Descent into Mayhem

CHAPTER TWENTY - THE BAKEMONO

Base Fido, Nature's Night, 21st of June, 2771

Toni gave the Hammerhead a long, hard look, the problem before him having finally presented itself. There was no orifice for opening the titan's breastplate, and its large and heavy frame made plain to him what he hadn't considered when accepting the colonel's proposal; the Hammerhead was an entirely different species from the Moca Suit, and he simply hadn't the training or experience to operate it. He didn't, in fact, even know how to access its interface cavity.

"You gonna keep screwing it with your eyes? Get in, rook," Jonah ordered as she stowed her gear in a plastic duffel bag, her travel pack's fate having already been tragically sealed.

"There's just one problem, corporal. How do I get inside?"

She paused in the midst of her activities and remained there for a while, taking the remark in and slowly realizing what it implied. She had been on the juice for a while, and her jaw bulged before it met her ears in a very masculine way, a trait in stark contrast to her full lips and feminine pose.

"How in the hell wouldn't you know?" she asked bitingly.

"I've only ever been trained in the Moca. Never drove a Hammerhead before."

"So the Suit you faced the Unmil with ..."

"... Was a Moca, yes."

"Fucking rooks!" she exclaimed angrily as she shook her shaved skull. "You're missing an arm and haven't the slightest idea of how to get into a Hammerhead, much less dri–"

"He has a very good idea how to drive a hammer ..." Park interrupted, oblivious to the drama. "That's what the Moca's for, don't you remember?"

The man had enough muscle on him to make Jonah look scrawny, but Toni had quickly realized that he possessed the more moderate disposition between the two EWAC corporals. Toni had also become conscious of the fact that his being a sergeant-cadet carried absolutely no weight with either, his unofficial rank of "rook" having promptly relegated him to a category below human.

"You need the appropriate pen-key, rook, yours just won't do," Park informed the cadet levelly. There was something about the man, probably the wide lion-like interval between his Korean eyes, that made Toni want to turn away. But he didn't, giving him a firm nod instead.

"How do I get one?"

The corporal smiled.

"You simply use the one your predecessor left behind when he stroked out," he replied, tossing the device to a surprised Toni.

"Sorry 'bout that. Didn't know he was dead."

"Dead? Oh no, the dickhead's alive enough, but he's probably not going to have it easy for a while. You better learn from his mistake. If you tighten your straps too much and keep hard at it for long enough without rest, once you loosen them again you might be sending a blood clot on its way to your thinker. Understood?"

"Yes, sir. Where do I insert it?"

"Up its ass, of course. No, no, I'm just kidding, cadet, leave that alone. There's no insert for your pen-key; you just touch the stick against one of its oculars and infrared comms will do the rest. The user-manual's in a compartment in the cavity's left flank. Give it a quick read-through, but focus on the customizable settings, 'cause you're probably going to have to make some in-stride adjustments."

The moment Toni touched the pen-key against the bowed helm's left ocular there was a swoosh of hydraulics, and the thorax's access doors opened before him like twin petals, exposing what was by his standards a very spacious interior.