July 25, 21756:05 P.M.
"I want to go check what Grandpa left in the eighth book, but I probably shouldn't procrastinate on visiting the other tent," Jack sighed as he got up from bed and stretched away the remnants of his slumber.
"Oh? So you finally saw those memories? That's great, young master," Enak spoke up, his tone almost proud.
"Wait, you knew about them? How? Grandfather stopped wielding this armour when I was ten or something... you shouldn't know about those memories unless... wait... don't tell me," Jack spoke up, his eyes widening at the realization.
"Yup, I knew everything in that Kana circuit," Enak said smugly.
"And why did you not tell me before?" Jack enquired as he emerged into the main hall.
"Can't. You would've just forgotten those memories once again if I told you without the seal deeming you worthy. So how much did you see?"
Jack opened the door of his room to the deserted main hall as he recounted the dream to Enak.
"Just that much?" Enak questioned, his voice laced with disbelief.
"What do you mean 'that much'? Is there more? You should tell me then," Jack insisted, and they climbed out of the pocket tent.
"I just told you, I can't, young master. It would be of no benefit," Enak sighed.
"How long will I retain those memories?" Jack asked as he walked over to the other pocket tent.
"Not even half a second."
"Damn, guess we will just have to wait and see."
And with that, Jack climbed down into the other pocket tent and opened the door to a large hall that was like the reception of a skyscraper.
There was a large table at the front, attended by a robot. Ten doors lined each of the left and right walls—they were like lifts but a bit different. These were called warp rooms: step inside one and tell which segment of the place is the destination, and it will open a portal door to that place.
"Welcome, Master Jack. It's an honour to finally meet you," a voice rang into Jack's head.
"Uh, you must be the house assistant of this one... Hello, nice to meet you too. What should I call you?"
"Lady Diana named me Elpira. However, your commands can override hers, as you are the true owner. So if you want any changes to it, it shall be done," Elpira said.
"Elpira is fine. So you are a bit different from Viora, I have noticed," Jack said thoughtfully as he went over to check the reception.
"You must be referring to the house assistant of the other pocket tent. Yes, I am a bit different. Since the other pocket tent was made to have a domestic theme, she was designed that way. However, I am more of a professional assistant. I can talk with multiple people simultaneously since I use Kana networks to communicate," Elpira said, her tone with a hint of superiority.
"I see. Is there a way to link the two pocket tents?" Jack said as he began to check the various structures the people had designed in this pocket tent.
"There is, but it requires the owner's permission. We can start now if you want. You will have to clarify any special aspects and configurations you want. Otherwise, the division of duties will be equational."
"Okay. Viora, you ready?" Jack said after pondering the situation for a few moments.
"Waiting for your command, Master," she said through Jack's holo watch.
"Okay, listen up you two. Elpira, you will be under Viora's command. Moreover, all the stuff that isn't necessary for basic civilian needs shall be transferred to Viora's storage. All the material that will be required for occupational farming shall be provided to Elpira upon request. You two are to maintain a constant connection to each other, and Viora can access all logs."
"Understood," both of them said in unison.
"And is there a way to make a space-time connection between the two pocket tents, like a door which will allow us inter-pocket tent transport?" Jack questioned.
"Yes, there is. We can make a sort of warp door for it," Elpira answered.
"Okay, make it so that free entry is allowed from Viora's pocket tent. But if someone wants to visit Viora's pocket tent from here, they will have to put up a request, which will be verified by any one of the residents of the Viora pocket tent, unless someone is given special access."
"Understood. Synchronizing and linking space-time coordinates will take about fifteen minutes. We shall get to it now. Let's start, Viora," Elpira said excitedly.
"I will be naming the two pocket tents later as well. And Elpira, I have a job for you. I need this place to have an auditorium and a control room. The latter shall be only accessible to residents of the Viora tent and others who have been granted special access. I want it to have CCTV footage of all the public areas including occupational halls that will be set up here. As for personal residences, I want it to simply have the 'occupied' and 'unoccupied' display. And again, all logs should be accessible from the control room."
"Understood, sir. How big would you like the auditorium to be?"
"I want it to be extendible, since we will continue to get more and more survivors. So make it that way."
"It shall be done in a few minutes, sir."
"Viora, add an exact copy of the control room in our house to monitor this place. No wait, discard that idea. I think we can access that room from the shared warp door?"
"Yes, it can be accessed from there."
"Then no need to add it. Elpira, where is Ethan and Diana?"
"They are at the indoor grounds. Shall I set up a warp door to them in advance?"
"Do that, yeah."
"The leftmost door on the left wall is now connected to the indoor grounds," Elpira informed in Jack's head.
"Thank you," he said with a nod and boarded the warp door.
Seconds later, the door opened to a vast ground, miles wide. The ceiling was kilometres high, laced with display panels disguising it as the sky. The panels would emit light along with other radiations, making an Earth-like atmosphere there.
The ground was full of people—kids, adults, and the elderly. Everyone was there, passing the time. Jack could see the outline of Ethan and Diana sitting at a table about a hundred metres from there.
"Yo Enak, I wanna try something out," he said, planning.
"Just tell me what to do."
And with that, Jack used his body-strengthening Ikanami and jumped. He shot up like a bullet, excitement flooding through him.
"Enak, gliding cape," he instructed as he reached the highest point of his trajectory.
Black fibres billowed out from Jack's back, forming the cape. It expanded forth, and soon Jack was gliding forward with its help.
"What do you think of this? Pretty fun, right?" Jack asked.
"It is exciting. However, from a strategic perspective, it's not stealthy unless it's night, and it's way too slow. Unreliable for long distances too," Enak counted.
"I figured them out, even when you didn't tell me. I asked about the fun part, sigh," Jack sighed as he landed beside the table at which Diana and Ethan were seated.
Ethan was sprawled on the desk, resting after completing the task he was assigned. Diana was sitting beside him, packing up the remaining rings and returning them to Viora.
"Hey Jack," she said as Jack landed beside her.
"Hello. I see the job's done, huh?" Jack said, observing all the entries on Ethan's computer.
"Sure is," Ethan groaned.
"We just finished minutes ago. Did you even sleep? Your expression looks more tired than it was before," Diana said, narrowing her eyes suspiciously.
The painful memories of the dream flooded his mind once again. His eyes softened around the edge as he intook the sight of Diana's smiling face.
I protected this smile that day. I don't regret killing those two monsters at all, he thought, like he always would whenever he had that nightmare.
"I did, trust me."
"Alright, alright."
"You can ask me to rest too. I feel dead after all that—explaining the same stuff over and over again to people is a pain," Ethan groaned again as he heaved himself up, his eyes tired and lifeless.
"Fair enough," Diana chuckled.
"Ethan, thanks a lot for this. Know what? I will let you drive to Stamford. How does that sound?" Jack said with a smirk.
"Sounds like a deal," Ethan said, his eyes rekindling back to life.
"Alright then, time for the briefing session to start," Jack said, his thoughts racing as he thought of what he would say.
"Enak, link me with every single person registered on our Kana network, except my mother," he instructed Enak in his mind.
"Done. Speak away."
"Hello everyone, this is Jack Hauston. If you have forgotten my name, I am the man that talked to you last night before I took everyone in. Right now, this place lacks any system and order. We need to work together to survive. Regarding the guidelines to living here, I will do a briefing session shortly. I have added a new hall that's called the auditorium. I want all of you, except children, to head there. The session begins in 45 minutes," he announced through the Kana network.
After the addressing was over, slowly people started leaving the grounds and made their way into the auditorium. The children remained playing; some asked the adults what was going on. Soon, the grounds were devoid of adults, and only kids remained there, playing with each other.
"I will head there too, so that no disturbances creep in," Diana said, getting up.
"Thanks a lot for that," Jack said with a nod, and with that, Diana walked away.
"What are we gonna do in the 45 minutes?" Ethan asked.
"I have some people to talk to," Jack said thoughtfully. "Elpira, ask Stephen to come here."
"Yes, sir."
Jack and Ethan continued to talk for a few seconds. Moments later, Stephen appeared, running towards them with his Ikanami.
"Hey guys," he greeted as he stopped beside them.
"Hey Stephen, how was your day?" Jack asked as he gestured for him to sit with them.
"I went to sleep after coming inside. I was running for hours last night after all."
"That's good. Did you face any problems here?" Ethan asked Stephen.
"I didn't. I made my apartment an exact copy of the one I used to live in, at your suggestion. Always feels like I am home," Stephen answered.
"Told ya," Ethan said, grinning.
"So Jack, why did you call me?" Stephen asked.
"Well, since you are the one in charge of keeping this place away from the Ortho Sapien's reach, I thought I should give you a few things and administrative powers to assist you with that."
"I see. What will I be doing?" Stephen said, his eyes shining with determination.
"You will have special access to the control room of this place, and you will be allowed access on demand in the other pocket tent. I will also give you an armour from Creta—the one for speedsters," Jack said as he reached into his item pouch to fetch a blue-black bracelet.
"I see. I understand. I won't let you down," he said, shaking Jack's hand as Jack handed him the bracelet.
"I hope we have a combat trainer here. Then we can have them train everyone here for combat. No matter how strong we are, we need them to be able to do basic self-defence," Ethan said.
"Indeed. Don't worry. We will find that out soon enough. Elpira, Viora—you heard us, right? Authorise Stephen the necessary permissions for his role that I counted off."
"Done," they said in unison.
"Great. We just have to pass 15 more minutes, then we can get on with the briefing. Stephen, maybe you should go join them," Jack said, getting up.
"Yes, I will be on my way." And with that, Stephen sped away.
"Why so silent, Ethan?"
"I just can't understand why you chose him for it. I mean, he is a nice guy and all, and I'm pretty sure there must be other speedsters in our midst that didn't run away with others last night. It just seems you trust too easily."
"Good question. Think about it. All the others who believed us from the beginning, they took our words at face value, believing us. Him, Stephen, has seen it happen. He has seen how the Ortho Sapiens have infiltrated everywhere. The Ortho Sapiens will abuse their reach now. They will definitely cook up lies like Kratian refuge stuff only to lure us out. And the ones who will believe them first will most likely be the ones who believed us first.
We need someone who knows those statements are lies. That way, we can be reassured that in case we are not present, all these people we have saved aren't marching to their deaths. And what's more important, their memories will contain our hiding methods. We can't let that happen. Stephen knows better than to believe anyone else other than us. That's why."
"I see. Fair enough. People will believe whatever will bring their hearts at ease. You're right, and with that, we have company again," Ethan said, his eyes darting towards their right.
Jack followed his gaze and spotted Thain Merovan, that historian, walking towards them.
"Hello everyone. I asked where you were from Stephen. I hope I am not intruding?" he said, smiling as he walked towards them.
"Nope, just normal chatter," Jack confirmed, and Ethan nodded.
"I see. Well, uh, Mr. Hauston, do you remember I asked if I could talk to you later? Is now a good time?"
"Well yeah. You two can talk. I will go to the auditorium, gotta find the best seats," Ethan said, getting up.
"Alright, so what do you want to talk about?" Jack asked Thain as Ethan disappeared into the distance.
"Well, if I may... can I ask if you had someone in your family called Rick Hauston?" Thain asked, as they both sat down to talk again.