“…two… one…”
Jake tensed. This was it.
“Ignition!”
30
THE JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BIOTECHNOLOGY
Volume 27 Issue 1, forthcoming
NOTES ON THE REACTIVE AND COMBUSTIVE PROPERTIES OF KAIJU BLOOD IN CATALYSIS WITH LANTHANIDE ELEMENTS
Gottlieb, H., K-Science Division, Pan Pacific Defense Corps
ABSTRACT
Kaiju blood is widely understood to have corrosive properties when in physical contact with terrestrial organic material, as well as most known metallic and plastic compounds. Further investigation has revealed a related property: large amounts of potential thermal energy. Initial experiments conclude that Kaiju blood reacts with excess thermal energy in the presence of lanthanide elements. Potential research pathways appear fruitful in the areas of propulsion and navigation, if significant obstacles related to the blood’s chemical instability can be overcome. These obstacles include: the narrow window of controllable combustion and resultant danger of explosion or combustion failure; the difficulty of containing Kaiju blood in a vessel that will not corrode during storage and use; the difficulties in synthesizing Kaiju blood, a necessary step if the technological applications of these results are ever to achieve widespread practical use.
Further investigations are ongoing.
With a boom that echoed out across Qingchuan Bay, the four thruster pods ignited. Smoke and blue-tinged flames blasted out across the tarmac, wreathing the gantries in smoke. Slowly, each Jaeger began to rise on a pillar of fire. Gottlieb held his breath. The thruster pods had passed their first test by not exploding at ignition. But could they generate enough thrust? The mathematics said they could, but the mathematics had never been tested against these materials in this situation. That was the second test: whether the machines could withstand the liftoff. Jaegers were designed to absorb tremendous amounts of force via direct impact, but vibrational energies were different. Gottlieb had kept quiet about this, but he was haunted by the possibility that the thruster pods would work and the Conn-Pods would shake themselves to pieces due to the Jaegers’ lack of aerodynamic design.
Video feeds from inside the Conn-Pods heightened his fears. They shook so violently that the pilots’ vital signs registered spikes in pulses and breathing rates. He heard warning alarms blaring from inside Guardian Bravo’s Conn-Pod. Suresh couldn’t help himself. “That’s not a good sound!”
Inside Gipsy Avenger’s Conn-Pod, Jake and Lambert shared a nervous glance. Jake looked up at the top of the Conn-Pod, violently shaking even though the maglev field held him and Lambert fairly steady. “Come on, girl,” he breathed. “Hold together…”
The Jaegers reached an altitude of fifty feet… then a hundred… then five hundred… and gradually their momentum took over and the shaking diminished. All four together arced across the sky to the east, trailing plumes of smoke and the sound of receding thunder. Gottlieb watched them, then looked back at the monitors. The pods were holding together. The Jaegers were holding together.All alarms had switched themselves off as self-analytic subroutines determined there was no systemic damage.
Cheers echoed through the War Room. Gottlieb slumped into his chair, utterly drained. With a weak grin in Jules’ direction, he said, “Knew it would work.”
* * *
According to Gottlieb’s projections, the Jaegers would cover the distance from the Moyulan Shatterdome to Tokyo Bay in about ninety minutes. Half an hour in, he asked them for a status update. “From here it appears the thruster pods are working as designed,” he said. “Please advise if you are seeing anything different.”
“We’re flying,” Lambert said. “That’s the important thing.”
“Vibrations are way down since liftoff. Everything is smooth,” Jake added. “Guardian Bravo, Bracer Phoenix, Saber Athena, let Dr. Gottlieb know if you’ve got any problems.”
“Is there going to be an inflight meal?” Amara joked.
Vik chimed in from Bracer Phoenix, stopping Amara before she joked again. “We are flying stable and steady. All systems appear normal.”
“Here too,” Ryoichi said from Saber Athena.
The Jaegers, holding formation, passed over the coast of Kyushu. Ahead of them stretched the mountainous mainland of Japan, green and streaked with clouds. Soon they would get a visual on Mount Fuji, but they wouldn’t be stopping there. As expected, the Kaiju were coming ashore in Tokyo Bay.
“Ranger Lambert.” It was Ilya on the comm. “No problems on Guardian Bravo. Should some of us divert and set up a defensive position at Mount Fuji?”
Lambert considered this, but not for long. “Negative. We’ve got three Kaiju in Tokyo. The sooner we can get there and engage them, the more lives we’re going to save.”
“I don’t understand why they didn’t go ashore in Suruga Bay,” Gottlieb was complaining. Irrational behavior bothered him almost as much as the fact of the Kaiju trying to end the world.
“Thought you had a theory about that,” Jake reminded him.
“Yes. But I have no way to test it, so it remains an unsatisfying conjecture,” Gottlieb said.
“We’ll make sure to ask Geiszler when we track him down,” Lambert said. “Any news on that front?”
“No,” Gottlieb answered. “That worries me. Newton enjoys gloating, as you know, and the presence of the Precursors in his mind exacerbates that character flaw. The longer he goes without showing himself, the more I begin to fear he has another… what is the expression? Trick up his sleeve.”
“I hope you’re wrong about that, Doc,” Lambert said. “We’re not playing with a full deck as it is.”
“I don’t—ah, I—yes. Full deck.” Gottlieb forced a polite chuckle. “I too hope I am wrong. We shall see.”
31
KAIJU MAKE LANDFALL IN JAPAN
City Largely Evacuated; Preparation Hailed
The three Kaiju that appeared through multiple Breaches less than twenty-four hours ago made a rendezvous at the eastern end of the Tsugaru Strait and turned
