"Wow, this handles like a dream," Zell said, flying Balamb Garden's new airship out over the ocean and turning it toward Esthar.
"Even smoother than the Ragnarok," Selphie added, leaning back in the copilot's seat and folding her arms behind her head.
The two Esthar technicians on board chuckled. "Of course," Codren, one of the technicians, said. "We had years to refine the design of airships between the Ragnarok and this generation."
"You don't honestly believe," Aldreda, the other, chimed in, hiking a brow, "that we would send our best airships into space with no plan to retrieve them, do you?"
Zell ducked his head sheepishly. "Guess I hadn't really thought of that."
Selphie, however, shrugged off that little barb and swiveled in her seat to look at the technicians. "And this ship's not even the best you have now, right?"
"Correct," Aldreda said, rubbing at a stubborn grease stain on her palm, "but the technology behind those is highly classified, and the ships themselves are quite pricey."
"Pricier than saving the world?"
Aldreda didn't miss a beat. "Yes."
"I suppose it can't hurt to tell them the principle behind it," Codren said, and cast Aldreda a questioning look. When Aldreda simply shrugged, he went on. "We're looking to move beyond traditional liquid fuels to power our next generations of airships. More efficient, with fewer emissions. In the lab, a single Energy Crystal cell can power a small machine constantly, for years."
"In fact, some of the crystals in the lab were harvested from the Centra crater during Adel's reign."
Selphie's eyes widened. "And they're still working?" Next to her, Zell gave a grunt of disbelief.
"Yes."
"But the machine it's powering is many times smaller than an airship," Codren was quick to add. "It would take many cores, or perhaps, one very large one, to sufficiently power an airship. Unfortunately, with the reopening of Esthar's borders and trade relationships, funding and manpower for crystal harvesting has fallen by the wayside."
"Harvesting?" Zell asked. "Like, from monsters?"
"That's one way. But the only reliable living source for Energy Crystals was the Elnoyle, and their numbers dwindled soon after the last Lunar Cry."
"And then there's the hard way to harvest," Aldreda said. "Good, old-fashioned manual labor. From what we've learned, Energy Crystals seem to occur naturally on the moon, and are a byproduct of the Lunar Cry. There's a good-sized deposit inside the Centra Crater, but the ground becomes less stable the closer one gets to the center of the crater, making harvesting more difficult, and driving up prices."
Zell checked the gauges, then turned to look at the technicians. "What about the Cry over Esthar? Seems you'd have everything you need right in your backyard."
"If only that was the case. No, it seems that a lack of viable Energy Crystals was a fair exchange for the continued existence of the Esthar continent."
"Huh?"
"Tears' Point. The boxes surrounding the center were made of the same crystal as the Lunatic Pandora's pillar. They were designed to pull the flood of monsters and debris away from a single point, thus lessening the impact. In so doing, they damaged—if not completely destroyed—most of the Energy Crystals coming down."
"That sucks."
"What does, that we're alive?" Aldreda fixed him with a chilly glare, but one corner of her mouth turned up. Zell sputtered out an apology and correction, and turned forward again, and Selphie laughed.
"What about the Trabia Crater?" she asked. "That one's pretty deep. There should be loads and loads of crystals there!"
"Yes, and in another sixty to one hundred years, we should be able to excavate them."
"If you've been anywhere near the crater," Codren said, "I'm sure you've noticed the effects. There is still so much energy concentrated there that it interferes with electronic mechanisms—airships, Gardens, and simple radios, alike. Furthermore, the first individuals we sent to investigate the crater reported severe side effects simply from being in the vicinity. Drowsiness, headaches, nausea, even hallucinations."
"We monitor the area and take readings every few months. It's shown no sign of cooling down, yet."
Selphie frowned and looked out the airship in the direction of Trabia. She'd lived near that crater most of her life and had never felt any ill effects. She and other cadets would even sneak away from Garden to take a peek at it, and wonder what it was. In fact, she'd never noticed any strange effects from it until Nida tried to pilot the Garden over it, and then, she'd assumed that had more to do with Garden's outdated systems.
Maybe it was a Trabian thing; maybe, by living in proximity to the crater for so long, she had developed some sort of immunity to its effects. Maybe…she could harvest those crystals herself. And her Trabian friends could help! It could become a business, a revenue stream for Trabia Garden during its reconstruction!
Her pulse quickened as ideas piled one on top of the other in her mind. There was so much to do, so many plans to make, work to divide, groundwork to lay! But first, she needed to check out that crater, herself, and prove to these Estharian technicians that it wasn't impossible to excavate. It just took the right kind of people.
By the time she tuned back into the conversation, Zell and the technicians had moved on to other topics. It didn't matter; she was set to pilot the airship back to Balamb Garden, and—whether Zell liked it or not, which he probably wouldn't—she was going to make a little detour.
* * *
"I'm tellin' you, Selphie, we can't do this!" Zell gripped the edge of the control console, his face red, eyes bulging, as Selphie skimmed the crater with the airship, causing the gauges to spike and several alarms to go off. She flew until the gauges returned normal readings again, then landed the airship with a smug frown.
"Oh, really?" she said. "Looks like I just did." She unbuckled her seatbelt and retrieved her backpack from the cargo bin.
Zell scrambled to follow her. "It's against the rules! We're supposed to drop off the techs in Esthar and then fly straight back. Straight back."
"You and your rules. Don't you get tired of being such a goody-goody all the time? Besides, nothing great was ever accomplished without bending the rules a little."
"This isn't bending the rules, it's breaking them."
"We’ll just take a quick look around, see what we have to work with. Who's gonna even know we were here?"
"Anyone in the control tower at Garden. This wasn't on the flight plan, Selphie. We've deviated from the flight plan!"
Selphie waited for the hatch to open, rocking back and forth on her feet. "'Deviate' is such a strong word. We just took a little detour."
Zell groaned and trundled down the ramp after her. "An unauthorized detour. Cid'll ground us, for sure!"
"He can't afford to ground us. We're the only two pilots he's got right now. Who's he gonna replace us with? Nida?"
"Hey, don't knock Nida's piloting skills. Besides, I saw him studying the flight manual."
"There's a lot of difference between reading a manual and actually flying. It'll be a long time before he's at the controls of an airship."
"Heh. You should talk."
"You, too." Selphie trudged to the rim of the crater and peered into it. "Now, are you going to help me harvest some Energy Crystals, or are you gonna stay up here and whine?"
"I'm not whining." He joined her at the rim. "So, what's your plan? You heard the techs; this place is still hot."
"Maybe so, but maybe I'm immune to it."
"Huh?"
"My friends and I used to come out here a lot, after classes, and nothing bad happened to us." She tested the slope with her toe, then began to pick her way down, sideways. "Besides, if we can get these crystals, that'll open up a good side business for Trabian SeeDs, at least until the reconstruction is done!"
Above her, she heard Zell huff, then heard his footsteps on the slope. Neither spoke during the descent, except for crying out whenever they lost their footing. Though the gravel near the rim felt the same as any other, Selphie realized with growing dread that the rocks at lower elevations became increasingly warm to the touch.
This place is still hot. Literally.
She scrambled down the last of the slope and gave a triumphant leap at the bottom. "Whoo-hoo, we made it! And we're not crazy yet!"
"It's hard to tell," Zell said. "You had a head start on crazy before we climbed down."
"Whatever!" Selphie scanned the ground around her. There was no sign of anything resembling an Energy Crystal. Perhaps they were buried. She mused about this out loud. "That probably would've been a good question for the techs, huh?"
"Probably? Dammit, Selphie, you drag me all the way down here, and you don't even know where to look for the crystals?"
"I didn't drag you. I told you you could wait in the airship."
Zell grumbled, but dropped his argument. "So, genius, did you bring any digging tools?"
"That I did!" She slung off her backpack and unzipped it, producing several small tools with foldable handles. "See, I've got a pickaxe, and a little shovel, and I guess we could use this hatchet."
"Those are camping tools! You can't excavate with those!"
"Has anyone ever tried?" She snapped the joints of the pickaxe handle straight and studied the ground. "Where do you think I should start?" Without waiting for Zell's reply, she picked a spot and began chipping away.
The sun passed overhead and began its descent, plunging the crater into shadow. Selphie fished a flashlight from her backpack and held it between her teeth as she continued chipping, digging, and brushing away dirt.
"They're bound to miss us, by now," Zell said, sitting down with a sigh. He got up and patted his pants, then the ground, but, evidently too tired to worry about the warmth seeping through, he shrugged and sat back down.
"Maybe you can go back to the airship and radio Garden," Selphie muttered around her flashlight. When Zell only cocked his head, she removed the flashlight and repeated herself.
"Oh, really? And tell them what, exactly?"
"I dunno…make up some excuse. Like, we ran out of fuel in Esthar and are waiting in a long refueling queue."
"There's no such thing. Besides, we left with a full tank."
"Hmm. Well, maybe there was a big storm out over the ocean, and we didn't want to fly in it."
"That won't work. We've got satellite imagery, now."
Selphie frowned, thinking. "Tell them the Esthar techs invited us to stay for dinner. As thanks, and to, you know, talk shop."
"No one at Garden's gonna buy it. But might as well try." He raised himself halfway, then slowly sunk back down, until he was lying on the ground. "But it's so cold up there," he mumbled, his voice slow and thick, "and so nice and toasty down here. And it's such a long…way…back…"
"Zell, wake up! No sleeping on the job!" Selphie slammed down her shovel, ready to shake him awake, but the vibration that ran through the handle caught her attention. Sure enough, beneath several more layers of dirt, the faint glow of an Energy Crystal cut through the darkness. She gave an excited shout and cleared away the rest of the dirt with her hands, searching for the edges of the crystal, so that she could lift it out.
And searching…and searching.
"How big is this thing?" she said, sitting back on her heels. "All the ones we got from enemies could fit in my backpack. Where does this end? And how many airships could it power?"
She began chipping away at the edges of the hole she'd dug, revealing more of the crystal, and its glow. As she worked, her eyes began to water, and her eyelids grew heavy. It must be the light from the crystal, she thought. Extra bright at night. She pressed on, squinting until she could barely see, and when she'd excavated nearly half of her body length, she stood and looked down at her work.
The crystal was stunning, its light mesmerizing. And the crater was, as Zell had said, so warm, compared to the snow fields above. It was all so relaxing, all so comfortable, all so…
Selphie crumpled in stages, like her folding tools—first, to her knees, then to her rear, and finally to a lying position next to the crystal. She was tired. It had been a long day. Maybe a little nap would refresh her. Just a tiny one…
The light was so bright…
And then, it was gone.
* * *
Her head hurt. There was vague but steady thumping in her skull, like the beat of the bass when standing too close to the speakers at a concert. It grew louder, then quieter, then louder again. Somewhere beyond it, she thought she heard voices, but they faded away, and the thumping continued. Her head hurt too much, and she went back to sleep.
The next time she surfaced, she noticed a strong antiseptic smell, like the one inside an infirmary. She thought she felt something poking the crook of her arm, but the feeling went away quickly, and she drifted off again.
A swath of sunlight across her eyes finally pulled her into full consciousness, and she sat upright, muttering about crystals and grasping for the one she couldn't dig out. As her eyes focused, she noticed bemused faces around her, including Dr. Kadowaki's, and those of some of her Trabian friends.
"Welcome back, Tilmitt," Dr. Kadowaki said. "You had yourself quite the adventure."
"Adventure?"
"You don't remember anything about it?"
Selphie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to organize what scraps of recent memory she retrieved. "Crystals. Crater…oh yeah! Me and Zell were trying to excavate Energy Crystals from the crater. Esthar says they're gonna use them for airships, and I thought maybe…" Her voice drifted off as Dr. Kadowaki shook her head and clicked her tongue.
"…Maybe it was a bad idea?" Selphie finished, sheepishly.
"That's an understatement." Dr. Kadowaki advanced and placed her stethoscope on Selphie's chest. "You were missing for three days. Garden tracked the airship to this area, and some SeeDs from Trabia Garden eventually found you. It took a whole search-and-rescue squad to get both of you out of there."
"Is Zell okay?"
"He's fine. Just worrying about what his punishment will be. Breathe deep for me, okay?" Dr. Kadowaki listened to Selphie's breathing for a few moments more. "I thought my field medic days were behind me. But Cid sent me up here to make sure you two were all right for the trip home. And to make sure you didn't carry any…residual energy from the crater."
"Why'd you do it, Selphie?" Penny, one of the young women behind Dr. Kadowaki, and one of Selphie's oldest friends, asked. "It was too dangerous."
Selphie looked at her, at the worry in her eyes, and turned away with a shrug. "I didn't think it'd affect me. We used to go there all the time, just to gawk at it."
"But we didn't go in. You could have died!"
"Maybe."
"Not maybe. Definitely." Penny sat down at the foot of the bed and gave Selphie's foot a squeeze through the blanket. "I don't want to lose you. Especially not like that."
"But I didn't go down there for no reason! I wanted to see if I was immune to the effects, and if I was, then maybe you would be, too. If we could excavate the Energy Crystals before Esthar could, we could sell them, and help pay for reconstruction."
Penny smiled, then pursed her lips and blinked rapidly before flinging her arms around Selphie. "Oh, you are too good, Selphie, you know that? Too good for your own good! We'll be fine; we Trabians are resilient. But thanks for wanting to help. Just don't get yourself killed doing so."
Dr. Kadowaki cleared her throat. "While this is all very touching, I think it's time for you ladies to take your leave. Selphie needs her rest." She cast Selphie a sidelong glance. "After all, she's got a long day ahead of her, tomorrow. A trip back to Balamb, and a special meeting with the headmaster."
Selphie laughed nervously. "What're you talking about? All my meetings with him are special…'cause I'm special!"
"Trust me, Tilmitt. This meeting will be even more special than you. Rest up!"
* * *
"Told you he'd ground us," Zell shouted across the cafeteria, wringing out a heavy mop.
"Only 'til someone needs transport." Selphie wrung out her own mop in the opposite corner of the cafeteria.
"These ships have auto-pilot; Quisty can handle that. Or Squall. Or Nida. Or Xu. Or…"
"Okay, okay, I get your point. It's only for two months, though."
"And two months of kitchen duty." He scrubbed at a stain. "Seriously, are we feeding animals in here?"
"You have to admit, though, my heart was in the right place."
"Yeah. Too bad your brain never is."
Selphie stuck out her tongue and continued mopping. "Hey, Zell…why'd you follow me, anyway? You could've stayed in the airship, nice and safe, and maybe only gotten one month of kitchen duty, instead."
"Nah. After you'd been gone for a while, I'd have gone in after you, anyway."
"Really?"
"Sure. Can't have you dying on a simple mission like that."
"You're all heart."
"Yeah, I am." He stopped mopping and looked at her. "You're my comrade, Selphie. My friend. And even though you do some really stupid stuff, I'm not gonna let you go it alone. That's what friends are for."
Selphie stared at him. "Wow, Zell, that's…really sweet! I knew there was a soft, smooshy center under all that tough-guy talk!"
"Careful. I said that's what friends are for. Any more talk like that and you might not qualify."
Selphie laughed and apologized, then let her mind wander back to the crystal she'd found. She wondered just how big it was, and how many machines—airships, appliances, devices, cars and trains—it could conceivably power. She wondered whether the Estharians would perfect this energy source, and if so, if it would be implemented in her lifetime. Even if it wasn't, knowing that such developments were on the horizon excited her, and filled her with pride. Whatever came next, she had a hand in it, however indirectly.
She had helped to save the future, and all its possibilities.
Now, if only she could save the cafeteria floor from this mysterious stain.