Shatterdome

Rosen had always been the sort to act the moment he made up his mind.

People often made things more complicated than they really were, but in Rosen's eyes, all it took was breaking a task down into several steps, and everything would become clear.

For example, Rosen first had to complete step one—

Get himself a Pilot Suit.

Without one of those, getting into a Jaeger would be pointless.

Back when Rosen had been a pilot, he had owned a Pilot Suit of his own. Especially when he had put it on for the first time, he had been thrilled beyond words. That white armor had looked incredibly cool, almost exactly like Iron Man.

The full suit covered every part of the body and completely protected the pilot. When a pilot prepared to activate a Jaeger, the suit's boots locked firmly onto the motion platform inside the cockpit. The armored gloves connected to the various extended cables within the cockpit, while the full-effect neural transmission panel on the back of the suit—commonly known as the "Spinal Clamp"—fastened the pilot's back tightly to the platform's upright frame. Not only did it hold the pilot in place, it also transmitted every command from the pilot's brain to the Jaeger at once.

The armor's headpiece was a full-coverage helmet, which pilots usually called a "Mind Cap." This helmet helped transmit brain information during synchronization, allowing them to establish the Drift.

After years of improvements, the suit also possessed all sorts of other functions. For instance, if it detected that the pilot's heart had stopped, it could automatically perform CPR. It could also assess physical health, stabilize blood pressure, and more.

Rosen vaguely remembered that the control console stood in front of the motion platform. From there, pilots could receive everything detected by the Jaeger's sensors: sight, sound, three-dimensional models, holographic projections, and messages from friendly forces.

But all that was in the past now.

When Rosen had gone from pilot to pilot candidate, he had turned in that Pilot Suit. Now, he had to find a way to get another one on his own.

"Tch..."

Ever since Mike had left, Rosen had been pacing around the laboratory alone. He stroked his chin as he searched for an answer, looking somewhat anxious.

He was trying to come up with a solution.

Borrow one?

Rosen considered it, then immediately shook his head and dismissed the idea.

Maybe it would be possible for pilots to lend suits to each other, but for him, a reserve trainee, to ask an active pilot to lend him one?

Well... Rosen did not think he had that much face. Besides, it would be troublesome if he drew someone's attention.

Rosen had also considered buying one on the black market. A Pilot Suit cost around four million yuan to produce. If he sold a few papers, he figured he could still afford one.

But after looking it up online, he learned that civilians had once used the name of Pilot Suits to impersonate Jaeger pilots and swindle people all over the place, causing the Chinese government to tighten control over such items. He could probably still get one if he spent enough, but there were less than three days left before the Kunlun test run began. There definitely was not enough time to go that route.

After thinking it over and over, Rosen finally came up with an idea.

Borrow—he would still borrow one.

But not from the current Jaeger pilots. He would borrow one from a senior.

"Teacher... looks like I'll have to trouble you again."

Rosen did not head straight for the pilots' residential area, because he knew Angie would never be there.

Angie seemed to have endless energy. It was impossible to make her stay bored in one place for several hours. The little girl was definitely either in the first-floor simulated combat room or beside her beloved Anshan, supervising its maintenance.

Having made up his mind, Rosen set off for the first floor of the Shatterdome.

But when Rosen finally squeezed out of the crowded elevator and saw the scene before him, he suddenly felt a wave of unfamiliarity.

Rosen abruptly realized that ever since his demotion, he had not visited the first floor of the Shatterdome for several months. The scene in his memories had completely changed.

"Have I really not come down here for that long... No wonder Angie said I hadn't done simulated battles with her in ages."

Ever since the 8th Generation Jaegers had been stationed at the Hong Kong Base, the dome's maximum height had been raised from two hundred meters to two hundred and thirty meters. Rosen remembered that the last time he had come to the first floor, construction had only just begun in several places, but now everything had been fully put into operation.

The very center of the dome's roof could open and close like lotus petals, and directly beneath it was a Jaeger deployment platform.

Of course, the roof was closed now. When necessary, the top of the dome would open, allowing large airships and heavy helicopters to hoist the Jaegers waiting below and transport them to their airdrop points.

Rosen had never believed those little aircraft could lift colossal machines weighing thousands of tons, but when he looked up at the new generation of Titan-class military airships used to transport Jaegers—

He immediately transformed from a skeptic into a staunch supporter of airdrops.

I refuse to accept this!

That thing was fucking huge!

Those goddamn airships were even bigger than the Jaegers!

Those had been Rosen's first thoughts when he saw those airships.

But airdrops had their drawbacks too: they required far too much preparation time. From the airship's takeoff to Jaeger deployment, the process took at least three hours. So when kaiju first attacked, this option generally was not used lightly.

In addition, twelve dedicated passages radiated outward from the deployment platform in a ring. Six led to the Jaeger storage bays, where the Hong Kong Base's twelve Jaegers were kept. The other six led to the base's sea gates, through which Jaeger warriors called into action drove down the ramps and into the Pacific Ocean.

To reduce deployment time, workers had spent an entire year building six offshore rails, each five kilometers long, outside the sea gates. The six Jaegers heading into battle could ride those tracks through wind and waves, swiftly gliding to their assigned positions and calmly resisting the kaiju.

As an intelligent and hardworking Chinese man, Rosen could not help feeling a surge of pride.

Aside from the dedicated passages, the spacious hall was filled with equipment. All kinds of large machinery stood everywhere, countless workers hurried between them, and forklifts laden with cargo occasionally roared past. Just then, a forklift driver even whistled at Rosen.

"Hey, kid, move aside!"

Only then did Rosen realize that he was blocking the elevator entrance. He hurriedly stepped aside in embarrassment.

Rosen also turned back to look—behind him stood the massive elevators leading to the second and third floors. The mezzanine housing the Command Center extended out above the elevators, especially conspicuous. From there, one could clearly see everything on the central deployment platform.

This cluster of buildings stood between the third and fourth passages leading toward the Jaeger bays. Compared to the open spaces on either side, it looked remarkably cramped.

Yes... the second and third floors occupied only that tiny bit of space. In this Shatterdome spanning over a thousand mu, nearly the size of eighty football fields, Jaegers were the eternal protagonists.

Looking at the scenes before him, Rosen suddenly recalled the first time Raleigh Beckett had brought him here as a child.

The Shatterdome had been just as bustling and lively back then.

Rosen felt that this was one big family. Several months had passed in a flash, and he himself did not know why he had not come down to take a look during that time. This was where he truly belonged.

Fortunately, Rosen still remembered the way to the simulated combat area. He reined in his sentimental thoughts and set off at a brisk pace.