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"I already have them awaiting your go-ahead, sir. They'll be on station
in five minutes."
"Mind reader," Gloval growled, though there was real fondness in his
voice.
"Yes, sir," Lisa said, cheeks coloring a bit.
There was only a moment in which to be relieved that Gloval wasn't
rankled at her for anticipating him; those recon helicopters racing to
confront the new alien arrivals were quite capable in their own way, but they
weren't Robotech ships. And that could be very bad for the helo crews.
People had crept forth, very hesitantly, to gawk up at the towering
knightlike figure that had been VT one-two-zero. The Battloid stood
straddle-legged in the middle of the street. As pieces of sheetrock fell from
its shoulders and bits of rubble rained around it, it appeared as if it were
waiting for a trumpet to sound the call to arms. It took a few faltering
steps, nearly toppling over.
"What is that?" one man breathed.
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"A giant robot!" a second misguessed.
"Could be an alien invader!" a third ventured. There were already a
thousand rumors abroad as to exactly what had happened to Macross Island and
to the human race in general.
A few yards away, Lynn-Minmei crouched with her uncle and aunt in the
doorway of their restaurant, the White Dragon, unsure what to do. Jason had
been outside playing somewhere when the chaos began, and there was no sign of
him.
"It's stopped moving; it's just standing there now," Minmei said,
looking up at it. She got ready to make a dash, to go look for her cousin.
Suddenly a small figure in bib overalls and yellow sweatshirt dashed out
from behind a crumpled trailer, passing by the metal fighting machine's feet,
close enough to touch them.
"Wow! Hey, Minmei! Come lookit what's out here! An honest-to-goodness
giant robot!"
She caught him up in a hug, as relieved as her Uncle Max and Aunt Lena
were. "Oh, Jason! What if that thing had stepped on you?"
Jason pushed her away with the unconcern of the very young. "Aw, I can
take care of myself." Then he broke loose, heading for the stairs, a compact
little whirlwind.
"I want to get a good look at that thing! C'mon; we'll go upstairs and
look out the window!"
Minmei hurried after. She yelled, "Jason, wait for me!" as her Aunt Lena
called, "Don't let him fall out the window!" then went back to trying to
figure out what to do with the shambles that had been a thriving business only
minutes before.
The two Barracuda naval attack helicopters from Prometheus approached
watchfully, encountering only calm sea.
"This is PHP two-zero-two," the flight leader radioed. "We're
approaching target area. Negative sightings of alien craft so far."
Lisa's reply came after a burst of static. "Roger that, PHP
two-zero-two. Maintain maximum surveillance; bogies are suspected to be
submerged. Prepare to deploy sonobuoys."
Her transmission was just ending as the blue water broke for one, then
another, then half a dozen rounded shapes. They bobbed up, shedding water,
bulbous and gleaming metallically, with odd projections-tubes-suggesting
old-fashioned magnetic mines.
The floating objects turned, the tubes aligning and sighting. All at
once they spat lines of dazzling brilliance up at the Barracudas. More and
more of the rounded shapes bobbed to the surface, joining in the barrage.
The flight leader barely blurted out, "We're being fired upon!" when the
crisscrossing beams found the second chopper and blew it to pieces in midair.
"Let's get out of here!" the leader screamed, firing a missile and
preparing to run even as the beams converged on his ship. The chopper became a
fireball. The pilot's scream was cut off in midtransmission.
Back on the bridge, Lisa reported woodenly, "They're gone, sir."
Gloval glared out the forward viewport. "And here I am with an untested
ship, an inexperienced crew-" And very little time to make my decisions.
The hatch slid open, and Russo strode onto the bridge, puffing on his
cigar and clutching his expensive lapel, seemingly in control. But he was pale
and sweating; Lisa could see that and smell it. Under the hail-fellow-well-met
exterior, the senator was so frightened that he was in danger of passing out.
"Well, Captain, it's lucky for us we got this ship finished in time to
fight off the invaders. When d' you take off?"
The curious timing had occurred to Gloval, too-that the aliens should
arrive at this very moment. His own conclusion was that the final activation
of the SDF-1's huge, mysterious sealed power plant had somehow drawn the
invaders. But he had no time to think about that now.
In answer to Russo's question, he simply hmphhed.
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Russo's eyebrows beetled. "You are ready, aren't you? Why haven't you
taken off? What are you waiting for?" He glared up at the captain.
Gloval's upper lip curled. "You must think I'm out of my mind. I can't
take this ship into combat with a crew of raw recruits who've never been in
space before! What's more, this ship hasn't even been tested yet; we don't
even know if it'll fly."
His commitment to his oath of service made him add, "If you order me to
take SDF-1 up, I'll obey. But it'll be against my better judgment."
Claudia and Lisa were standing rigidly at their stations, pretending to
take no notice. But Sammie turned to Kim and whispered, "D'you think he's
serious?"
"I think he means it." Kim nodded after a moment's thought.
Sammie gave a toss of her long mane of wheat-colored hair. "Wow," she
whispered with a tremble.
"I am ordering you to take off, Captain. Understand?" Russo was saying.
Kim frowned, "What's the matter, Sammie? I thought you wanted to go into
space."
Sammie's eyes were big, frightened. "I do... I think."
But all of a sudden, it's real!
"Let it be your responsibility, then," Gloval came back to Russo,
"because I'm telling you, it could be suicide. We don't understand half of
SDF-1's systemry yet!"
Russo's lip was quivering, but he bristled, "It sounds to me like you're
saying you've no confidence in your crew. Is that what you're telling me,
Gloval?"
Gloval looked quickly to Lisa and Claudia, who turned back to their
duties to avoid being caught watching the confrontation. "I didn't say that."
"Then what are you saying? Earth has spent untold resources on this
Robotech ship, and I don't want to see it destroyed on the ground."
"Senator-"
"No, Captain! No more excuses; take off!"
"Very well. As ranking official, you may take that seat over there.
We'll be under way in a few moments." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]