Rocket Girls: The Last Planet (10 page)

Her eyes watered with tears. She ate three of the figs, one right after the other. The fourth had a wasp inside it. After that, she was a little more careful in choosing her fruit. When she was satisfied, she stopped eating, afraid of a bellyache.

She picked off another ten good-looking figs and stashed them in her pack. The feeling of strength flowing back into her body was palpable. She checked her watch and found it was just after two o’clock.

I might just make it home.
I’ve got another ten hours—four until sundown.

Matsuri must have walked from base, she reasoned.
And if she can do it, so can I.

Then a troubling thought occurred to her. Had Matsuri helped her find the figs? All she had done was point out the swallows. It certainly hadn’t seemed like a hint at the time. But Matsuri might’ve meant it as one. She had known that where there were swallows, there were figs.

But I was the one who put it all together.

She decided that if she made it back before the deadline, she would tell them what had happened.
Even if it disqualifies me, at least I’ll be honest, and that has to count for something.

Akane pulled out her compass and verified her course. She didn’t need a guide. Hints were everywhere if she just looked: the lay of the land, the vegetation, flocks of birds, flowing streams. She wouldn’t miss another clue. Not this close to victory.

YUKARI WAS ON
break, but she didn’t much feel like doing anything, so instead of going out she lay on her bed in her room and read one of the books she’d bought in Yokohama. This one was titled
Zionism and Islamic Society
.

She heard the quick path of footsteps approaching and someone opened her door without knocking.

“
Hoi!
You won’t believe how much fruit I nabbed, Yukari! Let’s eat.”

Yukari groaned and set her book down next to her pillow. “Just no durian, please.”

“No problem! I’ve got nuts and rambutan and jackfruits and figs.”

Yukari frowned. “Hey! No dirty sacks on my bed!”

Matsuri moved her satchel onto the floor and sat crosslegged on a chair. “What will it be?”

“A fig, I guess.”

Matsuri handed her the fruit and Yukari began peeling it, a disinterested look on her face. Matsuri dug the flesh out of a rambutan with her army knife. The two ate their tropical meal in silence, tossing skins and seeds into a wastebasket and using tissues to wipe the juice from their lips. Only their hands and jaws moved.

Though Matsuri was customarily cheerful, she had never been a big talker. By comparison, Yukari hardly ever stopped talking, until now. She hadn’t been much in the mood for conversation since Akane had left.

After several minutes of eating in silence, Matsuri wiped her mouth with the back of one hand and said, “So I met Akane in the jungle.”

Yukari froze. “What did you say?”

“I said I met Akane in the jungle.”

Yukari jumped from her chair. “You met Akane?” she shouted, fig seeds spraying from her lips. “In the jungle! Here?”

“Where else?” Matsuri asked.

“Why? How? Where?”

“I already told you. In the jungle. She was doing solo survival training. She’s going to fail if she doesn’t make it back before midnight tonight.”

“Wait, but that means—” Yukari’s eyes swam as her brain worked overtime to process the new information. “That means Akane hasn’t failed! They lied to us!”

“Sounds like it. They probably lied so we wouldn’t help her.”

Yukari’s face flushed with rage.
Why that weasel!
She dashed for the door, then stopped and whirled around. “Where was she, exactly? Was she far?”

“She was in the hills about three klicks from the eastern edge of the runway. She seemed pretty pooped.”

Three kilometers was a long way in the jungle.

“She was tired? Well, what did you do? You helped her, right?”

“Nope. I left her there and went looking for more fruit.”

“You didn’t even show her the way back?”

“She asked me not to help her.”

“Of all the—!”

Yukari stormed out of the room in a rage, ranting under her breath as she went.
I don’t care why she did it. I’m going to give that woman a piece of my mind! I don’t care if it was technically the right thing to do.

Yukari ran, first to the women’s dormitory in search of Satsuki Asahikawa, and when she wasn’t to be found there, on to the training center. She ran up the stairs and knocked on the door to the lab.

The door was locked, but no one was inside.

Yukari checked around the center until she was sure no one was there.

“If she comes walking up tomorrow like nothing’s happened—”

It was time for Plan B. She could go help her, but then again, Akane was one to play by the rules to a fault. Yukari wondered if there were any way she could lead Akane to the base without her even knowing it.

She checked her watch. It was five o’clock. Hardly any time left to do anything.

She would just have to wait and trust in Akane’s ability. Even though she didn’t trust it at all.

What if she’s already here, just a little ways away?
Yukari walked faster. The light outside was already an orange yellow. She made for the main gate, trailing a long shadow behind her. She told the guard she was just going out for a stroll and went through. Outside the base, Yukari stopped and held her breath. She was looking at the back of a white lab coat.

There you are.

Satsuki turned around, a look of surprise on her face. “Yukari? What are you doing outside at this time of day?”

“Just going for a little walk,” Yukari replied, a bit too quickly.

Satsuki wouldn’t know that her secret was out yet, and Yukari had nothing to gain by telling her. But what was
she
doing outside? Surely not waiting here for Akane’s return?

“Here to meet someone, Satsuki?”

“You might say that.”

“A guy?”

“Could be.”

“You’re not telling?”

“Do I have to?”

“No. Not really,” Yukari said.

The conversation died on the spot. The two stood, about five meters apart, both standing facing toward the jungle.

It wasn’t long before the sun brushed the ridgeline of the mountains to the west.

A hum rose from the forest as birds sang to one another, ascertaining the safety of their roosts. Far away, over the tops of the trees, Yukari saw something like a stream of black smoke.

“Bats,” she said.

“That’s what that is?” the doctor asked.

“They fly out of their caves in the evening like that. Matsuri told me.”

“They don’t attack people, do they?”

“Who knows?”

The last rays of light disappeared behind the tips of the trees.

“Yukari?”

“Yeah?”

“Look—”

“Yeah?”

They heard footsteps behind them. The two women turned. It was Kinoshita.

“Well, what do we have here?” he said bemusedly. He was dressed casually in a cotton shirt and loose-fitting slacks, but his hair was carefully combed back.

“Ooh! So you were waiting for Kinoshita?” Yukari teased.

Kinoshita and Satsuki exchanged quick glances.

“I’ll leave that to your imagination,” Kinoshita replied.

“I don’t want to be a third wheel…”

“Not at all.”

Kinoshita joined Satsuki by the big S
OLOMON
S
PACE
A
SSOCIATION
sign and the two stood there, showing no indications of going anywhere.

Because the sun set straight down in the tropics, it got dark very quickly. Yukari squinted, peering into the jungle, but she couldn’t see any movement at all. Already an hour had passed since she came through the gate. Satsuki had made no attempt to restart their earlier conversation, and standing around in silence was growing pretty boring.

Frustratingly enough, her anger had entirely disappeared. She was still upset that no one had trusted her, but she wasn’t entirely sure that she could have kept herself from interfering had she known. She could find absolutely no fault with them wanting Akane’s final test to be a fair one. By now, they had probably realized she was onto them, anyway. Still, if the cover story was that Kinoshita and Satsuki were having a dalliance, she didn’t want them to think she was being rude. Yukari was just about to say something when a fourth person came up behind them.

“
Hoi
, Yukari! Akane show up yet?”

With a few simple words, Matsuri turned the situation on its head.

Yukari looked up. Satsuki and Kinoshita were staring at the two of them in silence.

“Not yet.”

“Well, she’s still got six hours. She’ll be fine.”

“So you knew,” Kinoshita said. It wasn’t a question.

“Oh, I ran into her in the jungle today around lunchtime.”

Kinoshita and Satsuki both turned to look at the guard by the gate, then back at Yukari.

“We were hoping to avoid that. Sorry we had to lie.”

“It’s okay. And Matsuri didn’t help her,” Yukari explained. “Akane told her not to.”

“That so?”

“You don’t have to believe me if you don’t want to, but that’s what she said.”

“No, I believe you.”

“Look, I see what you’re doing, but isn’t it a little abrupt to throw a girl fresh off the boat from Japan into a solo survival scenario?”

“We spent a whole week getting ready. And we’ve been far kinder than we would be to the usual applicants. There aren’t any dangerous animals on the island, and she’s carrying a transceiver. She’ll have plenty of difficulties, but not so much danger.”

“What about the poisonous snakes and poisonous frogs?”

“We took what preventative measures we could. We taught her how to inject herself with penicillin if it came to that,” Satsuki said. “For what it’s worth, this test wasn’t my idea.”

“It was mine,” Kinoshita said. “Don’t take it out on her.”

“Whatever. It’s fine.” Yukari’s shoulders slumped. She regretted not getting a chance to chew Satsuki out, but now she was too concerned for Akane’s safety to worry much about that.

Kinoshita turned to Matsuri. “So, where was Akane when you found her?”

“About three klicks from the eastern edge of the runway.”

“And when did you see her?”

“A little after noontime.”

“I see. She’s making good progress, then.” Kinoshita walked over to the guardhouse and quickly returned.

A few moments later, a spotlight began sweeping across the sky. It came from behind the main complex and the training center—probably from the runway.

“Don’t think I’m giving her any special treatment. This level of illumination is standard. Just don’t ask me to set off the sirens.”

Thanking him was the furthest thing from Yukari’s mind, though she regretted not having thought of turning on the lights herself.

Together, the four of them waited.

A little after nine o’clock, Mukai and Nasuda joined them, having finished work.

When Mukai saw the crowd, he quickly went back, returning a few moments later with a large cooler in his arms.

“I brought some sandwiches and cola from the cafeteria.”

Everyone held out their hands in silence. No one wanted to talk. It was hard not to feel guilty, standing there waiting for her.

Yukari turned to Matsuri. “So, jungle expert, what’s the best possible route she could’ve taken?”

“Well, the easiest would have been to go straight north until she hit the ocean, then walk down the shore. That would get her out of the jungle more quickly.”

“Right…”

That had been Yukari’s plan when they sent her out. Once she reached the coast, she would just have to go east until she ran into the base, then follow the line of the fence to the front gate. Yukari turned to look down the fence, but it was lost in the darkness.

“Did she have a flashlight with her?”

“Yes, but batteries for only two hours. No spares,” Kinoshita said. “Even if she saved them for her last day, they’d be dead by now.”

“Any moon tonight?”

“Not until the early morning,” Matsuri said.

“You could have at least waited until a full moon!” Yukari growled.

“Now now, Yukari.” Nasuda had just begun to console her when Matsuri waved for them to be silent. “
Hoi?
I saw something flash.”

“Where?”

Everyone turned to look in the direction Matsuri was pointing.

For a while they saw nothing. But then, several minutes later, all six of them gasped. Off in the jungle, a light twinkled. From the position, it was about half a kilometer away, moving down a slope.

“Where is she, Matsuri?”

“I think she was moving to the left. So she’s going for the main road, not the coast.”

“Think she’ll make it?”

“She’s about to head into a small valley. If she cuts straight across it, she’ll be fine, but if she tries to walk along it she’ll get into trouble.”

“What kind of trouble?”

“Swamp trouble.”

Yukari swallowed. Just because they had spotted her didn’t mean she was going to make it. She kept watching the jungle, but the light was nowhere to be seen. Yukari had never considered herself to be particularly religious, but now she was praying with all her might.

She glanced at her watch. Eleven o’clock.

“There it is again!”

They spotted the light, this time much farther to the left than before.

“She’s past the valley.”

“Really?”

“As long as she keeps walking straight, she’ll make it to the road.”

“Thatta girl!” Yukari cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and took a deep breath.

“Don’t,” Kinoshita said quickly. “This is a test. She has to make it to the very end on her own.”

Yukari blew out her lungful of air quietly and squinted into the darkness. The road went straight into the jungle before it curved. From just around the curve, she could see a yellow light flickering.

“She made it, Yukari. She’s on the road.”

Finally, they saw her emerge from between the trees. She was wobbling slightly, a makeshift torch in her right hand.

Yukari could restrain herself no longer. “Akane! Hey! Over here!”

Akane waved her torch in response.

“You did it!” Yukari shouted again, doing a little dance. “You did it, Akane!”

Now she could see the other girl’s orange coveralls. Akane’s feet dragged as she walked, but her progress was steady. Yukari ran up to the edge of where the paved road from the base ended and waited there like a relay runner waiting for her turn with the baton.

When she got closer, Akane threw her torch down on the ground and practically collapsed into Yukari’s arms. Yukari patted her cheek, covered with scrapes and mud.

“You did it, Akane. You really did it.”

Steadying her shoulders, she helped Akane sit down. Beside them, Satsuki knelt and began a cursory examination.

“Any injuries?”

“No…I’m fine.”

“How do you feel?”

“Good. No, great.”

“You did a great job.”

“The torch was a good idea,” Kinoshita said.

“I found some resinous branches on the fig tree and gathered them before it got too dark.”

“Well,” Nasuda said, extending his hand, “I think we’ve got our third astronaut.”

Akane reached out to shake his hand, then suddenly jerked away. “I…” she began, “I met Matsuri in the jungle.” Akane explained what had happened and how she had found the fig trees.

“Matsuri?” Nasuda turned to her. “What were you really up to out there? Did you mean to give her that hint?”