl of noodles or rice that they'd been expecting, that much was certain!
"Anyone want ketchup?" Chun asked, smiling as he looked around at their expressions. "No? Well, just ask if you change your minds. So – what exactly is wrong with your helicopter, then?" With a final bounce he carefully passed over his son back to his wife, who slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.
Kai and the rest of the team swivelled to look at Marius, who quickly chomped through his mouthful of sandwich, washing it down with a gulp of water. Once his mouth was empty, he quickly explained the situation, outlining the sudden encounter with volcanic ash high in the air and the potential damage caused, without going into the specifics of why exactly they were flying over a volcano in the first place.
"Sounds bad. And difficult to fix. But, I know a guy – very good, just down in town. Let me call him." He fished out a phone and flicked through his contact list, selecting a name several pages through. "Marcello? Chun, how are you? Good…. Yes…" The team tucked into the sandwiches as he exchanged pleasantries with the person on the call. "So, listen, I've got some people with me here. Friends of a friend, and they're in a bit of a bind. They've got some very fancy engines that have…well, let us just say they have severe mechanical issues and really need some expert help. Wondered if you could maybe swing by the gym in the morning to have a look? About nine? Great, see you then. Thanks mate." He flipped his phone closed and then smiled again. "There we go, sorted. Marcello's a great guy. He'll be able to sort out your issue, I'm sure. He's an expert."
Marius raised an eyebrow, but managed to stop his expression changing any further. He wasn't sure who this Marcello was, but he was very sceptical that he was an expert in military engines…
They ate and drank, relaxing on the veranda and looking out over the beach, while occasionally the sound of fists striking punching bags or grunts of exertion made it through the walls. Kai asked Chun about the house, and they listed to Chun explain a little history – the training academy had been here for generations, passed down from father to son, preserving the ideals and ethos taught to them hundreds of years ago. It had been upgraded over time of course, but the structure of the building dated back centuries, and was built using traditional techniques by craftsmen. Alas, many of the upgrades were not to the same standard – Chun was particularly apologetic about the quality of the electrics, which he kept meaning to get someone in to look at, but there always seemed to be something else to do, that required his attention or ready cash…
"Maybe we can have a look at that. Hunter, or Marius perhaps – they're pretty skilled with electronics and such like," Kai offered. Chun beamed at them and nodded in appreciation while Hunter and Marius tried to keep their faces neutral while mentally trying to chastise Kai for dropping them in it.
"I've also noticed that you don't appear to have any wards on the building?"
"Wards?" Chun appeared confused, and cocked his head at Aswon, inviting further information.
"Magical defences, to keep spirits or intruders out. They're fairly common in corporate facilities and some areas of housing. It just so happens that we as a team are very proficient in building those, and that's something we could offer to you. If we had access to some funding we can build a permanent ward – something very strong that will last you indefinitely. Without the materials, we can still get something that will last for weeks, if not months."
Chun seemed intrigued by the idea, wanting to know more about how the wards were created and what was involved. Aswon ceded the conversation to Shimazu, who had a better technical understanding of the theory and application of different warding techniques, and they listened as he expanded on the offer, explaining about the options for polarised wards, alarm wards and various different options available in terms of openings and strengths.
By the time they were done explaining the basics of magical warding it had gotten quite late, and Chun announced that he needed to get to bed and make sure the baby was ok – the team took the hint and filed out of the veranda, heading back upstairs to their rooms. Aswon fired off a quick message to Spook, reporting in that they had arrived and all was well so far, while Tads made sure that people went back to the tilt-wing and entered the troop area, climbing through the ward on the craft and spending a few minutes inside to disrupt any possible tracking ritual that might have been started. Once done, they headed to their rooms and the team settled down for the night.
The night was quiet and uneventful, and they awoke about seven in the morning. Looking out of the window they could see a stream of the students leaving the front door and descending the steps down onto the beach, forming up into a loose line and starting to do some warm up exercises. They dressed and made their way down to the front themselves, finding the students had already moved on by the time they were outside. The footsteps in the sand led down towards the cliffs at one end of the beach, disappearing around an outcropping, out of sight. As they stood uncertainly, the mass of students appeared, running through the surf in a long drawn out mob.
It looked like they'd all gone to one end of the beach and then waded out to be about knee deep in the water before setting off at a brisk pace, trying to run as fast as they could through the waves and following the curve of the beach around to the far end, about three hundred metres away. They recognised several of the students from the night before, including Nicole, the woman whose arm had been broken. They waved to the team as they ran past, a cheerful acknowledgement in the cool dawn light of a fresh and breezy Tuesday morning.
Aswon was about half a step in front of Shimazu and Hunter, but all three of them appeared to have independently decided to join in with the surf run rather than their more normal morning jog, and they joined the tail end of the mob. Marius, Kai and Tads shrugged and tagged along at a slower pace – aware that they almost certainly couldn't keep up, but deciding it would probably do them some good, and might help them be accepted into the group.
Unsurprisingly Aswon and his lanky legs proved to be fairly adept at running through the surf, and he quickly moved up through the pack, chasing the front runners. Shimazu wasn't far behind him, just powering through the waves – though the rest of the team wondered if he was using his powers to avoid sinking into the soft sand under the waves, just as he'd done on the ash banks back at the volcano – it would certainly explain his relatively easy movements! Tads surprised a few of them, moving fairly well and keeping up with the middle pack of students, reminding them all that she'd walked from up near the arctic circle all the way down to Azerbaijan on her own, through some fairly harsh terrain without apparent injury or hardship.
Hunter found the going difficult – his massive physique working against him, and he floundered slightly through the waves, seeming to lurch from one near fall to another, while Kai and Marius just found it very difficult to run through the crashing waves at all, the cold water and side currents sapping at their strength quickly. Somewhat surprisingly, several of the students slowed a little, dropping back to pair up with them and offer advice between ragged breaths of their own. No matter how well or badly they were doing, there was nothing offered except words of encouragement or advice, each of the team being inspired to just do the best they could.
The party ran to the end of the beach, turned, and ran all the way back, being well strung out by the time they had covered the full distance. As soon as the front runners were back near the entrance, they started to do sets of exercises, just four press-ups, then squat thrusts, burpees and knee tucks. As each person finished they joined the group exercising, getting their breath back until it was the start of a new set, then joining in with the rest. By the time the last of the runners were back and on their first set, the front runners had done nearly five – but only when the last people started did Nicole start calling out a pace, with the whole group performing the exercises in unison. By the time they'd finished, everyone was gasping for breath and sweating profusely, glad to head back to the academy for showers and breakfast.
In the large space at the front right of the house, flimsy tables and benches were set up along with a small trolley loaded down with cereal and fruit. Tads didn't surprise any of the team as she zeroed in on the fruit, grabbing one each of a variety of things she'd never seen before, then finding herself a seat at the end of one of the tables to dissect, study and taste her new discoveries – indeed, the more variety she had, the wider her repertoire of magical foods and the better they ate!
Chun and his wife appeared as the team were halfway through breakfast, checking in on everyone. The baby was wrapped up in his mother's arms, eyes darting around the room at the colours and shapes. As they wandered over to the team, the baby's eyes drifted down to catch sight of Hunter, and the gurgling noises stopped. Hunter made a couple of cooing noises to the baby, who went slightly wide eyed and stared at him. Kai and the others flinched, expecting the screams to start at any moment – Hunter had many fine qualities, but a chiselled jaw, smooth skin and smouldering eyes were all absent from the list. There was just something about his features that seemed slightly lopsided and disturbing, a slight variation in the distances between the different parts of his face that seemed to make the people that looked at him feel they were in the Uncanny Valley. It never seemed to phase Hunter, and there were times when he ruthlessly used it to his advantage – certainly a number of people had seen his demonic visage looking at them over the top of gun barrel or past the tip of a knife and had been horribly intimated and threatened by what they had seen.
Instead though, the baby's face split into a huge grin, a small bubble of spit forming at the corner of the mouth, and an explosive glee-filled giggle erupted from the blankets. Clearly this wasn't a human like mummy and daddy, or even an ork or troll like some of the students. It was a strange hybrid creature, a Frankenstein put together just for his amusement. A tiny pudgy hand wrestled free of the blanket and desperately reached for his left nostril, determined to play with the flesh there, much to the horror of his mother. Hunter just smiled though, and continued to coo at the baby, then started to shake his head while exhaling, making a noise like a particularly wet fart erupt from his lips, drawing forth another gale of giggles from the baby.
Further exploration of how Hunter's face had moved from downright terrifying to source of eternal amusement was curtailed when Chun's phone rang. He fished it out of his pocket and glanced at the number before answering.
"Marcello! Good morning. You're just outside? Ok, we'll come and meet you. Yes, Ciao." He flipped the screen down and gave the wife a slightly apologetic smile. "He's just outside, if you want to come and meet him?" The team finished their mouthfuls and stood, grabbing their dishes to take to the bowl of washing up water in the corner of the room. One of the students waved to attract their attention, telling them to just dump their crockery with him and he'd sort it for them, while they went off with Chun to attend to business. With grateful nods, the team piled up their mostly eaten breakfast and hurried out to catch up with Chun.
'Marcello' turned out to be a slender man with olive skin and slicked back hair, wearing a pair of wire framed sunglasses. He wore a tan suit that flowed and rippled, hanging without creases or unsightly bulges – maybe some kind of silk blend – whatever it was, the fabric looked luxurious and no doubt expensive. Chun greeted him with a smile and a handshake and then waved to the arriving members of the team.
"Marcello, these are the people I told you about. They're passing though, and have a problem with their vehicle, and they need the very best of help – and I can't think of anyone better than yourself."
"You're too kind, Mr Fu, but I can't promise anything – you know how busy we are. I said I would come and have a look, and check out this engine for you, but I make no guarantees…"
"Of course, of course. But you'll see – I think this is something that will interest you."
"Very well. So, which of these people is the driver?"
"Oh Jeeves!" Aswon whispered, just loud enough for Marius to hear him. "Bring the car around will you, there's a good driver." Marius shot him a poisonous glare, but didn't respond verbally, stepping forward instead to identify himself to Marcello.
"So, what happened to your engine then?"
"It unfortunately ingested a quantity of ash and other pollutants, and they've not done the mechanical or the electronic systems any favours." Chun started to walk towards the courtyard, beckoning for Marcello and Marius to follow him, with the rest of the team tagging on behind them. As he reached the door, he pushed it open with one hand as he stood to the side, allowing Marcello to precede him into the open space. Marcello walked through with his face still turned towards Marius as he listened to the description of what had happened, then stopped short as his peripheral vision registered the bulk of the aircraft in front of him.
One hand raised to the side of his face, gently pulling the sunglasses off so he could confirm that he was seeing what he thought he could. Jaw slightly opened, he turned to look at Marius.
"You landed this here?"
"I did." Marius confirmed, speaking plainly and without any pride in his voice. Marcello walked over to the tip of the wing and looked up at the massive rotors, checking the clearance on either side of the craft and gave a low whistle, before turning and giving Marius a nod. He moved closer to the engine pod and examined it closely, then carefully ran a neatly manicured nail across the surface of the metal, examining the scrapings that were lifted from the surface. "Ok, I can see the level of the problem, and why you need some help. Rebuilding is going to take some space and a full tool shop, including some computer support to get things balanced and the timings correctly set."
"Exactly – not the sort of thing I could do in the field. I would consider myself a competent mechanic, but it would take weeks, possibly months to repair this outside of the workshop. Inside, with the right support, I would hope about four or five days."
"That sounds reasonable – depending on the availability of parts and just how extensive the damage is of course. The main problem I see is how to get the engines down to us. We don't really have anywhere to land down at the workshop – assuming she's fit to fly at the moment. And once we demount the engines, there's no moving her of course."
"Ahh – leave that to me. I have an idea." Chun grinned at them. "Assuming of course you have space to take on the job? I did tell you it would be interesting!"
"You did indeed. Ok, we can certainly do the strip and diagnostics, and work out what is needed, clean them up and look at basic repairs. Depending on what we find, we may need to order parts in or fabricate them. But I'll clear some space on the planner, if you can get them down to me. I presume both engines are in the same state?" A raised eyebrow at Marius was answered with a nod. "Yes, ok – well, we can work on them both, and see how much we can get fixed in-house, and take it from there."
Chun walked Marcello back out to the front door, leaving the team standing around the tilt-wing, checking over the netting and being prodded to go through the wards once again to disrupt any tracking attempts. When he returned, he'd assembled nearly all of the students, and was splitting them up into small teams, with one of his senior students or assistant coaches looking after each group of three or four. Some were sent out to get long ropes or thick bamboo poles from the various gym areas, while others unscrewed the door panel and removed it, opening up a space in the wall to move things though.
"So Chun – you said you have a plan to move the engines? We can demount them using an A-frame or something, but we'll need a vehicle with good load capacity to shift them, and I do not know how you are going to get them down those stairs…" Marius was giving him a very suspicious look as he examined the pile of equipment being set up.
"You'll see – just watch." He raised his voice, calling the mob of students to order. "Ok, this is a new exercise, working on strength, stamina and core control. What we're going to do is set up the poles with the ropes slung between them, and bring them up under each engine…" Marius's face started to blanch as Chun described the most hare-brained scheme he'd ever heard, "and then take the strain while they're unbolted from the wing. We're going to lift them then, in a sling, and carry them through the hall and down the front stairs, along the beach and into town, all the way to Marcello's place and carefully take them inside." Marius was shaking his head in disbelief, lost for words, while the rest of the team looked on with their own sceptical expressions.
"Nicole, your team is front left of engine number one." She nodded and chivvied her students towards the port engine, dragging one of the large bamboo poles and a length of massive rope with them. "Ismael, your team is front right." Ismael was an elf, looking to be from somewhere on the Indian subcontinent – lean and wiry. "Simi, you take back left." Simi was another mid-twenties human, looking to be a Carrib league native from the skin tone and facial features, and like all of the other instructors or fighters, was in prime shape. "Rudi, you're on back right." Rudi had a very similar build and skin tone to Aswon, and moved with the same quiet grace and poise.
"Has anyone seen Harley? No. Ok, Mikey, wherever you are – you're front left on number two, and your guys will take back left." Mikey turned out to be a troll, appearing through the widened doorway from inside the training hall. Of average height for a troll, he was definitely not of average width – he was quite possibly the largest metahuman that most of the team had encountered. Standing about two and three quarter metres high, he looked to be almost that broad, without an inch of fat or spare tissue on him. Each of his legs were as thick as Hunter's waist, and the team could feel a tiny little reverberation through the floor as he walked. If this was the "Mikey" that had been kicking Nicole, it was easy to see how she'd ended up with a broken arm, pads or no pads.
"Hakim, you're front right," Hakim was a dwarf, stocky and powerfully built – looking to have the same proportions as Rudy, but only being a metre and a half high, with skin that was so black it seemed to drink light, "and Dae Hee, you're back right." Dae Hee was a Korean human, in her late twenties, with a broad set of shoulders that made her long torso almost look triangular.
The students moved into position, weaving the ropes around the poles and into U shapes under the engine pods, getting ready to lift the mechanical monsters down.
"Are we actually doing this?" Marius murmured, almost as if he expected to wake up from a particularly vivid and unsettling nightmare at any moment.
"Looks that way, unless you have a better plan?" Kai responded. When nothing presented itself, Marius went to grab his toolkit and started work – stopping several times to look around as if to convince himself this was really happening. He disengaged the drive shaft through the wings, and then worked to release the controls on each pod, rotating them round into the forward flight position, then undid the heavy bolts securing the propellors into the main drive shafts. With the long blades out of the way, they could loosen the retaining bolts that held the engines onto the ends of the wings, leaving them supported only by a few hooks.
On the command, the students moved in, guided by the instructors and then took the weight of the engines, lifting their bulk down. Each engine was just under two metres long, and nearly a metre across, weighing around five hundred kilos – but slung under the poles and supported by six students on each side, the weight turned out to be surprisingly manageable. The second engine only had four on the left hand side, but Mikey the troll seemed more than able to carry the load of the front half of the pole all by himself, while the rest of his team supported the back.
"Nice and steady – this is a race, but anyone that drops the engine or loses control is automatically last, as well as due a beasting of epic proportions – so don't drop your engines. Ok, move on out, and let's go!" Chun got them moving, and with the heavy engines swinging pendulum like between the poles, they filed out of the courtyard, through the hallway and out the front door, sweat already popping from foreheads and little huffs and puffs of effort sounding as they struggled to move the ungainly weights. Once they were down the front steps and onto the beach, Chun threw a sheet over each engine, letting it dangle over each side pole to disguise what they were carrying and got the two teams lined up side by side, before getting them both moving again.
Bizarrely, nobody complained, nobody whined, and nobody moaned – taking the unusual 'exercise' in their stride. Four sets of deep footprints were carved into the beach as they moved their loads along the pale-yellow sand, heading for a point near the far end of the beach that led to a small area of trees.
Aswon pulled out his phone and selected Spook from his speed-dial, listening to the phone ring a few times before she answered.
"Morning Spook. So, we're over with Chun now and getting stuff sorted. Likely to be a week to get things fixed, so technically available for a little work if you've anything local, or if you've got some time, maybe we can meet up and have a catch up? I think I owe you dinner anyway."
"Yeah, you do. I'm a bit busy at the moment, but I'll give you a call this afternoon, and let you know?"
"Now? Sure, I can start to head over I suppose. I mean the team are busy moving some stuff, but if it's important, I can get free?"
"What are you on about Aswon, I said I'll call you this afternoon?"
"Ok, sure, if it's that urgent, I'll go get a bag packed and start to head over now. I'll be there as soon as I can…" He disconnected, while Spook was just asking him if he was high, and turned to Kai.
"Yeah, yeah, I heard. Whatever…shout if you need us or have a job though."
"Will do Kai – see you in a bit." Aswon turned and headed back to the building, working hard to keep a poker face. Besides, he really did want to see Spook, and there were more than enough students to carry those massive engines. They didn't need him. Not really… By the time he'd got back to the staircase, he'd pretty much convinced himself that he wasn't just sliding out of work for once and taking the morning off!
By the time they were half way along the beach, the pace had dropped, and there was the occasional call for a stop while people moved the load from one shoulder to the other, or adjusted their grips. The team on the right engine seemed to be suffering the most, with the three students behind Mikey struggling to hold up the rear – at least until Hunter slid under the very rear of the pole and added his not-inconsiderable strength to theirs, lifting the pole back level again. The rest of the team carried the propeller blades and the handful of bolts – heavy enough on their own, but not in the same league as the engines.
It took thirty minutes to walk the six hundred metres into town and to the workshop belonging to Marcello. The woods marked roughly the half way point, and concealed a neatly laid out mini-golf course, quiet and empty at this time of the morning. Beyond that, they wandered down the wide main road of the town, past shops and restaurants until they reached a large industrial unit with the word "Giovanchi's" written in a flowing script over the doorway.
The double doors to the side opened up and Marcello appeared, not looking the slightest bit surprised as the students struggled inside with the loads, aiming for the two cradles that were lying in wait for them in the middle of the open space. As they entered Marius looked around and started to re-evaluate how he felt. Lining the walls were tools, neatly laid out on pegboards, lined up in perfect order with equal spaces between them. Everything was spotlessly clean, and looked to be top quality, brilliant white lights illuminating the space evenly and reflecting from the pristine walls, storage units and bits of equipment that were laid out neatly.
Beyond the workshop he could see a pair of cars being worked on, and gave a little gasp as he recognised them – both luxury marques, they were sleek, stylish and very, very sexy. The hypercars were low slung, and radiated power, and each probably cost upwards of a million Nuyen at the least. Whatever this place was, it certainly wasn't a typical back street garage!
The students gratefully slid the engines onto the support blocks, easing them down into position and lowering the ropes and poles away once the load had settled. Now that the 'exercise' was done, good natured moaning and bitching ensued. Tads offered to create some water for the students to refresh them, but Chun seemed to think it was far more worthwhile to make the two teams race back to the training hall with the poles and ropes, with the first team back getting the cold water from the fridge, while the runners up had to make do with the warm stuff from the stock room. The return journey was much quicker, both sets of students breaking into fast jogs now they were relieved of their heavy burdens.
Marius stayed with the engines at the garage, waiting to see what Marcello was going to do with them, while the rest of the team accompanied Chun back to the house, following in the wake of the racing teams. As they walked along, Hunter idly keyed up his datapad and queued up a query for the next time he was online, looking for local aircraft spares and supply companies – or failing that, wherever the local aircraft graveyard was.
Just in case…
