Chapter Thirty-two: RESEARCH INSTITUTE

Kiara stood in front of a grey building with the signboard saying 'Caito Institute of Gene Research'. It was very old. Almost dilapidated. It had a grey façade, the grass in the garden had grown knee-length. Some wild plants were growing haphazardly. It had grown all over the building, almost covering it. It looked more like abandoned mental asylum than a research institute.

"Are you sure this is the place?" She asked the chauffeur of the chariot.

The Institute was in the East Zone. She had to travel for two hours, changing many public buses, and chariots. She finally reached the place. But was it the place?

She checked the address. She had followed all the instructions given to reach the place. And what came to her sight was this.

At that time, a woman with dishevelled hair walked out of the two-storey building walked out of the building absentmindedly. She was wearing a white lab coat, papers tucked under her arms.

"Excuse me. Is this Caito Institute of Gene Research?"

"Yes."

The woman gave a short response and walked away.

"Well, I will have to go in and see. It will not fall over, right?"

Kiara went inside. The floor was making a creaking noise. If I had known I would have said no. Where the hell am I?

"Hello. Anyone here?"

She walked inside. It was clean but deserted with nobody in sight. She walked inside a lab. There were all sorts of equipment with a layer of dust all over. She checked other rooms. Some were locked, and opened ones did not have anyone in view.

As she was going to give up and go back, there was some movement from upstairs. Someone was coming from upstairs.

A man, in disheveled hair and lab coat, was coming down. He was of average height, too thin, and also wore spectacles.

"You must be an apprentice. Come with me,"

"Ah! yes."

She quietly followed the man while observing her surroundings.

"A lot of projects were shut down. That is why the ground floor is empty."

"Oh!"

"Including you, there are ten people. Prof Rigaro, six assistants, a janitor and Me."

"You are?"

"I am Prof Zenkins. You will work under Prof. Rigaro. If you need help, just ask Prof Rigaro and do not bother other people. They are too busy. Any questions?"

"No."

"Good."

Zenkins took Kiara to an office at the end. Knocking at the door, they went inside. Inside, the old man, she saw in the embassy, was bent over some book.

"Oh, Kiara. Welcome on board."

"Hello, Prof Rigaro."

"I hope you are not disappointed with the appearance of this place."

"Can I say the truth?"

Chuckling Prof. Rigaro said, "Sure. We are a little short of manpower. But you can learn a lot,"

"Thank you."

What important to her was money? They needed to survive first. Working in the research institute will also help them in finding a way back home. Just that, the research institute did was genetic research. Not sure if that would be helpful. Whatever it was a piece of the pie that fell from the sky. You just need to accept it.

For the rest of the day, Prof. Rigaro made her study in the library. He handed her a handful of books and asked her to memorise it all.

He was not heartless. He gave her all the books in the English language and gave her a week.

"Gene Theory, Human Evolution Blah Blah. That totals fifteen books. I can not finish one in fifteen days. How will I finish fifteen in seven days?" Kiara said helplessly.

Burying her head on the book, she murmured,' one by one. You have climbed mountains, this is just a few books. Kiara, you can do it.' With self-encouragement / brainwashing, she dived for the impossible.

At the end of the day, she got a message from Aarav on her ID that he would come to pick her up.

"Perks of working for the police,"

She was yawning. She held a thick book in her arms and waited for Aarav to come to pick her up.

"Hey. What's that?"

Aarav came in a chariot run by blue horses.

"My assignment,"

"That's too thick,"

"There are fourteen more,"

"Wow!"

"How was your day?"

"Crazy,"

Aarav told her about Jeremy. They can only sympathize with each other.

"Still no news?"

"Yeah. I hope they are okay,"

"Is there no other way to find out about them."

"Some healers come over the city for work. We can only talk to the garrisons to let us know when any healers from Sanka visit the city,"

"That can be done."

"Ahh, I just want to sleep for now. It was too tiring."

"Let's buy something to eat from Granny's. I don't want to cook today,"

"Good."

With that Kiara dozed off with the book in her lap. Aarav watched the night scene of the city. They directly went to south zone without changing vehicles. Transportation charges would be reimbursed. But their home was still too far. Aarav thought about renting an apartment in the East Zone. It was a peaceful area with good security. Just that the living cost will be too much. They would not be able to save a penny. 'Let's just wait till I get a license.'

With those thoughts in mind, after more than two hours, they finally reached their apartment building. Kiara was still sleepy. Aarav checked his ID to find only 50 silver coins left. Reserved vehicles were simply too costly. Sighing at his bank balance, he entered the building.

Few days passed by, Kiara was busy with her books both in the institute and out of it. Aarav got used to the continuous chatter. He now knows the names of all of Jeremy's relative. He was a permanent resident.

It was not all useless chatter. Aarav was able to get some info as well. Jeremy's rank was low in the force but that was due to his young age. 78 was pretty young in Caito. He belonged to an aristocratic family. He also told him how to get license easily and many easy ways through the bureaucracy. He was a law enforcement officer but his morals were not that tight.

A few days later, he received a message from the garrison about Sanka healers arriving. The guard even shared the address. He was someone who Aarav befriended while he had patrol duty in the garrison. However, when he reached the address, it was already too late. He was still too late. Road vehicles can not match the speed of Garud.

He shared his problem with Jeremy hoping he could help him. Jeremy was a friendly guy. He was more than willing to help. He just had to send a message to Sanka asking for a healer. He can fake an illness. It was just a fake emergency.

Next day, Jeremy faked illness. His father was frantic to find out. They were noble, so only top-class healers would be called. Immediately a message was sent to Sanka, and Ajil Horo was summoned. Aarav came to visit Jeremy as a friend. They sent away all the maids and waited for Ajil to arrive.

Ajil Horo, the top healer in the entire planet, was standing near the brown mahogany door. He knocked at the door and went inside after getting confirmation.

"Good day. I am healer from Sanka her_"

Before he could continue, Aarav shut the door from inside.

"We need to talk,"

Ajil was frantic. He was sweating.

"How are you here?"

"What? Did you want me to be dead? Explain everything or else you won't leave in one piece."

"We thought you died on the way just like the village merchant,"

"Wait. What? What do you mean he died? That thief abandoned us and died?"

"Two months ago. I was notified that he died in his apartment in Caito. I came to take his belongings. I assumed you guys must have met something bad,"

"No, we didn't die. But we did almost because of that thief,"

Grunting Aarav continued, "That guy stole something from me and left us to die. We walked for more than two months and reached this place."

"I'm sorry he did that. He wasn't that greedy that he could steal from others. …But people change. Who can tell?"

Ajil changed his tone midway when he sensed Aarav's mood getting worse. He felt threatened by his aura. Before he was on par with his strength, but now he wasn't sure. He felt much stronger, very much like superhumans.

"You must be worried about your people. I hate to break this to you, but they left Sanka a lot of time ago."

"They left just like that. Without bothering to send a single message. What are you hiding? You guys never send a single reply or made any enquiry."

Aarav grabbed Ajil by his collars. Ajil was taller than Aarav but he felt himself to be shorter to him. He felt suffocated. He could hear his breathing. It didn't look like Aarav was putting much strength in his hold. It was terrifying because Ajil could feel his heart beating wildly. He felt Aarav could twist his neck without any effort.

He confessed everything. He told him how they sold the women and children and abandoned the men.

"Forgive us. We had no other way. We just did that to save our people."

Aarav punched his face. Sound of teeth breaking was heard. Ajil coughed out blood.

"If I had done the same to you, could you forgive me."

"…"

Ajil had no words to refute. Not a single day passed when he had not felt guilty. When they didn't hear any news from Aarav, they had assumed him to be dead. Then someone suggested sending the survivors to the slave trader. It was better to send away some strangers than your kin. Ajil had a first-hand experience of what it was t be a slave. His childhood was spent as a slave. It was bad for him but everyone didn't go through that kind of bad experience. Some even lead a good life. He had made arrangements where they wouldn't fall in wrong hands.

"They are in good hands. I can assure you that."

"Are you crazy? You send them to slave traders. You want me to believe that crap?"

"They were taken to Crillon planet. Their master is an aristocrat there. I know that man. He is a good man. He is fighting against slave trading and inhuman practices. You can find about him. His name is Count Grieve Wranger. You are working for the city guard. You can easily find that information."

"What about others?"

"They must be in Alchemy town. That day air shuttle was leaving for Alchemy town. They probably went there."

Aarav glared into Ajil's eyes. Ajil lowered his head as he felt guilty. If he could turn back time to that moment, his decision would be the same.

After calming down, Aarav asked him if he found an amber locket in the merchants' belongings. It was unique and would surely stand out of other things. Ajil replied negatively.

Aarav believed him as he knew when a person was lying. Ajil wasn't lying. There was no locket. It left only two possibilities. One, he sold it. Two, somebody stole it.