After a night of words exchanged in the dark, tears, dreams, nightmares, and sighs, the newcomers gathered after a hearty breakfast in a room with a large round wooden table. It looked like an ordinary office room, decorated with insignificant plastic plants and a white board at the head of the table.
"Wow. Honestly, I'm surprised they're still using whiteboards in the future. I was expecting some sort of interactive three-dimensional hologram supercomputer." Jake commented, keeping his feet on the table and his arms crossed behind his head. He looked very comfortable, as if he were sitting on the couch at home.
"I was thinking the same thing." Fresh commented with a chuckle. Obviously, the relationship between them had mended after the disagreements of the past few days. "I'm surprised there's still food, for example. I was expecting some colored pill or cube with all the necessary nutrients. Like the astronauts do with their weird food."
"There are interactive whiteboards, but they are also easily hackable. The last thing we want is the government reading our meeting notes." Frank replied as he quietly typed on his laptop, waiting for Miss Maia to arrive.
"Weren't you the world's greatest hacker? The computer prodigy?" Fresh taunted him in a dismissive tone. "You can't even protect a whiteboard?"
"I never said I was a genius. The government has one very skilled hacker, Andy. He is an eccentric and dangerous person; we worked together when I pretended to work for the government, and he always left me rather puzzled. Let's just say he wasn't happy when he found out I was a traitor, and he made it very clear. I can try to protect our board, but it seems foolish to risk a hack and the compromise of a mission just to satisfy my ego." Frank shrugged. "There is no stronger protection than the absence of technology."
"Look who's talking about eccentricity and danger. The pot calling the kettle black."
"Come on Fresh, enough with the kindergarten comments. Let's try to work together peacefully, okay? When you do that, you're a pain in the ass, let me tell you." Tricky scolded Fresh angrily. She looked exhausted, her head resting on her hand. She had dark circles under her eyes that looked like shopping bags, and it seemed that her body was unable to resist gravity.
In response, Fresh turned his head toward his best friend and mimicked Tricky's words in silence, mimicking her in an annoyed manner. The pantomime amused Jake, who began to giggle and shake his head. He only stopped laughing when he saw Lucy hand him a note. She had a strangely annoyed expression on her face, but it immediately disappeared when she met Tricky's gaze. Tricky smiled at her and looked away, moving a lock of hair from behind her ear.
{As for food, I think it would cost more to make energy pills than to eat what you want directly. There's no point in making a chicken-flavored cube, you kill the chicken and cook it. Zero cost.} Jake read aloud.
"Except for the fish. Good thing Zoe's rich, otherwise I couldn't cook my specialties for you." Ninja crouched on his knees on the edge of the chair as if ready to jump. "Fish exist only in intensive farms in special tanks."
"Don't your knees hurt sitting like that?" King asked, slightly amused.
"Yes, but I can take the pain. A true ninja thrives on discipline and endurance!" He exclaimed before making a strange gesture with his hands.
"We're in really good hands." Fresh commented sarcastically, shaking his head.
"Where is Zoe, by the way?" Yutani asked, looking around. She looked like the most rested member of their group of friends. Her eyes seemed full of excitement and determination, ready to hear what they would have discussed during this meeting.
"Oh, she never attends meetings. She says he trusts us and we can do what we think is right. Miss Maia always gives her a report at the end of each meeting and that is enough for her." Rain replied as she absentmindedly drew circles on the table with her finger.
"She prefers to be seen as little as possible. She is very ashamed of her condition and it makes her uncomfortable to be around people." Bruno commented in a neutral tone, but he looked uncomfortable. He kept shifting in the chair, trying to find a more comfortable position. Jake glared at him, but Bruno didn't seem to notice.
"I feel sorry for her." Tasha said in a tone similar to a hairdresser's gossip. She seemed to be busy filing her nails. "I would hate to be so ugly and smelly. Yuck."
"Don't be such a bitch, Tasha." Rain replied in a harsh tone.
King was surprised; he had never seen Rain angry or upset with anyone before. He realized how little he knew about Rain: after all, she was her own person, and like everyone else, had other nuances besides the cheerful, social facade she showed off to everyone. He wondered what had happened between them and Tasha to make them so openly hostile.
"Relax, Rain. What, now you're going to lecture me because I'm doing bOdY ShAmiNg?" Or is it the patriarchy's fault as always? You're being ridiculous." Tasha replied with a fake smile.
"Making fun of someone because of their physique is a shitty move, Tasha. Go ahead and laugh at me, but remember that beauty doesn't last forever."
"Yeah, yeah, okay. I understand that losing beauty is not your problem, blue-haired clown. To lose something, you have to have it first."
"You're embarrassing yourself, Tasha. We're not in middle school anymore, you know."
"La la laaaa I can't hear you." Tasha blew on her nails to remove the nail clippings from the edges of her fingers. "I'm not talking to the boss's pet. Take a chill pill, morality police. I was just joking."
"You two, please stop." Ninja stood on the table and made a theatrical gesture. "M'Lady and M'Enby, I have an announcement. You are both beautiful and one of a kind. So..."
"Stop simping, Ninja. I don't date weaboos. Get over it." Tasha cut him off, giggling.
"Yes, Ninja, stop courting my sister, it is very risky. If you look into her eyes she will steal your soul. I don't know if you've noticed the small horns poking out of her head." Miss Maia entered the room with a bundle of papers. Ignoring her sister's annoyed look, she placed the stack of papers next to Ninja. "Please take your feet off the table." At the rebuke, Ninja looked embarrassed and sat back in his chair in silence. But he did not abandon his squatting position. "You too. We aren't in a hotel."
Jake rolled his eyes and put his feet down.
"We've only been in this meeting for five seconds and I'm already regretting my decision to be your leader, pussies. So let's at least start pretending to do something productive, okay? " Miss Maia did not seem angry; she seemed more like she was trying to spur the group on in front of her. She threw a black marker at Yutani, who caught it in surprise.
"You seem to be the smartest among the new ones. Go to the board and mark the main points of this meeting, please."
"Sure, Miss Maia!" Yutani nodded enthusiastically before standing up and standing next to the board.
"Good girl. Now, Frank, explain to us what you have discovered." Maia sat down beside Frank, who nodded.
"Sure. First of all, I can confirm that the mission in the past was a success, despite some obstacles. I recovered the codes we needed and the government could not get them. So now we have the upper hand."
"Sorry, I have a question." Tricky held up her hand, interrupting Frank. "I don't understand what our main mission is. What are these codes you are talking about? Sorry, but I just want to understand better."
"No need to apologize. I will now give you a short but complete answer to better understand this complicated situation." Frank closed his laptop and stared at Tricky. "Today's government has gained immense power by possessing a weapon capable of destroying an entire nation in a second. The scientist who created it had security codes known only to her to prevent any nation from misusing this weapon. She had created it as a warning to maintain world peace. She made it so that the weapon could only continue to function by entering a sequence of causal codes created by her own software."
"The scientist was a distant relative of mine. Brilliant, but unfortunately very naive. Her invention changed the fate of mankind, and not in a positive way. Ever since she realized her mistake, my family has been trying to right Dr. Rodman's wrongs for generations."
"Rodman?" Yutani exclaimed in surprise. "What a coincidence, that's my name too."
"Oh yeah?" Miss Maia replied distractedly, obviously disinterested.
"Apparently, a dictator, a mysterious multi-billionaire prince whose only known initial is K, took possession of the software and used the weapon to shape the world to his liking." Frank continued, addressing Tricky. "His reign was unassailable. No matter how angry the people were, no one could stop him."
"But recently something changed. The government suddenly suffered a theft and the codes disappeared. This happened about a year ago. Since then, the dictator's power has diminished and we were able to create this organization. Prince K is still powerful, but not as powerful as before." Miss Maia added.
"Who stole the codes from the dictator?" Jake asked immediately, obviously fascinated by this bizarre story.
"The identity of the thief is unknown. It could be someone like us who wants to change things, or a political opponent of Prince K who is worse than him." Frank replied.
"The fact of the matter is that this is why the government sent Frank back in time to get the codes and bring them back to the future, then use the time turbines scattered throughout the timelines to enter the code and send it back to their base of operations."
"What they didn't know was that I was able to "bend the turbines to my will". By cracking the code of the turbines, I was able to travel to the correct time zone to steal the codes and then travel further into the past and take the time train back here. They would have found out about my treachery right away, so I had to lose a little more of my trail by traveling twice, but I still had a very short time to get back here." Frank looked at Jake who shrugged with an awkward smile.
"One thing I don't understand." Yutani asked. "If you stole the codes from the scientist in the past, how did the dictator get the codes in this future?"
"That is an interesting question. Unfortunately, I am not equipped to answer it." Frank shook his head.
"I have a hypothesis," Bruno replied timidly. "According to some studies, time is not linear as is often believed. There are theories that say that each time a person makes a choice, an infinite number of alternative timelines are created. Simply put, Prince K's rise to power and Frank's theft of the codes are two events that happened in two different timelines that managed to coexist in different time periods." He gave Yutani a shy smile. "I don't know if I made my point."
"No, you haven't made it at all. You explain things in a confusing way." Jake replied dryly.
"I'm sorry." Bruno seemed disappointed. "Try to think that the timeline where Prince K came to power happened before the line where Frank goes back in time. By joining them, they coexist. As if they were two separate events."
"Your answer is more than understandable, Bruno. Thank you for the explanation." Yutani interjected, smiling mockingly at Jake. Bruno simply nodded.
"Have you met with the scientist whose codes you stole? Did you warn her of what would happen?" King asked Frank, trying to imagine what kind of person this famous scientist was. Was she really a good-hearted person or did she somehow predict that her technology would destroy the world?
"No. I preferred not to interfere with the timeline too much." Frank replied before continuing the conversation. "In any case, we now have the software that creates the codes to activate the weapon. Without it, the government is much less powerful. We will have to start informing people about this in order to start a civil war, but it will not be easy. Many citizens who benefit from the discrimination and injustices of this society love the political situation and do not want it to change." Frank sighed. "We will have to be discreet, smart and quick to light the fuse that will ignite the revolution."
"Which brings us to another issue. To be powerful, we need to gather as many allies as possible." Miss Maia interjected. "I don't know if everyone here is smart enough to understand this, but the newbies are from the past and are here because of some mess Frank made." She sneered, and Frank just shrugged his shoulders.
"Too bad for them, but good for us!" Maia exclaimed. "Guys, there aren't many of you, but you're still valuable to us. If you help us, you will benefit as well. Right now, only government officials can travel through time. The time train Frank was trying to use to get back to us was a modification Frank had made to the turbine in the past, but since it was still a somewhat rudimentary technology, it only passed through at long intervals. Without someone to activate the mechanism in the past, we cannot use the time train in the future to bring you back to your own time." Maia crossed her arms determinedly. "If we can overthrow the government, you can use their technology to return home."
Jake suddenly stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "We accept! But on one condition! You have to help us rescue a friend of ours and his dog who are trapped in the future just like us!"
"You are in no position to dictate terms, little boy." Miss Maia replied harshly. "We were already thinking of helping your inspector friend to have an extra ally, but not because you told us to. Take it down a notch or you will end up very badly. Understood?" Her green eyes stared sharply at Jake, as if they could tear him apart with one look. Jake suddenly fell silent, intimidated by Maia's severity.
"Yes, ma'am." He muttered defeatedly before sitting back down. His face was as red as a pepper with embarrassment.
"Good. Frank, go ahead."
"Sure. As Miss Maia anticipated, we wanted to help another person." He stood and placed a photo of the inspector on the whiteboard, blocking it with a magnet. "His name is Ted Luz. Middle-aged. He is always accompanied by his dog, a white bull terrier with an unknown name." He also stuck a picture of the dog with a magnet.
"Sorry, Frank, but I don't see why we should care about the dog. They'll probably tear it to pieces before we get to the inspector." Tasha intervened, shaking her head and giggling.
"Tasha, allow me to make it clear that my attention is focused elsewhere than on your opinion. If we do not at least try to save the dog, I will not cooperate."
"Such a drama queen! Oh yeah, I forgot you were an obsessed animal rights activist." Tasha chuckled, getting no reaction from Frank, who continued to speak calmly.
"As far as I could find out, the guard is currently being held in a police station not far from the prison. They were trying to recruit him into their forces because they think he might be useful in finding the five children who are here with us." He turned his head towards the group. "They are using the dog as blackmail against him. I heard that tonight, at 3:26 am, he agreed to join them on the condition that they not kill the dog."
"At 3:26 in the morning? Frank, do you ever sleep? It's bad for your brain to be awake all the time glued to your computer." Rain commented in a worried tone.
"I'm not particularly worried about that subject, but thank you for your concern Rain. If I have a job to do, it gets the highest priority."
"I already knew you didn't care, but as the medic of this team, I have a duty to at least point out when you're ruining your health." Rain replied with a sigh.
"Anyway." Frank continued. "Paradoxically, it is much easier to contact him now that he has been recruited. As a police collaborator, he will be under surveillance, but not as much as when he was a prisoner."
"That brings us to many possibilities." Miss Maia intervened. "For example, with the brat... John, James, Jack... what is his name again?"
"Jake." Frank replied.
"Yes, yes, Jake. Use Jake as bait to communicate with the inspector."
"Wait a minute." Yutani interrupted them. "You can't do that! It's too dangerous!"
"I agree." Tricky agreed. "What if they really catch Jake? What would happen?"
"Oh, they'd instantly kill him. No doubt." Frank replied in a neutral tone, as if it wasn't a big deal. "But there is an element of risk in every mission. We will, of course, do everything we can to prevent that possibility from becoming a reality."
"You... you monster! Of course you say that, you don't give a damn about Jake! Maybe the government would even finish the job you wanted to do!" Fresh replied angrily, pointing his finger at Frank. "You're doing this on purpose! Admit it!"
"Calm down, big baby. It was actually Ninja's idea." Miss Maia reprimanded him.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Fresh immediately lashed out at Ninja. "What do you want from my friend?"
"A true ninja considers all strategic possibilities to accomplish a mission, Fresh-chan." Ninja replied and shook his head. "That hypothesis was the most useful of all. I had suggested Jake because he seems to be the closest to the inspector of all of you and therefore the most likely person to be listened to by the inspector." He clasped his hands in a prayer-like gesture and made a small bow. "I am sorry to have triggered your anger. Namaste."
"Don't call me that idiotic nickname! You're all freaks! I won't accept my best friend's life being jeopardized by imbeciles like you!" Fresh looked like he was about to go over to Ninja and beat him up.
"Come on bro, calm down." Jake pulled him off the edge of his shirt. "They are right, this is a good idea."
"No, I disagree too, Jake." Yutani replied. "I don't want you to risk yourself like that for the inspector. Sorry, but I care more about you than him." The girl blushed at her own words and awkwardly glanced away.
"Are there no other options?" King tried to ask shyly, looking for an alternative solution.
"Frank could send him an encrypted message on one of his devices," Miss Maia replied. "But it's risky. Andy could intercept it and put us and the inspector at risk. Besides, I don't know if he would trust Frank as much as Jake."
"But..." King looked like he was about to cry. "I don't want Jake to die."
"Nobody wants that." Rain reassured him with a smile before turning to Fresh. "Take it easy Fresh. I understand your fear, I really do. But I also think Miss Maia deserves more trust from you. She has always been an excellent boss and none of us has ever died, even on much riskier missions than this one."
"Schlup Schlup. Boootliker..." Tasha whispered to Rain with a mischievous smile, but Rain ignored her.
"But..." Fresh was immediately cut off by Jake.
"Fresh. It is also true that Miss Maia saved all of us. We wouldn't be here without her." He smiled at his friend. "Everything will be fine. I promise."
Fresh looked at him with disapproval and concern, but said nothing.
"Good. Then I think it's all settled." Miss Maia clapped her hands.
"Okay. Let's take a break. I want you all back here in 15 minutes. We will discuss the details of this operation later."