Bellacrown - The Binary Ghost [https://i.imgur.com/BstKCCl.jpeg]

"The only things that stop working after nightfall are the things that need the sun to function." This was one of Bellacrown's classic lines, the executive president of WayCrown Incorporated. Bella was the successor of the empire that the respected Crown family had built with the monopoly of silicon crystal mining. A megatonic operation that extended throughout the West, but that through Bella's recent efforts, also began to conquer the Middle East.

The complete dominance of extraction, refinement, manufacturing, and distribution of silicon was a bet made by her father in 1950. The megalomaniac patriarch of the Crown family knew exactly which direction humanity would take when society began to voraciously advance in the use of electronics for different aspects of life.

Communication, entertainment, health, monitoring, education, transportation, productivity, and automation. At the base of all the products and tools used in these spheres, there was only one thing in common: the Crown seal of quality and safety.

— Ma'am, your schedule today starts with a meeting at nine-thirty with the executive board of our research and development department. An interview for Forbes will be recorded in your office at eleven, and Bloomberg wants your approval to quote you in an article entitled 'The Role of Silicon in the Evolution of Artificial Intelligence,' the sentence in question may not have a good public acceptance."

— What is the sentence?

— Beauty is a concept that machines will never be programmed to understand.

— Approved. What else?

With the agility of an overloaded battery, Sarah navigated through the interface of that tablet, switching between apps, calendars, emails, and conversations.

— Lunch with the director of the executive sustainability forum of the UN. An ayurvedic massage session at one, a photo shoot for your scarf brand at two, brainstorming with the Crown executive marketing team at three, and a CrossFit session with your personal trainer at four. Hazel will arrive from the canine stylist in a few minutes.

— Great.

— There's one more thing. Sarah hesitated because of Bella's potential reaction, but she continued anyway. — Your brother is detained at the police headquarters of District 15.

Bella immediately stopped walking towards her office and turned to the glass window, processing Sarah's news as she watched a sea of buildings that was only visible from the top of that skyscraper, which represented the headquarters of the Crown corporation.

That vertical glass palace that cut through the altitude of the clouds was capable of translating an indescribable magnificence of human beings' ability to dream and build. The pursuit of growth and conquest in the face of the compressor run-over of anything that did not withdraw from the path of true disruptors of innovation and the free market.

To contemplate a view like that was the dream of anyone who had never been able to feel the true meaning of power, abundance, and excess. Being born in that glass cradle made everything not necessarily boring and meaningless for Bella, but rather rich in purpose in the duty of preserving all her father's hard-built legacy, everything he had to sacrifice, and all the lines he had crossed to explore the new world in the face of any challenge. If there was a place with good wine, a record player, and a view of the sea after death, Bella hoped her father was there, enjoying his well-deserved rest and retirement.

Family was something sacred to Bella and she protected those she loved with all the weapons available in her arsenal. However, Bella had never really healed from the grief that Wolf's departure from Crown's board of directors had caused in her heart, she had never really understood what he was really seeking, if power, comfort, and respect were not enough. She missed her older brother and didn't hesitate to go to his rescue. "Cancel all my appointments and request a pilot for us, Sarah. See you on the terrace in ten, said Bella, heading towards her office as she pulled her cell phone out of her suit pocket and began investigating what had happened.

Some flashbacks from their youth came to mind, but one, in particular, stood out for causing a certain feeling of remorse. The age difference between them was never large, which is why they grew up together and always shared many interests, yet each cultivated in themselves a polarizing singularity. The fact that he was adopted as a child never really made any difference in how Bella saw Wolf, for it was thanks to him that she learned that family sometimes meant more presence and care than blood and origin.

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Bellacrown - The Binary Ghost [https://i.imgur.com/dmn8ptr.png]

The abandoned train station near the condominium where the Crowns lived was one of the places where they spent the freest time during their youth. There was something liberating about that environment of ruins and abandoned wagons at the mercy of the relentless wear and tear of time. Rust and graffiti decorated the details in every direction one looked in that area. It was by no means a safe place for two teenagers who carried so much status in the same surname, but the world outside the utopian dome of family protection and security was never scary enough to prevent the siblings from exploring and investigating life as it really was.

They had marked a specific wagon with their initials and that was where they used to go to observe some of the bizarre things that used to happen in that part of the city

— Wolf, if you could choose any superpower, what would it be?

— I'm torn between invisibility and time travel. Imagine going back to the Middle Ages and seeing kings and knights fighting for land with nothing but steel armor and swords. I'd like to hold a claymore sword in my own hands.

Sitting with her knees between her arms, Bella observed the world outside through some air ducts in that wagon.

— Sounds... boring. I think I would like to be immortal. Imagine being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, without the risk of losing your life. "Sounds like someone who's afraid of death." "Maybe it's death that should be afraid of me," Bella said with a laugh as she noticed a strange movement outside. "What do you think happens after we die?" "I think it must be like a dinner party at an expensive restaurant. We arrive with an insatiable hunger and start ordering dishes without worrying about the prices. When it's time to leave, the waiter hands you the bill and you have to pay." "And if you leave without paying?" "Then maybe they won't let you leave, and you'll have to eat more and more, each time with less — Sounds like someone who's afraid of death.

— Maybe it's death that should be afraid of me, Said Bella with a laugh as she noticed a strange movement outside. — What do you think happens after we die?

— I think it must be like a dinner party at an expensive restaurant. We arrive with an insatiable hunger and start ordering dishes without worrying about the prices. When it's time to leave, the waiter hands you the bill and you have to pay.

— Hm, interesting. And if you leave without paying?

— Then maybe they won't let you leave, and you'll have to eat more and more, each time with less desire.

— And what if you pay?

— Then you can leave and you're free to go to other restaurants.

— What a trip.

— Then what is your answer, clever one?

— I think everything just goes black, an eternal blackout like when we close our eyelids or like the end of a movie.

— Is that all?

— That's all.

— Then what's the point?

— Of what?

— Of living

— To enjoy every second and stop asking so many questions, you're so boring.

— Life would be boring if we couldn't ask questions and shake things up a bit. Said Wolf as he laughed and messed up Bella's hair, who hated when he did that.

— Don't start a war you can't win, man, said Bella as she slapped her brother's hand away and assumed a kung-fu position with her hands.

— Don't start a war you can't win, man, said Wolf, imitating his sister with a mocking voice.

— You're asking to meet the eagle claw move, I'll finish you off in the blink of an eye, you trembling fool. Big-headed knucklehead.

As if they lived in a world of pure innocence, they played and laughed until they heard some meows that immediately caught their attention from outside. They began to observe through the cracks of that wagon.

A hooded man with ripped jeans had approached a barrel a few meters away, left a black bag at its feet, and seemed to be using the barrel to start a fire.

— Bella, did you hear meows coming from that direction too? I don't see any cats, said Wolf, intrigued by what was going on.

— It sounded like kittens. Do you think they were born here in the station?

With the precision of an eagle, Wolf observed the elements of that scene until he noticed the black bag moving. His conscience froze. — Bella, damn it, that crazy man is going to set fire to the kittens in the barrel. We need to do something. — You're the crazy one. If this man can do something like that to pets, imagine what he wouldn't do to two teenagers. He may have a weapon.

— I don't care, Bella. We're two and he's one. I'm going there now, said Wolf as he bent down to pick up a pipe he found in the corner of the wagon.

Bella quickly stood up and grabbed Wolf tightly by the arm, looking coldly at him and speaking with a tone he had never seen in his sister before.

— No, Wolf, you're not going there. Be rational. What do you think Dad would do?

— Nothing. Our dad never does anything that doesn't generate some kind of profit for him.

— What's your goal here exactly?

— It's not a matter of goals, damn it. We just have to do something.

— Let's go now. This can get messy.

The man outside began to throw some pieces of paper and wood into the barrel as he poured the liquid contents of a can that seemed to be kerosene.

— You can go, I'll stay, said Wolf, becoming more and more impatient.

Bella approached Wolf, put both hands on his face, and while looking into his eyes, tried one last time to make him give up that idea.

— Wolf, listen to me, don't be stupid. You're not going to save the fucking world by saving those cats. Are you forgetting who you are? You have the power to do much more, but not if you get stabbed in the stomach trying to save a handful of cats. Wake up, damn it.

— It's like I'm talking to Dad. You know what? Fine, Bella. If you don't want to help me, let's go. But you can put this on your account. On. Your. Account! Said Wolf, now calmer, but also deeply disappointed with his sister's coldness.