<Not too much, at least that isn't a pretty big topic. Mostly I'm curious what you're thinking of doing, once we get the situation with Mountain and Needles figured out, but I don't know if that's the sort of conversation we can really have in just a few minutes.>

<Probably not,> they agree. <I mean, I guess my main goal has just been to live away from my parents so they can move up-chain. But what I really want to do is reform the train system. Right now, the trains have to accelerate and decelerate for every city, which makes transit times ridiculous. If they re-designed the junctions so that trains could go through without stopping -- or if they modified the inertial protections on the train to angle them on approach -- we could adopt a train schedule that would be so much faster. Eight hours to the antipodal city instead of eight days.>

<But that's not ...> they pause for a moment. <Well, my mother says that I should be focusing on my foundational techniques.>

<Man, Mountain would have a total field day with that. It's too bad he ended up down on the surface. Still, I think you probably could manage that given some time even without my help, so I'm sure it'll be possible with my help!>

They nod.

<I started looking into the train thing because I wanted a better way to keep in touch with Swift when my family moved away,> they explain. <That's actually how I got into radio, too. But the more I learned about it, the more I realized that there is just no good reason for the other cities to be as 'far away' as they are. They could be a lot more like districts of a single large city, instead of lots of separate cities. Which would also support a higher population density, because it would be easier to import food.>

The other students are trickling in around them and starting their own warmup stretches.

<Well, it certainly sounds like you're interested in making the cities more connected, which I can get behind!>

Gold is still just a bunch of thread discreetly wrapped around Scour's body at various points, so it doesn't really have any physical expression to observe, but Scour still gets the impression of that being an intentional pun.

<Yeah!> they agree. <I think a lot of people don't realize how big a difference transit times make to ...> they begin to say before being interrupted by the instructor.

The instructor walks them through the warmup, and then sets them to doing laps.

<The thing I thought we should talk about, though,> they say a few minutes later. <Is the plan for finding the Needles and Mountain. After school lets out, we have about an hour to pack before the train is due. Then there's the train ride, but once we're in 1st Glorious East, then what? Do you think I should also do the poking around there in disguise? How close will you need to be to narrow down the Needles' location?>

<Given the distances involved, probably we'll need to be more than half-way there on the train before I'd be able to be more specific than 'in that city', at least without building up a bigger dowsing array, which would be indiscreet to say the least. As for going in disguise, I think that it'd be a good idea, unless you can think of a good alibi for why you'd be taking the trip. Even with a disguise, it'd honestly probably be a good idea to try and set up an alibi.>

It's nice, not having to waste their breath to talk.

<So an alibi on short notice is going to be a little shaky, but I did already mention to my parents that I was going so they wouldn't worry. It's not that unusual to take a day trip to a neighboring city -- I last went a few months ago.>

They think for a moment.

<I think I should probably claim I'm looking to see if they have an uncommon radio part. Because everyone would believe that I would rather take a daytrip and pick through the market there just in case instead of trying to mail-order it. And if we don't come back with anything, that doesn't invalidate the alibi.>

<Sounds good to me! Might make sense to actually check out a handle of markets while we're there anyway, just to make sure there are some people over there who'll corroborate the story. Then when we're actually looking for Needles you can put on the disguise.>

<That makes sense,> they agree.

They finish with laps, and then go through a series of katas with the class. This requires more attention to form, so they lapse into silence.

Afterwards, they warm down and start to think about the plan for the rest of the day.

<Are you waterproof?> they ask. <Because we're supposed to clean up before the rest of the classes, but I don't really want to leave you in the outer room. I don't really want anyone else to see you, either. Could you become something thin and transparent like fishing line?>

<Water is no problem, and yeah.>

Sure enough, when Scour starts undressing to wash up, Gold is nowhere to be found, visually at least. Its presence doesn't even perturb the flow of the wash-water.

Scour undresses, washes, and re-dresses in record time, scrupulously avoiding looking at any of the other students. But since this is exactly their normal habit, it doesn't draw any notice.

The rest of the school day passes quickly. Lunch is noodle soup from a place just around the corner of the academy. Their mathematics instructor always keeps the class until the last bell, so they hang back a moment to let the press of students clear.

The trip back to their house isn't too bad, because the sun is still out and people who can manage it are indoors away from the heat. Even with the radiators that hang below the city at night, the temperature never quite gets down far enough, which means that afternoons are always baking.

<So I figure I need to pack fare, a change of clothes, the disguise, a dinner, my multimeter, and a battery -- for testing putative radio components. Does it sound like I'm missing anything?> they ask. <Oh! And some books for reading, maybe.>

<I can probably manage the disguise myself, honestly, doing something similar as last night, which might be better to avoid suspicion on the off chance someone checks your bags. And you don't need to bring any books that you wouldn't plausibly read on your own, I don't get bored that quickly.>

<Okay, cool,> they agree.

Their mother isn't home yet, so they breeze through packing. They pull out a well-worn dufflebag to pack things in, placing their multimeter and a box of rice and vegetable in last for easy access.

They debate for a bit over books. Because they do read a lot, but suddenly the question of how much would it be unsuspicious for them to expect to read feels a lot more complicated. Eventually, they settle on an electrical engineering reference book, a partially-filled notebook, and a novel that they checked out of the library but hadn't started yet.

"Bye Dad!" they call as they head back out. "I'll be back tomorrow."

The heat hits them like a brick, coming out of their relatively cool apartment. They hurry back towards the city center, before veering north towards the bottom of the anchor chain.

They trudge up the stairs to the platform where the chain-climber lands, and then step into its car along with the rest of the people bound for the train platform. As the climber starts back up again, the city spreads out beneath them. Scour can't help but compare it to the view of the city they experienced last night, and find it lacking.

They turn their eyes to the train platform above them, a huge elongated structure. No trains are in evidence right now, but the chain climbers are busily hauling loads up from the storerooms beneath the city and depositing them along the length of the platform.

When the chain-climber reaches the top, they disembark and queue for their ticket. The train only goes one place, and so they only sell one kind of ticket. Scour drops their coins into the slot, and receives a small paper ticket in return.

"Train's in twenty minutes," the ticket-seller informs them. "Next!"

They pick their way along the edge of the platform, staying out of the way of the workers loading carts. Outgoing goods get lined up along one side, and empty marked squares for incoming goods line the other. They pick a bench, and settle out of the way to wait.

<For the future, if you bring a heat-sink with you, or once we're aligned enough that I can reliably connect to distant locations pretty quickly, I can connect you to it, and that might help you resist the heat.>