Lee pulled on her glasses and said, “Fuk.”

Zert rolled over to face her with a smirk, “Wat, ‘gan?” he asked.

“No mins for lols,” she said, “got leven mins ‘for the curf!” This was a problem, of course, because Zert lived 25 minutes from Lee’s home. Even worse, Lee’s glasses’ vidsplay showed a 10 minute delay in trans-service. She was going to be late and she didn’t want to deal with her step-mother.

Fortunately for Lee, Zert’s father was a big time monies man so Zert was an upper decker. 51st floor. That meant Lee had other options.

She made a mad scramble for her clothes, pulling them on as she found them.

“Tol you I gots curf, Zee. I shud nahta stayed. You nevs hearin’ me! Gon take the wings or I fukked. Big time fukked.”

Zert sat up in bed, “You get splayed wingin’, you super fukked. Taxed ‘n waxed!”

Lee pulled a large silver vest off a hook on the wall. “Won’t get splayed,” she said as she pulled the vest on. She zipped it up and turned to face Zert.

“I gots the mod,” she said, touching the side of her glasses. A holographic hawk mask covered her face, obscuring her features.

“Hot,” said Zert. He suddenly jumped out of bed and moved to Lee, touching her arm. “Be cares girl,” he said.

Lee froze for a second. It wasn’t like Zert to be so serious. “Zee …” she hesitated.

“Want back my wings!” he said with a grin.

“You jerkin!” She punched him.

He laughed and opened the balcony doors, stepping aside. “Sev mins,” he said.

She took a running start, through the doors and onto the balcony, using the balcony chairs and take to launch herself out over the balcony railing and into the lunar air. She lept a few feet up into the air before the moon’s gravity affected its hold on her, automatically activating the vest.

Two large silver wings sprung out of the vest, catching the air and causing her to stop, briefly, in the air. She glanced back at Zert, then pulled the wings in close and tight while throwing her head forward. This put her into a dive, and she quickly built up speed. Even in the reduced lunar gravity, it didn’t take long to reach terminal velocity. She spread open the wings as she passed the 20th floor, banking hard to transfer her falling momentum into forward thrust.

She whipped away from Zert’s building, heading in the direction of her home. Her vidsplay was showing a countdown — it was going to be close!

She flew down Armstrong Way, about 18 stories high, zipping past the clustered tall buildings that made up Uptown. The few skyscrapers here were surrounded by the flat sprawling lunar landscape. It would only be a few minutes home by air.

There was a chance a copbot, or even a tourcam would be traveling down the same path, so she stayed very close to the buildings along one side of the way. She loved this. It wasn’t that she’d purposely stayed longer at Zert’s just so she have the excuse to wing home. No, of course not.

She smiled behind her hawk mask, leaning to build more speed, and gliding even closer to the rises. Too close, she realized, when one wing knocked someone’s abandoned glass off a balcony table. She pulled slightly further away from the building and almost missed seeing the tourcam gliding into her path from Collin’s Causeway. A half seconds hesitation nearly caused her to fly right into its visual range, but she pulled the wings in and dropped a few floors, reopening the wings just after she passed the tourcam.

“Fukker,” she whispered, “That clos.”

She hoped she had been low enough to not be seen, but she knew the mask would keep her safe. Relatively safe, anyway.

She glided onward, heading towards her home, once again reveling in the freedom these wings gave her. Her father had been what he called a “Science Fiction Nerd” back when lunar cities had still been fiction, so her early childhood had been filled with crazy stories about strange people on strange worlds with strange abilities. And now she was one!

She knew she was lucky. Her father had a good job, with good monies, but not like Zert’s family. He had so many amazing toys! Sometimes she felt a tiny bit jealous, and maybe a little selfish. Zert’s family had access to so many amazing toys.

“Naut likes I fukkin him for it,” she thought to herself, Jus a bonus.”

She continued to soar down Armstrong, allowing herself to slowly glide down and enjoying the late night quiet as she pulled away from the high rises. New London was still small enough to be quiet at night, but her father said that wouldn’t be true in five more years. Her step-mother had talked about moving back to Earth, and Lee was briefly afraid that would happen, but her father had reminded her about her health class studies. She was one of the low-gravs, kids who had reached maturity on the moon, and this meant she’d never be healthy on Earth. Even a short stay would be miserable. She was part of a very small set of kids who had matured on the lunar surface and had spent two-thirds of her life here.

The government had made it illegal to raise children on the moon, other low grav bodies, or any ship that couldn’t simulate at least point eight gees. They had also made it illegal to force any of the low-gravs to go to Earth or any gee plus body.

She turned off Armstrong as her home came into view, moving down to glide just 20 feet above the neighborhood. As she approached, she dropped much lower and cupped the wings, catching air to reduce her forward momentum. She dropped about 8 feet to the ground, her wings kicking up lunar dust and sending it flying.

She quickly pulled in her wings, retracting them into the vest, then disabled her mask just as the sliding door of her home opened.

Her step-mother steeped out of the house, already ready to yell.

“I still gots half a min!” Lee cried, before her step-mother could start.

Her step-mother glared at Lee, then asked, “What kicked all the dust into the windows? Were those wings I heard?”

“No’s. Cors naut,” Lee said, looking guilty.

“Leeloo Multipass Twist!” her step-mother began, “You know flying over the city is illegal! Your father would be very upset if he found out you were breaking the law!”

“Don tell,” said Lee, “please?” she quickly added.

Her step-mother sighed, then motioned for Lee to come inside.

Lee stepped past her step-mother, waiting for another long and loud lecture, but it didn’t come.

Instead, her step-mother sat down in a kitchen chair. She looked tired as she started speaking. “Leeloo, you’re too smart for this. You’ve got University in a couple of months. Do you want to risk that? Because you’re a low-grav, they have to admit you — there’s no other university where you’d be safe, but if you get arrested, you can lose the chance to go.”

Her step-mother paused, then continued, “Your father lov — and I — love you and we don’t want you to lose this opportunity! Please don’t toss it away for joy riding or some boy.”

Lee and her step-mother stared at one another for a few moments before her step-mother continued again, “You understand, don’t you? I won’t tell your father if you promise me you’ll think about it.”

Lee was surprised to see and hear what seemed like a genuine concern from her step-mother. She slowly nodded, then said, “I wills– I mean thank you, I will, .”

Lee waited a few seconds in case there was more, then said, “K. Nights!” and quickly turned and walked to her room, closing the door behind her as she entered.

She removed the vest, hanging it up on the wall, then quickly changed into pajamas while the conversation ran on a loop in her mind. Why the sudden change? What had she missed?

She went to bed filled with a strange sense of oncoming change and wondered what it meant.