Rocket Girls: The Last Planet Read Online Free PDF Page B

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