Year 2390
Earth-Sol system
Neo
The sounds of by steps echos around in the hallway. Me and it with no one around was all that was there to accompany my mind.
Stepping in front of my door I reached my hands into my pocket I fished out my student key cards before pressing them against the door's keypad.
A beep sounded a green light appeared on the top part of the pad indicating to me that the door was opened. Giving it a light push my door gave away into the soft monotony room. I gazed around at everything breathing in the stale air with some whiff of the cool air pumped in by the ventilation unit startled awake by my new presence. The Boxes stacked haphazardly around the room mostly were just of the items I wanted to throw out.
Not much of the stuff here would be anything needed anytime other than the small and important electronics.
'Well, this is it, all that's left for now is . . . is?'
I thought a bit out of the moment. Day over day I kept looking at the calendar, Days each passing by all coming down to where I am at now. Shouldn't I be happy right now? Jumping for joy at the fact that, hey, you made it to the end.
"The end of what."
I mumbled under my breath after tossing my backpack to the ground and tossing my body onto the bed. Just as my mind began to drift I heard a knock at the door startling me awake from my thoughts.
'Who is it at such a time'
I thought, my interest peaking slightly before lifting my body out of the bed. I rubbed my eyes and let out a light yawn before opening the door to greet a man dressed in a suit.
"Your name is Neo, correct?"
The man asked.
"Yes, that's me."
I said, giving a quick reply.
"Great. Your request for the cargo transport of the boxes has been approved and is ready to be shipped off. I see you got all of your items packed up and ready. Sign here please."
He said he would give me a tablet with a drawing tool for my signature. I Wrote my signature on the tablet as well as selected the time when I wanted my boxes moved before handing it back to the man.
"Thank you for working with the General Logistics company and We will get the boxes ready for moving shortly." I manage to get a short nod from the man before closing my door for some brain rest time. Just as I was about to belly-flop on my bed my Smart Phone Rang.
"Important message received"
I mentally facepalmed at the bad timing of things. Taking out my phone I opened up the app for Mails and took a look at my most recent important one.
-To Neo- From -AI Academy Department of Research-
Neo. You have been judged based on your past success on your research analysis mission and contribution to the academy you will be rewarded with a position onboard a research vessel set out for the outer bounds of the mapped stars of the Nova Federation space. You are not obligated to attend and join the crew however this offer would be made only once so do consider this over.
A reply is expected before Sunday 24:00 CUT otherwise the offer will be nullified.
-Best wishes-
-Department of Research-
A feeling of euphoria bloomed inside my heart. Subconsciously I took a look back over my things.
'It's been a long journey here'
I thought as my gaze lingered thinking about the past several years, clear as day for all that's it's worth. My heart felt heavy from the thought of leaving it all behind. I walked over to my desk and picked up a picture frame of me and my friends. Blowing the dust off of it, a look at all of my friends together with me at the front facing the camera lifted my mood with recollection of these times.
"One last day together hm."
I said softly under my breath before I collected my mind and threw my body on the bed once again after setting an alert for 19:00 Cut, one hour before the planned meet-up.
As I rested there in my bed I was high on the fact that there would be something new for an adventure, yet for all that mattered the dread of leaving all that I was familiar with stalked the back of my mind. Trying to rest in my bed was like sleeping knowing that something was coming after you. Sure there was nothing there but you can't help but get the feeling of it. A couple hours passed by and by the end of it all I just found myself on my back and staring at the ceiling though.
-BEEP- -BEEP- -BEEP-
The alarm I set up shoved me out of my thoughts and brought me back to the real world. I pulled myself out of the comfort of my bed and walked over to the desk to turn off the alarm.
Looking over at the time on the alarm It reminded me that I should probably be getting ready to start heading off to meet the rest of the group. Didn't take long for me to grab everything I wanted, not much to carry around anyway other than the essential electronics and items.
I swung open the door out into the hallway and put on my outside happy face. The light flickered as it beamed through the windows of the buildings dotting the cityscape all around me as I trekked along the paths teaming with other students.
"Neo!"
I heard my name called out from behind me and I turned around to see Kate waving at me.
"Hey there Kate."
I said jogging lightly to reach her side.
"You sure out early, I haven't even gotten the rides set up yet and the celebration starts an entire hour later. Surely you're not just planning to hang around for an hour doing nothing right? That doesn't sound like you."
Kate asked curiously about my slightly different behavior today.
"Nah I just wanted to walk around some more and enjoy things a bit more before we all leave you know for something new?"
"Yeah, I would do the same here thinking about it."
Kate replied as she pulled out her personal device and started to tap away at it.
"Done, I've sent a group chat message to everybody else to tell them to meet up around here. I'll call for a ride to take us to the graduation party."
I gave Kate a thumbs up at her work.
"We got a lot of time to kill here. . not really but we got at least nothing to do for now. Got anything for fun ideas?"
Kate asked, still looking at her phone.
"Coffee?"
Kate looked up at her phone and looked like she was contemplating smacking me in the head for suggesting that.
"What? It's a perfectly reasonable thing to ask for, gotta have that caffeine to enjoy the energy of the party later on."
I said with a muse of a smile on my face.
"Why not, sounds good to me"
Kate responded after rolling her eyes slightly. Before pointing out something in the distance.
"Hey!"
I saw Alexander running up to us while waving his hand up in the air from his side. Me and Kate waved back of course to show that we saw him. I was the first to speak up when he got close to our position.
"Nice there Alexander, didn't expect you to be this early to the party, what happened to your procrastination?"
"Anything for sis Kate"
Alexander responded, trying to put on the manliest face he could for which both me and Kate gave him a raised eyebrow.
"Since 3 of us are here now so half of the group I Guess we can just get set up near the avenue of celebration ahead of time."
Kate muttered.
"Hey uh Kate, is that offer of coffee still on the table here?"
I asked.
"Yeah still on, I guess I can get brother one."
Kate said, rubbing her temples with a sigh while Alexander gave me a silent thumbs up behind his back. Kate proceeds to point out the outline of a cafe in the distance with her thumb.
"I know that place quite well, the drinks there are pretty good, including the coffee"
Kate said before lightly hopping her feet in that direction.
"Sounds good"
"Have no problem here"
Me and Alexander replied before following close behind. The dusking sun left streaks of light beams in my vision making things look like a game run on high-end graphics which you only now knew how good it looked.
A soft smile let itself spread across my mouth as we 3 gave each other small talks about different ideas and plans of ours as we walked. I walked ahead to the door and opened it first to let Kate and Alexander in first which they responded with a thank you. Walking over to the counter to order I noticed Ender and Philips standing in line and talking to each other.
"Hey Philips"
I called out first because he was closer to me.
"Hey Neo and I see you brought the other two along"
Philips said while Ender waved at us three newcomers.
"Nice to see you here but what were you two doing here?"
I asked curiously about it since it seemed like quite the odd coincidence to meet them so simply like that.
"Oh, we wanted to get something for the rest of the group to drink so we decided to come here first since it wasn't that far off from the meeting location so we thought of grabbing everybody's favorite drinks first." Ender replied
"Stuff is already ordered so just wait a minute. I got everybody's favorite drinks."
"You two really are considerate."
Said Alexander while looking over the recipe to see what they got.
"Us two? Don't you mean three?"
Smirked Philips while he pointed at one of the cafe tables where I took a look only to see Yura tapping away furiously at her computer. She seems to have overheard us mentioning her but all she gave was a quick glance and a light wave to indicate to use she knows.
"Yura will stay the same as always" Kate said, sighing, and the rest of us nodded along internally about it.
"Order number 26 your drinks are ready"
Loudly said one of the baristas behind the counter.
"Oh that's our order, Hey Alexander, mind helping me carry this thing?" "On it."
Alexander said, helping Ender with the bags of drink trays.
"Hey Yura, we're ready to go now"
"Yeah, yeah, I got it, no need to nag at me Kate."
Yura replied, muttering under her mouth, still clear enough for us to hear. In a single smooth motion, Yura flicked the laptop shut and stuffed it in the backpack before getting up to put it on.
"Come on watcha standing there for, lets go."
Yura said putting a smile on her face and started walking out of the cafe out into the walkways. The rest of the group followed along out into the open air.
"The drifting night air is nice isn't it Neo?"
Ender asked as walked along. I thought about it as I took a look up at the stars. On one side the son illuminated the sky a fiery orange and on the other, the moon and the stars fell into view.
"To be honest, the same view as a thousand other times and days yet this one feels different don't you think?"
"I am not sure what you mean by that Ender."
I said, even though I knew precisely what he meant standing in the fading sun.
"I know you feel it too, don't give me that sentence Neo. It's the last time, the last time any of us are really gonna be together like this, do me a favor Neo. Enjoy it, I know what you're like, and separating from others is not your style but everything changes."
Both I and Ender were walking in the back of the group so our conversation was not really overheard and to be frank, I am really glad that's the case.
"Being honest with you, I feel the same you know, sounds cringe but here, with all of you is what made me feel at home. Not war, Not my destiny, it's fleeting and that is what makes things like this precious to us. Slow yourself down, you got only one chance at this so hold it close alright"
Ender finished his sentence with a sigh escaping his lips. I wasn't even sure how I should respond to him because all of the things he said were on the spot. I spoke slowly with my response, careful of how I phrased it. "It's not just me, I am sure all of us friends feel it. Just, I Don't really know Ender. You know full well I have nothing to return to after graduation. Me and my work is my only escape."
"Don't give me that."
Ender said starting to seeth through your teeth.
"Can you not see? Most of us here were brought together by you. You were more than capable of getting the full marks from missions by yourself and yet you still chose to help all of us. Neo, I admire you. Truly with all of your skill you have to stop this otherwise you're gonna drown yourself sooner or later"
This time not even the brilliant mind of mine could come up with any more responses.
"Just try ok? Give your life a chance and enjoy it."
I took a look to the front where the rest of the group had their conversations and chatted in full spirits enjoying themselves with their drinks.
"I'll enjoy myself Ender, to be happy then for tonight I'll remember in my heart and let it unfettered."
Ender gave me a hand on my shoulder
"You will have plenty of time in the future to get more understanding of it. Now that you understand, come on let's not fall behind the rest" Ender said with a sly grin on his face as he sped towards the rest of the group which was quite far away now since me and Ender had slowed down our walking speed considerably while talking.
I followed along now with a brand new smile on my face for in my heart has never felt more free and in the present as now.
Play-Slow down by Dream