Chapter 14: The man with rainbow eyes.
As Stark locked eyes with the young man seated at the table, he began to make a few observations.
The young man’s eyes were calm and serene as if he was an old monk that had just awoken from deep meditation. His lips were curled into a still and gentle smile as if nothing could ever face him.
Stark didn’t know what to say, this was his first time interacting with someone outside of the facility. Where there customs he wasn’t aware of? A proper way to start a conversation with a stranger?
“Greetings…” The young man said, his voice calming with an androgynous elegance. “Welcome to Rodeo Grove, it is my pleasure to be serving a young gentleman such as yourself.”
“It is my pleasure to be served by you…” Stark couldn’t help but cringe and squint as he spoke. He didn’t know if that was even the correct way to respond. He decided to just get to the point to prevent further awkwardness. “I’d like to request some information.”
The young man raised an eyebrow before suddenly standing up, startling Stark. He quickly disappeared into the darkness ahead before returning with a wooden stool under his armpit. He circled around to Stark’s side of the table before placing the stool down at Stark’s feet while looking back up at the teenage immortal soldier.
“Sorry for my lack of hospitality.” The young man smiled warmly. “Please, take a seat.”
Stark waited for the man to return to his side of the table before quietly sitting down. He then repeated. “I’d like to request some information.”
The young man nodded before asking. “What information are you looking for?”
Stark suddenly became quite nervous before asking. “Where is the red light district?”
The man raised an eyebrow. “Seriously? That’s what you came here to ask?”
“Crap!” Stark cursed in his mind as he could already sense himself being judged. How stupid must he have been to seriously think that asking such questions would be acceptable in such a context.
Before the man could speak further Stark quickly faked loud laughter. “I got you didn’t I? I really wanted to ask…” Stark desperately searched his mind for a lie. Remembering the sign outside he quickly asked. “Would you like to do a fair trade?”
The man’s face slowly dawned an expression of slight amusement as he responded. “That’s what you really came here to ask? I guess we can do that if you want to.”
The man then stretched his hand to open one of the dressers where he retrieved an ancient golden balance scale.
Stark watched on in confusion as the man placed the scale down on the table infront of him. He had absolutely no idea what to make of this sudden development. Right now he had jack shit to trade with other than the one hundred dollars of pocket money the director gave him before he got changed. He had to find away out of this tent and fast.
The man suddenly plucked a single strand of hair from his head before placing it on one of the balance scales. He looked at Stark continuing to smile ominously, as if expecting the boy to do the same.
“What exactly is this.” Stark asked curiously. “I don’t want to sound rude, but what does a scale have to do with trading?”
The man chuckled before responding. “Here we don’t trade based on what society deems to be valuable. Instead the value is determined by this very scale.”
“How does that even work?” Stark couldn’t help the slight critique in his tone.
The man’s smile grew slightly, as if he was waiting to be asked this very question. “It’s simple, you place a hair on the scale while offering something of value in exchange for something of equal value.”
Stark sighed. In the end he would just waste this man’s time. He had nothing to trade and no genuine interest in actually being in here. He couldn’t handle the embarrassment of asking the question he really wanted to ask and resorted to lying in order to escape it.
Deciding to come clean, Stark let out a self deprecating laugh and said. “I’m not going to lie to you, I don’t have anything of value to give you. I really did just come here to ask for the directions to the red light district.”
The man smile quickly faded, replaced by a frown of pity. “That’s unfortunate…”
“I’m sorry for wasting your time…” Stark stared down at his hands that were limp on his knees. “Maybe the next person in here will have something valuable to trade with you.”
The man suddenly smiled again before spreading his arms far and wide. “You don’t necessarily have to trade something physical, After all value is subjective. To a street rat, a million dollars could mean the world, and to a billion air a million dollars could be as worthless as an ant crawling in the dust. To a monk that ant is as worthy as his own life and far more valuable than a million dollars. A mother’s cooking will always taste better to a child than the most expensive meal made by the most skilled chef. To an athlete, a simple pat on the back from a father could mean more than the praise of countless admirers. The only inherent value anything has is the value you recognise in it.”
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“I really don’t have anything…” Stark leaned back and laughed. “I don’t have a dime to my name and I don’t know anything about the world. I want you to take a good look at me and tell me what I could possibly give you.”
“Just by looking at you I can tell you’re an immortal soldier.” The man said suddenly catching Stark off guard.
“What gave it away?” Stark asked with a hint of surprise.
The man’s smile intensified. “Well putting aside the fact that you’re over seven feet tall, there’s that birthmark under your right eye and the fact that you look almost identical to Diana.”
Stark’s eyes widened immediately upon hearing that name. He had never considered that woman to be his mother, at the facility they made it painfully clear to all of the children that their donors weren’t their parents.
“You were created from her eggs right?” The man asked. “You don’t have to answer if the question makes you uncomfortable.”
“Well she is.” Stark admitted followed by a nervous laugh. “As you said yourself, it’s pretty obvious. Regardless, I still don’t see how this makes me of value to you.”
“Before we get to that, tell me first what it is that you value the most?” The man asked.
Stark stroked his chin as he began to ponder. As a child he had feared the possibility of him being sacrificed in the eternal war against the Cosmic Death. In those dark and early years he had come to long in his heart for freedom. One would naturally assume that freedom was Stark’s answer. But this wasn’t necessarily the case. After all freedom was an inevitability for the young immortal soldier. The government didn’t make serving in the war mandatory as that violated several human rights laws. The day would eventually come when he ascended to the twentieth floor in the new simulation and thus he’d gain his freedom. What Stark truly longed for was not just freedom, but also meaning beyond what he was born to do. This was why he envied Hockney after all, it was the fact that he unlike Stark had his love of music to give him meaning. Stark on the other hand, had no such thing.
Martial arts didn’t work as it had largely died out apart from its use in the military. He couldn’t open a dojo anymore, that old dream was a dead one.
This of course did not stop Stark from seeking a new source of meaning.
Having made up his mind, Stark answered the man’s question. “What I desire the most is a meaning in life, something beyond fighting and fighting forever to no avail.”
The man’s smile was suddenly wiped away before his rainbow eyes darkened. “You’re a deserter?”
“What?” Stark was at a loss for words. Had he really been talking to a jackass like lupus this entire time? Stark immediately became defensive. “So what? Do you think I asked to be born like this?”
The man suddenly erupted into laughter. “Relax, I’m just messing with you. I’ll have you know that I too am a deserter.”
Stark quickly relaxed again before asking. “Are you serious?”
“I am.” The man said. “I know just how hopeless it is to fight against the Cosmic Death. When it becomes too much, which it always does, they’ll tell you to just fight harder. They’ll peddle the lie that with enough strength and determination humanity will overcome the death of the universe. That’s how arrogant us humans are. Even before the era of death, ancient kings and emperors would create and concoct all manner of vile substances believing that it would make them live forever. Nothing lives forever, not even us.”
“So you chose to leave the ACDD?” Stark asked, having now gained a genuine interest in the conversation. “What happened to you after you left?”
“They didn’t call it the ACDD back then.” The man chuckled. “This was back in the old days of the twenty second century. Back when the Cosmic death had only just been discovered. One by one, I had to watch my comrades die miserably, I even killed some with my own two hands after they got infected. The funny thing about being immortal and never aging is that death still claims you in the end, you just get the mercy of never seeing it coming.”
“I’m sorry to hear that…” Stark sighed.
“No need to apologise!” The man laughed casually before leaning forward. “So… according to what you said you value meaning right?”
“Yes.” Stark said. “I want something to care about outside of fighting. My friend has a passion for music and plans to pursue that passion after he leaves our academy. I remember when we were children, his eyes would light up every time the director brought him new instruments. Those eyes were so bright I felt as if I’d be blinded if I looked into them for too long. What I want is something like that. So that when I leave the academy I won’t find that I’m living a meaningless life…”
The man pinched his brow as he pondered deeply. He then said. “I think I can help you find something like that, but what will you trade in exchange for that?”
“I see.” Stark stroked his chin before yanking out a hair of his own and placing it on the second pan of the balance scale.
Immediately the pan containing his hair fell while the pan containing the man’s hair rose high up.
Stark was baffled by what he saw. Why would his hair way so much more than this stranger’s. Was this scale a device of some kind?
Stark leaned in to make a closer observation. That’s when he saw that there was a symbol depicting a thirty six pointed star etched into the gold body of the balance scale, the exact same symbol as the man’s earrings.
“Interesting isn’t it.” The man said as he observed the scale with equal fascination. “Right now, it’s telling us that you hold more value to me than I do to you. let’s see maybe I should make a proposition. How about I offer you a part time job?”
At the next moment the two pans swapped their vertical positions. Now Stark’s hair was raised high above the hair belonging to the man.
“A Job?” Stark’s eyes lit up suddenly.
“Stark?” A familiar voice called out from behind Stark’s back.
The swooshing of the curtains behind him could be heard as he felt someone step towards him.
“Stark?” Victoria repeated.
Stark slowly turned to face her somewhat surprised. Well perhaps he shouldn’t have been surprised at all, of course Victoria would want to stick her nose in his affairs.
“What is it?” Stark asked.
“The speech is about to Start.” She said playing with her fingers. “I don’t want you to miss out on it.”
“Oh ok.” Stark quickly turned back to look at the man and asked. “Will you be here when the speech is over?”
The man nodded silently, his expression was serene like a pond void of ripples.
Stark stood up and took Victoria by the hand before leaving.