Threads of Fate 2

In the quiet of the moment, a subtle tension lingered between Shilona and Hristos. Calloway, watching from afar, couldn't help but wonder if fate or something else had smoothed their relationship.

Shilona, "we need to clarify something. Despite being related, it's not wise for you to call me 'nephew.' It could cause problems for us both."

“There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" Do you know this quote?’, Hristos.

"No," Shilona.

‘It's a great quote from a book I once read,’ Hristos explained, ‘though the story is a bit sad.’

Shilona shrugged. "Well, whatever. Just one thing, don't ruin the peace that reigns upon us this time."

Shilona leaves seemingly in a good mood. And out of nowhere Calloway comes out of a cabinet.

Hristos, “what the!!! How long were you here?”

Calloway laughing, “there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Says the one who can’t come terms with his own feelings.”

“Shut up! Stop laughing and help me look for a file named Korolev.”, says Hristos a bit flustered.

“Okay, okay whatever”, Calloway.

Calloway and Hristos looks for a file from the selves. Meanwhile Shilona returns to her friends. At same time A enters as well.

A, “Mr. Calloway is a bit busy so he told me to fill in for him. It’s hard to determine what you all will like so why don’t you all accompany me to the cafeteria?”

Illios, “I don’t see any harm in it. Lead the way.”

The whole group heads to the cafeteria. On the way, they spot Hristos coming out of a room. Hristos notices them and stares at Albedo with a smirk. Albedo walks a little slower and falls behind the others as they continue to the cafeteria, while Albedo enters Alcyone's room. Upon entering, he sees Hristos, a bit surprised but strangely relieved.

“What are you up to? And why is there Alcyone written on the door?”, Albedo.

Hristos searching for something unmindfully, “who’s asking?”

“Ahem! Mr. Hristos Why are you showing us your lab or whatever this is and are you disclosing information of great importance to mere children like us?”, Albedo.

"Hmm. You could say I am running low on staff members and you happened to be in front. Besides, you guys were caught red-handed while sneaking in. So, I thought to make use of you rather than handing you over to the police," said Hristos.

"So we're some sort of tools?" Albedo.

"Yes," Hristos.

"Still, I don’t understand why some children who don’t even know how to make a centrifuge machine pique your interest?" Albedo.

"Are you sure about that statement, kid?" Hristos, wearing a weird expression.

"Except Alithini. Take me for example. Why would you be interested in me?" Albedo.

"Says the one who entered the national physics exam and got 4 stars," Hristos, a bit happy after finding the desired file.

"What? It was child’s play. Anybody could do that. Even Shilona can do that," Albedo.

"Young man, go to the cafeteria. I will join you there. But first, Calloway! Calloway! Ahh, shit. Where did he go?" Hristos.

"Hey, you haven’t answered my question yet!" Albedo.

Hristos leaves to find Calloway. Calloway comes out from the connected room.

"Kid, where is Hristos?" Calloway.

"He just left to find you," Albedo.

Calloway leaves in hurry. Albedo goes to the cafeteria

"Weird. I thought I had Illios remove my name from every database of that exam. How did he find it? Looks like I have to keep my guard up. Did anybody else know about this? Did they sell me out?" Albedo thought to himself.

Calloway enters the control room only to find Hristos bringing more files.

"Oi! Oi, what are you doing? You should first deal with the kids. You have yet to reach a balance with them. And here you are looking for a file on that kid. Mind explaining what’s all this ruckus?" says Calloway, irritated.

"You don’t have to worry about a thing. And were you spying on me? 落ち着け、バカ," Hristos.

“I am perfectly calm; you need to pay visit to a psychiatrist.”, Calloway.

"We will talk about this later. For now, we need to focus on the task at hand. I will be conducting the final experiment on those abominations tomorrow. Make sure everything is in perfect order. We need all data in perfect form. While you’re at it, I will find the file Seraphima created for Alithini’s genetic nature," Hristos.

“what for?”, Calloway.

“I think I can make the subjects normal with the data we get combined with Seraphima’s findings.”, Hristos.

“Whatever you say. We don’t have any expert in that category anyway. Oh I forgot I hit a dead end again. I couldn’t solve the gravity equation. We cannot move on to testing phase.”, Calloway.

“If we can recruit all the kids we can assign some of the works to them in that way Zhiroki will be able to spend more time on it. That’s why I urge you to find a way to make all of them join us.”, Hristos.

Meanwhile in the cafeteria A prepares some exquisite food for the group and serves them. Everyone starts eating.

“Come to think of it what is your real name Mr. A?”, Alithini.

“where did that come from? It isn’t important.”, A.

“There is no harm in telling us.”, Alithini.

‘what’s your real name?’, Illios.

“It’s Alexander.”, A

“So they shortened your name, why were you shy about that?”, Elena.

Calloway comes and interrupts them. “Umm kids we are lacking in time; we have one last thing that you were interested on. After eating come to the control room. I will explain the rest.”

“Back to the topic at hand were you some sort of chef in a restaurant before coming here? Mr. A.”

“No I was in the army, Mr. Hristos brought me here. It isn’t of importance right now.”, A.

As Alexander cooked, the irresistible scent of his meal filled the cafeteria, captivating everyone. Mouths watered, stomachs rumbled, and anticipation hung thick in the air.

As they savored every bite and emptied their plates, the cafeteria buzzed with satisfaction. Soon, the diners rushed to the control room, brimming with joy. Noticing them coming Hristos quickly hides away the files in a drawer. Upon their entrance Hristos wears a fake expression fooling them. Calloway leaves to go to the chamber of the experiment subjects.

"So, what’s next, Mr. Hristos?"

"Illios, how familiar are you with acquiring and managing information via the net?"

"Come again?"

"I am currently looking for a netrunner, part-time, of course."

“Hold up where is this coming from?”, Shilona.

“Hmm I am not confident about acquiring but I can manage information finely”

“Why don’t we test out your skills then? You see Horatio locked a file too securely that I cannot access it now. And since he is off duty today I don’t want to bother him so why don’t you give it a try?”

“Hold on it’s one of your schemes right?”, Shilona.

“No. I just need that file right now. So what do you say Illios?”

“Fine by me”

“Great come take a look and if you could please hurry a little.”

Illios takes control of Horatio’s device and with impressive skills at his disposal he meticulously gets passed the security and makes the file accessible.

" Illios, are you sure you're just a civilian?", Hristos.

“Illios where did you learn this?”, Elena.

“It was a little hard but not that much of a hassle”, Illios.

“See kid you have the necessary skills to access unauthorized files. So do you have any plans to take on a part time job?”

“Umm I am not that busy…”

“Hold up. Don’t play into his hands. Mr. Hristos you knew how to access the file despite being unauthorized am I wrong?”, Albedo.

“Why do you think so?”, Hristos.

“You dug information on us all by yourself though they are well protected by the academy. Also if I recall Mr. Horatio had no idea. Which can mean one thing you are also a net runner.”

“I don’t know. What are you trying to say but yes I am familiar with small hackings.” Hristos.

“You don’t need to lie to us we already know you are a prodigy. Elena here found something interesting. You were a student in our academy, right?”, Albedo.

“What raises that question kid?”, Hristos.

“I found a picture along with a top performer certificate for the net runner competition held in our school.”, Elena.

"Elena brings out the picture from her pocket, pointing at the guy with white hair who looks like Hristos.

"It’s you, isn’t it?" Albedo asked.

“Ohh let me see. Right it is him. Mom told me yesterday he used to have white hairs he dyed it recently.”, Alithini.

“Ahh looks like the jig is up yes it is me.”, Hristos. “So you were distracting me in that room so that Elena could sneak in and look for clues on me, huh? Impressive…”

“So why do need another net runner?”, Elena.

“Ok I will come clean. I want all of you to work for me.”, Hristos.

“So that you can keep watch on us?”, Shilona.

“Partially yes, partially no. You see I am running low on manpower here I need some people take care of some works here so that I can focus on the other tasks at hand.”, Hristos.

“And why do you want to involve us of all people? We are nothing compared to the staffs you already have. Plus, you can hire someone other without anyone’s consent like our parents”, Albedo.

“It’s so that you don’t leak info of us.”, Hristos stutteringly. “You don’t have to worry about anything I will compensate all of you accordingly and I won’t involve you or expose you to any threat that’s a promise.”, Hristos.

“Guys it doesn’t hurt to help him out. Moreover, he said he will compensate us accordingly.”, Alithini.

“Ahh what are we gonna do with you. You are interested on those machines, am I wrong.”, Albedo.

“Ahh. Yeahh…. You are right”, Alithini.

“Umm. So we played right in to his hands again… You invited us so that you could take advantage of our weakness.”, Albedo.

“No no I just wanted utilize and polish your talents is all.”, Hristos.

“More like you wanted to keep us under control.”, Shilona a bit irritated.

“I did say partially. So what will it be?”, Hristos.

Calloway arrives at the scene surprised asks, “did I miss something very important? Why did the mood in the room suddenly got serious?”

“A lot happened. It seems boss has won yet another game.” Ignorantly A.

“Guys since he said he will prevent all harm. It doesn’t hurt to join him plus he said he would compensate us.”, Elena.

“Ahhh… So basically we are joining. Fine. Not like we were doing anything important.”, Albedo.

“That’s great!”, Hristos.

“Oi. What are you doing employing some kids? Have you forgotten law?”, Calloway.

“Your one to talk. You worked under that idiotic researcher when you’re 10.”, Hristos.

“Whatever… It doesn’t matter now. I have got things ready in the chamber. Everyone can spectate now.”, Calloway.

Calloway and Hristos takes everyone to the chambers of the earthling subjects. A spacious room with well-organized odd machines. Inside them are some beings who look like humans.

“What! You guys were experimenting on humans?”, Illios.

“Calm down, kid. These are not humans. They extraterrestrial creature. For now, we call them humanoid. Their external body looks like ours but internally they are different”, Calloway.

Alithini stands before Jason Liebrecht but he is shocked to see his body intact. Alithini spaces out remembering he saw a bot cutting Jason’s right arm.

“What’s wrong Alithini?”, Shilona.

Alithini comes to his senses, “I remember it’s right arm being damaged. Also it was some sort of crystalized type. But it’s normal now.”

“What are you saying? Seems human to me”, Illios.

“That’s because they are in a suspended state. Their odd forms don’t come out when they are in this state.”, Calloway.

“Then why is it healed?”, Alithini.

“They heal faster than humans. Though their intelligence is somewhat sacrificed. Like they were programmed or something.”, Calloway.

Alithini anxiously inspect Jason’s capsule. Then he looks here and there with a disappointed look on his face.

“What’s wrong?”, Hristos.

“I am looking for my phone. Can’t find it since yesterday. Thought I might’ve dropped it here.”, Alithini.

“Oi Calloway have you found any phone here?”, asks Hristos shocked.

“Nope. All I found was some broken bot parts.”, Calloway.

“Hhh. I guess you lost it somewhere else.”, Hristos relieved.

“Possible”, Alithini.

After sometime everyone came back to the control room. “So what do you think will you join us?”, Hristos.

“It doesn’t hurt I guess”, Shilona.

“Then it’s settled. You guys can start from tomorrow.”, Hristos.

“Let’s head home. I am beat.”, Albedo.

All the kids leave the lab.

“Everything is going smoothly I hope it stays like this.”, Hristos.

“Like you can rely on your luck. Whatever. Let’s go for a drink.”, Calloway.

As the world carries on in its familiar rhythm, oblivious to the impending shift, Hristos and Calloway tread their customary paths, heedless of Jason's silent presence on the periphery. Meanwhile, within the chamber, Alithini's phone lies abandoned amidst discarded remnants.

                                                                   To be continued