realized that it was fully automated. It gave him a feeling of excitement mixed with a little fear.
An automatic crane hanging from the ceiling lowered a huge drum full of autocannon ammunition into the upper side of Yukikaze’s fuselage while four short-range missiles were loaded onto her underside, two on each side. Fuel was pumped into her tanks, though Rei couldn’t be sure if the tanks were being filled completely since he didn’t know how much fuel she was cleared to carry. That was a new experience for him as well. The most he could figure out was that the fuel tanks in the wings weren’t being filled, so she wasn’t expected to fly very far.
The entire loadout procedure was completed automatically. It wasn’t just Yukikaze who was acting without any care for his thoughts on the matter. The combat intelligence in SAF headquarters didn’t seem to care either.
But he was heartened to see she wasn’t just ignoring him when a message appeared on Yukikaze’s display. The warning said that his oxygen hose and ejection seat weren’t properly set. In short, she couldn’t take off until he’d taken care of that. Rei reminded himself not to be too happy when he realized that was the point of concern.
Maybe she was telling him that he, unprepared for flight as he was, was now an obstacle. Once they reached the surface, she might decide he wasn’t needed anymore and just activate the ejection sequence. He definitely didn’t want to get thrown out in his seat. Without his parachute or even being properly strapped into it, a stunt like that would be hazardous to his health. Normally, the crew safeguards wouldn’t allow the ejection sequence to initiate if the ejection seats weren’t properly set; however...
The dolly began towing Yukikaze back to the elevator so that she could exit to the surface. Rei seriously began to think he should deplane right here. He was considering what would be safest for him. Before he’d made a decision, another message appeared on Yukikaze’s warning display:
Action... Captain FUKAI.
The message was blinking, as though Yukikaze was irritated and asking him why he was still dicking around inside of her. And he, even as he was thinking there was no way that she’d understand, told her that he wasn’t coming with her.
“I, Captain Rei Fukai, will be participating in the lunch meeting that Llanfabon has been assigned to escort. Yukikaze, you will protect me. When I reach the surface, I’ll deplane. Do you understand?”
Yukikaze did not answer. He knew she wouldn’t, but Rei didn’t feel discouraged. He’d said what he’d wanted to say. All that was left to do was pray that he’d be able to get out safely. Giving full control to Yukikaze was dangerous. He hoped his fears would prove baseless.
The sunlight from Faery’s skies streaming into the exit of the elevator building was dazzling. It was nice weather today. A little ahead of him, he could see Llanfabon. She was stopped.
Outside, Captain Edith Foss approached the newly emerged Yukikaze.
Rei tensely flipped the automaneuver switch on, declaring “You have control, Yukikaze.” She was now free to fly as she pleased.
And then Yukikaze replied. All of the warnings vanished from her display, a new message taking their place:
I have control/I wish you luck... Captain FUKAI.
Rei was scrambling up out of his seat to deplane when the second half of the message caught his eye. He stared at it, unable to look away.
“I wish you luck” was nothing more than a cliched phrase, carrying no more meaning than “roger.” But was that the case here? Rei had never seen Yukikaze display a message like that before. There was really no need for it, was there? He considered the possibility that her specific choice to display that message meant that she understood human speech and was going out of her way to convey that to him. He should be happy about that, shouldn’t he? No, if that was the case, he was going to have to rethink his entire method of interacting with Yukikaze. This wasn’t something he could simply be happy about.
Still, he didn’t have time to consider any of that.
“Don’t close the canopy till I’m out,” he said. “You got that, Yukikaze?”
No message was displayed as a reply.
He looked up at the canopy but saw no sign that it was closing. Rei was surprised, and just as he was wondering if he was going to have to close it manually, he heard a warning chime from the cockpit. As if Yukikaze had read his mind. The tone indicated that the missiles could not be fired. Of course, Rei realized. The safety pins. Yukikaze was asking him to pull them out of the missiles.
There were weapons control personnel also there on the surface, but Rei personally walked Yukikaze’s perimeter and pulled the safety pins from all four of her short-range missiles. Once he’d finished, the canopy automatically lowered and locked. She was now ready to take off without a pilot.
“Good luck, Yukikaze,” Rei murmured.
“Yukikaze is your best friend,” said Captain Foss to Rei as she approached.
“My best friend?” he replied.
“Or perhaps your lover?”
Rei turned to face Captain Foss. “You’re wrong,” he said.
“It must be reassuring to have such a powerful friend, Captain Fukai.”
Yukikaze’s onboard engine starter system activated, despite the fact that Llanfabon’s engines weren’t started yet. Her vertical stabilizers unfolded from their horizontal storage position and rose into place. Her twin turbofan engines then started up, first the right, then the left. Rei and Captain Foss stepped away from her.
“Yukikaze isn’t my friend either. Lover? That’s ridiculous.”
“So then, what is she to you?”
As the scream of Yukikaze’s engines nearly drowned out Captain Foss’s question, Rei raised his voice to answer her, as though not wanting to let his plane have the final say.
“Yukikaze is the most dangerous combat machine on this planet,” he yelled. “She has a combat awareness that’s uniquely hers! Human relationships don’t apply to her!”
He didn’t say that, but that was what Rei thought. She was a partner with whom he was entangled in a dangerous relationship. One in which she cooperated only so long as they sought a common prey. Or perhaps, rather than a partner, he could more accurately be thought of as a trainer, teaching her how to hunt. A coach, instructing her how to fight.
Yukikaze was neither a best friend nor a lover. She was a being beyond human understanding. And he was going to get closer to her.
She wheeled around and stopped, lowering her nose. Her cannon was fixed on Llanfabon nearby, her stance now saying that she could fire at any time. Rei could just imagine the look on Lieutenant Bruys’s face as he sat aboard his plane. He must have felt like he was being stalked by a wild animal.
Yukikaze’s airframe was a little smaller than Llanfabon’s. But the Maeve aiming at the graceful body of the Super Sylph somehow seemed larger and more ferocious.
REI LOOKED OUT across Faery base’s vast runway but could make out nothing but fighter planes. If this lunch meeting were going to take place in the air, he’d expected there to be a large transport plane, but it looked like he’d been wrong.
So then where was it going to be?
Before he could ask, Captain Edith Foss told him to follow her and began walking in the direction of the control tower.
“The food’s probably going to be very good,” Rei said as he walked along beside her. “I’ll bet Major Booker got his hands on some food that you normally can’t get here and didn’t want the computers to know about the delicacies we’re going to have. Are you invited too?”
“Yes,” she replied.
“Who else is coming?’
“I don’t know. And as appealing as a delicacy-tasting party sounds, somehow I don’t think this is going to be such a pleasant lunch. In your manner of speaking, my guess would be that Major Booker has called me in to act as
