Akasha

“Ah! Wait!” I said, following Gaia into the hallways connecting quadrant II to the private sector. When I caught up to her, she was crouched down, peeking around a corner of the hallway. I slid right behind her and grabbed her shirt, tugging her away from the corner. When I brought her to face me, I resisted the urge to slap her, but relied on verbal communication first.

“Gaia!” I quietly yelled, not loud enough to alert the scientist and the other person. “We need to leave now! What are you doing?”

“Hold on, I’m okay. They met with another scientist, and it seemed like Creed was going to leave, but the other scientist left.” Gaia said, gesturing around the corner. “The other scientist was scared of this guy, and Creed is as well. Akasha, something is really wrong here, the scientists shouldn’t be so scared of one man, I really think we need to see what’s going on.”

I looked into Gaia’s eyes, expecting to see them clouded over in confusion and delusion, but there was nothing but sincerity. Gaia genuinely believed something was wrong with whatever was going on with this mysterious man, and by then I was starting to think the same thing. Who in the world is this guy, and why was Creed so scared of him? All the scientists know each other, and are at least friends with each other as far as I know, so why the fear? The more I thought about this, the weirder it became, and my desire to know more increased. But I still thought this was a bad idea and we were overstepping our bounds as civilians. If there was something wrong, the scientists would be able to deal with it.

“Come on Gaia, let’s just go back. They can handle whatever's going on on their own, I’m sure of it.” I said as I turned around, starting to walk back toward quadrant II.

“There walking away, let’s go!” Gaia said excitedly, running away. She wasn’t listening to me in the slightest.

“Fine, I’ll go with you, but just to make sure you don’t get in trouble.” I said. If she was dead set on going further in, I could at least follow her and make sure she didn’t get in more trouble.

We caught up to them pretty quick, and started to eavesdrop on their conversation as they walked to what I assumed was the main control center. From the sound of it, Creed sounded both afraid and confused, while the jumpsuit guy sounded very confident, like he knew exactly what was going on and what he was doing.

“How has energy production been in the last 100 years? I assume it’s decreased slightly, but not by too much?” Jumpsuit asked.

“Ah, uhm, it’s been, um, good?” Creed answers, his eyes darting everywhere around the hallway, but avoiding any angle near Jumpsuit’s direction. He was obviously not that great of a great liar. “I’m, not too versed in that, I focus more on age prevention, and our developments there.”

“Ah! And how has that been going?” Jumpsuit asks, his face lighting up and his eyes narrowing in interest.

“...” Creed was silent for a moment. “Things have been progressing very smoothly since the last inspection. We developed an airborne bacteria that we pump throughout all of Kuroe. When the bacteria is breathed in and enters the body, it can repair cell damage that accumulates through the natural process of mitosis.”

“I see.” The man in the jumpsuit, seemingly sort of inspector, mutters.

“The only downside is that the body requires constant intake of the bacteria, and at a high concentration, if either of those conditions aren’t met, the body starts to age normally.” Creed continued, speaking much more calmly now.

“So it can’t be used in many places commercially, huh? I assume you are still working on some way to more effectively administer the… drug?” The inspector said.

“Yes, but we haven’t had much luck with that, even after so much time.”

“What…” I mutter behind Gaia, still keeping our distance from Creed and the inspector while keeping within earshot. “Gaia, do you hear what they’re saying? I know our lifespans are longer than what they used to be before the stars burnt out, but that’s how we live so long?” I whisper to Gaia.

“That’s incredible. We’re constantly breathing the bacteria in, huh? I wonder why they didn’t tell us about that.” Gaia whispers back.

“I’m not sure. Anyway, I have even more questions about this inspector guy now, he doesn’t seem to know much about Kuroe, does he?” I pointed out.

“I think if we follow them more, we’ll figure out who he really is.” Gaia said, nodding toward him.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Me too.”

After following the two for a few minutes, we reached a massive door. This door was the entrance to the private sector, where civilians were prohibited from entering. Creed reached for his key, but he fumbled and dropped it. He picked it back up and pressed it against a panel, automatically opening the door.

After they passed through, the door would remain open for only a second or two. This was the point of no return for us. We could choose to either follow them, guaranteeing our capture, or we could turn back and forget everything we heard and saw. I already knew Gaia’s answer, and I couldn’t just leave her alone in there.

Creed and the inspector passed through the door. After a moment, during the couple of seconds it stayed open, me and Gaia passed through as well, as quietly as we could. We were now in the area where only scientists were allowed, and we were the intruders. I didn’t believe there were any more locked doors in this area anymore, so we were free to roam around on our own now. The only problem was being spotted, and the concentration of scientists working would increase the nearer we go to the generator’s control room.

“Hey, we should look for a lab coat or something to blend in, we really can’t be caught now.” I suggested to Gaia.

“Good idea, but where would one be? A locker room?” Gaia asked

“That sounds like a place where one might be. Hopefully they keep spares.”

We departed from Creed and the inspector in search of disguises, intending to meet up with them again before they reached the control center. If we ran and got lucky, we should be able to do just that.

We set off, making sure the coast was clear every corner we turned and intersection we passed. After a short amount of time, we found a room with lockers lining the wall. I grabbed a random lock from a basket full of them and used it to break the locks of two of the lockers, netting us two lab uniforms. With these, we wouldn’t attract too much attention, we just needed to hope no one suspected us of being civilians.

In order to not look suspicious, we simply walked in the direction we estimated Creed and the inspector to be. When we caught up, Creed was no longer accompanying the inspector. We continued to follow but kept our distance.

“Where did Creed go?” I muttered

“There’s no way he just left the inspector to find the generator on his own, something definitely happened to him. Also, the inspector is still heading toward the generator, he knows where it is.” Gaia muttered back.

The feeling of unease grew, as did the number of questions I had.

The inspector stopped. We continued forward, and soon passed him.

“Hey, you two.” He said to us.

I turned around to face him. Gaia didn’t. Her face was drenched in sweat and covered in fear. What was going on with her? I needed to take this matter into my own hands now.

“Yes?” I respond.

“Are you heading to the generator? I seemed to have gotten lost.” He said. I could tell this was some sort of coverup. He got caught going to the generator on his own, and since someone like him should not know where it was, he was asking for help.

“Of course, sir.” I say, turning around and heading to where I thought the generator was. I’ve talked to many scientists during my deliveries, so I had a good idea of where it might be. I tap on Gaia’s shoulder to signal us starting to move, and she follows me. “Sorry about her, she’s not good with strangers.” I add.

“It’s fine, both of you must be startled by a surprise inspection.” He says. This was the perfect way for me to pry into who he was.

“Yes, I don’t believe I’ve seen you around here, what is your name?” I asked.

“Marco. Nice to meet you.” He said, reaching out for a handshake.

“Lily. Nice to meet you too.” I said, shaking his hand while coming up with a name on the spot. “So, you are an inspector?” I ask after our hands part.

“Yes, I’m here to check up on the generator. My guide seemed to disappear when I was not looking, so I hope you will actually take me to the generator.”

“Of course, we were on our way there ourselves.” I say, refraining from asking anymore questions. I would very much like to know where he’s from, but asking that would probably arouse too much suspicion.

We approach a large metal door, similar to the one we snuck through earlier. Luckily, this door does not have any locks, so I needed to simply press the panel. The door rotated upwards, showing the main control hub of the generator.

The room was very large, able to seat 200-300 personnel at a time. The whole room was slanted downward, stairs leading from one row of seats to another. Large monitors lined the walls, with the front being a giant window, looking out into where the black hole resided. We couldn’t see anything, since black holes swallow light, but it simply felt like it was there. All the hairs on my body stood up at once, knowing I was staring at one of the most powerful, and last, things in the universe.

After we entered, Marco waltzed past me and Gaia, almost knocking us over. He approached a man at the top of the room wearing a black lab coat with yellow lines at the sleeves. His clothing meant that he was the overseer of Kuroe, the leader of the scientist division. The leader glanced at Marco, then his face went pale. I expected him to panic from the unannounced inspection.

“Wh-who are you?? How did you get in here?” He says frantically, stepping back. His eyes glance to the crest on Marco’s chest. “Hermes, Ares, oh no…” He mutters.

At this point, everyone else in the room looked confused, not picking up on the clues the leader did. The leader fell to his knees, a look of defeat in his eyes.

The next few moments were in high contention for what felt like the slowest moments of my life.

Marco reached for his left arm with his right hand, taking out what looked like the hilt of a sword. He whipped it to the right, extending the rigid chain sword to 3 feet in length. Marco then used his thumb to flick a switch on the handle, sending bright blue energy coursing through the blade, making it look like a sword made of light. Marco used a single hand to draw the energy sword in a curve, slicing cleanly through the neck of the leader.

His head fell to the floor with a deafening thump.