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

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

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."

"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.

"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?"

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'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."

"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'."

Dejah's jaw sets.

"One of the most infuriating things about knowing such things. I despise the idea of leaving such things to chance. Or fate, or what have you."

She urges the skimmer higher until they're looking into the cockpit face of the machine.

"I hate being helpless in the face of oncoming tragedy."

"Ain't gonna find me arguin'," says Shephard. "If Hansen could git his door open I'd be offerin' my ship's assistance, but..."

Seriously, if the Jaeger people can't figure out how to use a teleporting vessel to their own advantage then he doesn't know how to help them.

"He showed me the inside of the control pod. I ain't really comfortable with openin' the thing up without him around, though."

"Indeed. And if I got inside, I suspect you'd have to bring me dinner and possibly breakfast before I emerged."

Woola chuffed down at them from the scaffolding above.

"I suppose I should take us back down again. How are you doing, Mister Shephard?"

"Long as I don't look at the wings I'm all right," says Shephard. "I ain't got a problem with heights, it's just flyin' I got issues with. It'd be the same if we were on a dragon, tell you the truth."

And he should know. Kreyu, and all.

She smiles and keeps the descent just as gentle as the ascent.

"A dragon? That sounds like it would make even my stomach churn. As strange as the skimmer seems, at least it won't turn around and eat you."

"Aw, Kreyu's all right once you git to know her," Shephard says with a crooked grin. "She's the smart-as-hell kind of dragon, not the eat-everything-that-moves kind. And I ain't just sayin' that 'cause she helped me git my new hand, neither. She's been like that ever since I met her."

"You keep the most interesting company, Mister Shephard. I suppose you met her here? How does a dragon fit into the bar, anyway?"

"Shapeshifting," says Shephard. "Most of the time she's in the Bar, she's the size'n shape of a human woman. Fuck me if I know where the rest of her goes, but she gits it back when she changes again."

He'll tell her about the trolls later. Kreyu's plenty interesting all on her own.

"Shapeshifting. Of course."

Forgive her if she sounds a bit skeptical. They're almost back to the ground level, and the scaffolding is rattling as Woola keeps up with and passes them. He's waiting for them happily when they reach the floor of the garage.

"This place plays havoc with my rationally inclined thought processes. Magic -- the thought that it's real -- I just --"

She shrugs and laughs again, turning the skimmer back towards the main body of the garage.

"Which way?"

"I wish I could tell you somethin' that made a mite more sense, I truly do, but that's what I got in the way of an answer and I can't really git you more'n that," Shephard admits. "Hang a left up ahead. I'mma show you the black lion before we go back."

"I appreciate the sentiment, truly," she says, moving the skimmer in the direction he indicated.

"What is this lion you speak of?"

"The only flying machine I actually like," Shephard says. "Even if I did git shot down in the first version of it I flew."

It's near more large robot type shapes, including a three-story pink and purple Sentinel. The nearby blue, yellow, and green lion robots- or lioness robots, really, none of them have manes- probably stand out more, though.

"Over there."

She draws even with the massive creature, and again begins to ascend slowly.

"It's... a terrestrial predator shape, of some sort." By her tone of voice, she's utterly baffled again. "And this one flies."

Honestly, people. What the hell.

"Yep," says Shephard. "Got some pretty sweet onboard beam weaponry, too. This is the second one I seen down here. First one got shot out from under me'n I got pinned down in the wreck."

All that technology, and an inadequate escape mechanism. Dejah frowns.

"Were you in battle here? Or in some other universe?"

"Mine," says Shephard. "This happened back home, in my universe."

She turns her head enough to glance at him.

"Really. Did this technology originate in your universe?"

"Nope. Friend of mine who took me down her to show me some shit from her world told me about it," Shephard says. "Half the onboard systems're automated, so there weren't all that much to learn. I reckoned a huge fuckin' robot lion with combat laser armaments beat whatever piece-of-shit murderbird we might drum up in the helicopter section any day."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject