"Atara!" Tori exclaimed as her air ship began its descent towards the runway of the private airport her aunt and uncle owned. The tallest building glittered in the wall light like freshly polished gold, as if it knew no such thing as grime or rust; it was as brilliant as it was when it was built over a thousand years ago. Her mom smiled as she looked out the window, the smile lines deepening and accentuated her face, and her kindness brought strangers into friendships. The trip to the city had been promised to Tori for years now, having been to Atara once when she was eleven might be her favorite memory as a child growing up. Her family had went sightseeing at all the popular places in the city, which included a great deal of the Catalyst Order history.
Her favorite memory is meeting her friend August. The two children had become good friends all in a single day, and both cried when the other has to leave their separate ways. But for that entire day it was just Tori and August hanging out, oblivious to their parents' calling their names from a few feet away. They went to many kids' areas designed to entertain the small children so that the parents could do business without much distraction, and that's where she met August.
He stood as tall as her dad, five feet and eight inches, three years older than her, with dark hair combed back and slick in place with hair gel, and dark brown eyes. When she first met him August was gazing up at the sky and at the Order's Tower; his eyes would twinkle every time he looked up at the tall building. He was a quiet kid with lots of thoughts and said that his aunt brought him here herself so he could study under Master Charles in the strategic class. When the sun shone at its highest Tori averted her eyes and stole a glance at August, who was still staring up at the Order's Tower with a faint smile. His eyes were sharp and strong. She could not help herself and smiled, and then looked away embarrassed. But August hadn't noticed, or perhaps pretended not to. He look back at her after a moment had passed and gave her a polite smile.
"One day you'll see my face up in the holo-boards advertising only the best science can offer!" August said with such certainty even Tori believed him and nodded along.
"When that day comes I may come back to Utopia expecting a warm welcome." Tori smiled at him, and then raised a brow. "I mean with that promise and all."
As the day wore on Tori and August followed the group of children that waited in line to enter the main attraction: the Qizmon Institute. She had waited all year long for the moment she had the opportunity to visit the Institute for herself, it having some of the best researchers in the quadrant, and they were all going to greet them in person.
There was an immediate change in the air. It was nice and cool, and it smelled like faded mint all throughout the the building. Wide open windows let in all available sunlight to brighten the mood of not only just the visitors taking tours around Qizmon Institute, but also seemed to bring ease and soft smiles of the many researchers and their apprentice that work here.
Many awes escaped the visiting students and their parents, who had reached the end of their own tour with the two of the twenty-five administrators that helped fund the Qizmon Institute. They were two older men in their forties. One had a gentle smile at all times as they listened to the questions and concerns of the parents and guardians of the students attending, with a salt and pepper beard trimmed neatly, dark grey hair, and his eyes were a sand color and held each parent's gaze with a warmer smile; his name Anthony Hite. His companion had a more urgent attitude like there was something more important to be done than speaking to people. His name was Eustice Day. Both men were the same height, but Eustice was thinner and more darker skinned, as if he spent his down time sunbathing.
August stared at the group of adults with a pensive expression, only to look away and up. He was quiet in thought and circled around in place with his flowing over the doors of the labs that dotted the inside of Qizmon Institute. Tori watched curiously when August stopped and looked down at the floor and circled around in place.
"What are you doing?" Tori asked when he stopped in place.
August raised his eyes level with hers. "Some of the greatest minds in existence come to Qizmon to study and work."
Tori nodded her head, everyone knew this.
August remained silent for a moment, his eyes now flicking towards the group of adults. "This is a wonderful place full of the most intelligent people, and I'm standing among them!"
His smile beamed through her like a jolt of electricity that caused her to look away, bashfully aware her face was turning red. His excitement was rubbing off on her though, and could not help spinning in circles, too.
Tori blinked and was brought back to the present, still smiling to herself. The airship entered the hangar without a hitch and the pilot guided the vehicle to the correct dock. Before landing completely the pilot rotated the airship in place to face the hangar door, should her and her aunt want to leave it would be simple to just take off. Her aunt, Ashbrie, led her by the arm to her office to do some quick paperwork to ensure that the landing was successful and that the cargo and all it entails were cached away for later inspection and cataloging. Tori watched the warehouse workers unload the airship as Aunt Ashbrie signed and filed the necessary documents carefully. All she knew about the cargo that her aunt was shipping was that she always deemed it a necessity for some colonies that were uprooted for one reason or the other; her timing was everything on these missions.
Suddenly there came a knock at Ashbrie's door, which made them both jump and spin to see who it was. Her uncle, Estyn, stood at the threshold to her office and smiled at his niece.
"You look like your great grandmom when she was your age," said Estyn as he crossed his arms, "almost a spitting image to be honest."
Tori raised a brow, that was a new one. But she accepted the compliment anyways and ran to hug her uncle. Her uncle was tall and could nearly touch the six foot ceiling if he stood on his tippy-toes. His hair was nicely kept, and swept back slick with a dab of hair gel.
"How have you been, kiddo?" Estyn asked Tori as he went over to give a welcome kiss to his wife.
"I have been doing great, my research on High-Waves has been coming along as well as I'd hoped," she answered her uncle as she sat in the chair on her side of the office. "They suspect some Waves are emitting new energy we haven't seen before, and now we're looking to see how we can collect the energy."
Her uncle's brows shot up in amusement. "Now that sounds really amazing! Are they wanting to see if we can harvest it for use?"
Tori shrugged but answered, "Right now we just want to study this energy."
"Exciting!" Uncle Estyn said with a proud smile.
"We've actually come up with a way to study the waves more thoroughly," said Tori with more enthusiasm. "But the department is needing funding to make the necessary adjustments to the Hozmek Array. Which is why I am here."
Uncle Estyn nodded along with the conversation. But soon the topic changed from High-Waves to numerous others that Tori lost track on how long they say there in her aunt's office discussing their interests until Aunt Ashbrie caught a glance at the clock on the wall, and the panic in her expression made them all jump into action and hurried to the foyer of the private airport. Waiting for them was her aunt's personal driver, who had brought up the town car and the car ready for their departure from the airport.
"Thank you, Sanclaire." Aunt Ashbrie said as he opened the door for the both of them to enter. "We'll be heading to the Qizmon Institute this afternoon."
Sanclaire smiled and gave her a nod. Tori eyed him up and down as he helped load the two bags she was bringing with. He was tall, about five feet ten inches, his hair a glazed strawberry color and a deep violet with a faint ring of light purple that reminded her of purple flames, his black rimmed glasses he wore brought the color of his eyes. She was startled back to focus when he slammed the trunk, and when he opened the other door for her she could barely mutter thanks to him. Soon they were off and in traffic, inching their way to Qizmon.
While in the car Tori pulled out the notes she had saved onto her personal PDA, tapped on the files on High-Waves and skimmed through her notes to refresh her mind on the subject, when a new notification popped up. Tori pressed the envelope icon and tapped on the new message. A video started to play, there was no sound nor voiceover indicating what the video message was about, and the only way she knew it was a video was by the reel time was showing movement; so far it was two minutes of nothing but black screen. She was about to tap off the video when the center of the screen rippled like waves. At the four minute mark another ping came from the notification tab. This time there was a message that read:
Cyroa Point, 567-88.91Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpeNrWKql2J
91Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW3DCBNj1jt
Name: Antoine Faust.
Take a look at the center of the "heartbeat". It may be just my eyes making me see things, but I think my machines detected a fainter but more defined wave of energy coming from the epicenter of the "heartbeat".
Tori tapped the video again and glared at the center of the black screen. The clip was four minutes long.
"We're almost there!" sang Aunt Ashbrie.
Tori jolted in her seat and looked out the window at the city line, because it felt like they had just left her aunt's office five minutes ago. Confused Tori looked over at Aunt Ashbrie, who just smiled and tapped Sanclaire on the shoulder.
"Top floor, we're expected."
Sanclaire gave a nod and pressed a button on the dashboard. One moment they were cruising down the highway on solid ground, and the next moment they were easing off the road and higher into the sky as they continued their way to the institute. Tori looked out the window as the ground farther and farther away as it the ground was running away from her, the town car slightly tilted and gained altitude at a speed that made her belly tighten and tickle. Her eyes flashed over to her reflection in the rearview mirror that mimicked her restrained amusement, and then she caught sight of the approaching Qizmon Institute, where she saw airships being moved in and away from the building with dozens of warehouse workers loading and unloading luggage of many patrons.
Aunt Ashbrie squeezed Tori's shoulder and gave her a warm smile.
"Don't be nervous, you got this!"
"I'm not nervous." lied Tori.
Aunt Ashbrie continued to smile at her, and then lifted her niece's chin to look her in the eyes. "If you're not as determined about this research as you was back in my office you will regret it."
Tori rolled her eyes playfully at her aunt and smiled before saying, "Okay, I'll be as excited-"
"More excited," her aunt interrupted. "Speak as if you've already got the funding in hand!"
She looked up at her aunt and beamed at her. The lighting of the sun hit her in a favorable fashion that models fight to get a chance to be filmed in. Tori was reminded that her aunt helped found the Qizmon Institute, even broke ground at the site and now over the years has been quite successful. She admired her aunt like her own mother.
"Because I already do." Tori told her aunt confidently.
Sanclaire aimed the town car over the building and hovered across where many chauffeuring vehicles were designated to land, giving a good distance between the loading bay and the people. The town car land smoothly on it's tires when Sanclaire pressed the button to lower them. Then he got out of the driver seat and opened Aunt Ashbrie's door first, and then her's before attending to their luggage. When he handed Tori her single briefcase their eyes met again. Without blinking Sanclaire gave her a smile and gestured to the doors ahead of them. Tori turned and looked at the tinted glass doors.
"Come on," her aunt started towards the doors, "we're going to be late!"
Tori hurried across to her and matched her speed. Whatever happens today, whether she got the funding or not she was going to find August and catch up with him. She was curious to what he'd been up to and how many studies he was a part of. She also hoped that he would find her research exciting like she does. If anything she would just be happy to see her old friend after so many years of just video chat. This time they would be meeting up for real!
Her PDA buzzed in her hand as a new notification was sent.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
