As Vega began to peek inside the room in front of him, he breathed a small sigh of relief as the room appeared to be vacant. Looking around the surroundings he didn't notice anything particularly suspicious.
"Is it just a coincidence?" He thought to himself as he continued in a fruitless effort to find anything of interest in the room. It appeared to be one of the few apartments that had no residences currently inhabiting it as no signs of possessions were in sight. After searching for about 20 minutes in every corner Vega was about to give up. -
"Sigh… as if anything of real interest actually happens here." He thought to himself. He began to lay down onto the bed in the room to look at the ceiling when he felt his head contact something hard.
"Owwww… what's this?"
He slid his hand inside the pillow cover of the pillow. To his surprise, a small notebook was hidden under the covers.
"Journals of Hamal" the words on the front scribbled in sharpie read.
Vega opened the journal and noticed the first page was loose from the rest.
"To whoever this may find,
Hello! My name is Hamal and if you are reading this it means you are someone who cares about more than what this city has given us and want to know what happened to our previous ancestors to get us here. If you wish to find answers to that here well unfortunately I can't tell you. Just like you, I read the last recorded text about humans from the so called land of earth during the 24th century and have been curious pretty much my whole life. However like most people in this society who have been mostly complacent here due to the comforts provided, I didn't really make too much real progress aside from some conspiracy theories in this notebook. Along the way in the journey of my life I was assigned some 50 years ago my life long partner Lyra, who happened to be into many of the same interests as me. It was fun coming up with all the theories of things along the way even though we knew we might never be able to see if those theories would ever be true. They really do monitor things too tightly along here don't they? Anyways not to ramble too much about my life but Lyra died about month ago from heart disease. I'm 80 at this point, what else is there even left for me? Playing video games and watching movies just feels hollow nowadays doing alone. Thus I've devised a plan to go to the one place nobody has ever access to..."
"The Cremation Room" Vega read aloud eyes widening. That was the room that drones from around the city took dead bodies too. According to what he had learned in school that was the final place where human bodies would be burned as to not take up physical space anymore. No alive human had ever seen what the room was like. It was the last place the subway went to during the morning trek where there was a special subway room for drones to take dead bodies. If any human refused to leave the subway before the last stop, they would immediately be shocked by their wrist watches and forced off. Vega kept reading.
"Well this is just a theory of mine that I've had a while. As you probably know just like everything else in this city, our pulses are being monitored by these wrist watches. Based on what happened with Lyra, it seems that the drones take away and pronounce people as dead if the pulse reader on the wristwatch deems it so. If I cut off a piece of my skin with a knife under my wristwatch and quickly insert a piece of plastic so the shock won't overwhelm my body, I can possibly fake a death. Then while the drones take me away as I pretend to be dead, I'll be able to see what's actually inside the cremation room. Whether there's some sort of passage towards the "outside" so to speak. The stars in the books sure do look lovely. And if I don't find anything, well, I'll be able to see Lyra again so no big loss. Hopefully if not me then whoever finds this can find a way out of here. Well I really shouldn't say much having already lived my life, but humans aren't meant to just survive in the conditions of this city. There has to be more out there. Hopefully if not me, then whoever finds this can uncover the mysteries of the Cremation room, and what truly is out there."
The writing ended there on the page. Vega began to flip through the pages of the notebook with the various theories that Lyra and Hamal came up with. Possibilities of aliens seemed the most prevalent though such theories such as the world being in a simulation and machines taking over humans were also to be found. It was quite interesting for Vega to read although if he had to be honest, there was nothing he hadn't himself already thought of himself. A loud voice suddenly was heard echoing in the room. A voice Vega had heard all his life.
"It is now 9:30pm. Please return to your living spaces immediately before 10:00 pm. Thank you!"
"Well interesting day. I wonder if he made it there," Vega thought heading out of the room. Still he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed at the development as none of his real questions on human civilization were answered. As he got onto the subway, he wondered if at the end of his life, he would be in the exact same position as Hamal had been.
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"So you're telling me you found some old geezer's writing and theories, so what?"
Spica said to Vega not turning away to face him as the vroom vroom sound of the racing game he was playing could be heard.
"Aren't you at least a little bit curious on what's out there man?" Vega said flipping through Hamal's notebook.
"Nah not really. What's even the point of speculation?"
"You think he got into the cremation building?"
"I mean maybe, but so what if he did? GIA probably killed him by now, threw him in with the other cremated bodies."
"Yeah but haven't you always thought that was weird? Like who exactly runs Gia, it's like…"
"Shut the hell up, you trying to get shocked or something?" Spica said briefly pausing his game to cover Vega's mouth.
"You know what happens when we dig too deeply into this stuff, whatever the hell GIA is, they're always watching and I ain't trying to get shocked."
"Yeah but like… stars man. The books can't be lies. Something happened in the 24th century that directly resulted into Polaris being the way it is. We're just too trapped you know. Like what's out there beyond the darkness of the wind…"
Vega's introspective thought was interrupted however as his vision was soon covered by two hands while simultaneously feeling a squishy presence press against his back.
"Guess whooooooooooo."
"Mira, due to city rules, you're literally the only person who's allowed to do this to me."
"You gotttt it honeyyyyyy." Mira said removing her hands from Vega's face.
"Whatcha two boys talking about? I bet it's about either me or Irena which one us has the bigger bo…"
"Noooooo god damn Mira we're not all horny 24/7 like you jeez." Vega said giving out a sigh.
"You're definitely bigger than Irena though I'd say" Spica replied, "And less bossy too."
"Ahhhh thanks Spica." Mira said waving her hand, "If only Vega thought like you sometimes we would have a lot more fun in the…"
"Okayyyyyyyyyyyyy that's enough," Vega said covering Mira's mouth with both his hands. "Anyway Spica and I here were not talking about anything of the sort. We're discussing much more important matters."
"Oh you mean those cryptic writings made by those two geezers?"
"They're called theories thank you very much!" Vega said, "And if you had read any of the history books instead of just playing Age of Militia you'd know that they all seem like plausible ideas of what happened after the 24th century."
"Yeah yeah we get it Vega… basically aliens control GIA. What are you going to do even if you knew that were true. The fork under the watch trick clearly hasn't worked for you."
"I don't know, I just go to get the angle right on one of these tries." Vega said pulling out a fork from his pocket. As he tried to lodge the fork under his wristwatch however, a small shock suddenly pulsed through Vega's body causing him to yell dropping the fork.
Mira laughed, "You're gonna need to actually go hardcore and cut off a layer of your skin with a knife, a fork won't do shit and I know you're too much of a pussy to use a knife."
She sat down at a computer that was close to them.
"Let's just play some Age of Militia and forget about it. Even if you manage to get in the cremation room, you'll just be killed like a scout in enemy territory. They're higher beings then us, we should admit we're dumb as a species and enjoy our lives."
Vega sighed.
"I'm going to the library to do more digging. There has to be a clue or something in one of these books on what happens"
"Okay Ben Gates," Spica said rolling his eyes a bit, "What do you even hope to accomplish, say you prove there are aliens then what?"
"I… I don't know, it's sort of just my curiosity you know? Sure it's comfortable here but this can't be all life's about."
"Seems like a good enough life for me," Spica shrugged getting onto the computer next to Mira and loading up Age of Militia. "I ain't trying to get hurt or die for curiosity's sake."
"Make sure to get home before 10 honey," Mira said, "Let's at least cuddle tonight before you do any more alien hunting!"
"Sure yeah whatever…" Vega sighed.
"Am I the only sane human?!?!" Vega thought to himself as he exited the room, "Or perhaps the only insane one."
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After rummaging through the books at the library for a few hours, Vega began to give up his search. He looked up all the topics he could related to aliens but the books he had yielded no real definitive proof of any of them. The most he found about them is apparently at the place of Earth where humans use to inhabit where there were various crop circles that were being left suspected to be from aliens. Of course Vega had never seen crops before so the most he could visualize from the description was from the crops he planted in Age of Militia.
"Guess I'll try looking up books related to simulation theory tomorrow," Vega thought to himself as he began to exit the library. As he did so however he ran into a woman with long blond hair, slender body and tattoo that read "teacher" on her forehead.
"Oh what's up Irena. I was just hanging out with Spica earlier. How's he been rec…"
Vega was interrupted however as Irena with a cold expression on her face chopped her hand at Vega's neck area causing Vega to faint and fall onto the ground. After doing so Irena tapped her wristwatch.
"You secure him?"
"Yeah… he's down. I'll take him over for the usual memory wipe."
"How many times is it now with this one. 4? Guess being curious is just innate within him. Anyways bring him to the memory room to begin the necessary procedures"
"Got it boss. Right away."
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"Where…where am I?"
Vega awoke to find himself with his limbs tied down to a chair. In front of him was a young adult green skinned humanoid alien holding a flashlight
"Who… who are you?"
"What the hell did you do Vega?"
Vega turned to his right to notice his perverted partner strapped down in a chair next to him.
"Silence!" The green alien shouted at Mira.
"Eeeeeeee! Sor… Sorry, I'll be quiet now" Mira shrieked immediately shutting her mouth.
The alien let out a heavy sigh.
"Alright let's get this over with…"
"What?!?! Get what over with? Are you an alien? What happened to…"
"Shut the hell up…" The alien said punching Vega.
"Jeez humans I swear. You've literally done this 3 times already.
"What? No I haven't this is literally the first time…"
Vega was cut off however as he received another blow the face.
"I said shut up..." the green alien shouted letting out another sigh, "I'm not going to explain this to you, it won't matter since you won't remember a thing by this time tomorrow anyway. Now open both your eyes."
The alien held up with his other hand with what looked like a small tablet.
"No, what the hell? I'm not listening to you until I can at least get an... Owwwwwwww!"
This time a sharp shock came into Vega's body through his right wrist where his watch was as the alien pressed down on his tablet.
"Alright fine guess we'll just do this the hard way then," The alien said while reaching out towards Vega's eyes trying to open them.
"No stop! At least give me an explanation for everything. What happened to the humans after the 24th centu… Owwwwww."
Vega was interrupted however as the alien pressed a button on his tablet shocking Vega again.
"That would just be wasting my breath on someone whose memory is about to be wiped. Now please, open your eyes."
The green alien once again reached for Vega's eyes in an attempt to open them. It was beginning to work too due to Vega's exhaustion from the shocks. As the alien began to stick the tablet close to Vega's face however suddenly out of nowhere, a large metal object connected with the alien's head.
"Doingggg" The sound made as the alien fell to the floor unconscious.
"Who… who are you?" Mira gasped. In front of both of her and Vega stood an elderly man holding a large metal rod.
"Shhh…keep quiet for now and follow me. I'll explain everything once we get out of this room," the elder man exclaimed as he began untying both Vega and Mira. After doing so he made a gesture to follow him towards what seemed to be a small trap door leading under the room.
"My name's Hamal by the way, nice to meet you"
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"Say… you see Mira or Vega anywhere recently?" Spica asked while eating his breakfast. The blond slender woman he shared a room with sitting at the same table and just gave him a shrug.
"Nope… no clue."
"That's so odd. I haven't caught sight of them for 2 days. Usually Vega would be in the library and Mira at the arcade."
"Probably just doing stuff on their own in their room. Don't think too hard about."
"Damn don't tell me… you think they're finally…"
Before he could finish his sentence however, a quick slap connected with his face.
"Don't you dare say anything perverted." Irena responded, "They're probably just watching movies on their home computers or something."
As she said her sentence however her wristwatch started beeping.
"Huh that's odd… mine's never done that before. Is that like a girl's only thing it does?" Spica asked, "what does it mean? Are you on your period?"
"What nooo noooo…." Irena said slightly flustered, "I have to go to work now."
"What? But there's still an hour until work even begins. How about let's for today, I don't know, maybe we can cuddle a bit before…"
Spica was cut off once again this time with a punch to the face.
"Alright yeah I got to go, I'll see you back here at 10pm then." Irena said hurriedly leaving the room.
"Sighhhhh what the hell… this isn't like the dating sims at all," Spica thought to himself.
As Irena exited the room she quickly pressed down on her wrist watch.
"I'm out of sight now, what is it?"
"Lieutenant Earl hasn't been responding to my calls. Go check the interrogation room and see what's going on."
"On it" Irena said sprinting stealthily towards the subway. There she waited patiently for all of the passengers to board before quietly clicking on her wrist watch a few more times before being able to sneak onto the last segment where the drones kept the dead bodies .