The Jump Begins, Destination: the Frozen Planet Jarilo!
Xingbao's hand still rested on the metal handle of the rear door.
The streaks of light outside the holographic window suddenly snapped apart.
A heavy mechanical braking sound rose from deep beneath the armored floor.
"Whirr—click."
A faint scrape of metal ran through the train's frame.
The reverse inertia of the faster-than-light jump pitched everything in the carriage forward.
The train came to a complete stop.
A colossal shape filled the deep starfield beyond the window.
A huge white planet.
Jarilo-VI.
The planet had no blue oceans or brown continents.
Only lifeless gray-white.
From orbit, vast banks of cloud looked like solidified lead, smothering the surface.
Several enormous cyclones turned slowly near the equator.
Their eyes were bottomless, like black holes swallowing light.
There was not a trace of life.
The planet's day-night boundary looked like a jagged scar.
Long black shadows stretched across the rising glaciers.
One glance was enough to make her chest feel as though an ice-studded stone were pressing down on it, leaving her struggling to breathe.
The announcement speakers crackled to life.
First came a shrill burst of static.
Then came Conductor Pom-Pom's voice.
It sounded muffled and heavily nasal, punctuated by sniffles.
Clearly, Pom-Pom still hadn't recovered from that "cat-petting" session.
"Passengers, the Astral Express has arrived in its target orbit, pom."
Pom-Pom's voice echoed through the quiet carriage.
"This stop is Jarilo-VI."
"External probes report extremely harsh conditions on the surface. Average temperature... minus forty-seven degrees Celsius, pom."
"Exploration team, please put on polar cold-weather gear and carry portable heaters. Do not let your skin touch any metal outside the train, pom."
March 7th shivered.
Minus forty-seven degrees.
Just hearing the number raised goose bumps along her arms.
She glanced down at the damp pleated skirt still clinging to her legs.
Abandoning all concern for appearances, she turned and ran toward the storage room at the back of the train.
Her shoes clattered rapidly across the wooden floor.
Xingbao's hand slipped from the door handle.
She sighed, her shoulders slumping.
Her grand plan to search the trash cans for fingers would have to wait.
She turned, trudged to the temperature-controlled cabinet in the corner of the lounge, and pulled out a heavy gray winter suit.
The rasp of zippers sounded throughout the carriage.
Velcro tore apart.
Heavy insulated snow boots thudded onto the metal floor.
Dan Heng emerged from the Data Bank, which still smelled of something scorched.
The burn on the side of his face had yet to be treated, leaving a dark red scab.
He held a black high-collared polar suit.
Without a word, he pulled it on.
He zipped it all the way to his chin, hiding half his face.
The portable heater at his waist gave off a low hum and a faint red glow.
Dan Heng kept his head down the entire time.
His gaze stayed fixed on the pattern of the floor. He refused to look at the leather sofa in the center of the lounge.
Himeko came out of the preparation room.
She had changed into thick-soled boots with slip-resistant treads.
She also carried a small winter coat.
Its windproof fabric was bright red, with a ring of snow-white synthetic fur sewn around the collar and cuffs.
She stopped at the end of the corridor.
Her gaze fell on the center of the lounge.
Su Chen still lay sprawled across the sofa.
His black high-collared uniform was thin as paper, and his bare feet swung in the air.
Himeko took a deep breath.
Her lungs expanded, leaving a faint ache in her ribs.
She knew the white-haired little girl could conjure black holes with a casual gesture.
Reason told her to stay as far from this source of danger as possible.
But she was the train's navigator.
Letting a guest walk into a minus-forty-seven-degree blizzard in a single thin layer went against her sense of hospitality.
Himeko gripped the red coat.
Her fingers pressed deep creases into its windproof fabric.
She started forward.
Her thick-soled boots made dull sounds against the velvet carpet.
One step, then another.
She walked slowly.
Two steps from the coffee table, she stopped.
Her toes met the edge of the carpet.
Himeko held out the red coat.
"Seventh Seat."
She kept her voice as steady as she could, though a barely perceptible tension caught at the end.
"The temperature on Jarilo's surface is extremely low."
"Please put on this winter coat."
Su Chen was chewing on the stick of an unwrapped lollipop to pass the time.
At her voice, he turned his head.
His little round sunglasses slid down his nose, revealing eyes of pure azure.
His gaze landed on the bright red coat.
His thin white brows drew together.
His cheeks puffed up, and he gave a soft snort.
"It's hideous."
His clear, childlike voice made no attempt to hide his distaste.
"Like a big red lantern."
Himeko's hand froze in midair, still holding the coat.
She did not pull it back.
"The blizzard outside can crack steel."
She gritted her teeth and forced herself half a step forward. "That body of yours could get frostbite."
Himeko tried to set the coat on the coffee table.
But her hand stopped several inches short of its edge.
It was not that she didn't want to reach farther.
She couldn't push forward at all.
An invisible wall stood firmly between her and the coat.
The ring of white fur around the collar flattened against empty air.
It looked as though it were pressed to an invisible pane of bulletproof glass.
Himeko's pupils widened slightly.
An unyielding force pushed back against her fingertips.
A spatial barrier.
The absolute defense that had driven even Nous to overload the main processor trying to calculate it.
Su Chen rolled over and sat cross-legged on the sofa.
He propped his chin on both hands, his eyes curving into crescents behind his sunglasses.
"Keep your misplaced kindness to yourself, big sis."
He spat the plastic candy stick from his mouth.
"The laws of physics don't work on me."
Su Chen tilted his head and tapped the air in front of him with one pale finger.
"Minus forty degrees or plus four hundred—it makes no difference."
"Limitless separates me from this world."
He grinned like a mischievous child whose prank had worked.
"Heat can't get out, and cold can't get in."
"My body temperature stays locked at twenty-six degrees."
Himeko slowly withdrew her hand.
She draped the red coat over her arm again.
Eyes lowered, she retreated to the preparation room without a word.
All of humanity's efforts to withstand extreme conditions seemed like a joke beside this monster.
Boom—
The train began its descent into the atmosphere.
The entire carriage shook violently.
The overhead lights flickered wildly, hissing with static.
Blinding fire filled the view outside: superheated plasma from the ship's hull rubbing against the atmosphere.
The shaking lasted a full three minutes.
The fire faded.
In its place came a vast white haze.
Dense snowstorms swallowed the view completely.
Hailstones the size of fists hammered the train's reinforced windows, bursting against them like machine-gun fire.
Thud!
The train's landing gear slammed into the hard permafrost.
The impact buckled everyone's knees.
Only Su Chen remained steady on the sofa. Not even a strand of his hair moved.
"Pressure equalization initiated."
A mechanical announcement sounded beside the door.
The heavy metal door of the passenger compartment rumbled as its gears engaged.
Thick white frost coated the edges of the doorframe.
The hydraulic rods strained to push outward, squealing with metal-on-metal friction.
The door opened a crack.
Whoosh!
The sound was like the roar of a ravenous beast.
A violent gust, carrying ice chips sharp as blades, poured through the gap.
The temperature inside the carriage plummeted within three seconds.
Every breath instantly became a thick white cloud.
March 7th had just put on her thick-soled boots when the gust drove her back a step.
She hurriedly pulled on thick goggles and clamped both hands over her collar.
Xingbao wound a gray wool scarf around her neck three times, leaving only her eyes exposed.
Dan Heng turned his back to the doorway. The heater at his waist flashed red as it fought the cold that could freeze blood in its veins.
Snow and wind continued to pour through the gap.
A thin layer of ice crystals soon formed on the floor.
Just then.
Whumm.
A muffled boom cut through the howling wind.
Su Chen didn't wait for the door to open all the way.
He wasn't wearing boots.
He wasn't wearing gloves.
He hadn't even zipped his thin, high-collared uniform all the way up.
He teleported straight off the leather sofa.
A black blur flashed through the gap in the door.
Like a bullet fired from a gun, he plunged headfirst into the wild, swirling snow outside.
The bone-chilling storm swallowed his small, dark figure in an instant.
Through the howling wind came a bright, unguarded cheer.
"Woohoo! Snowball fight!"