OGENUS EARTH 🌎 🌊 {Dystopian Sci-Fi Adventure}

Shine

"Has it, mother?" Harrison's reply was as convoluted as his expression.

What? Meg signed to Ben, alarmed that his body weight had shifted so rapidly at the surprise.

Did you know H was P's son? Ben used the first initial of each name to speed the process. Meg's head snapped around to look at Harrison and Persephone so fast she could feel the inertia in her brain.

Harrison was standing before the statuesque head of Arc City One's Quorum, but there wasn't any sort of familial bond between them. In fact, Harrison's body language was defensive, as if he didn't want to get any closer than necessary.

"Arturo, I'm happy to see you unharmed." Persephone went on, turning her attention away from her son. "I heard about Midge, and I am very sorry for your loss."

"Thank you." Arturo choked out around the sudden knot in his throat. "There is no time for sadness now. We have much to talk about."

"Agreed." Persephone nodded judiciously. "The rest of the Quorum is waiting for us in the War Room. Harrison, Big Joe, will you be joining us? Or do you have elsewhere to be?"

Harrison muttered something under his breath and tossed an exasperated look at his boots. "Actually, Big Joe and I were promised compensation for our little errand, is there room to add that line item to your agenda?"

A pallid smile overtook Persephone's face and she evaluated Harrison. "You do realize that I should be ordering Matthias to hold you in the brig for kidnapping our founding father?"

"Fully prepared to carry out orders Ma'am!" Matthias chimed in with a click of her heel and a wicked grin aimed at Harrison.

"Your subtle invitation to stay is heartwarming, Ma." Harrison fired back, chuckling to himself. "But I'm not entirely sure how long Big Joe and I should stick around seeing as a bevy of psychopaths and their murdering supercomputer is plotting to take this place down any second."

Persephone took in her son's comment, assessing his beautiful brown eyes for the truth. It didn't matter how long they'd been apart, she could still read the underlying fear in his bravado.

"It seems we do have much to talk about." She finally answered the group at large. "Shall we?"

Matthias held her position while the rest followed Persephone. "I need four of you in the control room on negative-six." She told the team. "Jamie, Kevin, Taylor, and Wren, head out. The rest of you, follow me." 

The seafarers fell in step behind Matthias. Unlike the Legionnaires aboard the Arc Cities, Seafarers wore a faded blue jumpsuit that buttoned up the front. It wasn't all that different from the Tinker's uniform, save the myriad of stars and badges that most of the beefy sailors had on their arms.

To most citizens, the Seafarer's were a mysterious patrol group that cruised the ocean water surrounding the Arc Cities for something to do. Matthias and her soldiers did everything they could to encourage this misimpression to keep the civilians ignorant to the very real danger outside their city.

"Ben, why don't you and Meg use the Tinker's door to exit out onto the street?" Persephone requested on their cramped elevator ride.

"Hold on, that's bullshit!" Harrison cried out from under the armpit of a much taller Seafarer who was squashed against him. "Just because she's a Tinker, you're going to force her to walk separate from us? Nice to see some things never change."

"Big Joe, would you and my son exit the building first and turn left outside?" Persephone continued unaffected. "If we leave the Harmony building as a group, it will draw attention, which is the last thing we need right now."