Title: Akari of the Orange Planet

Author: Shareon

Summary: Akari Mizunashi had always dreamed of being an Undine on the enchanting planet of Aqua. One day she took a chance to pursue her dreams with a company she had never heard of before, a company called Orange Planet. This is the story of an extraordinary girl in an ordinary company.

Chapter 1: That Heart-Pounding Move...

It was ironic. It was inevitable. It was many things.

Akari Mizunashi. My name. Literally "a light without water." That might have been why I had always been so interested in Aqua, the planet of water.

Aqua. A new name for a new world. Once it had been known as Mars. It was still the same planet it had been for centuries upon eons, but years of terraforming had changed it to be something incredible. It had once been sterile and only noted for its particular shade of orange and how it would float back and forth across the sky on Earth. All that had changed since the colonization of Mars had begun. It was now every bit as lush and blue as Manhome itself was.

Manhome. Another new name, this for what had formerly been known as Earth. Once people had started colonizing Aqua it felt only right that the first home of humanity should be appropriately renamed. It was the first home of one Akari Mizunashi as well. I had been born on Manhome and had spent my childhood growing up there.

In many ways life on Manhome was perfect. The weather scheduled months in advance to facilitate planning for both holiday trips as well as for industrial shipping. Everything I could want was at the touch of a finger. I could go for days, weeks, maybe even my entirely life without ever leaving the comfort of my home. In many senses of the word it was an absolute paradise.

But like the settlers from history, I found myself staring at the cement surrounding me and dreaming of something bigger, and grander, and more... something. I dreamed of a world which was a bit less perfect and a bit more magical.

As for what I wanted to do, I'm not sure where that had begun. It could have even been as far back as when my parents had given me my name. Maybe they had somehow felt my yearning for water even back then and had named me appropriately. All I know is that for as long as I can remember there was only one thing I had ever longed to do. I wanted to be a gondolier. It was an odd dream. While my friends were dreaming of being princesses, or ninjas, or robots, I instead wanted to navigate boats. I imagined myself rowing through the canals of Venice centuries past with the romantic buildings all around me and waves gently rocking underneath my feet.

It was a dream which was only slightly less unrealistic than theirs. Venice was gone, sunk beneath the ocean's surface. There were no more gondoliers on Manhome. Despite that, though, I still dreamed of being a gondolier. However it was still actually possible to become one. Undines were still thriving on Aqua, and there was my chance.

Undine. The name carried so much meaning. It meant so much more than the old term of "gondolier," as the people who had rowed gondolas back in Venice had been called. This was before Venice had disappeared and then raised once again on Mars. It was Neo Venezia now, on the planet of Aqua. A new name. A new city. A new planet.

A historian would compare an Undine to a gondolier, but it wasn't really fair to do so. Comparing an Undine to a gondolier was like comparing the real thing to the simulators in which I had spent hours upon years practicing while I dreamed of dancing along real waves, actual sunlight streaming from above, genuine wind blowing through my hair, and having everyday magical encounters which would last the lifetime with each and every tourist.

The simulator on Manhome were good. Very good. Indistinguishable from the real thing. Not that I had ever experienced the real thing, but it was exactly how I expected being a real Undine would be. Only the artificially-lit ceiling wasn't sunlight, the fans weren't wind, the unending flow of water wasn't the ocean, and there weren't any visitors to encounter with which I could share the wonders of the world.

That was why I had sent that application to Orange Planet. I can't remember where I had heard the name. It was probably from a friend talking about a vacation she had had on Aqua. It was easy to find the company, though. It sounded perfect. They were a relatively new company but were growing quickly. If anybody would hire an unknown girl from Manhome, it would be them.

I sent the application in on a whim. No. I knew I had to send an application at some point. It was a whim that I had sent it that day. What did I have to lose?

After that I wasn't sure what to expect.

The reply came the next day. I was hired on a trial basis. I was so ecstatic with that news that I couldn't pay attention enough to read the rest of the letter. It just kind of blurred together. I had to read it three times before it sunk in and I learned whom I was supposed to contact once I had everything arranged and was ready to go.

I knew it. This was destiny.

Arranging the trip to Aqua was easy, especially to Neo Venezia. It was a popular tourist location. The city had been modeled after the lost city of Venice. In fact, some of the most memorable locations from Venice had been shipped, brick by brick and stone by stone, to Neo Venezia and painstakingly recreated there. It wasn't identical to Venice. How could a living city ever be identical to a snapshot of history? But it was even better. It was real.

There were daily shuttles which ferried people from Manhome to Neo Venezia and back. Multiple ones. I didn't even bother checking around. I bought a ticket with Solar Navigation Lines. It was the first one I saw. After double-checking the flight schedule I sent my itinerary to Orange Planet. Everything was set. My rendezvous with destiny was upon me.

The spaceport was a perfect send-off from my life on Manhome. It was spacious and inviting. While there was certainly industry happening all around me, as seen by the countless shuttles entering and leaving, the spaceport managed to combine that with a welcoming ambiance and bright decor. It had the same precise mechanical efficiency that everything on Manhome did.

I didn't even stop to think about it. I was on my way to Aqua to fulfill my life's dream of becoming an Undine.

It was easy to make my way from the plane I had arrived in to the interplanetary shuttle. There were signs everywhere which helpfully pointed out the most direct way to get wherever I might want to go. Additionally numerous staff members were in sight and stood ready to provide assistance as needed. Despite the multitude of terminals it was literally impossible to accidentally get lost. It was in line with what could be expected of Manhome. Quiet efficiency perfected from decades of practice.

When I reached the shuttle I was greeted by two women standing at the gate. They gave a formal, polite greeting for customers. Exactly according to expectations. Exactly according to normal.

I gave a cheerful greeting back. I was on the road to fulfill my life's dream and nothing could go wrong. The woman on the left, a bit older than the one on the right, was slightly taken aback but returned the greeting. It was the last I saw of them. I wondered if they would ever think of me again. Maybe they would. Maybe they wouldn't. I was sure I would remember the pair of them and the small part they had played in my moving to Aqua for the rest of my life.

As a child I had occasionally been on a plane so I knew a little of what to expect in flying, but I had never been off-planet before so I wasn't exactly sure what would happen. It was the little things which made all the difference. The announcement from the pilot was a bit different, describing the phases of the trip and what we should expect to experience. The luxurious seat beneath me was a bit different than the stiffer and more utilitarian ones on the plane. The liftoff into the air was a bit different, missing the fear of power that an airplane takeoff had. It was the small nuances which made the ordinary extraordinary.

I barely noticed the moment when we reached space. I had somewhat expected for the two long drapes of hair I had hanging along the sides of my face to start floating around like shown in children's picture-books describing micro-gravity environments. They did not, though. They persistently kept to the sides of my face, continuing to frame it like two drawn curtains.

The only reason I had even known that we had reached space was the casual announcement by the captain of the ship that we had left Manhome's atmosphere. There was no abrupt change to signal the transition. There was no jarring switch to artificial gravity. The trip had started smooth and stayed smooth throughout. Everything felt very still, like we were not moving at all. No rush of air surrounded the craft. The engines had a dull thrum which was much more quiet than I had expected as well. The trip was near silent, ignoring the people inside. The large space between each chair encouraged the passengers to stay silent as well. The woman to my left gazed distractedly outside the window, and the man behind me was reading a newspaper. Just like on Manhome.

It was enough to lull me into the quiet place between sleep and wakefulness. I hadn't slept much the previous night. The excitement for my upcoming move had ensured that I could never quite relax enough. I kept waking up at odd hours. I wanted to be sure I didn't miss my plane, never mind it had been scheduled for the afternoon. On the plane itself I could sleep at all either. The excitement of my move saw to that.

Now, surrounded by a cocoon of passivity, I felt my eyes drooping a bit. Paradoxically, now that I was about to arrive, it had all caught up to me. I had been nervous leading up to this point, and I was more nervous now, but even so I couldn't quite keep my eyes fully open.

I took the opportunity to pull open my computer and double-check what was to happen. When I arrived, somebody from Orange Planet was to pick me up from Marco Polo Universal Port. They would be in uniform and would recognize me by the photograph I had sent earlier. They would then bring me to Orange Planet where I would be registered and processed.

Additionally I took the opportunity afforded by my open computer to write some notes about my trip thus far. I was sure one day I would look back to this trip as the turning point of my life. Or rather as one of the turning point of my life. It would be one of countless others, many of which I had already had and many more of which were still to come.

"Thank you for traveling with Solar Navigation Lines. This is the Tokyo to Neo Venezia line. We are about to enter Aqua's environment," the captain's voice announced. It was routine. It was professional, but it lacked any particular flair of personality behind it. He and the rest of the crew were just doing their daily job with all of the professionally trained and practiced efficiency one would expect of a world-class company on Manhome. They went about their day, not knowing they were changing the life of at least one young woman and who knew how many more people sitting around me?

Would I ever be like that, just doing an Undine's job and not realizing the wonder of it all?

Never.

I just didn't see how it was possible. Undines were so prominent a feature of a tourist's trip to Neo Venezia. They were the face of the city, and they represented all of the best aspects of it. I didn't see how it was possible for me to be one and not notice every encounter and the magic that it contained. Maybe that was what drew me away from Manhome and towards Aqua.

"Attention passengers," the captain announced again, just after I had closed my computer. "The ship has just cleared the ionosphere. Before landing, please take a moment to enjoy the view."

With that, the walls around the ship seemed to vanish.

I was still in my chair, but at the same time I was flying through the sky.

The first thing I noticed were the seagulls flying in formation next to me. They were so close. I felt like I could reach out and touch them. They held my attention for a moment before the grandeur of the view below captured my imagination.

I could see Neo Venezia in all its glory directly below me. The bright blue ocean expanded as far as I could see, looking both like a vast field as well as like the canvas upon which Neo Venezia had been painted. The buildings stood decisive in the ocean of blue, picturesque in their antiquity even from this height. There were occasional bridges visible too, connecting the different islands of the city and standing proudly as another part of Aqua's heritage. There was a large port below filled with tiny dots. They had to be the iconic boats which formed the primary means of transportation in Neo Venezia. I thought I could imagine seeing the white uniforms of some Undines out on the water. Were they there, changing the lives of a group of tourists or the other people of the city? I was sure they were.

There were hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of people going about their lives below me. Each person was doing his or her own thing, a small cluster connected to a larger web, in turn connected to the network which made up the city of Neo Venezia.

Forget being tired. It all washed away into the blue which surrounded me. It was like waking up for the first time. My life on Manhome felt like a dream away, washed away by the bright sunlight I was swimming through. Washed away by the majestic scenery I was flying towards. It was like being alive, and I couldn't wait to be a part of it.

I couldn't remember landing, or my rushing out of the spaceship. The next thing I knew I was running. Running into the breeze. Running to increase the feeling of the cool spring air against my skin. Running into the sunlight I had just flown through. Running to the new world in front of me. Running to my new life. Running because it felt so right. Running just to run.

And I escaped through a tall stone archway and met the ocean-side.

Neo Venezia.

The brisk breeze blew freely. The fresh air felt good against my skin. I could almost taste the ocean mist. It was crisp and vibrant, not at all like the stifling humidity of an indoor swimming pool. I only stopped when I reached the stone railway on the edge of the platform which protected people from randomly falling off. Even then I still leaned over it as far as I could and looked down below. The water there looked so clean and so pure. I could easily see to the bottom. It looked like it was only centimeters deep, and I could count each individual stone below. The sight took my breath away.

Although I had never been here before I was still swept away by the feelings of the place. The majestic bridges standing proudly above the canals below. The numerous docks both large and small which led into the canals and the ocean surrounding me. The enormous spaceships taking off and landing at Marco Polo Universal Port. The colossal floating islands flying high above, tied to the ground down below by commensurately huge lines. It felt like I was returning home for the first time, even though I had no idea where I was. And that was when it struck me.

I had no idea where I was.

My first instinct was to look around for some signs or members of staff. Unlike on Manhome, there was no indication of where I was or anybody who looked liked they were on duty. Instead on this side of the large canal there were several tourists. I doubted any of them would be able to help. On the other side of the canal there were handfuls of people who looked more like natives of Neo Venezia. Many of them were on boats as they floated around on the canal and the port nearby, proceeding with whatever their particular business happened to be. They were slowly going about their lives, untouched by the perpetual hustle and bustle so prevalent on Manhome.

Rather than worry about it I simply paused to take a deep breath. I basked in the fresh air and the perfect spring day. The atmosphere of Neo Venezia was absolutely intoxicating.

A rough rustling against my arm made itself known.

I looked down and saw a large, tubby, white cat licking my arm. He looked up to match my stare. Around his neck was a large blue ribbon which was just a shade lighter than his large aquamarine eyes. The presence of the high quality ribbon convinced me that he wasn't a stray.

The first person I met in Neo Venezia wasn't even a person.

"Hahii... A Mars cat. It's the first time I've seen one," I said as much to the cat as to myself. "I'm Akari Mizunashi. I just moved here from Manhome. Are you waiting for somebody here?"

"Punya nya-nya punya," the cat meowed at me. He kind of meowed. He didn't exactly sound like any cat I had ever encountered on Manhome, which made perfect sense to me. I wasn't on Manhome anymore.

"I see." I turned around to sit on the railing and stared back at the impressive stone facade I had just left. "I'm waiting for somebody too. The letter said that they'd find me at the spaceport. I hope they can find me here."

A stomach growled. That reminded me. I hadn't had lunch yet. But I didn't feel very hungry. My excitement saw to that. Despite that, my stomach growled again.

No, that wasn't right. It wasn't my stomach. I turned, and both saw and heard the cat's large stomach giving a third growl.

"I see. You must be hungry, Punya-san. Do you want to share my lunch?"

"Punya-nya," Punya meowed back. He nodded his head too. It was enough to make me wonder if the cat might actually understand me.

"Okay."

I pulled open my backpack and reached into it for my thermos and sandwich.

"Akari?" a voice called out. "Akari Mizunashi?"

"Hahii," I stammered out.

I looked up, my hand still in my backpack, and saw the girl who had called out to me.

She wore a white dress with a white shirt on top of it. Her entire outfit was white with strong yellow accents, from the yellow necktie, to the yellow line and circle drawn down the center of her dress, to the white and yellow boots she wore, to the white and yellow glove she wore. Her white hat with yellow trim completed her look. On both her hat as well as on her left sleeve I saw the emblem of a black triangle with a yellow dot which served as the company symbol of Orange Planet. She also had a sheet of paper which she held up in such a way that she could flick her eyes between it and me.

"Whew. I was looking everywhere for you. I'm Anna Yamada, from Orange Planet," the girl introduced herself.

"Anna-senpai," I answered, jumping to my feet. I bowed to her and said, "Please take good care of me."

"Uhh... nice to meet you," she answered back.

"Sorry, Punya-san. My ride is here. I hope the person you are waiting for shows up soon," I apologized to Punya. Then the thought struck me. "Ah... Here..."

I finished rummaging around in my backpack and fished out my sandwich. I unwrapped it, and handed it to Punya.

"Punya. Punya-nya nya-nya-nya," Punya answered back, grabbing at the sandwich.

"Come on. I need to get you back to Orange Planet," Anna hastened to say.

"Hahii. Sorry," I said. I closed up my backpack and hurried after the small girl, leaving Punya and my sandwich behind.

Anna led me to a nearby dock, and to the wooden gondola moored there. It wasn't painted a majestic white with golden trim like the Undine gondolas from my imagination. It was a simple wooden boat painted black. The only decorative feature was the tall ferro at the front of the boat.

As Anna untied the boat I went ahead and jumped in. I couldn't contain my excitement. The jump caused the boat to tip and rock.

"Hey!" Anna complained as she wildly swung her body and her oar back and forth, trying to regain the balance of the tipping boat.

Once the boat had mostly stabilized and was no longer in imminent danger of throwing its two riders into the water, Anna bit out, "What do you think you're doing? Idiot."

"Eheheh... Sorry," I apologized.

"Sit down. You're going to make us capsize. I know you're from Manhome and all, but isn't that common sense?" Anna commanded.

Rather than risk making her more angry, I stepped back from the edge of the boat and took a seat in the middle. And with that, Anna kicked off from the dock and started rowing away.

The lethargic open-air trip was very different than any kind of transportation on Manhome, where everything was all about getting from point A to point B as efficiently as possible. The gentle lapping of the waves against the gondola was relaxing, and the rhythmic splash of the oar in the water was nothing like the roar of the engines back on Manhome.

"Everybody really does use gondolas for work, don't they?" I asked.

There were gondolas all around me. A policeman stood on a gondola to direct traffic. A man was loading several bags onto a gondola while another man held it firm against a sidewalk. A woman was eating lunch from a gondola which served as a shop floating on the water. A mailman rowed along the canal in a gondola, picking up letters and dumping them into a mailbag.

"You should get used to it. Things here aren't at all like they are on Manhome. They can travel hundreds of millions of kilometers to get from Manhome to Aqua, but they can't figure out how to install any roads here. It's really annoying, isn't it?" Anna said. Her face showed her annoyance as much as her words and her voice did.

"Not at all. I think I like it here more," I said. I wasn't sure why. Everything on Manhome was much easier. "Maybe people weren't meant for life to be that convenient."

"You're a weird girl. Everybody I know is trying to move from Aqua to Manhome," Anna said.

"Sorry," I apologized.

"Gondola passing through!" Anna shouted as we neared an intersection in the canal. Her voice echoed against the brick buildings around us.

"Gondola passing through!" a different voice echoed back. There emerged another gondola. It was also black and had two girls as well, one rowing and the other one sitting. They both wore the uniform of Orange Planet.

"Anna-chan! What are you doing with a customer on your own? That's not allowed for Singles!" the rowing girl said. She was decisively older than Anna, possibly in her early 20s. She could have been even older than that. I couldn't really tell.

"She's not a customer, she's a new-hire. They told me to pick her up from Marco Polo Universal Port," Anna answered.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Akari Mizunashi," I introduced myself. I stood up to bow, but a bobble from the boat plus the recent reminder had me back in my seat before I had stood up too far.

The passenger in the other boat giggled. Her braided brunette hair waggled back and forth as she laughed. Maybe at me, but hopefully just in general. She then said, "You're funny. I'm Alba. Alba Ishikawa. Welcome to Orange Planet."

"Must be from Manhome. I'm Agata Mikami," the rowing girl said. "So Anna-chan, are we still on for 4:00?"

"Maybe. Senpai wanted to talk to me after I got back," Anna answered.

"Okay. Later," Alba said.

"Later," Agata said a moment afterward.

"Later," Anna said back.

Neither of the boats had slowed down as they had talked, so by this point they were shouting to be heard. Anna had fully turned to watch the two other girls as they moved past. I had as well. Once they had left sight, I turned back to Anna and asked her, "What was that she was saying about not carrying passengers?"

"See this?" Anna briefly held the oar in the crook of her elbow while she held up both of her hands.

"Hahii," I said. I did. I thought I did.

"I only have one glove," Anna said. It was true, she only had a glove on right hand while her left hand was bare. I hadn't noticed that at first. "It means I'm a Single. We're not allowed to carry customers without a Prima on board."

"Prima?"

"Primas are fully-fledged Undines."

My look of bewilderment must have shown on my face because Anna shook her head with a sigh. She continued, "There are three levels of Undines. There are Pairs, who are trainees. They wear gloves on both of their hands. Then there are Singles like me, who are part-time Undines. We can use gondolas for practice around Neo Venezia and can take passengers if we have a Prima with us. It's kind of like getting a training permit for driving. Finally there are Primas. They don't wear any gloves, and they are fully qualified Undines."

I had no idea of any of this before. Still it made sense. Undines were the face of Neo Venezia. They wouldn't want completely inexperienced people leading tourists and others around the city. It could give the city a bad name. They would want new Undines to have some time to practice and train before having the responsibility of being a Prima. I wondered if all of my practice on Manhome would help me speed up the process in any way.

A jarring impact brought caused me to snap around and face forward again. While we had been talking the gondola had continued to drift forward until it had collided with a wall in front of us.

Anna swore. She swore rather loudly. She then pushed off with her oar and started rowing again.

"That didn't happen," she said to me knowingly. Not knowing any better, I just nodded my head back in agreement.

The rest of the trip to Orange Planet proceeded quietly. I was too engrossed with looking at the spectacle all around me to think of anything else. Here was a small but ornate garden. There was a statue of a lion. Another statue of a man. Two statues which, when looked at from a specific angle, appeared to be holding hands. A small shrine. An enormous tree.

The trip might have been like the simulators, but it was totally different. I could smell the wind. I could taste the humidity. The buildings lived with a vibrancy and character unfelt in the projections in the simulators on Manhome.

I knew I had made the right choice to come here.

We came to a building which somehow looked different than the others. It took my breath away, for what felt like the hundredth time since coming to Aqua. It was enormous. I wouldn't have been surprised if it could hold thousands of people inside of it. It looked vaguely like a fortress. It had numerous square windows high up in the sky and blocky monolithic gray walls. There were even crenels along the top of the building. Several girls in Orange Planet Undine uniforms wandered around outside, and it had a few canals leading straight through to the middle of the building.

"Is that..."

"Welcome to Orange Planet. We have over a hundred branches around Aqua, but this is the main headquarters," Anna said. We continued on to one of the canals and were now entering into the building.

The canal wasn't wide as such, but it certainly wasn't narrow either. There was plenty of space for two gondolas to pass by each other with ease, as Anna demonstrated twice while she rowed. The high vaulted ceiling gave the passage a large spacious atmosphere.

The bright afternoon sun managed to shine deep into the canal, reflecting off the water with a shimmering effect on the ceiling. It took only moments for my eyes to adjust. Shortly past the entrance there were several docks complete with numerous palinas, the posts used to tie the boats down. A stone rail lined the edge of the walkway, much like at Marco Polo Universal Port. Despite being inside the building there were numerous windows along the walls of the building facing the water, and even a balcony above on what looked like a second floor.

"Wait for me to dock the boat before you try to get off," Anna said.

"Okay," I agreed. It was a good thing she had warned me. In my excitement I was inclined to jump straight off once the gondola was in range.

Anna pulled the boat up to the side of the dock and bumped up against it. She then reached out and hooked a tall palina along the side with her hand. After that she stepped off with one of her feet, leaving the other foot still firmly on the boat.

"Okay. You can get off now."

I stood up and stepped firmly onto dry land.

It was ironic. It was inevitable. It was many things. And in addition to everything else, it was now one more thing.

It was incredible.

I was now home.

Last Updated: June 2, 2016