But there was only him, and Nishikado had refused to leave Earth's last line of defense in the hands of a civilian engineer - insisting he accompany Eric during the attack. Eric would have been insulted if he didn't agree completely.
"Of course, General. Shall we?" The two men entered the small cockpit and took their seats, back to back. Eric looked awkwardly at Kaori as she closed the door. She immediately loaded an expression of respect and affection, but Eric knew it was only for his benefit. Kaori felt nothing about his imminent death, no matter how pathetic his longing gaze.
"See you," he mumbled. She considered his parting words just a micro second too long to reassure him.
"Yes. You certainly will, Doctor," she said with a jaunty smile. Eric shook his head in surrender. The least she could have done is learned to bullshit properly.
Engineers and military personnel scattered as the powerful electromagnets lifted the jaggedly conical vehicle off the mirrored rails. Silently, it began to glide out into the street, and a monitor to Eric's left showed the mile-long length of track stretching down the debris-covered road.
In front, he could see the people of Tokyo pointing in amazement at the huge cannon aiming directly into the sky.
"These people should have been warned. Taken to safety somewhere," he muttered to himself.
The general answered regardless. "There is no such place. If we fail, it's over, no matter where these people hide." The pure absence of emotion in the old Japanese man's voice sent clammy shivers along Eric's curved spine.
The temperature outside was rising. The alien fleet was fully within the atmosphere, their landing thrusters heating the air into a stifling, sordid gel. A thin line of black shapes dropped through the thick atmosphere, parallel to the cannon's track.
"What if our friends up there change course? This weapon is fixed in one plane of movement. I assume this has been factored into your equations?" It didn't take a psychologist to figure out Nishikado assumed nothing of the sort. Eric wasn't a psychologist, but neither was he particularly skilled at snide conversation. He took the general's challenge at face value.
"They're traveling too fast. Once they're inside the atmosphere, it takes everything they've got just to decelerate. Other than a degree of uniform lateral adjustment, the fleet is fixed on the course at which it entered the atmosphere." Eric had calculated the alien's navigational capabilities so many times, he felt like he'd held this conversation over and over again. In fact, it was the first time.
"Then this track will allow the cannon to move within the fleet's ... uniform ..."
"Uniform lateral adjustment. Yes."
A long inhalation signified the closest thing the general had expressed toward approval since Eric had met him. The temperature rose inside the cockpit, ever so slightly.
"They're almost in range. I'm going to move us to a central position where we can engage the targeting scanners. After that, it's just a matter of keeping the cannon moving and out of the fleet's return fire."
"I have a little something that might help with that. Here it comes now." Nishikado switched his monitor onto feeds from the top of the hanger as Eric turned to silently enquire why the general had been making unapproved additions to the plan.
