Keagan woke up fatigued and cranky. He opened his eye’s and saw that Catalina and Karisa had coiled themselves around him as they soundly slept. He thought back to the previous night.

A lot had happened and somewhere deep down, Keagan knew the worst had yet to reveal itself.

The time was six thirty in the morning.

Keagan slithered out of his bed, took a quick shower, got dressed in his new clothes, downed a cup of coffee and went to work before Catalina and Karisa woke up. He had looked at himself through his body length mirror and saw something.

Something different.

It wasn’t his new haircut or clothes.

Just something.

Keagan left the apartment and walked to the train station.

There he met Roy who had a depressed look on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Keagan asked.

Roy looked at him with glassy eyes.

“You missed another stream! I’m a simple man. I work hard and watch others play hard. See? Simple!” Roy cried.

Keagan hugged him and ran his hands through his messy hair.

“You smell funny. Did you have a girl over again?” Roy asked.

“Umm… yes. But- it’s complicated.” Keagan said as he let go of his friend.

“Well, whatever. Finish whatever it is you got going on and get back to streaming.” Roy said to Keagan as they boarded the train.

“Yeah, well if you want me to stream so bad, why don’t you just stream yourself? I’m sure the internet would love you.” Keagan said.

“Ha! Luckily for me I suck at gaming!” Roy said as a single metaphorical tear ran down his face.

“Poor you. Oh and don’t worry. I’ll get back to streaming soon." Keagan said as the train zoomed into Ix Chel district.

Keagan and Roy quickly made it to work and the two-headed their separate ways.

Keagan headed up to the research and development floor, sat behind his table and got to work. His primary job was going over data from various simulations and tests and running it over and over again. He’d then have to take those runs and generate averages and detect outliers or errors that could occur in real life.

It wasn’t the most fun job in the world, but Keagan enjoyed it nonetheless.

An hour later passed and Keagan’s colleagues began the daily routine of gossiping and bantering.

“Yo, that hot exec is back today? How long do you think she’ll be working here?” Johan asked.

Keagan realized that he left Catalina and Karisa at his place. He wondered what outfit she’d be wearing since she’d have to go back to Cynosure to get changed.

“Forget it, bro. You don’t stand a chance with her. Five bucks say that she the “eat your food with your pinky up" type.” Tommy said.

“Yeah, you’re right. She has this… aura to her. So intense. So…”

“Sexy?” Tommy added.

“Yeah, sexy!” Johan said while drooling.

The office door opened and Catalina entered. She wore a beautiful peach dress and a sharp peach coat. Her black hair hung gracefully behind her and her bronze skin shined rather brightly.

Catalina walked past Keagan and his colleagues without even glancing at them, let alone greeting them.

She then silently entered her office.

“See what I meant?” Johan asked.

“Drop dead gorgeous?”

“Drop dead gorgeous!” Johan said triumphantly.

“Tell you what. I’m going to get her number.” Johan said.

“Oh? Good luck to ya then.” Tommy said.

“Guys, shouldn’t we be working?” Keagan asked.

“You’re just saying that because you wouldn’t stand a chance,” Tommy said.

“Mmm… I don’t know. Keagan is pretty lucky. Did you see how he got accepted into our branch? The competition was stiff. Tons of brilliant graduates, tons of new blood and yet we got the most average of the average. No offence, by the way.” Johan said.

“Yeah, you’re right! Keagan’s so lucky, he scored himself the position of spokesman in like what? A year?” Tommy asked.

“You do know that this is only temporary. After Dan is done with me, I’ll probably be tossed aside like a candy wrapper.” Keagan said.

“Yeah, true. But Mercy is more than qualified for the position of spokesperson. I don’t understand why it had to be you.” Tommy said with narrowed eyes.

“You just want your crush to succeed, hehe,” Johan said.

“Wha- what? No! Come on Johan. You know it as well. Mercy was the one who was supposed to get the job.” Tommy said while hiding his face behind his coffee mug.

“Hehe, whatever. Let’s do some work.” Johan said.

The working day continued and much to Keagan’s joy, it was more of the same stuff that he used to do before he was spokesman.

Research, compilation of data and presentation.

The working day came to an end and Keagan clocked out. He said his goodbyes to Roy who’s shift hadn’t ended and went home.

The commute was rather uneventful but he got a phone call from Dan that threatened to block the return of his dearly sought monotony.

[Yo, Keagan!]

Dan greeted energetically.

“Hello, what is it?." Keagan greeted simply.

[You know, I’ll never get tired of your frankness. Anyway, prepare your best material because you’re going to a university in Kukulkan district. The nerds there want to know more about cryopreservation and guess what? You’re the spokesperson of a company developing CryoPod’s, yey!]

Dan said enthusiastically.

Keagan on the other hand hated every word Dan had just said because this meant he’d have to shift from his routine. He also knew that being a spokesman wouldn’t be easy so he decided to bear with it. He eventually arrived at his apartment building.

“Ok, when are we going? Also, Kukulkan is a very… reserved district. How will they react to a concept that will, in theory, make people immortal?” Keagan asked as the elevator took him to his floor.

[Just be ready tomorrow. Oh and don’t worry about the moral stuff. Say what you’re there to say and we’ll gauge the response.]

Dan said.

Fuck. Keagan cursed internally.

“Ok, I’ll be ready,” Keagan said before he ended the call. He entered his apartment and saw that it was relatively cleaner than he had left it. He took off his tight white shirt and tight grey pants. He slipped into some black sweat pants and an old shirt, then jumped onto his couch, closed his eyes and found the sweet embrace of sleep.

.

..

A couple of hours later, Keagan lazily got up and made himself a quick microwaveable meal.

It was the fuel he was going to need to break a certain world record in a certain game. He wolfed down the rice and pork like it was nothing, dragged his feet across and entered his den. He couldn’t erase the memory from that night, but he was calm enough to let it slide over him. He was focused and hella determined. He switched on his PC and began his grind.

Hours passed and he got nowhere near the international record of twenty eight eliminations in a ranked match.

But he didn’t care. He was having fun and his viewers were enjoying the show.

The night wore on and Keagan realized that he had to sleep, but a certain text from one of his viewers kept him from doing so.

[Yo, Kay. Do you know KillaB? She’s the previous record holder. Well, I just found out that she also lives in Unity. Maybe you guys should collab.]

The viewer suggested.

[Well, that would all depend on whether or not she wants to collaborate. But thanks for the suggestion, I’ll keep it in mind.]

Keagan typed before turning his computer off. He made his way to his bed and once again found himself sound asleep.

.

..

Keagan hadn’t had a good sleep in a while. So when he woke up feeling as refreshed as he did, he couldn’t help but smile. He took a shower, wore his unreasonably expensive clothes, drank his morning cup of coffee and went to work.

He found Roy where he usually was.

Standing near a bench in the train station.

Roy noticed Keagan and a smile slowly formed on his tanned face.

“What?” Keagan asked as he approached the smiling Roy.

“You and KillaB playing together would be the show of a lifetime, no?” Roy said.

“What? What do you mean?” Keagan asked. He had already forgotten the little chat he had with the viewer the night before.

“Bro, have you even looked at your phone? The internet is going crazy, well… your fan base is. They all want to see the ultimate crossover between the two of you, me included.” Roy said.

Keagan couldn’t help but sigh deeply.

“You know what? I’ll contact her and see what she says, ok?” He said with a defeated expression.

He couldn’t help but do whatever Roy asked, because Roy never asked for much.

The two arrived at work and Keagan quickly realized that this day wasn’t going to be like every other day.

Firstly, everyone in the research and development department was hard at work.

This was unusual because even Johan and Tommy were busy.

Lastly, Dan was there. His presence was annoyingly bright and obvious.

Keagan approached him.

“Good morning.” Keagan greeted.

“Yo! Keagan’s here!” He said rather loudly.

“Why aren’t the others preparing to leave?” Keagan asked.

“What? Oh, they aren’t coming. It’s just you, me and Catalina.” Dan said straightforwardly.

Keagan didn’t understand it, but he didn’t care.

As long as presenting data on cryogenics was all he had to do, he was more than willing to do so.

Dan, Keagan and Catalina got into Dan’s car and they headed to the nearest Vectrain station.

Traffic was unusually high, which is why Dan decided they leave as early as possible.

“Tell me, what do you do in your spare time?” Dan asked.

“Who? Me? Well, I play a lot of games. So there’s that.”

“Is that so? Mmm… my son loved that sort of stuff.” Dan said softly.

Keagan remained silent as they slowly drove on.

“I really hate traffic,” Dan whispered as they inched along the road.

They eventually reached the Vectrain station and Dan went off to get some tickets. Leaving Keagan and Catalina.

She wore a magnificent turquoise skirt and a pure white shirt which was partially covered by a similarly turquoise blazer. Her hair was in a neat bun, kept together by an emerald pin. She was the truest essence of elegance.

Well, that’s what she looked like.

Keagan saw numerous people staring at her as they awaited the vectrain.

Keagan wondered how they all failed to see how ugly she was.

He slowly walked behind her and inspected every inch of her body in search of whatever the people who looked at her found beautiful.

He found nothing but a shell.

A mask.

A façade.

One which made Keagan’s stomach tighten up. But how could he blame the general public for not being able to see past her perfectly built mirage?

Keagan sighed as he stepped away from her.

There was no point thinking hard about whatever she was.

“I’m back!” Dan announced and they departed for Kukulkan district.

The trip was rather short due to the vectrain’s speed.

Keagan disembarked from the train and his gaze fell on what could be called the greenest place on earth.

The Kukulkan district of Unity was designed for the pure purpose of preservation.

Taking what the earth had and nurturing it.

Keeping life as a whole, safe.

There were very few ground-level roads in this district.

Every major road was suspended far above the ground to allow vegetation to flourish.

Yes, there were buildings, but even they were designed in such a way that life wouldn’t be troubled by their presence.

Keagan and company entered a taxi and made their way to Kukulkan’s university.

It was a large building, whose size was dwarfed by the amount of vegetation that grew around it.

Keagan pitied anyone who was allergic to any one of the possible millions of plants in this district.

The three of them made it to the reception and there they met professor Alex Druid.

A Short and energetic man with thinning blond hair.

“Welcome to Kukulkan’s finest institution of learning. I’m Alex Druid and for today, I’ll be your guide around this building of ours.” He said.

“Pleased to meet you. My name is Daniel Eagleton and these are my colleagues, Keagan Keita and Catalina Acosta. I’m sure you know this already, but we have a presentation that starts in a few minutes so I’d like us to head there as soon as possible.” Dan said using his professional voice.

“Yes, of course.”

The professor led them to the lecture hall they’d be using to present their findings to professors and students who were interested in what cryogenics had to offer.

Or more specifically, what Lezzaro had to offer.

Keagan entered the hall and nearly every seat was filled which wasn’t a surprise considering Lezzaro’s reputation.

Keagan got to work explaining what made Mercy’s project and theories that much better than anyone else’s.

The response he got was positive, but no minds were blown.

At some point in the presentation, one of the professors asked a certain question.

“What is the longest length you and your team could preserve say, a complete human body?” The professor asked.

“Good question. The problem is I am limited on what I can and cannot share since the project is still in the development process. But if I were to give an estimation…” Keagan paused as he shifted his gaze from person to person in the audience.

“I’d say that the preservation duration is indefinite.”

Keagan was met by a myriad of gasps and other sounds of awe.

“How is that possible? Current methods can only preserve a sample for about half a century, but what you’re saying is that you could keep something alive forever?” Another professor asked.

“You’ll have to find the answer to that question when we present our project at the conference in a month.”

This time, everyone let out disappointed noises.

Keagan checked his watch and saw that his time was up.

“Sorry folks, that’ll be all for today. I’m glad you allowed me to present the findings of my colleagues and I hope I’ll be able to share more with you at a later date. Goodbye for now.” Keagan said and everyone simultaneously got up and swarmed around him.

First, it was the professors, who asked him all sorts of questions, but professor Alex saved Keagan and led his colleagues away.

The next problem was the students. They asked him increasingly personal questions as they swarmed around him.

Luckily for him, Catalina stepped forward and grabbed everyone’s attention.

Much unlike Keagan, who was a living breathing manifestation of the word average.

Catalina was the opposite

“Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Keita has other business to attend to, so unfortunately he will not be able to answer your questions of now,” Catalina said as Keagan snuck out of the lecture hall.

Dan followed closely behind and Catalina followed soon after.

The three of them eventually made it out of the building and Dan requested a taxi ride for them to the vectrain station.

“You did good, by the way. We’re going to be doing a lot of that. Until you become the face of the scientific community.” Dan said.

Soon enough, a taxi arrived and they boarded it.

“Oh? Isn’t that aiming a bit too high?” Keagan asked.

“Are you afraid of crashing?” Dan asked in return.

“No. I’m just wondering why you’re shooting me in the first place.” Keagan said.

Dan’s eyes narrowed for a moment.

“Mmm… well, let's just say that if this works out I’ll be a very rich man,” Dan said.

“But the way I see it, you’re not lacking in the financial sense,” Keagan said.

“Probably. From your perspective, I’m a successful man, but there's one thing that I can't take and that's incompetence. Sounds a bit arrogant, but I can’t help it. Catalina is the same. Hehe, tell him about your legendary exploits in the marketing division.” Dan said from the front passenger seat to Catalina who sat next to Keagan in the back.

Catalina looked at Keagan.

Keagan narrowed his eye’s slightly.

“Well, by that time I was still only an assistant. My boss at the time had a very passive method for marketing Lezzaro in Unity-"

“Exactly! So guess what Catalina did. She worked her ass off and took his job, haha!” Dan interrupted.

“Yes, after I got close to the Astali family, I used their influence to replace the marketing director,” Catalina said as she desperately avoided meeting Kagan’s gaze.

Keagan had acquired a piece to the puzzle that was Catalina.

“See? In this business of ours, you gotta keep moving upwards. Lest a young upstart replaces you.” Dan said.

The trip back to Ix Chel was uneventful.

They made it back to the office before the working day was over so everyone was still hard at work and they were now in Mercy’s office.

“So? How did it go?” Mercy asked.

Her thick glasses and rather messy hair completely hid her genius-level intelligence.

Keagan sometimes theorized that she did it on purpose.

That she hid her true personality behind the façade of someone ditzy and clumsy.

“Oh, it went better than great. Those old farts will most likely be spreading the word of your research to the far reaches of the land and by the time the conference is here, Keagan will blow everyone away with the CryoPod reveal.” Dan said excitedly.

“That’s good. I guess we’ll have to start working on a fully functioning prototype, huh?” Mercy asked with a tired expression.

“Yes! The time for theories and concepts is over. Your project is now within the minds of the scientific community, failure will result in a shame that none of us will be able to live out.” Dan said with a bright expression.

“You’re a maniac, you know that?” Keagan asked.

“Yes!” Dan said.

The meeting eventually came to an end along with the working day.

Keagan was about to fetch Roy, whose shift had ended so that they could go home together. But his shoulder was suddenly grabbed by someone from behind.

“Yo, where are you going?” Dan asked.

“Home?” Keagan said nervously.

“Awesome, can I tag along? My wife’s not home and I’ll be bored alone so…” Dan said while making a pathetic attempt at a sad puppy dog look.

Keagan wanted to say no.

He REALLY wanted to say no. But Dan was technically his boss.

Even then, that didn’t warrant hanging out.

“Yeah, Ok…”

“Perfect! I’ll go get my car.” Dan said as he dashed out of the building.

Keagan stood completely still as he ran through the countless consequences hanging out with his boss could have.

Roy approached the petrified Keagan.

“Oi! Let’s go. I’m starving. I wonder what home-cooked meals taste like.” Roy wondered.

“Umm… yeah. Hey, do you want a lift home?” Keagan asked.

“What? You got a car?” Roy asked as they walked outside.

Both of their gazes fell on an extremely luxurious car.

“Nope. We’re hitching a ride in my bosses car.”