Everyone turned to watch the airplane do a U-turn and see who or what was going to come out of it. The ramp of the airplane came down and a small team of scientists exited while pushing a large amount of equipment around, followed by more military personnel pushing more boxes of what one could assume was more equipment. Rosalind realized that she hadn’t asked Major Green how long they would stay, but it looked like they were ready to stay for as long as possible. When there seemed to have been no more things to unload from the plane it left immediately, allowing space for the two mecha they brought with them to land.

            The mechas’ pilots came out and followed behind the scientists who were heading towards the group of pilots and Rosalind. The scientists ignored Rosalind and immediately approached Lt. Anderson, greeting him followed by Lt. Martinez. Rosalind was glad they avoided her, but she knew the two pilots they brought with them. Lieutenants David Brown and Bill Johnson.

            “Hey, Rosie! How you doing?” Lt. Brown called out to her.

            “Hi David, hi Bill. I’m doing good as you can see.” She smiled back, while acting playful. They both kept getting closer, entering her personal space and then wrapping their arms around her for a hug. The other pilots were in shock about how close she was with them, and Lt. Martinez was certainly jealous.

            “Okay, so tell me. How many times have you fainted since coming here?” Bill asked with concern seeping out of his deep voice.

            “Uh, two,” she replied feeling embarrassed.

            “I thought you promised to take care of yourself!” Bill exclaimed.

            “I did! I mean the first time wasn’t even my fault. Ugh, whatever,” Rosalind said trying to hide her embarrassment.

            “Okay, we get it. So, how’s this base treating you?” David asked, while eyeing Lt. Anderson and Lt. Martinez.

            “Good actually!” She happily said and then whispered in David and Bill’s ears, “This place is way better than the main base! Although, I have been missing you two.”

            Lt. Anderson was glaring at the two pilots occupying Rosalind. Both David and Bill could see that he was unhappy with what they were doing.

            “Good, good. Let’s rejoin the group,” David said.

            David, whispered to Bill, “Did you see that? Lt. Anderson was glaring at us.”

            “Lt. Martinez also looked upset,” Bill whispered back, while nodding.  

            Rosalind nodded, and she followed behind them, listening intently at what the other scientists were saying. They were ultimately wanting to get the pilots to fly in formations right now, so they could analyze whatever data their instruments could measure. When Lt. Lee and Smith arrived for receiving the scientists request and transferring it into orders for the base, there was a request about who would be leading the formation and when Rosalind heard that they wanted David to do it, she got a bad feeling. She wanted to pull Lt. Lee to the side and tell him that they should have Lt. Anderson lead knowing what we know, but there was no basis for her concern that they could share with these scientists. Meanwhile, she was also curious as to what would happen if the pilots were forced into orders that conflicted with the results that the mechas just pulled out of all the pilots they made unconscious.

            The pilots received their orders to take their mechas to the beach from Lt. Lee and Smith. Lt. Anderson, Martinez, and the Reef 2 and 3 pilots all disappeared into their mecha and took off, when the scientists and others cleared away from the mecha’s feet. When they were gone, the scientists returned to their equipment and shuttled it into the vehicles the base was providing. David and Bill had waited with Rosalind before taking off.

            “So, are you coming with us Rosie?”

            “Yeah, I’ll be observing. I am a mecha scientist.”

            “Would you like to ride with us?” David motioned to his mecha.

            “What? Only pilots are permitted in the mecha.” Rosalind shook her head.

            “We just found out other people can come in, with an explicit verbal command from the pilot. Do you want to try it?” David had a huge smile on his face. He was thinking of trying to surprise Lt. Anderson with this, hoping it would rile him up more.

            “Are you sure it will be, okay?”

            “Well seeing as how the scientists left, it should be fine. They probably wanted to keep this under wraps for a bit, but only the military can command us, and they didn’t say we couldn’t tell anyone else.” David shrugged.

            “And the military didn’t say we couldn’t invite a scientist, such as yourself!” Bill added.

            “So, what do you say?” David asked again.

            “Sure, why not. I’m curious to see if your mecha would let me in.” Rosalind replied with wonder in her eyes.

            “Okay, so whose mecha?” David asked looking at Bill.

            “Play you rock, paper, scissors for it.” Bill smiled.

            The two of them played for the chance of hosting Rosalind in their mecha and as luck would have it, David won. Bill said goodbye to them both, entered his mecha, and flew away with it in the direction the other mecha had gone, towards the south-east edge of the base.

            “Well, let’s get you in.” David approached the right foot of his mecha and announced, “Please let this person, Rosalind, into the cockpit.” He motioned for Rosalind to give him her hand and as he disappeared into the mecha’s ankle area she held her breath as she was tugged through. Rosalind didn’t feel anything while passing into the mecha. While looking around she could sense various moving parts in the leg.  

            “Brace yourself. This platform is going to rise, it will take us up to the cockpit.”

            “Okay.” Rosalind replied, readying herself.