011 – The One Where Everything Goes Wrong (Part 1/3)

A short while later the two got up and pulled their clothes back on, it was a bit of a problem figuring whose uniform belonged to whom, since the uniform everyone wore was identical, no matter the rank and the two of them were about the same size.

When they were done getting dressed, he picked up the book and his pocket watch and followed behind Mira to reach the transfer pods.

There were two different stations, one was for the ‘Marked’, basically all the people with authority in Dome Rose, and the other was for the first time transfers.

People like him, Cabear, Marcela and their fellow mates who they were raised with, but even of those people only a few would be allowed to transfer.

Only the top 1000 would be allowed to transfer and attempt to construct a terminal, as for the rest, first they would be required to have several children for the continuation of the race.

Then they would head of to become the Wiped, put simply once someone become one of the Wiped they would no longer be a drain on the resources.

It sounded cruel, but there was nothing that could be done about it, it was natures way for the Equinox.

It was probably every Equanoxian’s dream to break the cycle, but even the greatest minds in their history were unable to crack the secret to bringing in resources, or even a couple of crop seeds that weren’t completely useless.

Not even his father the great hero was able to achieve such a goal, which is exactly why that was the dream he held.

To one day be able to grow crops and raise a herd of livestock, it was a dream so crazy to his people that no one even believed it to be possible anymore.

That was why he vowed to one day make that dream come true, it was why everyone who knew him called him dreamer, it started with some of the teachers who were amused by his idea’s, and with time it spread, most people probably didn’t even know what his real name was.

But he liked it, in a weird way it made him feel like he had a chance to one day pull it off, he knew that it was silly, but he had to believe he could do it, otherwise no one else would even try.

After entering the bay for first time transfers he entered into a small room, there was a table with two cases on it and further back was the door to the transfer pod.

But Dalis’s eyes lingered on the case’s inside lay about 4kgs in components, the components required to build the terminal on the other side.

Each of those components required resources from the other side to be made, for there to be 4kgs it meant that originally there was 40 000kgs, and each person chosen to lay a terminal would receive those components.

Basically 40 000 000kgs in resources were invested for the terminals, that was the reason why so few people were chosen, only the very best were granted the opportunity, and of every batch of 1000, the dome would consider itself lucky if more than a dozen were successful.

All it took was a little bad luck with a person’s starting point and they would die.

Only first time transfers were able to set up a terminal, and only once in a person’s lifetime, the destination of the transfer was random, no one had the power to override the rules of the Dome not even the Chancellors.

If someone was lucky they would land on a simple subterranean world undergoing its second awakening, but that was rarely the case, some people would find themselves of fully developed worlds where infiltration was difficult, and in some case’s dead and barren worlds where the odds of survival was bleak.

Even the very best couldn’t survive in a world with no water or food.

Mira glanced into Dalis’s eye’s and noticed the uncertainty held within as he looked at the pod door, she gave him a reassuring smile, “I’m sure that you’ll make it back little Dreamer,” she said.

“In fact you might even return sooner than you think,” she said mysteriously.

“What do you mean?” he asked raising his brow.

“I’ll explain in a bit, but first I’ll explain the changes for your transfer,” Mira began and opened the first case.

Dalis frowned slightly when he saw the contents, there was supposed to be a stack of components, but all he saw were the dozen or so logic chips an energy harnesser and the biometric scanner.

Mira sighed and explained, “You know that it’s impossible for us to know how much of power your fathers book requires to transfer, so we cut down as much as we could to increase the odds of success.”

Dalis wasn’t too happy about it but he nodded in acceptance, at the very least it was meant to increase the odds of his survival.

“We might have skipped out on the parts, but we put together a complete manuscript with all the details to craft the simpler components,” Mira explained.

“That’s fine I don’t need it, you know I have a perfect memory, I’ve already looked through those manuscripts a hundred times, I could build all the components in my sleep,” he said, though he looked grumpy about it.

Mira smiled and reach out to the second case and carefully opened it, to reveal a thin vial of black fluid.

Dalis eye’s immediately shrunk and he stumbled over his feet as he tried to get as far away from the vial as possible, “Holy shit, Holy shi…” his mouthed started firing of one tic after another.

“Are you people fucking mad?!” he cursed as he backed up into a corner of the room trying to stay as far away from the vial as possible.

Mira sighed, “Relax little Dreamer, it’s perfectly safe…” she started to say.

But Dalis wasn’t having it, “Yeah right!” he shouted, “Maybe it’s safe for you cause you’re Fifth Accord, but I’m not even a measly level 1!” he shouted looking at the vial of corrupted energy like it was killing him just by being in its presence.

Mira let out an exasperated sigh and put it back in the case sealing it away, when she saw that Dalis stopped panicking she gave him a disapproving look.

“You know sometimes that big brain of yours really makes you an idiot,” she said with her hands on her hips, “You don’t think the chancellor would let me give that to you if it could harm you?!” she asked rhetorically.

“Better safe than sorry,” he said wiping the sweat from his head.

Mira rolled her eyes, “It will take prolonged exposure to kill a person,” she said and opened the pod door.

She took the two case’s and emptied the contents into two small compartments in the pod room, one compartment took all the components and the other the vial of corrupted energy, “When you hit level 10 all those things will appear in your inventory,” she said still giving him that disapproving look as she returned.

But Dalis didn’t care and quite frankly he was angry, “I take it the vial of corrupted energy is my ticket to return faster,” he mumbled bitterly.

Mira nodded, “Instead of going through the trouble of obtaining an energy core and waiting for it to charge up before you can activate the terminal, all you need to do is add in that vial once you build it,” she explained.

“Tsk,” Dalis clicked his tongue, “All of this unnecessary risk just because the Chancellors are impatient to learn about the contents of my book,” he said with resentment, they were the only ones who could authorise the usage of corrupted energy, and at least a dozen of the Chancellors had to agree to its use.

Mira’s face softened as she blinked her beautiful eyes at him, “You never miss a detail little Dreamer,” she said with admiration.

Dalis however looked glum as he walked past Mira and into the pod, “I’ll see you in a few years at most I guess,” he said looking at Mira with a strained smile as he tried not to let his nervousness show.

“Dreamer, you have to leave your watch,” she said looking at the object that reflected the purple light.

“What!?, Dalis cried out in outrage, “The rule’s say we are allowed one personal artefact,” he argued with clenched fists.

“Dreamer,” Mira said with her beautiful eyes softening, “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be,” she said extending her hand out.

Dalis looked down at the object he spent countless years putting together, the calculations required to make it accurate to the second took years of study and effort, not to mention his attempts to gather materials to put it together.

He looked at it with sullen eyes, knowing that it was pointless for him to resist, even if Mira liked him there was no way she would let him break the rules, especially since it was to protect him.

“Tsk,” he clicked his tongue and slowly extended his hand, when his hand met Mira’s he suddenly got an idea and smiled.

“I want you to have it,” he said looking her straight in the eyes as he slowly wrapped her long milky white fingers around it, taking as much time as could to prolong that last moment.

A smile crept up her face as she took it in her hands and held onto it like it was the most valuable item in the world, she knew how much the item meant to him.

“Oh, the Chancellor told me to pass on a message to you,” Mira said pulling back to the panel to initiate the transfer.

“No matter what you do, stay far away from any holy priest and holy priestess, if you so much as hear of one run in the opposite direction… he said it was a message from your father,” she said looking straight it his eyes that widened at the news.

He looked even more shaken up than when he saw the vial of corrupted energy, but after a while he nodded and smiled, he looked much more confident all of a sudden and stood with his back held straight.

Mira tapped the panel and the door to the pod started to close, “Who are we?” she asked as the door reached the halfway point.

“We are those who survived the edge,” Dalis said in reply, “We are the Equinox!” the door sealed shut.

[Transfer process commencing… 1%]