Traveling the Distance Between Right & Wrong

Chapter One

THE metallic black tiles glistened of newly glossed designs. The room stood incredibly quiet with a drawn out sense of steadfast coldness. The walls were overly white with silver and black accents shining within them. They set off the tone for a glowing future, set far ahead in a timeline of technological advancement. A panel of controls and camera views lined the front of the circular oversight. Gadgets and glowing blue lights lined the walls: guns, swords, gloves, vials, and all assortments of the latest devices. The room was the perfect place for a dedicated scientist. A window viewing a large city was at the forefront of the space. A woman wearing all black stood directly in front of the view observing her work. Her dark blonde hair pinned tightly in a pony-tail shined in the sunlight cascading in from the windows. The sharpness of her facial features mirrored the rigidness of her personality. She read as cold as the room, and her overbearing confidence fed onto her stance.

She watched over the city, which was finishing construction. It looked beautiful. The architecture mimicked ancient white columns, but craved structures of enriched details. Flowers lined the glossed streets, and everything gleamed with newly coated finishes. In the center of the city stood a beautiful garden. Pink flowers were blooming over dark green grasses, and benches lined the pathways. In the center, a marbled fountain spouted the bluest of waters. Everything was almost ready to start. The only thing missing seemed to be the people. The city stood completely still with no human life to fill it.

So far, everyone lived in camps or the headquarters building. The city had been left untouched by citizens and only occasionally was disrupted by updated renovations and the leaders taking walks throughout its glorious buildings.

A man in a white dress shirt and stiff black pants entered from the side of the room. A gun was holstered on his belt and a line of sweat beaded on his forehead. He had just come from training. He had dusty brown hair and a slim build. His green eyes flashed against his tanned skin. His footsteps echoed across the room; they alarmed the woman of his presence. She pursed her lips and readied herself to listen to his words. She instinctively knew he would begin speaking without her acknowledgment of his presence.

He began his lecture before making it to the middle of the room, his desired destination, "We've finally wrapped the war to end in Florence. That was the last major rebellion, most others are subsiding and phase two should begin to play out."

As he began to speak, the woman turned and walked straight behind her to a large table. She pressed a button, and holograms of the world flashed before their eyes. Pixelated statistics told the tales of crushed rebellions and body counts in the billions. Her icy blue eyes watched the rebellion of digital people in Florence begin to fall down. The mini holograms screamed before becoming individual crushed pixels of disintegration, and a flag of achievement rose in their place. It resembled the downfall of many similar fights against the birth of the new world. The woman checked the population statistics. There were less than five-hundred million people on the earth and over half had surrendered to their control already.

She finally spoke after watching the digital show, "Do you think we've eliminated enough? I do not want to move too early and risk a massive failure." Her voice did not rise in tone and stayed a steady line of rhythmic coldness.

The man stood on the other side of the table, "Vivian, we have crushed every rebellion that has gone against us. Most of the others have sided with us. We can handle a few loose ends. I think it is time. I do not want to spend another year crushing mere insects when we are lions."

They eyed each other from opposite sides of the hologram map, testing each other's tactics. Vivian checked the map again and watched the glowing dots, indicating civilizations around them.

Vivian pursed her lips as if a sour flavor entered her mouth, "Understood. I will start the next phase."

"Very good." The man fixed his shirt and stance.