SCC Chapter 4 Indonesia(2)
Reed ate in silence, leaving her to contemplate. The flavors were simply exploding upon his palete, increasingly stoking his appetite. Of course he had chosen to increase the intensity of signals from his tongue, thereby continously over stimulating his mind with the flavors. It was an intentional play on his part, such that he could keep his mind from thinking up dumb lines. Silence before another party was something that could cause butterflies in his stomach.
"Okay, if I accept. How soon can I leave with you?"
"Even now, we could leave. Don't worry about your clan. He won't go after them."
-----
Upon exiting the hotel, Lily looked back. The meeting had been surreal. She had actually managed to meet the Mumaso Reed! The inner fangirl was cheering. All the Nascent Souls she had met during the past couple of days had had this atmosphere around them that had made her feel unwanted. Yet that man had been too casual.
The subsequent conversation with him had had her inwardly shouting to keep herself in line. That had been Mumaso Reed!
She took a deep breath to calm herself. She had been too high-strung during the conversation. The man had simply been too easygoing. Though, there was a part of her that had a suspicion that he might have shown her what she had wanted to see.
Someone with an enmity with Zeus had reached out. It had been a surprising turn of events. It looks like she had to settle AL tge things back in the clan.
Though she had boldly claimed that she would surpass that man, she knew that the chances of that happening were slim, unless of course, warp drive research bore fruit. But she was also excited at the prospect of temporarily getting a glimpse into what those at the top of the world truly saw.
-----
"Mr. Reed was there!!! Oh heavens above! Why?! Why did you let this block of ice be the one to meet him? I should have had that chance!" shouted Mawar, frantically pacing within the room, her snacks littered across the floor with reckless abandon. Her breathing had even elevated a few notches, with the temperature around her rising.
"What did you call me?" asked an angry Lily.
"A block of ice! Have you ever smiled at a man before, dear sister?"
"Of course I have."
"I don't mean those creepy, or fake token smiles, but a true genuine one, from the heart."
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"... Mawar!"
"I am right. And you know it too. That aside. Why didn't you atleast send me a message? Okay... Let's calm down. He's still in the state... And staying at Bunga."
"Mawar! He's incognito."
"... Why? Why? Why did you have to fall upon that chance?" Lily was lifted up into the air using the collar by Mawar, who shook her with bloodshot eyes.
"There is nothing to be worked up about." commented Lily, who firmly escaped from her sister's grasp.
A few minutes later, when the chaos had subsided, Lily sat facing Mawar. Her face was masked with seriousness.
"Mawar. You are going to have to step up."
"..." A sigh escaped Mawar's lips. Lily knew the meaning behind it. Mawar had never liked positions of power. Even now, she simply tended to the spiritual rice like a common farmer. If it hadn't been because of the fact that the rice had reached a stage where it no longer needed her attention, she would have been down in the paddies.
"I will take over."
-----
Reed was lounging within the sofa, having closed his eyes to try and clear his mind of everything that could serve as a distraction when the mobile cube artifact he carried within him, possessing multiple communication particles, vibrated. Right away, he knew that it was Paul.
"What is it?"
"Sir, there has been an accident on khaatam."
That statement made him sit up abruptly. Before he could ask any further clarification, video footage was sent to him.
With his powerful calculation abilities, he found the problem. His maize plants, a plot of them had taken on a blue color as opposed to the vibrant emerald.
"What caused this?" He asked in curiosity. There was no anger as they were just an experiment in session.
"A pipe supposed to supply rich water attuned spiritual energy is leaking underground."
"How long?"
"Just now."
"Section off that plot. Tomorrow I will come to inspect the damage." And with that, communications were closed.
Reed's eyes flickered even as a suspicion bloomed within his mind. It seemed that there was someone out there scheming something. And it most definitely wasn't Zeus.
Was it a competitor?
'No, Reed! You must calm your mind. Everything can be pondered about tomorrow.'
-----
FCY 437, 2nd Month, Day 9, 8:12AM
The next morning, Reed gazed at Lily, longingly gazing out the window of the shuttle below, and decided to keep quiet. He could empathize with her. It had been the same when he had lived with his mom. Though, for him, it had been different. She had been his whole world. The only person he could candidly converse with, yet...
He sighed, banishing the spiral where those thoughts would have sunk into.
(Mr. Mumaso, where are we heading? I need to atleast get a picture of a schedule.) She transmitted.
(We are going to be making a stop at the next station, which is in orbit around Mars, before taking a private flight to another location.)
(Where?)
(Khaatam)
She took a deep steadying breath at my reveal. Reed could understand her reaction, as he too, would have been excited. That place was the holy ground for latest technology, the place where almost every business empire within the top 500 had a stake, not to mention the fact that powerhouses lived, worked and cultivated there.
(Khaatam... Is there anything important I should know about what we are going to do there!)
Upon her question, Reed scanned through his mind trying to find something to fit that question only for an idea to bud and flower.
(There has been a certain mishap, related to a certain sect-backed company. When we arrive, after an inspection, you will be in charge of querying them.)
(This mishap... I am sure that it isn't as small as you are portraying it. Is this going to be some sort of test, Mr. Mumaso.)
(Of course. I want to get a feel of those abilities touted by the public.)
(Isn't this childish?)
(How can that be? This is a legitimate thing.)
After that, conversation was dropped with each deciding to focus on whatever they wanted. Lily, looked out into the void of space, lost in her own thoughts, while Reed tried to enter a state of inner peace, where thoughts were transient, not actively grasped. Yet it still eluded him.
Upon reaching the transit point, Reed led the way to a private port, where upon his disguise was discarded upon boarding the sleek star ship berthed within. The engines automatically came online, and with absolute silence, they departed. Their destination, the star acting as the fulcrum of the entire solar system, the Sun.
It acted like an energy core, spewing so much energy that no one could truly estimate the amount. Solar spiritual energy was the attunement in particular. It was highly volatile and capable of reacting with biological matter in unexpected ways. Planet Earth was the only body in the solar system that could de-aspect it into unattuned spiritual energy. Jupiter transformed it into some type of cataclysmic attunement that hadn't been deciphered so far.
And, just within that star's closest orbiting distance, even closer than Mercury, was Khaatam, the super project of the entire Federation.