Capítulo 9: Conditions
Dante felt enlightened. No wonder...! No wonder, those aliens had acted so crazy back then. It was a good thing he didn't wait to see how the situation would play out because he likely would not have his autonomy anymore by that point.
"So how did you get here so fast?" Dante asked the crucial question.
"I was actually coming here to refuel for a return journey to The Central System to report back for debriefing. Can you imagine my shock when I hear an unregistered pure human appeared on a random street on that common planet?"
Beatrice shook her head. "I'd received many false alarms from enemy factions trying to bait me into a trap, for every pure human is obliged to help or rescue each other by law. However, a quick search showed that unique bacteria was detected, and that got me suspicious, so I ordered a blockade on the planet and came down myself."
"I'd only just gotten to where you were last seen when you suddenly popped out of nowhere. If I didn't identify you as my target, I would have snapped your neck thinking I was being ambushed again."
Hearing this, Dante grabbed his throat instinctively and couldn't help but feel cold within. How close was he to death in that split second?
"Mhm, onto the next point. Mr. Dante, do you understand that since you are not registered in any database, have no rights as a citizen, and are a fugitive of Planet Etonia, your future is quite bleak?" Beatrice asked while scrolling through the holographic projection before her.
"Look, Beatrice, just hit me with whatever offer you have, and let's not do this. I'm grateful for the information about pure humans, but I want to know the next step so I can plan ahead." Dante replied with a shake of his head.
Beatrice finally paused her movements and then looked at Dante head-on for the first time since she sat down. Her smarmy grin found its way back on her face and she sighed.
"Fine, fine, the plan to scare you into submission didn't work. I'll then lay it out for you as raw as possible."
Beatrice sat up and folded her arms. "You're a pure human with very good genetics, so you are valuable to both our enemies and to us. We're prepared to give you an identity in the universe as a resident of the earth who is currently orphaned."
"Apart from that, you will be given a weekly allowance of 300 Etrans to spend as you wish. You will be given a villa on earth in any continent of your choice, of which all maintenance and operation costs will be paid by the Human Council."
"You will also be sent into the Unique Batch of Cadets in the Eternal Academy, the number 1 academy in the universe for all forms of education relating to military, economics, technology, entertainment, and especially, exploration."
Dante took a deep breath. He might not understand the value of everything he was given, but he was no fool to know that this was definitely a good deal. The question was, was it truly good enough or was this a lowball offer?
"Explain to me the value of all these things in detail as if I am totally ignorant of everything, having lived under a rock," Dante asked as he gazed at Beatrice sharply.
"Uhh… why would I do that? Wouldn't you then be able to make the smartest choice for yourself? How can I enjoy exploiting you then?!" Beatrice retorted with an expression of unwillingness.
Dante glanced at her calmly and then asked. "Is there a terminal here where my AI chip can interface and acquire information?"
Beatrice froze and then sighed with defeat. "Fine, whatever. Listen closely because I won't explain this stuff a second time."
Beatrice leaned forward and her eyes glinted. Dante followed her movements and made sure to focus.
Beatrice opened her mouth and began explaining.
"Habababahahabububah!" She bellowed majestically.
Dante sat there in confusion like an idiot, wondering if his ears were playing tricks. Making sure he wasn't under the effect of any hallucinogen and seeing the satisfied expression on Beatrice's face, he flew into a rage.
"What the hell! What was that?!"
Beatrice seemed offended. "What do you mean what was that? I just explained everything you wanted to know."
Dante was speechless.
Beatrice looked bored and leaned into her seat. "So, what's your decision?"
Dante glared at her and shook his head. "I refuse. Send me back to planet Etonia and let me serve my sentence."
Dante stood up and made to leave, which stunned Beatrice. She froze for a split second until she literally leaped up into the air like a cat that had seen a snake.
"Wait, what do you think you're doing?!"
She quickly rushed up and appeared in front of Dante, blocking his way with both arms outstretched.
"If you go back there, you will be milked every day… like a cow! Do you want that?" She asked hurriedly.
Dante looked her right in the eye. "Moo. Now move out of my way."
Beatrice was left speechless. She pulled Dante back to the lunge and seemed to sober up slightly.
"Fine, I will stop playing around. I'll explain the value of the things offered you."
Beatrice locked her fingers around her right kneecap and became more formal.
"Firstly, an identity of earth certifies you as a pure human from the origin planet and one whose genetics is very pure. This will make enemy forces want you more, but they will be even more deterred to do anything because they will understand how important you are to us."
"Secondly, a weekly allowance of 300 Etrans is really high income for a single person. The Etran is the universe's strongest and leading currency and its value cannot easily be explained if you don't have a concept of currency in the universe. All I can say is that the more you interact with markets and economies, you will understand just how pampered receiving 300 Etrans A WEEK is."
Beatrice pointed to herself. "I am one of the 100 Admirals of the Prime Civilization's fleet, subject only to the authority of the Fleet Commander and the Human Council above him, yet I earn 30,000 Etrans a year as official salary."
"Thirdly, A villa on earth is precious. Even when we were confined to the planet, the price of land was touted as the only truly appreciative asset. Now that we have more beings among pure humans than can even fit on the planet, every inch of land is worth millions of Etrans and this is not an exaggeration."
"Finally, the Eternal Academy is where everyone who is someone went to study and train, including me. I was part of the Elite Batch during my time, and graduated with honors."
"I cannot easily describe the value of the Eternal Academy to you. It's not just knowledge, information, connections, or even grants, but the more direct benefits like special AI Chips, unique Bionics and Psionics for specialized students, and most importantly, the Zero Gate."
"Long story short, the Zero Gate is a special wormhole that leads into a small planet that is barren. It is divided into 10 sectors and students are forced to compete for the Fruit of Condensation produced by a special tree in each sector."
"The Fruit of Condensation is the most valuable item in the universe, something that is priceless in Etrans. That is because it is the only guaranteed way for a person to gain a superpower."
Dante's heart caught at this point. So far, his heart had been beating the more Beatrice explained, but this particular one made him feel an explosion mentally.
A superpower! Something that Dante had gotten only through the blessing of a high-dimensional lifeform could be acquired by chewing a fruit? Damn!
"A few questions. Firstly, how often is the Zero Gate open, or how often do the fruits condense? " Dante calmed himself down and asked prudently.
Beatrice raised an eyebrow. "Once every year, around December."
Dante thought about it and felt this was good. 10 fruits a year meant that ten superpowers were born each year. Even if the superpowers were overpowered types, it was not enough to do anything.
Even if this was brought to earth with 7 billion people, 10 a year was not enough to do anything. Assuming every earth human could live 100 years, it meant that they could only have a superpower for 100 years before dying.
So assuming 100 years was a generation, by the time generation 1's first batch died, there would be 1,000 people in the world with superpowers.
Yeah, that was nothing. And when Dante considered this on the scale of the entire universe with numbers that he couldn't even fathom, it was even worse.
Dante suddenly realized that his good treatment and offer so far were not exactly due to being a pure human, but might be due to his alleged superpower.
Capítulo 10: Signed and Sealed
"Second question, are superpowers hereditary?"
"There is a chance, but it is very low," Beatrice answered calmly.
"Final question, what is the Unique batch and how does it differ from other batches?" Dante inquired.
"Hmm, how do I say this… do you watch high school shows? The Unique Batch is basically the topmost elite who also happen to be special needs, who also happen to be misfits, and also happen to be incredibly gifted." Beatrice explained with a smile.
Dante was speechless.
"So, what's your choice?" Beatrice asked finally.
Dante pondered for a little before glancing at Beatrice sharply. "No one gives out things for free. What am I expected to do on my side of the deal?"
Beatrice clapped her hands. "Good question!'
She then pointed to herself. "Me!"
Dante was confused. "You?"
Beatrice nodded and folded her arms with satisfaction. "Me."
Dante looked her up and down. "Why you?"
Beatrice seemed unhappy. "Why not me?"
Dante scoffed. "Why should you?"
Beatrice snapped. "Because I want to."
Dante was shocked. "You want to?"
Beatrice nodded shyly. "I do."
Dante's eyes fell on wrongful places. "Do you?"
Beatrice took a step back but firmed her expression. "…Do me."
Dante seemed puzzled. "Secretary?"
Beatrice folded her arms behind her back with a confident smile. "CEO."
Dante turned his head to the side and blushed. "Do the secretary?"
Beatrice leaned forward with a tempting smile. "Do the secretary."
AI chips in their brains: "…"
"That can't be the only thing, right? What other obligations do I have?" Dante asked with a severe look.
"Well, what else do you have to offer?" Beatrice asked bluntly as she looked him up and down.
Dante was left speechless.
He sat down and thought for a bit with his eyes closed. Beatrice also sat down and moved her attention back to the holographic screen before her, lazily browsing through it at speeds that the natural earth human eye couldn't follow.
After about 30 minutes, Dante opened his eyes and sighed deeply.
"I agree."
Beatrice paused her scrolling and then looked at Dante skeptically. "You do? Wowww…. The almighty Mr.Dante who is the most valuable superstar in the universe finally agrees to the overwhelmingly beneficial offer he barely deserves!"
"Aren't you going to continue asking me questions, or are you not going to try and change the terms?" Beatrice asked with a teasing voice.
Dante didn't even bother to reply to her snark. He just pondered his fate in this new world and what he would do next.
Soon, his eyesight was blocked but two huge mounds that were hanging off an impossible cliff.
Dante was amused. "There is no way this should be possible."
"According to all known laws of gravity, there is no way that pair of breasts should be perfectly horizontal from the base. Its shape and fat, as well as the fact that it protrudes, prevent it from staying airborne. The breasts, of course, hover anyways. Because breasts don't care what humans think is impossible." Beatrice scoffed as she pushed a screen before him.
"Ha." Dante laughed dryly.
He then focused on what was put before him. "And what the hell is this?"
"Contract. You don't think we make agreements by word of mouth here, do you?" Beatrice blinked.
Dante shrugged. "Okay."
[I have scanned the contract and found no loopholes, twisting words, or altered terms from what was agreed upon verbally.]
And before Dante could even ask Beatrice to send it to the AI chip for a review, it already connected to the interface and did it. Well, it certainly did live up to its task of taking one step before its user.
Dante then shrugged and sighed by dripping a drop of blood… *cough*, by using his signature like a normal, sensible person.
Beatrice seemed satisfied by this and retracted the contract. She seemed obviously relieved and Dante couldn't help but feel like he should have taken her up on her offer to haggle.
But whatever, better to have a good deal and be in her good books than sucking her dry and then incurring dissatisfaction. She was, after all, the first person he met here and his link to the secrets of the Eternal Universe.
"Right, so when do I enter the academy?" Dante asked curiously.
"Pretty much as soon as we get your identity squared up, which should take about a day. After that, you'll have to first head to earth to receive your property, open a bank account, and do some other miscellaneous things before going to the Eternal Academy." Beatrice answered cooperatively as she plopped into her seat.
"That's good. Has the school year already begun?"
Beatrice paused and looked Dante up and down. "Of course it has. Do you think the universe will miraculously spin on an axis that revolves around you, conveniently making it so that when you appeared from nowhere, you would get to enter school on the first day?"
Dante rolled his eyes. "If there is one thing you're good at, it's putting words in my mouth."
"There are many things I'd like to put in your mouth." Beatrice snorted and muttered under her breath.
Dante shivered at that. He got up from the lounge and walked towards a teleporter near the right side of the room. Beatrice tracked him with her eyes, wondering if he was trying to run.
Dante then turned to her right in front of the teleporter. "Right, which quarters are my own?"
Beatrice sighed with relief. "The vice-captain's. Make yourself comfortable for as long as possible. It will take 12 hours to reach the Central System from here and about 3 minutes to reach earth after that."
Dante nodded and stood on the teleporter. His AI chip was prompted as to where he wanted to go and it was one step ahead of him, downloading the ship's internal map and teleporter network before issuing a command to send him to the vice-captain's quarters.
He disappeared and felt weightless for a second before reappearing in front of a door. He looked behind him to see that it was a dead-end corridor with only the teleporter behind him, leaving Dante speechless.
Hey there, if the ship was attacked and the teleporter system was damaged, how would the vice-captain escape?
Of course, Dante did not know that the level of Bionics and Psionics of a Vice-Captain of a Dreadnought-class battleship like this would probably be strong enough to punch his way out of the ship and even survive in outer space for a long period of time.
Dante stood before the door and was scanned from head to toe. The AI announced that he had the requisite clearance, and so could enter.
When he did, his jaw dropped.
Quarters? QUARTERS?
Dammit, this was a goddamn ultra-modern house! No, it was a top presidential suite!
From where Dante stood, there was a wide hallway with doors on either side, one for a washroom with a WC and the other for a shower. At the end of the hallway, the entire left side was a kitchen with various appliances that Dante absolutely had no idea how to use.
This was not because he didn't know how to cook, but because he simply couldn't easily tell what these appliances were for. He could only tell that this should be a kitchen area because of what looked like a disintegrator for rubbish as well as a floating, glowing sink.
In front was likely the living room, because there was a lounge-like area similar to what was at the Observation Deck. Rather than a TV, there was a terminal to which one could connect their AI chip to access the ship's intranet or the Etranet of the entire universe.
Dante's eyes flashed as his AI chip immediately connected… but he could not access the Etranet because he needed to log in with his Citizen ID.
He did not have one yet.
So he could only access the intranet, of which he had a vice-captains authority, so he learned the whole layout of the ship as well as its mission, its make, and its crew… of which there were only two.
Just him and Beatrice.
Dante saw that there was a set of stairs nearby and went up. Here was the bedroom which was wide and grand, with a large bed that could change from leather to water, to foam, to whatever type you liked.
The lighting in the room could be changed to represent a holographic projection. In other words, it was like a 4D cinema, but real.
You could set it to be a grassy plain and you would be lying on a comfortable bed in the middle of a grassy plain, feeling the full effects of the breeze, the sun, and even the various scents.
Dante guessed that for staff who were space bound all the time, this was a way to replicate their sleeping environments at home and would significantly reduce fatigue and stress.
Dante jumped on the bed and lay down while staring at the ceiling, which he made to replicate his home on earth.
He eventually fell asleep after thinking about his future.
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