chapter 1 intervention in destiny

Herta Space Station. 

In a secret room, hidden from prying eyes. 

The dark, grey-walled room is dimly lit by a small, inextinguishable sun emanating from its centre. 

The stellaron, a strange object woven of vague matter, is commonly known as the cancer of all worlds, causing phenomena that could easily destroy worlds, bringing destruction and misfortune. 

"How interesting. No wonder Herta is a member of the Circle of Genius." 

Commented a seductive woman with wine-coloured hair, black jacket and white collared shirt, tight dark shorts, purple stockings and sunglasses. 

"The stelaron is up ahead, let's hurry!" 

A small, silver-haired woman replied, her fingers tapping on a holographic keyboard. 

Without answering, the wine-haired woman accessed the control unit. 

"It has its own security system... I guess even for Herta, the Stelaron is no ordinary rarity." 

The small silver-haired woman said. 

"Can you get it?" 

"Of course, not even Herta's brainiac can compete with me when it comes to hacking." 

"Well then, I'm counting on you to prepare the container." 

The wine-haired woman approached the stelaron in the centre of the room, clutching it in her hands. 

"The vessel is ready. The decision is yours"

Said the silver-haired girl, sliding a holographic screen into place. 

It showed the image of a woman and a man, both with grey hair. 

"Elio said that this decision would bring many changes," the woman with the wine-coloured hair said. 

"He also said that you must be the one to decide." 

Choosing the grey-haired woman, he quickly turned the tablet into a small cube and threw it to the silver-haired girl. She entered it into the holographic screen. 

Right next to her, data began to appear in the air, slowly coalescing into the shape of a beautiful grey haired woman with golden eyes. 

But just before it was complete, a greyish-white mist appeared around her and interrupted the process. 

"Huh? Silver Wolf?" 

the wine-haired woman asked doubtfully. 

"There's a glitch in the algorithm! Someone has tampered with the data. But that shouldn't be possible, this is a closed circuit," said a puzzled Silver Wolf. 

"I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure it's not in Elio's calculations. Can you do anything about it? 

said the wine-haired woman with a frown. 

"I'll try, Kafka. 

The silver wolf said in a serious voice, frantically tapping the keyboard in the air, trying to stop the intruder. 

The holographic screen showed a large number of blue numbers and letters in constant motion, gradually turning grey. 

At one point, an alarm sounded and a warning crack appeared on the screen. 

[Data Incompatibility] 

"Shit!" exclaimed Silver Wolf. 

"It's like a worm, it's replicating and spreading alien data that's taking over ours! 

"Tsk, we only have one alternative, I'll separate the foreign data into another process and complete ours separately!" 

Another holographic screen opened, soon contaminated by the grey mist as Silver Wolf separated the grey data on his screen and transferred it to the other. 

Soon this new screen was completely grey as a greyish-white mist crawled across it like hundreds of crawling translucent worms. 

The grey-haired translucent woman soon took shape and lay motionless and unconscious. 

"Kafka set up the steraron quickly, we still have to deal with whatever is forming there." 

Silver said to the wine-haired woman, pointing to the dense grey-white mist that was gathering in front of the grey holographic screen. 

Kafka silently walked over to the grey haired girl and slowly pushed the stellaron into the unconscious woman's chest. 

"Get ready, it's ready!" the silver wolf shouted. 

Kafka turned his gaze to the grey mist that was slowly dissipating. 

He materialised a blood-red longsword in his hand and pointed it at the mist, which soon revealed the outline of a person. 

When the mist had completely dissipated, the figure of a handsome grey-haired man, identical to the grey-haired woman and curiously unconscious, was revealed. 

Their resemblance to the grey-haired woman was so close that anyone who saw them would think they were siblings, and their matching clothes didn't help either. 

"Silver, anything to add?" Kafka asked doubtfully. 

"From the looks of it, whoever sabotaged us copied and replaced our data to create them. However, from what I've analysed, apart from the corrupted data he has, much of it is made up of our data." 

"Does that include memories?" 

"I should have some, but from what I can see, it's almost an empty shell." 

"Do you have any idea who sabotaged us?"

Silver Wolf looked away from the screen and put his hand to his chin as if in thought.

"At first I thought it might have been someone from the circle of geniuses who stayed on the space station."

"But after looking at this strange data and the way they snuck into the private network without leaving a trace, as if they had never snuck in at all, I doubt these eggheads are that capable."

Turning his gaze back to the screen, Silver Wolf replied.

"Hell, I'd even say it was NOUS himself who did it!"

Hearing his companion's comment, Kafka frowned and asked.

"Do you think an Aeon had something to do with this?"

"I refuse to believe that anyone but an Aeon would play such a trick on me," Silver Wolf said, looking strangely at his companion.

Reaching into his pocket, he took out a pacifier, removed the wrapper and put it in his mouth.

"What are we going to do with it? From what I've seen, apart from the corrupted data and the fact that he's male, he's not much different from Stela, I'd even say they're like twin brothers," Silver Wolf said, looking at the two unconscious people.

Kafka, still with the sword pointed at the unconscious man, replied.

"First compress…" As he spoke, he paused.

He noticed that both man and woman were twitching their eyelids slightly, a sign that they would soon wake up.

"Let's see his attitude when he wakes up, then I'll make my decision," Kafka continued.

They waited a while, and the first to awaken was the woman.

Still disoriented, the grey-haired woman focused on Kafka and asked.

"Kafka?" 

"Perfect, so you remember me," Kafka replied softly in an affectionate voice. 

Still with her guard up and her sword in her hand, she averted her gaze from the man, who had almost regained consciousness, and focused on her. 

"Mama Kafka?" the once-conscious man asked in confusion. 

"Huh?" exclaimed Kafka, opening her eyes a little wider and opening her mouth slightly in surprise at his words. 

Silver Wolf was equally surprised before bursting out laughing. 

"Puff… ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha" 

"Mommy ha ha ha ha ha ha I call you Mommy ha ha ha ha ha ha" 

"I call you mommy Kafka ha ha ha ha" 

She laughed so hard that she put her hands to her stomach. When she calmed down, she brought one of her hands to her eyes to wipe away the tears. 

"Haaa… the best part is that it technically is." 

"Or no, even better. You technically have two kids now." 

Kafka soon recovered from his surprise and a beautiful smile formed on his lips, deciding to ignore his companion's laughter and comments. 

"Listen to me: they are confused right now. You don't know who you are, why you're here, or what you're going to do next. They think I look familiar, but they don't know if they can trust me…" 

"But none of that matters. All you need to know is that I will be leaving and you will be left alone on this space station. From now on, you will no longer think about your past or have doubts about yourself. 

"Listen to me: Soon you will encounter all kinds of dangers and difficulties, but you will also have many wonderful experiences. You will meet companions who will treat you like family, and you will go on incredible adventures with them…" 

"At the end of their journeys, everything that puzzles and worries them will be resolved." 

"This is the future Elio imagined for you, do you like it?" 

"Suppose so…" they both replied, nodding their heads. 

"Kafka, we are long overdue, according to the script el, the crew of the Astral Express is about to arrive." 

"I know, Silver Wolf. Give me another minute." 

"Listen to me: remember what you are feeling right now. As long as you know inside where you are going, you will see the end of your story. 

"Now I must go. Listen to me: some people will come and find you very soon. Go with them. You will remember nothing but me. 

Kafka stood up and said for the last time. 

"If you have the chance to make a decision, make one you know you will not regret. 

With her last words, she turned around and she and Silver Wolf walked away without looking back at the couple, who were again unconscious on the ground. 

"Are you sure about your decision?" silver wolf asked curiously. 

"Yes, I couldn't kill him knowing that they are both the same, no matter how much of a copy they are. I will inform her personally, Elio. She will make sure everything fits," Kafka replied with a gentle smile. 

"Are you sure it's not because I call you 'mommy'?" the silver wolf said with a grin. 

Completely unimpressed by her comment, Kafka asked as she left. 

"By the way, did you see what his name was in the data?" 

"It's registered as Caelus," Silver Wolf said after checking the terminal on his arm. 

"OH… what a coincidence," Kafka said with a soft smile as he continued walking. 

Soon the two women disappeared from the room, leaving an unconscious male and female couple on the floor.