Return

The ship, which had recently finished its battle, was cruising across the sea and approaching the continents. On their way, they met several ships. The crew was frightened.

- “Is this reinforcement?” - one of Nix’s men asked.

- “We already made a detour so as not to meet anyone!” - Kelis said in surprise.

However, these were not warships or ships of the Order of the Awaiting Rebirth. These were evacuation ships filled with people. And there were hundreds of them. Looking more closely at the continent near which these ships were sailing, the team of scientists saw that the continent was destroyed.

The continent was burning. And in its distance, a volcano was visible from which lava was coming out.

- “Is this really…” - Tera said in fright.

- “Slab shift…” - Lien supplemented her.

- "Hey, how many were evacuated?" - the ship's captain shouted to the people sailing on evacuation ships.

However, people were in no hurry to answer and did not want to hear anything. Deep pain was visible on their faces. They sailed completely closed in on themselves.

The crew of the ship with the tiharx did not ask those people anything more. The culprits of such a fate of the continent could only avert their eyes, unable to look at the events that were taking place there.

The ship with the tiharx and its crew silently and quietly sailed on, past the ships with evacuated passengers.

Two more days later, the ship delivered the crew home. To another continent, which had not been destroyed as a result of shifts in tectonic plates.

All crew members, except for the ship's captain and his crew, transferred to another ship, which was waiting for them not far from the shore.

Kelis thanked the captain for his help.

- “It's a pity that now you will have to get rid of this ship to avoid trouble... but it is worth what you fight for. I believe in your project," said the captain of the vessel and said goodbye to everyone.

The boat delivered the team to the shore. The team disembarked.

- "You and I have completed this stage. It's time to start launching the pillars. Axel and Tera, prepare everything you need," said Kelis.

- “Where are you going?” - Lien asked.

- “To report to the authorities,” - Kelis answered.

Having given brief instructions to his team, Kelis left them, as he was summoned to an important meeting - with the project sponsors.

The meeting that Kelis was going to was taking place in a secret place, known only to him and those with whom the meeting was scheduled.

Arriving at the meeting building, Kelis went into the room where everyone was already waiting for him. The door closed behind Kelis.

Kelis did not wait for someone to address him, but began to speak himself.

- "You probably expect a report from me," - Kelis said.

- "A report?! What did you do there!?" - one of those present in the room said in dissatisfaction.

Kelis waited a few seconds before answering.

- "Let me remind you that I was given complete carte blanche in making decisions," - Kelis replied.

- "That was before your decision destroyed the entire continent!" - another present in the room said in dissatisfaction.

- “This decision allowed us to obtain the tihirax and finally launch the Pillars of Time project,” Kelis replied.

- “How dare you! We are risking everything by sponsoring your project!” - one of the people present said angrily.

- “Enough!” - one of the people present in the room intervened in the conversation. – “Considering what has happened, we cannot fully rely on you. Therefore, we have jointly decided to include an assistant to the project curator in your team.”

- “We will successfully complete the project without him,” Kelis replied.

- “This is not negotiable,” - one of the people present in the room added.

The door to the room opened. Sena Kirt entered. He was a stern, forty-year-old man, about whom one could immediately say that he would not go against the orders he received.

- “This is Sena Kirt. He will help your project to be successfully launched.”

Kelis looked at Sena. He understood that he could not go against this order. Therefore, Kelis had no choice but to agree.

- “Just don’t get confused underfoot,” - Kelis replied.

This ended Kelis’ conversation with the project sponsors.

At the same time, for several months now, Eric, who had left Kelis’ team at one time, had been working in one of the divisions of the Ark project.

He worked on a project that was jointly developed by all the states to randomly select those people who could get on the arks.

Eric was the one who was responsible for all the collected data of those people who applied for participation in the opportunity to get on the ark.

He spent hours at the computer, surrounded by the same people who spent their days processing digital data. He spent the longest time of all those present, making sure that the system for randomly selecting those who would get on the Ark worked perfectly.

One day, when Eric stayed late again and was left alone at work, a man in a raincoat and hat came to his office. It was a representative of the board of directors of the Ark project. Eric knew him well, since he had come to see him more than once.

The man sat down opposite Eric, and without even saying hello, he put a folder in front of him.

Eric looked at the Man. He did not want to open the folder, because he guessed what was in it. However, Eric had no other choice. So he opened the folder, hoping that he would not see what he thought there. However, there was what he was so afraid of - information about certain people.

Eric closed the folder and carefully pushed it back to the Man.

- "Last week, when you came to me, you said it was the last time," - Eric said.

- "Do you even know how many people are in this world?"

- "I do. I have a list of the entire planet in front of me every day."

- "Well, now guess how many of them are important people who can put pressure where they need to be to get a place on the ark."

Eric thought for a moment. He had something to say, but he restrained himself and carefully began to answer the Man.

- "I thought this project was aimed at ensuring equality in the selection of those who get on the ark," - Eric said.

- "When this world dies and the time comes for a new world and a new world order, then you will make sure that there is equality everywhere. And for now we are still living in the old one. Well, put the names on the damn list!" - said the man, throwing the folder back to Eric.

Eric looked thoughtfully at the man.

- "Whatever you say."

The man, hearing Eric's words, got up, put on his hat and left the office.

Eric sat down at the computer, opened a folder and looked at his computer. He was fed up with all this. He got up, put on his jacket and left the office. He realized for himself that it was time to leave this place.

Eric stopped for a second. He had forgotten something. Eric turned back, pulled out a flash drive in one of the computers and finally left the office, leaving this place forever.

The research center was preparing for a project to move the Earth in time. The team worked on the project for several days, performing calculations and preparing everything for launch. Sena was present at all stages of the project, controlling everything the team was doing.

- "Do you think he even understands what is going on here? He has such an expression on his face that you can't immediately tell what he is thinking," - Tera said to Lien.

- “His job is to listen, so the main thing is that he doesn’t hear you…” - said Lien.

t the end of the day, Kelis walked across the parking lot behind the research center to his car. He opened it and got inside. Eric was waiting for him in the back seat.

- “Remember, you said that if anything happened, you would be ready to take me back?” - Eric asked.

Kelis looked at Eric’s face in the rearview mirror.

- “I did. However, our project is coming to an end. I don’t know what contribution you can make.”

Eric handed Kelis a flash drive.

- “What is this?” - Kelis asked, looking at the flash drive.

- “Information about the pillars that you didn’t have. You should see this!” - Eric replied.