“I-I, Uh… Well...” Elise’s tongue fumbled.

The others, Pent included, were similarly tangled by a flurry of erratic thoughts. Brows raised and lowered, and mouths opened and closed, but no words were spoken by anyone.

Jonathan waited patiently; however, Alexander struggled to contain his excitement.

“It’s true, you know.” The young man of about 14 or 15 years of age swept his eyes over the small gathering, speaking emphatically, “I didn’t believe it when my father first told me, but it really is true.”

Jack was the first to recover, inhaling a deep breath through his twitching nose. “I thought I smelled something strange in here… I assume you brought some proof along?” His eyes turned to Jonathan.

“Proof, you could say so…” Reaching down into a dark backpack beneath his chair, Jonathan retrieved what appeared to be a metallic cube about the size of a soccer ball.

When the object was exposed to his touch, its smooth surface rippled, dividing into many small scale-like segments that rose into the air. These scales swam around a central core, linking together in quiet harmony until they settled into a spherical shape. A small depression was left on one side, leaving a portion of the core exposed. From there, a cyan light emerged. The light blinked and shifted to face each of the candidates like a little eyeball.

[Greetings…] A disembodied hello drifted through the cafe interior. The voice was male, wizened like that of an elder, and spoke in fluent English. It sounded completely unlike the stiff and mechanical machine Pent had been subconsciously expecting.

His expression took another turn, transforming his wide-eyed shock to a frowning brow. Pent had no idea what the hell was happening right now, but there was a heat bubbling through his veins that wasn’t anger or adrenaline for once. It was pure anticipatory excitement, and he almost didn’t recognize the sensation at first.

To his knowledge, there was definitely no technology that existed like this on Earth. It was both frightening and fascinating at the same time, like a horror movie you couldn’t tear your eyes away from.

[My designated model is PLU-567, Series 7B. For purposes of address, you can call me Hauss.]

The group of young men and women nodded along absentmindedly at the floating orb’s words, Jonathan included. No one dared to even blink as it continued: [I am a fragment of the third iteration of the Great Sage, Solomon. And my purpose in coming to Earth, alongside the other fragments, is to assist humanity in their first round of negotiations with the ambassadors of The Empyrean and the Dark Sun Regency. Now that all talks have concluded successfully, the first stage of Integration will commence.]

[As per amendment 3A of the new Terran Concords, the fragments of the Great Sage will remain on this planet to oversee the construction and installation of 500,000 projection vessels, as well as assisting with the selection of Pioneer candidates.]

Silence. The room had almost completely stagnated. Pent could feel Elise squirming in her chair next to him, but everyone was too fixated on Hauss to even exchange glances.

“So you—and the other fragments, I guess—were the ones who chose us for this project, huh?” Jack was the first to speak in the alien machine’s presence.

[Correct.]

Pent’s body stiffened. The atmosphere in the room had shifted. Now, it felt like he was back in one of those hospital board meetings he’d loathed. Everyone was hiding their true thoughts behind stern expressions as they cautiously observed one another.

“So you want us to be these Pioneers, then…? What are the requirements or responsibilities of this role?” Lixue leveled a question, cooly.

Hauss shifted his light onto her, pausing for a pregnant moment before it replied, [Pioneers have no specified responsibilities. However, it is the hope of the Great Sage, and the United Nations Council, that candidates will work hard on establishing various footholds for humanity among the participating interstellar factions and neutral organizations within the Milky Way.]

Pent finally felt a touch of trepidation cooling his head as he eyed the strange robot bobbing up and down in the air. Doubts rolled up his throat and burst uncontrollably from his mouth, “Why us?” He paled slightly under the pressure of everyone’s gaze. “I mean… I don’t intend to doubt the judgment of the Great Sage, but I don’t have much experience with work or politics…”

[The Great Sage selected candidates based on the information contained in the collective databases of all worldwide governments concerning the people known as ‘Contractors’. The 450,000 humans with the highest potential were ranked from 1st to last, while the remaining 50,000 slots in the projection vessels were left open for the United Nations Council to fill.]

“Potential? What do you mean by that?” Elise jumped in. She leaned forward, her eyes blazing.

[To put it simply: the potential to become powerful Cultivators.]

“Cultivator—?”

“Hold on, hold on! Let’s put a pause on the questions here, before we get too sidetracked,” Jonathan smiled wryly as he interrupted Elise. “There will be plenty of time for those later, but right now, the key point is that what you’ve all read about is very real... and it's time to decide if you’ll be participating in this project.”

Everyone sat back in their chairs, eyes solemn as they finally glanced at each other to gauge reactions. Alexander was the only one who showed no signs of hesitation.

“I agree,” he announced, folding his arms across his chest. “What do we have to sign next?”

“There’s nothing further to sign.” Jonathan shook his head. “Pinnacle has already set up a facility for consenting participants. By verbally agreeing today, we’ll make arrangements to have you transported there at the end of the week and set up with a projection vessel. You'll only be using these machines temporarily, but lodging and all meals will be provided on-site until the day you leave Earth behind…”

He paused, allowing that last line to sink in.

“Leave Earth…” Pent muttered to himself. That concept seemed so foreign—somehow even more so than the existence of alien civilizations. He tried to imagine himself rocketing away on some sort of futuristic spacecraft, but even with the presence of Hauss in front of him, it seemed like nothing more than a fantasy.

Though, he knew that for the older generation, the powers that Contractors wielded had once been the same...

The end of Jonathan’s speech trickled into Pent’s ears, “...On the other hand, should you choose to decline — obviously you won’t be allowed to disclose any of what you learned or discussed here today, as per the NDAs.”

“Alright, alright…” Elise drawled, curving her lips into a wicked grin. “Even if you and this weird eyeball thing are just putting on a show—you’ve got my interest. I’m in.”

“I agree as well,” Jack added. Just like Elise, his eyes were shining. “The smell of this opportunity has my heart itching, I can’t refuse.”

Pent, on the other hand, frowned, looking to Lixue. She seemed like the calmest and most sensible one present at the table. Her gaze was focused squarely on Hauss while Ninghong stood behind her, chewing on her nails.

After a few seconds, Lixue spoke, “There is one thing I’m still not clear on… What is the function of these projection vessels? If our purpose is to eventually leave Earth, why not just transport us from the planet straight away?”

A smooth lid temporarily slid overtop of Hauss’ cyan light before it reopened. He always seemed to take a few extra seconds to consider an answer when dealing with Lixue, Pent noted.

[Space travel in the area is currently dangerous. The Aether Wave that is passing through the galaxy—having recently washed over your planet—leaves behind a tremendous amount of spatial turbulence and strange, sometimes dangerous, phenomena in its wake. This not only makes it difficult for large cruisers or transport ships to travel through the area, but it also delays the construction of docking ports and Gravity Wells that would allow for the establishment of stable wormholes. Currently, only a few advanced private vessels and small tradecraft can travel through the nearby stars.]

[Recent projections of the Great Sage estimate it will be five years before humanity will be able to begin traveling from Earth in significant numbers. This is a problem that has similarly delayed Integrations in the past, so the projection vessels were established as a countermeasure and a sign of goodwill. These apparatus will allow your consciousness to inhabit avatars created by the Great Sage. The avatars were left behind on various Nexus Planets in the Dark Sun Regency and The Empyrean, facilitating the exploration of Pioneers.]

“I see…” Lixue remarked, skeptically. Her brows furrowed as she sank into thought.

While she considered, Pent had already made his decision. He knew in his heart that if he allowed this chance to pass him by—no matter what it actually entailed—he’d regret it for the rest of his life. Well, what little remained of it anyway...

This definitely wasn’t what he had in mind when he started making plans to leave the hospital, but maybe, there was something out there for him. At the very least, it seemed like there’d be answers to the questions that plagued him at night.

Why had this all happened to Earth—to him?

What was the significance of his power to view Lifeflames? Were the abilities that Contractors received truly random?

Thinking such, Pent’s voice rang out, soft but clear, “I agree to participate in this trial.”

Lixue was soon to follow, as if wary of being the odd man out, “I as well. But only if what we spoke of before still stands, Jonathan. Ninghong has a spot in this as well.”

Jonathan adjusted his glasses and nodded. “Yes. Pinnacle has agreed to your conditions. Ninghong won’t be able to join with you all in this first round, but she’ll get one of our researcher slots.”

“Very well.”

Ninghong leaned forward over the back of the wheelchair and hung her face in front of Lixue. The two of them shared a slight smile as everyone else sank deep into their own thoughts…

~~~

It was a dull, grey Sunday morning, and once again, Pent found himself sitting out front of Weyland Medical Center, idly watching the cars and people pass him by.

His mind was elsewhere, drifting through the sky alongside the passing clouds. For the past four days, he’d been trapped in such a state. Various ideas, hopes, and doubts stampeded in frantic herds, arriving in his consciousness with tremendous momentum but never staying for long.

But no matter how much time he spent thinking, he still had no idea what to believe or what to expect from this project. Jonathan had been too busy to speak on the phone at length, so he could only ponder on his own.

This opportunity had shown up at his doorstep so suddenly... And he still knew so little. Pent’s natural distrust of people bred an infinite number of suspicions, but there was one in particular that he kept constantly circling back to.

If everything he had learned was true, what did the Great Sage and these people gain from all this?

Did they really just want to send humans out for exploration, uninhibited? And why the rush? Why not just wait until travel was stable?

This train of thought always led into a deep rabbit hole, but luckily Pent caught himself before he dove into it this time. Instead, he tried to reflect on himself for a moment as he continued waiting for his ride to arrive.

What did he want from all this—aside from the chance to escape the hospital…?

Prestige, wealth, adventure… he imagined that the opportunities out in space were as limitless as the expanse itself. There was a whole universe to explore, after all. And yet, he still felt trapped.

When Pent closed his eyes, all he could see was the blank ceiling of his bedroom in the hospital. He’d spent hours—days—glaring at that white, speckled canvas, always longing for visions of the stars like the nights he’d spent camping with his father when he was little.

Those remained his fondest and most precious memories, but they’d lost their luster over the years, cast in the shadows of all the things he’d rather forget.

Feeling the stirring of the power buried deep within himself, Pent smiled bitterly.

He felt more assured than ever that his mother, and the others like her—were wrong. But he didn’t feel any gratification.

Sparks of life only began to return to his desolate, slate-grey eyes after the familiar Escalade arrived.

Swiftly, he was helped into the back of the car. He looked back at the hospital entrance, but this time, Dr. Jiang wasn’t waiting for him, nor was anyone else. He’d be leaving the hospital for good, but ever since he’d returned from that meeting hosted by Jonathan, it was as if he never existed there in the first place.

No one came to visit, or even to ask him questions. Only the morning and evening meals left outside the door let Pent know he wasn’t entirely forgotten by the staff. He had to thank them for that at least, he supposed.

As much as he loathed some of the people inside, he truly couldn’t bring himself to hate the place. They’d fed, clothed, and provided an education for him for nearly a decade...

But as the car sped off down the road, he felt no desire to look back any longer. Eyes trained on the front windshield, Pent found that spark of excitement once again.