འօօʍ ϩ-Ӡ⊘Ϭ.

The room screamed curiosity. Everywhere, even the corners, were cluttered with replicas, robotic models, and carbon skeletons. Looking up, the room seemed to take up two floors in height, and the splendid windows on the side shone in with glistening light. Hanging from the ceiling, were different models across different occasions, showcasing the technological advancements of different vehicles in a curt timeline. Overhead, was a dazzling model of a bullet train, riding on floating tracks, and dodging multi-colored model planes with raveled accuracy.

When Steven entered the room, he felt as if he had stepped into another world.

"Hullo, I am Mr. Nyegil," The teacher introduced himself. His messy orange bangs almost covered his amber eyes, but they pierced through the strands of hair.

"I teach Intro to Robotics, but we'll also be learning computer programming and graphic design." He followed. Still not ready for the wake of the morning, his voice was heavy, sort of bored, and sort of slow. His eyes, albeit tired and drawn down, shone with an impetuous fascination.

"Well, since there's no use for dawdling, our first lesson will start today." Mr. Nyegil droned on. "Don't sleep in my class."

Steven propped his head up, as Mr. Nyegil tapped his desk.

The room shuddered as the floor in the front of the room began to cave in. Panels and angles creaked and cracked open, with lights beaming into the air, as they condensed into one area, the light formed a 3D presentation. Centered in the model, was a beautiful model of a delicately crafted machine. Every couple of seconds, it would continuously come apart and join back together.

"Design is crucial. Without knowing the compatibility of materials, the functionality, and practicality of what is being built, you will end up with a flaming mess. Without a plan, you cannot guarantee a good product. I suggest that you think of each individual part, each individual cost, and how they come together for a cohesive whole."

He paused. "No sleeping."

Steven drooped his head further down.

"This is why engineering is a team effort. Needless to say, there are many talented people who are multitalented. But for this class, most of the projects will be done in teams."

He paused. "No sleeping."

Steven drooped his head further down.

He chuckled... reaching his right hand to cover his eyes. He tilted his head backward, before falling into a deep maniac laugh. Once his laughter finally stopped, he wheezed and looked forward pointedly.

"For today, I'll be assessing all of your abilities. The back of the room jumbled open, leading to a back room filled with thin headgear aligned on shelves.

"Grab one that fits you, the sizes are written on the sides."

All the students clambered awake, as they rushed to grab one.

"Wake up." He nudged his fist on Steven's forehead.

Steven blinked.

"You've been sleeping the whole time." Mr. Nyegil stated. "How's the lab table?"

"Good." Steven yawned and then yawned some more. He rubbed his eyes. "How are you?"

"Tired as well," Mr. Nyegil responded.

"You should sleep then," Steven advised.

"The administration does not allow me to sleep."

"Oh," Steven replied.

"You should not be sleeping either." Mr. Nyegil flicked Steven's head. "Get your headgear."

Steven rubbed his forehead, dazed, before stepping off his chair and walking to the back of the room.

He looked at the array, and his eyes opened wide. The gadgets shone with novelty, the sheen of sleekness, and the gleam of innovation. He tapped them a couple of times to see if they would break.

Tap. Tap.

"They didn't." Steven nodded his head. Seemingly, these were sturdy and well-made.

He quickly found a pair that fit him, before going back to his seat.

"Put your headgear on." Mr. Nyegil announced.

Steven looked at the gear, as he fitted his head inside. For a moment, it was dark.

Then, with a surge of electricity, his nerves shut down, as the system booted. When he came back to his senses, he was standing in a blank, grey room. He felt his arms moving to the side as he peered across a planning desk. Around him, he noticed three other students.

A voice boomed down from the sky: "The students around you will be your partners. I made these groups based on your entrance exams. You may choose any project to build from the list. I will not expect too much but break a leg... if you want. You have 90 minutes, starting now."

A notification popped up and Steven tapped it. Inside, was a list of projects they could try building, but with no instruction on how to build any of them.

Steven looked down at the list that followed his view and shook his head up and down. Yep, there was no way he could build a plane, much less a car in less than an hour. With reluctance, he looked at his teammates.

"I'm Steven," he introduced. "Whatta bout you guys?"

"Aithein," The boy introduced himself. He had a mysterious gaze about him, and hair was mixed with an enchanting dark haze.

"Zero."

Ah. Steven said to himself.

"Myosotis."

Steven looked at Myosotis, who for once, didn't seem to be obscured by tendrils of disorientation. Immediately, he noticed what seemed to be a birthmark on her face: a slight discoloration that looked like four, crimson petals. Then, he watched as her hair tiled back. She had the most beautiful cerulean hair and sunny, golden eyes that seemed to shift into hazel as she tilted her head. Her eyelids would flutter down as she closed her eyes, like a butterfly, before snapping open gently once again.

Zero opened his mouth to speak:

"You're Mayo."

Zero studied her. For a moment, it seemed as if his eyes became a little lighter.

Myosotis awkwardly smiled.

Zero leaned in and sniffed. "You smell familiar."

"Um..."

"Kind of like morning dew." Zero looked up, deep in thought.

Mayo laughed. "So I smell like water?"

"No," Zero answered bluntly. "You smell like a distant memory. You laugh even when you're..."

"Ah..." Mayo answered as she touched her face. "You never..." Mayo stared at him. "remember."

Zero covered his ears. Perhaps he had forgotten to do the dishes.

"Focus. We don't have much time." Aithein pointed out. "I took a course on this last year in middle school, but still... I can't build that well. Can any of you..."

"Can't..." The white-haired boy replied, still hiding his ears.

"I can't build either," Mayo told them.

"I can..." Steven answered. He had learned a bit of engineering before.

"Can any of you draw?" Steven followed up.

Zero raised his hand.

"Ok, well, that's enough." Steven looked down at the list and seemed to fall deep in his thoughts. "Alright! I got it. We should build a phone."

"A phone?" Zero asked, surprised.

"Yeah, it's not too difficult to build."

"Zero, here, I'll describe each and every part. Can you guys go get the parts?"

Steven started listing out the parts.

As he did, Aithein, using the interface, typed in every material they needed, which materialized them on the desk.

Zero flashed out a piece of paper and began drawing the plans according to the description.

"What does each of those parts do?" Mayo asked.

"That's the logic board," Steven answered, as he fiddled with each item. "It contains the microprocessor which is the central processing unit of the phone... uh... it's like the brain of the phone, so it's needed to pull the messages from the memory and execute each task."

"On there, we also have the ROM and Flash Memory chips, which act as nonvolatile storage. The ROM stores information that's read as the system is powered on. The flash memory is easier to modify and is usually used to control code. It's where the long term info like downloads, music, and user account info is stored... and there's the RAM, which stores short term information."

"This is the case, the skeleton of the phone." He pointed to a metal hull.

"The cellphone is similar to a radio, you need an antenna and a transmitter to transmit frequencies and RF amplifiers help amplify the low frequencies... to a larger amplitude so the signal's strong. The batteries, through the movement of electrons in the conductor, power the phone. That's the microphone, and it converts sound waves... uh... into electrical signals which can be processed. The speaker takes electronic signals and turns them back into sound."

"We also need an LED monitor for a touchscreen cellphone. The model we're building uses capacitative material, which tells position based on electrical charges. So, we don't have to build everything from scratch. As the current flows, the LED also powers up and emits light for the screen."

"I think, we should just use the lithium-ion battery, as we don't have a budget, and it's a lighter battery than the Nickel Cadium or Nickel-metal Hydride batteries. It also has less memory effect, the downside is that it's not as durable."

Surprisingly as Steven was talking, he flipped on each screw, bracket, and adhesive with surprising accuracy and attached them together with the tools in his hand. His hands became a blur that slowed down as time passed. With one final adjustment, the phone was done.

With his hands shaking, he set it down on the table. The phone wobbled a couple of times itself with the sudden force.

"You... did it," Aithein muttered astonished.

"I haven't done this in a long time," Steven admitted.

"You've built phones..." Aithein gaped "...before?", His jaw... dropping down. He quickly picked it back up, but the shock still shook his voice in little deep timbres.

"Yeah, I have. The old phones aren't that hard to build," Steven admitted. "The newer phones involve too many molecular parts- it's kinda... hard to build them manually- but the old phones aren't that bad."

"Ah..." Zero answered, then proposed. "You'd probably be good at using nano-robots then. That's highly-sought after in the bio-engineering field."

Steven shrugged. "Maybe, y'know. I've only started cultivating today..."

"What?" Aithein asked. The shock had simply left his voice, leaving only dampened curiosity.

"Oh yeah," Steven explained. He pointed at Zero. "He was the one who taught me how to."

Zero glanced over.

"Yeah, I never cultivated before," Steven added on.

"Huh." Aithein pondered.

There was a pause before Aithein started speaking again, but the words that continued flew over Zero's head. Zero had dropped into his mind, and every spoken sentence became waves of white noise as they lost meaning.

Zero brooded over...

It didn't make sense.

Zero's mind kept walking further and further away. Inside his rambling thoughts, he kept thinking: Something had gone off beam, swerved, and fell. Something had gone off the mark.

Someone had tried to hide what was his.

So, he opened every drawer in his mind. He racked his brain over and pulled the cabinets out, and ruffled through piles of papers trying to find out what he was missing. They flew in the air, bunching and pillowing down into swirls as they scattered across the floor. Even as he tried to find what beleaguered him, it was difficult. This was a dusty library interconnected by trillions of webs. No matter how long he searched, the antiquated library was an embed compartment of a vaster museum. A vaster museum tied in a street of different establishments among a city of avenues. Even that continued on, continued on, and continued on a scale that became increasingly abstruse. It was there, but he would not find it today. As he played the same record and listened to the same song, he couldn't help but think something was unaccounted for.

Unseizable incongruities plagued him on the tip of his tongue but then fleeted away. Never there...

Why didn't he remember? Because someone else remembered for him.

Senses came to him as a voice pulled him out from his thoughts.

"Ah..." Mayo smiled, she looked away, not saying what she wanted to say. She had so many things to say. Instead, she suggested, "That'll be a great career choice for you."

"I guess," Steven mulled over the suggestion. His sleeves felt a little tight. He let out a grin, charming, pleasant, and reticent.

"Let's submit the work before the period ends," Aithein suggested, his eyes shuttering down as he entered the work.

Letting out a breath, everyone collectively relaxed.

After submitting the work, Steven logged off. He took the headset and looked out the windows. Nothing had changed except for the taste in his mouth. Increasingly, he watched as the clouds gather together, but the sky was still blue, and for a moment, it appeared tranquil. Maybe, nothing changed.

Even then, he smiled. If anyone had known any better, they'd see that a storm was starting to brew...