[oom] A visit to the Milliways Garage with Adrian Shephard

[dejah_thoris]

 She finishes her coffee and turns to Shephard.

"Would you mind if Woola joins us?  He enjoys exploring almost as much as I do."

Comments

[hecu_marine]

"Mmkay. Most I've done on my old Buell's about eighty-five miles an hour, then," says Shephard. "Legally I was only supposed to be doin' sixty at the time."

Ride a few hundred miles without seeing a cop, and you get all experimental.

[dejah_thoris]

"There are legal limits on the speeds your vehicles can travel at?"

She puts on a bit more speed, her hair beginning to flutter around her shoulders.

[hecu_marine]

"Used to be," Shephard says. "Ain't no rules about that kind of thing no more. Ms. Vance'n my momma've got a shitload of better things to do than make stupid-ass rules."

[dejah_thoris]

"I suppose in more populated areas, it might make sense. I think the people of Helium would laugh if I attempted to decree something so ludicrous."

A little more speed, probably twenty-five miles an hour now. The pin feathers of each wing adjust constantly as their weights shift.

"I see what you mean when you say this place goes on forever."

[hecu_marine]

"Some of it's safety," Shephard concedes. "Last thing you want's some culero who don't know the local roads proper takin' a hairpin curve at forty when twenty-five's the fastest you c'n make the turn and not go flyin'. Straightaways, though, most of the time it's pretty much dumb as shit."

"Aw, you ain't seen the half of it yet. Keep on goin' 'til you git to a big blue chopper with a little grey'n black one next to it, then hang right. You got to see the Jaeger."

[dejah_thoris]

"Jaeger? Those are the massive armored suits that Mister Pentecost was talking about?"

She assumes by chopper he's referring to the rotor wing craft. She pans her gaze over the line of strange panoply vehicles they're passing. A little less than a minute passes and she sees the ones he'd described. She banks the skimmer and immediately cuts back her speed.

"Holy Mother Issus..."

[hecu_marine]

"That's them," says Shephard. "I know a fella here who used to pilot one."

He smiles a little at the response. "Hansen says this one's called Tacit Ronin," he says. "It was the first in the field, from what I hear. Somethin' like that, anyways."

[dejah_thoris]

"I knew they were--big. I mean, he told me the dimensions of the things." Her voice is tinged with awe, and the skimmer drifts as she lets her gaze travel up and up and up.

"But knowing and seeing are two entirely different things."

[hecu_marine]

"No kiddin'," Shephard agrees. "There ain't but one flyin' machine I ever had to pilot that I liked flyin' in, and I thought it was pretty fuckin' big- until I saw it up against this."

[dejah_thoris]

She turns in her seat, and gives him an incredulous look.

"These machines... fly?"

[hecu_marine]

"Naw, naw, Jaegers don't," Shephard says. "But the lion I flew's the only thing I seen that's near as big and still moves."

[dejah_thoris]

She nods, and turns back to contemplate the monstrosity she sees before her. "The resources alone needed to build such a machine, much less pilot it... It must take a small city to keep it maintained. Do you mind if we get a better look?"

[hecu_marine]

"Go right ahead," Shephard says. "Only seen it up close once myself. Things're supposed to be as expensive as aircraft carriers, and those were small cities themselves."

[dejah_thoris]

She nods, and leans forward, bringing the skimmer back on course. Woola had just returned to their location from wherever he'd been exploring, and was glad to get moving again.

"Aircraft carriers, those are the waterborne ships, yes?"

She waited until they were within yards of the Jaeger before she began increasing the altitude. It gave the impression of being on a lift. The engine hum was almost silent, even against the hard surfaces of the garage.

[hecu_marine]

"Yep," says Shephard. "I dunno how you arrange things on Barsoom, but in my day there weren't no other kind. Think we used to have some lighter-than-air ships you could land real small planes on once, but we ain't had those in ages."

[dejah_thoris]

"No oceans on Barsoom," she explained, her gaze still fixed on the Jaeger's outer hull. The scaffolding around it rattled and Woola appeared in a blur, chuffing happily. They ascended another ten yards, and Woola appeared again. She grinned at the beast.

"Our carrier ships are like this craft, but much larger. They hold dozens of skimmers this size, as well as squadrons of warriors ready to engage in hand to hand combat."

[hecu_marine]

Shephard whistles. "Turbulence on something like that's got to be a pain in the ass," he says. "I got to hand it to you if your people're up for walkin' around on a deck like that."

[dejah_thoris]

"Inertial dampeners help. As does having a significantly thinner atmosphere. They also don't rely on lift the way your fixed winged craft do."

[hecu_marine]

"Okay, fair," says Shephard. "And here I was thinkin' magnetic boots."

[dejah_thoris]

She chuckled, and shook her head. "No, that could get a bit dodgy when contact is lost."

The skimmer took a quarter turn and drifted out from under the overhang of the Jaeger's midriff, bringing them in close so she could view the power unit at the center of its chest.

"I can't wait to see the plans for these. I bet they're interesting reading."

[hecu_marine]

"Reactor's still pretty well shielded. Ain't much more'n background levels of radiation comin' off it, least not when I came through here the first time," Shephard says. "Looks like Hansen's been tryin' to look after it some. Thing's practically a holy relic to him."

And he can't say he blames the man one bit, given what his world and his country and his city went through.

[dejah_thoris]

"I spoke briefly with Mister Pentecost the first day I was here. I gathered their situation was pretty grim."

She turns her head again, slightly.

"Do you know if they're still besieged by the creatures?"

[hecu_marine]

Shephard's quiet for a few moments.

"Hansen is dead," he finally says. "He came in from his final mission. He'n Pentecost were tryin' to seal up the Breach once'n for all. Only the Pentecost who's here ain't from that mission, he's from seven days before it. Either way, Hansen doesn't know if they pulled it off or not."

[dejah_thoris]

Dejah's lips press thin, and she nods, turning back to the machine.

"This place. I do not understand it, and I'm not sure I ever will." She deliberately turns her thoughts away from the memory of her dead husband.

"I wish there was something we could do to help."

[hecu_marine]

"Sometimes you can," Shephard says. "We brought folks from a shitload of different worlds into mine for a number of battles against the Combine, including the one where I lost my arm. I dunno if there's shit we c'n do for Pentecost, though. Not from the way Hansen was talkin'."