Broken System

Chapter 6

They were met by the strangely serious face of Castor and the dim light of a metallic room.

"They're all here," a voice, Gabby, assured.

"Good," he said, "We need to give them a push. You may leave, Gem."

They heard echoing footsteps fill the air.

"Now then," Castor stated, turning to them, "Hello again. Welcome to Lab 202131 or Lab hominibus, as called by the public."

A silence, more of awe than of awkwardness, dawned over the room.

"The public of what?" Lori questioned.

"The public of Cassiopeia, of course," a cool voice responded, followed by echoing footsteps, "Unless you haven't listen to my moronic brother's explanation."

The group that followed the voice looked about their age and were dressed similarly to Castor: in white, sharp-looking suits. They looked like something from Star Trek.

"Welcome to Cassiopeia," another voice, a girl's this time, replied curtly.

"Who are you guys?" Maddie questioned. There was a dramatic silence before they responded.

"We are the crew of Project Hominibus.

~~~~~

"Do you think they'll believe them?"

"Let's hope."

"Wait for their world to be fixed."

"Then what?"

"We break them."

~~~~~

Introductions were quite.... well, yeah. Awkward.

"This is Virgo," Castor started, pointing towards a petite girl with stern gray eyes, "She's the only girl on our team, yet she's got more guts than any of us."

He then directed them towards a very tall boy with blonde hair..

"This is Leo," he introduced, "He's our technician, and amazing at baking."

He continued onto a smaller boy with large glasses and tanned skin, "This is Capricorn. We call him Cap. He's cool, but he throws lots of pranks."

"And this," he finished, pointing at a boy who looked similar to him, aside from his eyes being blue rather than green, "Is my annoying older brother. I call him a prat, but you can call him Pollux."

There was another silence as the girls tried to process this new group of people.

"So...." Lori said, breaking the silence, "You're all named after..... constellations?"

"Well, what're you named after?" the girl, Virgo, responded snarkily.

"I was named after an actress," Amy replied, "Though I forgot which one."

"I think that was rhetorical," Maddie commented.

"It was," the girl assured.

"Why are we here, anyway?" Alice suggested.

"Well...." Leo answered, "We're here to show you Cassiopeia so you can believe."

"So, you're polar express-ing us?" Judie inquired.

"Huh?" a befuddled Cap responded.

"Let's just start the tour," a bemused Pollux suggested.