small:fish_big:pond

 My already light sleep is disturbed by a beeping alarm at my side. The room that I'm in, which is in the dormitory section, has a window on one of the walls. As the beeping sound comes to a halt by my hand falling down on its button on top of it, the window, which has an opaque black hue covering it, transforms into a clear glass in a progressive manner, from top to bottom in a matter of seconds.

Unveiling a sight to behold, towering buildings can be seen from far away. Hover cars, as tiny as ants from my view, come and go into the aerial ports on the top of the buildings. The centre of the city, I assume.

A variety of blue still encapsulates those buildings, but the golden bricks are replaced by a pearly colour, essentially denoting its newer, not deplorable state. Compared to where we are, the difference is night and day.

Although I saw the suburbs at night with not much of a clear vision, I can already see where the city allocates its resources. A prospering demonstration of technological and architectural prowess, surrounded by its older, decrepit and unkept founding suburbia.

Time to get up. Let’s go.

Stepping on the floor with my left foot, a screen turns on the left side of my bed. Some instructions, it seems, with an arrow pointing downwards.

In this drawer you have a card that acts as a cellphone. Use it to get around the place and open doors. A pair of round sunglasses with holographic technology will allow you to see what’s actually going on in the city, what normal people see. Come to the main hall to prepare for what's to come.

Augmented reality, my mind immediately thought. Technology that is commonplace for almost every city-state in the CEC. It single handedly relegated the cellphone as the major device for communication.

Since the early 40’s, they have become a worldwide sensation. Gramma, a communication and services corporation, made the first iteration of the device. The now obsolete prototype, laughed at the time of its creation for its inconveniences of size, has now drastically become a tool used by every single human living in the cities. Contact lenses, enhanced with nanotechnology, are now the successor to the entire helmet previously required to see augmented reality.

I, for instance, can’t use contact lenses since I had many infections on my eyes in the past. Luckily, a small niche market exists that makes glasses with the same technology as the lenses for people with my medical problem. That’s why Leonard really didn’t say anything to me about it.

Opening the drawer, I find the items that the instructions detailed. The card is just a small rectangular screen with an incredibly small height. The sunglasses are tainted black, and the lenses are rounded. I kinda like them, to be honest.

As I approach the door, a rectangular shaped card reader awaits for an input. Putting the card in the reader, the door opens, sliding itself to the side. Walking outside, I put on the augmented reality sunglasses.

Holy. It’s been some time since I wore one of these. Three months, to be exact

Now in the hallways, the difference is not as much as I thought it would be. Holographic signs directing towards various divisions of the facility are in every corner of intersecting hallways. Not too intrusive, as it tends to be in the cities. Probably will see it frequently the closer we are to the centre.

Strolling around the hallways, as my sleep was not ideal, I finally reached the main hall. How nice, the place is not plagued by modern day holograms. That’s nice. Knowing Leonard, I thought the place would be flooded with statistics and efficient routes planned for every possible walk you could take.

Instead, a relaxing aura can be felt. Orange lightning coming from vaguely emitting light bulbs makes me remember about the quarters back at the DAI proving grounds. Antiquated furniture fills the hall, reminiscing the old days in the 2020’s.

A figure is sitting in one of those olive green sofas. White hair denoting his age makes it clear who he is. Approaching him, I notice he’s reading the news through his contact lenses, as holographic screens hover around him. His left hand is holding a cup of coffee, while the other one is manipulating his personal holo-screen.

“Good morning, Captain. How was your sleep?” Coming near him, I let a yawn escape my mouth.

“Oh, kid. Good morning. I did just fine. What about you? Did you hear the voices again?” the Captain said, as he takes a sip from the cup, not before swallowing a pill from his pocket. I’ve got to ask Leonard about it before we depart.

“You’re making me sound like a schizophrenic. And no, I haven’t heard them since our little mock battle with Juliette. Didn’t sleep well, though.” I take a seat on an armchair near him.

Silence envelopes the hall. While Murph manipulates his AR with his hands, I decide to search through the internet about Laurelya. I'm not really sure if I’ll find something, considering that not even the CEC knows much about this empire.

Tapping the frame of the sunglasses, I activate my personal screen. A high definition blueprint of Lorentz covers the whole space. I can examine every single part that constitutes the whip katana, and also its functions.

Not having much time for dissecting it, I search for the specifications of the chip that is inside of my body. Alongside various shortcuts that lead to blueprints of my entire equipment, a browser icon is amongst them. Rhetoria, accompanied by an icon of a triangle formed by three intersecting circles, colored cyan magenta and yellow, is the meta browser in here. Huh, the logo is different in the CEC.

Alongside Gramma, Rhetoria are the two biggest corporations in the field of telecommunications. Rivals and allies of sorts. While one focuses on the hardware, the other dedicates itself to the software, respectively. Doesn’t mean that each of them don’t develop both of the fields.

Funnily enough, the two of them are much more than what is seen through the eye. They both manipulate the public opinion through misinformation. This allows politicians and other enterprises to change the popular view of their organisations or personal image. Even the CEC does it from time to time, which is why I know about this.

Currently, both of those corporations are spending their endless stream of income to expand into other markets, such as private mercenaries and transportation. None of them have worldwide presence yet, as they are fairly new to the field. And of course, mercenary associations are not happy about this.

The Tribaria Lujuria (TL) started out as a group of six paramilitary insurgents in the Americas. Being tired of their job at the military of the now extinct United States of America, they retired early due to the corruption that they saw in their everyday lives.

War is something that you cannot simply escape from. These six soldiers knew it well. For an unspecified period of time, they preoccupied themselves in defending their natal state, Ohio.

The Great Revolt of the States made it so that their numbers increased exponentially, as the residents of the now extinct Ohio grew worried about the political and military landscape, joining the Tribaria as a result.

After the events in the Great Revolt, Ohio was successful in their defence of their territory. The original members of Tribaria grew in popularity and respect for their incomparable tactics and leadership in times of crisis. At the end of this period of uncertainty, in the year 2030, Gregory Maxwell, the leader within the six founding members of Tribaria, became the the main figure of the Kingdom of Columbus.

World leaders in combat, the Kingdom of Columbus is now in conjunction with the Tribaria Lujuria, a private corporation, in the development of new armament and espionage, while also keeping in check any other organisation that wants to indulge in the military. This enterprise is the sole responsible for Gramma and Rhetoria not taking over the mercenary business by a landslide.

Of course, other groups are also in the mercenary market, but the Tribaria Lujuria are a congress of sorts. They try to regulate it as much as possible so that things do not go out of hand. As they are not stupid, they understand that power is not only brute force. Employing several spies around the world, they play by a war of information.

Several of those spies have been a pain for me in several missions in the past. It's why I know all of their history. But what really bothers me is that there is no news about the Tribaria having deployed any troops here. It's a matter of international security what’s going on in this empire. A machine is the Imperator, who knows what it’s capable of.

Feeling angsty about having no news about the Tridaria, I asked the Captain “So, are the Columbians going to get involved in this mess?”

After sipping from his cup of coffee, not batting an eye, he keeps looking at his personal screens “There are already a few Laurels from the Tridaria, so you ought to be careful. I asked Leonard about it yesterday when you went to sleep.”

Doing a hand gesture, he grabs something from his personal system and throws it towards me. A pop up screen appears asking me if I want to accept this file.

Laurelya_current_members_20860612

Pressing the ‘accept’ button, the archive starts to download.

“Check it out when you have time. Leo and Juliette are coming in a minute.”

Quickly searching for the chip model that I have in me, I stumbled across not that much information, as it is a personalised chip.

Searching for some of the components, the software used for the entanglement of me and the objects is not entirely Leonard's invention. It is in fact, created in conjunction with a group dedicated to research of Teleportation devices from the Lideriann Empire. Probably a subsidiary enterprise, as almost no information shows up by searching the name.

It is common for Lideriann foundries to reach out to other tinkerers around the globe to complete a task. Expected, as no one is an expert in every field of science. Leonard is great, but he has his limits. Maybe it is worth looking at the creators of the software. The Doctor should know more about it.

As if I was manifesting my thoughts to existence, both Leonard and Juliette come from the hallway.

While waving his hand to greet me, Leonard proceeds to talk to me “Good morning you two. Could you sleep, Julian?”

“It was okay. I’m a light sleeper after all, I’m accustomed to it.”

“Good morning, Julian. Good morning, Murph.” said Juliette, giving out a small yawn.

“So, let’s get started, shall we?”

I was explained the circumstances and the plan that ensued. I wasn’t told the total picture before, which was really unnerving. But now, I understand why they didn’t tell me.

Firstly, a big announcement is going to occur tonight. An important one, as the Imperator himself will be the host of the event. People from all over the country will come to listen to what It has to say. This opens up the opportunity for me to enter Laurelya, become a Laurel and have a shot at the Imperator.

Getting the most amount of information first is crucial. As such, some private detectives have infiltrated into some of the servers of the state of Britannia. One of the most frequently visited archives was named ‘the Primordials’. Inside, a list of eight vacant positions, each named after a colour, was salvaged before the authorities were able to shut down the archive.

The Primordials are a set of agents designated to obey and protect the Imperator at any cost. Some of the names were accompanied by their current location. Spread around the empire, the only one that did not move at all was Primordial Green. And through some data mining, they discovered that Green is the one of the most loyal to the Imperator, which is why he is always following It.

According to the last updated list that they got, which is from a month ago, seven out of the eight positions were already filled. This is where Juliette comes in. She will make a name for herself to get inside the ring of the Primordials and get information about the Imperator from within enemy territory.

My mission is simple. The eyes of the whole population and important figures throughout all industries, will attend this proclaimed event. As Green is projected to be in it, I will make a statement. An oppositor, that challenges the Imperator to show its true intentions and proclaim that I will be his downfall. In a dramatic scenario, I’ll fight Green to further emphasise my point.

After hearing that, while fidgeting with my fingers a bit, Juliette was playing with her hair. Nervousness, of course. An eternal enemy of both of us. Noticing this, Murph stops Leonard for a second to say something.

“Of course, you might fail. But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you two at least tried something. Did something. That’s better than 90% of the people that I met.” Comforting words with a gentle smile came from the Captain.

Leonard followed suit, noticing that his non-stop essay of the operation isn’t comforting. “I’ve worked with a couple of other agents in the past. All of them were nervous too. It’s a normal feeling.” A nervous smile decorated Leonard after the words that tried to ease the tension

Looking at each other, Juliette and I both inhaled and exhaled slowly in a synchronised manner. It is something we did when we finally broke the ice one day. Since then, we use it to calm each other down. However, I think she is more nervous than me, so I do it for her sake more than for myself.

I will always be in constant nervousness when my decisions affect my future. I don’t like to admit it, but it is what propulsed me to where I am now. A constant, creeping self doubt that lurks amongst every important step that I make. Until the day I die, a ‘you could have done better’ is a voice that always is on repeat in my head.

everything will be fine, child.

If I could see myself in a mirror, an image of a ghost would be the resemblance. That feminine voice again. This time, it appeared out of nowhere. I don’t even have the gloves nor Lorentz by my side. Worrying everyone now isn’t ideal, so I’ll try to stay calm.

Seeing if Jules is already okay, I insisted on proceeding forward. “Go on, Doc.”

Laurelya is a system that has replaced christanity. Believed to be forethought by a superior existence, the Imperator is the suspect of the creation of Laurelya. Nobody really knows where this new religion exactly came from, but its presence on the empire is clear.

People from all around Britannia became obsessed with becoming a Laurel. Acts of terrorism have been comitted to either abolish the system or get a shot to be a part of it. The relationship with the Imperator and the Laurels is a love/hate relationship.

As I was told before, a set of rights and obligations are attributed to Laurels. Although they are not set in stone, because the system itself isn’t regulated, the public opinion of a member of Laurelya can diminish and, as a result, be exiled from the world. Hell, even Laurel hunters are inside the same system that they repulse.

The inside of this new religion is an obscure and informal sub world of crime, basically. The only difference is, people applaud them for being ‘special’ humans and embracing a certain title, akin to how demigods in Greece or folklore figures were venerated to. New age folklore, got ya.

One would think that the Empire is an authoritarian state. It is in some aspects, as in immigrants aren’t welcome and connections with the outside are null. On the other hand, the free market is an economic stance that is present here.

An aspect that Britannia has, is its socially closed politics. The market is open to every single corporation in existence, but it still is an island that separates itself from everything else. International politics is not a concern for the Imperator.

The creator of the IA is unknown, but a principal suspect has been proposed. One of the key missions of other squads of agents was getting information about the responsible of the Imperator. No relevant data was found other than the fact that Its creation was a project from the early 1800, almost four hundred years ago.

Papers signed by the name Bohr Graham were discovered in antique ruins of castles throughout the whole empire. By an analysis of the carbon in the paper conducted by universities in the CEC, the dates of their creation are from the 1880’s.

Graham came from a dysfunctional family. Her mother, a prostitute whose name has been forgotten by history, was contracted by Bhruman Graham. He was an inventor closely related to Queen Victoria. Royalty often had intercourse with women and children prostitutes, whose destinies were rather unfortunate.

The renowned inventor followed the same traditions as his colleagues and royalty that surrounded him. Slaves from across the Old Continent were sold to various groups of people. One of the many clients that these slave masters had was the upper class of Britannia.

Differing from others, Bhruman was kind with the sex slaves. Reports from the women that visited his castles at night always pointed towards his affectionate attitude towards them. For that reason, when one of the intercourse with a woman resulted in her getting pregnant, he kept her under his protection.

Fear of being abolished by the populations, as the Slavery Abolition Act was close to becoming a reality, aristocrats and merchants decided to capture the woman to hold her captive. By a plea from/of Bhruman, the unknown woman was not killed, but rather kept alive.

Generally being left to rot in a cell to the mercy of death, Bhruman made an exception. The investigators don’t know why to this date. Fast forward a few months later and Bohr Graham was born. As if nature had the attitude of ‘an eye for an eye’, Bohr’s birth was followed by the death of her mother, due to the malnutrition that she suffered combined with the childbirth that was conducted in horrible conditions.

His father was rather… strict. Confessions from maids of the various castles that he owned reported that the kid suffered beatings on a regular basis. Apart from that, not much more information was collected, as suspicions of spies grew larger and larger everyday that passed.

“Wow…” Juliette was flabbergasted by the statements of Leonard.

“Holy, what a tragedy.” I empathise with the young Bohr. I don’t even know who my parents are to this day, and they are also filthy scum from what I could recollect. Ughh, I don’t want to be reminded of them for a while now.

“It is what it is. At least he was alive and not left to rot somewhere in the slums of Britannia.” Murph expressed his thoughts.

“I mean, was it better, though? A terrible fate followed the poor kid.” Leonard intervened rather quickly.

“Anyway, let’s continue.”

Starting today, this event is called Further, Beyond. It has been nameless the past couple of years, the exception being today. A logo accompanies this name, in which stars can be seen as bright as the sun illuminating the void of the universe. There are several hypotheses regarding the nature of the announcement.

The most feasible one is the creation of virtual realities. Centres of rehabilitation made possible through the power of the never ending possibilities presented by the creation of imaginary worlds in a span of minutes. Although this is only an assumption, as many files point towards many different projects to divert the attention from the real one. A fairly used tactic nowadays.

Nobody knows what it's to be expected inside Further, Beyond. The only certainty will be security. A problem for myself, because I will not be able to set foot in the expo with all my equipment. The solution was fairly simple. Bribery is a wonder that God created for us to rejoice. Or extortion, however you want to call it.

Other minor details followed Leonard’s explanations. Inside one of the bathrooms, my equipment will be waiting for me on the roof of one of the toilets. Juliette will be present, but will not do much, as it will compromise her chances of reaching the Primordials from the inside. After this, an application will be sent to my personal operative system in my sunglasses. An invitation of sorts, where I will be able to see Laurelya and its members.

Letting out a heavy sigh, I reply “Cool. When do we start?”

Finishing his coffee, Murph speaks “In about three hours, more or less.”

“We actually have to get going right now to reach there in time. New Athenas is enormous.”

With a quick remark from Leonard, we all got up and started to prepare for what’s to come.