Riley and Wylie are working on the simulator. They have to adjust them for the new pilots and put them in with the other three Horizon data. This is no hard work for them, yet it seems tedious, at least for her.
"Did you do the H-02 yet?" she asks as she walks into the room.
"Yes," he replies and crawls back up from down under the seat. "Every single situation, every single environment, and every single enemy we've seen. So yes," he walks closer. "Pretty much everything."
"Okay, good. Do you remember what happened last time? Jason scolded us so badly," she huffs.
"Yes, I remember you cried," he raises an eyebrow. "A lot."
"Stop it," she says as he leaves the room. "I didn't cry because of his words. There was just a fly inside my eye!"
Henry walks in with his training clothes as Wylie leaves the room with a scent of disrespect on her. He took a break and heard them talk. Listening to Riley is a reason to step inside for him.
"You cried? Why?"
She looks at him and sighs heavily, which makes her leave with rolling eyes onto him.
"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" he asks to the walls staring into nowhere.
Wylie just shrugs at him.
"Everyone, please listen," says Logan in a harsh, loud voice. "As of tomorrow, the Simulator training will begin. Since we only have one, we will switch every week until you guys are ready," he nods towards the three. "We will start with Michael because he is the most advanced in the training. Galina and Henry, you continue for the rest of the week. We shall see who will follow him."
"Is it really as if we would be inside a machine?" asks Galina.
"Yes, it truly is," he takes a little break in between his words. "As the name would suggest," he smiles. "It simulates everything."
Suhana is outside in the hallway, trying to clean the wall's surface from the training room. Sometimes, she looks inside to watch Galina. However, today she can't do that. Her co-worker Pam cleans with her today.
"Are you lost in thoughts?" she asks.
"No," says Suhana. "I was just thinking about how dirty these people are in here! They are never cleaning anything. It looks like a dumpster!" angrily she swings her arm around to clean the wall with her sponge.
Pam laughs. "Before you came, I had to do this all alone. And trust me, even if you clean it today, tomorrow it will be dirty again. It's not just the people that make the dirt. It's the walls that can't be cleaned."
Suhana looks at her with a long face. "What do you mean by that?"
"The more you clean, the dirtier it gets." She smiles.
"You talk so weirdly," Suhana smirks.
"Oh, is that so?" Pam chuckles.
"Kind of, but you know it's fine."
"Let me ask you one thing. Why are you doing this?"
"To make sure I can stay here with my girlfriend. They told us that only if you have a good reason and something to do, you can stay," explains Suhana.
"I see," says Pam. "I am here because I want to be here. Seeing all those people working for a better future is really amazing. And, you can be part of it too, you know?"
"But how can you be sure that they are doing the good?" asks Suhana with a creased forehead.
"If you didn't think that way, you wouldn't be here," Pam laughs.
Suhana starts to think about these words. Pam is right. She remembers that Nios talks a lot about Stargazer, though she never once thought if this is the right choice or not. She just went into it because Galina did.
They work together to ensure people's safety, yet Nios has completely different views on the world than Stargazer. Still, they work together as one.
Why is Antares unable to do that?
The people there often claimed that they are brainwashed, brainwashed by someone promising an unfulfilling life. It used to be useful, but now all it does is segregating—she doesn't doubt Stargazer, but nor does she question anyone else. The people say Alphonse is terrible—and so do his people say Stargazer is.
Suhana believes in the things that Galina believes in. She doesn't really have anything to worship except for her. So many times did she help her with just about everything. She doesn't need anyone else in her life, sure her family is still in Nios, and they accept Galina in every way, but it's not that important to her. Hopefully, someday, after all of this, she will be able to reunite with everyone from that place and live where she wants to live.
Galina always had a rough time. She was different; people bullied her for being like that. She didn't dress like the average girl of her age; she wore what her parents told her to. Mostly clothes double her size to cover up everything, and her parents didn't allow her any use of make-up. Her parents said to her that inner beauty is an essential thing in the world, and if you feel good the way you are, then no one should tell you otherwise. But Galina had a secret to keep—she likes women. Her classmates, bad as they were, found out about the secret then started vandalizing her home with bad words. Her desk was full of insults.
Her teacher told her parents about her love interests; she was one of the bullies.
Galina's parents were too fanatic towards their religion, so was the town in general—they had no place for differences.
They believed that beating her would take the love interest out of her. She suffered a lot, yet she never once gave up because no one in the world should tell anyone whom to love—it's not their life; it's her life.
No matter what happened to her, she always stood back up and smiled.
Suhana admired her.
Because she is the complete opposite of Galina.
Never once she hid her sexuality. Her parents accepted her the way she is and her classmates as well. People always helped the beautiful young woman who loved to dress up for them.
She is more on the superficial side. Inner beauty is something she never really cared about until she met Galina. She showed her what unconditional love means.
They fit together perfectly—Suhana abandoned her perfect life to stay with her love at Nios.
Galina's parents are part of Antares.
"Hey sweety, how about we turn on some music?" asks Pam while holding up her phone.
Suhana's mouth rises. "Yes, absolutely yes!"
Pam turns on the music; they start to move along to the beat.
"Working is way more fun if you can make it fun," she says.
Suhana nods and continues to groove; she swings around the sponge and squeezes the water out of it. Pam starts to laugh as Suhana begins to sing along.
"What is this music?" Henry's eyebrows rise.
"I don't know," says Darryl. "But don't get distracted from it."
Henry tries to concentrate. Today he has to do the target shooting. His concentration is everywhere except where it should be. Every shot he does, miss entirely.
Darryl puts his hand on Henry's shoulder. "I told you to concentrate. Let me show you," and moves him away to have space.
He takes Henry's gun, moves along to the music, shoots, and hits the moving target right at heart with the beat.
"See?" he says. "Take what you have and put it to good use. Like this music!" he dances and claps to the beat. "Take it to your advantage and move with it," he adds.
"I don't get it," says Henry. "But let me try again," his pupils shorten.
He takes the gun, concentrates on the moving target's head.
He closes his eyes, inhales, and opens them back up. Alongside the music, he shoots as the climax begins to happen—the one shot he took—didn't miss.
he plasterers a smile on his face. "I see what you mean!"
"I told you, you can do it. In a battle, sometimes you need to listen closely from where the shots fired from," he looks at Henry and points his index finger up a second. "That is where this comes in handy."
"Alright, hope you are ready, Michael," says Logan.
"I think I am," he says, rubbing his hands.
"Before you can sit in there, you should change into your suit. Otherwise, the training would be no use," explains Logan, not caring to look at Michael once.
"Oh, I am sorry," replies Michael.
He changes into the suit that's hanging on the left wall side. His suit covered in metallic grey-the stripes on the side, firmly drained in a black shade—almost invisible.
He puts on the helmet and seats himself as his vision turns into a shallow black.
From behind—Logan straps in a wire to connect him to the computer. Michael's suit begins to show his pulse through the fluctuation system, and suddenly he sees himself inside a holographic environment. The abandoned city burned down to the ground with no sight of life.
He takes his joystick and moves forward. Slowly, his simulated Horizon takes a step, and his eyes descent, seeing the feet moving. Logan protocols every step he takes as well as his pulse frequency.
"This is awesome," says Michael surprisingly. He can't close his mouth over the astonishing view of his surroundings; it's so much different sitting in the middle than at the border.
"Okay," says Logan and leans his head next to Michael. "Take a good look at the control pad in front of you. You can see the names of each Horizon. If you click on the one, you can communicate," with his hands, he glides over the air as if he was inside the simulator. "Alternatively, use the standard one for all, which will be heard everywhere like a group call of sorts. Then, in front of your legs, there's the gas pedal. Accelerate and push it forward. This way, you will move faster. If you turn the sticks up a bit, you'll fly."
Michael tries to do what Logan explained to him. His Horizon starts to fly up about four inches over the ground.
He moves forward while accelerating, and suddenly, his body drags inside the seat. Michael's heart rate is rising; he can move his head with ease. "Is this the acceleration? Why am I just feeling a small push instead?"
"Your suit has anti-G inside. You don't really feel much aside from a push from time to time. Now, try to move while flying," explains Logan.
His feet turn the gas pedal forward, and he accelerates. His hand grasp around the joystick and moves up; it feels like a roller coaster.
"This is so much fun," his eyes sparkle.
His pulse gradually rises; he doesn't even notice that the adrenalin kicks in.
"If this were a real test, you would be in a lot of pain right now."
"Why?" Michaels's eyes lift up.
"You are over a hundred BPM. That means the neurons would be sent through your body, making you unable to move an inch. We call it overflow. You need to be careful. We decided to turn them off for the first time. Tomorrow," Logan exhales some air. "I will turn them on," and raises an eyebrow.
"So, for today, I am just getting used to the controls?" asks Michael.
"Exactly," answers Logan.
Michael turns his head back at Logan. "How do you go into the bathroom with this?"
"Okay, great work," Darryl claps in his hands while walking towards Henry. He continues. "Now, let's go get some dinner, shall we?"
Galina and Henry take a shower and change clothes before heading to the dining area. Today was a very sweaty yet satisfying day for both.
Henry takes his table with food and looks around. His eyes slowly meet Riley, who is chattering with a colleague of hers. Hermann Rostfeld, a very old technician from Germany. He works alongside Riley and Wylie, usually taking their place once they change the shifts. His hair is as grey as his jokes can sometimes be, and he always wears a one-colored sweater with jeans.
"Hey," says Henry.
"Hi," she huffs back at him.
"How was your day, old man?" he asks.
"Oh, mine was alright. About to start working, nightshift today," his eyes light up.
"That doesn't sound all too good."
"I prefer working more at night than at the day," he says while slowly taking a bite of his potato.
"Why do you like the night more?"
"You see, at night, the weird things happen more," his eyes open wide.
Hermann smiles like a devil at him, making Henry feel uncomfortable to eat his dinner. He doesn't want to ask more questions, as the man gives him an uneasy vibe already.
"So what's your deal?" asks Riley breaking the silence. "Why are you here instead of being with the others?"
"I wanted to talk to you."
"About what?" her forehead creases.
"What would you do if everything is over like in a snap?"
"I don't know, to be honest," she looks to her almost empty plate of food only to look right back at him. "Maybe I will become what I always wanted to be."
"And what is that?" he asks, surprised.
"A teacher," she smiles.
"What do you want to teach? Whom do you want to teach? Middle school or college? I want to know!" Henry is coming closer and closer to her face with his wide-open eyes.
"I didn't think of it, honestly," she says, reaching her hands on his face to make him back off. "Maybe history. That would be my dream."
"History, huh?" he says and looks at her with a smirk. "Fits you perfectly."
She blushes and stares at her food; Hermann notices her gesture and nudges at her, starting to whisper in her ear. "He's kind of cute if you ask me."
Riley angrily throws her red face at him, "Shut up, he's not!" she whispers back.
Galina makes her way to Suhana's room. She opens the door and watches how Suhana brushes her long brown hair under the bright moonlight that shines through her room. The small dust particle makes her look more beautiful than she already is. She stops brushing to smile at her genuinely.
"I am glad you are here!" She stands up and hugs Galina as a warm welcome.
"Hey," she answers while slowly opening her eyes.
Suhana notices it. "Hey, what's wrong?" she asks.
Galina sighs heavily. She throws her bottom onto the bed and looks out of the window. "I am just—I don't know—" she pauses her speech to release a heavy sigh.
Suhana presses her shoulder onto her. "Now, tell me. What's on your mind?" she says.
"I've been thinking about some things. Like for what am I fighting? Why do I even try? I feel useless inside the group. Extremely useless. I got nothing that nobody else's can—" Suhana looks at her sobbing face and grins.
"Are you sure about that?" Galina looks at her.
Suhana continues with a soft voice. "You are the bravest woman I have ever met. You fought so many battles. Of course, you can win this one too. Just believe in yourself, in your experience. The group needs you."
"Really?" her eyes open wide.
"Yes, of course. Without you, they would be one good person less."
"I don't think that's how this works."
"Yes, it does, if you want it to work like that, and then you can make it work like that!"
"You're so different, Suhana. I love that," Galina smiles at her.
"Are you feeling a little bit better now?"
"Yes, I do. Thank you for always cheering me up."
Suhana looks at her with a bright smile, "I love you," she says, pressing her lips against Galina's. They descend their bodies onto the bed, slowly.
Riley can't sleep tonight; she's awake looking out of the window to the dark, cold desert.
She sighs. "What if we can't save all?" she asks herself.
"Do I see someone who can't sleep?"
She turns her head around; Wylie can't seem to sleep either. "No," and turns her head back out the window.
"Me neither," he steps forward to look out of the window together and continues. "Did you ever ask yourself if we can keep going no matter what?"
"What do you mean?" she looks at him.
"Like what if we're the only ones left?"
"You mean what if we lose everyone?"
"Just in general," he shrugs. "What if we will lose more than we win?"
She looks up to the moon. "Then, the war may have ended."
He giggles. "I was kidding, and you turned all serious!"
"Oh, give me a break! You started with it."
"Anyways," he steps back and moves to the door. "This really bugs me for some reason. What if we do end up being alone? Would you continue?"
"I don't know," she turns back to the window. "I probably would."
"Yeah, me too, probably. The people are nice, but not only that. Combining different thoughts of the world and insights makes it all so impressive and interesting."
"Every day, you could hear different stories, and you would see different ways of living."
Wylie leans himself out of the window next to her, staring upon. "I wonder, how was the world before the crisis? I mean, according to the history of the world, people had different ideals and of course war but—"
"It's different."
"How so?"
She looks at him. "Because we evolve, we take notes of our mistakes and try to not make them again. And yet—"
"And yet, here we are. Fighting in a war because of some stupid ideals," he chuckles slightly.
"We really should rewrite history in a way no one has ever believed it would be possible to do so."
"Yeah," he says and looks up to the stars.