Hektor, anxious for the completion of his Crypto Bed, remained quite busy for the next couple of weeks as he aimed to finalize the project. The core functionality of his prototype seemed to be intact but there were still various issues and things seemed to be a tad bit rough around the edges, for instance, the size and durability so there was still much to be worked on. Fortunately, the backing of the Last Hope organization gave him the resources he needed
While it was certainly true that everything was falling into place, Hektor still thought that some crucial component was amiss and that everything was too easy and, alongside this, it didn’t take long for one of the elders to ask him a very weird request and that particular conversation went something like this:
“Hektor, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?” the second of the Elders, the one with the small stature and somewhat robust physique, asked.
Hektor looked at the elder and nodded.
“Well, for starters, I was wondering what you plan to do for the Chosen Circle, It’d be better if we defined proper roles for each individual” The second elder suggested.
Hektor looked at the elder and said, “It’s pretty much similar to a board of directors where we move in the shadows while the so called king governs the lands and as such we are the ones that are actually pulling the strings and each one will have a department they will personally handle and for what those departments are I still need a bit more time to work on it and of course discuss it with the entirety of the Chosen Circle”.
The elder grinned and said, “Oh, so we’d essentially be the gods of the new world?”
Hektor shook his head, not particularly fond of the idea of being conceived as a god. Although they did have an absurd amount of control over things, they still couldn’t control human action itself so the idea of being considered a God seemed to be a bit too far-fetched.
The elder patted Hektor on the shoulder and said: “You truly are a good person but, from time to time, power ultimately becomes a necessity because, in order to maintain control, you need to display power because you won’t be able to govern the place otherwise”.
Hektor looked around with an emotion of sheer disgust on his face and said, “Elder, I don’t necessarily mean to be disrespectful but what makes you think everything is how it should be, I mean look at what happened to our beloved Mother Earth with all the control and power you’re referring to”.
The elder, wide eyed and in shock, rebuked Hektor and furiously said “Why! I outta! How dare you speak to me like that. Don’t forget that your plan wouldn’t even be effect had it not been for the power that’s being spoken of”.
Hektor cleared his throat and said “I didn’t mean to put it that way dear Elder, it’s just that in the new world we are trying not to recreate what we have here on earth but start anew and we must learn from our mistakes and look to the future of not only humanity but for the earth as well. Now, if you would excuse me, I have a meeting with Alicia. If you want something else please look me up after a few hours. I will take my leave now respectful elder”.
The elder looked at the figure of Hektor walking away and thought to himself with a sinister grin on his face, “ Hektor, Hektor oh dear foolish Hektor, you just don’t get what potential this world of yours holds and the endless possibilities of being in complete control of it. You might perceive yourself to be a righteous person but there is always a fool in every group I just need to find that fool and make use of him to make my plans into reality. I, Vaicard, swear that I will not rest till I see this through”.
The elder known as Vaicard now walked away and when he was a few meters away he stopped and asked “ I know you’re there, I might be old but I have lived long enough to know when there is an eavesdropper nearby, now come out and tell me what you want and why are you following me?”
A hooded person soon came to light and gave a letter to the elder and then walked away into the darkness of the corridor.
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Vaicard watched the man walk away, clearly unbothered by the disruption, and opened the letter in his hand. The grin on his face widened as he opened the letter and he was now sure that his plans would eventually come to fruition, one way or another.
“Hektor, it’s just like you to walk in places like this while lost deep in your thoughts. I’ve been walking before you for a while and even called out to you a few times but you didn’t seem to respond. Not surprising at all, though, you’ve always been like this. Anyway, what do you intend to do now that you need to visit the Terra Reactor?”
Hektor felt awkward upon hearing this question and simply stood there like an idiot, grinning from ear to ear, and said.
“I was actually going to look for you but my thoughts got the best of me and I just started walking towards the Terra Reactor”.
Alicia pouted her lips and said “I realize that you want to get everything in order as soon as possible but please don’t spread yourself too thin. I know you claim to be okay but I know for a fact that your condition isn’t getting any better so I highly recommend resting before you get up to anything else.”
There was deafening silence for a while but, after this, Hektor simply gave Alicia a hug, thanked her for her concern and assured her that he’s quite alright and that they simply need to make sure that the Gaia Program is completed as soon as possible because it’s for the greater good of the entire civilization, or what’s left of it at least.
Alicia, still in the embrace of Hektor, wiped her teary eyes and asked him again what he planned to do in the Terra Reactor and Hektor told her this, “I am going to talk to you about the final fail safe of the World of Terra because I am still not certain that everything will go as planned and I want to be sure that even if something DOES happen I will have a back up plan”.
Alicia knew that she couldn’t prevent Hektor from doing what he needs to do as she knew that he is a very persistent man and that is one of the qualities that she loves about him.
They both started walking until they came upon a huge door made of a strange black material that didn’t seem to be anything ordinary but something entirely alien to the planet earth. It was, in fact, an ore extracted from an asteroid that hit the earth a few decades ago and was made the main infrastructure as it had very peculiar properties such as incredible strength, the ability to block magnetic waves and the fortitude to withstand a full-fledged nuclear destruction.
Hektor went up to the control panel to the left of the door and entered the pass key and the door slowly opened and when it did what they saw was a very spacious room with a big black box in the middle that had two big capsules next to it that seemed like it was full of some weird looking green liquid.
This was the Terra Reactor that the Last hope relies upon it is, in fact, a super computer that is powered by two cylinders of what they call the Sun and Moon which are a liquid like substance that is powered by solar and lunar panels installed on the outside and it is perhaps what others can call a self-sufficient energy source.
With everything said and done it doesn’t only get power from the sun and moon but retains it and can even reproduce a certain amount of energy via a method they called the Cycle where the solar and lunar powers actually combine and multiply by a certain degree and with this it is said that it can maintain the power for a few thousand years but of course it is still only a theory for as they haven’t really had the time to fully investigate the exact properties of these elements but it is what it is and it is all they have so they can only hope it does what it is intended to do.
Hektor looked at his creation and thought back to the time he discovered this method and had Alicia do what she needed to get it approved by their country thereby creating the Last Hope but it was Hektor’s idea for Alicia to take full credit as he was certain that if it was known that he was the creator of the Terra Reactor things would not have turned out the way they did as Alicia not only had a high position at the time but she also happened to work on the project so it certainly isn’t a lie that she’s among the creators of the Terra Reactor.
Alicia was also reminiscing when she noticed Hektor pulled something out of his pocket and hand it to her. Upon seeing the item, she inquired what it was and so Hektor responded,
“Dearest Alicia, this is the Gaia Program’s God Card and with it, you would be able to make three changes to the world of Terra regardless of rules. I know I said that I would not allow the Chosen Circle to actually play god in this world but I made it as a last rest to use if there really will come a time where we do need to intervene. I’m giving it to you because I want you to act as a guardian to the world of Terra without anyone doing it. I sincerely trust your judgment and, while it’s selfish of me to hand this burden over to you, I feel that you’re the only person with the sense and judgment to make the right call if push comes to shove”.
Hektor smiled at Alicia and, for some reason, looked a lot older than he did a few minutes ago.
Alicia was at a loss for words but, in spite of this, she took the card and said to Hektor,
“Hektor what are you talking about we shall have no use for this thing and besides YOU will make it into the world of Terra even if I have to start the operation ahead of schedule”.
Hektor wanted to rebuke Alicia but saw the determination in her words but said something that would not seem like a real argument but did the trick nonetheless.
“Alicia, I know you would do that so I made certain that what you just said would be close to impossible as I have already used the 1st wish on the card so that the start date doesn’t change and why are you writing me off already?, I’m not dead yet and not planning to die before I can even start this so please don’t say such foolish things okay?”.
Alicia hugged Hektor, gave him a kiss and said,
“I can never win when you start analyzing everything from start to finish like that, sigh”.
Hektor smiled, patted her on the head and replied while letting out an awkward laugh,
“Dearest Alicia, to be honest, this only works on you because you know me so well, now enough of this before we start crying like babies and get snot all over ourselves.”
Alicia then asked a question that made Hektor go back to his serious self,
“Hektor when are you going to announce the people that are going to be in the Chosen Circle and what will their roles be?”
Hektor looked at the Terra Reactor and said: “In 10 days I will be ready to start the meeting and discuss the Chosen Circle!”
Alicia looked at the Terra Reactor and smiled while clutching the God Card in hand hoping that it will never be used.