These events took place a couple of weeks after Syd and I ended up in Banga Village. We were still learning how to navigate this new life, and not very successfully. Most nights we fell asleep as soon as we stumbled into the bird coop that had become our home. Each morning it was back to mining, or repair work, or kitchen duty. That last wasn't so bad. At least then we got enough to eat…
It was a hard life with little time for leisure. So I was surprised one day to see Syd sitting on a box of ore and tinkering with something that didn't look like mining equipment.
"Oi, Syd!" I called. His head shot up, and he nearly dropped whatever he was holding. After a few moments of fumbling he let out an exaggerated sigh.
"Geez, Kat. Don't scare me like that." He smiled at me. "I thought you were Lisa coming to chew me out." I crossed my arms and glared at him.
"I should chew you out anyways! I've been stuck scrubbing floors all morning on my own while you've been goofing off!" He quickly put a finger to his lips, a pleading look in his eyes. Mad as I was, I lowered my voice. I didn't want the boss noticing us any more than he did. "You owe me, Syd." I grumbled, walking closer to his box.
"Here, I'll make it up to you." His smile was back in place. I sighed and sat down next to him.
"So what is that thing? And why's it so important that you skipped work?" From where I was sitting it looked like a little wooden box with some metal stuff stuck into it.
"This," Syd said, holding up the object proudly, "is a mini-radio. It washed up in last night's storm. Nearly fell down below the village but I managed to grab it in time."
"Uh…huh. And? What's so great about a radio?" He gave me a wounded look.
"This isn't just any radio. It's a radio that came through a gravity storm." He set it down on his lap and started fiddling with some of the knobs. "Gravity does weird things to electromagnetic waves, but maybe we can…" The radio produced something that sounded like a cross between a staticky sneeze and a fire alarm. I pressed my hands to my ears and glared at him. The fire alarm transitioned into an anxious whine.
"Ok, so it's a broken radio." Syd was still working the dials, brow furrowed. I groaned. "Syd. We've got to get back to work or Lisa will take away our food rations again. And I don't know about you but I—" The whine suddenly cut off, replaced by…music. I blinked. The song was familiar, like a half-remembered dream. A jazzy, bouncy beat, overlaid with a cheerful saxophone. "That's…"
"From Hekseville." Syd finished softly. "The radio must be too. That's why it can pick up the right signal." My jaw ached. I tried to swallow but there was a lump in my throat. Hekseville. My home. The place I'd grown to love, and the place that had eventually come to love me back. I'd been trying not to think about how much I missed it, but the song brought all those feelings rushing back. It hurt. What were they all doing right now? Aki, Newt, Echo, Chaz, Gade, Cyanea… And what about Dusty and Raven? I hadn't seen them since coming to Banga. They were lost somewhere in this strange new world, and I couldn't get to them.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and started. I'd been staring at the ground, lost in my thoughts as the song played. I looked up to see Syd giving me a worried look.
"Doing ok, Gravity Queen?" He asked. I rubbed my eyes a bit, then smiled at him.
"Yeah. I think I needed that. Thanks, Syd."
"No problem, Kat." Then he took the radio and pressed it into my hands. "Here. You keep it." He grinned. "It played some nice music just now, but all I was getting earlier were old D'nelica broadcasts." I looked from Syd to the radio, then we burst out laughing. Looking back, it wasn't really all that funny. But it felt good to laugh. That night I tucked the radio into a corner of my makeshift room. When I dreamed, I dreamed that we were all together again, eating Aujean's ice cream and watching the fountain in Auldnoir.