Mahingga

Chapter 6: The Aircraft

Ako looked down at his Palam which shined dimly through the darkness. The time read 22:00. He let out a breath and held up a Leylantern in his other hand. This far off the ground, his body acted as a weak conduit for the Leypower to reach the light. It cast a faint blue light on their surroundings.

"She should be here," Taiyo said. He was leaning against the trunk of the tree, wearing dark pants and a black shirt. He scratched absent-mindedly at the tree as he chewed his lip.

"Yeah," was all Ako could think to say. He was also dressed in black clothing. It made him feel a thrill of excitement, though he paced around the tree with a sense of anxiety.

"Are you sure she's coming?"

"She seemed interested earlier."

"I'm interested," Kita's voice called from the bushes just below them. Ako jumped in surprise. She walked up to them almost soundlessly.

"Guts, Kita. Did you walk here through the jungle?" Ako asked.

"Yeah, it's faster," she said. He could faintly see her smirking as she walked into the light. "Plus, I wanted to test how sneaky I am."

"Well, I'd say you passed," Taiyo said. "It's good to have you with us, but we've gotta move." He pushed off the tree and started walking up the path, holding his own blue Leylantern.

"Right," Ako said. "Come on." He fanned for Kita to follow.

"Your brother is the inside source, huh?" Kita asked.

"For now, keep quiet," Taiyo said. He was keeping his voice low. "I'll explain more once we're past the residential area at the end of the road."

Ako had asked Taiyo about their plan earlier but hadn't gotten an answer. He didn't like not knowing what was going to happen. They continued down the path for several minutes, the path rising and falling with the natural flow of the mountain. To their left, beautiful homes hid beneath well-kept gardens. The mountain sloped down to their right. Kita tried to ask another question but got shushed again. Taiyo wasn't going to say anything.

Finally, they reached the end of the path, and Taiyo pushed his way past the giant leaves of some Heliconia plants and led them further into the jungle.

Ako cleared his throat. "So..."

"Right, so I've mapped out our course to reach the aircraft here by foot, and I have the route memorized," Taiyo started to explain. "We have to stay off the main trail to avoid detection. There are pressure sensors in the jungle around the aircraft, but the path I mapped out will help us avoid those. I've also devised an ingenious method for getting over the stunfence around the perimeter." He laughed to himself.

Ako rolled his eyes in the darkness. "Sounds good to me. Is there anything to worry about once we've crossed the perimeter?"

"No. Just don't make too much noise," Taiyo said. He stopped to look down at a mapped diagram on his Palam before continuing. "They put a lot of protections around the site, but they don't even have a man on guard. I think some people put too much confidence in technology, but a real engineer knows how to bypass that."

Ako smiled to himself. One thing their grandfather told them was that, "There's always a solution. Everything has an order. If you can't find it anywhere—think differently—think smarter." It was something that drove him and his brother to think a little harder and find things that nobody else would.

"But it's a good thing the aircraft security wasn't designed by a Tsugari, or we'd have a little more difficulty sneaking in," Taiyo added.

Kita snorted at that.