Chapter 22 - Pfffttt.

The Builder is back! Catch older chapters here: Chapter 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21

“Roar!! Like a monster from Ultraman, we’re about to bomb the shit out of that fake town! This is me knocking over buildings in Tokyo!” Jo squealed, moving her hands like a robot and spinning around to bump into tables, chairs and poor technicians seated at main control. James paid her no attention, but Fallon jumped to engage in battle with Jo – ignoring the disapproving looks from General Bloomsfield.

“Your kaiju* looks stupid, villain! I am Ultraman!” Fallon danced about, doing the classic Ultraman battle stance. Jo did not back down and moved to pretend that she was smashing a tower – which was some poor tech’s head. Fallon extended his arms in a move to subdue her and the two of them did some kind of martial arts dance.

Jack Broomsfield was already well up in the air and it seemed as though the whole world was waiting to see DARPA’s baby in action - everyone except Fallon and Jo. Fallon was chanting out the names of his “moves” while Jo made what she thought were monster sounds. Fallon spewed ridiculous sounding names like ‘spacium ray’, ‘ultra slash’, ‘dynamic size change’ and finally, the worst of all – the one which seemed to “injure” Jo the most; ‘ultra eye spot’.

A voice crackled through the room, “Flight control, this is Viper. Clear skies, current speed 497mph – will not attempt full speed, over.”

Techs responded appropriately and the General gave the ‘nod’. The voice crackled again, “Flight control, this is Viper with query.”

“Viper, this is flight control, go ahead,” a tech responded – he had to be the head technician since he was flanked by a stiff-looking James.

“Is Jo doing the Ultraman monster dance? Please affirm. Over,” Jake could not believe his ears when Jack said that; he tried not to laugh. Jo did have a way of making everything seem less serious and daunting.

“Viper, this is flight control. Affirmative. Currently engaged in battle with Melon,” James said after yanking the headset off the poor tech’s head.

“Flight control, it’s going to be a good day, over.” Jack said and ended all conversation. General Bloomsfield looked so angry that Jake thought he was going to spitting at everyone.

“You heard that, you evil Bemular**! Captain Toshio Muramatsu^ is going to assemble the Science Patrol to KICK YOUR ASS!” Fallon said, a little too loud. He had to be referring to Jack.

As DARPA’s baby homed in on the town, the two of them continued to play and prance around, not caring one bit about the ‘big test’. Jake could not decide which was more interesting; the Ultraman fight or the actual test. The commotion the monster and Ultraman were making was far too loud. As coordinates were read out and “green light nods” were given, Jake only saw the contact the bomb made with the ground, the earth shook a little and then a tiny plume of smoke went up. That was it. The big test was over. He should have watched the Ultraman battle instead, he decided. Feeling absolutely dissatisfied with the result, he ignored the techs and General Bloomsfield, all clapping and shaking each others’ hands. What did he expect? A huge mushroom cloud? James slapped him on the back, people started to shake his hand.

“You did good, son. You did good,” the General said. James was beaming and still no one paid attention to Jo and Fallon. Fallon was doing a victory dance while Jo pretended to be severely injured, making mewling sounds to indicate that the monster had been fatally injured. As Fallon prepared to lift off, he turned to Jake and in a tone that supposed to be a superhero’s he said, “Good job, Hoshino Isamu^^. Good job!” and flew away.

Jo straightened out and said laughingly, “What are we celebrating, dammit? We knew it would work! We ran simulations all night! And we all knew Jakie-poo did a solid job! Fuckers!”

The General lost his cool. Slamming his palm onto the main control table, he said, “This is all it’s ever been to you, Jo. A game. You don’t care for anything! Not for science, not for Jack, not for me! Grow up will you. You make weapons of mass destruction and act like it’s nothing!”

Jo did not appear to be stunned by her father’s outburst, or if she was she was hiding it pretty well. Fallon immediately moved to start packing up all their paperwork and spec sheets, James began to say goodbye to the techs, shaking their hands one last time and Jake was lost. He did not know what to do. He was just The Builder.

The General gathered his wits and apologised meekly to his daughter, who did not bother to look at him. He promptly left the room with his accompanying MPs. James nodded at him and Fallon dashed to the truck to wait for them. He obviously wanted to go to the hanger to wait for Jack’s arrival. Jo sidled up to Jake and put her hands in his. He knew better than to question the sudden affection and just held her hands. She tugged him and they left the control centre in silence.

As the four of them piled into Magdalene, James said, “Time to go home, guys. We fly to Prague in two weeks. The plane and pay load carrier will be delivered after we seal the deal. We’re going to sell it lock, stock and barrel. The plane and the pay-load carrier. Let’s go see Jack, shall we, Jake?”

“But then what about the whole ‘versatile’, multi-fittable thing? Shouldn’t we remove the pay-load carrier?” Fallon asked, suddenly confused.

“No. No time to remove the welds. We’ll sell the whole fucking plane,” Jo said curtly. Jake had never, not once throughout the whole project seen her upset. Her melancholic state actually affected Jake. “Let’s just leave, shall we?”

They set off to the hanger in Area 17, again in silence. Jo still looked unhappy, but Jake figured it was not time to offer comfort – yet.

*monster costume
**giant space monster featured in Ultraman’s first-ever episode
^ Head of The Science Patrol in the Ultraman series
^^a little boy who is the unofficial mascot of The Science Patrol



Yes, folks. I researched Ultraman. Hope you enjoyed it! More chapters of The Builder coming soon!