When dinner came around, the two men sat at the other ends of a table made of marble. The city of Miami was in view to Gay’s right. A preferred scenery compared to the power plant. To his left, paintings were on display. However, he could tell that those were Brian’s actual tastes. They were all abstract pieces, their colours contrasting against one another to make something wonderful. Well, Gay thought that was the intention of the art pieces. He couldn’t be too sure.

  The servers walked out of the kitchen to give the two men their steaks and a glass of red wine. Brian waved his hand at his food to smell it, enjoying the aroma of tender meat and steamed vegetables.

  ‘Marvelous. Just Marvelous.’ Brian smiled before cutting into his meal. He smiled at Gay as he still wore his sunglasses and contacts. ‘I hope it is to your liking. I can’t remember if you like blue or rare. So, I went with rare just to be safe.’

  ‘I’m sure it’ll taste great.’ As Gay put a piece close to his mouth, his mind sang with an unusual craving. A side-effect of a curse he put on himself. ‘Waiter,’ he clicked his fingers. ‘May I have a glass of almond milk mixed with a tablespoon of salt, please?’

  Brian chuckled at Gay’s unusual request. ‘I suppose some things do change about you, old friend.’

  As the waiter returned with the glass of milk, she also put down a large stack of documents next to Gay for him to read during dinner. They then leave the room, giving the two men privacy.

  ‘I compiled everything you will need.’ Brian continued. ‘It has the Ra Engine schematic, the list of people who worked on the project, and most importantly, the formula on how we used magic to power it. Speaking of which.’ Brian pressed a button on his chair to speak into the microphone. ‘Bring Doctor Doris Zimmermann here.’

  Almost like it was scripted, the doctor walked into the room as soon as her name was called. She was a young woman with tanned skin and long brunette hair tied into a bun. She wore her lab outfit and sported large, round glasses. ‘You called, sir,’ Doris formally said.

  Gay didn’t need to read her mind to figure out she was planned to be in the room with them to talk about the hot topic of the day.

  ‘Our guest here will like to know how the Ra Engine works.’ Brian gestured to the other end of the table. ‘And please, give him the full explanation. The truth. Not what we tell the public or shareholders.’

  Gay put down his cutlery to give Doris his undivided attention. But he wasn’t curious about formulas or the functionalities of the Ra Engine. He was no engineer or scientist. He was and always would be a soldier deep down. However, he was curious what the truth was.

  ‘Well, mister…’

  ‘Gay.’

  Doris took a breath before replying. ‘Mister Gay. I assume you know that our public statement is that the Ra Engine is powered by dark matter. Essentially, what we say is we super charge dark matter particles with rays of light so they can emit a form of cosmic radiation. This chain reaction theoretically produces an energy that we can collect because what we do is get those particles from an inactive state into an active one, which is transferable. As dark matter makes up about 30% of our universe, we don’t have the issue of it being a finite resource. Light is easy to create, and the power produced from the engine is enough to be self-sustainable. But…’

  ‘You don’t have the capabilities to harvest or produce dark matter and dark matter can only interact with gravity and not light.’ Gay interrupted. Reading Doris’ mind so he could skip the scientific lecture.

  ‘Yes, you’re right. We know nothing about dark matter or how to use it in a practical sense. All we did was use dark matter to describe how the engine works and produce convincing explanations to cover up the actual energy source.’

  ‘Which is?’

  Doris gulped. She glanced at Brian, which he nodded to give her further permission to continue. ‘Magic, sir.’

  Gay frowned at Brain before returning his attention to Doris. ‘Elaborate.’

  ‘I’m sorry, sir, are you part of the ASP?’

  ‘Elaborate!’

  She made a heavy sigh, believing that she was in trouble in some way for knowing. ‘Unlike dark matter, magic is the only form of energy on Earth that we can measure and harvest everywhere. The energies produced by the Realm of the Dead are always being created with the production of souls, and every soul produces the same amount of energy. Basically, we can throw a cheese wheel into a furnace and we can power a dozen homes for a week. The only issue we are facing is we lack the equipment to produce more energy with the amount of magic that is readily available. We have the science down and we can harvest magic safely with what we have. But we know we are capped at a certain amount because we lack the means to store the energy effectively without it causing problems to our hardwere.’

  ‘That is all.’ Gay harshly said before gesturing for her to leave the room. She wanted to protest at first so she could explain the engine in depth, but she couldn’t deny the tension building in the room with the revelation of magic. Doris said her thanks and walked out of the dining hall.

  It was foolish of Brian to reveal the truth of magic to someone else. The gun in Gay’s jacket called to him, it had a reason to be used. That was all he needed, an excuse to kill him right here and there. It wouldn’t be hard, no one would save Brian or stop Gay from escaping the building with the documents.

  Brian smirked while sipping on his wine. ‘Looks like you are not happy to hear that. Don’t tell me you hate my lead scientist.’

  ‘Is she the only one who knows?’

  ‘Yes.’ Brian admitted. ‘Don’t worry, she is only given notes I’ve written up in the 30s and she has proven to keep secrets. You don’t need to worry about her.’

  ‘Then how come she needs to know? Why won’t you build the engine?’

  ‘I did. I built a prototype for a containment facility.’ Brain pointed to a peculiar frame at the middle of the art display. In it was an old copper ring. One Gay knew who it originally belonged to.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  ‘The same one to hold a monster there to rot.’ Brian continued. ‘I bet even after three-fourths of a century the prototype still works.’

  ‘That doesn’t answer my question, Brian.’ Gay argued.

  ‘No, it doesn’t. Remember when she says the issues they are facing is we lack the equipment to produce more energy with the amount of souls readily available? That is the issue I came across. I have the math and the right theories to tell me how to harvest soul energies. But I can’t create anything useful besides producing a 2 kWh of usable power. Not enough to power a house, and not enough to power a city.’

  Gay folded his arms. He wasn’t amused that Brian gave away a huge secret to someone outside of the Order and without them knowing. However, he could understand that his friend was incapable of inventing something on a larger scale.

  ‘Does she know anything else?’ Gay questioned.

  ‘No, she only knows that.’ Brian smiled, ‘my friend. If MODOC taught me anything useful, it would be the dangers of knowledge.’

  In response, Gay gestured to the frame with the ring inside. ‘MODOC also taught you to not have trophies.’

  ‘Ah, but that is different. It is important to me.’ He laughed after taking a large bite of his steak. ‘I have fond memories of that town. The extraction mission and disposal of the entire population of Appleseed. Have I ever told you I used to be stationed there to keep them contained?’ Brian leaned back into his chair, reminiscing about the past that had ended long ago. ‘You remember him? The stories about the butcher?’

  Gay nodded. ‘I knew him.’

  ‘Well yeah, that was a stupid question. You were the one who gave the orders…’

  ‘For his execution,’ Gay corrected. ‘I gave MODOC the green light that his existence was no longer necessary. You took it upon yourselves to make it an extraction operation. If memory serves me correctly, it was MODOC’s disregard for following direct orders that caused it to become a rogue agency.’

  ‘The Order wanted him removed from the history books. I don’t disagree that we modified the orders, but we did it to fit the situation at the time. People knew him and we have to take the necessary steps to make them forget.’

  ‘Over 200 civilians died…’

  ‘A sacrifice that was necessary.’ Brian interjected. ‘You might have regrets about the lives lost. Strange, coming from you. But we are also talking about him. Extreme measures have to be taken to ensure his capture.’

  ‘But not execution. All you did was lock him in a box and leave him there.’

  Brian smirked like he was proud of it. ‘Exactly! Do you think he deserves a swift death? After all he did, the amount of crimes he got away with? We both know and we already agreed that someone has to remove that piece of trash from the world. But we had to do it with necessary force.’

  ‘My issue isn’t about him dying. That is the last thing I care about. His death is a net positive to the world and the human species as a whole.’

  ‘Ah, I see it now.’

  Gay frowned. ‘See what?’

  ‘Our patron. You still don’t like Her.’

  ‘There is nothing to like about Her!’ Gay hissed.

  Brian shook his head. He took a deep breath and sighed. ‘She’ll wake up soon. When She does. Do you think you can beat Her again? No, I don’t think so. We both agreed with Her ideals about what needs to be done. The Ra Engine is just the first step towards building a better world. I might not live to see how the second project turns out, but I know we won’t disappoint.’

  ‘That doesn’t mean we should trust Her. She is no…’

  ‘Different,’ Brian finished his sentence. ‘She is no different to what any other human looks like. But we are not talking about her being different. Not when we made her special! Granted, I think none of us expect what that woman will become, but that is besides the point. Maybe the majority of us dislike the bigger picture. But that won’t matter, now that She’ll wake up soon. We know we shouldn’t just fight it or try to stop it when it is the best option on offer.’

  ‘The best option isn’t correct. She may have planned all of this, but that doesn’t mean we have to follow. We can make our own future, shape our own destiny away from Her control.’

  ‘But how will that make things better? What do you have to offer?’ Brian paused, waiting for Gay for an answer. But he didn’t have any. ‘That is the problem with humanity. If a problem or scale gets too big for us to grasp, our minds just ignore it. We pretend the problem isn’t there or a big enough deal so we can live comfortably. This world is dying, Nathanael. Your Order couldn’t prevent the worst that is yet to come when every ecosystem collapses and the acidification of our ocean. Billions will die, and we will be driven off of this rock. Things need to change, and it has to come from Her. The Order has already proven unable to provide a solution to an impending crisis.’

  Gay reached for his glass of milk and gulped it down. ‘How can you accept it?’

  ‘Same reason you still follow Her plan. What choice do we have?’

  As much as he wanted to make a counterargument to prove he was wrong or pull out his gun and shoot him there to be done with it. Brian was right, they had no other choice but to follow the plan. He had all of the justifications provided by the Order to kill Brian and end it all. Yet on a rare occasion, his morals spoke out and begged for him to live.

  Having enough, Gay rose from his spot to prepare to catch some sleep before grabbing the documents given to him. ‘I appreciate the meal, Brian. I’ll leave early tomorrow morning.’

  ‘Yes, of course.’ Brian smirked. ‘Make sure to take those contact-lenses off before going to bed. I don’t want to imagine sleeping with them on.’