Enigma (Rogue #2)

4

I shouldn't be here, Eniola thought.

But here she was.

Holo-screens spun around the huge pods that enclosed the seats. A glowing cylinder table took center stage in the middle. The ceiling shifted in multiple tiled colours above them and attendant droids rolled up to them and escorted them to their huge seats. Eniola and Lucia both made excited eye contact with one another before they made it to their seat pods.

Eniola observed the seat as it surrounded her privately. Turned out the comfortable seat could be stretched into a bed for the long hours they would be on the flight. The holo-screen floating in front of her was connected, had a variety of net dramas and movies to choose from, and there was even a link to connect virtual reality goggles to explore anything you wanted. It then shifted into flight information before it replayed a flight video in both English and Korean.

"Refreshments?" Eniola jumped out of her thoughts to see an attendant-droid holding a silver platter with a cup of bright blue liquid.

"Don't mind me," Jay said nonchalantly, reaching forward and sipping on it slowly. Eniola took one too and drank the blue liquid. It was unusually sweet and fizzy and burbled on her tongue. It was like some drinks Theo served at the Puzzle.

Damn. That felt so long ago. Eniola didn't realize she missed it as much as she did until the nostalgia started washing over her. They didn't have a hang-out spot now that they were cruising around the world. Perhaps, when the next California championships happened, they could reclaim their spot. It felt so long ago and like yesterday at the same time.

More people piled onto the plane, such as business people and other people whose profession she could only describe as "rich". Eniola realized she was simply a teenage gamer in a sea of people who had actual business to do in Seoul.

But what they didn't know was that aside from SCOPE, someone in South Korea was one of the few people in the world, aside from them, who could defeat Paradox and stop the glitches. It was all deciphered after a wonderful birthday.

Eniola sank back into the seat with a satisfied smile, before looking over at Jay. Wait? He was next to Iris, who was next to Eniola.

"Iris," Eniola whispered to Iris, who turned over to her.

"What's up?" she said.

"Can I switch with you?" she asked, and Iris stopped for a moment before looking at the pod next to her.

"Of course," Iris huffed, as Eniola grabbed her bag and did a quick switch with Iris before ending up in an identical pod, playing the last loop of the security video.

The auto-pilot system made announcements that the plane was going to take off soon. Eniola clutched onto her seat armchair, digging her nails into it and shutting her eyes to will away the situation. It was just a liftoff. Eniola enjoyed travelling by air, save for the initial launch.

The plane soon took a vilifying launch into the air and Eniola felt her stomach rise and fall before it was weightless. She allowed one eye to open and let out a heavy breath. She was still intact. Good.

Eniola looked into Jay's pod before getting up from her own and knocking onto it. It opened immediately.

"Hello," he said smiling, opening it further and moving into his seat so she could have room. She slipped into his arms and onto his lap easily and sighed against him.

"What are we going to do for the next 15 hours?" Jay asked, putting an arm around her.

"I don't know," Eniola admitted. "Maybe we can have an existential crisis about having to save the world. Again."