[ Number 7: I saw Labaan using a secret entrance under his clerk desk on the second floor. I followed him in, and the entrance actually led into an elevator, not the same kettle-powered one like the one we have over there, ] he pointed to the door, [ no Father, this was hands down the finest contraption I’ve ever seen! The walls were lined with thin transparent tubes with purple neon-like fluid flowing inside. I’m not sure, but the walls even looked plastic. White plastic.
It moved with such fluidity that the only way I knew the thing was descending was when my head accidentally went through the roof. It’s not hydraulic engineering at play. I’m almost sure of it. If Number 4 were awake, he’d know.
Anyway, when the elevator stopped, it opened up to this 6-sided underground hallway with neon fluid tracing the walls every few steps.
Then it opened up to a huge internal space. I think it spans the entire library plus the library compound. There were machines I have no idea how they work, but I think that data storage is somehow one function. The technology wasn’t the strangest thing I saw down there, though.
The strangest things were the crows. I kid you not, those avians were data crunching. Processing paperwork. They had on these bands on their heads that had thin grooves that glowed white when put on and blue when not in use.
There were no screens or consoles, just concentric neon lights on metallic-probably-plastic surfaces.
I’m 70% certain those birds are sentient. I haven’t heard them talk, but I have no other explanation for a bird doing math and filling out forms. ]
For the first time since Number 3 woke up, Zeraki could feel her desire to leave the confines of his mind to take a look.
‘Tell me about the information they were processing.’
[ Everything. They know about everyone and everything. I’ve seen snippets of data on research results from the largest Elite organizations and companies from all over Astrohelm. Top-secret kind of stuff. What the companies are researching is actually child’s play in this crow nest. I don’t know why they even bother to spy on them. ] Number 7 paced a bit before taking a sitting pose on the couch across from Zeraki.
[ The energy… technology or whatever this Hydrokinetic Radiation is doesn’t concern us for now.
What concerns us is that I found out about Extractors.
I’ve read through parts of the reports as they were being processed, and I think I understand a little about who they are.
They are people, or rather ‘were’ people. The reports keep calling normal people ‘mortals,’ and Extractors were referred to as an entirely different species.
At first, I thought that they were born this way, but I was wrong. There were reports on ‘new’ Extractors and what organizations own them. Extractors aren’t born, they are made.
There’s a potion that achieves this, changing mortals to Extractors.
However, here’s the part I didn’t really understand. The tone the reports were written in gave me the impression that Extractors are lower lifeforms.
It’s just the feeling I got from seeing how interchangeable the word ‘rodents’ were from Extractors. It’s either that or the crows just hate Extractors.
So, on the potions, I counted roughly eight mentions of different potions, each following the naming convention ‘Sequence 9:’-(a name)-‘pathway’. There were Sequence 8s too but not as many as Sequence 9s. ]
‘Hmm, is it safe to assume that mortals become Sequence 9 before advancing to Sequence 8?’
[ Number 7: I believe this to be the case, father. ]
‘Was there at any point you felt like you were about to be discovered?’
[ No Father. I was practically a ghost. ] he joked.
‘Great work Number 7. Keep spying on the reports but pay more attention to news on Extractors.’
———
Tuesday morning had Zeraki running a lap around the neighborhood and doing a couple more on the concrete staircase before heading back for a shower.
He had tea and cakes before locking up and getting a carriage. He got to the library 5 minutes before 8 a.m, and Labaan was nowhere to be seen, though Zeraki guessed that he probably opened up and disappeared into his secret lair.
Zeraki picked up a random language book from the shelf and began his grind while Number 7 drifted off to explore other parts of the library.
————————————
Lunch hour was just Zeraki and Hami in the same bakery from the previous day.
He came in at about five minutes past 1 o’clock and asked if Zeraki minded joining him for lunch. Having nothing better to do, Zeraki accompanied him to the bakery.
Number 7 could remain in the Library because it wasn’t far from where they were having lunch and he usually spoke directly into Zeraki’s mind; distance inconvenienced nothing.
The bakery was being remodeled, but there were seats very far from the carpenters. Zeraki and Hami found a place and settled down.
Zeraki couldn’t read Hami’s sentiments because of the midnight charm on him, but he didn’t need superpowers to see the bags under his eyes.
“You look tired,” Zeraki said it matter-of-factly.
“You know where 3rd South Avenue is?”
“Yeah. 10 minutes walk. North of here, right?”
“Yeah. This is our address. You are welcome to drop in sometime. Anyway, we are supposed to keep patrolling the region in which we live all night and report back in the morning.
Too many people are going missing, and Central suspects a serial killer is on the loose. We keep finding dead bodies too decayed to identify, so officially, we can’t be sure whether the disappearances are linked to the murders. But enough people in Central are certain that they are.” He said, looking worried.
[ Number 3: His sister is missing in a city with a serial killer on the loose. Maybe we could get Number 7 to check if his spies have something? ]
[ Number 7: Not possible. I can’t interact with the material world. ]
Number 7’s voice sounded in his mind, no different than when he was within arm’s reach. Zeraki sighed and looked out the window. He saw one poster of a woman who had been missing for a week.
“How’s Kito doing?" he asked, trying to pull Hami from his stressed thoughts.
“He has his test today. He’ll be fine, though. He’s really smart.”
Zeraki smiled and nodded at that, but he couldn’t wait to leave the noisy bakery.
-------
He bought more cakes to take with him home and headed back to the library as Hami went back to his workplace.
[ Number 7: Well, well. This is interesting. Kito, Hadiza, and one other kid just walked in. ]
[ Number 3: They are done with their test? I want to see Hadiza and ask her about it! ]
[ Number 7: Calm yourself, dear sister. They are on the second floor. What’s interesting is that they are being led by a woman that’s openly flaunting her powers, and to be honest, I’m so impressed. ]
( Hadiza’s POV )
“…as you can see, although the three societies are thought to be separate entities, they aren’t. Once you strip the politics and vested interests, Engineering, Chemistry, and Biology are all that’s left. A family of the sciences. Lovers of intellect, fools seduced by the charms of reality…”
Hadiza calmly followed and listened to the introductory speech of the Academy’s branches. This was a prelude to the entrance test they were to take.
They had walked across key points in all three campuses; viewing different innovations by previous students even though most weren’t feasible for one reason or another. As the woman said, it was wonderful to see what was possible. Beautiful things didn’t always need to net profit.
The people that were taking the tour with her were definitely well off. At least that was the only acceptable explanation for being overweight in Astrohelm. She suspected that this tour was a concealed middle finger to them and their elite circles.
Back to the tour, the woman that was guiding them was likely a key figure from what she’d noticed. She was welcomed in all three campuses with the same amount of respect afforded to a managerial position. She was beautiful, stern, had a straight back, and a calm stride that testified quiet confidence; but her fashion sense wasn’t anything Hadiza saw herself imitating anytime soon… if ever.
They got to a cozy hallway with wooden floorboards and enough lamps to keep the room perfectly bright. The gas pipes were well hidden from sight and a gear clock was at the end of the hallway, above an open door.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
That was likely the room they were supposed to settle in and hopefully get this over with. She had studied diligently for the test, even though she wasn’t sure what it entailed. So she kind of touched a bit of everything.
“Alright, just walk through that door and you’ll be able to take the entrance test,” the stern woman said.
When they got halfway through the hallway, the people around her started passing out. She too felt a little lightheaded, but not enough to drop like these walking sacks of potatoes.
“Three! Wonderful! Come with me.”
———
Hadiza looked through the one-way mirror into the room they were supposed to go to. In there, they saw the woman who gave them the tour reading out the rules of the test.
Those who had passed out woke up half an hour later. By then, they had been moved to the exam hall by the university staff. They laughed at how the fat sobs couldn’t walk for an hour without passing out.
Hadiza didn’t care much for their schadenfreude; what she wanted to know was why she wasn’t sitting in there with them. If passing out was a condition to prove that she had adequate backing, she didn’t mind slapping her Brave Heart badge and Ola’s name in that woman’s face.
The woman left the room, and a man walked in, but Hadiza didn’t have the time to continue observing because the door to their waiting room opened.
“Let us start this properly now, shall we?” The woman walked in, her stern expression gone, replaced by a cordial smile.
“You may call me Lady Theo. You three don’t have to take the test. Well, more accurately, you’ve already taken the test that matters.
Welcome to whichever campus you please for the next four years.” She continued to smile at them, but Hadiza remained silent.
She hated it when she didn’t understand the flow of events. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one. The two men with her had scowls on their faces too.
Lady Theo’s smile didn’t waver. “Alright, there’s more, but the invitation to join a campus was also legitimate, so you may walk out of here whenever you please and still get your spot at admission. Follow me.”
She turned around and walked them through various hallways until they got to an elevator.
“There is more to the world,” she said, then lifted her hand, and a grey model began to form inside three grey panels connected at 90 degrees.
Grid lines projected from the panels, and the spherical ball-like mass floated at the center. Hadiza was absolutely floored and wanted in on whatever technology this was.
“Blackmore is a third-rate state currently in the early generations of the Age of Hydro.”
The spherical mass progressively got remodeled at a speed visible to the naked eye. It gained sharp edges, rounded some corners, hollowed out certain places, and in a few seconds, the model of a factory was rotating above her palm.
The woman obviously enjoyed the attention, for she had a smug look on her face. Hadiza didn’t care; the woman deserved to be smug. What she did was incredible!
The elevator doors opened, and they walked into what was a more advanced chemistry laboratory and library.
“When I said that you passed the test that matters, I was talking about the soul aptitude test. Those poor sobs didn’t pass out because they were exhausted. They passed out because their souls couldn’t take the shock of becoming people like me. Extractors.
I can’t blame them; it has nothing to do with their stations in life. Only 3% of the human population can become extractors, 2% of witches, and 0.45% of giants.” The factory model remodeled into a figure of a male human, a male witch, and a male giant. In color!
( Number 7 POV )
[ I see no difference between the three. Sure, the giants are dark-skinned, some would argue ebony even, and only a head or two taller than humans, but they still look human.
The witches just look like ancient Egyptians, and that’s mostly a cosmetic difference, so it doesn’t even count. ] he said to Zeraki and Number 3.
It would have been so much better if he could transmit what he was seeing directly, though. He had been observing Hadiza’s party of four ever since they walked out of the elevator and decided to join them in whatever tour this was.
“These three are collectively known as mortals. Now, Extractors aren’t just people with abilities. They are a race of their own.” The woman proceeded to explain.
“Wait, Lady Theo. You are saying that these models are the results of superpowers? Not technology?” Kito asked, his brows furrowing. He looked displeased.
“Well,” Lady Theo looked thoughtful, “It can be done with technology, but I can’t tell you more than that. At best, you three are External Associates of EIPO. You’ll need to at least be Official Associates to access some of this knowledge. If you are competent enough to become Tier 10 Global citizens, you may interact and even learn how to contribute to their development.”
Kito smiled as his scientific bias was validated.
“So! We are at an impasse. Those that want nothing to do with the world of Extractors, you may go. Class starts next week Monday. Those still interested, we have a lot to do.”
Seeing no one walking out, Lady Theo sighed and dismissed the model on her palm, “Look, I understand that I made it look really nice being an Extractor, but it comes with its share of baggage too.
“Two of you are already considered persons of interest by two factions of EIPO. I’m inclined to believe there is something interesting about you. So here is a bit of information I’m giving for free and hoping it amounts to something someday. An investment, if you will.
“Alright, for one, giving up on mortality means giving up on becoming Saints. Becoming an Extractor means dedicating eternity to serving mortals and helping them become Saints to the best of your abilities.
“The reason Extractor technology isn’t prevalent in the hands of mortals is that the only technology legally allowed to mortals is technologies they can make without the need for an Extractor. If what you create cannot be re-created by a mortal, then it’s useless in all the ways that matter.
“Sure, you are allowed to create things for your family or organization or whatever group you call your own or belong to, but you can’t sell it or mass-produce it, and if what you make brings death to a single mortal, the lash-back falls on you.
“Can you imagine if guns were made by a single Extractor and mass-produced? All deaths caused by those guns would be shouldered by that single Extractor.
“You’ll be told why this is bad only after I welcome you as External Associates of EIPO through the Academy and you become Extractors yourselves.
“What I can say, though, is that no one cares for the lives of Extractors. Of course, mortal laws apply, where not getting shot in the head walking down the street at night is all up to the kindness of people’s hearts and willingness to follow the edicts of the law. And believe me, there are a lot of insane Extractors walking the streets.
“I ask again, is there anyone of you that wants to leave and continue to pursue the path of Sainthood?”
“What is Sainthood?” a man Number 7 had never seen before, the third person in the group, asked.
“I’m sorry, even I’m not authorized to know that.” She sounded apologetic, then clapped, and her remorseful expression disappeared.
“Alright. Lady and gentlemen, do you accept being considered External Associates of EIPO through the Academy?”
“I do,” said Hadiza.
“Sure,” said Kito.
“It would be my honor, Lady Theo,” said the third male.
“Welcome to the Academy. Let us go to the lab and make Extractors out of you.” They pushed open a door, startling Labaan within.
“This is Labaan. I’ll leave you in his care. I’ll be heading back to take care of matters on the mortal side of things.”
———
Labaan looked uncomfortable having three strangers in the lab.
“Uhm. Have a seat. I mean, sit anywhere you think best.” He took a deep breath and calmed himself.
“Alright. External Associates. I’m responsible for helping you advance. The first step is difficult, but… okay, all steps are difficult. Just… please don’t become Echoes on me.” He sighed, pushing up his glasses.
“I wish you all the best. There are 21 Extractor pathways. 11 Regulated and 10 Unregulated pathways. The Academy only offers you three from the unregulated pathways. Once you choose, there is no going back. You can’t become mortals again, and you cannot switch pathways. Advancing will shock your souls so much you’ll feel like passing out. Don’t. Please don’t pass out.
“Once it’s done, you’ll feel like something important has been taken from you. Humans, the feeling won’t be too much for you. Witches, you’ll need some time to adjust. The feeling of the Creator’s call becoming dull is never a good experience.” Labaan shivered as if dreading a memory.
“Giants… none of you are giants. That’s good. That’s really good. Giants don’t take advancement too well. Once you advance, you will feel madness constantly pressing against your sanity. It goes away once you are ready to advance again, but don’t worry too much. It reduces the more you get accustomed to using your powers… I think. Maybe. It just reduces. I don’t know why. It took fifteen years for mine to go away.
“Okay. It’s time for you to pick your pathways. I can make for you The Engineer, Sire of Curiosities, and The Alchemist pathway potions. If you want something else, two of you may go to the Midnight Church and join the Rose Inquisition or join Blackmore’s military.
If you don’t want to be associated with anyone, the black market has the regulated pathways, but I advise against it. Everyone hates rodents because they are Echoes just waiting to happen… and hardly any rodent makes it to sequence 7 for obvious reasons… but I suppose it’s irrelevant now since you’ve already agreed to be associates through the Academy.” He mumbled the last bit to himself.
“What are Echoes, Labaan?” Hadiza asked.
“Uhm… when an Extractor is overwhelmed by the madness, they turn into corrupted entities known as Echoes. Echoes are… permanent.
“Only External Associates know this, so keep it to yourselves. Knowledge is your most treasured currency. Whenever a mortal dies by an Extractor’s hand, the madness pressing against their psyche worsens. So… don’t ever kill a mortal… Extractors are fair game though, so be careful out there. Alright, what are your selections?”
“Is the one Lady Theo had Engineering?” Hadiza asked.
“Y-yes. Lady Theo is a Sequence 7 Extractor on the Engineer pathway.”
“Then I want that,” she assertively stated.
“The Alchemist. Will it help me become a better physician?” Kito asked.
“I… I think so? The Sequence 8 of the Alchemist is known as the Herbalist. It should be good for cure or poison-related life choices.”
“I pick the Alchemist.”
“Well, since no one seems interested in Sire of Curiosities, mind telling me what it does, Mr. Labaan?” the rich kid asked.
“W-well… uhm. It does a lot of things… I think. I mean, every sequence offers more abilities. The Sire of Curiosities tends to be… weird. The Sequence 9 is called The Seer and they can read fate and fortunes through dreams and rituals.”
“Ha! Then I pick this one. It will help me in making better investments.”
“I—uhm—I should mention that in Blackmore, only Extractors belonging to the Empire are allowed to have properties in their names…” Labaan nervously corrected.
“Can I be an adviser to my father?” the man asked and held his breath.
“Yes! This is allowed… encouraged even.”
The man breathed a sigh of relief. “Then I pick this.”
“Okay… okay. This is good. I’ll start making the potions. You don’t have to worry about the costs. We’ll use what you paid for the exam together with what the mortals paid.
“Come back tomorrow whenever you feel ready. Please get enough rest so that you don’t pass out. Please.
“The Engineer’s Sequence 9 is called the Scholar. The Alchemist’s Sequence 9 is called the Divided Mind, and the Sire of Curiosity’s Sequence 9 is called the Seer.
“All of them will give a mental enhancement of some kind, so you may learn Mother’s Universal Language after advancing. I… I don’t like using this translator.” He pointed to his throat where there was a black choker; that had Number 7 dying of laughter since it looked like a leash on him.
——————