Page 104 of Pandion

What’s the situation up there?He tried to regain control of his anger.

Stop worrying about other people, and get your ass over here!Satoru was still seething.

The topmost car deck was a hellscape of metal debris and vehicles enveloped in fumes and smoke. With the ferry at this angle and the staircase he’d used to come down already damaged, Kagesawa tried to locate another exit or some other piece of machinery to use to carve himself a hole through the hull.

If there were two docking robots in here, there could be a third, but with such poor visibility, finding it was going to be a matter of luck.

Smaller unfastened items such as trunks, containers, motorcycles, generators and other machinery were rolling down the deck, but thankfully, with the movement slowing down, nothing was launching at him at a great speed.

Breathing was getting increasingly difficult, though. Kagesawa used the hem of his t-shirt to cover his mouth and nose, but it wasn’t much use, and he needed both of his hands to wade safely through or climb over the rubble. He felt dizzy from the fumes and the lack of oxygen, and the acrid smoke burning his throat and lungs was making him cough.

What’s taking so long? I’m coming down there to fetch you if you’re not up here in two minutes!

The thought of Satoru making his way to this deathtrap was frightening enough to amp up Kagesawa’s motivation, but two minutes was a completely unreasonable deadline.

I’m trying! For fuck’s sake, please get on the fucking life raft… please…There were rows and rows of cars squished togetherbut nothing large enough to be useful. The exits he found were all locked. What if he couldn’t find a way out and Satoru really refused to leave?

Ayase, what do I do?There was no response from Ayase. He’d been heading away from the flames, so it was cooler, but the smoke had become a thick suffocating blanket, and he could barely see in front of his face. It was possible Ayase’s functions had ceased due to the toxic fumes.

Shit. He was on his own, and it was only a matter of time before he, too, succumbed to the fumes.

His two minutes were probably up. Shit! He glanced back. Shit, shit, shit. What if… what if he went back? What if the rest of the ship was nothing but small cars?

The weight-distribution was wrong.

The ship wasn’t merely leaning sideways, it was aft-heavy. That meant the trucks and the heavy industrial machinery were all at the other end.

Shit! Kagesawa turned around.Why the fuck am I this slow? Goddammit… pay attention… for once in your fucking life, pay attention!

He clawed his way back through the car deck until his face was burning hot in the heat of the blaze.

There was the T-7500. It was crushed. What about the T-8000? It had started this mess by ramming into half of the trucks in its compartment, but was it still operational?

He spotted the familiar blue-painted operating arm. The thing was buried under a truck on its side and a pile of unidentifiable vehicle parts, some of which were on fire.

Where was the cockpit? Was it accessible, against all odds?Do not just assume. Check. Where the fuck is it?If he climbed up the truck, reached the door to the cab, dropped himself through the cab and the opposite side window, maybe… It was a long shot, but it was the only one he could think of.

Satoru, I swear to god, do not come here. Please. I’m doing my best, I swear. I can’t do this and worry about you at the same time.

He searched around for anything he could use—cargo, rubble, debris, the lines fastening the truck’s load—to access the cab door. It was locked, but the window was cracked open, so he thrust his arm in, ignoring the pain, and opened the lock from the inside.

He lowered himself into the pitch black cab and its other door, now underneath him. The space was much darker than he’d expected. His eyes stung from trying to hold them open to see something, anything, as he felt for the door handle for what felt like ages. When his hand finally landed on the handle, the door gave way under him, and he fell down a metre with a heavy thud.

With the exception of an orange glow up above, everything around him was black. Something moist ran down his side. Whether sweat or blood, it didn’t matter. He flailed his arms around, searching for anything recognizable. He could feel the game over clock tick in his gut.

Even if he found what he was looking for and it was operational, with Ayase silent, he had a feeling he wouldn’t be able to operate it. He was tempted to give in and cry from the pain and helplessness, but with Ayase no longer projecting a cover to Satoru, he was forced to keep himself together. If any of his efforts to save himself were keeping Satoru away from here, he’d struggle with all his might all the way to the very end.

There! The fucking cockpit window. There was a push-handle to the side of it on the T-7500, and hopefully they hadn’t changed the design for this model. No. There it was. And it opened the cockpit hatch with a ‘zoosh’ like it was supposed to.

Kagesawa wormed himself through in the limited space allotted to him. The air in the cockpit was merely lukewarm and fresh compared to its surroundings. What a relief.

He closed the hatch and hurried to start the engine and activate the air-filtration system. It alone wouldn’t have saved him since the docking robots were designed only for brief periods of submersion, but it was a welcome temporary improvement. Kagesawa hoped it would give Ayase a chance to recover enough to regain consciousness.

The initialisation processes started without a problem. The cockpit lights turned on, and everything inside looked hale. If this thing was indeed still operational, it would have no trouble digging itself up from underneath the truck once it had fully initialised.

Where are you? Deck five? Deck six? Is the life raft still there?He was not about to bust out of here without being absolutely sure Satoru was not somewhere on this ship looking for him.

I’m on deck five. The others have left.Satoru’s reply made Kagesawa’s insides lurch, and he wanted to vomit.

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