The muffled music from the hall could be heard up on the rooftop where Karl was lying down, looking up at the sea of stars in the clear night sky with a soft smile on his face. He had slipped out as soon as his mother finished her speech since the rest of the night was just going to be small talk and dancing anyway. Every now and then he would find moments like this, when he just wanted to be outside, feeling the wind, listening to the sound of the waves, and most of all, watching the little diamonds twinkle high in the sky.
"I wonder why no matter how many times we've gone up there, it feels like I just want to keep going higher and farther away… Like there's something out there pulling me to some place I've never been to. Is it because you're still somewhere out there, Dad?"
He put his hand up, palm facing the sky, as if reaching for something. Unbeknownst to him, at that same moment, hovering far above the outermost layers of the Earth's atmosphere, a pilot inside a crimson fighter had also extended his hand, closing his gloved fingers around the giant blue marble in front of his eyes.
"What a dazzling colour. The finest blue and white gems melted together and swirled to make one fine orb, so precisely measured and polished to perfection. As soon as I laid eyes on this planet, it took my breath away…"
"Do you really think one of those pilots saw you earlier? We had a glitch in our stealth system when we got out of the wormhole, but that only lasted for a second." A woman's voice came through the communicator on his helmet.
"I thought so at first; that pilot looked straight into my eyes after all. However, in the end it appears that they had no idea we were even there. Otherwise, they would not have left without trying to establish contact at the very least," said the pilot.
"So what's the plan?" This time, it was the deep voice of a man.
"My companion has gone ahead, so I'll be able to observe how things are with his help. For now, let us set up camp on this planet's lone moon and regroup. It's been a long journey, after all. After a bit of rest, I'll go down to scout."
"Understood."
The flaming red fighter sped off followed by two black spacecrafts.
-
The next morning, the Lyle siblings were gathered around the dining table in a lively discussion over breakfast.
"I can have anything I want?" Luna gasped.
"Anything!" Karl grinned.
"And we're going anywhere I want?" She turned to Zephyr.
"Anywhere," Zephyr nodded as he tousled her hair, which she didn't complain about as she still had bed head.
"It's rare for all three of you to have the same day off, so make the most out of it," Mrs. Lyle said as she bit on her toast with persimmon jam.
"Hm… All right then. I want to go to the dinosaur museum! And then to the bluffs!"
"You know that's the last stop on two separate train lines, right?" Zephyr frowned.
"Yep!" Luna confirmed, flashing her brightest smile before instantly narrowing her eyes. "And you said anywhere, so don't complain."
"Okay. Just saying, that's gonna take up pretty much the whole day so…"
"Let's go see dinos. Let's go to the bluffs." Luna chanted.
"And eat drop cake! Kinako drop cake!" Karl joined in.
Zephyr flinched at the sight of not one, but now two pairs of puppy dog eyes looking up at him. He could only sigh in defeat.
"You never win against them, huh…" Mrs. Lyle chuckled, as she enjoyed her rooibos tea.
They headed to Mikuniminato Station and as soon as they arrived, the station master greeted them "Good morning!"
"Good morning!" They greeted back.
As Zephyr walked to the ticket booth, Karl said to Luna, "It's been a while since I last took this train line. You know, I used to take after-school lessons to catch up with the classes I missed whenever I was admitted to the hospital. But some days I'd finish so late and barely made it to the last train. But our station masters would have my ticket ready, so I was able to sprint to the platform and board in the nick of time."
"Yeah, you were sick all the time back then. It still feels so surreal that you're a GDF pilot now. Team Alpha, even. How did you do that?" Luna tilted her head to one side. Zephyr, who had just come back and handed to them their day passes, heard her question and looked just as curious.
Karl smiled ruefully. "You guys know that Dad was the one who taught me how to fly, right? It was thanks to how easy his lessons were that I got my pilot license at such a young age. But, the truth is, Mom and Dad didn't want me to be involved with GDF. Because of my health issues, I guess. Dad knew how much I loved flying, but that was the most he'd let me do.
Even after Dad left, Mom was opposed to me taking the qualifying exams at first. But I wanted to find Dad no matter what, so she gave me an ultimatum. I had to pass a much more difficult training that she personally supervised, because for someone like me, going to missions on space was going to be ten times more challenging than people with fit and healthy bodies.
But more than Mom, I wanted to prove to myself that I could do it, because more than anything, I hated the idea of holding others back and compromising their safety. And you know the rest."
"You must be one tough soul to survive Mom's training from hell," said Zephyr.
Karl hugged himself, shivering slightly. "You have no idea how many times I thought I was going to die. Mom's really something else. I'm telling you, she must have been part of some shady organization."
Luna laughed it off, waving her hand dismissively. ""There you go again with your wild theories. Anyway, shall we?"
They showed their passes to the station master punching holes on each passenger's ticket stub at the gate, who had been working at that station since they were kids. "Oh, it's been a while since you've gone to the Dinosaur Museum, hasn't it? Have fun!"
"Thank you!" Karl flashed a bright grin.
Things had always been busy with their mother as the co-founder, Zephyr as a captain of the medic team, and himself as part of Team Alpha. But with Luna becoming a full-fledged GDF operative as well, Karl knew that today may very well be the last time they could bond together as a family.
GDF teams were regularly dispatched to missions both within and outside of the solar system. His own team had gone as far as galaxies that, two decades ago, were just twinkling little stars mankind could only marvel at and study from observatories and telescopes. So for GDF pilots, even if they lived in the same household, there was no guarantee they would ever share the same time off. But with just one smile, and that familiar warm voice, Karl was soothed. He began to feel as if everything was going to be okay, and let the excitement set in as they boarded the train.
The Dinosaur Museum was the last stop on another train line, where they spent the whole morning admiring dinosaur fossils, from the tiny to the majestic to the ones that looked like a cross between a chicken and a reptile.
Afterwards they hopped on a shuttle bus, got back on the train, and switched lines again to go back to Mikuniminato Station and rode bikes up to the bluffs. As they were walking around, they saw bamboo branches where colorful pieces of paper with different hand-written characters were hung.
"Oh look! It's a Wish Tree!" Luna trotted towards the small table beside it where there were markers and blank strips of paper in different colors with strings already tied to them.
"Come on, you two! It's Tanabata today!" She beckoned at her brothers, who came forward and wrote down their own future dreams as well. And together, they hung up their papers on the bamboo branches.
They spent the rest of the day enjoying the sight and sound of the sea below the long stretch of basaltic cliffs lining the coast, where tourists and locals alike were lost in taking selfies and capturing videos for their social media posts. But as the setting sun painted their surroundings with red and orange hues, the place also became less crowded. Luna took lots of pictures with her brothers as well.
While the place was popular for couples and families, the steep cliffs also attracted people who had grim thoughts of jumping off in the past, especially at night. As a result, buses no longer serviced the area after sunset, so they usually rode bikes there instead. The three of them spent the rest of the afternoon sitting side by side, listening to the calming rhythm of the waves even until long after dusk.
"Hey, so, I'm finally part of GDF now, just like you guys." Luna spoke, breaking the comfortable silence between them. She got up and, with her back still towards them, continued. "Can I ask you two a favor?"
Her brothers looked at each other and then turned to her, then Karl spoke. "Sure, what is it?"
She spun on her heels and, with a determined face and assertive voice, said "I want you to treat me like one. Like a GDF operative. You don't have to protect me anymore, especially you, Karl. You just came back from your mission, and you were probably exhausted! And yet, instead of resting and going to Zeph for your routine check up, you ran off just to check on me!"
"I should have been sneakier," Karl flinched when Zephyr gave him a look, realizing too late that his thoughts had slipped out. He got up and put his hands on Luna's shoulders.
"Look, I'm sorry if I made you feel as if I don't have faith in your abilities, Luna. But it's natural for me to worry, just like you and Zeph do for me, too." Karl smiled, glancing at Zephyr as well. "But as your brothers, Zeph and I also know better than anyone else what you're capable of. With your skill with weapons and exceptional Elemental affinity, you're definitely a force to be reckoned with."
"Of course I am," Luna huffed, but her cheeks turning pink belied her haughty façade.
"Not just that." Zephyr stood up to join them, messing up Luna's hair again. "We made a promise, didn't we? When we were little, mom told us that dad went back to the stars. So when Karl swore he'd become a space pilot to find Dad, we promised we were gonna help him."
"You remember…" Luna felt her eyelids quiver.
"And today, I renew my promise to you guys, too," Karl smiled at them then looked up at the nocturnal sky. "I'll find Dad and bring him home."
As if sealing his words, a shooting star passed by. It was followed by another. The three siblings watched with wide-eyed wonder as a meteor shower adorned the night of the Star Festival.
Karl noticed that one of the shooting stars seemed to be visible a little too long. "That red one is taking its sweet time like a diva."
His eyes drooped when it seemed to be coming closer and closer, thinking back on the dinosaurs' demise.
"Uh-oh… I sure hope this doesn't mean it's our turn to go extinct?!"
Shaking thoughts of annihilation out of his mind, he squinted to get a better look. His eyes widened when he realized the movement was not that of a natural celestial body, but that of a spaceship.
"It's a fighter," Zephyr said from beside him, confirming his conjecture.
Karl frowned when it started moving strangely, saying "It looks like it's falling… maybe it's been hit. But I don't hear any distress calls coming into our comms. This isn't good; the pilot might be unconscious."
"Still, it might be someone suspiciou- Hey!"
Before Zephyr could finish his sentence, Karl ran for the cliffs.
"There he goes again," Zephyr sighed. "Luna, contact Mom. We'll stay here for now and wait for further instructions. I'll have the medics at the base on standby in case something happens."
"Got it," Luna swiftly pulled out her phone.
Karl spoke to his watch in the middle of his sprint. "Ava, send Alpha 5 to my current coordinates."
Team Alpha's virtual assistant immediately replied "Roger."
Not long after, he heard the sound of his fighter's engine.
"Initializing landing sequence."
"No need, just send her by the edge of the cliffs. I'll jump in."
When it was less than a meter from where he was standing, he dashed towards the edge then jumped off, landing on top of his fighter. He got in and headed straight for the pilot seat, flying just in time to tail the other spacecraft before it fell into the water with a splash.
With his fighter hovering above the sea, Karl said "Ava, suit up."
In the time it took for him to get up from the pilot seat and get to his fighter's entrance, his suit materialized from his watch, expanding until it covered his whole body.
"Oh, man… Zeph's gonna kill me for diving by myself again," Karl shook his head, then promptly jumped into the water and swam after the sinking fighter, using his suit's booster to amplify his speed.
"Ava, see if you can reach the pilot."
"Negative. The communication line is open, but there's no response."
"I guess we're gonna have to do this the old-fashioned way."
Karl came closer and banged on the windshield, hoping to get the pilot's attention, but it was in vain.
"The pilot isn't showing any signs of movement. He might be hurt after all…" The difficulty of breathing underwater, on top of the effort he exerted in hitting the glass, drained Karl's strength. He started to wheeze.
"Ava, please call for... backup…"
As he felt his strength leaving him, he mustered enough to weakly knock on the glass a couple more times.
'Hang in there… Help is coming…'
He could have sworn that the pilot opened his eyes and looked directly at him, before everything turned black.