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.The gun line on the cannon was at slightly above horizontal.If he fired now, he would overshoot the target.Rei stepped on the toe brake and pushed the throttle forward to MIL.Yukikaze’s nose sank as she knelt forward, her front shock absorbers contracting as they held back the terrific forward thrust to keep her stationary.The target was moving into the aiming reticule.Without a moment’s hesitation, Rei squeezed the trigger.The Vulcan cannon roared, throwing fifty rounds of ammunition at the target in 0.5-second bursts.He kept firing.Yukikaze shook.Before he’d exhausted his ammunition, the machine cannon drive system began flashing an overheat warning.He ignored it and continued to fire.Ahead of him, flashes of light ran left and right along the forest edge, their centers forming expanding blue white hemispheres.The explosions merged into an intense ball of light, too bright to look at directly.Cease fire.Check the displays.The standard radar remained silent, but the passive airspace radar detected something.A bright point appeared in front of the symbol marking their plane’s position.The point became a disc, and then the disc rapidly expanded.Outside the plane, it was getting brighter and brighter.A line was moving across the display toward the mark indicating the plane.The shock-wave front was sweeping toward them.There was no way to avoid it.There was a violent impact.The engines stalled.Yukikaze was in the air.She was in free fall.The engines automatically restarted.“Lieutenant? What’s going on?”“It looks like I’ll be able to get you back on schedule.”They were in the skies of Faery.It was near sunset.Rei checked his instruments.The warning tone and the HUD display were telling him to pull up, signaling that if he didn’t the system would automatically do so at four Gs.Air intake temperature had risen to nearly 700°C, but it was still running a little cold.Before exceeding an airspeed of 250 knots, he lifted his leg.No abnormalities.The only indication of the extra time they’d spent was on the onboard clock.“It really was a fairyland,” Lander muttered.“If it wasn’t for this injury, I’d swear it was just a hallucination.I still can’t believe it.”Rei felt the same way.THE FAF SEEMED ready to believe that the incident had been real.As a TAF plane escorted them back, Rei told the authorities what had happened.Upon landing, Yukikaze was washed down with enormous amounts of water to neutralize any possible radioactive contamination while Rei and Lander were isolated for biohazard prevention.Lander’s hand was operated on by a surgeon wearing what looked like a space suit for protection.Rei used the copious time he spent in the tiny isolation room to finish up his written report and answer all sorts of questions.It was three weeks before the two men were let out of the isolation chambers and released from the tedious examinations.They drank a toast, and true to his word, it was on Rei.Afterward, Lander returned to Earth and Rei returned to normal duty.Rei was subjected to more psychological tests by Dr.Halévy.They were cognition games designed to produce mock abnormal events to tax his mental processes and then gauge his reactions.It seemed nothing more than child’s play to him.Compared to the actual abnormal events he’d just survived, the doctor’s tests seemed positively innocent by comparison, and so Rei played along as best he could out of a curious sympathy.As a result, the tests proceeded well and he was free of them sooner than he had expected.About a week later, he was eating in the mess hall and thinking about what the hell that yellow swamp was when Major Booker clapped him on the shoulder and sat down next to him, handing over a magazine as he did.“‘A Report from the Front Lines of Faery,’ by Mr.Andrew Lander.Read it yet?”“Does he mention me?”“Not at all, but he wrote a lot of good things about Yukikaze.Aside from that, it’s his usual stuff.”“I wonder how his injury’s doing.”“Fine, I suppose.The doctors here are used to trauma like that.But they were mad that you didn’t bring his hand back with you.”“There was nothing to bring back.It was weird.Everything past his wrist was just gone, like it had evaporated.”“Yeah, I saw that in your report.I don’t know if I’d believe it if you didn’t have Yukikaze’s data file to back you up.You know how the ADC dealt with it when they lost track of Yukikaze? You’ll love this.They decided their displays were malfunctioning.Even though a plane had just vanished from this world for thirty seconds.”The Tactical Air Force was smarter in its reactions than the Aerospace Defense Corps.Their tactical computers had picked up Yukikaze the instant she escaped from hyperspace— Yukikaze’s combat data system automatically linked up with the TAF computers—and had dispatched the nearest interceptor to assist them.“The generally accepted conclusion,” the major said, assuming an air of mock pomposity, “is that you single-handedly assaulted and neutralized an enemy intelligence center.You might get a medal for it.You should be glad.”“I couldn’t care less.”“Figured you’d say that.”“It wasn’t me that did it, anyway.It was Yukikaze.”Rei thought that the JAM may have been trying to thoroughly examine an Earth combat machine in an attempt to find out how humans thought and maybe even how to remake them.The moment they know that’s impossible, he thought, their tactics will change.“The JAM haven’t attacked Earth directly yet.”Booker looked at him like he was crazy.“What, they’re not attacking directly enough for you now?”“It’s still an indirect invasion.There’s an intense battle that’s moving into an arena we humans can’t perceive.When they lose there, the target of their attacks will change.They’ll definitely go after humans then.That’s what I think, anyway.”The annihilation of mankind.Would national patriotism or human solidarity help them survive? “Hell no,” Rei muttered.In the end, it would be the machines that would survive.Machines equipped with intelligence and fighting ability.“I see,” said Booker, with the barest hint of a smile.“Then I suppose we should eat while we still have the chance.”The major’s tray was an impressive sight today.No doubt he’d won at cards again and had someone else paying for the grand repast, which was in marked contrast to Rei’s modest meal of soup and cornbread.“Say, Jack, what’s that book?”Aside from the magazine with Lander’s article in it, Booker had with him a thick hardcover book.“Oh, this.Mrs.Mead’s Home Cooking Encyclopedia.I’ve gotten into cooking as a hobby lately.What do you think?”“Knock yourself out,” said Rei, taking a bite of his cornbread.“By the way, where do you think this corn was grown?”“Haven’t a clue,” answered the major.“Lander would know more about that.You should have asked him.”The cornbread caught in Rei’s throat, choking him slightly.IVINDIAN SUMMERTo him, tears were simply a bodily necessity, the fluid that protected his eyes and allowed him to see.Nothing more.Emotions knew no place in combat.Therefore, he knew no sadness [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]