2.19 Bigger Picture

"Al, you know the drill. Rest is upto you." Sat said while passing by Alvarez near the door.

"Yes sir...b-but am I really enough for this big duty, I am a mere pawn." Al stopped in middle sensing he'd said something he's not supposed to say.

"I see you have made some friends..." Sat smiled a little and turned to Alvarez.

"I-I'm sorry, this won't happen again." Alvarez bent almost 90 degrees asking for forgiveness.

"No, why would you be sorry to have made friends? I don't remember forbidding you, I'm quite happy for you... thing is, I do ask for 100% loyalty. Don't change your mind from this, no matter what your friends tells you." Sat sighed a lot sigh and continued, "I do have many subordinates. Most are pawns, I never hide this. But you can rest assure, you are one of the exceptions. You are not pawn."

This calmed Alvarez. There was something in his voice. Something assuring. "You won't regret the decision sir." Alvarez raised his head, but Sat has already left.

"Oh...I really wanted him to hear it..." Alvarez was a little disappointed.

"I think he knows it Al, no need to be sorry." Sarthak said from Alvarez's watch.

"You think so?." Al asked.

"Yeah, you are too afraid of him and Cecile. Come on, you are with us for so long. They love you." Sarthak commented.

"Yeah, easy to say for someone who is brother of Miss Cecile." Alvarez smiled, his stress seemed to have gotten away.

"Oh! Easy! You have it the opposite my friend. You don't know what I have gone through." Sarthak said mockingly.

"Say... Sarthak, will you be getting your body back...in future?" Al asked in shaky voice.

"Oh my, you sure are frank today. Why this question out of the blue?" Sarthak sounded a little surprised.

"Well... it's that you voice has changed. It's not totally robotic like before...I can sense emotions...after so long." Al was smiling sadly.

"Ah, that! Yes, Sat developed it. It senses emotion and changes my voice accordingly. And for your previous question, I have no clue, I cannot say yes, I have no news. But I cannot say no too. Who knows what's going on his twisted brain!" Sarthak seems to be laughing. And Alvarez joined. "Man I really love you guys"

Sat smiled as he was eavesdropping from behind the door. He whispered "Gay" and walked away.

And our friends from Earth were being ready for their journey. Sat has instructed them to be in their uniform.

"Seriously, we are going to a funeral, why uniform..." Rick sighed, he clearly didn't like the decision.

"Well, that takes care of the tension of choosing an outfit." Alex was happy with the decision.

Lucy, too wasn't really happy with the decision, but didn't want to fight over it. Emma and Ravi didn't really care about the outfit. They were thinking about the meeting after funeral. Although Sat had instructed them to be totally honest, they all had a little doubt about the strategy.

[FLASHBACK]

"Sorry to pull you out of the class suddenly, but it's an emergency. Tomorrow after the funeral, their would be a meeting of the council, we all are summoned to it. You'll receive a message shortly."

"So is it a trial?" Rick questioned.

"You will get the proper information later. But I'll give the necessary information now for the sudden reason. The council is the collection of 10 most powerful persons of Mars. The council controls everything on Mars. However except some persons, nobody else knows this. People know that Mars has democracy."

"What? So the prime minister-" Lucy was caught off guard.

"Yep, he's just a decoy, although he does all the small works, the important parts are handled by the council. Even a leaf thinks of them twice before falling." Sat laughed a little at his own bad analogy.

"So you are part of the council right? Since you know this much?" Rick sounded pretty impressed.

"I haven't started teaching you yet, might as well start now, listen carefully. You should understand how everything works around Mars, you all are important persons in this world, so not knowing things may bring your downfall."

"The council consists of 10 commanders, nobody knows their true identity. They are known by numbers. There are people who work under each commander. The number varies. Now for the people who work under the commanders, are categorised into 5 groups, from A to E. A is the highest rank, E is lowest. One can increase their rank by participating in classic tournaments. And special missions are given sometimes, which are too small to be handled by commanders, they also affect your ranks."

"Now for example, I, Sat, rank C, work directly under Commander 010. You'll get all the necessary books after this, you can get all the details there, the library is also open all the time... another thing, there is an interesting rule I love to mention. Loyalty is pretty important in this field. Betrayal is considered as a pretty serious offence...but if you're not directly under someone, you don't really need to answer to them."

"What...do you mean?" Naturally they are confused. It means actually you are not required to listen to Commander 010, as you're not directly under him or her. You are only required to answer to me, pretty amazing right?" Sat asked jokingly.

"Why? This makes no sense...none at all..." Ravi couldn't just stay silent anymore. "Why is this a rule? Didn't you say the council holds the most power? So why is there a rule like this specially made?"

"I understand your concern...this is the exact question I had when I joined under Commander 010. However I never got an answer. It simply sounds like a welcome message for betrayal, which is weird...well tell me if you find the answer, I'll treat you to something good. Now any questions?"

"Umm what rank is Miss Cecile?" Lucy asked.

"She's rank B, next?"

"Wait wait wait, so you're rank C and Miss Cecile works under you?" Rick was confused this time.

"Rank has nothing to do with this, it is what she wants. Nothing more and nothing else. The hierarchy isn't about power, it's about getting a job done, leadership and overall capabilities." Sat smiled a little.