Once on board, the shuttle it docked into a huge spaceship. The spaceship was a personal vessel which had been sent to get him home. It is the personal property of the patriarch Winston Blyth, but has been temporarily borrowed by Bolena. Majority of the compartments which usually tend to be living compartments or cargo rooms were turned into laboratories in this ship. There were only about 10 rooms furnished as bedrooms. In essence, it was more of a mobile laboratory than a spaceship. The spaceship was filled with a lot of research personnel wearing an circular insignia with an @ symbol on it. Bolena led him to his quarters in the ship.
"There seem to be a lot of personnel wearing that insignia," said Balthazar in an attempt to find out about them.
"Oh, these personnel are the employees of apropos medical laboratories. Grandpa bought them out last year. They are now a subsidiary of ours. They have some project in collaboration with some warframes company located on this planet. They are trying out some new enhancements and also using nano-technology to transfer some data from their body to the warframes for further improvements. I think grandpa wants to increase our presence in the war efforts. Also this project's main purpose is to create a warframe that could capture the aliens alive. Grandpa probably wants to get hold of a few specimens," explained Bolena.
"Anyway enough about them, you have been away from me for 5 years. There is a lot that happened to you that I don't know nothing. What have you been doing these 5 years. Where have you been moving around. Any special friends?" asked Bolena smiling.
"Well! I enrolled into the academy in DH-17, spent about 6 months in training in the engineering division," started Balthazar looking up in reminiscence. "After that I was sent to the CECME corps in PK-170. I participated in a few ventures as maintenance worker and there I got my chance to get into warframe division. Then, I"
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.." Bolena interrupted him. "Quit your rambling about what you did in the force. I wanted to know if there was any special friend, you idiot. Special friend." Balthazar was immediately reminded of Sophia.
"None of your beeswax," retorted Balthazar angrily.
"Aaaw, my little brother is shy", giggled Bolena. "Fine, its not like you have been in contact with many girls in these 5 years. I can find out on my own." She gave a small gap and continued "It is not a guy, right?"
Balthazar slapped his forehead. "I beg you sister, please, just leave me alone for sometime. Am I not supposed to be resting. Didn't the doctor ri"
"Nah, you don't need any rest," said Bolena. "You have slept for more than 4 days. I was the one who was awake all these days and looked after you. If it is anyone, I am supposed to be taking rest."
"Ok. You take rest. Go to your room. Take a nice bath and sleep. Please have some well deserved rest," requested Balthazar smiling in an awkward way.
"Ok, since you insist," said Bolena as she walked out of the room. "You ran away from home and now after 5 years you decide to come back. I am being a good sister and taking you home, trying to get you to talk and you don't want to talk back to me. Wait till we go home. I will teach you some manners," she thought as she went into her room.
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January the 17th, 2682 A.D.
Balthazar woke up due to the sharp knocking on his door. "Wake up, you idiot. We are back in our solar system. It will hardly take 15 min to land at home," he heard through the intercom.
"It is 2 a.m in the morning. What's the hurry. Can't we sleep till 5 like other normal people?" replied Balthazar from his bed.
"No, we have only 20 min after landing. Once the ship refuels it is leaving. Winston want's the apropos personnel to head back. ," answered Bolena and went to her room.
"Aargh," shouter Balthazar as he woke up. He quickly dressed up and began to think about what he would do back at home. Calmly enjoying a holiday was never allowed in the Blyth household and was not something he liked much either. He did work as an security professional/assassin for two years taking all sorts of random jobs. He also worked in a gaming workshop and was quite well known in the virtual reality game, vita nova. He was good at both. Though the family had no fame in either of these professions, Walter was always involved such security services. After a couple of near death experiences, Balthazar had a kind of unexpected longing for his family. So, he finally decided that he would try his luck with Walter. Moreover, the only game he was familiar with hadn't even been released yet. There was a specific pre-release for beta testers that happened on this new years eve. But, the public release would be held two weeks from now. Thus, the only option he had was to go to Walter and work under him. He had made quite a notorious name for himself in his past life and thought it would be a good change to do the same for the benefit of his family.
After the ship landed, he waited for Bolena at his room. A couple of minutes later, he got out of his room and went to the adjoining room for his sister. There was note left for him on the buzzer screen informing him to meet her in the cargo hold. "Couldn't she just message me on my wrist band (the common means of civilian communication). Always has to be unnecessarily cryptic," he thought as he made his way to the cargo hold. There, he found his luggage and went down the cargo ramp.
Bolena was talking to someone at the ramp. It was Salazar. He had come to asklepian on the same vessel as them.
"You!" shouted Balthazar point at him in shock.
Both Salazar and Bolena looked towards him. "He finally comes down. We have been waiting for you," said Bolena looking at him weirdly.
"I thought you were going to come to my room and was waiting for you," replied Balthazar.
"A girl never comes to pick up a guy be it her brother or anybody else. You have forgotten the basic tenets of being a gentlemen being a battle hungry nomad for the past five years," she replied. "This is Salazar Troyard, he works for Walter," she continued introducing him to the man who saved his life.
"Glad to finally make you acquaintance, Mr. Troyard. I owe you my life. I can't begin to thank you for your timely assistance in that unforeseen situation," said Balthazar holding out his hand.
"It was my duty, young master", said Salazar shaking his hand. "I will be back in a minute. I need to convene with my associates," he continued as he left them and went into the cargo hold.
"Good. Now that the introductions are done, Salazar will be taking you back to the mansion. He will be your bodyguard for the next few months," said Bolena.
"Your are not coming with me? Wait. wait. wait. Bodyguard? I don't need a babysitter. I can take care of myself," replied Balthazar
"I beg to differ. Times might be a bit perilous. And you always needed a babysitter," replied Bolena.
"Ah! Ok. But you didn't say where you are going?"
"Me? I am going along with the apropos staff. Can't do my work, sitting in my ass talking with you. Need to be in my lab," she continued.
"I thought you still worked in the hospital here are asklepian. When did you join apropos? Thought you were happy being a medical examiner. What's with the new found interest in medical research?" he asked.
"It happened more than a year ago. I guess I just got bored and grandpa suggested some kind of research. So, I found them. Grandpa initially tried to persuade me to work on something within the family ownership, but I insisted that it was an interesting research and wanted to go for it. I got there as soon as they accepted my application. But, during my travel grandpa bought it and made me the majority share holder. Since, then I led the research."
"Damn! The old man really dotes upon you," said Balthazar in surprise. "That old bastard! He told me to go get a scholarship when I said I was into electronics. Now he buys her a bloody labs because she was bored," he thought.
"What are you talking about? He just doesn't want me out of the family business. After your running away he became a bit critical on everyone else," said Bolena.
"That is not true. Is it? Please, don't joke like that. We were not on such great terms to begin with and cousin Robert, he always was a bit rough. Please tell me it is not true," said Balthazar weakly. Being a high-profile family, it was a very competitive atmosphere, especially among the siblings of the younger generation. This competition was also encouraged by the elders of the family. This cause a lot of conflicts among them. Even though most of them competed in the proper spirits. There are always some people who differed.
"Robert? He is the least of you problems. Though he was always fighting with you. He was definitely the one who benefited the most from you running away. But, he will never stop competing with you. It is Jack and his idiots that you need to be look out for," said Bolena.
"Jack? Hahaha. Those idiots were always like that," said Balthazar.
"So, when will you be back?" asked Balthazar.
"When it is convenient. When I have time. You don't get to ask such questions. Shameless idiot," giggled Bolena in an odd manner as she hugged him. "Take care, idiot," she continued.
"You take care. I will be fine. I got an excellent bodygaurd. You should be more concerned about yourself," he replied.
"I got bodyguards and also a body double. And unlike you, I don't go finding trouble," she said. She kissed him on his forehead and got onto the spaceship.
As he waved her goodbye, Salazar arrived behind him and stood there. After the ship departed, Balthazar turned towards Salazar and signaled him to lead the way. They boarded a large hover car and in a few minutes arrived in front of a huge villa. There was a light blue-colored, hemispherical force field having a diameter of about 4 kilometers. They parked the vehicle near the gate, identified themselves, had their belongings checked and went in.
Once in, they got into the grounds, nostalgia hit Balthazar causing his eyes to tear up. The large grounds where he used to play around and the huge mansion where lived, played and roamed around all brought lots of memories to him. He followed Salazar into another car inside the grounds. The car took him past the mansion and behind it. This was where the training grounds were situated. Behind this was a large forest. This was grown specially. There were few herbariums where special medicinal plants and herbs are grown. There are also few areas where specific creatures which were grown and researched upon. These specimens were collected from various planets and celestial bodies. These didn't have any relation to the medical empire maintain by the Blyth family. This was just the personal collection of the patriarch and the elders which could be accessed by only those permitted by the patriarch.
The car went past these herbariums and holds and went towards a dark secluded area. Balthazar always remembered that this area was always a forbidden zone. It had an extra dark-blue colored hemispherical force field covering it. Even the patriarch, his grandfather couldn't give him access to this without consent from the elder council or the grand elders. As the car approached the area, a small area barely large enough for the car to pass through opened up, allowing them to get into it.
This was Balthazar's first time in this area. As long as he remembered Walter never even allowed him to talk about this place. The entire area was filled with long trees and the occasional boulders between them as far as he could see. The car stopped as soon as it entered the area.
"This is as far as the car goes," said Salazar. With Salazar leading the way, Balthazar followed him out of the car into the woods.
"Remember the way," said Salazar walking through the area. "How am I supposed to remember the way in these woods?" asked Balthazar perplexed. "There are no signs or road in this place," he thought. "How can he remember the way like that. It was like exploring through a completely new area or planet. There we put in signs to mark the way to their destinations. Maybe I can do the same," he thought.
"Can I put in some signs to mark the way," asked Balthazar shyly.
"You're kidding right?" came the reply.
Seeing the expression on Balthazar's face, Salazar understood that such woods might be a bit confusing to a man in his first view.
"I will show you the way another time. Just keep a track of the shapes of trees and boulders, their alignment, etc.,. They are all the signs you need. They tend to remain constant for the most part. You just need to get used to it," said Salazar trying to assuage his concerns.
Salazar quickly took him to a large grey boulder. It had a slanted face to one side and there was a small picture of a man sitting down with a snake coiled around his neck. The snake had it's head lifted, its mouth open and bearing its fangs at the man. Salazar made a small cut on his finger, let it trickle down into its mouth and then whispered something to it. The boulder made a slight sizzling sound and the symbol slid to the side showing a small screen. He typed in a password into the screen. A small trapdoor opened revealing a staircase below the ground.
"Come on in. Walter is waiting for you," said Salazar walking down the staircase.