Marshal Mathew Bates took one of the available chairs in the spacious office. He looked to the side and observed Ijvesta, the man's injuries seemed to have healed. However, there was still a tiny cut lining the bridge of his nose.
Then, his eyes lingered on Marshal Cathy. This woman was rarely seen, and even when she appeared, she was usually garbed in her full bionic suit, covering her entire face.
Finally, the General handling the affairs of the Middle Ring cleared his throat and said, "I have just received a report from Embryo."
Mathew Bates fixed his gaze on the well-built man with sparse hair and clean-shaved chin.
"Certain residual particles were found after the battle at Ajax," General Kano began his explanation, "These particles were most concentrated at the location of the tentacled alien, and the humanoid type alien that emerged afterwards. Experiments were conducted at Embryo, and they have theorised that the particles are peculiar to those alien monsters. Call it a 'Signature', if you will."
His tone and expression suddenly turned grave. His dull brown eyes observed the face of the Marshals as he said, "Last night, the scientists at Embryo picked up more of these Signatures at various spots in the three Sectors– including the Upper and Lower Rings."
"However, our satellites picked up no traces of foreign entities nearing the Dome, nor has there been any reports of an alien entity so far. So, how exactly are these alien creatures invading New Earth? And where are they hiding?"
The room descended into silence.
After a while, Ijvesta sighed and rapped his fingers on the edge of the glass table. He said with a pitiful look, "First, it was our planet purging us. Now, we're being hunted even in space. What is this targeted hostility?"
Cathy turned her head and asked, "Do you mean these two events are connected? Like there's something going on behind the scenes?"
Ijvesta nodded.
"Think about it. Planet Earth now contains a deadly gas of sorts that kills any lifeform within seconds. The initial belief was that the planet itself secreted the gas to purge humans. But what if–"
"The aliens were behind it." Mathew Bates completed the sentence. He had his chin resting on both his hands as he seemed to contemplate something.
"What about the time gap?" General Kano revealed his doubts. He didn't at all act like a superior, carefully reasoning with them and listening to their various thoughts. "It's been over 900 years since humans evacuated planet Earth. Why attack only now?"
"Logically, if these aliens were behind it, wouldn't it be wiser to launch their attack immediately after humanity lost more than 80% of their population?"
"True," Ijvesta felt like that was a solid point.
Mathew Bates leaned into his chair and said, "We might need to capture one of these things alive and try to get as much information we can."
"Capture?" Cathy's voice had a mocking tone to it. "We almost got killed facing just one of them. If we're attacked by an entire army, we can kiss existence goodbye."
"We have the kid." Mathew reminded her.
"What's he gonna do against hundreds of them?"
Mathew said with a shrug, "That's why we're trying to train these new recruits as fast as we can. The Power Orbs will be a great addition to our force."
Cathy grumbled and kissed her teeth. She didn't like the fact that the fate of humanity would be placed in the hands of teenagers.
"On that topic," the General fixed his gaze on Mathew. "Have you begun probing at the origin of his abilities? I entertained your suggestion to keep his existence a secret and not inform the other Generals. We have to make sure this decision doesn't come back to haunt us."
Mathew nodded and responded, "I'm aware, although I haven't started questioning him. Honestly, I've been beating him up lately, so I doubt he would be willing to even talk to me. But, I'll get answers soon, that's for sure."
"Alright then. We shall increase the Patrolling Overseers and have them be on the lookout for any odd activities. Security will be doubled in all Sectors and every citizen will have to go through a weekly identification check. The other Generals are currently in a meeting with their respective Marshals, explain this." General Kano informed them.
"Yes, sir." The Marshals affirmed with a nod of their heads.
Kano rose from his chair and said as he stepped out, "If there's new information, another meeting will be held. For now, you all are dismissed."
…
Overseer Military Camp, a little into midnight.
Adam's eyes snapped open when his wristband sent a terse vibration throughout his body. The improved alarm system was oddly efficient and would rouse even the deepest sleepers.
He didn't need to rub his eyes or squint, as he immediately adjusted to the darkness. Adam glanced at the other boys, then rose and walked into the bathroom to empty his bladder.
Afterwards, he returned to his bed and reached for his bag, retrieving his Metaspace goggles. After plugging earbuds, he donned the goggles and his vision was immediately clouded by a vast white space that harboured similarly white floating bricks.
The Metaspace didn't require one's real body to walk, stand or talk. Unlike the virtual reality devices from Old Earth, these goggles tapped into one's mind and projected whatever they thought of into the Metaspace. For example, if someone needed to move his Avatar, he simply needed to think about moving. It was the same for speaking and doing other things.
In the vast space of white, a little boy had appeared. The boy had grey hair, pale white eyes and wore suspenders with shorts. This was Adam's avatar. He had created his Metaspace account when he was 7 years of age, using his appearance, and hadn't bothered updating his profile ever since.
At that moment, various gigantic panels erupted from the floating white bricks, displaying all sorts of games. In one of the panels, there was a large wall infused with candy of various colours and shapes– a game that Adam had enjoyed playing when he was little.
His eyes were quite empty as he turned around and left the isle of games. With familiarity, he walked around this vast space and got to another section where various panels depicted beautiful landscapes and scenery. He walked to one of them and stepped into the upright panel.
A black veil clouded Adam's vision, but only for a few seconds. In the next instant, he had arrived at what Old Earth humans called, "The Beach."
There was a vast body of water in front of him, and his feet sunk into the sand. His outfit had automatically changed to one befitting for relaxation. He looked to the side and spotted a girl sitting on a beach mat and hugging her knees to her chest.
Next to the lady, there was a pitch-black raven that had shimmering eyes.