The Shadow of Eudaimonia

Chapter 6: The Inheritor

"Hey, what's going on in there?"

"Lazzi, are you listening?"

"Hey SUB, stop! I want to get off!" the A.I. recognized the command and came to a halt. Lazzi jumped off the sleek metallic platform and sprinted towards the clamoring crowd in the distance. Creo exhaled through his nose and followed after.

Lazzi shoved himself into the crowd until he reached the center. He noticed that some of them were police authorities. But what got his attention was an old frail lady defending her bag of goods from the authorities themselves. She actually looked old with wrinkling skin and greying hair. Lazzi thought if she was as rich as Creo, she wouldn't look that way. At the side of the old lady, a young boy at around the age of 7, presumably the old lady's grandson, was trying to push away anyone who tries to lay a finger on her grandma.

"Please sir! Please stop! This is how we get food on our plates," the old lady cried.

"Ma'am." the police said so firmly and loud enough to silence the murmurs of the people around. "I think all of you are informed here that selling here in the streets is strictly prohibited. It is the law."

"But where do we get the money to eat?"

"I think we all ask the same question ma'am. Don't be a whiner and just follow the rules! Be grateful. Some even have it worse than you." The police took a step forward which made the little boy try to push the police away. Instead, the police brushed him off like a loose door and other men held him still. That's the time Lazzi stepped in and gripped the police man's arm, tight enough to send a message.

"Enough. Let them be," he whispered in a deep tone.

The police glared at him. "Boy, you're obstructing justice."

"Justice? How about their justice to find a means to live? Are you deaf or simply heartless enough to ignore their cries? They are not just trash that must be cleaned up. They are humans, like us."

The police tried to shake his hand away but Lazzi dug his fingers and held more tightly.

"Hey, isn't he the Inheritor?" a voice from the crowd surfaced. "Yeah, I think he is," said another.

"No, he's not the Inheritor," this time it's a voice familiar to Lazzi. Creo emerged from the crowd. His eyebrows were furrowed and lips tightly puckered in, almost biting it. It was his pissed-off face all too familiar to Lazzi. Lazzi knew he crossed the limit. "You must be mistaken."

Lazzi saw the dubious looks from everyone. He released the police man's arm and saw that it was already red from his grip.

"I'm sorry officers," Creo moved away from the crowd and wrapped his arm on Lazzi's shoulder "this boy is under my supervision. I'll handle him from here." The man that Lazzi held by the arm was about to protest but he noticed the ash gray uniform Creo was wearing. It was after all the uniform of a high-ranking Keplerian soldier with authority anywhere on Kepler.

Lazzi knowingly let Creo drag him out of the crowd and back into the SUB. Once again, they were quiet with Creo just plainly looking at Lazzi.

"What do you want me to say?" Lazzi said begrudgingly.

"Sometimes I think we made you so much of an idealist, if that's the proper way to say it."

"Wasn't I literally an idea personified?" Lazzi tried to look at him in the eyes just for a second to reply, but he retracted and noticed his trembling hands. He doesn't know if it was anger for not being able to help the old lady or guilt for not listening to his captain. He still looked up to Creo after all.

"Let's just hope that none of them was able to afford an IZ and record the whole thing." Creo added. Lazzi zoned out and thought of those very expensive IZ. It is a coin sized device plugged in the back region of the head, near the occipital lobe, acting like a smartphone back in the old Earth. He always wanted that but he was not allowed to have one. Lazzi then forced himself to resume listening to his mentor's rambling. "—can't be. Just imagine, it's just a week away from the turn over ceremony and you'll get a bad rep. I swear that rash behavior of yours will—"

His ears twitched. "Bad rep? Cap, they are pleading for their lives. Have you seen their faces? They're faces were all red from crying. What am I supposed to do? Just stand there and do nothing?"

"Maybe. Because you're supposed to be unbiased as much as possible, remember? What they are doing is unlawful."

"But has this planet done something so that they wouldn't need to sell goods on the street in the first place? Has anyone stopped and considered them first before making those laws? Has the government, the institution that promises to serve and uphold everyone's welfare had done something for them?"

"Then help them in other ways. Not like that. You're going to be extraordinary in a few weeks. You'll be one of the highest authorities in all of supercluster Laniakea. You'll be able to change things around here."

"You just said some things cannot be fixed even when you're the strongest."

"Yes, I did. But still, you shall govern the laws of time. Maybe in some way you can help this planet. Yeah?"

Lazzi smiled. "I will change things for the better. That's what I am made for, isn't it?"