While Nori wrapped up everything with the video upload, I took my time to look around a bit more at the objects the humans had sent up.

  I was happy to see there were a few other instruments aside from the guitar, like an electric keyboard, a few string instruments and oddly enough a set of maracas.

  Aside from electronics there were a whole host of other things like lamps, books, clothing, various food packages that didn’t look like they had any food inside them. I wasn’t sure why they’d send empty food packages but it seemed to go with the general idea that they sent a little of everything, as long as it was light and easy to transport. It looked as though it was meant to give a general idea of their culture and the types of things they make.

  I couldn’t help but notice that one table stood out from the rest with the amount of care that was put into its layout. Where all the other tables had the items strewn about wherever they could find space and sorted in generally similar places, the table that had the most meticulous layout was the table that held all the watches and clocks.

  The mechara seemed to have a particular fascination with moving parts and mechanisms and when they saw the watches they seemed to place the most value into those items.

  I tried to imagine it from their perspective with them getting all the thousands of objects that were sent from earth and trying to figure out how to lay them out and look at them, it made sense that they’d put the most emphasis on the thing they considered the most important.

  If I were the one laying things out, I’d probably put the instruments in their own sections and wouldn't give much thought to the watches.

  “All done” Nori said from over my shoulder, startling me a bit.

  “Oh!” I said with a small jump.

  “Sorry! Didn’t mean to startle you! I got pretty lost in these myself when we first started going through them” she said.

  “They sent a lot of them, didn't they?” I asked as I picked one up to look at it.

  “We asked them to send them actually. We wanted to get a good idea of where they were at with their technology and since they’re reaching the end of their glass revolution we wanted to see how strong of a grasp they had over their materials” she said as she picked up a small silver watch.

  “What did you think?” I asked.

  “Mmmm” she said, thinking for a moment while holding up the watch she’d picked up. She held it out for me to see, then started shaking it for a second before holding it still to reveal a small weight inside that spun quickly around the inside of the watch before it settled down into place a moment later.

  “These ones are interesting” she said “but they’re not quite what we expected. This one here winds up by walking around with it, it uses very simple materials that will wear out over time. This isn’t their most complex watch they’ve sent us, but it’s one of the more robust ones they make in mass quantities for themselves and honestly… We’re not impressed.”

  “What were you expecting from it?” I asked, a bit confused.

  She sighed “I made this sort of thing when I was a kid with an old set of tools that were handed down to me out of pity for my dad not being able to afford nicer ones. They don't seem to value these sorts of creations as much as we do and I think it’s a shame. Very few of them know how to make this sort of thing, it’s kind of… sad, honestly.”

  “Maybe that just means they value other things” I said.

  “Yeah, like getting lost in their phones and letting their lives go by without anyone noticing like the…” she looked up at me for a moment and stopped talking.

  It took me off guard, but I was sure she was about to say ‘the melodians’. I frowned, setting the watch in my hand back on the table.

  “Sorry I… We should get going, you wanted to go to that party, right?” she asked, switching subjects.

  “I um… Yeah I’d love to go to that” I said.

  She turned, looking a bit embarrassed as we started to make our way back to the jeep-like car again.

  “I really do appreciate having you around” Nori said, a little awkwardness in her voice.

  “I like being around you too” I said as she led the way.

  “Honestly, I wish more of the melodians were like you” she said.

  I nodded “I do too…”

  As we got to the car we both got into our corresponding seats and we started to make our way off.

  “You know, I haven’t heard much about you Tess” Nori said as she settled at a speed that didn’t make the wind drown out her speech.

  I opened my eyes a bit wider, nervous about what she was about to ask me.

  “Yeah?” I asked as confidently as I could.

  “Yeah like, where do you live?” she asked, keeping her eyes ahead of her as she drove along the empty roadway ahead of us.

  “I um, I don’t know, it’s not anything special” I said as I tried to think of an answer that would make sense.

  “I’d love to see it sometime. I mean, it’s only fair, you’ve been to my place a few times already, right?” she said with a quick glance toward me before putting her eyes back on the road.

  “It’s uh, it’s too deep. I don’t think you’d be able to go there” I said, thinking quickly.

  “Down in sector five huh?” she asked.

  “Heh, yeah you got it” I said, assuming that was referring to some housing area.

  “You live in sector five?” she asked again.

  I was a bit confused by the repeated question.

  “Yeah” I said, holding my hand on my shoulder.

  “Ah, that’s a shame, I was hoping you’d be closer to the surface” she said as she slumped back in her seat a bit.

  Nori spoke up again,“What’s really on my mind though is why you don’t use the assembler.”

  “I… Uh… It’s… complicated?” I said as I tried to think of something.

  “Complicated how? I mean, we have some time and I’d like to know more about you” she said in a cheerful tone.

  “It uh…” I started to say, but I remembered what happened in the hospital, the excuse that Artemis had made up for me “it broke.”

  “Your assembler broke? I didn’t even know that was something that could happen. What caused that?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t remember much but it’s never worked for me” I said, not entirely telling a lie.

  “Did you ever try to get it fixed?” she asked.

  “And what? How did you put it… ‘waste my life away’ like the other melodians?” I asked her, crossing my arms.

  She slumped a bit, looking a little sad before responding “I’m sorry again I didn’t mean to put it like…”

  “You’re right” I interrupted, “I mean, wouldn’t you agree I’m better off without it?”

  She smiled “You’re definitely a lot more interesting to talk to, yeah. But does that mean you do everything yourself?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Like, work, jobs, making money. Without doing it inside the assembler you’d have to do it all yourself, right?” she asked.

  “I… make it by just fine without it” I said, knowing I was leaving a lot of details out but not technically saying anything that wasn’t true.

  We sat in silence for a few minutes. I was guessing Nori was picking up on the fact that I kept giving her vague non-answers, which didn’t make me a very good contributor to the conversation.

  “I’m looking forward to this party” I said as we approached the parking area.

  It was different from the one we’d left from originally.

  “Hmm, yeah I haven’t been to one of these in a long time. They always invite me but I always felt like it was more of a formality than anything else” she said.

  “Why’s that?” I asked.

  She parked the car, turned it off and just sat there for a moment, thinking about what she wanted to say.

  “Have you ever had a conversation with someone where you feel like they don’t like you but are just being nice for appearances?” she asked.

  I thought for a moment “I… Don’t think so?”

  “Hmm… Well, just keep that in mind for me” she said as we got out of the car and made our way over to the elevators.

  Once we were inside she pressed a button near the top of the panel. To my surprise, the elevator we were in had an extra color to it toward the top with several purple floors above the regular blue green and red from the earlier elevators I’d seen.

  I could feel myself getting lighter as we climbed up through the green floors, through the blue and up through the purple ones. I was feeling lighter with each passing floor, feeling a bit confused about where the elevator was taking us until the doors finally opened, revealing a crowded room ahead of us filled with mechara who were all chatting with each other, laughing, telling stories. It felt so warm and friendly with the crowd of happy people, the vaulted ceilings with natural lighting pouring in from the windows in the front.

  I peered through the crowd to see we were actually in the wooded area of the ship, far back on the third ring in what must have been a large room built into the ground with windows that looked out over the entire ship. We were close to the center, making it feel like I was walking on the moon with how little gravity there was. But just like the view from when I’d walked up through the woods with Nori, the scene overlooking the ship was breathtaking. We were so close to the center that we could see everything for what it truly was. A circular city with the sun shining bright straight through the entire thing. It was a spectacular view and one I couldn’t imagine ever getting bored of.

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  “Nori!” I heard one of the mechara say aloud, raising a drink up in the air.

  Nori got down on one knee so she could talk to me over the crowd.

  “You wanted to meet the players, right?” she asked.

  “Oh! Yes yes, where are they?” I asked.

  She smiled “Follow me” she said as she started leading me through the crowd.

  Several mechara tried to grab her attention as she passed by but she’d either wave a hand or tell them she’d be back soon, to which they’d just go back to the conversation they were having before.

  Nori led me to the windows where I could hear a lot of excitement with several mechara crowding around the windows.

  “... a really great show, truly it was!” a mechara was saying to someone I couldn’t see as Nori held my hand, pulling me through the crowd.

  “Thank you” said a woman.

  By the sound of her voice she sounded like a melodian.

  “We wanted this one to be special since we had the new audience watching on with us” said another melodian.

  Nori spoke up “I think they’re gonna love it for sure” she said, causing the other mechara to turn in surprise.

  As everyone stood back we pulled through the crowd where I finally got a view of the melodians standing on a makeshift platform in front of the window that put them up at eye height with the mechara. It looked like it was set up specifically for the occasion.

  As they stood above me I couldn’t help but notice they all had the same patch I’d been given as a kid, the same one Flint had on when I’d met him.

  “Nori” one of the melodians said, recognizing her as the first voice I’d heard “I’m surprised to see you’ve made it. You haven’t come to one of these in a long time.”

  Nori nodded “It seemed like a special occasion, yeah.”

  “Uh huh” the melodian said in response, not sounding terribly enthusiastic.

  The five other melodians on the platform crossed their arms together, not saying a word as they all glared at Nori.

  Nori cleared her throat “So uh, yeah it went great. I just finished sending them the video I took of the event. I didn’t capture the first phase unfortunately. Had some difficulty with the camera but we got the others.”

  “Ah. That’s good” the melodian said in a quick, disinterested tone.

  “So… They should be seeing it soon. I can’t wait to hear what they think” Nori said, trying to sound as chipper as she could but I could hear the reluctance in her voice.

  “Let us know how it goes” the melodian said while crossing her arms like the others.

  The sudden silence that came into the conversation was thick.

  “Uh… So I’ll um… Let you get back to it and… Yeah” Nori said as she started slowly shuffling away.

  I turned to follow her but she gestured for me to stay.

  “Anyway” the melodian spoke up again, the intensity in her voice going away “It’s good that it all went well but I think a lot of the players were distracted. Very few non-reds in the final phase and we aren’t too happy about that.

  I watched Nori disappear into the crowd, leaving me behind with the players.

  “You think that was it Abel? They were distracted?” a mechara asked, addressing the melodian.

  “Definitely, yeah” Abel responded “With everything going on it’s hard to not be distracted but thankfully we didn’t have any accidents and hey you know what? This means the next round will be all the more impressive to our new viewers.”

  “Plus, I’ll be in phase three next time” I heard a familiar voice speak out from one of the melodians.

  I blinked, looking up at Flint with his gravity games suit on and a cocky expression on his face.

  One of the mechara spoke up “Well don’t be too disappointed if you don’t make the cut your first time through” she said.

  “Oh please, did you see me?” he asked, putting his hands on his hips. “I didn’t just get first place, I got nearly double the points as second place. I think I know what I’m doing.”

  “Right but phase three is entirely different” the mechara responded.

  “If I can do a flawless phase two I think I can figure out three just fine” he said.

  I looked away for a moment, confused.

  The mechara spoke up again “Most players don’t make it to a non-red position until they’ve tried a few times first. You should be careful or your overconfidence could get you wedged out. We all watched it happen to one of them earlier.”

  I was still caught up on what he’d said, unsure if he’d noticed that he missed the instructions to stay at the level he was on.

  “I’m not too concerned. When I’m finally in phase three I can show these other players how it’s done” he said even more confidently than before.

  “Flint that’s uncalled for” Abel scolded him.

  “She’s right Flint” another melodian jumped in.

  As more of them spoke up, I couldn’t get the thought out of my head.

  “But it wasn’t flawless” I said, speaking up over the others.

  They all stopped speaking to look at me, Flint’s eyes getting wide after recognizing my voice.

  “Weird girl! It’s you!” he exclaimed.

  “Not flawless?” the mechara woman from before asked as she turned her attention to me “but… it was one of the highest scores we’ve ever seen in the games! Anything better than that would need luck!”

  “He did great!” I said to her “but he made a mistake at the end is all I was saying.”

  “Oh here we go” one of the other melodians spoke up “someone who’s never played before thinking they’re an expert, coming here to tell us how we could do better. It’s Creed all over again” he said in a sneering tone.

  They all laughed, the melodians and mechara alike.

  Where I felt like I’d been having a conversation suddenly felt like I was being ridiculed, laughed at. I felt incredibly small in that moment. I wanted to turn around and leave, find my way back to Nori.

  I was about to turn around when I saw Flint wasn’t laughing along, instead looking extremely confused, likely trying to think about what I was talking about.

  I closed my fists and decided to block everyone else out and just speak to him.

  “At the end” I said as Flint looked in my direction.

  I could hear the voices dying down but I ignored them, Flint’s attention was on me and that’s all that mattered.

  “You were told to stop on the third to last floor but you kept going down. You would have had more points if you’d heard the change” I said.

  “Is that true?” one of the mechara asked Flint in a mocking tone “Were you getting fed directions? Have you been a cheat this whole time?”

  The mechara all started laughing again, the melodians joining in but with noticeably less enthusiasm as they looked around at each other.

  I was confused by the response.

  “No they’re not told by a person, they’re told by the music” I said.

  The mechara all erupted in laughter again as I felt myself getting enraged by the way they were treating me. I turned to look at Flint again but found that all the melodians had gone silent, all giving me a nervous, intense glare.

  “I mean…” I said, pleading to them “Tell them about it. How you listen to the instructions…”

  “Okay okay everyone settle down!” Abel yelled out, cutting me off “let’s calm down a bit, this girl is just messing around with us a bit, let’s get back to the questions, we can’t be here too much longer.”

  I shook my head, turning around and leaving the group.

  I’d been so excited to meet the players. Finally meeting with people of my own kind that didn’t use the assembler, that had thoughts and feelings and emotions and instead I was treated like garbage and laughed out of the group.

  As I left the windowed area I started looking for Nori, hoping she could take me away from the party and all the terrible people I’d met.

  There were a lot of mechara around but I couldn’t tell who Nori was without hearing her voice and there were so many voices around me it made it hard to hear.

  Thankfully once I’d gotten into the middle of the party I didn’t feel as many eyes on me as I had before, letting me calm my thoughts for a moment before scanning around the room.

  There were a lot of groups of mechara all talking to each other, but one was a good amount larger than the others, leading me to think Nori was a part of it.

  I started making my way over, trying to think of what I’d tell Nori. I figured I could tell her the crowd was too overwhelming for me, which would give her a good excuse to leave as well.

  As I approached the group I saw a melodian making their way over to me, their eyes locked onto me as they approached from the side.

  “Hey um, sorry about…” I started to say.

  “Shut up. Don’t talk. Come with me” Flint said as he grabbed my arm, leading me away from Nori and out in the direction of the elevators.

  “Sorry, did I say something wrong? I didn’t…” I said before I was cut off again.

  “Tess, shut up and just join me, we need to leave” he said in a firm tone, completely devoid of his usual upbeat attitude.

  We quickly approached the elevators as I did my best to not fall over from my inexperience with the lower gravity I was feeling.

  He crouched down, bringing himself to a stop just as we entered the elevator door. As I tried to stop I found I didn’t have the grip on the floor that I’d expected, sending me into the back of the elevator with a small thud as I tried to catch myself as I fell to the floor.

  I took a deep breath, trying to gain composure over myself as I looked up at the ceiling.

  “Sorry, did I say something I shouldn’t have?” I asked softly.

  “Majorly” he said, not keeping his eyes off the colored buttons on the side panel.

  “What is that? Some sort of secret or something?” I asked.

  “I’m uh… Not supposed to talk to you until the others are here” he said.

  I groaned, pulling myself up off the floor as I felt our gravity getting stronger.

  “Were you supposed to talk to me before?” I asked him.

  “That’s different! You’re not supposed to talk about… Well… I’m not supposed to talk to you about it” he said in a frustrated tone.

  I leaned against the back wall of the elevator as we watched the elevator going down through the blue section and into the green. I knew I’d messed up somehow, but I was starting to reach a point where I didn’t care all that much. If the players of the gravity games were okay with treating one of their own the way they’d treated me, I didn’t care too much about how much I upset them.

  As we transitioned into the red floors I felt the gravity bearing down on me a good amount more, we were about to cross over the point where we were at a similar level of gravity as earth, but it looked like the elevator would continue past that point.

  Flint took a deep breath, still looking forward at the panel.

  “Where did I mess up?” he asked quietly.

  I was surprised to hear him speak up.

  “The end, when you went too far down” I said.

  “Right but how could you tell?” he asked, finally turning toward me “how did you know?”

  “Uh, well, you were supposed to be following the horns, those were the ones that were speaking to you” I said.

  I was half expecting him to tell me he had no idea what I was talking about, but instead he nodded.

  “Well” I continued “When they switched from the higher pitch to the lower pitch, that meant you were supposed to go down. Right?”

  He nodded.

  “Right. When you got to the level you were supposed to be at, they changed” I said.

  He tilted his head a little as he looked lost in thought.

  “But the pitch kept going down with me” he said.

  I nodded “They did, but they were supposed to level out.”

  “How… Could you tell?” he asked, taking a step toward me.

  “It’s uh… Hard to describe? It’s what felt right with the rest of the music. It felt like they were supposed to level out” I said.

  I genuinely couldn’t think of why I knew they were supposed to stop. I just felt like if I’d been making the music, that’s where I would have leveled out the pitch.

  “Huh… But how were you able to…” he started to ask as I leaned further against the back wall, reaching down to a handle and holding myself as I started to feel light headed.

  “Tess?” he asked, sounding concerned.

  “Sorry I… I uh…” I tried to say as I felt his arms grab around my chest just before I felt a hard thud against my side as I fell to the floor.