Tyel woke up and started to live his day normally. Based on what had happened in the other timeline, he realized that going in without actually knowing the shape of this object meant only sure death.
Tyel was currently walking in the street while lost in his thoughts. 'I first need to ask Darian how this object looks and…' Tyel arrived in front of the prison and looked at the entrance. 'If it is made of metal, I will not be able to bring it outside… the situation is too bad for now, I'll need to think of a proper plan.'
With that, Tyel headed inside the prison and started his normal working day.
As the hours passed, the end of the day finally arrived, and Tyel was drinking at the prison bar with his colleagues.
"Arghh… it's always so hard," said a guard as he held a huge bottle of beer in his hands; near him, Tyel and another guard were drinking together. Tyel was currently drinking with two of his closest colleagues, Chud and Martheel, and as always, Chud was the one who was the most drunk.
"I wonder why we even bring him with us even if he can't hold alcohol like us," pointed out Martheel as he sipped his beer again.
"Hey… I can hold the beer!" shouted Chud, whose eyes were partially closed and who, even while sitting, could barely remain still.
"It's simply the fact that he drinks too much," pointed out Tyel as he ate one of the hamburgers, while in front of him sat a glass full of beer.
"And while we have someone who drinks too much, you don't drink at all, Tyel. What happened?" asked Martheel as he moved his head to face Tyel, who was sitting next to him.
"Ri-Right!! You're making me feel too bad, I can't be the only one losing my mind!! You need to give me company!!" shouted Chud. The other guards in the bar looked at him like it was normal, as everyone was used to Chud's way of acting whenever he drank some beer.
"Are you tired? I've seen you slightly annoyed today at the job," asked Martheel as he posed with his beer. Tyel, before answering, took another bite of his hamburger.
"Yeah, I haven't slept well these days; that is why I'm feeling slightly tired," answered Tyel as he spoke with a fake smile on his face.
"But—but you're—you're always so lucky to have multiple days off!!! How can you feel tired!!" said Chud as he spoke with an angry tone.
'I can't tell them about my power, either…' Chud and Martheel had been friends with Tyel for over ten years, when he joined the guards, they had done the same, and thanks to that, they spent multiple nights drinking together and soon became friends.
"You seem troubled. Is there something you need to talk about?" asked Martheel. Tyel took his first sip of beer for the night and shook his head.
"Don't worry, just bad dreams," answered Tyel.
"The—then it is definitely because of your power!! It lets you see… see…" Chud suddenly stopped as he looked at the glass of beer in front of him. without even finishing the sentence, he started to drink it again.
"Interesting theory, but that shouldn't be possible, no?" asked Martheel as he finally finished his glass of beer.
"Yeah…" murmured Tyel as he looked at the glass full of beer in front of him. "That's definitely too unlikely," he added in the same tone.
After another thirty minutes, the group came out of the prison. Chud was half asleep, and Martheel was helping him walk.
"We will go now, Tyel, and don't worry, I'll bring him home," said Martheel as he held the half-asleep Chud in his right arm.
"Well then, guys, I'll see you tomorrow!" said Tyel as he started to walk away. Martheel moved his hand to wave at him and started to walk in the opposite direction.
"I wonder why he never tells us about his problems… sigh…" said Chud as he looked down with a sad look on his face.
"I wondered it too…" whispered Martheel as he looked behind, but Tyel had already disappeared. "We will wait for him to open up to us, let's not put too much pressure on him," added Martheel.
"Sigh… maybe you're right…" Suddenly, Chud positioned his hand over his mouth and looked at Martheel with a horrified look. "I might have drunk too much…"
Martheel sighed and helped him throw up behind a wall.
Tyel headed directly toward the rebels' base, and the moment he entered, he found everyone already in the living room talking to each other. Darian was explaining some scientific things about Liro, Lily, and Syrmax, while Orechin and Vane were making weird jokes together.
The group hadn't spotted Tyel yet, and as the man looked at this scene, his heart beat extremely fast. 'I need to protect this…' This was the only thought that struck Tyel's mind before the group finally spotted him.
"Yo, Tyel, you're here!" shouted Orechin happily; Vane, next to him, was still laughing uncontrollably.
"So? Did you discover something?" asked Darian. Tyel nodded his head.
"I've discovered that there is an object called a vibration core that can make the stone easier to destroy," said Tyel. As he mentioned these words, everyone turned serious, even Vane, and they all focused on Tyel.
"Vibration core…? Darian, do you know what this object is supposed to be?" asked Liro. Darian, next to him with Snowy curled up on his shoulder, nodded his head.
"Of course I remember. It was used by one of the robots that came with me on XERBAB-7. I can't believe Zrelekai has been able to create something like that… it was extremely uncommon during my time, too," answered Darian.
"And how is that supposed to work?" asked Lily curiously.
"I don't even know it well, as it isn't my field, but let's start by saying that a rock is normally extremely hard thanks to its atoms, as they are stuck in a rigid lattice." As Darian began to explain, Liro was the only one who could keep up with his explanation.
Lily knew something about these topics since Darian had started to teach her, but as she didn't know all the terms, it was hard for her to keep up. Syrmax tried to follow because he was interested and believed that knowing a lot of things would be useful for writing his story.
Tyel was too tired to try to follow, while Orechin and Vane didn't even try; they just looked at each other and started to laugh softly.
"Mason told me that rather than breaking the atoms, it is able to shake them so that they start to slide over each other and completely separate. Thanks to this energy field, the stone would become like rubber. The object would make stone easy to destroy thanks to the creation of millions of micro-voids inside the structure of the object; just think of it like an object that, rather than being extremely heavy, will suddenly become lighter. So after the creation of these micro-voids, the stone would lose its original integrity and will become easy to destroy." The moment Darian finished explaining, he noticed the confused faces of everyone.
Liro was trying so hard to follow, but in the end, it was hard even for him. Syrmax and Lily were able to follow until half of the speech, but in the end, they stopped following, too. Tyel still had his tired face and couldn't follow him anymore. As Darian looked at Orechin and Vane, he realized that these two were like the students in the back row of a classroom; just by looking at each other, they would laugh and completely ruin the lesson.
"Explain it in easier words?" asked Syrmax, who was so confused that his monocle almost fell.
"You know how rain, air, and stuff like that can ruin the stone, right?" asked Darian. Liro, Lily, and Syrmax nodded their heads. "Then let's just say that this project will speed up everything."
"But if the stone becomes weaker… won't that make the walls fall on themselves?" asked Liro. Darian nodded his head.
"I'm not an architect, but I've studied this field enough to know that we will have to make a gothic arch starting from the top, and so we will be able to transfer the weight of the wall to that spot without any problem," answered Darian.
"Hey, I was starting to understand! Why can't we just create a simple hole and then everything is done?" said Vane, slightly annoyed.
"Because the wall will not be able to hold all the weight and it will fall down, getting destroyed…" answered Darian, as he found this question slightly stupid.
"And if it falls, everything in the town will be destroyed… even the people living near the wall," said Orechin. Darian nodded his head and looked at him proudly. 'At least if he wants to, he can be intelligent…'
"You're the only one who knows how to make that type of hole… is it okay for you to take care of it?" asked Syrmax. Darian grabbed his diary and smiled proudly. "I will not have any problem; give me some days and I'll create the perfect hole."
"Then I've got another question… Darian, what type of shape is this object supposed to have? I tried to search for it in the magazines of the prison today, but with really bad results…" asked Tyel. Darian remained still for a moment as he tried to think of the best way to explain this object.
"It has the same shape as a small pistol. Do you have any idea where it can be found?" asked Darian. Tyel's expression changed to one of horror.
"Then I have to search through all the countless boxes in the magazines…" he whispered, falling to his knees as he realized it would definitely take multiple hours to search through all the countless boxes.
"Isn't there any other way to make it easier to realize where it is located?" asked Tyel. Darian stopped speaking for a moment and began to think about the few times he had looked at it.
"First, it is definitely made of ceramic, as metal will not be strong enough to hold that type of heat…" said Darian as he tried to remember the smell.
'It isn't made of metal? Maybe I'll be able to bring it outside without any problem…' thought Tyel, happy that he might have discarded one of the multiple problems he had.
"And maybe the fact that it smells like something that spikes directly into your nose, something like rotten eggs, but it will feel hot," said Darian, as even for someone like him, it was hard to describe the smell of such an object.
'Well, that magazine was full of multiple weird smells… but this one would surely be able to catch my attention,' thought Tyel as he finally realized he had a pattern.
"And I remember the one held by Mason was white… but with Zrelekai's mind, I can't think of the color he has given to this object…" murmured Darian as he started to think of the most strange colors Zrelekai could have given to this object.
As the group spoke together, something else was happening inside the secret laboratories.
"Ashikunz, did you call for me?" asked Zrelekai. On Ashikunz's throne, there was a button that could call Zrelekai thanks to the vibration of an object inside Zrelekai's pocket.
"Why haven't they arrived yet… are you sure you've spread the word about the hole in the wall correctly?" asked Ashikunz. Zrelekai understood from his tone that he was extremely annoyed.
"Sir Ashikunz, that is obvious. I even made the word spread that the prisoner brought here will definitely be in danger and that in some days they will be killed," said Zrelekai as he started to shake. He had never heard Ashikunz speaking with this kind of tone, so he even called him "Sir" to be sure his head wouldn't fly off his body.
"The rebels should be scared… they would never leave one of their companions in this situation… and the fact that she is the bait for us, so we can't kill her…" Ashikunz suddenly slammed his fist on the floor and created a small crack. Zrelekai, caught by surprise, jumped.
"We—well, I'm sure they will not resist much, maybe they're trying to create a plan to save her…" whispered Zrelekai while his whole body shook. It felt as if Ashikunz hadn't listened to him at all, as the leader simply got back to his feet and grabbed the spear in his hands.
"Are you saying that my plan might have failed?" murmured Ashikunz, annoyed.
"No, no, I'm not saying this, sir—" Zrelekai couldn't even finish his sentence before Ashikunz dashed toward him and pointed his spear toward his neck, creating a small cut from which black blood dripped.
"Then are you saying that my plan had a flaw? My plan that I've prepared for over a month will not work?" asked Ashikunz, breathing heavily and looking directly into Zrelekai's eyes with an angry look.
"Your plans are always the best, they will always work perfectly fine. We just need to be patient," said Zrelekai. Hearing these words, Ashikunz slowly removed his spear from Zrelekai's neck, who could finally give a sigh of relief.
"No one has ever been able to counter one of my plans… I don't get how they haven't been baited yet." With that, Ashikunz slowly returned toward his throne and gestured to Zrelekai that he could go away.
'I will never change my plan… they would never be able to read through my plan… except if…' Ashikunz looked at Zrelekai, who was leaving, and closed the door behind him.
'Woah, I'm alive… but why the fuck haven't they arrived yet… that surely is strange…' thought Zrelekai as he looked at the floor. Suddenly, he felt something touching his shoulder, and as he raised his head, he noticed the Seamstress in front of him.
"What do you need?" he asked. The Seamstress pointed toward the three ruined plushies behind her.
"Mhmp… I'll repair them and create some for you. Come with me," said Zrelekai, while the Seamstress followed from behind.