“What...?”
After the ludicrous commotion and getting swamped in complicated office procedures, it was only once Terra was alone on the repatriation ship en route to Idaho that she returned to her senses.
“Die-san?”
Diode wasn't there. Nobody occupied the seats to her left and right. While there were five or six other passengers on official business seated in the cabin rows, the silver hair she had grown accustomed to wasn’t among them. She had been taken away.
In theory, Terra was aware of that, but the reality that the girl wouldn’t be near her had only just started setting in. That it took this long was only natural. Not half a day ago, she was celebrating their joint return and discussing their plans for the future. Taking her eyes off her companion for a few minutes had been the moment of opportunity to spirit the girl away from her side—and now, the two no longer shared the same air. On the contrary, their shared time together was brought to a sudden end as they receded from one another at a relative speed of more than 10 km/s. Terra’s mind couldn’t accept that easily; doing so was impossible. That, however, was the harsh truth of the matter.
“Die...san...”
Terra looked around for Diode again for a while but eventually covered her face and started sobbing.
The wool had been pulled over their eyes just after arriving at the base ship Table of Johor. The Insolvent, the Trades’ huge helium harvesting ship, entered port without issue. Terra and Diode were welcomed as guests of honor. Just when the two started to think the Trades were nicer than they originally thought and walked through the gate, they were summoned by staff in protective suits. They were apparently there to provide a checkup for the two accident victims.
Believing that only made sense, the two followed the staff to an examination room. They called Diode in first. Terra waited outside in the corridor for about eight minutes before an official spoke to her.
“If you need any ceremonial tools, we do lend them out. There is a fee, though.”
Seeing Terra’s confusion, the official tilted their head and peeled the plate reading “Examination Room” off the soundproof door. The text concealed beneath it read “Multi-denominational Prayer Room.” Terra stepped into the deserted room. The rear door had been left open. The needles of the main star pointer slowly spun as it lay on top of a prayer rug spread for worshipping travelers.
Terra only recalled fragments of what came next. She constantly tried to call Diode with the minicell as she ran through the corridors shouting her name. She opened every door she encountered, authorized for entry or not. With Diode nowhere to be seen and no response on the minicell, Terra felt time flow away like a jetstream. Suddenly, she felt three people restrain her, telling her to stop because it was pointless. They had already taken Diode. The culprits were Gendo who were delegated to be on-site long-term—or, rather, they argued they weren’t culprits, as they claimed to be within their legal rights to repatriate a woman who had jumped ship without permission to their clan. That argument made no sense to Terra at all.
Her mind went blank afterwards. Terra would have gotten Diode back if it had happened in front of her, even if it meant being forceful, but the girl was carted off in a Gendo ship stationed there before she even knew it. By that point there was nothing she could do.
Others around her grasped the situation and initiated the requisite procedures on their own while Terra collapsed into a seat as the strength left her body. The bits and pieces Terra absorbed from the ensuing exchanges were things like claims of sovereign infringement and demands for reparation directed towards the Gendo. The Trades, apparently, hadn’t intended the slightest bit of any of this. It wasn’t just the Trades, either.
The Endeavour clan was making its own inquiries. Terra heard something regarding a repatriation request and cost-covering, meaning the people from her hometown were also taking action on the matter. The inhaler who had introduced herself as Pri also stayed facing her for a while, and Terra got the sense Pri was talking at her about something.
If that was the case, though, nothing Pri said stuck with her. Terra was completely disoriented, or more accurately, it had happened so suddenly she couldn’t accept it. That was inevitable, given both her plans and purpose had vanished all at once.
The people around Terra had turned out to be very kind, taking up the baton that had been passed to them while she dealt with the shock. Once she came back to her senses, they treated her as a victim whose only goal was to get home.
Nothing could be further from the truth. That was the exact opposite of how she felt, but she didn’t have the will to correct them anymore. It wouldn’t mean a thing.
“Die-san, Die-saaan...!” Her voice echoed through the cabin, which caused the other passengers to look on in worry.
Inside the ship that took her further from her life’s goal with each passing second, Terra gave in to the downpour of emotion—but her wailing and grief lasted no more than twenty minutes. She spent some time wiping her face, then started mumbling to herself. Six and a half hours later, when the repatriation boat arrived at Idaho, she was still mumbling. As the passengers unbuckled their seats and floated towards the exit one after another, the weird muttering was overheard by the next to last person to leave.
“Mhm, all right. That one’s suicidal enough.”
Amber-eyed Pohi Nootka used to be told as a child that if things had gone better, she would have been raised in the Nootka clan. What had been passed down as truth to her was that during the riots that occurred while the Circs were establishing themselves 300 years ago, the influential Nuer clan had taken control over the weakened Nootka clan. Later in the Circs’ history, the Nuer clan had itself weakened and been absorbed into the QOT clan.
The QOT name originated from an ancient phrase meaning ‘That which involves everyone is debatable by anyone.’ Keeping true to that principle, the QOT argued about policy with relatively little gender discrimination. That was the environment Pohi was raised in, but growing up she displayed the talent to become a decomper. Following the principle of marriage between clans, she left for the base ship whose name referred to an old land with fertile soil, Idaho.
Now she was the wife and fishing partner of Xeon Highhertz Endeavour, the Endeavour Clan Chief. She wanted for nothing in life. She was blessed with five kids, had plenty of friends, and her black hair and dark brown skin were increasingly lustrous thanks to her origins as a Nootka. Her husband always displayed excellent skill in both roles as a fisherman and a leader, and he never failed to praise the beauty of her amber eyes at night, either.
She thought her life was basically perfect. Until she saw that pair of women, at least.
“Hey, Terra-chan!” “Welcome back! What a way to return!” “I heard you got hit by a black-veined squid and almost died, are you okay?”
Half of that pair, Terra Intercontinental Endeavour, had just arrived back at her base ship and appeared in the terminal lobby. Sending out a repatriation ship to bring someone home was an extravagance, so a large number of incredibly curious people turned out to greet her. Mixed in among the crowd were her aunt and uncle, who acted as her foster parents, as well as acquaintances from the fishing harbor. Of course, Xeon, the Clan Chief who personally ordered the ship, was laying in wait with arms wide.
“Welcome back, Terra-kun! I have been informed that you were caught out by an ejector’s E-storm, chased by a Gendo attack ship, and crashed into the abyss after a besshu attack. Despite that, you made use of what little clay remained to escape. That is not just a little unprecedented for a woman, it is a feat nobody among us Endeavours has accomplished! I, too, am proud of you!”
The man, whose speech was given half for the sake of being heard by those around him, was accompanied by Pohi and two subordinates who also greeted Terra with a smile. The occasion, returning from boarding the clan’s precious pillar boat with both her life and its two pits, was deserving of the welcome. At the same time, though, it was clear the ceremony was for all the eyes in distant clans which were on a woman who had just returned from doing whatever she wanted. Xeon’s conduct was nothing more than an impersonal social act.
There was no reason to expect anything personal in this, but for some reason, Pohi found herself curious to hear Terra’s response.
“Yes. I’m back. Thank you. I’m so sorry for all of the trouble I caused. Where’s Diode-san? She isn’t with me. I think she had her fill and went back. She saved my life. That’s right. I’m alone. I’m fine. Thank you. I’m really happy to be back. A welcome party? Do I need to dress up for it? Yes, thank you, I’ll gladly accept the invitation.”
The 24-year-old woman answered the barrage of questions with a bright, flawless smile. To Pohi, her extraordinary height and the way she conducted herself in the middle of a crowd resembled a lighthouse. Her existence harkened to a light cast on boats that could only travel within a planet's atmosphere, leading them away from a crash in dark seas.
This girl is unmarriageable, can’t get with the program, and only stands out a little with her talent. You’d pity her if you saw her antics. Despite all that, why does she remind me of a lighthouse? Pohi was confused by the unfamiliar, complicated emotion.
When the welcome party started that night, Terra got friendly with a charming young man four years her senior. Was it an instant connection? Or did they already know the other?
Her companion, whose name was Bedrich, hailed from the Itar clan. He was at Idaho due to his job sailing an ice extraction ship, which mined water from the icy moons orbiting FBB. All sixteen clans needed people for the job, and the possibility to work anywhere allowed people from outside the clan to come and go. Talented and determined young people flocked to the duty of finding a new icy moon.
If she were to consider the situation as a Clan Chief’s wife, then this was the perfect opportunity to bring an excellent, young bloodline into the clan. He’s the type of partner that seems almost too good for a woman from our clan who has so many problems, and not only that, it’s pairing a sailor with an owner-decomper! It’s nothing less than ideal.
That’s what Pohi would have usually thought, but she felt unsettled.
There were clues that this woman, this lighthouse in a maelstrom, was deeply intimate with that Gendo girl. No doubt she’s sad now that her partner is missing, or at least I hope she feels sad. And yet, she was already hovering near a young man and sharing cocktails.
What is she doing? Hm, well, it’s not actually that surprising. Pohi was a woman who had borne witness to twenty Bow Awows. She had seen young people decide to try something new by breaking up with an amicable partner and whispering to a new companion countless times. She had also seen people simply change their minds, discuss things that deeply worried them, or sprout new and unexpected loves. It wasn’t unusual for a couple to part ways after a major incident like this. As she grew older, Pohi recalled those moments of young love with great joy.
This time, though, things didn’t make sense to her. While Terra and Bedrich would seem like a good match to just about anyone, Pohi had the feeling it wouldn’t end well for reasons she couldn’t really put into words. Shrouded in that strange, unfamiliar feeling, she kept a close watch on Terra. She carefully listened for anything and everything with regard to the unmarried woman from the Intercontinental family, using the office time of her loyal subordinate, her connections with other elders, and even some of her own privileges within the system itself. Pohi was self-conscious of her curiosity and suspicion, but she also felt like it was an unspoken duty. She was aware of the possibility that Terra could create trouble, and as the Clan Chief’s wife, she needed to nip problems he couldn’t fully attend to in the bud.
The next day, the lighthouse woman left for her job as a video distribution officer. After going to the media storehouse in the Antiquity Fan District in Idaho’s Year 10 ring, she discussed the material she was viewing with a coworker to determine how to classify and title it. Since the storehouse was old, she also had the responsibility of repairing parts that had broken with age. She dug up the worn-out data stones scattered around the garden-like media storehouse, and using AMC clay and other construction supplies she took from the public-use materials warehouse, neatly lined them back up—it was ordinary, boring prep work that needed to be done before her real job, similar to preparing to fish.
Then, once she was done with work, she met up with the young Itar man. The two immediately headed to the docked ice extractor Insatiable. It seemed more like a business meeting than an attempt at simply deepening their relationship.
In the days that followed, Pohi dedicated herself to tasks other than watching the two young people. Despite the population of a base ship not quite numbering 20,000, she needed to do an ever-increasing number of things as the Clan Chief’s wife. One of those things was to discuss gossip both within the clan and outside of it.
She only remembered the two after nearly a week of being busy with those boring matters. Her subordinate had made considerable advances in the investigation Pohi requested.
“She’s planning to board an ice extraction ship?”
“Yes. Miss Terra Intercontinental plans to board Mr. Bedrich Kunden’s ship.”
“Why?” She pressed further, the question coming automatically.
Pohi’s subordinate explained that if a decomper was to board an ice extractor, it would be for the task of anchoring the ship. When an extractor drilled asteroids to mine ice, recoil caused it to float away. To keep the extractor in place, anchors were deployed and driven into the surface from all four corners. The main issue with that approach was the high cost of the anchors themselves. With a decomper on board, though, both perforation and extraction could be done by changing the AMC clay’s shape, instead of using ready-made pickets. That way, they could complete their work without discarding the pickets and the valuable materials they were made from, massively improving their efficiency. That was the reason a decomper was desired for the job.
The two youths made abnormally smooth progress on their arrangement, and it wasn’t long before Terra was showing up in the base ship’s decomp training grounds to try her hand at making clay pickets.
I understand, but that can’t be all there is to it.
Even though Terra wasn’t able to fly her pillar boat, looking for a new job and finding a ship that was perfect for her wasn’t the explanation Pohi had been hoping to hear.
It wasn’t what she wanted to know. What Pohi wanted to know was why those two—who, in a contest meant to show off her and her husband's decades of experience, instead showed off new and amazing forms of decompression in front of everyone to catch a phenomenal, unprecedented 58,000 tonne bachi orca despite their desperate situation—suddenly separated like they had, and whether Terra really was discussing boarding a man’s boat barely a week later, despite no prior connection.
There’s no way she could bring herself to discuss that. That lighthouse woman couldn’t desire that kind of partner or job. So, just what is Terra Intercontinental Endeavour doing?
An ever-increasing number of strange notions and beliefs began taking root in the mind of the Clan Chief's wife, and as they did, it became increasingly clear what Pohi needed to do regarding the matter. Three days later Pohi Nootka, who saw through everything, summoned Terra to her residence.
After what sounded like a scuffle at the entrance, the living room door suddenly burst open and fiendishly energetic little creatures poured in.
“I’m hooome! Mom, our snack yesterday—is there any of that dry melon left?” “Mom, listen, listen, there was a leakage alert today!” “I’ll be back this evening.” “Huh, TT-san?!”
They were the Highhertz children. Four or five kids of various sizes in elementary cruise school uniforms bounced around their mother, tossed away their bags before heading out again, or innocently passed through before making their way to the kitchen.
“Now, now, all of you, we have a visitor! Give her a proper greeting!”
Pohi, the mistress of the house, clapped her hands. All the kids lined up beside one another and introduced themselves in sequence.
“I’m Kalyana.” “I’m Zagi.” “I’m Seward.” “Klink!”
Satisfied, their mother turned to Terra.
“See? They’re good kids. Darwis, my oldest, ran off though.”
“Ah, yes, they also seem super lively! But don’t they have a nanny...?”
“We do on days we go fishing, yes, but Suima rotates between three families, and it isn’t her turn here today. Oh, it would have been nice to introduce you to her while you were here, wouldn’t it? You’ll eventually need to rely on one yourself, you know.”
“No... uh, but thanks very much...” Terra replied with a barely-managed smile.
They were in the high-class Running Water Fan District, a residential zone located in the Year 250 Ring. It was blessed with a comfortable gravity of exactly 1g and attracted residents wishing to view majestic rapids. Terra sat down at the reception table inside the Highhertz residence living room after Pohi gestured for her to do so, but that moment had marked the arrival of the sudden storm of children.
“I can put you two in touch, so let me know if you have kids of your own. Now move along, everyone. Zagi, make sure to serve a portion to everyone!”
Three kids replied with “Okaaaay” and followed Pohi’s instructions, but one stayed behind. Timidly standing in front of Terra was a golden-haired girl who had inherited both parents’ dark skin. She seemed to be a middle schooler.
“Umm, can I ask you something, TT-san?”
“Sorry? TT?”
“Trawling Troll–” She quickly covered her mouth as soon as she started speaking. “Um, no! Everyone calls you that, but... but they aren’t trash talking you! What they mean is that Tr—Terra Intercontinental-san’s nets are incredible, that’s what they mean!”
“Aha, so that’s what people are calling me now?” Feeling dejected, Terra failed to brush it off with a laugh and couldn’t help a wistful smile. “That’s a funny nickname.”
“Kaly, what do we say when we need to apologise?”
“I–I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” The little girl named Kaly got teary as she apologized profusely following her mother’s warning. “Tr– Terra-san, I wanted to ask how you make those nets...”
“Ahh, nets. Nets, hmm.” Terra didn’t sense any ill will, so she tried to lighten the mood with her answer. “The nets I make... they’re just from remembering things I always daydream about. Stuff I’ve seen in photo books or movies.”
“Photo books?”
“Yeah, I distribute those. You should try giving them a look, too, since there are plenty aimed at minors. If you do that, then maybe you’ll start seeing those things here at FBB yourself.”
“At FBB? We can see them here?”
“That’s right,” she replied. Thinking about it was like taking a peek into her own inner workings. “Fat Beach Ball’s clouds can change into any shape. When I was a kid, I used to watch down there a lot, so...”
“Can I become a decomper like you if I do that?” The girl kept staring straight at Terra.
I didn’t become like this because I wanted to—Terra stopped that thought just before she replied with it. Despite this being a new experience to her, she understood she was about to be an influence on someone instead of being influenced by them.
“Becoming someone like me... that’s a hard question, but I guess doing something like what I just told you, and also thinking about the desires of the person you want to decomp for.”
“Someone you want to decomp for? Who’s that?”
It was only natural that Kaly would ask, but Terra didn’t know what to say. She stared at the girl, not able to breathe.
“Somebody just like how your dad is to me.”
Pohi lent Terra a helping hand, to her surprise. The daughter’s unsatisfied face said she wanted to hear it from Terra, but Pohi gently shooed her away, telling her to leave it for later since they were in the middle of an adult conversation. Then the Clan Chief’s wife turned around with a somewhat stern look.
“Well, I don’t have any doubt now.”
“Excuse me?”
“You, for some reason, are refusing to say the name of the lover you’ve just gotten for yourself.”
Terra thought that she dodged that bullet, but now it felt like she’d gotten shot in the back instead. Feeling awkward, she replied, “I... I'm just a little embarrassed...”
With that, her questions about what brought the conversation to this point raced out of her mouth. “What is this about? What business do we have today?”
“Your lover's name is the reason you're here today, Terra Intercontinental-san. What is it?”
Terra’s attempt to move the conversation along ended up with her getting shot by the question again. Disoriented, she replied, “By lover, do you mean Bedrich-san? We really don’t have that kind of a relationship yet, but why do you believe we do?”
“Let’s go through it in order for now. You've been acting interested in him, and it also seems he’s taken a liking to you. There’s gossip that you two might be dating circulating among the people around you, and it has reached my ears. So, is everything I said true so far? Or have I misunderstood something?”
“Misunderstood...” Unable to keep up with the fast pace of their conversation, Terra couldn’t reply properly. “No, you haven’t misunderstood anything... I think.”
“I see, I’ll continue then. You volunteered as a decomper for the Insatiable, which he works for. You got on and checked out the equipment, didn’t you? You even went out for a decomping trial once.”
“Ah, yes. I did, but... how did you know about that?”
“That's an easy thing to find out, you know. You weren't trying to hide that decomping test, and you were at the Endeavours' Idaho. There’s no reason for you to ask how I know that, and as a matter of fact, I believe it’s you who owes me some answers.” Dodging Terra’s question with ease, Pohi pressed further. “And it’s not just one answer. There are three, maybe four issues that are rather murky. What do you think?”
“What... would those be?”
“You want me to list them? Well, okay, but since it’s quite troublesome, I’ll just come out and say outright the last and biggest thing you were going to do. So, fourth thing first: you’re planning to jump ship from Idaho without permission.”
“Ju–” Terra froze up yet again.
“You really are the kind of person who’s better off not lying, huh?” Pohi’s pitying tone stabbed her. “I came to the conclusion that was what you were planning because a spare spacesuit was discovered inside of one of the Insatiable’s clay anchors. You stashed it away there with your decomping ability. Needless to say, I'm a decomper myself, so I’ve already extracted said spacesuit. I have racked my brain to understand why you would do such a thing, and the only conclusion is that you planned to wear it to board another spaceship. Of course, there is no reason to do that at Idaho’s docks... but at an ice asteroid, you could use that spacesuit to escape since other clans’ ice extraction ships go to those too—Well? Do you acknowledge that to be the case?”
“...This is all too sudden, I don’t really follow.” Terra looked confused, and her eyes wandered to the minicell in her left hand and the brightly lit high window.
“Then, I’ll keep going. Three: You lied about wanting to be part of the Insatiable’s crew so you could put that plan into action. Since you are planning to escape while under contract, you will clearly be committing a crime.”
“Ah...”
Terra wasn’t prepared mentally for the sudden gravity of Pohi’s speech, or for her to start with the biggest wrongdoing. The shock hit her much harder than expected. She grew pale, not even able to interject.
“Two: in addition to lying about wanting to be a crew member, you pretended to be interested in Bedrich-san to smooth the way, despite not really liking him. That’s not a crime that will get you arrested by the Guards, but you are aware that it is distasteful, no?”
“I... he–”
“Go ahead and say it. If you really do like him, then it might increase the number of people who think this is a beautiful little love story. Going behind the back of a man you like to carry out a plan to jump ship isn’t consistent with that at all, though.”
“...I guess you know everything. I take it you even saw what I did in the attic? I know the Clan Chief’s wife is important, but is that even allowed?”
“What did you do in the attic? I haven’t watched any private spaces. I’d anger everyone in our clan if I did that type of thing. What I know comes from public spaces that anyone can watch, like the work port, library, or restaurant district. You have no reason to find fault with that, since I did it for the sake of investigating a crime. While our clan allows ships to come and go with relative freedom, you must know that boat owners jumping ship without permission is something we cannot take lightly. If I reported you to the Guards right now, you’re facing a transfer to a zero-g area with no view of the outside, not to mention the years of movement restrictions that would be imposed on you–” Pohi gave a single wave of her hand and focused her sharp eyes on Terra. “Well, I don’t need to tell you that, we’re all taught that in elementary cruise school.”
Terra continued to look away. She couldn’t reply. It was hard to breathe, like the room had opened to the vacuum. She felt a chill run down her spine.
“So, with that said, what I want to know is—” Pohi slowly bent over the table, and whispered so quietly her voice wouldn’t even reach the back of the sofa. “What do you want to do?”
“Wh...”
“Look right here, straight at me. Don’t look away.”
Terra had been focused on her left hand since the middle of their conversation, but on command she turned to look directly at Pohi. The amber eyes of the woman who was almost twice her age looked into her with a faint glimmer.
“Finally, one: you’ll go to those lengths because you’re chasing that girl, Diode.”
“—Gh.” On that point, Terra groaned voicelessly and started to stand.
Pohi stopped her by grabbing her arm. “Tell me! Did you have a fight with her? Or was it the other way around?”
“Po... Pohi-san?” Terra blinked.
Pohi’s rapidfire talking continued, “I know you haven't thought about anyone except the twister you went fishing with. I’m a decomper, and I can clearly see she’s that kind of twister to you. That's why I don't believe that you two peacefully parted ways, there’s no way either of you would. Given that, what really happened then? Is it possible you had a small argument over a misunderstanding? Or maybe your frustration with each other boiled over at the end and you split up on impulse—if that’s the case, I’d guess it was over something particularly thorny—but now you regret it and it’s so unbearable you’d do this to see her again? So, what happened? Tell me?”
Terra was astonished. It had taken her a while to finally understand what Pohi was getting at. The first thing that was clear to her was that Pohi wasn’t admonishing her; if anything, Pohi seemed sympathetic. Of everything Terra had felt during this conversation, sympathy was the most unbelievable. In a daze, she asked her own question of Pohi.
“But... it’s unacceptable for a woman to be your partner as a twister in the first place, isn’t it?”
“If we’re going by common sense, yes.” Pohi snorted, then crossed her arms assertively. “But being able to bend or ignore common sense is a decomper’s strong suit, though, don’t you think?”
“Really?”
“What do you mean ‘really’? That’s the kind of decomping you’ve pulled off yourself—Ahh, I see. You haven’t really talked to other decompers, have you?”
“No, I guess I haven’t.”
“No matter who the decomper is, that’s what we think. What we imagine. We want to create the shapes we like. We want to see shapes we’ve never seen before. We’re surprised to see something we didn’t know about. Those sorts of things.”
Terra took in those words, then whispered, “Wait... So, are you saying you recognize us?”
“Yes, that’s what I thought about you two. I understood you and her formed something new, that kind of shape.”
Terra fell back onto the sofa, feeling dizzy after the tension left her body. She kept her eyelids shut tight to stop herself from sobbing on the spot.
“Oh my, are you okay? Would you like a drink?”
After asking with concern, Pohi brought some coffee over from the wall printer. Terra took multiple deep breaths as she held the warm cup in her hands. Pohi smiled wistfully and spoke.
“It looks like you were terribly anxious. I’m sorry. I thought you would sidestep the topic if I broached it lightly.”
“I’m sorry... I was confused.”
“Don’t worry, take it easy. Just let me say beforehand not to take this as a sign that the Endeavours as a whole are changing their policies on the matter, okay?”
Terra looked at her and nodded. “Okay, I understand.”
“Xeon is going to put your control pits back into a pillar boat tomorrow, but that won’t mean you’re allowed to board again just yet. Strictly speaking, I’m doing this just because I felt like lending a hand and giving you some advice. Still, I believe this meeting has a greater purpose, and at the very least we can let those four problems of yours slide as merely a failed escape attempt. Kneading a spacesuit into the anchor of an ice extraction ship? I don't think a plan can get any more suicidal than that! Think about it a little harder, okay?”
“Okay.” Terra nodded, and couldn’t keep herself from smiling. “Okay.”
“Good. So... let’s get back to what we were talking about before.” Pohi picked up her own cup, and this time sat next to Terra. Their shoulders rested at different heights, so she looked up to Terra and with the same quiet voice from before, asked, “What did you two fight about?”
“Nothing. It’s just... she was kidnapped.”
Terra explained how the Gendo kidnapped Diode. If she had told someone any earlier, it would have been obvious to them that she wanted to bring the girl back. That was why she kept quiet on the matter before.
“Oh my...” Pohi’s eyes were wide open after hearing Terra’s story. “So you two didn’t part ways, but were split up? Of course you’d be desperate to save her! My, how cruel... I believe we may be able to lodge a little official complaint regarding that.”
“No, please don’t, Pohi-san.” Terra shyly held out a palm at Pohi, who had grown angry. “Even if you do, the Gendo won’t give Die-san back. They’ll increase their security instead, I’m sure of it. But I... I’m taking her back, no matter what it takes, no matter how far I have to go to do it.”
“...Terra-san.” Pohi placed her cup on the table and held Terra’s hand. “Yes. I understand that very well... er, no, rather, I understand where you're coming from. I’ll be cheering for you.”
“Thank you.”
“What are you going to do, then? Because in that case...” Pohi paused in consideration. “I think... you should make some adjustments, since following your plan as-is will eventually break the law. Maybe you could even get Bedrich-san and the Insatiable to lend you their might. Well, you won’t make his dreams come true, though. Your plan to board another ship at an icy moon is good, though. You have already given some thought to what you’ll do after that, right?”
“Well, about that—” Terra lifted her cup and drank nearly half of it while she thought. Finally, she made up her mind and looked to Pohi. “Then yes, I have thought about it. I’ve made a few changes after talking to you, though. Could I make a request? Just one.”
“What is it? You can tell me anything.”
“When we leave this ship, we probably aren’t coming back—but, if that’s really what happens, would it be possible not to blame or demand compensation from Uncle Rubal and Aunt Mora?”
Surprised, Pohi shook her head. “Aren’t coming back? So, you’re not going to return with her?”
“I’m not. There’s somewhere we need to go.”
“You’re going through with that criminal plan after all, then?”
“No, I’m going to do something else.” Terra wasn’t sure which face she was supposed to make for this, so she flashed Pohi a troubled smile and confided, “What changed was everything you brought up, so I’m not planning to trick you and go ahead with that plan anyway.”
“A different method.” Pohi stated firmly, staring at Terra as if looking for her confirmation. “Will you harm anyone or steal anything?”
Terra set her cup aside and gazed at the skylight. “We won't harm anyone or steal anything that people are holding onto. If anything, all that will be missing from now on is our catch—but we were never fishers to begin with, were we?”
“Right.” There was a hint of bitterness in Pohi’s smile. “We continued refusing to recognize you as fishers, even after you brought your boat back from the bottom of the clouds.”
“It’s not about revenge or anything like that. Something that absolutely would have benefitted the clan going ignored was a bit... hard to deal with, but that’s all.”
“I understand.”
“So, with that said... I’m very grateful to you, Pohi-san.”
“It’s okay, stay well. I’ll do something about your aunt and uncle, all right?”
Terra thanked her, and the married woman saw her off at the entrance as she left.
The next morning, Terra prepared breakfast, packed lunch, and baked sweets. She set off for work in the Antiquity District in Idaho’s Year 10 Ring carrying a slightly oversized gray rucksack. Once there, Terra reviewed a video of a woman tied with rope to a scaffold sticking out of a deep fissure. She was being forcibly shoved into the fissure, and Terra discussed with her coworker Makia whether that was a work of entertainment, a scientific experiment, a torture record, or something more difficult to categorize.
At noon, she ate the lunch she packed in the ancient-looking media storage garden and grabbed the horse’s tail. The tail belonged to an old robot horse that had existed since Idaho’s Antiquity District was built. She followed its clip-clopping until she found data stones scattered like ruins in the depths of the archive, where she passed through a discreet, hidden door and entered the 300-year-old escape ship.
The moment she stepped into the hidden space, her minicell started on its own and Exceptional Eda’s face appeared.
“Congratulations, Terra-chan. You finally made your escape.”
“Sigh...”
She leaned against the wall with the rucksack and slowly sank to the floor. The horse that stood beside her after leading her here snorted and returned to the archive. The door closed, leaving the escape ship completely isolated from the interior of the base ship Idaho. For a moment, Terra couldn’t get back up. Both the relief of achieving her plan and the fatigue of the effort weighed heavily on her. Leading the Itar youth on and arguing with the Clan Chief’s wife who saw through it was the kind of difficult thing that would normally be impossible for her.
“I’m exhausted... I feel like I took ten years off my lifespan.”
“It was terrifying when that auntie exposed you like that. Heh, you lucked out.”
“It wasn’t luck, it was her being a nice person. Please don’t call her an auntie,” Terra said, glaring at her minicell.
Eda laughed. “Haha, what’s the problem? I’m an auntie too, but I don’t mind that at all. I’m out here living it up to the fullest.”
“I didn’t mean it like that...”
“You’re grateful, I know. Are you also feeling guilty, then? Since we’re about to gank and run off with some of the clan’s property?” Eda asked with a level tone and shrugged. “Anything and everything from Idaho has been owned by Magiri and I, the Great Chiefs, from the beginning. That even goes for the very molecules making up your body, Terra-chan.”
“My body belongs to me.”
“At first, and just because it’s only yours until it belongs to someone else!” The manner in which the short haired woman dressed in white on Terra’s left hand said that was so friendly that it was scary.
Even though Terra was aware of how bizarre the woman’s existence was, she still couldn’t believe the sight of it. Terra first met Professor Dryeda de la Lucid, xenobiologist first-rate, in the depths of FBB’s clouds, then encountered her again a day after being sent back to Idaho.
Terra grabbed the horse’s tail out of faint hope when she first got back to the media storehouse. That was the moment she opened the door for the first time. The instant she stepped inside, Eda spoke to her. Once they were certain the systems onboard the escape ship still worked, Terra’s escape plan became a firm possibility for the first time.
Eda had existed inside the ship since then. She didn’t have a physical presence, but her personality was there. It did seem like Terra had carried her back up with them, but it was possible Terra’s entry had awakened a hibernating AI containing Eda’s data. Either one meant that she could probably communicate from anywhere. Terra hadn’t been able to pin down her real location yet. Eda was an ambiguous one, but thankfully, they shared a goal.
“Anyway, thanks to all the supplies you brought, Terra-chan, it was possible to get this ship running again. All that’s left to do now is to bring Diode-chan over and then I can send us flying to the GI.”
“Absolutely do not send us flying before she’s on board with us, please.”
“I know. If I did, you’re sure to blow up the ship. I promise we'll pick her up before we run away.”
They could work together because Professor Eda also wanted to go to the GI. While Terra tricked the clan’s watchful eye by pushing forward with her dummy plan of escaping on the ice extraction ship, Eda made preparations for their real escape plan in the old escape ship. In the event they failed, and the real plan was uncovered due to carelessness, Eda had arranged to create an opening to escape by using the Great Chief code to force the base ship into a state of emergency. Thankfully, they succeeded without having to resort to that.
It was a lot, for simple common interest. Curious, Terra started to question her. “Eda-san, why are you going so far to help us out? You told me you’ve gotten in contact with people at FBB before, but still.”
“For fun,” Eda said bluntly, then continued, “There’s also something I’d like to ask you, then. Why do you want to save Diode-chan?”
“Because she’s my partner. Is that so weird you need to know more about it?”
“I don’t want to hear more because it’s weird, it’s because I want to know if you’re aware of your sense of priorities. There are many sides to a person, and just as many ways they can show those sides. It’s rare for someone to accept every part of another person, so if you have a deep knowledge of which traits you love the most, it can help maintain your bond—now, of Diode-chan’s traits, which one do you want to get back the most?”
Terra fell silent after Eda’s surprise attack. She was asking an unexpectedly interesting question.
“Her looks? Her personality? Her abilities as a pilot? Or maybe an aspect I don’t know about and haven’t seen yet...?”
The bittersweet scent of her hair which got deeply ingrained in the 15 cushions she shoved in the plumbing gap. Terra’s face instantly reddened at the sudden memory.
“Er, uh, no–”
“Hmm?”
Terra held her left hand and its minicell as far as she could from her body and covered her face with her right hand.
“...Sorry, but could you hold off on that question for now?”
“Hm? So you want to give a well-thought-out answer? All right, all right.”
Terra became more clearly aware of herself the more she thought about it. She wanted to meet up with Diode, to look at her face, to talk with her. More than anything, Diode’s capricious presence—tiny in all three dimensions, scampering away at some times and abruptly affectionate at others—was something Terra wanted to use her own hands, her own chest, to–
Fwah... Terra took a deep breath, doing her best to settle her fluttering heart and rising body temperature. I really need to do something about this, especially my left hand.
“Now... I believe we should get going soon.”
Terra got her breathing under control and climbed the stairs leading into the control room. The room’s ceiling sloped forward to meet the bow, and fourteen reclining seats faced outwards in a radial configuration. A fifteenth seat, the captain’s, was able to swivel around the dashboard. Terra seated herself there, and she felt completely out of place because of its apparent importance. Since she was here all by herself, though, it was where she had to sit.
“We’ve finished our preparations, right? So, are we ready to depart?” Terra’s hand reached for the conspicuous escape button.
“Not yet, the most important thing to do still remains,” Eda replied with a serious face.
“And what would that be?”
“Aren’t you going to name the ship?”
“What? But that’s not even an issue...”
“No, it’s important! Who would do something boring like not giving their spaceship a name? If you’re not going to name it, I will. Of Insanity, Intolerance, and Inseminate, which is your favorite?”
“I feel like all of those names are terrible. Wait, are you the one who named all those ships that are still around from the early days?”
“That’s right. So, how about Insomnia?”
“Why?”
“That’s probably in the cards for the two of you.” The woman squinted knowingly and smiled.
When the lunch break ended at 12:59 P.M. on Day 108 of CC 304, a small object not listed among the Circs’ active vessels emerged from the north end of Idaho’s central shaft like uncorking an ancient wine bottle. The object, measuring about 20 meters both vertically and horizontally, anchored itself at the port with the sole purpose of extracting and stowing two control pits from a pillar boat’s AMC clay rigging. It was determined a decomper was onboard the object, since the act had been carried out by decomping.
Once finished, the main engine immediately lit and sent the object hurtling away. Idaho’s fleet control attempted to track it, but for reasons unknown, it failed to determine the object’s orbital trajectory due to insufficient data. The object was lost.
At 3:40 P.M, a report from the Antiquity District’s media storehouse confirmed that Terra Intercontinental Endeavour had jumped ship without permission.