The cacophony of the cheers along with laughs drown out the din of the city campus nightlife. I heard congratulations and mentions of everyone as they toasted to each other their final goodbyes for they each had their own path to go.
I took a sip of my drink in my hand, the sweet taste of the latte with the mix of caffeine gave my tired eyes just enough energy to stay still and watch the others around.
Yura was the same as always, a mountain of food was stacked on her plate as she chomped it down while watching something on her computer completely ignoring everybody else. Ender, Kate and Alexander were playing on some tabletop games set up nearby.
As for Philips.
'Wait where's Philips?'
Scanning around I eventually caught sight of him below the table game tinkering with some of the electronics.
"That's impossible ender, Not a chance you got that lucky of a cards drawn on your side"
Kate's eyes widen a low frown settling on her face. Slamming her last card on the table she stared at Ender in disbelief.
"What? I am just lucky."
Ender said snickering.
"This is your fifth deck of cards and all of the best ones. If I don't believe you're doing something then mathematically this is impossible."
Kate said annoyed as she was beaten again for the fifth time in a row
"Both of my hands are right here Kate, I can't do anything and that's just my luck."
I smiled at Philips before giving him a wink, he seemed to notice me seeing him below the table and gave small thumbs up in my direction
"Lovely sight isn't it Neo?"
Said a voice behind me and I turned around to see a man standing there with his arms crossed. He wears one of those blue white uniforms of the standard issue of those who belong to the academy.
"Uh hello, may I ask who you are?"
"Hm? Ah sorry about that I almost forgot about introducing myself, apologies. My name is Keys."
"Uh, hi?"
"Oh right I should have probably said this ahead of time but you should have received an email this morning from the research department correct?"
"Yeah I received it earlier today."
I responded to the question albeit a bit confused on where the directions of the conversations were heading.
"Glad you received. To reintroduce myself my name is Keys and I am a captain of the Dawn Scientific exploration group."
The moment that fact was dropped I didn't even know how I should respond to his statement of his words.
"Wait, you mean that dawn exploration group?"
I heard a rather surprised voice behind me which turned out to be Yura looking very much interested in our conversation.
"Oh hey Yura, this is Captain Ke-."
"I know."
Yura interrupted me mid sentence looking quite eager to introduce herself to him to which Keys gave a chuckle at.
"Please to see the enthusiasm there young lady lemme finish this conversation first alright."
Key said in an amused tone to Yura before turning back to me.
"Alright young man if you really are interested in joining our group I strongly suggest you go ahead and do it."
"I heard about the party, thinking you might be here. I came to take a look at what you're like to which I say you're a perfect fit. This is my business card, do feel free to contact me when you feel like asking about anything."
Keys said while pulling out a small card from his shirt pocket and handing it to me. Receiving the card in my hand I gave it a glance before turning back to Key and giving him a nod which he smiled back at.
"Thank you for your personal visit to see me, I really appreciate the gesture"
I replied to Key with a sincere look on my face to show my approval at how he deals with things.
"As I am supposed to" Keys ended with a smile.
Key extended his hand to me and I gave him a hearty handshake beforeI turned back around to read over the business cards and remember it.
As Keys and Yura chatted around together in the background I turned back to think about the choice being offered to me.
I must have been thinking for quite a while without me knowing cus I was brought out of my thoughts by Yura who has already finished their conversation with Keys.
"You got it lucky Neo"
Yura said with a raised eyebrow.
"Hm, what do you mean?"
"God do you not have a life outside of that mind of yours" Yura rolled her eyes before continuing.
"Look, the group that he is offering you to join is not a normal one."
"How does that affect things?"
I asked curiously.
"Listen up, they have been established since the first couple days of the solar system exploration era, they were and still are one of the biggest."
"Well then I just got into something else that is good. What's so big about that?"
Yura gave me a sideways stare.
"How many times have you seen me interested in something other than my own things?"
True thinking about it now it was rather rare that she showed any sort of interest toward anything else.
"Listen, won't get too into how they work, operate and history but all you have to know right now is that this is something which you should really take advantage of."
Yura gave a soft sigh before taking in a deep breath to continue
"To be honest, I 'm really jealous of you right now, since you came to pass something like this. Not that surprised though."
"Um thanks? I do appreciate the thought here though."
I said a bit confused still to Yura who gave a slightly annoyed pout before turning back to her own things.
The new knowledge about how impressive the group I was about to head into was slightly startling to me. Although aware of the fact that i would be sent to somewhere good I still kept my expectations down just in case of something going wrong
"So there you are! No wonder how you won"
I heard a rising voice turning my head to see the four playing together with Kate finally noticing Philips below the table. I chuckled as they bickered with each other while Phllips on the side was laughing his head off.
As I was walking off the feeling of being tired from just being here waiting for the rest of the crew I felt an rather uncomfortable gaze on me.
I look up to see Ender looking at me by myself and just looking at others playing with each other with a slightly disappointed look. At first I couldn't really understand what he was hinting at but then remembering back to our conversation before arriving I understood.
I couldn't bring myself to meet his gaze for I knew that he was down from the fact that he still was unable to convince me to enjoy the few remaining times that I had.
At the end of it all I left with the rest of the group which talked to each other more about their plans going forward while I just looked on and asked a few questions to others about some of their things.
I didn't speak all to much more, I felt heavy hearted as I waved goodbye to everyone and set off to my own dorm room for how I
Laying in bed now I thought quite heavily on my bed about the choice I would be taking. Closing my eyes for a second to think was all that it took to let exhaustion take over and I fell into the comforting embrace of sleep.
Greetings by silence waking up was rather unusual for me and made me rather put.
"Shouldn't dwell on it too much" I muttered to myself.
Pulling out my phone with my decision made I typed in the number from Keys.
-Ring, Ring, Ring-
"Hello who's this?"
I heard the voice of Keys over the phone
"It's Neo here."
"Oh hey Neo, Glad to see you responding so quickly, have you made your decision yet?"
"Yeah." I responded swiftly, " I'll join."
"Haha" A chuckle came over the phone "Great timing then, if there is nothing bothering you now we got some mission ahead of you just today, if you are able to come in the next 2 hours I might be able to get you on, what do you say young man?"
That was an offer that I didn't expect.
"Ye-"
I was about to respond but then I lifted my head to take a look at my room. I paused for half a second before speaking back in a softer tone
"Yeah, I am sure I will be able to arrive."
Keys on the other side sounded a bit off after hearing me stumped there.
"Take your time kiddo no rush." Keys said first "I wish to be able to see you on the deck soon."
"Same here, laters then."
"See you later too."
With that final sentence spoken by Keys the call ended.
Immediately after a ding sounded on my phone with the destination for where to go mapped out. Grabbing my backpack and essentials for what might be ahead I open up my door into the hallway. Walking alone for now never felt so surreal.
'Just like last time'
I shook my head
"Definitely don't think of back then."
I muttered under my breath before walking downstairs then outside. I was half surprised by the fact that it was still quite dark outside as I looked up at the sky.
Heading over to one of the nearby bicycle stations and after checking it out with my phone started riding to my destination. My unkempt hair fluttered softly behind me drifting with the wind.
Soon arriving at the destination I parked my bicycle outside in one of the dropoff areas to let someone else take it. After tapping a few buttons it was now ready for someone else to use it. Walking into the massive complex in front of the space elevator I marvels like always at the massive engineering structure.
I pulled my phone out of my pocket before sending a message to Key about me arriving.
-Be there soon, meet me up here-
A new ding popped up on my phone with a new destination set on the entrance into the space elevator. I hurried over the meeting locations, after passing through a small crowd I saw keys in the distance taking a puff from his cigar.
"Hey Keys"
I said waving over and Keys looked up from his phone to give me a wave as well.
Stopping in front of Keys he gave me an appreciated nod.
"Glad you are here on time."Key said, puffing out the smoke, "Follow me."
Keys walked over to one of the many elevator Doors before pressing his security clearance pass on one of the smart pads on the side to unlock. With a hiss the door slides open revealing a sharp metal 2 seats on each of the 3 wall sides.
"Come in."Keys gestures before strapping himself on one of the seats
I followed in suit Picking the ones sitting right across from him.
"So what are we going to do?"
I asked, trying to strike up a conversation as I felt stuck with the silence between us.
"Well may seem quick but you're gonna go with us on a small excursion." Keys chuckled shaking me a bit by the message
"Also as for the requirement thing I already forward your response and agreement to join the department, no need to worry about that."
"Oh right, I almost forgot about that, thanks for the help there."
I said with appreciation at the gesture for the fact that I tossed the response time for the mail I got to the back of my head.
"So what is the purpose this time for the excursion you say?"
"Rather smooth transition and adjustment eh, I like it." Key said before continuing
"Well there has been some interesting revelation lately on one of the moons of jupiter. Namely Europa here, while it was thought of as during the expeditions centuries before you should remember how there was no life on it correct?"
"Right and it was one of the greatest disappointments of scientists at the time, thus it was turned later into a space weapon testing site., so why are we heading back now?"
I was confused a bit.
"Well there was a new development and while some weapons testing was happening where a large number of Kinetic bombardment weapons was dropped. The main accelerated tungsten rod fired from a new type of cruiser, the Black hawk, which fired one of the more recent developments of a tungsten rod with a bit over 0.05 cubic meter of combined Solid metal Hydrogen and Oxygen."
"Wait wait."I said "Are you sure you mean 0.05 Cubic meters don;t you mean 0.005?"
"No I meant what I said, the projectile upon impact released 140 megatons of energy due to the reaction and due to the nature of it being a kinetic weapon the thing penetrated further than expected below the ground as the chain reaction was growing."
Keys to another puff of his cigar as the pause before continuing again.
"After the projectile's reactions finished the onboard computer detected signs of unnatural deposits of unknown components being vaporized and now the site is clear for excavation and research purposes."
"So where do we come into play?"
I asked but then immediately regretting it for the answer was obvious
"Hehe, the best minds are on this right now and since we are an explorations group mainly in space exploration and discoveries it would be inappropriate for us to not take part in it, wound it not?
"
"And what are we well I guess mainly me here, gonna do?"
"Good question, we're doing the dirty work of heading down for the on surface excavation and on hand research. Since you're new you don-."
"No no I am willing to head down, I have to prove something of myself here" I said interrupting him.
"Well if that's your style then sure I'll put you in the group heading down. I like that enthusiasm of yours there."
Just as Keys finished speaking the ding came from the speaker on the top and hit us as we were about to arrive.
"Alright follow me after we get on the station alright."
Keys said as the elevator slowed to a halt before we unstrapped ourselves from the seats and the door leading outside and into the massive space complex opened.
Stepping off and into the place was the same surreal experience as always for I would gawk at how amazing places like these are.
Phillips would probably fawn even more over than me really for that engineer maniac brain of his. I followed Keys as he walked heading over to the dock but stopped by a cafe first.
"Any drinks that interest you?"
I was surprised by his offer because it was quite sudden.
"Oh, um, thanks, I just took a double shot espresso latte then."
After placing the order and the drink being made and handed to us, Keys also bought a sandwich before tossing it to me.
"Considering that growling stomach of yours I suppose you have not had anything to chew on this morning."
I felt a bit of red on my face for not noticing how hungry I was.
"Sorry for the inconvenience Sir."
"Haha no need to go into formalities here just enjoy it, come sit we got some spare time"
I sat down near one of the tables with a view into the outer space through the double layers of glass.
"Calm yourself now"
"Huh, what do you mean?" I ask in response to the sentence by Keys muffled by my chewing.
"I see you are nervous about this whole thing and I can't really blame you on that. I know what it's like moving forward and I'll have this conversation before it gets too late for it but I want you to understand that things happen so at any time get ready to move on alright?"
I put down my sandwich and my face turned a bit melancholy on those words.
"Yeah I understand that but it's always easier to say and do"I sighed
He gave me a hand on my shoulder and pointed over at the dawning sun across the horizon on
"Each day is a new one, but the impact of each previous day lasts to every after. That's the way of life. Moving on isn't about abandoning the prior experience. It's about the growth from it"
"I . . I understand."
"Good and I'll make sure that you receive a good welcome onboard, Now finish that food of yours we got things to do."
He finished saying before turning on his phone, starting to check on some things, letting me finish my food in contemplation at Key's words.
Play song Be brave by Owl city