Chapter 40: Elysium 1
A white hover car zipped through the hyper lanes to a massive teleport station. It was a lot bigger than the teleporter that connected the inner sector to the outer, and this one was in a building structure.
Securities armed to the teeth, from automatons, to drones, to genetically enhanced humans, A.I powered weaponry and even a few piloted mechs here and there, paraded the entire complex structure.
Checkpoints lined several areas, standing guard and in defense, against any unauthorized entry.
Several hover vehicles, as well as people on foot clustered the area, some bidding farewell to their families, others getting checked in, and many other bustling activities.
The hover car slowed, as it pulled close to a check point.
Sean watched the happenings from within the vehicle, his face expressionless. Inwardly, a suppressed anger that he constantly buried with a certain memory, threatened to erupt.
Standing guard, for portals to Elysium, were so much military might, including a few Stage-3s and even their revered mechs. Meanwhile, the walls separating the slums from the wilder expanse, would at most, see a few Stage-2, coupled with the fact that they were massively spread out.
It was not news, that the slums suffered constant attacks from beasts, and even response time to gates that opened within those walls were slow.
Most of the time, an entire district would have already been wiped out, before reinforcements arrived. And this was after they had manned satellite technology, that basically predicted the opening of gates, from the atmospheric disturbances they usually caused.
It wasn’t like such threats couldn’t be dealt with easily, but were they worth it? Raids against gates in the wilder expanse, were carried out and broadcasted frequently to show humanity’s might, and give hope to the people.
Infact, a good reason why Sean was unimpressed by the broadcast yesterday, was because he was all too used to the system.
Rather than quickly respond to such threats within their territory, they let them impact the area a little, before they acted. And would still have the audacity to broadcast it.
In a way, their actions were beneficial to the society, even though extreme and unethical. For one, broadcasting the impact of gates on human life, showed just how much of a threat out-worlders still were to humanity. It drove a need and desperation for people to grow strong, and aspire strength.
At the same time, their late response, effectively culled the population of the slum dwellers, who basically impacted no value to the society, and only existed, because they were humans and thus had the right to live.
Their continuity indexes were very low. And some of them were even in the negative... A set of people the police always hunted.
This was not to say he cared about the slum dwellers. He did not have a heart big enough to care about their life or death. However, the hypocrisy sickened him.
Even that was not exactly right. His anger was more directed towards himself, and towards fate. He was angry, because he had once been a victim of this system.
His mother had died, because they felt attending to dignitaries; the rich, the elite, politicians, foreign investors, was more important, than attending to a local lead researcher.
He was angry at fate because they were in that situation. He hated the guts of the rich and their societal system, because they dared to ignore his mother because to them, she wasn’t as valuable.
And he hated himself dearly, because it was his actions, that had put her in danger in the first place.
It all sickened him.
His fists clenched tightly that his knuckles turned white, and his jaws tightened. His expression however, betrayed nothing, and his eyes were as calm as a lake.
Not the slightest ripple to be found.
Richelle noticed, his slightly tensed form. No matter how Sean masked it, escaping the senses of a Stage-5 like her, was impossible.
Though what she interpreted his body reaction to be, and what Sean was feeling, couldn’t be anymore different.
For as long as she could remember, Sean had always wanted to see Elysium from within. Not as the massive, alien land hovering in sky, visible from anywhere in Aegis, to set foot within it.
It only made sense he was excited. He was on his path to power.
She smiled softly, as their vehicle pulled to a stop.
The glass on her side, wound down, and an officer approached. His eyes were arrogant, and he reveled in his power to grant or deny permission to enter the lofty sky city.
All that immediately crumbled, the moment he saw who was in the vehicle. Like the flip of a switch, his attitude, made a one eighty degree turn.
"Richelle Storme," Richelle said calmly, uncaring about how he carried himself.
The man gulped. "Goo... Good mo... morning Miss." He stammered trying to compose himself.
His eyes caught sight of Sean and drew in the back seat, and his throat went dry.
He knew his job and what he should do, but, how could he possibly tell her to provide identification for the two lads with her? He could scan them himself, but even if he was given a thousand more balls than he had, he wouldn’t dare.
This was The White Witch here!
Richelle sensing his dilemma, pulled up two documents. "Sean Storme, and Andrew Cane."
The officer accepted it with two hands, trying his best not to fumble. He quickly rummaged over them, while being as careful as he could be.
In his hands, were admission documents to the academy! The Academy!
It also contained their basic information, like passports, their name and continuity indexes.
Confirming the documents matched and were legit, he handed them over humbly.
"Thank you ma’am," he bowed.
The glass wound back up, Richelle not bothering you answer, as they were again, separated from the eyes of the outside world.
Immediately after the check. The vehicle picked up speed, tearing through the hyperlanes like a streak of white, till they got to the portal, where they had to undergo another check, this time from the scanning lights of automatons.
This time, it only took a few seconds, and the car rushed into the teleporter.
Sean felt that familiar and sickening dissonance that came with it, but this time, it was a lot more manageable. The constant jumping in and out of simulated gates during his training, finally showing fruits.
It lasted only a second or two, before they found themselves on a platform, and with breathtaking world laid out before them.
Aegis Protocol embedded in their brain stem, quickly came to life.
[WELCOME TO ELYSIUM!]