Six weeks of training. The ARK rises four meters off the hangar floor for the first time. The dust whirlwind alone clears half a kilometer of sand. Yui sobs into her reactor console. Komi, calm: 'all systems nominal.' Aika: 'we did it.' Akari, deadpan: 'now do it without crying.' Yui, still sobbing: 'shut up.' They set her down. Then they take her up again. By evening they are flying ten kilometers and back. Samuel logs the day with the file note: 'pilot certification: provisional.'
He logged the first attempt, the second, the third. The eighth time I asked he stopped logging. He told me the probability once. I said I knew. He never told me again. He is not on my side. He is just…
Yui rewired Samuel's voice. He spent an hour calling me 'ma'am' during drill. Formal, polite, every single status report. From across the bridge I heard him say 'station ready, ma'am? acknowledged, ma…
I have been the perimeter for 299 years. I was built first to defend the team from outside threats. Yesterday I ran toward the inside threat for the first time. Aika was the inside threat. I did not k…