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And as a friendly reminder, the strong sunlight up here will make people thirstier than usual, but there's all sorts of flavors of Dr Oxygen available on every levitation platform.

No need to worry everyone, you're not getting addicted to soda, you're getting addicted to the SKY!

Pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Tannen!

I knew I picked the right man to work with the moment I heard you managed to get the feds to approve this place's special status in only two days!

Pleasure's all mine, sir. Now, if you would please sign here.

Err... That older gentleman's been standing there a while now. He a friend of yours?

Sorry to interrupt your business, just came here looking to reminisce about the good old days.

Well, I'll be. Gustave here was my boss back at the Bureau. When did you show up?

'In this park in the sky, fowlbeasts fly right into the pot for you.'

Haha, that little saying of Mr. Tannen's struck me real deep.

He skipped the best part of the story, though.

Story goes that the fowlbeasts of the Columbian wilds are mighty sly, tough little guys to catch, but the Pioneers of the Great Expansion managed to figure out a way. They'd tie some pretty feathers to their pots and hang up a few dozen of 'em around their camp.

The fowl think it's a potential mate, so they let down their guard, spread their wings, and swoop down... then bam, headfirst into the back of the pot, thinking there's a lovely gal or fella waiting for them even as they meet their maker.

Wait, you mean—

Still spinning tall tales out of that old yarn, Gustave? Last time you said the little beasties were smart enough to tell snare from seduction, and that they never fell for it.

I know you dropped by because you're worried I'd get my tongue tied doing business, but I'm not the same kid I was seven years back. I know how to behave.

Considering the former ATAO chief came over to back me up, are you still concerned, sir?

Hah, seems I was misunderstanding things. Since the both of you gave me your guarantees, I'll just sign here.

Exactly what I wanted to hear. Looking forward to working with you.

Didn't get enough of teaching me back at the Bureau, Chief? Decided to come out of retirement to run me through the same old curriculum in a different classroom?

Now, I never taught you to tell lies on your government applications. That investor's still in the vetting phase, too.

So what? 'Even if Bureau rules tie your hands and mouth, let your tail do the talking.'

You remember my words real well, but where's the results?

Still a third over the target.

Seems to me you'd do better if you untied your hands and mouth, wouldn't you say?

Care to explain?

Take a look at your terminal. You're not just an administrator anymore, you've got total control over Propeller Paradise.

You actually recommended me for chief executive of the entire park?

Managing Propeller Paradise needs a special touch. Don't forget, you're still a Bureau man, so don't make us look bad.

Don't need you to remind me, Chief. We've got everything handled. The expo will go off without a hitch.

Don't get cocky, kid. You and I both know that investor saw through your tricks, even if he signed a huge deal with you.

He won't go back on it. Every company on the Flower Street exchange with the word 'Sky' in its name is guaranteed a sky-high IPO.

Columbia's taking great strides into the air these days. Even little kids who can't spell 'Starpod' are making toy aircrafts out of rocket-print napkins.

I'm sure you know where this skymania came from.

Trimounts, two years ago, when a million people witnessed a miracle.

If it wasn't for Kristen Wright, all your talk about progress, the future and conquest wouldn't be worth a dime.

When Rhine Lab first submitted their park project plan to D.C., you were still inspecting butts and tails for Immigration.

There's only one thing at Propeller Paradise I don't control. Still belongs to the one who started the whole thing...

You'd better get a bridle around your risks here. You've only got seven days. What're you going to do?

<p=1>Ground Layer, Propeller Paradise Experimental Park</>

I need the parameters, Sky.

Sent them over already.

The values for the floating botanical unit have deviated.

This is the first time we're using plants to perform long-distance energy transfer instead of the usual cables, there's still too many unconfirmed hypotheses.

We need to compare the data from this unit with the ones on the upper level if we want quick results. I'll head up for you, Director!

No need. The light sensors on this unit are extremely sensitive to the directionality of the light it's using as an energy source. Errors actually mean it gets a passing grade.

I just told you this two hours ago.

Sorry.

Let me ask again, what sort of tree is planted in the unit you just gave me?

You saw my resume when I interviewed, Director, you know I'm no botanist...

I do.

You're not earning a degree by glancing down at that list of plants you're holding.

You've got something else on your mind.

The advance ticket tour should be over by now. The guide was supposed to bring the visitors down to the lower level exhibitions to see Rhine Lab's vivarium twenty minutes ago.

If we are excluded from the pre-expo, then Rhine Lab's gonna get kicked out of the park when the real expo starts!

Occasionally, visitors to Propeller Paradise notice Rhine's logo plastered on the facilities and talk about the legendary company that performed the miracle of opening up the sky.

But very few of them notice, under the layers of levitating installations, under the very ground itself...

A Rhine Lab director standing beside an unremarkable hole in the dirt.

We don't specialize in attracting visitors, Sky.

Honestly, I forgot what I <i>was</i> good at pretty early into the six months I've been here.

You stuffed a dozen of us researchers into the vivarium after setting up in the park, making us tend to the saplings and debug the botanical units all so the park could have a few fruit trees for decor. No large-scale experimentation or anything.

Do you think we're just here to be gardeners?

No, I know the vivarium is our expo showcase. It's the Ring Lab's legacy, even if it has to stay on the ground...

But how long has it been since we last looked up at the sky?

Nasti Lunorey looks up. Two years ago, deep below the outskirts of Trimounts, she would stand at the bottom of the S.H.A.F.T. and look up at the night sky in much the same way.

It was round, feeble, she could cover it with just one hand, but at the same time she found it captivating and frightening to the mind.

But now, the sky has become altogether unfamiliar.

Tower Mountains Biotech's solar boats, Beachbrella's disk lab, Volvort Kochinski's high-precision astronomical telescope, and Mama John's's all-weather floating billboards...

They crowd the sky with pure, concentrated Columbia.

Rhine proposed the park with only one thing in mind: how to make buildings levitate longer using a structural engineering approach.

The corridors linking the levitating plates, the oxygen and water systems for the experiment zone, this planting unit in my hand... They are important parts of the park's fundamental structure, and Rhine's achievements.

We have only seven days until the expo begins. We need to finish testing and checking all the exhibits as quickly as possible. We're Propeller Paradise's engineering department right now. Don't forget your duty.

That's all? Your dreams, Kristen's dreams in the sky... are just going to die like that?

Sunlight filters through the chaotic tangle of levitating objects before falling onto Nasti's face. She does not reply. She simply pulls down the brim of her hard hat.