CHAPTER THREE: THE DAYS BEFORE EVERYTHING CHANGED: PART III
The room was bright.
But so was Rex, who was determined to make quick work of the test before him without being distracting by blindingly-white testing room he was being escorted to.
After having fully stepped into the confinement-style enclosure with no seams or gaps save for the corners between the walls and the roof, the doorway behind him disappeared seamlessly into the wall and left him completely isolated with no other people, instructions, nor materials.
There was truly nothing save for a wall-mounted mirror, a chair, and a cube shaped object that rested on top of it which Rex assumed was the object of his examination.
It was very unnerving to be left entirely alone without any sort of guidance, but his parents reassured him only minutes ago that the trial wouldn't take long and would be of great assistance to the development team — themselves especially, which was the only reason he agreed to participate.
Albeit he anxiously accepted their request as it sounded more like desperate begging rather than wishful demands. Seeing his parents plead so desperately for the first time ever made him very confused and worried. And so—not wanting to be in that position of importance any longer than he had to—he approached the cube slowly and with determination.
"Remember, you're Rex Salazar, the second kid of the two smartest scientists in the whole wide world," He whispered to himself while rubbing his chin and circling the lounge chair. "And if I'm able to solve a 100 piece puzzle in an hour, something like this'll be a piece of cake." He added with a shrug, still blissfully unaware of how unimpressive of a feat that was.
But as convincing as his facade of confidence was, the fear of messing up and letting his parents down still lingered and began to consume him the moment his quaking hands touched the cube.
After all, there were a number of occasions where his curiosity has lead to an incident or two. Or more. So the stress of being entrusted with such an important task was certainly settling in.
"Easy, it's not like anyone is watching you...or telling you what to do. Whatever happens, it won't be your fault." He tried reassuring himself to no avail.
What if he broke the object trying to figure it out and set back the progress of yet another important experiment in the facility? He reluctantly turned pieces of the cube and compounded his fears by speculating what kind of blowback could result from his failure.
Would he have to hear the scientists argue and fight one another over yet another accident caused by his inexperience? Would his mom and dad be among them, or worse, challenge each other again?
...Would they become distant from each other like they were several years ago?
That last thought in particular made his palms slick and caused his heart to race while he contemplated all the possibilities, but once he became aware of all the negative thoughts formulating in his mind he opted to stop overthinking and calm himself down like his older brother taught him. So he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and began to focus on his breathing.
In, 1-2-3,4,5, out, 1-2-3-4-5. In, 1-2-3, out 1-2-3. In, out. In, out. In, out. In — actually, the moment he was aware of his breathing he abruptly stopped, opened his eyes, and acknowledged that simply breathing felt outright different that morning after putting his hand to his chest to feel the pulse.
"Something definitely happened to me yesterday." He mumbled while staring down the cube. "I mean, it's not like I remember it, but it's gotta be the reason everyone's been acting so weird around me..." He theorized internally while tinkering with the cube, thinking of all the odd occurrences that have been happening to him since the previous night.
His sudden lapse in memory of everything that happened the previous day, the awkward conversation between him and his dad after being tucked in, and the blatant stares gathered from the Abysus scientists confirmed his suspicion.
He still wasn't sure what to make of the physical oddities he was experiencing, though. It was difficult for him to explain or even process it for that matter, but it was like he could feel all the individual cells coursing through his veins — in addition to a sudden and acute awareness of all the electrical impulses that fired off in his body, as if he were some sort of living circuit.
He crawled into the lounge-style chair and continued to rotate bits of the cube seemingly at random. Though he did so more calmly, and in a cool state of mind he sensed his synapses fire off. A shock here, there, and everywhere. Off, on. Off, on. Off, one. Zero one. Zero one. Zero...One...
[1] "01000001 01110111 01100001 01101011 01100101 01101110 00100001" He subconsciously cited a sequence of numbers while hyperfocusing on the cube, his fingers moving faster than the scientists could track behind their one-way mirror.
Under normal circumstances, attempting to solve the cube without any sort of markings or coloration was a mute point since he couldn't discern any sort of pattern to solve for; but without his knowing, the tips of his fingers picked up on the information embedded within the cube.
Rex began to squint more and more the faster he tried solving the puzzle — static electricity connecting his hand and the cube as their ions brushed past each other. And then, without any formal instructions, Rex realized the true nature of the test.
He closed his eyes once more and stopped moving entirely. He was completely motionless for a few seconds, which certainly intrigued the spectating scientists — though Rafael and Violeta were considering intervening the longer their son was motionless.
But before either of them had the chance to move, Rex opened his eyes — and they were glowing.
Blue streaks of light spread from his hands to the cube like electronic veins, embedding it with nanites instructing the cube to solve itself. After a small amount of whirring and the retraction of the streaks, Rex's eyes stopped glowing and he slowly raised the cube, his face unsure of what he just did and whether or not it was satisfactory for the scientists.
Much to his relief, the cube began to vibrate and unfolded itself into its two dimensional template.
Rex already met everyone's expectations by successfully using the nanites, but then surpassed them immediately when the unfolded artifact began to rearrange itself into a number of random prisms.
The cube was only designed to unfold and the test was to see if Rex could program the cube to do just that — so witnessing him already demonstrate new abilities was entirely unanticipated and it sparked unforeseen levels of excitement and anticipation.
His parents immediately busted into the test room through the emergency exit and embraced their son with gleeful expressions and warm embraces. Rex relished the attention and the fact that he was finally able to help his parents, and with what was being treated as a breakthrough no less!
As he exited back into the corridors of Abysus with his parents by his shoulders, the scientists began to applaud and engage in discussions between one another while he continued to experiment with the types of figures he could create with the framework in his hands.
"I can't believe their child is already so adept at using his nanites!"
"It's like he's speaking to them!"
"Do you think he could direct his nanites to target all diseases and contaminants?"
"Don't think so small! Someone with abilities like that can change the whole world if he desired."
Their flattery was nice, but the only thing Rex cared about at that moment was the undivided attention from his parents who showered him in praise and promises of rewards.
He would be sure to ask what was so extraordinary about his act—which in all fairness, he recognized wasn't something achievable by average people—but the questions could wait for later; especially when his parents came across one of the many soccer balls Rex left discarded throughout Abysus and began to play keep-away with it.
How long had it been since he last spent time with his parents, or just had fun with them for that matter? With his parents teaming up against him with their vastly superior coordination, he supposed the answer to that question didn't matter at that moment either. He was having fun and enjoying the time he spent with his parents.
And it was best that he relished it, as it would be the last time they would all smile together.
Elsewhere, Eve was a bit surprised at how quickly everything was happening. It was just last night that she called the Consortium yet there she was at Abysus with a clean suit, ready to meet up with the heads of the organization and the group of scientists who proved nanites worked on humans.
"..And if all goes well Xanubian will likely make me a top supervisor of the project! So as soon as I'm sipping lattes in one of the big boy chairs I might even consider consider giving you a promotion for all the recent support you've provided me." Eve teased her tattling associate over a call while her heels clicked through the winding, bustling halls.
"Emphasis on the word consider, though. I might need some time to get over all the years you've kept me in the dark on this project. Now I gotta go, will be walking into the meeting room soon.
She closed the flip phone feeling quite smug, but then pursed her lips as she stood in the middle of a crossroads, unsure where to go next.
The instructions provided to her weren't exactly the clearest, especially provided the labyrinthine nature of the facility that remained faithful to its medieval architecture despite recent renovations.
It made sense that she was lost, and in an effort to correct her course she tried to get the attention of a passing scientist or two before they all vanished to wherever they were needed.
Of course, they all simply brushed her off or outright ignored her even when she quite forcefully took hold of their shoulders. It's not as if that sort of gaslighting was new to her, but it didn't feel any better at that moment than it did in the past; and there were plenty of memories regarding that, she thought as she glanced at the wedding band on her ring finger. Why was she still wearing it anyway?
She took it off to stash it in a lower coat pocket, and while she was looking down at her feet she noticed a soccer ball rolling her direction and stopped it with a meager stomp.
It was puzzling to see anything sports related in a concentrated zone of geeks, nerds, and dweebs, but when she looked up she was most surprised to see a child peeking innocently around a corner.
"I can see you, you know." The short, dark-skinned boy pointed at himself as though she could be referring to any of the scientists that didn't even acknowledge her presence. She found it amusing, for the antics of a child anyway, and grinned while she pointed at him.
"Yes, you with the funky haircut and the black shirt. The color suits you, and it just so happens to be my favorite," she gestured to her suit with a drop of her hand. "Right after purple, of course."
"I like red! Reddish-orange I mean. And blue. And black too. I have lots of favorite colors, now that I think about it!" He beamed as he turned the corner.
"So it seems." She replied while passing the ball back to him. He was unable to stop the ball and watched as it continued past him and rolled down the hallway, but before he ran off to retrieve it he skipped up to her and she crouched down to meet his eye level.
"I've never seen you around before." He noted. "Were you transferred here?"
"Something like that. I'm actually on my way to a meeting, some real urgent business." There was no need for her to divulge the details of her being there, but it did dawn upon her that the child might know his way around the place; or at the very least, know someone who could be of assistance.
"Say, kid, you wouldn't happen to know where a high-profile conference would take place, would you? I'm supposed to be meeting up with this group of men known as the Consortium."
"Never heard of them before." He admitted.
"Hmm. Then perhaps you might know where I may find some Doctors by the surname Salazar?"
"You're looking for my mom and dad!" Rex shouted with a wide grin that was met with the same enthusiasm as Jennifer upon learning the identity of the boy.
"So you must be Rex Salazar!"
"That's my name! Don't wear it out!" He acknowledged with a wink.
Ha ha. A comedian. "I don't plan to." She mumbled before extending her hand to him. "There's quite a lot of buzz surrounding you young man. I am beyond ecstatic to have met you, and I most certainly look forward to our partnership in the foreseeable future."
"I don't know what you're on about, but okay!" He enthusiastically responded while shaking her hand. "Oh! And if you're looking for my mom and dad, they were just playing with me before heading to room AP-23!" He beamed. "I can take you there if you'd like!"
"That would be greatly appreciated. Lead on." She stood up and was dragged along by the boy who seemingly forgot to let go of her wrist and began rambling about foreign cartoons — anime is what he called it. And a faint smile formed on her lips the longer she kept up with his pace.
So innocent, so carefree. What she wouldn't give to have a child of her own. But she was no mother, and the mere thought of that life made her scowl when she thought back to that one fateful night many years ago. In another life, perhaps…
But enough ruminating on what could have been. When her train of thought returned to the present, she stood before the doorway of the meeting room with Rex already scampering off in some random direction.
Enough playing around. It was time to meet with the big boys.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
For the sake of convenience, I'll include necessary translations at the end of the chapter starting now. Additionally, there's only one chapter left in this "episode" before I start the main story. Apologies if this first part has been middling—especially this chapter since I've been working on it on/off for nearly a month now.
UPDATE [7/9/2019]:
Edits have been made to improve grammar and structure. Additionally, all instances of Black Knight being referred to by her fan given name, "Jennifer Eve", has been updated to use her surname.
TRANSLATIONS:
[1] "Awaken!" written in hexadecimal