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.“It’s possible that he engaged the JAM and was shot down.”“Requesting the deployment of a search and rescue team.”“Denied.We don’t have the resources for it right now.Major, I want you to submit your plan for the combat flight test of the FRX00 prototype that was delivered to our squadron.”“Yukikaze may have set down on a frontline base.Please authorize me to send the FRX out to look for him.”General Cooley fixed her cold eyes on Booker for a long moment before speaking.“I’ll leave the selection of the flight test course to you.”She turned to leave.As the click of her heels receded behind him, her voice floated back.“But I doubt you’ll find him.We’ve received no contact from the other bases.”After she exited the control room, Booker rubbed at his eyes wearily and returned to monitoring the displays.“I was going to give you the first plane in the new squadron… Rei, what happened out there?”He gazed pensively at the screens, as though the act of his looking at them would summon Yukikaze’s RTB sign and bring her home.But she didn’t return.REI FLOATED BACK up out of the white haze.His body felt impossibly heavy.He knew he was awake now, but he still felt like he was in a dream state, still felt the same vague, insistent unease.Through his body he sensed a kind of low-frequency hum that he couldn’t actually hear.He couldn’t focus his thoughts.He felt cut off from the real world, a sense of unreality enveloping him like some sort of transparent skin.It was as if his body no longer belonged to him.Lying in bed, his eyes closed, he listened to someone talking outside the room.It seemed like a voice, but he couldn’t understand what it was saying.It was like the buzzing of bees.Maybe it’s a fairy’s voice, he thought groggily.He didn’t think it was a human’s.He opened his eyes, rose unsteadily from the bed, and staggered over to the white door.The buzzing in his ears wouldn’t go away.He put his hand on the doorknob and pulled.It didn’t open.After a befuddled moment he realized the door opened out.He braced his shoulder against it and turned the knob.The door swung open easily.So easily that Rei lost his balance and took two or three inadvertent steps out into the corridor.It looked like a typical hospital hallway, but it was dimly lit and deserted.The buzzing sound had disappeared.It was silent.Then he heard an echoing cry, a sound like an animal being strangled or the screech of a bird.A white form floated toward him.It was Marnie.The soles of her shoes squeaked along the highly polished floor and she swung her hips as she walked, her full breasts swaying.The very mundanity of the scene fueled Rei’s suspicions.The nurse seemed more like an animate doll than a woman.Feeling a palpable revulsion at the sight of her, he retreated back into the room.“You need to rest,” she told him.He sat down on the bed.She extended her arm, took hold of Rei’s wrist, and checked his pulse.“You seem a bit tense, Lieutenant.”“I think you know why.Tell me the truth.Where are we?”“Beneath TAB-14.”“I’d like to check out the surface.Where’s Yukikaze?”“You shouldn’t exert yourself.We’re continuing to service your plane.”“You can’t touch her central file.”“Understood.We’re working on the ejection system, reattaching the canopy, and resetting the ejection seats.”“Yukikaze uses type EESS-81-03 ejection seats.Do you have those here? And the canopy is a type made specifically for the Sylphid line.”“We’re fabricating them in an underground plant.You can’t fly without a canopy, after all.And we’ll manage something for the ejection seats.It may take a little time, though.”“Why don’t you contact Faery Base? That’d be the simplest thing to do, wouldn’t it?”“We can’t transmit a signal.Lieutenant, can you activate Yukikaze’s comm? We just can’t figure out the systems, no matter what we try.It has safeguards everywhere.”Rei’s anxiety increased.What were the survivors of TAB-14 up to? In his current state, he couldn’t figure it out.“Are you…allies?”“What are you saying, Lieutenant? Of course we are.As soon as we complete maintenance of your plane, you’ll be sent back.We have no intention of holding you here.”“I’m thirsty.Can you get me something to drink?”“Of course.I’ll bring you some liquid food.”“Liquid food?”“Your body is still recovering, Lieutenant.”What Marnie brought for him was like a mixture of bouillon and vegetable juice.It tasted awful.She insisted that he swallow it, telling him to think of it as medicine.Rei could only manage to choke down a third of a cupful before giving it back to her.“That’s enough,” he said and lay down again, trying to restrain his gag reflex.He looked up at the white ceiling.“I heard something strange a little while ago.A weird sound, like a swarm of bees buzzing.”“Maybe it was the air conditioning system.Sometimes it doesn’t run that well.”“Oh.”Marnie smiled, then took the cup and left the room.After the door shut Rei drew the gun from his vest.It was a 9mm automatic pistol with a roller locking system and light recoil.There were thirteen rounds in the magazine and one in the chamber.He held the grip and clicked the safety off.He wondered why they hadn’t taken it away from him.Was it to prove to him that he was in a safe environment? It was true that he could hardly expect an enemy to leave him armed, but he still didn’t feel safe here.Even as they cared for him, he suspected them of some treachery.And the overall impression that the place gave was oddly still, lacking the tension that normally defined the atmosphere of a frontline base.He couldn’t put it into words, but his instincts were screaming at him that he was in danger.He got up, holding the pistol at the ready, but just as he was about to step through the door, a wave of nausea broke over him.Slipping the gun back into his vest, he gripped the doorframe and called for Marnie.She came running down the gloomy corridor.He got the impression that she was the only one there.He asked her where the toilet was and then rushed to it.His guts turned inside out.After he finished vomiting, he reeled with an overwhelming exhaustion.Marnie helped him back to the room and he collapsed onto the bed.He felt feverish.He awoke to the sound of her voice.He raised his arm to check his chronometer and saw that ten hours had elapsed, but he had no true sense of time’s passage.His fever had gone down, and there was now an I.V.needle stuck in his right arm.“You seem to have a viral infection, Lieutenant,” Marnie said.“You must have caught it out in the desert.”“No… No, that’s not right…”“It seems to be presenting neurological symptoms.You’ve been hallucinating.That probably was the cause of your distress.But you’re okay now.You’ll be just fine.How’s your appetite?”His stomach was empty, but he never wanted to put that liquid food in his mouth again.“I’ve made some soup for you,” Marnie said as she drew a small trolley up to the bedside and shifted the bed’s movable table close to Rei’s chest.He sat up.She placed a bowl down on the table
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