Rocket Girls: The Last Planet (3 page)

IT WAS RIGHT
in the middle of second period classes at Nellis Academy when it happened. There was the sound of an explosion from the central courtyard, and rolls of red-and-white fabric came billowing past the windows. The girls ran to the windows to see something like a giant bottle of brandy floating in the pond, steam rising from its surface.

Moments later, a section of that surface popped open, and two figures wearing full-face helmets emerged.

One of them removed her helmet. When her long black hair spilled out, someone shouted, “Yukari! It’s Yukari!”

Immediately there was another explosion—this time of voices—as the students cheered, drowning out the protests of their teachers. Students began boiling out of the classrooms into the hallways and streaming out into the courtyard around the pond. Over a thousand eyes were fixed on Yukari and Matsuri.

“Yukari, Yukari, it’s me!”

“Matsuri!”

“Can I have your autograph?”

“Yukari, remember me? It’s me, Eiko!”

“All students return to your classrooms immediately!”

“Yukari! Can I shake your hand?”

“Cool suits!”

“Miss Morita, remove your
spaceship
at once!”

“Quiet, Teach! This is a historical event!”

“Hey! She looked at me!”

“All students return to your classrooms immediately!”

“We’ve been rooting for you this whole time, Yukari!”

“Matsuri! Look over here! Let me take your picture!”

“Say something!”

“Somebody tell that principal to shut up!”

“Too bad you didn’t hit
him
with your spaceship!”

“This is your principal speaking! All students return to your classrooms immediately! Anyone not back in their classroom will receive detention!”

No one left the courtyard.

Yukari stood frozen, her face stretched in an awkward grin.

“
Hoi?
They all look like you, Yukari,” Matsuri whispered.

Yukari scanned the crowd of faces, all with hair cut to the same length, all wearing the same uniform. “I was right there in that crowd not too long ago.”

Nellis Academy was famously strict, but when the floodgates opened, they opened for good. The courtyard was mass chaos. It was a mutiny, and Yukari had caused it. One of the teachers stepped forward and caught her eye.

Yukari remembered her.
Sachiko Yamashina, the Dragon Lady
. She taught classics.

“What is the meaning of this, Miss Morita? Class is in session!”

Wow, nothing fazes this woman. Can’t she see that something’s wrong—

“Ack!” Yukari bit her tongue. She’d forgotten about the goldfish. The power in the orbiter was off, which meant the goldfish didn’t have long to live.

“Everyone, I need your help!” Yukari shouted, ignoring her teacher for the moment. The crowd fell silent. “Some goldfish we were using in an experiment are about to die. Anyone know anything about fish?”

“Goldfish?” The girls looked at one another.

Someone in the crowd said, “What about Akane? She’d know what to do!”

“Akane Miura? In 2-A?”

“Yeah, the one with the perfect grades.”

“I’ll go get her!”

Akane Miura…
The name rang a bell. Yukari vaguely remembered her being at the top of the list when they posted test results from the first semester. A few moments later, part of the crowd began to whirl with excitement and a short, slender girl emerged, several hands pushing her forward.

Her hair was cut short, with fine bangs hanging down over her forehead. She wasn’t wearing glasses.
Less the typical book
worm type and more the aspiring author type
, thought Yukari. The crowd pushed Akane right up to the edge of the pond. Despite the startled look on her face, her keen eyes shone as she took in the situation. Eventually, they rested on Yukari, standing on top of the orbiter.

“What’s this about goldfish?” she asked in a soft voice.

Yukari held up the fish tank. “They’re in here.”

Akane leaned forward to get a better look.

Yukari hopped into the pond, and a ripple of excitement ran through the students. Waist deep in water, she waded up to the bank and crawled up onto land, handing the tank to Akane. “We were in orbit when their alarm went off.”

The fish were dimly visible through the thick glass. Akane’s face went pale.

“Oh no, we have to aerate their water right away! Let’s bring them to the biology classroom. Come on!”

Akane led Yukari through the crowd, which quickly parted to let them through. Looking back toward the pond as she ran, Yukari shouted, “Stay there, Matsuri! Don’t let anyone touch the orbiter!”

“Okay!”

“Everyone back to your rooms, NOW!”

The biology classroom was quiet. No classes were held there in the morning. Akane ran into the adjoining lab. Pulling an empty aquarium tank off the shelf, she filled it with water and added a packet of powder.

“You can just put them in here.”

“Okay,” Yukari said, then stopped. “Wait. The experiment requirements stipulated that we can’t change the water.”

“Oh.” Akane frowned. “This connector thing here is what you use to cycle the water in their tank, right?”

“That’s right. That’s where the trouble happened. I think the QD might be jammed.”

“The QD?”

“The quick disconnect. It’s so you can pull off the tube without spilling any water.”

Akane examined the port. “Well, can I put some air in, at least?”

“That should be all right.”

“Then I think we might be able to save them.”

“Really?”

Akane pulled a toolbox and some equipment in a cardboard box off another shelf. “Since the QD isn’t working, I’m just going to take off the cover here and extract the water with this water pump. Then I can use this chamber to aerate the water and cycle it back in. We’ll have to put a filter in between the two, though. How does that sound?”

“I’m not sure I follow, but it sounds great. Let’s give it a try!”

“Will do.”

Akane moved quickly. First she cut a length of silicon tubing, connecting one half to a small device and sticking the other inside the fish tank. Then she attached a bottle of oxygen to a regulator. Where the seals didn’t quite fit, she used tape to close up the gaps. She flipped the switch on the bottle, and the water began to circulate.

“Hey, you did it!”

“We’re not out of the woods yet.” Akane took a small sample of water out of the fish tank with a pipette and dripped it onto a strip of test paper.

“I thought so. The ammonia concentration’s way too high.”

“Okay…so what do we do?”

“We could use other chemicals to neutralize it, but maybe that would violate your conditions?”

“Hmm, I wonder.”

“Actually,” Akane said, “now that I think about it, your testing equipment back on the ship must’ve used a similar method to extract the ammonia. Otherwise you’d have trouble keeping them alive.”

“Okay, then. Let’s do it.”

“Right.”

Akane quickly calculated the volume of water from the tank size, measured out an appropriate amount of neutralizing agent, and added it to the water.

“Oh, one other thing,” she said. “We have to keep their water the right temperature. You know what the temperature was on your ship?”

“Erm…” Yukari scratched her head.

“I’m pretty sure this variety prefers 23°C, but if they were trying to breed them, they might’ve made it warmer.”

“I don’t think there was any breeding going on. Yeah, 23°C sounds about right.”

“Good.” Akane briefly stopped the pump and inserted a small heater and thermostat inside the chamber. “It will take a little time to warm up, but thankfully it’s pretty close to the right temperature this time of year already.”

“So that’s it?”

“I think so.”

“Whew!” Yukari gave a long sigh of relief. The goldfish had visibly improved. She looked up and smiled. “Sorry, I’m Yukari Morita. Thank you.”

“Oh, uh, I’m Akane Miura.”

Yukari offered to shake hands and Akane blushed.

“I remember your name,” Yukari said. “You got top grades first semester, right?”

“And you were in Class B first year, right?”

“I’m surprised you remember me.”

“You were really good in track, even though you’re small like me. And then you, uh—”

“Dropped out because I got a job.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to say—”

Just then, the door to the lab opened and a teacher appeared. “Yukari Morita! Just who is responsible for that
rocket ship
out there?”

“It’s not a rocket ship, actually. It’s an orbiter. And I’m the captain.”

“Then come to the principal’s office right this minute, ‘Captain’!”

“Okay…” Yukari said, dazed. She turned back to Akane. “Watch the goldfish for me?”

“No problem,” Akane said, a look of concern on her face as she watched the other girl leave.

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!”

A gale force wind blew through the courtyard of the school. Matsuri was busily bundling up the parachute and shutting it inside the orbiter’s nose. Yukari stood at the edge of the pond, looking up at the helicopter and barking into her transceiver.

“We’ll be picking up one extra person. Take up the girl behind me first. She’s a civvy, so be gentle.”

“Roger that. Lowering the harness now.”

The helicopter descended until it was hovering just above the school buildings. A sliding door opened and something like a thick belt began to play out from one side. The helicopter pitched slightly forward to get one end of the belt into the pond in order to disperse any static electricity. Sand whipped up from the ground, stinging Yukari’s cheek.

She grabbed hold of the harness with one hand and beckoned Akane over. The girl stepped up beside her, cardboard box under one arm and her other hand holding down her skirt.

Yukari passed the harness beneath Akane’s armpits and attached the v-ring to the hook at the base. Then she took the cardboard box out from beneath the other girl’s arm and gave it to her to hold with both hands.

“All you have to do is hang there. The people on the helicopter will do the rest. Got it?”

Akane nodded, a nervous look on her face.

Yukari gave the pilot a thumbs-up and Akane began to rise until she was close enough to the helicopter for one of the soldiers to grab her arm and pull her inside. Next, they plucked Matsuri off the top of the hatch. Meanwhile, Yukari waded through the tiny whitecaps rippling across the pond to scramble up one side of the orbiter.

“Okay,” Yukari said through her transceiver, “next up is the orbiter. It’s taken on some water, so it should be a good four to five tons!”

“No problem. Lowering the freight hook.”

“I’m ready for you.”

A large hook used for carrying minesweeping equipment extended from directly beneath the main rotor.

“Just one meter more, that’s it. Come forward, keep it slow.”

The helicopter pilot made some minute adjustments, expertly compensating for the inertia of the hook. Yukari braced herself against the wind and shouted into her transceiver.

“Steady, steady, steady—all right.”

Grabbing the heavy hook with both hands, she passed the hook through the carabiner on the parachute harness.

“She’s all hooked up. My turn!”

Yukari jumped back into the pond and grabbed the harness that came swinging down. She pulled it around behind her back, attached the hook, and gave the thumbs-up. Matsuri and Akane were already buckled into seats along one wall when Yukari arrived. Akane sat rigid, cradling the cardboard box in her arms like a child holds a stuffed animal.

“You okay, Akane? We’re safe now.”

“Y-yeah.”

The pilot turned and shouted back to Yukari. “Okay to take her up?”

“Go for it! The water will spill out, so take it slow.”

“Roger.”

The pilot’s bronzed left hand tensed and the whine of the turbine engine grew noticeably louder.

Yukari peeked out from the helicopter to take a look at the scene below. The seven blades of the main rotor had created a dust storm in the courtyard the likes of which Yukari had never seen. It looked like the gardening club’s greenhouse had collapsed. Every tulip in the planters lay flat, and one or two of the older planters had completely disintegrated.
Oops
.

The cable connecting them to the orbiter went taut and the orbiter began to move, sloshing water from inside.

“Your craft’s at a bit of an angle,” the soldier manning the winch shouted. “That okay?”

“No problem. That’s how it’s supposed to lift!”

The soldier shouted something into an intercom, giving directions to the pilot.

The helicopter slowly began to rise.

The wind from the rotor blades turned the water spilling from the orbiter into a fine white mist spraying every which way across the courtyard. Every window in the school buildings and even the rooftops were filled with students waving and cheering.

Yukari waved back.

Goodbye, Nellis Academy.
She didn’t imagine she would ever be coming back there.

One of the soldiers closed the sliding door. At last, it was quiet enough inside the helicopter to talk normally. Once they leveled out, Yukari went up to the cockpit and greeted the pilot. “That went really well. I’m Yukari Morita, captain of the orbiter you’re carrying.”

“Commander Kimura with the Fifteenth Minesweeper Company,” the middle-aged pilot announced brightly, turning his tanned face to look back at his passenger. “I have to admit I was surprised. I’ve seen your ship on television a number of times, but I never expected it to come down here.”

“We were just as surprised as you. I didn’t expect the SDF to come pick us up, either.”