Chapter 1 – Distasteful Relationships

            Alos grew up in the northernmost section of the United Democratic Alliance in the city of Optimaris. Optimaris contained the most expensive real estate in the country by far and as such contained only the most rich and powerful citizens. Luckily for Alos, his family was one of the richest, most prominent political families in the UDA.

            Because of the opulence of his parents, Alos was used to living in luxury. His home was a mansion, a small castle by some standards, which overlooked the harbor only a short walk away. Each of the rooms within his home were almost a small house of their own, often containing smaller partitions of rooms within. The massive structure was filled to bursting with all manner of new technology and the latest in modern comfort. To Alos it all seemed to be a show of wealth and excess rather than one of necessity and living. 

     Despite the immensity of wealth, his parents’ political position within the senate was a double edged sword. Because of their prominence, he was often pushed into political training groups, special schools, and even etiquette classes. Alos didn’t really mind being a part of a wealthy family but he hated all of the “specialty training." Especially since he had no admiration of following the political heritage of his family, the menial squabbles of people and politics did not interest him.

            Instead, Alos took interest in the Omninet, much to the disapproval of his parents. He would spend his free time roaming the graphical world of the net, honing his skills as a user as well as a programmer. Often though his “specialty training” would shorten his time with the Omninet, causing him to stay up into the wee hours of the night. Alos didn’t mind staying up late but he always payed for it the next day.

            “Alos honey, your teacher will be here soon,” said Alos’ mother “Get ready for your classes.”

            A small groan escaped from Alos as he rolled over in his bed. He hated having classes and was exhausted from staying up late the night before. It wasn’t that he didn’t understand his school work or did poorly, quite the contrary. The whole process, in his eyes, was just a big waste of time.

           Besides... he was so tired.

            Alos was amazed when he managed to finally pull himself out of bed; he easily thought he was going to sleep for another few hours. Dragging himself across the room, he plopped down into his chair and turned on his computer. This was typical, the first thing he usually did in the morning was turn on his computer and then fall back asleep for a few hours.

            The computer turned on and came to the home screen, displaying a clock in the top right. In big bold digits it read “1:39 PM.” Alos nearly jumped out of his chair, His teacher was to arrive at his home in nearly 20 minutes.

            Normally when this would happen Alos wouldn’t have anything to worry about; his homework would be done, he would have already showered, been properly dressed, and he wouldn’t be groggy from just getting out of bed.  This time however, he had stayed up all night working on the Omninet. His homework was not done, he hadn’t showered nor dressed, and his mind felt like it was trapped in an endlessly dense fog.

            By all accounts he was screwed.

            Alos wheeled across his room in his chair over to his shelf. He grabbed the three pages of homework his teacher had previously assigned him and began feverishly working through them. Only a few minutes later was the first page done and Alos turned his attention to the next. He continued working, refusing to look at clock.

            Once finished, he slammed the two pages on top of the other and ran to his washroom. Inside he turned on his shower, undressed and then jumped inside. The shower started on its steam cycle as usual, filling the air with sauna like heat and moisture. He didn’t have time for this though, so he pressed a button to move it to the next cycle. Water jets came streaming out of every wall inside the shower, including the ceiling. It was like being in a rainstorm that poured out from every direction and it felt good. After the wash cycle, the water jets turned off and were replaced by hot air blowers, drying him off very quickly.

            When the shower finished, Alos frantically jumped out, and dashed over to the wardrobe dispenser. After pressing a few buttons on the touch screen glass, the wall opened up, dispensing a white one piece suit. The suit had a short collar with a bright blue lining surrounding it. This line broke off and ran down both squared shoulders, down the sleeves to the wrists where the lines circled around. The blue lines ran back up the inside of the sleeves then back down the sides of the suit where it ended at the ankles, circling them. Both ankles had a line running along the inner leggings of the suit, meeting at the groin. The blue lining outlined his body’s frame. On the front of the suit there were the two sides of a magnetic Velcro fastener. Each breast had its own pocket with its own magnetic seal.

            Whenever his teacher came over, his parents required him to dress up as if he was going to some fancy event. This had been going on for years, at first Alos resisted seeing as how it seemed pointless to try and impress someone who really didn’t care. After years of being forced into the drudgery, Alos got used to it.

            Alos reached inside and grabbed the suit and pair of underwear adn threw them on. Of all his formal attire, this suit was his particular favorite since it was so easy to get into it. He inserted his legs into the lower half and then pulled his arms through the sleeves bringing the entire suit up. The magnetic Velcro easily peeled up, fastening the suit snug.

            Alos reached back inside the wardrobe dispenser and grabbed the matching boots. The interior of the boots were soft and moisture absorbent, so he didn’t need socks. He pulled the boots over his feet and around the bottom of the suit leggings. They fit tightly and even matched the suit he was wearing, colored white with light grey bottoms.

            There was a large screen in the washroom with a giant interface on it. Alos approached the screen first noting the time, “1:50 PM”, and then said “Initialize hair dressing please.” The screen fluttered with images before a selection of different hair styles appeared. Alos reached out and touched the screen, selecting a combed back hair style. The screen changed to reflect his image, and began to display instructions as to how to prepare his hair. Below the screen, there was a slot in the wall and out of the slot emerged a custom hair comb, specifically fit for this haircut on his head. Alos took the comb, which was prepared with an adhesive and combed his hair back in accordance with the screen’s directions. When the computer recognized he was finished, it displayed a message saying “Looking sharp Alos, have a great day.” All of the programs’ randomly generated compliments had been seen by Alos before, so he just laughed and walked out of the washroom.

            Once outside, Alos darted over to his room, grabbed his homework, and headed downstairs.  He passed a clock which read “1:54”, so he knew his teacher would be arriving at any moment. At the bottom of the stairs was the main room in the house. It was decorated with his great grandfather’s war medals and his family’s political accomplishments. All of the walls in the room were plastered from top to bottom with these ornaments, one of the medals reading “SGT. MAIEN –GOLDEN GUN-” which Alos had been told was from the Tristate war, when his great grandfather sniped over two thousand men. Another of these was a printed and framed article detailing the instatement of the open border policy between the UDA and the Non-States his father wrote in 2007 a few years prior. Above all the ornaments, on two of the upper corners of the room, there were cameras tracking the movement of anything and everything within the room with their wide angle lenses. The room had three doorways, one of which lead into the study. Alos went into the study and sat down at the table to wait for his teacher.

            The table he was at was not an ordinary table. It was a large touch screen computer with a variety of functions similar to the one in his washroom and he was pretty sure it was the same operating system. Alos opened up a game to kill time while he waited for his teacher to show up.

            It was a simple game, consisting of a small orange blob and falling blocks, but he found it fun nevertheless. In the game, the player controlled the orange blob and tried to avoid getting hit by the falling blocks. The player controlled the blob by placing both his pointer fingers on the screen and then dragging them accordingly. If he moved both his fingers left the blob would move left. If he moved both his fingers right, the blob would move right and so on. However, he could also bring his fingers together to shrink the size of the blob or move his fingers apart to increase the size of the blob. For Alos, there was a beauty to the simplicity of the game.

            In the corner of the study, there was a giant clock which changed to “2:00 PM”, chiming twice in a deep brass tone, once for every hour. The instant the clock changed hours, the front door flew open and Alos’ teacher came waltzing in, marching in rhythm to the chimes. His teacher walked up to the table, saw the game, and glared at Alos. Alos awkwardly spun around and shut it off returning the table screen to its original screen.

            “Sorry about that Mr. Remmy.”

            Mr. Remmy was a short, rotund, middle aged man. He often wore tight clothes that emphasized his weight, and today was one of those days. The shirt he was wearing must have been three sizes too small as he could barely move his arms enough to pull out his chair from the table. Even his pants were way too tight, which was evident from the squeaking of his waistline as he went to sit down.

            “Alos, where is the work I assigned to you? Hmm?” Mr. Remmy said, placing his hand out waiting for the work to be handed to him.

            Alos quickly handed him the three sheets which he finished not even an hour prior. Mr. Remmy snatched them away, glancing over them to ensure they were finished. It was typical for Mr. Remmy to glance over the homework and find the slightest error or mistake and then completely blow it out of proportion. These errors would be like Alos forgetting to write his name on the homework, or accidentally missing punctuation.  With Alos rushing through all of the work in a matter of minutes, he was definitely expecting his teacher to find something to complain about.

            The sheets of paper were folded and placed into a small briefcase, much at the surprise of Alos. He was never sure of the purpose of the briefcase. It seemed highly unnecessary, especially for what little work they did but this was Mr. Remmy. He was always prancing about as if he were the king of Optimaris and all inhabitants within it were lucky to be at the mercy of his feet. His sense of self-importance was more inflated than a balloon ready to burst. The briefcase was surely ego related.

            “Alos, today you will be tested on the history chapter you just completed. Hmmm?” said Mr. Remmy as if he expected a response. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out his scroll, handing it to Alos.

            The scroll he brought out was old and beat up and clearly out of date. It had two rods which pulled apart from each other revealing a film like screen. The screen was touch sensitive and ran a variety of functions and applications. This scroll’s screen was pretty messed up though, requiring the user to press hard several times to get a response.

            “You will have ten minutes to complete twenty questions, and unfinished questions will be marked as incorrect and deducted from your total score, Hmm?”

            Alos sat the scroll down and began working. Mr. Remmy smirked maliciously at the scroll. With the screen being so damaged, it would usually take multiple attempts before it would read Alos’ input, essentially rigging the test for failure. Mr. Remmy happily pulled out Alos’ folded homework, to kill the time while he waited for Alos to fail the test. He opened the work, carefully scanning it, looking for any mistakes he might have missed.

            Within minutes, Alos finished the test. He retracted the screen, and handed it back to his teacher. Mr. Remmy was stunned. There was no way Alos could have completed the test that fast, he wasn’t supposed to complete it at all. Mr. Remmy opened the test Alos just took. Sure enough, it was fully completed. He ran the test grader, which reviewed Alos’ inputted answers, marking the incorrect and correct answers. All of the answers Alos marked, were correct and above the answers was a graphic of the graded total of “100%”.

            Mr. Remmy glared at Alos, eyes narrowed with suspicion. How could he have completed the test so quickly with one hundred percent accuracy? He must have cheated, it was the only explanation. Standing slowly, he crept around Alos, checking for any hidden scraps of paper lying around. He sat back in his chair, which gave out a loud creak, and then demanded Alos to place both of his hand on the table.

            “Uh... okay I guess”, said Alos reluctantly as he brought his hands up, placing them onto the table. Mr. Remmy reached out and grabbed his hands turning and twisting them looking for any signs of cheating. He even pulled back the sleeves on Alos’ suit in an attempt to look for writing on his arms, but they were bare.

            “Uhhh… this is making me uncomfortable” Alos said, and awkwardly pulled his sleeves back down.

           Remmy seemed infuriated at the notion Alos implied. He was merely trying to find how Alos cheated, he was no pervert!

            “How dare you make such accusations! I KNOW you cheated and I WILL find out how!” Mr. Remmy was practically screaming at this point. His face was cherry red and his hair was standing on end. Clearly he was more than a little flustered.

            Alos found the irony hilarious and couldn’t help but chuckle. He was being accused of accusing his teacher, when in fact he never accused his teacher of anything, he was just creeped out. This was hypocrisy at its finest.

            “Look, calm down, let’s just continue on with the lesson please.” Alos said, waving his hands apologetically.

            “Hmph!” Mr. Remmy sat back down in his chair rather abruptly but after an even louder creak from the chair, one of the legs broke off causing the chair and Mr. Remmy to crumble to the ground.

            Alos erupted with laughter, he couldn’t help himself. For years, he waited for this moment of revenge to come. The moment of sweet vengeance for all the torture the fat old man put him through. That moment when the tables had finally turned, or in this case a chair.

            Mr. Remmy tried to stand up but was rather disoriented after knocking his head into the ground from the tumble. He stumbled around for a second then grabbed onto the table to steady himself. At this point, Alos could feel Mr. Remmy’s hot rage emanating.

            “Are you happy with this, HMMM!? Did you get your kicks out of watching me crash into the ground, HMMM!? AFTER ALL THE YEARS I HAVE WORKED HERE, I WOULD THINK I WOULD GET A LITTLE MORE RESPECT!” 

            Mr. Remmy’s face looked as if it was ready to burst. His eyes were bugged and blooshot and the veins on his neck and forehead were bulging out of his skin. He was shaking almost convulsively, his body demonstrating every imaginable expression of anger.

            Mr. Remmy swept up his briefcase and marched off. He stomped over to the door and left. Alos was just glad nothing worse happened; the little fat man’s rage could have caused trouble to say the least. In comparison to what he could have done, a broken chair wasn't that big of a deal. However, Alos was not looking forward to explaining the event to his parents.

            Alos was off the hook at the moment though, as his parents had left for a meeting with their campaign committee before Mr. Remmy had arrived. He was relieved that his parents weren’t around to witness the fiasco but at the same time, he knew that it was only a matter of time before his parents found out. Chances were, they would blame him.

            Alos scurried about trying to clean up the mess Mr. Remmy had made. The chair was broken into fifteen or so pieces from Remmy's fall. One of chair legs had even shot into the wall, scratching the paint. He knew the paint was clearly unfixable, so Alos gathered the pieces of the chair and threw them into the incinerator slot in the wall. He knew his parents wouldn’t find out immediately, and without the evidence lying around, he was hoping the problem would resolve itself before his parents found out at all.

            As Alos walked back to the table, the clock on the wall chimed three times. He swung his head around and saw the clock read “3:00 PM, Wednesday.” Alos completely forgot it was a Wednesday. Wednesdays meant etiquette class and his chauffeur would arrive soon.

            To kill time, Alos ran up the stairs to his room, pulling out his Orb from its stand and his goggles from his desk. He pulled over his goggles, booted up his Orb and got ready to access the Omninet. The boot selection hub screen for his device displayed a message from an old online friend, Darkbum94. It had been over two years since Alos last heard from him, perhaps even longer. They used to be good friends but Darkbum94 had been forced to move for work and contact became rare. Maybe something important came up?

            The message opened,  

            “The good days were indeed good my friend. Adventures like we had will always be remembered by the net. You’re a good combatant, and as a user, I have never seen a more adaptable BOT. I will honestly miss our fun times ridding the scum off the net, those bastards deserved it. This message though is because I have to move for work and will not have access to the Omninet until further notice. Hopefully it’s only for a few months but you never know in these ghettos, there are times when there is barely power -_-. If you ever need me send me a message, I might not get it immediately but I may travel some from time to time, probably getting into an Omninetwork at some point.  Seriously though 0rnj take care of yourself, I really look forward to seeing you again at some point.”

            He sat there staring blankly into his goggles. It had been so long since he had seen the message he forgot he saved it. He must have accidentally resent it to himself because the message appeared as though he had just received it.

            The doorbell buzzed and Alos pulled his goggles up. Powering down and tossing his Orb and goggles onto his desk. He ran downstairs, scurrying over to the door to answer it. Standing at the door as he opened it was the family chauffeur, Jreg.

            Jreg was about the same height as Alos, but was thinner and rather frail looking. His face was pale, colorless even, and his eyes stared out with an empty blackness. Alos had always thought he looked as though he had just climbed out of his grave and every year it only seemed to get worse.

            “Come Alos, we are behind schedule. Let us not be late.” Jreg said as he led Alos out to the car. Jreg opened the car door for Alos, closing it behind him. He then walked around the car to the front and got in himself. The car was started and drove off into the street.

            From the backseat, Alos could see Jreg through a small cutout in the car. Jreg was clenching his jaw, moving it around in circles. His hands looked sweaty as he rocked them back and forth on the steering wheel. Even the corner of his right eye was twitching.

            “Is everything okay?” Alos said, trying not to be confrontational.

            “Yes, everything is fine.” replied Jreg anxiously. “Please do not talk to me right now, I need to concentrate on driving.” Jreg closed the cutout Alos was looking through.

            Alos knew something was going on, but he couldn’t demand an answer from his chauffeur. Jreg had been his family’s chauffeur for years and was almost considered a part of it. He couldn’t force an answer out of Jreg, it wasn’t right flexing his family’s authority over him. He would rather not say anything and have everything remain normal than force an answer out of Jreg making him uncomfortable.

            Skyscrapers poking up through the clouds lined the streets, swarms of buzzing magnecars, and older floaters flying through the air around them. Typically, air travel is deemed more convenient, with the roads being mostly abandoned, left to those unwilling to or unable to buy an air vehicle. Optimaris was different however. In Optimaris, the streets were reserved for only the wealthiest, requiring a special license with the government in the form of a tax that gave them a permit to drive on the streets. As far as Alos knew though, the only people that were ever using the streets were his family, and those that rode with his family. He had occasionally seen other vehicles, but this was limited to once, MAYBE twice a year if he was lucky. The exclusiveness of the streets only led Alos to believe that his parents used it to further display their status.

            As the car came to brief stop before turning, off in the distance a troop of police magnecars were seen descending down into the same area. The car turned driving towards the location and Alos could see a homeless man huddled up in the corner of an alleyway, hoods draping over his head and a blanket wrapped around him. A dozen police all emerged from their vehicles and began walking towards him. The car halted again to turn, and the last thing Alos could see was the police ejecting their taser-rods and crowding around the homeless man. It wasn’t right for the homeless to be persecuted. Alos knew homelessness was illegal in Optimaris but he felt it was unjustified to enforce such a law, especially in so painful a manner of electro-bludgeoning.

            When they arrived at the etiquette center, Jreg jumped out of the car and opened the door for Alos. He smiled uncomfortably as he thanked Jreg for the ride and Jreg smiled back – his sweat dripping down his face onto the front of his suit – before running back to the front of the car and skidding off.   Alos wasn’t sure what that was all about but he was glad to be at the etiquette center and away from Jreg.

            The etiquette center was a large conventional building. The front of the building had two glass doorways and stairs leading up to them. People flooded the front of the building. Both parents and their kids were stampeding into the front room. Alos was finding it rather difficult to walk up to the building simply from the density of people filling the area.

            Once Alos finally managed to make it inside, he walked over to the front desk to check in.

            “Hello Mr. Maien,” said the lady sitting at the front desk, “Let me sign you in so you can get to your class.”

            Alos thanked the lady as he handed her his ID card. She scanned it and gave it back to him. The scanner displayed a message on its screen which read “WELCOME ALOS MAIEN, PLEASE PROCEED TO ROOM 201 FOR YOUR APPOINTMENT.” Alos took his card back and then headed up the stairs.

            At the top of the stairs, there was a hallway filled with people. Alos was used to coming to this building for classes so he knew where his room was, the other people in the hall though didn’t seem to have a clue. They were gathered into small groups looking around at the room numbers above the doorways in the hall. One of the dads actually had his kid on his shoulders looking for the room number.

            It was difficult shoving his way through the thick crowds but eventually he made it to his room. He opened the door and was followed inside by girl about his age. Her face held a blank stare as she looked around the room unsure of where she was at. Alos saw that she looked lost and approached her.

            “Are you here for the etiquette class?” Alos said to her, giving off a warm smile.

            “Yes I am! I was so worried I was completely lost.” She replied, returning his smile.

            “Well this is where you want to be, room 201.”

            “Thanks! Oh, by the way I’m Mari Gean.” She reached out her hand to shake Alos'.

            “I’m Alos Mai…” Alos paused. He realized if he said what his last name was he might be recognized for his parents’ political notoriety and would be treated different. She would suck up to Alos if she knew who he was, and frankly, that is the last thing he wanted.

            “I’m Alos Maiby,” he said, saving himself from being identified. He shook her hand, nervous that she would see through his charade.

            “Well it’s nice to meet you Alos. If you would please excuse me, I need to go talk to the instructor.” She ran off, almost skipping, to the instructor.

            “Thank Menelich”, he thought shaking his head to himself, she must have been too young to be  politically informed.

            Alos walked over to his seat in the back row and sat down, relieved that she didn’t recognize him. He couldn’t help but be mesmerized by the girl he had just met. Short black hair, sparkling amber eyes, coupled with her pleasant persona; Mari was truly gorgeous. Alos wasn’t one to easily take interest in romantics, typically he just saw it as an eventuality that awaited him the future. This girl though… this girl was something else.

            Mari walked from the instructor over to Alos. She sat down in the seat in front of him and turned around.

            “What luck, the instructor sat me in front of you!” Mari said, smiling at Alos.

            Alos couldn’t help but smile back. A feeling of confidence overwhelmed him and he couldn’t figure out why. Maybe it was because he was wearing his favorite suit, or because they had already had a pleasant conversation but most likely it was because she had no idea who he really was. Perhaps a little flirting was in order.

            “I would say it’s lucky for me to have such a beauty sitting in front of me.”

            Mari’s cheeks became rosy red. She bit the top of her lower lip and spun around facing away from Alos out of embarrassment. Such a nice compliment must have been rare for her. Alos could tell from the way she reacted. He couldn’t figure out why though. Such a good looking girl, he thought, would get lots of attention.

            The instructor pressed a button on his desk, dimming the lights in the room. A spotlight shone from the ceiling down onto him. He walked over to a giant screen on the right wall of the room and touched it, pulling up an image of the classroom. It showed the teacher illuminated against the darkness of the room.

            “Students! Welcome to my etiquette class! Hopefully we are all excited to be here today. I know I am,” he chuckled. “I see we have some new faces in here today. My name is Nathaniel Drawk, but you can just call me Mr. Drawk.”  The instructor’s voice boomed over the students and echoed back to him. Mr. Drawk walked over to his desk and flipped the lights back on.

            “I think an introductory exam is in order.” Mr. Drawk said, grinning from ear to ear.

            All of the students were looking about, puzzled over what this exam the instructor was talking about was. Alos knew what it was, being one of the only returning students inside the room. The thought of what was to come made him cringe.

            Mr. Drawk walked back over to the giant screen, which now showed all of the students in the room. He reached over and touched the image of one of the students with his hand. The image expanded displaying a close up of Mari.

            “Lesson one; do you see how she is crossing her ankles under her seat?” The class answered with a resounding yes. “This is terrible formal etiquette. I would rather be shot than be seen crossing my ankles in a public setting.” Mr. Drawk said this with an uncanny distaste in his voice and a snarky grin on his face.

            Mari’s face went blank. She looked green, like she was about to be sick. All eyes in the room were staring at her two legs. The embarrassment was overwhelming and she buried her face in her hands. Alos wanted to say something, but didn’t get a chance. Before he could, she got up and ran out of the room, a stream of tears trailing behind.

             This sort of thing was common at the beginning of Mr. Drawk’s classes; Alos had seen it happen many times before. This was different though, he actually liked the girl and genuinely felt bad for her being singled out. It wasn’t like before when Mr. Drawk would single out some random guy Alos had never met before, this was somehow personal.

            Mr. Drawk didn’t even acknowledge what just happened. Instead, he went about touching the screen once again, pulling up a new image of a student to repeat the process. The image displayed a male student this time. Alos knew what was coming, and didn’t want to go through witnessing his teacher torturing another feeble young mind. Instruction was one thing, bullying though was unacceptable.

            Alos got up and headed for the door. Mr. Drawk stopped in the middle of pointing out the slouching boy and began shouting at Alos.

            “Alos! Where do you think you’re going? Hey! Come back here! Your parents pay good money for you to come to these classes! Do you think they will be happy with you wasting their money? You’re a senior studen--”

            Alos ignored Mr. Drawk’s grumbling, giving him the finger as he walked by and out the door. This wasn’t typical behavior of Alos but after seeing how Mari was treated, he didn’t care.

            Out in the hallway, Alos found Mari hunched over against the wall, crying. She held her face in her hands as tears ran down her arms and onto the floor. The sleeves of her coat were thoroughly drenched. There was a small wet spot on the carpet directly below Mari’s face, her tears accumulating into a small puddle.

            Alos sat down next to Mari, with his feet flat on the ground and his knees sticking up. His elbows rested on his knees with his hands folded out in front of him.

            “You okay?” Alos asked, his tone of sincerity striking a velvety smooth cord.

            She peeked out the side of her hands, showing her wet glassy eyes. Quickly, she turned away clasping her face, sobbing all the while.

            “Please go away. You shouldn’t have to see me like this.” Mari said in between sobs.

            “I would much rather sit out here with you, than have to listen to that jack-ass.”

            The side of Mari’s face stretched with a smile as a small laugh broke up her sobbing. Her crying stopped, and she sniffled a bit. Both hands still held tight to her face, refusing to display the face they hid.

            Alos opened his right breast pocket and pulled out a small bundle of tissues. He took one from the bunch and handed it to Mari.

            “Here.”

            Mari peeked out from between her fingers. The small tissue dangled invitingly from Alos’ fingers. She reached out and accepted his offer, taking the tissue and wiping her face. As she pulled the tissue from her face, Alos pulled another and offered it.

            “No thanks, I think I’m good now.” She pulled her hands off her face and crumbled the tissue into a small ball. Her eyes were still glassy, and the skin around her eyes was red and a little puffy. She sniffled once more and turned to Alos, trying to contain a hidden smile.

            “I really appreciate you coming out here and all,” she said, “but you really didn’t need to.”

            Alos smirked at the opportunity, “I know”, Alos said with a deep eerie voice. He then said cheerily, “I wanted to.”

            Mari blushed once again, adding red cheeks to the rest of her red face. She was biting her lower lip as she had previously. To Alos, it was kind of cute. She was displaying how she felt without really realizing it.

            “We should get drinks sometime.” Alos suggested.

            “I would like that.” She replied. “What is your BOT?”

            “0rnj. It’s spelt Zero R N J, no O just Zero.”

            “That’s a peculiar tag. Is it like the fruit?”

            “No it doesn’t really have anything to do with the color or the fruit. Actually, I forget how it originated, it has just kind of stuck with me.” Alos shook his head as he shrugged his shoulders in response.

            Mari reached into a small boxy purse hanging over her shoulder, removing an Orb from within. She took her Orb, sticking it out in front of her, turning her palm upwards and then relaxed her fingers. The Orb levitated into the air, projecting a hologram out in front. It displayed an alphanumeric array and a small graphical interface above it, which she then reached out and began to touch. She touched the zero, then the R, then N, then J. 0rnj was displayed above the letters and numbers and then the name was saved onto her contact list. After, she slightly collapsed her fingers, the Orb stopped levitating and then fell back into her cupped hand.

            The whole levitation technology incorporated into such a small device was something Alos had never seen before, and it was truly astonishing. Electromagnetic levitation was difficult enough to apply to larger vehicles that could supply massive battery power but on a small device? Alos felt flustered. While he had never heard of this version of an Orb before, he knew it must have been outrageously expensive.

            Alos reached into the right thigh pocket of his suit to grab his Orb. His hand moved around for a second before he realized he forgot it at his house. He felt like a complete dunce forgetting his Orb. He NEVER forgets it. And of all times, now when he was about to get Mari’s tag.

            “So uh, what’s your tag?” Alos asked, unsure of how he would remember it.

            “MaGean. M A G E A N. It’s basically my first and last name squished together, not too creative.”

            Alos exhaled a sigh of relief. MaGean was a simple enough name to remember. It wasn’t some long ridiculously complicated eight syllable alphanumeric pseudonym half of his friends used.

            Down the hall, Jreg emerged from the stairwell. He began walking towards Alos and Mari when Alos noticed him. Alos figured he came up looking for him to take him home and he didn’t want to take the chance of Jreg calling him “Mr. Maien” or “Master Maien”, so he started jogging over to him. Alos waved over his shoulder as he ran past Mari.

            “I’ll message you later Mari, I have to go.” Alos said as he headed down the hall. Mari stood and waved back, smiling.

            “Okay, I’ll be waiting.”

            Jreg led Alos down the hall, and out the building. Outside, Jreg had parked the car in the same spot as before. He opened the door for Alos, and Alos got in and sat down. Jreg seemed calmer than he was earlier; he didn't seem so obviously anxious.  

            Jreg walked around the car and got into the driver’s seat. Alos noticed the center cutout was rolled down, giving Alos a clear view of Jreg. Unlike before, he wasn’t sweaty, nor was his right eye uncontrollably twitchy. Jreg started the car and drove off.

            “Who was that girl?” Jreg asked curious of Alos’ intentions.

            “Her name is Mari, I met her in the etiquette class. Kind of.”

            “Kind of? What does that mean?” Jreg asked inquisitively.

            “Well we met before class, I introduced myself and whatnot. But the instructor singled her out and embarrassed her in front of the entire class and she ran out. I left class to make sure she was okay, even with Mr. Drawk griping at me, and we seemed to like each other.” Alos realized after he said this that he probably shouldn’t have let on about leaving class but it was too late then.

            “Mr. Drawk called and told me. Your parents aren’t going to like it that you left class early. No, not at all.”

            “Well that’s for me to deal with Jreg, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t say anything.”

            Jreg pulled up to the house and parked. He got out, ran around the side, and opened the door for Alos. Alos got out and Jreg closed the door behind him.

            “I hope all goes well with you Master Maien,” said Jreg. “Until next time.” Jreg got in his car, and drove off as Alos waved to him.

            Alos turned around and started walking towards the front door of his house when he noticed a magnecar levitating outside the upper balcony of his house. At the top his parents were standing shoulder to shoulder facing away from him talking to a man standing on the balcony. Alos hastily walked inside his house, making his way up the stairs and then over to the balcony, slowing as he drew near and tucking behind the wall at the end of the hall. There were definitely three people talking.

            “-isgression in these affairs. He will be brought to our facility and dealt with as we discussed, otherwise all of your funding will be cut, and I will be forced to remove you from this existence. If you want to awake tomorrow morning, I advise you heed my words. He is a threat to our objectives and will be dealt with as such. This is your final warning.”

            Two of the three were his parents but the third was hidden behind them. Alos couldn’t make out who was talking, but he knew it wasn’t either of his parents. The voice sounded familiar but he couldn’t quite put his finger on why. It was deep and accented but the words dissolved in the distance. In an attempt to catch a glimpse of the person talking, Alos crept up to his parents.

            “Look – OKAY, okay!” Alos’ father shouted, squeezing his head as if to pull off an invisible vice grip on his head.

            “We’ll take him tomorrow! We’ll have a chance to after our next committee meeting! UGAAAGH!!”

            A sharp, agonizing grown escaped his father.

            Alos was finally close enough to see the man his father was talking to. A man stood slightly shorter than Alos and his father, his right eye nearly swollen shut by giant tumor like protrusions. The right side of the man’s mouth was curled upwards from the skin being pulled by the enormous face sacks, the thick boils crowding out over the entire right side of his head like insect eggs ready to burst. A black, light sucking hood was cast over his head in what looked like an attempt to hide his features but in the twlight Alos witnessed them as clearly as the orange sky behind him.

            The man’s attention suddenly shot past Alos’ father and met eyes with Alos from down the hall. His eyes widened, his gaze charged with surprise. Springing off of his legs, the man back flipped off the balcony, his cape catching midair and then stabilizing his motion allowing him to land straight into the open magnecar. The window slid over the hooded driver and the magnecar sped off into the sky, cutting behind several skyscrapers. Sirens in the distance wailed closer as Alos’ parents whipped their heads around, in a violent jerk of a motion towards their wide eyed, puzzled son. Their faces stretched into a shared, horrified, jaw dropping panic.

            Alos’ brow lowered and his eyes squinted in confusion.

            “Who was that?”