pinecn

7:00 A.M. \ Sunny, clear

Rhodes Island Dormitories

Mina? Mina? You up?

Nnuuh...

Shaky bedframe—bad...

Buh! You're already back, Kafka?

Just landed. Moseyed on down to you afore anything else... Oh, aaand I got a letter for you. From your dad.

Ooh, thanks!

You only got back yourself dead of night, didn'tcha?

Been takin' more stuff on these days...

You hit snooze, then. I got a Logistics Dep to swing by.

Doing well, Mina?

Your mom wanted Kafka to run you some clothes, but I intervened. Figured your friend was plenty busy enough back here in Columbia, seemed it'd inconvenience her.

How's your new job? They call it Rhodes Island? Kafka says you get along just swell with your coworkers.

If both her and the old Simon Co. head are working there, I bet it must be rock solid.

8:00 A.M. \ Sunny, clear

Rhodes Island Engineering Department Hallway

...Bridge's facade repairs are basically done. Just a little testing an' work's wrapped up all tidy. I—I'll get to it in a bit.

Heck, you're done two whole days ahead of schedule.

Best not forget to inspect the bridge this afternoon, Mr. Jeff.

It's fine, when have you ever messed up on the job? I'm a proud mentor here.

Say, Pinecone, were you in a hurry to get out this morning?

Uh... don't think so.

Look at your socks. One's a stocking and the other's ankle-high. Not to mention the color clash.

Oh, shoot!

Looks like you got muddled again. Maybe that afternoon inspection really is called for.

Uh, socks are socks, work's work...

You don't slip up at work either, but last week, um, you had your gloves in the microwave like they were a loaf of bread.

Yeah, you sure did! And Closure chewed you out hard for that.

Look, I was half-asleep by that point, okay?

Ahem... Okay, Pinecone, brass tacks. Here's the Engineering itinerary for today. Take it and get to work.

I'll see you cafeteria-side at noon, Pinecone! Don't forget lunch this time!

Mm-hm, got it.

How long's she been here at Rhodes now?

Clocking in close to a year. I was the one taking her through sign-on the day she reported in.

Registered her info, checked in at the dorms, and gave a tour of the landship. She was both curious and nervous the whole way. Didn't ask much, though, kept shy.

But the very last step, the simplest one, that was a real wringer.

The Engineering Operator contract's only a couple pages, right? She went through at least seven, eight times, checked over every single line with an HR op for any breach of contract clauses that might be lurking.

HR was convinced she was straight-up a spy from some other firm...

And she was way too serious about work while she was new. Enough to make even Closure not wanna assign anything to her.

Less serious, and more terrified of messing up. She took everything real carefully. I hear it's 'cause of some stuff she went through in Columbia, Kafka mentioned it once.

I remember nobody was willing to even crack a joke in front of her. Look at her now, though, firing your goofs right back at you.

Hahahahah—sorry, Jeff, I just can't help it.

Quit giggling... we're on the clock.

Your dad's recovering just fine. The whole project's been put on hold, though, and even the office shuttered. I asked around, and heard it was an investor that went belly-up. Simon Co.?

I'd been stuck at home for half a year now, no new job to speak of. Really hanging over me, but what can you do?

That's just the line of work we're in. Doesn't matter if you're in the right, clashing with the site owner is a big no-no. People think you'll rock the boat. Not to mention Columbia's got construction workers to spare.

Thank heavens for all the money you've been sending home... It's all my fault for being so useless, Mina, I know I'm a burden on you. Dashing all over the place with Rhodes Island can't be easy going either.

1:00 P.M. \ Sunny, clear

Rhodes Island Convalescent Garden

Thank you for taking the time today, Pinecone.

I found all these ruptured floor tiles yesterday while inspecting the greenhouse. Water's seeped all unevenly through the walls too.

Sprinklers are working alright?

Mm-hm, PRTS upgraded them just last month.

Uh-huh... floor got a case of overworn moisture proofing...

Will it be hard to fix?

Add extra dried charcoal to each part's proofing, re-lay the proofing for the damaged floor tiles, and that should do it.

Not much hassle, but... it'll take a li'l bit. Just leave this to me.

Phew—this should be good...

(Ungh—shoulders are killing me...)

You've been at this for five hours straight, I can't thank you enough! I got you some flower cookies—take them, I insist.

Thanks.

Let me see you out.

You got so many flowers here. Didn't even notice till now.

We barely ever see you in the Convalescent Garden! How about I give you the tour? It's the perfect opportunity.

We cultivate a lot of rare flora here. Miss Lena says you could compare it to an entire small-scale botanical garden.

That's some mighty fine work...

I loved reading things like <i>The Nomadic City Gazetteer</i>, back in Bolívar.

They wrote about how all the big cities had gardens and nature museums, and how they'd hold regular botanical expos, and that they'd assemble all kinds of rare plant life for people to admire.

And I wanted to go and see those places for myself, so badly.

Did ya ever go, then?

I never did. Right after I left home, I met Miss Lena, and then I came to Rhodes Island with her.

These are summer wisterias, these are iridescent hydrangeas...

These are coralblack willows... These are skeleton flowers, a very mysterious kind. They're native to the Higashi mountains.

You can see how they're pink right now, right? But when they get wet in the rain, they slowly turn translucent!

They do?

Mm-hm, it gave me such a shock the first time I saw it. Do you want to see, Pinecone? I could sprinkle a little water...

Uh—I'm good, I'm good.

These are fire crotons... The ones in the pots over there are pinetails, which flower for just one short week.

Oh wilderness, wilderness, runnin' for the sky♪

Oh city home, city home, my palms they hold you right♪

Machines do roll, do roll with care♪

Say don't roll over them grassreed hairs♪

They'll move to city home, come some right time♪

They'll live with us, come some right time♪

Hmm, hmm—uh, sorry 'bout that...

No, that was wonderful! What's that song called?

Dad taught me it, um... it's just those lines, no name, really.

I used to... put in shifts with my dad at the site, but work was always on. Barely got to talk the whole day.

So after we clocked out, he'd walk me home real relaxed-like. We sung that song all the time, to shake the day off.

Sing it the whole way, and suddenly you're not so tired anymore.

Did you help build a lot of new cities, while you were in Columbia?

The lyrics talked about taking the plants home, so you must've had gardens and nature museums, right? So were there really flower expos?

Nnuuh...

I—I don't know... Dad came up with the words himself...

Huh?

All I really remember's the wilderness... A whole lotta heavy machinery driving out into the barrens, bringin' along all the workers and materials together.

Construction's awful loud, even scarin' off all the fowlbeasts living nearby. Nothin' but dust, all across the land and sky... 'n then layer after layer of buildings rising on up, fast as fast goes.

Sometimes the foreman'd tell us what the buildings were for. Office block, lab, observatory... 'n all together they'd form a city.

Um... but it wasn't like we could imagine how it'd pan out after folks moved in.