THICK CARPETING COVERED the floor of the principal’s office. Rows of golden figurines and plaques—trophies from various sporting events—lined the walls. Some calligraphy in a frame read NEVER GIVE UP. A large, heavy double-winged desk made out of some dark mahogany-like wood dominated the middle of the room.
“Um, you wanted to see me?” Yukari announced herself as she stepped gingerly into the room, her muddy space suit boots leaving tracks behind her.
Across the desk from her sat a man in silver-rimmed glasses, sparse hair combed in neat lines across the dome of his head. Blue veins were clearly visible across his brow, and the tension in his face sent ripples through the air. He spoke.
“Come to pay a visit to your old school?”
“Well, er, actually—”
“Oh, we have some miscreants at our school who think they can drive up in their sports cars or motorbikes, but this is the first time we’ve had someone in a spaceship!”
“Um, I’d sure hope—”
“And in that attire! Miss Morita, have you no shame?”
Yukari sighed. It wasn’t like she was wearing a skintight space suit on purpose.
“You think you’re above the rules, is that it? Or is this just another part of your vendetta against me?”
“Excuse me? Vendetta? Sir, I—”
“Yes, I was the one who expelled you. But I only did what any educator in my position would have done! This school strictly forbids our students from holding part-time jobs, and you did so, and quite publicly, I might add. How was I to set an example for the other students if I didn’t punish you? That’s how I explained my position to the regional school board—a position they approved, I’ll have you know.”
It was true, to a point. When she had first joined the Solomon Space Association program, they’d taken her on as a part-time employee. She had gone through the proper channels and applied for a semester off with the intention of returning in the third quarter—except that her unexpected expulsion hit before the paperwork was approved.
Now, if she had been expelled because she wasn’t taking her classes seriously, she could understand that. But to be expelled for working a part-time job just because it was against the rules? That really ticked her off.
“Did you call me in here to make excuses?”
“What excuses?” the principal snorted. “Clearly I was right about your intentions today.”
“I’m not here on some vendetta. Our landing in the school pond was a complete coincidence.”
“You expect me to believe that out of all the places on Earth where you could have landed, your coming down on school property—your very own school’s property—was a coincidence? Ridiculous!”
“I was as surprised as you are, sir, but the fact is that you just can’t set an orbiter capsule down wherever you want to. Especially not when there are complications.”
“Doesn’t the space shuttle over in America land on its own runway every time? That’s pretty pinpoint.”
“That’s because the space shuttle has flight controls. On our ship, once you open the parachute, you’re at the mercy of the wind currents—”
“Nice try, but you won’t pull the wool over this educator’s eyes!”
“Well, I’m sorry, but you have no idea what you’re talking about.” Yukari stamped her foot. “And what’s the big idea expelling me just because I broke one little rule!”
“Rules are rules, Miss Morita. And it is of the utmost importance to us that all of our girls learn the rules by which they must lead their lives before we send them out into society—”
“But I didn’t want to leave. I wanted to come back!” There was an edge to Yukari’s voice. “I was going to come back here after my first flight. I was going to ace my classes, pass my tests, get into a topflight university, and land a glamorous job at some company somewhere. I was going to have a normal life!” She was practically raging now.
A look of fear flashed across the principal’s face. “Oh, you’re on a vendetta, all right. You resent me.”
“Of course I resent you! You’re ruining my life on a—on a technicality!”
The principal waggled his finger at her. “I know what you’re up to, Morita. You’re going to use this newfound fame of yours to turn the media against me, aren’t you. You’re trying to get me fired from my job!”
Yukari blinked. “Huh? Of course I’m not.”
“But you could if you tried. That’s why you landed here, isn’t it? This is a thinly veiled threat. You were trying to teach me a lesson.”
Yukari rolled her eyes. “The only lesson I want you to learn here is that you Can’t. Control. Where. An Orbiter. Splashes. Down!”
Yukari was in mid-rant when she heard a tremendous roar, the kind of sound you can feel in the pit of your stomach. The windows rattled and the room shook. She looked out to see an SDF navy helicopter hovering right outside the window.
“What, now the navy’s here? What’s all that racket?”
The helicopter was a Sikorsky MH-53E, the largest helicopter operating in Japanese airspace, with three 4400 hp gas turbine engines and a main rotor twenty-four meters in diameter. The local police, coast guard, and fire department wouldn’t have a chopper that size. They must have called into the base for it when they heard what was coming down.
The windows of the building across the courtyard filled with faces.
Behind her, the principal was screeching. “You called the SDF in, didn’t you? Is there no end to your ambition, child?”
“I had nothing to do with it, really.”
“Well you better get them out of here before the media descend upon us. I won’t have you disrupting my classes any more than you already have!”
“Will you just shut up and let me deal with this?” Yukari pulled the transceiver from its pouch at her waist and thumbed the talk button. “This is the SSA spaceship Rambutan, hailing the navy helicopter currently over Nellis Academy. Come in, please.”
“Rambutan, this is Big Bird with the SDF navy minesweeping division. We’re here at the request of the Solomon Space Association, over.”
“Thanks for coming.”
“Not a problem. We’d like to get the retrieval started. Should we lower our men?”
“That’s all right, we can handle it. I need you to take my copilot up in your sling now and myself after I get the orbiter hooked up.”
“Roger that.”
“It’ll take me about ten minutes to get everything ready. Can you hold position for that long?”
“We’ll manage.”
“Where are you taking us, incidentally?”
“Our orders are to take you to the Space Lab in Sagamihara.”
It looked like they’d be reporting in to the experiment lead sooner than she thought. “Roger that.”
Yukari dashed out of the room, leaving the principal to work on his embolism alone.
Back in the biology lab, Akane had her face pressed to the fish container. She was tapping on the glass with one finger.
When she saw Yukari come in, the other girl smiled. “Your goldfish are doing great—”
“Akane! Thanks for rigging that up, but now we have to get it to the space laboratory by helicopter. Think you can modify it to run on battery power?”
“Uh, I don’t see why not…”
“Right now?”
“O-okay!”
Akane searched the shelves, pulling out some dry cell batteries and a battery case, which she used to switch her contraption over to DC power.
“What should I put it in? A cardboard box, maybe?”
“Anything—whatever works.”
Akane carefully placed the fish tank and assorted apparatuses inside a large cardboard box she found on another of the shelves, fixing everything in place with several strips of packaging tape. “I think that should do it.”
“Er…really?” Yukari took a dubious look inside the box.
“I hope so,” Akane replied, though she didn’t sound very sure of herself.
A troubling thought occurred to Yukari. What happens if it breaks midflight? Would I be able to fix it myself?
The flight would be short enough, but any little mishap and the whole experiment could be a wash. She looked up at the other girl. “Think you could come with me?”
“What?” Akane’s eyes went wide.
“I want you to ride in the helicopter and help me take care of the goldfish. Just in case.”
“Well, I—”
“Pretty please?”
“I mean, I do want the goldfish to be safe, but—” Akane lowered her eyes. “I have classes…”
“Oh, who gives a crap about this crappy school and its crappy classes!” Yukari barked, surprised at her own anger.
Wow, I really am a delinquent.
She softened her voice. “Well, look, I’m sure classes are very important, but you don’t understand. These goldfish—the scientist working on these spent fifteen years getting ready for this one single experiment.”
“What? Fifteen whole years?”
“Yeah. Space experiments are usually so short you wouldn’t think it, but apparently, the getting-ready part takes forever. That’s why I really need to see this through, and we’re so close. It’d blow hard if something happened now after all those poor fish have been through.”
“No kidding…”
Akane gripped her fists so tightly, her knuckles turned white. A moment passed, then her face shot up. “I’ll go!”
“That’s the spirit!”