Chapter 2: Rude Awakening
Something loud and shrill pierced the veil of Adhar's unconsciousness, slamming him back into reality and leaving him with an earsplitting headache. Something was flashing at the edge of his vision, just out of reach. Was that the computer power light flashing? He remembered a flash of light and an explosion so loud that his headset had threatened to split his eardrums. Had he fallen back in overexcitement and hit his head on something? He looked around his room. Something was wrong. His room didn't have a coffee table in it, for starters, and nor was it so...big. More worryingly, his computer had disappeared. His clothes were clammy with sweat, but felt strangely soft and light. Not clothing then. Bedsheets? He was in bed?
He sat up, instantly regretting it as his head threatened to split and lights danced before his eyes. If only that damnable beeping would stop, he could figure out what the hell was going on. Had he fainted at his desk? "I must have fallen." He said to nobody in particular. His girlfriend would be along in a second and berate him for getting so overexcited at something so silly as a game. But why the hell had she rearranged his furniture?
Maybe his girlfriend had moved him to another room, he wondered, crawling deeper into the softness of the bed. She was a nurse, after all. If only that beeping would stop, he'd be able to get rid of this headache.
He stirred restlessly under the cover, unwilling to respond to the continual beeping of the tyrannical machine. Worse, it seemed to be getting louder.
With an irritated groan and a stream of Belgian curses, Ahdar lifted himself out of bed and went looking for whatever was disturbing his rest.
As he looked up he squinted his eyes in annoyance against the few rays of light that found their way past the windows shutters. Something seemed different, but his foggy mind was still having trouble comprehending it. The floor felt cold against his feet, like polished stone; a far cry to the fluffy carpet he was used to. Light filtered into the room from the wrong wall. His window was on his left. Wasn't it?
Suddenly the fog inside his head lifted. This wasn't his room... scrap that, this wasn't even his house! He jumped up, groaning from the throbbing headache, and sprang towards the window.
By instinct his hand went to a small screen to the left that turned on the moment he touched it. With 2 quick taps the shutters started to open. He stared at his hand as he had no idea how he knew how to do that.
As the sunlight was allowed full entry, he covered his eyes against its bright rays.
He was greeted by a vast cityscape, replete with towering spires and holographic billboards advertising exciting and exotic merchandise the likes of which he'd never seen before. A radio commercial punctuated a city filled with the noisy buzz of commerce. The sun perched lazily on the distant horizon, flooding the sky with the deep ochre of a sunrise, only more magnificent than usual. The ground was several dozen of meters below him, and teemed with congested roads overflowing with traffic. As far as the eye could see, a sprawling metropolis spanned into the distance, and strange rock formations jutted into the sky like arrowheads. He saw the tallest buildings one can imagine. As he looked left, the vastness of the ocean astounded him. The deep, rich blue met the sunrise on the Horizon, casting orange light onto the peaks of the ocean's waves and gleaming like a field of diamonds. Small dots could be seen moving through the sky in the distance.
With both his hands pressed against the glass he stammered.
"I... what… where the hell is this?!"
He flopped into a nearby chair, disbelief and bewilderment clawing at his reason.
"Think this through Adhar, think this through." he muttered. "There's a perfectly reasonable explanation why there's flying ships outside. Think this through."
He hadn't been abducted, he was quite sure of that. His kidnappers wouldn't have bothered spending so much money for such an elaborate holding cell - Indeed, it was more like a luxury hotel room than anything else. He looked around, hoping to find some visual clue that could help him place his whereabouts. The view outside the window looked like somewhere in the Himalayas, but since when had the Himalayas had a bustling city nestled in its confines? Besides, the technology around him was obviously cutting edge; he doubted anywhere in Nepal could have developed flying vehicles.
At least he'd found the source of the strange beeping. An alarm clock, or rather what an alarm clock might look like in 20 years time, was flashing furiously in time with the constant beeping. Adhar approached it, glad at least that he could solve one of his problems.
Before he could even touch it, the beeping stopped, replaced by a metallic imitation of a female voice.
"Good Morning, Mr. Veelix. The time is: Ten minutes past Eleven. You have been asleep for: Thirteen Hours and 26 minutes. Have a Nice Day."
Being asleep for thirteen hours might have surprised him, had the alarm clock not greeted him by his in-game name.
"What the hell is going on?" he gasped.
"Requesting Today's News Stories: Origin Jumpworks to donate Ten Billion to Terran Charities. Learn More?" Chimed the Alarm Clock helpfully.
"No, just… what? No! How do I turn you off?" he said, irritably.
On command, the alarm clock went silent.
As if he needed any more confusion, thought Adhar grimly. First flying ships, now talking alarm clocks? What is this place?
Unwilling parallels were streaming through his mind. There must be a reason he'd been called "Mr. Veelix." maybe whoever had moved him had seen his screen and assumed it was his real name.
He saw a door that appeared to run through to some kind of lounge and trudged towards it.
As he went through it he entered a open room with a big window, it's shutters slowly opening.
As light permeated the room he could see an artfully decorated living room. Sofa, big screen television, glass coffee table. A compact but clean kitchen island filled the side opposite the large window. A table was built into a counter with 4 chairs aligned on the 2 available sides.
The view outside was just as, if not even more magnificent than from the bedroom.
Something on the glass table drew his attention. It was some sort of bracelet with a foldable screen on top.
"My god, this looks just like a mobiglas." He said as he picked it up. "It couldn't…"
Without hesitation he put it on his arm after which it automatically tightened. It felt surprisingly comfortable. It was firm enough not to fall off, but not so much it hurt.
As it powered up, another female electronic voice resounded.
"Good morning Adhar. You have.. 6.. new mails." It was accompanied with a beeping sign of newly received messages.
Looking dazed he left himself drop into the couch with a soft poof.
A thousand thoughts were racing through his head. Some more unlikely than the others. Most things were pointing towards one of the more unlikely scenarios. Yet somewhere he was still thinking this was one giant hoax, someone playing an elaborate practical joke.
He couldn't just sit by and keep pondering questions he didn't have the answer to. He resolved himself and began going through the unread messages on the mobiglas.
Many of these were automated bill transactions, with a few more personalized messages in between.
One of them stood out because it had a blue outline to them: he guessed those must mark them as important.
It was titled; "Meet up at Gullinger".
The first thing that drew his attention was the sender, Rallick Bel'Kareth. Adhar remembered Godfather naming his character something odd like that. They've known each other for a long time, since they joined the organisation at the exact same day. This automatically made them feel a certain bond.
The message read as follows.
Sender: Rallick Bel'Kareth
Recipient: Adhar Veelix
Date: 28 October 2944 ST
Hey Adhar, I should be arriving there tomorrow. Haven't been able to check out your new apartment yet so I have no clue where to find it. But it's not the first time i've been to Terra, so how about we try meeting at Gullinger. I'm sure you've been there before.
I'll be there at midday.
See you then.
At least he had a goal for today, which was reassuring. Maybe he'd get some more information of what was happening. If Rallick even showed up that is.
With a start, he noticed the time. 20 Minutes to 12! He'd woken up at about 11 and must have wasted a lot of time wandering around in a daze.
"Shit,... even in this world i'm going to be late, Goddammit." He cursed.
Though he did have memory of Gullinger, it was a bar that he and others from his organisation met up once in awhile, it's a different matter is you are trying to find it when looking through a screen and in reality. Nevertheless, he knew the way. And orientation was one of his strong points. He prided himself on never getting lost and always finding his way back. A good thing as he thought of himself as an explorer.
At this point he had come to terms he wasn't at home anymore and a strong feeling he wasn't on earth either. This doesn't mean he was calm, far from it. His face could be emotionless, but inside a big clump of nerves were threatening to devour him. The first concern was to try and meet up with Rallick. Dealing with unknowns was always easier if you had company. All he could hope for was that he was in a similar situation as his. It'd be awkward explaining the situation to him otherwise.
He wanted to head out the instant he finished reading the message, but he stopped himself as he was about to go out the door.
"Right... clothes." He said as he noticed all he was wearing was shorts.
Returning to the bedroom he opened up the closet and was presented with a surprisingly wide choice of clothing.
As he was in a hurry and not really in the right mindset to pick his clothing carefully he grabbed the first things that caught his eye. To be honest, this was not much different as he usually did it.
He ended up with a set that fit him nicely, or that's what he thought at least.
Solid boots, dark pants that looked like they were descendants of cargo pants, a beige shirt covered by a felt jacket.
He couldn't resist the temptation and went to a nearby mirror to check out his new clothing.
As he looked into the mirror he was met with an unfamiliar face. Instantly he brought his hand to his face as if to confirm that it was truly his reflection. It was still him, but some of his features were different.
What stood out the most was his darker complexion. One could easily mistake it for a medium sun tan.
His nose had a softer shape, his cheekbones were a bit sharper and his face looked more mature. At least his hair was the same, it was still a uncombed bundle of brown hairs as he was used to.
His build was heavier now. He was always skinny, but now he had a fuller build that was still thin enough to be considered slim.
At first he was unsure what to think of this. Not only was he somewhere else, he had become another person.
Then it dawned on him. This was his avatar, the one he used in Star Citizen. It was a bit different than he remembered. Before it was a 3D render and no matter how good it looked, you could still see it wasn't real. Seeing the real version in front of your eyes takes some adjusting too.
The doubts he had before were completely gone. Somehow Star Citizen had become real. Or rather, it came to life. He wasn't sure how to put it into words.
This revelation dazzled him. Yet now that he had an answer he felt more relaxed.
As we walked out the door he thanked his past self that his avatar was so similar to his old self.
The wide lane was nearly deserted as most traffic whizzed by high above him. Trees and benches stood abandoned as most bars and shops were closed this time of day. Cleaning bots were roaming about cleaning up the filth that was left there after last night. This is to be expected as this is a neighborhood that comes to life when the sun goes down.
Finding the right road was easy enough, tinkering with the mobiglas revealed a GPS function that helped out greatly when the new sensations confused him. Now that he could physically handle the device he was discovering function that he didn't even know it had.
It goes without saying that one of the first things he fiddled with were the sound settings for received messages.
He managed to work out the messaging system and send one to Rall. He was trying to find out whether he'd show up or not. But no answer had popped up as of yet.
A neatly polished metal sign was nailed against the facade of a building. "Gullinger" it read.
It was one of the smaller bars in the area and was neatly tucked away between an extremely colorful dancing Club and what seemed to be an electronics store.
The inside was slightly darker but clean. It's furniture looked used but well maintained. It's was nearly empty at this time of day, with just regulars sitting about.
It took a while for Adhar's eyes to adjust to the dim light, so he didn't notice the lone man right away, sitting at the table opposite of the entrance.
He seemed a bit lost as he was staring at the drink in front of him. His hands clenched around it.
Long dark hair fell around his face obscuring it from view. A dark trench coat covered his body top to toe, an odd sight considering it was daytime and beautiful weather outside. A slight snicker crossed Adhar's face as he found it funny he was so focused on the out of place trenchcoat while ships were flying around outside. But the clothes made it clear who it was, as even back in the game his attire made him quite distinct.
Adhar gathered some of his currently limited supply of courage and walked up to him.
"Rallick?" He said as he stood next to the oblivious man.
Slightly startled the man looked up. A questioning gaze upon his eyes as he simply nodded.
"It's me, Adhar." As he forced a frugal smile.
As the name registered, recognition flashed through his eyes. Rallick jumped up and hugged the startled Adhar.
"Oh man am I glad to see you." He said.
"And me you." Adhar answered returning the embrace.
"A slight relief could be felt as both instantly understood they were no longer alone in this odd situation.
The embrace didn't last long, as both of them sat down at the table.
At first there was a bit of a silence between the two as they were trying to find the right words.
The bar keeper walked up asking if Adhar wanted something to drink. Without thought he asked for a dark beer.
"So I presume you also.. " Adhar started. He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence, because his first words must have opened some sort of floodgate in Rallick.
"Yup. Woke up this morning in some hotel, no clue where I was. At first I freaked out, even more when I turned the tv on and I saw this report of bloody asteroid mining being a booming business. Then this Pip-boy thing on my desk started beeping. Something about an appointment."
An endless stream of words kept coming out. Adhar could only sit and listen. Some would find it annoying, but he didn't care. The only thing going through his mind was; I'm not alone, there is someone else. This relief was worth more than anything in the world at the time.
"And in the end I find myself waiting in this bar, wondering if anyone will show up." A heavy sigh came out of Rallick. His head slumping slightly towards his beer.
The long talk left him mentally drained, all his worries alleviated now that he had the chance to talk to someone.
"I'm sorry." He said, raising his head. "I talked so much that I didn't even let you say anything. You're in no better shape than me I guess."
"It's fine" Adhar said waving his hand in assurance. "I'm not alone, that helps a lot. But before we do anything I think we should atleast get a plan together. And honestly, I'm up for suggestions."
"Hmm, true. We can't sit here doing nothing, would drive me insane. Trust me, I know. Waiting for you to show up was hard enough and that took only… half an hour." He said as he glanced on his mobiglas. A smirk appeared on his face as he continued; "I'm glad to see your tardiness is still as persistent as it was before."
Adhar showed a troubled face as he heard that. "It's not like I plan on being late. Stuff just tends to pop up whenever I'm in a hurry."
"Well this time it's an acceptable excuse considering the situation" Rallick leaned back and spoke. "Regarding what we could do next. When I was waiting I had a look through the Pip-boy and saw that I had some mail regarding Titan Union. So my guess is that it's a legit organisation here as well. With a bit of luck we'll find some of the guys there."
"And were is 'there'?" Adhar asked as he opened his own mobiglas to have a look at the rest of his mails. Sure enough, some of them were in regard of Titan Union.
"Our old HQ was on Earth. So we could start there?"
Certainly, Adhar would be more than happy if they got in touch with the organisation. But he felt he was forgetting something.
"Actually. Didn't we have a base of operation in Terra as well?" Adhar said.
"Euhm, yea, we did. Why're you asking?"
"Well, this is Terra. We're in New Austin right now. So we might as well check that out first. You mentioned it in the mail about the appointment you send me. Check your send mails, should be there." He added as he saw Rallicks questioning gaze.
While Rallick checked in on that and was muttering things like "I don't remember sending that.", Adhar checked his address book. A lot of names he didn't know about showed up, as well as some of the names of people he had come to know through his organisation. Luckily the address of the Terra HQ was also in there. When he clicked it, a map application automatically opened and showed him the most optimal route to it.
"Hey, Rallick, I found it. It's about 10 minutes away by magrail."
"Good, that's where we're heading then." He said.
Buildings passed by at amazing speed as the scenery underwent a never ending change. The maglev train was on a rail that was suspended several meters above ground.
Apparently their Mobiglas acts as a train pass as well. Automatically subtracting money when used.
Unlike the streets down below the train cart was filled with a decent amount of people. Though the 2 guys felt out of place, nobody seemed to care about their presence.
"Considering this is Terra, should Prime be Terra's capital?" Asked Rallick.
"Yes it is. What of it?"
"Well, I was wondering. Why do we have an office in New Austin instead of Prime itself?"
"That's because land in Prime is bloody expensive. They're very strict about building permits there because it's a planned city. I've read it has been like that since it was colonised. They are very anal about where you can and can't build. Because of that the amount of buildable land is limited. That's also the reason I've got my house in New Austin instead of Prime. A small apartment costs along the lines of a Carrack."
"Make me glad i'm keeping to the asteroid base then. No such things as property rights and taxes."
"True. But getting groceries isn't as easy. What if you run out of milk in the morning?" Adhar said with a grin.
"Errm. Good point. Wasn't really an issue in the past since eating wasn't something we had to do there."
Both guys fell silent after that. The realisation sinking in again that things weren't how they should be.
Nevertheless, Terra was truly a gem of a planet and neither of their personalities allowed them to be depressed for too long as new and unseen marvels passed by. As the maglev floated quietly to it's destination both Adhar and Rallick were looking out the window like a bunch of kids on their first school trip.
Back in the game it was already quite a sight. But now that the size of an area was no longer limited by computing power it could truly show it's splendor. Both ocean and buildings exchanged places in rapid succession. Yet both of them couldn't shake the feeling that all this couldn't possibly be real.
"Current stop is: …. Commercial district Argio "
Hearing the voice resound through the carts, they got up and headed to the door.
It was a bustling area of the town, unlike the previous district. Lot's of people were about, most of them dressed in work attire making sure they presented themselves as best as possible. Here the two spacers did fall slightly out of place with their "casual" clothing.
Nevertheless, the office that they had marked on the mobiglas wasn't far off. Roughly 5 minutes by foot. In that short time they talked about the odd sensation they felt the moment the monitor had shown the K.I.A. screen. Buzzing, disorientation, memory loss and a splitting headache were the only similarities they discovered. Sadly nothing that could help them solve their mystery any further.
Once they reached the office it was pretty much as they remembered. Even though it was many stories high, it was a rather unremarkable building. On the bottom floor they could see what each floor held. The Titan Union logo was displayed on the 27th floor together with other companies. No surprise really. It was under Adhar's and Eric's, the head of the Commercial branch, recommendation that some of the Titan Unions limited budget was allocated to pay for this 2nd office. So the size was rather underwhelming.
Terra has been a central hub for trading since the game came out. Convincing Eric of it's importance and gaining his support was easy because of that. The reason Terra was so important trade wise is because it has 9 jump point leading in and out of the system. As an explorer that's a very enticing place to call home.
The Titan Union were simply decorated with a sleek, but tasteful design. Several plants in the corners and a recruitment poster provided a little variety.
A young darkhaired woman looked up from behind her monitor as the 2 men entered.
She had her long hair in a ponytail and wore a plain but tight fitting suit that accentuated her shapes well.
"Ah, welcome Mister Veelix. We weren't expecting you today." She said slightly flustered as she sprung up from behind the desk.
"And welcome to you too sir." She said turning to Rallick. "How can I help you today?"
Wrecking his memory to find a name for the receptionist Adhar stood there speechless for a moment. Luckily Rallick quickly picked up on this and answered. "We're here on business. Adhar's been kind enough to show me around Terra."
"I…" She said slightly taken aback "I'm sorry, but who are you?"
Picking up on Rallicks play, Adhar responded to the question.
"I'm sorry about the unexpected visit. The reason you probably don't know him is because he's never been to Terra before. Allow me to introduce you. This is Rallick, a fellow Titan Union member."
She nodded in recognition towards Rallick.
"And you must be Iris right? Adhar told me a lot about you." Said Rallick as he extended a hand.
Slightly surprised she accepted the handshake while sneaking a glance at Adhar.
Past the desk a small lounge area with comfortable seats and some small tables spread out. A larger table to the left sported a coffee machine.
Past the lounge, a glass wall that shielded something that looked like a conference room. The other walls of the lounge has doors leading to seperate offices.
"Is there anyone else present at this moment?" Adhar said addressing Iris.
"No sir. Other than me you are the first to enter today."
Slightly disappointed Adhar's couldn't resist letting out a slight sigh.
"In that case, could you let me know the moment someone enters?"
"Certainly sir! Are you expecting someone?" She said oddly enthusiastic.
"No one in particular. But it's rather important. I can't say too much about it at the moment though."
"The moment someone comes in I'll let you know right away. Will you be in your office sir?"
As he nodded he couldn't help but cringe at the repeated "Sir". He never liked to be addressed formally.
They left Iris to her work and entered a door that had Adhar's nameplate next to it.
It was a small office, the back wall was one big window looking out over the adjacent buildings. A desk was right across the door with a small cabinet and chair to the side. A small metal table stood in a corner.
"I think she likes you." Said Rallick with a smile.
"Don't be silly." Adhar said. "Just yesterday she was just an NPC. Heck, I didn't even know she had a name. Which reminds me, how the hell did you actually know it?"
"Name Tag." Rallick said pointing to his chest.
"Oh well." Adhar said slumping down behind what's apparently his desk.
"I didn't know we had this nice of an office." Said Rallick whilst looking around.
"As said, it's outside of Prime. Prices were cheaper here, so we could afford something nicer. It's still pretty small though."
Nodding to the answer Rallick was draw to the small metal table by a blinking light. As he touched it a hologram appeared above it. It represented a star chart of the main UEE systems.
Whistling in appreciation he started fiddling with it.
As he spun the image around he continue his conversation with Adhar.
"Well I was hoping someone would be here already. All we can do now is wait it seems."
"So it seems." Adhar said spinning around in his chair.
Rallick didn't seem to have any issue navigating the hologram. From Adhar's perspective it was surprising with what ease he was handling something that he's technically never touched before.
On the other hand, Adhar reasoned, everything he has done until now seemed to come naturally to him as well.
Stopping his spin as he faced the table again turned on his mobiglas and went into messages.
The message was clear and simple.
"If you are on Terra, meet us at the TU office in New Austin."
Selecting the "all members" and "send" button he heard a small pling resound from Rallick as confirmation that it was indeed send out.
"Hmm, what's this?" He said as he opened his mobiglas.
"Just ignore it, I didn't feel like waiting so I send a message to everyone to meet up here. In the meantime I think we should get that food we wanted before."
"Ahn, I second that idea." said Rallick gleefully.
They got Iris to order take out to the office. A few messages popped up on Adhar's mobiglas and whilst they were still eating people started flocking into the office. Some level headed like they were, but other more in a daze or even a panicked state. But no matter what their mental states were, all were equally happy to find others that were just like them. Adhar couldn't suppress the amusing thought of a herd mentality.
Iris was a bit confused about the entire commotion, but didn't butt in and just stayed put at her desk. Adhar felt certain he'd need to give her some kind of explanation. But that's something for later.
As they waited for and hour and a half, no more people came in and they moved into the meeting room. Eventual stragglers could join up later.
Not everyone could get a seat, as right now they had 18 people gathered inside.
Generally the highest ranking officer lead in the meeting. That responsibility fell to Eric, the head of the Commercial Branch. But he was, what could best be described as, a mess. He was one of the people that seemed to have most trouble adapting to the situation.
The time that Adhar and Rallick had spend talking with him his jaws were clenched tight and he had a skittish look about him. It's a wonder he even made it all the way here.
As he wasn't in any condition to do any form of lead in, Adhar was next in line. His rank was equal to at least 3 others in the Commercial Branch alone, not counting the other branches. But none of those were present here, making him the undisputed choice as second in command.
Rallick gave Adhar an encouraging squeeze in the shoulder as he took the head of the table.
As he stood there overlooking the others, the buzz in the meeting room slowly died down to absolute silence and everyone's gaze turned towards him.
Some were looking at him with gleaming eyes filled with hope, thinking he might have the answers they were looking for. Others were looking with curiosity, wondering how he'd handle a situation like this. And others still, Eric including, were staring at him with eyes filled with horror as the world around them had stopped making any sense.
Even though he had talked to larger groups of people before, it usually involved a computer screen and microphone being in between him and the audience. Talking to a room filled with people is quite a leap.
Taking a deep breath, Adhar made sure to reintroduce himself to make sure everyone knew who he was. Many obviously recognizing the name as he had greeted or recruited many of them into the organisation. He summed up what he had confirmed while talking with the other present members.
Everyone lost consciousness the moment their ship exploded during Operation Pitchfork, heard an odd buzzing sound and found themselves in different location doted on Terra.
The information's very limited at this moment, but that's all they had.
"So thinking along the known parameters." Adhar explained "We can logically presume that all other members that were present at Operation Pitchfork are in a similar situation. We still need to confirm whether this is only applicable to our organisation or is something that occurred to absolutely everyone that took part, including other organisations. Considering the turn up the other members must be on different planets or stations."
"You've send out a message to all members right? Then why haven't we heard back from them?" asked a fighter wing member.
"At this moment this is just speculation, but nothing here seems to suggest there are game mechanics at work. Thus a message send to a different planet or system takes time. From here to Earth it would take around 3 days for a message to reach. If we using a Herald to transport the message. It would probably take longer using conventional relay stations."
As Adhar fell quiet he looked around as people mulled over the information.
There's no doubt that the first task is to try and get in touch with as many people as possible. But messaging wouldn't help them with that. So there was really only one way they'd be able to accomplish this in a reasonable time span.
"The best way to get in touch with others would be us flying out to look for them." he spoke. Some people were expecting such an answer as all they did was nod in acknowledgement, but shock was the more prevalent emotion. Especially between the people that were already struggling to cope with the situation.
"Don't be silly." stammered Eric with a slightly high pitch voice. "We don't know what's out there. None of us have flown a real starship before. We're not pilots dammit, we're just gamers."
"I know, but we don't know until we try. I'm sure some of you have noticed how the technology around us feel natural. We subconsciously know how to use it. That's what I'm hoping for with the ships as well."
Having his voice back under control, Eric's answer seemed slightly more composed. With Industrial planning being his best field, then arguing was a close second.
"So all you're going on is some vague feeling you have? We'd probably crash and burn before we even leave the atmosphere. I've played the odds before, but this seems plain stupid. I have no desire to die yet."
Many people grunted in acknowledgment. Eric's word does cary a lot of weight, Adhar understood this all too well. He wasn't the leader of the commercial branch without a reason.
Convincing them would take a long time. Even in the past having a widely branched organisation had it's disadvantages. Reaching an agreement that affected the everyone as a whole tended to take aeons.
Knowing that reasoning with people so early on is nigh impossible, Adhar didn't see an alternative. It was that or waiting for people to settle down which could take several days.
"I understand." Said Adhar with a stern look on his face. "Guess I'll have to be the first one to try flying then."
He was met with silence. He'd expect a slightly bigger reaction to his statement. This utter lack of a response left him baffled.
Than, at last, a small snicker resounded.
"You really are stupid aren't you. Fine, do what you want. I don't care anymore." said Eric leaning back against the wall.
The rest of the meetup was a simple countdown and listing of everyone who managed to find their way to the office and the promise to meet up tomorrow morning at the offices.
As people dispersed Rallick went up to Adhar.
"You're awfully calm about this aren't you. I would love to fly a ship, but even I get nervous just thinking of doing it for real." He asked.
Adhar just looked back at him and shrugged it off.
If Rallick had payed closer attention he'd have noticed that Adhar's hand was shaking slightly.
He may look calm on the outside, but his insides were a raging storm of doubt. For Adhar understood that he couldn't back down after what he said. It'd undermine his credibility.
Some people stuck around the office, while others left right after the meeting had concluded to do god knows what. Maybe sightseeing or, a more reasonable prediction, to get drunk.
At the front desk Iris was answering some questions to a few members. But as she saw Adhar approach she turned her attention towards him, quickly apologizing to the other people.
"Sir? If I may have a moment."
Before he could even respond she grabbed his arm and pulled him away from anyone listening.
As she turned to him he could see her eyes were smoldering.
"Sir, I understand that you can't always tell me everything, but the past few years you've trusted me with many issues and I've honestly never let you down. Like the issues you had getting that Xi'an relic through customs.
Now I don't know what is happening right now, but even I can see it's big enough to affect the Union as a whole. So please Sir, tell me what's going on or I might just lose my mind out of sheer anxiety."
She said this all with a hushed, but strained voice. Though he couldn't blame her, he was disturbed about the fact that she seemed to have recollections of past happenings. He did have a run in with the UEE costumes back in the beta. But as far as he know he solved it with bribery as he really wanted that relic. He had simply done it with a few clicks on the screen back then. But it seems things went a little bit different over here.
He caught himself mulling things over for too long as Iris's gaze had grown stronger. No matter what trust she believes they have between eachother he can't tell her the truth at the moment. But he can't just say that she's imagining it. She wouldn't fall for that and he had a feeling it would only make her more inquisitive.
"I'm sorry Iris. You're absolutely right that it's something big. But right now even I don't know the details, so I can't tell you just yet." He answered.
She was already starting as the word "sir" had already passed her lips. But Adhar interrupted her as he placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes.
"Look Iris, trust me on this one. I will tell you things in due time, but not yet ok? I'll be heading to our main Headquarters on Terra tomorrow. So once I'm back I'll explain everything. Also, there's really no need to keep calling me Sir. My name will do just fine." He said with a gentle smile.
As she looked back with her deep brown eyes he could see her expression softening up.
Softly pushing Adhar's hand off her shoulders she let out a sigh.
"I understand si.. I understand." She corrected herself.
"But you'd better have a damn good explanation once you're back." She spoke these words with an eerily calm voice, but Adhar couldn't help but notice a flicker of that fire that she had in her eyes before.
Even though in his mind he had only just met her, he knew that being on the receiving end of her anger would be a unhealthy proposition at best.
It's not like he lied to her. He simply didn't tell her the whole truth.
As Adhar bid everyone farewell he asked Iris to warn him right away if a delayed member showed up, to which she agreed.
Adhar and Rallick parted ways, Adhar heading back home wanting to clear his head and Rallick returning to his motel, trying to do the same.
Certainly, his plan was good in the short term. And even though most people seemed to be averse towards it, it would give them something to focus on.
But he had no idea what to do long term.
The first choice was obvious. To find a way back home.
"All nice and well." He murmured as he opened his apartment door. "But how."
Author's note:
Many thanks to Jammy for acting as my new proofreader.
