Noah feels the tilt; she wants to check what is going on. But the game is still playing, she cannot stop.
She stands in the empty meeting room; messy footsteps can be heard from outside. "Done hiding?" She says and hears no response. She starts to walk. Her eyes already catch some disharmony in the room: "Yu? Is this you?" She walks towards an abnormally covered armchair, still with no response. "Yu? You are sure this is not you?" She pokes the blanket covering the chair.
"Fine! Fine! Why do you always get me first?" The boy gets out of the blanket, annoyed.
"Because you are the most obvious one!" Noah laughs.
"Shut up, Noah!" Yu shouts, even more irritated.
"Now, where are the other people?" Noah looks around, she could see some other people's shoes, or some abnormally moving shadows, but she wants Yu to also enjoy this game, so she speaks nothing.
"Well, they must be somewhere." Yu looks around impatiently: "I think over there that is someone hiding." He strides across the room; a vase is placed upright.
"I don't think anyone is there, Yu."
"You will see." Triumphantly, Yu looks behind it, which immediately got discouraged. He kicks the vase quite harshly: "Hey! This game is not fun! Let's play something else!" He shouts towards the empty air in the room. No one replies.
"Now seriously, all get out! I order all of you to get out! The game is over!"
Some timid heads poke out behind curtains, some underneath chairs, then one by one, kids are starting to re-gather at the center of the room.
"Yu, this is not how you should play! Why couldn't you just play the game like everyone else?" Noah feels like a headache, another game ruined.
"Because the king of all children has the right to decide how to play!" Yu leans back onto the vase majestically, like a real king.
"No! You are just not supposed to do that!" Noah feels like she is talking to a first grader, even though Yu is only one grade short than her.
"Who cares? Kids play just need to be fun! Now Noah, I am going to find some real fun for all of us!" Yu looks around the room, thinking of new ideas: "What about we find a way out! I hate being locked up, especially like this for ten days!" He taps Noah quite harshly: "What do you think?"
"The adults locked us up for our own safety, it is dangerous outside with all those machineries running!"
"So, you reject my proposal?" He looks around him, only to see other kids dodging his sights.
"All of you are cowards!" He climbs onto a bookshelf: "Then I am going out, to freedom, all by myself!" He pulls on the only vent in the room: It is secured with four giant nuts. He twists them harshly, only to find his fingers painfully red.
"Hey! Any of you come and help!" He yells downwards, no one moves: "Hey! Obey my orders! I was elected king by all of you, so obey my orders!"
With a sigh, Noah climbs onto the shelf.
"That is good! In three, you hold my hand, and we twist this one together! Three…"
Noah finds his impatient hands already twisting under hers. She sighs again and starts to twist with the hands. She wonders if she is holding too hard, as the boy beside her seems to be in pain.
"That's enough, Noah!" Knowing what will happen next, she hurried to draw her hands back behind Yu's body. With a sudden jerk, the nut comes loose, so does Yu. His body almost falls down, but it is caught by the hands behind.
"Nice!" He holds the nut in his right hand, like a metal. "Only three lefts!"
A key is turning in the keyhole, then the door jerks open: It is not lunch time, nor is it dinner. No one should come at this time, yet crews are coming in.
Yu hastily hides his hand on his back, as if sitting on top of a shelf is not suspicious enough. The crew notices them, but to Noah's surprise, not a single one of them pays more attention than a glance. One of them opens the emergency hatch, and then the great eastern vase is thrown overboard.
"What the heck are you doing!" Yu almost forgets he is sitting on top of a shelf: "That is my father's!"
"We are authorized." One of the crew glances upwards: he is carrying an oversized armchair out of the room.
"What do you mean?" Yu shouts, but the crew seems to not be interested in talking. Like robots, they are just doing their tasks, and their tasks do not include talking to an arrogant kid.
"Hey! You know who my father is! So, talk!"
"We are helping him, that is all." The man seems to be trying to avoid any eye contact with him.
"What help? You are just destroying his precious collection! Do you know all those ornaments are handpicked by the emperor and every placement is considered? Hey! Stop!" The huge crystal tabletop is also cast down the hatch.
"Okay, you kid, I just don't want to talk to you!" The man finally loses his temper: "You are no more than another one of the damned officer's sons! You could tour the airship in advance that day, not my son! You are onboard when the water starts to gush into the airfield, not my son! You could now sit here and talk, not my son! Now get out of my sight!" The man's tears are almost bursting down, but he manages to conserve them in his eyes.
Staggered, Yu loses his words.
Everything that can be burnt is taken, everything that cannot is cast into the water. The crew exits, the door is slammed close and locked again.
"Disobedient fools…" Yu says lightly: "My father should discipline the ship more…"
"They are pitiful people, Yu…" Noah says, her hand almost touches Yu's back, but Yu jerks away: "Disobedient fools!" He shouts; tears are circling in his eyes.
"Yu, its ok…"
"I don't need you to comfort me!" Yu starts twisting again on the vent, he still could not get it open. He sits down, watching his hands turning red, tears flowing out of his eyes.
Noah squats down beside him, her hand is placed lightly on his shoulder.
"Yu, it is fine, Yu, could you feel it? The tilt of the ground is being recovered."