The hidden world

Chapter 1.1: The strange puddle

"Your home is a wreck. You could at least have cleaned the bathroom," The man clad in a black suit said as he came back from my bathroom.
I had lived in this small apartment since I moved out of my parent's house. Which I guess isn't that long of time ago, how long has it been? Like two months?
"If I had known I was going to have someone visit me two in the morning I'm sure I would have cleaned it. Who are you anyway and why did you come?" I asked still half asleep.
He closed the door to the bathroom and walked over to the window, closing the curtains he turned around.
"I'm here to tell you should leave," He said turning back around to face me.
"Leave? Why?"
"You just don't belong here,"
"You aren't helping, can't you just answer my questions?"
"You will know. Just listen, in the silence of the night and you will hear their screams. find them there,"
"Who are them?" I asked as I was rubbing my eyes in confusion.
As I looked up my room was empty. "What!" I yelled out a bit too loud to myself. Looking around my room I couldn't see any evidence of the strange man being here. "Am I insane?"The school day was as dry as ever. When am I supposed to use this stupid math stuff anyway? I work as tech support and probably will do so the rest of my life. Why do I need to know how fast a car moves at this and that time if they have this speed at another time? I was spacing out most of the day to be completely honest, thinking about the strange event this morning. Maybe I should begin to sleep a bit more, I have heard you can have hallucinations if you don't sleep enough. But that would not happen today, I would have to work the night shift the biggest drawback of working at a company that had customers over the whole world.
I blink back to reality as my teacher speaks to me. "Aren't you going to eat in the cafeteria?"
Looking around I see the classroom empty around me.
"Um, I... Was just enjoying the silence," I replied.
"Okay, see you tomorrow Henry," He said before leaving the classroom.
I stepped off the bus and onto the slightly wet asphalt, Looking around I could for the most part only see the dark of night. It was a pain in the ass to have school and work the night shift the same day. Looking at my phone I could see that it would soon be 01:00. "I guess this means another night of to little sleep," I thought to myself before I began to walking back towards my apartment complex. As I was walking I begin to hear the howling of the different neighborhood dogs. I remember how scared I used to be walking alone at night listening to them howl, but I got used to it. I stopped in my track as I heard a strange scream, a terrible screeching noise that made all the dogs silent. I look around trying to locate the direction the noise had come from. I felt shivers running down my back as I saw some movement down the street. I looked at an outline of someone or something moved down a path between two buildings. I stood there looking, the neighborhood now ghostly silent. Before I jumped as the screaming noise once again pierced the air. I could feel the hairs on my arms rise as the noise faded. I wanted to run but I couldn't, I felt the urge to follow this thing.
"I swear this was where I saw it enter," I mumbled to myself standing at the entrance of the dimly lit alleyway.
I look down the alleyway hoping to find something that could have made the noise. I feel the urge to pick up one of the shards of the mirror and look at it. I see half of my face, my reddish-brown hair, my blue eye looking back at me, my heart skips a beat as I see it blink. Dropping the mirror shard it cracks into multiple smaller pieces as it hits the asphalt. In the corner of my eye, I could see movement and turned around only to see something running around the corner of the alleyway. I slowly walk after the creature. making sure not to make too much noise. I stepped in a puddle and to my surprise I stepped through it. As I fall down I get blinded momentarily by a bright blue light, I reached out my arms as a reflex only to feel my body fall onto a hard surface. Blinking a few times I could see again, I was on all four not on the bottom of a puddle but on asphalt again. My eyes moved from the asphalt and I noticed that I was in fact not even wet after having fallen through the puddle, but as I stand up I am shocked to see that instead of brick walls on both sides of me there are what looks like tiles. they were covered in both wires pipes and small screens here and there with lights on them, looking up the walls they looked almost never-ending. It didn't seem to rain but the air was filled with a mist that made it almost feel like it was drizzling. I turned around as I heard two voices speaking in a strange language, but as I focused on the two voices I began to understand what they were saying. The voices came to a stop as two figures walked around the corner. My eyes fell upon the taller man with a slightly green complexion. My eyes locked onto his mouth, which had tusks at his jaw the two sharp points sticking out from his mouth. He looked at me for a moment.
"What do you want?" He asked with a low grumble.
"..."
"Hey kid, he asked you a question," The other one said.
"Can't I just stand here?" I asked fumbling for some sort of response.
"You aren't from around here are you?"
"No..." I reply a bit unsure where this conversation was going.
"Well, I suggest that you get out of here," He said moving his jacket to the side revealing some sort of high tech gun resting at his side.
I gulped in fear, only hoping none of them hearing it. At that moment I feel a hand on my shoulder. Looking at the owner of it I see the man from this morning.
"There you are, making some friends?" He asked with a smile.
"Um~"
"Yeh, He is a funny kid I'll tell you that," The man in front of me said moving his jacket slowly to cover his gun.
"Well, It is time for us to get going," The man in the suit said turning me around before calmly steers me out of the alleyway into what looked like a shopping street different types of neon lights caught my attention.
"Not bad kid, I have to tell you it isn't often people make it here the first day I contact them," The man said with a slight smile. "In fact, there is even less of those who have their first day here that talks to the grunts of a high tier gang and lives,"
His hand was still on my shoulder as we walked through the crowds of people until we stepped into some sort of strange circle. He let go of my shoulder as the door closed and walked over to the panel and pressed the screen a few times. Then I noticed that we were moving upwards.
"What is this?" I asked.
"I guess people like you would call it some sort of fancy elevator,"
I looked out the window as we passed floor after floor with what seemed like docking stations.
"Where am I?"
"Well... Henry, you are for the first time in the real world,"
"How do you know my name?" I asked surprised not really think about his answer.
I know a lot of stuff, I work for T.F.F," He paused for a moment, "The freedom federation, the political rulers of this planet," He looked at the screen before turning his eyes back to me. "Do you have any more questions? We have a long way to floor seven," He said taking off his glasses and I could see what looked like to camera lenses shaped like eyes.
I only slowly nodded as a reply.
"What is your name?" I asked after a brief moment.
"Agent 7," He replied as he fixed his short brown hair in a mirror that appeared after he pressed a few more times at the screen.
"Well, Agent 7. What do you want with me?"
"I don't want anything with you. But my boss seems to have gotten restless and found it to be the right time for you to enter the real world," He replied as he adjusted his black tie.
"What is this real world?"
This was the first question Agent 7 hadn't answered right away.
"Life, death, robots, aliens, love, and hate. It would classify under the fictional genre of sci-fi," He pressed the screen a few more times and two holographic like chairs appeared in the room.
"Take a seat, as I said it's a bit of a trip all the way up to floor 7."The "fancy elevator" or local transportation pod as I had learned it was called, moved slowly but steadily towards one of the clear landing docks on what I would guess was floor 7. Agent 7 placed his glasses back on before he stepped out the door and onto the white steel-like floor. It all felt like some sort of sci-fi movie, seeing all the different people, or rather races. Strangely enough, it all felt so normal. If what Agent 7 has told me is right it is safer the higher floor you are on. Looking around I could see that this place looked soo much tidy than the floor we had been on. Police or at least some form of guards stood here and there in the large flight terminal like area.
"So, Agent 7. Where are we going?" I asked walking beside him.
"To an office, but no more questions. Not now," He said before opening a door.
As we stepped through I could feel my jaw drop. The warmth of the sun fell upon my face and as my eyes adjusted themselves to the bright blue sky I realized there were plane-like cars soaring through the air above us. The marble white steps in front of me led down to an enormous park with the same marble white path, clusters of trees poking up from the strangely green grass. There were tall white buildings on all sides around it.
"I thought you said this was floor 7, how is the sun~"
"It is artificial, a screen on the roof of the floor. come now we have important people waiting for you." Agent 7 said before taping his chest making a line slowly move across his suit, leaving golden decorative lines to appear as it moved along his suit.We walked down the white dome-shaped corridor. I instinctively stopped as Agent 7 did.
This is her office, He pressed his fingertip against the panel on the wall, as he did a door-like shape appeared. The door split in two and each piece slid to the side as I stepped through it slid back together leaving Agent 7 on the other side.
"Please take a seat. The grand adviser is running a bit late." A calm and monotone voice said.
I unsurely walked towards the circular armchair standing in front of the desk that stood in the middle of the room. behind it was a wall made entirely by glass making for a panorama view of the park, I could see the small people walking around on the white paths some resting at the almost unnaturally green grass.
"Henry Johnsen it's so nice to finally meet you," A fruity voice spoke.
Turning my head towards the voice I could see. A fit female figure walking in through the newly appeared door. She sported a skin-tight white shirt and pants seemingly made out of the same type of material, the clothes not exactly hiding her features. She was also wearing a black leather trench coat like west over it. The trench coat was lined with an almost glowing line of gold at its edges. Her skin was pale against her shoulder-length black hair. As she tucked some of it behind her ear I could see a small gold light at her temple, which seemed to be the only strange thing about her. The sound of heels clicking against the floor filled the room as she walked over to the desk and took a seat in the office chair. She looked at me with a genuine smile.
"Oh, I'm Cora the grand adviser of T.F.F, I'm not sure how much 7 has told you but I have a predicament for you." She paused looking me in the eyes for a moment. "You have the right to choose to go back to your "normal" life, but we will have to erase your mind or you can choose to stay here and explore the real world." Her tone was now much colder and precise now.
"How do you know my name?" I asked her trying to give myself some thinking time on the decision.
"Well, let's just say that I have known you a lot longer than you have known me," She answered. "I know it can be a hard decision to make but I don't really have that much time today, so you either decide now or we can talk again tomorrow."
I stared at my hands, my fingers entwined with each other as my mind was racing.
"Let's talk tomorrow then," Cora said standing up from her chair and walking around the desk, handing me some sort of credit card resembling chip before walking out of the room.
"I know your answer already, I only need you to say it." She said as the door shut close behind her.
I heard the door I had entered open. Standing up from the armchair I turn around to see Agent 7 standing on the other side of it. I showed him the card and he gave me an acknowledging nod before walking down the dome-shaped corridor. Agent 7 swiped the card against the wall after he had done so a door opened. He handed me the card before gesturing for me to enter the room. As I did I stood once again alone in a room, but this time it wasn't an office but what looked like an apartment. There was a bed, an area that looked like some form of a kitchen. As I took a few steps into the room a hologram screen appeared. I sat down on the couch and looked at the screen. It appears to be some sort of newscast.
"There has been a new robbery in the trading center today alto T.F.F hasn't commented on this event, multiple sources mean that the terrorist group Red shadows has performed the robbery. It is said that they managed to take four hundred thousand credits."
I lay down on the couch letting the newscast fade into background noise as I beginning to think about my choice at hand."Won't people realize I just disappear out of nowhere?" I asked sitting across Cora's desk.
"We have the technology to make it seem like you never disappear, so that is not a problem. Now that I have answered all your questions what is your answer?" She asked lifting one of her unnaturally perfect eyebrows.
"I... I will stay..." I mumbled after a moment of silence.
She let out a sigh of relief and stood up from her chair. "Well, we have a few things to do. Please follow me,"
Exiting her office we walked down yet another dome-shaped corridor, I wonder how they find their way around this place every turn seemed to take us to an identical hallway. The sound of her heels impacting the floor echoed down the passage. It all looked more or less the same until we entered a room filled with desks with blue screens filled with everything from charts to text documents. It was seemingly a lot of people working at something here. As we walked down the passage that split the room we got a few looks but only momentarily as the people looked down at their holographic screens.
"What was all of that?" I asked as we entered a new hallway, this one was different. Gray walls and roof instead of the white dome-like shape, dimly lit with windows making it possible to see all the rooms we walked by, It seemed to be some sort of hospital, some of the rooms were empty other had people resting in beds.
"That was some of our best engineers and doctors, on this planet at least," Cora replied.
The sound of our footsteps echoed down the hall.
"This might sound weird... This is not the first time you have been here, not the first time you have been given the choice to stay in this world."
"Eh... okay?" I replied unsure how to react to her statement.
"How should I put it... you are kind of special."
I remained silent following her down the hall. Cora stopped after a while, looking at the small screen beside the door she had stopped in front off I could read; Room 105.
"This is it," She said before holding her card against the small screen making it go green.
I could hear the door release a lot of pressure before sliding open. As the two of us stepped inside the room I could see multiple screens some running diagnostics, other almost blank. The other thing was a shower curtain like tarp blocking of the rest of the room, there was a soft glow making its way through its slightly transparent material.
"Just try not to panic." She said with a small reassuring smile before walking between the overlapping pieces of tarp.
Following her I find myself standing in front of some sort of tank, its glass filled with mist.
"What is this?" I asked Cora.
"This, this is you." She answered before taping the screen making the mist disappear revealing, strangely enough, me inside it. My body floating there in the water, connected to a ton of wires with suction cups on the end of them. I look momentary over at Cora before my eyes fell back upon my own body in front of me, I hear a gulp escape my throat as I swallow.
"You took this better than expected. This is you, the real you." She said as she tugged another tarp revealing a bed like structure filled with equipment.
"Then what am I?"
"Merely a shell, that is in your control as we waited for your arrival or rather return."
I instinctively took a seat down at the bed, feeling my headache a bit the edge of my vision blur.
"Just lay down and try to breathe, I will just prepare you for your return to your body," Cora said almost forcing me to lay down on the bed.
As I tried to focus on my breathing I felt her place more and more wires with suction cups at the end to my body. I feel my vision get even more blurry before it all faded away and I could only feel a strange emptiness before I open my eyes, only to see a white roof. The light in the roof is way too bright for me at the moment. I shake my head and blink a few times before I push myself up to a sitting position on the bed I had been laying on.
"Oh, you're finally awake," I hear an eager childlike voice say. Looking to my right I see a child looking at me with big almost purple eyes.
"Uh," Is the only sound that manages to exit my mouth.
"Don't worry I'll get Cora, she has been waiting for you to wake up," The child said before waddled out of the room.
I shook my head in disbelief asking myself; "Who even was that?"When Cora came into the room we began to take tests, physical and mental tests. I don't know how many days went by doing tests, there was no window in the room I occupied, only a light switch witch Cora turned off when we were done for the "day". One day I found myself looking in the mirror after the "day" was over, I realized that I had a six pack and a lot more muscles than I ever have had, I was actually fit.
The next morning Cora came into my room carrying some clothes and a necklace.
"You are ready," She said as she placed it beside me.
"For what?"
"Entering the real world, put on these clothes and we will talk more over breakfast," she said before leaving me alone in my room again.
Looking more closely at the clothes I realized that it was designed like the other uniforms of the people working for T.F.F. I had seen the necklace type before, Cora had one with a golden light, mine was light blue. Tapping it gently brought up a dog tag like display, it's simply displayed my name, Henry Johnsen followed by Member of T.F.F. "I guess this is it, the start of my new life in this world," I thought as I looked at myself all dressed in the futuristic clothes and the necklace around my neck."I have to say you suit the new clothes," I heard a moment after I entered Cora's office.
"Thanks," I replied looking just past Cora to see the world outside for the first time in a while.
She lifted a questioning eyebrow.
"We aren't on earth..." I mumbled as if I read it from a book.
"How do you know?"
"It is too perfect to be earth."
Cora let out a sigh as I took a seat in front of her.
"You still manage to surprise me, Henry. This is a planet constructed by The free people. It is called Pacem, meaning pace in the common language."
"Can I visit the Earth?" I asked eager to know how different it would be. I was surprised to see a hint of sadness in Cora's eyes.
"The Earth, one of the homes of the human race is what should I say... Not a welcoming world any longer. It is still struggling to stabilize after a lot of events happened to it. First the D virus, then in an attempt to destroy the D virus the people in charge began to fire nuclear weapons witch in the long run only did things worse. there are a few cities still standing plus a few Vaults no one has been able to open or make contact with.
"Wait... One of the homes? And what is the D virus?" I asked still struggling to comprehend all this information.
"The life on the planet earth didn't just appear there, it traveled from another place. We are in fact not completely sure where the life on earth came from. The D virus, on the other hand, is a virus that turns the virus carrier into a mindless beast," She paused, before smiling again. "Don't worry you don't have anything to be afraid of you are already immune to the virus." I guess I looked as worried as I felt.
"Okay..."
"Well, now that you are a member of T.F.F you will have to follow commands, so I have appointed you to serve a few weeks on the planet Mirelda. As a Ranger."
I took a seat and prepared for landing, looking out the window I could see the landing pad down below us. A few seconds later the door of the transportation ship opened revealing a man equipped in some form of armor with a similar design of T.F.F. Dust particles slowly fell downwards now that the engines were turned off. His necklace glowed in a dark blue, which meant that he was the highest rank an infantry could be. I looked at my necklace giving off a dim aqua blue light.
"You must be Henry?" He asked seemingly a bit confused.
"Yes," I replied with a confirming nod.
I followed him off the landing pad down onto the reddish-brown dry dirt ground. We then walked to what I guessed was the main building as it was much bigger than the other buildings within the perimeter I could see. We walked down the main hall and into a large room, it was canteen rows and rows of tables with hungry people. As we walked I looked up at its high ceiling which made the room much bigger, trays of dirty dishes traveled above everyone through an automatic line from every table.
"Just stay here there will be a "welcome" ceremony in a few minutes." He said before leaving me standing there awkwardly alone until the ceremony started.
I wouldn't call it a ceremony all of the new recruits were lined up in one of the many rooms at the main building and slowly but surely we walked through the room, first past a scanner then everyone but me got handed an aqua blue necklace since I already had one. continuing down the room we were handed a basic infantry uniform before we all got assigned a number which decided which group we were placed in: 1 - 100, 101 - 200 or 201 - 300. I got a card with the number 205 on it which meant I would be staying on the second floor of the rookie barracks we were then slowly but surely "sorted" into a room based on our number.
"Welcome everyone, my name is Mox and I am the leader of the Seconds and will show you around the base." A man in the front of the room said just as the last people entered the room. As he finished his sentence another door opened and he lead us around the main facility showing us where the gym, canteen, armory, and mission briefing were, then he leads us to the barracks which were five buildings. I would estimate that each of them was about ten meters wide and thirty meters long and at least three stories high.
"You have all been given a card with a number on it the number is also on a door in the building. that is where you will be sleeping during downtime between missions, now go and find your room." He said before leaving us outside the building.
It didn't take much time before I found my room, it was on the second floor and the fifth room from the entrance. I noticed I was one of the "lucky" ones who got a room all to myself. My room was, of course, smaller than the double and quadruple rooms. I could stand in the middle of my room and without lifting both legs I could touch each of the walls. Just as I sat down onto the bed to feel if it was comfortable in any way. My door opened up and an alarm went off. As we made out way outside we all looked around worried what the alarm signaled. I soon realized that Mox was standing in front of the group and I made my way towards him. Moments later when everyone had made their way outside the different leaders took their group in each direction.We didn't stop for about two hours when we reached what looked like an obstacle course. Mox turned around only to see almost every one of us gasping for air. Altho we had just been walking we had left the protective barriers of the base and was now standing atop of a small hill with a few trees here and there.
"The lower air pressure on this planet makes it harder to breathe compared to most planets but that will not stop you when we are done with the basic training. Starting today you will all be taking tests to find out which part of the T.F.F military section you will serve. Some of you may have been told that you have already been accepted into one of the sections but if you don't perform on any of the tests you will end up in the kitchen of the canteen at the main base for the rest of your life." He began to walk from side to side as he talked. "So don't take these tests lightly, Today you will do as many rounds in this obstacle course as you can manage. We will start in ten minutes." He said finally stopped walking from side to side and pressed a button on his wrist-mounted device which projected a countdown hologram counting down to the moment we would start.
We had all been spread to different obstacles so we wouldn't all start in a cluster. I started in a rather slow speed knowing that the task at hand was to perform as many as possible laps. While some started in a full sprint, they didn't last many rounds. I had lost count of how many rounds I had done when I finally collapsed onto the dry red soil beneath me. That was the first of many days of extreme performance.
We sat in front of the stage waiting for our name to be read up and then to receive what our task would be. I don't know if it is gene modification but it suddenly hit me that I hadn't seen anyone with below average looks. It was even clearer now that everyone finally had cleaned themselves for the ceremony.
"Catherine, Ranger." There was always an intense silence as someone was appointed the status of a Ranger. Most people looked at that rank as certain suicide. The Rangers were a form of a special force for T.F.F. They are often the first group of people moving into unsecured planets that have been scouted by a Star scout. My mind only focusing now and then as there was a long pause while each person walked up to the stage and receive their new necklace. I hadn't noticed before now how many different races there were in this new world, some of them looking like aliens other like hybrids of humans and other things.
"Henry, Ranger." Hearing my name snapped me back into reality as I instinctively stood up and walked onto the stage and received my necklace. Walking back to my seat I looked at my new necklace it had a black skull instead of the entirely aqua blue necklace I had been wearing for about a month.
As the ceremony was over I found myself wondering if there was some information I hadn't gotten as all the other ranks had been created by a spokesperson from their new "family". Looking around I could see two other people also looking around. The two was seated close together and sat and talked a bit. I walked towards them and saw that they to were Rangers.
"Hello, why haven't we been created?" I asked the two.
One of them who had catlike ears, cat eyes and a tail looked at me. "We don't know..."
"I'm Henry by the way. Nice to meet you two,"
"I'm Catherine and this is Kolt," The cat hybrid answered with a smile.
I looked at Kolt who gave me a nod. He seemed to also just be a human just about two meters tall and super broad shoulders. As the three of us looked confused at each other I turned around by the sound of footsteps against the dry red soil only to see a man-like robot, clad in a hooded robe of cloth walking towards the three of us.
"Hmmm, It's unusual we get more than one new recruit a year. Let's hope more than one of you survives the first week. Follow me, newbies." It said in an uninterested tone before gesturing us to follow it.
"Eh, I'm Catherine what is your name~ Sir?" Catherine said tryingly.
"Sure, you'll learn my name if you survive long enough," It or rather he replied still leading towards the landing pads.