19 Chapter 19: Reunion

'So, what actually happened? Where did you go?'

Going back a few days, Rydel has just exited the pocket domain and Zel made his exit from Vulcan 5.

He sat there for a few good moments and tried to recollect his thoughts. 'It's quite complicated, but I was in Zel's artifact...' Rydel took Cellica's hand and stood up, he squeezes it once as thanks and lets it go, 'Zel's artifact reacted somewhat violently with mine and I was sucked into his space. It's a domain parallel to the real world, and I can't interact with the world here.'

'That's a new one.' Cellica nodded in understanding, 'that explains why I can't see him when he is hidden like this.'

'I think maybe you will be able to see him with some special training,' Rydel disagrees, 'as I was able to see you from in there. Information should travel both ways, right? It's probably just you don't know how to recognize it.'

'Maybe, but remember that artifacts operates on a completely new level to what you are used to.' Cellica doesn't seem too impressed with Rydel's idea, 'you are pretty smart after all, so maybe.'

'Well, I did manage to get in to this place.' Rydel started heading towards the storage area, 'now, just a final thing before we call it a day.'

'What? Where are you going?' Cellica chased after him and asked.

'Just going to drop something off.' Rydel waved his left fist slightly and smiled proudly.

Cellica gasped as she started to realize what Rydel's implying, then she chuckles and shook her head. This one really is something special.It was just as Zel later realized, when Rydel approached him in the pocket domain, he kept Zel's attention away from his hand and slowly feels for the space near the container. Thankfully, his training had paid off in the sense that his accuracy when it comes to 'summoning' has improved drastically and he quickly held onto the high energy stabilizer and plugged the out of thin air from within the container.

The little chat with Zel that followed was certainly not easy to keep casual while holding onto the whole reason Zel is on the planet, but the nervousness he shows could also be as a result of him being trapped in Zel's pocket domain. Everything worked out incredibly well after that.

Cellica followed Rydel closely and kept on looking around just in case Zel has appeared out of nowhere as a ghost and take everything back. That was obviously not the case.

'Hold where you are!' Suddenly, someone shouted from behind them, 'puts your hands in the air and stop moving!'

'Shit.' Rydel stopped mid step and took a peak, 'Cellica, did you call the police?'

'No.' Cellica answered spitefully, 'you did.'

'What do I do? I am still holding onto the thing in my hand!'

As the police officer moves closer and closer, Rydel began to whisper intensely rather than speaking. 'I don't know, just chuck it in the bush or something!'

'Chuck it? It's a million credit piece of tech!' Rydel yelled back, but suddenly felt his arms restrained and pinned behind his back. With a jolt of pain, he released the grip on his left hand and the high energy stabilizer was dropped right in the bush right behind them, complexly crushing a small tree and snapping it in half.

The tree wasn't the only thing that was snapped though.

'Who's there?' Another policemen turned around, and found the high energy stabilizer lying there, it's central part lying on both sides of the tree.

'Uh, sir?' One of the rookie officer pointed towards the landing area of the device, 'I think we found the device.'

'Shut up, rookie!'

The two were escorted towards the police station by a couple of the police droids while some of the forces came through and started collecting the pieces of the equipment that were shattered in the bush. Cellica and Rydel didn't say a thing and simply followed the instructions.

It's not at all surprising that Rydel has never been to the police station, but it's located just a little bit outside the central accommodation area. Normally there would be about ten humanoid officers with fifteen to twenty patrol droids. Rydel could think about the drama surrounding the early history of police droids all he can, but right now, he just wants to get out of here.

Rydel and Cellica are separated into two different rooms, and a human officer along with a police droid enters the room.

'So, let me just with the basics. We found you outside the storage facility area conducting some questionable acts. The security footage was cut off until immediately before we spotted you engage in some violent act of attacking others, including your friend pulling out a gun and shooting another person. But let's start with the basics, why were you there?'

The officer pulled out a deck of holograms and showed it in front of Rydel, who rolled his eyes.There is really no need to lie or anything, he just need to get this over and done with.

'I was there walking with my friend.' Rydel answered truthfully.

'Was that your only purpose there?' The officer pressed.

'No. I wanted to show her the engineering area.'

'And?' She pressed further.

'Then we saw that the high energy stabilizer is stolen, which is why I reported the case to the security guard, who reported it to you.' Rydel relayed the information to her, and her police droid companion assured that Rydel is speaking the truth through the infrared-scanning lie detector.

'Not a good decision for someone trying to steal it.' The officer seemed very confident in her judgement and remarked sarcastically.

'Not a good deduction for someone that does this for a living.' Rydel never takes shit from anybody, and he immediately shot back. She was obviously angered by the comment, but before she can say anything, Rydel continued, 'As your friend very helpfully points out, all the things that I have said are truthful. The high energy stabilizer was stolen, I reported it. You found us, and the high energy stabilizer, but at two different locations. There is nothing around the high energy stabilizer that will allow someone to move around with it. This means that I certainly was not able to steal it and do anything with it, given that would make no sense.'

'Let me...'

'And here's the deal breaker. I can simply apply for use of it, if I really want to.' Rydel concluded his speech, and leaned back. All he said was true, and he knew it with certainty and conviction.

Most people at the Galactic IST is smart and critical enough to see through the typical spinning and twisting of interrogation questions, and Rydel's space fleet experience definitely helps with the intimidation aspect.

Just before the officer can say another word, the door is opened, and another police officer came in. He was holding onto a handheld device and with a swipe, the binds on Rydel's hands are released.

'You are free to go now, Sir. Sorry for the disturbance. You must understand our procedures.' He said with a deep and steady voice.

'What is the meaning of this?' The interrogation officer turned hastly and asked.

'GBI business. It's above our pay grade.' With that answer, the two sitting opposite Rydel got up and left the room, leaving the door open. Cellica reappeared from outside and gestured towards Rydel to get up.

'What the heck was that about?' Rydel asked, 'You are working for the GBI?'

'Well, that's my proper side job.' Cellica shrugged innocently, 'classified business.'

'Does Ol or anyone else know about this?' Rydel thought of the others and how they would react to this.

'Yes, but I do keep secrets for a living, you know?' Cellica shrugged, 'I am just on a bit of a leave at this moment, and there really aren't that many major missions around. My last job was taking care of the boss's daughter's final exams.'

'What? Don't you have like planets to save or something?' Rydel couldn't believe the FBI agent of the future were actually relegated to babysitting duties.

'Well, they aren't exactly fair when it comes to the allocation of jobs. Let's just leave it at that. As one of the roaming agents, they give me a lot of freedom but also expects me to show up to regional crisis and missions. Outside of that, I hang out with you people most of the time, where things are always exciting.'

'Too exciting for my taste.' Rydel shook his head, 'I don't want to go back to a police station any time soon.'

It has been a long day, and the two went straight back to Rydel's apartment where he quickly whipped up some mixed vegetable stir-fry and printed off a pizza to share. Whilst he was doing that, Cellica got in touch with both Ol and Dolon.

The two Aquarians seemed extra exciting to see Rydel doing quite well, especially when Cellica said that he did pretty well against another of the bearer.

'So, this would be the first encounter with another bearer. I see.' Ol stroked his face and dived deep into his thought, 'I am proud of how you handled the situation.'

'Heck yeah, boy! You really showed up.' Dolon was shivering violently as she spun around out of pure excitement, 'I am sure this is all thanks to my brilliant training!'

'That is all thanks to your brilliant training.' Rydel's answer made Dolon let out a whoop of satisfaction.

'Let's get on that War Game soon, I can't wait to beat you up once again!' Dolon clapped two hands together and challenged him, 'Let's actually go and have some fun.'

'That can come later.' Ol interrupt the excited pair, 'From what you were saying, this other bearer, Zel Frin, if that's his real name, came with a plan, and he is already rather familiar with his artifact. That means he either has it for a very long time, or received some serious training from somewhere.'

'Yes. And he knew exactly what he wanted.' Cellica agreed with Ol and turned to Rydel who's staring at the oven at the pizza, 'Rydel, does he happen to reveal what he wants to do with the high energy stabilizer in a villain monologue?'

'He doesn't seem to follow the trend.' Rydel follows the path of several high protein soy chunks as it's placed evenly around the pizza and the cheese flakes are sprinkled all around, 'but if we combine all the technology that was stolen recently, assume it's all the doing of one single organization, maybe we can figure out what they actually want?'

'Good point, I will compile those and give it to Torelamri. He will be able to figure it out quick.' Ol snapped two of his tentacles together.

'Uh, I was hoping you can ask the scroll for some exposition?' Rydel shouted from across the room, 'you know, that will speed the plot up quite a bit?'

'No can do.' Ol denied the request, 'I have used up the chance today, for a business decision that will keep the light on, but don't worry, Torelamri will get us the result as long as I give him a deadline of tomorrow morning at 8. That's about it. Do you have anything to add, Dolon?'

'No, not really. Got to stream now, see ya later!' Dolon stood back up and headed into the middle of her room, now it's obvious that she is calling using a gaming set up, 'you two have a good night!'

'Oh yes, you two have a good night!' Ol also said it, then the call is ended.

'What's that supposed to mean?!' Rydel turned with the pizza in hand and laid everything out on the dining table for Cellica.

'I suppose we should have a good time tonight.' Cellica smiled as she looked directly at Rydel.

'You are saying it as if we didn't have a good time this whole day.' Rydel made a sad face that cracks Cellica up quite a bit, 'except for the part where I left you in the middle of nowhere whilst I was in a death match with a crazy guy from wild space.'

'Oh no I had loads of fun.' Cellica got up and picked up two pairs of cutlery and two plates, 'Especially the part where I get to flex my GBI cards.' She sat back down right across from Rydel.

'Well, you are certainly full of surprises.' Rydel toned down the bright lighting and covers the room in a gentle orange before he was stunned by what he saw at the table, as Cellica tied her hair into a small bun, 'but it's no surprise that you look so good in this light.'

'Just this light?' Cellica tilted her head playfully at the compliment.

'Well, possibly throughout the visible spectrum, but I cannot guarantee anything outside of it.' Rydel looked down at the food and then looked up to see Cellica's reaction. She laughed out loud and slapped Rydel on the arm gently.

'I do look extra bad in UV, will never do that ever again.'

'So you are saying you have looked at yourself in multiple ranges of light?' Rydel was just joking before since that is a part of the power set that Cellica's eyes provide.

'Only...a little. When I am curious. Not to digress.....do you have something to drink?' She asked.

'Uh, what kind of drink are we talking about here?' Rydel got up and heads towards the counter and the fridge, 'may I present you with an cold-brew coffee? In a thick almond milk perhaps?'

'Do you have something a little more stress-relieving?' Cellica switched on her all seeing vision, and saw right inside the fridge. She was a little impressed at the range of health foods within it, but also not impressed overall at the amount of 'spice' within.

She turned her gaze at the food printer and the drink prep-er on the side of it. She pointed at that, and Rydel very obediently turned the drink preparation machine around to reveal the drink tabs.

'Right.' Rydel wiped the dust off the surface and grabbed two glasses from the drawer, 'may I present you with the side of the drinks machine that I have never used? What would you like?'

'Well, nothing really gets more exciting than the Aquarian Shocker nowadays.' Cellica rests her head on one of her arms and says.

'...Right. Why do I even have these' Rydel started searching for the so-called Aquarian Shocker, but annoyingly each of the tabs on this side of the machine only has symbols stuck on top, and when Rydel pressed on the symbols to try to find out what it is, it simply changes to another one, 'Great. Good job explaining what things are here. What the heck designed this stupid interface?'

Suddenly, a hand appeared from the side of him and held onto his index finger.

'You are obviously not very good at this.' Cellica guided his hand towards a tap at the high level with a blue leaf-like symbol, 'Is that glass all you have?'

'Yeah.' Rydel turned to look at the five hundred milliliter container and laughed awkwardly, 'Are they a bit too big?' Cellica rolled her eyes at Rydel, and filled the two glasses to about half full, or half empty.

The pizza went down very quickly, followed by a stewed vegetable dish with bowls of mixed grains. But not long after, Rydel couldn't remember everything.

The whole universe was spinning and at the center was Cellica and him.

After what must felt like an eternity of drifting in and out of sleep and feeling that he is holding onto something warm and soft, Rydel rolled over to his side and opened his eyes slightly. Cellica was lying there right next to him with her arms around his stomach. Rydel's movement let some of the heat escape, so she just pulled him towards her even tighter.

'This dream sure is getting very realistic.' Rydel thought so as he held her. Her long blonde hair suffocating him a little so he blew it away lightly with his mouth. He turned around to face up the ceiling as everything spins and danced around him.

Cellica just stacked her leg on top of him.

The universe spun again, and everything fades to black once again.

When everything starts to calm down a little more, Rydel felt cold and disoreinted. With the free hand, he pulled the blanket up to his shoulder, but felt some other movement along his stomach. He is fairly certain he's awake now, and Cellica is still next to him.

WHAT?

'Good evening.' She said gently before yawning.

'Um... What happened?' Rydel asked.

'Nothing.' Cellica said as she coughs a little bit, 'No, seriously, you just passed out so I had to put you in bed and make sure you don't choke yourself in the evening.'

'Ah. For tha I am truly thankful..' Rydel rubbed her soft shoulder and closed his eyes again. She smells really good.

'You talk weird. Also, you are not freaked out that I am here?' She got up slightly and look at him, but the hair fell down and covers her beautiful eyes, 'What are you thinking?'

Rydel brought Cellica closer to him, 'I am definitely not thinking about anything.'THIS IS BLOODY AWESOME!'

'Good.' She put her head on his shoulder and the two dozed off again.

'Righty, this is Torelamri. Here's the deal, based on what they steal...'

Everything turned out exactly like Ol said and whilst Rydel was preparing breakfast the next day, they have already made a call back. Thankfully the two have managed to tidy themselves up before actually receiving the holo-call so as to not leave any clues.

'Did that guy really ignore grammar for the sake of rhymes?' Rydel poked his head around the door way and asked.

'Rhyme? What's a rhyme?' Torelamri hit the question right back at Rydel, 'we don't have rhymes in the Rockies language.'

'Oh.' Rydel raised his eyebrows slightly, and disappeared behind the doorway once again.

Cellica brought the projector towards the living room as she's brooming her hair and dropped it on the desk, 'alright, Torelamri, we are ready.'

'From all the information we have gathered, and making a few assumptions, they are trying to either get a nobel prize in something, or trying to somehow replicate a gravity simulator.' Ol went from behind Torelamri and adjusted the camera angle so that both of them are included.

'Yes. They have those. High tech.' Torelamri agrees, 'possibly artifact levels of tech.'

'And how would you know that?' Cellica asked, 'just by tuning into the news?'

'No, by tuning into the truth.' Ol answered ominously, and all of them knew.

Despite the Scroll of truth not being able to detect or convey artifact level information, there are certainly ways to work around that restriction with some clever manoeuvring.

For example, Ol will not be able to ask for the location of other artefacts, but the aftermath of an artefact being activated or used can be tracked down as its the interaction of the artefacts with the environment and hence a level beneath that of all the artefacts. That's how they found Rydel.