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“Why don’t you come to the planetarium? The beautiful twinkling of eternity that will never fade, no matter what.”That’s how it had been for a long time. The rain had turned to snow, covering the ruins of the city in a blanket of white. Still, Yumemi persisted in her waiting. Surely, with this freezing cold weather, someone would want to pull themselves out of the snow and enjoy themselves. The sights and sounds of nature on the big screen would make them feel warm inside. Yet, nobody had stopped by.She was unsure of how long she had been waiting here. It could have been months, or weeks. Or years. Her internal clock had become confused at some point. It kept counting the days, but the visible signs of the passage of time in the outside world had stopped their circular motion.Until she heard the sound of a vehicle passing over the snow. A Kettenkrad, its treads pushing against the poisoned snowbanks, arrived in front of the planetarium. Most of the robots surrounding the city had stopped working when it became too cold, allowing the passengers aboard the vehicle safe passage.“We can stay in here for the night,” said the girl with black hair. “I think I see another person.”“Hey! You know where the rations are?” asked the blonde girl. “We’re looking for more food.”“There are some restaurants not far from here. I don’t think any of them are open. If you want, you can come in and see the planetarium,” said the girl with blue hair and a big yellow ribbon. “I’m Yumemi Hoshino. Come, step inside.”“Is she talking to you, Chii?” asked the blonde girl.“She’s talking to both of us,” said Chito, the black-haired girl. “Let’s go inside.”Yuuri, the blonde girl, looked about the planetarium for anything that resembled food. There was no sign of it. Anything that had been in this place had long ago been taken. The only signs of life belonged to the girl who was greeting them. She resembled Ishii, but looked almost exactly like Chito and Yuuri. Except for her brightly-colored hair and slight creaking coming from her joints, there was no sign of hunger in her. Nor any sign of humanity.“Excuse me, we haven’t seen all that many humans around here. Are you one of them?” asked Yuuri.“That’s rude to ask someone,” said Chito.“Forgive me. I am not a human,” said Yumemi. “I am a robot created exclusively for this planetarium. I like my name very much. I wish I could offer more, but the only thing I can say is that our planetarium has many wonderful shows.”“It doesn’t look like it’s working,” said Chito.“I’d love for you to come with us, but we can’t afford to put much weight on the Kettenkrad. I think I’m starting to know too much about Chii already. I want to hear some new stories,” said Yuuri. “But if you have food, that’d be nice.”“I’m afraid I can’t leave. What if someone comes into the planetarium and needs to see the show? They’ll need me to guide them and show them where to sit,” said Yumemi.“Is there a backroom for your concession stand?” asked Yuuri.“I’m afraid you’ll need permission from the manager to enter there. But as I cannot get in touch with the manager, I’ll invite you back there myself. It would be impolite of me to let a guest starve,” said Yumemi.She led them into the backroom. The only thing that remained were several tubs of popcorn butter and unpopped popcorn. The water in the soda fountain had long since evaporated, the tubs used to hold the syrup congealing into a sticky mess that held them to the floor. Without much warmth in the world, the popcorn had been passed over.“This’ll do. We can light a fire somewhere else,” said Yuuri.“I’m sorry our heating systems are not currently functioning. Perhaps if I could find a blanket...” said Yumemi.“You don’t have to concern yourself with us. We’ve been on the road for so long with just the two of us that we know how to survive. I want to hear about you,” said Chito. “What do you think about this world?”“Everything I know comes from the stage show. It’s a wonderful world. Full of vibrant, natural beauty and untouched wonders. To think, the clearest places in the world are those left untouched by man, where the stars can shine at night. The same stars that guided our ancestors across the oceans when they went off in search of adventure!” said Yumemi.“Chii, that’s it!” said Yuuri. “Maybe we don’t need to keep going up. Maybe we can go across. No matter how far out the buildings go, they couldn’t have built them into the ocean. We know how to fish, too.”“We don’t have any fishing equipment. Or a boat. Or fuel for a boat,” said Chito. “Even if we went across the ocean, how do we know that the rest of the world is okay?”“Grandpa used to tell us stories about it when we were younger. I think it’s a place called America,” said Yuuri. “A land of opportunity, vast with resources.”“If you left from this country, you’d mostly run into desert,” said Yumemi.“What’s a desert?” asked Chito and Yuuri together.“It’s a hot and humid place. There’s very little water except in the cacti, and there’s a lot of sand. Once you get past the deserts and the mountains, there’s a lot of forests. For as much land as it has, most of America is still wilderness,” said Yumemi. “If you’re looking to find a boat, I can look up information on such things.”“We go where the wind takes us,” said Yuuri, who was already munching on unpopped corn kernels. “Stale, but not bad. I didn’t even know that butter still existed. Or looked this yellow.”“Miss Yumemi, I hope you’re able to find a way out someday, too,” said Chito. “The robots we had to get past on the way here looked terrifying.”“I don’t think a fellow robot would deign to do such damage to a fellow human,” said Yumemi. “I’ll try to communicate with them and see what can be done. Before you go. I’m sorry I couldn’t show you one of our planetarium shows. Jena still needs repairs. You may take one of our supplementary books as a thank you gift. It was wonderful to have company again.”She presented them with a sturdy hardback book covering the same material as the planetarium show. It had been written for younger children, so much of the focus was on the pictures. Chito and Yuuri sat on the floor and opened it up, looking at the magnificent photographs within.For a brief moment, they were awestruck at what they were looking at. The pictures depicted a world that they could only faintly recall, from when they were very young. A world that was just as she described it. A world of vibrant colors, natural beauty, untouched wonders, and stars shining. They were grouped into constellations, depicting figures from myth that were now unheard of in Yuuri and Chito’s time.“Miss Yumemi, we’ll treasure this book,” said Chito. They would later use it for fuel, but it would be one of the last things they’d be willing to burn.“This butter’s really tasty,” said Yuuri. “It was nice meeting you. Hopefully someone comes to your show.”“Miss Chito, Miss Yuuri, I wish you safe travels. The planetarium is always waiting for you,” said Yumemi.Chito and Yuuri boarded the Kettenkrad and left the shopping district, heading towards parts unknown. The moon remained their guidepost, but now they had an alternate idea of looking for a boat. The seas were stormy, dark and as toxic and barren as the rest of the remaining world. But it was still an alternate path, a way of hope that they had never considered before.“All the stars in the sky are waiting for you.”