"Just plug that in there, would you?"

"Bad news, lawman. Signal's going down. These waves are receding. Time to let go..."

"... Firewalker? Are you there?"

"This is it: Final question time. I can already feel our alignment getting shaky..."

There is so much you wish you could ask, but you probably only have time for one or two questions before the signal is lost...

You allow the broken hunk of metal to clatter to the ground. It wasn't clear to you it did anything anyway...

"Nein, Liebling!"

"Huh. Sounds like that was a false move. Signal's even worse now."

"That piece of junk didn't even work!"

"Probably because you broke it."

He's right. This was your responsibility...

"I'm going to turn all the dials to maximum. Probably gonna burn out our power supply, but that might be the only way..."

A maelstrom of sound, swirling and swirling around an invisible point. It's mounting, mounting...

"... nicht mehr derselbe ist, seit er auf einem Luftschiff aus Graad zurückgekommen ist..."

"... Firewalker? Please respond..."

It's too much! Your ear drums are throbbing, about to burst!

"... a long winter... Long and cold..."

... and then, nothing.

"Try it now."

"Coalition Warship Archer. This is RCM Officer Firewalker. Please acknowledge."

...

"This is... Warship Archer. We are acknowledging and accepting you... though we're still getting quite a bit of interference..."

"This is as good as it's going to get. I'll keep us aligned as long as I can, but this isn't a social mission, you got it?"

"I'm sorry! I was trying to do good."

"The thing is, trying's not enough. Now it's the results that count."

"It's not my fault the statue broke."

"Look, I'm not a blame-layer. I'm just saying, things were bad, and now they're worse."

You allow the broken hunk of metal to clatter to the ground. It wasn't clear to you it did anything anyway...

Look down.

A few of the idle lorry drivers and strike breakers gesture at you with their cigarettes, more out of curiosity than anything else. From the window of one of the adjacent apartment buildings, an older woman leans out, her heavy breasts sagging...

She yells a single word you can't make out, and then shuts the window with a violent thunk.

Down below a little doll-sized lieutenant is looking up, shielding his eyes. He's worried for you.

Look at the horse.

This faithful steed cuts a dashing figure with the replica sabre between its teeth.

This faithful steed is in nearly as poor a condition as its rider.

Look up.

A clear sky. The kind of day where anything might happen...

Across the river, you can see Coalition Warship Archer tracing its gradual circuit above Revachol East.

The sky is gray and overcast. Somehow, the raindrops seem to fall more slowly from this angle...

Through the scrim, you can just make out the shadow of Coalition Warship Archer a few kilometres to the east.

A clear night sky. The stars make for a brilliant display...

Across the river, you can see the lights of Coalition Warship Archer floating above Revachol East.

The sky is opaque with dark clouds. Somehow, the raindrops seem to fall more slowly from this angle...

You turn to the east, but the visibility is quite poor. You see no sign of Coalition Warship Archer, though you know it can't be too far away.

"What good is that supposed to do?"

"Hmmm. Good question. Maybe he's saying we're casting too wide a net, got to narrow our receiving band, so we pick up the Big Bad without the spookers."

"Yeah, maybe it helped a little, but the overall picture is still pretty soft core, at best."

"Are you partying up there?"

"The connections look fine to me."

"Huh. I don't know what to do then..."

Clean the connections with the ammonia.

"Glad that stuff came in handy after all..."

"Wow, law-science comes through."

"Well? What's it look like?"

"The whole statue's covered in weird oils. I don't think it's good for the connections."

"That's not good. We should've cleaned the centaur-man first. Pretty rude that we didn't..."

"The connections are pretty dirty, but I don't have anything to clean them with."

Truth be told, you have no idea what you're looking for. It just looks like a cord attached to a piece of metal. You pick at the colourful rubber jacketing, not sure what else to do...

"That was pretty bad. I hope nobody saw it."

"Yes, you're a natural gymnast, detective. Now would you like to do what you got up there to do?"

"This cop's got serious crab-like properties. Must be some kind of law-crab."