A lone silhouette of a man stood in midair on top of a massive rectangular structure. As he scanned the cityscape before him, his gaze was drawn to a multicolored streak stretching out from the cube he stood upon.
“Let’s travel along this road, it seems like a good place to start.” The AI within his head spoke.
The figure descended from the station to fly directly above the main road; upon closer inspection, he could see the source of the road’s strange composition. Multicolored objects of all shapes and sizes moved across lanes too many to count.
Cars and trucks, was Rene’s first thought, whatever they were called in this world, they were certainly transport vehicles of some kind.
In contrast of the mosaic-like monotonous black and grey rooftops of nearby buildings, these vehicles carried striking colors; while there was the occasional black and grey, shades of viridian green, mellow yellow, orchid pink, amongst others unioned to form a chaotic rainbow more dazzling and large than Rene had ever seen.
Now that he was closer, the suspended trail of metal he saw from the top of the station could be confirmed to be a skytrain. The black dots he saw from a distance translated to tram cars with people inside. It moved at incredible speeds compared to the rainbow road, whose vehicles appeared to be currently experiencing a traffic jam.
Rene turned to the AI within his head and asked, Where are we going? Do you have a destination in mind?
A slightly metallic scoff tinged his ears. “Pfffft, I wish. Our sensors in space were never able to see through the atmosphere, and with my onboard sensors being clogged by some invisible gunk, I’m just as clueless about the surface as you are during your college exams.” After a light chuckle, the AI continued. “Fret not, new recruit! We have our protocols to rely on!”
Oh? Protocols? A faint smile traced over Rene’s face. It was finally time to fire back at the snarky machine.
Aren’t I supposed to learn of them before I get sent to a mission exploring some alien planet?
He slowly shook his head for dramatic effect.
Now that I think of it, I was supposed to read the briefing too! I wonder why I was never given this information beforehand?
“Hehe…heh…”, the metallic laughter didn’t hide its nervous undertone as it trailed off into silence. Rene’s grin grew wider as he dunked on his robotic opponent. Were AI this advanced programmed to feel embarrassment? Oh—how he would bask in her simulated shame.
Soon enough, the time had arrived, her response came. “Uh, It couldn’t be helped… You were the only operative available, and sooo– um, there were also some time constraint issues…”
His smile froze.
I was sent on a mission because there was no one else?
His once snarky companion offered him no recourse as she remained silent. There was no winning. He had lost from the moment he joined.
The light in his pupils disappeared.
I was sent on a mission because there was no one else…
What kind of ‘powerful’ ‘shadow organization’ is so lacking in manpower they have to send out someone who just joined! With a defective assistant AI as well? The image he had formed of this 'mysterious', 'high specced', 'elite' organization that recruited him collapsed instantly. Had he fallen to some cosmic scam? Some universal pyramid scheme? The robotic bird that delivered the letter should have tipped him off.
Where were the others? Did they all leave? Why did he accept their invitation so easily? He should have stayed in school…
“H-hey– Hey!” The pest in his mind squeaked.
I was halfway done with my master’s degree… I could have gotten a good job…
“O-oi, oi. Focus on the task at hand! The contract you signed is non-retractable, remember?” The AI steadied her tone as she gave a devious chuckle. “Hehe, that’s right, you’ll be stuck with us until the terms expire. Now, listen to me explain the protocols before I–”
Oh– right, it’s non-retractable.
Rene looked down at the multicolored road that they were currently flying over. He could also see the rooftops of the nearby buildings, upon closer inspection, the roofs of the brutalist buildings here weren’t perfectly flat like he had previously thought. They slightly bulged outwards, most likely to ward against the build-up of rain.
At this height—it should be painless right?
“F-f-focus—! FOCUS RENE!!” The AI desperately tried to change the subject, “T-the protocols specify that if an intelligent species holding knowledge of possible interest is discovered, we are to obtain this knowledge in a secretive manner, and through means of non-interference.”
“Our protocols are vast and many, their subsections contain procedures accounting for worlds of all environments and species at all technological levels. This world, despite its peculiarity, is also not exempt.”
The despirited man weakly nodded in response.
“To obtain their knowledge, we’ll have to decipher their language first. From what I gathered at the train station, it seems that their mouths aren’t just for eating. The people communicate through sound, and not through gestures or pheromones or the other freaky methods.”
“This makes things a bit easier for us, since it means there should also be a written language accompanying the spoken one. Either way, we’re gonna want to decipher both if we–”
Why? Do you plan to poach someone from this planet too?
Rene’s was ignored.
“For us to decipher the spoken language, all we have to do is find a place with a large gathering of people and plant a recording device. Depending on how many people there are and how many people are talking, the device will be able to decipher the language within a week.”
“Knowledge will also have to be passed down from older to newer generations through external methods. Earth had its schools and libraries, this civilization likely has something similar.”
“If we plant a scanner inside one of these places, we can also decipher the written language, and perhaps even obtain some knowledge regarding their scientific system too. Of course, the quantity and quality of which would depend on what building we plant our recorder in.”
“As always, minimal interference remains the number one priority, the level of activity should be assessed in accordance to risk of being discovered, for the reasons that we are a Prestigeful, Well-Established, and Ethical establishment.”
For some reason, the AI emphasized certain words as she spoke her last line.
Rene pretended to ignore that part, he looked onwards at the rainbow road that still ran on.
What a large city.
“Nothing of interest so far, hmm.. if this monotonous background doesn’t change, our only choice would be to activate x-ray vision and backtrack.”
Just as she spoke, the cityscape changed before their eyes. The wide highway they were following narrowed and split off into smaller, winding roads, like a river branching into tributaries. The architecture now took on a more—‘classical’ appearance; as if this section of the city had been transported straight out of Victorian England.
The grey and black cityscape vanished and was replaced by one of resplendent colors. The buildings seemed to huddle close together as they lost their stark, rectangular shapes.
The buildings became adorned with ornate details, such as pointed arches, ornamental brickwork, and elaborate gables. Their roofs were adorned with intricate patterns of tiles and the windows were framed with intricate carvings. The smooth road became cobbled, the straight streets gained curves.
"In the distance, a river (a literal one of water) flowed, with bridges spanning its expanse. The sudden change in architecture was a strange sight, as if the city had been split in two, with one half resembling a modern metropolis and the other resembling a quaint, Victorian town. This change happened instantly, and from above one could easily spot the ramrod straight seam indicating where the transition happened; the two styles merged like oil and water.
“Oh, how lovely,” The voice commented on the pleasant changes in scenery,
Rene’s flying speed grinded to a halt, he guessed that the passenger in his head was examining this 'other' city just as he was.
“Where to start…” The AI mused, before falling silent.
A bad premonition flowed over Rene, but after a while, nothing happened. They were both victims of this organization, perhaps he looked upon the AI too harshly?
Upon being given a moment of peace and silence, Rene began to admire the beauty of this new city beneath him.He noticed the subtle things, like the strange chirps and tweets that surrounded him in a soothing, hypnotic cacophony. The clouds, which had initially seemed identical to those on Earth, revealed their true nature: Rene could now see the faint streaks of aquamarine that dashed playfully along their soft exteriors, in stark contrast to the darker shade of blue in the sky. The river in the distance resembled a–
“There.”
A man’s face filled Rene’s vision to replace the previous scene of tranquility.
With a yelp, he leaped backwards, losing his balance as his ass met with the cobblestone ground. The birds, the clouds, they had all disappeared, replaced with a man who slowly walked towards Rene with unfocused eyes.
Shuffling backwards on all fours, Rene was flooded with absolute terror as the man continued forwards unabated steps. Seeing that the man had no intention of stopping, Rene scrambled to his feet and jumped out of the stranger’s path. The latter strolled onwards without, walking past without any notion of turning his head.
“Oops.” That bloody voice, one which narrated nightmares in her free times, once again announced her existence by bringing upon severe mental distress upon Rene’s psyche.
“My bad my bad,” The AI’s apology carried hints of all emotions apart from guilt. “I had intended to translocate to the space above this marketplace, but it seems that triangulating 12 kilometers accurately is the limit when only using the parallax between your eyes.”
Examining his surroundings, he was currently in an outdoor marketplace. A large, circular plaza with a magnificent water fountain at its center, and all around him, rows of stalls stretched out in every direction; their colorful awnings and banners drawing the eye. The traders at each stall called out to the wandering passersby, trying to entice them with their wares. Rene noticed strange scribbles on many of the stalls, which he guessed were the written language of this place. The scribbles were displayed on poster boards and tents in great, bold lettering, the letters appearing to be hurried and scrawled. The atmosphere was alive with noise and energy, the constant chatter and haggling of the traders and customers filling the air.
Placing a hand on his chest, he desperately tried to calm his racing heart to no avail, not with a psycho stuck in his brain.
“I understand now—the reason why I was paired up with you.” Rene, who was at his wits end, spoke out loud to himself, no doubt the parasite in his brain was listening.
“You’re an assistant AI, no? But who were you assisting before I arrived? Those poor other members… They must have gone through what I’m going through right now.” Rene's voice slowly rose in volume, despite this, the crowds of people walking around went about their ways without notice of the crazed person yelling at himself.
“Of course, they had the wisdom to not make the same mistake again—but ah, I’m the new recruit, I don’t know your history and my preferences matter the least, that’s why I was assigned to you, since you’re an assistant no one else wants!”
Only after he was finished did Rene realize what he had said. Ah, he had gone off and done it now, pissing off the being that was currently controlling his body. Maybe if he apologize–
“Y-you don’t mean what you said.” A tear-laden voice whispered in his head.
What’s this? She’s hurt by my words? Rene’s brows furrowed in response to this awkward development.
I suppose I did go a bit far, but everything I said–
“Y-y-you don’t mean what y-you said.” The trembling voice spoke again, stuttering over her words almost as if she was choking on tears.
If AI could cry, Rene was probably witnessing one do so now, and he was the cause.
Hey—Saffry, hey, I’m sorry okay? I said everything in the heat of the moment, I apologize for my hurtful words and–
“S–sa-say yo-”
*Sniff*
“Y-you don’t mean it–” If it wasn’t obvious before, Saffry was certainly crying now, she spoke through the ‘tears’, her voice cracking and pausing as she struggled to get the words out.
Apparently she wanted to hear that Rene didn’t mean what he said, but he really di–
These circumstances were completely unfair! How was he able to control his thoughts? They ran rampant and free through his head, anything he didn’t want to think about he was already thinking of! Unless he believed his own lies, lying was impossible as well.
Saffry—Saffry, the things I’ve said were based on plenty of assumptions. You should know better than anyone that I have no idea what the other members are like or what your relationship to them is. Everything I said, I just guessed! Whatever I feel about you doesn’t matter—I’m just a dumb new recruit. You should only care about what the other members have to say.
Saffry?
Hey, Saffry?
Saffry, you there?
The parasite known as Saffry appeared to have died, leaving her host to awkwardly stand in the plaza as the customers of the market walked past him.
No… Her strange silence prompted Rene to be filled with thoughts.
Could it be?... That I guess right?
“I-I’m sorry.” Saffry’s resurrection broke Rene out of his thinking. Did she just apologize? It sounded genuine this time too.
“I-I’ll m-make it up to you o-okay? Once we finish I-I’ll take you to the most beautiful place in the universe.”
The most beautiful place in the universe? She was offering something that he actually wanted to see?
“D-do you forgive me?”
Rene sighed, he wasn’t so petty to hold a grudge for something as little as a jump-scare, besides, the make-up gift was pretty great.
Yes, I forgive you.
“Wonderful!” Saffry exclaimed, any and all hints of her previous tone had been wiped, as if her entire performance was an act.
Rene immediately regret forgiving her.
With that concluded, he placed his attention on where Saffry had teleported him.
An outdoor market full of people talking, I guess this is the first stop.
“Yup!”
Rene felt his body jerk suddenly as he found himself floating next to the 4 meter tall water fountain. He managed to hide his reaction however, admittedly, he was getting used to Saffry’s shenanigans.
He noticed a strange sensation emanating from his palm and glanced towards it. There, a small ball-like object slowly coalesced from the ‘flesh’ of his hand. It was about the size of a marble, silver in color, and it shone with a metallic sheen. Once fully formed, it gently floated atop his palm like a graceful little planet.
This is?
“An audio recorder,” Saffry replied. “Push your palm towards the top of the fountain.”
He did as he was told, the silver marble left his palm and slowly flew to accurately hit the tip of the fountain. Contrary to Rene’s expectations, it melded with the fountain, like a water droplet falling into a lake. The marble completely disappeared from Rene’s vision, leaving the fountain no different from before.
“That recorder will record everything spoken in a 500 meter radius, if the fountain were suddenly destroyed, the recorder would also vanish with the wind, leaving no hint that it was planted by us. Pretty cool, ain’t it?”
Woah..
Rene expressed his astonishment in the technology, which, now that he thought about it, was still less impressive than teleportation. Unfortunately, the way Saffry had presented it completely ruined the moment for him.
“Now, onto the next location.”
“Uh, we’re here, you can open your eyes now.” Saffry’s assurance did nothing to comfort him.
Fully expecting another jumpscare, Rene slowly unclamped his eyelids. To his surprise, there wasn't another pair of eyes in front of him.
A large indoor amphitheater-like space filled his vision. Hundreds of people sat on seats that ascended in a concave pattern, everyone was positioned so that they would be able to see the figure in the center. In the center, an intimidating looking man wearing a suit faced the crowd holding a long stick.
He found himself at the very back of this ‘lecture hall’. Feeling his palm tingle, Rene looked to discover another silver ball coalescing.
It doesn't look different to the last one, is this another recorder?
“Nope, this is a camera.”
Rene looked around, there were plenty of people constantly writing into their notebooks.
For deciphering the written language?
“Nope again, that’s our next stop.” Saffry’s gleeful tone in correcting Rene which pissed him off a little.
“I was lucky enough to find a location in which our organization classifies as a ‘medium’. Depending on how successful our deciphering efforts are, there may be some uncertainty in linking each spoken word to each written word. A 'medium' makes the linking process much simpler.”
As Rene was about to ask some more, Saffry cut him off. "Keep watching," the AI instructed.
He did as he was told. Rene focused on the man in the suit, who looked rather important as everyone in the lecture hall was paying close attention to him. After speaking a few words that Rene couldn't understand, the man turned his back and used his stick to trace some strange red circles on the walls behind him. The crowd of students reacted promptly, frantically scribbling in their notebooks.
“Most of what the students write has some intrinsic connection to what that guy in the suit said. We can use this information to deduce what the respective written word is for each spoken word, up to even their pronunciation.”
Impressive, was he finally witnessing the professionalism of the organization he had joined?
The silver marble in his hand flew out to the center of the room and disappeared into the ceiling.
“And last, written language.”
Rene’s vision shifted again, he was now outside, on the perron leading up to a luxurious building. The venerable structure, opulent and imperial, towered over the surrounding houses with its dark, expansive walls, and a colonnade of rectangular pillars. It was six stories tall, with each of its floors distinctly separated by a silver trimming on its exterior. Its base took up an entire city block, but each increasing floor decreased in size, so that from a distance the building resembled a blocky pyramid. It had windows as well, rectangular in shape, bearing a slight dark tint, and appearing at equal intervals; they allowed Rene to glance at the shelves within. Finally, a great round dome rested on the tip of the building, it was smooth like a mirror and completely dark in color, that is, if one discounts the silver trim that lacquered its surface.
For a moment, Rene thought he had been transported to the brutalist portion of the city, but an inspection of his surroundings confirmed that he was still in its latter half.
“Well? Go on, start walking! I can’t control every feature of your body!” Saffry's petulant voice interrupted his thoughts.
The foolish AI immediately relinquished all of her control over him, Rene nearly fell over as his legs became jelly and his spine turned to mush.
B-bloody hell Saffry.
The video game cutscene had suddenly ended while the player was still eating popcorn, he barely managed to stay upright as it took every ounce of strength to prevent himself from face planting the floor.
Now in control of his body, Rene scoffed and began walking up the steps. This was apparently a very popular structure, the perron was filled with people as they rushed to and fro. This didn’t hinder Rene however, he soon discovered that his body would phase through them upon contact as if he were a ghost. He made it to the top of the steps unheeded.
Compared to when he was in the market in which he was too flustered to analyze his surroundings, and inside the lecture hall, in which he was at the back, this was the first time Rene had really gotten a closer look at the planet’s inhabitants.
As he walked, Rene observed the people around him, some wore luxurious suit-like apparel, others bared clothing with visible tatters. Some walked in a formal military-like fashion and were clearly well groomed, others didn’t care about their appearance. They wore predominantly black or grey clothing, but other colors like red or blue weren’t rare. This building was related to a great deal of diversity, the young and old, the rich and poor. Some of them held book-like objects, while some others held these thick disks the size of records.
Out of the people Rene could see walking about, nearly all of them had abyss-like black pupils, pale white skin, and light blond hair. They reminded Rene of the Euro-Americans on earth, only their pitch black eyes differed from the stereotypical ‘white person’ look.
These ‘white people’ consisted of around 80% of the people which filled Rene’s vision; 20% of the people had curly black hair and dark brown skin.
Rene once again compared them to the races Earth, finding they were most analogous to the earthlings with African ancestry. The dark skinned people of this planet differed once again in the eyes. They carried bright, golden pupils that shone with a dim yellow glow.
Many of these ‘Africans’ wore strange glasses-like apparel over their eyes, this was the last clue for Rene to realize something.
Their dark skin despite the low light environment, the possible reasons for why they wore glasses, the railways, which stretched towards the white wall…
Did these dark-skinned folk originate in the white sector?
“Possibly. But making these conjectures is pointless! We’ll find out everything after we plant the recorders and harvest these seeds of knowledge! Go! Go! Go!” Rene instinctively wanted to cover his ears to block out the obnoxious screeching, but he knew that only death may truly bring him peace.
Ignoring Saffry, which reminded him of a petulant child, this was a rather surreal experience for him. Apart from the eyes and hair, Rene walked among a crowd which was near indistinguishable from the people on Earth. Yet, this was clearly not Earth, but another planet—
“4 billion light years away.”
Another planet 4 billion light years away. Every single one of them that surrounded Rene was an alien.
He sighed, the human-like appearance of the aliens had fooled him into thinking he was still on earth, but he really was reacting too casually to this. Even a trace of extraterrestrial life would have driven every scientist on Earth wild, but here he was, not only knowing what life outside of Earth looked like, but also walking in an alien city on an alien planet.
A translucent black gate blocked his path; he now stood at the entrance of the building.
What is this place? Why not just teleport inside?
"Heh, it's only been a few steps and you're already tired?" Saffry replied with a hint of amusement.
Rene: “>:(“
“Err– sorry.” Saffry said, filling Rene with a glimmer of hope for the future of their partnership. His expectations for her had been so low that even a casual apology was cause for celebration.
She continued. ”This place, like the others we visited, is also a prime location for knowledge, of the written variety in particular.”
"This place, like the others we visited, is a prime location for knowledge, particularly of the written variety," Saffry continued. "You saw those shelves inside, right? Combined with the fact that such a diverse range of people are coming and going, this place is probably some kind of bureaucratic building or a public library. Either way, it's sure to hold a lot of information that we're interested in."
"And as for your second question, 'Why not teleport inside'..."
“It’s because we are an organization sworn to secrecy.” Saffry’s sarcastic tone shifted into a rare, solemn one. Each of her words were uttered slowly; enunciated in such a way so that there was zero possibility of her intentions being misconstrued.
Huh? How does this relate to—
“Rene, listen very closely.” Saffry spoke as if she had been possessed by someone else. Rene immediately paid close attention.
“We are an organization that is sworn to secrecy.”
“Under no conditions”
“Are we to reveal our existence.” The vocals of the people surrounding Rene seemed to die out, her words echoed in his empty conscience.
Rene shivered slightly from this sudden change in his assistant. What happened? Did he say something wrong?
After a moment of silence, Rene carefully asked:
“May I ask why?”
Despite being outdoors, the tense atmosphere Saffry created was suffocating.
“Hahahaha… uh… it’s all written in the protocols.” The suspense in the air instantly shattered as Saffry nervously laughed.
“...”
“Sorry ‘bout that, I get all serious when I talk about maintaining secrecy, it’s a part of my core programming you see…”
“Ahem, let's talk about teleportation. Teleportation, believe it or not, isn’t the most subtle way of transportation. It influences the surroundings, we’re literally ripping apart the fabric of space-time and forcibly stitching it back together.”
Rene recalled they arrived on this planet: through some funky sci-fi space-time rift. It did indeed look quite violent, not at all fitting for an organization that valued secrecy.
“At least for short ranged teleports, we’ve greatly minimized how much disturbance they cause. But they still operate on the same basic principle of tearing and stitching space, so they're still detectable to some extent.”
“What worries me is that the density of strange matter emanating from this building is very high, even higher than inside the train station. We still don’t know what this stuff is capable of, but simply based on the luxurious appearance of this building, as well as the features I mentioned earlier, we can deduce that the natives have placed great importance upon whatever’s inside this place.”
“Naturally, I’m also assuming there exists certain knowledge the building’s creators would like to exclude from certain people. Do you see what I’m getting at?”
Oh no… will we be discovered though some means you don’t understand? Rene sarcastically mocked this grandiose secret organization.
Wait, was this something he could joke about?
“Oi oi, have some trust in our stealth tech! I personally worked very hard on it! I’m simply acting in regards to the risk level, adhering to the protocols like a proper, totally non-defective AI! As you enter, just walk… carefully… we'll keep a low profile and use as few abilities as possible.”
Rene nodded as he followed Saffry’s orders. By walking closely behind a stranger, he slipped into the building without having to open the door.
The foyer was just as grand as the exterior, with a white floor adorned with an exquisite pattern and a white ceiling contrasting with the matte black walls.
Once inside, Rene found himself waiting in a line, squeezed between the narrow gap of the person he followed and the next person in line; The trail of people all waited before a shiny black door with lettering on it that Rene couldn't read.
On his right was a translucent barrier. On his right was a translucent barrier, through which Rene could see people walking out of the building.
Likely the exit.
There was no door blocking people from exiting like the one in the entrance; but he didn’t go back outside and enter through that way, this place surely had some mysterious method that forced people to use this tiresome entrance.
The first person in line was a blonde headed lady, she stuck out their index finger and pressed it onto a protrusion coming out of the wall right of the door. From there, she drew a red, vertical line. The line she drew immediately disappeared as there was a loud beep and the writing above the door began to glow. The door itself gave a soft hiss as it slid open, revealing a small, cramped space not much larger than a lift.
The woman in line stepped inside, and the door closed behind her with a soft clunk. Rene watched as the process repeated itself, each person in turn approaching the protrusion and drawing their own red line before disappearing into the mysterious room.
“An airlock system? In order to detect if more than one person tried to enter at once? Uhh, we should be fine, the density of the strange matter isn’t that high yet.”
This definitely eased his worries, he held absolute trust in Saffry’s every word after all. He also didn’t roll his eyes inwardly at Saffry’s complete lack of confidence.
Eventually, it was Rene’s turn, or more specifically, the line got to the man in front of him. As the blonde man drew his red line and entered, Rene followed closely behind him into the black room. Once the door closed behind him, Rene braced for the worst, but to his surprise, nothing in particular happened. The second door in front of the blonde man opened as the true inside of the building revealed itself.
As he stepped inside, Rene was amazed by the sheer size of the place. It was like entering a giant warehouse with a low ceiling; rows upon rows of shelves stretched out disappeared into an endless expanse. The air was filled with the sound of people talking and the rustle of paper as they browsed the shelves.
To his right, Rene saw a large circular reception desk, where workers in formal suits were answering questions and helping visitors. And to his left, he saw people exiting the building, returning the books and disks they had borrowed and repeating the process of drawing a red line on a protrusion.
As he looked around, Rene saw two types of shelves. Some held rows of colorful books, just like the ones he was used to seeing on Earth. Others held thick, disk-shaped records, each one encased in its own protective cover.
People were scattered throughout the library, some seated at designated areas and others sprawled out on the ground between the shelves. Some were bent over desks, scribbling notes or flipping through books, while others chatted happily with each other in comfortable chairs.
“Hmm, it seems that the strange matter density isn’t equally distributed amongst the inside of this building. Instead, it rises dramatically with each higher floor. Try to find the entrance to the second floor, let's try to probe exactly how dense the strange matter there is.” Saffry noted.
As Rene wandered through the maze of shelves, he noticed a drawing on the wall that seemed to be a map of the library. It was dotted with strange icons, which Rene guessed marked different locations of interest. Following one of the icons that he suspected marked the entrance to the second floor, he eventually came across a black door.
He waited for someone to use it, and eventually someone did. The person, a child, didn’t even draw their red line, the door just opened automatically.
Expecting a flight of stairs, Rene peered inside. Nope, it was a public restroom. The horrid smell assaulted his nostrils as he immediately turned around to go towards the next marked location.
“Hehe, you should’ve known we were at the periphery of the first floor, why would there be stairs here? The second floor wasn’t even above you.”
How nice of her, sweet little Saffry was giving him advice. Following her words, he changed his destination to a marked location near the center of the building. This time, Rene was lucky to find someone drawing their red line. He followed them inside and climbed up the rectangular stairwell to the second floor.
Rene noticed that the second floor was a lot quieter and smaller than the first. He could see the opposite end of the building from where he stood. When he approached the reception desk, the workers there spoke in hushed tones so as not to disturb the peaceful atmosphere.
“The increase in strange matter density appears to rise logarithmically with each increasing floor, we should be able to go up one more floor without adverse effects.”
“Walk around to the other side of this square pillar, the entrance for the third floor should be there.”
The stairwell Rene had just walked up from was encased by a giant, black, rectangular pillar. Following Saffry’s instructions, he did indeed encounter another black door. After waiting for quite a while before someone finally stepped up to draw their red line; he succeeded in sneaking in behind them and was greeted with the third floor.
The third floor was as quiet as it was lonely, Rene could barely spot anyone here. It was also much smaller compared to the second floor. If the first floor was a warehouse, then the second one was a smaller warehouse, and the third, an even smaller warehouse.
There was another reception desk in front of him, but only a lone old man reading a book sat behind it this time.
“Let's stop here, the density here is approaching that of the station’s.”
Rene suddenly found himself gently floating above the ground. Ah, it would seem that Saffry had stolen his body again.
“Oh nice, it seems like using your abilities here doesn't trigger anything.”
Wait, you activated flight without knowing what would happen?
A sensation arose in his mouth, his jaw tightened and his lips pursed. “It was within my risk level…” An arm of his also reached for his cheek, scratching it.
You– You–
He couldn’t believe it, the bloody AI was displaying her embarrassment using his body. This shamelessness was beyond measure.
Get your own body…
“Alright– Alright! Here! I relinquish control of everything above your waist. I still need to control your lower half since you’ll crash and burn when attempting to fly.”
The thought of the lower half of his body being controlled by someone else was uncomfortable to say the least.
Why do we need to fly?
“So can we move faster, duh. Most beautiful place in the universe remember? ”
Can’t argue with that.
With that thought, Saffry took action, controlling Rene’s lower half to zip by to a corner of the room.
Another sensation appeared in his palm, Rene looked to find another silver marble. Before he could ask, Saffry answered, “This one’s different from the last two.”
The marble. flew away from his palm and gently floated to the top corner of a bookshelf he was facing.
Suddenly, an array of blue light rays shot out from the ball and scattered across the spine of a book. After a while, the blue light stopped as the ball moved on to the next book and repeated the same process.
“Only you can see it, it’s invisible to others.” The seldom helpful Saffry surprised Rene by resolving two questions before he even asked.
“This scanner will record all the literature from the third floor down to the first. Once we obtain enough preliminary knowledge, we’ll find out if it's safe to explore the further floors,” she explained.
Impressive, perhaps if they kept showing off all this cool tech to him, he would no longer have any doubts about joining.
Is that everything? Are we finished?
“Yup! We’ll come back after a week or so to collect the recorders, but you did well for your first mission!”
I didn’t really do anything though…
“Well, it’s because I had very low expectations to begin with.”
Rene’s lips lengthened a straight line.
I guess it really does take one to know one. Where are we going next?
“The place I promised to take you: The most beautiful place in the universe!”
