Welcome_to_S_city: Staring_at _the_new_beginning - Part_1

„ He who once knew, now knows nothing,

he who once presumed that reality as it was perfect,

his mind crumbled in seconds,

though he was scared of the change and destruction,

a power divine was created,

with fear and clinging to past belief,

the power divine outshines and makes him belief

in a system that helps him dissolve all worry and disbelief. “

Part 1

On July 20th, 2068 at 2:37 pm, a certain was arriving from Thrace highway to get in life for a long queue in front of a 30-meter-tall border to a whole new world. A city located near the mountains to be more precise. The name of this creation of brilliant human engineering and excellent use of the not long-ago shattered pieces of outer-space ores and rocks gave birth to S city or “Scientific city” or “Supernatural city” (The were a lot of acronyms). Everyone was excited and worried at the same time; no one knew or had an idea for how were they going to proceed when they were at the borders. The invitation they received for going in was a long time ago, but even if it wasn`t the invitation, the boss of Bogdan had sent him a copy certificate for his whole family to get in, so it shouldn`t be a problem. The real worry was the children`s schooling. Although one had already graduated and one was about to choose his high-school of choice, someone has now to takeout his long-forgotten invitation and as well as to study hard on top of all this.

Stefan was very energetic today. He hadn`t stopped asking his father questions since he got into the car.

“Hey dad, is there any other city more technologically advanced than this?”

“Well, if we compare it to the American and the Asian, probably.”

“But why not go there?”

“Because the laws are different and I am not familiar with the environment. Also, I only speak English as a foreign language.”

“Why?”

He went silent for a moment before giving him an answer.

“Because your grandfather had a lot of troubles back then and I hadn`t had the chance to expand my knowledge.”

“Also, because you were partying and wanted to ‘experience’ life.” Teodora added.

“Honey, you aren`t helping…”

“Dad, you always said that studying is one of the most important things, why did you party when you had to study?”

What a typical answer from a child when you had always told them what is right. It deserves a typical answer.

“Because I do not want you to do what I did back in the days. Also, your mother forgot to tell you that I was studying at the same time as partying.”

“But you still had gone partying right?” joined Christina.

“Oh, no your situation has no right to be excluded or even be talked about.”

“What do you mean?! Mom was going to parties from when she was 18 years old, why can I not do that?!!”

“Do you have a reliable boyfriend?”

“No, but”

“Then please remain from further discussion.”

She got extremely pissed. For a young graduate girl like her, this was one of the most annoying and most exciting topics at her time of maturation. She knew exactly why he is saying it, but refused to do it.

“Why!! Mom was alone too!!”

Bogdan was starting to lose his temper too.

“Christina, I told you no further comment!”

She shut her mouth and crossed her arms. Everything went silent now. Only the radio was playing in the background.

“What Dad is really saying is that he is not letting you go alone or without someone, he knew to supervise you.”

Explained Martin. He on the other hand was relaxed and had just stopped listening to music.

“I know big brainer! Gosh, you are such a headache…”

“Look who is saying it!”

And there they went again.

“Honestly, can please not give me advice Mr. hard-work, boring to death dude who only looks at his achievements as if he is the best guy on the planet.”

“Hey, hey please stop. Big brother is just telling you that alone will be bad.”

“Your big brother is a mood destroyer and pretends to be cool when nobody even wants to know about him.”

“Says the girl, I mean woman, who only know how to lust for who is on a very different level and makes normal boys serve you and maybe giving somebody a chance.”

The two of them were always on the opposite side of the spectrum for at least 5 years now. Both of them knew their Achilles` heel for a long time, but the winner was always the same.

“At least I have someone to make attracted to me!”

“Better to love than take almost every garbage in town.”

The discussion escalated very quickly to be ready to fight in a small ice-cream box for mice. It was time for Teodora to join finally as well.

“You two quit it!”

“Hmmph.”

She knew that they wouldn`t stop until one of them surrender and the time was not for arguing right now, especially while they were on the line for the border. So, it was time for an ultimatum from her side.

“Christina, Marti. If you do not cut it out, you won`t get an allowance for the next month.”

They immediately froze. Their face suddenly got worried expressions and thoughts flushed away in that instant.

“WHAT??”

They started to think of excuses of who was to blame for this situation.

“Mom, that is unfair. I just stated facts. She was the one who budged in.”

“So what? Unless is something really bad or almost unthinkable, you won`t say anything else!”

This was going to go forever, she wouldn`t let that happen. Time to turn a little more strict than usual.

“Hey…ARE YOU SURE THAT YOU WANT TO CONTINUE THIS RIGHT NOW?”

“No, we don`t….”

Finally, they shut both mouths and the situation was defused. Then she looked around to see how far was the entry border. The wall was as big as ever, there were still cars and the traffic lights were still far away from them. She turned towards Bogdan.

“Honey are we near?”

“Yeah, just wait a little more we are almost in…”

Silence followed again. Christina started again to look at her phone again, Martin put his headphones on, Bogdan and Teodora were on the front and were chatting about something and Stefan was left alone to listen to the radio because of sheer boredom. He started to look into the distance, the birds were flying at an extremely high speed, there was a river in the distance whose water looked almost as if it was the purest water that he had ever seen and the sun was shining brightly.

After the parents had finally finished their talk, they turned back to the kids. They made a sign for both Martin a Christina to stop what they are doing and to listen to them for the next couple of minutes.

“Christina, what are you going to do now? Are you going to work or university?” asked her father.

She thought for a moment.

“I am going to university. I do not want to work, yet.”

He started to do calculating in his mind. Despite his education, the head of the family was quite the monster when it came to spending finances and other mundane or not little jobs.

“Ok, but you need to do a part-time job probably because our finances won`t be able to cover it for at least 3 months.”

“Oh, I am not in a hurry. I am probably going to meet with one of my friends first.”

He was a little confused by the last part.

“How are you going to meet her when we left Sofia?”

“I have friends here as well, don`t you remember?”

His old brain went haywire for a moment. She sighed. His wife too shortly after. He was trying to remember hard, he even closed his eyes, but that did not help at all. Martin saw that his father struggled hard, so he waited for his father to open his eyes and look in his direction to show him his headphones and phone as a hint to who it was about. Finally, he got an idea.

“Oh, was it that formally dressed girl who came one time to do homework with you?”

Then Martin sighed too. He tried his best.

“Yes, it was her...”

“I am wrong!?”

“No, dad it was her…”

(At least he remembered the one that was looking normal rather than her.)

He looked still looked a little confused, but nobody bothered to correct him. Then the mother moved her attention to her eldest son.

“Marti where are you going to study?”

“I believe that there is a high school for me too. I need to check the letter.”

“Okay.”

It was 3:15 pm. The outside temperature had almost reached 40 degrees Celsius and was like the Sahara Desert. Everyone in the car was sweating hard right now. If it continued, they would melt or get a heat stroke. Martin had to ask his father to do something about it.

“Dad, can we turn on the air-conditioner?”

“We are almost there. You should hold up a little more.”

The traffic lights could be now seen, but the heat inside the car was too much for the kids. Bogdan and his wife could last a long time, but the kids were not as resistant as them. He saw that even she was sweating.

“Okay, I will turn on the conditioner for a max of 30 minutes. When we are in the city, prepare to be amazed by the climate.”

Nobody understood why he said that. After 15 minutes they saw the border of the city. From the Outside, The big walls were at least 300 meters high. They look well maintained in comparison to any building around where the city is (Except for the small towns). It looked like a big cage and is somewhat true. Laws in the city are a little different, some were written, others are unwritten. Finally, they reached the borders counter. A border officer wearing a black Kevlar vest, dark tie, dark blue dress shirt and pants, and black boots approached them. Rather than from the counter to check, he exclusively came to the driver`s window.

“Passports, ID, and any invitation certificate or letter please.”

He gave the documents and opened the certificate through his phone. The officer scanned the certificate and went back to check the documents. After a few minutes, he came back.

“Here you are. Please have a safe stay and a good fortune along the way.”

“Thank you!”

Then they drove off. Then the officer got out his phone and tried to call somebody.

“Therein.”

“Okay, it`s time to test our equipment and staff. If they fail, I am shutting the project down do you understand?”

“I know sir, rest assured. We know what are we doing.”

“Hope so. The primal investor is interested in the result very much. Don`t let him down.”

“I will try my best.”

The Irinov family`s journey had finally begun!