Fellowship & Fairydust

“How’s the system on your end?” Santos asked over the comms.

Tapping into hers Gracie answered, “All good. It’s so calm Johri has gone back to sleep.”

“Reentry should be enough of an alarm.” He joked. 

Eini snorted, “Especially with Gracie at the helm.”

“You don’t mean that, do you?” Gracie asked, sounding hurt, “I know I’m bad at most things, but I thought my flying would be enough to make up for it…”

“Your flying is just fine,” I told Gracie, “Eini’s just joking around.” I looked at Eini, “Even though she should consider other people’s feelings.”

“Even if someone were a bad pilot, the AV-5000 is equipped with emergency response protocols that’ll activate in the worst-case scenarios.” Professor Yeller spoke up. “Say a meteor shower were to come your way, it wouldn’t get a scratch.”

“And the shields should work to keep you from burning to a crisp as well,” Our classmate added. “Initiating sequence. Be sure to bring back a souvenir.”

I was sure the brunette shook her head as the launch was started. I heard machines around us whirring and hissing while the numbers sounded off. In front of us, the bay doors opened to show the planet we called home below us. Once there were no numbers left the shuttle shot forward as if the station sneezed us out towards our home. 

As I watched, I noticed how different Gracie seemed to be at the controls. Normally, she was flighty, distracted, and clumsy, but this was a completely different person. She was laser-focused, quick with all her adjustments, and as graceful as her name implied.

“Well, we get the day planetside,” Eini spoke up, “Anyone have stuff they wanna do? Shopping’s not gonna take us that long.”

“Shouldn’t we stick to doing what we said we were gonna do?” Gracie asked as she checked our trajectory, “You know, like the rules?”

“We’re still gonna do what we said we were gonna do,” Eini replied, “But we have a whole day. Unless you guys wanna sit in a boring old luxury hotel suite with nothing to do for hours.” She leaned back, “Besides,” She singsonged, “What the boss don’t know, the boss won’t mind.”

“I’m not really for breaking the rules on a whim,” I replied, “But maybe we can get permission to add a stop before we get started.” I turned to Eini, “Did you have anything in mind?”

“Would I ask you guys if I did?” The rich girl scoffed, “The only thing this mind has on it is shopping and getting pruny in my steam pool.” She examined her nails, “But you know how easily I get bored, so how would you recommend padding out a few hours planetside?”

I looked back at Johri. She was still asleep, so I turned to Gracie, “If we get permission, is there anything you’d like to do?”
“Not really,” She answered sweetly, “To be honest I don’t like the city. It’s so crowded and I always bump into people. You guys can choose.”

“Well, if you’re sure about that…” I trailed off and thought for a moment. I missed my family so much… Maybe we could get permission to see them while we were in the city? I turned to Eini, “Would you like to meet my family? We’ve always been close-knit, so I miss them.”
“Already asking permission,” Eini replied as she opened a channel to contact Yeller.

“Thank you,” I said before looking back at my copilot’s instruments. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Gracie tense up for just a moment. That was odd… But she did say she didn’t like crowded places, and I’d already talked about my parents and remaining siblings. Maybe she just thought it would be too tight of a fit for all of us?

She kept the shuttle perfectly on course. Even reentry was oddly smooth. I didn’t even hear the tires squeak during the landing. Where had she learned to fly?

Thanks to her smooth landing, it took us almost no time at all to wrap up our report. When we walked out to the transport area, Eini strolled up to a Float Boat and hopped in without a second thought, “Well, what are you guys waiting for? Hop in!”

“You didn’t have to order a Float Boat!” I exclaimed, “We could have taken the streamway and saved you the expense.”

“Expense?!” Her jaw dropped, “We get one day in Netokan and you’re telling me you don’t want to travel in style?”

“It’s not that, but–”
“No buts!” Eini cut me off as she opened the door, “I already rented it so you might as well use it!”

I could tell by her voice that there was no arguing with her on this. We hopped in and Gracie took the driver’s seat. She looked at me, “You live on the lower, levels, right?”

I nodded, “That’s where my family lives.”

With that, she pulled out of the pickup area and drove us to the lower levels. As we pulled into my neighborhood, I noticed Eini staring in disbelief at everything. I tried not to be annoyed; she was the heiress to not one but two of the largest infrastructure businesses on the planet. Of course, she hadn’t seen the Lower Levels in person before! Still, it did feel kind of insulting. This place was my home, after all.

It wasn’t pretty to look at, but the people were nice down here. I could see old man Eli helping some neighborhood kids get a game going. And not too far away I could see Joseph helping Martha up into her home. From her window, I noticed Nettie teaching her granddaughters some old crafts. Wafting through the air, I could smell buzzleberry pie cooking. Gri, how I’d missed this place…

Soon, we landed right outside my house, I stepped out first so my family would know who to expect. As the doors opened two young kids ran out. “Braxton’s home! Braxton’s home!” 

“Elli! Fiona!” I ran up and hugged them, lifting them both off the ground, “how are my favorite baby sisters? Is Mom doing alright?”

Ellionoire nodded as I set them down, “We all missed you sooo much!”

“Mama keeps talking about how she can’t wait for you to get home,” Fiona told me, “Are you back for good? She’ll be so happy!”

My face fell, “No, Fi. I’m not home for good. It’s just for today.” I put on a comforting smile for her, “But hey, that’s better than nothing, right?”

“Is that a Float Boat?” Ellionoire blurted, turning to me, “Are you famous now?”

I laughed, “No, Elli. I’m not famous yet. My friend Eini rented it for us today. Wasn’t that nice?”

“Can we see?” 

“For today only.” Eini smiled at them. 

I took my sisters by the hands and walked them over to the Float Boat, “Guys, these are my baby sisters, Ellionoire and Fiona, but you can call them Elli and Fi.” I gestured to my friends, “Elli, Fi, these are Eini, Johri, and Gracie. They work with me on the Station.”
“In space?” Fiona breathed in awe.
I nodded, “In space.”

“Wow!”

“Have you seen any aliens?” 

“Did you go to another planet?” 

I laughed at that. “No, and no. We’re trying to pave the way to allow deep-space exploration to do that.” 

“Yeah, we just get the boring part,” Eini told the girls.

“Hey!” Johri retorted, “We’re building cutting-edge technology! That’s not boring!”

“Well, obviously it’s not boring for you since you’re the one building it!” The rich girl conceded, turning to the girls, “But for the rest of us, it’s pretty boring.”

My sisters then turned to Johri. “You built all that?” 

“With my own two hands.”

“And no mention of Professor Yeller’s fundi–whoa!” Gracie then tripped out of the vehicle and fell flat on her face. “I’m okay.” 

I helped her up, “Gracie here is… Well, she’s the best pilot we have.”

“I promise I’m better at piloting transport than I am at walking!” She blurted, her face red from embarrassment.

Fiona pointed a finger at Gracie, “You better make sure Braxton gets back to space safely! We don’t wanna lose another one!”

“Fi, she’s a great pilot! Don’t be rude!” I scolded her. I turned to the brunette. She seemed to have gone pale for a moment, “My family is… We’re very protective of each other. We uh… Two of my brothers… died… recently. Everyone’s taking it pretty hard.”

“That’s awful!” Gracie exclaimed, “I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“Gri’s beak,” Johri added.

“Swear.” My sisters told her in unison, managing to change the mood from somber to cheerful in an instant. 

The doors then opened again. “Fi, Elli. Can’t you two ask your questions inside?” 

“Sorry, Mom.” 

“It’s okay Mom,” I said as we headed up the stairs. As we stepped through the doors I decided to give my friends a warning. “Just a heads up, it will be a little crowded in here.” At the doorway, I stopped to hug my mom, “It’s good to see you again! Has everyone been behaving?”

Mom ushered me in, “We’ll have time for questions later, Braxton. Let’s just get all your friends in off the streets. You know it’s not as safe as it used to be…”
“I know, Mom.”

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