For the rest of the ride, Alto observed the outside world from the window. He let his mind roam free for once, he let it free from the prison of his thoughts. He could see the sky, which was blue, and the clouds green. He could see the expanse of the cities as they passed by them. Most of them looked small, but from above, they looked like pieces of art. Being brought up in the orphanage, Alto had expected his path to end in the ho of whoever would adopt him. He would have an easy life and be loved. But when the realization ca to him that he was a genote, he beca elated. He knew fully well that ch pilots got the luxury of traveling the stars; they were not restricted to their individual star systems. Though their lives would always be on the line when on duty, he believed he would pull through as long as he was not alone.
But his life took a drastic turn, and here he was on the path to becoming a ch designer. What had started as his only chance at life again had beco sothing he loved dearly. As he had worked on the white blade version of the original Fenwick-720, he had felt this joy, despite failing to fabricate it many tis over. The feeling of bringing a machine to life, even in the virtual sense, was uplifting. Every ti he thought about it, his hands would tingle ever so slightly. What was once a path he was unsure of, he had now fallen in love with and chosen by heart. His mind went back to when the professor had asked him why he wanted to beco a ch designer. He had told her how he wanted to help ch pilots. At the ti, he had not fully understood what those words ant, but now, after speaking to Marie and Kendall, he had an understanding of what it ant.
ch designers were just as important as ch pilots. Even if genotes were hard to co by, so also were ch designers. As there were diocre ch pilots, Alto was sure that there were also diocre ch designers, and he did not want to be diocre. He wanted to beco like the professor. She was so known and revered that she could misbehave without being punished. It was not power, but respect for her worth.
Alto stood and glanced at the professor from ti to ti. She had packed her long red hair into a pair of coiled pigtails; her face looked cleaner. She wore a white crop top with the image of a pink kitty on it, she had mist-colored jeans and red crocs for footwear. Alto gulped down, clearly taken aback by her beauty. He wondered why she would dress so fashionably. "Isn’t she supposed to be a professor? How can she look so pretty?" Alto’s heart thumped as another thought ca into his mind. "Could she be taking on a... date?" It seed hard to believe, but it was not impossible.
The professor, who spent most of her ti looking out the other side of the flying vehicle, would catch him staring at her occasionally, and each ti she would simply smile and wink at him. This only added to the tension that caused Alto’s heart to race even more.
"Breathe, Al, she’s just ssing with you. Trying to get in your head," he told himself in his mind. It did not calm him down imdiately, but it did manage to distract his thoughts from her for a mont. With Alto’s eyes still outside the window, he marveled at the scope of the world—or rather, planet Soto—from the sky, and it was massive. He wondered if it was possible to visit all of the cities on the planet by land. He had heard whispers that Soto was a rather small planet. It made him wonder how massive a planet would be for one to call it big. He wondered how many people would inhabit such planets.
As his thoughts persisted, a more reckless thought ca to mind. "I wonder how the kaiju managed to claim planets and even rival mankind’s power." It had always been at the back of his mind—the thought that mindless creatures like such were able to force humans from their ho planets. They were also able to terrorize many alien races and drive so to extinction. "How did such monsters co to be, and how are they even a threat to us? How do they go from planet to planet if they are mindless? How do they even know where to go?" To Alto and the others on the planet who had never seen a kaiju in person, it sounded very much like a fairytale rather than real fact.
Just then, Alto felt a pang in his head like he did earlier. He winced slightly, and the pain was gone as quickly as it had co.
"We’re here." The professor’s voice interrupted him from his thoughts.
Alto looked outside the window just as the vehicle was descending. Outside, he could see the biggest city he had ever been to. Co to think of it, had he ever been to any city before? The vehicle made contact at what seed like a parking lot, and the door slid open. The professor urged Alto to get out, and he obeyed quietly.
When he ca out of the flying vehicle, he could see a massive complex with hundreds of people going in and out of it. They all carried bags and wore beautiful clothing, both adults and children alike. So walked to their hover cars or private shuttles, while others walked into the city area. Alto looked at the flashing sign over the building entrance that read: SOTO’S GA MALL – HO OF ALL THINGS COMFORT.
Alto was left speechless by the beautiful sight. He looked back behind him to see the expanse of the city they were in. Though not the most advanced one in their star system, it was quite up to modest standards.
"So, what do you think, asle?" the professor asked him, her eyes fixated on him with wonder.
Alto crossed his gaze with hers and froze up, not because of the question she asked or the way she constantly looked at him, but because the transport vehicle they had both arrived on was nowhere to be seen. His jaw dropped as the words escaped his mouth, "Where did the flying egg go?"
Alberta smiled slightly and said, "I cloaked it. Can’t have people eyeing it and taking selfies. You know, gotta keep a low profile."
Alto had never seen cloaking technology before, but that was the point anyway since it was not ant to be seen. Looking back to the beautiful young woman that was the professor, he finally asked the question that had been at the back of his mind. "Why are we here? I take it you did not bring here for fun."
Alberta walked forward and ruffled his soft brown hair, making a ss of it. She leaned over and whispered into his ear, "But that is what we are here for—to play a ga." Saying this, she started to walk toward the mall without saying a word more.
Alto looked at her from behind, his mind going back to the repeated process of overthinking. He knew the professor was one to joke and have fun, but she was never one to waste her ti—and certainly not on the likes of him. If she really wanted to have fun, she would have taken Charles Vans, her noble slave, or perhaps soone presentable. His only conclusion was that she was trying to prove sothing to herself, or perhaps she was testing him. But if she really was testing him, then it would be back at the ch division where it would have to do with chs, and not at a mall which had nothing to do with that field. Overthinking the matter was beginning to cause his head to ache.
Alberta paused and looked over her shoulder to see Alto trailing slowly behind her. She was a little worried that he would get lost in the crowd, but he seed just fine. Her heart thumped within her tears as she looked at him with soft eyes. "He really does look like him. He talks like him. He walks like him too." mories of a man she once knew started to resurface in her mind, but she rejected them and continued onward.
As Alto was following her, the pangs in his head started again, and he could not ignore it. It was like a hot rod had been forced into his brain, causing it to swell from the inside. "What the hell is happening to ?" Alto squeezed his eyes shut for a few seconds to catch his breath—and to his surprise, the pain vanished. This scared him more.
When he opened his eyes back to look at the professor—she was naked!
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