Chapter One

A tall, muscular man gently held a bowl filled with water and ice. He pulled out a white washcloth that was soaking inside it. Supporting the bowl on his lap, he began squeezing out excess water, with his face stern and focused. His sharp jawlines and dimpled chin frame his concerned face in the morning light. Sighing heavily, he worriedly gazes over at a young woman lying in bed next to him. The man seemed lost in thought before a soft knock came from the doorway. There stood a young lady and young man, each holding a silver bucket.

"Dad, we're back," the young woman spoke softly as she made her way into the room.

The man sitting on the bed stood up and walked towards the young woman. Around his neck were military dog tags, his name written in all capital letters HEARTH, REME. He wore a white tank top and black knee-length shorts, which strained against the muscular body beneath it. Reme embraced each one of the young adults in a firm hug. He towered above the couple, roughly six feet tall. Reme's face set into a stern demeanor, only amplified by his straight edge buzz-cut brown hair.

"Thank you, Matilda and Jon," Reme said in a gentle, baritone voice. Standing in front of him were his children Matilda and Jon Hearth. They were dressed in sleeping attire. They walked back to the bed together.

Matilda is petite with long wavy chestnut hair. The nightgown she wore was of light pink silk highlighted with lace trims. The dress made her golden-brown skin glow in the morning light. Her eyes flickered different shades of green as she walked over to the bedside. Matilda places her bucket full of ice at the foot of the bed.

Jon lazily walked over while rubbing his eyes and put his bucket next to hers. He is wearing an oversized brown shirt and black surf shorts. His eyes half opened in a daze, hinted to the beautiful blue hues hiding beneath. His lean physique and shaggy golden blonde hair made the morning sun dance across his dark brown skin.

"Wake up, Ary. Please wake up." Reme urged as he gently placed his hand on the forehead of the young woman lying in bed. Ary began shivering under the blanket, drenched in sweat. He continued dipping the cloth into the bowl and pressing it gently on her head. Ary's face twisted into a pained expression. Reme shakes his head as the three watched her silently for a few minutes.

"Her fever is getting better," noted Matilda, breaking the silence. She took the washcloth from Reme and continued to dab it around Ary's neck.

"Damn, Ary is a handful." Jon shook his head.

"Not as much as you are when you get the sniffles," Matilda replied as she playfully punches him.

"Low blow." Jon huffs.

"Are you sure the academy approved you two not attending classes for the last two weeks of school?" Reme smiles while observing the siblings.

"About that, we are all in advance classes so we can get off early for summer. We were going to tell you, but Ary suddenly got sick." Jon shrugged.

"I should've known," Reme looks out of the window as the skies get brighter, "There's a lot to do today at the Inn. Let's have breakfast first." Jon and Matilda nodded and walked with him out of the room.

------------------------------------------------

Back in his room, Reme puts his vox on his left wrist. A vox is similar to a watch with significantly different looks and upgrades. The vox has a range of functions, from reading text messages to more complex tasks such as reading the real-time vitals. The band is four inches wide and locked into place by a zipper. The box screen is flexible and curves with his arm. He presses his thumb against the screen, and it activates it. Every person attending the serving in the Terraferma Military or attending its academy are issued these voxes.

He opened up his closet and grabbed a hanger with a uniform covered in plastic. Protected within the plastic are a pressed white shirt, beige dress pants, and an olive-colored coat. The upper left part of this coat was adorned with a large number of medals and ribbons. The pressed beige pants were decorated with two parallel lines from the top of the pants to the bottom.

Reme finishes getting ready and heads out into the foyer. He checks his box as it swiftly changes to 6 o'clock. Reme calls out for Matilda and Jon as he walks over to a big flat monitor secured close to the front door. The display flashes multiple colors when he places his hand on the screen. There was an audible click, and the screen came alive. Letters began appearing that read, 'Hi, I'm Ana.'

"Welcome, Captain Hearth, your security code, please." The monitor brings on-screen an alphanumeric keyboard, and Reme proceeds to type in multiple numbers, symbols, and letters.

"Military access code accepted."

Ana is the name the Hearth family gave their assigned A.I. The six-foot-tall, three-foot-wide monitor is mounted a few inches off the floor. Reme stood a few feet in front of it as Ana began reading off the day's agenda. Ana notified Reme that he had: new e-mails; two meetings requested this afternoon; a mock strategic meeting in two hours with a mandatory attendance list. Reme smirked as his eyes scan the attendance list, and "compulsory attendance" is noted next to his name. He takes one last look in the mirror next to Ana and fixes his suit. Ana finishes briefing him and states that Reme's heart rate is abnormally high. He shakes his head in frustration.

"Who activated the Health option?" Reme begins questioning Ana

"Voice authorization by Matilda Hearth."

"Deactivate," Reme grumbles to himself.

"All modifications set."

"Send e-mails from Coastal Inn to my priority vox."

"Yes."

"Forward copies of e-mails from Coastal Inn to Matilda and Jon."

"Yes, shall I send one to your frequent contact Ary?"

"No, Ana, please call Coastal Inn Kitchen," Reme commands as he fixes his cuffs.

The screen flashes a video icon and rings. While Reme waits for the line to connect, Matilda and Jon come into the living room. Matilda is wearing a light pink sundress with a brown backpack and brown sandals. She tied her hair in a high and tight ponytail. Jon is wearing denim jeans with a solid white shirt. His shaggy hair neatly pulled back into a loose ponytail also. Wrapped around his waist was a leather belt with a holster.

The gun he carried was a newly issued daze gun. The gun barrel is six inches long and had a revolver that contained six different incapacitating options. Jon is in his third year in the Terraferma Military Academy. He is allowed to wear licensed non-lethal weapons while off-campus. Both of them wear similar voxes as Reme; however, each of their bands is different colors. Matilda's vox is outfitted with a taupe colored wrist band, and Jons is a vibrant red.

Reme looks at his vox as it blinks six-fifteen. He was about to tell Ana to end the call when a background of shelves stacked with different styles of bottles came on screen. There is yelling in the background as a woman with a buzz cut sits in front of the camera.

"Celine, where is Michelle?" Reme asked as he raises one eyebrow. The young woman sitting in front of the screen begins laughs. She's wearing a slightly baggy red tank top exposing tattoos all along her arms. Someone starts whispering off-screen to Celine, and she crosses her arms also as she responds to Reme.

"Reeemeeee! Good to see ya! Miss Michele Vega isn't here to answer your questions, so I gotcha." She answered playfully as she scratched the back of her head.

"Very well, what is the current occupancy?"

"Eighty-five percent. The kitchen is well staffed for this week and also scheduled extra help next week. Miss Vega received approval from the town hall for our request for a food booth and two-game booths. We also met the deadline for the funding of the fireworks display and costumes for all employees working. Oh, and the booths have come in. Also, we estimate a hundred percent occupancy during the week of the Soluna Festival!" Celine puffs out her chest while someone off-screen giggles. Reme's face cracks a grin.

"Well, I lost that bet then. Alright, I will take you guys on the next boat ride out to the fishing farm." He and the kids' start laughing at the sight of Celine's sparkling smile zoomed in on the camera. Her face relaxed as she explained Michelle, Miss Vega, didn't want to talk to Reme just if he tried to make an excuse not to honor the bet.

Earlier that month, Michelle challenged Reme that she could sell out the Coastal Inn for the annual Soluna Festival. The wager was that if she had lost, the request log would come out of her pocket. Celine also had some additional orders to add to the list they sent earlier. Reme stayed back at the house to finish up the additions to the request log and sent Matilda and Jon ahead to the town market.

------------------------------------------------

The town of Philomena is just a fifteen-minute bus ride down from the Hearth family house. The sunburnt blue bus stopped abruptly a block away from the Coastal Inn. Young students bustle around the streets as they prepare to block off certain roads used during the Soluna Festival. As Matilda and Jon got off the bus, Jon hollered at one of the young men to come over. The young man was dressed in tan dress pants and an untucked black button-up shirt. His hair is a standard military buzz cut, with a pair of leather strapped goggles resting on his head. Matilda looked over to who Jon was calling too.

"Why does William have his weapon?" She gave Jon a worried look.

"I don't know," Jon responded as he eyed the William; strapped to his back was his automatic bow gun.

"Yo! William! I said, come here!" Jon yelled again, waving his hands hysterically. William finally looked his way and jogged over. The group exchange pleasantries before Matilda excused herself. She'll head to the Inn first and get things ready for Reme and Jon. William and Jon nodded and waved goodbye as they walked over to the vending machines across the street. Shuffling through his pockets, Jon treated William to an ice-cold drink.

"Hey, man, they got you on civilian duty?" Jon nudges William, and he lets out a sigh.

"I am boarding at the academy. I need to help with whatever they find fit for helping."

"That includes carrying your weapon?"

"I only have non-lethal bean bag bullets and stun arrows loaded."

"Sounds a bit intense for just supervising the prep for the festival?"

"Ever the astute senior class rep, I see."

"Whatever, show me what it can do!" Jon looks at William excitedly, and they both hurried around the corner to an empty side street.

William places a pair of goggles over his eyes before reaching for his bow gun. He points it in front of him and aims toward down the street. It was safely barricaded with no civilian insight. William grips the weapon with both hands, his right hand bracing the stock, and his index finger resting on the trigger. His left hand is firmly gripping the barrel of the bow gun as William aims. He takes a deep breath before holding down the trigger to release the bow. The black bow gun begins to hum very softly as images and graphs start flashing through his goggles. William releases the trigger but leaves his right index finger resting on it. The bow gun does a retinal scan within the goggles.

"Name?" The bow gun inquires in a robotic voice.

"Private Volxo, Class 1."

As soon as William identifies himself, the bow section of the gun unfolds with enormous pressure. He jerks a little from the sudden electrical pulse as the bow gun unfurled—the motor vibrates as it tightens the drawstring and locks it into place. The compound bow is laid horizontally onto the barrel of the gun. From left to right, the bow has a span of three feet. The barrel and stock of the weapon are similar to a regular rifle. The bow gun is built with a motor that slings custom arrows down the open barrel at breakneck speeds. Jon begins whistling in approval as he tanks his drink.

"Wow, impressive, you've gotten it to release faster." Jon pats William on the back as he lowers his bow gun down.

"Yeah, I gave it to the engineers in our class, and they got it faster."

"That's great, and all but that doesn't explain why you need that hunk of metal during prep?" Jon shakes his head.

"Originally, we were not supposed to take any specialized weapons, only standard-issue daze guns, but," William trails off.

"We got the orders from the Admiral Hearth himself before we left the academy."

"General Hearth? That doesn't make sense."

"Well, this one might. Dr. Korup is here." William looks at Jon, and the look in his eyes almost makes him flinch. Jon stares at him and nods before he runs in the same direction Matilda left in earlier.