What's going on?"
"We've got a problem, and we're wondering what went wrong on your end."
"My end? What's the problem?"
"Just look out the view port!" Mariko waved her hands in the air, adding several expletives onto the end of her statement.
Kaede did as she was told and couldn't believe her eyes. They were right up against the side of the cavern, and it looked as if their impact had been hard enough to tear through the steel panelling. A large swath of earth was revealed where the metal was crumpled away.
"What happened? How are we going to get out?" Kaede asked.
"Beats me, but I'm sure the CO has a few ideas."
Kaede sat in silence, waiting and unable to move with her ports still engaged. She thought they would be there for a little while, so she might as well sit tight.
*~*~*
Mari waited as the systems powered up, lighting up all the consoles around her. She could hardly restrain herself from snatching up the controls right that moment and starting steering procedures. Instead, she sat in her seat tapping her nail against the console, watching her own screens.
Even the screens were fascinating, to be honest. She had monitors all around her giving visuals from every angle around Hakusan . At the moment, all she could see was the seemingly endless steel cavern. There were also sensors producing power readings from all over the machine.
She was done waiting. Sources didn't take that long to power up their machines. Level 3 Sources usually had themselves completely synced up with their machine within a couple of minutes and then they were ready to go.
Mariko studied the controls. They were exactly as they had seemed in the manuals and sims she'd practiced with. Hakusan had eight legs, like a spider, which moved in conjunction with each other and distributed the weight evenly. If one leg was lost, the other seven would compensate adequately for a short while.
Deciding that she might as well start moving, she gently pushed forward on the control column. She held her breath and waited. A moment later, the entire structure groaned, and then, they were in motion. She could feel the deck shift slightly beneath her feet and grinned at the visual consoles that witnessed their motion.
They weren't going very fast. Someone doing a light jog could probably keep pace with them. Mari edged the controls forward until it seemed that they were keeping a steady rhythm. Knowing that she was driving such a colossal machine was marvellous.
She was so engaged with the lulling motion of the machine that it took her far too long to notice that they were approaching the cavern at an odd angle.
"What? That's not right; I haven't changed direction at all. We should be moving in a straight line!" she cried, checking the energy monitors.
The energy distribution was uneven. Half of the legs were moving at a slightly faster pace than the rest, turning the machine and causing strain to the controls as the steering resisted changing direction.
"Nope, not good. Change directions. Come on, go straight again!"
Mari thought she might have managed to correct their course if nothing else went wrong, but suddenly a large portion of her monitors went blank.
"Oh, great," she huffed, trying to use the remaining monitors to estimate which direction they were going. "Come on, Source. Get the power back on!"
The machine responded by unexpectedly losing power in two of its legs. The deck tilted as the weight distribution became uneven and the machine stumbled. Mari yanked on the controls, trying not to think of what the repercussions of a machine the size of Hakusan "tripping" would be.
"Come on , Kaede, do something!"
At once, the monitors all came back online and the legs righted themselves. Mari was all set to be relieved until she actually looked at the monitors and found that several of them were far too close to the steel wall for comfort. She tried to right the controls, but the machine was still in motion.
Mari yelped as there was a loud
"We've got a problem, and we're wondering what went wrong on your end."
"My end? What's the problem?"
"Just look out the view port!" Mariko waved her hands in the air, adding several expletives onto the end of her statement.
Kaede did as she was told and couldn't believe her eyes. They were right up against the side of the cavern, and it looked as if their impact had been hard enough to tear through the steel panelling. A large swath of earth was revealed where the metal was crumpled away.
"What happened? How are we going to get out?" Kaede asked.
"Beats me, but I'm sure the CO has a few ideas."
Kaede sat in silence, waiting and unable to move with her ports still engaged. She thought they would be there for a little while, so she might as well sit tight.
*~*~*
Mari waited as the systems powered up, lighting up all the consoles around her. She could hardly restrain herself from snatching up the controls right that moment and starting steering procedures. Instead, she sat in her seat tapping her nail against the console, watching her own screens.
Even the screens were fascinating, to be honest. She had monitors all around her giving visuals from every angle around Hakusan . At the moment, all she could see was the seemingly endless steel cavern. There were also sensors producing power readings from all over the machine.
She was done waiting. Sources didn't take that long to power up their machines. Level 3 Sources usually had themselves completely synced up with their machine within a couple of minutes and then they were ready to go.
Mariko studied the controls. They were exactly as they had seemed in the manuals and sims she'd practiced with. Hakusan had eight legs, like a spider, which moved in conjunction with each other and distributed the weight evenly. If one leg was lost, the other seven would compensate adequately for a short while.
Deciding that she might as well start moving, she gently pushed forward on the control column. She held her breath and waited. A moment later, the entire structure groaned, and then, they were in motion. She could feel the deck shift slightly beneath her feet and grinned at the visual consoles that witnessed their motion.
They weren't going very fast. Someone doing a light jog could probably keep pace with them. Mari edged the controls forward until it seemed that they were keeping a steady rhythm. Knowing that she was driving such a colossal machine was marvellous.
She was so engaged with the lulling motion of the machine that it took her far too long to notice that they were approaching the cavern at an odd angle.
"What? That's not right; I haven't changed direction at all. We should be moving in a straight line!" she cried, checking the energy monitors.
The energy distribution was uneven. Half of the legs were moving at a slightly faster pace than the rest, turning the machine and causing strain to the controls as the steering resisted changing direction.
"Nope, not good. Change directions. Come on, go straight again!"
Mari thought she might have managed to correct their course if nothing else went wrong, but suddenly a large portion of her monitors went blank.
"Oh, great," she huffed, trying to use the remaining monitors to estimate which direction they were going. "Come on, Source. Get the power back on!"
The machine responded by unexpectedly losing power in two of its legs. The deck tilted as the weight distribution became uneven and the machine stumbled. Mari yanked on the controls, trying not to think of what the repercussions of a machine the size of Hakusan "tripping" would be.
"Come on , Kaede, do something!"
At once, the monitors all came back online and the legs righted themselves. Mari was all set to be relieved until she actually looked at the monitors and found that several of them were far too close to the steel wall for comfort. She tried to right the controls, but the machine was still in motion.
Mari yelped as there was a loud
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