File 9.9 - Failure Point

Night quickly pushed on in the test site as the crews worked into the morning to have the AESIRs all ready for the combat test. Excitement and anticipation filled the air that Shizuka could sense as she walked through the halls. They looked forward to another war machine being pushed out into the field. It had a worrisome image for her.

Fortunately, like the doctor said, the sensitivity left her. Once she woke up the pain was completely gone. All she had in her shoulder was soreness and a little stiffness in movement. But all of that disappeared the moment she saw the combat test arena. “This is bigger than the one under the base, much bigger…” She had trouble remembering what the other looked like in size, but this easily dwarfed it in size. It looked like a small dome from Antarctica City could fit inside. Which brought up questions on how it was even possible, but she didn’t really get time for her thoughts.

A call from Natalie came through as she descended into the pit. “The test is starting in ten minutes, are you feeling better today?”

“Much. Will I have to go through that every time?”

“No, the activation is harsher because the nerve connections are being made, now that they’re established. You’ll feel a little weirdness, but otherwise it’ll be painless.”

That gave her some relief. She didn’t want to deal with that intensity again or ever. The Freya stood up near where she exited with the Od in the distance. Standing at the feet, she looked up at the machine. Flickers of that ghost she felt before came in hazy images over her vision and disappeared. An alert snapped her out of her daze. “What now? Another attack?!”

The message sent to all AESIR pilots had Ansgar and Aerona launching to West Bollen, on the former west African coast. It surprised her that it came so close to the test site, only an ocean between them. But she didn’t get much time to ponder it as a system announcement in the arena turned her away.

“Final preparations complete. Mock combat battle to start in five minutes! Pilots to your machines.”

She could no longer delay it. Riding the cable up to the cockpit, she slid into the seat. Even without the Freya fully activated she could already sense things around it. The low energy mode generated enough of a connection that she picked up on the arena and the Od.

Natalie popped up on the monitor. “Any troubles?”

“No.”

“You can start up the Freya at any time.”

“I am.”

“I’m not seeing a response. Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m doing it like in the simulation. Nothing’s happening.”

Muting the feed, Natalie lowered the pad and looked over to the team leader in the control room. “The sync rate is too low. It won’t make a connection.”

“Damn…what’s going on? Why won’t it connect?”

“She may be unable to pilot.”