"Lakeside" is the first segment of the first chapter of Cyber Troopers Virtual-On: Fragmentary Passage, White Fleet V.C.a3.
Credits[]
- Director/Producer/Story/Text: Juro Watari
- Character Design: Hajime Katoki
- Original 3D CG Modelling: Yasuhiro Mori
- CG Illustration: Kouichi Ozaki
- Layout Design: Nobutaka Arii
- English Translation: Michael Stearns [1]
- Translation Advisor: Mariko-sensei [2]
Characters[]
- Intal Vasquez
- Edgar Glimpe
- Lieutenant Bolsar
Virtuaroid(s)[]
- XVR/RP07/07 Unit 1 (mentioned)
- XVR/RP07/07 Unit 2
White Fleet V.C.a3 #01: "Lakeside"[]
A white VR alighted to the earth. With a fluid motion of its knees, it assumed a waiting posture at the shore of the lake. As the sound of its fearsome driving force came to a halt against the lake's circumference, soft sunlight reflected the wavering image of the giant machine across the water's surface.
It was early spring. Silence returned to the lake on the plateau, and a calm wind blew through the surrounding verdure.
"What a good machine you've become..." Captain Intal Vasquez murmured from within the cockpit.
Honestly, he wondered how this had come to be; the Seventh Plant, "Reference Point," was managing the new type machine without ever having had experience regarding VR development. Unit 1 had recently been accepted as an experimental production for White Fleet, but the plain truth was that it was a poorly designed machine riddled with defects. The investigations into problems often stagnated, and schedule delays became the norm. For Vasquez, the test pilot from the main branch of the military, the disheartening days passed one by one. Experimental model Unit 2 had finally arrived for today's test flight, meaning the critical point had been reached.
"...I'm very grateful."
A window opened on the sub monitor, revealing the face of Edgar Glimpe. Relief loosened the face of Reference Point's thin-bodied technical officer.
"If we can get authorization from White Fleet's test pilot, XVR/RP07/07's future will be guaranteed. Work after this point is encouraging, even though we're pushing the schedule and there's isn't really any excuse for that, but at the rate we're going it seems like we can accomplish anything, even though the reality is we're aiming ourselves at a monstrous pile of problems."
"It's too soon to feel safe," Vasquez interrupted his companions words. "This machine still has to pass items 1 through 4 on the regulations' test agenda."
"Right, right.." Glimpe's face returned at once to its usual pale self. "We've caught ourselves in a serious situation, there have been problems up to now, and we've been a terrible annoyance to those who've helped us..."
Vasquez cut off the technical officer's transmission on his end. There was no time for that man's long-windedness, he had to collect the new type VR's test data.
"Bolsar, you hear me?"
"Be careful Captain, I'm at your machine's feet!"
The unchanging face of his partner appeared within a window on the upper-right of the main monitor.
"You're looking good."
"For now," Vasquez smiled, "I'm giving Glimpe the serious and cold treatment, but really, this time I'm quite hopeful. It's even better than I expected."
"If you say so, I feel confident as well."
Lieutenant Bolsar, an official from White Fleet's consolidated barracks, showed a worry-free smile. But his expression hardened.
"We've received a strange inquiry from the mother ship."
"Strange inquiry?"
"It concerns the number of the test machines. They're insisting they dropped off two units in this area."
"...? They should understand if they see it, our developers only have one."
"That's what I thought, and I told them. But they're quite insistent."
"What does Glimpe say?"
"I heard him say one machine. He brought the minimum number of parts, for one conversion. He was almost crying as he tried to assure me."
Vasquez gave a bitter smile.
"It must be a miscommunication, right? I don't think an imprudent person would have given false information. It's foolish to think Flesh Refoe's Direct Control Army would let such a thing out, it just couldn't happen..."
"Absolutely." Bolsar chimed in. "Unless it's Shadow..."
Vasquez frowned. He understood his colleague's casual use of the word in his mind, but if things didn't change, it would be a word he'd detest.
[to be continued]