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It's a new term, and the end of the break between terms most students have been enjoying. But time marches ever on, and so at 1:00 PM, just after lunch, twenty-six students all around the age of fifteen are finding seats in an obnoxiously decorated classroom. It's one of those classrooms that tries very hard to be peppy and inspirational, and only succeeds at being very out of touch, and kind of creepy.
Soon it will be time to read about things long-dead people wrote.
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"During the summer it's wonderful," she sighs, sounding like she misses it. "Warm without being scorching hot, and not humid or dry at all. And - Vorbarr Sultana is nice, but I like New Evias a lot more. It's quieter. Less busy."
thisvorlunatic
"Well, now I'm homesick," Miles remarks with a half-smile, gazing up at the rotating planet as it slowly carries his mountains out of view. "I miss weather. And horses. And maple syrup."
"Sorry." Pause. "I miss the sky, and the - light from it, to sound weird. The light doesn't change here, it - gets darker when the lights are off, and the lighting varies from place to place but there's no. Pinks and oranges and purples and yellows, it is just white and bland or this bright burning neon, unless you're in a place that's changing the light on purpose, and then it's like that all the time, and that sort of takes the fun out of it if that's all you have. And trees that aren't - there are trees here but they are all... the term I want to use is tame? Neatly planted exactly where they are wanted and pruned to perfection, until they are the perfect example of trees everywhere, aren't all of those other trees that can grow however they like jealous."
thisvorlunatic
"Barely qualifies as a tree, in my opinion," he says. "I miss the outdoors in general. Beta Colony doesn't have an outdoors, it has a—an exterior."
"Qualifies as a tree in name and biology only," agrees Yvette wryly. "Yeah. I couldn't actually live here because of that, I think. Among other reasons. Exterior, but no outdoors. Bleh. I'll probably refuse to go inside for hours when I get home. 'No, Mama, I have to look at the sky some more.'"
thisvorlunatic
Miles giggles. "I'm going straight to the lake house and making sure my horse didn't forget me, I think."
thisvorlunatic
"Yes. His name is Fat Ninny, which is entirely Grandda's fault. But he's a good horse, and I like him."
thisvorlunatic
"Well, we're on Beta Colony so I should probably blame it on some sort of subconscious desire to punish me for my defective skeleton, but actually I think the real culprit is his sense of humour."
thisvorlunatic
"Okay, that's more surreal than Fat Ninny, but arguably less demeaning."
Giggle. "Yeah. She wanted to name him Toast but my parents wouldn't let her."
"She thought so too! And now she plans to name any pet she has after the breakfast theme, because my sister."
thisvorlunatic
Miles giggies.
And: "I feel like playing with magnets next, do you want to go play with magnets?"
And: "I feel like playing with magnets next, do you want to go play with magnets?"
thisvorlunatic
The magnets are nearby and very impressive. Hovering things! Shiny black liquids which you, yes you, can cause to form interesting shapes! Model trains! A fantastic contraption in which small steel balls can be induced to fly around in intricate trajectories!
Miles is immediately drawn to the contraption. It's so contraptional.
Miles is immediately drawn to the contraption. It's so contraptional.
Gosh, it is! Yvette is also tempted by the contraption, but thinks it might be wise to maybe give Miles space at it.
She instead lets herself be drawn to the shiny black liquids that she can make interesting shapes with. Sure, anyone can make some squiggly shapes, but she is going to make complicated things. Such complicated things. She starts trying (unsuccessfully) to make a shiny black liquid into a suitably lace-like form. Hmmmmm. Hmmmm.
This is hard.
(And also fun.)
She instead lets herself be drawn to the shiny black liquids that she can make interesting shapes with. Sure, anyone can make some squiggly shapes, but she is going to make complicated things. Such complicated things. She starts trying (unsuccessfully) to make a shiny black liquid into a suitably lace-like form. Hmmmmm. Hmmmm.
This is hard.
(And also fun.)
thisvorlunatic
There are a few children playing with the contraption, and at first Miles shares it with them happily enough. But the kids drift off, and he stays, darting back and forth around the perimeter of the massive glass-encased machine to fiddle with this or that set of controls.
It seems like the steel balls are supposed to run their course and then drop into one of the receptacles around the perimeter, to be fed back into the machine from one of the eight starting points. He plays with it for a while to see if he can get one of them stuck in an endless loop. Before he manages it, he drops two of them out of the rotation completely - but that's no big deal; there are three rolling around on the floor in there already, if he climbs the railing to look in. Still plenty of ammunition to play with.
His third attempt is successful. He has to scramble between two adjacent control stations three times in quick succession to change the course while the ball is still in motion, and the timing is very tricky, but evidently not impossible: there's the ball, going up and down and around in a twisting course with no escape. Well, no escape until somebody comes along and changes it, that is. Nevertheless, Miles beams triumphantly.
It seems like the steel balls are supposed to run their course and then drop into one of the receptacles around the perimeter, to be fed back into the machine from one of the eight starting points. He plays with it for a while to see if he can get one of them stuck in an endless loop. Before he manages it, he drops two of them out of the rotation completely - but that's no big deal; there are three rolling around on the floor in there already, if he climbs the railing to look in. Still plenty of ammunition to play with.
His third attempt is successful. He has to scramble between two adjacent control stations three times in quick succession to change the course while the ball is still in motion, and the timing is very tricky, but evidently not impossible: there's the ball, going up and down and around in a twisting course with no escape. Well, no escape until somebody comes along and changes it, that is. Nevertheless, Miles beams triumphantly.
Yvette, meanwhile, is learning the exact limits of the shiny black liquids and their potential shapes. Suspending them in air is simple, but there's a bit of a technique to making them into shapes. Oh, sure, you can mold the entire thing into whatever shape you like, but creating lots and lots of little tiny holes is much more difficult. She figures something out involving pulling it in three separate directions to get it apart - she tries it with two, and while it's possible, it makes an unpleasant splattering pattern when that occurs. Three's more controlled if the force pulling isn't as strong. She tries with four, too, in a hope that she can neaten it up even more - but this causes it to explode in a hilarious fashion.
She cracks up when this occurs, and glances at Miles half out of pride for her hilarious explosion and half to see what he's doing. She notices the ball flying eternal. ".... Huh. That's cool."
She cracks up when this occurs, and glances at Miles half out of pride for her hilarious explosion and half to see what he's doing. She notices the ball flying eternal. ".... Huh. That's cool."