Chapter Twelve

It was over. Our mission. We have completed what needs to be done. We've returned to our ancestors' home. We've returned the sphere to its rightful place. So what now?

'Guys what now? I mean aside from finding the other bloodline, we have to rebuild this whole place, right?' I said.

'We send a message to Earth. Tell them everything' Tazanna said.

'Don't have to, you know they will act upon it strictly' Michael replied.

'Even if we don't tell them, they will ask about our inactivity for the past decades' Tazanna said again. 'And what are we going to tell them then?'

'You're right, the truth must be told…' Fayre said.

'Since they will want to know everything. But keeping a friend's mistake a secret is also important especially when the friend has regretted doing so'

'My family never regretted it. So better just tell them everything. I think they're still waiting for me to send a message that we have killed all of you. Well, supposedly all except Zac because he needs to be here in order for Danther to remain calm. So even Janet got carried away because she almost killed you'

'That was the scariest moment of my life. Everything before, even the zombies are less scary than that'

'We bring them up and bury them first' Orion said. 'I'll bury Draven'

'We'll give Janet to Danther' Michael suggested.

'Good idea' Fayre said.

As much as I like that idea, but she's already dead and it would be us that are cruel to do such a thing.

'No, we bury her with the others' I said.

'We'll bring them up…' Michael said, referring to himself and Tazanna. 'All of you can reconnect our ties with Earth'

'I don't know how to control this thing' I said.

'Just play around with it'

'This is not a toy' Fayre said.

'I'm sure you'll figure it out' Michael said, smiling.

'I'll help you bring them up' Orion said.

'Me too' Norman added.

'I'll stay with Zac' Fayre said.

'How are we going to pass Danther without Zac?' Norman asked.

'As long as she can sense his presence, she'll be harmless to his friends' Tazanna said.

'And what if Zac leaves this place?' Fayre said.

'Zac's DNA is registered into the system since his forefathers and now himself specifically. So the sphere senses all of you who are registered. And you specifically after you give them your blood. The entire planet's energy is mostly under your control. If you die they'll know. So Danther has a close relation with Dust, she'll know when Zac is dead' Tazanna explained.

'Alright, let's go' Michael said. They all helped to bring the three bodies out. Michael carried Dane by himself. Orion and Norman carried Draven. And Tazanna followed and help a little if anyone was slipping.

'We'll come back for her' Michael said, referring to the spy. And I turned to concentrate on the sphere.

'So how do we operate this thing?' I said.

'You mean manage? This thing is already operating' Fayre replied.

'Yes yes'

'Try touching it?'

I touched.

'No, with both hands, like hold on to it' Fayre said.

I did as she said. My left hand was still wrapped in the towel. I could still feel the pain even when I'm not doing anything to it. The pain was like pestering me.

The same female voice came out suddenly.

'Welcome Leader Zachary Adams. How do you like to manage?'

I'm seeing a lot of things in my head. It was like a whole setting of the system I can explore.

'I can't see anything' Fayre said. 'What do you see?'

'How do you project it outside your head?' I asked, overwhelmed by the massive information. Suddenly the image disappeared from my head and came out in a clear image above the sphere.

'You just say something and it'll happen?' Fayre said, impressed.

'I am an advanced artificial intelligence. I can react to whatever you say' the female voice again said.

'What can we call you?' I asked.

'My name is Advanced Artificial Intelligence Dustromedian, but you can call me Aid'

'Alright Aid, I would like to reconnect our ties with Earth' I said.

'Connecting'

The settings transformed into a loading image. Cool.

'I never imagined myself speaking to an AI before' I told Fayre. Her expression was just amazed and impressed. It makes her look more beautiful.

'Me neither' she replied.

'I sense a connection!' Aid exclaimed in joy.

'Great! That's fast!' I said.

'No! In this room' she said. I kind of understand what she meant but I just followed Fayre exchanged glances of confusion with me.

'Connection accomplished' Aid went into a formal tone again. 'Securing contact'

Suddenly an image appeared in some sort of a presidential background. A young smart-looking man was standing in the centre facing us. What is cool about it is that it's like high definition 4D and it isn't holographic. It feels like we were actually with the man in the same room.

'Thank you AI. So where's this Zachary Adams?' the man said, he was reading from something in front of him. That must be information about me Aid has given him. A different female voice replied to him. I guess that might be the AI he was referring to. So Aid formed a connection with one of Earth's AI and connected me to him. This is probably the US or UK. Or whatever it is now, our nation has not been to Earth for more than a century. A lot can happen.

'That's him' the AI said. And I realised that I was still holding on to the sphere. What will happen if I were to take my hand away? Silly thing to do at a very formal and important moment right now.

'A child?!' the man said. He has the outrageous expression on his face.

'Yes' his AI replied.

'You got a problem with that?' Fayre said. He looked at her like she's the worst kid he's ever seen.

'We want to reconnect our ties with Earth' I said, going straight to the point.

'Wait, it isn't possible a child was given the permission to lead the nation?' the man said.

'Look, may I know your name?' I said. Aid's voice came in.

'Christopher Andrews' she said.

'Alright Christopher, can I call you Chris? My friends call me Zac. Look, if you're hoping to speak to an adult, none of us here still have one, except one friend of mine. And his mother is not here right now. So I request you speak to me' I said.

'Well said' Fayre praised. I smiled a little. Don't want to let him make fun of us anymore just because we're children.

'How old are you?' the man asked. Oh wow, he got to be kidding me.

'No, how old are you?' I snapped back.

'With that immaturity and anger, I'm guessing you're a teenager' he said. This man is unbelievable.

'Aid, this man is unbelievable' I said in a whisper.

'He's the president. You have to speak to him' Aid replied.

'President of what? The US?' I said.

'The United Nations. In other words, he's your boss'

'We've been here for so long already and we know this place better than them and we have the right to lead equally as them' Fayre said. She sounded mad.

'I want to speak to the president of the country' I said. The man was a little hurt by that but Aid immediately transferred me to another office. This one looks more grand. An old man was on the other side.

'Am I speaking to the president of the US?' I asked.

'No boy. How far are you from civilisation? There are no more US, just one big America' the man said.

'Earth isn't the same?' Fayre said.

'No more hundreds of countries. All the continents formed all cities into one big country. America, Asia, Europe and Africa'

'Only four?'

'Yes dear boy. Now may I know what's so important that you have to speak to me? Where are you, Dustromedian? I've never heard anything about Dustromedian for a long time!' he said.

'I'm Zachary Adams, head of The United Nations here' I said. I could tell he was surprised by that. Definitely for the same reason, because I'm a child. But he was respectful.

'Nice to meet you Adams, I'm Steven Paulson, president of America' he said.

'Nice to meet you too sir' I said.

'So what's the reason you called? I'm not the president of The United Nations' Steven said.

'You have more manners than the president, very rude and critical'

'Is that so? Jared is definitely an arrogant fellow. It's good you decided to talk to me' Steven said, smiling like he just made a joke of the century.

'We want to reconnect our ties with Earth. A lot has happen when we were inactive. Lies and betrayals. Members of our own cut the connection and killed a lot of us. All for the sake of power' I said.

'Greed is a very serious crime indeed' Steven said in agreement. Whoa, greed is a crime on Earth?

'Don't worry Adams, our connection is approved by me. You still need approval from the other three countries. I shall contact them for you because it'll be easier for me than for you. And once I received their replies, I'll contact you immediately' Steven said kindly.

'Thank you very much sir' I said. I was elated. How kind of the president to do that for us. The image disappeared and all the settings came back into view. I took my hands away. Everything the sphere projected vanished.

'Thank you leader Zachary Adams, come again anytime' Aid's voice echoed.

'How can I use the AI without touching the sphere?' I said, just a general thought.

'By implantation' Aid replied. I thought it would be an easy process. I would never want to go through implantation willingly.

'Thanks, but I'm not gonna do that' I said.

'Let's bring the spy up, they're probably having difficulty with the infected outside' Fayre said.

'Where's Danther?' I said looking into the tunnel. At the other end, she was still there, lying down, eyes closed. I guess she was waiting for me. Fayre and I carried the spy's body with disgust.

'Ugh, so heavy' Fayre said. I nodded. We couldn't move fast but as soon as we reached the stairway tunnel, Danther woke up. Her eyes glowing with excitement when she saw me.

'Danther, I want you to help my friends out there, eat some zombies!' I said. She made the meow again and jumped out of the hole.

'And we can't do that so we have to take the long way' Fayre said.

'Was that a joke?' I asked.

'A rhetorical joke' she replied.

And we laughed.