Fathomless Fortunes [slash]

Chapter 13 - On parole

The lab was vast, white and sterile, with only a few blotches of color on the screens and keyboards accompanying the racks and machines. A hologram of an intricate, three-dimensional map hovered in the middle of the room above a projection table. The islands and continents were shown in great detail, with dozens of little labels blinking above the landmarks.
With a swirling movement of his hands, he turned the model a bit to reach the southern part. There, fragmented little islands gave way to a blurred line that was labeled "unknown continent".

"That's it? That's the final version of Chirona?"

He jumped at the voice. His sister had sneaked into the room and now hugged him from behind to look over his shoulder. her honey-red curls caressed his cheek.

"Yes. It's almost finished. We're on time for going online in a few weeks. But Father and I are still debating how the fail safe should work." He pointed at the blurred line. "And we need to take the visible magical elements out for good. The test subjects all reacted badly to it. And it's too buggy."

"But I loved the sirens!" she protested. "You can't delete them. And they're not bothering anyone if they stay hidden."

"Father reminded me this isn't a game, as if I didn't know," he replied and turned the model around again. "I'll keep the sirens, but they stay deep down in the ocean. That way, we could activate the cheat I told you about, if ever needed. Programming all that later won't be possible once the whole thing is running for good. So we have to build in a few ways to manipulate the world without upsetting the whole program."

His sister hugged him tighter. "Do you think Mum would have agreed?" she asked softly. "To the Chirona project, I mean. Are we really creating a better way to keep people imprisoned? They don't have a chance to rehabilitate themselves in there."

He patted her arms that were slung around his shoulder. "They can make choices for their own lives in there they could never make in a prison. And what happened to Mum... and us... will never happen to anyone again. She would have wanted that."

They watched the model in silence for a while. Finally, his sister let go of him. "Sorry, I forgot the time. I'm going to help out in a soup kitchen as part of my social work studies this semester. I can't be late on my first day."

He turned around. "Be careful. Those places aren't in the best parts of the city."

"Hey, don't worry. I've been learning kung fu for years now, remember?" She stopped at the door. "You should come with me. We could go clubbing afterwards. You need to meet some real people, not just your AIs. And I'm only seeing you when I come here!"

He smiled at her. "Sorry, I still have a ton of work to do. I promise to make it up to you when this is over and done with."

"You always say that!" She giggled and left the lap.

He turned back to the hologram. He really hadn't spent enough time with his sister these past few years. But all of this would change. Once the Chirona project was running, they would have all the time in the world together.

***

Alastair's head hurt we he woke up, like he had drunken too much rum. He could have stayed in bed all day despite his habit of an early riser and light sleeper in general. But those dreams... Alastair could never remember any details in the morning, just the feeling of a very strange place that was, while dreaming, familiar and normal. Maybe it was another way of reminding him how little time was left for him to do what he had to do.

He sat up in bed and looked down on his chest where the scales glittered in the light of dawn. He wasn't freezing anymore - thanks to Nico, no, Nicolas last night - but the scales remained slightly colder to the touch than the rest of his skin. He would never forget the moment when the very first scale had appeared on the back of his left hand after using the powers for the first time. He didn't remember being ever truly afraid again afterwards.