Nabiki slowly came to, her ears hearing the sounds of … crashing waves?
She opened her eyes slowly, light seemingly stabbing at her brain, making her question if she had been drunk last night. But eventually she opened them up … spotting the blood red sky above her. Angling her head showed her that even the ocean was nearly the same blood red color as the sky.
That can’t be good, she thought, as she slowly sat up.
And then it all came flooding back to her: Adam went critical. She had been drawn closer to the excavation pit when she was told that a crew was down there conduction research.
The problem was no research had been scheduled. She had pulled the plug on that after hearing of Gendo’s recall. The fact she represented the majority investor and was unaware of a recall didn’t sit right with her. She would have questioned him about it, had the prick not left as quickly as he did.
In fact … he had to have been expecting it to get out as soon as he did. Oh yes, he was going to get it for that.
But … she was alive. She felt like shit, like she had gotten drunk and decided to eat a five-course meal prepared by Akane.
But as she looked upon what had once been an ice field along the Transantarctic Mountains surrounding Mount Markham, she had to consider herself lucky. She was alive at least.
Turning slowly so as to keep her senses focused lest she end up passing out once more, she looked behind her, noticing for the first time that the rocky crag that had served as their only land around them, was now sporting a huge indentation, nearly spherical. Guess I ought to forgive his debt for saving my ass, she mused, as she looked down at him, only now noticing that she had been sitting on him.
He seemed to be alright, breathing very slowly, which was no wonder to her given the devastation. His cold-weather gear was torn in several places, as was her own, even though the weather felt a lot warmer than it had been early. Hope this isn’t radiation, she thought, fearing the worst. Right now, she doubted Ranma could protect himself from a cold, let alone radiation.
She stared at him for a moment, wondering if it was her eyes playing tricks on her. But in the light … his hair appeared white.
“That can’t be good,” she murmured.
Shaking her head, she reached into her coat, hoping the satellite cell phone was still functional. For all she knew, Adam’s little tantrum could still be wreaking havoc with the Kuno satellite currently in geostationary polar orbit. If nothing else, it would at least give a positioning signal to any rescue effort, perhaps even contact a local craft.
Assuming one came.
“They better for what those boys in Research told me this thing could do,” she growled.
“Anything yet?” asked a worried Admiral aboard the Over the Rainbow, waiting for the newest report from his crew about the emergency repairs to the ship. The tsunami from the explosion in Antarctica had nearly crippled his ship. Anything not tied down and a few things that were had ended washed off the decks, causing more structural damage as the waves washed them into the ship. Pumps were already working overtime to try and empty the three lower decks, filled with sea water.
The worst however had to be the damage to their transmitters. They had aircraft moved from below-deck in hopes of getting some signal out, to warn of the dangerous waves that were now rocketing to the southern land masses.
He was realizing that he was seeing Hell on Earth. Even in the distance, what had at one time been an ice field that stretched across the horizon was now only water the color of blood.
Considering some of the people he had lost thanks to that wave, it was almost poetic.
“Nothing yet, sir,” said the man currently running the damaged communications console, some areas were still covered in blood where the former officer had been killed when the tsunami crashed through the front screen. “I can’t get a signal out.”
“How long before they get the main transmitter repaired?”
“Team estimates a few hours at best, sir,” he said quietly.
He could only slump at those words. They didn’t even have a long-range aircraft that could make a quick trip to the closest land, hoping to both outrun the tsunami and warn enough people to save any lives. He could only hope someone was watching, that someone was not sleeping or ditching their jobs on the mainlands.
“Sir,” said the man, quickly adjusting several functional instruments, the result of scavenging a transmitter from a damaged jet and plugging it into the system to try and call out, “I’m picking up something, very weak.”
“Let’s hear it,” said the captain, allowing himself to experience some hope.
The man nodded, flipping a switch, as the signal was sent to the speakers still functional within the bridge.
“… Tendo calling anyone on any channel, …. Respond…”
“Tendo?” he asked, before he turned to look out the destroyed window. He only knew of one Tendo.
There were survivors at Mt. Markham!
Assuming he remembered the map correctly and the ice between them had been melted, it was entirely possible to get his ship there, at least he hoped so. He had never taken an aircraft carrier into former land before.
“Lieutenant, as soon as we have a go-ahead from Engineering and Sonar, set course for Mt. Markham, best speed.”
“Sir?” said the formerly fourth-in-command, and the only man between the Admiral and himself in the chain of command either on the bridge … or alive.
“We got survivors to rescue; might as well do some good where we can.
“Get word to the boys below, I want a rescue aircraft in the air and giving us a lay of that Hellhole before we get to the coast, as well as a survivor count!”
“Yes sir!” smirked the Lieutenant, happy to be doing something at least.
Nodding, the Admiral turned back to the man at the communications console. “See if you can reach her, triangulate her position if possible when the aircraft get in the air.”
The man nodded as he lifted up his headset. “Ms. Tendo, this is the Over the Rainbow, please respond.”
“… name is stupid, you … right?”
The man smiled. “Blame the UN ma’am, we do.”
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(Posted Sun, 06 Jul 2008 04:58)
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