Ms. Taylor, the math teacher, wrote another example problem on the whiteboard. The classroom was annoyingly open, letting in harsh lighting. When the businessman in the corner tried to close it, the teacher told him to sit back down.

Gale copied the formula, not thinking about anything else. Just move the pencil, look up, look down, move the pencil. A simple life, just like reading books that won’t progress him to stand against the tide.

“Remember,” Ms. Taylor said, tapping the board with her marker, “the discriminant tells us how many solutions exist. When b squared minus four-a-c is positive, we get two real solutions.”

Gale looked at Mia’s empty seat. He’d texted her before class but got nothing back.

Andrew leaned over. “You think she’s still sick?”

“I don’t know,” Gale whispered. “She said she came with a period.”

Andrew squinted his eyes at Gale.

Jacob, sitting behind them, flicked a paper triangle onto Gale’s notebook. Gale unfolded it and found a stick figure wearing what looked like a chest camera, fighting some kind of monster.

“Focus, gentlemen,” Ms. Taylor tapped on the whiteboard. “The quadratic formula won’t learn itself.”

Gale put the note away and went back to his equations. Math was simple compared to what was really on his mind. Looking at Andrew and Jacob, Ollie really did say business expenses. It’s understandable that the research must go on, but how would he feel if any of these friends disappeared?

Class ended and Gale packed up. “Either of you heard from Mia today?”

Andrew shook his head.

“Me neither,” Jacob said, throwing his backpack over one shoulder. “Hey, did you think about my idea?”

“The GoPro thing?” Gale asked.

“Yes!” Jacob’s eyes lit up. “The monster hunting channel!”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Gale said. Maybe if he could even make money from those videos, he wouldn’t have to dwell on either going with the Anns or the Path.

Walking out of the classroom, the trio went to the learning centre’s cafeteria, finding a quiet table in the corner.

“I can’t exactly film classified Path operations,” Gale said once they sat down. “Probably can explore though. Like last time.”

“I mean, we don’t have to show everything,” Jacob whispered, covering his mouth. “Just enough to get people to question it..”

“We need to blur faces,” Andrew said. “Maybe even add effects.”

“Exactly!” Jacob said. “Make it cinematic!”

“And who exactly is going to do all this editing?” Gale asked.

“Me, of course,” Jacob spread his hands. “I’ve been teaching myself Premiere Pro and After Effects for weeks now. You just wear the camera and get the footage.”

“We’d need to think about how to disguise it. People in Aur would notice a GoPro right away,” Andrew said, eyes darting right and left, acting shifty.

“True,” Jacob said. “Maybe something built into clothing? A button camera?”

“There are spy cameras that look like pens,” Andrew suggested, typing on his keyboard. “Or glasses with cameras built in.”

“Perfect!” Jacob slapped the table. “Gale wears glasses sometimes anyway.”

“What? No, I don’t,” Gale said.

“Well, now you do,” Jacob said. “No one will suspect a thing.”

Andrew searched up something on his phone and showed him a bunch of wireframe glasses that had different options of silver, rose gold, black frames and wires. “These are pretty good. 8K video, long battery life, cloud backup.”

“How much?” Gale asked.

“Six hundred for the good ones,” Andrew said.

Jacob whistled.

“Split three ways, it’s doable,” Andrew said. “Two hundred each.”

“I don’t even have $20!” Gale said.

Andrew and Jacob looked at each other, then looked back at him.

“You can cover it later once we start making dough,” Andrew said.

Too tempting to do. The idea was risky, but there’s a lot of plausible deniability based on what he already saw in the internet. Just make the thing shaky and never say it’s real. Besides, the Path had looked the other way on much bigger things.

“I’ll think about it,” Gale said. “Let’s talk about this when Mia is here. She should be part of it anyways.”

“Speaking of which,” Andrew checked his phone, “she still hasn’t answered my texts.”

“Mine either,” Jacob said.

“Let’s go check on her,” Andrew said. “Where’s it at?”

“Keele and Finch,” Gale confirmed. “Unit 910.”

They took Andrew’s car to Mia’s apartment. Traffic was bad during rush hour, turning a 20-minute drive into almost an hour. Toronto was the only city where something was an hour away in the same city.

“This is why I take transit,” Gale said.

“Transit’s worse,” Andrew argued. “At least I control my own destiny in a car.”

“Guess destiny is looking at pedestrians walk faster than cars,” Jacob said from the back seat.

They finally got to the 19 story apartment building. Andrew parked by the visitors’ parking just in front of the front door. They entered the building and slipped behind a person already opening the door.

They got in the elevator and stopped at the ninth floor. Gale knocked three times on the door of Unit 910.

A short woman with gray-streaked hair in a bun opened it. She wore a blue uniform with a name tag showing “Rosa M.” She immediately recognized Gale, smiling.

“Hi, Mia’s mom,” Gale said. “We came to check on her because she wasn’t in class today.”

Mia’s mom’s smile faltered. “Oh, you come for mija. She is not here.”

“Is she feeling better?” Gale asked.

“No, no. She is in hospital. Very sick since last night,” she said.

“Hospital?” Jacob said. “What happened?”

“I no explain good in English. She have pain, very bad. Then cold, very cold. Then not wake up this morning,” she said. “I call ambulancia.”

“Which hospital?” Jacob asked.

“Humber River,” she said. “Doctor say… say… something in blood. I no understand all words.”

“We’ll go see her,” Andrew said. “Thank you, Mrs. Rosa.”

“You good friends,” she smiled. “Tell mija her mama bring clothes later.”

Andrew drove to the hospital. No one talked much during the ride. Seemed they all already understood the seriousness of what was happening to Mia. At the hospital, a nurse at the front desk sent them to the fifth floor after checking Mia’s information.

They found her in a private room, in bed with an IV in her arm. Her face was pale, and dark circles under her eyes told them that she’d barely slept these past couple of days. She tried to smile when she saw them.

“My three lovable idiots,” she whispered with a clear, hoarse voice.

Jacob stood at the foot of the bed, looking unsure of where to look. “We, uh, saw your mom. She sends her love.”

No visible symptoms on Mia, but it’s clear she was in pain. The beeping heart rate monitor had her heart rate at an elevated rate for someone who wasn’t moving. One thing was missing, Rachel’s signature that the other 2 carried with their coins. “What did the doctors say?”

“That they’ve never seen anything like it. They’re running tests. Lots of tests.” She forced a chuckle. “They keep asking if I took something. Drugs, they mean.”

“What did you tell them?” Andrew asked.

“That I didn’t,” Mia said. “They don’t believe me. But what else can I say? ‘Hey doc, I got exposed to magical dust that’s going to turn me into a crystal statue’?”

Gale stepped closer to the bed. “Mia, do you have the coin with you?”

Her eyes avoided his gaze. “I gave it to my mom.”

“I know,” Gale said. “Why?”

Mia pulled up the hospital blanket. “She needed it more than me. She takes the bus every day to clean houses all over the city. More exposure risk.”

“When did you give it to her?” Gale asked.

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“Right after that night Rachel gave it to us,” Mia said.

“And when did you start feeling sick?”

Mia’s eyes filled with tears. “Two days ago. After we went to Lakeshore West Heights.”

Jacob eyes darted between the two of them. “Wait, what’s happening?”

“Dust corruption,” Andrew said. “From when we went to the abandoned neighbourhood.”

“But that would mean…” Jacob’s voice trailed off.

Mia wiped her eyes. “Rachel said people usually last about eleven days after exposure. So I’ve got what, nine days left? Maybe less?” She held back her sobs. “You know what’s funny? All I can think of is my mom being alone. Without me. What’s she going to feel after I pass away? Who’s going to take care of her when she gets older? Who’s going to help her when the landlord harasses her or even help her with the English paperwork?”

The heart rate monitor beeped faster as she sobbed softly.

“I’m gonna die, right?” Mia asked.

Gale moved to her side, opposite from Andrew. “Mia, it’s going to be-“

“No, it’s not going to be okay,” she interrupted. “It’s really not. And don’t you dare tell me I did wrong for giving the coin to my mom.”

She’s right. It wasn’t going to be ok. A hundred percent fatality rate at 11 days. He took her hand, fingers feeling cold.

“I’m scared,” she whispered.

Gale squeezed her hand firmer. No words can be said when someone is dying. He even held back his own tears. Be strong for her.

“What can we do? There has to be something,” Andrew said.

“Just… be here,” Mia said. “And when I’m gone, check on my mom sometimes? Make sure she’s okay?”

Maybe he could do something. The shard can stop the progress. If he could convince Ollie to put it beside her, she wouldn’t have to die… but she’ll be stuck there with a 10% chance at 5 years.

Is there really nothing Analyze can do to help?! She can’t disappear. Not after all the goofy things they’ve been through. She can’t…

“I need to go,” Gale said suddenly.

“What?” Andrew frowned.

“I might know something that could help.” Gale moved to the door.

“What are you talking about?” Jacob said.

“I’ll explain later,” Gale said. “Stay with her. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

The shard encased in glass gave off shifting colours of blue, to yellow, to purple, to any colour it wanted. The lab stood empty except for Gale. Beside him, they called it an Ether Resonance device that could capture molecular structures. Basically an MRI device on crack, they said.

He stared hard at the Origin Shard.

Analyze.

[Origin Shard]

[A shard of Origin.]

Tell him something he doesn’t know! Stupid system.

Gale caught a glance of the printed structure on the table. It showed him the crystalline structure of the shard. On the structure themselves, there were numerous intricate patterns and polygonal shapes.

Huh?

Those looked like the patterns that were on the ship, except much denser and on a nano scale.

Focus, Gale. Analyze it in nano scale, not the whole thing.

Analyze.

A headache. The familiar headache that he welcomed. Pathways being created in his eyes as liquid electricity flowed through them. Information flowed into him. Definitions of the shapes.

The rhombus with a line at the end.

A leaf looking wave overlaid with a hexagon.

A triangle that had no third line.

There were billions more patterns, but these 3 had a distinct main shape that was at the forefront of the patterns.

Access, consumable, self. That’s what those shapes meant.

The room grew darker as the headache reached its peak. The sharp pain grew, suddenly stopping when the corner of his eye saw a mouth in the shadow of the room snickering. Thousands of eyes all over the place smiled at him. Gale took a deep breath, pulling in Breath of the Void.

The system interface showed up once again.

[Origin Shard]

[A shard of Origin.]

[Type: Consumable.]

[Allowed Targets: self, object]

That last word. It wasn’t there before he got the headache… even though the level was supposed to be already max. No, the mystery to that didn’t matter.

Consumable meant that this thing was meant to be consumed, not kept. It could stop the power when near, but consuming meant integrating with the shard. Forever there with the flesh.

Mia could take it in…

“Guide,” he whispered. “What does ‘consumable’ mean for this shard?”

[Item can be integrated into self or target through intent. Effect varies based on recipient.]

“Integrated? Like… eaten?”

[Negative. Intent to consume is direct integration to desired target.]

He left the lab and entered the office cubicles of Floor 52. He took the elevator to the top floor where Ollie’s glass office sat.

Walking straight to the end of the hall, Gale entered the double glass doors without knocking. His eye turned to the broken frame still uncleaned on the floor to the right.

Ollie stood by the window, phone to his ear. “I understand the concerns, but we need more time. The research is…” He paused when his eyes caught Gale. “Look. I’ll call you back later.”

Tapping the big red button, Ollie turned around. “Gale? Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“I need the shard,” Gale said.

“What?”

“The Shard. I’m taking it.”

“Taking it where?” Ollie stepped away from the window. “It’s not going anywhere, Gale. We’re studying it. You saw what Dr. Chen showed you. We’re making big progress.”

“My friend is dying,” Gale said. “Dust corruption. She has days, maybe less.”

“The shard isn’t a cure. You saw the data. It temporarily halts progression, that’s all.”

“It’s more than that. The shard was meant to be consumed just like the documents said.”

“Meant to be consumed? And you know this how?”

Gale didn’t answer.

“Even if you’re right,” Ollie continued, “we can’t just stop. We’re already too close.”

“Mia is going to die. I need to do something.”

“So that’s what this is about? Your friend?” Ollie stepped closer to him. “Gale, think about what you’re asking. You want to take our one hope for a universal cure to save a single person? How is that fair to everyone else suffering from dust corruption?”

“I don’t care about anyone else.” Maybe they can find another shard for research. But right now, Mia is dying.

“You can’t be serious.” Ollie glared at him. “Are you really this naive? That you’d sacrifice the future of countless people for one friend?”

“Yes.”

“That’s…” Ollie sighed. “That’s not how this works. We have responsibilities. Greater responsibilities than our personal attachments.”

“Mia’s one of the first normal people who treated me like a normal person. Not a monster. She’s my friend, and I care about her, so I’d be damned if I don’t do anything to save her.”

“So you’d doom everyone else for one person you care about?” Ollie’s voice rose. “What about all the other lives? What about the greater good?”

Gale met Ollie’s glare directly. “I’ll say it again. I don’t care about anyone else. I would let the world burn to save those precious to me. I would do the same for you.”

“Well, I wouldn’t. I would sacrifice myself to further this research to save lives around me.”

“Would you? Really?” Gale looked around the office. Sterile and cleaned daily, except for that shattered broken picture frame. What would a glass office do? No one was even on this top floor except for Ollie. “Or is that what you tell yourself to justify all this?”

“Let it go, Gale,” Ollie said. “Walk away. We’ll save more people in the future. Including your friend, if she lasts long enough.”

“You’re not the Ollie I knew,” Gale said. “The one from the forest. You’ve changed. Chasing whatever this is.”

“Take that back!” Ollie shouted, stepping back into his chair, hand moving inside his blazer where Gale knew he kept his gun.

Breath of the Void’s tendrils warned him. Felt the movement before it happened. In one fluid motion, he closed the distance, grabbed Ollie’s wrist, and pinned his shoulder against the wall beside where the broken picture frame sat.

Ollie grinned bitterly.

“Is this what you’ve become?” Gale asked, keeping pressure on Ollie’s arm. “Willing to shoot me? Someone who fought beside you? Is this how you justify killing people now, huh?! You dressing it all up as saving the future?”

“I’m right about this,” Ollie said through his teeth. “You know I am. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.”

“This isn’t just about being right or wrong,” Gale said. “It’s about what you’re becoming… what you’ve already become.“

“What I’m becoming is someone who can help fix this broken world.”

“No. You’re becoming someone who hides from life behind an endless string of noble causes.” Gale loosened his elbow slightly. “I’ve watched you, Ollie. Every day you come to this lab earlier, leave later. This place is taking more of you, bit by bit.”

“That’s dedication,” Ollie said.

“That’s fear,” Gale said. “This place isn’t your salvation. It’s becoming your coffin. You clock in, you clock off, but you’re never really off, are you?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t I? Even when you’re physically away, your mind is still stuck in the lab. When was the last time you felt anything real? Your heart’s gone cold, and that sterile lab downstairs is where you’ve put it.”

“I feel plenty,” Ollie said. “I feel responsibility, duty, and purpose. Things you wouldn’t understand.”

“You’re really saying that to me after I lived in true isolation in that rift?” Gale whispered. “I know what it means to be completely cut off, but I also learned what it means to thaw. The night you lost her was cruel, but look at what you’re doing.”

“Don’t bring her into this,” Ollie said firmly.

“You’re not honouring her memory,” Gale said. “You’re freezing yourself alongside it. Every day people face endings, Ollie. I faced mine when I let all of you escape through that rift without me. That was my duty and my purpose for all of you. And then, I chose to live after. I chose warmth.”

“This is how I live,” Ollie said. “By making a difference. By doing what matters.”

“Is it? Or is this office the place where you’ve laid your life to rest?” Gale asked. “Will you keep hiding here, or will you finally switch off these machines, walk away, and let that ice around your heart melt away?”

“I’m saving lives, not hiding,” Ollie said.

“She wouldn’t want you preserved like this. Half-alive, half-dead. Chasing her ghost,” Gale said. “She’d want you fully present in this world. Chasing life.”

“You don’t know what she’d want,” Ollie’s voice cracked slightly.

“The question isn’t whether you can create that cure,” Gale said. “It’s whether there’ll be anything left of you when you do.”

Ollie stopped fighting, eyes looking to windows that showed Toronto’s skyline. “Easy for you to say. You didn’t lose someone you loved. You didn’t come back home to them only to see her as a crystal in the bed you shared. You didn’t experience any of that.”

“No,” Gale said. “But I did watch everyone I knew disappear into the rift. I did spend what felt like forever alone, fighting to survive. And I did promise myself I wouldn’t let anyone I care for suffer if I could help it.”

“By saving one person at the expense of many?”

“By not letting spreadsheets replace names,” Gale replied. “Once you start thinking of lives as numbers, you lose something.”

“And once you start making exceptions for friends, you create an unjust system,” Ollie said. “Would you be here if it was a stranger dying instead of Mia?”

Gale let go of Ollie and stepped back. “The shard is consumable, Ollie. It’s meant to be used, not just studied. What if the cure isn’t some formula your scientists create, but the shard itself?”

Gale walked out of the office, hands in his pockets, leaving him standing alone against the wall.

Ollie slid down to the floor, his back against the wall. He turned his eyes to the broken picture frame on the floor beside him. He reached out and picked it up, fingers touching the cracked glass.

Behind the broken glass was a photo of him and Cassie at High Park during cherry blossom season. Her smile was bright as she leaned against him, pink petals floating around them. He’d taken her there on their third date. She’d insisted on a picnic, with homemade sandwiches that had too much mayo and not enough salt.

He ran his thumb over her face. What would she say about what he’d become? About the man who now spent 20 hours a day in his office, who barely remembered to eat, who kept a gun in his jacket at all times?

Ollie could call security. He could lock down the building. He could stop Gale from taking the shard. But the naive boy’s words stuck in his head. Had his promise to Cassie become a chain instead of a mission?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep