Jason's brows came together. "There's nobody running it!" Machinery whirred again, and the post moved higher, raising the first seat to reveal a second mounted below it. In that seat was Rick Hunter.
Getting out of his seat, looking down, Rick ignored the furor of the crowd below. "What's going on here? What's happened to me?"
"The pilot looks confused," Jason commented; he'd been hoping for someone a little more impressive.
"Maybe he was injured in the crash," Minmei suggested. But something about the young man was familiar.
"I must be seeing things," Rick muttered. "This used to be a fighter plane."
He spotted Minmei and Jason. He recalled the girl from somewhere but couldn't take time to try to place her just now.
"Excuse me, but, uh, what is this?" He indicated the Veritech. "I mean, what does it look like to you?"
Minmei took a moment to absorb the question. "Some kind of robot, I think."
"Oh, great," Rick sighed, relieved. "When I got into this thing, it was an aircraft. I thought I'd gone nuts."
"A convertible airplane?" Minmei and Jason both echoed. "You must be joking," Minmei added. She thought he wasn't bad-looking, however, and wondered how old he was. Not much older than she was, she judged.
"I'm as puzzled as anybody about it."
"You're kidding!" she said. "You're the pilot and you don't even know what it is?"
"No, I'm not a military pilot. I'm just-just an amateur!" Satisfied, Roy? "It's all, um, a big mistake. I'm not supposed to have it."
"An enemy spy!" Jason squawked.
Minmei gave him a little shake to quiet him. "Jason!"
"Spy?" Rick yelped. "Look, this was the army's idea, not mine!" He shook his head, looking down at the Battloid. "Look at all the damage!"
Helicopters were approaching from the distance, and traffic was venturing forth again. "Will you have to pay for it?" Minmei wondered.
Rick's stomach felt like it was doing somersaults. "Me? I hope not." A truck was insistently blowing its horn down by the Battloid's automobile-size feet. "What?" he yelled angrily.
The driver hollered up, "Get that thing off the road! I have a truckload of military supplies to deliver and I'm in a hurry, Mac! Now, move it!"
Rick stood up, surrendering to the inevitable. "I don't know how it works, but I'll try."
"Good luck!" Minmei called. She'd decided he was kind of cute.
"Thanks." She has a real nice smile. He'd have to remember his way back here.
"And please be careful."
He gave her a broad grin and a wave. "Sure. I will." He got back to his seat. As it lowered, he tried to think of something else to say but could only come up with, "So long!"
"I hope I see you again sometime!" Minmei called.
Back in the cockpit, Rick told himself, "Well, all I can do is throw a few switches and hope for the best, I guess." The giant head swung back into place.
Taking the control grips, he panned the screen before him. "At least I can see where I'm going. If I can just figure out how to get there."
But as the Battloid stirred, preparing to walk, he felt a distinct lack of confidence, something he was unused to. The machine seemed to want more of him than the mere pushing of buttons.
The Battloid lifted its foot to step, lost balance when it brought it too high, and swayed, about to topple over backward. The crowd that had gathered to stare at the Battloid panicked and began to bolt, yelling and milling. Rick howled in dismay.
Just as the war machine was about to crash into the buildings behind it, back thrusters flared for a quick, intense burn. The Battloid was pushed back to a precarious balance. Then it went off kilter in the opposite direction, staggering toward the little balcony over the White Dragon from which Minmei and Jason watched, open-mouthed.
The two saw that it wasn't going to stop; with wails of fright, they turned and fled just as the Battloid crashed through the wall where they'd been standing, collapsing that whole portion of the building. It came to rest like a drunk who'd passed out across a bar.
Minmei coughed and spat out plaster, checking Jason, whom she'd shielded under her as she went down. "Please tell me you're okay!"
"I am!" Jason said brightly.
Rick's voice came over the Battloid's PA system. "Are you two all right in there?"
"Yes!" Minmei yelled.
In the cockpit, Rick tilted his helmet back to wipe his brow. "Thank goodness!" He couldn't bear the thought of hurting an innocent bystander.
Besides, the girl was real cute.
CHAPTER NINE
Clearly, as Gloval said, SDF-1 was in part a booby trap. He was too busy to think of it, and I wasn't a trained military man, so it didn't occur to us until it was too late that that particular, sword might cut both ways.
The moment came in a way no one had forseen even an hour before; SDF-1, all running lights flashing, prepared to launch for the first time.
"Gravity control systems through bulkhead forty-eight are green light," Sammie relayed to engineering. "Please confirm, over."
From all over the ship the reports came in; the messages went to every corner of it. It was no longer a question of waiting for a perfect checklist; the dimensional fortress was going-now.
"Priority one transmission from HQ, Captain Gloval," Vanessa announced. "Armor One has completed recovery procedures and is departing now to join Armor Ten at Rendezvous Point Charlie."
Gloval grunted acknowledgment and added, "Thank you, Vanessa. Claudia, check the reflex furnace and see if we've recovered full power yet."
Claudia studied her equipment, listened to a brief intercom message, and said, "Ready condition on furnace power, sir."
Once more, Gloval wondered about those enormous, enigmatic, and unprecedentedly powerful engines. "Reflex power" was a term Lang used; even his closest assistants scratched their heads when Lang scribbled equations and tried to explain why he called it that and what he thought was going on inside the power plant.
Not that it mattered; all Gloval wanted was for his ship to function, to be battleworthy, for however long it took. A few days-perhaps.
Or a day. Just give me one day!
"Very good. Antigravity: full-thrust."
"Aye aye, sir," Kim sang out. "Full thrust." The mountainous bulk of the SDF-1 trembled and was somehow alive under them. The bridge gang went through individual countdowns and checklists, their voices and those from the intercom overlapping.
Then Claudia's rang out clear as an angel's through the ship, and over Macross Island. "Ten… niner… eight…"
A hundred thousand thoughts and fears and prayers hovered over the island, almost a tangible force in themselves.
… two… one…"
"Full power," Gloval ordered. "Activate the antigravity control system."
The entire city vibrated slightly, as the hundreds of thousands of tons of SDF-1 rose from the ship's Gibraltarlike keel blocks; their unique absorption system adjusted to the sudden unburdening.
The ship rose smoothly, casting its stupendous shadow across the island. "The gyroscope is level, sir," Lisa reported tersely.
Gloval eased back in his chair, hoping it was a good omen. "Well done."
He'd barely said it when a tremor ran through the great ship. Below, he could see the upper-hull/flight deck actually quake.
SDF-1 lurched, then listed hard to port, throwing people from their feet. There was a lot of yelling; the intercom was bedlam.
"What in blazes is going on?" Gloval thundered, grasping the arms of his chair to keep from being thrown across the compartment. "Trim the pitch attitude immediately!"