“Now you are ready to go to the centrifuge, I can only wish you the best of luck.”
After Wright heard those words, his whole body shivered. The next thing he knew after his health and body were already fine, he was brought to the G-force training site. Wright saw the long arm of the centrifuge and the place where someone controlled its entire being.
“Time flows fast, time flows fast…” Wright had one of a certain chant he used and only by himself. He got this when he comprehended that everything comes and goes relatively fast and so does time. When bad things happened to him, he just chanted this to remind him that everything flowed fast and before he knew it he already at the end and things were already done.
He took the first step and then slowly entered the single seated cabin. He sat there and looked around to see what things were available to him. At least, he had to fasten his seat belt and saw some of the small cameras at his side.
‘Let me see just how much G-force I can endure. At the very least, I should try my best to reach the force of 4.0 before passed out.’
Wright did not feel confident about his G-force endurance. After all, he had never felt a tremendous force to directly hit his body at all. That included to ride a rollercoaster, he also never rode that thing too and now Wright wished he had at least rode once.
“Begin the procedure. Let’s go with the lowest G-force of 1.0.” the controller then put in the number and the centrifuge started to move. The centrifuge moved increase in speed but for Wright, it looked like a car that had been stopped when the driver floor the pedals slowly.
He also saw the sign of the centrifuge and the force that impacted his body. The centrifuge spun and already at its first rotation as Wright felt rather calm because the feeling was like in the vehicle in his everyday life.
‘G-force at 1.0 sure is good but this is like an average speed in the car. For untrained nugget like me, sustaining a G-force of 4.0 is normal.’ Wright tried to calm himself. Someone inexperienced could experience GLOC (Gravity Induced Loss of Consciousness) when they were hit with the G-force of 4 to 4.5 at a short time.
‘The next time they increased the speed, I don’t know what will happen. Ugh, this is important okay. If you want to fly in the sky, you have to do this. Get the feeling, embedded it to the depth of my bones and soul then I can realize where should I improve myself.’ Wright placed his arm on his armchair and he used this moment to grab it with both arms.
“Increase it to 2 times of gravity force.” Wright heard someone instructing to increase the force he had to face.
Wright gulped, when he experienced this kind of force to his body was like a car in a relatively fast speed then the next G-force he had to endure was twice the current force. Wright knew that the force he had to endure was equal to riding a car with the highest speed in the world!
The feelings of pressure come from every part of his body made him hard to even lift his toe and finger. He was able but it was getting harder because the speed of the centrifuge increased steadily.
Wright already failed to perceive the voice of the person who ordered the increase of the speed and could only steel his will to face this. He wanted to fly in that sky where he could feel free rather than on the ground where he was restricted.
‘Come on! My finger should try to move often and my arm better prepares too. It’s harder to lift it now.’ Wright tried to do it, to move his limbs and with difficulties, he managed to do it.
‘Now that I think about it, the combination between virtual training and G-force training will be useful when I will go with the aircraft. But first I need to test where my limit is! Come at me!’
The speed increased further which made the blood that flowed to the head reduced and Wright had his vision limited. Although it was still clear the corner of his eyes started to darken and it spread to his overall vision.
‘Now my finger feels like a bag from the store with ingredients like eggs, spinach, many spices, etc. It gets heavier every second. Preserve…’ Wright felt a strong pressure, especially to his chest. He could feel its faint beat but also felt that his heart would burst.
The G-force he received finally hit the four times gravity and Wright finally saw what Tunnel Vision was. He could only see the circle which was the only vision he had. Outside of that circle was black, he was unable to see anything beyond that circle.
He nearly fainted due to the pressure alone but he gritted his teeth. At this moment, he was unable to lift his limbs anymore. He had never received any training so to be able to get at this point was good. Seeing that Wright still endured, the speed increased once again.
Wright had a lot of cold sweat flowing down as his consciousness started to leave his body. For Wright, it was just an endurance test and not even the actual flight so if he could endure the G-force of four times gravity, it meant that he could not even reach that limit in normal flight.
And the next thing he knew, he was already dragged away by some people.
“How much?” Wright mumbled. This test was prepared just for him. He did not know the specific reason but apparently, he was allowed to get it despite him being the last person in the entire branch to do it among all the cluster.
So Wright would return to his home as the first day of training started a week from the current day. And lastly, Wright wondered how much he could achieve the first time he experienced such pressure.
“Hey, he’s awake and more conscious now.” One of the men that carried him said.
“You endured the G-force of 5.0 before you directly fainted but it is possible that you can only endure the G-force four times gravity in flight.”
Wright then sounded his understanding. Then He was supported to stand and Wright regained his clarity as his body felt alive again.
“Thank you all for today. Sorry to disturb your day for me.” Wright had to apologize because he knew his own situation but everyone then just said something about not to worry about it.
-
“Hmm, strange. Someone might arrange this for me. Judging from the attitude of the whole staff that managed the test, I can see their little flattery occasionally. Just what is the reason?” Wright directly went back to his home because he overstayed for a night in the infirmary of the Militia Unit.
But he could not understand why people tried to be nice to him. This was true since he entered that Virtual Module and undergone a rough trial inside it. If one thing he should notice, it was that he entered the latest model of the module.
‘Wait, latest module…don’t tell me it is related.’ Wright had this assumption as the major reason but he just kept it to his mind.
His clothes were still the same one he wore when he visited the City Hall. The white clothes that turned yellow, a bag already tattered and his appearance that told everyone he was the epitome of a pauper.
He took a long way and time while enjoying the high construct of the tower in the city that could be described as scratching the cloud. Other than that, he saw some planes come and go above the peak of the towers.
After he realized it, he finally returned to that old looking house. His eyes stared widely this time because he could see the sign of the door unlocked and his sense of danger rose up.
‘Why did someone even bother to break into the house as bad as mine?’ Wright thought but he picked the piece of the shattered glass bottle and proceed to enter from the front door.
‘I swear that if the person who entered my house is not anything good, they would experience what pain truly is.’ Wright slowly opened the door, trying to make less noise as possible. But to his surprise, he could smell a fragrant aroma of freshly cooked food from the front door alone.
He walked slowly but steady, finding the lighting inside was turned on made him more alert. A shadow appeared from the dining room and Wright knew anyone who entered his house was there. And Wright did not dare to think this was the only person for safety.
The shadow came closer to the place where he stood. Wright already clenched his fist hard as the glass shard was positioned in the grip position. He wanted to lunge at the person when the person spoke.
“How come Wright is not here at this time of day? That John said Wright is still in an important matter but this is way too long for someone like him.” The voice was rather soft but in it was the concern as well as worry.
Wright already moved his body when he finally aware of the owner of such voice. His head screamed out loud, ‘Why is it you!? WHY!?’
Wright knew what would happen next. He crashed directly to the person, both of them fell down. What made Wright do some mishap was because he knew that person but did not expect her to be at his place.
Wright felt something warm and soft at his face. His eyes could not see it well but when he remembered the possibility, he instantly went up.
“Ugh…who is it that dare to intrude someone’s house?” Wright could see the figure of a young woman. She had her clothes rather revealing with her short skirt and shirt, her red hair that tied into a ponytail and her grumpy expression when she said that made Wright did not know whether to laugh or cry.
“Is that what you say to the very owner of that particular house? Here, let me help you up.” Wright, of course, feigned ignorance of what happened before by helping her to stand up. When she saw the person that caused her to fall was Wright, her beautiful brow raised a little and her eyes flashed with a bit of happiness.
“Wright! So you really lived here at this place.” The young woman smiled at him as Wright was in the middle of a struggle to tell her something.
“Yes, you can see it with your own eyes. Pretty bad for someone like me. But Cynthia, how did you enter my house? I remember not having any spare key anywhere.” Wright first wanted to know.
“Oh, that is because someone gave me this…” the red-haired young woman grabbed something and Wright’s gaze finally focused on the item. He wrinkled his brows when he realized that thing was so expensive because he saw it in the recent advertisement.
“Cynthia, you fully realized what that item in your hand is right?” Wright asked to make sure.
“Wright, this thing is given to me by someone that wanted to come to your house some time ago. I just finished preparing food for you because we have not met in a long time.” Cynthia said while dragging Wright to sit on the chair at the dining room.
At the table, Wright found out his favorite food. It was the simple but fragrant fried rice with slices of onion, a little chili, sausages, and vegetables in it. His stomach became noisy and his saliva excreted more as the smell invade his nose.
“I’m sorry for mistaking you for an intruder, and for not telling you about my condition,” Wright said while dazed at the warm fried rice in front of him.
The sentences that Wright had said made Cynthia reddened when she remembered their encounter a moment ago but she folded her arms beneath her bosom when Wright mentioned about not telling his condition to her.
“You, you better not do this kind of thing again. If not for those two people that knew about you, I will not find you this fast.”
Wright wrinkled his brows, he only knew that John was the only person that came to his house quite often so it was possible for him to tell the others but who was the other one. Anyone with John must surely someone trustable at least but Wright could not help but curious.
“Right, you mentioned someone that comes to my house. So one of them must be named John as he is the one who visits me quite often lately. I curious about the other person you mentioned, can you tell me?” Wright asked after gulping down his first spoon of the delicious fried rice.
“You don’t know?” Cynthia tilted her head, confusion appeared in her expression.
“What does that mean?” Wright ate the dish after asking that. The smell, the taste of the rice that already fried along with the spicy on the mouth made it more delicious.
“It is because she claimed that you have met her once. So I have a hunch that she is one of your colleagues.” But Wright noticed that Cynthia always placed her gaze on him. This made Wright felt unpleasant and stopped eating for the moment.
“Perhaps. And next week onward, I am in for the militia training so don’t look for me. If you still stare at me like that, I don’t know what I should do. Should I continue to eat or just talking?” Wright knew at least what Cynthia wanted to express.
“That lies on you, Wright. If it is delicious, you will keep eating anyway.” She just threw the reply back to Wright.
“Wright, I…don’t want you to make yourself difficult for the sake of the orphanage,” Cynthia said, lowering her gaze. She was unable to understand why Wright kept insisting on giving the orphanage the money he got from his allowance.
About the orphanage, it was the one that located in the city. It was also the place where Wright was raised until he was in the current condition. And that was also the case for Cynthia as well.
While Wright was looking for a better job and payment in the city, Cynthia became the one who managed that same orphanage. Both of them had their days hard but Wright made it even harder for himself for her and the orphanage.
“Oh, about that. Actually if possible, I truly wanted to give all of my allowances to the orphanage but if I don’t use it for myself even for a little, that will trouble other people.” Wright slightly smiled back when he raised his face and looked at how troubled Cynthia was.
“You should not do that! Why are you doing this? For whose sake? At least make it so you can consume something better.” Cynthia only knew what Wright had to eat when she occasionally asked about it to John.
‘Well, he eats instant noodles just like me. Or he sometimes buys the raw vegetables and ingredients but more often than that, Mister Wright picked his food from the trash bin.’
She still remembered each word John had said and it made her feel pain. Especially since this condition was because Wright had to search for a stable job and that was no easy. It was not only for him but also for the orphanage.
“Well, I don’t know anything else what should I do with my life. I only have a dream of flying in that same sky as that aircraft. Then I also owed the orphanage my life so those are the only thing that makes me move forward. But I don’t want to make others involve in my difficulties even though I strangely feel that I should keep going on living…” Wright felt hard to tell what was inside his heart.
He did not mind dying but he felt an urge to live, Wright was unable to tell what he wanted to do in his life other than to at least achieve his dream for once. That was perhaps his drive to keep his existence meaningful or it was because of his curiosity to at least finds the identity of his parents.
Wright did not know either. If fate allowed him to be able to meet him with his parent, he would gladly see it through to the very end and that also included if he was unable to do so. Besides that, he wanted to return the kindness that came from an orphanage in the same city that sheltered him.
“But you did just the exact opposite aren’t you? Dragging others indirectly to your problem. If you think that John is the only one that got dragged into your problem then you are wrong, Wright!” Cynthia looked at Wright, making Wright felt unpleasant.
“In the end, I realized it too late. Humans are social beings, their action will implicate others whether they want it or not. And that is why rather than doing nothing here, I might as well contribute something while trying to realize my dream as well.” Wright had a hunch that he somehow also made someone else worried.
“Sorry for doing this.” After Wright chewed some of his fried rice, he apologized. He did this because he saw a faint but strong sense of worry came from Cynthia. Especially when he stared directly into her eyes. He did not dare to think how much trouble he caused.
“It’s good that you know your own wrongdoings.” Cynthia went silent for a while before she sighed and opened her mouth. Then she remembered something and said, “Wright, isn’t it dangerous to be a part of militia unit? This arising conflict, this imminent war, will cost both sides casualties. I truly don’t want you to go.”
Wright just tasted the spicy coming from the fried rice he had chewed while listening. He did not know what to do in this situation. But this was his decision alone, no one could change it even if that person was his close friend.
“That is my decision. I thought about this many times and came with this result. As for the worst scenario, I already planned to sell this house so the money can be used for the orphanage. You can use that money well.”
Wright then wanted to take another spoon when he realized that the entire plate was now empty. He slowed down his chewing process, not wanting to lose the taste of the last fried rice.
“What do you mean by that? This place is yours, I don’t want you to give everything you have. Also, I don’t want you to actually join the militia unit.” Cynthia emotionally said, Wright even noticed that her tone was raised by several degrees.
“That is in the worst scenario, don’t worry so much. At least, I don’t even plan to die before I clear my debt first. Speaking about my decision, the only thing I dislike is about that centrifuge.” Wright took a glass and filled it with water, he drank steadily. Only after that, he said such things. Then without giving any chance to Cynthia, Wright started to speak about his experience in the training.
“That centrifuge is fast and the pressure I have to experience, it felt like the world is pressuring your entire body…” Wright then described his first-hand experience inside that centrifuge. Cynthia knew what Wright had done and helplessly sighed. But of course, she gladly listened and wondered what Wright experience during that moment.
Wright also told Cynthia in a proud manner that he used the latest Virtual Module from Longen Multinational Corporation, that there was nutritional fluid for the user and he could choose its taste. But then he also told Cynthia about seeing the man with a glasses happily waved at him before he entered the module.
“Cynthia, did you know anyone from Longen Multinational Corporation called Callahan?” Wright asked in curiosity.
“Oh, him…wait a moment. Wright, did you meet him there?” Cynthia enthusiastically asked. Wright felt like something was wrong with how she became so much excited upon hearing it.
Wright admitted. As a matter of fact, his condition after doing the simulation was better than before. He had a hunch that Callahan was the one who arranged all of this for him. But sadly he did not know much about important people in the corporations. But at the least, he knew some important people in the world.
“Callahan Straight, a specialist in the Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence Development affiliated to Longen Multinational Corporation. He is the one that developed our main air force aircraft, CS-12 Crow.” Cynthia said it as a matter of fact.
“He is the person who develops that plane?” Wright was hit by a surprise. CS-12 Crow, a single engine, a single seated fighter that he used during the simulation. Its body was rather long but the wingspan was not wide, you could even call it rather narrow. The fighter emphasized mobility and the one with the greatest fuel efficiency among the others. But this sacrificed its payload as it could only carry less weapon than any standard fighter jets.
“Although that is true at the final phase, he resigned himself and changed his specialty. Few people know about this because this is not released to the media and only the announcement from the official site confirmed this.” Cynthia explained the things which made Wright astonished both by the content and the one who said it.
“Then how did you know about this? If this information only comes from the official website then only a few people truly know about this. Not even I know that the person I meet was actually the same.” Wright did not know how he should do if one day he faced that man again.
“Well, about that…I think if you want to know about more things related to your profession then you can ask Tanasha.”
Wright had the expression of confusion, his face literally said who that was. He did not remember having another female friend thus far, John also did not introduce her to him so Wright was left with only one question: “Who is she? What’s her job?”
“Eh? You don’t know, she is working in the administration of the City Hall.” When Cynthia confirmed it, Wright let out a confused scream. But then a loud bang vibrated throughout the room, Wright turned silent instantly.
It was actually Cynthia that slammed her hand on the table, her eyes narrowed and locked directly to Wright’s eyes.
“Then before I leave, you have to promise me one thing!” Cynthia said while her voice became cold and Wright felt that this was quite severe.
“What is it? From your serious tone, this will not be easy but as long as it is within my abilities then fine with me.” Wright just wanted to ease the situation. He did not want to worry Cynthia too much as she also had her job at the orphanage.
“Never eat food from the trashes left by people again!!”
Wright almost jumped out of scare. His eyes unconsciously did not want to meet with hers. He also understood that the dish he enjoyed a moment ago was actually her form of concern and now that he ate all of it, Wright could not do anything but sighed in a low voice.
“Alright, I won’t do it again.” Wright pulled out his pinky finger and gestured to Cynthia. She also imitated Wright and their finger entwined. Cynthia let out a charming smile while Wright returned that with his own, grateful smile.
That was the end of their surprising encounter. Wright was surprised to find out that John knew about Tanasha after he contacted him. He also tried to call for her number and he received the answer.
“For everything you did so far, I don’t know how to thank you enough.” Wright used his smartphone to call Tanasha. He humbled himself because Tanasha was the rare people that wanted to do something for someone like him at their current relationship.
“You don’t need to do this. I have my own reason for doing this.” At the other end of the call, Tanasha shook her head in amusement. She just did not expect Wright to call for her after knowing all of that and this made her certain of some trait Wright had.
And indeed she not only did all of that just for helping, but she also had her own reason and plan for that. A little excitement on her face already made her an attraction of its own for the people who saw her.
“Is that so? Well, since John trusted you then I will place my trust too to you.” Wright then decided to trust the people John had given his trust to.
After settled everything, Wright had to send Cynthia back to the orphanage and it was already night when Wright came back to his home.