But we don't even have enough materials
While we had briefly been depressed, now we worked full of hope at the thought...
...that heading for the mainland might open a new road for us.
We built a simple hut near the ruins for convenience while we worked, and began our life there.
And we finished collecting parts to build our new ship with.
It's no good, it's no good!
It won't do at all!
Can't you tell by looking?
But you said it was fine before...
Don't give me buts!
Considering the list of parts you've been able to collect, you have some plan?
I had the idea to separately generate both the floatation and the propulsion with the gravity control unit.
I think it's pretty good.
That's the weakest part!
Where's the expected laden weight of the ship, and the power output for the gravity control unit?
I was going to do those next...
What?
I mean, we don't have the materials gathered, so we can't calculate our laden weight.
And we don't know the power of the gravity control unit.
However you estimate it, no matter the weight, the power is insufficent.
A blueprint for a ship that won't work is just a scrap of paper!
But we don't even have enough materials. What should we do?
It's your job to think about that.
Make the ship drastically lighter...
...or devise a way to power up the gravity control unit...
...or find another gravity control unit somehow.
If you can't solve the components problem, it's pointless to draw a blueprint.
Looks like it didn't go well.
These kinds of things happen.
Shingo...
It's okay. Cheer up!
I'm not upset or anything.
That's good to hear.
Anyways, perhaps it's sudden, but what work should we do today?
I want everybody to split up again and look for gravity-related parts.
Gravity-related?
Right now we won't have enough power.
So I want parts we can use to power it up, or if possible, another gravity control unit.
We've already searched so much we're sick of it!
There must be places we still haven't searched yet!
I'm just not suited to garbage collection.
Oh, but I think it's fun, like searching for treasure!
It must be an easy life, being a fairy-tale girl.
Fairy-tale girl?
Hey!
We were just havin' the morning meetin'.
We're back.
We had a big catch.
It's true, wow!
Let's hurry up and make breakfast!
Yeah, yeah. Help us out, Ms. Fairy-tale.
Oh, Chako! Yeesh...
So me, Sharla, Adam, and Chako will look for food...
...and the rest of you, please take care of the parts search.
I'll search to the west.
Then I'll take the south.
I'll do the north.
Howard and I will search to the east.
Aye-aye.
Be careful, everyone.
We'll meet up in the afternoon.
No use...
There really is nothing here. Let's give up and go home.
Let's search a little longer.
I'm already tired.
You got tired right away.
This is useless too.
This is great!
Maybe I can use this to make a hammock to sleep in!
For crying out loud!
Howard! What are you goofing off at?
Can't you tell by looking? I wasn't goofing off!
If you're going to complain, tell it to the wind!
Complain to the wind?
That's right! There's that possibility!
Howard, there were other sheets, right?
Yeah. You said we might be able to use them for something, so we took them all.
That's it! Howard, that's it!
Are you okay?
So there weren't any parts that seemed usable?
All there was were fragments of panels.
There was nothing to do with power generation.
We had a great haul on the food side.
See, look!
It's just Shingo and Howard left.
They're back!
Hey!
Look, seems like they had a good result.
How was it?
No use, nothing at all.
But I thought up a good idea!
I'll draw it up and show it to you!
Everyone can hold off on searching for parts!
Things are about to get busy!
Is he really okay?
Wait...
I have to make it able to work when the direction is bad.
Hey!
So you were in a place like this. Come get food.
I'll have it later! Sorry!
Everyone's waiting!
Don't bug me right now!
Then we'll just eat without you. Do whatever you want.
Now everyone, we'll have Ms. Fairy-Tale announce the name of this hut!
Let's see... the Angels' Hut!
I've built model yachts before.
And I thought, "Why not use the structure of a yacht for this ship?"
If we do this, we can use most of the gravity control unit's power for floatation...
...so we should be able to overcome the shortage of power.
We can use the wind's power for propulsion--
Idiot!
This is different from building some toy!
What point is there in making a vehicle lacking in safety and certainty?
Making something you can rely on even if you lose power or run out of energy is a mechanic's job.
I can't vouch for its certainty, but safety is no problem.
If you make it like this, it'll fall right over when a strong wind blows.
If we use a gyrostabilizer in place of a keel, we'll be fine.
What will you do when there's no wind?
We'll only have a little self-propulsion if there's no wind at all...
...but look here. If we make the mast able to move to suit the wind's direction...
...as long as there's even a little wind, we can use it for propulsion.
So in the end, it drifts in the wind?
But because we'll be floating due to the gravity control unit...
...we should be able to achieve a fair speed using just the wind.
There's no pride for a mechanic in making a ship that drifts in the wind.
But...
But it'll be impossible to find another gravity control unit...
...and I've already done the calculations to power up as much as we can.
This is the best we can do with the parts we have!
Young'uns always give up so quickly.
You don't have enough willpower.
Give the willpower a rest!
Mr. Porte, you said it before yourself, didn't you?
What's important for a mechanic is to be able to consider the situation on the spot and think of the best course of action.
You can't think this is the best course.
Adults are always like that!
Sticking to their own experiences and never trying out new concepts!
Shut up! I don't want to hear that from an amateur like you!
Take this and get out of here.
You forgot this.
Take it.
Throw it away.
Is that okay? You put your best into it.
I've made all the adjustments I can.
I've increased the efficiency of the gravity control unit.
It should increase the power by 10%.
And if we use a structure like this, the total weight will drop by 5%.
So there was a trick like this!
But is it okay to start building it based on this?
Right now, you're this thing's main mechanic.
Do whatever you want with it.
I'll give it a try!
If I come to another dead end, will you give me advice like you have until now?
Well, only if you ask me real nice.
I wish I hadn't asked.
You have a good spirit, kid.
Ready, set...
This ain't good... no response at all.
Shingo, what would you do?
Right, if only we hadn't intentionally structured it so bothersomely.
Wait a second.
Maybe we should have had this shortcut here and connect directly.
Exactly. Simple is best.
Right!
Here, try it out.
Right.
Pretty impressive!
Lookin' at you two, it's almost like scholar 'n pupil!
Did you just realize that now?
Yeesh, it's no fair being stuck with a pupil who does such shoddy work!
That's not true!
For the following week, we split up and worked all day at making the ship.
And after that, there.
Look at my magnificent movement.
Considering the predicted speed of the ship and the distance to the mainland...
...we calculated the length of the voyage to be at most ten days.
We decided to take two weeks' worth of preserved food, to make sure we would have extra.
And after about another week passed, we were ready to have a trial run of the gravity system.
We did it!
We've done it!
We've finally made it this far.
After so long, my mechanic's blood is on fire.
It's not like we're done yet, though.
That's certainly true.
Hey, keep teaching me things from now on, okay?
I don't mind...
...but I've been taught things by you as well.
By me?
When you first showed me that blueprint with the yacht drawn on it.
I got mad without thinking, but deep down I was troubled because I didn't come up with an idea like that.
Just like you said.
I considered my experience to be important, and hesitated to adopt a flexible way of thinking.
When I thought you'd figured that out, I yelled without thinking.
I might have spoken impertinently.
No, that much is just right for a youngster.
Right?
If I had been able to think that way, I wouldn't have lost my son.
Mr. Porte, you had a son?
Once, I ran a small repair shop with my son in a corner of colony Muwa-C.
Pops, look at that!
It's the latest model of settlement ship!
Amazing.
One day, my son talked to me about wanting to board the newest model of settlement ship...
...which was in town for repairs, as a mechanic.
As a stubborn and obstinate craftsman, I rebuked him immediately.
No way! Anyway, what do you think you'll be able to do if you get on a computer-run ship like that?
Where do you see ships not run by computers nowadays?
They're just plain better.
You should let the computer take care of the things it can!
Be a little more flexible!
Getting used by the computer to do what it says... what makes that a mechanic?
I don't want to hear an amateur like you talking like you know everything!
You might call me an amateur, but there are people who value my work!
And I won't spend my life stuck in a small town like you have!
Shut up!
What about Mom?
Covered in grease from morning until night, just working!
She died without having a moment of fun in her life!
I don't want to be that way!
Get out of here!
If you want to board a ship, then go ahead!
But never come back here again!
You're old, so don't push yourself too hard.
That's all?
Yes.
Why?
You didn't mean it when you told him never to come back.
There was an accident.
An accident?
Continuing, news about the accident.
Late last night, the newest settlement ship lost control due to a main computer failure.
It sustained serious damage after colliding with a satellite.
There is little hope for the survival of the passengers and crew.
We will now list their names.
Please have sympathy for their friends and families.
My son's name was there.
I couldn't believe my eyes.
But it was the grave truth.
But maybe he was still alive.
In baseless hope that perhaps he had reached another colony somewhere in an escape shuttle...
...I asked around for news of my son.
But in the end nobody knew anything about him.
It seemed I had truly been left alone.
Truly.
I sold the shop and boarded a transport ship as a mechanic.
I felt that as long as I was travelling through space, I might encounter my son someday.
And at each destination, I asked about my son.
There wasn't anything else I could do.
No, I don't know.
From Titan, a -180ЃЃЃЃ° frozen world, I saw Saturn's rings.
At Andromeda upsilon, we stayed a week near a gas storm that gave off a mysterious light from its center.
At 51 Pegasi, I saw a hot Jupiter with eerie patterns made by strong winds.
What made all these experiences possible was visiting all those places to search for my son.
It was like after having been tied to a single thing, my eyes had been opened to a new world.
So something like that happened.
After this, I'll probably keep travelling in search of my son.
Whoever they are, it seems everyone has something they have to chase after.
Mr. Porte...
If I stop, I'll lose the hope even to keep living.
I guess that's what they call life.
That's kind of amazing, Mr. Porte.
What do you mean? You're the amazing ones.
You've survived this long with nothing on this planet.
Because we have each other.
Maybe my son is also surviving with his shipmates on some undiscovered planet.
That's what I think.
That's right! He's definitely still alive somewhere!
It seems like I was the one who was cheered up!
Ah well.
If you want them, I'll pass all my skills on to you.
Alright!
Alright, alright! Alright!
Well, it's pretty late. Let's get to sleep.
Right!
Huh? Mr. Porte?
Are you okay?
Yeah, I'm fine. It just seems my wounds aren't fully healed yet.
But no need to worry!
That's all it is!
Now hurry up and get to sleep!
The elderly wake up early in the morning!
Yeah, okay.
Good night.
Yeah, good night.
Finally... flared up...
Mr. Porte is strict, but he's really a kind person.
Yeah, yeah. He's got a bad mouth, but he takes care of what need to be taken care of.
We've all been counting on Mr. Porte.
Getting the ship finished was thanks to Mr. Porte too!
Yep.
Stay with us forever, ol' man Porte.
Next time: A very important friend.
Vocal Performers Adam Okushima Kazumi Porte Tsukada Masaaki Farlow Kase Yasuyuki Newscaster Onodzuka Takashi