Chapter 4: Roommates

- It's time for us to go Arthur. Listen to your teachers and be a good student.

- Why are you leaving me here? I don't want to live here alone.

- Because it is our duty as parents. These are the rules, we can't change them.

- Why? Why do you care so much for these stupid rules?

Arthur woke up sweating and breathing heavily. He was still in shock from yesterday's event. The time was half past eight, but he couldn't fall asleep again, so he took a shower and got dressed up. Arthur's classes start at ten and a half, an hour and a half left for him to waste. Yesterday didn't feel right. Somehow everything went his way, which rarely happens. Was he just very lucky, or something else was going on behind the scenes? After all, he went against one of the most intelligent people on Earth.

- To think about it, where is the new guy? - Arthur just realized he was all alone in his dorm. His new roommate Liam was still asleep when he went in the shower. When he got out no one was in the room, but Arthur was too deep in his thoughts to notice.

*Well, I should go to my classroom. I don't want to be late for class*.

Arthur got out of his dorm, locked the door, and took an elevator to the first floor. When he got out, he found himself at the center of the school complex. The whole complex looked like a mall, and the center was a giant open area where all hallways eventually led to. It was very crowded with students, teachers, and parents, all rushing around. Arthur's first class was electrodynamics, a subject that he loved very much. He went to the hallway, which had the sign "Physics", and got on a moving walkway. They weren't very fast, but the ride was very relaxing. While riding, Arthur saw the cafeteria full of hungry students, the laboratory department where they would make different chemistry projects, and the Robo-workshop full of robots made by the students. In the past, our ancestors did not have this kind of luxury in every school. We have so many activities in school nowadays, but the way people look at schools never changed. Isn't that funny? Even if you take one of our small robots that does simple tasks would be more advanced than the technology people had in the past. Arthur continued exploring these thoughts in his head, while everyone around him was rushing to their workplaces.

- Now class, this is our new...

- Sorry for being late miss - Arthur said while entering the classroom.

- Mr.Ashford. Why am I not surprised? Late, as always. - His teacher said in a strict tone, but with a faint smile on her face. Arthur knew she liked him, but she didn't like to show it to her students. - Sit down. As I was saying, this is one of our new students from one of the near sectors. He just moved here, so show him around, and I hope you get on well with him. Why don't you introduce yourself?

- Hello, my name is Liam Devon. I come from the Western sector so I can study biomechanics here. I heard good things about this school, especially about the friendly community. I hope I can become a part of this class and get on well with all of you.

- Great. You can sit wherever you feel comfortable.

Liam looked around and stopped his eyes on Arthur. He then quickly went to Arthur's desk and sat next to him.

- Hey, how are you? - said, Liam.

- Great. Looks like we will be living together for the next year. I can show you around if you want. - Arthur said smilingly.

- That would be great. I know no one here, and to be honest, I have no particular desire to meet others.

- Yeah same here. I know some of the guys here, but most of them are new to me too.

- Now class, be quiet. It's time to give you your project tasks for this year...

The day slowly went by. The two boys spent the whole day together. Even though they were very different from each other they clicked. After school, they ate and went home to unpack Liam's luggage.

- So what will your year project be? The one the teacher gave us. - said, Liam.

- Well I have an idea, I will show you later. You?

- I was thinking of doing something related to the human body.

- Maybe a synthetic arm, or an artificial heart? Actually, making a female robot would be a great idea.

- Maybe. But maybe you just need a real woman by your side - said Liam mockingly.

- We probably should focus on cleaning the room. - said Arthur and punched him in the shoulder. - It's been two hours and we are still nowhere.

Their dorm room was a total mess - luggage everywhere, leftover snacks all over the place, worn clothes, the only two tidy things in the room were their desks with their computers on them. Arthur took out an old antique audio system and put a CD in it.

- Why are you using this to listen to music? Isn't it too old? Also, what is this tiny-rounded thing that you just put in?

- It's called a CD, a disc that our ancestors used to store different songs and movies, you will be surprised how good their music was.

- In school, they only showed us the machine, but I had no idea that they worked with this thing. Play something.

- This CD has the album of a very famous for their time singer, have you heard of the genre Rap? It is kinda similar to our Brabble style. The name of this famous singer is Logic. Just listen. - Arthur clicked a red button on the audio machine, and it started making weird noises while trying to read the disc inside it. Suddenly, the whole room was full of sound.

- This is actually not bad. - said Liam with a surprised look on his face.

- I told you!

While they were cleaning and jamming to the music, from the windows the night city could be seen, still full of life. It was around eight in the evening, everyone was rushing home to their families. Students were going to their dorm rooms, and slowly the city was going to sleep. With every hour fewer and fewer people could be seen outside until the lights were left all alone. Like magic, around midnight the whole city was asleep, quiet, timeless.

Arthur and Liam's dorm room was one of the few which was still glowing.

- This neighborhood is actually very comfortable to live in. I like it. - said Liam, who was looking outside the window taking in the view.

- It has its good and bad sides, but it is pretty chill here. Not many people, not many crimes, perfect for living a normal life.

- Too bad schools don't allow leaving the school area after ten. I know they are huge, as huge as malls. But sometimes I just want to get out of here, just enjoy the nightlife that adults have.

- Adults nowadays are boring. All follow the rules blindly.

- You may be right...

- But not all adults are boring. There are parts of this city that are always alive, unfettered by the rules.

- You mean the lower neighborhoods? I've heard that they are better left alone since only the city's scum goes there.

- Every sector is corrupted. - said Arthur in a new, serious tone - There is no perfect place. The so-called perfect system is far from being perfect, it's lifeless. People just do what they are told to do. The things that bring unbalance are the ones that make you feel alive, challenged. After all, they are the only things that really matter.

- I agree with you that the system is not perfect, but murderers, robbers, and useless people are not things that make our life better.

- You know what? Come with me. I've got something to show you. - Arthur grabbed his jacket and opened the window. - I will show you what I am talking about.

- Are you sure? If we get caught we might be expelled.

- No worries. I know how things work here.

Liam knew that this was wrong. He liked the daily routine that the system obliged him to and he liked following the rules. But still, the boy in front of him intrigued his curiosity. These mixed feelings were fighting inside him, but Arthur had something others didn't, something that made Liam feel in a cage, and the only way to get out of it is to go into the uncertainty.

- Fine. Just let me get my jacket too.

They went outside from their dorm's window. The dorm rooms didn't have balconies, but they had an emergency metal staircase, the city architects took this design from old photos of New York, once a very big city, now, erased from the world, the only left thing from it was ruins. Arthur put out his phone and opened the CONTROL app. They were down to the third floor. The wall that surrounded the school was a little lower than their level. The distance between them was no more than two meters, meaning that a good jump would do the trick.

- We have to jump here. Don't think about it. I have fallen many times so don't be afraid you won't die, just try not the copy my mistakes - said Arthur to Liam, who looked a bit terrified from the height. Arthur jumped and grabbed the edge of the wall and climbed on top of it. It was now Liam's turn. He climbed on the railing, took a deep breath, and jumped towards Arthur's hand. Arthur caught him and helped him climb up.

- Nice. I thought that you wouldn't do it. I must admit that it is a pretty scary jump. - said, Arthur. - Just a little more and we will be safe. We just need to jump on this pile of trash down there. See?

- Trash? But how will we climb back up?

- I've got a plan no worries. We will use the waste collector to get back in. He comes here after three hours so we have enough time for a short walk.

Then they went above the container full of trash bags and jumped on them. The landing was actually very comfortable, Liam thought to himself. Then after he cooled down a bit from all the adrenalin he realized that for the first time in his life he was outside this late alone. He felt scared, paranoid, but at the same time happy, thrilled, energized. He thought to himself that maybe this was what Arthur told him about, these mixed feelings, they were the ones that made him like living.

Arthur was shocked that Liam actually accepted his offer, and even jumped, and climbed the wall. Liam was a bit taller and more muscular than him, you could easily understand by his looks that he goes to the gym, so the jump for him wasn't a big deal.

*No wonder why Liam wants his project to be about biomechanics. The guy is pretty strong and very athletic. I should start working out too.* - thought Arthur and felt a bit irritated.

- Weren't there any cameras or a nightguard? If so, won't they catch us going out? - asked Liam.

- At this hour the cameras stop working to save power, and the nightguard is watching shows in the lobby. It's fine.

- If you say so. Just know that if anything happens I blame you.

- No worries, we will be back soon. I promise - Arthur secretly opened his phone again and turned the cameras back to normal. Liam was too distracted to notice what he was doing.

*He would make a great hacker if he was in CONTROL.* - Arthur liked Liam. They knew each other for a day and already Arthur was considering him as a friend, which was very unlikely for him. For the first time, he felt comfortable sharing and being with someone the same age as him. A true friendship was being formed, one that would forever change Arthur's perspective towards human beings. - *Maybe one day.*

The two boys then continued their journey into the night city.

At the same time at the SaiNDai skyscraper:

- Doctor Hillman, they are waiting for you in the conference room.

- I am going, I am going.

The Doctor went into the conference room. Everything was dark. The room had a big round glass table with many chairs surrounding it and a sofa that was put far back in one corner of the room. He then clicked a button and from the middle of the glass table, a sphere appeared. The Doctor sat on one of the chairs and the sphere started spinning, then the holograms of people sitting on the chairs across the room started appearing. They were all in suits, and none of them had any features on their faces. They were all quiet. One of them, on the other side of the table, started speaking with a synthetic voice:

- Good evening Karl Hillman.

- Good evening. I apologize for my late appearance at our emergent meeting.

- You probably know why we have gathered. CONTROL started gaining more power than we had presumed. They started attacking us directly. More specifically, ShiruEto. We would like you to give us more information on the subject.

- As you may all know CONTROL attacked our servers the other day. Our team came to the conclusion that CONTROL tried to steal information about our latest robots, and maybe even try to get their blueprints, so they can rebuild them for themselves. We managed to stop their attacks, just in time, but because of a restart of the system, we couldn't track what they succeeded to get their hands on.

- Them getting their hands on information like this is not what scares us, Karl. You know it. We don't care about the company's reputation, or what people think of CONTROL. We have the power to control everything, see everything, destroy anything we want. K.A.O.S is god, K.A.O.S is perfection. That was until of course, CONTROL showed up. How they managed to become invisible to the system is still unknown to us, and we dreadfully want to know.

These corrupted pigs, thought Hillman to himself. - I understand. We will focus on finding their method of penetrating the system, and...

- No Hillman. We want you to capture ShiruEto and bring him to us.

- But sir, that's impossible...

- You will make it possible. We give you permission to use K.A.O.S by any means necessary.

- He already beat the system. Finding him is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

- K.A.O.S was never beaten. CONTROL just hide themselves. They cannot go through the system, they only use their limited abilities to their maximum capacity. Going invisible doesn't mean they can get through K.A.O.S, and never they will. K.A.O.S rules everything. Got it?

- I apologize.

- Find ShiruEto and bring him to us. That's it for today.

The sphere stopped spinning and all holograms disappeared. Hillman exhaled deeply and closed his eyes. What to do now, he thought to himself. At this moment, the door to the room opened.

- Is the meeting over sir? - It was his assistant.

- Yes Lora. I am just tired. Could you please make me a coffee?

- Of course. I will be right back.

Hillman was alone again, finally at peace.

- Oh what will we do now, what will we do? This will be interesting, am I right Arthur Ashford?