The Shattered World

“It’s the fifteenth of December of 2024 and what you can see over there, are the remains of what once was the city of Sidney. As you can see, the massive tsunami caused by the split of Lambert’s glacier a couple of days ago has left absolutely no evidence of the city’s existence. Now researchers are still trying to figure out what caused the split but the situation remains critical for Australia and the South Pacific.” A reporter declared as behind him there was nothing but roaring waves.

“Look! Down there!” A home video showed an oily amorphous figure moving beneath the surface of Santa Monica’s pier. “What the #$&% is that?!? Lauren take the kids, we need to go now!” Said the man just before the pier blew to pieces and the video cut out.

“If there’s something we’re sure about it is that these creatures remained frosted for centuries before the Lambert’s split. Biologists report that we’ve never seen life like this before Susan. As you can see, we’re standing right next to the remains of one killed by the British Navy and it’s like solid petrol,” said the woman before the mass moved.

“We’re right at the I-25, as thousands of people walk after the US President issued an alert to retreat to the Rocky Mountains. People are that a Shimazaki tide will wipe away their city. Traveling by car is already impossible the jammed highways collapsed and people have no other option than to start walking.” said the reporter before a flock of birds flew overhead, people started screaming and the camera twisted to show a massive wave approaching.

“As riots continue to happen all around the nation as the government fails at bringing this crisis to solid ground,” a female reporter said to the cameras. “Pi Corp has announced that they have discovered a new chemical element at the core of the bodies of zkwichs. Their statement was, and I quote: “Picorium is what science has been missing for decades. Picorium is humanity’s salvation.”

The image switched to overviews of several gigantic boats sailing in different directions, it switched again to show Dionysus Norrington declaring, “Since December 13th of 2024 our world has changed in unimaginable ways. With our unprecedented advances Picorium, we at Pi Corp felt the responsibility of taking the reins to save humanity. The Grid is humanity’s future. Any willing person is cordially invited to join us at your closest selected pier. Pi Corp will take care of you.”

The Trinitron TV paused and the minds of the disturbed class came back to the safety of the Amelia.

Oliver despised that documentary but it was mandatory for every single person at the Grid to watch it every first Friday of the month before lunch. Oliver always closed his eyes and locked himself away from those memories. He would just stay alert in case Mrs. Armstrong caught him ignoring the documentary, but he knew it didn't matter much because he had seen her once doing the same.

“And that’s why?” Mrs Armstrong said as she powered off the TV.

“We’re always grateful to Pi Corp,” all the students chanted before the bell rang.

Oliver rushed to leave the classroom.

“We need to go fix Athena’s arm now!” Nina scolded as they were setting their GoMindfull back on in the passageway.

“Greenwood and company.” Mrs Armstrong said, waving her hand. “Come back”

The three of them hesitantly went back to the classroom.

“I promise I was paying attention today Mrs Armstrong,” Mike pleaded.

“No Mr Gonzalez, it’s not about that” Armstrong replied.

They exchanged scared glances between them. What did they do now?

“You leave tomorrow. Right?”

“O no! Mrs Armstrong…” Nina began before the teacher raised her hand for silence.

“Good luck.” she smiled, maybe the first time they’d ever seen her smile.

“What?” The students gasped.

She giggled.

“And have this, you might need some extra points at Columbus Station,” She said as she made a sequence of finger movements in the air and a notification appeared on their GoMindfull display. 100 ppoints! It wasn’t a lot, but enough for a treat. But

“But we cannot take it,” Nina apologized. “This is almost half a day's worth of work.”

“Make the Amelia proud kids,” Armstrong said motivated before switching back to her regular teacher mood. “Now get out of my classroom, I have so much to do.”

They thanked her again, bowing three times before leaving the room, and left glad, surprised, and smiley.

“Dude, what are we going to do with this?” Mike jumped playfully next to Oliver as they walked to the robotics laboratory.

“Well, we’ll be disqualified if we use it to purchase better-quality refraction for Athena.” Oliver sighed, knowing that this amount would help them make good updates to their project.

“You’re always the same Oliver! Have a little fun.” Mike replied.

“Well, we’re not wasting it on idol star Mayra’s merch,” Oliver complained, remembering that time Mike made him waste fifty ppoints on merch of another idol star they used to like, just for it to be a random video of the idol saying hello.

“You’re never going to forgive me for that. Right?” Mike shamefully rubbed his nape as Oliver shamed his head.

They stopped by the dining hall to have lunch. It was a Thursday so Today’s menu was the week’s special. steak flavored porridge accompanied by roasted veggies flavored porridge, miso soup, and strawberry shortcake flavored porridge for dessert. This might sound awful but when your daily menu for breakfast, lunch, and dinner is porridge flavored porridge, this was amazing.

“I’ve heard there’s an amazing restaurant near the Ellipsis” Nina said as they deposited their trays. “I’ve been told that they serve real food!”

Nina made an enthusiastic dance.

“Sounds like a great idea!” Oliver said, trying to remember the last time he ate something different from porridge, miso soup or crisps.

“You can call it a plan,” Mike confirmed.

As they walked to the lab, Oliver stopped to look at a recap of yesterday’s raid. Whoever was handling Ajax that day, showed a lot of prowess. According to the reports, that zkwich turned out to have levels of Picorium above the average in its core, which made it harder to take down. Even though they haven’t revealed it yet, Oliver knew who was the handler of that day. “One day,” he said as he ran to reach his friends.

When they opened the doors of the laboratory, a bundle lay on the desk in the main room.

“Good afternoon Mr. Zhou,” Oliver said to the man sleeping on his desk, as he abruptly came back from his sleep.

“Kids you must fix that arm!” Zhou urged.

“We’re on it,” Mike replied.

They walked to the back of the laboratory where a human-sized robot was hanging from the ceiling.

“What’s up Athena?” Oliver said.