Chapter 1 The Quest From Start

The sound of the alarms went off at 10:59pm within the perimeters of the Cosmoport Alpha, it rang aloud for a total of thirty minutes before it went off. Doctor Marcus Evergreen, the senior director and scientist of the science and technology crew called for the attention of the staff to report a case of the missing person at the laboratory. "Attention! Everyone please come closer, it's an emergency." The scientists gather together in the middle with the intention of listening to him.

He exhaled deeply, his eyes were filled with a bit of terror and extreme sadness, he smiled at them, "You know, I knew a day like this would come but I didn't expect it to come this soon. I always thought of science to be an extra ground for exploring the world's best interest but when I see science take the life of one of those whose personality upheld it's composition. I tend to weep. I knew my dear friend, Doctor Galen Orion, a true explorer and a brave believer of the impossible becoming possible. I'm truly sorry to express this, but he's gone. I saw nothing but his jacket on the floor of the Celestial Citadel."

The sound of murmuring can be heard after he makes his speech, "Excuse me?" they all turn their faces to the sound the voice came from, it's Captain Mara Swift. An old friend of Doctor Galen.

"I need access to the room, the Celestial Citadel, I need access to his projects, his works and even the last minute conversations or calls he had with anyone. His disappearance is not a chance for us to apparently ignore the need to find him, if you don't I will."

Doctor Aurora stared at her for a while before making an attempt to get an inch close to her, meanwhile the others had already left. "Hello, I'm Doctor Aurora. You may call me Aurora if you like, I'm a scientist here and I used to be a research partner with Galen. We were lunch buddies until his sudden disappearance this evening."

She scans Aurora from her head to her waist, she brings her hand out for a handshake. "Aurora, I'm Captain Mara Swift, I'm his best friend and I need your help. I know the laboratory is guarded but I really need to know what this last project was, why it happened and what drove him to it. What were his objectives, who assisted this madness and why is everyone suddenly ignoring his disappearance?"

Aurora smiled at her, "That's because the project is classified, but you know what, we could take a walk now and I'm sure it'll be possible for us to get some information through his laptop and mine. I knew of it but trust me when I say this, you won't understand the encryption so we'll need help from someone."

Mara stared at her confused, "What do you mean by that? Encryption? I've known this man all my life and the only encryption he uses is one from a regular coding program. What are you talking about?"

Aurora took her eyes to her wristwatch, "It's 11:25pm and I think it's time to leave, normally the laboratory should be locked by 10pm, that's why I'm shocked about him still being around."

They walk away together till they get to their cars, Doctor Aurora drives ahead and the Captain follows her trail. When they get to the restaurant it's already 11:43pm and it's getting closed, lucky enough for them Doctor Aurora happened to be a customer there. "Hey, I'll need the regular in two places please." They get both orders done and she heads out of the building.

"Aurora, you said something about the project? You said the encryptions. What kind? What do they look like?" Mara asked.

Aurora replied, "Actually it's more like a sound wave or a sound encryption rather. It's not a written encryption, I'm sure you've never heard of it." Of course she hasn't.

"Why the sound and not the words? Explain everything in detail, I need proper clarity on this."

"Clarity? You mean experiment, you could get to these hidden waves through his experiment but first let's get to my house when we do, we'll talk about this properly. You'll never know who's watching us."

They drive all the way to her house, it's a duplex. They get inside, and Mara stared at the minimalist interior decoration, her eyes go from the door to the walls and finally back to the ceiling and the pictures in the frames, "You've got a lovely house, it's quite different from what I'm used to. It's totally minimalist, who's your decorator?"

Aurora smiled at her words, "Actually I did this, I never trusted most of the people I've met and I'm a perfectionist, so I'll totally prefer my world to that of anyone else."

They sit, talk and eat, it's 1:18 am. Both of them are equally exhausted, Aurora's asleep but Mara's mind is so unsettled. She stared at the ceiling, her mind unraveling between the call he made just five minutes before his disappearance. She turns from side to side, finally staring at the wall, and she notices a symbol. It's the symbol of the Cosmoport Alpha. Her memory goes back to the garden at the front of her parent's house, she sees herself playing tag with Galen. His green eyes pierced into hers as they stared at each other, their faces turned towards the evening sun. Slowly her eyes closed till she fell into a strange deep sleep.

Aurora turned her eyes towards her, she took a few steps closer to Mara. She walked so close to her body, her face to be precise, she took her left hand and stroked her lustrous golden hair with a touch of dark brown at the root. She admired her body for a moment, her eyes go to her lips. She stood on her feet and she walks out of the room, she shut the wooden door silently. Mara had no idea of what just happened.

Aurora walked down the staircase, she sat in front of her laptop. She plugs a cable into it, her eyes are fixed on the screen of the computer. She types in the password, it logs in. She clicks on the project work of Doctor Galen, therefore this wasn't her laptop but his. She stared at the screen as the sound displayed on it, she plugs in her earbuds to hear it properly. Her eyes are dazed with a blue light in her eye lens. It's hypnotic.

The sound stopped. Her eyes go back to the usual dark brown, she stays in that position for a few seconds before she exhales deeply. Her eyes go to the clip from the laboratory, the Celestial Citadel, the clip shows Doctor Galen trying to power his experiment with a life source, he took from his own blood and he poured it into the machine, and she's shocked at it. Why would one want to use human blood to power up scientific equipment? That's what the power surge is for, "Why did you do this? What were you after?"

Her mind wandered on.