I bend my body to pass under the shutter and get inside. The hangar is very huge. Only the part near the entrance is bright, whereas the most other parts of the facility are dominated by the monstrous darkness. The ceiling is as dark as the night sky and high above the floor as well, while the ceiling is only different from the night sky in a way that it is starless.
A lamp and a spotlight. I figure out that the motor sound is coming from a compressor placed nearby a wall. At the brightest part of the room, a man is standing. He is wearing a white, oil-stained jumpsuit, and is holding a ratcheting socket wrench in his hand. He is also wearing goggles, probably for welding. In front of him, a straight-eight engine is suspended in the air with the support from a chain hoist and a crane. Is he in the middle of the process of putting it down? Or, has he just lifted it up? Although a cart is on the floor, the engine is not on it yet. The nearest aircraft is about 10 meters away from us, into the deeper part of the hangar. Its cowling is already removed and the engine compartment at the rear-end is exposed. Its frame, punched with circular holes, is reflecting the dull light. It appears that the engine of the aircraft has been unloaded.
As I am approaching the plane, he finally notices me.
“Hey, good morning.” He smiles gently while lifting the goggles upward. He is still looking young.
“Have you been working all night?” I ask.
“Do I know you?”
“I was just assigned to this post yesterday.”
“Oh, then, this is the one you will get on.”
“Is this mine?” Again, I take a look at the aircraft in the deeper part of the hangar.
The man lifts the goggles all the way to his forehead, and gazes at me. Then, he searches the pocket of his jumpsuit, picks up a cigarette, and lights it by striking a match.
“Smoking is not allowed here, is it?” I ask. I can smell gasoline in the vicinity.
“Do you like aluminum?” He speaks, after exhaling the smoke with vigor. “It’s thoroughly persistent. Despite the property, it melts easily.”
“It’s a type of alloy, correct?”
“Even though it becomes an alloy, its twisted characteristic stays the same.” He grins. I can see his white front teeth.
“By the way ..., umm, what are you doing now?” I ask him an important question. I should have the right to ask him anything about the plane that I am assigned to aviate, I think.
“You may not want to ask that.”
“What do you mean?”
“You sometimes gain the advantage when you do not know your limit.”
“I wonder how having any advantage at times can possibly help me ...” I laugh.
“I mean, you can free yourself from the burden. Isn’t it true?”
“Freeing myself? Even if that is the case, I see no point to that. It is not that I run a marathon or participate in some sports like that.” I say jokingly, adding a little friendliness to the tone.
“Acts of killing, right?” He exhales the smoke.
“No ..., it’s just my job.”
“Killing is a job for the assassin, you say?”
“Yeah ...” I take a look at a container nearby, just so that I can take my eyes off from him. “May I sit down here?”
“It’s not under my jurisdiction.” He looks sideways at me and nods.
“Whose jurisdiction?”
“The jurisdiction of the one who wants to sit down on it.”
“What kind of person is the boss of this facility?”
“I think you should go back to your room soon to get more sleep. In short, I mean ... You know, my advice.”
“Thanks. You look like you are repairing the engine, though ... Am I not right?” I ask him, while sitting down, “What’s the problem? I think I should learn that from you.”
“Well, I’m not sure.”
“Please provide me with information.”
“Have you ever experienced the aviation of aircrafts that are of the same type as this one?”
“Several times, even though they were not armed with weapons.” I answer.
Its type was Sanka Mark B. The latest model, Mark D is scheduled to enter the service shortly. I have had some experiences of aviating the unarmed versions for test flights and scouting missions. I do not remember it too well. I mean, I remember the feel of the airplane very well, but do not recall specifically the missions I had to accomplish. If my memory is correct, it was when I belonged to the previous company.
“Do you know by how much it can be loaded with?”
“My guess is that it is 35 percent.”
“Thirty.”
It is the weight ratio of weapons and ammunition to the entire aircraft.
“It’s heavy.” I utter.
“It just lacks the power. This engine can’t generate more power than that. It does not work well at around 6,000, the crucial value.”
“It is the problem of engine breathing, isn’t it?”
“It’s because the intake route switches over. That’s not a problem if you know it.”
“I have enough experience to know that. I know the secret technique of closing the throttle once at that moment.”
“Hey, who told you that?”
I do not answer the question. The one who taught me that is a very precious being for me. I have made a vow to speak the name only when I see the one, face to face.
“Everyone should know that.” I reply abruptly.
“Right. All of those who are alive know that. If they do not know that, then they are not alive now.” He is not smiling.
“Then, what are you repairing?” I am getting back to where we were a moment ago.
“I am making the engine actually breathe in the middle of its breathing problem.” He smiles again, while showing his white teeth. “Here.” He points at the side of the valve. “I am making sure that, at the very moment of the switching over of the intake route, the pressure is released through this hole. The intake is momentarily delayed. A simple modification. I mean, the secret technique you just mentioned a moment ago is now deemed unnecessary.”
“Aren’t you adding an unnecessary modification?” I become a bit worried.
“Hey ..., never close the throttle for the sake of solving the engine breathing issue. Thrust it up in a single burst.”
“Many have been killed by doing so.” I utter in a cold tone.
“Right. That is the reason why I have just modified the engine so that you won’t be beaten. Believe it.”
“Believe what?”
“Your luck.”
“I have never been beaten. I don’t need the modification. Could you please put it back to the original condition?”
“No. I have already punched the hole.”
I tut, and then sigh.
I have been having a bad hunch, as if I were becoming a seal stranded on a floe of drift ice.
In the first place, this assignment is not the one with the better workplace conditions and incentives. It is almost equivalent to being told that this is the place to die. Of course, I know the faces of the ones who want that to be the case for me. In addition, I do not think that I have made no mistake. I am reminded of the fact that all of my friends who had learned of my situation said nothing to me when they sent me off. They were taciturn like roots of an aged huge tree.
“Trust me. Give the engine the extra thrust in a moment expressly, when the nose of the aircraft is pitching upward.”
“Yeah,” I respond bluntly.
I will rarely experience such a situation.
More than that, when I am in the moment, the chance is that I will have forgotten all the advices. Words will die a moment before the human’s death.
However, I would probably rather have faith in his words than I believe in my own luck. I am thinking so at the time.