It seems to come an instant too late. The massive ten-sided pyramid of the Chrysanthemum Palace Hotel, rising more than forty stories into the cloudy haze of the afternoon, swiftly swells large, then immense. They seem like a missile diving directly for the roof of the pyramid. The landing pads atop the roof seem about to swallow the nose of the aircraft. Then, suddenly, the nose of the ship kicks upward and the cabin floor is shoving against Machiko's legs so hard she must wedge herself into the doorway at the flight cabin's rear to keep upright.