GOD FORMULA

09 Friendship Affirmed~

Jack's communicator buzzed, puncturing the tension.

He set his notepad on the table and glanced at the message. The text seemed to amuse him.

"Mr. Lee. I am satisfied with your answers," he said, uncrossing his legs and rising to his feet. "Let's go and see Mr. Shepherd. It seems he has woken up." 

Piper's throat had dried up when Providence was mentioned. He was half-convinced that he would be disposed of. The authorities would pronounce him dead in the train attack.

"Uh... umm... Wow. That's great news."

The Asst. Director pressed a button on his communicator, and a virtual screen popped up. He tapped and swiped swiftly. 

Crackle!

The entire room lit up as the laser-diode bulb brightened up.

"Damn! I missed the light. But isn't laser-diode archaic? I've only seen these in the colonies. Wait! Are we in the colonies right now?"

"You are correct about the technology being primitive."

Jack offered no further explanation as they approached the door.

"I thought you were going to get rid of me," Piper remarked, almost whispering. "Considering all the... Umm... things I witnessed."

With his back to the cyborg, Jack turned his head so that Piper could see the glint in his spectacles. "You're not out of the woods yet, kid. Don't get cocky."

Piper gulped nervously. The Asst. Director had an intimidating presence. From the moment Jack had entered the room, the boy had not felt safe even for a second. 

He had consumed quite the number of blogs about Providence being responsible for mysterious disappearances and deaths. Such morbid thoughts were at the forefront of his mind.

Was Jack really a scientist? If not, what was the deal with the lab coat?

Woosh!

The door slid open, and the two stepped out of the room. 

Piper found himself in a square chamber with display panels as walls on either side and a door in front. The partition behind him blipped and changed to a digital screen.

"Whoa! That room was simulated?"

"Correct. You know your science."

"Yeah. I had a nagging suspicion that what I was seeing wasn't real."

"Smart kid."

The attributes of Piper's bionic eye returned.

"I've lifted restrictions on your cyborg enhancements. Be careful while you are here. No poking around for treasures and skeletons."

"Roger that, sir!"

Jack swiped and tapped again on his virtual screen. The door was marked OFFICE. It faded into pixels, and another appeared with INFIRMARY-056 displayed on top. An AI security bot buzzed.

CLEARANCE LEVEL 5

ENTER CREDENTIALS

"Dr. Jack Chrysalis! Clearance Level 10!"

IDENTITY CONFIRMED

WELCOME DR. CHRYSALIS

"Cool!" Piper cried out. While voice recognition was not groundbreaking, the door swap was. Piper reckoned it had something to do with dimensional physics. If he told his internet buddies, they'd freak out.

The door slid open and cool, saturated light greeted them. 

Jack led the young cyborg inside, whose bionic eye whirled and zoomed, taking in the exhibition of cutting-edge technology.

Noah reclined on a bed in a white gown. A nurse leaned over him, feeding him soup.

"Noah!" Piper exclaimed and rushed to him.

"Piper! I'm glad you are alright. So is your weird eye."

"Really? You are the one who passed out in the middle of a massacre. Wait, what was that jab about my eye?"

"No, really, this is awesome. For starters, I've never been spoon-fed before. I thought I was in heaven at first, given the luxury and the pretty nurse. However, when I tried to touch her to make sure she was real, she pulled my ear, yanking me back to reality."

Piper giggled and patted Noah on the arm. He seemed upbeat, as compared to his usual grumpy self. Had the terrible incident somehow changed him?

Jack loomed behind them, his ochre-brown eyes watching the human boy with intrigue. He gestured to the nurse to give them some privacy.

After she left, Jack took a seat close to Noah and began.

"Mr. Shepherd, I am Jack Chrysalis, Asst Director of Providence. I am in-charge of this facility, the location of which is known only to a few."

"You can call me Noah, Sir. From what the lady nurse shared, I owe your organization for saving my life."

"It's the least we could do. After all, you rescued one of our valuable assets."

"You mean Eve, right?"

"Eve Trinity is a Lieutenant of our Special Squad 9. Years of training and millions of credits were spent to raise her. It would have been a waste if she had perished."

"Don't you value her as a person? As a comrade?"

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Sure," he replied with sarcasm. 

"Is she okay?"

"Eve is hardier than you think she is, Mr. Shepherd."

"You're right. It was she who saved our lives first-"

"Pleasantries aside. It seems you are feeling better," Jack interrupted Noah. "I would like to discuss certain matters of utmost importance. Uh, Mr. Lee was a witness to the incident. If you trust him with the information, he can stay."

"Yeah, I trust Piper."

Piper beamed at Jack with pride. His bionic eye twinkled.

Jack nodded. "First, what do you know about Providence?"

Noah shrugged. "I've read on the internet that it is an anti-terrorist group with a mother ship in space?"

"Hmm. We certainly have anti-terrorist activities."

"About the mother ship in space? I can neither confirm nor deny it," he added with a smirk.

Both boys sniggered. Jack's personality was difficult to figure out. He was exceedingly good-looking. The nurse had blushed when Jack had spoken to her. 

The lab coat was undoubtedly meant to mislead. His muscular body was apparent even under multiple layers of clothing. 

Was he a fighter like Eve?

"The primary goal of Providence is to secure peace between worlds," the Asst. Director began. "We have several divisions attending to different local issues at the planetary level. The organization also deals with interplanetary and interstellar matters."

Noah and Piper nodded. The explanation was as vague as possible and probably repetitive.

"The group you encountered on the train was sent by Inferno, a criminal anti-god group."

"Anti-god? Are they, uh, atheists?" Noah asked.

"Quite the opposite. They are religious fanatics. Inferno believes in the one true God, LOGOS. You see, the group condemns Project Trinity as blasphemy against God. They are convinced that we are trying to replicate God's power."

"Sorry to interrupt you, Sir," Piper chimed in. "My understanding is that you have developed a game-like interface that mimics science and magic. You can get the same effect from actual weapons, right? Then, how is Project Trinity stepping on the toes of God?" 

The Cyborg Code only believed in the Singularity as a superior entity. The concept of God was ridiculous for them.  

"About that- Project Trinity works on our rudimentary understanding of GOD FORMULA."