PART ONE- Ch. 4

Emund parked on us on a hillside a few miles away. It overlooked the highway. To our left a valley stretched to the horizon. It was beginning to turn night time. Tisha and I lay on the grass, gazing at the sky. Emund bandaged his wound. Once he finished he sat down next to me.

“ Kid. You alright?”

“ Probably not.”

“ Right. Is it that boy?” I took a shaky breath.

“ Is it even worth complaining about? He was my friend. My great friend back before I had Tisha. I had no idea he would be here.”

“ Damn. Ceena. I know anything I say won’t take away the pain. But just know, this is for the better of everyone. And I am certain you would’ve changed him if you had the chance.”

“ I wouldn’t have. He was set on his ways. Just like I am. Is this right?” Tisha sat up.

“ Don’t go asking stupid questions. Of course it is! He was just brainwashed or something probably. I dunno. But we are doing the good thing right now!” She assured me.

“ Yeah. Ya can’t let their philosophy stop you from your mission.” Emund agreed.

“ I know. I know. But, it’s just hard. Why do I have to see him like that? WHY?” I complained.

“ I get it. I really do kid. I’ve seen lots of people be taken in by Plasamic. They’re never the same after that. But all I do is just move on. If ya can’t help them then you might as well keep going. Keep working for something better.” Emund told me.

“ Mmm. I guess so.” I just continued to stare at the sunset. Maybe I could get over this. Or maybe it would haunt me.

Emund did some calculations on his phone.

“ Nice! I got it!” He exclaimed.

“ What? Did you get a new highscore or something?” Tisha asked.

“ Not exactly. Ceena, you remember the markings on Luniet’s computer?”

“ Mhm.”

“ That was chinese. So my theory was correct. The main development building was moved. It was located in France before, and now it’s China. Those markings wouldn’t be like that if that wasn’t so.”

“ So, what? Are we traveling there then?” Tisha asked.

“ Seems like it. But there’s something about the base.”

“ What?”

“ It’s invisible.”

“ What?” Tisha and I asked at the same time.

“ Yup. They have a special paint coating that makes it unseeable to the naked human eye. But not to worry. I’ve marked a smaller building in China. It’s main use is for storage and that sort of thing. Point is, we can find glasses in there that the employees use to see the construct.”

“ Oh. So we sneak in there, and get inside the main place. There, we, blow it up?” Tisa asked.

“ Yeah. Three spots of interest. We would probably need to split again. To get all three.”

“ Jesus we use a lot of bombs in this.” I put in.

“ Mhm. You should be used to it by now.”

“ Well. Can we go home? I’m tired.” Tisha said, yawning.

“ Yeah.” I agreed.

“ Right, ok. I need time to get the tickets to our flight anyways. When do y’all have time to get to China?”

“ Never?” I said.

“ Spring break! That’s next week!” Tisha said.

“ Oh.” I muttered.

“ Ok that’s good. I’ll be seeing you girls on friday then. Try and have a normal week huh?” He got up and into the driver’s seat of his car. “ Come on, let’s get ya back home before y’all fall asleep on me.”

The next week of school, was weird. Not because of the school itself, but of me. It just wasn’t the same when I had the knowledge of Plasamic, and what happened at the factories. It was tuesday, so I only had four days until I would be back into the whole thing again. I had told my parents that I would be on a school field trip to China. They actually bought it.

“ I know you would never lie to us Ceena. So we trust you. Have fun!” My dad had told me. That made me feel worse. I could at least drown out my worrying with school work. I had the pleasure of staying after school again so I could do the work I missed yesterday. I had to do some english, math and spanish. Eh. The classes themselves were fine. I managed to do the work fairly well, and it gave me something else to think about. I could draw lots of things from my mind in art class. I tended to my flowers a lot more than I normally did. Seeing them grow, increasing in length, coloration, and strength. How they form around each other, making a mini community. It was very soothing for me. At lunchtime, Tisha and I still talked. We didn’t talk about the mission, or Emund, or anything. Unless you include Tisha wondering what Emund would look like if he were dressed like Batman, or fighting in the intergalactic wars of Destiny and Advanced Warfare. If you wanna know the truth, I actually used these discussion as fuel for my art. I would try to draw Emund as these characters, just for fun. Most of the time they came out, eh. Tisha said they were good, but I dunno. I always feel like I haven’t done as well as I could have on certain drawings. Sometimes I make one that hits it well for me. Usually I just say, ‘ that’s good enough,’ and move on. Because I don’t wanna be too egotistical about myself, and and I don’t wanna be too self depreciative. I’d show the pictures of Emund to my art teacher. She would actually compliment me on them.

“ Oh wow Ceena! That is good! Where did you get the inspiration for this?” Ms. Higgling would ask me.

“ Uh, well… you see.” I’d get stuck on what to say. Since no one could know about what I was doing. In case they take it to the police, or worse. My parents. “ I just, came up with it! Yeah, he’s an original character.”

“ Wonderful! It’s good to come up with your own stuff! Shows signs of true artistic ability!”

“ Yeah. But fanfics, and fan art are still ok right? I mean if you want to get better?”

“ Sure it is! Making something based off of what you are a fan of is never a negative thing! It’s only bad if you are trying to sell it off as your own creation. That’s never a good sign. It can get you into a lot of copyright trouble! But just for fun? That is A ok!”

“ Right, thanks.” I could appreciate how vivacious my art teacher can be. Anytime she would lecture us about a certain time period, she would go off. Like she would practically be acting out the scenes she was describing. Motions and all. One time a student asked her if she was gonna audition for a play. She simply said art is her profession, not acting. Personally, I feel like she would work for it but either way.

Besides that, there’s this girl in my spanish class, Lilly. She’s the kind of girl that the guys think are just adorable. Why? Because she’s tiny. Lilly is like, five foot three or something I swear. She has golden hair, sea blue eyes, and light skin. She also has this very squeaky voice that most high schoolers don’t have. Good thing is, she’s smart, Lilly won’t be taken away by just any guy who tries to hit on her. Since she is so tiny, she can easily dodge out of the way. Good thing also, since there is at least five guys who go after her daily. Now, don’t think this is sexual harassment or anything. Because to Lilly, it’s a game. I can count a good amount of times I’ve seen her dash out of spanish class, giggling like a mad woman as the boys try to make a move on her. I don’t really see the fun in avoiding people who are trying to make you their girlfriend, but if it makes her happy, then who am I to complain? I went into spanish class, on thursday. It was one of the block period days, when the class are one hundred and eight minutes long. It can be, either really quick, or really dang long depending on what the class activities are like. Today, we were doing some mostly chill stuff. Some warm up sentences, then a video, then a talking activity, then a packet. The thing I like about spanish class on block periods is that we always get a ten minute break in the middle of the class. During this time, our teacher, Mr. Thasum, allows the students to eat, go outside, and use our phone and basically do what we want. I like it, even though I don’t get into it like some kids do. Every time we have this break, there’s this group of kids, boys, and two girls usually, that play cards. I’m not too sure on what they play specifically. But they play man. They get huddled around a specific set of desks in the back, and get it on. They yell, scream, and take and lose bets. At first Mr, Thasum didn’t let them do it. But after the group of kids insisted on doing it every break, he eventually let them. I think now he likes it. He leans on his chair, and watches them. Smiling when someone inevitably rage quits, claiming they’ll never play again. The day after they go right back to what they are doing. Me? I don’t play with them. I’m not good at cards, never have been. It kinda bores me honestly. Instead, I either draw, or play on my phone.

I got this app recently. By recently I mean I got it before the whole thing with Plasamic. It basically allows me to simulate the growth of any plant I want. I choose the plant or plants I want, then set up the type of habitat it will grow in. Choosing when and how to give it water, food, sunlight, etc. You might think it’s really boring. But I, I like it! It lets me do what I enjoy at home, but on the go, anywhere I am. Of course, it’s only a simulation. It’s certainly not like producing my own plants in real life. That’s something I feel like not enough people understand, at least from what I’ve seen. The difference between making something in real life, and online. For example, plant growing. Sure, it may seem easier, to just do it virtually. Where you don’t need to worry about things like having enough money to buy supplies, or accidentally stepping on your flowers, or someone else crushing them. Or forgetting to take care of them, and having them die on you. All of which have happened to me. I swear when my dad told me he had stepped on my lilacs when he was blowing the yard, I had to remind myself that I loved him. Anyway, that may seem like the best way to do it, right? With none of the worries, and all of the benefits? Well, just like how Spaik got brainwashed by Plasamic, it ain’t all it seems to be. Now I’m not saying it’s bad to enjoy something that is done virtually, of course not. If you like it, and you aren’t hurting someone in the process, then it’s fine! But what I’m trying to say is, perhaps you would get a better experience from doing it in real life. It’s hard to explain, but there is a difference between seeing something grow and get stronger online, on a screen, and seeing it for yourself. Seeing it happen in reality, right in front of your very eyes. Where you can touch it, smell it, feel it. You can have a real effect on it. There is just some real euphoria that comes with it, that you just can’t get in a simulation.

That’s why I don’t let this app get too into me. I won’t let it take over my life. Though I’m sure if I let it, it would. But I won’t. Because I know I have real flowers, that depend on me and need my help, sitting right in my backyard. Even then, I only give them some of my time. Because what else needs me? My family, my friends, my schoolwork, my artwork. And now, Emund needs me, apparently. I walked into this, and now I have to finish it. Do I sound selfish? I hope not. I’m just trying to say how things are for me. It’s not selfish if it’s true, right? Maybe that’s just on earth. What about other planets? Do those, so far off into space, that have other life forms think like that? That is what me and Lilly talked about, today in spanish, during the break. She sat next to me, so it was easy for her to turn to me and start talking about space again.

“ Hi Ceena! Are you understand these o-ue conjugations?” She asked me.

“ Yeah, I think so.” I replied.

“ Me neither. So got a question. You know how civilization is right now right? How we have all these rules and expectations we set for ourselves?”

“ Yeah?”

“ Do you think aliens have those same rules? Do they mock each other the same way we do?”

“ I dunno. Maybe.”

“ I mean. It all comes from our brains right? The way we think, and the expectations we create come from that. So would they have that also?”

“ Who knows. I mean, I find it unlikely that we humans are the only ones in the whole universe to have this kind of thinking capacity. Why would we be the only ones?”

“ Yeah, it does seem unlikely. That’s why, when I grow up more, I wanna be a space astronaut, and explore far away planets! Who knows what I would find!” Lilly said excitedly.

“ Heh, yeah. Good luck with that.” I told her. I meant it. If she wanted to accomplish something like that, then so be it. I wasn’t sure how likely it was, but hey, people can pursue their dreams right?

“ Hey Lilly! If you’re thinking about growing up, then ya should first think about increasing your height you midget!” A kid across the room said.

“ OOOHH BURN!” Yelled another boy.

“ Hey! Lucas, Miles! Don’t talk like that! Apologize!” Mr. Thasum said to the two boys. They both shrugged, still smiling.

“ Alright. Sorry about that. Really sorry.” Miles said sarcastically, he was the one to cast the joke.

“ Sure, whatever.” Lilly didn’t even turn her head. “ They don’t bother me. I’ve learned to not let it bother me anymore.” She told me. I knew that. It was a good thing she either enjoyed it or blew it off. I’m not sure I would be able to do that.