Of course, had anyone thought it through, there was a serious flaw with this plan. With all the intelligent people on the ground and up in orbit, you’d think someone would have realized it, and yet mistakes like this happen all the time in spaceflight operations. Like a magician’s sleight of hand, it was right there in front of Kinoshita’s face and he never saw it coming.
Two hours had passed since the rendezvous began. Mangosteen made a full circuit before dropping from orbit fifteen hundred kilometers to the east of the Ogasawara Islands, out in the Pacific to the southwest of Tokyo.
Though the Gs were still relatively light, they could hear the sound of friction on the hull growing steadily louder.
“It’s starting, Akane.”
“Yeah…”
“Well, once again a whole lot happened, but in the end, it worked out. Right?”
“We did save Orpheus, at least.”
“Hey, we did a great job! Everyone did. I was impressed with you, Akane. You’re a full-fledged astronaut already.”
“Really? Th-thanks.” Akane’s cheeks blushed pink.
That’s my girl, Yukari thought proudly.
The vibrations increased and the light outside the window was tinged with orange. They were back in gravity now. One G…2 G… 3 G…
Yukari grabbed the control stick with her right hand, then placed her left hand over it. I can do this. If I use my other wrist to hold my hand up, I can maintain control.
“Akane, checkpoint one?”
No answer.
“Akane, checkpoint numbers please!”
Akane said nothing.
“Hey, Akane…no way!” Yukari could practically hear the blood drain from her face. Akane had lost consciousness the moment the G began to rise, just as she had on takeoff. “Yo! Akane! Don’t do this to me! Wake up, Akane! Wake up! What do I do? What angle? Hey! Heeey!”
Yukari couldn’t even lift her arm to nudge Akane by that point. She screamed. “Fine! I’ll just do it by instinct! Hey, as long as we’re alive, who cares where we land!”
All she could remember was that she had to raise the nose and lower it three times. She pulled up and instantly felt like she’d left the atmosphere, but the G picked right up again. When she felt like she might not be able to take any more, she changed the angle again, and the G dropped off. Akane still wasn’t waking up. The G began to climb again. Up, down, up, down. It was like a never-ending nightmare.
Yukari’s arms felt leaden with fatigue. She couldn’t feel anything in her fingers, and everything looked blurry.
Enough…I’ve done enough, right? That’s all I have to do…right? You can give me that medal now…I’m ready.
It’s all up to you now, Mangosteen. Just don’t forget to open that parachute.
Yukari gave up trying. Her hands let go of the control stick.
And she slept.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…Unidentified aircraft, this is Tokyo Control. Please respond. Aircraft of unidentified origin flying over the Sea of Japan, respond immediately.”
Yukari’s eyes fluttered open.
Huh? What happened? Did we make it…?
All she could see through the porthole was blue sky.
“Aircraft of unidentified origin flying over the Sea of Japan, this is Tokyo Control. Please respond immediately.”
Tokyo Control? Did we make another half orbit during reentry?
“Uh, hey, Tokyo Control! This is the spacecraft Mangosteen. We read you.”
“Space…what!? You again? Yukari?”
“Er, yeah, it’s me. Sorry to bother you again like this.”
“What’s your current altitude, Mangosteen? And destination, if you even know.”
“We’re at twenty-two kilometers or so. Our splashdown target was in the South Pacific, but…”
“Roger that. We’ll play it just like last time.”
“I think that’s wise, yes.”
“We’ll give the police and the fire department and the coast guard and the Self-Defense Force the heads up.”
“Thanks for that. Any idea where it looks like we’re falling this time?”
“You’re on pretty much the same course you were on last time, actually. Heading for Kanagawa, maybe Tokyo Harbor or Sagami.”
“Again?”
“That’s how it looks from here.”
There was a jolt as the orbiter’s parachute opened.
“How could we possibly be landing in the same place?” Yukari wondered aloud. “Don’t tell me we’re going to hit Nellis again. That would be too much.” She shook her head. “No, that’s not happening. That curse was a one-time deal. I’m through with that.”
She switched from the fuel cells to the shielded batteries and purged O2 and H2.
Life support systems, off.
External ventilation activated.
She checked the periscope.
Yokohama.
✦ ✦ ✦
With a tremendous woosh! of water, Mangosteen landed.
“Akane! Wake up! We’re here! I don’t know where here is, but we’re here!”
“Hunh…Yukari? What? We’re back? Did we land in water?”
“We did. I’m not entirely sure it’s the ocean, but we definitely hit water.”
“Wow.”
Is that all you have to say? Yukari thought as she undid her harness and opened the hatch. The first thing she saw was a small sign that read: THE DRAGONFLIES THANK YOU FOR KEEPING OUR POND CLEAN!
That’s it. Nothing will ever surprise me again. If some supernatural force is going through all this trouble to play an elaborate joke on me, I surrender. Why fight it?
“Akane?” Yukari closed the hatch. “If you’re sick of this whole astronaut thing, now’s your chance to go back to school.”
“No thanks.” Her cheeks were still blushing—lingering excitement from just before she had passed out. “I think I know where I need to be to learn. I need to be in space.”
It was a grade-A student sort of thing to say. She was ready to keep going, even though she had passed out both on takeoff and reentry.
“All students return to your classrooms immediately!”
The clamor outside was growing louder.
Not the principal again. Wait, what was it Matsuri said?
“You know someone else who would want to curse that school?”
Someone else…
Yukari’s eyes darted over to Akane.
“You didn’t!”
“Didn’t what?”
“You cursed Nellis Academy!”
“What? That’s ridiculous. I didn’t curse any—” Akane’s mouth clapped shut mid-sentence. A single bead of sweat formed on her forehead. “I don’t curse. I just don’t.”
“You sure about that?”
Yukari stared at the other girl. Akane just sat there, sweat rolling down her face.