Torice looks at his data-pad with a feeling of regret. He sighs and says "13th of December 2330". He is sitting on the only dining table in whole of the space-ship, the A36 Dragon, sharing it with his fellow crewmate Jaushef. It isn't too large a spaceship but for two people it was quite large as it was spacious enough for at least 20 people.

  "It's been 10 years" Torice says sighingly as he looks outside the window pane towards the vast darkness of space while he eats his pre-designed meal. Jaushef looks at Torice and feels sorry, while he eats his meal too. But he chomps his food hurriedly as he seems more eager to finish his meal earlier than usual.

  "10 years Jaush, 10 long years in this comfortable junk.... probably too comfortable" says Torice as he looks at the various commercial screens and projections which gives the safe illusion that you are probably not alone after all. And if you have been living here for the past 10 years under constant exposure of these simulations then it is increasingly a numbing experience.

  Jaushef looks at his food as he's eating then slows down a bit. He then looks at Torice intently and with curiousness he asks "Did you get to say farewell to Lana?"

  Torice smirks and says "Yes, its good for her honestly, she deserved to leave this place forever. I can't really blame her for knowing the right people.... to get herself out of this place." After he said that he looks down towards his food eating with the spoon slowly, feeling a little bit ashamed.

  Jaushef looks at him even more intently as if he's looking to push him further. "It's hard Torice, to get betrayed like that" as he says with conviction.

  "Betrayal?" says Torice as he smiles for a little bit as if he shrugged off Jaushef's prompt. "That's too harsh a word"

  Jaushef toned down his emotions and then started eating at a normal pace. He nods his head and says "Well... i mean, even a bit of it... isn't it? I don't see a point of you not being mad at her" as he suggests.

  Torice says with an unassuming tone "Well yes, I could be and its besides the point anywa..." then Jaushef interrupts.

  "No, Torice. You need to push for it, you need to leave and meet your loved ones back on earth. This place.... its empty of people, that feeling of belonging is non-existent." as Jaushef speaks with more emotion.

  Torice is taking none of this and says "So you think you are going to fare in this environment without me? is that what you are warning me of...?"

  "No, I'm just...."

  "This environment that I have lived for a decade, day in day out."

  "No, no, no, you're not getting...."

  "Well, I'm getting it Jaush...." says Torice as he quickly goes through his meal at the same time. Then he looks squarely into Jaushef and asks "Tell me this...... what did Lana tell you about me?"

  Jaushef pushes back and says "You know I can't disclose that.. you know very well it would lead to a breach of trust between me and her"

  Torice then says "You see Jaush, I know Lana probably told you that I was a stickler and will go to the greatest extent to the get work the done..."

  Jaushef says "None of that bothers me Torice. She did say that, I can at least share that with you and I do respect that about you as well. But please do consider this, people care about you and....."

  "And?..."

  "Well, you know..."

  There was silence for a moment and then Torice just accepts what Jaushef was implying to and both of them come close to finishing their meals.

  "Alright. I'll assume that, probably it will make me feel miserable now till the end of this project." says Torice out of frustration.

  "I'm only trying to make this easier. I can give you some names, you make the call and that's it." said Jaushef with an assuring tone.

  "So I decide, all of this on my own?"

  "Yes"

  "So it is my choice, after all"

  "not only that, it would prompt the heads to review the situation here and add more people"

  "Didn't Lana mention about us trying that several times before?" said Torice skeptically

  "Now that she's over there, she can make things happen. It is not what it used to be Torice." said Jaushef assuring him.

  Torice takes a sip out of his drink and then gets up to leave his plate in the dishwasher. He then moves towards the near end of the dining hall compartment and tries to open up the window shutter as he says

  "And that's what makes it all so troubling here. Thanks for your offer kid but I'm sticking through"

  He then opens the window shutter to reveal the dwarf planet Pluto in the distance with Charon, its moon nearby.

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  "There's something which Lana probably didn't tell you and I haven't told her at all in our time here out of respect but this is my place. I run this till we get those transports docked in for the outer ring travel" says Torice as he squints his eyes a bit to look at the ongoing transport terminals and solar system lane pathways being built a bit farther away.

  "And for that, I'm ready to suffer. To be lonely, to be devoid of any sense of belonging, until its all done because at the end its all worth it Jaush, It is all worth it." says Torice with a sense of being broken but yet somehow hopeful at the same time.

  Jaushef listened carefully as he's close to finishing his meal. He knew that getting through to Torice's hard will is not possible at the moment so he will at least try and comply with world's best Space Lane Technician.

  "Alright and I can at least tell you what Lana told me is the most important thing about you" said Jaushef

  Torice just ignores Jaushef and says "Let's just leave it righ...." as he gets interrupted by Jaushef

  "That you are the most trustworthy person she ever met.... and you have all my faith"

  Torice felt an ache in those trusting words of Jaushef and then he looks at him and says

  "...... Thanks.."

  Jaushef nods and says "I'll get the responders ready before you get moving near the surface of the planet"

  "Good but before I send any confirmation I have to sort a few things out. When I'm ready I'll send the signal"

  "Alright" says Jaushef as he leaves his seat and leaves his plate in the dishwasher.

  Torice sits for a while looking outside, contemplating about what could have been if he actually convinced Lana to take him as well. He did have the choice but he realises that his stubborness about the completion of this project probably cost him a great opportunity. He looks at the empty chair where Jaushef sat and said "Smart!" calmly as he smirked.

  Jaushef enters his compartment as he tries to switch on the responder units on a standby. He stabilizes some of the working units so that when Torice is ready he will be able to quickly calibrate his space pod for landing and remote operations. He is also doing all this to save time for an important activity.

  He enters his private room that has his bed and what seems to be a standing pod with different interfaces added to it. He stands inside it as that prompts the machine to switch on.

  The machine responds "Welcome, state the channel, channel status and purpose of communication"

  "The channel is private, calling Jenn Powenn, channel status requesting to be undisclosed for the purpose of personal communication. Additional request, I.D. this channel setup as code: B L A C K 0 2"

  "Request accepted. Setting you up with Jenn Powenn"

  The room illuminates with virtual projection of a room that was already badly lit. There is a projection of a person whose face is not visible but does look like a woman.

  "There's only so much time, I can wait. The transcribers don't come for cheap Jaush" as the figure says in frustration.

  "Listen, I needed to gain his trust and I'm trying my best, please could you buy me some more time?" said Jaush in frustration too

  "Did he begin to start the landing procedures?" asked the woman

  "He is going to start it anytime soon, tell them to be ready. I have pretty much planted the secretive receptors all across the ship, so we should be able to get all kinds of data, make it worth it please." said Jaushef

  "Surely.... could you tell me what took you so much time?" asked the woman irritatingly

  "I tried convincing him to leave but he's not going to budge at all. I don't think Trezian's CEO will appreciate this getting very risky."

  "Trezian is always watching, Jaush. Its job is to ensure the safety of its people, its assets, like you, so I suggest you don't worry too much, except for the timing. Always mind the time limits please." said the woman

  Torice enters his private room and he uses his virtual projector setup in his room as well.

  "Welcome, state the channel, channel status and purpose of communication" responded the machine

  "Requesting to read the code....... '09 06 2320'" said Torice

  "Request accepted. Setting you up with Callon Vrances"

  The room lit with projections, projecting a room that looks to be underground and secretive. A figure then starts projecting in the middle of the room as he takes cognizance of Torice's presence from his side.

  "Well, hello my friend! its been two long months! hahaha..." as the man said amusingly and loudly

  "When are we going to take him down? He's already asked me leave this place!" Torice is furious

  "Calm down, Mr. Hot-head its just business, things are a little rough right now, links are still being made, we are not sure who is making the moves and on their side, they are trying to figure it out as well so... calm down... hehehe" said Callon

  "Listen, it is really tempting for me to leave this place and I will accept it any time if you do not make sure what the hell is happening right now!" said Torice furiously

  "Torice, just understand this. You are not the one trapped here. We laid this trap for a Trezian mole who has been in Coftek for years and looking to get his hand on this technology through sabotage." said Callon as he clears his throat again to make sure he makes his point clear.

  "Torice, just act and pretend that you trust him and then when the right time comes about, we trap him, alright?"

  "Its only has been fluff from you Callon ever since you compromised the Gallus terrorists to the WUF forces and now everybody is desperate to get to space."

  "Hey, hey, hey.. now there, that's some beautiful piece of work from yours truly because now I can operate freely because my alias is dead. So you have to TRUST me Torice. Please, don't take this into your own hands. Don't inform the authorities and don't do anything stupid. I will send you the plans but you need to be patient." said Callon as he asserts his point even more.

  "How long Callon? He's probably bugged the whole ship by now."

  "Then that's exactly how things should be rolling about Torice, its perfect. Your job now is to feed him false information and I mean as much as you can so its hard for them to really get a proper calibration of data to replicate on their own."

  Torice understanding the situation a fair bit relaxes and says "Fair enough... So should I begin right away"

  Callon looks at Torice while he shakes his head in disapproval and says

  "You need to understand Torice that your weakness is you don't understand people, so you don't understand how power works and in turn you remain as stubborn as a brick and as brittle too."

  "Well tell me... give me your great wisdom which always lead you towards chaos and nothing else"

  "Good... Talk to E6, get E6's foundational system and import it to an external source and then send that to me through a secured channel"

  "I could literally just send it to you right now remotely..." said Torice

  "No, no, no.... I said 'Talk to E6', you need to make it think that the import has never happened, so that..."

  ".... So that they can't track its functioning"

  Callon looks at him with a pleasent smile and says "Torice, its a harsh, harsh way that you are living and for that you have all my trust and more importantly, sympathy."

  Torice stares blankly at Callon and then says "I'll return to you soon"