“Mind telling me what’s going on?” Leon demanded as he stormed into Dr. Irvine’s office. The man in question looked up from his desk, leaning back into his office chair.

  “Leon, I didn’t expect you here so early. Don’t you have classes?”

  “Stop pretending, you know exactly why I’m here,” Leon replied as he walked up to his desk. “The sudden server relocation that’s happening out of there? The shit you pulled at the showcase yesterday?”

  Hey, hey..” Dr. Irvine raised both of his hands to calm him down. “What’s happening to the servers is nothing unusual. Now that Vulcan is fully functional, the company is just making space for new projects in the lab while the hardware for the Vulcan System is being taken somewhere more secure. There’s no need for you to worry, they’re in good hands.”

  “Good hands?” Leon scoffed, shaking his head. “To think you actually believe that. Vulcan has been online for less than 24 hours, you can’t tell shit in 24 hours.”

  “That’s why we have a dedicated team making sure that everything runs smoothly. That, and future updates and adjustments, will be handled by them.”

  “A dedicated team working on the code I wrote?” Leon raised an eyebrow, unable to believe the words coming out of the man sitting utterly relaxed in his chair.

  At the same time, Dr. Irvine sighed heavily.

  “Leon, honestly, I don’t understand the sudden fuss about this. You knew that Vulcan would be Alpha Dynamics' property in the end, giving them the final say about how to proceed with certain matters. It’s in the contract.”

  “Yeah, just like sidelining me and giving you all the credit for their greatest new trademark. That was in the contract.”

  Dr. Irvine paused at Leon’s statement, running a hand through his perfectly slicked back hair.

  “The presentation was not in the contract. Besides, why do you care about something like that? You never wanted to be in the limelight, that was your whole motto, right?”

  “That doesn’t mean you can take away my achievement and market it off as yours.”

  At that, Dr. Irvine couldn’t help but laugh, making Leon confused.

  “What’s so funny about that?”

  “Nothing is funny,” Dr. Irvine shook his head slowly. “It’s just absurd, you know? I mean, what did you think exactly would happen? Alpha Dynamics, a mega-corporation with influence stretching over the entire United Human Territories, would just market off their greatest technological piece in decades to a nineteen-year-old intern? That would be a PR disaster!”

  Dr. Irvine paused, looking at Leon’s serious expression, making him scrunch his eyebrows in return.

  “Leon, they could never give you the credit as the founder of Vulcan. You’re a Tier 5 citizen. The only reason you’re allowed entry into the Central Territory is because of Alpha Dynamics’ scholarship to Adkins Tech. As an intern, you’re not even allowed to officially get paid beyond the monthly stipend until you graduate.”

  Leon was speechless as he listened to his explanation. This man was enjoying this.

  “So that contract was nothing but a farce? A lie they knew was invalid in the first place?”

  “No, come on, we don’t deal in such practices.” Dr. Irvine replied. “You’re being put down as a contributor to the project, giving you a perfect addition to your resume. Not to mention, the compensation is still given to you as a gift, so it can be written off without making the company liable.”

  Saying that, Dr. Irvine pushed an envelope over the desk towards Leon, who opened it with an expressionless face. He already had an assumption that they wouldn’t play fair now, not after doing all this behind his back.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  And soon enough, his thoughts proved to be correct.

  Tier 3 citizen status.

  800,000 Credits.

  Leon should be angry at this but for some reason, he was perfectly calm. Raising a single eyebrow, he read over the two documents again before saying his next words without looking at the suited man he once regarded with an ounce of respect.

  “800k? Seems a little far off from the 8 billion they promised?”

  “Actually, that’s not it. That’s just the initial transfer. The board ultimately decided that Vulcan is not up to par with GenoTech’s Androids and felt like you gave them less than you promised. Per the contract, it’s up to their unanimous vote to decide whether Vulcan fulfills the conditions or not.”

  “My ass, they knew from the start that it’s a gamble to compete with GenoTech and even then, I gave them the something this company could never have done in years and they still decided to do this. The board never had the intention to do their part.”

  “Listen, Leon. You’re young, I get that. I was there once, too, but that’s life. And hey, my head is there on the chopping block as well. I went to the gutters to get you all that unrestricted access and resources that could have ended in the company losing billions. Not to mention, Vulcan still has so much more to offer. Why don’t we work on this for a little longer and make this greater than it already is? You could reap a lot more benefits that way.”

  “You must be delusional to think that I would still do the dirty work for you.” Leon scoffed. All respect and decorum he once had were gone. “I should just quit this place altogether. After all, there’s nothing left for me here anyway.”

  Dr. Irvine nodded at Leon’s words. “You could do that, of course. With a Tier 3 status, you would even be allowed to stay in the Central Territory, but then what? You’d lose your scholarship, surrendered by your own accord. Leaving Alpha Dynamics with a bad progress file, the entire industry would blackmail you. Then, you can just crawl back to the Outer Territories, that trash dump where I found you rotting in.”

  The man finished his words with obvious contempt, but Leon didn’t say a word. He just turned around and made his way over to the door before stopping one last time.

  “This was your real intention back then, right? You never wanted to help me finish my father’s legacy; that file about Project Phoenix was a dead end from the start. You only thought to bring in another smart mind you could exploit for profit.”

  Dr. Irvine hesitated for a moment but soon shook his head. “Leon, I wish your father’s legacy could be completed, but there’s more at stake here than that old can of worms. You have contributed a lot to this company so far in the competition against GenoTech, you should feel proud of that. Many scientists would feel honoured to be part of that.”

  Leon chuckled as he made his way out, slamming the door shut.

  “Yeah, right.”

  ………

  When he got back to the apartment, it was shortly after noon. Trey was still on campus, and Leon didn’t have an ounce of interest in attending his own classes after his talk with Dr. Irvine at the lab.

  Thinking back, he probably should have seen this coming. Several people have warned him about Alpha Dynamics’ shady reputation in several instances, but he never bothered to care.

  After all, most of his interest was on computers and not on what was happening around them. Now, this came back to bite him.

  Either way, after what happened, he didn’t have any intention of doing more than necessary at the lab. Just the mandatory weekly check-ins and shadowing of development teams was enough.

  Although he wanted to just quit right away, Dr. Irvine was right. He would lose his scholarship, and he didn’t have the money to pay the tuition fees that would be overdue if that happened. He could probably ask Trey or Tara for help, but begging for freebies wasn’t something he planned on doing.

  He would find another way around it, but for that, he needed some time.

  Regardless, Leon was pissed. Massively so.

  He came here with the his father’s name as bait and instead, worked his ass off on something that just wasted his time without anything substantial in return.

  Nothing but Tier 3 status, 800 thousand credits, and a bruised ego.

  Suddenly, a notification from the door security system caught Leon’s attention. Walking over, Leon opened the door only to find a packet waiting for him outside.

  Tier 3 Citizen Benefits.

  That’s what it said on the label.

  Bringing it inside, Leon unpacked the box and found a small glass bottle with a blue liquid inside. Reading the added note inside the box, he soon found out what he had in his hands.

  A minor life extension gene serum.” Leon mumbled as he looked at the small blue bottle.

  ……….

  ‘Money is power, and humans can never have enough of either.’

  ~~Dr. Benjamin Harper’s Memoirs~~