27.07.2024

Geneva, multiple locations

This day has turned into a series of monumental surprises.

The first one was when Mikhael told her that Tomas Knez has expressed interest to invest in them. Their runway was burning and they needed to get funding as soon as possible, so even if she wanted to decline a meeting, she couldn't, not now, not when years of work were about to go into bankruptcy.

She hadn’t expected much from Tomas Knez; his reputation was that of a notorious drunk, a high-stakes gambler, and a man who didn’t hesitate to call out idiots, regardless of who they were or who he might offend.

One of the earliest news articles she remembers about Tomas featured him as a speaker at TechCrunch Disrupt, one of the largest startup meetings in the world. In his speech, Tomas emphasized the importance of open borders, international cooperation, and easing access to global capital markets for startups—issues that have always been particularly challenging in the EU, especially in Germany. Suddenly, one of the co-leaders of the right-wing AFD party interrupted him, claiming that Tomas’s ideas were naïve and dangerous, creating dependencies on foreign involvement and undermining local businesses. Tomas tried to argue, but he was met with one absurd statement after another, culminating in his now-famous retort:

“You, sir, have your head so far up your own ass that the heat has burned your brain to mush.”

The comment left the hall speechless for a full minute. Realizing he had gone too far, Tomas simply walked off the stage.

The statement was repeated endlessly and quickly became a meme, turning into a popular insult in political discussions on Reddit.

This garnered both hate and sympathy for Tomas over the following months and years, but he didn’t care. He returned to his work and life, appearing here and there in various drunken escapades—like the night he was recorded drinking with a Ukrainian billionaire or the more recent photo of him puking next to a video slot machine in Macau.

Saying that she was guarded against Tomas and didn’t expect any positive outcome from this meeting was an understatement.

Her first impression, even before he entered the meeting room, was “funny guy,” quickly followed by “Damn, he is huge.”

As Tomas stepped inside, she had to crane her neck to maintain eye contact; he stood almost two meters tall with broad shoulders. While he wasn’t overweight, he carried the belly of a man who enjoyed good food and drink. He exuded a mix of tobacco and expensive perfume—not unpleasant, but reminiscent of a night out that ended in a smoky bar. He wore business casual, with blue jeans, leather shoes, a white shirt and a brown blazer.

He acted like a man who was somewhat out of place, clearly masking his nervousness with humor in their presence.

However, once the conversation shifted to business, the nervous energy vanished, replaced by curiosity and a keen mind eager to grasp everything presented.

He asked more questions than any of their potential investors.

Despite lacking a physics background, he demonstrated a solid understanding of the core concepts and a deep awareness of the logistics and operational challenges their ideas faced. After just an hour, he comprehended the market situation, the future value of the technology, and the distribution process as thoroughly as they did after nearly three years of work.

The second surprise came when he, after minutes of silent contemplation, while they were finishing the presentation stated that he will invest the full 20 million Euro in their project.

She knew how these talks worked; you never got a yes or a no after the first meeting. It was a back-and-forth negotiation; all investors wanted a bit more for a bit less—more equity, a percentage of sales, their own teams involved, or some other benefit to be eked out before they considered investing anything.

Tomas blew their minds. Mikhael and she just stared at him after the statement, considering it a practical joke.

But he followed up, wanting to sign the letter of interest and pre-investment contract as soon as possible and to go straight into due diligence.

Who was this guy?

And that was only minutes before her worldview completely shattered.

The nervous energy radiated off Tomas in waves before he confessed that he had deceived them just to secure the meeting, but had changed his mind during it.

She felt inexplicably angry; her heart was pounding furiously, and she would have loved to jump up and start hitting him, but she forced herself to remain composed.

When he shook hands with Mikhael and his face became slack, bordering on surprise and terror, she was taken aback.

And then he shook her hand as well… and the implications of Zyphron became so so much more… she got scared.

She took another look at the man who managed to surprise them so often today. Infront of her was a man who was trying to do something, anything, even risking to trust two scientists he never met before with Information which could get him potentially killed.

His slight slouch was the stance of a man insecure about what would happen next, someone who carried a weight he did not know how to bear and who needed the right people to help him carry part of it. While she analyzed him, he was analyzing her as well, searching in her eyes for something—anything—to break the tension he must have felt with a revelation like the one he had shared with her and Mikhael.

She wanted to learn more, and the CERN building was not the right place to talk about it, so she easily agreed to go out with the two of them and grab a few drinks, because drinks were exactly what she needed after these couple hours.

image [https://i.imgur.com/7f6SkKZ.png]

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In the cozy restaurant, dimly lit with candle light flickering across their faces, Sofia struggled to keep her emotions in check. Her mind spun with everything Tomas had shared during the car ride. It was almost unbelievable, yet the weight in his words carried an undeniable ring of truth, as though he were revealing long-buried secrets rather than outlandish theories.

As they drove, with the city lights blurring outside, Tomas had revealed more than she ever expected. Speaking in urgent tones, as if we, his audience would disappear any moment. He unraveled the story of G.A.I.A—the sentient machine that had lain dormant somewhere within Earth's crust, or deeper.

He explained the changes unfolding in the natural world, describing how exotic particles were triggering mutations in animals, and possibly in humans, with each passing generation. Minerals were becoming enriched by Zyphron, and vegetation was beginning to develop characteristics that could take years to fully understand, let alone harness.

With absolute certainty, he claimed that if not now, then within a year, a plant would naturally emerge on Earth with the potential to cure diseases like cancer or AIDS—illnesses unknown in the ancient times when Zyphron had once saturated the world.

The potential for enhancing physical and mental abilities, Tomas said, wasn’t just hypothetical; G.A.I.A could amplify human evolution itself, making strides once only imaginable in fiction. And this, he added, was just the tip of the iceberg of changes they would face.

Mikhail, visibly tense, circled the block over and over as Tomas continued, diving deeper. He recounted disturbing glimpses of history, passed to him from an entity he called his "Guide." The truths were stranger than fiction, tales of ancient battles and “Celestiax”—beings worshiped as angels in human lore but conquerors by design, sent with dark intentions for Earth. They’d come not to protect, but to dominate and exploit, hidden behind layers of myth and manipulation that had twisted humanity’s perception over millennia.

The details Tomas recounted were too intricate, too specific to dismiss.

And then he dropped the biggest bombshell “You might think I know what I am doing, but I am so far out of my depth like a toddler trying to drive a car on a highway. The guide role was important in ancient times, but they were also established entities, everyone knew and respected guides. Now? Even if I shared everything Michael knew, and there are gaping holes in his memory, I would be marked as crazy, shortly before the Celestiax or their Nephilim made me disappear.” He chewed on his lip, looking out of the car window before saying “I am not good at asking people for help, especially not strangers, but I need you two, your connections to the CERN council and UN council to prevent millions, maybe billions from suffering. We can not predict what will happen when G.A.I.A “wakes up”, but imagine billions of toddlers driving sports cars on highways… it won't be good without control and education, we need to direct the fallout and have at least the people in charge prepare for the worst in secret.”

And now they were here, cooling their heads with food and drinks and light stories about their experiences during the LHC lockdown.

It was fun to hear Tomas wince when she explained in gruesome detail how she staged an accident to break her own hand just to prove that the regeneration they experienced was going to fix the bones in record time. In her opinion it was worth the pain.

But despite the light atmosphere, moments of silence from all three of them were heavy with weariness. They all had a shared mission they didn’t know how to tackle, and the sheer amount of information they had exchanged was fraying especially on her and Mikhael’s nerves.

So she proposed a decent dive bar not too far away, where they could try the famous Zyphron special, a drink known to get even Zyphron-enhanced physiques drunk.

As they stepped inside the bar, a wave of warmth enveloped them, infused with the rich scents of aged wood and the promise of good company. Dim lighting hung from exposed bulbs, casting a soft glow on the eclectic decor—vintage posters plastered across the walls, mismatched furniture, and a jukebox in the corner softly playing classic rock tunes. The hum of conversation and laughter wrapped around them like a cozy blanket, instantly easing the tension in their shoulders.

They found a table not too far from the bar and the door, where the lively atmosphere buzzed with energy. When their drinks arrived, the bartender slid them across the polished wooden surface with a wink, and they took their first few sips of the potent alcohol. The warmth of the Zyphron special coursed through her, washing away the stress they had carried like a heavy load.

Tomas launched into tales of his more humorous escapades, like the time he sleepwalked half-drunk in his underwear through a hotel in Thailand, scaring the receptionist who spoke only broken English when he drunkenly asked her to unlock his door for him. Laughter erupted at the table, the sound mingling with the clinking of glasses and the murmur of nearby patrons, drawing them closer together in shared mirth. The bar, with its vibrant energy and welcoming spirit, was the perfect backdrop for the evening, a temporary escape from the weight of their shared burdens.

One drink followed the next and before she knew it she felt drunk… so god damn drunk like she had not felt since her student days.

Mikhael was holding his liquor much better, but his red nose and glassy eyes were telling a story of a man two drinks away from falling over the table and pissing himself. She had to laugh at the image of the world famous Dr. Petrovich soiling his pants in a crowded bar… When he asked her what's so funny, she just looked away with a snicker and said “Nothing really, just something I remembered”

Tomas excused himself to the toilet, she took the time to talk with Mikhael about their plans, being careful not to let any sensitive information slip.

The man, despite being drunk, was a genius, his mind was just working on a different level than most, and she admired him for it. He already planned to involve some of his more affluent friends and propose joint ventures with them, some based in bio-pharma some in zoology.

Zyphron was an attractive topic for investments and with theirs and Tomas connections they could easily build a support network for research and publications. The issue they faced was one of urgency and which will need some time to think about during dinner and drinks: What to do when people started engaging with G.A.I.A?

During the talk, she barely noticed Tomas coming toward them, carefully avoiding the patrons and furniture, until he accidentally stumbled into some form of bodybuilder or someone with a developed gym addiction. She couldn't hear what they were discussing, but based on the body language of the muscle-bound man, it was not an amicable conversation. In an instant, Tomas's demeanor shifted; the apologetic smile vanished from his face, replaced by something resembling disgust and determination.

He left the bar, signaling to her and Mikhael that he would be back in a minute.

It didn't look serious enough for her to go after him, and anyway, even if it was anything serious, what could she or Mikhael do? So they continued their conversation, and no five minutes later, Tomas was back. His forehead was red, and he had red splotches on his collar that she could swear she hadn't seen before.

He approached the girl he had accidentally spilled a drink on, handed her some money, and whispered something in her ear, which made her leave the bar in a hurry.

When he returned to their table, Sofia asked, “What did you tell the girl that made her leave the bar so fast?”

She was just about to continue her questioning, asking where he had been and what had happened, when the look in his eyes made her pause.

He sat down and lit a cigarette, taking a deep breath before saying, “Ah, that? I just told her where to pick up the trash she calls a boyfriend, who just tried to rob me,” he said with a shrug. “But more importantly, I hate being a buzzkill, but our timetable has shifted; we are out of time. G.A.I.A is waking up.”

The surprises of the day seemed to never end.