Hektor started his day with the usual and started to go over the fine details for the Crypto Bed like always he passed down orders to his assistant to handle the rest of the day while he works on his notes and preparations for the upcoming announcement of the Chosen Circle.
Hektor was fiddling with his pen when suddenly he heard a commotion coming from the nearby lab and out of curiosity he decided to take a quick break and take a look and so he slowly walked up to the location where he heard all the screaming and when he saw what was happening his jaw dropped and he couldn’t believe his eyes for as what he saw was both comical and very irritating at the same time and the culprit of it all was a little boy who was in rags and had a bag of some sort in his hands while being chased by the guards and the boy was quick agile and nimble that all the guards were screaming and doing the best they can to catch the boy and then for some reason the boy ran into Hektor’s direction and of course you can probably guess what happened next, but if you can’t it goes a little like this.
Hektor caught off guard by the sudden events couldn’t dodge and was hit by the running boy and was toppled over and to make matters worse the bag that the boy was holding broke and what came out was what looked like beans and some herb as it turns out the boy had stolen what he thought was food but turned out to be seedlings that were going to be stored for the upcoming deep sleep of the Last Hope but of course the boy couldn’t have known that and was just so hungry that he took his chances and grabbed what he could and made a run for it but was seen and that is what started this shenanigan.
The guards took the opportunity to catch the boy while he was flat on his face right next to the poor fragile Hektor and of course was caught and the guards helped poor old Hektor up and wow was he an awful site for as all the herbs and dirt that came from the bag was all over him and there was even bean sprouts on his hair that made him look funny that the guards couldn’t help smirk at the site but quickly suppressed it when they noticed that the I.D card that he was wearing was gold that indicated that he was someone important but of course they had no idea who Hektor was because Hektor had always kept a very low profile and if you would ask all the teams that are helping finish the preparations for the upcoming Project Gaia they would tell you that the one in charge was Hektor’s assistant but let's not get into too much detail with that because what happened next was both interesting and funny for as the minute they helped Hektor up the up screamed.
“Master, I was just tempted by my old habits, I mean it's not like I stole something important it's just that they looked so delicious that I couldn’t help my self!”.
Hektor looked at the boy and lifted an eye brow and examined this boy from head to toe, the boy was of dark skin but not as dark and had curly short black hair and black eyes that one could see had intelligence in them and his face had a certain look to it, it was what some would say a crafty look but you could also tell that although it might have a tinge of craftiness you could tell that he was still too immature to pull it off but none the less the effort show was indeed worthy of praise and somewhat touched Hektor’s heart as he knew that the kid had only done it due to poor living conditions and that he for one understood that even though the last hope did have food it couldn’t just give everyone a full belly for as supplies were of limited quantity and like most power structures had the high-class people, the mediocre and of course the people in the slums and with one look you could tell that this kid was from said slums.
Hektor cleared his throat and glared at the kid and tried his best not to laugh and to try and pull a fast one on the kid and the guards.
“Boy! How many times do I have to tell you not to pull this sort of things!, you are a valuable test subject of mine and I can’t have you getting caught by guards and bein g punished I mean you are my sole test subject for the many viruses from the outside and if I'm successful everyone can ones again go outside but look at what you’ve done, now you have been in contact with other people what would happen if they catch some sort of disease!”
The guards all backed away from the kid and started shaking when they hear this and boy did they look silly when they started taking their clothes off and wiping their hands and some even started vomiting and when Hektor saw this he somewhat felt guilty but as they said it’s hard to get off a horse once you start riding it so he went on.
“Guards I am sorry for this disturbance but rest assure all you need to do is go straight to the shower rooms and burn your garments and drink water mixed with vinegar and take the day off and you will be fine and who ever is in charge of you please give me his name and your names so I can arrange a day off for you and so that you can be compensated for this I am truly sorry I hope you won't make things worse I mean I don’t want to have to go to the elders and explain this because knowing how they do things… we could all be silenced, so please just do as I say and we can forget this all started in the first place.
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Hektor looked around and saw a few citizens looking around and made another statement.
“Ladies and gentlemen the show is over and please give your name to the officers and do the same thing with them and I will make sure you get compensated as well I am sure you also don’t want the elders finding out what happened here, so please just follow me and forget what ever took place here.
All the people that were around started to go up to the officers and gave their names and headed straight home to take showers and burn their clothes and do the “special remedy” that Hektor had prescribed.
When everyone was gone Hektor found himself facing the young boy who was looking at him with both reverence and fear and then Hektor asked him.
“Boy what is your name, and I would like to make a proposition for you”.
The boy stood straight and said.
“My name is Zahid, and I am not ashamed of what I did for as I only did what I had to do to survive and it is not like I hurt anyone and another thing, (he dropped to his knees) please accept me as your student! I wish you to be my Master oh cunning one, I have always dreamed of being able to use words to make things go my way so please give me this chance I promise I won’t disappoint you and I won’t even eat that much just enough that I won’t starve to death!”.
The boy had a steadfast stance and looked as determined as anyone can be but was funny in a way because after a few seconds he started to wobble and looked like he would fall over and tried to straighten up again when Hektor asked him to follow him and would have him eat some food and without another word the boy called Zahid followed Hektor and things would never be the same for poor old Hektor, true it wasn’t in a bad way but it was a headache none the less but let us not talk about that for now for as something else was happening in the Last Hope and this time it was Alicia doing something interesting.
Alicia was in a garden that was full of herbs and medicinal plants and was a bit dazed by the strong aroma of the place and was also somewhat annoyed for as she had been waiting there for over 2 hours while waiting for an old man tend to his plants and the old man was quite agile at what he was doing he was trimming plants here and there and measuring some and was also putting some sort of concoction in the ground around the plants, the old man had a long grey beard and head full of grey hair and had a face that was quite rough looking but had gentle eyes that made him look a bit weird or so to say and what made him stand out the most was that he was neither tall nor short it was the fact that he actually had a hump on his back and was limping whenever he moved but looked like he was so used to it that he made striding thru the garden with ease, Alicia feeling annoyed cleared her throat and said.
“Dr. Philias I just want to know if you can attend a meeting with the elders that will take place in a couple of days, I can’t tell you the details but all I can say is that it involves your expertise and it is of utmost importance that you attend this meeting for I know that you will be very interested in it.”
Dr. Philias stopped in his tracks and said in a gruff voice.
“Oh is that so, well if that’s the case then if I do attend this so called meeting of yours do I get a say in matters or is it already a given that I have no say in the matter that you want me to do?”.
Alicia smiled and replied.
“Dr. Philias it is as you say that it is indeed something you can’t decline nor ignore but all I can say is that when you do hear what is to be said I am confident that you will not decline and perhaps be very interested in doing it and I say this because I for one know what it is and from what I can see you are perfect for it and you have the passion to boot.”
Dr. Philias stroked his beard and started pacing back and forth while grumbling something and thus said.
“Pfft, ok fine ill go to this so called meeting but let me tell you that if I don’t like what I hear I couldn’t care less what the elders do to me and I will flat out decline and leave, I am already old and have no fear of death or punishment, if there is one thing I’m afraid of”, he paused and looked around and continued,”it is to leave my beautiful children behind”.
Alicia looked a bit sad when she heard this and said.
“It is what you say, we all have things we care for in THIS world but if there was a chance that you can once again make the world what it was in the past, when the land was not barren and forest and jungles and animals ran about, let me ask you, what would it take for you to make this happen?”.
Dr. Philias was silent for a long moment then just gave Alicia a nod and said.
“You got me at the I can’t decline part but I just wanted to get my point across but I am not very interested in knowing what it is you and the elders of Last hope are planning but ill bite and only because I like you and if my old bones can do something to help them even if I have to be dragged around in a wheel chair I won’t think twice and do it!”.
Alicia looked at Dr Philias and shook his hand and left without saying a word but was touched by how this meeting had turned out and it seemed that her visit to this old man would be something she can brag about to Hektor and this made her want to see that look on his face for as it is known how stubborn the old dr could be.
Hektor was now in his room and to the side was Zahid stuffing his face with food and trying to talk at the same time but Hektor could hardly understand what the boy was saying for as he was talking with his mouth full but Hektor had a smile on his face and asked Zahid a very weird question.
“Zahid what if I told you that I can not only teach you what I did earlier but also do something that will change your life forever?”
Zahid stopped eating and cocked his head and asked what did Hektor mean and Hektor said the following words.
“Zahid follow me for we shall change the world!”