The party stepped out of the slide onto the ground covered by lavender. They looked up at the night stars and enjoyed the perfumes of violets and lavender. James the firefly had told them that there was a wide sea in the distance, and now they could even smell its salt taste. Ahead was the great river heading toward the sea, and behind was the snow mountain standing under the stars.

"Come on, you'll see the monument plane soon." Peter walked over to a triangular block of ice and pressed it. There was the sound of an electric motor and the sliding of doors, and in a moment a huge shadow appeared above them. After circling several times, it stopped smoothly in front of the party.

There was the roar of engines in the air. That was Connor.

"Hello, it's good to see you again." When Connor stopped, he said to William and others, "These two friends of mine have asked me to come over and show you what this incredible monument plane can do."

"Hello, Connor, but isn't it too hot for this ice plane? It would melt, wouldn't it?" Photon asked.

"That's true, but under normal circumstances it's cold enough to keep it in shape. As long as it doesn't land too far from the snow mountain, it shouldn't melt. Let's get started."

Sierra jumped into the cockpit. So the party watched Connor and the ice monument rise into the sky.

When the altitude was high enough, Sierra winked at Conner and they two began their air show at the same time. Spectators on the ground watched as Connor tilted the fuselage to create a perfect circle; the monument airplane followed a roller-coaster path. Ranran shouted.

Connor was too big to do a high overload maneuver, or he might crash. But he took a risk and made a maneuver that drew screams from everyone -- a vertical climb. It was an unexpected maneuver. They watched Connor slow down until he almost stalled. Then he quickly adjusted his position and leveled off again. He could clearly hear the thunderous applause from below.

"He's really trying too hard. He could have crashed." Photon sighed, "It's not easy to fix a big plane like this."

Rebecca agreed with Photon. "I wonder what his secret is." She said curiously. In fact, Connor's flight control system was able to monitor his condition so well that it alerted him to level off in time. In this way he succeeded in avoiding tailspin.

Connor's performance, though breathtaking, was nothing compared to Sierra's monument plane. She pulled up the stick and made this guy draw a circle in the air -- the same maneuver she did before -- then pushed the stick and repeated. So the plane's path was a figure eight.

William clapped and Natalie screamed with excitement. But that wasn't the end: Sierra also had the plane climbing vertically until she went into a dangerous tailspin. The party's hearts instantly raised. They stared at the crazily rotating ice plane. William clenched his fists and Ranran prayed. In Sierra's opinion, however, this was nothing to worry about. She retracted the throttle, pushed the rod, and pushed the rudder in the opposite direction of the rotation to maximum volume. By some miracle, the plane gradually stopped spinning. She continued to lower the height, pulling the rod when less than a meter above the ground. The plane zoomed past the party.

"This is the end of our show. Hope you enjoy it!" When the two planes stopped in front of the spectators, Sierra jumped down, bowed and said. Thunderous applause broke out immediately.

"You almost scared me, dear Sierra." Ranran said, taking her hand, "I was so worried that you might crash, but you proved you were an excellent pilot."

"That's right! Excellent pilot!" Cried Rebecca, running up. Sierra thanked them shyly. "Connor was great, too," She said.

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"I've got some good news for you guys." Connor cleared his throat, "The organizers have approved me as one of the refueling planes for this year's race!"

"Yeah!" "Oh!" "Great!" The cheers grew louder each time, and even roused the birds in the forest. "This is incredible!" Rebecca said, "I'm going to see you again on the field. It's good! But I don't know if you're the only one going to refuel for me."

"I guess not, because the rules of the race require each refueling plane to stay in a designated area. Unless you can fly around the planet without running out of fuel, you have to use another refueling plane."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll get refueled by another refueling plane, ha ha ha. I know a few refueling planes, but I don't know if they'll all be joining this year. It wouldn't hurt to get to know a few friends." Everyone burst out laughing.

Connor had other commitments to fulfill, so he returned to Woodford Refitting Factory. William turned on the computer and looked at the map. "We're almost there." He said, "You see, we can walk to the beach ahead and cross the bridge to this island called Moss. The start of the race is right here." He pointed to a checkered black and white flag.

"Wow, we were walking so fast!" Rebecca laughed. They were already heading for the beach as they were speaking. The wayside violets, swaying in the breeze, seemed to be dancing to welcome the arrival of the party. The salty smell of salt grew stronger in the moist sea breeze. In a few minutes, the road ended and the beach was in front of them. The glittering and translucent sand reflected the bright stars, some shells open, revealing the white pearls inside. The water washed up some starfishes and small crabs, but they were very different from those on Earth. The starfishes here had three to eight tentacles, and some crabs even had four or six legs. Ranran watched with interest.

William went to the place where the water could just touch him, lay down and enjoyed it. "Oh, it's comfortable. If only I would find such environments more often on other habitable planets." He said to himself. In fact, he was more than happy to have the privilege of living in an undersea villa on his father's recommendation. But sometimes William just liked to have bats in his belfry.

Ranran stood on the beach looking out over the sea, the breeze blowing her curls. Photon's and Rebecca's paint looked particularly bright.

"Do you come here a lot to relax, like going to Maxwell Snow Mountain?" Natalie asked Sierra and Peter.

"Yes, we think it's good here." Answered Peter, "My master likes to play with the starfishes and the baby crabs, while I will get up in the air and enjoy the speed. Look, I have a float too, but Jackson who came out of the same batch doesn't have one."

Natalie thought of the proud and annoying Jackson again. "I wonder where he is, or what he is doing." She thought, "I don't think he works as hard as Rebecca. He thinks he can win, so what? I believe Rebecca will prove her strength with her actions. Victory always belongs to the doers, not the talkers."

"What are you thinking about?" Sierra asked. "Nothing." Natalie explained, "I just thought Rebecca worked very hard and would win this year."

"Oh, thank you so much for encouraging me." Rebecca replied shyly, "You're all happy with my training, and I'm sure I'll make you happy with the results."

"We believe in you!" Shouted Photon. Rebecca thought she saw a red airplane flying out of the sea toward a golden trophy. "I'm not dreaming, am I?" She blinked. It was a illusion.

But Rebecca liked the illusion. She had sometimes seen such images in previous victories. "There is something magical about this," She thought.

William sat up, scooped up some sand, and let it slip through his fingers. He picked up a pearl beside him and pointed it at the stars of the night. At once, he was struck by its whiteness, for he had never seen such a pearl on Earth. He even wanted to keep it.

But he put it down and just enjoyed the huge beach under the stars.

Suddenly, William saw something strange coming up to the water. He rose to his feet and instinctively approached it in alarm. Confirming that it was not dangerous, he picked it up and examined it carefully. It turned out to be a machine part that looked like it had fallen off a robot.

But why would these things be in the sea? William could not find the answer for the time being. He decided to ask for help from Sierra and Peter, who were regular visitors and might be familiar with it. But there was nothing the regular visitors could do.

William had to put the question aside and continue to enjoy the beauty of the beach. The sky was getting brighter and the stars were getting fainter. Soon, two mother stars popped out. They used the bright red light as the pigment and dyed the lofty sky, the broad sea, and the lofty snow mountain. The snow sparkled and the sand became as bright as jewels. The starfishes and the small crabs saw the two mother stars coming again, dancing with excitement.

Then a figure appeared.