Stargazer - Segregation

Chapter Nine - Changing Minds

Alphonse walks through the storage hall. From the outside, it's an unsuspicious old car workshop, but it's a huge machine room from the inside as they removed all the cars to make space for the war machines.

His newest one was placed right in France in his hometown. It's double the size of the one from Stargazer and inhabits five dark machines that people work on very hard, every single day. Some are covered with blankets all over, and some are just plain too sinister.

"How is it going with the machines? Are they ready?" he looks up to the one with the maroon shade in it.

The engineer walks up next to him. "Great, but no, they are not ready yet. They still need a lot of work until they can use them." He wipes away some oil from his hands.

"Okay, if you know more, please let me know immediately. My pilots are waiting," his face seems slightly uncomfortable.

His old ones aren't good enough; the only result he receives is defeat. Usually, on a Sunday like today, it's his day off where he doesn't do much except going live on television for his people to tell them what has happened the past month.

That's how Alphonse communicates.

His people wait for him to be on TV and watch him talk about his further plans.

The office of his is inside a big mansion, almost like a palace. It's a white passage, and the interior resembles an old but very maintained estate of an emperor. One with golden decorations around the columns and a spring fountain placed right outside. Trees cover the surrounding, tidy white path to the entrance.

His office table is always tidy and clean, ready to take on the next document waiting for him. The garden is as big as a football stadium. It's all artificial grass to prevent weeds from growing. The hard work that he doesn't need to pay for or even take care of.

Watercolored pictures about the cosmos fill his walls, mostly the stars and the planets. He has a fable for these things, one reason he spends millions on the spacesuit project back in the day.

A young man walks in with his fancy, blue army uniform, which belongs to Antares, and a massive smile. His black hair, cut short, his face looks clean and shaved. He is always carrying around his cigarettes in his pocket, and he doesn't really seem to care about his high position, at all, by the way he wears his clothes at least. Always messy.

"So, what's new, pal?" he asks with a sassy tone in his voice.

Alphonse looks at him with an annoyed look. "Don't be so disrespectful, Rory. If you have anything you want to tell me, then go ahead. Otherwise, just go back to work if you just want to annoy me."

"You see, I was wondering if you have anything for us to do. I've been to the machine room and," Rory moves his head closer to Alphonse. "Are they for us?" he grins.

Alphonse laughs a bit. "Maybe, we shall see when the time has come."

"Okay," he moves his head back. "Don't keep us waiting for too long."

He stands up and walks out of his room to light up a cigarette, shoving his lighter back into the pockets of his trousers.

"Rory! I told you not to smoke in here!" yells Alphonse as Rory blows out the smoke.

Rory is an elitist pilot who has been piloting several other machines before, though he never once fought the rebellions. He's from the United States. His parents died when he was nine years old. That was the time.

He walks down the basement of the castle, which is where they meet up almost every day. Soothing music runs through his ears; the more he walks past the hallway. The basement looks utterly different from the castle, very old, and has an urban-like feeling.