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31_days2014-05-23 02:18 pm
bane-6.livejournal.com) wrote in 31_days2014-05-23 02:18 pm
[May 23] [Pacific Rim] Fail-safe
Title: Fail-safe
Day/Theme: 23. retrouvailles (the happiness of meeting again after a long time.
Series: Pacific Rim
Character/Pairing: Hermann/Newt
Rating: part 23 of 31
It was like clockwork now, clicking along in perfect order. Hermann’s designs were falling into place. Now that he wasn’t wracking his mind for ways to agonize the Mumbler, Newt was feeling better too. He still wanted to keep it alive. There was plenty they could still learn from it. Hansen and most everyone else didn’t want it to have any chance to escape. They tried to compromise. Hansen offered up freezing it solid to keep it fresh and Newt protested.
“It’s kind of like a tardigrade,” he tried to explain. “I’m not even sure it will freeze. And any way we try to contain it may be something the next batch will be immune to. If you try to decapitate it, the next ones will probably have armored necks, I mean, that is what happened last time.”
“What do you suggest then?” Hansen asked and Newt had let Hermann take over the explanation.
“We want to try to plug in its brain to one of the AIs,” he said. “If it responds to that the way we have calculated, we may finally have a way to take this war into the Breach. No more waiting, Marshall. No more wondering when the next attack will come. If we can force the Kaiju’s mind to accept an artificial Drift, we may be able to control them.”
“Like you did,” Hansen had gone to his flat disapproval voice.
“No!” Newt stepped in again. “Nowhere near! We drifted with a piece of dead brain and a just barely dead one. This would be with a live, thrashing hivemind. That’s why the AIs. They would absorb the worst of the confusion from the hive and let a pilot get through to the individual Kaiju’s brain.”
“And then what?”
“Then,” Hermann said, eyes and voice going intense. “We will finally have a way through the Breach to attack them directly.” Hansen blinked, letting that sink in.
“The Breach will let them through,” Newt said. “And only them, remember? We get one to Drift with and send it home and use it to fight them.”
“Won’t it be a massacre?” Hansen said. “You said the Anteverse was crawling with them.”
“We can plant a bomb or some kind of poison. Turn around is fair play, right? Give them a taste of their own medicine. And the pilot will be safe and sound here to do it again as soon as the next one comes through.”
“What if they find out what we’re doing and turn that around on us?” Hansen asked. “Hivemind.”
“Fail-safe,” Hermann said. “An explosive can be implanted with the PONS. If contact is lost, it will automatically detonate.”
“Lobotobomb,” agreed Newt. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, all his old energy back. He hadn’t moped since Hermann had dragged him back up the escalator.
“And you agree with this?” Hansen asked Hermann.
“It was my idea,” Hermann said. Hansen was quiet another moment, thinking it over. Hermann and Newt waited for the gears to stop turning.
“No one Drifts with anything without my express approval,” Hansen finally said. He had gone as steely as Hermann had. “Test the equipment on the thing you have until you’re sure. COMPLETELY sure.” He took a breath. “And whenever you ARE sure? I go first. No one else. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Marshall.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Hansen turned and walked away briskly, calling back over his shoulder. “Gentlemen. Amaze me.”
Day/Theme: 23. retrouvailles (the happiness of meeting again after a long time.
Series: Pacific Rim
Character/Pairing: Hermann/Newt
Rating: part 23 of 31
It was like clockwork now, clicking along in perfect order. Hermann’s designs were falling into place. Now that he wasn’t wracking his mind for ways to agonize the Mumbler, Newt was feeling better too. He still wanted to keep it alive. There was plenty they could still learn from it. Hansen and most everyone else didn’t want it to have any chance to escape. They tried to compromise. Hansen offered up freezing it solid to keep it fresh and Newt protested.
“It’s kind of like a tardigrade,” he tried to explain. “I’m not even sure it will freeze. And any way we try to contain it may be something the next batch will be immune to. If you try to decapitate it, the next ones will probably have armored necks, I mean, that is what happened last time.”
“What do you suggest then?” Hansen asked and Newt had let Hermann take over the explanation.
“We want to try to plug in its brain to one of the AIs,” he said. “If it responds to that the way we have calculated, we may finally have a way to take this war into the Breach. No more waiting, Marshall. No more wondering when the next attack will come. If we can force the Kaiju’s mind to accept an artificial Drift, we may be able to control them.”
“Like you did,” Hansen had gone to his flat disapproval voice.
“No!” Newt stepped in again. “Nowhere near! We drifted with a piece of dead brain and a just barely dead one. This would be with a live, thrashing hivemind. That’s why the AIs. They would absorb the worst of the confusion from the hive and let a pilot get through to the individual Kaiju’s brain.”
“And then what?”
“Then,” Hermann said, eyes and voice going intense. “We will finally have a way through the Breach to attack them directly.” Hansen blinked, letting that sink in.
“The Breach will let them through,” Newt said. “And only them, remember? We get one to Drift with and send it home and use it to fight them.”
“Won’t it be a massacre?” Hansen said. “You said the Anteverse was crawling with them.”
“We can plant a bomb or some kind of poison. Turn around is fair play, right? Give them a taste of their own medicine. And the pilot will be safe and sound here to do it again as soon as the next one comes through.”
“What if they find out what we’re doing and turn that around on us?” Hansen asked. “Hivemind.”
“Fail-safe,” Hermann said. “An explosive can be implanted with the PONS. If contact is lost, it will automatically detonate.”
“Lobotobomb,” agreed Newt. He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, all his old energy back. He hadn’t moped since Hermann had dragged him back up the escalator.
“And you agree with this?” Hansen asked Hermann.
“It was my idea,” Hermann said. Hansen was quiet another moment, thinking it over. Hermann and Newt waited for the gears to stop turning.
“No one Drifts with anything without my express approval,” Hansen finally said. He had gone as steely as Hermann had. “Test the equipment on the thing you have until you’re sure. COMPLETELY sure.” He took a breath. “And whenever you ARE sure? I go first. No one else. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Marshall.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” Hansen turned and walked away briskly, calling back over his shoulder. “Gentlemen. Amaze me.”