When the armored explorers returned to Bellerophon, Gabriel didn't waste any time before issuing orders. Fred's remote-controlled suit was sent off to the Terran motor pool to retrieve the fuel trunk with its hoses and pumps. Layth was assigned the task of extracting Fallen Star's skills with Silent-Ones technology, while he and Tasha would return to the Khattan hangar and start preparing things for transport.

Artemis is waiting, and even saluted, reporting that the Gryphon was prepped for launch, and that its reactor had been shut down for transport. "Now comes the hard part," Gabriel says, looking at Tasha. "You have to get your new toy to move and learn how to carry things without making a mess."

Mimicking the Synth, Tasha salutes her mate and captain, grinning all the while. "I'll do my best, Captain." She's been calling him captain ever since he started really getting in to barking orders, although when he first started, she stared at him for several seconds with her brows raised before her muzzle split in a grin and she said, "Yes sir."

"So, show me that you can get into that thing unaided," Gabriel tells the Vartan-hybrid.

"Yes sir," the young woman says. Equipped in her power armor, sans helmet, Tasha flares her wings to initiate the suit's flight system. In short order she breaks in to a run before leaping in to the air, circling around to land on the Melchior's back. "Entry to Melchior is via neural recognition," Tasha calls down as she places her hand next to the door portal.

It takes a little longer for the hatch to react, giving Tasha time to sweat. It may just be that whatever sensors it uses are slowed by the new gauntlets. Eventually the hatch slides apart to reveal the crawlway to the cockpit.

Whew, Tasha thinks, having feared she might well look like a fool during her big moment. "The interior of Melchior is sparse, with a single bench. I'm switching to comm. now, and entering." Steping inside, the woman walks in to the egg-shaped chamber where the golden bench awaits – the point where Tasha ceases to be Tasha and starts being Melchior's organic controller. "Initiating neural-link now. I'll see you soon, Captain." There's a palpable moment of awareness as the woman stands before the bench, the awareness of transition, of a sense of momentous destiny. She takes a deep breath, then, kneeling on to the bench, lays herself down and arches her head back to meet the link.

It's a bit like settling into the saddle of a motorcycle. But once her hands and legs are in place, they're clamped down into immobility. So is her torso, as restraints that are made to work with Vartan armor take grip as well. The walls of the egg light up with various displays: one for Melchior's vitals and one for Tasha's. Apparently wearing the armor makes a difference. The arm with the contacts descends and clamps to the back of Tasha's head, and more things pop in and out of her vision. Finally, she's offered a choice: Interface Depth.

This is new, Tasha admits to herself, eyes scanning the interior with a mix of surprise and awe. She had guessed pilots entered their vehicles in their armors, but hadn't any idea how important the armors were to the interface itself. When the choice is finally displayed, her eyes snap to it and she says, "Interface depth: full immersion."

The cockpit blurs and becomes a shiny tunnel. There is a curtain of glowing symbols that is pushed through too quickly for her to read them, and then… she's standing in the Gryphon bay. To her left is the command tower, and she's looking right into the fourth-story control room. Everything seems much smaller. "Immersion complete," Melchior says in Tasha's mind. "Select operation mode: Simulation, Combat, Flight or Manual Maneuvering."

Gods, I'm actually here … This is actually happening! Tasha would feel herself take a deep breath, if she could feel her body at this point. It's a peculiar feeling, not feeling the thump of your heart, the filling of your lungs, the shape of your own body … The experience momentarily overwhelms the pilot, her answer delayed. "T-thank you, Melchior. Manual Maneuvering mode. Also, do we have external area communication?"

"External speakers and microphones are activated with the following command," the disembodied voice explains, and then… well it isn't a spoken command. It's not quite even a thought, but more a 'clearing of the throat' sort of impression.

Being not simply a pilot, but a component in a great machine is something of limitless fascination and wonder for the young woman. Even simple commands seem extraordinary, alien even as they are deep within her own mind. Executing the external speakers and microphone command, Tasha tries, "Link successful; full immersion enabled. Hello, Captain."

"Use your inside voice, Tasha!" Gabriel barks up at the Titan, after pulling his hands away from his ears. "And don't try to wag you tail! Can you use your arms and hands yet?"

"Sorry Captain," the massive black and gold machine rumbles. "Manual operation should be initialized. We are going to try and move now; stand clear." The motion is a simple one: Tasha lifts a hand in front of her face, making sure to avoid smashing in to the control tower.

Aside from one minor oddness, the movement feels natural. The arm doesn't seem to weigh more than her real one does, but she's acutely aware of missing a finger, as the mechanical version only sports three along with the thumb. And despite appearing to be covered in gold scales, it isn't distractingly shiny. Either that reaction is suppressed by the interface or some other form of filter is involved.

Turning her hand in front of her face and Melchior's hand – or rather, Melchior's face and Melchior's hand – Tasha marvels at the power of cybernetics. "It's truly an amazing feeling, Captain." The other arm lifts as well, the machine's massive head turning to regard them both, then lowering to peer down at the tiny form of Gabriel Akkers. "Stand clear – We are attempting to walk."

Gabriel makes room, and something subtly shifts in Tasha's perception as well, as if there were an invisible overlay on her field of vision that she could bring into view if she just focused on it.

Delaying her attempt at movement, Tasha wills the overlay in to view, curious at its contents.

The world changes color – almost. There is a path ahead of her, glowing green while not actually obscuring anything. Objects nearby take on colors as well, from blue to red. Red seems to indicate things to avoid. Gabriel is bright red, himself.

"Guide overlay enabled," Tasha reports after a moment to study and identify what she's seeing. "Standby for Titan locomotion; we are moving out." After swinging her gaze to make sure her launch platform isn't attached to the frame in any way, young woman takes her first step as the pilot and CPU of a Titan!

It is awkward. The center of balance for the giant machine is not the same as Tasha's. The fan-shaped tail doesn't counterbalance like her own equine one does, and the 'feet' feel different as well; the hooves are wider, longer and somehow stickier than her real ones. The foot comes down a bit harder than she wanted, as she has to struggle for balance at first.

For the moment, Tasha focuses on making sure the great machine doesn't topple over, steadying it and getting a better understanding of the body she wears. "The center of gravity is different, as are some other parts," she reports to Gabriel. Once she's gotten a hold of the situation, she takes another, careful step forward. Then another, and another.

By the third step, things seem more natural as the machine compensates to match its pilot. Tasha senses how to control the 'stickiness' of the feet, and gets used to 'seeing' the ground without actually looking down; it's there, she's aware of it, but unless she focuses or something flashes red she doesn't have to pay attention to it.

So this is what being connected to an AI is like. It's my mind, supported by the internal digital systems. I understand now why Melchior refereed to himself as we – he didn't mean his model, he meant us. We are Melchior. The giant machine follows the green path, then side paths, taking its time to go through the motions of turning and walking, until it comes full circle and stands before the Karnor captain. The machine then attempts to kneel, putting its head a little closer as it stares down with that expressionless black face. "How do we look?"

There is a sense of something compensating for the motion, but the machine does kneel – just slower than Tasha intended. She also senses that when she moves her virtual ears, another not-quite-there-unless-she-wants-it-to-be view follows them. Gabriel has his hands on his hips, and calls out, "You don't have to bow you know."

"I was hoping for a kiss on the beak," the great machine replies. Tasha hadn't realized she was bowing, but there it is. It must be a gesture designed for parade or duel formality, she thinks. Since she's down here and enjoying the view, she decides now is a good time to test out other systems, and tries something else, "Melchior, connect me to the channel my environmental suit is tuned to, please?" May as well test external ranged communication too, she decides.

"Radio communications are active," the Gryphon lets Tasha know. "You can link audio and video feeds to this channel as well."

"Thank you, Melchior." Externally, Tasha announces, "Testing ranged communications, linking audio and video feeds from Melchior to your suit and to the Bellerophon, Captain. Stand by." One by one, Tasha sets her views to broadcast, as well as a external shot of the Titan, and internal shot of her body in the cockpit/connection room.

"I was sure you'd be drooling while you operated that thing," Fred notes over the comm. Gabriel says, "Fred, you have enough to deal with without monitoring extraneous feeds."

"Hi Fred. I would be," Tasha reports over the feed, "but my body isn't working right now. Are you getting everything okay there? I thought Mariel would want to see Khattan Trade Coalition cybernetics technology in action." Locally, the machine asks, "Any orders, Captain? There's still a lot of systems I haven't checked, but I think I can move fine."

"Let's see if you can move while carrying something," Gabriel suggests. He then points to a pallet stacked with supplies that Artemis had scavenged.

Switching her own feed to view her body, Tasha takes in the strange experience of watching her own body while controlling another. Seeing it fail to move when she raises the Melchior's hand is no small amount of disturbing. In the end, Tasha decides to cut all feeds except Gabriel's, so as to not distract herself or others further. "Yes, Captain. Melchior moving out." The great machine rises, then turns towards the pallet, approaching it carefully before scanning it to see how dangerous the contents might be.

All she can tell is that the contents are unsecured, stacked boxes and cylinders of various sizes, but none are showing signs of power use or digital cognizance. It could be cat-food for all she knows.

I just hope it's not easily broken cat food, the young woman thinks as she regards the pallet. After giving the items another once over to ascertain the best way to pick them up without toppling them, the Titan kneels and reaches out with both hands and takes hold of the pallet, slowly lifting it as it stands.

It's odd, since the feeling of weight is dulled, and she can feel her arms automatically adjust to keep the load balanced. "Okay, now bring it over to the open hangar door and set it down near one of the launch rails," Gabriel says. This would involve walking through the obstacle course of other supply-laden pallets spread through the hangar.

The machines turns to regard the pathway what might be a dubious look, if not for its total lack of facial expression. Tasha slowly guides Melchior through the array of very small, very crushable equipment that pass by the feet of her Titan. "This reminds me of the time Captain Eyeshine took mum to a fancy shop in Rephidim and I came with her. They both turned me around and said, "Tash! No steal! No run around! No touchy anything! No move at all! Or say anythings!"" The giant machine turns a corner, head shaking. "It's not like I stole things that often."

There's a sudden flash of red in the view of Melchior's feet, as a small vehicle zips by between the Gryphon's legs!

The great machine comes to a sudden stop, arms struggling to keep its load from crashing to the deck below. "What was that?" The head of the machine turns to begin scanning for the tiny vehicle, Tasha deciding now would be a good chance to test the ear-connected display that lurks beyond her vision-output.

Focuses on the machine brings it into sharp view – and also causes a model of it to float off to one side, with Vartan script labeling it as a robot forklift. Tasha now becomes aware of several more traversing back and forth apparently at random across the hangar.

"Oh. Tricky!" Tasha directs the machine to pulls its foot back, then she sweeps her gaze across all the forklifts, seeing if she can target them all and monitor their position before advancing. "You planned this, didn't you?"

"I asked Artemis to make it challenging," Gabriel replies, sounding not at all smug, but probably grinning inside his helmet. A tactical display comes up, showing a rough map of the hangar and the locations of the moving forklifts. It also reminds Tasha that the hangar has tracked cranes on the walls and ceiling.

Right, dodge forklifts and cranes. Advance! Gabriel might swear the giant machine glares at him a moment just before it moves out, a forklift having just passed it. To his eye, the machine seem to be able to sense the position of the moving obstacles, because it suddenly takes a backstep seconds before a forklift speeds past from a rear angled approach. Then it's moving forward again, dodging the moving and unmoving.

It takes time, but really isn't anything Tasha is unfamiliar with from having worked in her mother's tavern, where things can go flying and rolling across the floor whenever any two crews strike up a rivalry. Once she's past the obstacle course, however, Tasha is treated to something new: the view outside the open hangar doors. The horizon of Sheol is close, close enough to touch, and Abaddon fills the sky. A few steps more and she'll be able to stick Melchior's head outside.

Staring out across the horizon, the woman takes in the awe-inspiring view. Only a few steps away, and Melchior will free … "Captain … " She doesn't think she needs to vocalize her request, if her mate understands her at all by now.

"Put the pallet down first," Gabriel says. "Don't lean out too far. Don't drool."

"Drooling functions are currently disabled," the giant machine reports. After putting the pallet down, the Melchior advances towards the open door, stepping to stick its head out in to the open air. "Ahhhh," it breathes with Tasha's voice, a great sigh of relief, of a burden discarded. The machine lifts its hands to the sky, as if to take in that it is awake, alive, and free.

The machine has no sense of smell, but its other senses let Tasha now know how hot it is outside (not very) how thick the air is (normal) and far up she is (over 100 feet from the ground). There is no wind, and the ground is raised and lowered in ripples spreading half-way to the sharply curved horizon – a legacy of Orpheus's brutal landing. Below the hangar, the distortion is at its worse, with this forward-corner of the ship almost half-buried into the tortured crust. The terrain is almost frightening.

"I look unto freedom, only to see the face of hell," the great machine remarks, sounding a little like Layth. "And, I do not mind." "Melchior, this atmosphere, terrain, and position – can we take off from here?"

"Yes," comes the reply. "However, landing in this terrain is not recommended."

"What a mess," Gabriel remarks as he comes up next to the Titan and looks down.

"I guess we better land on Orpheus only," Tasha thinks to her AI support. The Melchior's head turns to look down at Gabriel, then nods slowly. "You all made a real landing on this moon; I've never seen anything like this before. I'm surprised she is on one piece, let only that things still work!" Its head turns back to the landscape, and shakes. "It's a strange sort of hell, Captain – Gabriel. It should be frightening, but I feel good. I'm glad I'm here with you." A long pause, and then it offers, "I'm sorry I left you."

Akkers is quiet for a few moments, then says over the comm, "Fred, are you getting this? Can the tractor grade a path or do we need to go over the roof?"

Out of the corner of his eye, Gabriel can make out the machine's head lowering. It's a slight maneuver, but given it's size, an obvious one. He must still be mad, Tasha thinks behind all that armor and electronics. The eyes of the great machine look out, face unable to express any feeling. Maybe hell is me? Inwardly, she winces. Ahh … , I'm too hard on myself. And I hope you don't mind this Melchior – this is what my brain sounds like.

"Sure Cap," Fred replies. "Give me a year and explosives and I'll give you a highway. Otherwise… use the Gryphon catapult as an elevator."

"Organic brains are often filled with contradictory impulses," the AI notes.

You know us well, Tasha thinks back at her other self. Externally, Tasha asks, "Making plans, Captain? Orders?"

"We're going to have to modify the catapult, so you can carry things over the top of the hull," Gabriel says with a sigh. "Getting it down, and back to Belle will be another problem. We'll need to find a way to open up the hull over the ship, I think."

"I could take a fly past the doors and over the top of the ship, if that would help, Captain. Melchior's primary weapon can also cut through armor plating, if that's of any use." The machine turns again to regard the small figure of the man she loves, and she asks, "Still love me, Gabriel?" suddenly.

"Of course I still love you," Gabriel says out loud. "Which is why I'm worried to let you fly, but… it's a sound idea. Land on top though, and I'll get the catapult raised to lower you back inside."

"I'd kiss you right now, if I could move my beak and not crush you," the great machine promises, heartfelt. It kneels, offering its hand for Gabriel to climb on to. "Here, I'll carry you over." From here, he looks so small and fragile. I wish I could just wrap him in my wings and keep him from anything that would hurt him. The inner mind of the Titan chides itself, Nnnngh, focus Tasha. You can be sentimental later."

In a show of trust, Gabriel steps into the palm, and sits in the center. "Don't drop me," he notes.

"I will never let you fall," the great machine promises. Tasha has to resist the urge to lean forward and kiss him, knowing as she does it would only cause bodily harm. Standing, the machine moves its other hand to form a cup for her precious cargo, so even if her Titan stumbles, Gabriel will not fall. Walking, the machine asks, "So, I'll launch from the open hangar door, then scout the two locations before landing on the roof?"

"Yes, just… don't walk too fast, I don't want to get seasick," Gabriel quips.

"I don't feel daring enough to try running yet." Near the control tower, the Melchior kneels and opens its fingers to let Gabriel off. "I'll just grab the shaard in case I need it, then head for the door." Once the man's clear, the Titan rises and walks over to the giant-sized locker, opening it and removing the massive cutting weapon.

Actually holding it causes a subtle change in perception, as Melchior tells her it has entered Combat mode.

"Can you elaborate, Melchior? I feel something has shifted but can't put my proverbial finger on it," inquires the pilot of her AI. As she guides the great machine towards the hangar doors, she locks the shaard in to position on her machine's right arm. How familiar, she considers.

"Combat mode overrides certain manual impulses in order to achieve greater speed and efficiency," the AI responds. And indeed, Tasha feels more like the ship is doing the walking this time – like she felt with the power assist of her armor turned on.

"I see now. Thank you, Melchior. Please prepare Flight Mode, we will be taking off from the open door in front of us." As the Titan steadily walks towards the hangar door and the promise of flight, Tasha can feel her anticipation rise in conjunction with her anxiety. This is it, the sky! I've been waiting for this moment ever since I piloted the Themis-Skoll, and here it is, just a few steps away. Time to shine, Tasha. Concentrate. Focus on the task ahead. Be cautious, but stay calm. She'd take a deep breath if she had control or feel of her lungs. Over the comm., Tasha reports, "All crew, be advised: Titan launch in progress in: Khattan Hangar, Launch Door Two. All personnel, please get clear, now."

"Engine pressure climbing," the AI reports, and Tasha can feel something like her muscles bunching on her back. "To protect the hangar, you must dive into a glide first. Thrust cannot be directed into the hangar."

"So much for my warning – still, safety first, right?" The Titan stands at the edge of the sheer drop, looking down across the hellish landscape. "So, it's a leap of faith then? Alright, here goes!" Tasha does this the way she does in her own body, allowing the AI to compensate and adjust where her movements may not be accurate. The machine stands with arms out, wings detaching from locked position and spreading to their full length, shading a vast patch behind the machine. "JEF Titan 'Melchior,' … ," the woman calls over the comm., stepping forward until the machine is at the cliff's edge, " … Launching!" And with that, the great machine hurtles itself off the edge in to a controlled dive!

Something feels wrong right away – the tail! Tasha never used her tail for anything in flight, relying on sheer power and her wings, but the Gryphon's tail is a control surface. It takes a heart-stopping moment before it comes to life, during which time the torn up ground grows very close. Tasha can see down into the trenches, and they're deep enough to swallow Melchior whole! Just as she feels she has control, the engines roar to life and she shoots forwards, skimming the tops of the trenches and raising a tornado of dust in her wake.

"AHHHHHHHH," Tasha screams in her head, not even sure where she's directing that sound of terror as the ground hurtled towards her, bringing with it the end of everything! But as the AI reminds her that her tail fan, too, needs manipulation in order to glide, her scream dies off as she gains full manuvering control and the Melchior pulls away from the ground, rising! "Haha … " Soon, the cry of fear is replaced by a nervous, but building, laughter as the great machine roars in to the sky! "Hahaha … Ahahahahahaha! Yes! We are FREE!"

"Melchior carries a price of sixteen billion four-hundred thousand two-hundred and twelve Khattan Credits," the AI notes.

"I meant of the ground, you wonderful machine!" Tasha informs her AI, sounding all too happy. "Hahaha – I love you, Melchior!" The great machine lifts until it reaches a cruising altitude sufficient to avoid a majority of the mountainous peaks, then begins a slow turn, the pilot scrambling to get a feel for things as she goes. "This is great! Tasha to Gabriel, can you see me? Hahaha, that was terrifying! I love it!"

"I did not see it, thank Heaven," Gabriel says over the comm. "The scream nearly made me soil myself, Tasha!"

"You and me both, I nearly nosedived in to a ravine! Melchior's flight characteristics are different from mine in a lot of ways!" The woman can't help but keep chuckling, the mix of joy absolute terror still fresh in her mind. "I hope I didn't broadcast that to the others? Oh well, it was a moment worth a scream." Inside Orpheus, Gabriel can just make out the low rumble of a plasma engine as Melchior approaches overhead. "I'm preparing a flyover now, sending this to the Belle too. Standby for live feed!" The noise grows ever louder.

The upper hull of Orpheus is not smooth and featureless as it seemed from the hatch. There is a wide, long flat area that is raised, roughly outlining the hangar area. The hull curves down from there, towards the edges. Several flocks of flowers migrate across the expanse, but there are several raised structures over the hangar area, and outlines that might be large service hatches, some big enough for Melchior.

"Looks clear of debris or obvious damage," Mariel reports over the comm.

"I'm seeing a lot of hatches, do any of these look useful? Do you know where they connect to?" Now that she's starting to get the hang of powered flight, the view from the Melchior becomes steadily less shaky. "Also a lot of raised structures, can you forward me a map of the interior?"

"We don't have one ready," Mariel notes. "Nora could sort through the recovered data blocks from the Orpheus bridge though."

"I'm opening the catapult launch hatch now," Gabriel chimes in.

"Thank you, Mariel. Tell Nora that'd be great." When Gabriel reports the launch hatch is opening, Tasha initiates scanning to attempt to locate it and lock it in to view. "Captain, I'm going to continue my flyover and get a look at the main hangar's external doors, to see if there's any way to open them if we can't get Orpheus to do it for us. Is that okay, or should I return now?"

"Don't go too low," Gabriel warns. "But we don't have a visual record of them, so go ahead."

"I'll try and stay high, I don't think I can manage another scream like that in the same day," Tasha agrees. Of course, a moment later Gabriel gets a private broadcast of, "Or can I?" followed by the woman laughing to herself. Even as she teases her mate, the pilot of the Melchior begins her descend, pulling in to a low circular orbit over the ruined carrier. "I'm circling the Orpheus now, they should appear any moment now," she warns.

There is the debris piled area where the crabs (and later, they themselves) entered the ship, and then the rear with the giant engine ports, rotating Titan launch bays and the giant central hangar door. The hangar is more than high enough above the ground level to be unobstructed, and there doesn't appear to be any damage visible from this vantage. The side of the ship with the Terran and Silent-Ones zones is mostly undamaged, and there's a good view down through the transparent roof at Terratown. The nose of Orpheus is buried in a small mountain of pushed up material, except for the upper decks. Tasha can see the open hatch of the launch bay now… and see just how small it is compared to the rest of the ship. Even the open hangar could be overlooked if one wasn't looking for it.

"Gods, this ship is huge," Tasha remarks across the comm. She had known it was massive, she's traversed it several times and seen the gigantic open spaces within, but she never truly felt how big it was until she saw it in full. Great as it is, her Titan would barely be a spec upon the vessel from this height. "It's … humbling." As her machine soars on, she makes notes of two important area: Terratown and the open hatchway. "I've spotted Terratown, do you think I could access the interior by that route? I remember there being doors large enough to reach the hangar from there. Oh, and coming in for a landing above you, Captain." The woman eases her engines and brings her vehicle down. This is going to be fun, she decides as the deck grows ever closer. Sticky hooves – not too fast!

"I think we may have an external cargo hatch there," Gabriel says, as Melchior swoops down. In flight, Tasha hadn't really noticed that her legs were locked in place, but now that she's landing she feels them move on their own. The angle of attack changes as the great wings pivot, the back arches and the tail raises. The hooves set down with what should be a gentle forward motion, as the jet wash blows the seed-poop from the flowers away. There's a loud CLUNK as the Titan touches down, and the magnetic pads in the feet lock it down.

A little stunned at the relative calm of landing, Tasha stands Melchior where it is as she takes a moment to gather herself. "Well," she murmurs over the comm., "that went pretty well!" " Thank you Melchior, Combat mode please." Turning, the Titan heads towards the lift, pausing to check if it's up, then steps on to it. "Landing complete. We are now on the lift, and ready to descend." Behind her, the great machine's wings fold and set, locking in.

Other restraints close around Melchior, securing it to the cradle before it descends back into the Gryphon bay.

All in all, Tasha feels well pleased with herself as she thinks back over her first time piloting a Titan outside a simulator. Top on her list of accomplishments is the fact that she and Gabriel are not dead, followed closely by the Melchior  not being destroyed, then nothing important being stepped on, and so on. She's especially happy with her ground and air maneuvering, even if both had high levels of initial difficulty! "You know Captain, I think I'm proud of this. Despite all the hangups, I'm proud of what I did today. I never quite feel like I do well enough, but at least today, I think I'm okay for once," she confides as the elevator descends.

"Well, it is user-friendly technology," Gabriel gibes. "Are you going to be able to exit it okay, or do you need help?"

"Do you mean, will I hug it and cling to it like Blammo? I might – you better come up!" Were she seated, Tasha would recline back in ti her chair about now. "Melchior, can you explain the Interface Depths for me now, please?"

"Surface Depth allows for some neural control but not feedback," Tasha is told. "It would be like piloting a big machine, using virtual controls and windows within the cockpit. Intermediate Depth has more feedback, but also has many channels of information provided visually. Full Depth employs full haptic feedback and neural communications."

"Thank you Melchior. Take me to Surface Depth and open the airlock for Captain Akkers, please," Tasha commands her Titan. A pause, and she adds, "Oh and, thank you for letting me pilot. It was worth the wait; we're an amazing machine.'"

Another thought occurs to the woman as she waits for the neural link to drop to a lower level of immersion. "Melchior, Doctor Caravelli mentioned something about the cybernetic wires in my brain moving towards multiple areas, such as the inner brain. While he's sure it's probably nothing, I thought I'd better ask you, too. Did you happen to implant any memories or any such thing?" The woman knows this is risky to ask while she's still connected, but she's trusted this machine with her life and the life of the one she loves, and it hasn't failed her. Asking now is a show of respect and trust; she just hopes her trust isn't misguided. "And I hate to ask, but there it is. After all, I don't claim to know all procedures and protocols."

"It was necessary to tap into the primal areas in order to read and express visceral and emotional responses to enhance survival reactions," is the reply. "I cannot imprint memories unless you make specific preparations to do so and have uploaded the memory to be implanted."

"That you Melchior, that's good to know. I'm sorry to have had to ask; please forgive me. Now if you're ready, Initiate Surface Depth." And it's true, Tasha is relieved and sorry to have had to ask. While she knows she shouldn't treat the Melchior as a friend, she finds it difficult not to.

The tunnel of chaos makes another brief appearance, and Tasha finds herself back in control of her own body as the restraints and neural arm are retracted. Her limbs feel a bit stiff, and her legs… well, something is odd there. "Tasha, how do you squeeze down this… phew!" Gabriel says, halfway down the access tube before he stops and fans the air.

"Umm." Tasha peers down, but is unable to see anything past her armor. Easing back in her seat, she blinks several times. "I … Gabriel?" Turning, she spots the man in the entrance aperture, eyes widening as she remembers she opened the airlock for him. "I … I guess this spoils the mood for the other idea I had for in here, doesn't it?" Then, she tries to stand – forgetting her center of gravity has changed again and she's still connected -- and promptly falls right over!