Embrace the Fall (Part 2)

The first time someone knelt to address me, I was at Nelle’s side. In middle school, we were old enough to know it wasn’t something to laugh at, but not quite mature enough to hold in our snickers.

And what could that man, space baron or count or whatever he was, do? By the time I reached my second year of high school, I’d come to understand the irrational embarrassment of someone younger than you finding you ridiculous. But right then, we were the young ones. Also, Nelle was a princess.

He shuffled off, color in his face. Maybe later, when our titles had become symbolic and lost their power to dismiss powerful men with a childish giggle, we should have been thankful it didn’t cause an interplanetary incident.

* * *

To be honest, the whole “becoming an honorary member of the EAC and going with Nelle to the wind farm” thing had me worried.

There were three reasons for this.

One, and least important, I still didn’t know if the club actually had an honorary membership program.

Two, I kept remembering the club room’s enthusiasm when Nelle had made the announcement and having visions of being stoned to death or burned at the stake for stealing the opportunity from a more deserving individual. For instance, someone who was actually a member of the club.

Three—

“Hello, Annin.”

I jumped at Pera’s soft voice slicing through the near silence of the library like the wire around the neck of that one astronaut who’d been murdered by a teammate during a mission. It had been big news a few years back.

Assassination added itself to the collection of visions of my demise.

“Hi, Pera,” I said, slowly pivoting in my chair, away from the worksheet I’d been trying to finish before the end of the study hall period. She stood just over my shoulder, looking down at me with her mouth small and neutral. On any other person, an expression like that would have seemed perfectly non-threatening.

Or maybe I was just feeling guilty facing down the Experimentation and Analysis Club member whose spot on the wind farm trip I’d taken.

“I heard an interesting rumor,” Pera said.

“Oh?”

“Yes.”

“What kind of rumor?”

I wasn’t trying to play dumb, even though I had a pretty good idea what the so-called rumor was. It was just that Pera’s stoicism made talking with her feel like playing conversational poker—last person to show their cards wins.

That’s how poker works, right?

“If it’s true…” Pera said, ignoring my question.

The silence that followed clearly indicated I was expected to provide an answer.

I swallowed. So much for keeping my cards close to my chest.

“Apparently, there is an honorary membership program.”

Pera said nothing, purple eyes unblinking through the round lenses of her glasses.

“As a result of accepting honorary membership, it seems I am now accompanying the club president to the wind farm,” I finished.

“In the rumor I heard, you were the one who suggested the idea.”

“Does it really count as a rumor if Nelle told you herself?”

“If it’s true…” Pera said, again ignoring my question.

I held up my hands, surrendering.

“I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry!”

Three—

The third reason I’d been worried about the whole situation was that I had indeed “meant it,” even though the suggestion had come out of my mouth before I’d realized what I was saying or why I was saying it. Not that it had been some lovestruck burst of passion or some sneaky, indirect way of trying to arrange a romantic (if a wind farm could be considered romantic) date.

It had simply seemed like the most natural thing to say. 

That said, I had also backtracked quickly. If Nelle had shared that part with Pera, maybe I could plead for mercy.

On the other hand, I had also very intentionally accepted the offer of honorary membership—and, in corollary, committed to the theft of the wind farm visit.

Even if it had been at Nelle’s insistence.

In conclusion, I was a dead man walking.

“If it’s true,” Pera said for a third time, marching through my protests like an FTL spacecraft breezing through humanity’s previous understanding of the laws of physics. “Then I’m glad.”

“… Eh?”

“This project is, without a doubt, the EAC’s most significant accomplishment. Therefore, it is also Nelle’s most significant accomplishment. I think she will be happy to be able to share it with you.”

I opened my mouth to reply—not that I was going to be able to overcome the disorientation of Pera’s unexpected words—but I never got the chance to make a fool of myself.

“That said,” Pera continued, expression severe.

I swallowed again. All of a sudden, I felt the conversational wire back around my neck.

“That said?” I croaked.

“That said, there remains the matter of summer break.”

“…?”

“You seem confused, Annin.”

A more accurate description of my mental state in that moment would have been “recently blasted by a solar storm.”

“I… I guess I just don’t see what it has to do with what we were just talking about,” I managed.

Pera’s eyebrows slanted as if I’d just said something stupid.

“The visit to the wind farm falls during summer break, which begins in a few days.”

“Yes…?”

“So, it stands to reason that it must be coordinated with our other summer plans.”

At this point, my poor brain cells basically gave up, the same way an untrained runner’s legs might fail them a few miles into a marathon.

“We have… other summer plans?” I asked weakly. “Already?”

“That,” Pera answered. “Is the reason I have come to solicit your cooperation.”

For centuries of civilized society, people wrestled with a fateful question at the end of each spring: mountains, or beach? Those with sufficient strength of body, the spirit of exploration, and an invigorating connection to the natural world chose the mountains. For everyone else, there was the beach.

I envied the simple lives of those not-so-far-in-the-past beings.

Why? Because for those of my epoch in the history of humanity, an unholy third option had been added: Space.

The General Public Space Station, or GPSS, stood as the crown jewel of the planet’s non-specialized space stations. A marvel of engineering, innovation, and cooperation, it was open to anyone and everyone. However, due to its popularity, actually getting to experience its space-centric entertainment, shopping, and other offerings usually required joining a year-long wait list.

Luckily for Pera—or, rather, for Deji, on whose behalf she had sought me out— our little group happened to include two individuals whose “contributions to the welfare of humanity” had been judged to merit at-will access to the GPSS.

I stood at a railing along the bank of oxyglass windows facing toward the depths of space, watching giant humanoid robots manipulate supply crates across the black depths of the solar system.

Did you know your fear of heights won’t kick in if there’s no planet’s surface to look down at?

“I appreciate your assistance,” Pera said, walking up beside me. “With you on board, we had a critical majority with which to handle the… opposing elements.”

“You know describing Elliso that way makes you sound like some kind of ruthless government agent, right?” I said.

A hint of a smile brushed across her face.

“Hm. Is that so?”

“Yeah."

It hadn’t exactly been a hostage situation, but Pera hadn’t let me return to my worksheet until I’d agreed to side with her and Deji in convincing Elliso to go to the GPSS.

In the end, though, it had been his latest flirting partner’s interest that had overcome his resistance.

Thus, I’d gritted my teeth as our group of six—Nelle, Pera, Deji, Elliso, Mavana (the aforementioned flirting partner), and myself—had ascended the space elevator to arrive at the GPSS. It was the only way to access the GPSS, and no schemes could get me out of it. A pretend nap, justified by a feigning a poor night’s sleep, was the best I could manage.

“So,” Nelle said as the rest joined Pera and I on the other side of the entry gates where we’d sent our luggage off to the residence pods. “What’s on the agenda now that we’re here?”

Given our multi-day stay on the geostationary space station, her chosen disguise for the trip up was a bit closer to her everyday attire, even if plenty deceptive: knee-length white skirt over black tights, white-trimmed black sailor uniform top with a matching white neckerchief and shoes. I didn’t know which school she’d borrowed the monochrome aesthetic from, but it sure wasn’t ours.

There’d been a bit of a debate as to whether the blue cloche hat she’d chosen to hide her hair matched the rest of the outfit, but in the end Nelle’s insistence had won out.

Personally, I thought it might have been a miss if not for the thin green ribbon wound around it.

“It’s Dej’s trip,” Elliso said. “So I’m in for whatever if Mav is.”

“I’ve got something you guys are going to love,” Deji said.

Call it intuition, foresight, or a sudden pattern recognition that my friends always seemed to unintentionally choose activities badly suited to someone with a fear of heights, but I knew before Deji went on that I was not, in fact, going to love it.