"Machi, wait! I'll be friends with Yuka!" Sora shouted, seeing Machi becoming a blur in the distance.
"I can't hear you!" Machi replied from far away.
Sora tried to run faster, but her legs were already at top speed. Sora cursed her genes again. Yuka was already ahead of her. Then, suddenly, Machi's figure stopped shrinking. She had stopped.
Sora and Yuka covered the distance and managed to reach Machi.
"I'm sorry!" Sora begged out of breath. "I'm Sorry!"
Sora was not ready for what happened next: when Machi turned to them, her face was covered in tears.
"You're...you're crying because of me?" Sora asked, shocked.
"No, that's not it!" Machi said, quickly trying to clarify the misunderstanding. "I had a terrible vision, and...it's the second time today."
The pedestrian corridor was about to end on a large circular cabin: the elevator to the city's floor.
"An asteroid? Was that your vision? Do you believe in that rumor?" Yuka asked after hearing Machi's description of her vision.
"No, I don't believe in it. Still, it's a strange coincidence." Machi said, wondering about the meaning of such strange visions.
"Let's go to the expo! And forget all about odd things, please." Sora pleaded.
"Ok, sorry, guess I'm just being paranoid..." Machi said walking towards the elevator cabin.
The three girls entered the elevator, the walls were made of transparent glass, and they could see the plaza down there. It was crowded with people, on the center of the plaza, a solitary elevator similar to the one they were currently in, was standing still.
"So many people! But I don't see any exposition." - Sora said, a bit anxious. She didn't like high places. The transparent elevators always made her uncomfortable.
"I wonder what is that elevator doing there? There's nothing but open sky above it?" Machi added, really intrigued.
As the elevator was descending to ground level, the three girls had more questions than answers.
The elevator traveled down 50m and reached the ground level, much to Sora's relief. When the doors opened, Machi, Sora, and Yuka saw themselves in the middle of a sea of people.
At the center of the commotion, next to the solitary elevator, two women wearing uniforms were preparing to speak through a microphone.
"Look at all these people, completely clueless." One of the women said to the other, apparently enjoying the situation.
"Let's Brief them, shall we?" The other replied.
The first woman took the microphone and a loud voice echoed in the plaza: "Ladies and gentlemen!! Thank you for coming here today!"
"You all might be wondering the same thing: where's the goddamn convention?"
The women waited some moments before delivering the answer: "The answer lies in the skies!!"
Everybody looked up at where she was pointing. At first, they couldn't see anything but clouds, but upon closer inspection, far up there, there was a circular shape, similar to a Frisbee.
"There's something...up there!" Sora said, surprised.
"Yes, my dears, the exposition is up there, more exactly, 2000m high!" The loud voice added.
Sora had the sensation she was going back to the sky, 4 times higher than the pedestrian corridors, and she didn't like it a single bit.
"It's the very same technology that supports the garden benches, house tables, and many more objects of our daily life that in the past needed legs or columns, a variant of the solid holographic technology invented by the anonymous identity solely known as "Hiraima". I bet you didn't know it could support something that big and keep it still at 2km from the ground."
"Now I guess you understand where this elevator is pointing to?" The woman added.
The other woman continued the speech with additional details: "We'll start boarding now. The elevator's capacity is 50 people, its interior is completely opaque, still, those who wish to enjoy the glorious view during the climb can use special glasses available on board, not recommended to people who have vertigo, especially the red ones. It only takes 2.5 minutes to reach the sky dock, so the waiting time will be short."
The elevator once full, started its first ascent to the sky station, it was so fast that Sora stepped back, startled.
"Machi, I don't think it's a good idea, I will wait here..." Sora said, leaning next to her sister.
"Don't worry, from inside, you can't tell it's moving at all," Machi said, trying to rest Sora.
Sora wasn't very convinced, she didn't like things that moved too fast, thanks to a childhood accident, she had a fast-motion phobia.
The elevator returned and ascended again, after 15 cycles, it was their turn.
"Finally!" Said Yuka, quickly entering the elevator's cabin, Machi and Sora followed her.
The elevator's interior was no different than the other elevators spread through the city, except the windows were completely opaque not allowing one to see the exterior. A narrow dashboard with symbols of glasses was spread over the elevator's perimeter. There were blue and red glasses symbols.
When the elevator was full, the doors closed and a robotic voice spoke: "Initiating ascent".
A panel on the top of the elevator started showing information regarding the altitude: "12...25...50...75...150". Machi was right, inside the elevator there wasn't anything that could give the sensation the elevator was moving.
Machi pressed one of the red ring symbols, and like magic, a holographic pair of glasses appeared. Machi put them on, and suddenly the windows turned crystal clear and the outside view appeared in all its glory.
Sora and Yuka tried to imitate Machi, but the moment they put the glasses on, they immediately regretted it.
Machi rushed to take the glasses out of Sora's face.
"Are you crazy?" Machi argued in disbelief. "You've been through hell to cure that phobia of yours!"
"But, I think I'm better now..." Sora replied, trying to disguise the trembling she was feeling now.
Yuka also took off the glasses, naused by the breathtaking view.
"Machi, how do you do it? It's just too much for anyone to endure!" Yuka asked, seeing Machi didn't take her glasses off.
"Heights don't bother me," Machi replied, clearly enjoying the unobstructed view for miles and miles. "It's like being a bird, it's amazing!"
Sora and Yuka were amazed by Machi, the 360-degree view was surreal, but there was a small detail that required guts of iron: while wearing the panoramic red glasses, there was another transparent surface in the cabin apart from the walls: the floor!
The other people in the cabin looked at Machi as if she was crazy, she was the only one who was using the red panoramic glasses. "That girl has balls!" A good-looking teenage boy said from the other side of the cabin.
Sora immediately recognized him: Hiroshi, he attended the same school as them. Hiroshi was the grandson of the founder of "Sato Industries": One of the world's most influential companies in the robotic warfare market. Sora didn't like him. Like his father, he was arrogant and selfish, thinking the world spun around him because of his family's wealth.
Hiroshi didn't care much about his family's plans for him to inherit the company, he was too busy having girls spinning around him because of his good looks and popularity. He was used to having access to any girlfriend or friend he desired. But despite this, there was a stain in his list of conquests: the only girl that had ever rejected him. The moment he saw Machi in the cabin, he saw it as his golden opportunity to clear the stain from his repertory. He took his mobile phone and quickly sent a message to social media: Before the end of the day, Machi Hori would be his most recent conquest.
"Machi, look who's there!" Sora whispered. Machi took the glasses out and saw Hiroshi looking at her, all satisfied.
"Oh, no, not him again! Maybe this exposition won't be all fun." Machi sighted, really not enjoying the spoiled brat's presence.
"Don't worry, Machi." Yuka said, "if he tries to kiss you by force I sacrifice myself for you".
"Very funny," Machi replied. "No sacrifices please, you'll stain my clothes!"
Yuka and Sora laughed, it wasn't a spoiled brat that would ruin their happy Sunday. After all when the three of them were together, what could possibly go wrong?
The cabin kept ascending, it quickly reached the station dock. On the approach, it slowed down and then gently docked at the center of the giant disc-like structure.
On the exterior, a small glare hit the cabin glass, due to the opaque windows, nobody saw it, at that altitude the sun was strong and ruthless, but, it wasn't the sun that was glowing on the cabin, it was...something else.
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