Weyland was one of the many newly proclaimed cities moving through a rapid transitional state in the North American Federation. As the re-established government, displaced families, corporations — and everyone else with some sense — sought stable inland ground to settle, pretty much any town with a decent infrastructure was invaded.

Rough refugee camps spread across unclaimed fields and forests while the skeletons of skyscrapers rose up in the horizon behind them.

When he first arrived in the area with his mother, it was that strange dichotomy that Pent remembered so vividly. There were those who had lost everything, burdened the heavy weight of their reality, and those who continued on with their lives as though nothing had changed.

The two sides were clearly divided both physically and in their mindsets. And each group firmly ignored the existence of the other as they settled in the area.

Why? That was never clear to Pent when he was young, but he had some inkling of it now: change was a fearsome and terrifying force. There were those who could adapt and those who had no other choice but to do so.

As for the people who remained stubborn—sinking their roots deeper—well, they would find that the world changed around them anyway... Change was always without care or conscious; it was inevitable.

As they drove through the streets now, Pent could see the clear signs indicating that the two worlds of the past were slowly beginning to merge.

New shops and townhomes were being rebuilt all over, and occasionally, old faces he vaguely recognized from his days in the camps now patrolled the streets in worn-out suits and other uniforms…

The bubble that had isolated itself from the rest of the world had shrunk significantly. It only felt like they’d arrived back inside of it when they arrived at their destination.

The street they pulled over on was one Pent knew well. He had walked down it once as a child, scraping through dumpsters and trash cans in the alleys to bring back food for his mother and a young friend in the camp… He remembered feeling like a ghost that day. The locals he passed by acted like they were floating through a pleasant dream; they laughed and chatted with each other like usual, but their eyes were always fixated straight ahead, unblinking.

Back then, no one had spared a ragged child like Pent a single glance. So today as every head on the street turned his way when he was helped out of the car, he felt decidedly odd. It wasn’t a feeling that he could classify yet. There were hints of satisfaction and excitement, but also a significant amount of loathing.

If he had just been by himself—without the expensive cars and the Suits—would they still look his way?

‘What does it matter…’ Pent sighed and craned his neck, staring up at the face of a modern-looking office building as he and his wheelchair were placed on the sidewalk.

The prominent Pinnacle company logo, depicting a mountaintop framed by the rising sun, hung above the double-wide sliding glass doors.

This had to be where they were meeting, and yet, he couldn’t quite connect this place with the image of the project locale he’d formed in his mind. Rather than corporate offices, Pent had been expecting some sort of secret facility on the outskirts, surrounded by barbed-wire fences and guard towers.

But expectation was often far from reality.

Car horns blared at each other in the near distance and soft music filtered out of small retail shops packed between the hotels, restaurants, and other offices lining either side of the street. Foot traffic was heavy in the area as well. Pedestrians nodded and smiled at each other, but almost none called out any greetings.

Only a rare few were bold enough in today’s era to speak openly and freely out in public. And Elise was definitely one of them. Filtering through Pent’s inner musings was her voice. He soon noticed that she and Alexander were arguing on the steps nearby.

Pent couldn’t quite make out their words, but neither did he care to get close enough to do so. The last thing he wanted was to be dragged into their mess. So instead, he wheeled himself over to Lixue and her sister. The two of them were waiting off to the side, parked at the top of the handicap ramp adjacent to the stairs.

“What are they on about?” Pent asked softly as he stopped his wheelchair next to Lixue’s. The cold eyes that turned to him sent a shiver down his spine but he did his best to maintain a friendly smile.

“Elise doesn’t want to live in the city,” Lixue stated bluntly.

“Ahh…gotcha….” Pent scratched his head, unsure how to respond or continue.

Luckily, Ninghong took pity on him and picked up the conversation, “Elise claims she grew up in one of the new frontier settlements further north. Coming here, she’s worried that she can’t... hunt and exercise to her satisfaction. I think Alexander just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time…”

There was some pity in her eyes as she looked at the pale teen bracing himself against Elise’s tirade. Impotent rage burned on his twitching face as spittle flew from the older girl’s mouth, but there was clearly no chance of him ever getting a word in.

“Well, she is someone who appears to have a lot of energy,” Pent said as tactfully as possible. He turned away from the tragic scene, silently sending his condolences to Alexander. In the uncomfortable lull that followed, his gaze wandered, searching for traces of Jonathan.

Unfortunately, all he managed to find was Jack lurking in the shadows near the edge of the building. The young man smirked at him and chuckled like a half-baked villain when their eyes clashed.

“He really is a bit creepy…” Pent muttered to himself as he shook his head. He was starting to think his common sense was slipping to have so earnestly looked forward to meeting up with these people again…

“All right, Elise — that’s enough.” Jonathan’s familiar voice finally interrupted the girl as the doors of the Pinnacle building slid open with a soft whoosh. “We’ll all be working together from now on, so do try and maintain some cordiality.” He was flanked by two unfamiliar men — who were as different from each other as could be.

Tall and short, muscular and skinny, their appearances were so dramatized standing next to each other that they looked more like caricatures than true-to-life human beings.

One of the two clearly had a military background, despite not wearing any uniform. The man’s greying hair was cropped short, outlining his stern, scar-riddled face. But even more clear of an indicator of his position was his bearing.

It was so cold and grim that Pent felt a tangible chill in the air as the tight-clothed officer stepped forward. He didn’t bother looking at any of them, only frowning slightly as he clasped his hands behind his back.

Jonathan’s other escort was much less remarkable. He looked very scholarly with his glasses on, but he had neither height nor good looks... nor a commanding presence. Pent felt he might have ignored the man’s existence altogether if he hadn’t recognized him due to having seen him on the local news a few times.

Mayor Wallace was his name if Pent recalled correctly…

Ah! A series of hazy conjectures were suddenly cast into the light in his mind, swiftly linking together. Looking back and forth between the Mayor and Alexander, it wasn’t difficult to see some similarities.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Apologies for my tardiness, but now that everyone’s here, why don’t we all step inside for a quick briefing,” Jonathan proposed. “We’ll have security watch over your luggage in the cars for now.”

Everyone agreed, so following his lead, the five candidates and Ninghong entered the Pinnacle office and passed through the empty lobby.

Pent’s wheelchair rolled smoothly across the sleek marble floors as he traced his eyes over the stark expanse. The floor was white, the ceiling was white, and even the rectangular pillars jutting from the walls were white. The only true splash of color in the wide, vaulted space, originated from the gold metallic frames that surrounded the elevators at the opposite end of the room.

“You’ll have the chance to explore the communal areas of the office at your leisure later on, but for now, we’ll be heading to a conference room in the basement,” Jonathan announced after flashing his office ID over a scanner to retrieve the elevator.

“Don’t tell me we’ll be living in this place…” Elise grumbled, tapping one of her black combat boots against the floor impatiently.

“Of course not,” Jonathan looked at her and smiled. “We’ve reserved suites at the Weyland Memorial Hotel next door for you all.”

Elise snorted, still evidently displeased, but she appeared to have put her complaints to rest for the time being.

In a few moments, the elevator arrived and everyone crowded in. The military officer was the last to enter so he punched in the button for floor B5. Pent was surprised to see that there were actually eight basement floors in total. He had a lot of new questions about this place.

The government must have chosen to work with Pinnacle for a reason, but just how long ago did their collaboration with the being known as the Great Sage start?

“Sooo…” Jack drawled, interrupting the jazzy background music. “Do we get to try out these projection vessels today?”

“Not yet,” Jonathan replied as the door slid open to let them off. “The answers to all your questions will be revealed once we hand out the itinerary for the next few weeks.”

He led them down the hall as strips of muted neon lights overhead flashed on in sequence, following his progress. At the end of a series of blank doors, Jonathan fished out a thin keycard from his pocket and inserted it into a slot on the door.

Inside, there wasn't much of note if you ignored the curious metal sphere floating above the long, ovular table.

[Hello again.] Hauss spoke promptly. [I’m glad to see that no one has gotten cold feet—as you humans like to say.]

That got a laugh out of Jack for some reason as he hurried over to the seat closest to Hauss and gazed up at the alien construct with hungry eyes. Everyone else chose a chair at random, leaving the head of the table open for Jonathan and the two officials.

“Yes, we’re pleased with the result as well,” Mayor Wallace remarked. The man smiled amiably as the faint blue light in Hauss’ eye socket flicked over to him.

[The data is still filtering in from across the globe, but the Great Sage projects that 4,935 of the top 5,000 candidates will be participating. This is a promising start.]

Hauss’ voice had a very life-like quality, but it was still difficult to pick up on traces of true emotion. However, Pent could clearly make out the eagerness in his answer this time. It surprised him.

“5,000… is that how many candidates are in this first round?” Elise asked. “Seems low.”

[Yes. We are currently restricted by the number of projections vessels available.]

Seizing the chance before the briefing officially began, Pent spoke up to air some of his doubts, “How long—how long has all this been in the works? You mentioned that only 500,000 Contractors will be participating in total?”

“That is our two-year goal.” Jonathan folded his hands atop the table and nodded to Hauss. The little robot responded with a slight bob and turned its eye to the wall. Light flared to project a series of data. “It took us 3 and a half years of research and testing prototypes until we were able to develop a workable model of the projection vessel that made use of Earth’s available resources. Construction of the vessels only began in earnest a month ago.”

The data didn’t mean much to Pent but he nodded along as he scanned over it. However, his stomach started to turn as he imagined all the money and resources poured into this project.

How many lives still wasting away in the refugee camps and other disaster areas had been lost as a result of diverting funds to this project? Was all this really so urgent?

“Major Rayner, I’ll let you take over from here,” Jonathan said after Hauss’ light dimmed.

Clearing his throat, the clean-cut man stood up and addressed the room. “As you are all still considered civilians, be aware that there is certain classified information I cannot disclose. Therefore, I encourage you to direct most of your inquiries to Hauss. That being said, let's get started.”

The Major readopted the straight-line posture he’d demonstrated outside. “The United Nations Council has declared Operation Integration an initiative for global peace and has called upon all 7 of the remaining allied nations to participate. Aside from the 50,000 UN-controlled personnel who will become Pioneers, each nation was encouraged to direct the candidates who were specified by the Great Sage to join the operation. How to do so was left to each nation’s discretion.”

“According to the plan established by the North American Federation, civilian Pioneers will be awarded a yearly salary of $180,000 Federation Dollars, in addition to other benefits, for the duration of the project...”

Pent was shocked when he heard that number, but quickly, he realized how meaningless these benefits were.

What would he spend the money on? Food and shelter were already provided, and apparently he’d be spending most of his time occupying an avatar somewhere out in the galaxy… This was really just meant as insurance for their friends and families.

“...Pioneers are free to leave the program at any time, but doing so will render the contract void.”

With that, the officer returned to his seat, allowing Mayor Wallace to take the stage.

“Take some time to look over these contracts. If there are any personal requests or stipulations you have, it's within my purview to negotiate,” Wallace said as he moved around the table, passing out thin stacks of paper to everyone.

The writing was dense and full of technical jargon, so Pent roused himself to give it his full attention.

After a thorough reading, he promptly scrawled his name at the bottom of the third page. But as he did so, it felt like a heavy stone had sank to the bottom of his stomach, weighing him down.

Both the gravity and peculiarity of the situation was really starting to settle around his shoulders as he learned more about this ‘Project Integration’.

The UN was willing to sacrifice countless lives and years of rebuilding efforts on constructing these machines. And for what? To give a few people a head start out in space?

Maybe they didn’t have a choice. Or maybe they had just decided this was the correct one… But either way, they were depending on the success of the people in this room and other similar groups across the globe.

How worthwhile the investment was, Contractors would be the deciding factor.

Pent smiled bitterly. It was ironic, wasn’t it? The people most feared and despised would be the ones humanity’s future hinged upon.

A deep sigh escaped his lips as he spiraled deeper into his well of doubt.

Was he really worth all the attention paid to him by the Great Sage, and subsequently, all these important people? Surely, there were plenty of others more capable than him among the 500,000 selected and all the Contractors who didn’t make the list...

Pent’s grip on his armrest tightened; his eyes remained fixed upon his name until a hand reached around him to take the contract away.

When his gaze leveled, there was only confusion swirling within. His mind was mostly absent as the other candidates took turns spouting off random questions at Rayner and Hauss. After some time, they finally departed from the conference room to check out the projection vessels located deeper within the earth.

“You guys go on ahead. I want to talk with Pent for a minute.” Jonathan held him back as they arrived on the 7th basement floor.

When Pent looked at his cousin’s face — a face that wasn’t much older than his own — he grew envious of the confidence and maturity he saw etched into every line of his cousin’s solemn frown.

“How’re you feeling, Pent? I know this is all a lot to take in… and we haven’t had much chance to talk one-on-one…”

“Confused, mostly… I just—why me?” Pent’s cheeks flushed, but he couldn’t help it. It was truly the thought that had been plaguing him the most.

Jonathan squatted down so that their eyes were level. “I’ve seen the list, you know? The one compiled by the Great Sage… Do you want to know where you ranked?”

“Where?”

“No. 894. Think about it, Pent. A mind recognized as a top figure by civilizations advanced well beyond our own, ranks you among the top thousand people on Earth.”

“But we don’t even really know what this ranking means,” Pent protested.

“The Great Sage does,” Jonathan intoned.

“Great Sage! What Great Sage?” Pent waved his arms, exasperated. “Do we even know who these people are or what they really want?”

“Some people do, yes. And I trust in their judgment.” Jonathan’s expression turned distant, his eyes seemingly peering into the past. “Pent… Do you remember what my father said to you the first time we met at the hospital? He said with certainty that you would become a greater doctor — a greater man — than he ever was, even without your power. Why? Because after all that had befallen you, you still thought of the well-being of others first.

“My father was the smartest person I ever knew — surely smarter than some Great Sage. And he believed in you, didn’t he?”

Bitter tears crept into the corner’s of Pent’s vision as a sense of shame overwhelmed him. “ I failed him, Jonathan… I-I let the others—”

“Forget it. Jonathan immediately cut Pent off. "You still have a chance to prove him right... Don’t you?”

“Haa…” Pent closed his eyes and released a shuddering breath. Clarity returned as he exhaled. “You’re right. I definitely won’t let him down.”

“Good, because I don’t plan to either. Now let's go check out those projection vessels, shall we?”

Pent nodded and the two of them set off down the long and dark passageway…