Chapter Twelve
Chapter 12
Spencer went in search of Pilot Kirkpatrick as soon as he left the hangar. He found her working closed off inside the Isis, on her side of the Lucedio hangar. The contrasts between Cordelia’s side and Heather’s side were comically dramatic. Not a single tool was out of place, nor were their even scratches or scorch marks from the landing of the heavy titanium machine on Heather’s side of the painted red line that ran down the middle of the floor, but the laundry basket on Cordelia’s side seemed to have regurgitated its contents. The rags and dirty shirts competed for floor space with scuff marks and deep charcoal burns in the pale tan floor. Even the Isis machine itself had a smudge mark on the cheek of its large metal face. Lieutenant Kou was maneuvering her tribune in semi-circles on the opposite side of the room, ignoring any other disturbance, while Pilot Kirkpatrick appeared, from the ground, to be dancing in her machine, not realizing the machine was connected and moving with her.
“Cordelia, Hun, you busy?” Spencer asked loudly, hanging up his hat on a post as he walked into the room. Several mismatched jackets amd scarves seemed to have committed suicide as they lay haphazardly on the floor beneath the rack in a rainbow smear. Spencer started to pick one up, but calmly decided that it was for the best, least it plummet to its doom again. His steps fell silent to the loud buzz and whir of the two large space robots. Heather’s machine fell silent as she landed it gently on the base floor. The glowing blue eyes faded into nothingness as the final systems were shut off from the inside.
“No, I’m just playing.” Cordelia said as she shut off her Iron Alter-ego and climbed out of the bronze colored hatch on top, grabbing onto the rigging above her head. She monkey-barred her way to just above him and let go, dropping into the waiting baby pink hands of the Isis that had moved to wait for her descent. Instead of lowering the hands, she jumped, landing with a resounding thud on the tile floor. Spencer cringed as her landing echoed throughout the hangar. She wiped her oil-stained hands on her jeans and smiled. “Well, if you hate the echo so much, you could always catch me.” Cordelia laughed, rubbing herself against Spencer’s immaculate shirt. He frowned and held her back at arms length. His light green shirt now had a dark chocolate grease mark down the side next to his arm. So much for cleanliness.
“Oh yea, you’re real funny.” Spencer cast her a sarcastic glare, reaching for a discarded rag that wasn’t completely covered in grime to dab at his shirt. “How is she?” he asked, motioning to the now spinning Lilith machine. Heather’s blue and purple tribune seemed to spin wildly out of control for several minutes, first forward in clockwise circles, and then reversed in a counter-clockwise motion. Without any previous arm movements, the right arm shot out straight and destroyed a target on the wall, stopping mid-spin to reverse direction again. Cordelia took a step back in surprise and then shrugged with a small laugh at her awkward jump.
“She seems fine, a little upset, but fine.” Cordelia said as she watched the circles dizzily. She counted twenty spins in one direction, before attempting to count the spins the other way, but the Lilith’s speed had increased with the reverse thrusters enough to make her lose count several times before she just gave up. During the fourth time she was trying to count the spins to clock the speed, there was a flash of sparks erupted from below the main computer input on the outside of the machine. What had started as controlled tests because a mess of frenzied twists and miscalculated directions as Heather fought from the inside to set the machine down without causing unrepairable damage to the hangar. She would come second, the missions and machine safety came first. Suddenly, the Lilith fell backwards and spasmed , pulling the limbs into a ball as it collapsed, the top hatch popping open and her pilot being launched horizontally across the room before landing in a cluttered unmoving heap on the opposite end of the room.
“HEATHER!” Cordelia screamed as she raced across the hangar, her shoes skidded, and for a moment she thought of how angry the Lilith pilot would be when she saw the scuff marks on the floor. Shaking the thoughts aside, she checked Heather’s pulse and laid her out flat. She appeared to be still breathing with a steady pulse, but Cordelia knew she wasn’t trained in any type of medicine to be able to tell if anything was broken or not. “Spencer, go get Josh!” She shouted at the Legerdemain pilot as he started to run toward her. He stopped quickly and returned the other way, racing for the meeting room where he could make a broadcast. Cordelia patted Heather’s face and prayed, desperately searching for a way to wake her up. As much as Heather would hate her and would be in serious pain when she came to, Cordelia had to try. She continued to lightly slap on her face as she heard the door back close behind Spencer’s retreating figure.
Spencer sprinted through Renata’s hangar, ignoring the fact that he was entering without permission. Consequences would be dealt with later. Health issues came first. He ran to the back of the meeting room and rushed through the sequence that started the intercom. It’s high pitched screech brought a jolt of pain to his sensitive ears, but he continued holding the button. Franticly, he called for the Opiate and Apollo pilot to rush to the Lucedio hangar. Between forcing gulps of air into his panicked lungs, he called the dispatcher at the base hospital and tried to explain his emergency. His speech was interrupted by sirens as he realized they understood and hung up the phone, not bothering to say goodbye.
Josh jumped as he heard his name, in Spencer’s chaotic screams, broadcast over the base. Terror mode set in as he realized that he had left Heather alone, and he ran to the hangar. Fearing the worst possible situation, he barged into the room, the door denting the faux wood covered walls. Only his understanding that Heather would need him to be strong kept him from panicking or crying. Emotions could be dispensed later when he was sure she would be alright. For now, she had to go back to the hospital she hated so much, and it would be much easier to get her there unconscious. Spencer reached for the door to let Josh out as Commander Renata and the Emergency Medical Team swung it inward. They strapped Heather onto a gurney and attempted to force Josh back inside the base. He refused to let go of her hand, and eventually Drake had to order them to allow Josh in the ambulance that would take her up the hill to her most feared place.
Word Count this chapter: 1,184 words
Word Count total: 13,401 words
Spencer went in search of Pilot Kirkpatrick as soon as he left the hangar. He found her working closed off inside the Isis, on her side of the Lucedio hangar. The contrasts between Cordelia’s side and Heather’s side were comically dramatic. Not a single tool was out of place, nor were their even scratches or scorch marks from the landing of the heavy titanium machine on Heather’s side of the painted red line that ran down the middle of the floor, but the laundry basket on Cordelia’s side seemed to have regurgitated its contents. The rags and dirty shirts competed for floor space with scuff marks and deep charcoal burns in the pale tan floor. Even the Isis machine itself had a smudge mark on the cheek of its large metal face. Lieutenant Kou was maneuvering her tribune in semi-circles on the opposite side of the room, ignoring any other disturbance, while Pilot Kirkpatrick appeared, from the ground, to be dancing in her machine, not realizing the machine was connected and moving with her.
“Cordelia, Hun, you busy?” Spencer asked loudly, hanging up his hat on a post as he walked into the room. Several mismatched jackets amd scarves seemed to have committed suicide as they lay haphazardly on the floor beneath the rack in a rainbow smear. Spencer started to pick one up, but calmly decided that it was for the best, least it plummet to its doom again. His steps fell silent to the loud buzz and whir of the two large space robots. Heather’s machine fell silent as she landed it gently on the base floor. The glowing blue eyes faded into nothingness as the final systems were shut off from the inside.
“No, I’m just playing.” Cordelia said as she shut off her Iron Alter-ego and climbed out of the bronze colored hatch on top, grabbing onto the rigging above her head. She monkey-barred her way to just above him and let go, dropping into the waiting baby pink hands of the Isis that had moved to wait for her descent. Instead of lowering the hands, she jumped, landing with a resounding thud on the tile floor. Spencer cringed as her landing echoed throughout the hangar. She wiped her oil-stained hands on her jeans and smiled. “Well, if you hate the echo so much, you could always catch me.” Cordelia laughed, rubbing herself against Spencer’s immaculate shirt. He frowned and held her back at arms length. His light green shirt now had a dark chocolate grease mark down the side next to his arm. So much for cleanliness.
“Oh yea, you’re real funny.” Spencer cast her a sarcastic glare, reaching for a discarded rag that wasn’t completely covered in grime to dab at his shirt. “How is she?” he asked, motioning to the now spinning Lilith machine. Heather’s blue and purple tribune seemed to spin wildly out of control for several minutes, first forward in clockwise circles, and then reversed in a counter-clockwise motion. Without any previous arm movements, the right arm shot out straight and destroyed a target on the wall, stopping mid-spin to reverse direction again. Cordelia took a step back in surprise and then shrugged with a small laugh at her awkward jump.
“She seems fine, a little upset, but fine.” Cordelia said as she watched the circles dizzily. She counted twenty spins in one direction, before attempting to count the spins the other way, but the Lilith’s speed had increased with the reverse thrusters enough to make her lose count several times before she just gave up. During the fourth time she was trying to count the spins to clock the speed, there was a flash of sparks erupted from below the main computer input on the outside of the machine. What had started as controlled tests because a mess of frenzied twists and miscalculated directions as Heather fought from the inside to set the machine down without causing unrepairable damage to the hangar. She would come second, the missions and machine safety came first. Suddenly, the Lilith fell backwards and spasmed , pulling the limbs into a ball as it collapsed, the top hatch popping open and her pilot being launched horizontally across the room before landing in a cluttered unmoving heap on the opposite end of the room.
“HEATHER!” Cordelia screamed as she raced across the hangar, her shoes skidded, and for a moment she thought of how angry the Lilith pilot would be when she saw the scuff marks on the floor. Shaking the thoughts aside, she checked Heather’s pulse and laid her out flat. She appeared to be still breathing with a steady pulse, but Cordelia knew she wasn’t trained in any type of medicine to be able to tell if anything was broken or not. “Spencer, go get Josh!” She shouted at the Legerdemain pilot as he started to run toward her. He stopped quickly and returned the other way, racing for the meeting room where he could make a broadcast. Cordelia patted Heather’s face and prayed, desperately searching for a way to wake her up. As much as Heather would hate her and would be in serious pain when she came to, Cordelia had to try. She continued to lightly slap on her face as she heard the door back close behind Spencer’s retreating figure.
Spencer sprinted through Renata’s hangar, ignoring the fact that he was entering without permission. Consequences would be dealt with later. Health issues came first. He ran to the back of the meeting room and rushed through the sequence that started the intercom. It’s high pitched screech brought a jolt of pain to his sensitive ears, but he continued holding the button. Franticly, he called for the Opiate and Apollo pilot to rush to the Lucedio hangar. Between forcing gulps of air into his panicked lungs, he called the dispatcher at the base hospital and tried to explain his emergency. His speech was interrupted by sirens as he realized they understood and hung up the phone, not bothering to say goodbye.
Josh jumped as he heard his name, in Spencer’s chaotic screams, broadcast over the base. Terror mode set in as he realized that he had left Heather alone, and he ran to the hangar. Fearing the worst possible situation, he barged into the room, the door denting the faux wood covered walls. Only his understanding that Heather would need him to be strong kept him from panicking or crying. Emotions could be dispensed later when he was sure she would be alright. For now, she had to go back to the hospital she hated so much, and it would be much easier to get her there unconscious. Spencer reached for the door to let Josh out as Commander Renata and the Emergency Medical Team swung it inward. They strapped Heather onto a gurney and attempted to force Josh back inside the base. He refused to let go of her hand, and eventually Drake had to order them to allow Josh in the ambulance that would take her up the hill to her most feared place.
Word Count this chapter: 1,184 words
Word Count total: 13,401 words
BACK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Table of Contents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .FORWARD
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home