Conics Unfortunately: 55

The moment Ellipse powered up the Conics’s engines and zipped away from Mao, Focci announced that they were all one-hundred-percent-no-questions-asked taking a few days for a planetside vacation on Sirena. He had made a big production of it, turning somersaults in the cockpit and smacking things with his tail and ending with a great wave of his hands, like some Broadway dance number finale.

So four days later, loaded down with two stuffed duffel bags, Ellipse tapped the send button for one last email to Randi Abe, with a brief hint that she could really use like a million USD for investment purposes, and then stepped in line behind the boys to board a shuttle from Satellite Sirena to the planet proper.

Ellipse had been on exactly one shuttle in her life: a tiny, metal hell-can that flew between Titan and its station. Really, she had never even been on a real planet.

The boarding line shuffled forwards, and Ellipse took one more look around the station. It was an odd one, with a floor that alternated in long bands of smooth plastic, deep trenches, and concrete boardwalks, all of which criss-crossed over each other as they ran the length of the station’s giant, single ring. Also everything was wet. The concrete was wet, and the plastic was a slippery death trap, and the trenches overflowed with roiling, low-saline water.

Ellipse hated it, but all the sirens looked comfortable. Their gills moved with purpose instead of waving about the way Focci’s did sometimes when he spent too long outside of his water tank.

Maybe the real problem was that she had stopped wearing industrial boots. Her sneakers had significantly less traction.

She followed after the boys as they paid the fare and proceeded down the boarding tunnel, which telescoped out from the main hall, growing tighter and smaller until it suctioned tight against the tiny door to the shuttle.

For some reason, the shuttle felt smaller than Ellipse remembered. She reasoned that she had probably grown since the last time she rode in one, but maybe the fact that sirens were long instead of tall had something to do with the tight space as well. She ducked as she walked through the space, still trailing after the boys as they scooted across the floor in front of her.

“Tejal, you have seat thirty-six,” Focci sang. He glanced back at Ellipse meaningfully.

She repeated his message in English. They had stowed Tejal’s tablet in the duffle bags, wrapped inside a bunch of clothes for cushioning.

“And Ellipse, you have seat thirty-eight. I believe it is on the ceiling right now.”

Oh, great. Ellipse looked up to see two long cushions built into the ceiling, with thick elastic straps stretching across the width of the fabric. The walls were the same.

She watched, stomach curling, as Tejal laid down on the floor and wriggled himself under the elastic straps meant for his torso. Another siren meandered in, careful to avoid him, and gave Focci a quick gill flutter.

They waited, and the muscles in Ellipse’s lower back ached, tired from bending over and from hauling the duffle bags. She checked her watch, and then checked it again. Hopefully Randi would get back to her before they left the station.

Right when Ellipse found herself bored enough to ask Tejal to explain how the miniature fold generator worked, a series of automated notes echoed from a hidden speaker in the shuttle. They were grainy and ascended in a quick arpeggio, like something from an old public school intercom, though the notes really did mean ‘attention’ in Trade Siren.

“Attention, all passengers, the shuttle will now be sealed. I repeat. The shuttle will now be sealed. Thank you.”

Ellipse felt the heavy thunk of the shuttle’s attachment apparatus disengaging more than she heard the airlock hiss. Her feet floated off the ground, the pressure of the bags on her shoulder lessened, and then she stuck one arm up to grab hold of the elastic bands of her seat-slash-cushion.

“Hurry up,” Focci sang. “I cannot get into my seat with your legs dangling there.”

Logically, Ellipse could not dangle if there was no gravity, but instead of saying anything she stuck out her tongue and pulled herself level with the ceiling. She shrugged the duffle bags off her shoulder and left them to float. Hopefully they would not end up dropping on someone when the shuttle fell into Sirena’s atmosphere.

Eventually, Ellipse finagled herself under the elastic straps, and she watched, feeling very awkward, as Focci and the other siren flopped under the straps of their seats as well. She wished the shuttle had windows so she could look at anything other than her fellow passengers, but apparently the descent through Sirena’s atmosphere involved even more heat and fire than the descent to Earth, so windows were traded out for heavier, smoother plating.

Next came more waiting. An announcement broadcasted through the shuttle reminding everyone to please secure themselves; the ride down would be quite bumpy, and the shuttle company was not responsible for any damages to persons or belongings.

Ellipse figured it could not be that bumpy. She squirmed under the elastic, watching the duffle bags float about their section of the shuttle, and then glanced at the boys. Tejal wore a bored expression, eyebrows lifted just enough to be relaxed but not in any way concerned. Focci’s gills kept furling and unfurling, and his eyes were wide and bright.

“Did you tell your family we would be meeting them?” she sang.

He turned after a moment, his response delayed by the distraction of his excitement, and grinned so wide Ellipse felt an odd urge to go run and hide. Carnivores, honestly. “I sent a message by data package while we were in Nestor. Hopefully it reached them, though it is not far from the drop point to my home. We could just swim over.”

Ellipse felt all of her blood drain from her face and was very glad that her skin tone prevented the standard white-as-a-sheet look that some people got when they were scared. She decided not to mention that she could not swim.

“Are you okay?” Focci asked. “You are biting your lip.”

“Oh, yes. I am fine. Make sure to swim slowly for me and Tejal, if we have to get in the water.”

Focci tilted his head, considering this point, as if he had not realized before now that he could outswim Ellipse and Tejal without straining his gills in any capacity. Ellipse opened her mouth to jab at him, but another announcement from the shuttle operator cut her off.

“We will be entering atmosphere momentarily.” Ellipse liked the operator’s voice. They sounded like a flute, but slightly less airy. “I repeat, we will be entering atmosphere momentarily.”

Apparently, ‘momentarily’ meant at-this-very-second. The moment the operator’s voice cut out, Ellipse felt the shuttle shake. At first it was just little tremors, like getting hit by tiny rocks while in the Conics, but before long, Ellipse’s stomach started sloshing. She clenched her jaw to keep herself from biting her own tongue, and she stiffened her shoulders so that her head would stop rattling back and forth. The duffle bags floated up to the end of the shuttle, far out of sight.

The sounds of clattering metal vibrated through the shuttle, even through the cushions and the elastic, and every time some piece of the exterior burned off, the cabin jerked midair. Ellipse had dressed lightly for Sirena’s hot, humid climate, but even in a tank top and linen shorts, the fire of reentry made her drip with sweat.

When at last the shuttle’s parachute deployed, Ellipse feared her digestive tract might just fall out of her. The shuttle wrenched back, decelerating so quickly that it was a wonder Ellipse had not slipped out of the elastic bands.

Too soon, the shuttle crashed into the water. A shudder flushed through the metal walls, and the great splash echoed in Ellipse’s ears. For a too-slow moment, the metal tube sank, but then it buoyed up, and Ellipse’s stomach churched, uncomfortable with the sea’s rocking waves. She was on the side of the shuttle now, still pressed against her cushion by the elastic, and being on her side was probably not helping with the seasickness.

“Attention all passengers,” the flute-voiced captain (or perhaps they were an attendant) sang. “Those able to may now release themselves from their seats. The shuttle will undergo slow rotation for passengers currently on the ceiling. You may claim your bags once off board.”

Unwilling to wait, Ellipse wriggled out from the elastic bands and tumbled to the floor, almost right on top of Focci. She stepped over his tail as he thrashed and gave Tejal a sharp look. “Can I get you out or do you want to wait until you are on the floor?”

He sighed. “You can pull me out, fine.”

With all the grace of a newbie baggage claim worker, Ellipse tugged and fudged and poked until she could haul Tejal out by his armpits, and by that time, Focci had managed to free himself as well. He let out a few evil-dolphin cackles as Ellipse dropped Tejal onto the floor.

“Smooth.”

The earthlings scowled at him.

The other siren in their section cackled a little as well, but they were still on the ceiling, so Ellipse ignored them. “I will go get our bags,” she told the boys, and when they nodded, she headed off ahead of them, down the length of the shuttle and past other struggling passengers.

She had an inkling that Sirena would be bright and balmy from both travel ads and the harsh rectangle of light shooting in from the exit door, but nothing could prepare her for the moment when she stepped out of the shuttle and onto the inflatable walkway surrounding it. Blinking, she flinched, and her steps fumbled. She squinted for several moments, eyes open only enough to guide her away from the door, and then reached for a handrail and gave herself time to adjust.

When she did, Ellipse almost could not stand the thought of ever closing her eyes again.

Sirena was beautiful. Blue-green water stretched out in every direction, save for one, where Ellipse could just make out the hazy silhouette of land and buildings. She leaned out over the railing, eyes bulging and mouth hanging open, and reached a hand down to touch the water.

Titan had oceans, yes, but not ones that she could touch. The whole moon was covered in ice, not sparkling, dynamic seas.

Alas, Ellipse could not reach the water, but she resolved to dip her toes in as soon as she could. She looked up at the sky, still in awe of being on a planet, and squeezed the handrail to keep herself from reaching up and trying to touch the sky. It was tinged with pink, probably due to some atmospheric gas interacting with Triune’s sun, and gigantic white clouds floated like strips of errant ribbon let loose in the sky.

But she had to go get the bags. Ellipse wandered down the walkway, her steps still unsteady, until she reached the far end of the shuttle, where a tyran wearing an earthling-style police vest was tossing bags onto the walkway. She dug through the pile already outside, only half paying attention, and then loaded up with the two duffle bags and trekked back to the shuttle exit, eyes on the sea and the sky the whole time.

She almost tripped over Focci’s tail when she rejoined the boys, and Tejal raised an eyebrow at her, curious.

“Have you never been planetside before?”

Ellipse shook her head.

“Really?” Tejal gawped at this. “You never went with Andr—I mean, Randi?”

She shook her head again, and Focci flicked his tail against her legs, reminding her to keep him in the conversation. “I have never been on a planet before,” she sang. “It is very pretty.”

Immediately, Focci preened, his canines showing in his grin. “I am glad you like it. Now, we will keep going. There are boats for going ashore.”

So they kept going. Left from the shuttle exit, the inflatable walkway extended to a small ramp, which led up to a boat that Ellipse suspected had been imported from elsewhere. It looked like the kind of tour boat people took to tour fjords, with two giant skis and a body completely removed from the water, except it was painted bright orange and had floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides.

She followed the boys up the ramp, making sure to avoid stepping on Focci’s tail or on Tejal’s hands as he scooted up, and took another long look at the sea.

Suns and black holes, it was pretty.

But then Focci squealed, and he dove into a siren language Ellipse could not quite follow, with lots of clicks and squeaks, and she tore her gaze away from the horizon.

Just inside the boat were a pair of large sirens, one navy blue and one a shocking green, with a whole plethora of little sirens in varying shades of teal and sky blue all around them. Focci had his back on the ground, and he playfully bit at a tiny cerulean siren who had flopped on top of him.

Tentatively, Ellipse called out his name. “Focci?”

He paused, wrestled the little siren off his chest, and rolled over to prop himself up again. He grinned, snout wrinkling and gills fluttering, and gestured at the crowd of sirens behind him. “Tejal, Ellipse, this is my family.”