He wasn’t sure what to say next, and didn’t have to say anything because Tendo Choi’s voice came over the comm in Pentecost’s office.
“Marshal, I just got two signals,” he said. “But unprecedented dilation. A forty-meter spike.”
“Category?” Pentecost had slipped his pill bottle back in his pocket and was preparing to hit the LOCCENT again, less than three hours after deploying every Jaeger he had, and nearly losing them all.
“Looking at the rations… both Category IV,” Tendo said. “Mass displacements are big. Real big.”
“Where are they heading?” Pentecost asked. He moved toward the door. Raleigh followed.
“That’s the thing. They’re not headed anywhere. They’re staying above the Breach, like they’re protecting it.” Tendo double checked something on one of his readouts. “The Breach is still open, Marshal. Gottlieb’s idea about it staying open longer the more kaiju mass it passes seems to be correct.” Then he frowned. “Problem is, they’re staying so close to it that all of the energy wash from the Breach is killing my ability to get a good look at them. All I can tell is they’re big. And they’re not going anywhere.”
Pentecost looked at Raleigh. Did the kaiju know? Did they know that humanity was going to try to seal the Breach? Did they wonder if it was possible? Or were those two Category IVs just waiting for something else to join them?
Were they waiting for a third? If they were, then maybe Operation Pitfall needed to get going before Number Three showed up and made things even more complicated. Already Gipsy Danger was going to be holding off two Category IV kaiju all by herself while Striker Eureka made the run for the Breach.
Would it work?
He had to believe it would.
While he ran through all of those questions, Pentecost had gone to a closet on the far wall of his office.
“Striker and Gipsy on deck,” he said.
“But sir,” came Tendo’s voice, “Herc cannot fly. His arm… he—”
“You heard me,” Pentecost said.
Tendo acknowledged the order and signed off.
Poor Tendo, thought Raleigh. He heard Pentecost, but he couldn’t see him, so he couldn’t understand.
“Time to get moving,” Pentecost said.
He wore a shining black Ranger flight suit, and in both hands, he held a Ranger helmet, with the symbol of Coyote Tango proudly blazoned on the side.
PAN-PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS
PERSONNEL DOSSIER
NAME (Marshal) Stacker Pentecost
ASSIGNED TEAM Jaeger Program; ID M-MPEN_970.89-Q
DATE OF ACTIVE SERVICE March 2, 2015
CURRENT SERVICE STATUS Active; deployed Hong Kong Shatterdome
BIOGRAPHY
Born December 30, 1985, Tottenham, England. Parents Obadel, laborer, and Viviane, club performer. Family loosely involved with organized crime. Father died 1995 of wounds suffered in knife fight with nightclub owner. Stacker, then 12, burned club down and attacked father’s killer. Sent to military school, realized suitability for military service. Entered Royal Air Force, completed pilot training at Leuchars, continued education in Avionics and Network/Cyber-Facing Defense and Warfare. Deployed to Germany to oversee development of neural bridge controls and ideomotor reflex interface matrices, in liaison with Jaeger Project. Deployed to Sydney to observe construction of first Mark I Jaegers. Given command of Coyote Tango, deployed to Kyoto to oversee final assembly. Active Jaeger service 2015-16, moved into command role after Onibaba engagement at personal request of PPDC Secretary General Dustin Krieger. Previously commanded Lima and Anchorage Shatterdomes before current assignment to Hong Kong. Instrumental in creation of current Kwoon training and assessment program as well as several other now-standard Ranger training modules.
NOTES
Otherwise exemplary service record marred only by reprimands for questionable judgment in the matter of adoption of Mako Mori (current Ranger, dossier available, q.v.). Medical staff suggest Pentecost’s long-term use of Metharocin, post-absorption of high doses of radiation from insufficiently shielded reactors in Coyote Tango, are damaging his circulatory system. Command fitness and readiness should be monitored and successors designated on a High Command level.
29
FIREFIGHTING CREWS WERE BATTLING ALL OVER Kowloon to save the city and prevent the fires from getting into the XZ, where the wood-frame buildings would go up like pine needles. A fire in the XZ would release radioactive ash to rain down all over everyone in the area. Heavy helicopters and cargo planes crosshatched the sky overhead, dropping fire-retardant foam. The candles on the kaiju skull were out. Patiently, the members of the Church of the Breach relit them one by one.
Emergency crews were working through rubble, using dogs and sonar equipment to locate survivors. There were always more than anyone expected after something like this, one more testament to the resilience of humanity.
In the middle of all this chaos, which had been going on all night, Newt Geiszler was hard at work. He had a kaiju brain, and nothing was going to stop him now.
It was morning, the weather clear and sunny. Newt felt brand-new, with new frontiers opening up before him. He was about to do something no human being had ever done, creating a new scientific discipline that could never have existed before him. He was going to be a rock star.
He had to use a heavy mallet to drive the iron electrodes deep enough into Otachi Junior’s skull that they would reliably conduct the signal necessary for the Drift. He was sweating by the time he’d finished the task, and his nose was bleeding again. The inconvenience of a bloody nose just made him more impatient. Already he’d had to wait more than eight hours to start the experiment while Baby Otachi off-gassed all of its most toxic volatile compounds, assisted by some of the late Hannibal Chau’s carbon-dioxide pumping systems. Then he’d had to file a report because even with the world coming down around their ears and two new Category IVs flitting around the bottom of the ocean by the Breach, Marshal Pentecost demanded reports.
Newt had some theories about why the kaiju had not advanced. He figured he’d be proven right or wrong sometime in the next few hours, so he hadn’t bothered sharing his ideas with anyone. Operation Pitfall was on its own timetable. The Shatterdome’s heroic crews, led by the extra-heroic Tendo Choi, had gotten Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka ready to go again inside eight hours. Pitfall was a go as soon as everyone could get the nuclear payload field-ready for abyssal pressures, which would be pretty soon.
For his part, Newt did science. If Pitfall worked, great! The world would be saved and they could go back to fighting among each other, rather than a common enemy. If not, the PPDC would need everything Kaiju Science could give it, and Newt had a feeling this Drift was going to give him some very interesting insights.
While he’d worked on preparing Baby Otachi’s body, Pan-Pac Defense Corps vehicles bearing soldiers and security equipment had arrived. They had put up plastic tents to keep the experiment out of the rain, and brought floodlights to keep the experiment out of the dark. One of those tents extended over most of Baby Otachi’s upper body. They had also brought Hermann Gottlieb, who was now fluttering around and getting in Newt’s way.
Newt wheeled his custom-built Pons unit through the last of the rain, which was almost over. There was a hint of light in the eastern sky, far out over the Pacific. The Breach was that way, thought Newt. It’s already morning there.